bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cost-Effectiveness of a Physician–Pharmacist Collaboration Intervention to Improve Blood Pressure Control
Authors: Polgreen Linnea A. , Han Jayoung , Carter Barry L. , Ardery Gail P. , Coffey Christopher S. , Chrischilles Elizabeth A. , James Paul A.
Published: November 2015

Previous studies have demonstrated the cost-effectiveness of physician–pharmacist collaborations to improve hypertension control. However, most studies have limited generalizability, lacking minority and low-income populations. The Collaboration Among Pharmacist and Physicians to Improve Blood Pressure Now (CAPTION) trial randomized 625 patients from 32 medical offices in 15 states. Each office had an existing clinical pharmacist on staff. Pharmacists in intervention offices communicated with patients and made recommendations to physicians about changes in therapy. Demographic information, blood pressure (BP), medications, and physician visits were recorded. In addition, pharmacists tracked time spent with each patient. Costs were assigned to medications and pharmacist and physician time. Cost-effectiveness ratios were calculated based on changes in BP measurements and hypertension control rates. Thirty-eight percent of patients were black, 14% were Hispanic, and 49% had annual income <$25 000. At 9 months, average systolic BP was 6.1 mm Hg lower (±3.5), diastolic was 2.9 mm Hg lower (±1.9), and the percentage of patients with controlled hypertension was 43% in the intervention group and 34% in the control group. Total costs for the intervention group were $1462.87 (±132.51) and $1259.94 (±183.30) for the control group, a difference of $202.93. The cost to lower BP by 1 mm Hg was $33.27 for systolic BP and $69.98 for diastolic BP. The cost to increase the rate of hypertension control by 1 percentage point in the study population was $22.55. Our results highlight the cost-effectiveness of a clinical pharmacy intervention for hypertension control in primary care settings.
What Determined the Location of Industry in Belgium, 1896–1961?
Authors: Ronsse Stijn , Rayp Glenn
Published: November 2015

Belgium was one of the first continental countries to undergo industrialization and develop an extensive transportation infrastructure during the nineteenth century, completing the integration of its internal market by the early twentieth century. As such, the country is an ideal case study of the driving forces behind the decisions that industries made about where to locate. An analysis of factors embedded in both the Heckscher-Ohlin model and the new economic geography indicates that the main determinant of Belgium’s industrial locational pattern between 1896 and 1961 was proximity to regions with a high market potential.
“On the day I Took Them out of the Land of Egypt”: A Non-Deuteronomic Phrase within Jeremiah’s Conception of Covenant
Authors: Rom-Shiloni Dalit
Published: November 2015

This paper proceeds in three stages, and sets three goals. First, through the careful study of one prose passage in Jeremiah (11:1-14), I aim to complicate our sometimes simplistic perception of the use of Deuteronomic expressions in Jeremiah. One crucial phrase clearly draws on Priestly style and covenant conceptions, and is repeated in another four prose prophecies within the book (Jer 7:21-28 [22]; 11:1-14 [4, 7]; 31:31-34 [32]; 34:8-22 [13]). Thus, the second goal of this paper is to consider this (Priestly) phrase’s contribution to Jeremiah’s conception of covenant. Third, the proximity of both Deuteronomic and Priestly pentateuchal materials in a single prophetic context moves us beyond questions of authorship to literary strategies of allusion to and exegesis of both Deuteronomic and Priestly pentateuchal materials within the prophecy. The tendency within the book to harmonize diverse pentateuchal traditions has far-reaching implications for the study of both Jeremiah and the Pentateuch.
Kosovo: The Post-advisory Opinion Stage
Authors: Orakhelashvili Alexander
Published: November 2015

The Unilateral Declaration of Independence by Kosovar authorities in Pristina in 2008 has generated heavy legal and political controversies. The delivery by the International Court of Justice of its advisory opinion on Kosovo unilateral declaration of independence in 2010 has not led to the elimination of unilateralist positions as to Kosovo’s status. Such unilateralist approach, favouring Kosovo’s independence either in principle or in practice, has since been adopted by the local Kosovar authorities, a number of governments and by the European Union. This contribution addresses the merit of such unilateralist positions and examines whether these positions could adversely affect the legal position as to Kosovo’s status under general international law as well as un Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).
A Bridge Too Far? Assessing the Prospects for International Environmental Law to Resolve the South China Sea Disputes
Authors: Ong David M.
Published: November 2015

Doctrinal approaches to the South China Sea island and maritime jurisdiction disputes have traditionally invoked the international law on territorial sovereignty acquisition and the law of the sea for their resolution. However, neither of these two fields of international law and their established institutions has succeeded in settling these disputes. This paves the way for consideration of other, related but less historically and politically significant international legal developments establishing constraints against the activities undertaken on and around many of the South China Sea insular formations. In this paper, the potential for international environmental law to resolve the South China Sea disputes will be examined. Specifically, international environmental law governing ‘shared’ water bodies and their application in relevant international case law will be assessed. These obligations will be mapped onto the South China Sea disputes, with a view to providing the means for co-operation towards the resolution of these disputes.
Descriptions of two new Species of Goniozus Förster, 1856 (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae) associated with insect induced plant galls from India
Authors: SANTHOSH SHREEVIHAR , RANJITH AVINJIKKATTU PARAMBIL
Published: November 2015

Two new species of the genus Goniozus viz., Goniozus inauditus Santhosh sp. nov. and G. kuriani Santhosh sp. nov. associated with insect induced plant galls from South India are described. The parasitic relationship of Goniozus with the nonlepidopteran hosts living in the concealed habitats and their association with insect induced plant galls and its inhabitants are reviewed.  The possible host range extension of Goniozus is commented.
Aletheiana tenella, a new genus and new species of freshwater hymenosomatid crab (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura) from Central Sulawesi, Indonesia
Authors: NG PETER K. L. , LUKHAUP CHRISTIAN
Published: November 2015

A new genus and new species of free-living hymenosomatid crab, Aletheiana tenella, is described from Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. The two known Sulawesi hymenosomatid species, Cancrocaeca xenomorpha Ng, 1991, and Sulaplax ensifer Naruse, Ng & Guinot, 2008, are both from cave habitats. Aletheiana gen. nov. is most similar to Neorhynchoplax Sakai, 1938 (from freshwater and intertidal habitats in the Indo-West Pacific), and Sulaplax, but can be distinguished by its front possessing only one subventral rostral lobe, the base of the antenna is positioned between the base of the ocular peduncle and antennular fossa, the posterior margin of the epistome has two low, rounded median lobes, the merus of the third maxilliped is elongated, the ambulatory dactylus has a prominent subdistal spine, the cutting edges of the chela are armed with distinct teeth proximally, and the male abdomen is slender and elongate with the telson linguiform.
New Acotylea (Polycladida, Platyhelminthes) from the east coast of the North Atlantic Ocean with special mention of the Iberian littoral
Authors: NOREÑA CAROLINA , RODRÍGUEZ JORGE , PÉREZ JACINTO , ALMON BRUNO
Published: November 2015

Polyclad species diversity, although generally well known for European North Atlantic waters, is nearly unknown for the Iberian Peninsula. The “Ría de Arousa”, located on the Atlantic coast of Galicia (Spain), is a place where many positive biological factors for species biodiversity converge. Therefore, it is an ideal location to study polyclad diversity. This research, which describes new records and new species, contributes to the knowledge of the distribution of Polycladida (Platyhelminthes), particularly of the suborder Acotylea, in the Atlantic waters of the Iberian Peninsula. The new records include the re-descriptions of Cryptocelis compacta Lang, 1884, Stylochus neapolitanus (Delle Chiaje, 1841–1844) and Discocelis tigrina (Blanchard, 1847), while the two newly described species are Hoploplana elisabelloi n. sp. and Armatoplana celta n. sp.
Description of two new species of Pisione (Polychaeta: Sigalionidae) and first record of Pisione galapagoensis Westheide in the Southern Mexican Pacific
Authors: SALCEDO DIANA L. O. , HERNÁNDEZ-ALCÁNTARA PABLO , SOLÍS-WEISS VIVIANNE
Published: November 2015

The genus Pisione Grube 1857 was composed up to now of 40 species and 4 subspecies. Although distributed worldwide, in the Mexican Pacific little is known about its taxonomy and distribution, and only two species of this genus have been recorded: Pisione longispinulata Aguado & San Martín, 2004 and Pisione remota (Southern, 1914), but the records of the latter remain questionable. For this study, 406 pisionids from soft sediments of Acapulco Bay, Southern Mexican Pacific, were examined. Two new species are described: Pisione hippocampus n. sp. characterized by having protruding notoaciculae in posterior chaetigers, the second dorsal cirrus elongated and copulatory organs resembling the body shape of a seahorse and Pisione sanmartini n. sp. characterized by having protruding notoaciculae from the first chaetiger, buccal aciculae with a distal crenulate plate resembling the edge of a shell, and prechaetal bifurcated lobes along the body. Pisione galapagoensis Westheide, 1974 is newly recorded for the Mexican Pacific, its known distribution being extended northward from the Galapagos Islands and Panama. A comparative table with the main diagnostic characters and the distribution of all the species so far described in the genus Pisione is included, as well as a key to the species of the Eastern Pacific.
Integrative redescription of a forgotten Italian pill millipede endemic to the Apuan Alps—Glomeris apuana Verhoeff, 1911 (Diplopoda, Glomerida, Glomeridae)
Authors: WESENER THOMAS
Published: November 2015

The Italian pill millipede species Glomeris apuana Verhoeff, 1911, is redescribed from fresh material and its COI barcoding fragment is sequenced. The new specimens were compared to the original type series, of which a lectotype was selected. G. apuana was apparently still viewed as a subspecies of G. ligurica, as its name cannot be found in 'Fauna Europaea', or any faunal lists or catalogues in the last 85 years. We show that the species is both genetically and morphologically unique. G. apuana is easy to identify based on its entirely black coloration in combination with the absence of any main striae on the thoracic shield. Genetically, G. apuana shows large p-distances of >10% to four different populations of G. ligurica Latzel, 1884. G. apuana also differs from other sequenced Glomeris species, G. marginata Latreille, 1803, G. connexa Koch, 1847, and G. klugii Brandt, 1833 by p-distances of >10%. Specimens of G. klugii from a population occurring in sympatry with G. apuana were newly sequenced. All records of G. apuana, a large, easy to identify and conspicuous species, are from a narrow coastal zone of the Apuan Alps, an area in which the species might be microendemic.
A Cluster-Based Method for Hydrometeor Classification Using Polarimetric Variables. Part II: Classification
Authors: Wen Guang , Protat Alain , May Peter T. , Moran William , Dixon Michael
Published: November 2015

Two new algorithms for hydrometeor classification using polarimetric radar observations are developed based on prototypes derived by applying clustering techniques (Part I of this two-part paper). Each prototype is defined as a probability distribution of the polarimetric variables and ambient temperature corresponding to a hydrometeor type. The first algorithm is a maximum prototype likelihood classifier that uses all prototypes attributed to the different hydrometeor types in Part I. The hydrometeor type is assigned as the prototype with the highest likelihood when comparing the polarimetric variables and temperature with each prototype. The second algorithm is a Bayesian classifier that uses the probability density functions (PDFs) as derived from the prototype set associated with the identical hydrometeor type. The posteriori probability in the Bayesian method is calculated from a combination of the PDFs and the prior probability, the maximum of which corresponds to the most likely hydrometeor type. The respective merits of the two techniques are discussed. The two classifiers are applied to CP-2 S-band radar observations of two hailstorms that occurred between 16 and 20 November 2008, including the so-called Gap storm, which produced a devastating microburst and large hail at the ground. Results from the classifiers are compared with those derived using the well-established National Center for Atmospheric Research fuzzy logic classifier. In general, good agreement is found, yielding overall confidence in the robustness of the new classifiers. However, large differences are found for the melting ice and ice crystal categories, which will need to be studied further.
Evaluation of Measurement Instrument Criterion Validity in Finite Mixture Settings
Authors: Raykov Tenko , Marcoulides George A. , Li Tenglong
Published: November 2015

A method for evaluating the validity of multicomponent measurement instruments in heterogeneous populations is discussed. The procedure can be used for point and interval estimation of criterion validity of linear composites in populations representing mixtures of an unknown number of latent classes. The approach permits also the evaluation of between-class validity differences as well as within-class validity coefficients. The method can similarly be used with known class membership when distinct populations are investigated, their number is known beforehand and membership in them is observed for the studied subjects, as well as in settings where only the number of latent classes is known. The discussed procedure is illustrated with numerical data.
Cognitive Distraction in the Wild
Authors: Fisher Donald L.
Published: November 2015

Strayer et al. in this volume show that increases in cognitive workload caused by drivers’ involvement in distracting activities that allow them to keep their eyes on the road lead to decrements in indices of safe driving performance. Although there is agreement that in-vehicle tasks that require drivers to take their eyes off the road increase crash risk, there is mounting controversy about whether in-vehicle tasks that do not require drivers to take their eyes off the forward roadway increase crash risk—thus the conundrum: How can there be an abundance of cognitively distracting activities and controversy about whether such activities increase crash risk?
Driver Compensation
Authors: Young Richard A.
Published: November 2015

Strayer et al.’s conclusion that their “cognitive distraction scale” for auditory-vocal tasks indicates “significant impairments to driving” is not supported by their data. Additional analysis demonstrates that slower brake reaction times during auditory-vocal tasks were fully compensated for by longer following distances to the lead car. Naturalistic driving data demonstrate that cellular conversation decreases crash risk, the opposite of the article’s assumption. Hence, the scale’s internal and external validities for indicating driving impairment are highly questionable.
Is Talking to Your Car Dangerous? It Depends
Authors: Lee John D. , Boyle Linda Ng
Published: November 2015

Cognitive distraction represents an important and growing traffic safety issue, particularly with the increasing computerization of cars. The target paper in this special section describes a protocol for assessing the distraction potential of information and entertainment systems. Cognitive distraction has specific relevance to the challenges facing driving safety but also reflects the more pervasive challenge of generalizing findings in the face of complex contextual and compensatory influences. Peer commentaries from five driving safety experts sketch paths forward in assessing the distraction potential of in-vehicle information technology. A simple, definitive statement regarding the risk of talking to your car is appealing, but the complexity of driver behavior may make such a statement unachievable.
The sources of social violence in Latin America
Authors: Rivera Mauricio
Published: November 2015

The study of social violence in Latin America has stood at the periphery of cross-national research despite the region being one of the most violent in the contemporary world. This article provides a comprehensive review of theories of crime and presents an empirical analysis of social violence in Latin America from 1980 to 2010. The literature often emphasizes one theoretical approach over others and existing explanations are seen as competitive rather than complementary. Yet, the empirical findings of this study support different explanations and illustrate how considering different theoretical approaches helps improve our knowledge on social violence phenomena. The results from different estimation methods reveal that youth bulges, female workforce, and post-conflict states are positively associated with social violence, as measured by homicide rates. The results also show that states’ efforts to strengthen judicial system capacity and increase school attendance can promote peace. Moreover, while drug producers and/or transit countries are not systematically related to social violence, money-laundering countries experience higher homicide rates, suggesting that not all dimensions of drug-markets increase violence. Whereas Latin America as a whole has experienced few episodes of civil wars in the past decades, the findings suggest that several factors affecting the onset of civil wars also influence other forms of non-political violence such as social violence. This echoes earlier calls in the literature on the necessity of bridging conflict and criminology research.
Two sword lengths apart
Authors: Gandrud Christopher
Published: November 2015

Ideally, national legislatures in democracies should be venues for peacefully resolving conflicts between opposing groups. However, they can become places of physical violence. Such violence can be an indication that countries’ legislative institutions are functioning far from the democratic ideal of being venues for peaceful conflict reconciliation. In some cases, such as Ukraine prior to the 2014 outbreak of armed conflict in the country’s east and south, violence can indicate and possibly fuel deeper political divisions. In this first global study of legislative violence, I show that brawls are more likely when legislators find it difficult to credibly commit to follow peaceful bargains. Credible commitment problems are more acute in countries with new democracies and disproportionate electoral outcomes – that is, when electoral votes for parties do not closely correspond to the legislative seats they are given. I find robust support for this argument by first examining a case study of legislative violence in the antebellum United States Senate. Pro- and anti-slavery senators became increasingly unable to maintain credible commitments in the lead-up to the 1856 caning of Senator Charles Sumner as the allocation of seats in the legislative body became more disproportional. Second, I find further support for my argument in a new global dataset of contemporary instances of violence in national legislatures. In addition, I find strong evidence that violence is more likely in legislatures with small minority governments. Despite reasonable expectations, civil wars are not associated with more legislative violence.
Urban Governance and Tolerance: The Regulation of Suspect Spaces and the Burden of Surveillance in Post–World War I Asheville, North Carolina
Authors: Epstein Seth
Published: November 2015

This article reconsiders the relevance of tolerance to urban history in the Southern United States. It examines the surveillance of commercial and residential spaces considered morally suspect by white authorities in post–World War I Asheville, North Carolina. Policing practices involved objects of suspicion in the management of order within pawnshops, dance halls, and African American neighborhoods. The regulation of such suspect spaces distributed the responsibility for surveillance to many actors. Pawnbrokers, dance hall operators, and prominent African Americans all were enlisted and enlisted themselves in policing networks. Participants’ involvement in such efforts at times facilitated their claims to self-regulation. These networks, however, did not remove white authorities’ suspicions from either the spaces or the individuals who surveilled them. Instead, the arrangements scrutinized here supported those suspicions. Examining the contradictions of these arrangements demonstrates how tolerance informed urban governance within the context of white supremacy.
A critical review of the effectiveness of environmental assessment and modification in the prevention of falls amongst community dwelling older people
Authors: Pighills Alison , Ballinger Claire , Pickering Ruth , Chari Satyan
Published: November 2015

Introduction

The potential of environmental assessment and modification to reduce falls has recently received attention within the gerontology literature. Research investigating the clinical effectiveness of this intervention in falls prevention reports conflicting results. Discrepancies are due to variation in the risk profile of study participants and the health care background of the person providing the environmental intervention or the intensity of the intervention provided.

Method

The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast two systematic reviews, which include meta-analyses, of environmental interventions for falls prevention in community dwelling older people, using the critical appraisal skills programme tool for systematic reviews.

Findings

Both reviews found that: environmental assessment and modification was effective in falls prevention; intervention was effective with high but not low risk participants; and that high intensity environmental assessment was effective, whereas low intensity intervention was not. Environmental interventions which were delivered by occupational therapists were deemed high intensity, probably because their underpinning theoretical frameworks focus on the impact of the environment on function.

Conclusion

We discuss possible reasons why occupational therapist led environmental assessment and modification is clinically effective in falls prevention, for people at high risk of falls, whereas non occupational therapist led intervention is not.
Questioning science and genre
Authors: Gil Steven
Published: November 2015

This article explores the question: is The X-Files dangerous to science fiction (SF) and science? Certainly it is one of the most prominent series that, despite being frequently appended with the SF television label, seems to challenge and sometimes eschew basic conceptualizations of the genre. Furthermore, at the height of its success the series was criticized by scientists such as Richard Dawkins for disseminating and popularizing anti-rational and potentially anti-scientific perspectives. On these grounds, the answer to our question appears to be yes. However, detailed analysis of the series reveals quite a different picture. Firstly, even attempts to distance the series from SF effectively encapsulate reasons for that very labelling. These specifically revolve around the use of the phrase ‘extreme possibilities’. Secondly, far from presenting a simplistic juxtaposition of belief and reason, the series instead involves a dialogic exchange that helps to articulate the role of scientific inquiry in approaching the unknown.
The people beyond Mars
Authors: D’Adamo Amedeo
Published: November 2015

For at least 50 years science fiction’s dangerousness has sprung largely from its leaps into the transgressive. But something has now changed; the biggest problem today for anyone trying to create dangerous science fiction is that in the developed countries we now live largely in a libertarian, post-transgressive culture. There is, however, at least one target for science fiction that grows increasingly dangerous; the border between scarcity and post-scarcity. This danger is perhaps best realized in the great Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson, which not only imagines a bridge from our current scarcity-based culture to a post-scarcity culture, but also shows people building this very bridge up from the foundations of our life today. Perhaps more dangerously, he then follows Marcuse and Mumford in envisioning not only an end to the economic problem of poverty but also to the social, anthropological and psychical forces of scarcity, showing step-by-step the dramatic changes in psychology, values and lives that post-scarcity would bring. And so, like certain tales by Plato and Tolstoy, it is a ‘threshing tale’, a tale that forces us into an imaginative confrontation with our current values, intending to winnow the false from the true. This epic sets out to alter the way we see ourselves and our social sphere, hoping – like William Blake – that altering the eye alters all; perhaps nothing but such a plausible, non-utopian and social vision of life in post-scarcity can be truly dangerous to the way we now think, love, work and war.
Rapid reduction of lead leachate from hazardous fly ash using microwave treatment with acid combination
Authors: Chou Chih-Mei , Wang Li-Pang , Kao Jimmy CM , Lin Kae-Long , Chang Yu-Min
Published: November 2015

The novelty of this study is to rapidly reduce hazardous lead leachates from solid waste using microwave digestion treatment, which is an energy-saving and low greenhouse gas emission technology. The article presents the reduction of toxic characteristic leaching procedure-extractable lead concentration in the municipal solid waste incineration fly ash by the microwave digestion treatment in HNO3/H2SO4 combination, and focuses on the effects of treatment time and temperature. The results obtained from this study indicated a significant reduction efficiency of toxic characteristic leaching procedure-extractable lead concentration and showed sufficient reduction in leaching levels to render the treated fly ash safe in lead compound leaching characteristics. The reduction efficiency of toxic characteristic leaching procedure-extractable lead concentration can reach 98% in 15 minutes of treatment time. This is equivalent to the original toxic characteristic leaching procedure-extractable lead concentration of 46.2 mg L−1 in raw fly ash being reduced down to less than 1.0 mg L−1. Based on the experimental data obtained in this study, a useful correlation between reduction efficiency and treatment conditions is proposed. For engineering applications, the necessary minimum treatment time is solved using a graphic illustration method, by which the minimum treatment time (tmin) is obtained if the desired reduction efficiency (η) and treatment temperature (T) are known. The effects of treatment time and temperature are discussed. Some problems caused by the microwave digestion treatment method are also delineated in this article.
Planning for Cars That Drive Themselves
Authors: Guerra Erick
Published: November 2015

Through a review of long-range transportation plans and interviews with planners, this article examines how large metropolitan planning organizations are preparing for autonomous vehicles. In just a few years, the prospect of commercially available self-driving cars and trucks has gone from a futurist fantasy to a likely near-term reality. However, uncertainties about the new technology and its relationship to daily investment decisions have kept mention of self-driving cars out of nearly all long-range transportation plans. Nevertheless, interviewees are keeping a close watch on the new technology and actively looking to understand and plan for future impacts.
Respiratory symptoms and ventilatory function among health-care workers exposed to cleaning and disinfectant chemicals, a 2-year follow-up study
Authors: El-Helaly Mohamed , Balkhy Hanan H , Waseem Khan , Khawaja Sahdia
Published: November 2015

Previous cross-sectional studies have shown that exposure to cleaning chemicals among health-care workers (HCWs) is associated with respiratory disorders and ventilatory function changes. This study aimed to further explore this association using a longitudinal approach. A prospective 2-year follow-up study was carried out at a tertiary care hospital in Saudi Arabia from June 2012 to June 2014 among 56 nurses who were responsible for disinfection and sterilization of medical instruments and equipment. The workplaces of the participants were assessed for engineering, environmental, and safety control measures. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to all participants to assess their exposure to cleaning chemicals and their medical history. Spirometric parameters were measured for all nurses in 2012 (baseline) and again in 2014 (follow-up). The prevalence of work-related respiratory symptoms did not increase significantly over this time. Among all the spirometric parameters, only forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1)/forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio decreased significantly, and only 10.7% of participants who were exposed to cleaning chemicals for more than 10 years had FEV1 and FVC less than their longitudinal normal limits at the end of the study. Smoking and gender were associated with statistically significant decreases in some of the spirometric parameters. Our 2-year follow-up study did not demonstrate significant association between exposure to cleaning chemicals among HCWs and changes in the prevalence of work-related respiratory symptoms, but indicated early effects on ventilatory function among them. The study highlights the importance of periodic spirometry, proper work practices, and effective control measures to protect HCWs against potentially harmful workplace chemicals for disinfection and sterilization.
Dissecting Daily and Circadian Expression Rhythms of Clock-Controlled Genes in Human Blood
Authors: Lech Karolina , Ackermann Katrin , Revell Victoria L. , Lao Oscar , Skene Debra J. , Kayser Manfred
Published: November 2015

The identification and investigation of novel clock-controlled genes (CCGs) has been conducted thus far mainly in model organisms such as nocturnal rodents, with limited information in humans. Here, we aimed to characterize daily and circadian expression rhythms of CCGs in human peripheral blood during a sleep/sleep deprivation (S/SD) study and a constant routine (CR) study. Blood expression levels of 9 candidate CCGs ( SREBF1, TRIB1, USF1, THRA1, SIRT1, STAT3, CAPRIN1, MKNK2, and ROCK2), were measured across 48 h in 12 participants in the S/SD study and across 33 h in 12 participants in the CR study. Statistically significant rhythms in expression were observed for STAT3, SREBF1, TRIB1, and THRA1 in samples from both the S/SD and the CR studies, indicating that their rhythmicity is driven by the endogenous clock. The MKNK2 gene was significantly rhythmic in the S/SD but not the CR study, which implies its exogenously driven rhythmic expression. In addition, we confirmed the circadian expression of PER1, PER3, and REV-ERBα in the CR study samples, while BMAL1 and HSPA1B were not significantly rhythmic in the CR samples; all 5 genes previously showed significant expression in the S/SD study samples. Overall, our results demonstrate that rhythmic expression patterns of clock and selected clock-controlled genes in human blood cells are in part determined by exogenous factors (sleep and fasting state) and in part by the endogenous circadian timing system. Knowledge of the exogenous and endogenous regulation of gene expression rhythms is needed prior to the selection of potential candidate marker genes for future applications in medical and forensic settings.
Microstructure and in vitro cellular response to novel soy protein-based porous structures for tissue regeneration applications
Authors: Olami Hilla , Zilberman Meital
Published: November 2015

Interest in the development of new bioresorbable structures for various tissue engineering applications is on the rise. In the current study, we developed and studied novel soy protein-based porous blends as potential new scaffolds for such applications. Soy protein has several advantages over the various types of natural proteins employed for biomedical applications due to its low price, non-animal origin and relatively long storage time and stability. In the present study, blends of soy protein with other polymers (gelatin, pectin and alginate) were added and chemically cross-linked using the cross-linking agents carbodiimide or glyoxal, and the porous structure was obtained through lyophilization. The resulting blend porous structures were characterized using environmental scanning microscopy, and the cytotoxicity of these scaffolds was examined in vitro. The biocompatibility of the scaffolds was also evaluated in vitro by seeding and culturing human fibroblasts on these scaffolds. Cell growth morphology and adhesion were examined histologically. The results show that these blends can be assembled into porous three-dimensional structures by combining chemical cross-linking with freeze-drying. The achieved blend structures combine suitable porosity with a large pore size (100–300 µm). The pore structure in the soy-alginate scaffolds possesses adequate interconnectivity compared to that of the soy-gelatin scaffolds. However, porous structure was not observed for the soy-pectin blend, which presented a different structure with significantly lower porosities than all other groups. The in vitro evaluation of these porous soy blends demonstrated that soy-alginate blends are advantageous over soy-gelatin blends and exhibited adequate cytocompatibility along with better cell infiltration and stability. These soy protein scaffolds may be potentially useful as a cellular/acellular platform for skin regeneration applications.
National-European Theology
Authors: Smolenski Natalie
Published: November 2015

An influential contingent of Catholic clergy in Poland reacted to Poland’s entry into the European Union by developing a narrative positing the Catholic foundation and ownership of Europe and all its constituent “nations.” This narrative, which I call national-European theology, identifies the Catholic Church as the progenitor of both European and Polish existence and guarantor of their continuity of identity. In this way, it remedies some Catholics’ anxieties about both the integrity of Poland’s national sovereignty and the allegedly secularizing and liberalizing cultural influence of other EU member countries. I argue that national-European theology can be fruitfully conceived as a hereditary ownership narrative, framed by moments of spiritual foundation and subsequent inheritance from spiritual founders, and that this narrative structure characterizes both nationalism writ large and Europeanization as an analogous modern identitarian project. I suggest that taking heredity as a lens through which to understand nationalism and its attendant notions of legitimation allows us to move past debates about the “content” of nationalist claims (ethnic, religious, linguistic, etc.) and toward the mechanism by which group reproduction is culturally defined and sanctioned. To do this, I first sketch a theory of nationalism as a hereditary ownership narrative, drawing upon the Polish case, and liken it to the “Europe-building” project of the EU. Second, I present a brief historical outline of Poland’s accession to the EU and the anxieties generated thereby. Finally, I turn to the rhetoric of the Polish clergy who best represent the national-European current in contemporary Catholic political theology.
A Thousand Words Are Worth a Picture
Authors: Dufau Stéphane , Grainger Jonathan , Midgley Katherine J. , Holcomb Phillip J.
Published: November 2015

In the experiment reported here, approximately 1,000 words were presented to 75 participants in a go/no-go lexical decision task while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Partial correlations were computed for variables selected to reflect orthographic, lexical, and semantic processing, as well as for a novel measure of the visual complexity of written words. Correlations were based on the item-level ERPs at each electrode site and time slice while a false-discovery-rate correction was applied. Early effects of visual complexity were seen around 50 ms after word onset, followed by the earliest sustained orthographic effects around 100 to 150 ms, with the bulk of orthographic and lexical influences arising after 200 ms. Effects of a semantic variable (concreteness) emerged later, at around 300 ms. The overall time course of these ERP effects is in line with hierarchical, cascaded, interactive accounts of word recognition, in which fast feed-forward influences are consolidated by top-down feedback via recurrent processing loops.
Rats Fed a Diet Rich in Fats and Sugars Are Impaired in the Use of Spatial Geometry
Authors: Tran Dominic M. D. , Westbrook R. Frederick
Published: November 2015

A diet rich in fats and sugars is associated with cognitive deficits in people, and rodent models have shown that such a diet produces deficits on tasks assessing spatial learning and memory. Spatial navigation is guided by two distinct types of information: geometrical, such as distance and direction, and featural, such as luminance and pattern. To clarify the nature of diet-induced spatial impairments, we provided rats with standard chow supplemented with sugar water and a range of energy-rich foods eaten by people, and then we assessed their place- and object-recognition memory. Rats exposed to this diet performed comparably with control rats fed only chow on object recognition but worse on place recognition. This impairment on the place-recognition task was present after only a few days on the diet and persisted across tests. Critically, this spatial impairment was specific to the processing of distance and direction.
Food as a factor of collective identity: The case of creolisation
Authors: Tibère Laurence
Published: November 2015

The process of creolisation is linked to the movements of globalisation that have occurred since the seventeenth century, disseminating material resources, people and their cultures. Populations were displaced and their social and cultural worlds coexisted, often intermingling. This gave rise to unique socio-anthropological patterns on the level of both tangible and intangible cultures and in ways of living together. In these processes, food still plays a major role as a foundation and expression of identity. Creolisation in food first refers to cultural intersections that occurred in these societies to provide what is known locally as Creole cuisine. More broadly, it refers to the identity processes crystallised in food, in multicultural Creole societies, reflecting their internal structures. In this article, I explore these issues in the context of the island of Réunion, where Creole cuisine provides the basis for a common culture beyond differences, and at the same time maintains a link with cultural origins.
The denial of racism in Latina/o students’ narratives about discrimination in the classroom
Authors: Rojas-Sosa Deyanira
Published: November 2015

This study examines how Latina/o students perceive and frame experiences of prejudice against them in the classroom through narratives told in informal interviews in Spanish. This project started as an inquiry about these students’ general perceptions and experiences in their Advanced Spanish-language classes and how these compared to their experiences in other classes on campus. Narratives are essential to understanding how speakers perceive and evaluate the experiences narrated and how they position themselves in relation to their group as well as to outsiders. The results show that, in most cases, when recounting narratives of discrimination or situations that can be considered instances of prejudice, students were hesitant to recognize that they were the subjects of discrimination or to qualify the story as an occurrence of racism. Different strategies were used to avoid this recognition, including assigning others the role of recognizing the situation as discriminatory and also using narrative evaluations or introductions to justify or mitigate the reasons that motivated these incidents. Discourses of prejudice and racism denial have been broadly documented, yet most studies focus on those who deny being racist themselves or being part of a racist group. This study shows how the underrepresented group might incorporate these discourses of denial and also how their discourses support or, at least, do not challenge the ideologies of majority groups about race, language, and immigration.
The cowboy and the goddess: Television news mythmaking about immigrants
Authors: Santa Ana Otto
Published: November 2015

This is an empirical examination of contemporary US network television news stories about immigrants that is informed by myth and film genre scholarship. A review of a full year (2004) of network news programs determined that two age-old story-types constituted the base narrative of all the news reports regarding immigrant voyages and apprehensions. One ancient story-type, currently manifest as the American Western, occurs when the news story protagonist border patrol agent portrays the American cowboy archetype. A US foundational myth is based on this story-type. The second story-type derives from a journey myth of Inanna, a Sumerian goddess. These two millennia-old story-types accounted for all the network evening news stories immigrant reports. Western news stories rearticulate nationalism, while the Inanna news story contests the nation’s foundational myth. Thus, on this topic, journalists write about immigration to entertain and indoctrinate, as much as to edify.
Psychological distress in corticosteroid-naive patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: A prospective cross-sectional study
Authors: Nishimura K , Omori M , Katsumata Y , Sato E , Kawaguchi Y , Harigai M , Yamanaka H , Ishigooka J
Published: November 2015

Objective

Psychological distress, such as depression and anxiety, has been intensively studied in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). However, those studies have mostly included patients who were treated with corticosteroids, which might themselves induce mood disturbances. We investigated psychological distress in corticosteroid-naive patients with SLE who did not exhibit any overt neuropsychiatric manifestations.

Methods

Forty-three SLE in-patients with no current or past abnormal neuropsychiatric history participated in the study. Patients and 30 healthy control subjects with similar demographic and personality characteristics were administered a comprehensive battery of psychological/neuropsychological tests. The Profile of Mood States (POMS) was used to assess depression and anxiety. Results of clinical, laboratory, and neurological tests were compared with regard to their presence.

Results

Prevalence of depression was higher in patients ( n = 11, 25.6%) than in controls ( n = 2, 6.7%; p = 0.035), although prevalence of anxiety did not differ across groups (patients: 34.9%, n = 15; controls: 16.7%, n = 5; p = 0.147). Using multiple logistic regression analysis, we identified avoidance coping methods (OR, 1.3; 95% CI 1.030–1.644; p = 0.027) as an independent risk factor for depression.

Conclusion

Our results indicate that depression presents more frequently in corticosteroid-naive patients with early-stage, active SLE than in the normal population, but anxiety does not. Depression may be related to psychological reactions to suffering from the disease.
The Reversed Brain Drain: A Mixed-method Study of the Reversed Migration of Chinese Overseas Scientists
Authors: Lu Xiao , Zhang Wenxia
Published: November 2015

This article reviewed the Chinese policy and talent programmes after 1978 to reverse the historically brain drain of China. Under the current wave of reversed migration, Chinese overseas returned scientists and scholars have gradually changed the labour structure of Chinese academia. We used the dataset of the 2008 National Survey of Science and Technology Personnels, conducted by the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development (CASTED), to do quantitative analysis and comparison on the performances of overseas returnees and local scholars. It is found out that the overseas PhD returnees are still in short supply. Overseas returned scientists are generally better off in academic and innovative performances. Sizable qualitative interviews showed that even within the influx of overseas returnees, the labour market is also a social and political field that the social network and policy design would largely direct the flow of overseas returned scientists.
Mobility of the Highly Skilled—Towards a Non-racial South Africa
Authors: Kahn Michael
Published: November 2015

The topic of this article is the mobility of the highly skilled, or ‘moths’, towards, in and from post-apartheid South Africa. The article picks up where the Human Sciences Research Council study on the mobility of knowledge workers left off by examining new data, and innovation and immigration policy. It argues that there has been a considerable shift in researcher demographics, but that this has been through a policy of substitution rather than growth. The ongoing shortage of skills thereby creates a price premium for that skill, the more so as immigration policy dictates that the considerable investment in developing foreign students returns little by way of local capacity development. Despite a dysfunctional school system the innovation system shows resilience, with increased publication outputs largely pulled up by international collaboration. The odds are that the innovation system will remain starved of foreign staff, yet be ‘open’ for collaboration. The beach is open, but the gate is closed.
Return Migration of Highly Skilled Scientists and Engineers to Morocco: Return or Circulation?
Authors: Gaillard Anne-Marie , Gaillard Jacques
Published: November 2015

The qualification level of the emigrating Moroccans rose steadily in the 1990s, and especially since the year 2000. At present, an estimated 20 per cent of the highly qualified Moroccans live abroad. Student migration, which accounts for a large part of this 20 per cent, is contributing substantially to keeping this level high. For the last 20 years Morocco has been testing actions to mobilise and reconnect its S&T diaspora. The related special programmes and institutions are discussed and analysed in this article. Results are mixed, especially if measured against the original goals and the high expectations of the MREs (Marocains Résidant à l’Etranger: Moroccans living abroad). In response to these weaknesses and criticisms, proposals for institutional reorganisation and programme revisions have recently been put forth, or tested, but it is too early to evaluate the outcome.

Interviews conducted in Morocco and in Europe with scientists who returned to their country or were part of the diaspora living in Europe indicate a very strong desire to participate in the development of Morocco, but also highlight inhibiting factors inherent in the public higher education and research. The international mobility of the interviewees was a constant but not all thought that Morocco would be their final landing place. Many of them are the forerunners in a new type of mobility system that will contribute (together with the reform measures that Morocco will have to adopt) to making the Moroccan national research system attract Moroccan and foreign scientists for all or part of their professional career.