bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
5-HT2Receptor Activation Facilitates a Persistent Sodium Current and Repetitive Firing in Spinal Motoneurons of Rats With and Without Chronic Spinal Cord Injury
Authors: Harvey P. J. , Li X. , Li Y. , Bennett D. J.
Published: May 2006

We examined the modulation of persistent inward currents (PICs) by serotonin (5-HT) in spinal motoneurons of normal and chronic spinal rats. PICs are composed of both a TTX-sensitive persistent sodium current (Na PIC) and a nimodipine-sensitive persistent calcium current (Ca PIC), and we focused on quantifying the Na PIC (and its action on the total PIC), which is known to be critical in enabling repetitive firing. Intracellular recordings were made from motoneurons of the whole sacrocaudal spinal cord of normal adult rats after the cord was acutely transected at the S2 spinal level (acute spinal rat condition), removed from the animal, and then maintained in vitro. In vitro motoneuron recordings were likewise made from rats that had a sacral spinal transection 2 mo previously (chronic spinal rats). In motoneurons from acute spinal rats, moderately high doses of 5-HT (≥10 μM), or the 5-HT2receptor agonist DOI (≥30 μM), significantly increased the total PIC, hyperpolarized the PIC onset voltage, and hyperpolarized the spike threshold, whereas lower doses had no effect. Both 5-HT and DOI specifically increased the Na PIC portion of the total PIC (tested with nimodipine blocking the Ca PIC). Additionally, 5-HT, but not DOI, depolarized the resting membrane potential ( Vm) and increased the input resistance ( Rm) in a dose-dependent manner. Therefore 5-HT2receptor activation facilitated the Na PIC, whereas other 5-HT receptors modulated Vmand Rm. Motoneurons of chronic spinal rats responded to 5-HT and DOI in the same way, but with larger responses and at much lower doses (0.3–1 μM), thus exhibiting a 30-fold supersensitivity to 5-HT. Specifically the Na PIC was supersensitive to 5-HT2receptor activation with DOI. Also, Rmand Vmwere supersensitive to 5-HT. Consistent with the known critical role of the Na PIC in repetitive firing, enhancement of the Na PIC by DOI or 5-HT facilitated the repetitive firing evoked by steady current injection and enabled repetitive firing in a subpopulation of motoneurons of acute spinal rats that were initially unable to produce sustained repetitive firing. We suggest that after spinal transection, residual endogenous spinal sources of 5-HT help facilitate the Na PIC and repetitive firing. With chronic injury, the developed 5-HT supersensitivity more than compensates for lost brain stem 5-HT, so that the Na PIC is large and motoneurons are very excitable, thus contributing to spasticity.
Role of the Na+-K+-2Cl−Cotransporter in the Development of Capsaicin-Induced Neurogenic Inflammation
Authors: Valencia-de Ita Sandra , Lawand Nada B. , Lin Qing , Castañeda-Hernandez Gilberto , Willis William D.
Published: May 2006

Recent behavioral and electrophysiological studies have attributed an important role to dorsal root reflexes (DRRs) in the initiation and development of neurogenic inflammation produced by intradermal capsaicin (CAP). The DRRs can occur in peptidergic fibers, resulting in peripheral release of neuromediators that produce vasodilation, plasma extravasation and subsequently hyperalgesia and allodynia. In this study, we have evaluated the effect of spinal administration of bumetanide (a blocker of the Na+K+2Cl−cotransporter, NKCC) on DRR activity, changes in cutaneous blood flow (vasodilation), hindpaw edema, mechanical allodynia, and hyperalgesia induced by intradermal injection of 1% CAP in Sprague-Dawley rats. Vasodilation was monitored using laser Doppler flowmetry, neurogenic edema was evaluated by measurements of hindpaw volume, and secondary mechanical allodynia and hyperalesia were tested using von Frey filaments (10 and 200 mN) applied to the plantar surface of the paw. Changes in the blood flow were blocked significantly by intrathecal bumetanide at 10 and 100 μM in both pre- and posttreatment studies. Spinal bumetanide at 10 and 100 μM blocked neurogenic edema when it was administered before CAP injection, but only bumetanide at 100 μM administered after CAP injection reduced the paw edema significantly. Furthermore, the administration of bumetanide onto the spinal cord reduced the increment in DRR activity produced by CAP. Finally, both secondary mechanical allodynia and hyperalesia were reduced by bumetanide at 1, 10, and 100 μM. Taken together these results suggest that NKCC is involved in the increases in DRR activity, neurogenic inflammation and hyperalgesia and allodynia induced by intradermal CAP.
Afferent Encoding of Central Oscillations in the Monkey Arm
Authors: Baker Stuart N. , Chiu Matthew , Fetz Eberhard E.
Published: May 2006

We have investigated whether peripheral afferent fibers could encode the central oscillations that are commonly seen in the primate motor system. We analyzed 52 single afferent recordings from the C8/T1 dorsal root ganglia of two monkeys performing an isometric wrist flexion–extension task. Coherence and directed coherence were calculated between the afferent spikes and forearm EMG. Seven of 52 cells were identified as Group Ia afferents by the production of narrow postspike facilitation in spike-triggered averages of rectified EMG. These identified afferents showed significant coherence, and directed coherence, with EMG over a wide frequency range. By contrast, coherence was weak for a population that showed little directional preference for flexion or extension movements during task performance, and probably contained mainly cutaneous afferents. Oscillations are known to appear in muscle activity; their presence in afferent firing as well implies that central oscillations pass around a peripheral feedback loop and may be involved in sensorimotor integration.
Central Resetting of Neuromuscular Steady States May Underlie Rhythmical Arm Movements
Authors: Ustinova Ksenia I. , Feldman Anatol G. , Levin Mindy F.
Published: May 2006

Changing the steady-state configuration of the body or its segments may be an important function of central pattern generators for locomotion and other rhythmical movements. Thereby, muscle activation, forces, and movement may emerge following a natural tendency of the neuromuscular system to achieve the current steady-state configuration. To verify that transitions between different steady states occur during rhythmical movements, we asked standing subjects to swing one or both arms synchronously or reciprocally at ∼0.8 Hz from the shoulder joints. In randomly selected cycles, one arm was transiently arrested by an electromagnetic device. Swinging resumed after some delay and phase resetting. During bilateral swinging, the nonperturbed arm often stopped before resuming swinging at a position that was close to either the extreme forward or the extreme backward arm position observed before the perturbation. Oscillations usually resumed when both arms arrived at similar extreme positions when a synchronous bilateral pattern was initially produced or at the opposite positions if the initial pattern was reciprocal. Results suggest that a central generator controls both arms as a coherent unit by producing transitions between its steady state (equilibrium) positions. By controlling these positions, the system may define the spatial boundaries of movement. At these positions, the system may halt the oscillations, resume them at a new phase (as observed in the present study), or initiate a new motor action. Our findings are relevant to locomotion and suggest that walking may also be generated by transitions between several equilibrium configurations of the body, possibly accomplished by modulation and gating of proprioceptive reflexes.
Specific Subtypes of GABAAReceptors Mediate Phasic and Tonic Forms of Inhibition in Hippocampal Pyramidal Neurons
Authors: Prenosil George A. , Schneider Gasser Edith M. , Rudolph Uwe , Keist Ruth , Fritschy Jean-Marc , Vogt Kaspar E.
Published: May 2006

The main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the mammalian brain, GABA, mediates multiple forms of inhibitory signals, such as fast and slow inhibitory postsynaptic currents and tonic inhibition, by activating a diverse family of ionotropic GABAAreceptors (GABAARs). Here, we studied whether distinct GABAAR subtypes mediate these various forms of inhibition using as approach mice carrying a point mutation in the α-subunit rendering individual GABAAR subtypes insensitive to diazepam without altering their GABA sensitivity and expression of receptors. Whole cell patch-clamp recordings were performed in hippocampal pyramidal cells from single, double, and triple mutant mice. Comparing diazepam effects in knock-in and wild-type mice allowed determining the contribution of α1, α2, α3, and α5 subunits containing GABAARs to phasic and tonic forms of inhibition. Fast phasic currents were mediated by synaptic α2-GABAARs on the soma and by synaptic α1-GABAARs on the dendrites. No contribution of α3- or α5-GABAARs was detectable. Slow phasic currents were produced by both synaptic and perisynaptic GABAARs, judged by their strong sensitivity to blockade of GABA reuptake. In the CA1 area, but not in the subiculum, perisynaptic α5-GABAARs contributed to slow phasic currents. In the CA1 area, the diazepam-sensitive component of tonic inhibition also involved activation of α5-GABAARs and slow phasic and tonic signals shared overlapping pools of receptors. These results show that the major forms of inhibitory neurotransmission in hippocampal pyramidal cells are mediated by distinct GABAARs subtypes.
Powerful Motion Illusion Caused by Temporal Asymmetries in on and off Visual Pathways
Authors: Del Viva Maria Michela , Gori Monica , Burr David C.
Published: May 2006

Successive presentations of Glass patterns (randomly positioned pairs of dots oriented in a coherent pattern) create a strong sense of global motion along the orientation of the pattern, but ambiguous in direction. Here we report that dynamic “anti-Glass” patterns, created by successive pairs of globally structured pairs of opposite polarity, create an even more powerful motion illusion that is unambiguous in direction: the dark dots always move toward the light. The motion can be cancelled and reversed by introducing a real delay in the presentation of the light dots, suggesting that the effective stimulation of the light is about 3 ms faster than the dark dots. The most plausible explanation for this is that human on channels are faster than off channels, as has been shown in the macaque.
Characterization and Mapping of Fuel Types for the Mediterranean Ecosystems of Pollino National Park in Southern Italy by Using Hyperspectral MIVIS Data
Authors: Lasaponara Rosa , Lanorte Antonio , Pignatti Stefano
Published: May 2006

The characterization and mapping of fuel types is one of the most important factors that should be taken into consideration for wildland fire prevention and prefire planning. This research aims to investigate the usefulness of hyperspectral data to recognize and map fuel types in order to ascertain how well remote sensing data can provide an exhaustive classification of fuel properties. For this purpose airborne hyperspectral Multispectral Infrared and Visible Imaging Spectrometer (MIVIS) data acquired in November 1998 have been analyzed for a test area of 60 km2 selected inside Pollino National Park in the south of Italy. Fieldwork fuel-type recognitions, performed at the same time as remote sensing data acquisition, were used as a ground-truth dataset to assess the results obtained for the considered test area. The method comprised the following three steps: 1) adaptation of Prometheus fuel types for obtaining a standardization system useful for remotely sensed classification of fuel types and properties in the considered Mediterranean ecosystems; 2) model construction for the spectral characterization and mapping of fuel types based on a maximum likelihood (ML) classification algorithm; and 3) accuracy assessment for the performance evaluation based on the comparison of MIVIS-based results with ground truth. Results from our analysis showed that the use of remotely sensed data at high spatial and spectral resolution provided a valuable characterization and mapping of fuel types being that the achieved classification accuracy was higher than 90%.
‘The Unfinished’
Authors: Papendorf Knut
Published: May 2006

At the end of the 1960s, a prisoners' movement critical of the prison system developed in the Scandinavian countries. Particularly strong in Norway, the key expression of this abolitionist movement was the notion of ‘the unfinished’. The political message of the Norwegian Prison Movement (KROM) is that the unfinished state of politics towards any desired socio-political development should be considered not as a flaw, but rather as a political possibility. The discussion among Norwegian criminologists and sociologists of law critical of the combination of treatment and criminal justice in the 1950s and 1960s was an indispensable condition for the development of a politics of abolition. This article sketches the central arguments of the discussion, and a connection is established between the abolitionist perspective and sociological theory.
Erik Allardt
Authors: Alapuro Risto
Published: May 2006

Typical of Erik Allardt's quality as a scholar and an intellectual is a willingness and a capacity to take into consideration opposite positions in the same analysis and to act at the interface of the national and international levels. This quality appears most clearly in his theory of the preconditions of solidarity, in which both ‘rational’ and ‘irrational’ reactions to the adversities of modernization are explained by the same set of variables. His best scholarly and other intellectual contributions make a fruitful connection between domestic Finnish concerns and elements of the non-Finnish sociological discussion. This Janus-faced position differentiates Allardt from Stein Rokkan, who in many other respects is comparable to him.
Social Capital in Europe
Authors: van Oorschot Wim , Arts Wil , Gelissen John
Published: May 2006

This article sorts the various aspects of social capital (networks, trust, civism) theoretically and constructs an instrument for measuring its multifacetedness. The instrument is validated using data from the 1999/2000 wave of the European Values Study survey. Using the same data, the article describes how social capital, by its various aspects, is distributed geographically among European countries and regions (North, West, South, East), and socially among social categories of European citizens. As far as the geographical distribution of social capital is concerned, there are some particular differences, but, on the whole, European countries and regions, with the possible exception of Northern Europe, appear not to be substantially different in aggregate levels of social capital. In Scandinavia, social capital levels tend to be slightly higher, with the exception of family bonding. Some remarkable European patterns are found in regard to the social distribution of social capital. There is evidence of accumulation of human, economic and social capital; social capital is strongly gendered and is related to religious beliefs and behaviour, and to a political left–right stance.
Sport and Social Capital
Authors: Seippel Ørnulf
Published: May 2006

Even though voluntary sport organizations make up the largest part of the voluntary sector in many western countries, few studies have been carried out focusing on sport as part of civil society. Against this background, the aim of the article is to study how voluntary sport organizations operate and what social and political effects they might have through the concept of social capital. The theoretical part of the article identifies the most useful dimensions of the social-capital concept for this topic, lists hypotheses and suggests three relevant social mechanisms. Empirical studies show how social capital related to participation in voluntary sport organizations is distributed and the consequences this has for various forms of social capital: generalized trust and political commitments. Analyses are based on Norwegian data. The results show that being a member of a voluntary sport organization involves social capital which is conducive to generalized trust and political commitment. Yet, the effect of sport organizations is weaker than for voluntary organizations in general, stronger when membership in sport organizations goes together with other memberships (more weak ties) and stronger the less politicized the social effect in question.
Old Soldiers Never Die
Authors: Knulst Wim , van Eijck Koen
Published: May 2006

In this article, two possible explanations for the disproportionate aging of volunteers are tested using the Dutch Time Budget Studies 1985–2000. The first explanation holds that increasing time pressure among, especially, couples aged between 25 and 55, keeps this group from participating. This could not be corroborated by the data, as voluntary work declined among all population segments observed, irrespective of their combined workload of paid and unpaid labour or their family situation (living alone or with a partner). The second explanation assumes that differences in socialization are responsible for the observed divergence between generations. This was confirmed for most fields of voluntary work. Both men and women tend to keep up their level of voluntary activity well into old age.
Measuring Social Capital
Authors: Lillbacka Ralf
Published: May 2006

State of research: Despite immense popularity among contemporary social scientists, opinions are divided on how social capital should be defined and measured. In fact, few inquiries have attempted to demonstrate a stable empirical correlate, e.g. through tests for internal consistency and construct stability. Theory: Social capital is constituted and sustained through processes similar to an iterated k-player coordination game; a crucial aspect is whether individuals can utilize the social context as a medium for gaining utilities. Indicators describing how individuals perceive various aspects of the ‘game’ can be used to identify and study social capital on the individual level. Four potential indicators are considered: (1) interpersonal trust, (2) the respondent's social network, (3) self-efficacy, and (4) membership in voluntary associations. Method and data: Various factor models are tested for cross-context stability and unidimensionality in three subsamples with highly different demographic and socio-economic characteristics; construct stability is presumed to indicate a stable empirical correlate. Finnish survey data from 2001 ( n=1439) are used. Results: Cross-context stability is demonstrated for a construct based on interpersonal trust, social network and self-efficacy, which corresponds to the concept introduced by James Coleman.
The Ugly Americans: Gender, Geopolitics and the Career of Postcolonial Cosmopolitanism in the Novels of Santha Rama Rau
Authors: Burton Antoinette
Published: May 2006

This essay tracks the career of postcolonial cosmopolitanism and its gendered embodiments using Santha Rama Rau’s Cold War novels, Remember the House (1956) and The Adventuress (1970). Rama Rau’s heroines, Indira Goray and Catalina Gomez, flirt with geopolitics of a post-war world that appears to offer them new freedoms. They flirt, too, with the possibilities of transnational affiliation and become schooled in very different experiences of “new womanhood” in the context of decolonization. What the heroines and the novels share is a preoccupation with America and Americans, who appear to hold the promise of a new, borderless future. The essay examines Rama Rau’s ambivalence about the virtues of the US as a Cold War superpower, registering some claims about the fate of the female postcolonial novelist in the process.
Imagining the Nation: The Role of Singapore Poetry in English in “Emergent Nationalism”
Authors: Goh Robbie B. H.
Published: May 2006

Anglophone poetry has played a central role not only in the development of a national literature in Singapore in the first few decades after independence, but also in the articulation of a kind of national consciousness, a rhetorical rehearsal for an emergent nationhood. Examining the works of poets Edwin Thumboo, Goh Poh Seng, Arthur Yap and Lee Tzu Pheng - the first four Anglophone winners of the Cultural Medallion for literature, the Singapore government’s highest cultural award - we see attempts to address nationhood not only in the thematic and stylistic projects of these poets, but also in the institutional support it receives from the government and the resonances between the poetic and official articulations of nationalism. Although this Anglophone and poetic nationalism (at some odds with the plebeian, carnivalesque and dialogical nationalism associated with novelistic narratives) clearly has its limits in a multilingual and multicultural new nation, it leaves an indelible impact on the early development of Anglophone literature and culture in Singapore.
Entering the Oppressor’s Mind: A Strategy of Writing in Bessie Head’s A Question of Power, Yvonne Vera’s The Stone Virgins and Unity Dow’s The Screaming of the Innocent
Authors: Gagiano Annie
Published: May 2006

In this article, Bessie Head’s A Question of Power (1974), Yvonne Vera’s The Stone Virgins (2002) and Unity Dow’s The Screaming of the Innocent (2003) are read as examples of texts in which women writers explore from within the minds and motives of fellow-African, male figures who perpetrate crimes and cruelties against women in their respective postcolonial societies. It is argued that, by doing so, these authors employ a strategy of both acknowledging (“owning”) and analysing the evils against which they simultaneously protest by their vivid portrayal of the harm done to women or girls by such men. Writing of this kind is seen as a form of social action through the authors’ employment of “illocutionary force” (Maria Pia Lara’s phrase). Following the introduction, the individual social setting and the texture of writing in each text is analysed in turn, while correspondences with the other two novels are briefly noted in the conclusion.
A Question of Belonging: Reading Jean Arasanayagam through Nationalist Discourse
Authors: Ho Elaine Y. L. , Rambukwella Harshana
Published: May 2006

Jean Arasanayagam’s writing, arising from a unique confluence of what can be considered minoritized identities in Sri Lanka (Burgher and Tamil), provides critical insights into the ways in which a marginalized consciousness seeks to carve a niche for itself within an exclusive, majoritarian nationalist discourse. Such minority self-fashioning is often seen in terms of a paradigm of resistance that deconstructs the dominant or hegemonic national discourse and renders identity mobile and fluid. However, we argue that Arasanayagam’s writing, rather than being “post-national”, is heavily invested in the idea of national belonging. Through close readings of a selection of poems, drawn from her earliest published work to recent writing, we explore the ambiguities and contradictions arising out of Arasanayagam’s desire for a self-identity in what can be loosely termed a Sri Lankan national imaginary.
Bama’s Karukku: Dalit Autobiography as Testimonio
Authors: Nayar Pramod K.
Published: May 2006

This essay argues that Dalit autobiographies must be treated as testimonio, atrocity narratives that document trauma and strategies of survival. Using Bama’s Karukku as a case-study, it explores the shift between the generic conventions of individual life-writing and collective biography in this text. It analyses the strategy of witnessing in Bama’s narrative, arguing that she functions as a witness to a community’s suffering, and calls upon readers to undertake “rhetorical listening” as secondary witnesses. This act of recording trauma and witnessing, the essay proposes, is one of subaltern agency.
Risk and Resilience in Catherine Bush’s Minus Time
Authors: MacKinnon John E.
Published: May 2006

In its preoccupation with the prospect of harm and its determination to avoid risk, what has been variously called our culture of fear, trauma, or warning presumes particular views about human beings, our future, and what we take to be the good life. Catherine Bush’s novel Minus Time provides an intriguing context in which to consider these views and the obsessions in which they are grounded. The novel’s main protagonist, Helen Urie, is a young woman consumed by anxiety and estranged from her family, the world, herself. While she imagines her astronaut mother, Barbara, suspended in space, caught in a state of pure isolation, Helen is suspended in time, unable to commit herself to an independent course in life. Bush masterfully conveys a sense of the pace and panic of modern existence and the unnerving effects these have on Helen, convincingly tracing Helen’s efforts to overcome her scepticism and discover new sources of enthusiasm and trust.
Terror as White Female in Mudrooroo’s Vampire Trilogy
Authors: Clark Maureen
Published: May 2006

Mudrooroo’s vampire trilogy, The Undying, Underground and The Promised Land was published at the end of the last century amid an unrelenting public questioning of the author’s claim to Aboriginal heritage through a matrilineal link. The Gothic narratives feature a white female vampire named Amelia (an anagram of Lamiae), whose violent acts of penetration and (dis)possession act as metaphors for the colonial invasion of Australia by the British. The article reads the trilogy mainly through Barbara Creed’s theorization of the monstrous feminine and examines the ways in which Mudrooroo presents his post-conquest female vampire as castrating and all-consuming. It also argues that it is possible to see Mudrooroo’s female monster as a textual representation of the legendary soulless mother who would devour her own son to feed her sense of self and reality - with all the connotations of the author’s discredited claim to Aboriginal identity this implies.
Scalability of an Ad Hoc On-Demand Routing Protocol in Very Large-Scale Mobile Wireless Networks
Authors: Zhang Xin , Riley George F.
Published: May 2006

This article focuses on the performance and scalability study of very large-scale wireless ad hoc networks. As wireless devices become more and more popular, ad hoc networks grow in the number of nodes as well as the complexity of communication among the large number of nodes. However, due to the limitation of simulation technologies, it is either impossible or very hard to investigate the scalability of ad hoc routing protocols in very large-scale wireless networks. In this article, a comprehensive simulation study is conducted of the performance of an on-demand routing protocol on a very large scale, with as many as 50,000 nodes in the network. The authors address the scalability analysis based on various network sizes, node density, traffic load, and mobility. The reasons for packet loss are analyzed and categorized at each network layer. Based on the observations, the authors optimize the parameter selection and try to exhaust the scalability boundary of the on-demand routing protocol for wireless ad hoc networks.
Performance Analysis and Improvement of Overlay Construction for Peer-to-Peer Live Streaming
Authors: Tan Guang , Jarvis Stephen A. , Chen Xinuo , Spooner Daniel P.
Published: May 2006

For single-source, single-tree-based peer-to-peer live media streaming, it is generally believed that a short (and wide) tree has a good comprehensive performance in terms of reliability and service delay. While the short tree directly benefits delay optimization, it is unclear whether such a structure maximizes tree reliability, which is sometimes more critical for a streaming Internet service. This article studies several prevalent overlay construction algorithms from the aspects of (1) service reliability, (2) service delay, and (3) protocol overhead. Two types of peer layout, bandwidth-ordered layout and time-ordered layout, are identified, and their performance is evaluated. The analytical results show that, by appropriately placing peers according to their time properties, the tree achieves a much higher degree of reliability than the depth-optimized tree. This finding motivates the design of a heap algorithm, which aims for combining the strengths of both bandwidth ordering and time ordering. It dynamically moves peers between difference layers of the tree according to a simple metric and gradually adjusts the tree toward a layout partially ordered in time and partially ordered in bandwidth. In so doing, the tree has advantages in both service reliability and delay. Extensive simulations show that this new algorithm achieves better comprehensive performance than existing algorithms.
Improving OSPF Dynamics on a Broadcast LAN
Authors: Goyal M. , Xie W. , Hosseini S. H. , Vairavan K. , Rohm D.
Published: May 2006

In this article, the authors propose modifications to OSPF's interface state machine to reduce the time/processing requirements of the leader election process in a broadcast local-area network (LAN) environment. The proposed modifications are based on dynamic adjustment of wait time duration rather than using a static value. They compare the original and modified state machines both analytically as well as via testbed experiments.
How Organizations Learn: Post-flight Reviews in an F-16 Fighter Squadron
Authors: Ron Neta , Lipshitz Raanan , Popper Micha
Published: May 2006

We present an in-depth analysis of post-flight reviews in a fighter aircraft squadron of the Israel Defense Force Air Force. Our findings demonstrate how organizations can learn non-metaphorically and highlight the dynamics of learning in a central organizational learning mechanism in this type of after-action review. They also show that learning in the post-flight reviews is a multi-layered process of retrospective sense-making, detection and correction of error, social comparison, social control, socialization, and bonding, where lessons-learned pertain to different domains and different levels — individual, unit, and Force-wide. The process is facilitated by five values specified by the multi-facet model (Lipshitz, Popper and Friedman 2002), and the assumption that learning through critical examination of one's own experience is the key to improvement.
Teaching Practical Public Health Evaluation Methods
Authors: Davis Mary V.
Published: May 2006

Human service fields, and more specifically public health, are increasingly requiring evaluations to prove the worth of funded programs. Many public health practitioners, however, lack the required background and skills to conduct useful, appropriate evaluations. In the late 1990s, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created the Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health to provide guidance and promote use of evaluation standards by public health professionals. The emphasis of the Framework is utilization-focused evaluation for program improvement or to assess program impact. This article presents the use of the CDC Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health to create and teach practical evaluation methods to master’s of public health students. The article includes the teaching approach, semester-long syllabus for students, and course evaluation data; suggests supplementary materials; and discusses implementation issues.
Deliberative Democracy, Participation, and OECD Peer Reviews of Environmental Policies
Authors: Lehtonen Markku
Published: May 2006

Deliberative democracy has attracted increasing attention in political science and has been suggested as a normative ideal for evaluation. This article analyzes to what extent evaluations carried out in a highly government-driven manner can nevertheless contribute to deliberative democracy. This potential is examined by taking the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s environmental performance reviews as an example of an expert-led evaluative process built on the ideals of representative democracy. The author argues that although they are not participatory, these reviews lay the groundwork for deliberative democracy by “empowering” weaker actors within governments and by improving the factual basis for political debate and decision making. This example suggests that to enhance deliberative democracy, the evaluation process need not be highly inclusive, dialogical, and deliberative but that a broader view is needed, encompassing the indirect impacts of evaluation on power relations and on the knowledge basis on which decision making relies.
Do Politicians Lead the Tango?
Authors: Strömbäck Jesper , Nord Lars W.
Published: May 2006

The relationship between journalists and their political sources is often described as symbiotic. Furthermore, political sources are often regarded as more powerful than journalists in this relationship. However, most of the research referred to in the international literature is done in the US or Britain. Therefore, the question regarding the relationship between journalists and their political sources, in terms of power, needs to be asked in other countries. This article examines the relationship between journalists and their political sources in Sweden during the National Election in 2002, and in so doing makes a distinction between the power over the process of news making and the media agenda, and the power over the content and the framing of news stories. The results show the importance of making such a distinction. They also show that, in Sweden, it is the journalists and not their political sources that lead the tango most of the time.
Is There a European Public Sphere?
Authors: Downey John , Koenig Thomas
Published: May 2006

Recently, it has been argued that, despite the absence of European-wide mass media, a European public sphere is emerging, as some issues of European relevance become debated at the same time with the same intensity and with recourse to the structures of meaning throughout the entire European Union. This article examines the media framing of Silvio Berlusconi's controversial address as president of the European Council of Ministers to the European Parliament on 2 July 2003, in which he compared the Social Democrat MEP Martin Schulz to a kapò, an auxiliary concentration camp guard. The data are drawn from six EU countries, the US, Canada and Switzerland and show that while the reporting of the speech do satisfy two of Schlesinger's three criteria for the development of a European public sphere – the existence of a Europe-wide news agenda that is part of everyday media consumption of large audiences across nation-states – the data do not indicate a European transcendence of national public spheres.
Censorship in Contemporary Russian Journalism in the Age of the War Against Terrorism
Authors: Simons Greg , Strovsky Dmitry
Published: May 2006

The Russian mass media system has experienced tremendous change since the Soviet era. It has been argued that some similarities still exist between the old Soviet system and the new post-Soviet media, such as the practice of self-censorship. Pressure has been mounting on the mass media's level of editorial freedom since the late Yeltsin era, beginning with a raft of new laws introduced under the guise of keeping the media ‘honest’. One contemporary influence constraining and shaping media de velopment is Russia's ‘war on terrorism’. Ever since the infamous apartment bombings of August 1999, over 1000 people have been killed and scores more physically and emotionally scarred by acts of terrorism on Russian soil. The political, social and economic costs have been considerable. Russia's ‘war on terrorism’ has provided the authorities with ample excuses to curtail media reporting, such as protecting the work of the security forces in combating terrorist activity, stopping the spread of terrorist ‘propaganda’ and protecting victims of terrorist acts. Numerous bills have been debated in the Duma on prohibiting activity by the mass media during an incident. Senior representatives from the mass media have been involved in talks with the authorities on the issue and in drawing up industry guidelines for reporting on a terrorist act.
Research Note: Individual Differences in Perceptions of Internet Communication
Authors: Peter Jochen , Valkenburg Patti M.
Published: May 2006

Drawing on a survey among 687 adolescents, this article investigates to what extent their perceptions of internet communication differ and what background variables (i.e. age, gender, social anxiety, loneliness, need for affiliation) underlie these differences. The analysis focuses on how adolescents perceive the controllability, reciprocity, breadth and depth of internet communication in comparison with face-to-face communication. Younger, socially anxious and lonely adolescents more strongly value the controllability of internet communication and perceive it as broader, deeper and more reciprocal than older, non-socially anxious and non-lonely adolescent respondents. Boys perceive internet communication as more reciprocal than girls do. The greater the adolescents’ need for affiliation, the more often they regard internet communication as deeper than face-to- face communication. The findings suggest that a stronger focus on perceptions of internet communication may improve understanding of the internet as a social medium.
Research Note: Sensationalism in Dutch Current Affairs Programmes 1992–2001
Authors: Vettehen Paul Hendriks , Nuijten Koos , Beentjes Johannes W.J.
Published: May 2006

Both news critics and scholars often contend that increasing competition in the news market urges journalists to sensationalize their stories. Starting from this hypothesis, this article investigates changes in the level of sensationalism in three Dutch current affairs programmes that merged in 1996 as part of a strategy to fight increasing competition. A content analysis of these programmes in 1992 and 2001 shows a partial trend towards greater use of sensationalism.
French psychiatry and the new woman: the case of Dr Constance Pascal, 1877–1937
Authors: Gordon Felicia
Published: May 2006

This article traces the connections between the public career and private life of Constance Pascal (1877–1937), the first woman psychiatrist in France, in the social context of the Belle Époque. Pascal, of Romanian origin, attained professional success at the cost of suppressing her personal life. Best known for her work on dementia praecox, she researched the social as well as the biological causes of mental illness. She founded one of the first ‘medical-pedagogic’ institutes in France. Her monograph, Chagrins d'amour et psychoses (1935) reflects her wide cultural interests. Until recently, Pascal has been neglected by historians of psychiatry and of French women's history. Her life exemplified many of the conflicts experienced by women entering hitherto all-male professions.
The psychiatrist, the historian and The Christian Watt Papers
Authors: Beveridge Allan , Watson Fiona
Published: May 2006

The publication in the 1980s of The Christian Watt Papers brought to public attention the life of a previously unknown, long-term inmate of the Aberdeen Royal Asylum. Christian Watt's story inspired a play and a television documentary. This paper examines what the historical records reveal about Watt's life and how this compares with her own account.
Infectious insanities, surgical solutions: Bayard Taylor Holmes, dementia praecox and laboratory science in early 20th-century America. Part 1
Authors: Noll Richard
Published: May 2006

After his 17-year-old son suddenly developed a chronic psychotic illness in 1905, Bayard Taylor Holmes (1852–1924), a Chicago physician and surgeon with no psychiatric training, conducted both library and laboratory research on dementia praecox, as described in Part 1 of this two-part study. By late 1915 he believed he had found support for a focal infection theory of its aetiology – an ergot-like toxaemia caused by faecal stasis in the caecum. Holmes was also the editor of what is believed to be the first medical journal named after a psychiatric disorder: Dementia Praecox Studies. Part 2 will describe Holmes’ adoption of a rational therapy (using it first on his son, who died), and his founding of a Psychiatric Research Laboratory.
The treatment of madness in Spain in the second half of the 19th century: conceptual aspects
Authors: Domingo José-Javier Plumed , Rey-González Antonio
Published: May 2006

This paper deals with the conceptual principles which governed the treatment of madness in Spain during the nineteenth century. Against the general view that treatments were targeted to diseases, we argue that clinicians were more syndrome-oriented than disease-oriented in their treatments. Mental syndromes were classified into groups according to the different treatments that were thought to be useful. We also describe the conceptual basis of moral treatment and study the correlation between somatic and mental disease in relation to treatment.
Classic Text No. 66
Authors: Berrios German E.
Published: May 2006

The word ‘nymphomania’, the concept of ‘madness from the womb’ and the belief in the existence of a behaviour consisting in an abnormally high female sexual drive converged during the second half of the seventeenth century to give rise to a new clinical category which, with minor changes, has survived until the present (e.g., in ICD-10).

This Classic Text, an excerpt from the work of Lazare Rivière, provides a glimpse into the process whereby medical categories are constructed. According to Rivière (and many others) ‘madness from the womb’ was a disease which resulted from overheating and putrefaction of accumulated seed (female sperm) in the womb. Like all medical constructs, ‘madness from the womb’ (and soon nymphomania) included a symptomatology, natural history, aetiology, prognosis and cure. It is also clear that it was rehash of the earlier moral notion of ‘satyriasis’ (a male category applied to women) and the expression of seventeenth-century changing male attitudes towards, and fears of, female sexuality.
Vibration Control of a Plate using a Self-sensing Piezoelectric Actuator and an Adaptive Control Approach
Authors: Qiu Jinhao , Haraguchi Masakazu
Published: May 2006

This article describes the active vibration control of a plate using a self-sensing actuator (SSA) and an adaptive control method. In a self-sensing actuator, the same piezoelectric element functions as both a sensor and an actuator so that the total number of piezoelectric elements required can be reduced. A method to balance the bridge circuit of the SSA was proposed and its effectiveness was confirmed by using an extra piezoelectric sensor, which is not necessary for balancing bridge circuits of SSA in future applications. A control system including the SSA and an adaptive controller using a finite impulse response (FIR) filter and the filtered-X LMS algorithm was established. The experimental results show that the bridge circuit was well balanced and the vibration of the plate was successfully reduced at multiple resonance frequencies below 1.2 kHz.
Piezoelectric Smart Panels for Broadband Noise Reduction
Authors: Kim Jaehwan , Jung Young-Chae
Published: May 2006

This article presents the noise reduction performance of piezoelectric smart panels featuring piezoelectric shunt damping. A piezoelectric smart panel is a plate structure on which a piezoelectric patch with an electrical shunt circuit is attached. When an incidence sound is impinged on the panel structure, the structure vibrates and the attached piezoelectric patch produces electrical energy, which is effectively dissipated as heat via an electrical shunt circuit. Since the energy dissipation strongly depends on the vibration mode of the panel structure, many patches are required for multiple vibration modes. Instead of using multiple piezoelectric patches, a single piezoelectric patch is used in conjunction with blocked shunt circuit for multimode shunt damping. Modeling, shunt parameter tuning, and implementation of the blocked shunt circuit on the panels are explained.
A Study on the F-T Characteristics of Thickness Modes of Doubly Rotated Y-cut Piezoelectric Quartz Crystal
Authors: Huang Xianhe , Sun Xinghong , Wang Feng , Fu Wei
Published: May 2006

This study describes a method for analyzing the F-T characteristics of the thickness modes of a doubly rotated Y-cut anisotropic quartz crystal, including a-, b-, and c-modes by using the Christoffel equation that describes sound waves in solids. With this method, the F-T characteristics of the independent rotational angles 3/1 can be predicted. Based on the predicted F-T characteristic curve, the potential application of some cut-types as sensors is discussed. Combined with other methods, such as crystal force-frequency characteristic analysis, this method is expected to provide a research platform for studying new cut-types for various applications, such as frequency control and physical, chemical, and biological sensors, etc.
Giant Bending Motion of a Soft Actuator Controlled by Hydrogen Gas Pressure
Authors: Nishi Yoshitake , Uchida Haruhisa , Yabe Hiromasa , Kim Byungsuk , Ogasawara Takashi
Published: May 2006

A soft actuator with a giant bending motion controlled by hydrogen pressure for artificial muscles has been innovated. It resembles a bimetal and is constructed with soft silicone rubber sheets for driving and supporting. The LaNi5 hydrogen storage alloy powder is dispersed in the driving sheet. The reversible motion is observed and operated by hydrogenation and degassing. The giant bending motion of over 4000 ppm of strain was observed from 2 min to 3 h of hydrogenation time. The actuator developed shows a giant bending motion as large as that of a typical shape memory alloy.
Morphology of Insect Wings and Airflow Produced by Flapping Insects
Authors: Tsuyuki Koji , Sudo Seiichi , Tani Junji
Published: May 2006

This article describes the results of some experiments concerning wing morphology and flight performance of some flying insects: cicadas, dragonflies, and gadflies. First, the wing structures of these insects are measured down to the minutest detail by a three-dimensional curve-shaped measuring system. The surface shapes of the insect wings are mapped by distinct three-dimensional images. From the three-dimensional images, correlation coefficients are calculated by comparisons of the distribution of undulation on the wings. The surface shapes and the correlation coefficients show a difference in functions for flapping flight between each wing. Second, the distribution of velocity fields around a flapping cicada and a flapping dragonfly are visualized with a PIV system to identify the airflow generated by the wings. The distribution of velocity vectors for one stroke of a dragonfly wing is explained in the article. Additionally, the difference of airflow around the wings of a dragonfly and a cicada are revealed. It is found that the flapping forewing of the dragonfly carries out an important motion in its highly efficient flight.
Thermomechanical Behavior of a Polyurethane Shape Memory Polymer Foam
Authors: Huang W. M. , Lee C. W. , Teo H. P.
Published: May 2006

Shape memory polymers (SMPs) have attracted great interest in recent years. The SMP foams are outstanding, owing to their high shape recovery ratio in compression. They can be used for, for instance, micro foldable vehicles, shape determination, and microtags. This article presents a study on the thermomechanical behavior of a polyurethane SMP foam, associated with these three applications. This includes four types of tests namely, compression test, free recovery test, constrained cooling test, and gripping test.