bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Future Directions in Manual Materials Handling Research
Authors: Dempsey Patrick G. , Ayoub M.M. , Chaffin Don B. , Snook Stover H.
Published: January 2012

Manual materials handling (MMH) is one of the most active research areas within occupational ergonomics. In response to substantial workplace losses, varied approaches to the design and evaluation of MMH tasks have been developed. The principles of mechanics, physiology and psychophysics have been used for over three decades to provide insight into the responses that the human body undergoes while handling materials, and form the basis of most of the analysis techniques. While considerable advances have been made, continued losses associated with MMH exposures indicate that further research is needed. Following a discussion of current practices, each of the panelists will provide their viewpoint on how we might advance our ability to design and evaluate MMH exposures.
Development of the Quantitative Model for Application of Workers' Expertise in Evaluating Manual Lifting Tasks
Authors: Karwowski W. , Genaidy A. , Yeung Huston R. S. , Beltran J.
Published: January 2012

The objective of this paper is to investigate how worker expertise can be used to evaluate industrial lifting activities, with the ultimate goal of preventing lower back injuries in the workplace. Twenty-two professionals and twenty-two skilled laborers participated in the study. The results indicate that it is possible to use personal knowledge and experience in evaluating injury risks of physical tasks such as lifting. There was no difference between professionals and skilled laborers in terms of the cognitive patterns relating input to output variables. In the open lifting model, the weight of load was the most important variable in evaluating lifting activities, in agreement with findings in the literature about the association of task variables with back injuries at the time of the accident. In the closed loop model, perceived risk emerges as a primary variable in determining the effort level exerted during lifting activities followed by the weight of load.
The Development of a Risk Assessment Model for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS): A Case-Control Study
Authors: You Heecheon
Published: January 2012

A risk assessment model for CTS was developed from a case-control study consisting of two case- and one control groups: (1) 25 non-work related CTS patients (NW-CTS), (2) 22 work-related CTS patients (W-CTS), and (3) 50 healthy workers (HEALTHY) having had no CTS symptom history. Personal susceptibility, psychosocial stress at work, and ergonomic hazards were surveyed by using a questionnaire directed toward CTS (reliability of each scale ≤7). Three logistic regression models were developed and cross-validated for (1) W-CTS/HEALTHY, (2) NW-CTS/HEALTHY, and (3) CTS/HEALTHY, resulting in 89%, 84%, and 88% of correct classification performance, respectively. While the first two models include personal and ergonomic factors, the last model does only personal factors. This suggests that injury causation of NW-CTS patients be attributable mainly to their ‘high’ personal susceptibility to CTS rather than exposure to adverse work conditions, while for W-CTS patients work exposure and/or personal susceptibility cause their injury.
Reducing Wrmsd Risk Factors and Symptoms in Plant Nurseries through Material Handling Modifications
Authors: Janowitz Ira , Faucett Julia , Meyers James , Tarter Michael , Duraj Victor , Miles John A. , Tejeda Diana
Published: January 2012

University of California researchers developed new handles for lifting and carrying plants in nursery containers that resulted in significantly reduced exposures for work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Data are reported on risk factor exposure improvements and the incidence of related musculoskeletal symptoms following an extended field trial.
The Influence of Strength and Gender on Defining Psychophysical Lift Capacity
Authors: Jackson A. S. , Sekula B. K.
Published: January 2012

This study examined the influence of strength, gender, and lift weight on psychophysical lift capacity of 209 men and 181 women. Each subject lifted from three to eight boxes that ranged in weight from 22 to 143 pounds. Lift difficulty was rated with Borg's CR-10 psychophysical scale. Standard methods were used to measure isometric arm, shoulder, and torso strength. Power functions defined each subject's dynamic lift profile within their lift range. Multiple regression provided an equation with a function to estimate psychophysical lift difficulty from lift load, strength, and gender by weight load interaction (R = 0.81, SEE = 1.7). The regression equation provides a model for estimating psychophysical floor-to-knuckle height lift capacity of men and women who vary in strength. These data document that psychophysical lift capacity was not only a function of load weight, but also the gender and strength of the lifter.
Data Dependent Systems (DDS) Technique: Can it be used in Ergonomics?
Authors: Tarawneh Ibraheem S. , Williams Robert E. , Bishu Ram R.
Published: January 2012

The objective of this paper is to introduce the application of Data Dependent Systems (DDS) methodology to the fields of ergonomics. Many current techniques in ergonomics utilize static models, which can have significant limitations. DDS is a stochastic modeling and analysis technique which can be used to capture the system dynamics through quantitative analysis of the available data. DDS has been successfully applied to understand systems dynamics in a number of domains such as manufacturing, weather forecasting, and agriculture. In this research, DDS was used to analyze two sets of ergonomics data: time-based hand-skin temperature data for the evaluation of two types of glove liners in the recent past, and comparison of two lifting styles in the distant past. In both cases DDS was able to capture the differences between the experimental conditions and, more importantly was able to enumerate subject differences. The implications of the results and the potential of the DDS methodology are discussed.
Alertness-Support Activities for Control Room Operators in Automated Industrial Plants
Authors: Jensen Roger C.
Published: January 2012

A survey of control room operators in a nuclear power plant identified practical activities for maintaining alertness during the early morning hours. Nine on-duty operators rated 16 activities they were allowed to do on shift. Activities most effective for alertness were splashing cool water on the face, drinking coffee, and doing things that used muscles. The least effective activities were passive monitoring and studying for exams. The large range of ratings indicates that activity has a major role in operator alertness during the early morning hours.
On the Development of User Interface Design Guidelines for Electronic Commerce
Authors: Fath Janet L. , Henneman Richard L.
Published: January 2012

This paper contains a description of an approach to developing and delivering user interface design guidelines. The guidelines, embodying good user-interface design practice, can improve the usability of new systems and the efficiency of delivering a design and evaluation service. The methodology for developing the guidelines and the way they are delivered is applicable to many domains; the guidelines described here support an E-Commerce web site design and evaluation service. The guidelines span several levels of an interface design, including design of the information content required to support users' tasks, the way in which the site content is organized and navigated, as well as aesthetic and visual issues. Although some of the guidelines were drawn from the archival literature, the primary source was a study of 55 end users performing shopping tasks in four existing E-Commerce sites. Because the guidelines are delivered to designers and developers via a web site that integrates the recommendations into a user-centered design process, they can readily be extended and communicated as more usability evaluations are performed.
Internet Technologies Demonstration Session II
Authors: (Chair) James Cunningham , (Co-Chair) Rachel Young , Batra Sanjay , Cho Helen , Muralidhar Ajoy , Vochatzer Karl , CaldwellY Barrett , Vanderheiden Gregg
Published: January 2012

This session will highlight recent technical innovations in user interface technologies for the Internet. The Internet poses many unique challenges for the user interface designer. It also enables functional capabilities that may be applied in a variety of domains. Attendees will have an opportunity to have first-hand experience with developmental technologies that offer a sampling of the latest ideas. Developers participating in the session will interact with small groups of attendees and provide a brief demonstration and discussion. Through this session, the intent is to raise HFES attendee's awareness of the direction of technological innovation for the Internet and to provide a context for the exchange of insights and ideas among all those concerned with interface design and product design in general, for the Internet.
Connoted Hazard and Perceived Conspicuity of Warning Configurations
Authors: Cheatham Deane B. , Wogalter Michael S.
Published: January 2012

The effects of various elements comprising warning signs and labels on connoted hazard and perceived conspicuity were examined. The warning elements that were orthogonally manipulated included signal word, color, print/background color reversal, panel size, font size, and letter case. The component manipulations combined to produce 98 different warning configurations. The results confirmed some aspects of published standards in terms of color usage within the signal word panel. For example, in accordance with ANSI guidelines, signal words printed in white on a red background conveyed a higher level of hazard than any other ANSI signal word and background color style. Several significant interactions were found, supporting the notion that warning components need to be evaluated in combination with other components. Implications for the design of warnings are discussed.
Children's Use of Various Internal Automobile Trunk Release Mechanisms Intended to Reduce Child Entrapment Risk
Authors: Wood Christine T. , Arndt Steven R. , Kelkar Rajeev
Published: January 2012

As one part of a three-part package to reduce the likelihood of children becoming inadvertently trapped in automobile trunks, an internal trunk release mechanism was developed that would be obvious to young children as a way to open a locked trunk from the inside. Eighty-one children between the ages of three and seven voluntarily entered several disguised automobile trunks that had been separated from the rest of the vehicles and instrumented with audio and video monitoring equipment. The children attempted to find a way out of the trunk with no instructions about how to accomplish the task. Nine different mechanisms ranging from pull cords to light switches and door handles were examined. The most successful mechanism was found to be a yellow, lever-type door handle. This paper describes the development procedure and the responses of the children to the different mechanisms.
Fire and Ice – Safety, Comfort, and Getting the Firefighters' Job Done
Authors: Foley Tico , Butzer Melissa
Published: January 2012

Daily life for firefighters consists of working with life-threatening hazards in hostile environments. A major hazard is excessive ambient heat. New hazards have arisen from protective gear that was intended to increase survival time of firefighters while finding and rescuing victims. The insulation is so good now that a firefighter's metabolic heat buildup cannot escape. This forces body core temperatures to life threatening levels in about 20 minutes of moderate activity. Using NASA space suit technology, Oceaneering Space Systems developed a liquid cooling garment prototype that will remove up to 450 watts of metabolic heat. After testing and certification as an approved accessory for firefighter use, this garment will be available for use by any individual encapsulated in protective clothing. This demonstration will present a high surface area circulated liquid cooling garment displayed on a mannequin and available for attendees to try on to experience the effects of active cooling.
Managing Human Factors for Success
Authors: Lund Arnold M.
Published: January 2012

Managing a human factors program successfully requires organizational commitment and resources. Tactics can be defined to help obtain this commitment, and from the commitment the resources. Organizational support, however, can depend upon the impact of the human factors effort on the corporate bottom line. In addition to improving the quality of the work itself, there are political and organizational steps that can be taken to create an environment in which successful efforts are realized. These and related issues that should contribute to the successful management of a human factors program will be discussed.
Effects of Consequential Feedback within a Mine Safety Awareness Training System
Authors: Smith Dana M. , Ntuen Celestine A.
Published: January 2012

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of consequential and corrective feedback on training using MIne Safety Awareness System (MISAS). The effects of consequential feedback within an error-prompted display of a mine safety awareness system were examined. Consequential feedback (CQ) identifies incorrect answers by students and provides the expected consequences of those incorrect answers. Corrective feedback (CF) provides corrections to the student's incorrect answers. Subjects were randomly divided into two groups to complete training on a proof-of-concept prototype using consequential or corrective feedback. After 24 hours, the subjects were tested on the lesson material, and questionnaires were administered to assess their experiences regarding CQ and CF, respectively. Statistical analysis of the results found significant differences between the subject groups for length of training time and number of training errors, no significant differences in number of test errors, and significant differences in training perception. Subjects in the CQ group attributed training helpfulness to the feedback provided by MISAS on possible consequences (cost of not detecting mines), while the CF group use corrective feedback as goal-driven tasks. That is, they look for target goals to improvise their learning outcomes.
Adaptive Remediation in Complex Skill Training
Authors: Anthony Michael K. , Derek Katarina , Goettl Barry P. , Ramirez Kellie G.
Published: January 2012

Research has demonstrated that complex skill acquisition can be improved for some learners by implementing a Multiple Emphasis on Components (MEC) protocol during training. However, as learners vary in ability and experience, multiple emphasis may not be appropriate for all, and adaptive or individualized instructional paradigms may prove useful for training on some tasks. In addition, verbal elaboration has sometimes proven useful for improving training. In the present study, 118 participants were randomly assigned to one of six conditions representing the factorial combination of three emphasis conditions (total score, MEC, or MEC-adative remediation) and two verbal elaboration elaboration conditions (elaboration or no elaboration condition) and were trained on the complex task Space Fortress. Results support the use of adaptive multiple emphasis training on some task components. Results for verbal elaboration were mixed. Implications for training and computer-based adaptive training protocols are discussed.
Dyadic Protocols and the Acquisition of Complex Skills
Authors: Paulus Leigh Ellen , Goettl Barry P.
Published: January 2012

This study investigated whether the benefits of distributed practice and deliberate observation could afford two trainees the same level of effective performance as an individual with all hands-on practice on a complex skill. In this two-part study, a total of 156 participants were randomly assigned to either an Individual protocol, Alternate Play and Observe (APO-Dyad) protocol, Observation Only dyad (OO-Dyad) protocol, Observed Player (OP) protocol, or the Alternate Play and Rest (APR) protocol. Consistent with the research hypotheses in Study 1, the analyses revealed no significant difference between the APO-Dyad, Individual, and OP protocol on acquisition scores. The OO-Dyad protocol participants performed significantly lower than the Individual, APO-Dyad, and OP protocol, as expected. In Study 2, the Individual, APO-Dyad and APR-Dyad did not differ significantly on the acquisition scores.
Over-Reliance Issues with Task Guidance Systems
Authors: Ockerman Jennifer J.
Published: January 2012

Over-reliance occurs when the human responsible for completing a task allows a task aid to have too much authority. Over-reliance, long recognized as a problem with automation and decision aiding systems, now appears to also be an issue for task guidance systems. Task guidance systems are computer-based systems that guide a user through a task. A recent investigation of how the capabilities of a wearable computer may be used to provide task guidance in mobile environments demonstrated the possibility for over-reliance in these systems. Specifically, this investigation examined a wearable computer inspection aid for preflight inspection of general aviation aircraft. Pilots using the wearable computer inspection system were less thorough in their inspection than the pilots completing the inspection from memory. Deficiencies in the procedures used on the task guidance systems made it clear that the pilots with the wearable computer inspection aid were over-relying on its information. Details of this investigation and goals for future investigations into an interface design process to mitigate over-reliance in task guidance systems are discussed in this paper.
Cross Modal Displays for Haptic Information
Authors: Venkatraman Maya , Drury Colin
Published: January 2012

Haptic Displays present information to the sensory modality of touch. Tele-robotic tasks that are usually conducted in the absence of information that we gather by the sense of touch will benefit greatly by the inclusion of such data. The limited size of haptic displays and the serial nature of the information processing make it difficult to present many kinds of haptic information simultaneously. Display designers will benefit from knowing which types of haptic information (information usually gathered by touch) can be presented using cross modal displays (displays that use modalities other than touch) without causing reduced task performance. This study investigates the efficacy of cross modal displays of texture information. Three displays were designed in each of the following categories: Visual - Pictorial, Visual - Graphical and Auditory. Three control displays - Touch Only, Sight Only and Touch and Sight were also used. Data from displays with matched sensitivity values were used to analyze the effect of modality on three representative tasks: search, averaging and optimization. Results indicate that low cost, low bandwidth cross modal displays are viable alternatives for tasks with an embedded texture perception component.
Egocentric Distance Perception in a Virutal Environment Using a Perceptual Matching Task
Authors: Sinai MJ , Krebs WK , Darken RP , Rowland JH , McCarley JS
Published: January 2012

Objective: To determine whether egocentric distance judgments are accurate in a virtual environment using a perceptual matching task. Methods: Observers were immersed within a virtual environment consisting of an L-shaped room with a test object (a column) located down one corridor and a comparison object (a flagpole) located down the other. Perceived distances were measured by having the observers move the comparison object to match the distance to the test object. Textures in each corridor were independently varied, as was the size of the test object. Results: Significant effects were found for the texture pattern under the test object and for distance, but not for the texture under the comparison object or column size. Performance was best with a regular (brick) pattern. Overall, observers' judgments overestimated distance to the test object by approximately 7%. Conclusions: Egocentric distance judgments were relatively accurate compared to past research. Texture affected performance, with a regular pattern producing highest accuracy.
Emergent Features in Bar Graphs
Authors: Hurts Karel , Zwart Mark
Published: January 2012

The first purpose of the present study was to find out to what extent bar graphs may contain emergent features that can facilitate performance. In an experiment bar graphs with three different types of emergent feature were presented to each of 39 subjects who were asked to compare the sum of half of the values with that of the remaining values. The emergent features merely resulted from the relative size and position of the bars in relation to the subjects' task. A fourth type of bar graph did not contain any of these emergent features and served as a control (baseline). A second purpose of the study was to investigate the effect on performance of training graph readers in the use of these emergent features. Results of the experiment in which 50 bar graphs of the four above mentioned types were presented to the subjects showed that there were significant differences between the four graph types in both reaction time and accuracy. However, the effects for reaction time were largely in opposite directions from those for accuracy. Further analysis of this phenomenon showed that a composite measure, obtained by summing reaction time and accuracy, significantly discriminates between the four graph types. Apparently, subjects responded quickly but inaccurately on some graphs, whereas they responded slowly but accurately on other graphs. Half of the subjects received more extensive training on the use of the emergent features. This additional training did not affect performance on any of the graph types, however. Implications of these results for the theory of graphical perception and the practice of graph design are discussed.
Maintaining Situational Awareness: The Role of Visual Attention
Authors: Chaparro Alex , Groff Loren , Tabor Kamala , Sifrit Kathy , Gugerty Leo J.
Published: January 2012

This study examined the relationship between the UFOV® test (Ball, et al. 1993), and measures of situational awareness (SA) for the purpose of identifying those components of visual attention that are most important in maintaining SA. Situational awareness was assessed using a PC based driving simulator that tests a participant's ability to detect and respond to hazardous situations, as well as their knowledge of the locations of other cars. Subtests 2 and 3 of the UFOV test, which assess a participants divided and selective attention ability, were found to be significantly correlated with a participant's ability to recognize hazards and recall the location of other cars. The results suggest that the divided and selective attention tasks of the UFOV® test measure abilities that contribute significantly to a person's capacity to maintain situational awareness.
Psychophysical Judgement in Electronic Part Centering
Authors: Kong Dongjoon , Goldberg Joseph H.
Published: January 2012

Inspection of printed circuit boards frequently requires a judgement of whether an electronic component, such as a resistor or diode, is properly centered. The present study investigated observers' ability performing this discrimination by modeling a Just Noticeable Difference (JND), δ S, based upon Weber's fraction, k=δ S/S. Using computer-generated figures of mis-centered components, twenty graduate students participated in the experiments of making ‘centered’ versus ‘not centered’ judgements. Both the lengths of the leads (varying from 0% to 16% different) and the separation between the leads (width of resistor) were manipulated, while both errors and RTs were measured. Individual differences and percentage differences between the two sides were quite significant on errors and RTs, regardless of absolute line lengths. A sigmoid threshold response function was calculated within individuals and linearized using the logit transformation (see equation (1)). The composite function was more linear due to cross-subject averaging and separately modeled for each of the 20 subjects. The logit transformation models for 17 out of 20 subjects did not show any significant differences. Weber's Law accurately and significantly captured individual observer decision making in this study. The 50% threshold JND difference judgement of 7% was 3.5 greater than Laming's (1986) 2% JND for line lengths. Clearly, the present task had an additional difficulty associated with their horizontal separation. While differences in separation did not impact accuracy, the mere presence of a separation made this a difficult judgement task. Task design implications were also proposed.
Leading International Project Teams
Authors: Gundersen Gøran , Hellesøy Bjørn Tore , Raeder Sabine
Published: January 2012

The effects of transformational leadership are contingent on the complexity of the context in which the leadership is executed. This study examined transformational leadership in the context of international project teams and its relationship to team performance, work adjustment, and job satisfaction. The mediating influence of trust in the team was investigated. Data were collected from 286 international assignees in multinational project teams in an oil and gas corporation. Results revealed a positive relationship between transformational leadership and the outcomes. Trust in the team partially mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and team performance, and environmental dynamism moderated the direct effect between transformational leadership and team performance. Our results provide support for the applicability of transformational leader behaviors in contexts with varying degree of complexity.
Fragmented imperialism
Authors: Zajácz Rita
Published: January 2012

This article explains the rise and demise of the US Navy’s monopoly over radio communication in Panama (1914–36) via an interactive analysis of the conflicting logics of territorial and capitalist imperialism. By placing communication policy in the context of the transition from British to American leadership in the world system, the study reveals that fragmentation within the imperialist power, the transition from radiotelegraphy to broadcasting and American policy-makers' adoption of attitudes appropriate for a rising hegemon, all helped the Panamanian government achieve some measure of independence from US control. The article contends that interactive analyses of imperialism deserve a more prominent role in the political economy of media and communication technologies and that such analyses of US imperialism are inseparable from the changing position of the country in the world system.
Neuroprotection with metformin and thymoquinone against ethanol-induced apoptotic neurodegeneration in prenatal rat cortical neurons
Authors: Ullah Ikram , Ullah Najeeb , Naseer Muhammad Imran , Lee Hae Young , Kim Myeong OK
Published: January 2012

Background

Exposure to ethanol during early development triggers severe neuronal death by activating multiple stress pathways and causes neurological disorders, such as fetal alcohol effects or fetal alcohol syndrome. This study investigated the effect of ethanol on intracellular events that predispose developing neurons for apoptosis via calcium-mediated signaling. Although the underlying molecular mechanisms of ethanol neurotoxicity are not completely determined, mitochondrial dysfunction, altered calcium homeostasis and apoptosis-related proteins have been implicated in ethanol neurotoxicity. The present study was designed to evaluate the neuroprotective mechanisms of metformin (Met) and thymoquinone (TQ) during ethanol toxicity in rat prenatal cortical neurons at gestational day (GD) 17.5.

Results

We found that Met and TQ, separately and synergistically, increased cell viability after ethanol (100 mM) exposure for 12 hours and attenuated the elevation of cytosolic free calcium [Ca2+]c. Furthermore, Met and TQ maintained normal physiological mitochondrial transmembrane potential (ΔψM), which is typically lowered by ethanol exposure. Increased cytosolic free [Ca2+]c and lowered mitochondrial transmembrane potential after ethanol exposure significantly decreased the expression of a key anti-apoptotic protein (Bcl-2), increased expression of Bax, and stimulated the release of cytochrome-c from mitochondria. Met and TQ treatment inhibited the apoptotic cascade by increasing Bcl-2 expression. These compounds also repressed the activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3 and reduced the cleavage of PARP-1. Morphological conformation of cell death was assessed by TUNEL, Fluoro-Jade-B, and PI staining. These staining methods demonstrated more cell death after ethanol treatment, while Met, TQ or Met plus TQ prevented ethanol-induced apoptotic cell death.

Conclusion

These findings suggested that Met and TQ are strong protective agents against ethanol-induced neuronal apoptosis in primary rat cortical neurons. The collective data demonstrated that Met and TQ have the potential to ameliorate ethanol neurotoxicity and revealed a possible protective target mechanism for the damaging effects of ethanol during early brain development.
Bayesian filtering for indoor localization and tracking in wireless sensor networks
Authors: Dhital Anup , Closas Pau , Fernández-Prades Carles
Published: January 2012

In this article, we investigate experimentally the suitability of several Bayesian filtering techniques for the problem of tracking a moving device by a set of wireless sensor nodes in indoor environments. In particular, we consider a setup where a robot was equipped with an ultra-wideband (UWB) node emitting ranging signals; this information was captured by a network of static UWB sensor nodes that were in charge of range computation. With the latter, we ran, analyzed, and compared filtering techniques to track the robot. Namely, we considered methods falling into two families: Gaussian filters and particle filters. Results shown in the article are with real data and correspond to an experimental setup where the wireless sensor network was deployed. Additionally, statistical analysis of the real data is provided, reinforcing the idea that in this kind of ranging measurements, the Gaussian noise assumption does not hold. The article also highlights the robustness of a particular filter, namely the cost-reference particle filter, to model inaccuracies which are typical in any practical filtering algorithm.
Music-aided affective interaction between human and service robot
Authors: Park Jeong-Sik , Jang Gil-Jin , Seo Yong-Ho
Published: January 2012

This study proposes a music-aided framework for affective interaction of service robots with humans. The framework consists of three systems, respectively, for perception, memory, and expression on the basis of the human brain mechanism. We propose a novel approach to identify human emotions in the perception system. The conventional approaches use speech and facial expressions as representative bimodal indicators for emotion recognition. But, our approach uses the mood of music as a supplementary indicator to more correctly determine emotions along with speech and facial expressions. For multimodal emotion recognition, we propose an effective decision criterion using records of bimodal recognition results relevant to the musical mood. The memory and expression systems also utilize musical data to provide natural and affective reactions to human emotions. For evaluation of our approach, we simulated the proposed human-robot interaction with a service robot, iRobiQ. Our perception system exhibited superior performance over the conventional approach, and most human participants noted favorable reactions toward the music-aided affective interaction.
Identifying co-targets to fight drug resistance based on a random walk model
Authors: Chen Liang-Chun , Yeh Hsiang-Yuan , Yeh Cheng-Yu , Arias Carlos Roberto , Soo Von-Wun
Published: January 2012

Background

Drug resistance has now posed more severe and emergent threats to human health and infectious disease treatment. However, wet-lab approaches alone to counter drug resistance have so far still achieved limited success due to less knowledge about the underlying mechanisms of drug resistance. Our approach apply a heuristic search algorithm in order to extract active network under drug treatment and use a random walk model to identify potential co-targets for effective antibacterial drugs.

Results

We use interactome network of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and gene expression data which are treated with two kinds of antibiotic, Isoniazid and Ethionamide as our test data. Our analysis shows that the active drug-treated networks are associated with the trigger of fatty acid metabolism and synthesis and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH)-related processes and those results are consistent with the recent experimental findings. Efflux pumps processes appear to be the major mechanisms of resistance but SOS response is significantly up-regulation under Isoniazid treatment. We also successfully identify the potential co-targets with literature confirmed evidences which are related to the glycine-rich membrane, adenosine triphosphate energy and cell wall processes.

Conclusions

With gene expression and interactome data supported, our study points out possible pathways leading to the emergence of drug resistance under drug treatment. We develop a computational workflow for giving new insights to bacterial drug resistance which can be gained by a systematic and global analysis of the bacterial regulation network. Our study also discovers the potential co-targets with good properties in biological and graph theory aspects to overcome the problem of drug resistance.
"Familial" versus "sporadic" intellectual disability: contribution of subtelomeric rearrangements
Authors: Rafati Maryam , Ghadirzadeh Mohammad R , Heshmati Yaser , Adibi Homeira , Keihanidoust Zarrintaj , Eshraghian Mohammad R , Dastan Jila , Hoseini Azadeh , Purhoseini Marzieh , Ghaffari Saeed R
Published: January 2012

Background

Cryptic subtelomeric rearrangements have been proposed as a significant cause of sporadic intellectual disability (ID) but the role of such aberrations in familial ID has not yet been studied. As positive family history of ID had been proposed as an important and significant predicting factor of subtelomeric rearrangements, it was assumed that the contribution of subtelomeric aberrations in familial ID would be much more than the sporadic ones. Three hundred and twenty two patients from 102 unrelated families with more than two ID patients in the first degree relatives have been investigated. Assessment of subtelomeric rearrangements were carried out using Multiplex Ligation-Dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA) technique. Detected aberrations were then confirmed by Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization (FISH) method.

Results

Among the families studied, 27.4% had 4-12, 36.3% had 3 and 36.3% had 2 affected individuals in the first degree relatives. One unbalanced translocation and 4 polymorphic changes were detected. The prevalence of clinically significant subtelomeric rearrangements was 0.98%.

Conclusion

This is the first investigation of subtelomeric aberrations in a large sample set of familial ID patients. Our results show that the contribution of subtelomeric rearrangements to familial ID is not as much as what had been determined for sporadic ones in the literature. Moreover, this study shows that the positive family history by alone, cannot be the most important and determining indicator of subtelomeric aberrations while it would be a good predicting factor when associated with dysmorphism or congenital malformations. These findings propose that other cryptic chromosomal abnormalities or even single gene disorders may be the main cause of familial ID rather than subtelomeric aberrations.
A recurrent translocation is mediated by homologous recombination between HERV-H elements
Authors: Hermetz Karen E , Surti Urvashi , Cody Jannine D , Rudd M Katharine
Published: January 2012

Background

Chromosome rearrangements are caused by many mutational mechanisms; of these, recurrent rearrangements can be particularly informative for teasing apart DNA sequence-specific factors. Some recurrent translocations are mediated by homologous recombination between large blocks of segmental duplications on different chromosomes. Here we describe a recurrent unbalanced translocation casued by recombination between shorter homologous regions on chromosomes 4 and 18 in two unrelated children with intellectual disability.

Results

Array CGH resolved the breakpoints of the 6.97-Megabase (Mb) loss of 18q and the 7.30-Mb gain of 4q. Sequencing across the translocation breakpoints revealed that both translocations occurred between 92%-identical human endogenous retrovirus (HERV) elements in the same orientation on chromosomes 4 and 18. In addition, we find sequence variation in the chromosome 4 HERV that makes one allele more like the chromosome 18 HERV.

Conclusions

Homologous recombination between HERVs on the same chromosome is known to cause chromosome deletions, but this is the first report of interchromosomal HERV-HERV recombination leading to a translocation. It is possible that normal sequence variation in substrates of non-allelic homologous recombination (NAHR) affects the alignment of recombining segments and influences the propensity to chromosome rearrangement.
First report on the occurrence of Rickettsia slovaca and Rickettsia raoultii in Dermacentor silvarum in China
Authors: Tian Zhan-Cheng , Liu Guang-Yuan , Shen Hui , Xie Jun-Ren , Luo Jin , Tian Mei-Yuan
Published: January 2012

Background

Rickettsioses are among both the longest known and most recently recognized infectious diseases. Although new spotted fever group rickettsiae have been isolated in many parts of the world including China, Little is known about the epidemiology of Rickettsia pathogens in ticks from Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China.

Methods

In an attempt to assess the potential risk of rickettsial infection after exposure to ticks in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China, a total of 200 Dermacentor silvarum ticks collected in Xinyuan district were screened by polymerase chain reaction based on the outer membrane protein A gene.

Results

22 of the 200 specimens (11%) were found to be positive by PCR. Phylogenetic analysis of OmpA sequences identified two rickettsial species, Rickettsia raoultii (4.5%) and Rickettsia slovaca (6.5%).

Conclusions

This study has reported the occurrence of Rickettsia raoultii and Rickettsia slovaca in Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China and suggests that Dermacentor silvarum could be involved in the transmission of rickettsial agents in China. Further studies on the characterization and culture of rickettsial species found in Dermacentor silvarum should be performed to further clarify this. Additionally, the screening of human specimens for rickettsial disease in this region will define the incidence of infection.
“That Friendship of the Whites”: Patronage, Philanthropy, and Charles Chesnutt's The Colonel's Dream
Authors: Sawaya Francesca
Published: January 2012

This essay focuses on the writings of Charles Chesnutt in order to rethink the expressivist and democratizing assumptions about the market that literary historians in the United States have borrowed from classical economics. In particular, it analyzes the discourse of friendship used to describe the continuous and changing social practices of patronage and philanthropy in the era of corporate capitalism. Such friendship calls into question simple conceptions about supply and demand, consumer preference, and the diversifying power of markets. Placing Chesnutt's writings in dialogue with those of Booker T. Washington, the essay analyzes the African American debate over the significance of corporate capitalist friendship. Chesnutt is, on the one hand, intrigued by the language and possibilities of corporate philanthropy. He works to imagine if such friendship can be linked to an older radical discourse of friendship stemming from the revolutionary era. On the other hand, especially in The Colonel's Dream (1905), he finds himself continually frustrated by what corporate philanthropic friendship evades—namely issues of justice. This essay therefore finally challenges assumptions about “free” markets that we have unconsciously relied on in our literary histories, while also showing how a focus on the social practices of patronage and philanthropy helps us ask new questions about the relation of literature to corporate capitalism.
Social Landscaping in the Forests of Mexico: An Environmental Interpretation of Cardenismo, 1934–1940
Authors: Boyer Christopher R. , Wakild Emily
Published: January 2012

This article reinterprets the pivotal presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas of Mexico, (1934–40) through the prism of environmental history. The Cárdenas administration is best known for its use of land reform, creation of mass organizations, and the nationalization of key industries to fulfill what it understood as the “promises” of the revolution. Yet such assertions render the natural world invisible. We show that a fundamental element of Cárdenas’s ambitious social and political agenda was to rationalize and expand the use of natural resources in tandem with social reform, a process that we term “social landscaping.” The Cardenistas intended not only to reorient the relationship between the popular classes and the state but to unleash state power in order to redefine the relationship between the popular classes and nature. Social landscaping played out in a variety of landscapes such as river valleys, roadways, and forests, the latter of which received special attention. The twin goals of rationalizing resource use and reconfiguring rural people’s relationship with the land, we argue, was a defining characteristic of Cardenismo and its attempt to harness land reform, economic development, and the scientific use of natural resources to the broader project of social transformation.
The Affirmation of an Other Politics of Emancipation
Authors: Acontecimiento Grupo
Published: January 2012

Through an exposition of three key reactions to the growing pull of electoral phenomena in Argentina, Grupo Acontecimiento gives itself the challenge of answering the question of how it might be possible to operate politically within a space where political action is continually forced to remain exterior to the options that are presented to us on a daily basis, but where there is also the desire to invent a new political radicalism in the here and now—rupturing the given order of the contemporary neoliberal dispositif. By analyzing the positions of “indefinite postponement” and its underlying support in the logic of the “lesser evil,” the permanent rejection of the ultimately inadequate politics of “being against,” as well as that of an emerging and promising third position of an Other politics, Grupo Acontecimiento attempts to show that it is possible to remain faithful to a set of strong and clear principles for political action that distances us from the shell of politics in the electoral arena while simultaneously engaging in and affirming a new politics of emancipation.
When Communism Becomes Flesh
Authors: Alcoreza Raúl Prada
Published: January 2012

In contrast to more orthodox visions that have tended to define communism as the satisfaction of needs through the centralized planning of markets, Raúl Prada sets out to analyze communism as “the real movement that abolished the present state of things.” This alternative vision of communism must start, then, from an analysis of the multitudinous actualization of community and collective forms—the constituent and creative matrix—of the revolts that have occurred in Bolivia and throughout Latin America in the last two decades. From this perspective, it becomes evident that it is within these movements that new horizons of visibility—new concepts—have been produced, forcing us to rethink the relation between philosophy and social movements and, alternatively, to propose a philosophy of social movements. In other words, this essay concludes by foregrounding the following questions: How do multitudes think? What is a collective thinking? We are accustomed to attributing thought to the subject and to circumscribing self-consciousness to the individual, but where does this leave us regarding the collective act of creating concepts?
Liquid-Based Papanicolaou Tests in Endometrial Carcinoma Diagnosis
Authors: Sams Sharon B. , Currens Heather S. , Raab Stephen S.
Published: January 2012

Recent reports show that the sensitivity of endometrial carcinoma detection on liquid-based Papanicolaou (Pap) tests (88%) is considerably higher than that reported on conventional Pap smears (20%–30%), although few laboratories have corroborated these results. We performed a 5-year retrospective review of all liquid-based Pap tests (n = 69) in women who later were given a diagnosis of endometrial carcinoma, performed error root cause analysis, and developed quality improvement initiatives as a means of error reduction. The original and rescreened Pap test sensitivity rates for endometrial carcinoma were 31.9% and 59.3%, respectively. Root cause analysis showed that poor specimen quality and cognitive failures contributed to a false-negative error in 67% (18/27) and 59% (16/27), respectively, of all cases. System analysis showed that latent factors contributing to error included lack of redundant and educational systems. We conclude that system redesign of liquid-based Pap test screening processes has the potential to improve sensitivity in endometrial carcinoma diagnosis.
An arts-based approach to co-facilitation of a theatre programme for teenagers with acquired brain injury
Authors: GRAY JULIA , AGNIHOTRI SABRINA , KEIGHTLEY MICHELLE , COLANTONIO ANGELA , JAMES JODY , MORIN STEFAN
Published: January 2012

This article documents a theatre programme for adolescents with acquired brain injury (ABI) developed as part of a research study, with the intention to improve social skills and community integration post-injury. Attention is brought to the artsbased method of co-facilitation in context
of the artistic programme. Challenges of recovering from an ABI are discussed, in addition to how the programme's goals aimed to address these challenges and how the facilitators approached issues during the programme. Using a narrative approach, arts-based methods are explored relative to
the programme's development, how the facilitators interacted with each other and how the needs of participants were supported. The adaptive nature of an arts-based method of facilitation, as well as the artistic exercises comprising the programme, were found to suit working with participants
with an ABI who each had unique recovery processes due to the complex nature of their injuries.