bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Precision grinding of BK7 glasses using conditioned coarse-grained diamond wheel
Authors: Zhao Ling L , Zhao Qing L , Jin Guo W , Kang Xiao J , Xin Xiao W
Published: May 2013

For precision machining of large-sized optical elements, more attention is being paid to the ground surface quality, the processing costs and the machining efficiency. Besides the commonly used fine-grained diamond wheels, the coarse-grained diamond wheel is now also expected to be a promising tool with lower wheel wear rate and higher efficiency. However, conditioning of this kind of wheel is always a difficult issue to deal with. In this article, the efficient conditioning of the electroplated diamond wheel and precision grinding of BK7 glasses were investigated. Through the single diamond grit wear simulation, D3 steel was chosen as the conditioning tool. The worn diamond abrasive morphology and Raman spectroscopy analysis revealed the conditioning mechanism. Under different conditioning stages, the BK7 glasses were correspondingly ground exhibiting different surface integrity and grinding forces. The experimental results indicated that the wheel’s run-out error could be rapidly reduced to 5.8 µm because of the blend graphitization, passivation, diffusion and microcrushing of the diamond abrasives. The precision ground BK7 glasses could achieve a surface roughness of Ra < 20 nm and a subsurface crack depth around 2 µm, illustrating that the electroplated coarse-grained diamond wheel could be an alternative for precision grinding large-sized optical elements in terms of high accuracy, cost-effectiveness and high efficiency.
An enhanced stochastic resonance method for weak feature extraction from vibration signals in bearing fault detection
Authors: Lei Yaguo , Lin Jing , Han Dong , He Zhengjia
Published: May 2013

Rolling element bearings are widely used in modern machinery and play an important role in industrial applications. Tough environments under which they work make them subject to failure. The classical strategy is to collect bearing vibration signals and denoise the signals to detect fault features by using signal processing techniques. Although the noise is reduced with this strategy, the fault features may be weakened or even destroyed as well. Different from the classical denoising techniques, stochastic resonance is able to extract weak features embedded in heavy noise by utilizing noise instead of eliminating noise. The single stochastic resonance, however, fails to extract the fault features when the signal-to-noise ratio of the bearing vibration signals is very low. To address this problem, this paper investigates the enhancement methods of stochastic resonance and develops a cascaded stochastic resonance-based weak feature extraction method for bearing fault detection. Two sets of vibration signals collected respectively from an experimental bearing and a bearing inside a train wheel pair are utilized to demonstrate the proposed method. The results show that the method is superior to the other enhancement methods in extracting weak features of bearing faults.
Detection of looseness degree of dental posts using natural frequency analysis
Authors: Hsieh Sung-Chih , Lin Shu-Li , Huang Yung-Kai , Chang Wei-Jen , Yuan Chia-Chun , Lo Yi-June , Lee Sheng-Yang , Huang Haw-Ming
Published: May 2013

This study examines the relationship between the retention force and natural frequency of dental posts cemented with zinc phosphate cement. Forty-two decoronated maxillary incisors were collected and embedded in resin blocks. The 7-mm post spaces were prepared for all test samples prior to cementing the 13-mm Para-Posts with zinc phosphate cement. The natural frequency values and retention forces of the zinc phosphate cement–cemented Para-Posts in various liquid/powder mixing ratios were measured. Thereafter, the natural frequency values of the zinc phosphate cement–cemented posts were continuously detected during ultrasonic vibration. Moreover, both the natural frequency values and the dislodgement forces in response to ultrasonic vibrations were measured for the pretreated post samples. Results showed that the natural frequency values of the posts significantly decreased from 8.8 ± 0.8 to 5.0 ± 0.5 kHz ( P < 0.05) before and after ultrasound treatment, respectively. The natural frequency values and the dislodgement forces of tested posts had a highly linear relationship ( R2 = 0.99, P < 0.05). These findings suggest that natural frequency is a variable for monitoring the stability status of zinc phosphate cement–cemented dental posts.
A biomechanical evaluation of hinged total knee replacement prostheses
Authors: Long Robin , Gheduzzi Sabina , Bucher Thomas A , Toms Andrew D , Miles Anthony W
Published: May 2013

The number of total knee replacements being performed worldwide is undergoing an unprecedented increase. Hinged total knee replacements, used in complex salvage and revision procedures, currently account for a small but growing proportion of prostheses implanted. Modern hinged prostheses share the same basic configuration, allowing flexion–extension and tibial rotation. One aspect on which designs differ is the anteroposterior location of the hinge. A more posterior hinge is designed to increase the patellar tendon moment arm, reducing the quadriceps force required for a given activity and benefiting the patient. Five commonly used total knee replacements were evaluated in terms of quadriceps force and patellar tendon moment arm using a laboratory-based rig. Significant differences were identified between the five prostheses in quadriceps force and patellar tendon moment arm. Analysis of the correlation between these two parameters indicates that while patellar tendon moment arm influences quadriceps force, it is not the only factor. Also important is the lever function of the patella, and it is suggested here that the non-physiological nature of the prosthetic patellofemoral geometry may result in unnatural joint function. Thus, a thorough understanding of the resulting kinematic function of hinged total knee replacements is becoming increasingly important in complex revision total knee replacement to meet rising patient expectations and functional demands.
Temporary Deafness Can Impair Multisensory Integration
Authors: Landry Simon P. , Guillemot Jean-Paul , Champoux François
Published: May 2013

Previous investigations suggest that temporary deafness can have a dramatic impact on audiovisual speech processing. The aim of this study was to test whether temporary deafness disturbs other multisensory processes in adults. A nonspeech task involving an audiotactile illusion was administered to a group of normally hearing individuals and a group of individuals who had been temporarily auditorily deprived. Members of this latter group had their auditory detection thresholds restored to normal levels through the use of a cochlear implant. Control conditions revealed that auditory and tactile discrimination capabilities were identical in the two groups. However, whereas normally hearing individuals integrated auditory and tactile information, so that they experienced the audiotactile illusion, individuals who had been temporarily deprived did not. Given the basic nature of the task, failure to integrate multisensory information could not be explained by the use of the cochlear implant. Thus, the results suggest that normally anticipated audiotactile interactions are disturbed following temporary deafness.
Falling Skyscrapers
Authors: Tseng Chia-huei , Chow Hiu Mei , Spillmann Lothar
Published: May 2013

The perception of verticality is critical for balance control and interaction with the world. But this complex process fails badly under certain circumstances—usually as the result of an illusion. Here, we report on a real-world example of how the brain fails to disregard body position on a moving mountain tram and adopts an inappropriate frame of reference, which prompts passengers to perceive skyscrapers leaning by as much as 30°. To elucidate the sensory origin of this misperception, we conducted field experiments on the moving tram to systematically disentangle the contributions of four sensory systems known to affect verticality perception, namely, vestibular, tactile, proprioceptive, and visual cues. Our results refute the intuitive assumption that the perceived tilt of the buildings is based on visual error signals and demonstrate instead that a unified percept of verticality is a product of the synergistic interaction among multiple sensory systems and the contextual information available in the real world.
The Epigenesis of Wariness of Heights
Authors: Dahl Audun , Campos Joseph J. , Anderson David I. , Uchiyama Ichiro , Witherington David C. , Ueno Mika , Poutrain-Lejeune Laure , Barbu-Roth Marianne
Published: May 2013

Human infants with little or no crawling experience surprisingly show no wariness of heights, but such wariness becomes exceptionally strong over the life span. Neither depth perception nor falling experiences explain this extraordinary developmental shift; however, something about locomotor experience does. The crucial component of locomotor experience in this emotional change is developments in visual proprioception—the optically based perception of self-movement. Precrawling infants randomly assigned to drive a powered mobility device showed significantly greater visual proprioception, and significantly greater wariness of heights, than did controls. More important, visual proprioception mediated the relation between wariness of heights and locomotor experience. In a separate study, crawling infants’ visual proprioception predicted whether they would descend onto the deep side of a visual cliff, a finding that confirms the importance of visual proprioception in the development of wariness of heights.
Heteronormativity and queerness in transnational heterosexual Salsa communities
Authors: Schneider Britta
Published: May 2013

Salsa dance and music has become popular worldwide and Salsa communities outside of Latin America offer a fertile environment for studying gender and heteronormativity in cultural contact zones. Often, the desire to reconstruct ‘traditional’ heteronormative gender roles in these contexts is striking. Interestingly, informants of the qualitative, ethnographic study presented here display high degrees of reflexive consciousness regarding the constructed nature of their gendered performance. This article also discusses and analyses non-heteronormative performances that do not adhere to ‘traditional’ gender roles, which may be understood as queer performances. These are found frequently; however, an analysis of discursive data that relates to these performances makes their subversive potential debatable.
Are ‘queers’ really ‘queer’? Language, identity and same-sex desire in a South African online community
Authors: Milani Tommaso M
Published: May 2013

This study investigates meetmarket, a South African online community for men who are looking for other men. Utilising a quantitative approach to queer linguistics, the article presents a textual analysis of a large corpus of personal profiles in order to map meetmarket’s ‘libidinal economy’. More specifically, the article seeks to tease out the ways in which the members of this community valorise, and thereby make more desirable, certain identities at the expense of others. This then makes it possible to understand the extent to which these men (re)produce or, conversely, contest and overturn dominant forms of social categorisation in their expressions of same-sex desire.
Climate changes and human–environment interactions in the Apulia region of southeastern Italy during the Neolithic period
Authors: Fiorentino Girolamo , Caldara Massimo , De Santis Vincenzo , D’Oronzo Cosimo , Muntoni Italo Maria , Simone Oronzo , Primavera Milena , Radina Francesca
Published: May 2013

The objective of our research was to define the main human–environment interactions during the Neolithic period (6500–3700 bc) in the Apulia region of southeastern Italy based on available published and unpublished data. Knowledge of these interactions is crucial to understanding the cultural and social dynamics of the period, particularly concerning the earliest farmers. Using a multidisciplinary approach, paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatological data at the regional and Mediterranean scales were compared with the results of analyses performed on natural deposits and deposits in Neolithic settlements. The following data sets were used: (1) 121 14C dates for settlements, from which probability curves (%) of the Apulian Archaeological Occupation (AAO) were developed; (2) offshore data obtained from analyses performed on two offshore sediment cores drilled in the Adriatic Sea; (3) offsite data from studies conducted in two natural coastal contexts; and (4) onsite archaeobotanical data from 35 settlements. This study allowed us to tentatively define the main climatic features between 6200 and 3700 bc. We identified two dry phases (one between 5000 and 4600 bc and a second that peaked c. 4000 bc) and two wet intervals (one between 6200 and 5500 bc and a second that peaked around 4400 bc). Climate changes appear to have been relatively gradual. The use of archaeobotanical data allowed us to determine a direct link between paleoclimatic and archaeological sequences. These data highlight the variations in agricultural strategies (species used and harvest times) as humans responded to changes in the rainfall regime.
Cutaneous papillomavirus infection in patients with rheumatoid arthritis or systemic lupus erythematosus. A case-control study
Authors: Martínez-Martínez MU , Baranda-Cándido L , Abud-Mendoza C
Published: May 2013

Previous studies informed an increased prevalence of cutaneous papillomavirus (cHPV) infection in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The main objective of our study was to evaluate factors associated with cHPV infection in patients with either rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or SLE, and to determine whether SLE itself is an independent risk factor for cHPV infection. We included 670 patients (in consecutive selection) in this cross-sectional study (550 with RA and 120 with SLE). All patients were evaluated by a dermatologist; patients with cHPV infection were selected as cases (63) and the other 607 patients were selected as controls. The prevalence of cHPV infection was increased 2.8-fold in SLE patients (20%) compared with RA patients (7.1%). When comparing cases with controls, bivariate analysis showed statistically significant differences for: age, having SLE, and treatment with mycophenolate mofetil (MMF). When all of the potential risk factors identified using bivariate analysis (age, having SLE, and MMF) were included into a multivariate model, independent risk factors for cHPV infection were: having SLE (odds ratio: 2.16, 95% confidence interval: 1.04–4.48) and MMF therapy (odds ratio: 2.91, 95% confidence interval: 1.18–7.14).
From discourse to dispositif: States and terrorism between Marseille and 9/11
Authors: Ditrych Ondrej
Published: May 2013

This article is a historical study of how states have articulated statements about terrorism since the 1930s; under what conditions these statements have been articulated; and what effects the discourses made up of these statements have had on global politics. This includes the constitutive role of the present discourse on what is posited as a terrorism dispositif. The inquiry is inspired by Foucault’s historical method, and comprises the descriptive archaeological analytic focused on the order of the discourse (including basic discourses in which the terrorist subject is constituted) and the genealogical power analysis of external conditions of emergence and variation of discursive series, whose treatment benefits also from Carl Schmitt’s concept of the nomos.
Engaging the limits of visibility: Photography, security and surveillance
Authors: Andersen Rune S. , Möller Frank
Published: May 2013

In this article, we introduce selected photographs in order to engage with their capability for questioning the representational codes dominant in the visualization of security policy and surveillance. We argue that the intangible, abstract workings of state power in connection with security, surveillance and current forms of warfare can aptly be represented and challenged by means of photography. By engaging the limits of visibility, the selected photographs explore the limits of photojournalism and security alike. First, they operate by making visible what is normally invisible, though they also blur the boundaries of the seen and the unseen. Second, they function outside the discursive-representational regime within which photojournalism, based on a powerful tradition, operates, and within which media and security professionals visualize security. By so doing, they avoid involuntary incorporation into and support of this very regime that simultaneously they help understand. Third, they visualize structures and institutions rather than people, thus avoiding ethical dilemmas in connection with representations of people in pain. Discussing selected photographs by Trevor Paglen and Simon Norfolk, we show what these photographs do to alter the discursive frame within which the politics of security is understood. Such alteration facilitates understanding of the extent to which current societies are penetrated by the ideas and practices of security and surveillance, and furthers investigation of the discursive structures that enable such penetration.
Disappearing violence: JSOC and the Pentagon’s new cartography of networked warfare
Authors: Niva Steve
Published: May 2013

In the twilight of the USA’s ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been an expanding shadow war of targeted killings and drone strikes outside conventional war zones, where violence is largely disappeared from media coverage and political accountability. While many attribute the growth in these shadowy operations to the use of new technologies and platforms such as drones, this article argues that the central transformation enabling these operations is the increasing emergence of network forms of organization within and across the US military and related agencies after 2001. Drawing upon evidence from unclassified reports, academic studies, and the work of investigative journalists, this article will show that elements within the US military and related agencies developed in the decade after 2001 a form of shadow warfare in which hybrid blends of hierarchies and networks combine through common information and self-synchronization to mount strike operations across transnational battle spaces. But, rather than a top-down transformation towards networks, this article will show how it was the evolution of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) from an elite strike force into a largely autonomous networked command that has been central to this process. Although drone strikes have received the bulk of critical attention in relation to this expanding shadow war of targeted killing, this often-lethal networked warfare increasingly resembles a global and possibly permanent policing operation in which targeted operations are used to manage populations and threats in lieu of addressing the social and political problems that produce the threats in the first place.
Avatars of Eurocentrism in the critique of the liberal peace
Authors: Sabaratnam Meera
Published: May 2013

Recent scholarly critiques of the so-called liberal peace raise important political and ethical challenges to practices of postwar intervention in the global South. However, their conceptual and analytic approaches have tended to reproduce rather than challenge the intellectual Eurocentrism underpinning the liberal peace. Eurocentric features of the critiques include the methodological bypassing of target subjects in research, the analytic bypassing of subjects through frameworks of governmentality, the assumed ontological split between the ‘liberal’ and the ‘local’, and a nostalgia for the liberal subject and the liberal social contract as alternative bases for politics. These collectively produce a ‘paradox of liberalism’ that sees the liberal peace as oppressive but also the only true source of emancipation. However, the article suggests that a repoliticization of colonial difference offers an alternative ‘decolonizing’ approach to critical analysis through repositioning the analytic gaze. Three alternative research strategies for critical analysis are briefly developed.
Performing identity: The Danish cartoon crisis and discourses of identity and security
Authors: Agius Christine
Published: May 2013

The Danish cartoon crisis, which attracted international media attention in 2006, has largely been debated as an issue of freedom of speech, feeding into broader debates about the ‘clash of civilizations’. This article aims to explore the dominant discourses that performed a seemingly stable and consistent Danish identity at the domestic and external levels. Domestically, the discourse of a progressive Danish identity under threat from unmodern others was performed via discourses of a ‘culture struggle’ and a restrictive immigration policy designed to keep intact a narrow definition of Danishness. Externally, Danish identity and security was performed and defended via participation in the ‘war on terror’, democracy promotion and overseas development assistance, which became tools that were not simply associated with security in the liberal sense but also contained a spatial dimension designed to keep consistent the image of the complete nation-state. By adopting a discursive approach, the article aims to explore the performance of Danish identity that animated the cartoon crisis in order to highlight the complexities and contestations that animate ideas of self.
Forbidden Privileges and History-Writing in Medieval India
Authors: Sarkar Nilanjan
Published: May 2013

This article uses evidence of non-hetero sexual relations in medieval India to examine the art of writing History and the making of Persianate textual archives. It focuses on political and sufi texts, and demonstrates the possibility of recovering a more textured knowledge of history-writing in pre-modern Islamicate India where texts remain the primary source for understanding and recovering histories.
Temperature Reconstruction for North-Eastern Italy over the Last Millennium: Analysis of Documentary Sources from the Historical Perspective
Authors: Enzi Silvia , Sghedoni Mirca , Bertolin Chiara
Published: May 2013

The past climate reconstruction is of major relevance in order to produce the best climate model projections possible. The study of proxy data contained in ancient documents is one of the most valuable tools available to reach this goal. In the regions where written history had an early and widespread diffusion, it provides precious and long series of information, particularly useful for periods prior to the eighteenth–nineteenth century, when instrumental records did not yet exist. The data sources are different in typology, depending on the historical moment and the geographical area, that is, on the surrounding cultural environment; all of them need to be carefully and critically analysed from a historical point of view, in order to obtain both qualitative and quantitative results. Opportunities and problems concerning the use of documentary data in Italy will be discussed in this article. The results of the current historical study on the winter climate evolution in the Po Valley during the last millennium will be also presented as a case study.
Empire and Periphery? The Qing Empire’s Relations with Japan and the Ryūkyūs (1644–c. 1800), a Comparison
Authors: Schottenhammer Angela
Published: May 2013

Analysing Qing China’s relations with her neighbours, a distinction between her continental and maritime border space is evident. The Qing emperors were extremely alert towards their continental borders undertaking military intervention when they considered other countries a threat to them. While great parts of formerly non-Chinese territories in Central Asia were integrated into the Chinese empire and their peoples subdued by military force, maritime space was viewed differently, but as we want to show, not simply as a distant periphery nor as frontier as it is often claimed. China’s relations with Japan and the Ryūkyū Islands are excellent examples to show how differently the Qing rulers viewed these neighbouring countries. Simultaneously, while the early Qing rulers like Kangxi (r. 1662–1722) and Yongzheng (r. 1723–35) maintained a vivid interest in overseas developments, a shift towards disinterest in maritime space occurred only with the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1736–95).
Book Review: The Outsiders: Economic Reform and Informal Labour in a Developing Economy
Authors: Mukherjee Anirban
Published: May 2013

Sugata Marjit and Saibal Kar, The Outsiders: Economic Reform and Informal Labour in a Developing Economy, (Hardcover) ₹ 695, Oxford University Press.
Market Power in the Log and Lumber Import Market in Japan
Authors: Chang Tsaiyu , Inoue Masafumi
Published: May 2013

Japan imports rather than exports forestry products even though it has ample forestry resources. Moreover, the leading exporters of forest products often have strong market power in the trade market of forestry products. The possibility of incomplete competition in the Japanese wood import market can also be suspected from the fact that the structure of imports of logs and lumber has remained unchanged over the past 10 years. However, there has been limited empirical economic analysis of the timber trade market to support this assertion.

In this study, we examine the market power of the primary exporting countries in the Japanese log and lumber market based on the residual demand model. We analysed the import data of forestry products from 1988 to 2010 with respect to every main item exported to Japan. The analysis shows that Canada has market power over several items of logs in the Japanese import market, while the United States and Canada have market power over several items of lumber. The study also clarifies that imperfect competition exists in the Japanese timber import market and that the timber price in Japan is partially determined by the exporting countries.

JEL Classification: Q17, Q23, Q27
Evaluation of the Effect of Exchange Rate Variability on the Export of Ethiopia’s Agricultural Product: A Case of Coffee
Authors: Mehare Abule , Edriss Abdi K.
Published: May 2013

Research was conducted to find out the effects of exchange rate variability, terms of trade, competitiveness and gross domestic product on the dominant export crop of Ethiopia, coffee. This study employs annual time series data (1992–2010) and uses the autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) model augmented by the Wald test. The results reveal that exchange rate variability has a negative effect on the export of coffee in the short run, but is insignificant in the long run. This implies that, over time, exchange rate changes in the country have been favouring the export performance of coffee. Regardless of exchange rate variability, the competitiveness of the country, explained by real effective exchange rates, improved, but the price of coffee did not increase relative to the price of imports, which has resulted in deteriorating terms of trade. To improve the worsening terms of trade and benefit from policy changes, export diversification and value addition are possible solutions the country should focus on.

JEL Classification: F130
Social Constructivist Teaching Strategies in the Small Group Classroom
Authors: Schreiber Lisa M. , Valle Brielle Elise
Published: May 2013

The purpose of this article is to describe a series of techniques for teaching students about groups. Vygotsky’s social constructivism is used as a theoretical framework to understand the ways that students acquire knowledge about groups. After a brief discussion of this framework, we turn to a discussion of five specific pedagogical techniques for teaching small group and teamwork principles. These techniques include (a) carefully assigning group membership, (b) using a grading structure that incorporates individual, group, and peer evaluation assessment, (c) testing students individually and in groups, (d) asking students to write two papers that require an analysis and synthesis of both readings and observations, and (e) requiring a comprehensive service learning project from students that requires their collaboration for successful completion. The last portion of the article describes the challenges of using each of these techniques and the typical results of their application.
Reducing Faultlines in Geographically Dispersed Teams
Authors: Chiu Yi-Te , Staples D. Sandy
Published: May 2013

Faultlines have the potential to significantly disrupt team performance due to the creation of intergroup bias. In geographically dispersed teams, given the combination of dispersed locations and other diversity characteristics, faultlines are potentially a major issue that needs to be more fully understood. This study examines the impact of faultlines on geographically dispersed teams and how problems caused by faultlines can be resolved. An experimental study of 40, four-person student teams finds that perceived faultlines heighten conflict and impair decision process quality. The findings also suggest that self-disclosure via weblogs and task elaboration can repair damage caused by faultlines. However, self-disclosure does not have a direct effect on reducing faultlines; the relationship is moderated by social attraction. That is, as team members disclose personal information to out-group members and out-group members are attracted to such disclosure, perceived faultlines are diminished. This study also finds that even in teams with strong perceived faultlines, team members are still able to exchange and integrate perspectives if they have a better understanding of their out-group members via self-disclosure. The negative consequence of faultlines therefore is eased when task elaboration occurs during task execution. Implications of these coping mechanisms for teams with faultlines in organizations are discussed.
The Impact of Unemployment Rate on the Size of Romanian Shadow Economy
Authors: Davidescu (Alexandru) Adriana AnaMaria , Dobre Ion
Published: May 2013

This article estimates the size of the Romanian shadow economy (SE) using the currency demand approach, in order to evaluate if there is any relationship between the SE and unemployment rate (UR). Using Granger causality tests and error correction models, we examine the impact of both registered and International Labour Office unemployment rates (ILO_UR) on the Romanian SE covering the period between 2000Q1 and 2010Q2. We find that the Romanian SE as a percentage of official gross domestic product (GDP) is decreasing over the analyzed period, from 36.5 percent at the end of 2000 to 31.5 of real GDP at the middle of 2010. Our empirical results also support a unidirectional Granger causality that runs from the URs to the SE. The generalized impulse response functions indicate the existence of a short-run negative relationship between URs and the Romanian SE. The empirical results also indicate that there is a positive long-run relationship between both URs and SE, with a 1 percent increase in URs leading to an increase in the SE of 0.36 percent due to the registered unemployment rate and an increase of 2.27 percent due to the ILO_UR.
Are Powerful Majorities Inefficient for Parties and Efficient for Taxpayers?
Authors: Mitchell David T. , Hughes Danny R. , Campbell Noel D.
Published: May 2013

Recent studies examining the relationship between legislative majorities and state budgets have presented mixed results. We provide new insight on this relationship by employing stochastic frontier analysis to model the maximum potential budgets that could be feasibly produced, given a set of economic, political, and voter inputs. This allows us to examine directly how the size of ruling party majorities influences their ability to efficiently produce the maximum feasible budget. At the same time, we are able to analyze the inefficiency in budget maximization. We find that as parties consolidate power with large majorities—regardless of party identity—they are less able to maximize budgets leading to state budgets below the maximum possible size of government as estimated by our model. Our results suggest that parties that do not maximize spending are inefficient at spending but efficient at providing the services that voters want at a low price. Hence, those parties build larger coalitions.
Capitalization of Property Taxes in Norway
Authors: Borge Lars-Erik , Rattsø Jørn
Published: May 2013

Capitalization of the property tax is of particular interest in Norway since many local governments decide not to have a property tax. We apply a rich data set of housing transactions and characteristics for three years (1997–1999) and combine them with local government-level data about property taxation, local services, and community characteristics. The analysis of capitalization faces serious methodological challenges of endogeneity and background factors affecting housing prices and local fiscal decisions. We investigate the relationship between property tax and housing prices using a variety of econometric specifications and using instruments for property taxation. The results indicate that housing prices respond to property taxation and with full capitalization at realistic discount rates. High child care coverage also contributes to high housing prices. The existence of capitalization effects suggests that housing markets reflect local fiscal conditions and that residential mobility is of importance to understand local government resource use.
“The People Make the Brand”
Authors: Hurrell Scott A. , Scholarios Dora
Published: May 2013

Fit between an organization's brand and its employees, sometimes referred to as employee brand identification, has been highlighted as an important element in delivering service quality. This article examines the people management practices directed both at potential and current employees which enhance this “person-brand fit” and proposes that effective management of this can help reduce the persistent problem of social skills gaps in service organizations. A study of managers and customer-facing employees in two hotel case studies—one reporting significant social skills gaps and the other reporting few gaps—showed that the hotel reporting fewer gaps had achieved greater employee identification with the brand. This hotel conducted recruitment and selection around person-brand fit, while the other hotel did not. The hotel reporting fewer social skills gaps also allowed greater employee agency in brand socialization, training, and in the enactment of the brand on the job. The article discusses the relevance of these findings for theory on how human resource management practices may be linked to service brands in order to reduce social skills gaps.
A Comparison of Model-Based and Design-Based Impact Evaluations of Interventions in Developing Countries
Authors: Hansen Henrik , Klejnstrup Ninja Ritter , Andersen Ole Winckler
Published: May 2013

There is a long-standing debate as to whether nonexperimental estimators of causal effects of social programs can overcome selection bias. Most existing reviews either are inconclusive or point to significant selection biases in nonexperimental studies. However, many of the reviews, the so-called between-studies, do not make direct comparisons of the estimates. We survey four impact studies, all using data from development interventions that directly compare experimental and nonexperimental impact estimates. Our review illustrates that when the program participation process is well understood, and correctly modeled, then the nonexperimental estimators can overcome the selection bias to the same degree as randomized controlled trials. Hence, we suggest that evaluators of development programs aim to be careful and precise in the formulation of the statistical model for the assignment into the program and also to use the assignment information for model-based systematic sampling.
The Complexity of Institutionalizing Evaluation as a Best Practice in North American Quitlines
Authors: Terpstra Jennifer L. , Best Allan , Saul Jessie , Leischow Scott J.
Published: May 2013

Tobacco use continues to be the leading preventable cause of mortality and morbidity in North America and Quitlines are one of the primary cessation resources available to assist tobacco users with quitting. Implementation of best practices is important to the success of quitlines, but unfortunately, it is a complex and elusive process often difficult to achieve. This study aims to better understand the implementation process by using qualitative methods to examine an evaluation practice in-depth and to elucidate the complex factors influencing its implementation and institutionalization in the North American Quitline network. Nineteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with decision-makers in the Quitline network. The interview data were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach, guided by a systems change framework. The findings suggest that a broad range of factors influenced implementation of the evaluation practice at different levels of the system. These factors included system norms, system resources and operations (i.e., policies), five key relationships (e.g., between the funder and service provider), and power placement in the system. Characteristics of the evaluation practice itself also influenced implementation and interacted with other factors in the system. This study demonstrates the complexity of implementing and institutionalizing evaluation in an inter-organizational network. It also demonstrates the value of using qualitative data to study implementation phenomena. The findings can be used to improve efforts to institutionalize evaluation in the Quitline network and inform future implementation research studies.
Oligoclonal bands in multiple sclerosis reactive against two herpesviruses and association with magnetic resonance imaging findings
Authors: Virtanen JO , Wohler J , Fenton K , Reich DS , Jacobson S
Published: May 2013

Background:

Two human herpesviruses, human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6), and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), have been repeatedly linked to multiple sclerosis (MS).

Objective:

The aim of this study was to investigate HHV-6 and EBV reactive oligoclonal bands (OCBs), and viral DNA in the intrathecal compartment in MS.

Methods:

The reactivity of OCBs in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for EBV and HHV-6 antigens and stability of virus reactive OCBs over time were studied in a well-characterized MS patient cohort. Associations between virus reactive OCBs and viral DNA in CSF (and any clinical and/or radiological findings) were investigated.

Results:

Of patients with MS, 38% had OCBs reactive to either one of the viruses studied, compared to none in the patients with other inflammatory neurological diseases ( p=0.005). The banding pattern of virus reactive OCBs remained the same over time. Furthermore, MS patients with viral DNA in CSF had more contrast enhancing lesions (CELs).

Conclusion:

The stable presence of herpesvirus reactive OCBs in CSF further strengthens the association of MS with these viruses. The finding that herpesviruses might be linked to the appearance of active lesions warrants investigation of new therapeutic strategies to treat these viruses in MS.
International organizations as collective agents: Fragmentation and the limits of principal control at the World Health Organization
Authors: Graham Erin R.
Published: May 2013

What factors influence the faithfulness of international organizations (IOs) to mandates assigned to them by member states? Although recent literature treats international organization agents as autonomous actors in global politics, most work continues to treat the bureaucracy of an international organization as a unitary actor. I argue that the unitary actor assumption limits our ability to assess how internal factors such as fragmentation influence agent faithfulness. When we conceive of international organization bureaucracies as collective agents — those including more than one bureaucratic actor and subject to internal fragmentation — international organization faithfulness can be more fully explained. Specifically, fragmentation limits faithfulness by inhibiting the effectiveness of principals’ control mechanisms (i.e. oversight and agent screening and sanctioning). These arguments are illustrated using a case study of the World Health Organization and its efforts to improve health systems between 1982 and 2008.
Swedish politicians and new media: Democracy, identity and populism in a digital discourse
Authors: Nilsson Bo , Carlsson Eric
Published: May 2013

The empirical material of this article consists of interviews with politicians in Västerbotten, an area in the north of Sweden. The aim of the article is to identify and analyse how these politicians relate to digital information technology and new media. What democratic opportunities and risks of information technology and new media are reflected in interviews with the politicians? What does this technology and these media mean for politicians’ political strategies and for their identity production as professional politicians? We argue that the interview data reflect two partly contradictory political identities: on the one side a progressive and modern political identity, and on the other a ‘real’ and ‘authentic’ political identity. However, both identities are consistent with a digital discourse and are populist due to their pro-technological character.
Collaborative participatory action strategies for re-envisioning young men’s masculinities
Authors: Eckstein Jessica J , Pinto Kyle
Published: May 2013

To address gender relations, sexual violence, and differing cultural masculinities, we collaborated with a community organization and young, male stakeholders at a mid-sized public university in the Northeast United States. We employed a directive inquiry method to design, assess, and critique a participatory action research pilot program for young men renegotiating masculinities in a primary prevention context. Our process expanded upon ‘healthy relationships’ programs, but was distinctive in its focus on the challenges and resiliencies of young men in diverse communities. Specific process strategies are discussed critically in terms of feasibility for future full-scale programs and contributions to theory-based participatory research on masculinities and violence.
The SMART Practice of Scholarly Practice
Authors: Lombardozzi Catherine
Published: May 2013

The Problem

Scholar-practitioners can be more successful than their less grounded peers; yet engaging in scholarly practice is not a guarantee of success in a business environment. The cases in this issue provide examples of scholarly practice, but don’t necessarily provide actionable advice on how it is effectively accomplished.

The Solution

This article derives a framework for SMART (Scholarly, Macro, Aligned, Realistic, and Tested) practice that draws from the literature on scholarly practice and the literature on practicing HRD with a business mind-set to generate practices that are effective in organizations. The cases in this issue provide examples of these behaviors.

The Stakeholders

The SMART framework supports practitioners who want to increase their effectiveness at integrating theory and research into practice and HRD faculty who want to provide guidance on successful scholarly practice. In the end, leaders that might desire a more theory- or evidenced-based approach to HRD will benefit from having more savvy HRD practitioners.
Cultural Identity and Subcultural Forums
Authors: Elkins Evan
Published: May 2013

This study analyzes the identity politics of Adult Swim’s brand culture in the context of post-network American television’s technological, textual, and cultural shifts. It shows how Adult Swim texts and paratexts, news stories about the network, and industry trade journals discursively construct the Adult Swim audience as an embodiment of dominant cultural identities (i.e., young, white, heterosexual masculinity), while simultaneously framing this community within discourses of subcultural taste and oppositional distinction. In doing so, the network alternately profits from and disavows white-male privilege by promoting this structurally dominant and highly valued group as a cultist, counterhegemonic fan base. This articulation of young, white, heterosexual masculinity to subcultural politics of taste and community both reflects and feeds the continued valuation of the young-white-male demographic in a nominally fragmented American media environment.
Cell death pattern of a varicose vein organ culture model
Authors: Lim Chung S , Kiriakidis Serafim , Paleolog Ewa M , Davies Alun H
Published: May 2013

The study aimed to investigate the viability of a varicose vein (VV) organ culture model by assessing cell death pattern. To assess pattern of cell death with time, VV organ cultures were incubated for up to 14 days with regular medium changed. To assess viability, cell death of VV organ cultures treated with sodium azide and their untreated counterparts was assayed. Increased cell death was measured in VV organ cultures from day 0 to 2. Cell death decreased gradually after day 2 and plateaued from day 8 to 14. VV organ cultures treated with sodium azide demonstrated significantly more cell death in tissue ( P = 0.001). Cell death measured in cultures treated with sodium azide continued to increase until day 7. In conclusion, this study demonstrated the viability of a VV organ culture model with most cell death occurred within the first two days and then declined to a relatively low level.
An interesting anatomic variant of inferior vena cava duplication: case report and review of the literature
Authors: Pineda Danielle , Moudgill Neil , Eisenberg Joshua , DiMuzio Paul , Rao Atul
Published: May 2013

Congenital anomalies of the inferior vena cava (IVC) occur in roughly 4% of the population. We report an interesting case of an atypical variant of duplicated IVC. A 20-year-old man presented with orthopedic injuries and intracranial hemorrhage following a motorcycle accident. He was taken to the fluoroscopy suite for IVC filter placement; duplication of the IVC was noted. The right and left iliac veins shared a normal confluence but two IVCs drained independently into renal veins before reuniting into a single structure. Both IVC filters were placed via a single puncture in the groin. We performed a search of the PubMed database using ‘inferior vena cava duplication’ and reviewed common anomalies of the IVC. Several variants of duplicated IVC exist; the most common of which is two distinct IVCs that arise from each iliac vein without a normal confluence. Our patient had a unique anomaly which allowed filter placements from a single puncture.
First application of the ‘lasso technique’ on an endograft with suprarenal fixation stent
Authors: Spiliopoulos Stavros , Mani Kevin , Sabharwal Tarun , Krokidis Miltiadis , Gkoutzios Panagiotis
Published: May 2013

The authors report the use of the ‘lasso technique’ for the preservation of bilateral renal artery patency, following the intraoperative proximal migration of an aortic endograft with suprarenal bare metal fixation and anchoring barbs, due to device delivery failure. During an emergency endovascular repair of a ruptured mycotic abdominal aortic aneurysm using the Zenith Flex device, the main body of the graft migrated proximally to cover both renal arteries. Attempts to pull down the graft using balloons were not effective. Finally, the ‘lasso technique’ using a guidewire over the aortic bifurcation was employed and successfully adjusted the graft below the level of the renal arteries. No procedure-related complications were noted. The endovascular repair was used as a bridging procedure and two months following the primary endovascular procedure, open surgical repair of the infected aneurysm with excision of the stent graft was performed. The patient is alive after eight months follow-up.