bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Working Mechanism of Manual Therapy in Participants With Chronic Tension-Type Headache
Authors: Castien René , Blankenstein Annette , van der Windt Daniëlle , Heymans Martijn W. , Dekker Joost
Published: September 2013

Study Design

Prospective longitudinal study.

Objective

To explore the working mechanism of manual therapy, we investigated whether 3 cervical spine variables were mediators of the effect of manual therapy on headache frequency.

Background

Manual therapy has been shown to reduce headache frequency in participants with chronic tension-type headache (CTTH). To what extent specific elements of treatment contribute to the effectiveness of manual therapy in CTTH is unknown.

Methods

One hundred eighty-two participants with CTTH participated in a prospective longitudinal study: 142 underwent manual therapy and 40 participants received usual care by their general practitioner. Regression analysis was performed according to the steps described by Baron and Kenny, and the proportion of mediated effect was estimated for 3 potential mediators: (1) cervical range of motion, (2) neck flexor endurance, and (3) forward head posture. Outcome was defined as a 50% or greater reduction in headache days.

Results

Neck flexor endurance mediated 24.5% of the effect of manual therapy. Cervical range of motion and forward head posture showed no mediated effect.

Conclusions

Increased neck flexor endurance appears to be a working mechanism of manual therapy. This finding supports isometric training of neck flexors in participants with CTTH. Trial registered with Netherlands Trial Register (TR 1074). J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2013;43(10):693–699. Epub 9 September 2013. doi:10.2519/jospt.2013.4868
Representing Alterity: The Temporal Aesthetics of Susan Howe and Charles Olson
Authors: Harack Katrina
Published: September 2013

Abstract:

Emmanuel Levinas and Elizabeth Grosz both question what it means to experience time, as well as what it means to exist with others and what it means to posit the new or unknown. These concerns are also central to issues of American identity, and in the poetic and scholarly works of Charles Olson and Susan Howe, the artist is compelled to explore such an individual relationship to time even as he or she struggles to meaningfully express that relationship. They confront a tradition of American poetics and history that is framed in masculine, patriarchal terms, based on the continual tension between self and other that results in acts of colonization but also fosters innovation. This essay examines Howe’s and Olson’s explicit attempts to explore the nature of individual death, the experience of time and the alterity of the future, and the artistic other. They mitigate the unknown by affiliating themselves with artistic precursors (Melville and Dickinson, among others) and influence contemporary poetics, in turn.
Thou Shalt Get thy Praise On!: Analysis on the Conversion and Community Maintenance Powers of Contemporary Christian Music
Authors: Parascandalo Fiona
Published: September 2013

Abstract:

This article intends to discover how Christian Contemporary Music (CCM) can be used as a mechanism for Christian community maintenance. Using Charles Taylor’s theory of hermeneutics, this argument will utilize Internet forums and interviews of CCM musicians to gain a comprehensive understanding of the CCM and Christian communities. This paper contains an examination of Foucault’s metaphorical understanding of Bentham’s panopticon and the ways the visible and unverifiable authoritative normalizing gaze of the watchtower is mirrored in God’s presence in CCM. The argument also follows the progressive and conservative nature of the gaze; determining that CCM compels subjects through its progressive use of pop music and maintains obedience through the consistent presence of norms. Lastly, the position of punishment and gratitude from the gaze are discussed as socialization tools.
Martians, Demons, Vampires, and Vicars: The Church of England in Post-War Science Fiction
Authors: Harmes Marcus
Published: September 2013

Abstract:

British science fiction is noteworthy for its juxtaposition of the familiar with the threatening, notably locating alien invasions in the Home Counties. This apposition can mean that one emblem of traditional Englishness—the Church of England—sits in tension with a cosmology which includes Martians, alien demons, and other preternatural menaces which challenge Christian teachings on the origins and mechanics of both earthly and heavenly realms. Particular science fiction texts, written after the last period of numerical growth for the Church of England, interpret this institution’s decline. This article analyses the largely overlooked contribution of science fiction to understanding and charting this decline.
Shout-Outs to the Creator: The Use of Biblical Themes in Rap Lyrics
Authors: Walsh Carey
Published: September 2013

Abstract:

There exist persistent strands of spiritual insight in rap lyrics that work to nurture a worldview of hope based in the translation of key biblical themes into the postmodern, urban environment. These themes are not superimposed from the past onto present conditions. Instead, they are reimagined in the rapper’s imaginings of street life. The article proceeds first with a discussion on the nature of rap and its communication power. Then, it examines four essential biblical themes that recur in rap lyrics with some frequency and from a variety of artists. Its thesis is that rap offers substantial testimony to the resilience and value of the human soul that scholars of religion have thus far neglected. These themes, namely, of prophetic realism, redemption, incarnation, and resurrection are evident in over two decades of rap music. This suggests their staying power and growth within the musical genre of rap and also that rap’s poetic creation warrants serious theological attention. A concluding section argues that rap’s insight into these themes could benefit the wider culture in its spiritual malaise.
Can the Veil Be Cool?
Authors: Botz-Bornstein Thorsten
Published: September 2013

Abstract:

When it comes to the veil, religious, political, aesthetic, and personal values are constantly mixed, and any attempt to disentangle them can too easily be foiled by the bias of the observer. In principle, the veil is (represents, signifies) nothing that can be spelled out in terms of fixed symbolisms, but it will only function in a certain way. In theory, any veil is cool because it plays with limits, status, and privileges. It does not simply attempt to install purity and moral perfection. I compare veiling with some of the principle virtues of African American coolness: moderation and self-control. Coolness is at odds with puritan traditions and invents its own virtue code of moderation because it strives to obtain access to a formerly forbidden space. However, that alone would limit coolness to republican virtues; in order to become cool there must also be provocation. The cool person is usually in a non-power position and challenges those who have power in masked and ironical ways. Therefore, coolness must always contain just the right amount of flexibility and “fluency.” African Americans who wear sunglasses, speak Ebonics, and overemphasize their black identity create transcultural identities through the principle of coolness. Can the veil function as such a tool of cool? Does this piece of cloth maintain the crucial balance between visibility and non-visibility, assimilation and cultural resistance, submission and subversion, control and the inability to control? Or is it not too likely to tip over into either submissive disappearance or mono-cultural, fundamentalist combat?
Dialogicality and Spiritual Quest in Christian Metal Lyrics
Authors: Jousmäki Henna
Published: September 2013

Abstract:

Christian metal (CM) music provides a good example of how religious discourse is undergoing change in today’s world. CM merges religion with popular cultural forms and ways of expression, thereby also transforming the meaning of religion and religious practice. However, the phenomenon has attracted surprisingly little scholarly attention; most writers have treated CM as yet another example of North American Contemporary Christian Music (CCM). The present article takes a detailed look into what is “said” by Finnish CM groups with a particular focus on religious ideology in a context outside the original national and religious context of the genre. Drawing on the sociology of language and religion (SLR; Omoniyi 2010b; Omoniyi and Fishman 2006) and the idea of dialogicality as an inherent property of language (Bakhtin 1984), it studies the representation of one figure with a spiritual quest and of another with a solution to this and how these two are used in CM song lyrics to embody an overcoming of spiritual and existential questions through engaging in a dialogue with the aim of prompting conversion into Christianity. The analysis of this will contribute to a broader picture of CM religiosity in songs by Finnish CM groups.
Clinical Reasoning and Case-Based Decision Making: The Fundamental Challenge to Veterinary Educators
Authors: May Stephen A.
Published: September 2013

Confusion about the nature of human reasoning and its appropriate application to patients has hampered veterinary students' development of these skills. Expertise is associated with greater ability to deploy pattern recognition (type 1 reasoning), which is aided by progressive development of data-driven, forward reasoning (in contrast to scientific, backward reasoning), analytical approaches that lead to schema acquisition. The associative nature of type 1 reasoning makes it prone to bias, particularly in the face of “cognitive miserliness,” when clues that indicate the need for triangulation with an analytical approach are ignored. However, combined reasoning approaches, from the earliest stages, are more successful than one approach alone, so it is important that those involved in curricular design and delivery promote student understanding of reasoning generally, and the situations in which reasoning goes awry, and develop students' ability to reason safely and accurately whether presented with a familiar case or with a case that they have never seen before.
Diagnostic Imaging Learning Resources Evaluated by Students and Recent Graduates
Authors: Alexander Kate , Bélisle Marilou , Dallaire Sébastien , Fernandez Nicolas , Doucet Michèle
Published: September 2013

Many learning resources can help students develop the problem-solving abilities and clinical skills required for diagnostic imaging. This study explored veterinary students' perceptions of the usefulness of a variety of learning resources. Perceived resource usefulness was measured for different levels of students and for academic versus clinical preparation. Third-year (n=139) and final (fifth) year (n=105) students and recent graduates (n=56) completed questionnaires on perceived usefulness of each resource. Resources were grouped for comparison: abstract/low complexity (e.g., notes, multimedia presentations), abstract/high complexity (e.g., Web-based and film case repositories), concrete/low complexity (e.g., large-group “clicker” workshops), and concrete/high complexity (e.g., small-group interpretation workshops). Lower-level students considered abstract/low-complexity resources more useful for academic preparation and concrete resources more useful for clinical preparation. Higher-level students/recent graduates also considered abstract/low-complexity resources more useful for academic preparation. For all levels, lecture notes were considered highly useful. Multimedia slideshows were an interactive complement to notes. The usefulness of a Web-based case repository was limited by accessibility problems and difficulty. Traditional abstract/low-complexity resources were considered useful for more levels and contexts than expected. Concrete/high-complexity resources need to better represent clinical practice to be considered more useful for clinical preparation.
Racial/ethnic differences in inpatient mortality and use of institutional postacute care following subarachnoid hemorrhage
Authors: Jaja Blessing N. R. , Saposnik Gustavo , Nisenbaum Rosane , Lo Benjamin W. Y. , Schweizer Tom A. , Thorpe Kevin E. , Macdonald R. Loch
Published: September 2013

Object

The goal of this study was to determine racial/ethnic differences in inpatient mortality rates and the use of institutional postacute care following subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) in the US.

Methods

A cross-sectional study of hospital discharges for SAH was conducted using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample for the years 2005–2010. Discharges with a principal diagnosis of SAH were identified and abstracted using the appropriate ICD-9-CM diagnostic code. Racial/ethnic groups were defined as white, black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander (API), and American Indian. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were performed comparing racial/ethnic groups with respect to the primary outcome of risk of in-hospital mortality and the secondary outcome of likelihood of discharge to institutional care.

Results

During the study period, 31,631 discharges were related to SAH. Race/ethnicity was a significant predictor of death (p = 0.003) and discharge to institutional care (p ≤ 0.001). In the adjusted analysis, compared with white patients, API patients were at higher risk of death (OR 1.34, 95% CI 1.13–1.59) and Hispanic patients were at lower risk of death (OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.72–0.97). The likelihood of discharge to institutional care was statistically similar between white, Hispanic, API, and Native American patients. Black patients were more likely to be discharged to institutional care compared with white patients (OR 1.27, 95% CI 1.14–1.40), but were similar to white patients in the risk of death.

Conclusions

Significant racial/ethnic differences are present in the risk of inpatient mortality and discharge to institutional care among patients with SAH in the US. Outcome is likely to be poor among API patients and best among Hispanic patients compared with other groups.
A technique to identify core journals for neurosurgery using citation scatter analysis and the Bradford distribution across neurosurgery journals
Authors: Madhugiri Venkatesh S. , Ambekar Sudheer , Strom Shane F. , Nanda Anil
Published: September 2013

Object

The volume of scientific literature doubles approximately every 7 years. The coverage of this literature provided by online compendia is variable and incomplete. It would hence be useful to identify “core” journals in any field and validate whether the h index and impact factor truly identify the core journals in every subject. The core journals in every medical specialty would be those that provide a current and comprehensive coverage of the science in that specialty. Identifying these journals would make it possible for individual physicians to keep abreast of research and clinical progress.

Methods

The top 10 neurosurgical journals (on the basis of impact factor and h index) were selected. A database of all articles cited in the reference lists of papers published in issues of these journals published in the first quarter of 2012 was generated. The journals were ranked based on the number of papers cited from each. This citation rank list was compared with the h index and impact factor rank lists. The rank list was also examined to see if the concept of core journals could be validated for neurosurgical literature using Bradford's law.

Results

A total of 22,850 papers spread across 2522 journals were cited in neurosurgical literature over 3 months. Although the top 10 journals were the same, irrespective of ranking criterion (h index, impact factor, citation ranking), the 3 rank lists were not congruent. The top 25% of cited articles obeyed the Bradford distribution; beyond this, there was a zone of increased scatter. Six core journals were identified for neurosurgery.

Conclusions

The core journals for neurosurgery were identified to be Journal of Neurosurgery, Neurosurgery, Spine, Acta Neurochirurgica, Stroke, and Journal of Neurotrauma. A list of core journals could similarly be generated for every subject. This would facilitate a focused reading to keep abreast of current knowledge. Collated across specialties, these journals could depict the current status of medical science.
Safety of surgical treatment for patients with scoliosis and surgically corrected congenital cardiac malformations: a comparison with patients with scoliosis and normal hearts
Authors: Liang Jinqian , Ding Ran , Chua Sooyong , Li Zheng , Shen Jianxiong
Published: September 2013

Object

The safety of spinal fusion has been poorly studied in children with surgically corrected congenital cardiac malformations (CCMs). The objective of this study was to evaluate the safety of spinal fusion in patients with CCMs following cardiac surgery.

Methods

A retrospective study was conducted on 32 patients with scoliosis who received surgical treatment for their CCMs (CCM group). Sixty-four age- and sex-matched patients with scoliosis and normal hearts who received spinal fusion served as the control group. These 2 groups were compared for demographic distribution, blood loss, transfusion requirements, and incidence of postoperative complications.

Results

The ages, curve pattern distributions, and number of levels fused were similar between the 2 groups before spinal fusion. Overall, a total of 7 patients in the CCM group (21.9%) and 5 (7.8%) in the control group had documented postoperative complications. The perioperative allogenic blood transfusion rate and mean red blood cell transfusion requirement in the CCM group were significantly higher than those found in patients in the control group (68.7% vs 28.1%, respectively, p = 0.000; and 2.68 ± 2.76 units/patient vs 0.76 ± 1.07 units/patient, respectively, p = 0.011). In the CCM group, a preoperative major curve magnitude ≥ 80° was the most accurate indicator of an increased risk for a major complication (p = 0.019), whereas no statistically significant correlation was noted between postoperative complications and age, type of congenital heart disease, operative duration, and estimated blood loss during the operation and transfusion.

Conclusions

Spinal fusion subsequent to prior cardiac surgery is relatively safe and effective in correcting the spinal deformity for patients with scoliosis and surgically corrected CCMs. A preoperative major curve magnitude ≥ 80° may be a risk factor in predicting postoperative complications in scoliotic patients with surgically corrected CCMs.
The magic of cinema: time as becoming in Strangers in Good Company
Authors: Gravagne Pamela H.
Published: September 2013

This article examines the ability of cinema to alter our perception and experience of time and ageing by analysing the film, Strangers in Good Company, as an example of what Gilles Deleuze called a time-image film in his philosophy of cinema. By looking at the cinematic representation of time as culturally contingent and open to change, and the boundary between representation and reality as thin, Deleuze’s theorisation of time-image cinema presents us with a way of understanding time as a kind of magic that can free us to live and become rather than as a succession of equally metered, linear moments. The experience of the older women who ’’act’’ in this movie confirms Deleuze’s thinking, when their brief filmic reprieve from the exigencies of chronological and linear time spills over into their ’’real’’ lives, allowing them to move beyond static representations of old age that tie them to deteriorating bodies and negative identities into an open future of becoming.
Affirmative old age - the ageing body and feminist theories on difference
Authors: Sandberg Linn
Published: September 2013

Discourses on old age and ageing are framed in narrow and binary ways, either as a decline narrative or through discourses of positive and successful ageing. The decline narrative, on the one hand, is highly centred on the decline of the ageing body as frail, leaky and unbounded, and on how old age is characterised by non-productivity, increasing passivity and dependency. Discourses on successful ageing, on the other hand, rely heavily on neo-liberal imperatives of activity, autonomy and responsibility. In successful ageing, the specificities of ageing bodies are largely overlooked while the capacity of the old person to retain a youthful body, for example, with the aid of sexuopharmaceuticals, is celebrated. This article argues for the need of a theorising of old age that goes beyond the binaries of decline and success. Drawing on the work of feminist corpomaterialists Rosi Braidotti and Elisabeth Grosz, the article proposes affirmative old age as an alternative conceptualisation of old age. As a theoretical project, affirmative old age aims to acknowledge the material specificities of the ageing body and is an attempt to theorise the ageing body in terms of difference but without understanding it as a body marked by decline, lack or negation.
Histoire orale : la mémoire des communautés
Authors: Rivera Silvia
Published: September 2013

Résumé. — Cet article présente les travaux en cours de l'atelier d'histoire orale de l'Université de San Andrés de La Paz qui s'est fixé pour objectifs de reconstituer les stratégies des communautés aymaras du haut plateau bolivien et d'élaborer des biographies de leurs leaders à partir d'enquêtes orales.
Jorge Sanjines ou comment créer un cinéma andin
Authors: Harris Olivia
Published: September 2013

Résumé. — Depuis les années 1960, le cinéaste bolivien Jorge Sanjines a entrepris de développer un art populaire, proche des luttes contemporaines des communautés indiennes ou des mineurs du haut plateau, en cherchant à mouler son scénario et son équipe dans les contours de villages ou de campements bien réels qui donnent au film son cadre et ses héros collectifs.
Movimientos regionales en Bolivia
Authors: Flores Gonzalo , Laserna Roberto
Published: September 2013

Résumé. — Les mobilisations politiques les plus importantes des dernières années ont plus été le fait de régions entrant en conflit avec l'Etat que de classes sociales. La diversité et les tensions régionales anciennes ont organisé l'espace national selon quatre pôles : La Paz, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz et les départements du sud. Les luttes régionales ont pesé d'un grand poids dans le retour récent de la démocratie dont une des tâches serait de redéfinir les relations Etat-régions.
Sauvages et missionnaires. Les sociétés de l'Oriente bolivien à travers des sources missionnaires récemment éditées
Authors: Saignes Thierry
Published: September 2013

Résumé. — Beaucoup plus mal connues que les sociétés andines, les ethnies des basses terres tropicales, dont beaucoup ont disparu, dont certaines récupèrent, peuvent désormais être étudiées à travers les sources des missionnaires qui furent les premiers à entrer en contact avec elles.
Bilan des recherches boliviennes en sciences sociales
Authors: Barragan Rossana
Published: September 2013

Résumé. — Malgré l'isolement du pays, son manque de ressources et l'instabilité ambiante, la production bolivienne en sciences sociales continue de se développer.
Un Ajax et deux Timothée (P. Berol. n° 6870)
Authors: Bélis Annie
Published: September 2013

Written by an anonymous musician around 160 A.D., the Berlin Papyrus (inv. 6870vo) comprises 24 lines of music. According to the best specialists, they could correspond to 4 or 5 different musical scores, some of them vocal, the others instrumental, but whose authors remain unknown to us. Tecmessa's lament (occupying the lines 16 to 19, plus occasionally line 23) has been presented as a possible extract of a lost tragedy that could well be either Aeschylus's Hoplon krisis or Sophocles's Aias. The musical analysis of the passage, centered on the setting to music of the poetic text, shows that it can neither be a fragment of the Classic age nor a piece taken from a tragedy. Its irregular scale, the lenghtening of the syllables and its melodic boldness militate in favour of a 4 th century B.C. work, and more precisely, a dithyramb.

A paragraph of the Harmonides by Lucian (at the cost of a minute correction) enables us to establish its original title, to identify the author and to determine its date and also the circumstances in which the dithyramb had been created.

Thye work in question is the Ajax Mad by Timotheus of Miletus, a daring composer — if any — who wrote it when he was a very old man for the young aulos-player Timotheus of Thebes. Interpreted by a choir of children belonging to the Pandionis tribe, the dithyramb won the prize at the Greater Dionysia around 360 B.C. This was Timotheus's first major victory, in a career which took place, as we know otherwise, between 354 and 324 B.C.

In such conditions, the lines 20 to 22 of the Berlin papyrus, wich were till now considered as an instrumental piece, distinct from Tecmessa's lament, are fully part of it. This is precisely one of the instrumental interludes characteristic of the new dithyramb, which is a musical commentary of the preceding poetic text.

This is, consequently, the first fragment, — not only vocal but also instrumental, than can be attributed to Timotheus of Miletus, the most innovating musician of Antiquity.
Limited hybridization across an edaphic disjunction between the gabbro‐endemic shrub Ceanothus roderickii (Rhamnaceae) and the soil‐generalist Ceanothus cuneatus
Authors: Burge Dylan O. , Hopkins Robin , Tsai Yi‐Hsin Erica , Manos Paul S.
Published: September 2013

• Premise of the study: Hybridization is thought to have played an important role in diversification of the speciose shrub genus Ceanothus; putative hybrid species have been described, and data suggest that intrinsic barriers may not exist among closely related species. However, the extent to which hybridization occurs in the wild is not known, and little is understood about how extrinsic factors such as soil chemistry may influence the process. The present research focuses on the gabbro‐endemic C. roderickii and the closely related soil‐generalist C. cuneatus. Though the species occur peripatrically, they remain distinct across an edaphic disjunction.

• Methods: AFLP was used to quantify hybridization and introgression. Biological data and experiments were used to test for prezygotic isolation. Growth trials were used to test for local adaptation and selection against hybrids.

• Key results: Ceanothus cuneatus and C. roderickii were strongly differentiated morphologically and genetically, despite a lack of evidence for prezygotic barriers. Hybrids and back‐crosses were present but infrequent. Finally, there was selection against hybrids in nonnative soil.

• Conclusions: There is little genetic exchange between the focal species across an edaphic disjunction, despite the absence of prezygotic barriers. This result implies that soil conditions, as well as other extrinsic factors, should be considered as forces that may restrict hybridization and gene flow in Ceanothus, influencing local adaptation and speciation. Findings presented here are significant because they imply that exchange of genetic material between plants may be limited directly by the abiotic environment, rather than by the biology of the plants.
A new approach for the study of the chemical composition of bordered pit membranes: 4Pi and confocal laser scanning microscopy
Authors: Maschek Daniela , Goodell Barry , Jellison Jody , Lessard Mark , Militz Holger
Published: September 2013

• Premise of the study: Coniferous bordered pits are some of the most unique and fascinating microstructures of the lignified cell wall. The pit membrane consists of a margo and a torus region, hence facilitating both xylary water transport and also limiting air intrusion by pit aspiration. Additionally, bordered pits have been reported to play a decisive role in the control of rapid liquid flow via the shrinkage and swelling of pectin. The study of the nanostructural chemical composition of pit membranes has been difficult with common imaging/chemical techniques, which involve drying and/or coating of the samples.

• Methods: Using fluorescent tagging and antibodies specific to pectin, and a His‐tagged cellulose‐binding module that reacts with crystalline cellulose, in combination with confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and 4Pi microscopy, we generated three‐dimensional images of intact pit membranes.

• Key results: With enhanced resolution in the z‐direction of the 4Pi microscope, it was possible to distinguish cellulose in the torus and the margo strands of Pinus strobus. The torus was surrounded by pectin, and a pectin ring was found at the margin of the torus. We also found differences in the structure of the pit membrane between aspirated and unaspirated pits, with a displacement of pectin to form a ring‐like structure, the collapse of a void in the interior of the torus, and an apparent change in the chemical structure of cellulosic components, during the aspiration process.

• Conclusions: The 4Pi microscope is well suited to scanning pit membranes to discover previously undescribed anatomical features in bordered pits and can provide information on chemical composition when used in combination with appropriate probes.
Niche evolution through time and across continents: The story of Neotropical Cedrela (Meliaceae)
Authors: Koecke A. Valerie , Muellner‐Riehl Alexandra N. , Pennington Terence D. , Schorr Gertrud , Schnitzler Jan
Published: September 2013

• Premise of the Study: Climatic and geological changes have been considered as major drivers of biological diversification. However, it has been generally assumed that lineages retain common environmental affinities, suggesting a limited capacity to switch their climatic niche. We tested this assumption with a study of the evolution of climatic niches in the Neotropical tree genus Cedrela (Meliaceae).

• Methods: We combined distribution models of extant Cedrela with a dated molecular phylogeny based on one nuclear (ITS) and three plastid markers (psbA‐trnH, trnS‐G and psbB‐T‐N) to reconstruct the evolutionary dynamics of climatic niches. We calculated relative disparity of climatic tolerances over time to test for niche evolution within subclades or divergence between subclades and conservatism among closely related groups. Published fossil records and studies on paleosols were evaluated for the distribution and climatic conditions of extinct Cedrela.

• Key results: The fossil record of Cedrela suggested a major biome shift from paratropical conditions into warm‐temperate seasonal climates in the Early Oligocene of western North America. In the Miocene, Cedrela extended from North America (John Day Formation, Oregon, USA) to southern Central America (Gatún, Panama). Diversification in the early evolutionary history was mainly driven by changes in precipitation. Temperature had an increasing impact on ecological diversification of the genus from the Miocene onwards. Sister‐species comparisons revealed that recent speciation events may be related to divergence of climatic tolerances.

• Conclusions: Our study highlights the complexity of climatic niche dynamics, and shows how conservatism and evolution have acted on different temporal scales and climatic parameters in Cedrela.
Synthesis of mucin-type O-glycan probes as aminopropyl glycosides
Authors: Benito-Alifonso David , Jones Rachel A , Tran Anh-Tuan , Woodward Hannah , Smith Nichola , Galan M Carmen
Published: September 2013

The chemical synthesis of a series of mucin-type oligosaccharide fragments 1–7 containing an α-linked aminopropyl spacer ready for glycoarray attachment is reported. A highly convergent and stereoselective strategy that employs two different orthogonal protected galactosamine building blocks was used to access all of the targets. A tandem deprotection sequence, that did not require chromatography-based purification between steps, was employed to globally unmask all protecting groups and all final targets were isolated in good to excellent yields.
Changes in Biomarkers of Liver Disease during Successful Combination Antiretroviral Therapy in HIV–HCV-Coinfected Individuals
Authors: Rohrbach Janine , Stickel Felix , Schmid Patrick , Thormann Wolfgang , Kovari Helen , Scherrer Alexandra , Günthard Huldrych F , Vuichard Danielle , Cavassini Matthias , Ambrosioni Juan , Bernasconi Enos , Furrer Hansjakob , Rauch Andri ,   the Swiss HIV Cohort Study
Published: September 2013

Background

We investigated changes in biomarkers of liver disease in HIV–HCV-coinfected individuals during successful combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) compared to changes in biomarker levels during untreated HIV infection and to HIV-monoinfected individuals.

Methods

Non-invasive biomarkers of liver disease (hyaluronic acid [HYA], aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index [APRI], Fibrosis-4 [FIB-4] index and cytokeratin-18 [CK-18]) were correlated with liver histology in 49 HIV–HCV-coinfected patients. Changes in biomarkers over time were then assessed longitudinally in HIV–HCV-coinfected patients during successful cART ( n=58), during untreated HIV-infection ( n=59), and in HIV-monoinfected individuals ( n=17). The median follow-up time was 3.4 years on cART. All analyses were conducted before starting HCV treatment.

Results

Non-invasive biomarkers of liver disease correlated significantly with the histological METAVIR stage ( P<0.002 for all comparisons). The mean ±sd area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve values for advanced fibrosis (≥F3 METAVIR) for HYA, APRI, FIB-4 and CK-18 were 0.86 ±0.05, 0.84 ±0.08, 0.80 ±0.09 and 0.81 ±0.07, respectively. HYA, APRI and CK-18 levels were higher in HIV-HCV-coinfected compared to HIV-monoinfected patients ( P <0.01). In the first year on cART, APRI and FIB-4 scores decreased (-35% and -33%, respectively; P=0.1), mainly due to the reversion of HIV-induced thrombocytopaenia, whereas HYA and CK-18 levels remained unchanged. During long-term cART, there were only small changes (<5%) in median biomarker levels. Median biomarker levels changed <3% during untreated HIV-infection. Overall, 3 patients died from end-stage liver disease, and 10 from other causes.

Conclusions

Biomarkers of liver disease highly correlated with fibrosis in HIV-HCV-coinfected individuals and did not change significantly during successful cART. These findings suggest a slower than expected liver disease progression in many HIV-HCV-coinfected individuals, at least during successful cART.
Le registre de population centralisé, source de statistiques démographiques en Europe
Authors: Poulain Michel , Herm Anne
Published: September 2013

Depuis leur origine en Suède au xvii e  siècle, les registres de population sont tenus à l’échelle locale, et c’est l’informatisation qui a permis la mise en œuvre d’un registre centralisé de population dans la majorité des 30 pays européens analysés dans cet article. Avec l’introduction de ces registres, la production de statistiques démographiques est entrée dans une ère nouvelle, présentant de nombreux avantages mais provoquant également des débats de nature éthique. De nouvelles questions apparaissent, notamment sur la définition des résidents, les problèmes de double enregistrement et la confidentialité des données. Cette étude décrit et compare les principes de fonctionnement du registre centralisé dans différents pays et la façon dont les données individuelles en sont extraites afin de produire les statistiques démographiques. Il est maintenant possible, de façon régulière, de suivre les trajectoires démographiques individuelles de l’ensemble de la population à l’échelle nationale ou de mettre en évidence certaines interactions entre les comportements démographiques des personnes d’un même ménage. Face aux nombreuses possibilités qu’offre l’analyse longitudinale, le soutien des scientifiques est plus que souhaité pour autant qu’ils puissent avoir accès aux données individuelles.
Espagne : l’émigration des immigrés
Authors: Larramona Gemma
Published: September 2013

Près de 5 % des immigrés résidant en Espagne ont décidé de quitter le pays en 2009. L’Espagne est récemment devenue à la fois un pays d’accueil des migrants internationaux et un point de départ pour les immigrés. Cette émigration n’implique toutefois pas systématiquement un retour au pays d’origine. L’article analyse l’émigration des immigrés résidant en Espagne, en distinguant les retours au pays des mouvements à destination d’un pays tiers, pour la période 2002-2009. À partir des changements de résidence répertoriés dans les registres de population (EVR), l’auteure étudie les caractéristiques sociodémographiques des immigrés et celles sur les pays de destination et d’origine des migrants, ainsi que leurs effets sur la probabilité de retour. Les immigrés venus d’Asie, d’Afrique et d’Amérique latine ont de moindres probabilités de rentrer dans leur pays de naissance. Les résultats montrent que plus le PNB par tête dans le pays de destination est important ou plus le taux de chômage dans la région d’origine est élevé, plus la probabilité d’émigration vers un pays tiers est forte ; plus l’effectif des immigrés est important par rapport à la population de la région d’accueil, plus la probabilité est forte que l’émigration se fasse vers le pays d’origine.
History of Service Robots
Authors: Teresa Zielinska
Published: September 2013

The short history of service robots with its precursors is given. Next, the definition of service robot is discussed and some statistical data is given. The described history of service robots covers the ancient period with robot precursors, the middle ages, and the period of industrial revolution. The representative examples of different kinds of service robots built in the twentieth century are given. The chapter is concluded with future trends.
Intelligent Stereo Vision in Autonomous Robot Traversability Estimation
Authors: Nalpantidis Lazaros , Kostavelis Ioannis , Gasteratos Antonios
Published: September 2013

Traversability estimation is the process of assessing whether a robot is able to move across a specific area. Autonomous robots need to have such an ability to automatically detect and avoid non-traversable areas and, thus, stereo vision is commonly used towards this end constituting a reliable solution under a variety of circumstances. This chapter discusses two different intelligent approaches to assess the traversability of the terrain in front of a stereo vision-equipped robot. First, an approach based on a fuzzy inference system is examined and then another approach is considered, which extracts geometrical descriptions of the scene depth distribution and uses a trained support vector machine (SVM) to assess the traversability. The two methods are presented and discussed in detail.
Optimal Design of Three-Link Planar Manipulators Using Grashof's Criterion
Authors: Patel Sarosh H. , Sobh Tarek
Published: September 2013

The design of robotic manipulators is dictated by a set of pre-determined task descriptions and performance parameters. These performance parameters are often defined in terms of workspace dexterity, manipulability, and accuracy. Many serial manipulator applications require that the manipulator have full dexterity about a work piece or a pre-defined trajectory, that is, to approach the given point within the workspace with all possible orientations about that point. Grashof's criterion defines the mobility of four-link closed chain mechanisms in relation to its link lengths. A simple assumption can convert a three-link serial manipulator into a four-link closed chain so that its mobility can be studied using Grashof's criterion. With the help of Grashof's criterion, it is possible not only to predict and simulate the mobility of a manipulator during its design, but also to map and identify the fully-dexterous regions within its workspace. Mapping of the dexterous workspace is helpful in efficient task placement and path planning. Next, the authors propose a simple algorithm using Grashof's criterion for determining the optimal link lengths of a three-link manipulator, in order to achieve full dexterity at the desired regions of the workspace. Finally, the authors test the generated design by applying joint angle limitations.
Medical Manipulators for Surgical Applications
Authors: Duan Xing-guang , Wang Xing-tao , Huang Qiang
Published: September 2013

Great advances have been made over the last decade with respect to medical manipulators for surgical robots. Although they cannot replace surgeons, they can increase surgeons’ abilities to perform surgeries with greater therapeutic effectiveness. These advanced surgical tools have been implemented in complex, precise, repetitive, and difficult surgeries. This chapter reviews medical manipulators used in surgical applications. At present, several kinds of medical manipulators have been developed to perform a variety of surgical procedures and can be classified into different categories. Here, the authors discuss general design principles and summarize and classify medical manipulators based on joint category and level of autonomy, with illustrations of applications. Finally, a brief synopsis is provided.
Indoor Surveillance Application using Wireless Robots and Sensor Networks
Authors: Koubaa Anis , Trigui Sahar , Chaari Imen
Published: September 2013

Mobile robots and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are enabling technologies of ubiquitous and pervasive applications. Surveillance is one typical example of such applications for which the literature proposes several solutions using mobile robots and/or WSNs. However, robotics and WSNs have mostly been considered as separate research fields, and little work has investigated the marriage of these two technologies. In this chapter, the authors propose an indoor surveillance application, SURV-TRACK, which controls a team of multiple cooperative robots supported by a WSN infrastructure. They propose a system model for SURV-TRACK to demonstrate how robots and WSNs can complement each other to efficiently accomplish the surveillance task in a distributed manner. Furthermore, the authors investigate two typical underlying problems: (1) Multi-Robot Task Allocation (MRTA) for target tracking and capturing and (2) robot path planning. The novelty of the solutions lies in incorporating a WSN in the problems’ models. The authors believe that this work advances the literature by demonstrating a concrete ubiquitous application that couples robotic and WSNs and proposes new solutions for path planning and MRTA problems.
Prototyping of Fully Autonomous Indoor Patrolling Mobile Robots
Authors: Wu Xiaojun , Liu Bingbing , Lee Jun-Hong , Reddy Vikas , Zheng Xi
Published: September 2013

In this chapter, the design and prototyping of an indoor patrolling mobile robot is presented. This robot employs a modular design strategy by using the ROS (Robot Operating System) software framework, which allows for an agile development and testing process. The primary modules - omni-directional drive system, localization, navigation, and autonomous charging - are described in detail. Special efforts have been put into the design of these modules to make them reliable and robust in order to achieve autonomous patrolling without human intervention. With experimental tests, the authors show that an indoor mobile robot patrolling autonomously in a typical office environment is realizable.
Mobile Worm-Like Robots for Pipe Inspection
Authors: Jatsun Sergey
Published: September 2013

Worm-Like Robots (WLR) have a simple construction, and they do not need any special actuators such as wheels, caterpillars, or legs. Therefore, mobile vibration robots can move not only in space, but also in dense materials, which are not available for wheeled or leg-equipped robots. Worm-like motion allows moving on rough surfaces and inside liquid environments. Mobile devices, which can move without special movers interacting with the environment directly by their frame, possess a number of advantages, as compared to wheeled, crawling, and walking systems. This advantage allows creating miniature microrobots capable for moving in narrow channels, slits, vessels, and environments, inaccessible for other mobile objects. In this chapter, design of robots with worm-like locomotion is discussed, as well as an analysis of Worm-Like Robot (WLR) movement.
A Resource-Oriented Petri Net Approach to Scheduling and Control of Time-Constrained Cluster Tools in Semiconductor Fabrication
Authors: Wu NaiQi , Zhou MengChu
Published: September 2013

Because of residency time constraints and activity time variation for cluster tools, it is very challenging to schedule them. This chapter addresses their real-time scheduling issues and conducts their schedulability analysis in considering residency time constraints and bounded activity time variation. A Petri Net (PN) model, called Resource-Oriented PN (ROPN) is developed to model them. Such formal models describe not only the behavior of both initial transient and steady state processes of cluster tools but also determine the robot activity sequence with robot waits included. They are very compact, independent of wafer flow pattern, and useful for discrete-event control. It is due to the proposed models that scheduling cluster tools are converted into determining robot wait times. A two-level operational architecture is proposed to include an off-line periodic schedule and real-time controller. The former determines when a wafer should be placed into a process module for processing, while the latter regulates robot wait times on-line in order to reduce the effect of activity time variation on wafer sojourn times in process modules. Therefore, the system can adapt to random activity time variation. Based on the PN model, real-time operational architecture, and real-time control policy, it analyzes the effect of activity time variation on wafer sojourn time delay at a process module and presents its upper bounds. The upper bounds are given in an analytical form and can be easily evaluated. Then, it derives schedulability conditions that are in closed form expressions. If schedulable, an algorithm is developed to obtain an off-line periodic schedule. This schedule together with the real-time control policy forms a real-time schedule. It is optimal in terms of cycle time and can be analytically computed, which represents significant advance in this area. Several examples are used to show the applications of the proposed approach.
Service Robots for Agriculture
Authors: Bertetto Andrea Manuello
Published: September 2013

In general, service robots are described with different characteristics for different tasks. In this chapter service robots are analyzed as machines in the agricultural field. The mechanisation in agriculture is discussed and service robots are described for particular tasks. In particular, the harvesting and treatment of high commercial value products is discussed for robotized applications. A significant case study is described and discussed for a robotized system with the aim to harvest and separate the Saffron flower spice.
Robot Modeling for Physical Rehabilitation
Authors: Gonçalves Rogério Sales , Carvalho João Carlos Mendes
Published: September 2013

The science of rehabilitation shows that repeated movements of human limbs can help the patient regain function in the injured limb. There are three types of mechanical systems used for movement rehabilitation: robots, cable-based manipulators, and exoskeletons. Industrial robots can be used because they provide a three-dimensional workspace with a wide range of flexibility to execute different trajectories, which are useful for motion rehabilitation. The cable-based manipulators consist of a movable platform and a base, which are connected by multiple cables that can extend or retract. The exoskeleton is fixed around the patient's limb to provide the physiotherapy movements. This chapter presents a summary of the principal human limb movements, a review of several mechanical systems used for rehabilitation, as well as common mathematical models of such systems.