bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Balloon Dilation of Severe Aortic Stenosis in the Fetus
Authors: Tworetzky Wayne , Wilkins-Haug Louise , Jennings Russell W. , van der Velde Mary E. , Marshall Audrey C. , Marx Gerald R. , Colan Steven D. , Benson Carol B. , Lock James E. , Perry Stanton B.
Published: October 2004

Background—

Preventing the progression of fetal aortic stenosis (AS) to hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) requires identification of fetuses with salvageable left hearts who would progress to HLHS if left untreated, a successful in utero valvotomy, and demonstration that a successful valvotomy promotes left heart growth in utero. Fetuses meeting the first criterion are undefined, and previous reports of fetal AS dilation have not evaluated the impact of intervention on in utero growth of left heart structures.

Methods and Results—

We offered fetal AS dilation to 24 mothers whose fetuses had AS. At least 3 echocardiographers assigned a high probability that all 24 fetuses would progress to HLHS if left untreated. Twenty (21 to 29 weeks’ gestation) underwent attempted AS dilation, with technical success in 14. Ideal fetal positioning for cannula puncture site and course of the needle (with or without laparotomy) proved to be necessary for procedural success. Serial fetal echocardiograms after intervention demonstrated growth arrest of the left heart structures in unsuccessful cases and in those who declined the procedure, while ongoing left heart growth was seen in successful cases. Resumed left heart growth led to a 2-ventricle circulation at birth in 3 babies.

Conclusions—

Fetal echocardiography can identify midgestation fetuses with AS who are at high risk for developing HLHS. Timely and successful aortic valve dilation requires ideal fetal and cannula positioning, prevents left heart growth arrest, and may result in normal ventricular anatomy and function at birth.
SCN5A
Mutation Associated With Dilated Cardiomyopathy, Conduction Disorder, and Arrhythmia
Authors: McNair William P. , Ku Lisa , Taylor Matthew R.G. , Fain Pam R. , Dao Dmi , Wolfel Eugene , Mestroni Luisa ,   the Familial Cardiomyopathy Registry Research Group
Published: October 2004

Background—

We studied a large family affected by an autosomal dominant cardiac conduction disorder associated with sinus node dysfunction, arrhythmia, and right and occasionally left ventricular dilatation and dysfunction. Previous linkage analysis mapped the disease phenotype to a 30-cM region on chromosome 3p22-p25 (CMD1E). This region also contains a locus for right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVD5) and the cardiac sodium channel gene (
SCN5A
), mutations that cause isolated progressive cardiac conduction defect (Lenègre syndrome), long-QT syndrome (LQT3), and Brugada syndrome.

Methods and Results—

Family members were studied, and the positional candidate gene
SCN5A
was screened for mutations. We identified, by direct sequencing, a heterozygous G-to-A mutation at position 3823 that changed an aspartic acid to asparagine (D1275N) in a highly conserved residue of exon 21. This mutation was present in all affected family members, was absent in 300 control chromosomes, and predicted a change of charge within the S3 segment of domain III.

Conclusions—

Our findings expand the clinical spectrum of disorders of the cardiac sodium channel to include cardiac dilation and dysfunction and support the hypothesis that genes encoding ion channels can be implicated in dilated cardiomyopathies.
Complete Isolation of Left Atrium Surrounding the Pulmonary Veins
Authors: Ouyang Feifan , Bänsch Dietmar , Ernst Sabine , Schaumann Anselm , Hachiya Hitoshi , Chen Minglong , Chun Julian , Falk Peter , Khanedani Afsaneh , Antz Matthias , Kuck Karl-Heinz
Published: October 2004

Background—

Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) can be eliminated with continuous circular lesions (CCLs) around the pulmonary veins (PVs), but it is unclear whether all PVs are completely isolated.

Methods and Results—

Forty-one patients with symptomatic PAF underwent 3D mapping, and all PV ostia were marked on the 3D map based on venography. Irrigated radiofrequency energy was applied at a distance from the PV ostia guided by 2 Lasso catheters placed within the ipsilateral superior and inferior PVs. The mean radiofrequency duration was 1550±511 seconds for left-sided PVs and 1512±506 seconds for right-sided PVs. After isolation, automatic activity was observed in the right-sided PVs in 87.8% and in the left-sided PVs in 80.5%. During the procedure, a spontaneous or induced PV tachycardia (PVT) with a cycle length of 189±29 ms was observed in 19 patients. During a mean follow-up of 6 months, atrial tachyarrhythmias recurred in 10 patients. Nine patients underwent a repeat procedure. Conduction gaps in the left CCL in 9 patients and in the right CCL in 2 patients were closed during the second procedure. A spontaneous PVT with a cycle length of 212±44 ms was demonstrated in 7 of 9 patients, even though no PVT had been observed in 6 of these 7 patients during the first procedure. No AF recurred in 39 patients after PV isolation during follow-up.

Conclusions—

Automatic activity and fast tachycardia within the PVs could reflect an arrhythmogenic substrate in patients with PAF, which could be eliminated by isolating all PVs with CCLs guided by 3D mapping and the double-Lasso technique in the majority of patients.
Coronary Artery Calcification and Family History of Premature Coronary Heart Disease
Authors: Nasir Khurram , Michos Erin Donnelly , Rumberger John A. , Braunstein Joel B. , Post Wendy S. , Budoff Matthew J. , Blumenthal Roger S.
Published: October 2004

Background—

The objective of the study was to assess the association of a family history (FH) of premature coronary heart disease (CHD) with coronary artery calcification (CAC) in asymptomatic individuals and to compare the effects of sibling or parental FH on the risk of subclinical atherosclerosis.

Methods and Results—

CAC by electron beam tomography was performed in 8549 asymptomatic individuals (69% men; mean age, 52±9 years). The prevalence and odds of any CAC and extent of CAC stratified according to FH of premature CHD were determined. Those with (1) no FH of CHD, (2) FH of premature CHD in parents, or (3) FH in siblings had a prevalence of CAC of 55%, 64%, and 78% (
P
<0.0001) among men and 27%, 36%, and 56% (
P
<0.0001) among women, respectively. The multivariate regression analysis demonstrated that the odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for the presence of CAC was 1.3 (1.1 to 1.6) among those with positive FH of premature CHD in parents only, 2.3 (1.7 to 3.1) and 2.5 (1.8 to 3.3) among those in siblings and a combined FH compared with those without FH of CHD in men, respectively. Among women, the corresponding odds ratios were 1.3 (1.0 to 1.8), 2.3 (1.7 to 3.6), and 1.9 (1.3 to 3.1), respectively. A similar trend was observed in the association of FH of premature CHD with increasing CAC scores.

Conclusions—

Our study demonstrates a highly significant association between FH of premature CHD and the presence and extent of CAC. Furthermore, within the limits of self-reporting of family history, our findings suggest that a sibling history is more strongly associated with subclinical coronary atherosclerosis than a parental history of premature CHD.
Impaired Cerebral Autoregulation in Patients With Malignant Hypertension
Authors: Immink Rogier V. , van den Born Bert-Jan H. , van Montfrans Gert A. , Koopmans Richard P. , Karemaker John M. , van Lieshout Johannes J.
Published: October 2004

Background—

In patients with a malignant hypertension, immediate parenteral treatment with blood pressure–lowering agents such as intravenous sodium nitroprusside (SNP) is indicated. In this study, we evaluated static and dynamic cerebral autoregulation (CA) during acute blood pressure lowering with SNP in these patients.

Methods and Results—

In 8 patients with mean arterial pressure (MAP) >140 mm Hg and grade III or IV hypertensive retinopathy at hospital admission, middle cerebral artery blood velocity (MCA V) and blood pressure were monitored. Dynamic CA was expressed as the 0.1-Hz MCA V
mean
to MAP phase lead and static CA as the MCA V
mean
to MAP relationship during SNP treatment. Eight normotensive subjects served as a reference group. In the patients, the MCA V
mean
to MAP phase lead was lower (30±8° versus 58±5°, mean±SEM;
P
<0.05), whereas the transfer gain tended to be higher. During SNP treatment, target MAP was reached within 90 minutes in all patients. The MCA V
mean
decrease was 22±4%, along with a 27±3% reduction in MAP (from 166±4 to 121±6 mm Hg;
P
<0.05) in a linear fashion (averaged slope, 0.82±0.15% cm · s
−1
· % mm Hg
−1
;
r
=0.70±0.07).

Conclusions—

In patients with malignant hypertension, dynamic CA is impaired. An MCA V
mean
plateau was not detected during the whole SNP treatment, indicating loss of static CA as well. This study showed that during the whole rapid reduction in blood pressure with SNP, MCA V
mean
decreases almost one on one with MAP.
In Situ Akt Phosphorylation in the Nucleus Tractus Solitarii Is Involved in Central Control of Blood Pressure and Heart Rate
Authors: Huang Hsiao-Ning , Lu Pei-Jung , Lo Wan-Chen , Lin Chia-Hui , Hsiao Michael , Tseng Ching-Jiunn
Published: October 2004

Background—

Previously, we have shown that nitric oxide (NO) plays a significant role in central cardiovascular regulation and modulates the baroreflex in the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS) of rats. NO production is mediated by activation of NO synthase (NOS). Insulin signaling was involved in controlling peripheral blood pressure via the activation of endothelial NOS. Here, we investigated whether the insulin signal transduction pathway is involved in controlling central cardiovascular effects.

Methods and Results—

Insulin was injected into NTS of urethane-anesthetized male Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats. Unilateral microinjection (60 nL) of insulin (100 IU/mL) into the NTS produced prominent depressor and bradycardic effects in 8- and 16-week-old WKY rats. In addition, pretreatment with the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor LY294002 and the NOS inhibitor L-NAME into the NTS caused attenuation of the cardiovascular response evoked by insulin in either 8- or 16-week-old WKY rats. Western blot analysis showed a significant increase (2.6±0.4-fold;
P
<0.05) in Akt phosphorylation after insulin injection, whereas LY294002 abolished the insulin-induced effects. In situ Akt phosphorylation was found in NTS by immunohistochemistry analysis after injection of insulin. This in situ Akt phosphorylation was abolished significantly after injection of LY294002.

Conclusions—

Take together, these results suggest that the insulin-PI3K-Akt-NOS signaling pathway may play a significant role in central cardiovascular regulation.
Role of Myocardial Neuronal Nitric Oxide Synthase–Derived Nitric Oxide in β-Adrenergic Hyporesponsiveness After Myocardial Infarction–Induced Heart Failure in Rat
Authors: Bendall Jennifer K. , Damy Thibaud , Ratajczak Philippe , Loyer Xavier , Monceau Virginie , Marty Isabelle , Milliez Paul , Robidel Estelle , Marotte Françoise , Samuel Jane-Lise , Heymes Christophe
Published: October 2004

Background—

An emerging concept is that a neuronal isoform of nitric oxide synthase (NOS1) may regulate myocardial contractility. However, a role for NOS1-derived nitric oxide (NO) in heart failure (HF) has not been defined.

Methods and Results—

Using a model of myocardial infarction-induced HF, we demonstrated that cardiac NOS1 expression and activity increased in HF rats (
P
<0.05 and
P
<0.001 versus shams, respectively). This was associated with translocation of NOS1 from the ryanodine receptor to the sarcolemma through interactions with caveolin-3 in HF hearts. With ex vivo and in vivo pressure-volume analysis, cardiac NOS1-derived NO was found to be negatively inotropic in shams but not HF hearts. Ventricular elastance (E
es
) was significantly reduced in HF rats (
P
<0.05), and τ, the time constant of left ventricular relaxation, was prolonged (both
P
<0.05). Acute NOS1 inhibition significantly increased E
es
by 33±3% and τ by 17±2% (
P
<0.05) in shams, although these effects were significantly attenuated in HF hearts. β-Adrenergic stimulation induced a marked increase in systolic performance in sham hearts, with the responses being significantly blunted in HF hearts. E
es
increased by 163±42% (
P
<0.01) in sham hearts and 56±9% in HF hearts, and LV +dP/dt increased by 97±9% (
P
<0.01) in shams and 37±7% (
P
<0.05) in the HF group. Interestingly, preferential NOS1 inhibition enhanced the blunted responses of LV +dP/dt and E
es
to β-adrenergic stimulation in HF rats but had no effect in shams.

Conclusions—

These results provide the first evidence that increased NOS1-derived NO production may play a role in the autocrine regulation of myocardial contractility in HF.
Angiotensin II Regulation of Collagen Type I Expression in Cardiac Fibroblasts
Authors: Chen Kui , Chen Jiawei , Li Dayuan , Zhang Xingjian , Mehta Jawahar L.
Published: October 2004

Angiotensin II (Ang II)–mediated stimulation of fibroblast growth and collagen type I synthesis is believed to be an important component of the cardiac remodeling process in hypertension and chronic ischemia. Ang II–mediated oxidative stress could be important in enhanced fibroblast growth and collagen formation. Accordingly, we postulated that the PPAR-γ ligand, pioglitazone, which is known to modulate oxidative stress, would alter Ang II–induced formation of collagen type I in cardiac fibroblasts. Cardiac fibroblasts were treated with different concentrations (10
−8
to 10
−6
M) of Ang II for different times (6 hours, 12 hours, and 24 hours). Ang II increased the expression of collagen type I in a concentration- and time-dependent fashion (
P
<0.01 versus control). Ang II also decreased the expression and activity of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1 (MMP-1,
P
<0.05 versus control). These effects of Ang II were attenuated by pretreatment of cells with pioglitazone (10 μmol/L). Ang II stimulated the intracellular generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and this effect was also attenuated by pioglitazone. Ang II treatment activated the redox-sensitive transcription factor NF-κB, and pioglitazone pretreatment blocked this effect of Ang II. Ang II also activated another transcription factor, AP-1, but this effect of Ang II was not modulated by pioglitazone. In other experiments, we observed that trolox, the water soluble analog of vitamin E, attenuated the effects of Ang II on the expression of collagen type I and MMP-1, in a manner similar to pioglitazone. Thus, pioglitazone attenuates Ang II-mediated collagen type I synthesis in cardiac fibroblasts. The effects of pioglitazone are mediated by the modulation of ROS release and redox-sensitive transcription factor NF-κB.
Gender-Specific Influence of NO Synthase Gene on Blood Pressure Since Childhood
Authors: Chen Wei , Srinivasan Sathanur R. , Li Shengxu , Boerwinkle Eric , Berenson Gerald S.
Published: October 2004

Impaired endothelial function caused by decreased NO production plays a pathophysiologic role in essential hypertension. Although cross-sectional data are available on the association between endothelial NO synthase gene polymorphisms and hypertension, whether the gene variants and their haplotypes affect the long-term cumulative burden and trend of blood pressure since childhood is not known. This aspect was examined using 4 polymorphisms and a community-based longitudinal cohort of 347 blacks and 801 whites aged 18 to 45 years who have been examined serially 4 to 13 times (7705 observations) over an on average of 23.4 years. The area under the curve calculated using a growth curve of serial measurements of mean arterial pressure was used as a long-term cumulative burden. Blacks compared with whites displayed significantly lower frequencies of the rare alleles for G894T (0.112 versus 0.325), G10T (0.209 versus 0.323), T-786C (0.147 versus 0.372), and A-922G (0.131 versus 0.355). In addition, T-786C and A-922G polymorphisms were in complete linkage disequilibrium in both races. After adjusting for age and body mass index, the 894T and 10T alleles were significantly associated with lower long-term burden of blood pressure since childhood in black females and white females, respectively. With respect to haplotypes, the G894-10T carriers compared with (G894-G10)/(G894-G10) showed significantly lower long-term burden and trend of blood pressure in white females. In conclusion, the endothelial NO synthase gene influences the long-term burden and trend of blood pressure since childhood in females and may contribute to their predisposition to hypertension.
The Association Between Blood Pressure, Hypertension, and Cerebral White Matter Lesions
Authors: van Dijk Ewoud J. , Breteler Monique M.B. , Schmidt Reinhold , Berger Klaus , Nilsson Lars-Göran , Oudkerk Matthijs , Pajak Andrzej , Sans Susana , de Ridder Maria , Dufouil Carole , Fuhrer Rebecca , Giampaoli Simona , Launer Lenore J. , Hofman Albert
Published: October 2004

Cerebral white matter lesions are frequently observed on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in elderly people and are associated with stroke and dementia. Elevated blood pressure is presumed one of the main risk factors, although data are almost exclusively derived from cross-sectional studies. We assessed in 10 European cohorts the relation between concurrently and previously measured blood pressure levels, hypertension, its treatment, and severe cerebral white matter lesions. In total, 1805 nondemented subjects aged 65 to 75 years were sampled from ongoing community-based studies that were initiated 5 to 20 years before the MRI. White matter lesions in the periventricular and subcortical region were rated separately using semiquantitative measures. We performed logistic regression analyses adjusted for potential confounders in 1625 people with complete data. Concurrently and formerly assessed diastolic and systolic blood pressure levels were positively associated with severe white matter lesions. Both increases and decreases in diastolic blood pressure were associated with more severe periventricular white matter lesions. Increase in systolic blood pressure levels was associated with more severe periventricular and subcortical white matter lesions. People with poorly controlled hypertension had a higher risk of severe white matter lesions than those without hypertension, or those with controlled or untreated hypertension. Higher blood pressure was associated with an increased risk of severe white matter lesions. Successful treatment of hypertension may reduce this risk; however, a potential negative effect of decreasing diastolic blood pressure level on the occurrence of severe periventricular white matter lesions should be taken into account.
Cyclophilin A Functions as an Endogenous Inhibitor for Membrane-Bound Guanylate Cyclase-A
Authors: Chen Zi-Jiang , Vetter Michael , Chang Geen-Dong , Liu Shiguo , Che Danian , Ding Yaxian , Kim Sung Soo , Chang Chung-Ho
Published: October 2004

Cyclophilin A (CypA), a receptor for the immunosuppressive agent cyclosporin A, is a
cis-trans
-peptidyl-prolyl isomerase (PPIase). It accelerates the
cis-trans
isomerization of prolyl-peptide bonds. CypA binds and regulates the activity of a variety of proteins. Atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) and its receptor membrane-bound guanylate cyclase-A (GC-A) are involved in the regulation of blood pressure. We examined whether CypA affects the activation of GC-A by ANF. The results showed that CypA associated with GC-A. Interestingly, binding of ANF to GC-A released CypA. Transfection of CypA inhibited ANF-stimulated GC-A activity, indicating that CypA functions as an endogenous inhibitor for GC-A activation. CypA also inhibits the activity of guanylate cyclase-C (GC-c), the catalytic domain of GC-A, indicating that CypA interacts with the catalytic domain of GC-A. In contrast, transfection of CypA R55A, a CypA mutant expressing low PPIase activity, did not significantly attenuate the activity of GC-c and the activation of GC-A. Inhibition of PPIase activity of CypA with cyclosporin A also blocks the inhibitory effect of CypA on GC-c activity. These results demonstrate that PPIase activity is required for CypA to inhibit GC-c activity and GC-A activation by ANF. Furthermore, mutation of Pro 822, 902, or 958 in GC-c abolished its activity. Therefore, it is likely that CypA binds to GC-A and catalyzes the
cis-trans
isomerization of Pro 822, 902, or 958, which keeps GC-A in the inactive state, and that binding of ANF to GC-A alters the conformation of the catalytic domain that releases CypA from GC-A leading to enzyme activation.
Globalization and International Tourism in Developing Countries: Marginality as a Commercial Commodity
Authors: Azarya Victor
Published: October 2004

Curiosity for the different and marginal develops, and is economically exploited, as a side-effect of globalization. An increasing (though still minority) part of it is directed towards what visitors perceive as peripheries of the world. For indigenous people in developing countries this development creates new challenges and has contradictory consequences. It generates new sources of income as service workers in the tourism industry as well as the opportunity of becoming tourism exhibits themselves, selling souvenirs, being photographed, opening their camps and villages to visitors, putting on shows of dances, ceremonies, traditional food, art, customs, etc. While these latter activities incorporate those people in the new economy, they also ‘freeze’ them culturally at the margin of society since it is their marginality that they exhibit and sell for profit. Such incongruent combination of economic incorporation and cultural marginality is examined with special reference to the Maasai pastoral groups in Kenya and Tanzania.
The Impact of Corporate Culture on Company Performance
Authors: Garmendia José A.
Published: October 2004

The initial hypothesis is that different types of organization - defined in terms of a combination of the variables financial success, cultural strength, flexibility and adaptability to the environment - respond to different performance profiles. An analysis of the replies provided by respondents from a sample of life and health insurance companies confirms our hypothesis, particularly for the two extreme types. Their respective performance profiles, measured in terms of the attainment of 15 values (goals), are likewise found at opposite extremes of the scale. Subjective indicators prevail in the study, since both effectiveness and corporate culture are treated from the standpoint of corporate image, as perceived within the organization and by the industry as a whole.
The effect of similarity measures on the quality of query clusters
Authors: Fu Lin , Goh Dion Hoe-Lian , Foo Schubert Shou-Boon
Published: October 2004

Query clustering is a process that can be used to discover common interests of online information seekers and to exploit their collective search experience for the benefit of others. Harnessing such search experiences facilitates collaborative querying that in turn may help users of digital libraries and other information systems to better meet their information needs. Since similarity is fundamental to the definition of a cluster, measures of similarity between two queries are essential to the query clustering procedure. In this paper, we examine the effectiveness of different similarity measures. A set of experiments was carried out to study the impact of different similarity measures on the quality of query clusters. The results show that different similarity measures outperform each other in different query cluster quality criteria. Implications for these findings are discussed.
A case study of the process of achieving legitimation in information systems development
Authors: Hussain Zahid , Taylor Andrew , Flynn Donal
Published: October 2004

Social and organizational issues are important in developing successful information systems in organizations. In the past, several approaches have been used to investigate these issues, but more recently an emerging and promising approach is to use Structuration Theory (ST). ST is acknowledged as a powerful approach but needs careful operationalization; consequently, the empirical application of ST remains scarce. In this research ST is used as a sense-making device to examine the research context. In this case study of a National Health Service organization, we concentrate on the legitimation construct within ST to examine how IT management carried out an integrated set of actions over a three-year period to obtain legitimation for an Intranet system from its eventual stakeholders. Legitimation is potentially important for any project involving the introduction of new information tools, especially those that will require a change in end user behaviours. It is therefore possible that this study of legitimation in ISD is transferable to many other IS contexts. A Legitimation Activity Model was used to show how activities could be performed to achieve legitimation from key organizational stakeholders. We suggest that a failure to obtain legitimation may be a significant but under-recognized factor in information systems failure.
Hidden worlds of the early knowledge economy: libraries in British companies before the middle of the 20th century
Authors: Black Alistair
Published: October 2004

The ‘knowledge economy’ is a key facet of the proposition that Western societies have entered a fundamentally new phase of development as a result of rapid advances in digital technology. However, this proposition underplays the historic importance of knowledge to economic activity and performance. One example of the past intersection of knowledge transfer and economic development is the in-house company library in Britain, which, having originated in the 19th century, became a noticeable feature of the corporate management after 1914, providing a nurturing environment for the emergence of embryonic information professionalism. Paying particular attention to the First World War and inter-war periods, this paper focuses on the purpose and work of the early company library and on the factors that moulded it.
Hyperlinks as a data source for science mapping
Authors: Harries Gareth , Wilkinson David , Price Liz , Fairclough Ruth , Thelwall Mike
Published: October 2004

Hyperlinks between academic web sites, like citations, can potentially be used to map disciplinary structures and identify evidence of connections between disciplines. In this paper we classified a sample of links originating in three different disciplines: maths, physics and sociology. Links within a discipline were found to be different in character to links between pages in different disciplines. There were also disciplinary differences in both types of link. As a consequence, we argue that interpretations of web science maps covering multiple disciplines will need to be sensitive to the contexts of the links mapped.
A study of users’ performance and satisfaction with the Web of Science IR interface
Authors: Ahmed S. M. Zabed , McKnight Cliff , Oppenheim Charles
Published: October 2004

This paper reports on an empirical study of users’ performance and satisfaction with the Web of Science interface. Two different search groups (novice and experienced) participated in the study. They carried out seven search tasks and their performance was recorded through transaction logging and computer screen recording. Data were captured on the time taken, search terms used, success score and error rates. After completion of search tasks, they completed a questionnaire on their satisfaction with the interface. The performance data showed that overall experienced users performed better than the novice group. Differences were significant in success score and error rates between the groups. Performance differences also existed on factors such as gender and previous online search training. Experienced female searchers performed best in terms of success score and error rates whereas the novice male group performed worst. Untrained users were more successful and made fewer errors than the trained group. Participants held neither highly positive nor highly negative perceptions about the Web of Science interface. Novice searchers were significantly more satisfied with the interface than the experienced group. Participants also noted both positive and negative features in the interface. This information could be used to redesign the present Web of Science interface.
Irresponsible citizens? New Labour, citizenship and the case of non-payment of local taxation
Authors: Orton Michael
Published: October 2004

This article engages with the debate about citizenship and responsibility by drawing on the experience of citizens whose voice is rarely heard in that debate. The article draws on a study of a specific citizenship obligation, the payment of local taxation, and in particular interviews with people who had failed to pay local tax - a group who could potentially be characterized as ‘irresponsible citizens’. From the perspective of these citizens the experience of paying local tax raises issues not about a deficit of responsibility but insecurity and the struggle to make ends meet. The examination of local tax and citizenship also raises issues about what will be described as the unequal distribution of obligation under New Labour. The article concludes by arguing that what is highlighted is the need for consideration of responsibility in relation not just to poor citizens but to all citizens, and in particular those with higher incomes.
Spacing and Timing
Authors: Jones Geoff , McLean Christine , Quattrone Paolo
Published: October 2004

The aim of this special issue is to explore organizing processes in ways which do not assume an a priori existence of space and time. Rather than providing a summary of the papers collected here, this introduction illustrates how Spacing and Timing relate to issues of knowing, organizing, mediation, engagement, alterity and absence/presence. We examine how various actions and practices may be seen as seeking to achieve order but also concomitantly create further openings and orderings. Finally, while this introduction attempts to highlight a range of issues relating to this process, the development of alternative vocabularies, approaches, and insights are required to develop this work further.
Spacing, Timing and the Invention of Management
Authors: Hoskin Keith
Published: October 2004

This piece reflects on what we might mean by spacing and timing in a number of ways. It considers first how we might see the Palermo conference that launched this journal issue as a kairos, a temporal moment of crystallization that worked through the coming together of its participants to signal that a new intellectual path was already being and continues to be cleared. It then reflects on how these terms work, for the author, to make a new sense of his long-term attempt with Richard Macve to understand where management comes from and what management is. It suggests that management emerges when humans succeed in engineering the spacing and timing of activity into a new kind of centripetal amalgam. At the structuring level this entails the design of a centripetal kind of structure, where vertical and horizontal nodal connections are engineered to cohere rather than collapse—something that is arguably first achieved with the articulation of the line-and-staff structure. But such a structuring is nothing without a set of processes ensuring and enacting the continuity of spacing-timing coherence within and between nodes, all day every day, and here and every relevant where. Such processing, it is suggested, takes place once writing and examining practices get combined with putting numbers on people. Finally the paper asks whether spacing and timing may not have a conceptual or theoretical status analogous to that of Heidegger’s ‘lighting of the world’, as horizonal constructs marking out the ground and limit of our acting and making sense in the world at all.
Where Do Spacing and Timing Happen? Two Movements in the Loss of Cosmological Innocence
Authors: Hansen Niels Viggo
Published: October 2004

A general feature of late modernity is the extension of a certain kind of critical awareness of constructedness, which used to be aimed only at the acts and beliefs of non-modern institutions and collectives but is now returning home. We realize in practice, and to an increasing extent in theory, that we live in a world whose features—times and spaces, for instance—are constructed. This is a loss of what could be termed ‘cosmological innocence’, that is, of a naive trust in e.g. spatial and temporal structures as simple representations of the world as it is. This paper explores the loss of innocence, arguing that it is a wholesome and enriching experience, and investigating how we can avoid a tendency to end it all before it gets really interesting by assuming 100% guilt on behalf of transcendental, non-worldly human subjectivity. To counteract this, the paper proposes a process metaphysical approach, which may allow us openly to share the joys and perils of constructing worlds along with other kinds of participants in the cosmos.
On Time, Space, and Action Nets
Authors: Czarniawska Barbara
Published: October 2004

Laboratory studies, especially those by Latour and Woolgar (1979/1986) and Knorr Cetina (1981) have proved to be an invaluable source of inspiration for students of organizing. Laboratories, however, are primarily reminiscent of simple factories, an organization form that is no longer central in today’s world of work organizations. Two aspects of factory-like organizing are problematized in this paper: the dominance of chronological time and the existence of centers of calculation. Complementing these aspects with kairotic time and dispersed calculation will bring the two types of studies even closer. Such a rapprochement will allow for the adjustment of methodological approaches in studies of organization in a way similar to that dominant in SST (studies of science and technology) research. Two such changes are suggested: the study of action nets rather than organizations as study objects, which require the reversal of the time perspective; and the use of mobile ethnologies, facilitating study of the life and work of people who move around a great deal.
Speech Timing and Spacing: The Phenomenon of Organizational Closure
Authors: Cooren François , Fairhurst Gail T.
Published: October 2004

This article examines how communication contributes to the achievement of spatio-temporal closures through the interactional enactment of sequences called ‘schemata.’ Human and nonhuman interactants not only bring into being but also contribute to the opening, development and closing of organizational sequences, which constitute and circumscribe what gets done collectively. Timing and spacing thus consist of creating and sometimes interrupting what could be called organizational closures, that is, spatio-temporal limits that indicate when and where specific organizational episodes are initiated, fulfilled and sanctioned. Organizational spaces and times are thus achieved and delineated through interactions, a phenomenon that will be illustrated through the in-depth analysis of a radio transmission that involved police officers trying to locate and rescue one of their colleagues.
Thick Time
Authors: Thrift Nigel
Published: October 2004

This paper acts as a commentary on and an extension to the preceding papers. It argues that time can be fully taken into account in organization studies only by understanding temporal fields as processes of progressive practical imitation, in the manner of tarde. this argument is illustrated by considering various management innovations of the past century or so.
Racial States, Anti-Racist Responses
Authors: Lentin Alana
Published: October 2004

This article seeks to re-examine two major assumptions in mainstream anti-racist thought of the post-war era. These are culturalism, on the one hand, and human rights on the other, both of which have been offered as potential solutions to the ongoing problem of racism. I argue that both fail to cope with racism as it has been institutionalized in the political and social structures of European societies because they inaccurately theorize ‘race’. Racism is treated as an individual attitude born of prejudice and ignorance and not as a political project that emerged under specific conditions within the context of the European nation-state. A re-examination of this legacy of modernity and a questioning of the structuring principles of anti-racism is necessary in the current context of racism against migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.
Organized Self-Realization
Authors: Honneth Axel
Published: October 2004

Despite the fact that the sociological notion ‘individualization’ contains the most heterogeneous phenomena, the article develops an interpretation of the fate of individualization in Western capitalism today. After having differentiated three different meanings of that notion with the help of Georg Simmel, the position is defended that the claims to individual self-realization, which have rapidly multiplied in the Western societies of thirty or forty years ago, have become so much a feature of the institutionalized expectations inherent in social reproduction that the particular goals of such claims are lost and they are transmuted into a support of the system’s legitimacy. The result of this paradoxical reversal, where the processes which once promised an increase of qualitative freedom are henceforth altered into an ideology of de-institutionalization, is the emergence in individuals of a number of symptoms of inner emptiness, of feeling oneself to be superfluous, and of absence of purpose.
Ernst Troeltsch’s Concept of Europe
Authors: Harrington Austin
Published: October 2004

Recent writing in social theory has seen a renewed preoccupation with questions of religion, secularization and civilizational difference. This article reappraises the work of one early twentieth-century thinker in relation to these issues: the German historical theologian and close colleague of Max Weber, Ernst Troeltsch (1865-1923). The article concentrates particularly on Troeltsch’s late writings on Europe and ‘Europeanism’. The thesis is defended that Troeltsch offers an important gloss on Weber’s famous assertion of the ‘universal significance and validity’ of occidental rationalism. Troeltsch offers a thicker, more concretized reading of Weber’s statement that serves as a precursor to contemporary thinking about ‘multiple modernities’ and also as a fund of trenchant counter-responses to the claims of recent post-colonial critics about Eurocentrism in western social science. Troeltsch’s writings give us one example among many of a current of cosmopolitan reflexivity in European social thought between the wars that avoided both nationalism and chauvinism, on the one hand, and nihilism and obscurantism, on the other.
Socio-Political Transition in the Indian Republic and the European Union
Authors: Oommen T. K.
Published: October 2004

In spite of their drastically different historical trajectories, the ongoing socio-political transition in the European Union (EU) and the Indian Republic (IR), two of the most complex polities in contemporary world, suggests that they aspire to combine political federalism and cultural pluralism. This is evident from their endorsing equality, identity and inclusivity as values; implementing political decentralization and facilitating differentiation between state, civil society and market. To meet the emerging challenges both the EU and the IR endorse the idea of unity in diversity. The article suggests that two coping strategies, transforming cultural diversity (a fact) into cultural pluralism (a value) and decoupling the identities of citizenship and nationality are imperatives.
Radon in Tube-Well Drinking Water and Indoor Air
Authors: Sonkawade R. G. , Ram Rewa , Kanjilal D. K. , Ramola R. C.
Published: October 2004

High radon concentration in well water influences the indoor radon concentration when used as a domestic water supply. Radon levels were measured in indoor air and different tube-well water samples at the Nuclear Science Centre (NSC) premises. The ground-water from these tube-wells is used for drinking by the residents of the NSC premises. The radon concentrations in drinking water and the indoor air of the NSC premises were measured by using AlphaGuard. Radon levels recorded were more or less the same in all water samples and were found to vary from 1645Bq.m 3 to 3869Bq.m 3. Even when de-ionised, the radon concentration in the water was measured in the range from 1569Bq.m 3 to 2213Bq.m 3. The pH value of the water samples was also measured: no correlation was observed between radon concentration and the pH of the water samples. In addition, radon levels were also measured in some houses at the NSC premises using the same technique. The indoor radon level was found to vary from 3Bq.m 3 to 75Bq.m 3. The radon levels in kitchens and bedrooms were found to be slightly higher than those in other parts of the house. The indoor radon concentration was found to be highest at night and lowest in the afternoon. However, the measured radon levels in both the drinking water and the indoor air are well below the UNSCEAR recommended levels.
Electronic Nose for the Early Detection of Moulds in Libraries and Archives
Authors: Pinzari Flavia , Fanelli Corrado , Canhoto Olinda , Magan Naresh
Published: October 2004

The development of sensor technology has stimulated interest in the use of characteristic volatile and odorous compounds produced by fungi as early indicators of deterioration in materials. Sensor arrays to measure traces of volatile chemicals could detect early fungal growth in libraries and archives.

In this study we tested an electronic nose to detect fungi actively growing on paper samples. The main aim was to verify whether or not a device, currently used to detect fungal activity in stored grain, might be suitable for detecting mould activity on paper. The findings indicate that it is possible to discriminate “ in vitro” between paper samples affected by moulds and those unaffected, both at 100% RH (relative humidity), and at 75% RH, simply by measuring their odour fingerprint with an electronic nose. The sensors used in this study discriminated for each paper type three different species of actively growing fungi. Cluster analysis (CA) showed that it was possible to differentiate between specific species. Different paper types influenced the emission of odorous signals by moulds. When considering data from all the paper types, principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that only samples analysed at 100% RH could be separated.

This study suggests that, before electronic-nose technology can be applied to the early detection of mould growth in libraries, archives, museums or in display cases, more information will be required on the influence of substrata and of other environmental parameters in the production of volatile chemicals by fungi.
The Biology of Cleavage Fragments: A Brief Synthesis and Analysis of Current Knowledge
Authors: Ilgren E. B.
Published: October 2004

Asbestos is a commercial term referring to 6 fibrous minerals from 2 mineralogical classes: serpentine and amphibole. Chrysotile, or white asbestos, is the only serpentine mineral. The asbestiform habit of amphibole asbestos is far more toxic than chrysotile. However, most amphibole minerals are found in the “non-asbestiform” state that pose few, if any, health risks. Comminution, whether deliberate during crushing or grinding, or incidental in usage may produce structures known as “cleavage fragments” from a wide variety of sources. A considerable body of evidence, gathered over the last 30 years, demonstrates that amphibole cleavage fragments do not show the same toxicity as their asbestiform analogues. Since there still continues to be confusion and controversy on this point, this review is aimed at resolving a major portion of this controversy. It has done so by bringing together the supporting mineralogical, animal and human evidence from many sources. These observations demonstrate that cleavage fragments and amphibole asbestos fibres have fundamentally different properties and these differences are biologically relevant. Indeed, the toxicity of respirable cleavage fragments is so much less than that of the fibrous amphiboles that by any reasonable measure they are not biologically harmful.
Coalinga Chrysotile: A Short Fibre, Amphibole Free, Chrysotile: Part V - Lack of Amphibole Asbestos Contamination
Authors: Ilgren E. B.
Published: October 2004

Exposure to asbestos in the indoor built environment has been a concern for many years. The most common exposures in that setting are to short ultra-thin, naturally defibrillated form of fibrous asbestiform chrysotile and possibly trace amounts of short, non-asbestiform amphibole. Coalinga chrysotile is a short fibre mineral that was mined from a large ore body in California. It has been investigated in considerable detail since, although it is widely believed to be amphibole free, evidence for this has not hitherto been summarised. Analytical results from investigations that directly searched for amphiboles and geological studies from which the presence or absence of amphibole can be inferred, have indicated that Coalinga chrysotile is free of amphibole asbestos. Indeed, numerous investigations, performed over almost half a century, using a variety of techniques including the most sensitive methods, and studying many thousands of samples have failed to find any amphibole asbestos in Coalinga chrysotile. Only very rarely have non-asbestiform, “non-friable” amphibole (so-called cleavage fragment) minerals been found in the New Idria serpentine body but away from the ore zone. A large body of animal and human evidence indicates such cleavage fragments lack biological potential.
History, learning technology and student achievement
Authors: Rogers Graham
Published: October 2004

The use of Web-based resources in higher education has been expanding at an exponential rate over recent years. It is having a significant impact on every discipline, not least in terms of enriching the store of accessible learning materials. Moreover, advocates of virtual learning environments have made strong claims that educational technology can enhance the quality of students’ critical thinking. This article examines these claims within the context of a WebCT-based project and the subject of history. It interrogates a body of evidence which suggests that technology can induce improvement to the quality of learning and cognitive achievement. But it also underlines the centrality of assessment practice and students’ perceptions of learning goals in shaping the impact of ‘online’ approaches on student attainment. To that extent, this study holds wider implications.
Introducing new students to ICT
Authors: Pritchard Alan
Published: October 2004

This article is a case study, assisted by the collection of data which has been analysed as an evaluative measure, of the initial element of an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) module for a cohort of trainee teachers on a Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) course for primary school teaching. The standards which the trainees must achieve require them to be competent, confident and knowledgeable in their use of ICT. With a diverse range of backgrounds and experience amongst the cohort, it was decided to adopt a problem-solving approach in order to allow all trainees to work with a range of ICT applications at a level to suit their particular stage of development, rather than a skills-based approach which in the past had led to difficulties with pitching the work at an appropriate level for the groups. We considered that this approach to the use of ICT served as one model for ICT use in schools. The progress of the work is reported; an evaluation for the purposes of internal monitoring of the effectiveness of this approach is also reported. The approach was deemed appropriate by most trainees, and served to decrease anxiety and increase confidence.