bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Tactile Feedback Improves Performance in a Palpation Task: Results in a VR-Based Testbed
Authors: Santos-Carreras Laura , Leuenberger Kaspar , Samur Evren , Gassert Roger , Bleuler Hannes
Published: February 2014

Robotic surgery provides many benefits such as reduced invasiveness and increased dexterity. This comes at the cost of no direct contact between surgeon and patient. This physical separation prevents surgeons from performing direct haptic exploration of tissues and organs, imposing exclusive reliance on visual cues. Current technology is not yet able to both measure and reproduce a realistic and complete sense of touch (interaction force, temperature, roughness, etc.). In this paper, we put forward a concept based on multimodal feedback consisting of the integration of different kinds of visual and tactile cues with force feedback that can potentially improve both the surgeon's performance and the patient's safety. We present a cost-effective tactile display simulating a pulsating artery that has been integrated into a haptic workstation to combine both tactile and force-feedback information. Furthermore, we investigate the effect of different feedback types, including tactile and/or visual cues, on the performance of subjects carrying out two typical palpation tasks: (1) exploring a tissue to find a hidden artery and (2) identifying the orientation of a hidden artery. The results show that adding tactile feedback significantly reduces task completion time. Moreover, for high difficulty levels, subjects perform better with the feedback condition combining tactile and visual cues. As a matter of fact, the majority of the subjects in the study preferred this combined feedback because redundant feedback reassures subjects in their actions. Based on this work, we can infer that multimodal haptic feedback improves subjects' performance and confidence during exploratory procedures.
Including Social Interaction in Stroke VR-Based Motor Rehabilitation Enhances Performance: A Pilot Study
Authors: Rubio Ballester Belén , Bermúdez i Badia Sergi , Verschure Paul F. M. J.
Published: February 2014

Social factors and motivation are key factors for recovery in stroke patients (Glass, Matchar, Belyea, & Feussner, 1993). The goal of this study is to enhance accessibility and evaluate the effects of including social interaction in a virtual reality (VR) -based system for stroke rehabilitation. We hypothesize that a multiplayer competitive context will have a positive effect on the involvement of the patients in the therapy and thus on the rehabilitation process. We test this hypothesis using the Rehabilitation Gaming System (RGS), an ICT virtual reality tool for upper extremities motor rehabilitation. First, we implemented and evaluated a new interface based on a low-cost key-glove. Then, we developed a dedicated RGS scenario where the player has to match pairs of cards from a stack of playing cards. This task trains cognitive (memory) and motor tasks (grasping and reaching). Eight stroke patients participated in two sessions lasting 20 min, one using a single-player VR environment and another using a multiplayer version of the same game. A usability test showed that participants interact with the system much faster when using the new key-glove–based interface (p = .02) in comparison to a mouse and keyboard. In addition, our results showed that upper limb exercises performed by the patients in multiplayer mode reached wider elbow flexion/extension movements than the ones performed during the single-player game session (p = .04). Considering that the presence of spasticity is very common in patients affected by an ictus and that it causes an ongoing level of contraction, these results suggest that the patients affected displayed more effort in reaching if engaged in a social task. Our study shows that accessibility and social engagement in multiplayer environments positively affects the patients' performance and enjoyment during the task. Although the long-term impact of this enhanced motivation needs to be further assessed, our results do suggest that the inclusion of social factors such as multiplayer capabilities is an important factor for the rehabilitation process in VR-based therapy and might have an impact on both performance and mood of stroke patients.
Measuring Digital System Latency from Sensing to Actuation at Continuous 1-ms Resolution
Authors: Wu Weixin , Dong Yujie , Hoover Adam
Published: February 2014

This paper describes a new method for measuring the end-to-end latency between sensing and actuation in a digital computing system. Compared to previous works, which generally measured the latency at 10–33-ms intervals or at discrete events separated by hundreds of ms, our new method measures the latency continuously at 1-ms resolution. This allows for the observation of variations in latency over sub 1-s periods, instead of relying upon averages of measurements. We have applied our method to two systems, the first using a camera for sensing and an LCD monitor for actuation, and the second using an orientation sensor for sensing and a motor for actuation. Our results show two interesting findings. First, a cyclical variation in latency can be seen based upon the relative rates of the sensor and actuator clocks and buffer times; for the components we tested, the variation was in the range of 15–50 Hz with a magnitude of 10–20 ms. Second, orientation sensor error can look like a variation in latency; for the sensor we tested, the variation was in the range of 0.5–1.0 Hz with a magnitude of 20–100 ms. Both of these findings have implications for robotics and virtual reality systems. In particular, it is possible that the variation in apparent latency caused by orientation sensor error may have some relation to simulator sickness.
V3S: A Virtual Environment for Risk-Management Training Based on Human-Activity Models
Authors: Barot C. , Lourdeaux D. , Burkhardt J.-M. , Amokrane K. , Lenne D.
Published: February 2014

As work situations become more complex, virtual reality has proven to be advantageous for the emerging needs in risk-management training. However, building perfectly realistic simulations of the technical systems is not enough to address complex coactivity situations, where human factors play an important part. There is a need for virtual environments that would put trainees into varied ecological situations, inducing knowledge and competencies that would be put into practice in genuine work situations. The V3S project was proposed to build a generic framework for tailor-made virtual environments that can adapt to different application cases, technological configurations, or pedagogical strategies. This framework relies on the integration of multiple explicit models (domain, activity, and risk model). In order to build ecologically valid virtual environments, these models represent not only the prescribed activity, but the situated knowledge of operators about their tasks, including deviations from the procedures. These models are used both to monitor learners' actions, detecting errors and compromises; and also to generate virtual characters' behaviors, subject to erroneous actions. Moreover, dynamic situated feedback allows for progressive learning scenarios, adapting the complexity of the situations to the learner's activity and level. Evaluations have shown a high satisfaction level and encouraging usability measures. In future work, we propose to extend the possibilities of the simulation through the creation and monitoring of adaptive scenarios, adjusting the behavior of virtual characters able to assist or disrupt the user.1
Predicting the Efficacy of Simulator-based Training Using a Perceptual Judgment Task Versus Questionnaire-based Measures of Presence
Authors: Wallis Guy , Tichon Jennifer
Published: February 2014

The quality of a virtual environment, as characterized by factors such as presence and fidelity, is of interest to developers and users of simulators for many reasons, not least because both factors have been linked to improved outcomes in training as well as a reduced incidence of simulator sickness. Until recently, most approaches to measuring these factors have been based on subjective, postexposure questioning. This approach has, however, been criticized because of the shortcomings of self-report and the need to delay feedback or interrupt activity. To combat these problems, recent papers on the topic have proposed the use of behavioral measures to assess simulators and predict training outcomes. Following their lead, this paper makes use of a simple perceptual task in which users are asked to estimate their simulated speed within the environment. A longitudinal study of training outcomes using two of the simulators revealed systematic differences in task performance that matched differences measured using the perceptual task in a separate group of control subjects. A separate analysis of two standard presence questionnaires revealed that they were able to predict learning outcomes on a per individual basis, but that they were insensitive to the differences between the two simulators. The paper concludes by explaining how behavioral measures of the type proposed here can complement questionnaire-based studies, helping to motivate design aspects of new simulators, prompting changes to existing systems, and constraining training scenarios to maximize their efficacy.
“Law and Economics” Literature and Ottoman Legal Studies
Authors: Coşgel Metin M. , Ergene Boğaç
Published: February 2014

This article considers the relevance of hypotheses developed in the “law and economics” literature regarding settlement-trial decisions in the Ottoman Empire. In particular, it explores the applicability of the “selection principle” and “50 percent plaintiff win-rate” formulated by George Priest and Benjamin Klein. The article also demonstrates how existing research based on Ottoman court records can contribute to the “law and economics” scholarship, which is dominated by research based on modern, Western contexts. The article utilizes the court records from eighteenth-century Kastamonu to make observations about settlement/litigation decisions in an Ottoman context.
On the Demography of Ugaritian Villages: A Research Note
Authors: Vidal Jordi
Published: February 2014

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to estimate the population of Ugaritian villages according to the information provided by the textrs94.2411 (published asrsou 18 1). The data recorded in this text force us to correct previous studies on this question. The study of the geographical distribution of the population shows that the majority of people are concentrated in coastal villages and settlements surrounding the city of Ugarit, while mountain regions were sparsely populated.
Chinese Domestic Interiors and “Consumer Constraint” in Qing China: Evidence from Yangzhou
Authors: Finnane Antonia
Published: February 2014

Abstract

In works that have profoundly influenced contemporary views of China’s economic growth relative to the Europe’s in the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, Jan De Vries has concluded that “the East Asian industrious revolution is very much a supply-side phenomenon”, while Kenneth Pomeranz and R. Bin Wong among others have concluded that consumer restraint was a characteristic of eighteenth century society. These views are not supported by economic behaviour in Qing Yangzhou, where middle-brow writings show a marked attention to household décor and a high level of interest in material goods, including imports.
Rural Pension Politics in Taiwan: The Institutional Explanation and Implications for East Asian Agricultural Welfare Development
Authors: Lin Yei-Whei
Published: February 2014

Abstract

In East Asia, until recently, pension demands emerging from the rural sector have been neglected by many governments. In order to further the nascent scholarship in this field, this paper selects Taiwan’s case for analysis. More specifically, after conducting an historical institutional study of policy evolution over the last two decades it is found that in spite of depeasantization the interplay between rural income deficiencies, electoral interests and the feedback impacts of introduced programs has led to rural pension expansion. However, clientelistic pension politics is now being challenged by the government chiefly because it is uneconomical and has constituted the major obstruction to more programmatic reform acts being contemplated by state pension bureaucrats. Finally, regarding further policy debates on this sector-specific welfare provision Taiwan’s case raises a series of theoretical implications concerning East Asian agricultural welfare during the post-agricultural era.
Debates around Cultural Re-imaging and Culture-led Urban Regeneration: The Politics of two Festivals in Gwangju and Glasgow
Authors: Shin HaeRan , Shin HaeRan , Stevens Quentin
Published: February 2014

Abstract

In this study, we look at the cultural politics surrounding the narratives of cultural festivals in Gwangju, South Korea and Glasgow, Scotland. These two cities illustrate both a general obsession to become world-class, and intervening efforts toward achieving world ranking. Through archives and in-depth interviews with key actors from the Gwangju Biennale and Glasgow’s West End Festival, this study observes how different narratives regarding urban cultural festivals interact. It also takes a closer look at how instrumental narratives behind these events constrain community involvement. Our findings suggest that both cities adopted an instrumental approach to their cultural festivals. In both cases, the instrumental focus of festival organizers curtails community participation, by focusing on professionalism in both the public and private sectors. Community groups challenged the approach at different levels. We argue that cultural festivals are places where different narratives, such as goal-oriented instrumentalism and self-realisation, interact, compete, and negotiate with each other. We also demonstrate that an instrumental approach in the awareness of urban competition drives the direction and meaning of both the cultural festival itself and the community involvement in it.
Science, New Worlds, and the Classical Tradition: An Introduction
Authors: Davies Surekha
Published: February 2014

Abstract

The articles in this volume offer interventions in the history of encounters between new worlds and the intellectual traditions inherited from and informed by classical antiquity, in the period roughly spanning 1450-1850. Ranging in scope from medical treatments to devil-worship, from cosmography to climate theory, from rhetorical colloquies to the interpretation of widow-burning, they show how early modern scholars, artisans, and travelers drew on multiple cultural traditions within Europe, as well as on indigenous knowledge networks in Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, in their attempts to incorporate new information into their existing world-view.
The Southern Indian “Devil in Calicut” in Early Modern Northern Europe: Images, Texts and Objects in Motion
Authors: Spinks Jennifer
Published: February 2014

Abstract

For sixteenth-century Europeans, the so-called demon and idol known as the “devil in Calicut” vividly epitomized the town of Calicut on India’s Malabar coast. Ludovico di Varthema’s textual invention of the devil in 1510 was rapidly followed by a range of visual images that circulated in print. This article explores how and why the most persistent and vigorous images of this devil emerged from Reformation and Counter-Reformation northern Europe. It further proposes that aspects of the visual and material culture of southern India—and specifically metal sculptures and coins—should be mined in order to better understand the European creation of the “devil in Calicut” and its constant reinvention and circulation. The article argues that the devil maintained its polemical usefulness to a northern European world view in which the heresy of non-Europeans mattered a great deal, but so too did religious changes in Europe that were shaping views about idolatry, materiality, and the role of religious images.
The Problem of Sati: John Locke’s Moral Anthropology and the Foundations of Natural Law
Authors: Carey Daniel
Published: February 2014

Abstract

John Locke’s philosophical engagement with the phenomenon of the ritual suicide of the sati—the Hindu wife who self-immolated following her husband’s death—has escaped attention from scholars despite substantial critical interest in early modern European reflection on this cultural and religious tradition by travelers and commentators. Locke cited the practice in early manuscripts in which he formulated his position on natural law and innateness. Against the view that general consent provided a foundation for natural law he drew attention to sati as evidence against self-preservation as a universally shared belief. He again referred to sati when he attacked the notion of innate moral principles in 1671. However, sati remained a problem for Locke, and this essay investigates why he dropped it from his repertoire of examples in his published work, especially An Essay concerning Human Understanding (1690). I trace this decision to Locke’s need to preserve hedonism as a principle of motivation; his divergent anthropologies in the Essay and in the Two Treatises of Government; and finally to the influence of his reading of François Bernier and Abraham Roger, which led him to draw sati into an alternative anthropology of religious enthusiasm.
The Tenacious Travels of the Torrid Zone and the Global Dimensions of Geographical Knowledge in the Eighteenth Century
Authors: Safier Neil
Published: February 2014

Abstract

This article sets out to explore the longevity and tenacity of the torrid zone as an explanatory mechanism for describing the cultural characteristics of those populations living between the tropics during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. By examining a series of colonizing missions and scientific expeditions to the New World, it argues that long before the iconic voyage of Alexander von Humboldt, which is thought to inaugurate a modern conception of the tropics, European travelers and natural philosophers were molding earlier geographical theories in ways that extended the life of certain pejorative stereotypes about non-European peoples. As such, it represents an important example of how geographical knowledge traveled across imperial lines and, more importantly, challenges scholars to use more expansive temporal ranges that normally separate the pre-European history of the Americas from its post-conquest phase.
Plato’s Saving Mūthos: The Language of Salvation in the Republic
Authors: Adluri Vishwa
Published: February 2014

Abstract

This article discusses the Homeric background of the Republic with the aim of elucidating Plato’s critique of Homeric nostos. It argues that the Republic unfolds as a nostos voyage, with Socrates striving to steer the soul home. Even though Segal has already argued for seeing the Republic as an Odyssean voyage, this article suggests that Plato does more than simply borrow the idea of a voyage as a metaphor for the wanderings of the soul. Rather, there is an implicit critique of Homer as the “poet of Becoming” in the dialogue. Thus, reading the Republic in the context of other Platonic dialogues such as the Cratylus and Theaetetus where Socrates identifies Homer as the source of the view that Ocean is the origin of all things (Crat. 402b, Theaet. 180d) and that everything is in flux (Theaet. 180d) allows us to better appreciate Socrates’ critique of poets in the Republic. At stake in this critique is ultimately the question of the soul’s true nostos, which Plato identifies with a vertical ascent (Rep. 521c, 532b) to Being rather than with a temporary homecoming within Becoming. This article contributes to the elucidation of the Homeric and pre-Socratic background of Platonic philosophy. It undertakes a literary reading of the Republic against the background of the hero’s journey motif. Specifically, it argues that Plato critiques and emends the Odyssean nostos in order to make space for Parmenidean ontology, thus forging a new understanding of salvation.
A synopsis of Emilia (Senecioneae, Asteraceae) in southern Africa
Authors: Cron Glynis Valerie
Published: February 2014

Six species of the mainly tropical genus Emilia (Asteraceae, Senecioneae) occur in southern Africa. These species are generally not well known as no revision of the genus on a global scale has as yet been undertaken and previous work has focussed on eastern, central and northern Africa. A new combination, Emilia schinzii (syn. E. ambifaria), is proposed here because of priority. Detailed descriptions, distribution maps and a key to the southern African species are presented in this synopsis. Lectotypifications for E. limosa, E. marlothiana, E. schinzii and E. transvaalensis are provided. Included is information relevant to conservation of the species in the form of red data assessments and notes.
The genus Phyllophaga Harris (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) in the Colombian Andean Mountains
Authors: VALLEJO E. LUÍS FERNANDO , WOLFF E. MARTHA
Published: February 2014

The number of species in the genus Phyllophaga Harris (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) in Colombia is updated to 33. This group represents one of the most common components of the “white grubs” complex, known to damage important agricultural crops, especially in the Colombian Andean Mountains. A commented taxonomic history of the genus is provided, including five new records for the country (P. schizorhina, P. onoreana, P. densata, P. guanacasteca, and P. gigantea) and Phyllophaga tesorito is described as a new species. A key to the identification of male specimens of 30 species is included with a catalogue illustrating their key structures. Finally, aspects related to their ecological importance, geographic distribution, and phenology are discussed.
A survey of East Palaearctic Lycosidae (Araneae). 10. Three new Pardosa species from the mountains of Central Asia
Authors: MARUSIK YURI M. , NADOLNY ANTON A. , OMELKO MIKHAIL M.
Published: February 2014

Three new species of Pardosa, P. svatoni sp. n. (♂♀, SE Kazakhstan), P. fengi sp. n. (♂♀, Central Xinjiang) and P. lii sp. n. (♂♀, Central Xinjiang) are described and illustrated. The two former species cannot be placed in any species group. Pardosa lii sp. n. belongs to the P. wagleri species group. It is compared with P. italica Tongiorgi, 1966, whose embolic division has not previously been illustrated.
Notes on two rare and little-known Indo-Pacific snapping shrimps, Alpheus percyi Coutière, 1908 and A. pseudopugnax (Banner, 1953) (Decapoda, Alpheidae)
Authors: ANKER ARTHUR
Published: February 2014

Two uncommon, morphologically similar snapping shrimps, Alpheus percyi Coutière, 1908 and A. pseudopugnax (Banner, 1953), are reported from various localities across the Indo-West and Central Pacific. Both species are re-diagnosed based on type specimens and recently collected material; a lectotype is designated for A. percyi. The range of A. pseudopugnax, previously known only from the type locality in Hawaii, is extended considerably to French Polynesia and Reunion Island in the western Indian Ocean. Both A. percyi and A. pseudopugnax present a significant variation in the post-rostral region of the carapace, making identification of specimens based solely on morphology rather difficult. In the field, however, the two species can be easily separated by their diagnostic and very striking colour patterns. Colour patterns also suggest that A. percyi may be more closely related to the species of the A. gracilipes Stimpson, 1860 complex than to A. pseudopugnax.
New species of the genus Chydaeus from China, Nepal, Myanmar, and Thailand, with remarks on species previously described (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Harpalini)
Authors: KATAEV BORIS M. , WRASE DAVID W. , SCHMIDT JOACHIM
Published: February 2014

Ten new species of the genus Chydaeus Chaudoir, 1854 are described: C. dissimilis sp. n. (the bedeli species group) from the Doi Inthanon Mountain, Chiang Mai Province, Thailand; C. shaanxiensis sp. n. (the kasaharai species group) from the Daba Shan Mountain Range, southern Shaanxi, China; C. kabaki sp. n. (the kasaharai species group) from southern Sichuan, China; C. weishanensis sp. n. (the kasaharai species group) from the northern part of Wuliang Shan, western Yunnan, China; C. belousovi sp. n. (the kasaharai species group) from the south-western Yunnan, China; C. putaoensis sp. n. (the kasaharai species group) from the environments of Putao, the northernmost part of Myanmar; C. ganeshensis sp. n. (the irvinei species group) from the Ganesh Himal, Central Nepal; C. chuliensis sp. n. (the semenowi species group) from the Manaslu Himal, Central Nepal; C. wuliangensis sp. n. (the semenowi species group) from the northern part of Wuliang Shan, western Yunnan, China; C. luxiensis sp. n. (the semenowi species group) from the environments of Luxi, western Yunnan, China. New data about the distribution of the following species are provided: C. kasaharai Ito, 2002, C. shunichii Ito, 2006, C. semenowi (Tschitschérine, 1899), C. convexus Ito, 2002, C. baoshanensis Kataev & Liang, 2012, and C. obtusicollis Schauberger, 1932. The following taxa are reported for the first time: Chydaeus semenowi, C. obtusicollis and C. bedeli interjectus Kataev & Schmidt, 2002 from the Indian state Arunachal Pradesh, C. bedeli difficilis Kataev & Schmidt, 2002 from Myanmar, and C. similis Kataev & Schmidt, 2002 from the Chinese provinces Shaanxi and Chongqing.
The tadpoles of nine Cameroonian Leptodactylodon species (Amphibia, Anura, Arthroleptidae)
Authors: Mapouyat Lissa , Hirschfeld Mareike , Rödel Mark-Oliver , Liedtke H. Christoph , Loader Simon P. , Gonwouo L. Nono , Dahmen Matthias , Doherty-Bone ThOMas m. , Barej Michael F.
Published: February 2014

We describe and compare the tadpoles of nine Leptodactylodon species from Cameroon. The tadpoles of Leptodactylodon bicolor, L. mertensi, L. ovatus, L. perreti and L. ventrimarmoratus are herein reinvestigated, partly based on larger series than previously available. In addition we present first descriptions for the tadpoles of L. boulengeri, L. erythrogaster, L. ornatus, and L. cf. polyacanthus. The morphology of these exotrophic, lotic and neustonic tadpoles is discussed in comparison with other stream-dwelling tadpoles. Based on the assumed biology of these tadpoles, living in interstices of gravel or debris, the functioning of several special morphological features, in particular the funnel-mouth of Leptodactylodon tadpoles, are interpreted.
Two new species of Simulium (Gomphostilbia) (Diptera: Simuliidae) from Cameron’s Highlands, Peninsular Malaysia, with keys to 21 species of the Simulium asakoae species-group
Authors: TAKAOKA H. , SOFIAN-AZIRUN M. , YA’COB Z. , HASHIM R.
Published: February 2014

Two new black fly species, Simulium (Gomphostilbia) brinchangense and S. (G.) tanahrataense, are described on the basis of reared adult females, males, pupae and larvae from Cameron’s Highlands, Peninsular Malaysia. These new species are assigned to the asakoae species-group within Simulium (Gomphostilbia) and taxonomic notes are given to distinguish each new species from six known species in Malaysia. Revised keys to identify all 21 species including 13 species from other countries are provided for females, males, pupae and mature larvae. The species diversity of the asakoae species-group in Cameron’s Highlands is briefly noted.
Petalophthalmus papilloculatus sp. nov. (Crustacea: Mysida: Petalophthalmidae), a new bathyal suprabenthic mysid from the Galicia Bank (NE Atlantic Ocean)
Authors: VICENTE CARLOS SAN , FRUTOS INMACULADA , CARTES JOAN E.
Published: February 2014

A new species of the genus Petalophthalmus (Crustacea: Mysida: Petalophthalmidae) is described, based on specimens collected from the Galicia Bank (northeastern Atlantic Ocean). This species can be distinguished from the other species of the genus Petalophthalmus by the presence of an ocular papilla on its eyes. P. papilloculatus sp. nov. is morphologically close to the cosmopolitan species P. armiger Willemoes-Suhm, 1875, but can be easily distinguished by the presence of an ocular papilla, the longer antennal scales bearing an apical lobe, the unique chitinous ridge on the molar process, the outwards lengthening of the three cuspidate setae on the outer margin of the uropodal exopod and the armature of the telson. This new species lives on fine and very fine sandy bottoms at the bank flanks, between 1536 and 1809 m depths. Probably related to the special biogeographic characteristics of seamounts, the morphological affinity between the new species and P. armiger supports the hypothesis on a common ancestry and recent divergence between both deep sea mysids. An identification key to world species of Petalophthalmus is provided.
A new species of Arbomia Sato & Wang (Lepidoptera, Geometridae, Ennominae) from Guangxi, Southern China
Authors: JIANG NAN , XUE DAYONG , HAN HONGXIANG
Published: February 2014

The genus Arbomia was described as a monotypic genus by Sato & Wang, 2004, based on Arbomia kishidai Sato & Wang, 2004 from China (Guangdong) and Vietnam. Since then, no new species of Arbomia has been described. Recently we have examined all the specimens of Arbomia in IZCAS, including those collected during recent expeditions, and have found one new species. The purpose of this paper is to describe the new species A. trigonoprocessa sp. nov., to reported Arbomia kishidai for the first time from the provinces of Zhejiang, Hunan, Fujian, and Guangxi of China, and to provide diagnostic characters and illustrations of the external features and genitalia of the two Arbomia species.
First-Passage-Time Prototypes for Precipitation Statistics
Authors: Stechmann Samuel N. , Neelin J. David
Published: February 2014

Prototype models are presented for time series statistics of precipitation and column water vapor. In these models, precipitation events begin when the water vapor reaches a threshold value and end when it reaches a slightly lower threshold value, as motivated by recent observational and modeling studies. Using a stochastic forcing to parameterize moisture sources and sinks, this dynamics of reaching a threshold is a first-passage-time problem that can be solved analytically. Exact statistics are presented for precipitation event sizes and durations, for which the model predicts a probability density function (pdf) with a power law with exponent −. The range of power-law scaling extends from a characteristic small-event size to a characteristic large-event size, both of which are given explicitly in terms of the precipitation rate and water vapor variability. Outside this range, exponential scaling of event-size probability is shown. Furthermore, other statistics can be computed analytically, including cloud fraction, the pdf of water vapor, and the conditional mean and variance of precipitation (conditioned on the water vapor value). These statistics are compared with observational data for the transition to strong convection; the stochastic prototype captures a set of properties originally analyzed by analogy to critical phenomena. In a second prototype model, precipitation is further partitioned into deep convective and stratiform episodes. Additional exact statistics are presented, including stratiform rain fraction and cloud fractions, that suggest that even very simple temporal transition rules (for stratiform rain continuing after convective rain) can capture aspects of the role of stratiform precipitation in observed precipitation statistics.
Interannual Seesaw between the Somali and the Australian Cross-Equatorial Flows and its Connection to the East Asian Summer Monsoon
Authors: Li Chen , Li Shuanglin
Published: February 2014

The correlations among the summer, low-level, cross-equatorial flows (CEFs) over the Indian–west Pacific Ocean region on the interannual time scale are investigated by using both the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis and 40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-40) datasets. A significant negative correlation (seesaw) has been illustrated between the Somali CEF and the three CEFs north of Australia (the South China Sea, Celebes Sea, and New Guinea; they are referred to in combination as the Australian CEF). A seesaw index is thus defined with a higher (lower) value representing an intensified (weakened) Somali CEF but a weakened (intensified) Australian CEF. The connection of the seesaw with the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) is then investigated. The results suggest that an enhanced seesaw corresponds to an intensified EASM with more rainfall in north China, the Yellow River valley, and the upper reach of the Yangtze River. The seesaw reflects the opposite covariability between the two atmospheric action centers in the Southern Hemisphere, Mascarene subtropical high, and Australian subtropical high. Whether the seesaw–EASM connection is influenced by El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) or the Indian Ocean SST dipole mode (IOD) is analyzed. The results remain unchanged when the ENSO- or IOD-related signals are excluded, although ENSO exerts a significant influence. This implies an additional predictability for the EASM from the CEF seesaw.
Coupling of Sea Level Rise, Tidal Amplification, and Inundation
Authors: Holleman Rusty C. , Stacey Mark T.
Published: February 2014

With the global sea level rising, it is imperative to quantify how the dynamics of tidal estuaries and embayments will respond to increased depth and newly inundated perimeter regions. With increased depth comes a decrease in frictional effects in the basin interior and altered tidal amplification. Inundation due to higher sea level also causes an increase in planform area, tidal prism, and frictional effects in the newly inundated areas. To investigate the coupling between ocean forcing, tidal dynamics, and inundation, the authors employ a high-resolution hydrodynamic model of San Francisco Bay, California, comprising two basins with distinct tidal characteristics. Multiple shoreline scenarios are simulated, ranging from a leveed scenario, in which tidal flows are limited to present-day shorelines, to a simulation in which all topography is allowed to flood. Simulating increased mean sea level, while preserving original shorelines, produces additional tidal amplification. However, flooding of adjacent low-lying areas introduces frictional, intertidal regions that serve as energy sinks for the incident tidal wave. Net tidal amplification in most areas is predicted to be lower in the sea level rise scenarios. Tidal dynamics show a shift to a more progressive wave, dissipative environment with perimeter sloughs becoming major energy sinks. The standing wave southern reach of the bay couples more strongly back to the central portion of the bay, in contrast to the progressive wave northern reach of the bay. Generation of the M4 overtide is also found to vary between scenarios and is a nonnegligible contributor to net changes in high water elevation.
Signal Design to Suppress Coupling in the Polarimetric Phased Array Radar
Authors: Zrnić D. S. , Doviak R. J. , Melnikov V. M. , Ivić I. R.
Published: February 2014

Examined are two related modes of polarimetric signal transmission that reduce coupling between the orthogonal components of received signals. For the surveillance scan with large unambiguous range and the simultaneous mode of horizontal (H) and vertical (V) transmission, pulse-to-pulse coding is suggested. It relaxes conditions on cross-coupling isolation from about 45 to about 25 dB while preserving the unambiguous range of over 460 km. For application to systematic codes during Doppler data acquisition, time-multiplexed (back to back) H and V pulses are proposed. This approach also relaxes the cross-coupling isolation to about 25 dB. These theoretically predicted values agree with those obtained by emulating the two schemes using oversampled time series data.
Increased Platelet Distribution Width Is Associated With ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction and Thrombolysis Failure
Authors: Cetin Mustafa , Bakirci Eftal Murat , Baysal Erkan , Tasolar Hakan , Balli Mehmet , Cakici Musa , Abus Sabri , Akturk Erdal , Ozgul Sami
Published: February 2014

We investigated 2 hypotheses: (1) a relationship between platelet indices and stable coronary artery disease (CAD) and acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and (2) a relationship between platelet indices on admission and thrombolysis outcomes in patients with STEMI. A total of 260 patients were enrolled. The white blood cell (WBC) and platelet distribution width (PDW) were found to be increased in patients with STEMI ( P for both < .001). White blood cell and PDW were independent predictors of acute STEMI. Mean platelet volume (MPV) and PDW were significantly higher in the thrombolysis failure group than in the thrombolysis success group (9.9 ± 1.8 vs 9.2 ± 1.5 fL, P = .021 and 17.7 ± 1.0 vs 16.4 ± 2.1 fL, P < .001, respectively). Mean platelet volume and PDW were independent predictors of thrombolysis failure. Patients with acute STEMI had higher PDW than did patients with stable CAD. In addition, higher PDW and MPV seem to correlate with thrombolysis failure in patients with STEMI.
Rethinking Electoral Violence and Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria
Authors: Ikpe Ukana B
Published: February 2014

Electoral violence in Nigeria has continued to defy every policy put in place to check it. A comparison of elections from the First Republic to the present Fourth Republic reveals that the focus of policy strategies are on the conduct and administration of elections without an attempt to change the objective of seeking political offices through elections. This objective, which is using political office to accumulate private wealth, is the reason politicians employ ruthless means to win elections. While immediate and short-term policies should continue to focus on eliminating rigging and thuggery during elections, medium and long-term policies should seek to reduce the material attractiveness of political offices, political corruption, and the capacity of politicians to accumulate private wealth from state offices.
Correctional Treatment of Sexual and Violent Offenders
Authors: Woessner Gunda , Schwedler Andreas
Published: February 2014

Despite meta-analytic evidence on the effectiveness of offender treatment programs, little is known about how therapeutic changes to dynamic risk factors contribute to this effect. The present study explores the relationship between prison climate, changes in dynamic risk factors, and recidivism in a sample of 185 male violent and sexual offenders. Participants completed psychometric tests on dynamic risk factors (procriminal attitudes, antisocial personality patterns, empathy, anxiety/neuroticism) and perceived prison climate before and after correctional treatment (length: M = 32 months) in a social-therapeutic facility. Recidivism data were available for 92 participants with a follow-up of M = 4 years. Medium-sized prosocial changes to the dynamic risk factors of procriminal attitudes and anxiety/neuroticism in all offenders were found, while antisocial personality patterns only decreased among violent offenders. Positive ratings of different aspects of prison climate significantly correlated with prosocial changes in all dynamic risk factors except empathy. Cox regressions showed that prosocial changes in dynamic risk factors were not predictive of general or sexual/violent recidivism. The reasons that could account for the missing link between therapeutic change and reduced recidivism are discussed. These range from problematic methodological issues like the repeated measurement of self-reports to the omission of relevant constructs from desistance theory and protective factors. It is concluded that more attention should be given to creating a prison climate that is conducive to therapeutic change.
Perception and Sense of Control Over Eating Behaviors Among a Diverse Sample of Adults at Risk for Type 2 Diabetes
Authors: Fukuoka Yoshimi , Lindgren Teri G. , Bonnet Kemberlee , Kamitani Emiko
Published: February 2014

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to explore and understand knowledge and attitudes about food, diet, and weight control, focusing on barriers and motivators to reduce risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Methods

Six focus groups were conducted in May and June 2010. The groups were stratified by sex. A total of 35 ethnically diverse samples with a high risk for type 2 diabetes participated. The average age was 51 ± 10.6 years, and 57% of the sample represented women.

Results

Four themes emerged from the focus groups: (1) demonstrated knowledge and source of knowledge, including participants’ basic understanding of “good” and “bad” food and what constitutes a “healthy diet” and trusted sources of information; (2) perceptions of food and diet, encompassing how participants expressed their perception of and interaction with food and diet; (3) sense of control over dietary intake, reflecting participants’ discussion of their perceived ability to control their eating patterns and food choices; and (4) eating behaviors, describing participants’ patterns of eating and perceived barriers to eating a healthy diet.

Conclusions

Study findings demonstrate that eating healthy requires a complex interaction between individual perceptions of food and sense of control over eating patterns and sociopolitical and economic structural factors that restrict healthy eating options while promoting unhealthy ones. Programs for long-term eating behavioral change necessary to reduce type 2 diabetes and obesity need to incorporate strategies that address individual-level factors of perception of food and sense of control over eating patterns, as well as structural level factors such as poverty and food insecurity.
Prospective Cohort Study Comparing the Effects of Different Artificial Nutrition Methods on Long‐Term Survival in the Elderly
Authors: Bito Seiji , Yamamoto Tetsuo , Tominaga Harumi ,   JAPOAN Investigators
Published: February 2014

Background: The effects of various artificial nutrition methods on the long‐term outcomes of elderly patients are still not well known. We aimed to compare the long‐term survival of the elderly newly administered with parenteral nutrition (PN) or enteral nutrition. Materials and Methods: This multicenter, prospective, observational cohort study was conducted on 546 elderly patients who were administered artificial nutrition. The main outcome was the survival ratio at 180 and 360 days after initiation of 3 different nutrition methods and estimated mean survival time: PN, nasal tube feeding (EN_N), and percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) feeding (EN_G). The incidence of systemic infection was also compared among different cohorts. Results: At 180 and 360 days after initiation of artificial nutrition, the mortality rates in the PN, EN_N, and EN_G cohorts were 52% and 63%, 32% and 41%, and 22% and 33%, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that, whereas PN nutrition had significant associations with a higher death rate at 180 and 360 days in all samples, there is no significant difference on the main outcome among the 3 cohorts with neurological diseases. A subgroup analysis with neurological diseases showed that the proportional hazard ratios of the PN and EN_N cohorts in comparison with the EN_G cohort were 1.13 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.66–1.92) and 1.22 (95% CI, 0.82–1.81). Conclusion: There is no significant superiority of PEG feeding compared with nasal tube feeding or PN. Clinicians should consider the choice of nutrition support method, taking into consideration the limitation of the patient's interest.
Sovereignty renounced
Authors: Yeğenoğlu Meyda
Published: February 2014

This article suggests that the historical figuration of Islam as well as the discourse of secularization has played a fundamental role in the constitution of Islam’s externality to Europe. The historical figuration of Islam as Europe’s enemy is haunting Europe. The European secularist anxiety today, which insists on the separation between the domains of the private and the public needs to be understood against the backdrop of this history. If Islam’s inability to separate the religious and the political was historically the dominant motif through which Islam was registered as the arch-enemy, the post-secular, post-Enlightenment period registers Islam as an enemy through a cultural gesture. Derrida’s understanding of spectrality and the concept autoimmunity are deployed to suggest that Islam as a specter haunting Europe undermines the sovereign constitution of a self-identical Europe, but this haunting needs to be seen as Europe’s chance for a self-destructive conservation of Europe. European identity has to be rethought and renewed differently and this rethinking requires that we attend to the present as well as the past and future of Europe, which requires the opening of Europe to otherness and responsibility to the other. Such a rethinking of Europe’s history necessitates thinking about colonialism as well the living embodiments of this colonial legacy today, which are the immigrants.
‘Creative destruction’
Authors: Anderson Lisa
Published: February 2014

In the modern Middle East, the public institutions associated with the internationally recognized states of the region are rarely viewed as trustworthy or reliable. Born in the demise of the Ottoman Empire, midwifed by European imperial powers who paid lip service to the development of the inhabitants, and nurtured in the cold war by superpowers largely indifferent to the well-being of the peoples of the region, the existing states came to be associated with expectations of welfare provision and structures of accountability that privileged external actors over local interests. In the absence of public institutions that responded to and represented local interests, people organized around those still vibrant alternative forms of community that existed – the exchange networks of informal economies or the kinship systems of extended families and the ethnic and religious communities of language, sect and confession – and sometimes they reorganized and reinterpreted these identities to supplement and ultimately supplant the failing states in which they found themselves.
Surgeon Dependent Variation in Adenotonsillectomy Costs in Children
Authors: Meier Jeremy D. , Duval Melanie , Wilkes Jacob , Andrews Seth , Korgenski E. Kent , Park Albert H. , Srivastava Rajendu
Published: February 2014

Objectives

To (1) identify the major expenses for same‐day adenotonsillectomy (T&A) and the costs for postoperative complication encounters in a children's hospital and (2) compare differences for variations in costs by surgeon.

Study Design

Observational cohort study.

Setting

Tertiary children's hospital.

Subjects and Methods

A standardized activity‐based hospital accounting system was used to determine total hospital costs per encounter (not including professional fees for surgeons or anesthetists) for T&A cases at a tertiary children's hospital from 2007 to 2012. Hospital costs were subdivided into categories, including operating room (OR), OR supplies, postanesthesia care unit (PACU), same‐day services (SDS), anesthesia, pharmacy, and other. Costs for postoperative complication encounters were included to identify a mean total cost per case per surgeon.

Results

The study cohort included 4824 T&As performed by 14 different surgeons. The mean cost per T&A was $1506 (95% confidence interval, $1492‐$1519, with a range of $1156‐$1828 for the lowest and highest cost per case per surgeon; P <. 01). Including the cost for postoperative complications, the mean cost increased to $1599 ($1570‐$1629). The largest cost categories included OR (31.9%), SDS (28.1%), and OR supplies (15.6%).

Conclusion

A large portion of T&A expenses are due to OR and supply costs. Significant differences in costs between surgeons for outpatient T&A were identified. Studies to understand the reasons for this variation and the impact on outcomes are needed. If this variation does not affect patient outcomes, then reducing this variation may improve health care value by limiting waste.