bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Assessing food appeal and desire to eat: the effects of portion size & energy density
Authors: Burger Kyle S , Cornier Marc A , Ingebrigtsen Jan , Johnson Susan L
Published: September 2011

Background

Visual presentation of food provides considerable information such as its potential for palatability and availability, both of which can impact eating behavior.

Methods

We investigated the subjective ratings for food appeal and desire to eat when exposed to food pictures in a fed sample (n = 129) using the computer paradigm ImageRate. Food appeal and desire to eat were analyzed for the effects of food group, portion size and energy density of the foods presented as well as by participant characteristics.

Results

Food appeal ratings were significantly higher than those for desire to eat (57.9 ± 11.6 v. 44.7 ± 18.0;p< 0.05). Body mass index was positively correlated to desire to eat (r= 0.20;p< 0.05), but not food appeal. Food category analyses revealed that fruit was the highest rated food category for both appeal and desire, followed by discretionary foods. Additionally, overweight individuals reported higher ratings of desire to eat large portions of food compared to smaller portions (p< 0.001), although these effects were relatively small. Energy density of the foods was inversely correlated with ratings for both appeal and desire (r's = - 0.27;p's < 0.01).

Conclusions

Results support the hypothesis that individuals differentiate between food appeal and desire to eat foods when assessing these ratings using the same type of metric. Additionally, relations among food appeal and desire to eat ratings and body mass show overweight individuals could be more responsive to visual foods cues in a manner that contributes to obesity.
Efficacy of electroacupuncture at Zhongliao point (BL33) for mild and moderate benign prostatic hyperplasia: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Wang Yang , Liu Zhishun , Yu Jinna , Ding Yulong , Liu Xuan
Published: September 2011

Background

Acu-point specificity is a key issue in acupuncture. To date there has not been any satisfactory trial which can ratify the specific effect of acupuncture. This trial will evaluate the specific effect of BL33 for mild and moderate benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) on the basis of its effectiveness. The non-specific effect will be excluded and the therapeutic effect will be evaluated.

Method

This is a double-blinded randomized controlled trial. 100 Patients will be randomly allocated into the treatment group (n = 50) and the control group (n = 50). The treatment group receives needling at BL33 and the control group receives needling at non-point. The needling depth, angle, direction, achievement of De Qi and parameters of electroacupuncture are exactly the same in both groups. The primary outcome measure is reduction of international prostate symptom score (IPSS) at the 6th week and the secondary outcome measures are reduction of bladder residual urine, increase in maximum urinary flow rate at the 6th week and reduction of IPSS at the 18th week.

Discussion

This trial will assess the specific therapeutic effect of electroacupuncture at BL33 for mild and moderate BPH.

Trial registration

Protocol Registration System of Clinical Trials.gov NCT01218243
Docetaxel- and 5-FU-concurrent radiotherapy in patients presenting unresectable locally advanced pancreatic cancer: a FNCLCC-ACCORD/0201 randomized phase II trial's pre-planned analysis and case report of a 5.5-year disease-free survival
Authors: Oberic Lucie , Viret Frédéric , Baey Charlotte , Ychou Marc , Bennouna Jaafar , Adenis Antoine , Peiffert Didier , Mornex Françoise , Pignon Jean-Pierre , Celier Patrice , Berille Jocelyne , Ducreux Michel
Published: September 2011

Background

To explore possible improvement in the treatment of locally advanced pancreatic carcinoma (LAPC) we performed a randomized, non-comparative phase II study evaluating docetaxel - plus either daily continuous 5 FU or weekly cisplatin concurrent to radiotherapy. We report here the results of the docetaxel plus 5 FU regimen stopped according to the interim analysis. The docetaxel plus cisplatin arm was continued.

Methods

Forty (40) chemotherapy-naive patients with unresectable LAPC were randomly assigned (1:1) to either continuous fluorouracil (5-FU) 200 mg/m2/day (protracted IV) and docetaxel (DCT) 20 mg/m2/week or DCT 20 mg/m2 and cisplatin (CDDP) 20 mg/m2, plus concurrent radiotherapy for a period of 6 weeks. The radiation dose to the primary tumor was 54 Gy in 30 fractions. The trial's primary endpoint was the 6-month crude non-progression rate (NPR). Secondary endpoints were tolerance, objective response rate, and overall survival. Accrual was to be stopped if at 6 months more than 13 disease progressions were observed in 20 patients.

Results

Eighteen (18) progressions occurred at 6 months in the 5-FU-DCT arm. Six-month NPR was 10% (95%CI: 0-23). Six and 12-month survivals were 85% (95%CI: 64-95) and 40% (95%CI: 22-61); median overall survival was 10.1 months. Median progression-free survival was 4.3 months. We report the case of one patient who was amenable to surgery and has been in complete response (CR) for 5.5 years. Toxicities grade ≥ 3 were reported in 75% of patients; no treatment-related death occurred. Severe toxicities were mainly vomiting (35%), abdominal pain (10%) and fatigue (10%).

Conclusions

Combination of 5-FU, docetaxel and radiotherapy has inadequate efficacy in the treatment of LAPC despite good tolerance for the 5-FU-DCT regimen.

Trial Registration

ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00112697
Reptilian-transcriptome v1.0, a glimpse in the brain transcriptome of five divergent Sauropsida lineages and the phylogenetic position of turtles
Authors: Tzika Athanasia C , Helaers Raphaël , Schramm Gerrit , Milinkovitch Michel C
Published: September 2011

Background

Reptiles are largely under-represented in comparative genomics despite the fact that they are substantially more diverse in many respects than mammals. Given the high divergence of reptiles from classical model species, next-generation sequencing of their transcriptomes is an approach of choice for gene identification and annotation.

Results

Here, we use 454 technology to sequence the brain transcriptome of four divergent reptilian and one reference avian species: the Nile crocodile, the corn snake, the bearded dragon, the red-eared turtle, and the chicken. Using an in-house pipeline for recursive similarity searches of >3,000,000 reads against multiple databases from 7 reference vertebrates, we compile a reptilian comparative transcriptomics dataset, with homology assignment for 20,000 to 31,000 transcripts per species and a cumulated non-redundant sequence length of 248.6 Mbases. Our approach identifies the majority (87%) of chicken brain transcripts and about 50% ofde novoassembled reptilian transcripts. In addition to 57,502 microsatellite loci, we identify thousands of SNP and indel polymorphisms for population genetic and linkage analyses. We also build very large multiple alignments for Sauropsida and mammals (two million residues per species) and perform extensive phylogenetic analyses suggesting that turtles are not basal living reptiles but are rather associated with Archosaurians, hence, potentially answering a long-standing question in the phylogeny of Amniotes.

Conclusions

The reptilian transcriptome (freely available athttp://www.reptilian-transcriptomes.org) should prove a useful new resource as reptiles are becoming important new models for comparative genomics, ecology, and evolutionary developmental genetics.
Who Deserves Health Care? The Effects of Causal Attributions and Group Cues on Public Attitudes About Responsibility for Health Care Costs
Authors: Gollust Sarah E. , Lynch Julia
Published: September 2011

This research investigates the impact of cues about ascriptive group characteristics (race, class, gender) and the causes of ill health (health behaviors, inborn biological traits, social systemic factors) on beliefs about who deserves society's help in paying for the costs of medical treatment. Drawing on data from three original vignette experiments embedded in a nationally representative survey of American adults, we find that respondents are reluctant to blame or deny societal support in response to explicit cues about racial attributes — but equally explicit cues about the causal impact of individual behaviors on health have large effects on expressed attitudes. Across all three experiments, a focus on individual behavioral causes of illness is associated with increased support for individual responsibility for health care costs and lower support for government-financed health insurance. Beliefs about social groups and causal attributions are, however, tightly intertwined. We find that when groups suffering ill health are defined in racial, class, or gender terms, Americans differ in their attribution of health disparities to individual behaviors versus biological or systemic factors. Because causal attributions also affect health policy opinions, varying patterns of causal attribution may reinforce group stereotypes and undermine support for universal access to health care.
National Survey of Neonatal Transport Teams in the United States
Authors: Karlsen Kristine A. , Trautman Michael , Price-Douglas Webra , Smith Sandra
Published: September 2011

OBJECTIVE:

Neonatal transport in the United States is a complex process; however, little is known about the neonatal transport team (NTT) workforce. The purpose of this national study was to describe the US NTT workforce.

PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS:

An exploratory, descriptive design that used a Web-based survey questionnaire was used. We identified 398 NTTs, and 345 (86.7%) were enrolled. One survey was completed per team.

RESULTS:

Ten NTTs did not complete the survey (response rate: 84.2%). Of the 335 completed surveys, 229 (68.4%) were from unit-based teams and 106 (31.6%) were from dedicated teams. Twenty-six different NTT compositions were used. All except 1 (n = 334) had a registered nurse or a neonatal nurse practitioner as a team member. A registered nurse–respiratory therapist team composition was the most common for unit-based (40.2%) and dedicated (44.3%) teams. Dedicated teams used rotor and fixed-wing modes of travel more frequently, transported further distances, and had higher transport volumes than unit-based teams. The median transport volumes reported suggest that as many as 68 797 critically ill neonates are transported each year.

CONCLUSIONS:

There is wide variation in many aspects of neonatal transport, including orientation, determination of readiness for independent transport, use of protocols to guide transport care, and quality assurance activities. These results will be useful for (1) evaluating existing transport services, (2) guiding necessary changes in training or services, and (3) aiding programs that seek to develop a neonatal transport program.
Overestimating Neurodevelopment Using the Bayley-III After Early Complex Cardiac Surgery
Authors: Acton Bryan V. , Biggs Wayne S. G. , Creighton Dianne E. , Penner Karen A. H. , Switzer Heather N. , Thomas Julianne H. Petrie , Joffe Ari R. , Robertson Charlene M. T.
Published: September 2011

BACKGROUND:

The newest measure of neurodevelopmental outcomes, the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, 3rd Edition (Bayley-III), gives higher-than-expected scores for preterm infants; results after cardiac surgery are unknown.

OBJECTIVES:

The goal of this study was to report Bayley-III scores after cardiac surgery and compare the results with those of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, 2nd Edition (BSID-II) on a subset of the same children.

METHODS:

In this prospective, inception cohort, neurodevelopmental outcome study after complex cardiac surgery in infants from 2004 to 2007, the Bayley-III was given to 110 survivors (68% boys) at a mean age of 21 months (SD: 4 months). Analysis of variance was used to compare intergroup differences. Results for both test editions on the same 25 children were compared by using paired-samples statistics.

RESULTS:

Mean (SD) Bayley-III mean composite scores (CSs) for 110 children were as follows: cognitive, 95.9 (14.1); language, 90.8 (18.1); and motor, 93.7 (14.2), differentiating selected cardiac surgery groups. The average difference in mean CSs was 7.4 points higher than BSID-II scores for a previous cohort from this site and 7.2 points higher than a systematic review report. Direct comparison of BSID-II and Bayley-III revealed an average difference in mean CSs of 6.1 points, similar to normative results. Mean cognitive CSs increased by 10.0 (P <.001), language by 1.4 (P = .526), and motor by 6.9 points (P = .009).

CONCLUSIONS:

Researchers should be careful attributing higher Bayley-III scores to changes in acute care. At-risk children who previously qualified for early developmental intervention may no longer do so. School-age longitudinal studies are needed to determine the accuracy of early developmental estimates using the Bayley-III.
Management of hereditary ovarian cancer
Authors: Joó József Gábor , Ládi Szabolcs , Nagy B. Zsolt , Langmár Zoltán
Published: September 2011

Mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes account for the majority of hereditary breast and ovarian cancers. Approximately 10% of cases of ovarian cancer are due to germline mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2. Ovarian cancer associated with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations has a distinct histological phenotype. This type of cancer is predominantly of serous or endometrioid histology and is high grade. Patients with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations should be offered risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy by age 40 years, or when childbearing is complete. Nowadays there are no differences between the treatments provided for sporadic and hereditary ovarian cancer, although there are indications that targeted therapy is effective in women with BRCA1/BRCA2-associated tumors. Retrospective studies reveal a high level of sensitivity to platinum agents in BRCA-associated tumors and initial trials show good efficacy and tolerability for polyADP-ribose polymerase inhibitors in mutation carriers with advanced ovarian cancers. These agents might also potentially be used in chemoprevention. Authors review the current management of hereditary ovarian cancer. Orv. Hetil., 2011, 152, 1596–1608.
Bright’s disease is mentioned in an official Hungarian medical document in the 19th century
Authors: Kiss István
Published: September 2011

The World Kidney Day was announced for the fifth time in 2011, that calls attention to chronic renal failure as it attains the title of endemic. Richard Bright (1789–1858), a British doctor was the first to recognize and describe the uremic state and the kidney diseases leading to it. There are many aspects that the readers should remember him about especially in connection with the World Kidney Day. During his European study tour’s stage in Hungary, he was not so much interested in the country’s medical and health conditions, rather in its economic and cultural life, natural history and geography. He travelled to Hungary on two occasions and recorded his experiences in a personal travel documentation illustrated with his own drawings. He finally established himself in London in 1820 and together with Thomas Addison and Thomas Hodgkin they formed the Guy’s Hospital’s world-famous “scientist trio”. Bright described the nephritis’s classical image, nowadays known as Bright’s disease for the first time at the age of 38 years in 1827. A presently turned up Hungarian medical certificate from 1870 contains the Bright’s disease described by Richard Bright as a written diagnosis. This 140-year-old document also confirms that we can be proud of our predecessors concerning our knowledge of kidney diseases and their application in daily use in Hungary, because in the past they were the ones who used the most advanced knowledge in their practices. One of today’s greatest challenges for us is to be able to inform healthy and ill people alike properly about kidney diseases and their prevention or management. Place this in order to stem the epidemic of chronic renal failure and still pay homage to this disease’s greatest scientist, Richard Bright. Orv. Hetil., 2011, 152, 1623–1626.
Mechanical Properties and Magnetism: Stainless Steel Alloys from First-principles Theory
Authors: Vitos L. , Zhang H. L. , Al-Zoubi N. , Lu S. , Nilsson J.-O. , Hertzman S. , Johansson B.
Published: September 2011

Stainless steels are among the most important engineering materials, finding their principal scope in industry, specifically in cutlery, food production, storage, architecture, medical equipment, etc. Austenitic stainless steels form the largest sub-category of stainless steels having as the main building blocks the paramagnetic substitutional disordered Fe-Cr-Ni-based alloys. Because of that, austenitic steels represent the primary choice for non-magnetic engineering materials. The presence of the chemical and magnetic disorder hindered any previous attempt to calculate the fundamental electronic, structural and mechanical properties of austenitic stainless steels from first-principles theories. Our ability to reach an ab initio atomistic level approach in this exciting field has become possible by the Exact Muffin-Tin Orbitals (EMTO) method. This method, in combination with the coherent potential approximation, has proved an accurate tool in the description of the concentrated random alloys. Using the EMTO method, we presented an insight to the electronic and magnetic structure, and micromechanical properties of austenitic stainless steel alloys. In the present contribution, we will discuss the role of magnetism on the stacking fault energies and elastic properties of paramagnetic Fe-based alloys.
Solubility Products for Precipitate Phases in Steels from First-principles Calculations
Authors: Klymko Tetyana , Ande Chaitanya Krishna , Sluiter Marcel
Published: September 2011

The work presented gives an insight into using formation enthalpies determined from ab initio calculations for computing solubility products in steels. The role of enthalpy and entropy contributions to the solubility product is discussed. As an illustration of the method, we present solubility products for observed stoichiometric precipitate phases in ferrite from first-principles calculations and in austenite as obtained from the combined approach based on ab initio and experimental phase diagram analysis. The results are compared with experimental data where available.
CVM-based first-principles calculations for Fe-based alloys
Authors: Mohri Tetsuo
Published: September 2011

Cluster Variation Method (CVM) has been recognized as one of the most reliable theoretical tools to incorporate wide range of atomic correlations into a free energy formula. By combining CVM with electronic structure total energy calculations, one can perform first-principles calculations of alloy phase equilibria. The author attempted such CVM-based first-principles calculations for various alloy systems including noble metal alloys, transition-noble alloys, III-V semiconductor alloys and Fe-based alloy systems. Furthermore, CVM can be extended to two kinds of kinetics calculations. One is Path Probability Method (PPM) which is the natural extension of the CVM to time domain and is quite powerful to investigate atomistic kinetic phenomena. The other one is Phase Field Method (PFM) with the CVM free energy as a homogeneous free energy density term in the PFM. The author’s group applied the latter procedure to study time evolution process of ordered domains associated with disorder-L10 transition in Fe-Pd and Fe-Pt systems. CVM has, therefore, a potential applicability for the systematic studies covering atomistic to microstructural scales. It has been, however, pointed out that the conventional CVM is not able to include local lattice relaxation effects and that the resulting order-disorder transition temperatures are overestimated. In order to circumvent such inconveniences, Continuous Displacement Cluster Variation Method (CDCVM) has been developed. Since first-principles CDCVM calculations are still beyond the scope at the present stage, preliminary results on the two dimensional square lattice and an fcc lattice with primitive Lennard-Jones type potentials are demonstrated in the last section.
What's an $800 Billion Stimulus Worth?
Authors: Abrams Burton A.
Published: September 2011

What's an $800 billion stimulus worth? Negative $475 billion, according to Burton A. Abrams of the University of Delaware.
Synthesis and swelling behavior of polyurethane networks based on hyperbranched polymer
Authors: Dzunuzovic Jasna , Pergal Marija , Jovanovic Slobodan , Vodnik Vesna
Published: September 2011

A series of six polyurethane (PU) networks was synthesized from BoltornR
hydroxy-functional hyperbranched polyester (HBP) of the second pseudo
generation as a crosslinking agent, ?,?- dihydroxy-(ethylene
oxide-poly(dimethylsiloxane)-ethylene oxide) (EO-PDMS-EO) and 4,4?-
methylenediphenyl diisocyanate, by a two-step polymerization in solution.
Each sample of the prepared PUs had different EO-PDMS-EO content. The
chemical structure of the synthesized networks was analyzed by FTIR
spectroscopy. The influence of the EO-PDMS-EO content and type of the solvent
on the swelling behavior of the PUs in 2-propanol and toluene was
investigated. During the swelling measurements certain amount of sol
fractions was extracted from the PUs by solvents. According to the 1H NMR
results, sol fractions are mainly composed of the soluble hyperbranched PU,
formed during the polymerization by partial modification of the end hydroxyl
groups of HBP with NCO-terminated prepolymer synthesized in the first step of
the reaction. Chains of the so reacted prepolymer can then fold back and form
cyclic products by reaction of the free -NCO group from the NCO-terminated
prepolymer with free -OH group of HBP. As the EO-PDMS-EO content increases
the amount of the sol fractions and swelling degree also increased,
indicating that networks with lower EO-PDMS-EO content are more crosslinked
and have higher solvent resistance.
A two pulse drug delivery system for amoxicillin: An attempt to counter the scourge of bacterial resistance against antibiotics
Authors: Akhter Habban , Saigal Nitin , Baboota Sanjula , Faisal Shah , Ali Javed
Published: September 2011

A two pulse drug delivery system for amoxicillin: An attempt to counter the scourge of bacterial resistance against antibiotics

Bearing in mind the present scenario of the increasing biological tolerance of bacteria against antibiotics, a time controlled two pulse dosage form of amoxicillin was developed. The compression coating inlay tablet approach was used to deliver the drug in two pulses to different parts of the GIT after a well defined lag time between the two releases. This was made possible by formulating a core containing one of the two drug fractions (intended to be delivered as the second pulse), which was spray coated with a suspension of ethyl cellulose and a hydrophilic but water insoluble agent as a pore former (microcrystalline cellulose). Coating of up to 5 % (m/m) was applied over the core tablet, giving a corresponding lag of 3, 5, 7 and 12 h. Increasing the level of coating led to retardation of the water uptake capacity of the core, leading to prolongation of the lag time. Microcrystalline cellulose was used as a hydrophilic but water insoluble porosity modifier in the barrier layer, varying the concentration of which had a significant effect on shortening or prolongation of the lag time. This coated system was further partially compression coated with the remaining drug fraction (to be released as the first immediate release pulse) with a disintegrant, giving a final tablet. The core tablet and the final two pulse inlay tablet were further investigated for their in vitro performance.
Regulating Investment Attraction: Canada's Code of Conduct on Incentives in a Comparative Context
Authors: Thomas Kenneth P.
Published: September 2011

In 1994's Agreement on Internal Trade, Canada's governments included a Code of Conduct on Incentives, which banned provincial subsidies to induce the relocation of existing facilities from one province to another. Based on interviews with federal officials, economic development consultants, and investment attraction and internal trade officials in all ten provinces, this article finds that the incidence of poaching and the size of relocated facilities have declined; however, significant instances of poaching remain. Moreover, the evidence suggests that the positive outcomes are more due to changes in provincial governments than any effect of the code.
Court Decisions, NIMBY Claims, and the Siting of Unwanted Facilities: Policy Frames and the Impact of Judicialization in Locating a Landfill for Toronto's Solid Waste
Authors: Flynn Greg
Published: September 2011

This article examines the use of litigation by political actors to contest unwanted environmental policy options on the basis of NIMBY claims. It analyzes the discursive frames employed by policy actors to explain how one community in Northern Ontario could reject a facility to receive Toronto's waste while another in Michigan could not. The article employs a case study approach to trace the process of judicial and tribunal decisions about these two potential landfill sites. The research found that the judicial policy frames can serve as a determinative of outcomes of siting decisions in subsequent institutional settings and that such precedents could be overcome only when opponents reframed the issues to align with the interests of all parties. The article concludes that the specific characteristics of each institutional setting in which policy disputes take place are an important factor to explaining policy change or stability.
Female Favouritism, Orientalism, and the Bathing Closet in Memoirs of Count Grammont
Authors: Bobker Danielle
Published: September 2011

This article reads an eroticized intrigue between two ladies-in-waiting in Anthony Hamilton's Jacobite secret history of the Restoration court in light of the ambivalent symbolism of its setting. The bathing closet points to a long tradition of same-sex intimacy at court that Hamilton admires; and yet in conjuring popular orientalist images of homoerotic subjection, that setting also suggests the diminishing impact of such affairs, as absolutist principles and practices lose their political and cultural force in England. Some scholars of early modern sexuality have emphasized the importance of Hamilton's gossipy narration of this episode and his sly treatment of the figure of the hermaphrodite. Attending to the bathing-closet setting, subtly altering our sense of the episode's tone, underscores the political valences of the female courtiers' bond and, more broadly, highlights the value of female favouritism as a category of analysis for the sexual historiography of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Gentlemen and Gentle Women: The Landscape Ethos in Millenium Hall
Authors: Jordan Nicolle
Published: September 2011

The rural landscape in Sarah Scott's Millenium Hall is not simply the setting but rather a way of seeing the world that the novel scrutinizes. This article synthesizes various readings of landscape in Scott's novel in order to assert its construction of a landscape ethos that encompasses ethical, aesthetic, and economic experience. Drawing on cultural geography and art history, I assess the relationship between the novel's content and form and argue that peripheral details contribute to its larger textual landscape, thus giving rise to the ethos in question. This formal analysis exposes the conservatism of the novel's social and gender politics. The landscape ethos unites the female inhabitants of the Hall with their male visitors, naturalizing their shared gentility and rendering their social privilege more stable even as the seemingly more urgent concern—women's vulnerability—eludes the narrator's grasp.
True Crime: Contagion, Print Culture, and Herbert Croft's Love and Madness; or, A Story Too True
Authors: McGuire Kelly
Published: September 2011

Herbert Croft fictionalized an eighteenth-century crime of passion in his epistolary novel, Love and Madness; or, A Story Too True (1780); in his retelling, Croft presents James Hackman, the suicidal murderer of Martha Ray in 1779, as both the victim of various forms of contagion—social, textual, and medical—and as an exemplar of a kind of self-sacrificing sensibility that enables him to overcome the stigma of suicide. Croft's representation of the crime draws heavily upon Goethe's controversial The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774) and implicates this text in Hackman's suicidal subjectivity. Croft frames his anti-Wertherian story as a Christian heroic and nationalist narrative dedicated to dismantling the myth of the “English Malady” of suicidal melancholy. Croft struggles to reposition suicide as a transnational rather than a national phenomenon. The historical figure of James Hackman emerges out of Croft's treatment as an unlikely means of revaluing national character, interests, and sensibility.
An Interpretation of Sūrat al-Najm (Q. 53)
Authors: Sinai Nicolai
Published: September 2011

Sūrat al-Najm (Q. 53) has received a comparatively generous amount of scholarly attention for two reasons: firstly, it is said to have been the original literary context of the so-called ‘Satanic verses’, and secondly, it includes the most elaborate Qur'anic account of a visionary encounter between the Prophet Muḥammad and the Qur'an's divine speaker. While the debate around the Satanic verses has centred on the question of their authenticity, the vision account in Q. 53 is significant for the insights it provides into the Qur'anic understanding of prophecy and because its chronological relationship to another early Qur'anic allusion to a visionary experience of the Messenger, Q. 81:19–23, has not yet been conclusively determined. The present article will revisit both issues in the course of a holistic reading of the entire sura, dealing first with preliminary matters such as the dating of the sura and redactional considerations, then looking at the text's overall structure and its main themes, and finally attempting a microstructural analysis of its most important sections in the light of relevant intertexts, both from within and without the Qur'an.
Conceptions of Trust in the Qur'an
Authors: Eggen Nora S.
Published: September 2011

In the Qur'an we find different concepts of trust situated within different ethical discourses. A rather unambiguous ethico-religious discourse of the trust relationship between the believer and God can be seen embodied in conceptions of tawakkul. God is the absolute wakīl, the guardian, trustee or protector. Consequently He is the only holder of an all-encompassing trusteeship, and the normative claim upon the human being is to trust God unconditionally. There are however other, more polyvalent, conceptions of trust. The main discussion in this article evolves around the conceptions of trust as expressed in the polysemic notion of amāna, involving both trust relationships between God and man and inter-human trust relationships. This concept of trust involves both trusting and being trusted, although the strongest and most explicit normative claim put forward is on being trustworthy in terms of social ethics as well as in ethico-religious discourse. However, ‘trusting’ when it comes to fellow human beings is, as we shall see, framed in the Qur'an in less absolute terms, and conditioned by circumstantial factors; the Qur'anic antithesis to social trust is primarily betrayal, ‘khiyāna’, rather than mistrust.
Al-Rasm al-ʿUthmānī: Towards Correct Pronunciation and the Preclusion of Ambiguity
Authors: Abū Khaḍīr Nāṣir Al-Dīn
Published: September 2011

The ʿUthmānic way of writing (al-rasm al-ʿUthmānī) is a science that specialises in the writing of Qur'anic words in accordance with a specific ‘pattern’. It follows the writing style of the Companions at the time of the third caliph, ʿUthmān b. ʿAffān, and was attributed to ʿUthmān on the basis that he was the one who ordered the collection and copying of the Qur'an into the actual muṣḥaf. This article aims to expound on the two fundamental functions of al-rasm al-ʿUthmānī: that of paying regard to the ‘correct’ pronunciation of the words in the muṣḥaf, and the pursuit of the preclusion of ambiguity which may arise in the mind of the reader and his auditor. There is a further practical aim for this study: to show the connection between modern orthography and the ʿUthmānic rasm in order that we, nowadays, are thereby able to overcome the problems faced by calligraphers and writers of the past in their different ages and cultures.
Ceria/silicon carbide core–shell materials prepared by miniemulsion technique
Authors: Borchardt Lars , Oschatz Martin , Frind Robert , Kockrick Emanuel , Lohe Martin R , Hauser Christoph P , Weiss Clemens K , Landfester Katharina , Büchner Bernd , Kaskel Stefan
Published: September 2011

For the first time we present the synthesis of CeO2/Si(O)C core–shell particles prepared by the miniemulsion technique. The Si(O)C core was obtained by means of a polycarbosilane precursor (SMP10), which was subsequently functionalized with ceria and pyrolyzed to the ceramic. The size of these particles could easily be adjusted by varying the surfactants and the surfactant concentration, or by the addition of comonomers. Hence particle sizes ranged from 100 to 1000 nm, tunable by the preparation conditions. All materials were characterized by photon cross correlation spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and elemental mapping investigations. Furthermore, first catalytic tests were carried out by temperature programmed oxidation (TPO) of methane, and the activity of this material in lowering the onset temperature of methane combustion by 262 K was documented.
Cordon pricing in the monocentric city: theory and application to Paris region
Authors: De Palma André , Kilani Moez , de Lara Michel , Piperno Serge
Published: September 2011

Résumé Nous proposons un algorithme de résolution du modèle monocentrique de transport avec congestion et nous utilisons cet algorithme afin d’explorer l’impact du péage routier dans les zones urbaines. Plus particulièrement, on considère la région Île-de-France et on cherche à comparer le péage de cordon simple avec le péage de cordon double. Le cas de référence étant celui où il n’y a pas de péage (situation actuelle). On trouve que le cordon double permet d’atteindre un niveau d’efficience de 73 % (par rapport à l’optimum de premier rang) et donc une amélioration de près de 10 % par rapport au cordon simple. Les deux schémas contribuent à réduire les véhicules-kilomètres et donc les émissions de CO 2 . Nous discutons aussi la question de l’acceptabilité du péage où l’on montre une opposition relativement plus faible pour le cordon double. Classification JEL : R21, R41, R48.
Le mouvement vert en Iran : de « Where is my vote ? » à la demande de démocratie
Authors: Coville Thierry
Published: September 2011

Résumé Le mouvement vert, né des protestations suite à l’élection d’Ahmadinejad, a développé un projet politique visant à placer la démocratie au cœur de la République islamique d’Iran. Face à la répression, sa stratégie a évolué en engageant un rapport de force sur le long terme en essayant de diffuser largement ses idées dans l’ensemble de la société. Le mouvement vert évoque régulièrement les problèmes économiques, pour attirer le soutien des ouvriers, et la nécessité de respecter les droits des différentes ethnies et religions en Iran. Ce mouvement est devenu une force politique qui a conduit à de véritables fractures dans le régime et garde une capacité de mobilisation, comme en témoignent les manifestations de soutien aux révolutions arabes ces derniers mois. La crise actuelle entre Ahmadinejad et le Guide renforce ce mouvement.
Una visión holística de la reducción del impacto ambiental en edificios del área del Mediterráneo
Authors: Sabaté J. , Peters C.
Published: September 2011

LIMA, Low Impact Mediterranean Architecture, es una iniciativa que pretende demostrar la viabilidad tecnológica y económica de reducir drásticamente el impacto ambiental de las edificaciones en países de climas cálidos, aplicable tanto a obra nueva como a rehabilitación, mejorando al mismo tiempo su confort y habitabilidad. La visión holística del impacto ambiental aquí presentada incluye no solo el consumo de energía en la fase de uso del edificio, sino también la energía incorporada en los materiales de construcción en todo el ciclo de vida del edificio así como el ciclo del agua y aspectos de salud y confort. La metodología de verificación se basa en la definición y análisis de un edificio colectivo representativo y la construcción de un prototipo, parte ficticia del edificio total, para su análisis y monitorización, tanto en condiciones estandarizadas, como reales de uso.
The Effect of Polishing Tool Path on Polishing Parameters
Authors: Zheng Di , Lu Feng , Zhang Li Zhong , Shi Yong Jie
Published: September 2011

The force-position decoupling technology based on Magnetorheological Fluid Torque Servo (MRT) can effectively solve the force-position coupling problem existed commonly in polishing processes. In the new polishing system, polishing force is not generated directly by the displacement of polishing tool, but provided by the MRT. Polishing path planning is another key point of the force-position decoupling technology. In this paper, a polishing path planning method was proposed, and the effect of polishing tool path on polishing parameters was analyzed. The law obtained will guide the uniform material removal of aspheric surfaces.
Effect of Rare Earth and Silicium Elements on Microstructure of AZ31 Magnesium Alloy
Authors: Li Ji Qiang , Su Jing , Jia Zhi Xin , Liu Wen , Liu Li Jun , Wu Hong Bing
Published: September 2011

The effect of misch metal and silicium additions to AZ31 magnesium alloy on the microstructure was investigated in this study. The results showed that needle shape Al11RE3 phase and polygonal type Mg2Si phase formed when misch metal and silicium were added to AZ31 magnesium alloy, which providing refined microstructure compared to AZ31 magnesium alloy. The coarse Chinese script type Mg2Si phase is not found. In addition, the β-Mg17Al12 phase completely divorced and formed many white particle phase. Based on the present experiment , the optimal additions of RE and Si were 0.5 wt% and 0.4 wt%, respectively.
Surface Roughness Estimation in Grinding by Using Multi-Sensor Data Fusion
Authors: Guo Jian Liang , Chen Lian Qing , Chi Jun , Yang Xun
Published: September 2011

Due to the difficulty of real-time directly measuring the surface roughness of workpiece, on-line control of grinding quality remains a challenging problem. In this paper, surface roughness of slender shaft during grinding is predicted by using multi-sensor data fusion. Location of the grinding point along the workpiece axis is measured by a grating ruler while an eddy sensor mounted on the machined body provides the workpiece vibration information. The data from these sensors fuse to give an estimation of the workpiece surface roughness. Grinding experiments were carried out to validate this method and the results indicate that the prediction error of Ra is not over 0.1 um for the given setup.
Dynamic Properties of Wood-Plastic Composites
Authors: Yu Gui Wen , Lan Shuang , Feng Jian Yuan , Liu Zhuang
Published: September 2011

Wood-plastic composites (WPC) , which were made of virgin high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with poplar fibers as filler, were measured by three vibration nondestructive testing (NDT) methods. The values of dynamic Young’s modulus of specimens were measured by different vibration NDT methods, and the values of static bending modulus of elasticity (MOE) were also determined by three point bending test according to ASTM D790-03. The paper analyzed the variability of the dynamic young’s modulus of WPC based on virgin HDPE obtained with different NDT methods, and the correlativity was also estimated between the dynamic Young’s modulus and the static MOE of WPC based on virgin HDPE. These results suggest that WPC can be made of virgin HDPE, and the NDT methods are appropriate to estimate the dynamic Young’s modulus of WPC based on virgin HDPE.
Research on Accuracy of Abrasive Belt Grinding
Authors: Li Hong
Published: September 2011

The experiment on slender shaft open-cycle belt grinding process is conducted in this paper. The research objects are dimensional accuracy and deviation from roundness error, the changes of which are emphasized after the belt grinding. And the factors affecting the working accuracy of the belt grinding are analyzed. Some measures for improving working accuracy of the belt grinding are put forward. Research result shows that by installing a belt grinding device on a lathe to grind the slender shafts can improve the accuracy with high efficiency.
Stability Analysis of Hydraulic Support in Large Inclined and High Mining Height Coalface
Authors: Zhang Wei , Zhang Dong Sheng , Zhao Yong Shu
Published: September 2011

Under the condition of large inclined angle, the stability control of hydraulic support was always the challenge for the fully-mechanized mining in large inclined coal seams. Based on the specific geological conditions of 509 coalface with large inclined and high mining in Gaozhuang mine, the model of hydraulic support had been drawn by using SolidWorks software, and the inclination mechanical model of hydraulic support had been established to analyze its inclination stability along coalface. The calculation result shows that when the maximum inclination angle is 31° and the underhand angle is 10°, the minimum support resistance needed to keep the hydraulic support not dumping is 283.59 kN. Meanwhile, the critical support resistance required for the hydraulic support not to dump in inclination direction increases approximately linearly along with the increase of coalface mining height; under the same mining height condition, the critical support resistance increases along with the increase of the inclined angle. Therefore, the selection of the mining height and inclined angle of the coal seam must be considered at the beginning of the hydraulic support design.
Power Flow Method for Determination of Product Shock Fragility
Authors: Kuang Xian Feng , Wang Zhi Wei
Published: September 2011

One of necessary prerequisites to design cushioned package is the determination of product shock fragility, which is so far obtained by means of destructive method on shock testing machines. This paper presents a non-destructive method--power flow method to predict the product fragility. The transport package system was first divided into two subsystems to simplify analysis. The energy of critical component of the product was then calculated by applying a power flow equilibrium equation. And finally, the parameters of the transport package system, such as the input power, the internal loss factor and the coupling loss factor, were discussed.
Safety Assessment of the General Overhead Traveling Crane Metal Structure Based on BP Neural Network
Authors: Xu Ge Ning , Zhang Qian
Published: September 2011

Safety assessment of bridge crane metal structure is widely needed. A general bridge safety assessment model of metal structure based on BP neural network is established. BP neural network is suitable for the problem that is not fully known and the adaptability of the dynamic system, and can facilitate the assignment and statistics of the safety evaluation system. Matlab7.0 software is used for the network training process. Through the training, samples to be tested were verified for the feasibility of the security model. The security model based on BP neural network for the general overhead traveling crane structure could provide a safety assessment and evaluation methods.
Tripod-Type Piezoelectric Traveling Mechanism for Miniature Robot
Authors: Hua Shun Ming , Wang Yi Qiang , Wang Xiao Jun , Cheng Guang Ming
Published: September 2011

A new piezoelectric in-plane traveling mechanism of miniature robot was proposed. It seems like a small tripod-type device and runs on stick-slip principle. There were three actuators acted as feet in the traveling mechanism. They were driven separately and controlled through a microcontroller unit to realize varied motion. Theoretically, the mechanism could revolve around any axis and translate along any direction under the appropriate control manner. Therefore, it was desired to serve as locomotive units for miniature robot, which perform various precise positioning tasks such as micromachining, micro-assembly etc.
Influences of Tourist Crisis on Inbound Travel
Authors: Lee Hua Min , Zhang Xue Jing
Published: September 2011

This paper constructed a model to propose the financial crisis impact on inbound tourism. Two hypotheses are about the relationship between financial crisis and the number of inbound tourist, plus inbound tourists’ expense. This paper analyzes the number of inbound tourists and their average expenses by TRAMO/SEATS and Eviews software under the influences of financial crisis. The results show that firstly foreign exchange earnings, inbound tourist number and average expense have been reduced obviously. Secondly, the influence on average expenses is less than that on inbound tourist numbers at the end of 2008. The recovery of average expenses was faster than that of tourist numbers. Thirdly, the influence of inbound tourist numbers is greater and longer than that of average expenses. Fourthly, time length and degrees of crisis are quite different when trend curves are various. Then the paper puts forward specific countermeasures with Chinese characteristics.
The Application of Numerical Simulation Technology in the External Aerodynamic Noise Field of High-Speed Train
Authors: Zheng Zhen Gyu , Li Ren Xian
Published: September 2011

This paper utilized the Boundary Element Method (BEM) combined with the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) based on Lighthill’s analogy in the high-speed train model, and converted the fluctuating flow pressure near the vehicle’s surface into the dipole source boundary condition in acoustics grid, eventually succeeded in completing the numerical simulation of aerodynamic noise field outside the high-speed train by introducing the dipole source boundary condition into the train BEM model. The results show that the main aerodynamic noise controlling area is 15-20 meters away from the track center line in the horizontal direction, and the Sound Press Level (SPL) is 63-72dB.
The Reinforcement Rib Performance Prediction Based on the BP Algorithm and the Finite Element Analysis
Authors: Su Liang Yao , Li Xiang Sheng , Yin Xiong Fei , Feng Xiao Yan , Ruan Shang Wen
Published: September 2011

The reinforcement rib design is one of the key parts in entire bottle design. This paper presents the rib performance prediction system based on the BP algorithm and the finite element analysis, which adopts the finite element analysis results as its learning samples, sets up the rib performance prediction system with BP artificial neural network. The results show that the artificial neural network plays an important role in rib performance prediction; meanwhile it can guide the bottle design in practical terms.
A Mixed Ant Colony Algorithm for Problem of Function Optimization
Authors: Luo Yan Jun , Bei Zhao Yu
Published: September 2011

Ant colony algorithm has disadvantages such as long researching time and easily relapsing into local optimization. Artificial fish-swarm algorithm is presented to conquer the disadvantages. The combination of the two algorithms is applied in function optimization to overcome the limitation that the ant colony algorithm does not fit to solve continuous space optimization. The tested function shows the effect of the method.