bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On Networks and Monsters: The Possible and the Actual in Complex Systems
Authors: Solé Ricard
Published: May 2008

Complex systems pervade our real world, from social systems to genome dynamics. All these systems are characterized by the presence of emergent phenomena: New properties emerge from the interactions of simpler units and are not reducible to the properties of the latter. The natural description of complex systems involves a network view, where each system is represented by means of a web. Such graphs have been shown to share surprisingly universal patterns of organization, indicating that fundamental laws of organization also pervade complexity at multiple scales.
The Colors of Leonardo's Shadows
Authors: Fiorani Francesca
Published: May 2008

The author examines Leonardo da Vinci's lifelong interest in the depiction of blurred, colored shadows from the point of view of painting technique and optics. She analyzes Leonardo's refinement of the oil technique to capture the instability of colored shadows from the early Annunciation of 1472–1473 and examines the artist's theoretical writings on shadows from the 1490s onward. The author shows how Leonardo analyzed the blurred edges of colored shadows with the geometric rigor that earlier authors afforded only to the clear-cut edges of astronomical shadows. She argues that the very kind of shadows that captured Leonardo's attention indicates his underlying pictorial concerns, despite the fact that his instructions often seemed directed toward teaching a way of seeing rather than a way of painting.
Secrecy and "Two-Level Games" in the Oslo Accord: What the Primary Sources Tell Us
Authors: Lieberfeld Daniel
Published: May 2008

The publication of memoirs by most of the central participants in negotiations leading to the 1993 Israeli-PLO Oslo accord presents an opportunity to reassess their motives for entering the negotiation process and their reasons for electing to keep the talks secret. Among other insights, the first-hand accounts provide empirical evidence of "two-level games" during the negotiations. The article highlights the utility of Robert Putnam's concepts in understanding the negotiations in Oslo and to the failure to implement final-status talks as envisioned in the accord.
Tropical Indian Ocean Basin Warming and East Asian Summer Monsoon: A Multiple AGCM Study
Authors: Li Shuanglin , Lu Jian , Huang Gang , Hu Kaiming
Published: May 2008

A basin-scale warming is the leading mode of tropical Indian Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) variability on interannual time scales, and it is also the prominent feature of the interdecadal SST trend in recent decades. The influence of the warming on the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) is investigated through ensemble experiments of several atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). The results from five AGCMs consistently suggest that near the surface, the Indian Ocean warming forces an anticyclonic anomaly over the subtropical western Pacific, intensifying the southwesterly winds to East China; and in the upper troposphere, it forces a Gill-type response with the intensified South Asian high, both favoring the enhancement of the EASM. These processes are argued to contribute to the stronger EASM during the summer following the peak of El Niño than monsoons in other years. These model results also suggest that tropical Indian Ocean warming may not have a causal relationship to the synchronous weakening of EASM on interdecadal time scales.
Psychoanalytic Controversies Contextualized
Authors: Boesky Dale
Published: May 2008

Psychoanalytic disagreements are famously heated, polarized, and prolonged. These controversies are often the reflection of a shared agreement by the participants to engage in debate at an abstract level far removed from the clinical context in which the disagreement first arose. As a specimen example of such disputes, a case report by Patrick Casement is examined, together with a series of polemical discussions it inspired concerning physical contact suddenly demanded by an analysand in session. Over two dozen authors were almost evenly divided on whether to agree with Casement's technical conclusions, but showed a disquieting indifference to the detailed information available in his report regarding how this clinical crisis developed. The substantive merits of the contending arguments are not at issue; rather, the point is to demonstrate the crucial need to refine a methodology of contextualization to clarify inferential assumptions in clinical discussions. Premature truth claims might then give way to a more rational comparison of the clinical sources of divergent opinions. The term contextual horizon is introduced to facilitate an understanding of how the psychoanalyst makes inferences from the patient's associations.
The Struggle To Listen: Continuing Reflections, Lingering Paradoxes, and Some Thoughts On Recovery of Memory
Authors: Schwaber Evelyne Albrecht
Published: May 2008

This paper offers a further expansion of the author's continuing endeavor to highlight and explore subtle distinctions and lingering paradoxes in how we listen, and to reconsider their profound implications for clinical work and discovery. Several perhaps commonplace clinical moments are used to sharpen illumination on psychic experience that might otherwise remain outside conscious awareness, whether in the domain of the repressed or in other mnemonic realms, such as “implicit” or “procedural” memory. It is suggested that added dimensions of these different levels of memory may, through our struggle to listen, be ultimately knowable.
A Place to Be Celebrated and Understood
Authors: Noble Kathleen D. , Childers Sarah A. , Vaughan Robert C.
Published: May 2008

This study surveyed 181 parents of students enrolled in one of two early entrance programs at the University of Washington: the Early Entrance Program for students who entered before age 15 and the University of Washington Academy for Young Scholars for students who matriculated after Grade 10. The purpose was to understand parents' perspectives on the early entrance experience, including reasons for choosing early entrance, satisfaction with their children's program, perceived advantages and disadvantages of early entrance, and the effect of early entrance on family relationships. Ninety-five parents participated, with the majority reporting great satisfaction with multiple aspects of their and their children's experience. Early Entrance Program parents expressed a slightly higher degree of satisfaction than did Academy parents. This study suggests that early university entrance is an attractive option for parents willing to follow the lead of their talented and ambitious adolescents.

Putting the Research to Use: Early entrance programs are attractive options for parents of academically advanced students who have outpaced available secondary programs. These programs are not inevitably initially successful; however, as our study demonstrates, they benefit greatly from ongoing program evaluation and analysis. Key components of effective early entrance programs include intensive advising, community building, thoughtful selection of students, active engagement by students and faculty, and a welcoming college or university environment. Careful attention to the informational needs of parents is also important, particularly about the social and emotional transitions that they and their children are likely to experience. The University of Washington has demonstrated with two programs that early university entrance is prized by students, parents, university officials, and state education agencies. These and similar programs might well be replicated in other areas around the country given active partnerships among all concerned parties.
The World Social Forum and the Global Left
Authors: De Sousa Santos Boaventura
Published: May 2008

This article has two purposes. First, it aims to put the development of the World Social Forum (WSF) within a broad theoretical and historical context. Specifically, my goal is to understand the WSF in relation to the crises of left thinking and practice of the last thirty or forty years. Second, it offers an analysis of some recent debates about the future of the WSF. It raises questions concerning its organizational makeup and asks whether it should continue as it is, or rather give way to other kinds of initiatives and struggles. Against critics such as Walden Bello, I argue that the WSF should continue and, given certain organizational changes, will contribute to the theory and practice of left movements throughout the world in the twenty-first century.
Swimming Against the Current: The Rise of a Hidden Developmental State in the United States
Authors: Block Fred
Published: May 2008

Despite the dominant role of market fundamentalist ideas in U.S. politics over the last thirty years, the Federal government has dramatically expanded its capacity to finance and support efforts of the private sector to commercialize new technologies. But the partisan logic of U.S. politics has worked to make these efforts invisible to mainstream public debate. The consequence is that while this “hidden developmental state” has had a major impact on the structure of the U.S. national innovation system, its ability to be effective in the future is very much in doubt. The article ends by arguing that the importance of these developmental initiatives to the U.S. economy could present a significant opening for new progressive initiatives.
A Messianic Deliverance for Post-Dynastic China
Authors: Lian Xi
Published: May 2008

This article explores the rise of the True Jesus Church (TJC) as part of an emerging indigenous Chinese Christianity. Begun in 1917 under the influence of American Pentecostalism, the TJC developed into a lively popular sect with more than a million members by the 1990s. The birth of this independent and often antiforeign group coincided with, and was aided by, the surge of patriotism in the early Republican period and arguably constituted a religious expression of Chinese nationalism. More importantly, the TJC— with its messianic proclamations and bold displays of Pentecostal power— helped shape a twentieth-century Protestant millenarian movement in China amidst political disintegration, foreign aggression, and widespread suffering. Its growth signaled an evolution of popular religion in which Christianity joined local beliefs in supplying the core ideology of sectarian movements.
Silence and Table Manners: When Environments Activate Norms
Authors: Joly Janneke F. , Stapel Diederik A. , Lindenberg Siegwart M.
Published: May 2008

Two studies tested the conditions under which an environment (e.g., library, restaurant) raises the relevance of environment-specific social norms (e.g., being quiet, using table manners). As hypothesized, the relevance of such norms is raised when environments are goal relevant (“I am going there later”) and when they are humanized with people or the remnants of their presence (e.g., a glass of wine on a table). Two studies show that goal-relevant environments and humanized environments raise the perceived importance of norms (Study 1) and the intention to conform to norms (Study 2). Interestingly, in both studies, these effects reach beyond norms related to the environments used in the studies.
Control, Denial, and Heightened Sensitivity Reactions to Personal Threat: Testing the Generalizability of the Threat Orientation Approach
Authors: Thompson Suzanne C. , Schlehofer Michèle M.
Published: May 2008

The threat orientation model proposes three dispositional responses to threats: control, heightened sensitivity, and denial. Two studies explored the psychometric properties of the previously developed threat orientation scales and the relationship between the orientations and the responses to a variety of threats. Study 1 found that the control-based and heightened sensitivity–based scales are reliable and were related to perceptions of health, financial, and terrorist threats with a nationally representative sample. Findings held across gender, age, and ethnic groups. Furthermore, Study 1 suggested two types of denial processes: optimistic denial and avoidance denial. Study 2 used a diverse sample to gain additional evidence for two processes of denial and developed measures of each type.
Multiple Tasks' and Multiple Goals' Effect on Creativity: Forced Incubation or Just a Distraction?
Authors: Madjar Nora , Shalley Christina E.
Published: May 2008

The authors examine the effects of multiple goals on three different tasks (i.e., two creativity tasks and one intervening task) and the discretion to switch back and forth between tasks on creative performance. They propose that individuals' focus of attention and cognitive exhaustion may explain the hypothesized effects on incubation and subsequent creativity. Results demonstrate the highest creativity when individuals have goals for all tasks and discretion to switch between them. The results in part are explained by focus of attention and cognitive exhaustion. The authors discuss how multiple tasks'and goals' effect on creativity can lead to forced incubation.
The Emergent Organization: Primary and Complex Metaphors in Theorizing about Organizations
Authors: Cornelissen Joep P. , Kafouros Mario
Published: May 2008

We argue that complex metaphors in organization theory are made up of smaller primary metaphors or metaphorical parts that form the atomic components of the molecular structure of complex metaphorical thought. Using examples from organization theory, we demonstrate that (a) complex metaphors are made up of primary metaphors that are often grounded in our embodied experiences as human beings; and that (b) complex metaphors can be dynamically elaborated, extended and reinterpreted in novel ways. Metaphorical thought thus emerges from primary metaphors and evolves over time which is a perspective that is more alive to changes in the social construction of organizations than the traditional view of stable `root' categories of metaphorical thought that pervade organization theory.
Impacts of Wake Effect and Time Delay on the Dynamic Analysis of Wind Farms Models
Authors: El-Fouly Tarek H. M. , El-Saadany Ehab F. , Salama Magdy M. A.
Published: May 2008

This article investigates the impacts of proper modeling of the wake effects and wind speed delays, between different wind turbines' rows, on the dynamic performance accuracy of the wind farms models. Three different modeling scenarios were compared to highlight the impacts of wake effects and wind speed time-delay models. In the first scenario, wind wake effect and time delay are ignored. Consequently, all wind turbines are assumed subjected to the same wind speed profile. The second scenario considers the wind wake effect, and it was modeled by reducing the incident wind speed values by 0.5 m/s from one row to the next row facing the wind. The last scenario, the proposed model, used the wind wake effect model developed for wind turbines micrositting applications and considered the effect of the delay time between the wind speed profiles incident on the different wind turbines' rows.
Implications of Peak Oil for Industrialized Societies
Authors: McPherson Guy R. , Weltzin Jake F.
Published: May 2008

The world passed the halfway point of oil supply in 2005. World demand for oil likely will severely outstrip supply in 2008, leading to increasingly higher oil prices. Consequences are likely to include increasing gasoline prices, rapidly increasing inflation, and subsequently a series of increasingly severe recessions followed by a worldwide economic depression. Consequences may include, particularly in industrialized countries such as the United States, massive unemployment, economic collapse, and chaos.
The Association Between Gender, Age, and Acculturation, and Depression and Overt and Relational Victimization Among Mexican American Elementary Students
Authors: Bauman Sheri
Published: May 2008

This study examined the relationship between overt and relational peer victimization and depression in a sample of predominantly Mexican American students in Grades 3 through 5 in a Southwestern U.S. school district. Acculturation level was assessed and included as an independent variable along with gender and grade (a proxy for age). Fifty six percent of eligible students participated. Chi-square analyses found no differences in rates of overt or relational victimization or on depression scores by age, gender, or level of acculturation. Victims (all types combined) had more depressive symptoms than did nonvictims. Relational victimization was the only significant predictor of depressive symptoms in a regression analysis. Acculturation, gender, and grade did not predict depression in this sample.
The Marketing Market
Authors: Basil Michael D. , Basil Debra Z.
Published: May 2008

Hiring faculty is a challenge in the field of marketing. One important factor is a shortage of candidates. The problem is exacerbated, however, by an imperfect match between jobs and candidates. This study examines the homogeneity of academic jobs and candidates. Surveys were conducted with both parties. The results show that institutions and candidates are not homogenous. For example, hiring institutions differ in whether they are primarily seeking teaching or research ability and this is predictable depending on whether the institution is PhD granting or not. In addition, three types of job candidates are identified, each looking for something different—work environment, lifestyle, or research support. The lack of homogeneity can complicate the placement of candidates in jobs, but this depends on the distribution of these needs and the flexibility of both parties. Strategies to increase hiring success for hiring institutions are suggested, including assessing needs and competitive advantages.
Uniting Active and Deep Learning to Teach Problem-Solving Skills
Authors: Diamond Nina , Koernig Stephen K. , Iqbal Zafar
Published: May 2008

This article describes an innovative strategic tools course designed to enhance the problem-solving skills of marketing majors. The course serves as a means of preparing students to capitalize on opportunities afforded by a case-based capstone course and to better meet the needs and expectations of prospective employers. The course format utilizes active and deep learning to provide students with the ability to identify a marketing problem, select and use a strategic marketing tool or set of tools appropriate to its solution, collect and analyze relevant data, and make concrete data-based recommendations. Knowledge of the problem identification-to-recommendation process is enhanced via a “learning spiral,” which requires students to apply additional tools in different contexts, thus increasing their breadth and depth of understanding. The authors describe in detail two of the strategic tools that comprise course content (perceptual mapping and conjoint analysis). Finally, the article discusses the rewards and challenges that can be anticipated by those teaching the course.
Welcome to the `All-American' Fun House: Hailing the Disciplinary Neo-liberal Non-subject
Authors: Uluorta Hasmet M.
Published: May 2008

How is it possible that neo-liberalism can maintain its supremacy within the United States given present contradictions? In this article, I argue that the basis for this supremacy is consent. Making use of both neo-Gramscian and Lacanian theories, I focus on the potential consenting subject of neo-liberalism, what I refer to as the `All American'. However, this potential consenting subject is not truly a subject per se but an identification that constantly forms and re-forms in the reflective gaze of three signifying mirrors that constitute neoliberalism within the contemporary United States. These mirrors are capitalist-market, religious-moral and nationalist-patriotic. Together, they create the `All-American Funhouse', a site in which identity and desire are dialectically engaged toward the perpetuation of neo-liberal supremacy.
Out of Place: Re-thinking Diaspora and Empire
Authors: Varadarajan Latha
Published: May 2008

Much of the recent scholarly work analyzing the changes in the contemporary international system celebrates diasporas as embodying not just a break from the past, but the emergence of a new world order. This article presents a critical engagement with these claims — in particular, as they appear in two influential texts, Arjun Appadurai's Modernity at Large, and Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri's Empire — to argue that the existence of diasporas should not be automatically understood as a challenge to structures of dominance at the international level. I make this argument by analyzing the constitutive relationship between imperialism and diasporas. Through an examination of the colonial diasporas created by the British Empire in the late 19 th and early 20th centuries, I contend that significant continuities exist between past and present, and that they should caution us against an uncritical celebration of the role played by diasporas in the contemporary international system.
Fear and Trust: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes and the War on Terror
Authors: O'Driscoll Cian
Published: May 2008

This paper examines the July 2005 shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube Station. It argues that the action of the police officers who shot and killed Menezes was conditioned by same logic that informs the prosecution of the war on terror. This logic bares comparison to the humanist conviction that states possess a right of response where they perceive themselves to have a `fear' of impending injury or assault. This paper explores the historical lineage of this trope in the writings of Alberico Gentili, Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, and, humanist thought more generally. The aim is to explore the politics of fear at work in Britain in the political climate defined by the war on terror, with a view to ascertaining how deep it runs and whether a politics of trust might offer a possible remedy to it.
`Generation Nowhere': rethinking youth through the lens of unemployed young men
Authors: Jeffrey Craig
Published: May 2008

Rising unemployment among educated young men is a key feature of neoliberal economic change. This paper reviews recent research on the strategies of educated unemployed young men in the global south to stress the importance of class, politics and environmental transformation for an understanding of contemporary youth geographies. Transnational reflection on the lives of educated unemployed young men provides an example of how human geographers might combine political economic analysis with recent theorizations of subjectivity formation and fluid identities.
What makes ecology `political'?: rethinking `scale' in political ecology
Authors: Rangan Haripriya , Kull Christian A.
Published: May 2008

This essay explores the ways in which concepts of `scale' are deployed in political ecology to explain the outcomes of ecological and social change. It argues that political ecologists need to pay closer attention to how scale is produced and used to interpret the experience of spatiotemporal difference and change so as to make ecology the object of politics, policy-making and political action. It outlines an alternative approach that focuses on how three moments of action — operation, observation, and interpretation — work together to produce scale as a configuration and range of values that articulate differential sensibilities and political differences regarding changes to socialized landscapes. The essay uses examples from studies of plant movements to illustrate how scope and scale combine to `enframe' and interpret ecological and related social change as `disruption' to places, regional `transformation', or as regionalized `evolution'.
Un-ethical review? Why it is wrong to apply the medical model of research governance to human geography
Authors: Dyer Sarah , Demeritt David
Published: May 2008

The Economic and Social Research Council, the body which funds much social science in the UK, recently imposed on UK social science a system of research ethics governance already well established in other areas of research and in much of the rest of the developed world. This system requires that research involving human subjects receive prior ethical approval from a committee made up of, typically, multidisciplinary researchers and lay people. Our aim in this paper is to prompt debate about the purpose and practice of such an anticipatory ethical review. We begin by describing the rich and varied ethical and political debates ongoing in human geography. We argue that these are, at best, ignored and, at worst, threatened by this system of ethical review by committee. We describe the emergence of these formal mechanisms of research governance and important differences between the ethical contexts, history, and demands of research in the medical and social sciences. The paper draws on empirical research investigating National Health Service (NHS) research ethics committees to propose three salutary lessons geographers would do well to consider from experience elsewhere with ethical review. We argue that in review by committee deliberations extend beyond the ethical to include the methodological, that the system is a self-perpetuating and increasingly rule-bound mechanism, and that despite a rhetoric of accountability it is a system as obscure to outsiders as professional ethics.
Diverse economies: performative practices for `other worlds'
Authors: Gibson-Graham J.K.
Published: May 2008

How might academic practices contribute to the exciting proliferation of economic experiments occurring worldwide in the current moment? In this paper we describe the work of a nascent research community of economic geographers and other scholars who are making the choice to bring marginalized, hidden and alternative economic activities to light in order to make them more real and more credible as objects of policy and activism. The diverse economies research program is, we argue, a performative ontological project that builds upon and draws forth a different kind of academic practice and subjectivity. Using contemporary examples, we illustrate the thinking practices of ontological reframing, re-reading for difference and cultivating creativity and we sketch out some of the productive lines of inquiry that emerge from an experimental, performative and ethical orientation to the world. The paper is accompanied by an electronic bibliography of diverse economies research with over 200 entries.
Banking on the Margin in Canada
Authors: Buckland Jerry , Dong Xiao-Yuan
Published: May 2008

This article analyzes the socioeconomic characteristics of the financially excluded in Canada using the 1999 Statistics Canada Survey of Financial Security and two surveys sponsored by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada in 2001 and 2005. The authors find that financial exclusion is more concentrated among low-income Canadians; low-income, low-level of assets, and single-parent statuses are correlated with being unbanked. A review of banking preferences of low-income people indicates that economically disadvantaged households are more concerned about convenience and not as interested in new banking technologies.
Experimental Actuation and Sensing Behavior of Single-crystal Iron-Gallium Alloys
Authors: Atulasimha Jayasimha , Flatau Alison B.
Published: May 2008

The effect of Ga content on the actuation behavior, i.e., λ(magnetostriction)—H and B—H curves, of single-crystal iron-gallium (FeGa) is studied by characterizing 19, 24.7, and 29 at.% Ga 〈100〉 oriented slow cooled samples. The strikingly different behavior exhibited by these samples is discussed and explained in this study. In an attempt to understand the effect of crystallographic direction on the magnetomechanical behavior, the actuation and sensing, i.e., ε(total strain)—σ and B—σ characterization of both a 〈100〉 oriented 19 at.% Ga sample and 〈110〉 oriented 18 at.% Ga is performed, and is presented and analyzed. Furthermore, a testing paradigm that has been developed to characterize the sensing behavior independent of the magnetic interaction between the magnetostrictive sample and the magnetic bias circuit is discussed.
Five-bar Linkage Haptic Device with DC Motors and MR Brakes
Authors: Jinung An  , Kwon Dong-Soo
Published: May 2008

This paper presents the design and implementation of a five-bar linkage haptic device with DC motors and MR brakes. To apply MR brakes to the 2-DOF haptic device, its kinematic requirement is described by Jacobian analysis. Through the analysis, MR brakes can be used to display the damping force in a multi-DOF haptic device when it has the orthogonal Jacobian such as Cartesian manipulator. The proposed haptic device has a backlashless cable transmission linking the DC motors and MR brakes in parallel. The quasi-quantitative Z-width for performance evaluation illustrates the displayable force range of the haptic device. Results indicate that the collaboration of DC motors and MR brakes has the broader Z-width than that of the single use of DC motors. The control method based on the power flow for the force display is applied to the proposed haptic device. Results show that this control method can provide the realistic force display with stability to the proposed haptic device. The conclusions indicate that the haptic device with DC motors and MR brakes can be used interchangeably in all multi-DOF haptic applications, and further studies must be done to find the quantitative performance measure and to improve the suggested control method.
Effects of Elevated Temperature on Guided-wave Structural Health Monitoring
Authors: Raghavan Ajay , Cesnik Carlos E.S.
Published: May 2008

Elevated temperatures can cause significant changes in guided-wave (GW) propagation and transduction for structural health monitoring (SHM). This work focuses on GW SHM using surface-bonded piezoelectric wafer transducers in metallic plates for the temperature range encountered in internal spacecraft structures (20—150°C). First, studies done to determine a suitable bonding agent are documented. This is then used in controlled experiments to examine changes in GW propagation and transduction using PZT-5A piezoelectric wafers under quasi-statically varying temperature (also from 20 to 150°C). Modeling efforts to explain the experimentally observed increase in time-of-flight and change in sensor response peak-to-peak magnitude with increasing temperature are detailed. Finally, these results are used in detection and location of mild and moderate damage using the pulse-echo GW testing approach within the temperature range.
A Cylinder-shaped Miniature Ultrasonic Motor Based on Pb(Mg1/3Nb 2/3)O3- PbTiO3 Single Crystals
Authors: Laihui Luo  , Hua Zhu  , Chunsheng Zhao  , Feifei Wang  , Haosu Luo
Published: May 2008

A miniature ultrasonic motor using first-order bending vibration of a cylinder with two free-free ends has been developed in this investigation. It is based on Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3) O3-PbTiO3 crystal with high piezoelectric response. The stator of the motor is optimized by finite element method. The stator is 4.8 mm in diameter and 18 mm in length. The nonlinear characteristics of the stator are discussed in this study and a fitted formula is given. The resonant frequency and mechanical quality factor of the stator decrease with voltage. The main performance of the motor is measured. The rotation speed reaches 450 r/m, with a maximal torque of 0.6 mNm. The motor can run with low voltage.
A General Equivalent Circuit Model for Piezoelectric Generators
Authors: Elvin Niell G. , Elvin Alex A.
Published: May 2008

This article presents an equivalent circuit model for a piezoelectric generator which can include any number of vibrational modes. First the electromechanical equations are formulated using an assumed mode (for example, the Rayleigh-Ritz method), the mechanical equations are then decoupled by the standard eigenvector approach. A set of single degree of freedom equations are thus produced. The electromechanical coupling terms are modeled in the equivalent circuit using an ideal transformer, or a set of current-and voltage-dependent sources. To validate the equivalent circuit model, the results show excellent agreement with published analytical solutions for the first three vibration modes of a cantilever unimorph generator. The main advantage of the new method is that it can be used to simulate any circuit topology, for which there is no analytical solution, using a standard electronic simulation program. To demonstrate this, the analysis and design of a more complicated diode bridge circuit is presented.
The Appalachia Community Cancer Network: Issues and Challenges in Evaluation
Authors: Royse David , Dignan Mark
Published: May 2008

Although the need for evaluation of prevention programs is clear, the implementation of evaluation, particularly for large, complex projects with multiple investigators, poses numerous challenges. Program evaluators in these circumstances do not have the same degree of control as, say, experimental psychologists and must find ways to obtain data while being sensitive to local environmental influences. The purpose of this article is to identify for social work evaluators some of the ways program evaluation can differ from true experiments and to discuss issues that may affect the planning and conduct of evaluation efforts. The Appalachia Community Cancer Network is used as a case example, and illustrations of its approach using formative and process evaluation are presented.
Do Investors Assess the Credibility of Campaign Commitments?
Authors: Benton Allyson Lucinda
Published: May 2008

Do investors assess the credibility of campaign rhetoric? To answer this question, I develop several alternative arguments for how investors might consider candidates' policy platforms and apply them to Mexico's 2006 presidential race. Statistical analysis of polling trends and the Mexican stock market shows that rising electoral uncertainty lowered market performance, while growing support for either the left-leaning Andrés Manuel López Obrador (PRD) or the market-friendly Felipe Calderón Hinojosa (PAN) reduced market volatility. These findings reveal that investors discounted López Obrador's left-leaning rhetoric but did not ignore the effect of a tight race on the value of their assets.
Glomus Tumor of the Mesentery With Atypical Features: A Case Report
Authors: de Bruin Anthonius F.J. , Verhoef Cornelis , den Bakker Michael A. , van Geel Albertus
Published: May 2008

Glomus tumors usually occur in the acral soft tissue and rarely in visceral locations, such as the stomach, intestines, mediastinum, lung, pancreas, bladder, and vagina. The authors present a 74-year-old woman with an exceptionally large glomus tumor of the mesentrium with malignant features. Previously reported cases of intraabdominal glomus tumor in the abdominal cavity exhibited benign behavior and few cases with metastatic disease. Criteria for malignancy in acral glomus tumors, such as unusually large size, infiltrative growth, necrosis, nuclear atypia, and mitotic activity, seem not to translate to abdominal glomus tumors. As very few intraabdominal glomus are described, the malignant potential of these tumors stays uncertain for longer period.
Oral Midodrine Is Effective for the Treatment of Hypotension Associated With Carotid Artery Stenting
Authors: Sharma Sanjiv , Lardizabal Joel A. , Bhambi Brijesh
Published: May 2008

Hypotension is commonly encountered during carotid artery stenting (CAS), mediated by vagal stimulation and suppression of sympathetic outflow. Some patients require treatment with intravenous vasopressors (dopamine, nor-epinephrine, or phenylephrine). The authors describe the successful use of the oral agent midodrine as an alternative to intravenous vasopressors in the treatment of hypotension related to CAS. Of 55 patients who underwent elective CAS, 19 (35%) experienced significant hypotension, and 15 (27%) required vasopressor therapy. Eleven patients received intravenous dopamine infusion in an intensive care setting, whereas 4 received oral midodrine in a regular telemetry unit. All patients eventually recovered and were discharged without any residual cardiovascular or neurological complications. No major side effects were noted with the use of both dopamine and midodrine. Cost of hospitalization was significantly higher in the dopamine group because of the need for ICU admission.
Do Supplements Benefit Exercise?
Authors: Kuczmarski Karen
Published: May 2008

It is a known fact that exercise will have beneficial effects on one's health. Nutritional supplementation is on the rise, resulting in a billion-dollar industry. However, because these medications are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, it is difficult for the public to determine what is safe and effective. Health care providers have to be aware of this lack of knowledge and educate their patients on which supplements are beneficial and which may be harmful to their health.
Integrin αE(CD103)β7 influences cellular shape and motility in a ligand-dependent fashion
Authors: Schlickum Stephanie , Sennefelder Helga , Friedrich Mike , Harms Gregory , Lohse Martin J. , Kilshaw Peter , Schön Michael P.
Published: May 2008

While the extravasation cascade of lymphocytes is well characterized, data on their intraepithelial positioning and morphology are scant. However, the latter process is presumably crucial for many immune functions. Integrin αE(CD103)β7 has previously been implicated in epithelial retention of some T cells through binding to E-cadherin. Our current data suggest that αE(CD103)β7 also determines shape and motility of some lymphocytes. Time-lapse microscopy showed that wild-type αE(CD103)β7 conferred the ability to form cell protrusions/filopodia and to move in an amoeboid fashion on E-cadherin, an activity that was abrogated by αE(CD103)β7-directed antibodies or cytochalasin D. The αE-dependent motility was further increased (P < .001) when point-mutated αE(CD103) locked in a constitutively active conformation was expressed. Moreover, different yellow fluorescent protein–coupled αE(CD103) species demonstrated that the number and length of filopodia extended toward purified E-cadherin, cocultured keratinocytes, cryostat-cut skin sections, or epidermal sheets depended on functional αE(CD103). The in vivo relevance of these findings was demonstrated by wild-type dendritic epidermal T cells (DETCs), which showed significantly more dendrites and spanned larger epidermal areas as compared with DETCs of αE(CD103)-deficient mice (P < .001). Thus, integrin αE(CD103)β7 is not only involved in epithelial retention, but also in shaping and proper intraepithelial morphogenesis of some leukocytes.
Failure to achieve a major cytogenetic response by 12 months defines inadequate response in patients receiving nilotinib or dasatinib as second or subsequent line therapy for chronic myeloid leukemia
Authors: Tam Constantine S. , Kantarjian Hagop , Garcia-Manero Guillermo , Borthakur Gautam , O'Brien Susan , Ravandi Farhad , Shan Jenny , Cortes Jorge
Published: May 2008

To determine when patients with incomplete responses on second-line tyrosine kinase inhibitor (2TKI) therapy should consider alternative treatment, we analyzed the outcome of 113 patients receiving nilotinib (n = 43) or dasatinib (n = 70) after imatinib failure. After 12 months of 2TKI therapy, patients achieving a major cytogenetic response (12MMCyR) had a significant survival advantage over patients in minor cytogenetic response or complete hematologic response, with a projected one-year survival of 97% and 84% respectively (P = .02). Projected 1-year progression to hematologic failure, accelerated phase, or blast phase was also significantly different (3% vs 17%, P = .003). Early cytogenetic response was strongly predictive of achievement of 12MMCyR, with less than 10% of patients showing no cytogenetic response at 3 to 6 months eventually attaining the target of 12MMCyR. These results suggest that patients receiving 2TKI with no cytogenetic response at 3 to 6 months should be considered for alternative therapies.
Thalidomide arm of Total Therapy 2 improves complete remission duration and survival in myeloma patients with metaphase cytogenetic abnormalities
Authors: Barlogie Bart , Pineda-Roman Mauricio , van Rhee Frits , Haessler Jeff , Anaissie Elias , Hollmig Klaus , Alsayed Yazan , Waheed Sarah , Petty Nathan , Epstein Joshua , Shaughnessy John D. , Tricot Guido , Zangari Maurizio , Zeldis Jerome , Barer Sol , Crowley John
Published: May 2008

Total Therapy 2 examined the clinical benefit of adding thalidomide up-front to a tandem transplant regimen for newly diagnosed patients with multiple myeloma. When initially reported with a median follow-up of 42 months, complete response rate and event-free survival were superior among the 323 patients randomized to thalidomide, whereas overall survival was indistinguishable from that of the 345 patients treated on the control arm. With further follow-up currently at a median of 72 months, survival plots segregated 5 years after initiation of therapy in favor of thalidomide (P = .09), reaching statistical significance for the one third of patients exhibiting cytogenetic abnormalities (CAs; P = .02), a well-recognized adverse prognostic feature. The duration of complete remission was also superior in the cohort presenting with CAs such that, at 7 years from onset of complete remission, 45% remained relapse-free as opposed to 20% on the control arm (P = .05). These observations were confirmed when examined by multivariate analysis demonstrating that thalidomide reduced the hazard of death by 41% among patients with CA-positive disease (P = .008). Because two thirds of patients without CAs have remained alive at 7 years, the presently emerging separation in favor of thalidomide may eventually reach statistical significance as well.
MicroRNA-encoding long non-coding RNAs
Authors: He Shunmin , Su Hua , Liu Changning , Skogerbø Geir , He Housheng , He Dandan , Zhu Xiaopeng , Liu Tao , Zhao Yi , Chen Runsheng
Published: May 2008

Background

Recent analysis of the mouse transcriptional data has revealed the existence of ~34,000 messenger-like non-coding RNAs (ml-ncRNAs). Whereas the functional properties of these ml-ncRNAs are beginning to be unravelled, no functional information is available for the large majority of these transcripts.

Results

A few ml-ncRNA have been shown to have genomic loci that overlap with microRNA loci, leading us to suspect that a fraction of ml-ncRNA may encode microRNAs. We therefore developed an algorithm (PriMir) for specifically detecting potential microRNA-encoding transcripts in the entire set of 34,030 mouse full-length ml-ncRNAs. In combination with mouse-rat sequence conservation, this algorithm detected 97 (80 of them were novel) strong miRNA-encoding candidates, and for 52 of these we obtained experimental evidence for the existence of their corresponding mature microRNA by microarray and stem-loop RT-PCR. Sequence analysis of the microRNA-encoding RNAs revealed an internal motif, whose presence correlates strongly (R
2 = 0.9, P-value = 2.2 × 10-16) with the occurrence of stem-loops with characteristics of known pre-miRNAs, indicating the presence of a larger number microRNA-encoding RNAs (from 300 up to 800) in the ml-ncRNAs population.

Conclusion

Our work highlights a unique group of ml-ncRNAs and offers clues to their functions.
A novel resource for genomics of Triticeae: BAC library specific for the short arm of rye (Secale cereale L.) chromosome 1R (1RS)
Authors: Šimková Hana , Šafář Jan , Suchánková Pavla , Kovářová Pavlína , Bartoš Jan , Kubaláková Marie , Janda Jaroslav , Číhalíková Jarmila , Mago Rohit , Lelley Tamas , Doležel Jaroslav
Published: May 2008

Background

Genomics of rye (Secale cereale L.) is impeded by its large nuclear genome (1C~7,900 Mbp) with prevalence of DNA repeats (> 90%). An attractive possibility is to dissect the genome to small parts after flow sorting particular chromosomes and chromosome arms. To test this approach, we have chosen 1RS chromosome arm, which represents only 5.6% of the total rye genome. The 1RS arm is an attractive target as it carries many important genes and because it became part of the wheat gene pool as the 1BL.1RS translocation.

Results

We demonstrate that it is possible to sort 1RS arm from wheat-rye ditelosomic addition line. Using this approach, we isolated over 10 million of 1RS arms using flow sorting and used their DNA to construct a 1RS-specific BAC library, which comprises 103,680 clones with average insert size of 73 kb. The library comprises two sublibraries constructed using Hin dIII and Eco RI and provides a deep coverage of about 14-fold of the 1RS arm (442 Mbp). We present preliminary results obtained during positional cloning of the stem rust resistance gene SrR, which confirm a potential of the library to speed up isolation of agronomically important genes by map-based cloning.

Conclusion

We present a strategy that enables sorting short arms of several chromosomes of rye. Using flow-sorted chromosomes, we have constructed a deep coverage BAC library specific for the short arm of chromosome 1R (1RS). This is the first subgenomic BAC library available for rye and we demonstrate its potential for positional gene cloning. We expect that the library will facilitate development of a physical contig map of 1RS and comparative genomics of the homoeologous chromosome group 1 of wheat, barley and rye.
Simultaneous gene expression profiling in human macrophages infected with Leishmania major parasites using SAGE
Authors: Guerfali Fatma Z , Laouini Dhafer , Guizani-Tabbane Lamia , Ottones Florence , Ben-Aissa Khadija , Benkahla Alia , Manchon Laurent , Piquemal David , Smandi Sondos , Mghirbi Ons , Commes Thérèse , Marti Jacques , Dellagi Koussay
Published: May 2008

Background

Leishmania (L) are intracellular protozoan parasites that are able to survive and replicate within the harsh and potentially hostile phagolysosomal environment of mammalian mononuclear phagocytes. A complex interplay then takes place between the macrophage (MΦ) striving to eliminate the pathogen and the parasite struggling for its own survival.

To investigate this host-parasite conflict at the transcriptional level, in the context of monocyte-derived human MΦs (MDM) infection by L. major metacyclic promastigotes, the quantitative technique of serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) was used.

Results

After extracting mRNA from resting human MΦs, Leishmania-infected human MΦs and L. major parasites, three SAGE libraries were constructed and sequenced generating up to 28,173; 57,514 and 33,906 tags respectively (corresponding to 12,946; 23,442 and 9,530 unique tags). Using computational data analysis and direct comparison to 357,888 publicly available experimental human tags, the parasite and the host cell transcriptomes were then simultaneously characterized from the mixed cellular extract, confidently discriminating host from parasite transcripts. This procedure led us to reliably assign 3,814 tags to MΦs' and 3,666 tags to L. major parasites transcripts. We focused on these, showing significant changes in their expression that are likely to be relevant to the pathogenesis of parasite infection: (i) human MΦs genes, belonging to key immune response proteins (e.g., IFNγ pathway, S100 and chemokine families) and (ii) a group of Leishmania genes showing a preferential expression at the parasite's intra-cellular developing stage.

Conclusion

Dual SAGE transcriptome analysis provided a useful, powerful and accurate approach to discriminating genes of human or parasitic origin in Leishmania-infected human MΦs. The findings presented in this work suggest that the Leishmania parasite modulates key transcripts in human MΦs that may be beneficial for its establishment and survival. Furthermore, these results provide an overview of gene expression at two developmental stages of the parasite, namely metacyclic promastigotes and intracellular amastigotes and indicate a broad difference between their transcriptomic profiles. Finally, our reported set of expressed genes will be useful in future rounds of data mining and gene annotation.