bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Variations in Operator Proficiency on Asw Combat System Performance
Authors: Stretton Milt , Bowdler Daniel , Conway Jane , Swionte Dick , Morris John , Wachter John
Published: July 2017

The development of an operability model analysis tool to support design requirement definition for advanced ASW combat systems has evolved over the last four years. Previous NUWC ASW Combat System Operability Modeling efforts using SLAM II have produced comparisons between various ASW combat systems to examine the relative benefits of equipment features and operating concepts. Development of these operability models enabled the representation of contact data handling processes, ASW combat system operators, and the man-to-man, man-to-machine, and machine-to-machine interfaces that occur during an ASW mission. Early operability model studies (Stretton, Swiontek, Morris, Conway, and Wachter, 1991) investigated data handling bottlenecks and contact data throughput for ASW systems by focusing on the sensor operators, supervisory personnel, and command decision makers. Earlier models did not incorporate variations in team member productivity as might be found under high-workload conditions. Also, ASW team member skill levels were not varied as might be found due to latency from training-to-shipboard activities or to individual differences in operators and their training. As a follow-on-effort, this study examined how variations in operator proficiency on critical tasks affect overall ASW combat system performance. Results of this effort appear to have wide-reaching operational impacts in the area of team performance and operator variability.
Design-Induced Error in Flight Planning
Authors: Smith Philip J. , McCoy Elaine , Layton Chuck
Published: July 2017

There are many problem-solving tasks that are too complex to fully automate given the current state of technology. Nevertheless, significant improvements in overall system performance could result from the introduction of well-designed computer aids. A major concern in the introduction of such tools to support problem-solving, though, is the potential to introduce new errors due to the interaction of the person with these computer support tools.

We have been studying the development of cognitive tools for one such problem-solving task, enroute flight path planning for commercial airlines. Our goal has been two-fold. First, we have been developing specific system designs to help with this important practical problem. Second, we have been using this context to explore general design concepts to guide in the development of cooperative problem-solving systems. These design concepts are described below, along with a discussion of two empirical studies.
A Methodology and Encoding Scheme for Evaluating the Usability of Graphical, Direct Manipulation Style Interfaces
Authors: Cuomo Donna L.
Published: July 2017

A model-based method for assessing the usability of graphical, direct manipulation style interfaces was developed and applied to a military airspace scheduling system. The method involves collecting and integrating verbal protocol data and mouse/keystroke files, and having an analyst familiar with the task, the data, and Norman's (1986) user activity model review the data and make determinations on what the data mean in terms of the model. A hierarchical encoding scheme based on the model is then applied to the integrated data to structure the human-computer interaction (HCI) process at a detailed interaction level. Meaningful patterns can be identified, frequency of events per task, and number of actions per intention can be calculated at various levels in the hierarchical breakdown, highlighting potential usability problems or instances of indirectness. Repetitious sequences, for example, could imply a missing high-level task domain object or an inability to group objects for application of a single action. Detailed model-based error encodings reflect user-system interface difficulties not only in the execution stage of HCI but in the psychological stages as well. The types of usability problems identified and the advantages of the method are discussed. Based on these results, we have begun developing a multi-media tool to support application of the method.
Evaluating Expertise in a Complex Domain–Measures Based on Theory
Authors: MacMillan Jean , Entin Eileen B. , Serfaty Daniel
Published: July 2017

Human factors practitioners are often concerned with defining and evaluating expertise in complex domains where there may be no agreed-upon expertise levels, no single right answers to problems, and where the observation and measurement of real-world expert performance is difficult. This paper reports the results of an experiment in which expertise was assessed in an extremely complex and demanding domain–military command decision making in tactical warfare. The hypotheses of the experiment were: 1) command decisionmaking expertise can be recognized in practice by domain experts; 2) differences in the command decisionmaking expertise of individuals can be identified even under conditions that do not fully replicate the real world; and 3) observers who are not domain experts can recognize the expert behaviors predicted by a mental-model theory about the nature of expertise. In the experiment, the expertise of military officers in developing tactical plans was assessed independently by three “super-expert” judges, and these expertise-level ratings were correlated with independent theory-based measures used by observers who were not domain experts. The results suggest that experts in a domain have a shared underlying concept of expertise in that domain even if they cannot articulate that concept, that this expertise can be elicited and measured in situations that do not completely mimic the real world, and that expertise measures based on a mental-model theory can be used effectively by observers who are not experts in the domain.
The Measurement and Evaluation of Collective Unit Training and Performance
Authors: Christ Richard E. , Muckler Frederick A
Published: July 2017

Recent reviews of team training and team performance have drawn at least one common conclusion: Much more research needs to be conducted on the process of and methods for measuring and evaluating teamwork. The current absence of reliable, valid, and robust measures of teamwork hinders not only the development of optimal collective training strategies, but also team-oriented research, human resource management efforts, and organizational and systems development programs.

The objectives of this symposium are to (a) present an overview of some key theoretical and methodological issues which confront researchers and practitioners concerned with teamwork, and (b) introduce several innovative concepts, methods, and procedures which can aid in solving some of the problems associated with the measurement and evaluation of teamwork.

These objectives will be met, in part, through presentations which describe and discuss (a) a conceptual framework for analyzing and interpreting measures of collective behavior, (b) the application of complexity theory-based measures to team and organizational performance, (c) a measure of teamwork based on the confidence team members have in their individual and collective capabilities, and (d) a system which supports the measurement and evaluation of unit collective performance in a simulation network environment. (The essence of these presentations are captured in the four papers which follow this abstract.) The discussant will provide his summary of the key issues addressed, as well as some that were not addresses. Finally, inputs and active participation of the audience will be solicited.

The desired impact of this symposium is a heightened awareness and appreciation of the need for more research on teamwork measurement methods and procedures. The long-term goal of the symposium is to stimulate that research.
Toward a Conceptual Model for Measurement and Evaluation of Tactical Performance of Gnuts: Groups, Networks, Units, and Teams
Authors: Modrick John A.
Published: July 2017

The objective of performance measurement is to assess the operational effectiveness of an individual or unit: use of resources to accomplish operational objectives. A continuum of collectives from groups to teams on the basis of organizational attributes is proposed. A shared plan of operation is proposed as the organizing agent of collective performance. Tactical decision making is defined in the context of adaptive problem solving. Although decisions are implemented as procedures, the procedures must be improvised in the situation and adapted to local conditions. Tactical Procedure Scripts are proposed as a structure for organizing performance data into operationally meaning segments for analysis, evaluation, and after action review. Operational and functional processes of GNUTS are differentiated and a three level process model is outlined. A domain model for tactical decision making and the use of behavorial objectives in a test plan are discussed.
Maternal Body Mass Index during Pregnancy and Offspring Neurocognitive Development
Authors: Craig Wendy Y , Palomaki Glenn E , Neveux Louis M , Haddow James E
Published: July 2017

Background:

This hypothesis generating study explores second trimester maternal body mass index (BMI) during pregnancy and offspring neurocognitive development.

Methods:

Mothers and offspring served as controls in two earlier studies: 101 children at age two years and 118 children at age eight years.

Results

Frequency of maternal BMI ≥30 kg/m 2 increased from 10% in 1987-1990 to 30% in 2004-2006 ( P < 0.001); the socioeconomic gradient became more pronounced. At age two, one or more BSID-III (Bayley Scales of Infant Development, 3rd Edition) scores <85 were more frequent with higher maternal BMI ( P = 0.029); regression analysis suggested an inverse relationship between language scores and BMI ( P = 0.054). Among eight-year-olds, one or more WISC-III (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 3rd edition) scores <85 increased with maternal BMI ( P = 0.017); regression analysis showed an inverse relationship between performance subscale IQ score and BMI ( P = 0.023).

Conclusion:

Second trimester maternal obesity may be an independent risk factor for some aspects of children's neurocognitive development. Further study is indicated.
Pruritus
Authors: Ware Thuvaraka
Published: July 2017

Pruritus refers to a usually unpleasant, but common, sensation of the skin that causes a desire to scratch. It can be caused by dermatological or systemic conditions, iatrogenically secondary to medications, or as part of a normal response to external substances or parasites. Complications from persistent scratching can reduce the efficacy of the skin as a protective barrier, by leading to excoriation or lichenification of the skin. In severe presentations, pruritus can lead to significant morbidity from mood and sleep disturbances. Treatment is aimed at managing symptoms and treating the underlying cause. This article will discuss how best to recognise, investigate and manage patients suffering from pruritus.
Return to Activity at Altitude After High-Altitude Illness
Authors: DeWeber Kevin , Scorza Keith
Published: July 2017

Context:

Sports and other activities at high altitude are popular, yet they pose the unique risk for high-altitude illness (HAI). Once those who have suffered from a HAI recover, they commonly desire or need to perform the same activity at altitude in the immediate or distant future.

Evidence Acquisition:

As based on key text references and peer-reviewed journal articles from a Medline search, this article reviews the pathophysiology and general treatment principles of HAI.

Results:

In addition to the type of HAI experienced and the current level of recovery, factors needing consideration in the return-to-play plan include physical activity requirements, flexibility of the activity schedule, and available medical equipment and facilities. Most important, adherence to prudent acclimatization protocols and gradual ascent recommendations (when above 3000 m, no more than 600-m net elevation gain per day, and 1 rest day every 1 to 2 ascent days) is powerful in its preventive value and thus strongly recommended. When these are not practical, prophylactic medications (acetazolamide, dexamethasone, salmeterol, nifedipine, or phosphodiesterase inhibitors, depending on the type of prior HAI) may be prescribed and can reduce the risk of illness. Athletes with HAI should be counseled that physical and mental performance may be adversely affected if activity at altitude continues before recovery is complete and that there is a risk of progression to a more serious HAI.

Conclusion:

With a thoughtful plan, most recurrent HAI in athletes can be prevented.
Segond Fractures
Authors: Arneja Shalinder S. , Furey Matthew J. , Alvarez Christine M. , Reilly Christopher W.
Published: July 2017

Initially described following cadaveric studies in the late 19th century by Dr. Paul Segond, the Segond fracture is now widely accepted as a pathognemonic radiographic marker of anterior cruciate ligament injury. This fracture in a skeletally immature 16-year-old was not seen with an anterior cruciate ligament injury, but with a Salter-Harris type IV fracture of the tibial plateau. A nonweightbearing knee immobilizer with the leg in full extension was used for 6 weeks. Recovery was uncomplicated, and range of motion and weightbearing began at 6 weeks.
Does Modality Matter? The Effects of Reading, Listening, and Dual Modality on Comprehension
Authors: Rogowsky Beth A. , Calhoun Barbara M. , Tallal Paula
Published: July 2017

With advancing technology, there is increasing interest in differences between listening versus reading comprehension or doing both simultaneously. Ninety-one participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups that received the same instructional material (the preface and a chapter from a non-fiction book), but each in a different input modality (digital audiobook, e-text, dual modality). After completing the material, participants took the same comprehension test in written form to establish both immediate comprehension (Time 1) and 2-week retention (Time 2). No statistically significant differences were found for any analyses pertaining to effects of the three different instructional conditions on comprehension at Time 1 or Time 2. Additional analyses showed that both males and females in each condition recalled an equal amount of information, regardless of whether they listened to an audiobook, read from an electronic tablet, or both listened and read simultaneously (dual modality).
Exclusionary Employment Policies for Female Industrial Workers
Authors: Root Stanley L. , Lindell Signe I. , Miller Richard E.
Published: July 2017

Employment policies which prohibit, or regulate, the hiring of fertile females are controversial in today's world. These policies have come under fire as our society has attempted to address the employment inequities which female workers have been forced to endure and overcome. This paper will explore the biological demands of the pregnant worker, the potential development problems of the embryo/fetus within the working mother, and the legal dilemma of civil tort vs. worker's compensation for damages. Also discussed, within the framework of current knowledge regarding mutagenic/teratogenic effects of workplace hazards, are the inconsistent policies between male-dominated and female-dominated industries.
Superpower Dispute Initiation: An Empirical Model of Strategic Behavior
Authors: Butler Christopher K.
Published: July 2017

A method is presented for empirically modeling simultaneous decisions using the estimation technique of bivariate probit. This technique is used to examine the directed dispute-initiation behavior of the superpowers during the Cold War. Power-transition concepts of satisfaction and rates of capability change can be used to explain directed dispute-initiation behavior. In particular, the international influence of the rival translates into a superpower's dissatisfaction, making dispute initiation by that superpower more likely, ceteris paribus. Additionally, a rapid strengthening of the challenger, ceteris paribus, increases the likelihood of dispute initiation in either direction. Changes in the hegemon's capabilities, though consistent with power-transition theory, have no effect on dispute-initiation behavior. These effects hold even while controlling for various domestic conditions in each country.
Directional Asymmetry in Sociological Analyses
Authors: York Richard , Light Ryan
Published: July 2017

The authors present a straightforward method for assessing symmetry and asymmetry in the effect of an independent variable, on the basis of its direction of change, on a dependent variable in statistical models and provide two different empirical illustrations: (1) the effect of economic change on electricity production in nations and (2) the effect of change in income on wealth accumulation among individuals. In so doing, the authors also demonstrate specific ways to illustrate and interpret asymmetrical effects. Finally, the authors note a variety of theoretical reasons to expect asymmetry and suggest areas in which it may be observed.
Maximum Likelihood for Cross-lagged Panel Models with Fixed Effects
Authors: Allison Paul D. , Williams Richard , Moral-Benito Enrique
Published: July 2017

Panel data make it possible both to control for unobserved confounders and allow for lagged, reciprocal causation. Trying to do both at the same time, however, leads to serious estimation difficulties. In the econometric literature, these problems have been solved by using lagged instrumental variables together with the generalized method of moments (GMM). Here we show that the same problems can be solved by maximum likelihood (ML) estimation implemented with standard software packages for structural equation modeling (SEM). Monte Carlo simulations show that the ML-SEM method is less biased and more efficient than the GMM method under a wide range of conditions. ML-SEM also makes it possible to test and relax many of the constraints that are typically embodied in dynamic panel models.
Agency, Identity, and the Emergence of Ritual Experience
Authors: Reynolds Celene , Erikson Emily
Published: July 2017

We draw from psychological research on meaningful activity to identify the conditions that promote ritual experience among individuals. Specifically, we ask whether feelings of agency and expressions of identity inform the extent to which individuals experience routinized parts of their lives as meaningful rituals. Interviews and a random factorial survey of U.S. citizens demonstrate that the three most significant factors productive of ritualized experience for our sample were a sense of purposiveness, the experience of autonomy, and identity enactment. Our findings resonate with the psychological literature on meaningful activities and suggest a new appreciation for the role of agency and identity in generating meaningful ritual experience for individuals.
When Will Academics Contest Intellectual Conflict?
Authors: Cooney Mark , Phillips Scott
Published: July 2017

Academics have conflicts over ideas with some regularity, yet they contest only some of them. When will they do so? We draw on a theory of conflict management developed by Donald Black and others to explain the response to intellectual conflict. Drawing on interviews with 70 professors at two universities, we find that the contestation of intellectual conflicts is predicted by their social geometry. Academics are more likely to contest conflicts over the validity, ownership, and production of ideas when the conflict spans greater distances in relational and functional space, originates from a lower elevation in vertical space, and is a larger actual or potential change in vertical space.
Insulin-Like Growth Factor Bioactivity, Stanniocalcin-2, Pregnancy-Associated Plasma Protein-A, and IGF-Binding Protein-4 in Pleural Fluid and Serum From Patients With Pulmonary Disease
Authors: Espelund Ulrick Skipper , Bjerre Mette , Hjortebjerg Rikke , Rasmussen Torben Riis , Lundby Anders , Hoeflich Andreas , Folkersen Birgitte Holst , Oxvig Claus , Frystyk Jan
Published: July 2017

Context

Members of the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system are primarily produced in the liver and secreted into the circulation, but they are also produced, recruited, and activated locally in tissues.

Objective

To compare activity and concentrations of IGF system components in pleural fluid and blood.

Design

Pathological pleural fluid, secondary to lung cancer or nonmalignant disease, and matching blood samples were collected from 24 patients ages 66.7 to 81.9 years.

Methods

IGF-related proteins and cytokine levels were measured by immunoassays or immunoblotting. Bioactive IGF was measured by an IGF-1 receptor phosphorylation assay.

Results

Total IGF-1 concentration did not differ between the compartments, but concentrations of free IGF-1 and bioactive IGF were more than threefold higher in pleural fluid than in corresponding serum samples (P = 0.0004), regardless of etiology. Median pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) and interleukin (IL)-6 levels were increased 47-fold and 143-fold, respectively, in pleural fluid compared with plasma (P < 0.0001). PAPP-A and IL-6 concentrations correlated positively (r = 0.46; P = 0.02). In pleural fluid, levels of PAPP-A–generated IGF binding protein-4 fragments correlated inversely with that of stanniocalcin-2 (r ≤ −0.42; P ≤ 0.05), a PAPP-A inhibitor; such correlations were absent in plasma.

Conclusion

Pathological pleural fluid is characterized by increased in vitro IGF bioactivity and elevated concentrations of PAPP-A, an IGF-activating proteinase. Thus, the tissue activity of the IGF system may differ substantially from that of the circulating IGF system. The correlation between IL-6 and PAPP-A indicates that inflammation plays a role in promoting local tissue IGF activity.
Foreign Machetes and Cheap Cotton Cloth: Popular Consumers and Imported Commodities in Nineteenth-Century Colombia
Authors: Otero-Cleves Ana María
Published: July 2017

This article examines the consumption of foreign machetes and, to a lesser extent, imported textiles by peasants, smallholders, and artisans in nineteenth-century Colombia to show that the popular sectors of society were the largest consumers of foreign goods and as such were able to change market conditions and make specific demands regarding the quality of imported products intended for their consumption. By so doing, the article questions the premise that because of their poverty Colombian popular classes were always drawn to buying cheaper imported goods and sacrificing quality for price. Thus, the article adds not only to the recent historiography of consumption in Latin America but also to the broad literature on nineteenth-century popular groups by inviting historians to start viewing peasants, artisans, and smallholders as active participants, both as citizens and as consumers, in a new political and economic reality.
Repetition; Reticulum;Remainder
Authors: Franklin Seb
Published: July 2017

This essay takes the diagrammatic formulations of trauma and networks that are both presented and critiqued in Tom McCarthy's 2005 novel Remainder as the occasion to sketch some elements of a methodology for critical analysis in the age of computational thinking. By locating a relationship between two particular figures—the loop and the network diagram—and by grounding this relationship in the material and imaginative conditions through which abstract diagrams come to shape social conditions, the essay addresses the epistemic logic that connects certain modes of cultural analysis to the digital logic of recent political economy.
Interest, Disgust
Authors: Frank Edward Morgan Day
Published: July 2017

Working at the intersection of literary sociology and affect theory, this essay considers the rise of interest as an organizing principle in the American school system at the turn of the twentieth century, alongside the fixation on disgust in the period's literature. Although student-centered pedagogy has now pervaded educational discourse for more than one hundred years, it was not entirely intuitive or necessary that the modern school system at its inception should orient the classroom experience around the interests and inclinations of students. If educators at the time, especially John Dewey, found in interest a key structuring device for the expansion of the school system, novelists like Frank Norris cultivated a literature of disgust in order to think through the limits of that school system, to mark the system's boundaries. And yet, far from inhibiting or restricting the kinds of emotions students experience, the reintegration of these novels into the twentieth-century classroom in fact signals a further broadening of the school's emotional palate. Battered corpses and rat feces may continue to remain outside the scope of the high school curriculum, but the novelistic representation of battered corpses and rat feces has proved an uncontroversial, if not welcome, addition to lesson plans across the country. This essay argues that literary disgust has irrevocably shaped institutional feeling—how students feel in schools and how schools train students to feel.
Pharmakos, Pharmakeus,and George Eliot's Narrative Rhetoric
Authors: Fellion Matthew
Published: July 2017

This essay uses the concepts of the pharmakos and the pharmakeus from Derrida's “Plato's Pharmacy” to describe the relationship between George Eliot's scapegoated characters and the narrators that structure her novels' systems of value. Focusing in particular on Hans Meyrick of Daniel Deronda and Theophrastus of Impressions of Theophrastus Such, this essay argues that Eliot's apparent scapegoats are not designed to affirm the moral vision of Eliot's narrators through negative exemplarity: rather, pharmakos and pharmakeus together generate a complex narrative rhetoric that cannot be reduced to an affirmation of either side's values or authority.
Threats to Public Order and Health
Authors: Yılmaz Seçil
Published: July 2017

Late Ottoman physicians used medical advice literature to impact syphilis transmission and treatment by cultivating men’s rather than women’s hygiene, self-care, and sexual practices. Soldiers and migrant workers were understood to be the main vectors of syphilis beginning in the mid-nineteenth century. Efforts to control the disease were complicated by a lack of effective treatment until the 1910s, inadequate investment in health care, disparate agendas at the provincial and imperial level, and resistance to treatment by men who feared loss of status and jobs. Transmission intensified during World War I. By the war’s end attempts to regulate and cultivate syphilitic men aligned with the loss of Ottoman control over territory and population and new anxieties concerned with establishing a new state built on “proper” healthy marital reproduction. Sources examined include regulations, medical advice literature, and encounters between syphilitic men and medical authorities captured in archival sources.
A framework for understanding the roles of miRNAs in animal development
Authors: Alberti Chiara , Cochella Luisa
Published: July 2017

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) contribute to the progressive changes in gene expression that occur during development. The combined loss of all miRNAs results in embryonic lethality in all animals analyzed, illustrating the crucial role that miRNAs play collectively. However, although the loss of some individual miRNAs also results in severe developmental defects, the roles of many other miRNAs have been challenging to uncover. This has been mostly attributed to their proposed function as tuners of gene expression or providers of robustness. Here, we present a view of miRNAs in the context of development as a hierarchical and canalized series of gene regulatory networks. In this scheme, only a fraction of embryonic miRNAs act at the top of this hierarchy, with their loss resulting in broad developmental defects, whereas most other miRNAs are expressed with high cellular specificity and play roles at the periphery of development, affecting the terminal features of specialized cells. This view could help to shed new light on our understanding of miRNA function in development, disease and evolution.
Molecular mechanisms of kinesin-14 motors in spindle assembly and chromosome segregation
Authors: She Zhen-Yu , Yang Wan-Xi
Published: July 2017

During eukaryote cell division, molecular motors are crucial regulators of microtubule organization, spindle assembly, chromosome segregation and intracellular transport. The kinesin-14 motors are evolutionarily conserved minus-end-directed kinesin motors that occur in diverse organisms from simple yeasts to higher eukaryotes. Members of the kinesin-14 motor family can bind to, crosslink or slide microtubules and, thus, regulate microtubule organization and spindle assembly. In this Commentary, we present the common subthemes that have emerged from studies of the molecular kinetics and mechanics of kinesin-14 motors, particularly with regard to their non-processive movement, their ability to crosslink microtubules and interact with the minus- and plus-ends of microtubules, and with microtubule-organizing center proteins. In particular, counteracting forces between minus-end-directed kinesin-14 and plus-end-directed kinesin-5 motors have recently been implicated in the regulation of microtubule nucleation. We also discuss recent progress in our current understanding of the multiple and fundamental functions that kinesin-14 motors family members have in important aspects of cell division, including the spindle pole, spindle organization and chromosome segregation.
The EuBIVAS Project: Within- and Between-Subject Biological Variation Data for Serum Creatinine Using Enzymatic and Alkaline Picrate Methods and Implications for Monitoring
Authors: Carobene Anna , Marino Irene , Coşkun Abdurrahman , Serteser Mustafa , Unsal Ibrahim , Guerra Elena , Bartlett William A , Sandberg Sverre , Aarsand Aasne Karine , Sylte Marit Sverresdotter , Røraas Thomas , Sølvik Una Ørvim , Fernandez-Calle Pilar , Díaz-Garzón Jorge , Tosato Francesca , Plebani Mario , Jonker Niels , Barla Gerhard , Ceriotti Ferruccio
Published: July 2017

BACKGROUND

The European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (EFLM) European Biological Variation Study (EuBIVAS) has been established to deliver rigorously determined biological variation (BV) indices. EuBIVAS determined BV for serum creatinine using the enzymatic and alkaline picrate measurement methods.

METHOD

In total, 91 healthy individuals (38 males, 53 females; age range, 21–69 years) were bled for 10 consecutive weeks at 6 European laboratories. An equivalent protocol was followed at each center. Sera were stored at −80 °C before analysis. Analyses for each patient were performed in duplicate within a single run on an ADVIA 2400 system (San Raffaele Hospital, Milan). The data were subjected to outlier and homogeneity analysis before performing CV-ANOVA to determine BV and analytical variation (CVA) estimates with confidence intervals (CI).

RESULTS

The within-subject BV estimates [CVI (95% CI)] were similar for enzymatic [4.4% (4.2–4.7)] and alkaline picrate [4.7% (4.4–4.9)] methods and lower than the estimate presently available online (CVI = 5.9%). No significant male/female BV differences were found. Significant differences were observed in mean creatinine values between men and women and between Turkish individuals and those of other nationalities. Between-subject BV (CVG) estimates, stratified accordingly, produced CVG values similar to historical BV data. CVA was 1.1% for the enzymatic and 4.4% for alkaline picrate methods, indicating that alkaline picrate methods fail to fulfill analytical performance specifications for imprecision (CVAPS).

CONCLUSIONS

The serum creatinine CVI obtained by EuBIVAS specifies a more stringent CVAPS than previously identified. The alkaline picrate method failed to meet this CVAPS, raising questions regarding its future use.
#exstrange: Curatorial Interventions on eBay
Authors: Ghidini Marialaura
Published: July 2017

#exstrange (2017) was an online curatorial project in which artworks were displayed and sold, auction-style, on eBay. For three months in 2017, the project presented one artwork-as-auction per day to interrogate the functioning of this e-commerce platform and the role of digital culture in everyday life. By focusing on the interactivity and global networking of the Internet, #exstrange sought to reconsider the relationship between exhibitions, artworks and audiences.
Book Review
Authors: Winden Jesse van
Published: July 2017

HANS ULRICH OBRIST HEAR US: FEATURING BILL BURNS London and Toronto: Black Dog and YYZBOOKS (2015), 224 pp., Hardcover, ISBN: 978-1-91043-306-5, US $39.95
How to Curate ‘Badly’: Forked Temporality in Pablo Picasso’s Retrospective at the Galeries Georges Petit, 1932
Authors: Mikulinsky Alma
Published: July 2017

Picasso curated his first large-scale retrospective, Exposition Picasso, which was held at the Galeries Georges Petit in Paris, in 1932. When asked how he arranged the works, Picasso replied, ‘Badly’. This article unravels the artist’s curation, beginning with his juxtaposition of a lowly houseplant with the sculpture Woman’s Head (1929–30). Using archival research, installation photographs, and the writings of Picasso’s contemporaries, this article offers an interpretation of the exhibition by analysing Picasso’s deliberately inconsistent curatorial strategies, which defied the chronological and teleological narratives often applied to his career and that tend to dominate the traditional history of modernism.
Articulating the In-Between: Changing Exhibition Practices in Early Postwar Rome
Authors: Mariani Manuela , Barron Patrick
Published: July 2017

This article focuses on the intersection of exhibitionary and architectural space in early postwar Rome. It examines the development of spatialized exhibition practices that choreograph as well as destabilize viewers’ movements across perceptual and physical boundaries between artworks, enclosing buildings, and the connective external city. The central question we address is how Rome’s built environment served as an integral background for increasingly liminal exhibitionary engagement from the mid-1950s to early 1960s at two key small galleries, L’Obelisco and La Salita, as well as at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna.
Doing Things Together: Objectives and Effects of Harald Szeemann’s Happening & Fluxus, 1970
Authors: Holdar Magdalena
Published: July 2017

Harald Szeemann’s exhibition Happening & Fluxus (Kölnischer Kunstverein 1970) was the first to bring Fluxus into an institutional art world context. Previously avoiding such situations, Fluxus had primarily grown through artist-based networking, collaboration and self-curation during the 1960s. The exhibition evoked conflict both before and after the opening but had surprisingly little impact on Fluxus’s aftermath. This article explores Szeemann’s art historical take on the works in Happening & Fluxus. It concludes that by reducing attention to Fluxus’s collaborative strategies and network structure, Szeemann overlooked the characteristics that are today acknowledged as the group’s most significant.
Ope Lori: I Want Me Some Brown Sugar
Authors: Long Catherine
Published: July 2017

198 Contemporary Arts and Learning Centre, London. 19 September – 2 November 2013.
Persistent recall: War, feminist psychoanalysis and Tracey Moffatt’s Doomed
Authors: Grayson Saisha
Published: July 2017

In this article, I argue that Doomed (2007), a ten-minute montage of appropriated disaster footage by Australian artist Tracey Moffatt, offers a unique response to the War on Terror. I compare Moffatt’s piece to the traditional critical readings attributed to artistic deployment of found footage, and consider Doomed in relation to art historian Rosalyn Deutsche’s enquiry into what artists can offer in a time of war. Deutsche uses feminist psychoanalysis to champion Silvia Kolbowski’s video After Hiroshima Mon Amour (2008) as an attempt to destabilize the ‘us versus them’ thinking that perpetuates war. In contrast, I focus on how Moffatt turns to Hollywood-produced action scenes as a way to highlight societal and individual compulsions toward repetition and urges to displace internal anxieties and fears onto others. By appropriating disaster footage, Moffatt creates an opportunity for viewers to consider the repeating patterns of this filmic collective unconscious and the futility of our historic attempts to fully repress the drives it satisfies. Doomed suggests that, rather than finding a way out of binary thinking, video art can highlight the fallacy of cinematic catharsis as a way of ‘working through’ these issues. Acknowledging that we may never be able to rid ourselves of aggressive impulses or fear of the other, Moffatt’s video encourages societal self-reflection and renewed awareness that these psychic forces may be at work when next we find ourselves on the brink of war.
Soft power and South African film: Negotiating mutually incompatible agendas?
Authors: Cooke Paul
Published: July 2017

This article offers the first analysis of the role of film as a soft power asset in South Africa. It examines ways in which the policy priorities of the South African government have, until recently, seemed to work against the nation’s strategic aim to use film as a tool to leverage soft power in order to gain political influence across Africa, as well as to maximize the economic potential of globalization. The South African film economy is booming. Cape Town, in particular, has become a key production centre globally. International productions are attracted to the country by the versatility of its locations, its weather and its low cost, high quality, facilities. This has provided great employment opportunities for local production staff. However, it has done very little to support the development of local creative talent. Thus, unlike, for example, Nollywood, which supports the entire ‘value chain’ of production and which is allowing creative and technical expertise to develop in tandem, the success of the South African production infrastructure is to the detriment of South African filmmakers. In this article I investigate the extent to which the government’s economic imperative to develop the industry is working against its soft power aim to project South African stories both locally and internationally, and with it, the national ‘strategic narrative’, considered to be one of the country’s prime soft power assets. I then go on to suggest that the landscape would currently seem to be changing as a new generation of South African filmmakers is starting to gain ground.
CCAT1 expressed in malignant and pre-malignant human gastric tissues
Authors: Li X. , Zhou Y. , Qian H.
Published: July 2017

CCAT1 has been reported to implicate in various human malignancies. However, its expression in the oncogenesis of gastric cancer (GC) remains unknown. Quantitative reverse transcription (RT)-qPCR assay was performed to detect the expression of CCAT1 in 68cases of GC tissues,paired tumor-proximal gastric mucosa and normal gastric mucosa, 19 cases of gastric intraepithelial neoplasia (GIN), and the sera of these 68 GC patients and 22 healthy volunteers. And the relationship between CCAT1 and clinicopathologic features of GC patients were analyzed. Inthe present study, we found that CCAT1 expression was significantly abnormally deregulated in GC tissues (185.43 ± 21.37), GIN tissues (121.30 ± 43.61), tumor-proximal mucosa (8.9 ± 1.21), and normal mucosa (1.5 ± 0.55). CCAT1 wasalso overexpressed in the sera of GC patients (47.40 ± 6.60) compared with healthy controls (0.62 ± 0.06; p < 0.001). And high CCAT1 expression in GC tissues was associated with high tumor burden, including larger tumor size, lymphatic metastasis and advanced TNM stage (all p < 0.05). These results reveal that CCAT1 is a detectable biomarkerforgastric cancertumorigenesis and may be utilized as adiagnosticand prognosticindicator.
The association between the UBQLN1 polymorphism and Alzheimer's disease risk: A systematic review
Authors: Li X. , Zhou J. , Chen H. , Wang F. , Mei Q. , Sun H.
Published: July 2017

Recently, some studies suggested that UBQLN1 variant was associated with AD risk. However, the results were inconsistent. This meta-analysis aimed to determine the association between UBQLN1 variant and AD risk. We searched the electronic databases PubMed, Embase, and CNKI databases. Random-effects model was used. All statistical tests were performed using the STATA 11.0 software (StataCorp, College Station, TX, USA). UBQLN1 variant was not associated with the risk of AD (OR=1.05; 95%CI, 0.92–1.19; I2=35%). The corresponding pooled ORs were not materially altered in sensitivity analysis. The Galbraith plot was used to find the source of the heterogeneity and no study was the outlier. The shape of the funnel plot showed symmetry. Egger's test found no evidence of publication bias (P=0.8). These results suggest that the UBQ-8i polymorphism was not associated with AD risk.
Modulation of oxidative and glycolytic skeletal muscle fibers Na+/H+ exchanger1 (NHE1) and Na+/HCO3- co-transporter1 (NBC1) genes and proteins expression in type 2 diabetic rat (Streptozotocin + high fat diet) following long term endurance training
Authors: Monazzami A. , Rajabi H. , Ghrakhanlou R. , Yari K. , Rahimi Z.
Published: July 2017

Diabetes is known to alter both oxidative and glycolytic pathways in a fiber type-dependent manner. The aim of present study was to investigate the effects of endurance training on muscle NHE1 and NBC1 genes and proteins expression in type 2 diabetic rats. Male wistar rats (n=30), 4 weeks old and 95.7±10.8g, were randomly selected and divided into control, diabetic without training and diabetic with training groups. Diabetes was induced by injection of low dose of streptotozin and feeding with high-fat diet. The Endurance training was performed for 7 weeks that started with relatively low speed and duration of 20 m min-1 for 20 min in the first week and gradually reached to 30 m min-1 for 35min in the last week. NHE1 and NBC1 genes and proteins expression were determined by Real time-PCR and western blotting techniques, respectively, in Soleus as an oxidative and EDL (Extensor digitorum longus) as a glycolytic muscle preparation. NHE1 mRNA and protein expression reduced significantly in EDL and Soleus in the diabetic without training group compared with the control group. However, reduction in the expression of NBC1 gene and protein in the diabetic without training group compared to controls did not significant. Endurance training increased NHE1 and NBC1 genes and proteins expression in both EDL and Soleus in the diabetic training group compared to control groups. In conclusion, endurance training may improve the capacity of pHi regulation in muscles by lactate-independent pathway.
Unemployment insurance with limited commitment wage contracts and savings
Authors: Oikonomou Rigas
Published: July 2017

I present a model of optimal contracts between firms and workers, under limited commitment and with worker savings. In the model, firms provide insurance against unemployment through targeting a frontloaded path of wages which encourages wealth accumulation. I provide analytical results characterising the wage and savings schedules and the path of consumption during employment and unemployment. I then consider how unemployment benefits affect risk sharing through private markets. I find that benefits should be frontloaded; the government has the incentive to drive the allocation to the point where the firm’s participation constraint binds. At this point wages are equal to productivity in every period, wealth exceeds the buffer stock level, and consumption and savings drop over time. The drop in the level of consumption during unemployment is mitigated. Finally, I compare the optimal contract model to the standard heterogeneous agent model whereby wealth is utilized for self-insurance purposes. I show that the two models are equivalent under the optimal UI policy.
Exchange rate policy and the role of non-traded goods prices in real exchange rate fluctuations
Authors: Azcona Nestor
Published: July 2017

This paper uses a DSGE model of two small open economies to explain certain features of real exchange rate cyclical fluctuations in countries with fixed and flexible exchange rates, focusing on the role of traded and non-traded goods prices. In particular, the model illustrates why the relative price of non-traded goods and the relative price between domestic and foreign traded goods are more volatile than the real exchange rate under a fixed exchange rate but not under a flexible exchange rate, why deviations from purchasing power parity for traded goods prices can be more volatile under a fixed exchange rate than under a flexible exchange rate, and why there is no correlation between the volatility of the real exchange rate and its variance decomposition.
Blocks of small defect in alternating groups and squares of Brauer character degrees
Authors: Chen Xiaoyou , Cossey James P. , Lewis Mark L. , Tong-Viet Hung P.
Published: July 2017

Let p be a prime. We show that other than a few exceptions, alternating groups will have p-blocks with small defect for p equal to 2 or 3. Using this result, we prove that a finite group G has a normal Sylow p-subgroup P and

G
/
P

{G/P}

is nilpotent if and only if

φ
⁢

(
1
)

2

{\varphi(1)^{2}}

divides

|
G
:
ker

(
φ
)

|

{|G:{\rm ker}(\varphi)|}

for every irreducible Brauer character φ of G.
High Speed 4 × 2.5 Gbps-5 GHz AMI-WDM-RoF Transmission System for WLANs
Authors: Chaudhary Sushank , Chauhan Priyanka , Sharma Abhishek
Published: July 2017

Radio-over-fiber (RoF) is revolutionary technique to transmit radio signals over optical fiber. It can be also suitable to distribute wireless local area networks (WLANs) due to its low-cost implementation. WLANs generally operate on 5 GHz radio signals. Thus in this work, four high speed radio channels, each carrying 2.5 Gbps data and 5 GHz radio signal, are transmitted by incorporating alternate mark inversion (AMI) scheme and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) scheme over optical fiber having span of 50 km. The performance of proposed AMI-WDM-RoF transmission system is reported in terms of Q-factor, bit error rate, signal-to-noise ratio, total received power and eye diagrams.
Starohrvatsko groblje Stranče - Gorica: osvrt na horizont grobova s poganskim načinom pokapanja
Authors: Cetinić Željka
Published: July 2017

Tijekom višegodišnjih istraživanja starohrvatskoga groblja na Gorici kod sela Stranče, danas Semičevići, u Vinodolskoj općini, izdvojena su dva kulturno i kronološki različita horizonta ukopavanja. U radu se razmatra rani horizont groblja koji se prostire na sjeveroistočnom dijelu nalazišta uz rječicu Dubračinu, okvirno datiran od sredine 8. do u prvu polovicu 9. stoljeća. Obuhvaća skupinu grobova koje obilježava poganski način pokapanja s grobnim prilozima: keramikom, rijetkim nakitnim nalazima bizantske provenijencije, a izraženi su i franački kulturni dotoci koji se odražavaju prije svega u konjaničkoj opremi. Podjednako tako prisutni su i pojedinačni grobovi iz 9. st. koji svjedoče o inicijalnoj fazi intenzivnije kristijanizacije.
Bibliografija dr. sc. Janka Beloševića, profesora emeritusa
Authors: Fabijanić Tomislav , Gusar Karla
Published: July 2017

Bibliografija dr. sc. Janka Beloševića, profesora emeritusa