bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Tumor-Specific Methylation in Saliva: A Promising Biomarker for Early Detection of Head and Neck Cancer Recurrence
Authors: Righini Christian Adrien , de Fraipont Florence , Timsit Jean-François , Faure Claire , Brambilla Elisabeth , Reyt Emile , Favrot Marie-Christine
Published: February 2007

Purpose: Our goal was to define tumor and saliva gene methylation profile of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and to evaluate its prognostic significance and its biomarker potential for early detection of relapse.

Experimental Design: We prospectively analyzed 11 genes by methylation-specific PCR on primary tumors, histologically normal adjacent mucosa, and saliva from 90 French patients at diagnosis and during follow-up as well as on 30 saliva specimens from control-matched patients with nonmalignant head and neck pathology. Five additional genes were analyzed on 50 tumors of the series.

Results: Methylation of TIMP3, ECAD, p16, MGMT, DAPK, and RASSF1 was the most frequently observed in tumors and paired saliva samples were analyzed at diagnosis, with an excellent agreement between both samples. At least one of these six genes was methylated in >75% of the samples without additional positive samples when other genes were analyzed. Methylation profile was similar in newly diagnosed and second primary cancers. Aberrant methylation was not associated with a worse prognosis. Ninety percent of normal adjacent mucosa and all control saliva samples were negative. Twenty-two patients were followed after treatment; abnormal methylation was detectable in the saliva of five patients few months before clinical and 2-deoxy-2[18F]fluoro-d-glucose-positron emission tomography signs of relapse, allowing curable surgery. Saliva samples were negative for the 17 other patients: 16 were in remission and only 1 relapsed.

Conclusions: Gene methylation in saliva is a promising biomarker for the follow-up and early detection of still curable relapses of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients.
Important Therapeutic Targets in Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia
Authors: Kantarjian Hagop M. , Giles Francis , Quintás-Cardama Alfonso , Cortes Jorge
Published: February 2007

Purpose: Review the state-of-art knowledge of the biology and therapy of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML).

Experimental Design: A review of the literature was undertaken to summarize current information on the pathophysiology of CML and to update data of imatinib mesylate therapy, mechanisms of resistance, and in vitro and clinical data with the new tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Results: Imatinib, which targets the ABL kinase activity of BCR-ABL, has prolonged survival in CML. Despite the efficacy of imatinib, some patients in chronic phase and more in advanced phases of CML develop resistance, frequently as a result of BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase domain mutants that impair imatinib binding but retain enzymatic activity. New tyrosine kinase inhibitors inhibit BCR-ABL more potently than imatinib and maintain activity against an array of imatinib-resistant BCR-ABL mutants. The IC50 values of nilotinib and dasatinib are at least 10- to 100-fold lower for BCR-ABL compared with imatinib. Phase I-II trials of nilotinib and dasatinib showed high activity in imatinib-resistant CML and Philadelphia chromosome–positive ALL. Dasatinib also inhibits members of the Src family of kinases (SFKs); nilotinib does not. Whether SFKs have a critical role in imatinib resistance or BCR-ABL–mediated oncogenesis is unresolved. Agents that target signals downstream of BCR-ABL (e.g. Ras/Raf and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase) are under investigation.

Conclusions: Understanding the pathophysiology of CML and mechanisms of resistance has produced effective targeted strategies for imatinib-resistant CML.
Docetaxel-Induced Apoptosis of Human Melanoma Is Mediated by Activation of c-Jun NH2-Terminal Kinase and Inhibited by the Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase 1/2 Pathway
Authors: Mhaidat Nizar M. , Zhang Xu Dong , Jiang Chen Chen , Hersey Peter
Published: February 2007

Purpose: Our studies have shown variable sensitivity of cultured melanoma cells to docetaxel. To better understand this response, we studied the role of signal transduction pathways in modulating docetaxel-induced melanoma killing.

Experimental Design: Involvement of c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK), extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2), p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase, and Akt signaling was studied by evaluating their extent of activation in melanoma cells after treatment with docetaxel. The effect of their activation on docetaxel-induced apoptosis was assessed using biochemical inhibitors of the pathways and Western blot analysis of proteins involved.

Results: Docetaxel induced activation of both JNK and ERK1/2 but not p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase or Akt kinases. Apoptosis was dependent on activation of JNK and mediated through activation of caspase-2 and caspase-dependent changes in Bax and Bak. The levels of activated JNK in individual lines showed a close correlation with the levels of apoptosis. In contrast, activation of ERK1/2 by docetaxel inhibited apoptosis and the levels of activation in individual lines were inversely correlated to the degree of apoptosis. Studies on the Bcl-2 family proteins seemed to reflect changes induced by activation of JNK and ERK1/2 pathways. Docetaxel-induced JNK activation was required for Bcl-2 phosphorylation as well as caspase-2–dependent activation of Bax and Bak and subsequent mitochondrial release of apoptosis-inducing factor and cytochrome c. In contrast, activation of ERK1/2 resulted in degradation of BH3-only protein Bim and phosphorylation of Bad.

Conclusions: These studies provide further insights into sensitivity of melanoma cells to taxanes and provide a basis for the current rationale of combining taxanes with inhibitors of the Raf-ERK1/2 pathway.
Nuclear Factor-κB in Development, Prevention, and Therapy of Cancer
Authors: Van Waes Carter
Published: February 2007

Nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) is a signal transcription factor that has emerged as an important modulator of altered gene programs and malignant phenotype in development of cancer. Major carcinogens and oncogenic viruses induce NF-κB activation, and a variety of subsequent oncogenic events contribute to a progressive increase in constitutive NF-κB activation as an important common pathway in most forms of cancer. NF-κB target genes promote tumor cell proliferation, survival, migration, inflammation, and angiogenesis. Inhibition of NF-κB has been found to be an important mechanism of action of steroids, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and natural and synthetic compounds that show therapeutic and preventive activity. Newer agents targeting the proteasome, inhibitor-κB kinase, and other upstream kinases involved in NF-κB activation have shown anticancer activity in clinical or preclinical studies.
Circulating Tumor Cells as Prognostic Factor for Distant Metastases and Survival in Patients with Primary Uveal Melanoma
Authors: Schuster Ronny , Bechrakis Nikolaos E. , Stroux Andrea , Busse Antonia , Schmittel Alexander , Scheibenbogen Carmen , Thiel Eckhard , Foerster Michael H. , Keilholz Ulrich
Published: February 2007

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine in patients with high-risk primary uveal melanoma whether the detection of circulating tumor cells by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) is of prognostic relevance.

Experimental Design: Blood samples from 110 patients with high-risk nonmetastatic uveal melanoma were collected on the occasion of primary treatment or follow-up visit. mRNA expression of tyrosinase and MelanA/MART1 were analyzed by real-time RT-PCR and compared with clinical data at presentation and follow-up by univariate and multivariate analyses.

Results: The RT-PCR assay yielded a positive result in 11 of 110 patients, with five positive findings for tyrosinase and five for MelanA/MART1, and one sample positive for both markers. At a median follow-up of 22 months, 25% of patients had developed metastases and 15% had died. Univariate statistical analysis revealed RT-PCR and the largest tumor diameter as important prognostic factors for the development of metastases and for survival. In a Cox proportional hazard model, RT-PCR result and largest tumor diameter predicted metastases (hazard ratios 7.3 and 2.6, respectively), whereas PCR result, largest tumor diameter, and Karnofsky performance status were significant variables for disease-specific survival (hazard ratios 22.6, 4.7, and 6.0, respectively). Analysis of individual RT-PCR results revealed both tyrosinase and MelanA/MART1 transcripts as independent prognostic factors.

Conclusion: The presence of tyrosinase or MelanA/MART1 transcripts is an independent prognostic factor in patients with high-risk primary uveal melanoma for subsequent development of metastases and for survival and can be used to select patients for adjuvant treatment studies.
Cat's Entertainment: Feline Performance in the Lion City
Authors: Rae Paul
Published: February 2007

Singha the Courtesy Lion and the Merlion, a touristic icon, are among several leonine symbols deployed by the Singaporean state in its persistent effort to manage national identity and police subjectivity. Artists have responded with playful and affective inscriptions of a “feline imaginary” that expands and contests the narrow terms of the official symbology.
“I Am Not an Animal”: Jan Fabre's Parrots and Guinea Pigs
Authors: Carlson Marvin
Published: February 2007

Animal presence unsettles practices of spectatorship and reframes assumptions about embodiment and affect in four differently exemplary animal performances, including one dating back to the 18th century. In all of them, the ethics of watching other animals, human or nonhuman, and the call for evaluation and judgment is complicated by recognition of the multiplicitous and mysterious nature of pain and pleasure.
Performing the Open: Actors, Animals, Philosophers
Authors: Puchner Martin
Published: February 2007

Three scenes of performance, corresponding to a parallel effort by Giorgio Agamben in his critique of the “anthropological machine,” suggest a strategy of “negative mimesis” to counter the stubborn anthropocentrism of the Western philosophical tradition.
The Animal Apparatus: From a Theory of Animal Acting to an Ethics of Animal Acts
Authors: Peterson Michael
Published: February 2007

The methods by which animal performance is made legible to audiences depend upon a historically contingent set of material practices and social relationships among humans and animals: an “animal apparatus” that is distinctly “middle-brow” and implicated in constructions of bourgeois subjectivity. However, the fleshly presence of the animal also routinely causes it to exceed this order of signification, offering a site for an ethics of resistance to anthropogenic ideologies.
Caliban's Legacy: Primate Dramas and the Performance of Species
Authors: Rundle Erika
Published: February 2007

A close reading of two images paired by way of introduction to an important scientific/activist text reveals a century's worth of performative negotiations with the figure of the ape, from post-Darwinian “missing link” to genetic sibling.
Animalworks in China
Authors: Cheng Meiling
Published: February 2007

The experimental art scene in post-Tiananmen China has featured an array of animal bodies, both living and dead, as well as interspecies encounters ranging from the playful to the sadistic, from the gently collaborative to the violently conflictual, which interrogate and destabilize contemporary constructions of the nature-culture binary.
CORRIGENDUM
Authors: Legg T. P. , Mylne K. R.
Published: February 2007

In an earlier paper the authors described the use of ensemble information for the generation of early warnings of defined severe-weather events within the United Kingdom. A comprehensive verification of the system was also included in this study. However, an error was later found within the verification code for relative operating characteristic and reliability, which affects most of the results (though the Brier skill scores were not affected). The purpose of the present corrigendum is to provide amended verification results. Briefly, what was found before was that skill appeared to exhibit a maximum for these severe-weather events at 4 days ahead, but, although the results for day 4 remain good, the authors underestimated the skill at other days and so the 4-day skill maximum is no longer clear; instead, skill is useful at days 1–4, and tails off only slowly at days 5–6.
Reliable Probabilistic Quantitative Precipitation Forecasts from a Short-Range Ensemble Forecasting System
Authors: Stensrud David J. , Yussouf Nusrat
Published: February 2007

A simple binning technique is developed to produce reliable 3-h probabilistic quantitative precipitation forecasts (PQPFs) from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) multimodel short-range ensemble forecasting system obtained during the summer of 2004. The past 12 days’ worth of forecast 3-h accumulated precipitation amounts and observed 3-h accumulated precipitation amounts from the NCEP stage-II multisensor analyses are used to adjust today’s 3-h precipitation forecasts. These adjustments are done individually to each of ensemble members for the 95 days studied. Performance of the adjusted ensemble precipitation forecasts is compared with the raw (original) ensemble predictions. Results show that the simple binning technique provides significantly more skillful and reliable PQPFs of rainfall events than the raw forecast probabilities. This is true for the base 3-h accumulation period as well as for accumulation periods up to 48 h. Brier skill scores and the area under the relative operating characteristics curve also indicate that this technique yields skillful probabilistic forecasts. The performance of the adjusted forecasts also progressively improves with the increased accumulation period. In addition, the adjusted ensemble mean QPFs are very similar to the raw ensemble mean QPFs, suggesting that the method does not significantly alter the ensemble mean forecast. Therefore, this simple postprocessing scheme is very promising as a method to provide reliable PQPFs for rainfall events without degrading the ensemble mean forecast.
Effective Storm-Relative Helicity and Bulk Shear in Supercell Thunderstorm Environments
Authors: Thompson Richard L. , Mead Corey M. , Edwards Roger
Published: February 2007

A sample of 1185 Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) model analysis (0 h) proximity soundings, within 40 km and 30 min of radar-identified discrete storms, was categorized by several storm types: significantly tornadic supercells (F2 or greater damage), weakly tornadic supercells (F0–F1 damage), nontornadic supercells, elevated right-moving supercells, storms with marginal supercell characteristics, and nonsupercells. These proximity soundings served as the basis for calculations of storm-relative helicity and bulk shear intended to apply across a broad spectrum of thunderstorm types. An effective storm inflow layer was defined in terms of minimum constraints on lifted parcel CAPE and convective inhibition (CIN). Sixteen CAPE and CIN constraint combinations were examined, and the smallest CAPE (25 and 100 J kg−1) and largest CIN (−250 J kg−1) constraints provided the greatest probability of detecting an effective inflow layer within an 835-supercell subset of the proximity soundings. Effective storm-relative helicity (ESRH) calculations were based on the upper and lower bounds of the effective inflow layer. By confining the SRH calculation to the effective inflow layer, ESRH values can be compared consistently across a wide range of storm environments, including storms rooted above the ground. Similarly, the effective bulk shear (EBS) was defined in terms of the vertical shear through a percentage of the “storm depth,” as defined by the vertical distance from the effective inflow base to the equilibrium level associated with the most unstable parcel (maximum θe value) in the lowest 300 hPa. ESRH and EBS discriminate strongly between various storm types, and between supercells and nonsupercells, respectively.
Foehn Winds That Produced Large Temperature Differences near the Southern Appalachian Mountains
Authors: Gaffin David M.
Published: February 2007

A 30-yr (1971–2000) study was conducted to 1) determine the typical characteristics and synoptic conditions of foehn wind events that produced large temperature differences near the southern Appalachian Mountains and 2) further examine those events that produced dewpoint rises. Foehn wind events were identified on both the western and eastern sides of the southern Appalachians by comparing temperatures between a station immediately adjacent to the southern Appalachians (foehn station) and two nearby stations located farther from the mountains (nonfoehn station). A foehn wind event occurred when the following criteria were met: the daily maximum or minimum temperature at the foehn station was at least 3°C (∼5°F) higher than the nonfoehn station, winds of at least 2.5 m s−1 (∼5 kt) at the foehn station must have been from a downslope direction, and warming of at least 3°C (∼5°F) must have occurred during the period of downslope winds. Foehn wind events on the western side typically occurred as southeasterly winds developed ahead of a low pressure system over the mid–Mississippi River valley, while foehn wind events on the eastern side were typically the result of northwesterly winds behind the passage of a shallow cold front. The relatively warm 850-hPa air mass, which was only a couple of degrees cooler than the surface temperatures, was likely the source region of the foehn winds on both sides, although additional flow through gaps likely contributed to the less than theoretically possible warming observed at the foehn stations. Composite soundings of the foehn wind events revealed a vertical temperature and wind profile that was conducive to large-amplitude mountain wave formation, especially on the western side of the southern Appalachians. An interesting (and possibly unique) finding observed with these southern Appalachian foehn wind events (compared with other documented foehn wind events) was the rise in surface dewpoints at the foehn stations during nearly three-fourths of the events on the western side and around one-third of the events on the eastern side. A comparison of the dewpoint-rise composites to the composites from all foehn wind events near the southern Appalachians revealed that the rise in surface dewpoints was mainly the result of a drier initial surface air mass (compared with the 850-hPa air mass) and not necessarily a more moist 850-hPa air mass.
Evaluation of GFDL and Simple Statistical Model Rainfall Forecasts for U.S. Landfalling Tropical Storms
Authors: Tuleya Robert E. , DeMaria Mark , Kuligowski Robert J.
Published: February 2007

To date, little objective verification has been performed for rainfall predictions from numerical forecasts of landfalling tropical cyclones. Until 2001, digital output from the operational version of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) hurricane forecast model was available only on a 1° grid. The GFDL model was rerun or reanalyzed for 25 U.S. landfalling tropical cyclones from 1995 to 2002 to obtain higher resolution (1/3°) output. Several measures of forecast quality were used to evaluate the predicted rainfall from these runs, using daily rain gauge data as ground truth. The overall quality was measured by the mean error and bias averaged over all the gauge sites. An estimate of the quality of the forecasted pattern was obtained through the correlation coefficient of the model versus gauge values. In addition, more traditional precipitation verification scores were calculated including equitable threat and bias scores. To evaluate the skill of the rainfall forecasts, a simple rainfall climatology and persistence (R-CLIPER) model was developed, where a climatological rainfall rate is accumulated along either the forecasted or observed storm track. Results show that the R-CLIPER and GFDL forecasts had comparable mean absolute errors of ∼0.9 in. (23 mm) for the 25 cases. The GFDL model exhibited a higher pattern correlation with observations than R-CLIPER, but still only explained ∼30% of the spatial variance. The GFDL model also had higher equitable threat scores than R-CLIPER, partially because of a low bias of R-CLIPER for rainfall amounts larger than 0.5 in. (13 mm). A large case-to-case variability was found that was dependent on both synoptic conditions and track error.
Evaluation of a Mesoscale Short-Range Ensemble Forecast System over the Northeast United States
Authors: Jones Matthew S. , Colle Brian A. , Tongue Jeffrey S.
Published: February 2007

A short-range ensemble forecast system was constructed over the northeast United States down to 12-km grid spacing using 18 members from the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model (MM5). The ensemble consisted of 12 physics members with varying planetary boundary layer schemes and convective parameterizations as well as seven different initial conditions (ICs) [five National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Eta-bred members at 2100 UTC and the 0000 UTC NCEP Global Forecast System (GFS) and Eta runs]. The full 18-member ensemble (ALL) was verified at the surface for the warm (May–September 2003) and cool (October 2003–March 2004) seasons. A randomly chosen subset of seven physics (PHS) members at each forecast hour was used to quantitatively compare with the seven IC members. During the warm season, the PHS ensemble predictions for surface temperature and wind speed had more skill than the IC ensemble and a control (shared PHS and IC member) run initialized 12 h later (CTL12). During the cool and warm seasons, a 14-day running-mean bias calibration applied to the ALL ensemble (ALLBC) added 10%–30% more skill for temperature, wind speed, and sea level pressure, with the ALLBC far outperforming the CTL12. For the 24-h precipitation, the PHS ensemble had comparable probabilistic skill to the IC ensemble during the warm season, while the IC subensemble was more skillful during the cool season. All ensemble members had large diurnal surface biases, with ensemble variance approximating ensemble uncertainty only for wind direction. Selection of ICs was also important, because during the cool season the NCEP-bred members introduced large errors into the IC ensemble for sea level pressure, while none of the subensembles (PHS, IC, or ALL) outperformed the GFS–MM5 for sea level pressure.
Assessment of Aircraft Icing Potential and Maximum Icing Altitude from Geostationary Meteorological Satellite Data
Authors: Ellrod Gary P. , Bailey Andrew A.
Published: February 2007

A satellite product that displays regions of aircraft icing potential, along with corresponding cloud-top heights, has been developed using data from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) imager and sounder. The icing product, referred to as the Icing Enhanced Cloud-top Altitude Product (ICECAP), is created hourly for the continental United States and southern Canada, and is color coded to show cloud-top altitudes in 1.9-km (6000 ft) intervals. Experimental ICECAP images became routinely available on the Internet during the spring of 2004. Verification of separate ICECAP components (imager icing potential and sounder cloud-top heights) using aircraft pilot reports (PIREPs) indicates that the product provides useful guidance on the spatial coverage and maximum altitude of current icing conditions, but not icing intensity, stratification, or minimum altitude. The imager icing potential component of ICECAP was compared with the operational 40-km resolution National Weather Service (NWS) current icing potential and NWS Airman’s Meteorological Advisories via the NOAA Real-Time Verification System, while GOES cloud-top heights were compared with altitudes of moderate or greater icing from PIREPs. Benefits and deficiencies of the GOES icing product are discussed.
Estimating Hurricane Wind Structure in the Absence of Aircraft Reconnaissance
Authors: Kossin James P. , Knaff John A. , Berger Howard I. , Herndon Derrick C. , Cram Thomas A. , Velden Christopher S. , Murnane Richard J. , Hawkins Jeffrey D.
Published: February 2007

New objective methods are introduced that use readily available data to estimate various aspects of the two-dimensional surface wind field structure in hurricanes. The methods correlate a variety of wind field metrics to combinations of storm intensity, storm position, storm age, and information derived from geostationary satellite infrared (IR) imagery. The first method estimates the radius of maximum wind (RMW) in special cases when a clear symmetric eye is identified in the IR imagery. The second method estimates RMW, and the additional critical wind radii of 34-, 50-, and 64-kt winds for the general case with no IR scene–type constraint. The third method estimates the entire two-dimensional surface wind field inside a storm-centered disk with a radius of 182 km. For each method, it is shown that the inclusion of infrared satellite data measurably reduces error. All of the methods can be transitioned to an operational setting or can be used as a postanalysis tool.
Neoliberalism as Creative Destruction
Authors: Harvey David
Published: February 2007

Neoliberalism has become a hegemonic discourse with pervasive effects on ways of thought and political-economic practices to the point where it is now part of the commonsense way we interpret, live in, and understand the world. How did neoliberalism achieve such an exalted status, and what does it stand for? In this article, the author contends that neoliberalism is above all a project to restore class dominance to sectors that saw their fortunes threatened by the ascent of social democratic endeavors in the aftermath of the Second World War. Although neoliberalism has had limited effectiveness as an engine for economic growth, it has succeeded in channeling wealth from subordinate classes to dominant ones and from poorer to richer countries. This process has entailed the dismantling of institutions and narratives that promoted more egalitarian distributive measures in the preceding era.
Trading Impressions: Evidence from Costa Rica
Authors: Wherry Frederick
Published: February 2007

The case of indigenous artisans in Costa Rica trying to succeed in the global markets for handicrafts and international tourism demonstrates that the public narratives of the country's character circulated by their national government and other institutional actors impose severe constraints on artisans and other economic actors. Market opportunities and socioinstitutional constraints arise not only from the beliefs that people within a national territory have about themselves but also from the roles that outsiders recognize as appropriate to a people within a given territory. The Costa Rican case suggests that the promises and pitfalls of the NAFTA free trade agreement cannot be understood adequately by solely examining the structural conditions of each country. Instead, the uneven spread of benefits and liabilities will depend, in part, on how nation-states and their subnational communities are framed in the imaginations of the global marketplace.
From Managed to Free(r) Markets: Transnational and Regional Governance of Asian Timber
Authors: Gellert Paul K.
Published: February 2007

On the basis of research conducted in Indonesia, the author investigates a key transition in the production of timber for export. The analysis is based on a rich literature focusing on commodity chains. In addition to economic factors, the author gives attention to structures of governance, including the formation and dissolution of political alliances and coalitions. From the late 1980s through 1998, Indonesian plywood producers consolidated power in a state-supported domestic oligopoly, forged a transnational alliance that circumvented the power of Japanese trading houses, and supported domestic accumulation. The Asian crisis of 1997 to 1998 and structural adjustments imposed by the International Monetary Fund radically transformed Indonesia's options, diminishing its capacity to compete, as China emerged as a major producer of woodrelated products. The Indonesian case may well illustrate processes of market remarginalization resulting from the implementation of neoliberal policies.
Resistance and Compliance in the Age of Globalization: Indian Women and Labor Organizations
Authors: Agarwala Rina
Published: February 2007

This article summarizes findings obtained through ethnographic research conducted in three states in India between 2002 and 2004. On the basis of interviews with more than three hundred labor leaders, government officials, and working women, the author reports on the efforts of informal workers in construction and tobacco manufacturing to organize and improve their conditions of life. Contrary to mobilizations in the formal sector, those workers do not make direct demands on their employers. Instead they appeal to the state to obtain welfare benefits. The study shows that neoliberal reform has surprisingly opened up new channels for informal workers to constitute themselves as a class. This represents an amendment to earlier analyses that focused exclusively on the mobilizing capacity of workers in the formal sector. The author concludes by highlighting the importance of this work for the study of social movements and labor's relationship with the state.
The Strategic Role of Mexican Labor under NAFTA: Critical Perspectives on Current Economic Integration
Authors: Wise RaúL Delgado , Cypher James M.
Published: February 2007

This article aims to reveal the precise meaning of Mexico's export platform by focusing on maquiladoras and the disguised maquila industry. In both sectors, imported components account for 75 to 90 percent of export value. As a result, benefits for the Mexican economy are basically restricted to wages, that is, the value of the labor incorporated into the exports. The authors argue that what is actually taking place is the disembodied exportation of labor or, alternatively, that the workforce is being exported without requiring Mexican workers to leave the country. The authors thus demystify the purported orientation of Mexican exports toward high-value-added manufactured goods and reveal the regressive movement of the export platform.
The Globalization of Capital Flows: Who Benefits?
Authors: Stallings Barbara
Published: February 2007

This article analyzes the benefits and costs of financial globalization. While most attention has been placed on the opportunity to obtain additional capital, the benefits from incorporating international norms are also highlighted. The article examines the trends in capital flows, both from public sector institutions and private investors, placing special emphasis on foreign direct investment and remittances. Major problems identified are the skewed distribution of foreign investment—not only among regions and countries, but also among types of firms—as well as its volatility. The article concludes with a set of policy recommendations to spread the benefits of foreign capital and to make it more productive.
Resistance and Identity Politics in an Age of Globalization
Authors: Yashar Deborah J.
Published: February 2007

This article questions the widely held view that indigenous movements in Latin America during the last decades of the twentieth century were caused by globalization. The author reviews several bodies of literature and concludes that, although globalization may be a fit descriptor for some of the actions and narratives of indigenous movements, it cannot be understood as a causal determinant. Many indigenous movements emerged long before the neoliberal current started, others coincide with it, and yet others lag significantly. The author proposes an alternative framework that gives primary significance to state–society relations. Contrary to the idea that national states may have lost prominence in the age of globalization I contend the opposite, suggesting also that indigenous movements have emerged where there are (1) challenges to preexisting corporate identities, (2) transcommunity networks to provide the resources for mobilization, and (3) associational spaces to facilitate collective expression.
Individual Personality Factors That Affect Normative Beliefs About the Rightness of Corporate Social Responsibility
Authors: Mudrack Peter
Published: February 2007

What types of persons are likely to believe in a narrow view of corporate social responsibility—that is, that managers should seek only to maximize profits in the interests of shareholders? Prior research suggested that such persons seemed likely to defer unquestioningly to organizational authority and thus to approve of unethical activities performed for organizational benefit. This article examined additional implications of such deferential tendencies among high social traditionalism scorers. In three samples of employed respondents ( N = 491), social traditionalists emerged as Machiavellian, had an entitled pattern of equity sensitivity, had an external work locus of control, were self-denying and authoritarian, felt that misfortune accrues to deserving people, and scored low on principled moral reasoning. These findings suggest that normative views about the rightness of social responsibility are closely tied to fundamental personality traits, attitudes, values, and thinking patterns. Therefore, resolving the long-standing social responsibility debate by determining once and for all whether social responsibility is good or bad may be an elusive goal.
A Longitudinal Study of Significant Change in Stakeholder Management
Authors: Shropshire Christine , Hillman Amy J.
Published: February 2007

Despite rich theoretical development, empirical research on stakeholder management is scant, save its relationship with financial performance. Recent research shows significant intrafirm variability in stakeholder management across time. This study seeks to explain why firms would experience significant changes in stakeholder management. Adapting Wood’s framework to discuss three principles of stakeholder management, the authors identify antecedents of change at the institutional, organizational, and executive levels. Pressures for legitimacy at the institutional level suggest that firm age and size, along with industry shifts in stakeholder management, will increase the likelihood of changes in stakeholder management for the focal firm. The authors posit that organizational risk and performance will also affect the likelihood of change, as will managerial discretion, ownership, and succession. The authors test their predictions using a longitudinal sample of stakeholder management data and discuss the implications of the findings for research and practice.
Cross-cultural differences in children's emotional reactions to a disappointing situation
Authors: Garrett-Peters Patricia T. , Fox Nathan A.
Published: February 2007

Cross-cultural differences in emotional expressions following disappointment were examined in 59 Chinese American (CA) and 58 European American (EA) children. Children aged four or seven participated in a disappointing gift situation. Dimensions of expressive behaviors following disappointment were coded and included positive, negative, social monitoring, and tension behaviors. Significant main effects emerged for ethnicity and age, with EA children and older children demonstrating more positive behaviors than CA children and younger children, respectively. Younger children also demonstrated significantly more negative behaviors than older children. This main effect was qualified by a nearly significant age by ethnicity interaction, indicating developmental differences in the negative expressions for the EA group, but not for the CA group. Among the CA group, child adaptation of Western values was inversely associated with negative expressions, and a positive trend was found for positive expressions. Statistical trends were also found in which boys demonstrated more negative behaviors than girls and in which EA children demonstrated more total expressive behaviors than CA children. Implications of these findings are discussed with regard to cultural and familial processes, as well as cultural variation in children's cognitions about emotions.
Decentralized Policy Implementation
Authors: Whitford Andrew B.
Published: February 2007

This article develops a regime-splitting process model of decentralized policy implementation to integrate two theoretical approaches rooted in the tension between local flexibility and national control. The author estimates a model that simultaneously assesses the ability of each approach to explain the outcome it is meant to map onto (case-level discretion for local flexibility and aggregate responsiveness for national control) as well as each approach's extensibility to the other approach's domain. The data for the study come from the implementation of eight primary statutes by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's regional offices. The results are counterintuitive: the national control approach largely explains case-level discretion, the domain of local flexibility, but retains some power for explaining aggregate responsiveness. The local flexibility perspective contributes to both case-level discretion and aggregate responsiveness. Both models work outside their traditional domains, but neither is a sufficient explanation for decentralized policy implementation.
Adopting Local Environmental Institutions
Authors: Meyer Stephen M. , Konisky David M.
Published: February 2007

Communities are increasingly turning to local environmental institutions (LEIs) to address unmet environmental challenges. Yet there has been very little empirical analysis of LEIs, and we know surprisingly little about their origins. In this article, the authors use a rational choice framework to examine the incentives and disincentives communities face in deciding whether to establish LEIs. In particular, the authors study the decision of communities to adopt local wetlands bylaws under the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act. Using event history analysis, the authors find strong evidence that environmental need, economic attributes, and economic constraints have strong effects on the impulse of communities to adopt LEIs.
Lobbyists before the U.S. Supreme Court
Authors: Collins Paul M.
Published: February 2007

Despite the fact that amicus curiae participation is the most common method of interest group activity in the judicial arena, there is little consensus as to whether this means of participation influences the decision making of the U.S. Supreme Court. To redress this state of affairs, this research investigates the affect of amicus briefs on the ideological direction of the Court's decisions, with particular attention given to theoretical and methodological issues that have gone unexplored in previous studies. Analyzing group influence during the 1946 to 1995 terms, the results provide particularly robust evidence that pressure groups are effective in shaping the Court's policy outputs. These findings therefore indicate that elite decision makers can be influenced by persuasive argumentation presented by organized interests.
Judicial Review by the Burger and Rehnquist Courts
Authors: Lindquist Stefanie A. , Solberg Rorie Spill
Published: February 2007

In this article, the authors assess various influences on U.S. Supreme Court justices' behavior in cases involving judicial review of federal, state, and local statutes. Focusing on challenges to the constitutionality of statutes considered by the Burger and Rehnquist Courts during the 1969 to 2000 terms, the authors evaluate the impact of attitudinal, institutional, and contextual variables on individual justices' votes to strike or uphold statutes challenged before the Court. The authors find that the justices' ideological responses to the challenged statutes, the extent of amicus support for the statute, the support of the solicitor general, congressional preferences, and the existence of a civil liberties challenge to the statute are all significantly related to the justices' votes to invalidate or uphold statutes. They also find that in the Rehnquist Court, conservative justices are less likely to strike state statutes but more likely to strike federal laws than their liberal counterparts, while no similar “federalism” dimension emerges in the Burger Court. Indeed, in the Burger Court, a distinct pattern emerges with conservative justices more restraintist than liberal justices in both state and federal cases.
Floating Voters and Floating Activists
Authors: Claassen Ryan L.
Published: February 2007

Many studies document positive relationships between political information and campaign participation, but none investigates the relationship between information and interelection change in campaign participation. While studies of “floating voters” document negative relationships between information and floating, the author notes that activists are better informed than voters and investigates the relationship between knowledge and change in participation, comparing the process among voters and activists. The author shows low-information citizens enter and exit the electorate, while high-information citizens enter and exit the activist pool. The author concludes with an optimistic assessment of democratic change based on the theory that well-informed activists influence floating voters.
Presidential Success on the Substance of Legislation
Authors: Barrett Andrew W. , Eshbaugh-Soha Matthew
Published: February 2007

The topic of presidential success in Congress is central to the study of American politics. Yet existing research does not sufficiently assess the president's success at shaping the substance of legislation. To help remedy this deficiency, the authors measure the degree of presidential success on 191 important statutes from 1965 to 2000 and find that presidents typically accept significant concessions to ensure passage of legislation. Using factor and regression analyses, the authors demonstrate that several factors—including the presence of unified government, the president's approval ratings, and the point in a president's tenure—affect the extent to which the president receives what he wants concerning legislative content.
Of Shirking, Outliers, and Statistical Artifacts
Authors: Lawrence Christopher N.
Published: February 2007

It has been previously argued that there is substantial evidence that lame-duck Republican members of Congress were less supportive of the impeachment of Bill Clinton than their colleagues who returned in the 106th Congress. The author shows that this conclusion—based on a marginally significant interaction term—is actually the result of two statistical artifacts: the choice of estimator used and the inclusion in the model of five Democratic representatives who voted for some of the articles of impeachment—most notably, Paul McHale of Pennsylvania, the only lame-duck Democrat who supported impeachment. Using the ordered logit estimator (instead of ordered probit, as was previously used), estimating the model with only Republican members included, or excluding an outlier among the Democrats results in the effect becoming statistically insignificant. The long-term evidence of shirking by impeachment supporters is also very limited. On balance, the evidence suggests that retiring Republicans did not engage in shirking when making decisions on whether to vote for impeachment.
Determinants of Perceived Gubernatorial Budgetary Influence among State Executive Budget Analysts and Legislative Fiscal Analysts
Authors: Goodman Doug
Published: February 2007

Recent scholarship points to governors losing budgetary influence to legislatures. A survey of executive and legislative budget analysts from thirteen western states is used to test hypotheses derived from Abney and Lauth's theoretical propositions regarding the end of executive dominance over the budgetary process. This article finds that the legislature's ability to independently access budgetary information, a separate legislative budget agenda from the governor, the addition of detailed language in appropriation bills, and consensus revenue forecasting all decrease the likelihood of gubernatorial budgetary influence. Pork barrel additions and the ability to item veto appropriation language increase the likelihood of gubernatorial influence.
Endogenous bcl-2 is not required for the development of Eμ-myc–induced B-cell lymphoma
Authors: Kelly Priscilla N. , Puthalakath Hamsa , Adams Jerry M. , Strasser Andreas
Published: February 2007

Although myc and bcl-2 synergize in tumor development, particularly lymphomagenesis, it is not known whether endogenous bcl-2 is required for myc-induced tumorigenesis. To investigate the role of endogenous Bcl-2 in myc-induced lymphomagenesis, we bypassed the early death of Bcl-2–deficient mice by reconstituting lethally irradiated wild-type (wt) mice with a hematopoietic system from fetal liver–derived stem cells of Eμ-myc/bcl-2−/− or control Eμ-myc transgenic embryos. In premalignant (healthy) recipients, loss of Bcl-2 caused a moderate decrease in pre-B and immature B cells, and a dramatic reduction of mature B lymphocytes expressing the Eμ-myc transgene. Furthermore, cultured preneoplastic Eμ-myc/bcl-2−/− mature B cells displayed accelerated apoptosis compared with Eμ-myc B cells. However, despite the striking reduction in B-cell numbers in vivo, ablation of endogenous Bcl-2 did not prevent or even delay development of Eμ-myc lymphoma. Moribund mice presented with similar degrees of splenomegaly, blood leukocyte numbers, and tumor dissemination at death. These findings demonstrate that the initiation, development, continued growth, and severity of Eμ-myc lymphoma do not depend upon endogenous Bcl-2, nor upon the total number of B lymphoid cells driven by the Eμ-myc transgene. These results have implications for the treatment of hematopoietic tumors, particularly those that are not caused by Bcl-2 overexpression.