bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Geothermal Modeling for the Base of Gas Hydrate Stability Zone and Saturation of Gas Hydrate in the Krishna-Godavari Basin, Eastern Indian Margin
Authors: Shankar Uma , Sain Kalachand , Riedel Michael
Published: March 2012

The passive eastern Indian margin is rich in gas hydrates, as inferred from the wide-spread occurrences of bottom-simulating reflectors (BSRs) and recovery of gas hydrate samples from various sites in the Krishna Godavari (KG) and Mahanadi (MN) basins drilled by the Expedition 01 of the Indian National Gas Hydrate Program (NGHP). The BSRs are often interpreted to mark the thermally controlled base of gas hydrate stability zone (BGHSZ). Most of the BSRs exhibit moderate to typically higher amplitudes than those from other seismic reflectors. We estimate the average geothermal gradient of ∼40°C/km and heat flow varying from 23 to 62 mW/m2 in the study area utilizing the BSR’s observed on seismic sections. Further we provide the BGHSZ where the BSR is not continuous or disturbed by local tectonics or hidden by sedimentation patterns parallel to the seafloor with a view to understand the nature of BSR.

Since, gas hydrate bearing sediment has higher electrical resistivities than that of the host sediment, we estimate two levels of gas hydrates saturations up to 25% in the depth interval between 70 to 82, and less than 20% in the depth interval between 90 to 104 meter below the seafloor using the resistivity log data at site 15 of NGHP-01.
Migrant Selection and the Health of U.S. Immigrants From the Former Soviet Union
Authors: Mehta Neil K. , Elo Irma T.
Published: March 2012

Few prior studies have investigated the health of U.S. immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU). Utilizing data from the 2000 U.S. census and the 2000–2007 National Health Interview Survey (NIHS), we compare levels of disability of FSU immigrants with U.S.-born whites (ages 50–84). Our findings suggest an “epidemiologic paradox” in that FSU immigrants possess higher levels of education compared with U.S.-born whites, but report considerably higher disability with and without adjustment for education. Nonetheless, FSU immigrants report lower levels of smoking and heavy alcohol use compared with U.S.-born whites. We further investigate disability by period of arrival among FSU immigrants. Changes in Soviet emigration policies conceivably altered the level of health selectivity among émigrés. We find evidence that FSU immigrants who emigrated during a period when a permission to emigrate was hard to obtain (1970–1986) displayed less disability compared with those who emigrated when these restrictions were less stringent (1987–2000). Finally, we compare disability among Russian-born U.S. immigrants with that of those residing in Russia as a direct test of health selectivity. We find that Russian immigrants report lower levels of disability compared with Russians in Russia, suggesting that they are positively selected for health despite their poor health relative to U.S.-born whites.
ON THE TOPOLOGICAL CENTRE OF L1(G/H)**
Authors: RAISI TOUSI R. , KAMYABI-GOL R. A. , EBRAHIMI VISHKI H. R.
Published: March 2012

Let G be a locally compact group and H be a compact subgroup of G. Using a general criterion established by Neufang [‘A unified approach to the topological centre problem for certain Banach algebras arising in abstract harmonic analysis’, Arch. Math.82(2) (2004), 164–171], we show that the Banach algebra L1(G/H) is strongly Arens irregular for a large class of locally compact groups.
V.I. Vernadskii and the development of biogeochemical understandings of the biosphere,c.1880s–1968
Authors: OLDFIELD JONATHAN D. , SHAW DENIS J.B.
Published: March 2012

General notions of the biosphere are widely recognized and form important elements of contemporary debate concerning global environmental change, helping to focus attention on the complex interactions that characterize the Earth's natural systems. At the same time, there is continued uncertainty over the precise definition of the concept allied to a relatively limited critique of its early development, which was linked closely to advances in the natural sciences during the late nineteenth century and particularly, it is argued here, to the emergence of biogeochemistry. In the light of this, the principal aim of the paper is to explore the development and subsequent dissemination of biogeochemical renderings of the biosphere concept, focusing primarily on the work of the Russian biogeochemist Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadskii (1863–1945). The paper identifies four key moments which, it is argued, help to explain the development and subsequent dissemination of a biogeochemical understanding of the biosphere. First, we draw attention to the particularities of St Petersburg's natural-science community during the late nineteenth century, arguing that this was instrumental in providing the basis for Vernadskii's future work related to the biosphere. Second, we consider the ways in which Vernadskii's ideas concerning the biosphere were able to move to the West during the first half of the twentieth century with specific reference to his links with the French scientists Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Edouard Le Roy, and the US-based ecologist George Evelyn Hutchinson. Third, we reflect more purposefully on matters of reception and, in particular, the emergence of a set of circumstances within Western ecological science after 1945, which encouraged a positive engagement with biogeochemical understandings of the biosphere. Finally, we examine the 1968 UNESCO-sponsored Biosphere Conference, which represented the first time the biosphere concept was employed at the international level. Furthermore, this event was in many ways a high point for a specifically biogeochemical approach, with the subsequent popularization of the biosphere concept during the course of the 1970s helping to broaden the discourse markedly.
Determination of the influence of dispersion pattern of pesticide-resistant individuals on the reliability of resistance estimates using different sampling plans
Authors: Shah R. , Worner S.P. , Chapman R.B.
Published: March 2012

Pesticide resistance monitoring includes resistance detection and subsequent documentation/ measurement. Resistance detection would require at least one (≥1) resistant individual(s) to be present in a sample to initiate management strategies. Resistance documentation, on the other hand, would attempt to get an estimate of the entire population (≥90%) of the resistant individuals. A computer simulation model was used to compare the efficiency of simple random and systematic sampling plans to detect resistant individuals and to document their frequencies when the resistant individuals were randomly or patchily distributed. A patchy dispersion pattern of resistant individuals influenced the sampling efficiency of systematic sampling plans while the efficiency of random sampling was independent of such patchiness. When resistant individuals were randomly distributed, sample sizes required to detect at least one resistant individual (resistance detection) with a probability of 0.95 were 300 (1%) and 50 (10% and 20%); whereas, when resistant individuals were patchily distributed, using systematic sampling, sample sizes required for such detection were 6000 (1%), 600 (10%) and 300 (20%). Sample sizes of 900 and 400 would be required to detect ≥90% of resistant individuals (resistance documentation) with a probability of 0.95 when resistant individuals were randomly dispersed and present at a frequency of 10% and 20%, respectively; whereas, when resistant individuals were patchily distributed, using systematic sampling, a sample size of 3000 and 1500, respectively, was necessary. Small sample sizes either underestimated or overestimated the resistance frequency. A simple random sampling plan is, therefore, recommended for insecticide resistance detection and subsequent documentation.
EFFECTS OF SAGE LEAFHOPPER FEEDING DAMAGE ON HERBAGE COLOUR, ESSENTIAL OIL CONTENT AND COMPOSITIONS OF TURKISH AND GREEK OREGANO
Authors: ARSLAN M. , UREMIS I. , DEMIREL N.
Published: March 2012

Turkish (Origanum onites L.) and Greek oregano (Origanum vulgare L., ssp. hirtum (Link.) Ietswaart) species were investigated to determine herbage colour, essential oil content and composition changes due to sage leafhopper (Eupteryx melissae) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) infestation. Sage leafhopper population on both Turkish and Greek oregano did not significantly vary. The sage leafhopper damage was more severe in the lower part of the canopy than the middle and upper parts. Extensive sage leafhopper feeding dramatically reduced essential oil contents, resulting in 28.8 and 34.8% reductions for Greek and Turkish oregano, respectively. Carvacrol, the major essential oil component of both oregano species, did not remarkably vary between leafhopper infested and non-infested plants. With respect to herbage colour, the brightness, redness and yellowness values were significantly different between infested and non-infested plants. Sage leafhopper damage increased brightness and yellowness but decreased greenness of the oregano herbage. To avoid the feeding damage, it is essential to detect the sage leafhopper problem as early as possible and certain control practices are necessary when the infestation is high.
The role of horses in the transmission of leptospirosis in an urban tropical area
Authors: HAMOND C. , MARTINS G. , LAWSON-FERREIRA R. , MEDEIROS M. A. , LILENBAUM W.
Published: March 2012

The objective of this study was to demonstrate the presence of leptospires in equine urine, as evidence for a potential role of horses in transmission of this organism. Thoroughbred horses (aged 2–5 years, n = 276) from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, were studied. After a severe storm, the premises of the animals remained flooded for 72 h. Blood samples for serology were collected on days 20 and 35 (day of storm = day 0). On day 20, 132 (47·8%) horses were seroreactive (titre ⩾200) and, of these, 23 (31·0%) had increased antibody titres on day 35. Furthermore, 34 urine samples (for PCR and culture) were collected from seroreactive horses on day 35. Copenhageni was the most frequent serovar (88·8% of reactive titres). Although none of the urine samples were culture positive, 12 (35·2%) were PCR positive. This is apparently the first report of evidence of leptospires in urban horses. Furthermore, we suggest that these animals can play a role in the transmission of leptospirosis in urban areas.
Water absorption and dormancy-breaking requirements of physically dormant seeds of Schizolobium parahyba (Fabaceae – Caesalpinioideae)
Authors: de Souza Thaysi Ventura , Voltolini Caroline Heinig , Santos Marisa , Silveira Paulilo Maria Terezinha
Published: March 2012

Physical dormancy refers to seeds that are water impermeable. Within the Fabaceae, the structure associated with the breaking of dormancy is usually the lens. This study verified the role of the lens in physical dormancy of seeds of Schizolobium parahyba, a gap species of Fabaceae from the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. The lens in S. parahyba seeds appeared as a subtle depression near the hilum and opposite the micropyle. After treatment of the seeds with hot water, the lens detached from the coat. Blocking water from contacting the lens inhibited water absorption in hot-water-treated seeds. High constant (30°C) and alternating (20/30°C) temperatures promoted the breaking of physical dormancy and germination in non-scarified seeds. Maximum percentage of germination occurred earlier for seeds incubated at 20/30°C than for those incubated at 30°C. Seeds with a blocked lens did not germinate at alternating or high temperatures. This study suggests that alternating temperatures are probably the cause of physical dormancy break of seeds of S. parahyba in gaps in the forest.
Histaminergic ligands injected into the nucleus basalis magnocellularis differentially affect fear conditioning consolidation
Authors: Benetti Fernando , Baldi Elisabetta , Bucherelli Corrado , Blandina Patrizio , Passani Maria Beatrice
Published: March 2012

The role of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM) in fear conditioning encoding is well established. In the present report, we investigate the involvement of the NBM histaminergic system in consolidating fear memories. The NBM was injected bilaterally with ligands of histaminergic receptors immediately after contextual fear conditioning. Histaminergic compounds, either alone or in combination, were stereotaxically administered to different groups of adult male Wistar rats and memory was assessed as conditioned freezing duration 72 h after administration. This protocol prevents interference with NBM function during either acquisition or retrieval phases, hence restricting the effect of pharmacological manipulations to fear memory consolidation. The results presented here demonstrate that post-training H3 receptors (H3R) blockade with the antagonist/inverse agonist thioperamide or activation with immepip in the NBM potentiates or decreases, respectively, freezing response at retrieval. Thioperamide induced memory enhancement seems to depend on H2R, but not H1R activation, as the H2R antagonist zolantidine blocked the effect of thioperamide, whereas the H1R antagonist pyrilamine was ineffective. Furthermore, the H2R agonist ampthamine improved fear memory expression independently of the H3R agonist effect. Our results indicate that activation of post-synaptic H2R within the NBM by endogenous histamine is responsible for the potentiated expression of fear responses. The results are discussed in terms of activation of H3 auto- and heteroreceptors within the NBM and the differential effect of H3R ligands on fear memory consolidation in distinct brain regions.
Economic capital for defined benefit pension schemes: An application to the UK Universities Superannuation Scheme
Authors: PORTEOUS BRUCE T , TAPADAR PRADIP , YANG WEI
Published: March 2012

This article considers the amount of economic capital that defined benefit (DB) pension schemes potentially need to cover the risks they are running. A real open scheme, the Universities Superannuation Scheme, is modelled and used to illustrate our results and, as expected, economic capital requirements are large. We discuss the appropriateness of these results and what they mean for the DB pension scheme industry and their sponsors. The article is particularly pertinent following the recent European Commission Green Paper on the future of European pensions systems, its call for advice on reviewing the Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision Directive and the introduction of the Basel 2 and Solvency 2 risk-based regulatory regimes for banking and insurance, respectively.
The uses of ambiguity: representing ‘the people’ and the stability of states unions
Authors: Glencross Andrew
Published: March 2012

The European Union (EU) and the antebellum US represent attempts to overcome anarchy without substituting hierarchy. Understood as ‘states unions’, these two systems are shown here to share foundational indeterminacy over sovereignty and the constitution of the people (i.e. the boundaries of the political community). Existing scholarship appreciates the EU's resulting democratic deficit but fails to problematize how dual ambiguity is sustained. The contrast between both states unions is used to probe this mutually constitutive relationship between sovereignty and democracy in an anti-hierarchical order. Defining the boundaries of the people by invoking popular sovereignty led in the antebellum, the paper argues, to a bifurcated debate over where the hierarchy of democratic legitimacy resided, destroying ambiguity. The contrast further shows that the EU has avoided the development of such rival, mutually exclusive constitutional visions that seek to make the people and sovereignty congruent at either the unit or union level. Instead, the EU has sustained dual constitutional ambiguity by allowing for multiple accountability claims reliant on overlapping notions of the people. Democratizing international cooperation thus should focus on the form democratic accountability can take rather than seeking to use popular sovereignty to establish some decision-making level where sovereignty and the people are congruent.
International authority and its politicization
Authors: Zürn Michael , Binder Martin , Ecker-Ehrhardt Matthias
Published: March 2012

The article focuses on the politicization of international authority as a thus far little understood development in world politics. We first define the concept and show that there is an empirical trend towards politicization of international institutions. We then argue that the increasing authority of international institutions has led to their politicization and we relate this hypothesis to alternative explanations. The validity of the authority–politicization nexus is illustrated by the rise of international authority in parallel to politicization. We go on to distinguish different policy functions such as rule definition, monitoring, interpretation, and enforcement in order to show that especially those international institutions with a high level of authority meet with strong contestation of their competencies. We conclude the article by exploring various avenues for future politicization research.
The origin of magmatic layering in the High Tatra granite, Central Western Carpathians – implications for the formation of granitoid plutons
Authors: Gawęda Aleksandra , Szopa Krzysztof
Published: March 2012

The High Tatra granite intrusion is an example of a Variscan syn-tectonic, tongue-shaped intrusion. In some portions of the intrusion, structures occur which appear to be of sedimentary origin. These include structures similar to graded bedding, cross-bedding, troughs and flame structures, K-feldspar-rich cumulates and magmatic breccias. Formation of these structures might be related to changing magma properties, including crystal fraction, development of a crystal mush and a decrease in magma viscosity, stimulated by influx of mafic magma and high volatile content. The suggested processes in operation are: gravity-controlled separation, magma flow segregation, deposition on the magma-chamber floor, filter pressing and density currents stimulated by tectonic activity.

%The formation of the sedimentary structures was also aided by the presence of large numbers of xenoliths that acted as a heat sink and influenced the thermal field in the intrusion, stimulating rapid cooling and crystal nucleation. Sinking xenoliths deformed the layering and, to some extent, protected the unconsolidated crystal mush from erosion by magma flowing past.

%Areas with well-developed sedimentary magmatic structures can be viewed as having involved magma rich in crystals locally forming closely-packed networks from which residual melt was extracted by filter pressing, and preserved in leucocratic pods and dykes. Interleaved, non-layered granite may be interpreted to have formed from the magma with initially low crystal fractions.

%It is suggested that the intrusion was formed from numerous magma injections representing different stages in the mixing and mingling of felsic and mafic sources. It solidified by gravitation-driven crystal accumulation and flow sorting on the magma chamber floor and on the surfaces of large numbers of xenoliths. Shear stress acting during intrusion might have influenced the formation of magmatic structures.
A Picture Story Exercise Set in a German and a Cameroonian Sample
Authors: Busch Holger , Hofer Jan
Published: March 2012

Building on a recent study by Schultheiss, Liening, and Schad (2008 ), we examined the internal consistency, retest reliability, sample-level profile stability, and ipsative stability of a Picture Story Exercise (PSE) measure for implicit achievement, affiliation, and power motive. While Schultheiss et al. (2008 ) examined these indices by administering eight picture cues to students with 2 weeks between assessment occasions, in the present study adult samples from Germany (n = 129) and Cameroon (n = 122) provided data on five picture cues at two assessment times 18 months apart. Despite these differences, reliability indices are comparable to those presented by Schultheiss and colleagues: Internal consistency is low, but retest reliability and ipsative stability are in the expected range. The reliability of the PSE is also discussed and compared to the reliability of self-report and other non-self-report measures.
Phytoplankton production from melting ponds on Arctic sea ice
Authors: Lee Sang H. , Stockwell Dean A. , Joo Hyoung‐Min , Son Young Baek , Kang Chang‐Keun , Whitledge Terry E.
Published: March 2012

Recently, the areal extent of melt ponds within sea ice has rapidly increased during the Arctic Ocean summer. However, the biological impacts of melt ponds on the Arctic marine ecosystem have rarely been studied. Carbon and nitrogen uptake rates of phytoplankton were measured at 26 different melt ponds in 2005 and 2008, using a 13C‐15N dual stable isotope tracer technique. Generally, the open ponds had relatively higher nutrients than closed ponds, but the nutrient concentrations in the open ponds were within a range similar to those in surrounding surface seawaters. Chlorophyll a (Chl a) concentrations in melt ponds ranged from 0.1 to 2.9 mg Chl a m−3 with a mean of 0.6 mg Chl a m−3 (SD = ±0.8 mg Chl a m−3) in the Canada Basin in 2005, whereas the range of the Chl a concentrations was from 0.1 to 0.3 mg Chl a m−3 with a mean of 0.2 mg Chl a m−3 (SD = ±0.1 mg Chl a m−3) in the central Arctic Ocean in 2008. The average annual carbon production in sea ice melt ponds was 0.67 g C m−3 (SD = ±1.03 g C m−3) in the Arctic Ocean. Based on this study, recent annual carbon production of all melt ponds was roughly estimated to be approximately 2.6 Tg C, which is less than 1% of the total production in the Arctic Ocean.
A methodology to compute GPS slant total delays in a numerical weather model
Authors: Zus Florian , Bender Michael , Deng Zhiguo , Dick Galina , Heise Stefan , Shang‐Guan Ming , Wickert Jens
Published: March 2012

A numerical algorithm based on Fermat's Principle was developed to simulate the propagation of Global Positioning System (GPS) radio signals in the refractivity field of a numerical weather model. The unique in the proposed algorithm is that the ray‐trajectory automatically involves the location of the ground‐based receiver and the satellite, i.e. the posed two‐point boundary value problem is solved by an implicit finite difference scheme. This feature of the algorithm allows the fast and accurate computation of the signal travel‐time delay, referred to as Slant Total Delay (STD), between a satellite and a ground‐based receiver. We provide a technical description of the algorithm and estimate the uncertainty of STDs due to simplifying assumptions in the algorithm and due to the uncertainty of the refractivity field. In a first application, we compare STDs retrieved from GPS phase‐observations at the German Research Centre for Geosciences Potsdam (GFZ STDs) with STDs derived from the European Center for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts analyses (ECMWF STDs). The statistical comparison for one month (August 2007) for a large and continuously operating network of ground‐based receivers in Germany indicates good agreement between GFZ STDs and ECMWF STDs; the standard deviation is 0.5% and the mean deviation is 0.1%.
Positive lightning: An overview, new observations, and inferences
Authors: Nag Amitabh , Rakov Vladimir A.
Published: March 2012

We examine the various conceptual cloud charge configurations and scenarios leading to production of positive lightning with a view toward an explanation of its observed properties. Data for 52 positive cloud‐to‐ground flashes containing 63 strokes recorded in Gainesville, Florida, in 2007–2008 are presented and discussed. The U.S. National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) located 51 (96%) of the positive strokes at distances of 7.8 to 157 km from the field‐measuring station. In 42 (81%) of the 52 flashes, the first (or the only) leader‐return stroke sequence was not preceded by in‐cloud discharge activity. The average number of strokes per flash is 1.2. Single‐stroke flashes constitute 81%. In three (38%) of eight two‐stroke flashes, the second stroke likely followed the channel of the first stroke, and in five (62%) flashes it likely created a new termination on ground. Eight (15%) of the 52 positive flashes had detectable preliminary breakdown pulse trains in their electric field records. Electric field waveforms of 14 (27%) first strokes (also of one third stroke) are preceded by pronounced pulses, apparently indicative of leader stepping. NLDN‐reported peak currents for 48 positive strokes in 40 flashes ranged from 20 to 234 kA with a geometric mean value of 75 kA. The median charge transfers in 1, 2, and 40 ms after the beginning of return stroke electric field change for an assumed height of 12 km were estimated to be 13, 18, and 34 C, respectively. Two bipolar lightning discharges are additionally examined.
Genomic evidence of rapid, global-scale gene flow in a Sulfolobus species
Authors: Mao Dominic , Grogan Dennis
Published: March 2012

Local populations of Sulfolobus islandicus diverge genetically with geographical separation, and this has been attributed to restricted transfer of propagules imposed by the unfavorable spatial distribution of acidic geothermal habitat. We tested the generality of genetic divergence with distance in Sulfolobus species by analyzing genomes of Sulfolobus acidocaldarius drawn from three populations separated by more than 8000 km. In sharp contrast to S. islandicus, the geographically diverse S. acidocaldarius genomes proved to be nearly identical. We could not link the difference in genome conservation between the two species to a corresponding difference in genome stability or ecological factors affecting propagule dispersal. The results provide the first evidence that genetic isolation of local populations does not result primarily from properties intrinsic to Sulfolobus and the severe discontinuity of its geothermal habitat, but varies with species, and thus may reflect biotic interactions that act after propagule dispersal.
Air‐Displacement Plethysmography Pediatric Option in 2–6 Years Old Using the Four‐Compartment Model as a Criterion Method
Authors: Fields David A. , Allison David B.
Published: March 2012

The objective of this study was to determine the accuracy, precision, bias, and reliability of percent fat (%fat) determined by air‐displacement plethysmography (ADP) with the pediatric option against the four‐compartment model in 31 children (4.1 ± 1.2 years, 103.3 ± 10.2 cm, 17.5 ± 3.4 kg). %Fat was determined by (BOD POD Body Composition System; COSMED USA, Concord, CA) with the pediatric option. Total body water (TBW) was determined by isotope dilution (2H2O; 0.2 g/kg) while bone mineral was determined by dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA) (Lunar iDXA v13.31; GE, Fairfield, CT and analyzed using enCore 2010 software). The four‐compartment model by Lohman was used as the criterion measure of %fat. The regression for %fat by ADP vs. %fat by the four‐compartment model did not deviate from the line of identity where: y = 0.849(x) + 4.291. ADP explained 75.2% of the variance in %fat by the four‐compartment model while the standard error of the estimate (SEE) was 2.09 %fat. The Bland—Altman analysis showed %fat by ADP did not exhibit any bias across the range of fatness (r = 0.04; P = 0.81). The reliability of ADP was assessed by the coefficient of variation (CV), within‐subject SD, and Cronbach's α. The CV was 3.5%, within‐subject SD was 0.9%, and Cronbach's α was 0.95. In conclusion, ADP with the pediatric option is accurate, precise, reliable, and without bias in estimating %fat in children 2–6 years old.
Mercury chloride increases hepatic alanine aminotransferase and glucose 6‐phosphatase activities in newborn ratsin vivo
Authors: Moraes‐Silva Lucélia , Bueno Tania Maria , Franciscato Carina , de Oliveira Cláudia Sirlene , Peixoto Nilce Coelho , Pereira Maria Ester
Published: March 2012

This work investigated thein vivoandin vitroeffects of HgCl2and ZnCl2on metabolic enzymes from tissues of young rats to verify whether the physiological and biochemical alterations induced by mercury and prevented by zinc are related to hepatic and renal glucose metabolism. Wistar rats received (subcutaneous) saline or ZnCl2(27 mg/kg/day) from 3 to 7 days old and saline or HgCl2(5.0 mg/kg/day) from 8 to 12 days old. Mercury exposure increased the hepatic alanine aminotransferase (∼6‐fold) and glucose 6‐phosphatase (75%) activity; zinc pre‐exposure prevented totally and partially these mercury alterations respectively.In vitro, HgCl2inhibited the serum (22%, 10 μM) and liver (54%, 100 μM) alanine aminotransferase, serum (53%) and liver (64%) lactate dehydrogenase (10 μM), and liver (53%) and kidney (41%) glucose 6‐phosphatase (100 μM) from 10‐ to 13‐day‐old rats. The results show that mercury induces distinct alterations in these enzymes when testedin vivoorin vitroas well as when different sources were used. The increase of both hepatic alanine aminotransferase and glucose 6‐phosphatase activity suggests that the mercury‐exposed rats have increased gluconeogenic activity in the liver. Zinc prevents thein vivoeffects on metabolic changes induced by mercury.
Deconstructing Whiteness: Irish Women in Britain
Authors: Hickman Mary J. , Walter Bronwen
Published: March 2012

The Irish are largely invisible as an ethnic group in Britain but continue to be racialized as inferior and alien Others. Invisibility has been reinforced by academic treatment Most historians have assumed that a framework of assimilation is appropriate and this outcome is uncritically accepted as desirable. Sociologists on the other hand have excluded the Irish from consideration, providing tacit support for the ‘myth of homogeneity’ of white people in Britain against the supposedly new phenomenon of threatening (Black) ‘immigrants’.

Focus on the paradigm of ‘colour’ has limited the range of racist ideologies examined and led to denial of anti-Irish racism. But an analysis of nineteenth-century attitudes shows that the ‘Irish Catholic’ was a significant Other in the construction of the British nationalist myth. Despite contemporary forgetting, hostility towards the Irish continues, over and above immediate reactions to recent IRA campaigns. Verbal abuse and racial harassment are documented in London and elsewhere, but unacknowledged.

The masculine imagery of ‘Paddy’ hides the existence of Irish women in Britain, although they have outnumbered men since the 1920s. In America, by contrast, there is a strong stereotype of ‘Bridget’ and her central contribution to Irish upward mobility is recognized. But invisibility does not protect Irish women in Britain from racism. Indeed, they are often more exposed since their productive and reproductive roles connect more firmly to British society. Moreover, women have played a key role in maintaining Catholic adherence, which continues to resonate closely with Irishness and difference.
‘I Won't Go Back to It’: Irish Women Poets and the Iconic Feminine
Authors: Mills Lia
Published: March 2012

This paper explores the dynamic interaction between contemporary Irish women poets and the notion of tradition in Irish poetry. Looking at the work of Eavan Boland, Susan Connolly, Paula Donlon, Mary Dorcey, Paula Meehan and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, the paper suggests that women poets today are subverting tradition and destabilizing a conventionally accepted fusion of the feminine with the national. This is achieved through direct challenge, through dislocation and through establishing a dialogue between the mythical and the real in the context of the lived experience of women in Ireland. Finally, the paper suggests the potential for civil and social effect of the work of women who engage consciously in the process of giving women an active voice.
Self-determination: The Republican Feminist Agenda
Authors: Hackett Claire
Published: March 2012

This article defines a republican feminist agenda by reference to the key term ‘self-determination’, in its nationalist and its feminist meanings. It describes the activities of a republican feminist group, Clár na mBan, including a conference organized in March 1994, and initiatives taken since then.
Ourselves Alone?: Clár na mBan Conference Report
Authors: Connolly Clara
Published: March 2012

This article is a review of a report of a republican feminist conference, published by its organizers, Clár na mBan. The conference took place in Belfast in March 1994. The article supports the conference's criticisms of the ‘peace process’ as exclusive and undemocratic. It also takes issue with a number of republican and nationalist assumptions about historical and contemporary Ireland.
‘Women are Trouble, Did you know that Fergus?’: Neil Jordan's the Crying Game
Authors: Edge Sarah
Published: March 2012

The subject of this article is Neil Jordan's film The Crying Game. Released in 1992, it was widely received as a film that challenged stereotypes in relation to both the IRA and questions of race, sexuality and desire. This article calls into question such a radical reading by analysing the way in which Jude the IRA woman is represented. Through a feminist deconstruction, the article proposes that the character of Jude can be seen to represent both national and international anxieties concerning contemporary masculine and feminine subject positions. The article plots this by investigating how the film deals with the specifics of gender and Irish nationalism. It then moves on to consider how these specifics can be seen to articulate international postmodern concerns about contemporary gender identities.
In Love with Inspector Morse: Feminist Subculture and Quality Television
Authors: Thomas Lyn
Published: March 2012

This article consists of textual analysis of a highly successful television series, Inspector Morse, combined with qualitative audience study. The study of Morse and the fan culture surrounding it is presented in the context of a discussion of recent feminist work on the texts and audiences of popular culture. The textual analysis focuses on those elements of the programmes which contribute to its success as ‘quality’ television, and particularly on Morse as an example of the role played by nostalgic representations of Englishness in ‘quality’ media texts of the 1980s. The article goes on to discuss whether the presence of such representations in these programmes leads inevitably to a convergence of ‘quality’ and conservative ideology. The discussion of the ideological subtexts of the programmes then focuses on the area of gender representation, and on the extent to which feminist influences are discernible in this example of quality popular culture, particularly in its representations of masculinity. The second part of the article presents an analysis of a discussion group involving fans of the series, which was organized as part of a larger qualitative study of the fan culture surrounding the programmes. There is a detailed discussion of the impact of the social dynamics of the group on their readings of Morse. The analysis also focuses on the ways in which the discourses identified in the textual analysis, such as gender representation, quality and Englishness, are mobilized in talk about the programmes. Finally, the nature of the group made it possible to discuss the construction of a feminist subcultural identity in talk about a mainstream media text, and to identify irony and critical distance as key components of that identity, particularly in the discussion of the pleasures offered by the romance narratives of the programmes.
‘Great Expectations’: Rehabilitating the Recalcitrant War Poets
Authors: Plain Gill
Published: March 2012

Formulating a definition of ‘good’ poetry is, and should be, impossible. Yet women's poetry of the First World War seems generally to have been condemned as ‘bad’. It inspires an ambiguous response from readers who recognize the value of its historical, social and psychological content, but shudder at the limitations of its form. However, I believe that a much more fruitful reading of these ‘recalcitrant’ texts is possible. It is not my intention to deny either their problematic nature, or the diversity and complexity of male responses to the war, but rather to emphasize that women's experience of the First World War was radically different from that of men, and we should not therefore be constrained by the traditional parameters of 1914–18 criticism when we explore these works. This article examines a selection of this poetry in the light of the psychological processes of grief and bereavement, and in so doing indicates other areas in which constructive readings of these texts might be made.

Why do we expect the articulation of a radically new and uniformly consistent poetic voice from what was a large and diverse group of women? The expectations of modernism ironically have created a literary ‘mainstream’ out of a selection of experimental, and largely male, writing. I hope to show that the ‘failure’ of these women to conform to our textual ‘great expectations’ is irrelevant. The single most characteristic feature of these women's experience of war was isolation. Their position had neither the homogeneity of the trenches, nor the intense intellectualism of experimental circles. Predominantly middle class, alienated by absence and bereavement, they attempted to articulate the unprecedented nature of their experience. That their experiments were not wholly successful is perhaps indicative of the near impossibility of the task they undertook.
Imagining (the) Difference: Gender, Ethnicity and Metaphors of Nation
Authors: Molloy Maureen
Published: March 2012

This article critiques the way in which three feminist authors reinscribe traditional liberal values when seeking new ways of thinking about the nation. It suggests that in rejecting affective or embodied metaphors, such as community or kinship, the authors fall into the trap of reinscribing values which have historically excluded women and ethnic or racial minorities from full participation in the polity. The article argues for a rejection of the affect/rationality model which underpins these arguments and suggests that new metaphors for the nation will emerge as those who have been excluded claim a place in the polity.
Island Racism: Gender, Place, and White Power
Authors: Ware Vron
Published: March 2012

The election of a British National Party councillor in London in September 1993 was greeted by shock and disbelief in the media, particularly because it happened during controversial preparations to celebrate the anniversary of Britain's role in Hitler's defeat in 1945. This essay sets out to examine some of the ways in which the BNP victory was reported in an attempt to understand how intricately gender and class are interwoven in discourses of racism in contemporary British politics. First, it draws attention to the dramatic images of white, working-class (or rather, non-working-class), violent, masculinity that dominated media representation of the event. In particular, the apparent invisibility of women in the photos and headlines seemed questionable, particularly when their anger and frustration about their own living conditions percolated through the lengthier written reports on the inside pages. Looking beyond superficial media coverage of the election, it was clear that gender was also a significant factor in the construction of a local, exclusively white, organic community fostered by political parties responsible for administering social housing and other public resources.

While gender can articulate different forms of racism, the reverse can also be true. Ideas about what it means to be white, for example, defined against the racialized ‘other’, are also implicated in the social construction of gender. The violence perpetrated by those attracted to the xenophobic rhetoric of groups like the BNP is able to represent an aspect of masculinity that is both patriarchal and active in defending the ‘racial’ community. The third voice of beleaguered mothers summons up a version of white femininity that is passively concerned with the task of trying to reproduce the racial purity longed for by their menfolk.

Finally, the specific characteristics and dynamics of the area in which the election took place also demands attention, not just because it happened in the heart of one of the most contested territories in London, but also because it was a reminder that the spatial aspects of social conflict are inseparable from the social, political and economic.
At the Back of the Class. At the Front of the Class: Experiences as Aboriginal Student and Aboriginal Teacher
Authors: Behrendt Larissa
Published: March 2012

This is a persona] account of an Aboriginal woman who went through the education system in Australia to obtain finally her law degree.

Aboriginal people experience many hurdles in the education system. Many Aboriginal children feel alienated within the legal system which until recently focused on a colonial history of Australia, ignoring the experiences, indeed the presence, of indigenous people in Australia.

The Australian government had a policy of not educating Aboriginal people past the age of 14. The author was one of the first generation that could go straight from high school to university. She speaks of the debt she feels towards the generations of her people that fought for her right to access to higher education.

The author went on to become the first Aboriginal person to be accepted into Harvard Law School which brought different personal challenges and allowed for reflection on comparisons of the sensitivity towards race in both education systems.

When the author returned to Australia, she took a position teaching at the University of New South Wales. She had to come to terms with working within a system that she had felt alienated within as a student. Her position at the front of the class has created a sense of empowerment that she can pass on to her Aboriginal and female students.
Of Mail-Order Brides and ‘Boys’ Own’ Tales: Representations of Asian-Australian Marriages
Authors: Robinson Kathryn
Published: March 2012

Asia is increasingly entering into the Australian imaginary as the nation grapples with the issue of ‘Australian identity’. This article examines two instances in which the idea of Asia has been taken up in debates about marriage and relations between men and women. Asia is a site of fantasy for men in an era when they feel that ‘traditional’ values of male pre-eminence in the family are being undermined. In this fantasy, ‘Asia’ is known through stereotypic representations, the stereotypes underlying the nature of the response in the popular media.
Who Needs [Sex] When you can have [Gender]?
Authors: Baden Sally , Goetz Anne Marie
Published: March 2012

‘Gender’, understood as the social construction of sex, is a key concept for feminists working at the interface of theory and policy. This article examines challenges to the concept which emerged from different groups at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, September 1995, an important arena for struggles over feminist public policies. The first half of the article explores contradictory uses of the concept in the field of gender and development. Viewpoints from some southern activist women at the NGO Forum of the Beijing Conference are presented, Some of them argued that the way ‘gender’ has been deployed in development institutions has led to a depoliticization of the term, where feminist policy ambitions are sacrificed to the imperative of ease of institutionalization. ‘Gender’ becomes a synonym for ‘women’, rather than a form of shorthand for gender difference and conflict and the project of transformation in gender relations. ‘Gender sensitivity’ can be interpreted by non-feminists as encouragement to use gender-disaggregated statistics for development planning, but without consideration of relational aspects of gender, of power and ideology, and of how patterns of subordination are reproduced. A completely different attack on ‘gender’ came from right-wing groups and was battled out over the text of the Platform for Action agreed at the official conference. Six months prior to the conference, conservative groups had tried to bracket for possible removal the term ‘gender’ in this document, out of opposition to the notion of socially constructed, and hence mutable, gender identity. Conservative views on gender as the ‘deconstruction of woman’ are discussed here. The article points out certain contradictions and inconsistencies in feminist thinking on gender which are raised by the conservative backlash attack on feminism and the term ‘gender’.
Bridging the Gap: Feminism, Fashion and Consumption
Authors: McRobbie Angela
Published: March 2012

The article confronts two issues, first the question of women and consumption and second the fashion industry as a feminized sector. In the first instance the argument is that recent scholarship on consumption has been weakened by an inattention to questions of exclusion from consumption and the production of consumption. Income differentials as well as questions of poverty have dropped off the agenda in this debate. Attention instead has been paid to the meaning systems which come into play around items of consumption. This has led to a sense of political complacency as though consumption is not a problem. For the many thousands of women bringing up children at or below the poverty line it clearly is. The second part of the article takes the fashion industry as an example of a field where perspectives on both production and consumption are rarely brought together. This produces a sense of political hopelessness in relation to improving its employment practices, especially for very low paid women workers. The argument here is that greater integration and debate across the production and consumption divide could conceivably result in policies which would make this sector whose employees on a global basis are predominantly female, a better place of work.
Magnetic and calorimetric studies of magnetocaloric effect in La0.7-xPrxCa0.3MnO3
Authors: Barik S. K. , Aparnadevi M. , Rebello A. , Naik V. B. , Mahendiran R.
Published: March 2012

We report magnetocaloric effect in La0.7 − xPrxCa0.3MnO3 (x = 0, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4). All these compounds undergo first-order paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition upon cooling and show field-induced metamagnetic transition (FIMMT) in the paramagnetic state. The FIMMT is accompanied by a release of latent heat and change in temperature of the sample as evidenced from differential scanning calorimetry and thermal analysis data for x = 0.3. The magnetic entropy decreases (−ΔSm = 8.23, 8.1, 7, and 5.38 Jkg−1 K−1 for a field change of ΔH = 5 T, for x = 0, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4, respectively) and refrigeration capacity (RC) increases with increasing x (RC = 197, 215, 240, and 259 J/kg for x = 0, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4, respectively). We suggest that collapse of magnetic polarons in the paramagnetic state and magnetovolume effect are responsible for the observed FIMMT and large −ΔSm values.
Converse magnetoelectric effect dependence with CoFeB composition in ferromagnetic/piezoelectric composites
Authors: Lebedev G. A. , Viala B. , Lafont T. , Zakharov D. I. , Cugat O. , Delamare J.
Published: March 2012

We report on the dependence of the converse magnetoelectric effect (CME) on the composition of Co60Fe20B20, Co43Fe43B14 and Co28Fe52B20 soft magnetic layers when coupled with PZT-micro-fiber-composites (MFC). In all cases we show strong CME responses, with squareness reduction of 60−80% when increasing the E-field from −1 to +1.4 MV/m. The highest CME response is found for Co43Fe43B14 which shows the largest ratio between the magnetostriction coefficient λs and the saturation magnetization Ms among the three compositions. According to the quasi-static magnetoelectric converse theory, the linear coupling factor α up to 1.65 µs/m and voltage coefficient MEH up to 250 V·cm−1·Oe−1 are calculated, which is 2−3 orders of magnitude higher than usually reported.