bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effects of intravascular infusions of plasma on placental and systemic blood flow in fetal sheep
Authors: Giraud George D. , Faber J. Job , Jonker Sonnet S. , Davis Lowell , Anderson Debra F.
Published: August 2006

Six singleton fetal sheep of 118–122 days gestational age were instrumented with flow sensors on the brachiocephalic artery, the postductal aorta, and the common umbilical artery and with arterial and venous intravascular catheters. At 125–131 days of gestation, we started week-long continuous recordings of flows and pressures. After control measures had been obtained, the fetuses were given continuous intravenous infusions of adult sheep plasma at an initial rate of 229 ml/day. After 1 wk of infusion, fetal plasma protein concentrations had increased from 34 to 78 g/l, arterial and venous pressures had increased from 42 to 64 and from 2.7 to 3.7 mmHg, and systemic resistance (exclusive of the coronary bed) had increased from 0.047 to 0.075 mmHg·min−1·ml−1, whereas placental resistance had increased from 0.065 to 0.111 mmHg·min−1·ml−1. Fetal plasma renin activities fell as early as 1 day after the start of infusion and remained below control (all changes P < 0.05). All flows decreased slightly although these decreases were not statistically significant. Thus the increase in arterial pressure was entirely due to an increase in systemic and placental resistances.
Effect of nitric oxide synthase inhibition on mitochondrial biogenesis in rat skeletal muscle
Authors: Wadley G. D. , McConell G. K.
Published: August 2006

The purpose of this study was to determine whether nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibition decreased basal and exercise-induced skeletal muscle mitochondrial biogenesis. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to one of four treatment groups: NOS inhibitor NG-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME, ingested for 2 days in drinking water, 1 mg/ml) followed by acute exercise, no l-NAME ingestion and acute exercise, rest plus l-NAME, and rest without l-NAME. The exercised rats ran on a treadmill for 53 ± 2 min and were then killed 4 h later. NOS inhibition significantly ( P < 0.05; main effect) decreased basal peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator 1β (PGC-1β) mRNA levels and tended ( P = 0.08) to decrease mtTFA mRNA levels in the soleus, but not the extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscle. This coincided with significantly reduced basal levels of cytochrome c oxidase (COX) I and COX IV mRNA, COX IV protein and COX enzyme activity following NOS inhibition in the soleus, but not the EDL muscle. NOS inhibition had no effect on citrate synthase or β-hydroxyacyl CoA dehydrogenase activity, or cytochrome c protein abundance in the soleus or EDL. NOS inhibition did not reduce the exercise-induced increase in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator 1α (PGC-1α) mRNA in the soleus or EDL. In conclusion, inhibition of NOS appears to decrease some aspects of the mitochondrial respiratory chain in the soleus under basal conditions, but does not attenuate exercise-induced mitochondrial biogenesis in the soleus or in the EDL.
Itch and Motivation to Scratch: An Investigation of the Central and Peripheral Correlates of Allergen- and Histamine-Induced Itch in Humans
Authors: Leknes Siri G. , Bantick Susanna , Willis Carolyn M. , Wilkinson John D. , Wise Richard G. , Tracey Irene
Published: August 2006

Intense itch and urge to scratch are the major symptoms of many chronic skin ailments, which are increasingly common. Vicious itch-scratch cycles are readily established and may diminish quality of life for those afflicted. We investigated peripheral and central processing of two types of itch sensation elicited by skin-prick tests of histamine and allergen solutions. Itch-related skin blood flow changes were measured by laser Doppler in 14 subjects responsive to type I allergens and 14 nonatopic subjects. In addition, this study examined central processing of both types of itch using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Itch perception and blood flow changes were significantly greater when itch was induced by allergens compared with histamine. Both types of itch correlated significantly with activity in the genual anterior cingulate, striatum, and thalamus. Moreover, itch elicited by allergens activated orbitofrontal, supplementary motor, and posterior parietal areas. Histamine-induced itch also significantly correlated with activation in the insula bilaterally. The identification of limbic and ventral prefrontal activation in two types of itch processing likely reflects the subjects' desire to relieve the itch sensation by scratching, and these regions have been repeatedly associated with motivation processing. A dysfunction of the striato-thalamo-orbitofrontal circuit is believed to underlie the failure to regulate motivational drive in disorders associated with strong urges, e.g., addiction and obsessive compulsive disorder. The patterns of itch-induced activation reported here may help explain why chronic itch sufferers frequently self-harm through uncontrollable itch-scratch cycles.
Early Experience Determines How the Senses Will Interact
Authors: Wallace Mark T. , Stein Barry E.
Published: August 2006

Multisensory integration refers to the process by which the brain synthesizes information from different senses to enhance sensitivity to external events. In the present experiments, animals were reared in an altered sensory environment in which visual and auditory stimuli were temporally coupled but originated from different locations. Neurons in the superior colliculus developed a seemingly anomalous form of multisensory integration in which spatially disparate visual-auditory stimuli were integrated in the same way that neurons in normally reared animals integrated visual-auditory stimuli from the same location. The data suggest that the principles governing multisensory integration are highly plastic and that there is no a priori spatial relationship between stimuli from different senses that is required for their integration. Rather, these principles appear to be established early in life based on the specific features of an animal's environment to best adapt it to deal with that environment later in life.
The Role of the Amicus curiae before International Criminal Tribunals
Authors: Woolaver Hannah , Williams Sarah
Published: August 2006

The amicus curiae brief has increasingly been used before international criminal tribunals. The practice of accepting or inviting amicus curiae briefs or submissions has been included in the rules of procedure and evidence of the ICTY, the ICTR, the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the International Criminal Court. This article examines the role of amicus curiae before international criminal courts, including: how and when amicus are granted permission to appear; how amicus curiae are used by these international courts; the influence, if any, of amicus briefs on decisions and judgments; and whether the role of amicus curiae in international criminal courts has diverged from the traditional concept of an amicus curiae. Also considered are the arguments in support of the continued role of amicus curiae before international criminal tribunals.
Reiterating National Identities
Authors: Hayward Katy
Published: August 2006

The Haagerup Report commissioned by the European Parliament in 1984 was the first major initiative taken by the European Union (EU) on the situation of conflict in Northern Ireland. It embodied a conceptualization of the conflict as between two national identities defined in relation to the Irish border. The EU's self-ascribed role towards a settlement in Northern Ireland since that time has followed this vein by supporting the peaceful expression of British and Irish identities rather than reconstructing them or creating alternatives. This nation-based approach is encapsulated in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement between the governments of the UK and Ireland and political parties in Northern Ireland. Through detailed analysis of the Haagerup Report in the light of the peace process in Northern Ireland as a whole, this article assesses the implications of conceptualizing Northern Ireland as a clash of national identities for resolution of the conflict and argues for a subsequent reconsideration of the EU's role in conflict resolution.
Paradigms in Conflict
Authors: Nuruzzaman Mohammed
Published: August 2006

Proponents of human security paradigm, in emphasizing the individual as the fundamental referent of security and in highlighting the non- military sources of threats to security, strongly claim a paradigm shift from the state-centric realist paradigm of security. The article disputes this, arguing that the claim for a paradigm shift from the traditional realist security paradigm is by no means new in security studies or International Relations. The basic issues that the human security paradigm brings into focus have already been well elaborated by critical theorists and feminist scholars in International Relations emphasize human emancipation through transformation of the existing rich-dominated unequal global and national power structures. Moreover, the human security paradigm shares some of the basic assumptions of the realist paradigm of security that undercut its claim of newness in contemporary security studies and International Relations.
More Than Just a Fashion Magazine
Authors: Moeran Brian
Published: August 2006

This article makes use of Becker's analysis of art worlds as ‘networks of people cooperating’ to examine the ongoing relationships negotiated between fashion magazine staff, their readers, advertisers and the fashion world that fashion magazines represent. It focuses on two structural issues that affect the relation between culture and economy: namely, fashion magazines are both cultural products and commodities; and magazine production is characterized by a ‘multiple audience’ property, which includes readers, advertisers and the fashion world itself. These enable magazines to link cultural production to the reception of fashion – on the one hand, helping form a collective concept of what ‘fashion’ is and, on the other, transforming fashion as an abstract idea and aesthetic discourse into everyday dress. This ‘aesthetic’, however, is not unified, so the article argues for a more nuanced analysis of cultural production in terms of the different values (technical, appreciative, social and use) brought to bear by consumers as they convert symbolic into commodity exchange.
The Epistles of Ignatius of Antioch (Part 1)
Authors: Foster Paul
Published: August 2006

Ignatius of Antioch, bishop, martyr and letter writer, provides what is perhaps the clearest snapshot of the diverse expressions of Christianity that existed in part of the eastern Mediterranean world in the early second century, although, admittedly, he himself was not a supporter of such diversity. His writings reflect tensions within Christianity as it struggled to become a more organized and structured movement. Moreover, in these epistles, it is possible to see some highly significant doctrines emerging in embryonic form. Part 1 considers the number and date of the epistles, as well as opposition and heresies.
“Life in the Diaspora is Often Held in a Strange Suspension”: First-Generation Self-Fashioning in Hanif Kureishi's Narratives of Home and Return
Authors: Maxey Ruth
Published: August 2006

Hanif Kureishi has consistently interrogated the concept of home in his writing, especially in texts produced between 1981 and 1997, the period in which he most actively considers issues of race, ethnicity, nationhood and diaspora. Critics of Kureishi's work have generally examined notions of home and identity formation in relation to his second-generation South Asian British characters, but have rarely paid sustained attention to the development of such ideas through his first-generation figures. Thus, beyond some insightful readings of individual South Asian immigrants in a few key texts, Kureishi scholarship currently lacks a fuller discussion of the important, enduring role played by the first generation across his oeuvre; of female migrants; and of the more problematic aspects of these representations. This article addresses such gaps by exploring first-generation selfhood in relation to home (as both nation and domestic space) and return throughout Kureishi's writing, positing reasons for his compulsive textual reliance on these questions.
Cosmopolitanism at Home: Amitav Ghosh's The Shadow Lines
Authors: Black Shameem
Published: August 2006

What does it mean to be at home in the world? This essay explores how modern cosmopolitanism might paradoxically emerge through an embrace of domesticity and kinship. I argue that cosmopolitanism should be less invested in a traditional idea of feeling “at home” in the world and more committed to recognizing “the world” through the home. As Amitav Ghosh's fiction illuminates the intimacy between the familial and the foreign, his work suggests that a robust cosmopolitan sensibility requires close attention to the energies of domestic life. As Ghosh's work teaches us to understand the home and the world as collaborative rather than competing realities, his concern for home enables a contemporary cosmopolitanism that critiques masculinist and imperialist visions of world citizenship.
Language Politics in Dev Virahsawmy's Toufann, a Postcolonial Rewriting of The Tempest
Authors: Mooneeram Roshni
Published: August 2006

This article is located at the crossroads between language and literature which postcolonial studies is beginning to confront. I explore language politics in a postcolonial context through an analysis of codeswitching in Dev Virahsawmy's Toufann (1991), a rewriting of Shakespeare's The Tempest in Mauritian Creole. I argue that in Virahsawmy's play the prominent juxtaposition of different languages, over and above different registers, fulfils important metaphorical functions. I investigate, in particular, how the strategic deployment of languages by Virahsawmy not only affects the perceived identity of his characters and his own narrative voice, but also interacts with the wider ideological framework within which he writes. Finally Virahsawmy's codeswitching strategy sheds light on the enabling if persistently ambivalent role of Shakespeare in a postcolonial context.
“Relax and Enjoy the Show”: Circensian Animal Spaces in Australian and Latin American Magical Realist Fiction
Authors: Schwalm Tanja
Published: August 2006

The Western circus tradition provides a particularly relevant framework for representations of animals in magic realist fiction, since magic realism and the circus are both closely related to Bakhtin's idea of the carnivalesque. Conceptualized as “circensian spaces”, the circus' influence on magical realism manifests itself as what Foucault calls “heterotopias”, “other spaces”, which are inherently contradictory, polyphonic, and “impossible to think”. As the circus traditionally represents, reinforces and at the same time subverts Western conceptualizations of animals, this discussion focuses on the relationship between Linnaean taxonomy and circensian spaces in Peter Carey's Illywhacker, Richard Flanagan's Gould's Book of Fish, Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude and Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits. This article examines the significance of circensian animal spaces within the Australian and Latin American contexts, and discusses why “circensian animals” may be particularly suitable agents in the subversion of Western paradigms.
White Natives? Dan Roodt, Afrikaner Identity and the Politics of the Sublime
Authors: Geertsema Johan
Published: August 2006

The aesthetic of the sublime and its political effects have not been investigated extensively in postcolonial studies. In the case of South Africa, it has been deemed–following an influential argument by J.M. Coetzee–to have played a minor role. Yet the evocation of landscape as sublime is significant for understanding the complex processes of identity formation that are involved in particular instances of colonial settlement. This article pays attention to a troubling version of the sublime evident in the controversial Afrikaans-language activist Dan Roodt's evocations of the Karoo landscape. In Roodt's writing, the sublime can be read as an attempt to deal with the otherness not only of the landscape, but also of its inhabitants. It tends, in his case, to have a dehistoricizing effect in questioning the autochthony of local black inhabitants of the landscape while uneasily attempting to assert white rights over it.
Writing Singapore Gay Identities: Queering the Nation in Johann S. Lee's Peculiar Chris and Andrew Koh's Glass Cathedral
Authors: Yeoh Paul
Published: August 2006

Taking as its object of study Johann S. Lee's Peculiar Chris (1992) and Andrew Koh's Glass Cathedral (1995), this essay considers the ways in which the relationship between queer identities and (trans)nationalism is construed in two Singapore “coming out” novels. How does their status as writing emerging from a particular postcolonial urban site inflect the significance of their literary-stylistic choices? What kinds of affiliations are affirmed, what ties are disavowed? While the thematization of homosexuality in the Singapore context does not automatically make such texts “subversive”, gay writing brings sharply into focus the problematics arising from a confluence of nationalist and global discourses–in this case, globalized notions of a transnational gay identity originating largely from the West. Drawing on and explicitly announcing their participation in a larger body of gay protest literature, these texts offer a valuable opportunity for reflecting on how transnationalism might enable queer subjects to challenge and revise nationally endorsed models of masculinity; at the same time, the extent to which their efforts to articulate a queer identity might compromise their “Singaporeanness” is considered.
Surviving History: Kerri Sakamoto interviewed by Pilar Cuder-Domínguez
Authors: Cuder-Domínguez Pilar
Published: August 2006

Japanese-Canadian writer Kerri Sakamoto is the author of two novels. The Electrical Field (1998) won the Commonwealth Writers Prize Best First Book award and the Canada-Japan Literary Award. One Hundred Million Hearts followed in 2003. In this interview she talks to Pilar Cuder-Domínguez about how she started writing and about her current projects. She discusses the topics and issues she is most concerned with–particularly the internment of Japanese Canadians during World War II and its lasting consequences, and how they came together in the two novels she has published to date. Sakamoto mentions those writers whose work has most influenced her own and describes what it means to be a Japanese-Canadian Sansei writer.
Keeper of the Creative Flame: Suchen Christine Lim interviewed by Mohammad A. Quayum
Authors: Quayum Mohammad A.
Published: August 2006

In this interview, the distinguished Singaporean novelist Suchen Christine Lim discusses her formative years as a writer, her process of writing and how she came to write her four novels– Ricebowl (1984), Gift from the Gods (1990), Fistful of Colours (1993) and A Bit of Earth(2001)–in an overwrought state, feeling “infected with the writer's virus”. She also explains why and how she came to write in the English language, how she divides her allegiance between Malaysia, the country where she was born and spent her childhood, and Singapore, the country she later chose to make her home; and why place, memory and history are such important, recurring themes in her fiction. Finally, she talks about the position of the writer in Singapore and how its “good life” poses a threat to his/her creativity; the state of women in the region and in her own fiction; and how regional critics could invigorate the literary scene with more originality and “informed criticism” rather than merely dwelling in the shadow of their Western counterparts.
Collapse of Easter Island
Authors: Nagarajan Palanisamy
Published: August 2006

The collapse of Easter Island is one of the world's major archeological and anthropological mysteries. Small islands are closed systems, and they represent a microcosm of the planet Earth, which is also a closed system on a planetary scale. Observing and comprehending interconnected economic, social and ecological changes taking place in small islands is relatively straightforward. This article contends that we have been witnessing ‘Easter Island Syndrome’ signals; yet, we continue to ignore them at our peril. Under the dynamics of globalization, we have been liquidating finite natural capital at an unprecedented rate. If the current trends continue unchecked, many countries, particularly small islands, are likely to get caught in ‘Easter Island traps’.
Defending Island Ecologies
Authors: Chen Henry C. L. , Hay Pete
Published: August 2006

The article compares and contrasts the iconic environmental campaigns of two island jurisdictions, Tasmania and Taiwan–the Franklin-Gordon ‘wild rivers’ campaign in the first case; the Chilan Forest campaign in the second. The features of each campaign are delineated–the levels of government involved; the institutional fault lines that developed; the scale of campaign operations; activist tactics; and the significance, within their respective contexts, of each iconic campaign. How each campaign ‘fits’ a wider context of environmental activism is sketched, and the article concludes with an agenda for future cross-island research into environmental activism.
Adorno’s critical materialism
Authors: Cook Deborah
Published: August 2006

The article explores the character of Adorno’s materialism while fleshing out his Marxist-inspired idea of natural history. Adorno offers a non-reductionist and non-dualistic account of the relationship between matter and mind, human history and natural history. Emerging from nature and remaining tied to it, the human mind is nonetheless qualitatively distinct from nature owing to its limited independence from it. Yet, just as human history is always also natural history, because human beings can never completely dissociate themselves from the natural world, nature is inextricably entwined with human history. Owing to the entwinement of mind and matter, humanity and nature, a version of dialectical materialism can be found in Adorno’s work.
CVI?! How to define and what terminology to use: Cerebral, cortical or cognitive visual impairment
Authors: Frebel Henner
Published: August 2006

This article reports on the exchange of ideas at an international conference in San Francisco in April 2005 on the definition, diagnosis and terminology of a condition which is at present variously described as cerebral, cortical or cognitive visual impairment (CVI). Some symptoms are listed, and the condition is compared with, and distinguished from, other visual impairments.
Phoneme, grapheme, onset-rime and word analysis in braille with young children
Authors: Crawford Shauna , Elliott Robert T. , Hoekman Katherine
Published: August 2006

Two groups of sighted pre-school children were taught to name six braille letters: one group received phoneme instruction and the other grapheme instruction. Ten boys and ten girls (average age 4:5 years) participated. There was a statistically significant advantage for the phoneme group (Experiment 1). In a repeatedmeasures design, 16 sighted primary-school children (8 boys and 8 girls), with an average age of 10:9 years, were first taught to name 10 braille letters as phonemes, and another 10 braille letters as graphemes (Experiment 2). Then the same children were taught to name 10 braille words as onset-rime and another 10 braille words as whole words (Experiment 3). There was a statistically significant advantage for both phoneme instruction and onset-rime instruction.
Comparative Research
Authors: Mills Melinda , van de Bunt Gerhard G. , de Bruijn Jeanne
Published: August 2006

The enduring importance and utility of comparative research in sociology are as old as the discipline itself. Although comparative research flourishes within this discipline, methodological problems persist. After defining comparative research, this article outlines some of its central problems, including: (1) case selection, unit, level and scale of analysis; (2) construct equivalence; (3) variable or case orientation; and (4) causality. The discussion finishes with a brief introduction of the critical and innovative articles within this special issue that not only address these problems, but also present promising solutions.
How to Lure Analytic Social Science Out of the Doldrums
Authors: Ragin Charles C.
Published: August 2006

The practice of quantitative research in the social sciences today is dominated by a specific research template that encourages researchers to focus on the net additive effects of independent variables on variation in a dependent variable, using samples drawn from ‘given’ populations. Comparative research, especially case-oriented investigation, offers a number of important challenges to this template. While these challenges may appear to constitute a rejection of conventional quantitative research, they can be viewed instead as important leads for improving quantitative analysis. The specific challenges addressed in this article center on researchers' conceptions of their populations, their dependent variables, their independent variables (especially the goal of estimating net effects) and the nature of the connections between case aspects.
A Crazy Methodology?
Authors: Kittel Bernhard
Published: August 2006

Despite the great popularity of macro-quantitative comparative research in the social sciences during the past two decades, it has only had a limited lasting impact on the development of our understanding of social macro-phenomena. The lack of robustness appears to be symptomatic of research findings. The cause of this problem is the difficulty in dealing with complex macro-phenomena by means of statistical analysis. If international comparative research relates to independent and identical behaviour of individuals, which can be portrayed at the macro-level by the idea of the representative agent, the analysis is indeed tricky, but not impossible. However, this road is closed for macro-level characteristics of social systems, since the model cannot be based on assumptions about modal behaviour. In this instance, the sole solution seems to be to accept the limits of small numbers and to improve the elaboration of a macro-narrative based on robust micro-correlations.
Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and Related Systematic Comparative Methods
Authors: Rihoux Benoît
Published: August 2006

During the past two decades, a set of systematic comparative case analysis techniques has been developing at a steady pace. During the last few years especially, the main initial technique, qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), has been complemented by other related methods and techniques. The purpose of this article is to critically assess some main recent developments in this field. QCA and connected methods can be considered at two levels: as a research strategy and as a set of concrete techniques. The author first argues that such a strategy displays some decisive advantages in social science research, especially in small-and intermediate- N research designs. Second, QCA as well as three other related techniques, namely multi-value QCA (MVQCA), fuzzy sets and MSDO/MDSO, are presented in brief, and some current debates with regard to these techniques are also summarized. In the third section, the article surveys recent contributions and ongoing efforts that have provided some advances in the application of these techniques, around five key issues: case selection and model specification; measurement, dichotomization and linkage with theory; contradictions and non-observed cases; the time and process dimension; and the confrontation or combination with other methods. Finally, the article discuss the potential for further development of these methods in social science research broadly defined.
Single-Outcome Studies
Authors: Gerring John
Published: August 2006

Most methodological work on case studies understands this topic as a study of a case where the objective is to discover something about a broader population of cases. Yet, many case studies (so-called) do not assume this nomothetic goal; their aim is to investigate a bounded unit in an attempt to elucidate a single outcome occurring within that unit. This is referred to as a single-outcome study to distinguish it from the usual genre of case study. In this article, the author discusses the utility of single-outcome studies and the different types of argumentation and causal logic that they embrace. The author proceeds to discuss the methodological components of the single-outcome study, which is understood according to three analytic angles: nested analysis (large- N cross-case analysis), most-similar analysis (small- N cross-case analysis) and within-case analysis (evidence drawn from the case of special interest). The article concludes with a discussion of a common difficulty encountered by single-outcome analysis, that is, reconciling cross-case and within-case evidence, both of which purport to explain the single outcome of interest.
When was Solomon’s Temple Burned Down? Reassessing the Evidence
Authors: Nevins Arthur J.
Published: August 2006

This article reassesses the evidence for when Solomon’s Temple was destroyed. It involves a close look at the biblical account of Babylonian actions at the time of Jerusalem’s fall together with relevant comparisons between the Greek and Hebrew Bibles. It also focuses on events surrounding the life of Gedaliah, including his assassination and the fast that has commemorated his name. Arguments are presented for believing that the destruction may have occurred some time after the traditional date. While these arguments do not conclusively refute the traditional date, they do call into question whether the current confidence in this date is justified. They also provide a framework for explaining the available data.
Safekeeping, Borrowing, and Rental
Authors: Baker David L.
Published: August 2006

In general, a person who is entrusted with someone else’s property—whether for safekeeping, borrowing, or rental—is expected to take good care of it. On the basis of this assumption, provisions are made in various ancient law collections for dealing with problems that may arise: for example, the loss or damage of such property. This article examines the laws on care of other people’s property in the ancient Near East and the Old Testament, especially Exod. 22.7-15 (Heb. 22.6-14), showing that they have much in common, but also that there are significant differences. One particular feature of biblical law which distinguishes it from other ancient (and modern) laws is its emphasis on borrowing, without payment, rather than rental. This may be compared with the laws on interest-free loans in the Old Testament, which are also unique in the ancient Near East.
Josephus’s Portrayal of Lot and His Family
Authors: Avioz Michael
Published: August 2006

This article examines Josephus’s retelling of the Lot Narratives. Comparing Josephus’s treatment of Lot to his treatment of other biblical narratives leads to the conclusion that Josephus made great efforts not to condemn Lot in any way. It is argued that Josephus presented Lot as a righteous character for two reasons: he was Abraham’s nephew and King David’s ancestor.
‘...And Not a Drop to Drink’: The Story of David’s Thirst in the Jewish Scriptures, Josephus, and 4 Maccabees
Authors: DeSilva David A.
Published: August 2006

This article examines the story of David’s wish for water as it is narrated and framed in 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles, and expanded and reconfigured in Josephus’s Judean Antiquities and 4 Maccabees. Josephus is found to interpret the story in a manner fairly consistent with the aims of the authors/editors of the canonical versions of the narrative, except that he locates the story more clearly within the main story line of David’s dealings with the Philistines and uses the story as an example of the valor of all of David’s mighty men, and not as an exploit that distinguishes ‘the Three’ above the rest. The author of 4 Maccabees, however, much more freely adapts the story in line with his rhetorical goals. A fictive setting is invented and embellished to establish the conditions of David’s experience of thirst (which is no longer merely a wish as in the biblical version), and the focus is taken off the exploits of the soldiers (who are here anonymous) and placed more fully on David’s inner struggle to act in line with the demands of justice as opposed to the drive of his cravings, exemplifying pious reason’s mastery of the passions, in keeping with the author’s thesis.
Royal Sympathizers in Jewish Narrative
Authors: Donaldson Terence L.
Published: August 2006

A common element in Jewish narrative material in the Second Temple period is the figure of a foreign king (or high-placed court official) who displays some kind of veneration towards Israel’s God. This study surveys the pertinent material, identifies the various forms in which such royal sympathy is cast, and considers the intended rhetorical function of this narrative convention. Four distinct patterns of transformation—i.e. four models of how foreign kings came to admire Judaism and venerate the God of Israel—are identified: subjugation of an adversary; ‘conversion’ to monotheism; recognition of Israel’s true character and excellence; deliverance from deception.
The Story of Gviha Ben-Psisa and Alexander the Great
Authors: Amitay Ory
Published: August 2006

The story of Gviha Ben-Psisa and Alexander the Great is a rabbinic myth. The mythical Alexander represents the historical Pompey. Gviha, on the other hand, is a fully historical figure (a grandson of Jonathan Maqabi and great-grandfather of Josephus).

The myth emerged out of the realities and anxieties created by the rise of Hasmonean imperialism under Hyrkanos I and his sons, and by its collapse at the hands of Pompey. It defends the Jewish rights over Eretz Israel by establishing the Torah as a source of legitimacy in international law. The myth also reflects Jewish ambivalence towards Pompey: at once a defiler and a preserver of the Temple.
Michael or Yhwh? Toward Identifying Melchizedek in 11Q13
Authors: Van de Water Rick
Published: August 2006

Scholars are still divided over the identity of the figure Melchizedek in 11Q13. Is he an angel, or is ‘Melchizedek’ simply another title for Yhwh? This article argues that these two opposing views can be reconciled by seeing the figure Melchizedek as an expression of what the early rabbis called belief in ‘two Powers in heaven’. The way he is portrayed in 11QMelch is comparable to Philo’s concept of the divine MPHPK and the belief of the ‘Magharians’. While there are clear indications in 11Q13 that Melchizedek is an intermediary, there are equally compelling arguments that he is Yhwh. The author of 11Q13 uses a collage of biblical texts to present him as a divine intermediary. The fact that a number of biblical messianic titles are conflated in the person of Melchizedek encourages seeing other Qumran descriptions of exalted figures as referring to him as well.
Google’s Privacy Responsibilities at Home and Abroad
Authors: Fry Jenny
Published: August 2006

The Bush administration’s subpoena to the major Internet search engine companies, Google, America Online, Microsoft and Yahoo! came to the attention of the general public in January of this year. The reason it came to light is that while America Online, Microsoft and Yahoo! had complied with the subpoena to provide lists of indexed URLs and search query terms of their users, Google had resisted. In a subsequent District Court hearing in March 2006 Google was compelled to provide a list of 50,000 randomly selected URLs from its indexes, but the Bush administration’s request for user search queries was denied. During the same week that the headlines were full of the Bush versus Google case, Google China was launched amidst a maelstrom of controversy over their acquiescence to heavy censorship regulations. It seemed that Google’s ‘Don’t be evil’ mission statement was being put under considerable strain. The two news stories during that week in January raise important questions about how the Internet is being governed and what the appropriate interventions should be in order to maintain its integrity as an open, safe and democratic public space. This article is about the values, beliefs and expectations that people have about the Internet and how they are currently under threat.
Health information: does quality count for the consumer?
Authors: Marshall Lyndsay A. , Williams Dorothy
Published: August 2006

An aspect of the information literacy of health information consumers is explored, in particular whether and how they evaluate the quality of health information on the Internet and in printed formats. A total of 32 members of patient support groups in North-East Scotland were recruited to take part in information review groups (a variation of focus group methodology) where discussion focused on a set of health information materials. Data analysis revealed 15 ways in which the participants evaluated quality. The two most important indicators of quality were organizational authority and the use of plain language. They did not find many of the indicators of evidence-based information. Participants demonstrated lack of confidence about their ability to select quality health information and relied on preselection by authoritative sources (libraries, support groups, health professionals) and distrusted the Internet.
Rationality of Tolerance
Authors: Yamaguchi Kazuo
Published: August 2006

Through a formal analysis, this study clarifies how the trustee’s sense of guilt over the abuse of the trustor’s trust and the trustor’s tolerance of the trustee’s abuse of trust may play roles in attaining a cooperative solution to a social dilemma between two rational actors. The juxtaposition of rationality and emotion also provides a unique insight into the process of socialization. Modifying the situation considered by Becker in his Rotten-Kid Theorem, the study applies game-theoretic tools to an analysis of the social dilemma in the income transfer from a parent to a child under the assumption of conditional altruism on the part of the parent. The study derives many concrete, substantive hypotheses, which are empirically testable, regarding the conditions for attaining success in socializing the problem child, and it also discusses the role of the rational choice theory in explaining a socialization process by integrating emotions into the rational choice framework.
The Economics of Szasz
Authors: Caplan Bryan
Published: August 2006

Even confirmed economic imperialists typically acknowledge that economic theory does not apply to the seriously mentally ill. Building on psychiatrist Thomas Szasz’s philosophy of mind, this article argues that most mental illnesses are best modeled as extreme preferences, not constraining diseases. This perspective sheds light not only on relatively easy cases like personality disorders, but also on the more extreme cases of delusions and hallucinations. Contrary to Szasz’s critics, empirical advances in brain science and behavioral genetics are largely orthogonal to his position. While involuntary psychiatric treatment might still be rationalized as a way to correct intra-family externalities, it is misleading to think about it as a benefit for the patient.
Effect of Blanching and Air Flow Rate on Turmeric Drying
Authors: Blasco M. , García-Pérez J. V. , Bon J. , Carreres J. E. , Mulet A.
Published: August 2006

Turmeric processing involves two main steps, blanching and drying. Blanching is a common step in the traditional processing of rhizomes, and hot air drying is an alternative to traditional solar drying. For this study, drying kinetics were performed at different air flow rates (0.2, 0.5, 0.7, 1.2, 2.1, 2.6, 3 and 4m/s) to determine the effect of air flow on the process. To examine the blanching effect, drying kinetics were carried out with blanched and unblanched rhizomes at different temperatures (60, 70, 80, 90 and 100ºC). A diffusion model and two empirical models (Weibull and Peleg) were used to describe mass transfer during drying. The effect of air flow rate on external resistance was observed, and the air velocity transition zone between the external and internal resistance control zone was identified (1–2m/s). Blanching previous to drying increased the process rate at all the temperatures tested, although its effect was reduced when the air drying temperature increased. Empirical models fitted better drying kinetics than the diffusion model, however, the diffusion model provides valuable information about the phenomenon of water removal and scaling up.
Antilisterial Bacteriocin-producing Strain of Lactobacillus curvatus CWBI-B28 as a Preservative Culture in Bacon Meat and Influence of Fat and Nitrites on Bacteriocins Production and Activity
Authors: Ghalfi H. , Kouakou P. , Duroy M. , Daoudi A. , Benkerroum N. , Thonart P.
Published: August 2006

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effectiveness of a bacteriocin-producing Lactobacillus curvatus CWBI-B28 to inhibit the growth of Listeria monocytogenes in de Man, Rogosa and Sharp (MRS) broth and in bacon meat. A co-culture of L. monocytogenes with the Bac strain in MRS broth, resulted in a reduction of the pathogen counts by 4.2 log cycles after 24h of incubation at 37°C. In bacon, the counts of L. monocytogenes was reduced to below the detectable limit (<10cfu/g) in samples inoculated with the Bac strain within 1 or 2 weeks in absence or presence of nitrites (210mg/kg), respectively. However, a week later, a re-growth of the pathogen has occurred. In contrast, no such reduction in Listeria cfus was observed in samples treated with the Bac derivative of Lb. curvatusCWBI-B28. Nonetheless, the extent of inhibitory effect of the Bac strain against L. monocytogenes in bacon was somewhat reduced in the presence of nitrites. A separate study on the influence of nitrites and fats on growth and bacteriocin production by Lb. curvatus CWBI-B28 revealed that the curing agent affects the growth of the Bac strain and, thereby bacteriocin production and activity only at concentrations (>5%) far beyond those allowed in the meat industry. Fat content did not affect the bacterial growth even at the highest concentration used (i.e. 50%), however, it interfered significantly with the detection of AUs and the antilisterial activity. Use of the Bac Lb. curvatus CWBI-B28 has proven efficient in controlling L. monocytogenes in bacon despite the slight antagonistic effect of nitrites, however the efficacy was dramatically reduced upon extended period of storage at 4°C.
Fusarium verticillioides andFusarium graminearum Infection and Fumonisin B1 and Zearalenone Accumulation in Resveratrol-treated Corn
Authors: Marín S. , Ramos A. J. , Cuevas D. , Sanchis V.
Published: August 2006

Resveratrol antimycotoxigenic activity was tested against Fusarium verticillioidesand Fusarium graminearum in corn. Both trans-resveratrol and RES VIN® (a commercial lyophilised polyphenolic product obtained from the skins of red wine grapes, which contains a 10.015% resveratrol) were tested for their efficacy to control mycotoxins accumulation in corn. In particular, their effects were tested against fumonisin B1(FB1) and zearalenone (ZEA) accumulation in naturally contaminated corn with additional inocula of toxinogenic isolates of either F. verticillioides or F. graminearum. ZEA accumulation was reduced by 80% in F. graminearum inoculated samples, while no inhibition of FB1 accumulation was observed in any of the treatments tested. Resveratrol has previously shown to have antifungal properties against certain fungal species. Thus, studies are needed using higher resveratrol concentrations in order to achieve wider antimycotoxigenic effect as reported in in vitro studies. Trans-resveratrol and RES VIN® had similar effects in the experiment carried out, suggesting that the use of the sub product of the wine industry could be a good alternative to synthetic resveratrol.
Antioxidative Activities and Angiotensin I-converting Enzyme Inhibitory Activities of Enzymatic Hydrolysates from Commercial Kamaboko Type Samples
Authors: Nagai T. , Suzuki N. , Nagashima T.
Published: August 2006

Enzymatic hydrolysates were prepared from commercially available kamaboko type samples using three gastrointestinal proteases and protein proteases. The yields of these hydrolysates were about 10–31% and these protein contents ranged from 62 to 533 g/mg per sample powder on their wet weight basis. The hydrolysates showed higher antioxidative activities and scavenging activities against active oxygen species such as hydroxyl radical and superoxide anion radical. Moreover, these hydrolysates exhibited high angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitory activites that were similar or higher than those from various fermented foods such as fish sauce, sake, soy sauce, vinegar, miso and natto. The antioxidative and antihypertensive activities of commercially available kamaboko type samples were not related to the colour of the samples. The results indicated that enzymatic hydrolysates from commercially available kamaboko type samples, whose health benefits are scientifically supported, have the potential to be an increasingly important component of a healthy lifestyle and to be beneficial to the public and the food industry.
Effects of High O2 Pretreatment and Gibberellic Acid on Sensorial Quality and Storability of Table Grapes
Authors: Deng Y. , Wu Y. , Li Y. F. , Yang M. D. , Shi C. B. , Zheng C. J.
Published: August 2006

Kyoho grapes ( Vitis vinifera X V. labrusca) were stored under three different treatments at 0°C in 95% relative humidity for 60 days. Grapes in the first treatment were stored in to air (control), in the second treatment the grapes were stored in 80% O2 for 15 days and then transferred into air for 45 days, and in the third treatment the grapes were sprayed with 100ppm of gibberellic acid (GA)3 containing 100ppm of Tween 20 and then kept in air. Compared with the air control, high oxygen pretreatment (HOP) and GA3 maintained higher fruit detachment force and membrane integrity, markedly reduced berry drop, rachis browning and decay and delayed the decrease of soluble solids content (SSC) and vitamin C. In addition, HOP and GA3 retarded the conversion of protopectin to water-soluble pectin and improved berry firmness. HOP resulted in a significantly firmer berry, less berry drop, and more soluble solids content, total acidity and protopectin than those treated with GA3, but did not markedly reduce rachis browning and membrane integrity loss. There were no significant differences in fruit detachment force and water-soluble pectin levels between HOP and GA3. In conclusion, high O2 pretreatment and GA3application retained effectively the quality of harvested grapes.