bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
GRAVITOMAGNETISM IN SUPERCONDUCTORS AND COMPACT STARS
Authors: BAMBI COSIMO
Published: March 2008

There are three experimentally observed effects in rotating superconductors that are so far unexplained. Some authors have tried to interpret such phenomena as possible new gravitational properties of coherent quantum systems. In particular, they suggest that the gravitomagnetic field of that kind of matter may be many orders of magnitude stronger than the one expected in the standard theory. Here I show that this interpretation would be in conflict with the common belief that neutron stars have neutrons in a superfluid state and protons in a superconductive one.
EDUCATION, NEIGHBORHOOD EFFECTS AND GROWTH: AN AGENT-BASED MODEL APPROACH
Authors: ARAÚJO TANYA , AUBYN MIGUEL ST.
Published: March 2008

Endogenous, ideas-led growth theory and the literature on agent-based modeling with neighborhood effects are crossed. In an economic overlapping generations framework, it is shown how social interactions and neighborhood effects are of vital importance in the endogenous determination of the long run number of skilled workers and therefore of the growth prospects of an economy. Neighborhood effects interact with the initial distribution of skilled agents across space and play a key role in the long run stabilization of the number of skilled individuals. Our model implies a tendency toward segregation, with a possibly positive influence on growth, if team effects operate. The long run growth rate is also shown to depend on the rate of time preference. Initial circumstances are of vital importance for long run outcomes. A poor initial education endowment will imply a long run reduced number of skilled workers and a mediocre growth rate, so there is no economic convergence tendency. On the contrary, poor societies will grow less, or will even fall into a poverty trap, and will diverge continuously from richer ones.
PHASE BEHAVIOR IN A RING OF STOCHASTIC OSCILLATORS
Authors: CARUSELA M. F. , ROMANELLI L.
Published: March 2008

We analyze the phase response of a system shaped as a ring of overdamped bistable and noisy oscillators coupled directionally. This device, which operates in the regime of stochastic resonance, may act as a short-term memory device. In the present work we show that in this regime the system presents partial phase synchronization with an average frequency equal to the external one. For lower/greater values of noise the system becomes more/less ordered, which is characterized by a statistical measure.
DYNAMIC COMPLEXITIES OF A CHEMOSTAT MODEL WITH PULSED INPUT AND WASHOUT AT DIFFERENT TIMES
Authors: ZHANG SHUWEN , TAN DEJUN , GU HONGSHENG
Published: March 2008

In this paper, we consider a predator–prey chemostat model with ratio-dependent Monod type functional response and periodic input and washout at different fixed times. We obtain an exact periodic solution with substrate and prey. The stability analysis for this periodic solutions yields an invasion threshold for the period of pulses of the predator. When the impulsive period is more than the threshold, there are periodic oscillations in the substrate, prey, and predator. If the impulsive period further increases, the system undergoes a complex dynamic process. By analyzing bifurcation diagrams, we can see that the impulsive system shows two kinds of bifurcation, which are period-doubling and period-halving.
CYCLICAL BEHAVIOR OF PRICES IN THE G7 COUNTRIES THROUGH WAVELET ANALYSIS
Authors: GALLEGATI MAURO , PALESTRINI ANTONIO , PETRINI MILENA
Published: March 2008

Our analysis, conducted using the GDP and the GDP deflator time series (OECD source; 1960–2001) for the G7 countries, shows the robustness of the negative covariance between the GDP and its deflator, but only over long run horizons. Through wavelet decomposition we evaluate the price–output relationship at different time scales, where most countries reveal similar patterns. More precisely, at short time scales a positive correlation seems to appear whereas, and consequently, a regime switch occurs at a time horizon of about two years leading to a negative relationship for higher horizons. These results seem to suggest that the negative or acyclical relationship usually found after the 1960s may be the composite effect of different time scale correlations, where the four-year-horizon component seems to have the greatest influence. In particular for Canada, France, and Italy we observe something like a rotation of the price–output relationship between the countercyclical and the procyclical relationship. Finally, our analysis shows that even the relationship between the two series does not seem to be very stable regarding the lead and lag structure also. The phase is nonlinear for all the countries and, consequently, the group delay (the lag) is not constant. In particular, looking at the time scale we observe an inversion of the local monotonicity at the frequency of about 0.3–0.35 for all G7 countries.
Link analysis for Web spam detection
Authors: Becchetti Luca , Castillo Carlos , Donato Debora , Baeza-YATES Ricardo , Leonardi Stefano
Published: March 2008

We propose link-based techniques for automatic detection of Web spam, a term referring to pages which use deceptive techniques to obtain undeservedly high scores in search engines. The use of Web spam is widespread and difficult to solve, mostly due to the large size of the Web which means that, in practice, many algorithms are infeasible.

We perform a statistical analysis of a large collection of Web pages. In particular, we compute statistics of the links in the vicinity of every Web page applying rank propagation and probabilistic counting over the entire Web graph in a scalable way. These statistical features are used to build Web spam classifiers which only consider the link structure of the Web, regardless of page contents. We then present a study of the performance of each of the classifiers alone, as well as their combined performance, by testing them over a large collection of Web link spam. After tenfold cross-validation, our best classifiers have a performance comparable to that of state-of-the-art spam classifiers that use content attributes, but are orthogonal to content-based methods.
Framework for Web service query algebra and optimization
Authors: Yu Qi , Bouguettaya Athman
Published: March 2008

We present a query algebra that supports optimized access of Web services through service-oriented queries. The service query algebra is defined based on a formal service model that provides a high-level abstraction of Web services across an application domain. The algebra defines a set of algebraic operators. Algebraic service queries can be formulated using these operators. This allows users to query their desired services based on both functionality and quality. We provide the implementation of each algebraic operator. This enables the generation of Service Execution Plans (SEPs) that can be used by users to directly access services. We present an optimization algorithm by extending the Dynamic Programming (DP) approach to efficiently select the SEPs with the best user-desired quality. The experimental study validates the proposed algorithm by demonstrating significant performance improvement compared with the traditional DP approach.
Scalable semantic analytics on social networks for addressing the problem of conflict of interest detection
Authors: Aleman-Meza Boanerges , Nagarajan Meenakshi , Ding Li , Sheth Amit , Arpinar I. Budak , Joshi Anupam , Finin Tim
Published: March 2008

In this article, we demonstrate the applicability of semantic techniques for detection of Conflict of Interest (COI). We explain the common challenges involved in building scalable Semantic Web applications, in particular those addressing connecting-the-dots problems. We describe in detail the challenges involved in two important aspects on building Semantic Web applications, namely, data acquisition and entity disambiguation (or reference reconciliation). We extend upon our previous work where we integrated the collaborative network of a subset of DBLP researchers with persons in a Friend-of-a-Friend social network (FOAF). Our method finds the connections between people, measures collaboration strength, and includes heuristics that use friendship/affiliation information to provide an estimate of potential COI in a peer-review scenario. Evaluations are presented by measuring what could have been the COI between accepted papers in various conference tracks and their respective program committee members. The experimental results demonstrate that scalability can be achieved by using a dataset of over 3 million entities (all bibliographic data from DBLP and a large collection of FOAF documents).
Discovering global network communities based on local centralities
Authors: Yang Bo , Liu Jiming
Published: March 2008

One of the central problems in studying and understanding complex networks, such as online social networks or World Wide Web, is to discover hidden, either physically (e.g., interactions or hyperlinks) or logically (e.g., profiles or semantics) well-defined topological structures. From a practical point of view, a good example of such structures would be so-called network communities. Earlier studies have introduced various formulations as well as methods for the problem of identifying or extracting communities. While each of them has pros and cons as far as the effectiveness and efficiency are concerned, almost none of them has explicitly dealt with the potential relationship between the global topological property of a network and the local property of individual nodes. In order to study this problem, this paper presents a new algorithm, called ICS, which aims to discover natural network communities by inferring from the local information of nodes inherently hidden in networks based on a new centrality, that is, clustering centrality, which is a generalization of eigenvector centrality. As compared with existing methods, our method runs efficiently with a good clustering performance. Additionally, it is insensitive to its built-in parameters and prior knowledge.
Acoustic propagation considerations for underwater acoustic communications network development
Authors: Preisig James
Published: March 2008

The underwater environment is widely regarded as one of the most difficult communication channels. Underwater acoustic communications systems are challenged by the characteristics of acoustic propagation through the underwater environment. There are a wide range of physical processes that impact underwater acoustic communications and the relative importance of these processes are different in different environments. In this paper some relevant propagation phenomena are described in the context of how they impact the development and/or performance of underwater acoustic communications networks. The speed of sound and channel latency, absorption and spreading losses, waveguide effects and multipath, surface scattering, bubbles, and ambient noise are all briefly discussed.
An optimization framework for joint sensor deployment, link scheduling and routing in underwater sensor networks
Authors: Badia Leonardo , Mastrogiovanni Michele , Petrioli Chiara , Stefanakos Stamatis , Zorzi Michele
Published: March 2008

Underwater sensor networks are a very interesting case of wireless communication in extreme conditions. They exploit acoustic communication in the water and are nowadays used in surveillance and monitoring applications. These networks present very challenging aspects, such as low data rates and large delays, as well as the special propagation characteristics of the underwater medium. We propose an integer-linear programming approach to jointly optimize routing, link-scheduling and node placement in such a scenario. Accounting for these special aspects of underwater wireless communications leads to re-thinking traditional approaches; this results in original solutions, which highlight novel directions for further research in this area.
The selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor sertraline enhances counterregulatory responses to hypoglycemia
Authors: Sanders Nicole M. , Wilkinson Charles W. , Taborsky Gerald J. , Al-Noori Salwa , Daumen Wendi , Zavosh Aryana , Figlewicz Dianne P.
Published: March 2008

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are widely prescribed for patients with comorbid diabetes and depression. Clinical case studies in diabetic patients, however, suggest that SSRI therapy may exacerbate hypoglycemia. We hypothesized that SSRIs might increase the risk of hypoglycemia by impairing hormonal counterregulatory responses (CRR). We evaluated the effect of the SSRI sertraline on hormonal CRR to single or recurrent hypoglycemia in nondiabetic rats. Since there are time-dependent effects of SSRIs on serotonin neurotransmission that correspond with therapeutic action, we evaluated the effect of 6- or 20-day sertraline treatment on hypoglycemia CRR. We found that 6-day sertraline (SERT) treatment specifically enhanced the epinephrine response to a single bout of hypoglycemia vs. vehicle (VEH)-treated rats ( t = 120: VEH, 2,573 ± 448 vs. SERT, 4,202 ± 545 pg/ml, P < 0.05). In response to recurrent hypoglycemia, VEH-treated rats exhibited the expected impairment in epinephrine secretion ( t = 60: 678 ± 73 pg/ml) vs. VEH-treated rats experiencing first-time hypoglycemia ( t = 60: 2,081 ± 436 pg/ml, P < 0.01). SERT treatment prevented the impaired epinephrine response in recurrent hypoglycemic rats ( t = 60: 1,794 ± 276 pgl/ml). In 20-day SERT-treated rats, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and glucagon CRR were all significantly elevated above VEH-treated controls in response to hypoglycemia. Similarly to 6-day SERT treatment, 20-day SERT treatment rescued the impaired epinephrine response in recurrent hypoglycemic rats. Our data demonstrate that neither 6- nor 20-day sertraline treatment impaired hormonal CRR to hypoglycemia in nondiabetic rats. Instead, sertraline treatment resulted in an enhancement of hypoglycemia CRR and prevented the impaired adrenomedullary response normally observed in recurrent hypoglycemic rats.
Calcium oxalate crystal deposition in kidneys of hypercalciuric mice with disrupted type IIa sodium-phosphate cotransporter
Authors: Khan Saeed R. , Glenton Patricia A.
Published: March 2008

The most common theories about the pathogenesis of idiopathic kidney stones consider precipitation of calcium phosphate (CaP) within the kidneys critical for the development of the disease. We decided to test the hypothesis that a CaP substrate can promote the deposition of calcium oxalate (CaOx) in the kidneys. Experimental hyperoxaluria was induced by feeding glyoxylate to male mice with knockout (KO) of NaPi IIa (Npt2a), a sodium-phosphate cotransporter. Npt2a KO mice are hypercalciuric and produce CaP deposits in their renal tubules. Experimental hyperoxaluria led to CaOx crystalluria in both the hypercalciuric KO mice and the normocalciuric control B6 mice. Only the KO mice produced CaOx crystal deposits in their kidneys, but the CaOx crystals deposited separately from the CaP deposits. Perhaps CaP deposits were not available for a CaOx overgrowth. These results also validate earlier animal model observations that showed that CaP substrate is not required for renal deposition of CaOx and that other factors, such as local supersaturation, may be involved. The absence of CaOx deposition in the B6 mice despite extreme hyperoxaluria also signifies the importance of both calcium and oxalate in the development of CaOx nephrolithiasis.
Positive Feedback between Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-A and Autotaxin in Ovarian Cancer Cells
Authors: Ptaszynska Malgorzata M. , Pendrak Michael L. , Bandle Russell W. , Stracke Mary L. , Roberts David D.
Published: March 2008

Tumor cell migration, invasion, and angiogenesis are important determinants of tumor aggressiveness, and these traits have been associated with the motility stimulating protein autotaxin (ATX). This protein is a member of the ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase and phosphodiesterase family of enzymes, but unlike other members of this group, ATX possesses lysophospholipase D activity. This enzymatic activity hydrolyzes lysophosphatidylcholine to generate the potent tumor growth factor and motogen lysophosphatidic acid (LPA). In the current study, we show a link between ATX expression, LPA, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling in ovarian cancer cell lines. Exogenous addition of VEGF-A to cultured cells induces ATX expression and secretion, resulting in increased extracellular LPA production. This elevated LPA, acting through LPA4, modulates VEGF responsiveness by inducing VEGF receptor (VEGFR)-2 expression. Down-regulation of ATX secretion in SKOV3 cells using antisense morpholino oligomers significantly attenuates cell motility responses to VEGF, ATX, LPA, and lysophosphatidylcholine. These effects are accompanied by decreased LPA4 and VEGFR2 expression as well as by increased release of soluble VEGFR1. Because LPA was previously shown to increase VEGF expression in ovarian cancer, our data suggest a positive feedback loop involving VEGF, ATX, and its product LPA that could affect tumor progression in ovarian cancer cells. (Mol Cancer Res 2008;6(3):352–63)
Cholecystocutaneous Fistula Secondary to Chronic Calculous Cholecystitis
Authors: Ijaz S. , Lidder S. , Mohamid W. , Thompson H.H.
Published: March 2008

Spontaneous cholecystocutaneous fistula is an exceptionally unusual complication of chronic calculous cholecystitis now. The remarkable drop in incidence is probably associated with the introduction of antimicrobial therapy and early surgical management of biliary tract disease. We report a case of spontaneous cholecystocutaneous fistula in a patient who presented with an abscess in the right upper quadrant.
Giant Rectal Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors: A Report of Two Cases
Authors: Dickhoff C. , Leguit R.J. , Slors J.F.M. , Vervenne W.L. , Bemelman W.A.
Published: March 2008

Giant gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) of the rectum are rare and often difficult to remove surgically. At the time metastases are found, GISTs are considered to be incurable and until recently no adequate therapy was of any value for these patients. Recently, imatinib was introduced: a signal transducing inhibitor acting specifically on the KIT-tyrosine kinase, which can be used to downsize giant GIST (neo-adjuvant) before surgery or induce stable disease in case of metastases with few minor side-effects. Two patients with giant rectal GIST are presented, one of which was treated before the imatinib era, the other when imatinib was available.
Gliomatosis Cerebri – An Uncommon Neuroepithelial Tumor in Children with Oligodendroglial Phenotype
Authors: Pal Lily , Behari Sanjay , Kumar Shaleen , Kumar Raj , Shankar S.K. , Gupta R.K.
Published: March 2008

Gliomatosis cerebri(GC) is a highly aggressive, rare form of neuroepithelial tumor. Due to the diffuse nature of the tumor, its pathological grade is not conclusively established unless a biopsy is carried out from multiple sites. The tumor typically infiltrates the cortex in the subpial plane and also insinuates in the perineuronal space and around the Virchow-Robin spaces with relative preservation of the underlying brain parenchyma. Most of the previously reported cases of GC are astrocytic in nature. In this study, we report 2 pediatric patients of GC with oligodendroglial morphology on histopathological examination. In view of the rarity of the oligodendroglial phenotype of gliomatosis cerebri as well as the rare occurrence in children, we report these 2 cases.
Assessment of Contact Location in Subthalamic Stimulation for Parkinson’s Disease by Co-Registration of Computed Tomography Images
Authors: Yoshida Fumiaki , Miyagi Yasushi , Morioka Takato , Hashiguchi Kimiaki , Murakami Nobuya , Matsumoto Kenichi , Nagata Shinji , Sasaki Tomio
Published: March 2008

Aims: To study the validity of a co-registration method for postimplantation computed tomography (CT) images for localizing the location of an intracranial deep brain stimulator. Methods: Three-dimensional reconstruction images of postimplantation CTs were co-registered with preoperative CTs by stereotactic planning software and used to localize 18 leads in the subthalamic nuclei of 10 patients with Parkinson’s disease. Our conventional method using superimposition of sagittal postimplantation magnetic resonance (MR) images were employed as a comparison. Results: The co-registered CT images separately visualized four individual contacts; on the other hand, the MR superimposition method demonstrated the leads as a group of no MR signal areas. Although laterality of the distal contact did not differ between two methods, the distal contact was located more anteriorly and inferiorly by the MR superimposition method than by the CT co-registration method. Conclusion: The CT co-registration method is superior to MR in visualizing deep brain stimulation contacts and resolves problems of MR safety in patients treated with a neurostimulator.
Prognostic Factors and Prognostic Index for Chemonaïve and Gemcitabine-Refractory Patients with Advanced Pancreatic Cancer
Authors: Maréchal R. , Demols A. , Gay F. , De Maertelaere V. , Arvanitaki M. , Hendlisz A. , Van Laethem J.L.
Published: March 2008

Background: Gemcitabine monotherapy is the cornerstone of the treatment of patients suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer (PC). For a few years, new chemotherapeutic agents and combinations have been under validation. The use of such treatment makes it necessary to determine factors that could predict survival time. Patients and Methods: To identify factors that predict survival time in chemonaïve patients with advanced PC and after gemcitabine failure, a retrospective analysis was performed on patients with advanced PC coming from phase II and III studies and treated with gemcitabine-based first-line chemotherapy. Results: Ninety-nine patients (median age 66 years, range 27–87) suffering from pathologically proven unresectable or metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas were reviewed. Median overall survival time for the whole population was 251 days and progression-free survival in first- and second-line treatment was 108 and 67 days, respectively. The Cox regression analysis identified aspartate transaminase >53 IU/l, weight loss ≧10% and Karnofsky performance status <90 as significant independent negative prognostic factors in first-line and CA 19-9 >400 IU/ml and albumin ≤3.5 mg/dl in second-line chemotherapy. A prognostic index was calculated from the regression coefficients for each independent prognostic factor and used to classify the patients in 3 different groups with good, intermediate and poor prognosis. The prognosis index in chemonaïve and gemcitabine-refractory patients was (Karnofsy performance status × 0.52) + (weight loss × 1.10) + (aspartate transaminase × 0.82) and (albumin × 1.40) + (CA 19-9 × 0.74), respectively. Conclusions: Predictive factors could be identified in first- and second-line treatments, although they require prospective validation before they could be used in the design and analysis of future clinical trials.
Large Institutional Experience with Dose-Intensive Chemotherapy and Stem Cell Support in the Management of Sarcoma Patients
Authors: Kasper Bernd , Dietrich Sascha , Mechtersheimer Gunhild , Ho Anthony D. , Egerer Gerlinde
Published: March 2008

Background: The prognosis of patients with advanced sarcoma remains poor. Whether high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell support improves the long-term outcome for these patients or not is controversial. Methods: We present a large institutional experience of sarcoma patients treated with this therapy option. Thirty-eight patients with bone (n = 17) and soft tissue sarcomas (n = 21) were included. Apart from haematological complications, no WHO grade III–IV complications were observed. One patient died due to cardiac arrest after transplantation. Results: Following chemotherapy and/or surgery, but prior to high-dose chemotherapy, diagnoses were made of: no evidence of disease (NED; n = 12), partial remission (n = 17), stable disease (n = 3) and progressive disease (PD; n = 6). Six patients died within 8 months due to PD, in 18 patients disease recurred and led to death and 13 patients are alive with/without disease. Median progression-free survival was 19.1 months (range: 0–121) for all patients, and 48.8 months (range: 3–121) for 12 patients with NED. Conclusion: A subgroup of patients with NED before high-dose chemotherapy gained survival benefit. Therefore, we emphasize the value of high-dose chemotherapy as a treatment option for younger patients with a good performance status in partial or complete remission.
Political Change and Political Discourse in the Early Modern Mediterranean World
Authors: Darling Linda T.
Published: March 2008

The political transformation to the early modern state occurred around 1500 not only in Europe but also in the Middle East. This transformation was marked in the Middle East by a political discourse about justice that emerged in several polities, contemporary with a similar discourse taking place in Europe. The concern for political justice, expressed in a variety of languages and genres, addressed a governmental change that occurred across the region and altered the relationship between different social groups and the state. That change was the transition from small, loosely ruled states to the larger, more consolidated ones characteristic of the early modern era.
Recoding Patterns of Sensory Input: Higher-Order Features and the Function of Nonlinear Dendritic Trees
Authors: Rhodes Paul A.
Published: March 2008

Here analytical and simulation results are presented characterizing the recoding arising when overlapping patterns of sensor input impinge on an array of model neurons with branched thresholded dendritic trees. Thus, the neural units employed are intended to capture the integrative behavior of pyramidal cells that sustain isolated Na+ or NMDA spikes in their branches. Given a defined set of sensor vectors, equations were derived for the probability of firing of both branches and neurons and for the expected overlap between the neural firing patterns triggered by two afferent patterns of given overlap. Thus, both the sparseness of the neural representation and the orthogonalization of overlapping vectors were computed. Simulations were then performed with an array of 1000 neurons comprising 30,000 branches to verify the analytical results and confirm their applicability to systems (which include any practicable artificial system) in which the combinatorically possible branches and neurons are severely subsampled. A means of readout and a measure of discrimination performance were provided so that the accuracy of discrimination among overlapping sensor vectors could be optimized as a function of neuron structure parameters. Good performance required both orthogonalization of the afferent patterns, so that discrimination was accurate and free of interference, and maintenance of a minimum level of neural activity, so that some neurons fired in response to each sensor pattern. It is shown that the discrimination performance achieved by arrays of neurons with branched dendritic trees could not be reached with single-compartment units, regardless of how many of the latter are used. The analytical results furnish a benchmark against which to measure further enhancements in the performance of subsequent simulated systems incorporating local neural mechanisms which, while often less amenable to closed-form analysis, are ubiquitous in biological neural circuitry.
Good Karmic Connections: Buddhist Mothers in Tang China
Authors: Yao Ping
Published: March 2008

This essay examines the women's role in Chinese Buddhism through a close reading of epitaphs from the Tang dynasty (618-907). During this period, more than ever before, the religion became instrumental in the development of mothers' identity and in the conceptualization of ideal maternal virtues. According to many Tang dynasty epitaphs (muzhi ming), it would appear that children of Buddhist mothers largely complied with their mothers' desire to leave the household life or to be cremated rather than buried after her death. They were also much more likely than children of Buddhist fathers to become Buddhist believers themselves. What these epitaphs show is that Tang mothers played a vital role in the continuing sinification of Buddhism through the spread of religious devotion and practice in the domestic sphere.
The Soul has to Leave the Land of the Living
Authors: Archi Alfonso
Published: March 2008

A fragmentary Hittite tablet (a late copy of an Old Hittite original) describes the soul's journey in the Netherworld, unwilling to travel “the great road . . . the road that makes things disappear”, even though aware that “to the gods belongs the soul”. This is the belief, or cry of hope, that runs through the entire history of humanity, which a popular poem in Des Knaben Wunderhorn expresses in this way: “Ich bin von Gott und will wieder zu Gott”. Despite this, the soul does not want to “undergo the perdition of the mortal”. The journey starts in the second column (of which only a few words remain). It is not clear whether the narrative is interrupted here by a ritual act. At the end of the second column and up to the start of the third, the desolation of souls in the Netherworld is described. However, the fate awaiting this soul is different, but the text breaks of without telling us anything more definite. The fourth column contains a brief section of the ritual.
Reflektierte Trennung Vom Scheitern der ,,deutsch-jüdischen Symbiose“ bei Carl Schmitt und Ludwig Feuchtwanger – nach ihrem Briefwechsel
Authors: Mehring Reinhard
Published: March 2008

This essay points out the great importance of the recently published exchange of letters between Carl Schmitt and his publisher Ludwig Feuchtwanger. Using unknown letters, it also outlines Schmitt's relationship with Jewish intellectuals before 1933, describes the dramatic development of the political-theological controversy, and honors Feuchtwanger as a postassimilationist Jewish intellectual and legal historian.
Stanisław Przybyszewski – ,,Der Geist des Bösen“? Zur künstlerischen Spiritualität eines Bohèmiens um 1900
Authors: Auwärter Thomas
Published: March 2008

As the embodiment of a border-crosser between science, literature, and occultism, the writer Stanisław Przybyszewski also represents the ambivalent consciousness of the avant-garde. Behind the facade of imperial Berlin, he opens up a world of wonder, demons and ecstasy. Without using a normative understanding of modernity, this article attempts to portray Przybyszewski as proof of the irreconcilable tensions between rationalism and irrationalism in the period around 1900. Central to this argumentation are his spiritual references, such as satanism and occultism.
A Sociological Perspective on Television Violence and Aggression
Authors: Comstock George
Published: March 2008

A sociological interpretation of the empirical outcomes of studies on violent media draws the debate out beyond the realm of individual psychological effects and identifies pertinent social groupings that go beyond socioeconomic status. Five attributes identify special vulnerability to negative influence: predisposition for aggressive or antisocial behavior, rigid or indifferent parenting, unsatisfactory social relationships, low psychological well-being, or having been diagnosed as suffering from DBDs—disruptive behavior disorders. Interpretation of effect sizes derived from seven meta-analyses encompassing different forms of media violence and resultant different varieties of aggressive and antisocial behavior supports a robust hypothesis of media influence. Causation, implied by outcomes of pooled experimental and survey designs, is consistent across these aggregations. The media take up a role as oppressors of an underclass with limited access to opportunities for improvement.
The Role of Exposure to Media Violence in the Etiology of Violent Behavior
Authors: Savage Joanne
Published: March 2008

Criminologists have been conspicuously absent from the debate about media violence and aggression. In this article, the author attempts to fill this void by discussing the relationship between exposure to television and film violence and violent behavior in the context of the empirical and theoretical literature on violent crime. Some criticisms of the literature on media violence are offered. The disjuncture between the absence of media violence in the criminological literature and the emphasis on it in other disciplines is also discussed. It is concluded that the empirical literature on media violence and aggression has not established that exposure to media violence causes violent criminal behavior.
Watching Social Science
Authors: Glymour Bruce , Glymour Clark , Glymour Maria
Published: March 2008

The evidence that exposure to media violence causes later aggression derives largely from observational (nonexperimental) studies augmented by short-term experimental studies. The authors review some of the difficulties in causal inference from observational, longitudinal data; examine the extent to which these seem relevant to the empirical work on exposure to televised violence published to date; and present a reanalysis of data from an especially influential study to address one of the more serious limitations of existing analyses. They conclude that the data give evidence that there is likely, although not certainly, a causal connection between exposure to televised violence and adult aggression. The authors close with a brief discussion of policy interventions designed to reduce exposure to violent TV.
Micro-composite Strength and Nano-filler Effects
Authors: Subawi Handoko
Published: March 2008

The subject of composite materials with reinforced fiber has been studied recently. This study to improve both the mechanical characteristics and the durability of composite panels focused on the appropriate use of silica fume. However, there are some differences among nano-fillers as to whether the mechanisms underlying these improvements depend primarily on the physical or nature of silica fume. In this work, a micro-balloon, which is physically similar to a silica fume but is a polymeric base, is used to evaluate the relative significance of the physical effects. The results show that at 0.5—2wt% the influence of silica fume on the compressive strength of composite panels may be attributed mainly to physical-mechanical effects. However, even at higher proportions there is a difference in gel time to critical application period in the wet lay-up method between the silica fume and micro-balloon. This study of micro-composite materials explains the differences in the value of the strength index.
Theoretical Modeling of Bond-line Read-out in Adhesive Joined SMC Automotive Body Panels
Authors: Basu Soumendra K. , Kia Hamid G.
Published: March 2008

A visible deformation on the exterior surface of adhesive-joined automotive body panels along the adhesive application line is called bond-line read-out (BLRO). A 2D finite element model with isotropic linear elasticity and plain strain approximation for a plate/hat design was developed to investigate the physical phenomenon responsible for the formation of BLRO. It was found that a combination of process induced compressive stress on the outer side and tensile stress on the inner side of the exterior panel deforms it into a convex outward shape. The results of this work enables researchers to develop new strategies for reducing BLRO in adhesively bonded exterior panels.
The Problem of other Lives: Social Perspectives on Written Biography
Authors: Erben Michael
Published: March 2008

The study of biography as an exercise in sociology has been under-used. The early proponents of a sociology of biography—most notably Wilhelm Dilthey—have not had their work greatly developed. However, with the emergence of Paul Ricoeur's work on the nature of narrativity, time and interpretation, plus the developing influence of the work of others, a hermeneutics of biography has now begun. This paper explores this development, and, further, briefly examines two highly important biographies to explore how theoretical injunction is matched by empirical practice.
Writing to the Archive: Mass-Observation as Autobiography
Authors: Sheridan Dorothy
Published: March 2008

The social research organisation, Mass-Observation, which operated between 1937 and 1950, recruited volunteer writers to join a `panel' to record aspects of their everyday life in Britain during those years. In 1981, the Archive which houses that material (diaries, detailed questionnaire replies) initiated a revival of the panel. This article describes this revival and argues that the contemporary writing for the Archive can be considered a form of autobiography, providing the definition of autobiography is broadly defined to include a wide variety of forms of self-expression and writings about self in a social context. Furthermore, the desire to be a contemporary Mass-Observer demands that a new genre be forged which draws on the writer's experience of other similar forms of written expression and which evolves as a result of a process of negotiation within a specific relationship with the Archive.
The Textual Disembodiment of Knowledge in Research Account Writing
Authors: Aldridge Judith
Published: March 2008

Recent writers on autobiography and biography have questioned the extent to which the text represents a set of `facts' about `a life'. The following arguments question the extent to which the research account can be seen to represent a set of facts about the research process, in a simple and straightforward manner. Concepts problematized by writers on autobiography and biography, including authorship, self, time and memory, are used here to re-embody what will be argued is the textually disembodied knowledge contained in most research account writing. How simplistic invocations of these concepts can be seen as hinging on actually very complex textual constructions will be explored. The arguments have their source in two pieces of research writing; the first is a survey research account of some research undertaken for a master's thesis; the second was produced as a re-appraisal of that thesis, the purpose of which was to explore the more personal, autobiographical aspects of that same research process.
Facts or Fictions? Aspects of the Use of Autobiographical Writing in Undergraduate Sociology
Authors: Ribbens Jane
Published: March 2008

Sociology undergraduates are generally routinely trained not to use the first person nor to incorporate personal experience in their academic writing. In this article, I question this, arguing instead for the value of autobiographical writing as part of undergraduate sociology, and pointing to some of the sociological traditions that would support such an approach. Drawing on the experience of inviting sociology students to undertake autobiographical writing for a course on `Gender Inequalities', I examine some aspects of how we may regard such work in sociological terms, in particular, how to regard the truth-claims of autobiographical writing. I suggest that, rather than seeing a dichotomous choice between treating such writing as facts or fictions, we need instead to consider how our subjectivity is itself socially constructed. Society thus can be seen to occur `inside' ourselves. To use ourselves as sources for sociological analysis is a challenging project requiring students to learn to regard their autobiographies in terms of how sociological audiences will receive them.
A Note on Ethical Issues in the Use of Autobiography in Sociological Research
Authors: Harrison Barbara , Lyon E. Stina
Published: March 2008

This research note argues that in discussions about autobiography as a research tool in sociology there has been relative neglect of ethical issues. It suggests that the nature of autobiography as a form of personal document requires a re-examination of ethical principles important to sociology and feminist research practice. This paper aims to begin to approach some of these issues through an analysis of the complexities of autobiography's methodological relationship to the private and public domains, and, in particular, of the nature of the relationship between researcher and subject(s). The problematic relationship of the autobiographer, or self, to other subjects in accounts is examined and it is argued that feminists' ethical concerns with power relations in research remain pertinent in the production and use of autobiography.
Accounting for Augustus Lamb: Theoretical and Methodological Issues in Biography and Historical Sociology
Authors: Dickinson Hilary
Published: March 2008

This article explores theoretical and methodological issues in analysing accounts of the life story of Augustus Lamb and his experience of learning difficulties. Questions inherent in producing sociological biography are explored, notably in what sense, if any, can we know what Augustus was `like' from the data available; and what sociological understanding can we make from this single case about learning difficulties in the early nineteenth century. Competing accounts of Augustus and his `problems' are discussed, particularly those of Thomasine Webster, Robert Lee and Emily Lamb.
Called to Account: The CV as an Autobiographical Practice
Authors: Miller Nod , Morgan David
Published: March 2008

The curriculum vitae has become a central feature of modem academic life. It can be understood as a form of autobiographical practice, one centrally involved with the construction and presentation of a self in a particular occupational context. This paper explores these themes and seeks to show how the insights of Goffman might contribute to an understanding of the nature and significance of these practices.
Reduced to Bad Sex: Narratives of Violent Women from the Bible to the War on Terror
Authors: Sjoberg Laura , Gentry Caron E.
Published: March 2008

Whenever stories of women's violence in global politics are presented in mainstream media, their authors explain away the possibility that women make a conscious choice to kill or injure. Violent women interrupt gender stereotypes: they are not the helpless and peaceful women that soldiers need to protect from enemies in traditional war tales. Instead of acknowledging the falseness of the underlying gender assumptions, public and publicized stories emphasize the singularity and sexual depravity of violent women, an account we call the `whore' narrative. This article considers two types of whore narrative: stories of violent women's erotomania, and of violent women as sexually dysfunctional. Though the whore narrative has been consistently employed historically and cross-culturally, this article identifies a culture-based dimension unique to the war on terror. It argues that analysis of these narratives have important implications for the study of gender in global politics.
Consensual Hegemony: Theorizing Brazilian Foreign Policy after the Cold War
Authors: Burges Sean W.
Published: March 2008

Conventional approaches to hegemony emphasize elements of coercion and exclusion, characteristics that do not adequately explain the operation of the growing number of regional projects or the style of emerging-power foreign policy. This article develops the concept of consensual hegemony, explaining how a structure can be articulated, disseminated and maintained without relying on force to recruit the participation of other actors. The central idea is the construction of a structural vision, or hegemony, that specifically includes the nominally subordinate, engaging in a process of dialogue and interaction that causes the subordinate parties to appropriate and absorb the substance and requisites of the hegemony as their own. The utility of consensual hegemony as an analytical device, especially for the study of regionalism and emerging market power foreign policy, is outlined with reference to Brazil's post-Cold War foreign policy, demonstrating both how a consensual hegemony might be pursued and where the limits to its ideas-based nature lie.
Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Case of Libya
Authors: Bahgat Gawdat
Published: March 2008

In December 2003, the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (Libya) issued a statement announcing that it had agreed to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs. Some policymakers in Washington and London were quick to establish connection between Libya's decision and the US-led war in Iraq (2003). Since then, Libya has been presented as a model for other potential proliferators to follow. This article rejects these two propositions. Instead, it argues that the dramatic transition in Libya's stand on WMD can be explained by a cluster of factors — leadership and ideology, economic and political domestic developments, relations with Western powers, and security considerations. The combination of these factors is unique. It is unlikely that the Libyan experience will be repeated in other countries.
Tragedy, World Politics and Ethical Community
Authors: Beardsworth Richard
Published: March 2008

This article returns to recent debate in this journal on the pertinence or impertinence of tragedy to international relations theory and world politics. Following post-Kantian methodology, it argues that tragic insight points up the immanence of ethics to politics, cutting across distinctions between the normative and the positive, the idealist and the realist, that are particular to the field of international relations. In distinction to Lebow's same use of this method it theorizes this immanence in early Hegelian terms of `causality of fate' and `equality of life' in order to gain general purchase on the kind of ethical community that individualism in international political practice and theory can ignore.
Economic Evaluation of Continuing Care Interventions in the Treatment of Substance Abuse
Authors: Popovici Ioana , French Michael T. , McKay James R.
Published: March 2008

The chronic and relapsing nature of substance abuse points to the need for continuing care after a primary phase of treatment. This article reviews the economic studies of continuing care, discusses research gaps, highlights some of the challenges of conducting rigorous economic evaluations of continuing care, and offers research guidelines and recommendations for future economic studies in this emerging field. Rigorous economic evaluations are needed by health care providers and policy makers to justify the allocation of scarce resources to continuing care interventions. The adoption of cost-effective continuing care services can reduce long-term consequences of addiction, thereby potentially increasing overall social welfare.
Successful Phonological Awareness Instruction With Preschool Children
Authors: Phillips Beth M. , Clancy-Menchetti Jeanine , Lonigan Christopher J.
Published: March 2008

Phonological awareness is one of several key precursor skills to conventional literacy that develop during the preschool period. Significant amounts of research support the causal and predictive relation between phonological awareness and children's ease of learning to decode and spell. However, many preschool curricula and early childhood educational and caregiving settings are still lacking in robust instruction in this area, and many preschool instructors do not yet have a strong grasp of the developmental trajectory of phonological awareness nor of how to incorporate effective support and instruction into a developmentally appropriate teaching plan. This article summarizes what is known from high-quality research about the development of phonological awareness and about how this informs effective pedagogical strategies for its instruction. Numerous examples are given of effective instructional strategies derived from randomized trials of preschool curricula and interventions.