bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Constructing “the Others” During Conflict
Authors: Armoudian Maria
Published: April 2015

Psychologists and scholars of politics and political communication suggest that portrayals of “the others” impact emotions and behaviors toward them, particularly during conflict. When extremely negative, these portrayals can be used to justify harmful behaviors. Other scholars have found that the norms and structures of professional journalism can moderate extreme portrayals. This paper examines two factors that help construct “the others”—one that polarizes and one that tempers portrayals. By comparing three variables related to portraying foes in five Northern Ireland publications, the research shows two important variations: The first, variation across the partisan divide, suggests the role of identity and ideology in perpetuating “us versus them” and “good versus bad” framing. The second, variation between the professional newspapers and nonprofessional, more partisan publications, suggests that professional journalism may moderate extreme portrayals. These findings may have implications for journalism and for conflict management.
The impact of a Continuum of Care Resident Pharmacist on heart failure readmissions and discharge instructions at a community hospital
Authors: Truong Julie T , Backes Andrea C
Published: April 2015

Purpose:

To examine the impact of a Continuum of Care Resident Pharmacist on (1) heart failure 30-day hospital readmissions and (2) compliance with Joint Commission Heart Failure core measure 1 at a community hospital.

Methods:

The Continuum of Care Network led by a Continuum of Care Resident Pharmacist was established in August 2011. The Continuum of Care Resident Pharmacist followed Continuum of Care Network patients and retrospectively collected data from August 2011 to December 2012. Thirty-day readmission rates for Continuum of Care Network heart failure patients versus non-Continuum of Care Network heart failure patients were compared and analyzed. Joint Commission Heart Failure core measure 1 compliance rates were retrospectively collected from January 2011 and compared to data after establishment of the Continuum of Care Network.

Results:

In all, 162 Continuum of Care Network patients and 470 non-Continuum of Care Network patients were discharged with a diagnosis of heart failure from August 2011 to December 2012. Continuum of Care Network heart failure patients had a lower 30-day all-cause readmission rate compared to non-Continuum of Care Network heart failure patients (12% versus 24%, respectively; p = 0.005). In addition, Heart Failure core measure 1 compliance rates improved from the 80th percentile to the 90th percentile after implementation of the Continuum of Care Network (p  = 0.004). The top three interventions performed by the Continuum of Care Resident Pharmacist were discharge counseling (74.1%), providing a MedActionPlan™ (68.5%), and resolving medication reconciliation discrepancies (64.8%).

Conclusion:

The study findings suggest that a Continuum of Care Resident Pharmacist contributed to lowered heart failure readmission rates and improved Heart Failure core measure 1 compliance rates. Future randomized, controlled trials are needed to confirm these findings.
Outcome of probe‐based confocal laser endomicroscopy (pCLE) during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography: A single‐center prospective study in 45 patients
Authors: Löhr Johannes-Matthias , Lönnebro Ragnar , Stigliano Serena , Haas Stephan L , Swahn Fredrik , Enochsson Lars , Noel Rozh , Segersvärd Ralf , Chiaro Marco Del , Verbeke Caroline S , Arnelo Urban
Published: April 2015

Background

Diagnosis of pre‐malignant and malignant lesions in the bile duct and the pancreas is sometimes cumbersome. This applies in particular to intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasia (IPMN) and bile duct strictures in primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC).

Aims

To evaluate in a prospective cohort study the sensitivity and specificity of probe‐based confocal laser microscopy (pCLE) during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP).

Methods

We performed pCLE together with mother‐baby endoscopy (SpyGlass) during 50 ERCP sessions in 45 patients. The Miami and Paris criteria were applied. Clinical diagnosis via imaging was compared to pCLE and the final pathological diagnosis from surgically‐resected, biopsy, or cytology specimens. Patients were followed up for at least 1 year.

Results

We were able to perform pCLE in all patients. Prior to endoscopy, the diagnosis was benign in 23 patients and undetermined (suspicious) in 16 patients, while six patients had an unequivocal diagnosis of malignancy. Sensitivity was 91% and specificity 52%. The positive (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) was 82% and 100%, respectively. Apart from mild post‐ERCP pancreatitis in two patients, no complications occurred.

Conclusions

Our study showed that pCLE is a safe, expert endoscopic method with high technical feasibility, high sensitivity and high NPV. It provided diagnostic information that can be helpful for decisions on patient management, especially in the case of IPMN and unclear pancreatic lesions, in individuals whom are at increased risk for pancreatic cancer.
Mĕkōnôt, Models, and Mathematics: 1 Kings 7.27-37
Authors: Lawrence Paul J. N. , Schmidt Peter
Published: April 2015

The mĕkônâ is a bronze wheeled stand described in detail in 1 Kgs 7.27-37. This article explores a number of questions that arise when the description in 1 Kings is compared to several bronze wheeled stands that have been found in Cyprus.
Food and Wine as Seductress to Doom, Even If the Sleeping Is with One’s Own Wife! A Translation Note on 2 Sam 11.8b
Authors: Cole Ross
Published: April 2015

In most translations of 2 Sam 11.8b the nuanced similarity of the two clauses is lost. Often the translation of the second clause depicts the king actively sending משאת המלך out after Uriah, even though the king is not the subject of the verb. It has been suggested that משאת המלך refers to a signaller who goes out to spy on Uriah. It is more likely that the reference is to the gift of the king, ambiguously personified as a woman seeking to seduce the hapless Uriah from his duty.
Translation and Textual Criticism: The Case of Two Competing Readings, Both of Which Make Good Sense
Authors: Schenker Adrian
Published: April 2015

In Isa 41.23 the Hebrew text is divided into two different readings, a Qere and a Kethib reading. The two readings have often been explained as a difference between two different verbs, the Qere reading derived from the verb rā’â “to see,” and the Kethib derived from yārē’ “to be afraid.” This is a misunderstanding: in both readings the verb is “to see.” The difference is in the mood: while the Qere reading is in the cohortative, “that we may see,” the Kethib is in the indicative, “and we will see.” No textual witness reads the verb “to be afraid” in this verse. The many Bible translations that render the verb as “to fear” in reality adopt a conjecture, that is, a reading without base in any textual witness. This example shows how translators must rely upon good textual resources in order to make the correct choices between competing readings.
Hearts or minds? Identifying persuasive messages on climate change
Authors: Albertson Bethany , Busby Joshua William
Published: April 2015

This article sheds light on what kinds of appeals persuade the US public on climate change. Using an experimental design, we assign a diverse sample of 330 participants to one of four conditions: an economic self-interest appeal, a moral appeal, a mixed appeal combining self-interest and morality and a control condition with no persuasive appeal.1 Participants were then asked a series of questions about their willingness to support advocacy efforts, including such actions as writing a letter to Congress, signing a petition and joining an organization. We hypothesized that for issues like climate change where it is expensive to address the problem, arguments based on self-interest are more likely to be persuasive than moral appeals. Our experiment yielded some surprising results. Knowledge was an important moderator of people’s attitudes on climate change in response to the persuasive messages. We found that among respondents who were more knowledgeable about climate change that the economic frame was most the persuasive in terms of a subject’s willingness to take actions to support the cause. However, among low knowledge respondents, the control condition without messaging yielded the most concern.
Beyond compliance: Participation, co-production and change in justice sanctions
Authors: McCulloch Trish
Published: April 2015

This article explores the place and potential of a more participatory and co-productive justice practice, using the particular lens of compliance. In recent years, compliance has come to be associated with new managerial and correctional forms of justice. Yet, emerging theoretical and empirical analyses attest that individual compliance is a complex and multi-dimensional dynamic. It is not particularly responsive to mechanisms of enforcement and control, and where enforced compliance is achieved it does not emerge as a particularly valuable justice outcome. These findings, and others, suggest the relevance of a more co-productive justice pursuit – one that recognises and supports the participation, potential and progression of those required to comply.
Working against the odds: How probation practitioners can support desistance in young adult offenders
Authors: Judd Pete , Lewis Sarah
Published: April 2015

This article seeks to explore how probation practitioners may work with young adult offenders (YAOs) to assist them in moving away from crime, by considering how a more desistance and relational focused approach may provide a number of alternative practices that could benefit YAOs. This discussion is formulated on both theoretical and applied grounds, with both authors having experience of working with YAOs, within a probation context in England. Whilst acknowledging that there are numerous ways in which a practitioner can assist an individual with their journey away from crime, this article considers some of these ways, outlining potential challenges.
Financial Implications of Hospital Readmission After Hip Fracture
Authors: Kates Stephen L. , Shields Edward , Behrend Caleb , Noyes Katia K.
Published: April 2015

Introduction:

Hip fracture is the leading orthopedic discharge diagnosis associated with 30-day readmission in terms of numbers. Because readmission to the hospital following a hip fracture is so common, it adds considerably to the costs on an already overburdened health care system.

Methods:

Patients aged 65 and older admitted to a 261-bed university-affiliated level 3 trauma center between April 30, 2005, and September 30, 2010, with a unilateral, native, nonpathologic low-energy proximal femur fracture were identified from a fracture registry and included for analysis. Readmissions within 30 days of hospital discharge, costs, and outcomes were collected and studied.

Results:

Of 1081 patients, 129 (11.9%) were readmitted within 30 days. The average hospital length of stay for readmissions was 8.7 ± 18.8 days, which was significantly longer than the initial stay (4.6 ± 2.3 days) ( P = .03). Nineteen percent (24 patients ∼19%) died during readmission versus 2.8% during the index admission. These patients accumulated an average hospital charge of US$16 308 ± US$6400 during their initial hospitalization for compared with charges for their readmissions of US$14 191 ± US$25 035 ( P = .36).

Discussion:

Readmission was usually associated with serious medical or surgical complications of the original hospitalization.

Conclusions:

Readmission after hip fracture is costly and harmful. Charges were similar between the original fracture admission and the readmission. Patients were readmitted most frequently for medical diagnoses following their original hospital stay. Some of these readmissions may have been avoidable.
Communication in Hong Kong Accident and Emergency Departments
Authors: Chandler Eloise , Slade Diana , Pun Jack , Lock Graham , Matthiessen Christian M. I. M. , Espindola Elaine , Ng Carman
Published: April 2015

In this article, we report findings from the first qualitatively driven study of patient–clinician communication in Hong Kong Accident and Emergency Departments (AEDs). In light of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority’s policy emphasis on patient-centered care and communication in the public hospitals it oversees, we analyze clinicians’ perceptions of the role and relevance of patient-centered communication strategies in emergency care. Although aware of the importance of effective communication in emergency care, participants discussed how this was frequently jeopardized by chronic understaffing, patient loads, and time pressures. This was raised in relation to the absence of spoken interdisciplinary handovers, the tendency to downgrade interpersonal communication with patients, and the decline in staff attendance at communication training courses. Participants’ frequent descriptions of patient-centered communication as dispensable from, and time-burdensome in, AEDs highlight a discrepancy between the stated Hong Kong Hospital Authority policy of patient-centered care and the reality of contemporary Hong Kong emergency practice.
How I treat and manage strokes in sickle cell disease
Authors: Kassim Adetola A. , Galadanci Najibah A. , Pruthi Sumit , DeBaun Michael R.
Published: April 2015

Neurologic complications are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in sickle cell disease (SCD). In children with sickle cell anemia, routine use of transcranial Doppler screening, coupled with regular blood transfusion therapy, has decreased the prevalence of overt stroke from ∼11% to 1%. Limited evidence is available to guide acute and chronic management of individuals with SCD and strokes. Current management strategies are based primarily on single arm clinical trials and observational studies, coupled with principles of neurology and hematology. Initial management of a focal neurologic deficit includes evaluation by a multidisciplinary team (a hematologist, neurologist, neuroradiologist, and transfusion medicine specialist); prompt neuro-imaging and an initial blood transfusion (simple followed immediately by an exchange transfusion or only exchange transfusion) is recommended if the hemoglobin is >4 gm/dL and <10 gm/dL. Standard therapy for secondary prevention of strokes and silent cerebral infarcts includes regular blood transfusion therapy and in selected cases, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. A critical component of the medical care following an infarct is cognitive and physical rehabilitation. We will discuss our strategy of acute and long-term management of strokes in SCD.
Pak2 restrains endomitosis during megakaryopoiesis and alters cytoskeleton organization
Authors: Kosoff Rachelle E. , Aslan Joseph E. , Kostyak John C. , Dulaimi Essel , Chow Hoi Yee , Prudnikova Tatiana Y. , Radu Maria , Kunapuli Satya P. , McCarty Owen J. T. , Chernoff Jonathan
Published: April 2015

Key Points

Bone marrow-specific deletion of Pak2 is associated with macrothrombocytopenia and abnormal megakaryocyte morphology and function. Pak2 deletion is associated with defects in megakaryocyte endomitosis and the activation of Aurora-A and LIM kinase.
Perivascular deletion of murine Rac reverses the ratio of marrow arterioles and sinusoid vessels and alters hematopoiesis in vivo
Authors: Ciuculescu Marioara F. , Park Shin-Young , Canty Kimberly , Mathieu Ronald , Silberstein Leslie E. , Williams David A.
Published: April 2015

Key Points

Rac deletion in Nestin+ cells reverses the arteriolar-to-sinusoid ratio in marrow. Rac-deleted Nestin+ cells differentially alter long-term HSC and hematopoietic progenitors.
A clinical decision support system for the diagnosis of probable migraine and probable tension-type headache based on case-based reasoning
Authors: Yin Ziming , Dong Zhao , Lu Xudong , Yu Shengyuan , Chen Xiaoyan , Duan Huilong
Published: April 2015

Background

The overlap between probable migraine (PM) and probable tension-type headache (PTTH) often confuses physicians in clinical practice. Although clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) have been proven to be helpful in the diagnosis of primary headaches, the existing guideline-based headache disorder CDSSs do not perform adequately due to this overlapping issue. Thus, in this study, a CDSS based on case-based reasoning (CBR) was developed in order to solve this problem.

Methods

First, a case library consisting of 676 clinical cases, 56.95% of which had been diagnosed with PM and 43.05% of which had been diagnosed with PTTH, was constructed, screened by a three-member panel, and weighted by engineers. Next, the resulting case library was used to diagnose current cases based on their similarities to the previous cases. The test dataset was composed of an additional 222 historical cases, 76.1% of which had been diagnosed with PM and 23.9% of which had been diagnosed with PTTH. The cases that comprised the case library as well as the test dataset were actual clinical cases obtained from the International Headache Center in Chinese PLA General Hospital.

Results

The results indicated that the PM and PTTH recall rates were equal to 97.02% and 77.78%, which were 34.31% and 16.91% higher than that of the guideline-based CDSS, respectively. Furthermore, the PM and PTTH precision rates were equal to 93.14% and 89.36%, which were7.09% and 15.68% higher than that of the guideline-based CDSS, respectively. Comparing CBR CDSS and guideline-based CDSS, the p-value of PM diagnoses was equal to 0.019, while that of PTTH diagnoses was equal to 0.002, which indicated that there was a significant difference between the two approaches.

Conclusions

The experimental results indicated that the CBR CDSS developed in this study diagnosed PM and PTTH with a high degree of accuracy and performed better than the guideline-based CDSS. This system could be used as a diagnostic tool to assist general practitioners in distinguishing PM from PTTH.
Integrating host gene expression and the microbiome to explore disease pathogenesis
Authors: Byrd Allyson L , Segre Julia A
Published: April 2015

In a recent study, rich clinical assessment and longitudinal study design are combined with host gene expression and microbial sequencing analyses to develop a framework for exploring disease etiology and outcomes in the context of human inflammatory disease.

See related article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13059-015-0637-x
Optimal joint transmission and harvested energy scheduling for renewable energy harvesting enabled cellular network under coordinated multi-point transmission
Authors: Wang Zejue , Li Hongjia , Hu Dan , Ci Song
Published: April 2015

On-grid energy consumption of base stations (BSs) contributes up a significant fraction of the total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of cellular networks, among which remote radio units (RRUs) absorb most of the energy consumption. To eliminate the on-grid energy consumption and the corresponding CO2 emission, we propose a new transmission framework, in which all RRUs and associated power amplifiers (PAs) are powered by hybrid energy sources including on-grid energy source and off-grid renewable energy source. Based on the framework, we pursue a systematic study on the joint transmission and harvested energy scheduling algorithm for the hybrid energy powered cellular transmission system under coordinated multi-point (CoMP) transmission. Firstly, we formulate an optimal offline transmission scheduling problem with a priori knowledge about channel state information (CSI), under constraint of available amount of harvested energy and stored energy at each transmission time interval. Considering a practical constraint of limited pre-knowledge about CSI, we further transform the offline problem into an energy-aware energy efficient transmission problem. To solve the proposed problems, we undertake a convex optimization method to the optimal offline transmission scheduling problem and design corresponding optimal offline joint transmission and energy scheduling algorithm, which provides the upper bound on actual system performance. Then, we extend the non-linear fractional programming to the transmission scheduling problem with limited pre-knowledge about CSI and design corresponding joint transmission and energy scheduling algorithm, named as online algorithm. Numerical results show that the performance of the proposed online algorithm is close to that of the obtained upper bound and outperforms the existing algorithm. We also find that at each transmission time interval during the finite transmission period, the transmit power of each RRU is proportional to the weighted channel-gain-to-noise ratio (CNR) of each sub-channel.
Editorial: Faux amis: Langerin-expressing DC in humans and mice
Authors: Bennett Clare L
Published: April 2015

Discussion on the identification of Langerin+ DC populations in humans.
Renaming schizophrenia to reduce stigma: comparison with the
case of bipolar disorder
Authors: Ellison Nell , Mason Oliver , Scior Katrina
Published: April 2015

Renaming disorders to change public beliefs and attitudes remains
controversial. This study compared the potentially destigmatising effects of
renaming schizophrenia with the effects of renaming bipolar disorder by
comparing the label ‘schizophrenia’ to ‘integration disorder’, and ‘bipolar
disorder’ to ‘manic depression’, in 1621 lay participants. ‘Bipolar
disorder’ was associated with less fear and social distance than ‘manic
depression’. ‘Integration disorder’ was associated with increased
endorsement of a biopsychosocial cause and reduced attributions of
dangerousness but also increased social distance, highlighting the complex
effects renaming has on stigma.
Interventions to improve the experience of caring for people
with severe mental illness: systematic review and
meta-analysis
Authors: Yesufu-Udechuku Amina , Harrison Bronwyn , Mayo-Wilson Evan , Young Norman , Woodhams Peter , Shiers David , Kuipers Elizabeth , Kendall Tim
Published: April 2015

Background

Informal caregiving is an integral part of the care of people with severe
mental illness, but the support needs of those providing such care are
not often met.

Aims

To determine whether interventions provided to people caring for those
with severe mental illness improve the experience of caring and reduce
caregiver burden.

Method

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analyses of randomised
controlled trials (RCTs) of interventions delivered by health and social
care services to informal carers (i.e. family or friends who provide
support to someone with severe mental illness).

Results

Twenty-one RCTs with 1589 carers were included in the review. There was
evidence suggesting that the carers' experience of care was improved at
the end of the intervention by psychoeducation (standardised mean
difference −1.03, 95% CI −1.69 to −0.36) and support groups (SMD =–1.16,
95% CI −1.96 to −0.36). Psychoeducation had a benefit on psychological
distress more than 6 months later (SMD =–1.79, 95% CI −3.01 to −0.56) but
not immediately post-intervention. Support interventions had a beneficial
effect on psychological distress at the end of the intervention (SMD
=–0.99, 95% CI −1.48 to −0.49) as did problem-solving bibliotherapy (SMD
=–1.57, 95% CI −1.79 to −1.35); these effects were maintained at
follow-up. The quality of the evidence was mainly low and very low.
Evidence for combining these interventions and for self-help and
self-management was inconclusive.

Conclusions

Carer-focused interventions appear to improve the experience of caring
and quality of life and reduce psychological distress of those caring for
people with severe mental illness, and these benefits may be gained in
first-episode psychosis. Interventions for carers should be considered as
part of integrated services for people with severe mental health
problems.
Lawfulness of preventive recall from a community treatment
order
Authors: Dawson John
Published: April 2015

Preventive recall to hospital of a patient on a community treatment order
can be lawful when it is based on a convincing prediction that relapse in
illness would otherwise occur. The legislation for England and Wales
provides several indications that authorising preventive recall in those
circumstances is a purpose of the community treatment order regime.
Venous thromboembolism prophylaxis in mental healthcare: do the benefits outweigh the risks?
Authors: Patel Rashmi
Published: April 2015

Venous thromboembolism is an important cause of morbidity and mortality. In recent years, growing awareness has led to the development of strategies to prevent venous thromboembolism in individuals admitted to hospital who are deemed to be at high risk. However, there remains a considerable degree of uncertainty over whether these strategies are of overall benefit and there are few published studies on people who are admitted to psychiatric hospitals. In this editorial I review current clinical practice and areas of uncertainty with respect to venous thromboembolism prophylaxis and its implementation in mental healthcare settings.
London's liaison psychiatry services: survey of service provision
Authors: Naidu Smitha , Bolton Jim , Smith Jared
Published: April 2015

Aims and method

To describe the liaison psychiatry services of all 30 general hospitals in Greater London and to determine whether services met national recommendations. The results were compared with a similar survey conducted 8 years previously to determine whether there had been significant service development.

Results

We identified wide variations in service provision across London. Fifteen hospitals (50%) had 24-hour services and one had no service. There had been a significant increase in services that assessed older adults. Increases in the size of teams and consultant psychiatry staff were not significant.

Clinical implications

Despite an increasing emphasis on the effectiveness of liaison psychiatry services, no London hospital had staffing levels consistent with national recommendations. Recent evidence for the cost-effectiveness of liaison psychiatry and an emphasis on parity between physical and mental health in National Health Service policy may provide further impetus for growth.
Children and Young People's Improving Access to Psychological Therapies: inspiring innovation or more of the same?
Authors: Timimi Sami
Published: April 2015

In 2007 the UK Government announced a substantial expansion of funding for psychological therapies for those presenting with common mental health problems. This ‘Improving Access to Psychological Therapies’ (IAPT) project was widely welcomed, however, evidence backed, economic, and conceptual critiques were voiced from the start and the project remains controversial. In 2011, the UK government announced it was extending the IAPT project to encompass services for children and young people with the aim of ‘transforming’ the way mental health services are delivered to them. Here I critically reflect on the problems associated first with IAPT and then with CYP-IAPT and ponder whether CYP-IAPT is significantly different to the problematic adult IAPT project or more of the same.
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Routine Surveillance Imaging of Patients With Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma in First Remission
Authors: Huntington Scott F. , Svoboda Jakub , Doshi Jalpa A.
Published: April 2015

Purpose

Surveillance imaging of asymptomatic patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in first remission remains controversial. A decision-analytic Markov model was developed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of follow-up strategies following first-line immunochemotherapy.

Patients and Methods

Three strategies were compared in 55-year-old patient cohorts: routine clinical follow-up without serial imaging, routine follow-up with biannual computed tomography (CT) scans for 2 years, or routine follow-up with biannual [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography–computed tomography (PET/CT) for 2 years. The baseline model favored imaging-based strategies by associating asymptomatic imaging-detected relapses with improved clinical outcomes. Lifetime costs, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were calculated for each surveillance strategy.

Results

Surveillance strategies utilizing 2 years of routine CT or PET/CT scans were associated with minimal survival benefit when compared with clinical follow-up without routine imaging (life-years gained: CT, 0.03 years; PET/CT, 0.04 years). The benefit of imaging-based follow-up remained small after quality-of-life adjustments (CT, 0.020 QALYs; PET/CT, 0.025 QALYs). Costs associated with imaging-based surveillance strategies are considerable; ICERs for imaging strategies compared with clinical follow-up were $164,960/QALY (95% CI, $116,510 to $766,930/QALY) and $168,750/QALY (95% CI, $117,440 to 853,550/QALY) for CT and PET/CT, respectively. Model conclusions were robust and remained stable on one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses.

Conclusion

Our cost-effectiveness analysis suggests surveillance imaging of asymptomatic DLBCL patients in remission offers little clinical benefit at substantial economic costs.
Neurokinin 3 Receptor-Expressing Neurons in the Median Preoptic Nucleus Modulate Heat-Dissipation Effectors in the Female Rat
Authors: Mittelman-Smith Melinda A. , Krajewski-Hall Sally J. , McMullen Nathaniel T. , Rance Naomi E.
Published: April 2015

KNDy neurons facilitate tail skin vasodilation and modulate the effects of estradiol on thermoregulation. We hypothesize that KNDy neurons influence cutaneous vasodilation via projections to neurons in the median preoptic nucleus (MnPO) that express the neurokinin 3 receptor (NK3R). In support of this hypothesis, focal microinjections of senktide, an NK3R agonist, into the MnPO lowers core temperature (TCORE) in the female rat. To further study the role of MnPO NK3R neurons in thermoregulation, these neurons were specifically ablated using a conjugate of a selective NK3R agonist and saporin (NK3-SAP). NK3-SAP or blank-SAP (control) was injected into the MnPO/medial septum. Tail skin temperature (TSKIN) and TCORE were measured in ovariectomized rats exposed to 3 ambient temperatures (TAMBIENT) before and after estradiol-17β (E2) treatment. Before killing, we injected senktide (sc), monitored TCORE for 70 minutes, and harvested brains for Fos immunohistochemistry. Ablation of MnPO NK3R neurons lowered TSKIN at neutral and subneutral TAMBIENT regardless of E2 treatment. However, ablation did not prevent the effects of E2 on TCORE and TSKIN. In control rats, senktide injections induced hypothermia with numerous Fos-immunoreactive cells in the MnPO. In contrast, in NK3-SAP rats, senktide did not alter TCORE and minimal Fos-immunoreactive neurons were identified in the MnPO. These data show that NK3R neurons in the MnPO are required for the hypothermic effects of senktide but not for the E2 modulation of thermoregulation. The lower TSKIN in NK3-SAP–injected rats suggests that MnPO NK3R neurons, like KNDy neurons, facilitate cutaneous vasodilation, an important heat-dissipation effector.
State of Speculation: Contingency, Measure, and the Politics of Plastic Value
Authors: Konings Martijn
Published: April 2015

Heterodox critiques of contemporary capitalism tend to depict speculation as the irrational investment in insubstantial signs. This essay suggests that the secularized subject speculates not in defiance of fundamental values but precisely because it has none to fall back on. It develops the point through an analysis that foregrounds the pragmatically constitutive logic of speculative fictions and expectations and the plastic logic of value. The argument that speculative practices compose a particular kind of economic order is developed through a historically contextualized discussion of capitalist risk rationality and the role of banks in manipulating this logic. Here the essay draws on Hyman Minsky’s work, which contains a problematic of knowledge, time, and uncertainty that is more interesting than typically recognized by post-Keynesian scholars and provides insight into the process of endogenous financial hierarchization. The emergence of capitalist financial governance is conceptualized as a process whereby the state takes on bank-like properties and the capitalist state’s future-oriented institutional forms come to serve as constitutive aspects of economic value. The stability of mid-twentieth-century capitalism can be understood as the institutionalization of the logic of capitalist speculation through its articulation to a specific pattern of disciplinary austerity, and the turn to neoliberalism can be viewed as a response to the distinctive tensions generated by this configuration. Friedrich Hayek viewed the problematic of economy in terms quite similar to Minsky’s and, like him, did not discern any possibilities for clean external interventions into its evolutionary logic. But from a Hayekian perspective an intensified awareness of this very fact was itself the solution: to austerely observe the limits of knowledge, and so to permit the contingent logic of speculative claims to spontaneously generate order, became itself the political change that was needed. On this reading, the neoliberal project represents neither a retreat of public authority nor a resurgence of sovereign decisionism, but an attempt to recalibrate the axis of speculation and austerity on which capitalist order is built.
Risk and Value: Finance, Labor, and Production
Authors: Bryan Dick , Rafferty Michael , Jefferis Chris
Published: April 2015

The process of financialization of accumulation brings to the fore the issue of risk and risk trading. This article explores the way finance and risk relate to capital accumulation and how risk might be integrated into Marxian value theory. It looks first at what it would mean to incorporate risk into conventional measurements of value and then opens up alternative ways of thinking about the process of production, to recognize frontier developments in finance as integral to capital. Rather than treat finance simply as “unproductive,” the analysis draws on Negri, Hardt, and Deleuze to rethink finance and risk as involving forms of production at the financial frontier of capital: the construction of globally traded securities. In so doing, the analysis opens up novel ways of framing the evolving relation between labor and capital.
What Are Post-Fordist Wages? Simmel, Labor Money, and the Problem of Value
Authors: Adkins Lisa
Published: April 2015

In a context of wage repression, indebted labor, and a pervasive gap between what labor earns and what it needs to spend, in this essay I ask: what are post-Fordist wages? I suggest that the key features of the post-Fordist wage should be understood in terms of broad transformations to the capacities of money, transformations that have rendered wages an unstable measure of value, including any value that may be constituted by labor. Such transformations demand a focus not on what wages should measure and comprise but on their potentiality, that is, on what they can do. In this regard, I suggest that Georg Simmel’s understanding of money as an in-motion surface, as well as his critique of “labor money,” finds important points of resonance for the post-Fordist present. In addition to highlighting the renewed relevance of Simmel’s social theory, I further ask: What are the implications of these transformations to wages for the development of a relevant politics of the post-Fordist wage? Can post-Fordist wages be challenged from within?
Speculative Values and Courtroom Contestations
Authors: de Goede Marieke
Published: April 2015

This article examines the trial of former Goldman Sachs employee Fabrice Tourre, who was held liable for securities fraud in 2013, and asks what it tells us about postcrisis understanding of politics and critique. What does it mean to hold Tourre individually liable amid the complex human-technological assemblage of derivatives trading? What does this trial tell us about the ways the boundary between legitimate speculation and illegitimate fraud is drawn and performed in the postcrisis era? What is important is that Tourre’s is not a case of a rogue trader, but pivoted on the contractual assembly of a collateralized debt obligation contract as representative of a particular class of instruments whose financial and social value is being questioned. I suggest that the trial can be understood as a prolonged practice of deliberation and doubt that entails a profound clash with financial time. The legal judgment enacts a (temporary) pronunciation on derivative value, thus interrupting the continuous flow of circulation and contested valuation. The article discusses three elements that were central to the Tourre trial. First, it shows the derivative as a social relation that assembled the “real” and the “speculative” in very specific ways and across localities. Second, it allows us to see how the value of the derivative was written not just through calculative instruments but also through institutional practice and notions of reputation. Third, it analyzes how the derivative cuts across present and future and how, ultimately, the verdict underwrites the social value of the derivative as a mode of infinitely trading on uncertainty and liquidating the uncertain future.
Shadow Money and the Shadow Workforce: Rethinking Labor and Liquidity
Authors: Cooper Melinda
Published: April 2015

In recent years, theoretical inquiries into the changing forms of labor and money have proceeded alongside each other but have rarely entered into dialogue, much less investigated the evolving relationship between the two terms. This is a curious omission given that contemporary processes of financialization involve an ever-tighter entanglement between the fortunes of high finance and the everyday life of consumer borrowing and indebtedness. This article focuses on the phenomenon of shadow money—money issued outside the traditional boundaries of the New Deal banking system—to illuminate the ways money and labor have coevolved. It argues that the migration of money creation from the depository institution to the shadow bank and the changing form of money—from insured deposit to uninsured repo—represents an ongoing response to the evolving risk profile of labor itself. Shadow money creation has grown in concert with the expansion of the shadow workforce—the sector of the post-Fordist workforce engaged in contingent, nonstandard, and uninsured labor—and, until recently, has offered a solution of sorts to the social insecurity of labor. It is this solution that broke down in the recent financial crisis.
Between Old and New: Struggles in Contemporary South Africa
Authors: Naidoo Prishani
Published: April 2015

This essay presents an analysis of recent protests in South Africa, providing historical context for the current cycle of mobilization, including the longest strike in the country’s history and the growing struggle among poor residents for free access to basic utilities. Taking the state-sanctioned massacre of striking mineworkers at Marikana in 2012 as a significant marker for this current phase of protests, the essay explores some of the subsequent political shifts, including challenges to the hegemony of the ruling political party—the African National Congress—and to the trade union in its traditional form. It argues that although experiences of collective action in the aftermath of the Marikana massacre hold the potential for a radical reconfiguration of politics in South Africa, there is also the danger that they will be unable to escape the old frameworks and sutures of the existing political landscape.
The Mixing Time of the Newman-Watts Small-World Model
Authors: Addario-Berry Louigi , Lei Tao
Published: April 2015

‘Small worlds’ are large systems in which any given node has only a few connections to other points, but possessing the property that all pairs of points are connected by a short path, typically logarithmic in the number of nodes. The use of random walks for sampling a uniform element from a large state space is by now a classical technique; to prove that such a technique works for a given network, a bound on the mixing time is required. However, little detailed information is known about the behaviour of random walks on small-world networks, though many predictions can be found in the physics literature. The principal contribution of this paper is to show that for a famous small-world random graph model known as the Newman-Watts small-world model, the mixing time is of order log2n. This confirms a prediction of Richard Durrett [5, page 22], who proved a lower bound of order log2nand an upper bound of order log3n.
Convergence in a Multidimensional Randomized Keynesian Beauty Contest
Authors: Grinfeld Michael , Volkov Stanislav , Wade Andrew R.
Published: April 2015

We study the asymptotics of a Markovian system ofN≥ 3 particles in [0, 1]din which, at each step in discrete time, the particle farthest from the current centre of mass is removed and replaced by an independentU[0, 1]drandom particle. We show that the limiting configuration containsN− 1 coincident particles at a random location ξN∈ [0, 1]d. A key tool in the analysis is a Lyapunov function based on the squared radius of gyration (sum of squared distances) of the points. Ford= 1, we give additional results on the distribution of the limit ξN, showing, among other things, that it gives positive probability to any nonempty interval subset of [0, 1], and giving a reasonably explicit description in the smallest nontrivial case,N= 3.
Impulsive Control for Continuous-Time Markov Decision Processes
Authors: Dufour François , Piunovskiy Alexei B.
Published: April 2015

In this paper our objective is to study continuous-time Markov decision processes on a general Borel state space with both impulsive and continuous controls for the infinite time horizon discounted cost. The continuous-time controlled process is shown to be nonexplosive under appropriate hypotheses. The so-called Bellman equation associated to this control problem is studied. Sufficient conditions ensuring the existence and the uniqueness of a bounded measurable solution to this optimality equation are provided. Moreover, it is shown that the value function of the optimization problem under consideration satisfies this optimality equation. Sufficient conditions are also presented to ensure on the one hand the existence of an optimal control strategy, and on the other hand the existence of a ε-optimal control strategy. The decomposition of the state space into two disjoint subsets is exhibited where, roughly speaking, one should apply a gradual action or an impulsive action correspondingly to obtain an optimal or ε-optimal strategy. An interesting consequence of our previous results is as follows: the set of strategies that allow interventions at time t = 0 and only immediately after natural jumps is a sufficient set for the control problem under consideration.
Infection Spread in Random Geometric Graphs
Authors: Ganesan Ghurumuruhan
Published: April 2015

In this paper we study the speed of infection spread and the survival of the contact process in the random geometric graph G = G(n, rn, f) of n nodes independently distributed in S = [-½, ½]2 according to a certain density f(·). In the first part of the paper we assume that infection spreads from one node to another at unit rate and that infected nodes stay in the same state forever. We provide an explicit lower bound on the speed of infection spread and prove that infection spreads in G with speed at least D1nrn2. In the second part of the paper we consider the contact process ξt on G where infection spreads at rate λ > 0 from one node to another and each node independently recovers at unit rate. We prove that, for every λ > 0, with high probability, the contact process on G survives for an exponentially long time; there exist positive constants c1 and c2 such that, with probability at least 1 - c1 / n4, the contact process starting with all nodes infected survives up to time tn = exp(c2n/logn) for all n.
Asymptotics of First-Passage Percolation on One-Dimensional Graphs
Authors: Ahlberg Daniel
Published: April 2015

In this paper we consider first-passage percolation on certain one-dimensional periodic graphs, such as thenearest neighbour graph ford,K≥ 1. We expose a regenerative structure within the first-passage process, and use this structure to show that both length and weight of minimal-weight paths present a typical one-dimensional asymptotic behaviour. Apart from a strong law of large numbers, we derive a central limit theorem, a law of the iterated logarithm, and a Donsker theorem for these quantities. In addition, we prove that the mean and variance of the length and weight of minimizing paths are monotone in the distance between their end-points, and further show how the regenerative idea can be used to couple two first-passage processes to eventually coincide. Using this coupling we derive a 0–1 law.
Diffusion-Scale Tightness of Invariant Distributions of a Large-Scale Flexible Service System
Authors: Stolyar A. L.
Published: April 2015

A large-scale service system with multiple customer classes and multiple server pools is considered, with the mean service time depending both on the customer class and server pool. The allowed activities (routeing choices) form a tree (in the graph with vertices being both customer classes and server pools). We study the behavior of the system under aleaf activity priority(LAP) policy, introduced by Stolyar and Yudovina (2012). An asymptotic regime is considered, where the arrival rate of customers and number of servers in each pool tend to ∞ in proportion to a scaling parameterr, while the overall system load remains strictly subcritical. We prove tightness of diffusion-scaled (centered at the equilibrium point and scaled down byr−1/2) invariant distributions. As a consequence, we obtain a limit interchange result: the limit of diffusion-scaled invariant distributions is equal to the invariant distribution of the limiting diffusion process.
On the Random Sampling of Pairs, with Pedestrian Examples
Authors: Arratia Richard , DeSalvo Stephen
Published: April 2015

For a collection of objects such as socks, which can be matched according to a characteristic such as color, we study the innocent phrase ‘the distribution of the color of a matching pair’ by looking at two methods for selecting socks. One method is memoryless and effectively samples socks with replacement, while the other samples socks sequentially, with memory, until the same color has been seen twice. We prove that these two methods yield the same distribution on colors if and only if the initial distribution of colors is a uniform distribution. We conjecture a nontrivial maximum value for the total variation distance of these distributions in all other cases.