bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mortality Among Patients With Familial Hypercholesterolemia: A Registry‐Based Study in Norway, 1992–2010
Authors: Mundal Liv , Sarancic Mirza , Ose Leiv , Iversen Per Ole , Borgan Jens‐Kristian , Veierød Marit B. , Leren Trond P. , Retterstøl Kjetil
Published: December 2014

Background

Untreated patients with familial hypercholesterolemia are at increased risk of premature cardiovascular death. The primary aim of this study was to investigate whether this is also the case in the statin era.

Methods and Results

In this registry‐based study, 4688 male and female patients from the Unit for Cardiac and Cardiovascular Genetics (
UCCG
) Registry with verified molecular genetic diagnosis of familial hypercholesterolemia in the period 1992–2010 were linked to the Norwegian Cause of Death Registry. Standardized mortality ratios and 95%
CI
s were estimated. There were 113 deaths. Mean age of death was 61.1 years. Cardiovascular disease was the most common cause of death (46.0%), followed by cancer (30.1%). Compared with the Norwegian population, cardiovascular disease mortality was significantly higher in the
UCCG
Registry in all age groups younger than 70 years (standardized mortality ratio 2.29, 95%
CI
1.65 to 3.19 in men and women combined; standardized mortality ratio 2.00, 95%
CI
1.32 to 3.04 in men; standardized mortality ratio 3.03, 95%
CI
1.76 to 5.21 in women). No significant differences were found in all‐cause mortality or cancer mortality.

Conclusions

Despite prescription of lipid‐lowering drugs, familial hypercholesterolemia patients still had significantly increased cardiovascular disease mortality compared with the general Norwegian population.
Serum Parathyroid Hormone and 25‐Hydroxyvitamin D Concentrations and Risk of Incident Heart Failure: The Multi‐Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis
Authors: Bansal Nisha , Zelnick Leila , Robinson‐Cohen Cassianne , Hoofnagle Andy N. , Ix Joachim H. , Lima Joao A. , Shoben Abigail B. , Peralta Carmen A. , Siscovick David S. , Kestenbaum Bryan , de Boer Ian H.
Published: December 2014

Background

Heart failure (
HF
) is common and is associated with high mortality. We aimed to determine associations of serum parathyroid hormone (
PTH
) and 25‐hydroxyvitamin D (25[
OH
]D) with incident
HF
and left ventricular mass.

Methods and Results

Among 6459 participants in the community‐based Multi‐Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, all of whom were free of prevalent clinical cardiovascular disease, we measured serum concentrations of PTH and 25(OH)D at the baseline examination. In longitudinal analyses, we tested associations of PTH and 25(OH)D with incident HF events, adjudicated by a panel of physicians. In cross‐sectional analyses of a subset of 4763 participants, we tested associations of PTH and 25(OH)D with left ventricular mass, measured by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging at baseline. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard and linear regression models were adjusted for demographics, physical examination measures, comorbidity, kidney function, and other mineral metabolism markers. Mean age was 62 years and 53% of participants were female. There were 180 incident HF events over a median (interquartile range) follow‐up time of 8.46 (7.67 to 8.63) years. Compared with participants with PTH <65 pg/
mL
, PTH ≥65 pg/
mL
was associated with a 50% greater risk of incident HF (95% CI: 3% to 210%) and a 5.3 g higher left ventricular mass (95% CI: 2.6, 7.9 g). In contrast, there was no association of 25(OH)D with risk of incident HF or elevated left ventricular mass.

Conclusions

In a racially/ethnically diverse population without prevalent cardiovascular disease, higher serum
PTH
concentration was associated with increased left ventricular mass and increased risk of incident
HF
. Further studies should be pursued to determine whether
PTH
excess may be a modifiable risk factor for
HF
.
Impaired Myocardial Oxygen Availability Contributes to Abnormal Exercise Hemodynamics in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction
Authors: van Empel Vanessa P. M. , Mariani Justin , Borlaug Barry A. , Kaye David M.
Published: December 2014

Background

Hypertension is a frequent risk factor for the development of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (
HFPEF
). Progressive extracellular matrix accumulation has been presumed to be the fundamental pathophysiologic mechanism that leads to the transition to impaired diastolic reserve. However, the contribution of other mechanisms affecting active and passive components of diastolic function has not been comprehensively assessed. In this study, we investigated the potential role of impaired myocardial oxygen delivery in the pathophysiology of
HFPEF
.

Methods and Results

Patients with
HFPEF
, those with controlled hypertension, and healthy controls underwent simultaneous right‐heart catheterization, echocardiography, and paired arterial and coronary sinus blood gas sampling at rest and during supine‐cycle ergometry. Despite a lower workload (
HFPEF
vs control, hypertension: 43±8 versus 114±12, 87±14 W;
P
<0.001 and
P
<0.05, respectively), peak exercise pulmonary capillary wedge pressure was markedly higher in
HFPEF
patients compared with healthy and hypertensive controls (32±2 versus 16±1 and 17±1 mm Hg, both
P
<0.001). During exercise, the transcardiac oxygen gradient increased significantly in all groups; however, the peak transcardiac oxygen gradient was significantly lower in
HFPEF
patients (
P
<0.05). In addition, the left ventricular–work corrected transcardiac oxygen gradient remained significantly lower in
HFPEF
patients compared with controls (
P
<0.001).

Conclusion

The current study provides unique data suggesting that the abnormal diastolic reserve observed during exertion in
HFPEF
patients may, in part, be explained by impaired myocardial oxygen delivery due possibly to microvascular dysfunction. Further studies are required to confirm the structural and functional basis of these findings and to investigate the influence of potential therapies on this abnormality.
Effectiveness of Diagnostic Strategies in Suspected Delayed Cerebral Ischemia
Authors: Rawal Sapna , Barnett Carolina , John-Baptiste Ava , Thein Hla-Hla , Krings Timo , Rinkel Gabriel J.E.
Published: December 2014

Background and Purpose—

Delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) is a serious complication after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. If DCI is suspected clinically, imaging methods designed to detect angiographic vasospasm or regional hypoperfusion are often used before instituting therapy. Uncertainty in the strength of the relationship between imaged vasospasm or perfusion deficits and DCI-related outcomes raises the question of whether imaging to select patients for therapy improves outcomes in clinical DCI.

Methods—

Decision analysis was performed using Markov models. Strategies were either to treat all patients immediately or to first undergo diagnostic testing by digital subtraction angiography or computed tomography angiography to assess for angiographic vasospasm, or computed tomography perfusion to assess for perfusion deficits. According to current practice guidelines, treatment consisted of induced hypertension. Outcomes were survival in terms of life-years and quality-adjusted life-years.

Results—

When treatment was assumed to be ineffective in nonvasospasm patients, Treat All and digital subtraction angiography were equivalent strategies; when a moderate treatment effect was assumed in nonvasospasm patients, Treat All became the superior strategy. Treating all patients was also superior to selecting patients for treatment via computed tomography perfusion. One-way sensitivity analyses demonstrated that the models were robust; 2- and 3-way sensitivity analyses with variation of disease and treatment parameters reinforced dominance of the Treat All strategy.

Conclusions—

Imaging studies to test for the presence of angiographic vasospasm or perfusion deficits in patients with clinical DCI do not seem helpful in selecting which patients should undergo treatment and may not improve outcomes. Future directions include validating these results in prospective cohort studies.
Rethinking Structure and Conjuncture in Althusser
Authors: Sotiris Panagiotis
Published: December 2014

The relation between structure and conjuncture has been one of the biggest challenges facing social theory and Louis Althusser’s writings provide some of the most important interventions on this subject. Contrary to an image of Althusser first embracing and then abandoning structuralism, Althusser tried from the beginning to articulate the theory of structural causality with an insistence on the singularity of historical conjunctures. Althusser’s theoretical trajectory, despite his shortcomings, still offers a necessary starting point for a materialist conception of the relation between structural and conjunctural determinations that stresses the complex, uneven and overdetermined character of social reality without resorting either to a ‘surface phenomena/deep structures’ dualism or to the empiricism of simply registering singular practices.
‘A Strange Mixture of Guevara and Togliatti’
Authors: Gaido Daniel , Alessio Constanza Bosch
Published: December 2014

This article analyses the intellectual and political trajectory of the Pasado y Presente group in Argentina, focusing on its main representative, José María Aricó (1931–91). Although usually described as ‘the Argentine Gramscians’, the ‘Gramscianism’ of the Pasado y Presente group was actually little more than a theoretical cover for its erratic political behaviour, which led them from Stalinism to Guevarism, from Guevarism to Maoism, from Maoism to Montoneros’s branch of Peronism, and from Peronism to Alfonsín’s Radicalism. Politically, their weakest point was that they distanced themselves from Stalinism empirically, because of the popularity of foquism, without undertaking a thorough critique of Stalinism. This made them vulnerable to the subsequent crisis of Stalinism, which they identified with a ‘crisis of Marxism’ sans phrase. What made them historically significant was that they articulated the radicalisation of a whole social layer in Latin America under the impact of the Cuban Revolution, as well as its subsequent deradicalisation and adaptation to bourgeois parliamentary democracy. The article closes with an analysis of Aricó’s intellectual legacy, particularly his well-known book Marx y América Latina (1980).
The Sense of a Vacuum
Authors: Tooze Adam
Published: December 2014

In response to the discussants this essay placesWages of Destructionin its historiographical context. In dialogue with Riley’s call for a reading of Nazi Germany in terms of a theory of imperialism, it calls for an account of the ‘variable geometry’ of regime-business relations. In conclusion, however, we must insist on the ‘vacuum’ of causal logic that is a defining characteristic of the history of the Nazi regime.
Amal Dunqul, The Prince of Protest Poets
Authors: Radwan Noha
Published: December 2014

Once called the prince of protest poets, Amal Dunqul (1940-1983) was indeed an Egyptian poet in permanent opposition to the figures of established authority, be it political, literary or religious. His poems were therefore often banned from mainstream publications, and deprived of timely critical and scholarly recognition. Although his poetry received critical recognition and attention posthumously, much remains to be done. Dunqul’s poems were original and unique contributions to modern Arabic poetry, especially with regards to his use of historical texts. This article is a study of three of Dunqul’s hallmark poems, written in 1961, 1967 and 1972 at three different stages of his short literary career. The article focuses on poetry’s intertextual engagement with history, and the political significance of this engagement.
Between Exile and Elegy, Palestine and Egypt: Mourid Barghouti’s Poetry and Memoirs
Authors: Nasser Tahia Abdel
Published: December 2014

This article reads the migration of poetry and memoirs by the Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti (Murīd al-Barghūthī) in the context of Egypt’s January 25, 2011 Revolution. At the start of 2012, the Cairo-based Barghouti dedicated excerpts from his 2005 booklength poem Muntaṣaf al-layl (Midnight) to the Taḥrīr martyrs. The poem’s own migration, interwoven with the exilic geography of Barghouti’s life and work, plots the intersection of exile with a new form of elegy in the contemporary Arabic literary scene. This new form of elegy, I argue, develops a revolutionary poetics by advancing images of heroism, martyrdom, and life. The poet’s memoirs I Saw Ramallah and I Was Born There, I Was Born Here illustrate the intertwined poetics of exile and elegy, tracing a transnational network of affiliations.
Borders and Go-Betweens
Authors: Karaboeva Emiliya
Published: December 2014

This chapter aims at discussing the socialist international truck drivers during the Cold War as a liminal group, stemming from two basic considerations: The first one is that roads and borders, which constitute the essence of the international truck drivers’ identity, practices and status, should be considered as classical liminal spaces; and the second is that the notion of liminality should be used as an independent analytical concept, not directly related to the ritual context. Drawing on state archival documents and interviews with former Bulgarian international truck drivers, the chapter conceptualizes the road system as a liminal space, then outlines the Bulgarian policies and practices governing border activity during the Cold War, within which Bulgarian international truck drivers emerged as a group. Further, the truckers are presented as crossing state and ideological borders, as oscillating between different official and non-official practices related to the ambivalent characteristics of Cold War relations, as possessing boundary and thus contradicting identities, and as existing in between different social statuses. This analysis of the liminal status and activities of the truck drivers allows for the grasping of the ambivalence of the Cold War as simultaneously a global conflict and an everyday experience, as a time of seclusion and intensive contacts, and allows us to look at the Cold War processes not just from below, from the standpoint of people of a lower-class position, such as the truckers, but from inside—from the interstitial space of the transnational road network, which both epitomized the ambivalence of the Cold War, but also was shaped by it.
Ctenostomatous Bryozoa from São Paulo, Brazil, with descriptions of twelve new species
Authors: Vieira Leandro M. , Migotto Alvaro E. , Winston Judith E.
Published: December 2014

This paper describes 21 ctenostomatous bryozoans from the state of São Paulo, Brazil, based on specimens observed in vivo. A new family, Jebramellidae n. fam., is erected for a newly described genus and species, Jebramella angusta n. gen. et sp. Eleven other species are described as new: Alcyonidium exiguum n. sp., Alcyonidium pulvinatum n. sp.,                       Alcyonidium torquatum n. sp., Alcyonidium vitreum n. sp., Bowerbankia ernsti n. sp., Bowerbankia evelinae n. sp., Bowerbankia mobilis n. sp., Nolella elizae n. sp., Panolicella brasiliensis n. sp., Sundanella rosea n. sp., Victorella araceae n. sp. Taxonomic and ecological notes are also included for nine previously described species: Aeverrillia setigera (Hincks, 1887), Alcyonidium hauffi Marcus, 1939, Alcyonidium polypylum Marcus, 1941, Anguinella palmata van Beneden, 1845,     Arachnoidella evelinae (Marcus, 1937), Bantariella firmata (Marcus, 1938) n. comb., Nolella sawayai Marcus, 1938, Nolella stipata Gosse, 1855 and Zoobotryon verticillatum (delle Chiaje, 1822).
Hydroclimatic Aspects of the 2011 Assiniboine River Basin Flood
Authors: Brimelow Julian , Szeto Kit , Bonsal Barrie , Hanesiak John , Kochtubajda Bohdan , Evans Fraser , Stewart Ronald
Published: December 2014

In the spring and early summer of 2011, the Assiniboine River basin in Canada experienced an extreme flood that was unprecedented in terms of duration and severity. The flood had significant socioeconomic impacts and caused over $1 billion (Canadian dollars) in damage. Contrary to what one might expect for such an extreme flood, individual precipitation events before and during the 2011 flood were not extreme; instead, it was the cumulative impact and timing of precipitation events going back to the summer of 2010 that played a key role in the 2011 flood. The summer and fall of 2010 were exceptionally wet, resulting in above-normal soil moisture levels at the time of freeze-up. This was followed by record high snow water equivalent values in March and April 2011. Cold temperatures in March delayed the spring melt, resulting in the above-average spring freshet occurring close to the onset of heavy rains in May and June. The large-scale atmospheric flow during May and June 2011 favored increased cyclone activity in the region, which produced an anomalously large number of heavy rainfall events over the basin. All of these factors combined generated extreme flooding. Japanese 55-year Reanalysis Project (JRA-55) data are used to quantify the relative importance of snowmelt and spring precipitation in contributing to the unprecedented flood and to demonstrate how the 2011 flood was unique compared to previous floods. This study can be used to validate and improve flood forecasting techniques over this important basin; the findings also raise important questions regarding floods in a changing climate over basins that experience pluvial and nival flooding.
Lateral Circulation Generates Flood Tide Stratification and Estuarine Exchange Flow in a Curved Tidal Inlet
Authors: Becherer Johannes , Stacey Mark T. , Umlauf Lars , Burchard Hans
Published: December 2014

Cross-channel transect measurements of microstructure and velocity in a well-mixed and curved tidal inlet in the German Wadden Sea show the occurrence of significant late flood stratification. This stratification is found to be a result of lateral straining. This study observes a strong single-cell lateral circulation, which is strongly pronounced at late flood and absent during most of ebb. This tidal asymmetry is caused by a systematic interplay between centrifugal forcing and the lateral baroclinic pressure gradient. During flood a positive feedback between the terms generates strong lateral circulation, whereas during ebb a negative feedback leads to a suppression of the cross-channel exchange. A theoretical framework based on vorticity is developed, which allows lateral and longitudinal circulation to be studied in a consistent way. With this framework it is possible to show that the tidal asymmetry of the lateral flow is a major driver of residual longitudinal estuarine circulation, here identified with the tidally averaged across-channel vorticity component.
Improving Lightning Cessation Guidance Using Polarimetric Radar Data
Authors: Preston Ari D. , Fuelberg Henry E.
Published: December 2014

Polarimetric radar data are used to develop lightning cessation guidance for the Cape Canaveral area of central Florida. For this purpose, 80 nonsevere thunderstorm cells in 2012, mostly during the warm season, are analyzed. In-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning data for the storms are obtained by combining information from the second-generation Lightning Detection and Ranging (LDAR-II) network and the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN). Storms are tracked using the Warning Decision Support System–Integrated Information (WDSS-II) software, producing time series of radar- and lightning-derived parameters. The 80 storms are split into two categories: 1) 50 isolated storms whose lightning initiation sources are confined to the core or anvil region of the storm and 2) 30 nonisolated cells whose lightning channels are initiated in a nearby active storm and extended to the dissipating study cell. Trends in polarimetric radar parameters at different temperature levels are studied for 40 of the 50 isolated storms to develop cessation guidance. Results based on a completely independent sample of 10 storms reveal that the best-performing cessation algorithm utilizes the presence of graupel and horizontal reflectivity ≥35 dBZ at the −10°C temperature altitude. Lightning is not expected 10 min after both thresholds are no longer met. However, this relationship does not apply to nonisolated cells because a neighboring storm could still be electrically active. Results show that a stratiform cloud region connecting the decaying storm to an active storm might facilitate further channel propagation that might not have occurred otherwise. Thus, the proposed cessation guidelines are not recommended for nonisolated cells.
Comparison of Hevylite™ IgA and IgG assay with conventional techniques for the diagnosis and follow-up of plasma cell dyscrasia
Authors: Paolini Lucia , Di Noto Giuseppe , Maffina Francesca , Martellosio Giovanni , Radeghieri Annalisa , Luigi Caimi , Ricotta Doris
Published: December 2014

Background

Heavy/light chain assay allows the characterization and quantification of immunoglobulin light chains bound to heavy chains for each Ig’k and Ig’λ immunoglobulin class, discriminating between the involved/uninvolved isotypes in plasma cell dyscrasia. The Ig’k/Ig’λ ratio (heavy/light chain ratio) enables to monitor the trend of monoclonal component during therapy and disease evolution.

Objective

In this study, we evaluate the impact of the heavy/light chain assay in monitoring multiple myeloma patients in comparison with conventional techniques.

Methods

Serum samples of 28 patients with IgG or IgA monoclonal component were collected for a mean of 109 days and analyzed. The heavy/light chain assay was compared with classical immunoglobulin quantification (Ig’Tot), serum immunofixation electrophoresis, serum protein electrophoresis, and serum-free light chains quantification. Serum samples from 30 healthy patients were used as control (polyclonal).

Results

Heavy/light chain ratio and serum immunofixation electrophoresis were comparable in 86% of the cases, and free light chain ratio and heavy/light chain ratio in 71.8%. Heavy/light chain assay and Ig’Tot measurements showed a concentration-dependent agreement in monoclonal patients. The heavy/light chain assay was able to quantify the monoclonal component migrating in SPE β region: this occurred in 10% of our IgG and 50% of our IgA patients.

Conclusions

The concordance scores indicate that heavy/light chain and Ig’Tot assays show differences at high monoclonal component values. The heavy/light chain ratio, serum immunofixation electrophoresis, and free light chain ratio showed partial concordance. Our study confirmed that, in the context of heavy/light chain assay, heavy/light chain Ig’k and Ig’λ absolute values and heavy/light chain ratio are both important tools to monitor the presence of monoclonal component that are difficult to be identified in SPE.
The Job Hunt
Authors: Stephens Cathy
Published: December 2014

The author offers advice for December graduates seeking teaching jobs, as well as where to look to find jobs advertised, when spring graduates should start to look for a job, and what to do if job candidates submit a cover letter addressed to the wrong person and district.
How much orientation towards the host culture is healthy? Acculturation style as risk enhancement for depressive symptoms in immigrants
Authors: Behrens Katharina , del Pozo Melina A , Großhennig Anika , Sieberer Marcel , Graef-Calliess Iris T
Published: December 2014

Aims:

As the specific acculturative tasks and challenges involved in the migration process can lead to an increased risk for depressive symptoms, the study was designed to gain further insight into the interrelation between acculturation styles and mental health.

Methods:

A total of n = 90 patients with different ethnic backgrounds from an outpatient consultation service for immigrants at the Hannover Medical School were investigated by the Hannover Migration and Mental Health Interview ( HMMH), the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale ( CES-D) and the Frankfurt Acculturation Scale ( FRAKK).

Results:

The majority of the subjects (84.4%) had a clinically significant depression. The extent of depressive symptoms was determined by the selected acculturation style (1) ( F = 3.29, p = .025): Subjects with integration as acculturation style showed less depressive symptoms than subjects with assimilation as acculturation style. Furthermore, subjects with segregation as acculturation style also showed less depressive symptoms than subjects with assimilation.

Conclusion:

The results suggest that even when undergoing extreme emotional distress, eventually leading to mental disorder, integration, as an acculturation style, seems to serve as a protective resource and possibly prevents further decline.
The effect of sugarcane bagasse fiber on the properties of recycled high density polyethylene
Authors: El-Fattah Ahmed Abd , EL Demerdash Abdel Ghaffar Maghraby , Alim Sadik Wagih Abdel , Bedir Alaa
Published: December 2014

Recycled high density polyethylene/sugarcane bagasse fiber composites were prepared by melt mixing using a two-roll mill and compression molding. The effects of the sugarcane bagasse fibers content and the addition of compatibilizing agent maleated polyethylene on the composite properties were studied. The scanning electron micrographs of the compatibilized composites showed clear evidence of good interfacial adhesion between the fiber surface and the polymer matrix. The tensile tests revealed that the compatibilized composites provide better tensile strength and modules than the uncompatibilized composites. The elongation at break and the impact strength for all the composites decreased significantly compared to the recycled high density polyethylene. The composites had the same melting temperature and were thermally less stable than that of the recycled high density polyethylene. The presence of maleated polyethylene was found to decrease the water absorption and slightly increase the specific gravity of the composites.
Fiber-cement composite using rice stalk fiber and rice husk ash: Mechanical and physical properties
Authors: Ghofrani Mohammad , Mokaram Kaveh Nikkar , Ashori Alireza , Torkaman Javad
Published: December 2014

Rice stalk fiber and rice husk ash are agricultural by-products, which are available worldwide in large quantities. There is, however, no information about suitability of the rice stalk fiber and rice husk ash combination for the production of fiber-cement composites in the open literature. This paper presents a parametric experimental study, which investigates the potential use of rice stalk fiber (as reinforcement) and rice husk ash (as cement replacement) admixtures for producing a lightweight fiber-cement composite as a building material. Three levels of fibrous materials, namely 10, 25 and 40 wt% were mixed with 0, 10 and 20 wt% of rice husk ash. Effects of these variable parameters on the mechanical (modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity and internal bond) and physical properties (water absorption and thickness swelling) of the samples were studied. The results showed the effect of high-level replacement of rice stalk fiber with rice husk ash does not exhibit a sudden brittle fracture even beyond the failure loads, indicating high energy absorption capacity of the composites. Based on the findings of this work, the water absorption and thickness swelling of the composites increased with the increasing rice stalk fiber content in the samples from 10 to 40 wt%. On the other hand, modulus of rupture and modulus of elasticity of the boards were enhanced with increase in the percentage of rice stalk fiber. Boards having 25 wt% rice stalk fiber exhibited the highest internal bond strength. However, addition of rice stalk fiber and rice husk ash reduced the internal bond strength. Moreover, boards made with rice stalk fiber had superior properties compared to boards made with a mixture of hardwood fibers.
In-plane shear characteristics of unidirectional glass fiber/epoxy functionally graded (FG) and nonfunctionally graded (NFG) composite laminates with statistical analysis
Authors: Selmy AI , Abd Elbaky MA , Ghazy MR , Kamel M
Published: December 2014

In this paper, a modified Iosipescu test fixture has been designed and fabricated to investigate the in-plane shear characteristics of unidirectional glass fiber/epoxy composite laminates which are functionally graded in the thickness direction ( z). Two functionally graded and three non-functionally graded unidirectional glass fiber/epoxy composite laminates with a total fiber volume fraction of 39.9 ± 0.3% and a total thickness of 6 mm were fabricated using hand lay-up technique. The effects of unidirectional arrangement of glass fiber layers and the number of layers on shear characteristics of functionally graded and non-functionally graded composites were studied experimentally. It was observed that the layer arrangement and the number of layers have a great effect on the shear properties of the tested composites. The specimen failure modes were recorded and discussed. Two-parameter Weibull distribution function was used to statistically analyze the in-plane shear test results. The failure probability curves were plotted for all tested composites which can be used by design engineers.
Pelvic inflammatory myofibroblastic tumour mimicking scrotal mass: an extremely rare case
Authors: Aykan Serdar , Akin Yigit , Basara Isil , Ates Mutlu , Tuken Murat , Uyar Meral , Nuhoglu Baris , Semercioz Atilla
Published: December 2014

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumour (IMT) is a rare benign mesenchymal tumour. However, IMT may arise from a wide variety of tissues and is very rare in the elderly. IMT may mimic the mass in which it originates. Although IMT has been defined as uncertain behaviour, it is treated surgically. We present a-65-year old man whose mass was diagnosed as IMT extending from scrotum to pelvis. The mass was independent of any surrounding anatomic structures. According to our best knowledge this is the first case in the literature that pelvic IMT was diagnosed in an elderly man and successfully treated surgically with a long term follow-up period. Aetiology of IMT is still unknown, and more studies are needed for exact continuum of IMT.
Compliant, Cynical, or Critical
Authors: Zhao Xu , Haste Helen , Selman Robert L. , Luan Ziyan
Published: December 2014

This article explores how school-aged Chinese youth make meaning of the civic roles of citizens in the context of a society with a powerful one-party government. We examined how 16 focus groups ( N = 64) of adolescents from urban and rural schools in Shanghai and Nantong talked about the causes and solutions of social problems facing China. Our analysis revealed a broad range of explanations of social problems, framed by contrasting narratives about the power relationship between the government and citizens. We explore how two narratives, categorized as cynical and compliant, dominated the group discussions in urban and rural schools, respectively, and how a third narrative, categorized as critical, also emerged.
Children’s Emotional and Behavioral Problems and Their Mothers’ Labor Supply
Authors: Richard Patrick , Gaskin Darrell J. , Alexandre Pierre K. , Burke Laura S. , Younis Mustafa
Published: December 2014

It has been documented that about 20% of children and adolescents suffer from a diagnosable mental or addictive disorder in the United States. The high prevalence of children’s emotional and behavioral problems (EBP) might have a negative effect on their mothers’ labor market outcomes because children with EBP require additional time for treatment. However, these children may require additional financial resources, which might promote mothers’ labor supply. Previous studies have only considered chronic conditions in analyzing the impact of children’s health on parental work activities. Moreover, most of these studies have not accounted for endogeneity in children’s health. This article estimates the effects of children’s EBP on their mothers’ labor supply by family structure while accounting for endogeneity in children’s health. We used the 1997 and 2002 Child Development Supplements (CDS) to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). We used probit and bivariate probit models to estimate mothers’ probability of employment, and tobit and instrumental variable tobit models to estimate the effects of children’s EBP on their mothers’ work hours. Findings show negative effects of children’s EBP on their married mothers’ employment and on their single mothers’ work hours.
Use Patterns of a State Health Care Price Transparency Web Site
Authors: Mehrotra Ateev , Brannen Tyler , Sinaiko Anna D.
Published: December 2014

To help people shop for lower cost providers, several states have created their own price transparency Web sites or passed legislation mandating health plans provide such information. New Hampshire’s HealthCost Web site is on the forefront of such initiatives. Despite the growing interest in price transparency, little is known about such efforts, including how often these tools are used and for what reason. We examined the use of New Hampshire HealthCost over a 3-year period. Approximately 1% of the state’s residents used the Web site, and the most common searches were for outpatient visits, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) scans, and emergency department visits. The results provide a cautionary note on the level of potential interest among consumers in this information but may guide others on practically what are the most “shop-able” services for patients.
Prospective Versus Retrospective Approaches to the Study of Intergenerational Social Mobility
Authors: Song Xi , Mare Robert D.
Published: December 2014

Most intergenerational social mobility studies are based upon retrospective data, in which samples of individuals report socioeconomic information about their parents, an approach that provides representative data for offspring but not the parental generation. When available, prospective data on intergenerational mobility, which are based on a sample of respondents who report on their progeny, have conceptual and practical advantages. Prospective data are especially useful for studying social mobility across more than two generations and for developing joint models of social mobility and demographic processes. Because prospective data remain relatively scarce, we propose a method that corrects retrospective mobility data for the unrepresentativeness of the parental generation and thus permits them to be used for models of social mobility and demographic processes. We illustrate this method using both simulated data and data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. In our examples, this method removes more than 95 percent of the bias in the retrospective data.
Toleration and Democratic Membership
Authors: Shanks Torrey
Published: December 2014

This essay examines John Locke’s engagement with monsters as a question of toleration in the Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Recounting a monster’s birth as a case of uncertain identity, Locke endorses a provisional form of judgment. I compare this response with Michel de Montaigne’s treatment of monsters in his Essays in order to highlight a politics of imagination and reason relevant to political judgment and toleration. Montaigne alerts us to significant silences in Locke’s treatment of monsters that reveal unrecognized dimensions of his tolerationist position in the Essay. The provisional judgment forwarded by each thinker resituates toleration from epistemological questions of identity toward various practices of acknowledgment as theorized by Stanley Cavell. Some of these practices of acknowledgement, I contend, are better suited to the conditions of democratic membership.
Controller design of a steel billet mould oscillation system with iterative feedback tuning
Authors: Zhao Jiangbo , Wang Junzheng , Wang Shoukun
Published: December 2014

In the continuous casting of steel billets, mould oscillation is a key process. The mould driven by a hydraulic cylinder is a big inertia system. Its trajectory is required to track a specific oscillation rule, but the tracking performance will be influenced by the molten steel weight. In this paper, dynamic pressure feedback (DPF) is proposed as compensation for the PID controller, to eliminate the adverse effect caused by the variation of the molten steel weight. The iterative feedback tuning (IFT) method is applied to tune the PID controller parameters and the DPF coefficient. In contrast to common IFT tuning structure, this paper designs a new scheme to estimate the cost function gradient with respect to the controller parameters. Numerical simulations and experimental results show the effectiveness of the DPF compensation strategy and the proposed parameter tuning method.
Tuning a digital multivariable controller for a lab-scale helicopter system via simulated annealing and evolutionary algorithms
Authors: Moness Mohammed , Moustafa Ahmed M.
Published: December 2014

Helicopter systems are considered a complex and challenging control problem due to strong couplings and high non-linearities. In this paper, simulated annealing (SA), as one of the leading methods in search and optimization, is applied to tune a multivariable controller of a lab-scale helicopter system. The lab-scale helicopter system is a multivariable experimental aerodynamic test rig that resembles the behaviour of a real helicopter. The control objectives are quickly to reach a desired position or track a trajectory. A centralized cross-coupled PID controller is used to achieve these objectives. First, SA optimizations are carried out with 24 different initial configurations. Then, the best results of these SA configurations are compared with other controllers obtained with evolutionary algorithms (EAs) of genetic algorithms (GAs), modified particle swarm optimization (MPSO) and differential evolution (DE). The comparisons are based on statistical measures of 20 independent trials, non-linear computer simulations of different input signals and real-time measurements for various commands of positions or trajectories. Results show that SA obtained the best performance index and acceptable time-domain performance on reaching hovering point, following a step command and tracking a sine trajectory compared with the investigated EAs.
Task Sequencing for Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
Authors: Knowles Christen , Meng Paul , Machalicek Wendy
Published: December 2014

We reviewed studies utilizing task sequencing to improve academic outcomes for children with emotional and/or behavioral disorders (EBD) in educational settings. Task sequencing interventions included high-probability, high-preference, and task interspersal interventions. Although task sequencing is commonly used in research, a synthesis of recent applications in educational settings for students with EBD is absent. Systematic searches of electronic databases and ancestral references identified 11 studies meeting inclusion criteria. These 11 studies were reviewed and analyzed for (a) participant characteristics, (b) experimental design, (c) type of academic outcome as the dependent variable, (d) intervention description, (e) certainty of evidence and research quality, and (f) reported student academic outcomes. Implications for continued applied practice and future research are discussed.
Reliability-Based Feature Weighting for Automated Essay Scoring
Authors: Attali Yigal
Published: December 2014

From their earliest origins, automated essay scoring systems strived to emulate human essay scores and viewed them as their ultimate validity criterion. Consequently, the importance (or weight) and even identity of computed essay features in the composite machine score were determined by statistical techniques that sought to optimally predict human scores from essay features. However, it is evident that machine evaluation of essays is fundamentally different from human evaluation and therefore is not likely to measure the same set of writing skills. As a consequence, feature weights of human-prediction machine scores (reflecting their importance in the composite scores) are bound to reflect statistical artifacts. This article suggests alternative feature weighting schemes based on the premise of maximizing reliability and internal consistency of the composite score. The article shows, in the context of a large-scale writing assessment, that these alternative weighting schemes are significantly different from human-prediction weights and give rise to comparable or even superior reliability and validity coefficients.
Maternal Employment, Work Experiences, and Financial Well-Being of Australian Mothers Who Care for Young Children With Special Health Care Needs
Authors: Dillon-Wallace Julie A. , McDonagh Sarah H. , Fordham Loraine A.
Published: December 2014

The employment and work experiences of mothers who care for young children with special health care needs is the focus of this study. It addresses a gap in the research literature, by providing an understanding of how mothers’ caring role may affect employment conditions, family life, and financial well-being. Quantitative data are drawn from Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. The current study employs a matched case–control methodology to compare the experiences of a group of 292 mothers whose children (aged 4-5 years) with long-term special health care needs with those mothers whose children were typically developing. There were few differences between the two groups with regard to job characteristics and job quality. There were significant differences between the two groups with regard to work–family balance. Fewer mothers with children with special health care needs reported work having a positive effect on family functioning.
The effect of grouping and program type on scholastic and affective outcomes in the Mawhiba schools partnership initiative
Authors: Batterjee Adel A
Published: December 2014

Researchers have struggled for decades to determine whether ability grouping is helpful or harmful; however, study findings have been inconsistent. To assess the effect of grouping and program type on scholastic and affective outcomes, three grouping types (gifted separate-class enrichment, pull-out gifted enrichment, and no enrichment), three program types (gifted program, high-ability students not in a gifted program, and average students in regular classes) and a sample of 600 male students were used in this study. Results show that grouping and program type affect students’ scholastic outcomes, with gifted enrichment programs having a significant effect on student learning, and students participating in gifted programs having a significantly more positive self-perception, both scholastically and socially, than do non-participating students. The present results support the grouping of gifted students homogeneously based on cognitive ability, and reinforce the notion that affective outcomes are a complicated issue where the factors are inter-related and capable of influencing students’ perceptions in different ways.
Talent’s network way of thinking
Authors: Gyarmathy Éva
Published: December 2014

In the 21st century support for gifted education and talent, as are many other earlier values and solutions, is being reassessed. In the age of rapidly changing values, keeping provision up-to-date is achieved through the continual rethinking, reviewing and challenging the concept of giftedness and talent. The perception and our understanding of what is described as ‘talent’ is a social product; that is, it is culture-dependent, but it does have some basic characteristics which are universal and which help us understand what is meant by the term ‘talent’ both in the past and the present. However, talent is not a homogeneous concept, even though it is often depicted as such in talent support, scientific studies of talent and talent models alike. Talents with different development histories have different needs and the environment necessary for development can differ substantially by age and talent forms. Consequently, provision should not be homogeneous, either. In the present study, through a rethinking of the talent concept, I propose an approach which favours network-based functioning, an approach better suited for use in today’s culture.
Singers, Cynics, Molecular Mice: The Political Aesthetics of Contemporary Activism
Authors: Raunig Gerald
Published: December 2014

On the basis of certain tensions between Jacques Rancière’s aesthetics and his political philosophy, the article tries to trace new modes of subjectivation in contemporary activism and art. It explores how the actors of the overlapping terrains of aesthetic and political practices organize ‘different forms, different spaces of expression and distribution of ideas’ in Rancière’s sense. Yet, analysing the practices of the Occupy movement, the Spanish M15 movement, and the dOCUMENTA (13) ‘agents’ AND AND AND as radically inclusive, polyvocal and transversal, it proposes a position that differs from Rancière’s rejection of activist art, a non-totalizing political aesthetics as a component of molecular revolution.
The Urban Problematic II
Authors: Bishop Ryan , Phillips John W.P.
Published: December 2014

This article provides a framework by way of introduction to the special section, ‘The Urban Problematic II’. It introduces a new selection of papers contributing to the continuing project of interrogating concepts, processes and practices associated with contemporary forms of urban life. The article focuses in particular on the problem of infrastructure in relation to questions of urban politics and especially remarks on the emergence of a kind of thinking in which the separation of notions of material infrastructure from those of the social or cultural sphere can no longer be usefully maintained. The essays in the section cumulatively address the issue of an emergent hybridity of urban elements: the virtual and the material, the social and the technical, the political and the instrumental, the vertical and the horizontal. The spectacle of contemporary political activism and dissent emerges in the transformation of social and urban space.
Derrida’s Archive
Authors: Bennington Geoffrey
Published: December 2014

It is argued that attempts to archive Derrida’s work and treat it in the standard terms of intellectual history are short-circuited by arguments within his work that undermine the coherence of the concept of archive as it is deployed in such historical descriptions. Drawing on a range of Derrida’s early and late writings and more especially his readings of Freud, it is suggested that Derrida’s claim that psychoanalysis ought to provoke a revision of the terms historians use to discuss it is a fortiori valid for deconstruction.
Mobile payments: a scoping study of the literature and issues for future research
Authors: de Albuquerque João Porto , Diniz Eduardo Henrique , Cernev Adrian Kemmer
Published: December 2014

Despite its huge potential, the use of mobile technology for carrying out payment transactions and replicating monetary features, has only taken off in a limited number of countries. The fact that mobile payment services are not being provided on a worldwide scale, suggests that the reasons for the successful cases are not yet fully understood, and as a result, cannot be easily replicated. This paper seeks to fill this knowledge gap by providing a comprehensive scoping study, which seeks to map out the literature published between 2001 and 2011. An investigation has been carried out of a total of 94 peer-reviewed papers, with the aim of providing a comprehensive picture of the knowledge, production and dissemination about mobile payments. Furthermore, this study includes a detailed analysis of 12 primary case studies on existing mobile payment schemes, as well as a consultation exercise with stakeholders. The main contribution of this study is to provide a clear account of the knowledge that exists on mobile payments. As a result, it has been possible to detect serious gaps in this knowledge base (in geographical, methodological and conceptual areas) and show how future research can make improvements in the field.