bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Actitudes implícitas y explícitas hacia personas con síndrome de Down: un estudio en colegios con y sin programas de integración de Chile
Authors: Sirlopú David , González Roberto , Bohner Gerd , Siebler Frank , Millar Andrés , Ordóñez Gabriela , Torres David , de Tezanos-Pinto Pablo
Published: April 2012

La integración escolar puede disminuir el prejuicio entre sus miembros a través del contacto. En esta área, las investigaciones suelen utilizar medidas explícitas pero son escasas las que han usado mediciones implícitas. En este artículo se pretende evaluar ambos tipos de actitudes hacia las personas con síndrome de Down (PCSD). Ochenta estudiantes chilenos entre los 11 y 15 años, pertenecientes a colegios con y sin programas de integración, participaron de este estudio. Las actitudes implícitas fueron medidas a través del Test de Asociación Implícita (IAT). Los resultados mostraron que los estudiantes, independiente del sistema escolar, mostraron sesgo implícito hacia las PCSD. En las actitudes explícitas, si bien ambas muestras exhibieron bajos niveles de prejuicio, en los colegios integrados se expresó menos ansiedad hacia las PCSD. Finalmente, la calidad, cantidad y saliencia se asociaron con menor ansiedad y más estereotipos positivos hacia las PCSD.
Validación de la Escala de 10 ítems de Actitud hacia la Homosexualidad (EAH-10)
Authors: Moral-De-Rubia José , Martínez-Sulvarán Juan-Oswaldo
Published: April 2012

Este estudio tenía por objetivos: validar la estructura factorial de la Escala de 10 ítems de Actitud hacia la Homosexualidad (EAH-10) (Moral y Ortega, 2008), calcular su consistencia interna, describir su distribución, y estimar su validez con la Escala de Homofobia en su versión de 6 ítems (EHF-6) (Moral y Martínez-Sulvarán, 2010). Se trabajó con una muestra de 200 hombres y 200 mujeres. La escala de 10 ítems presentó un coeficiente alfa de.87, una estructura de dos factores correlacionados con buen ajuste (χ2/gl = 2.11; RMSSR =.04, RMSEA =.05, GFI =.96 y AGFI =.94) que refleja patrones diferenciales de respuesta a los ítems redactados en sentido directo (rechazo) o inverso (aceptación). La distribución de EAH-10 se ajustó a una curva normal, reflejando su promedio una actitud de tolerancia hacia la homosexualidad. La escala presentó validez convergente con EHF-6 (r =.68). Se desea fomentar su uso y estudio en otras poblaciones.
Menores con conducta de maltrato hacia los progenitores: un estudio de personalidad y estilos de socialización
Authors: Castañeda Alejandra , Garrido-Fernández Miguel , Lanzarote María-Dolores
Published: April 2012

El propósito de esta investigación es determinar si existen características de personalidad y estilos de socialización parental diferenciales entre los adolescentes que agreden a sus progenitores y aquellos que no lo) hacen. Para ello se aplicó el MACI (Inventario Clínico para Adolescentes de Millon) y el ESPA29 (Escala de Socialización Parental en la Adolescencia de Musitu y García) en una muestra de 14 adolescentes (9 varones y 5 mujeres), con edades comprendidas entre los 14 y 18 años e internados en Centros de Reforma en régimen semiabierto de Andalucía Occidental. Para determinar las características diferenciales se aplicaron las mismas pruebas a una muestra pareada formada por estudiantes de un Instituto de Educación Secundaria (I.E.S.) de Sevilla que no presentaban conductas violentas hacia sus progenitores. Los resultados obtenidos confirman rasgos de personalidad antisocial y sintomatología depresiva en los jóvenes agresores así como estilos de socialización parental caracterizados por la baja coerción/imposición.
Discapacidad visual y orientación urbana. Estudio piloto sobre planos táctiles producidos en Impresión 3D
Authors: Gual Jaume , Puyuelo Marina , Lloverás Joaquim , Merino Lola
Published: April 2012

El trabajo aquí expuesto presenta un estudio piloto llevado a cabo en Barcelona con personas invidentes y deficientes visuales. El objetivo del mismo ha sido analizar el uso y la eficacia de los planos táctiles producidos mediante Impresión en 3D. Para ello se han empleado entrevistas estructuradas, observación directa, realización de mapas cognitivos y tareas con prototipos. De esta manera se ha tratado de profundizar en el valor instrumental y comunicativo de estos productos a la hora de interpretar, memorizar y comprender un determinado recorrido urbano, contrastándolo con la experiencia in situ, atendiendo a las dificultades que este tipo de personas presentan a la hora de visitar nuevos lugares. Los resultados obtenidos demuestran la utilidad de este tipo de técnica para memorizar recorridos por parte de este tipo de usuarios. Como limitación, el estudio muestra que los planos táctiles no resultan del todo eficientes pues precisan de apoyo verbal, hecho que dificulta su uso autónomo.
Visual Impairment and urban orientation. Pilot study with tactile maps produced through 3D Printing
Authors: Gual Jaume , Puyuelo Marina , Lloverás Joaquim , Merino Lola
Published: April 2012

This article presents a pilot study conducted in Barcelona with blind and visually-impaired people. The aim was to analyze the use and efficacy of tactile maps produced by means of 3D printing. For this purpose, structured interviews were used, along with direct observation, the creation of cognitive maps and tasks with prototypes. The aim has been to examine the instrumental and communicative value of these products in terms of interpreting, memorizing and understanding a certain urban route, comparing this with experience in situ, focusing on the difficulties faced by the visually disabled when visiting new places. Findings show the utility of this type of technique in aiding visually disabled users to memorize routes. As a limitation, this study shows that tactile maps are not wholly efficient since they require verbal support, which makes it hard for them to be used autonomously.
La restauración percibida infantil: adaptación de la escala PRCS for Children en una muestra española
Authors: Corraliza José A. , Collado Silvia , Bethelmy Lisbeth
Published: April 2012

Diversos estudios demuestran que cuando la capacidad de atención de los niños disminuye, éstos se concentran peor, les resulta difícil enfrentarse a situaciones estresantes y son más proclives a tomar riesgos innecesarios. Un importante número de investigaciones avalan que los ambientes naturales propician la recuperación de la capacidad de atención en mayor medida que los ambientes urbanos o semiurbanos. En este sentido, varios instrumentos han sido utilizados para medir la restauración percibida de personas adultas en distintos ambientes, sin embargo, se ha prestado poca atención a la búsqueda de instrumentos que midan la restauración percibida de los niños. En este trabajo se ha adaptado la Perceived Restorative Componentes Scale for Children de Bagot, Kuo y Allen (2007) para ser usada en castellano. Se ha aplicado a una muestra de 832 niños y niñas españoles de entre 6 y 13 años. Los resultados muestran la importancia de la presencia de elementos naturales en los patios de los colegios, comprobándose que los patios caracterizados por la mayor presencia de elementos naturales (vegetación baja, árboles, etc.) tienen un mayor efecto positivo en el incremento de la restauración percibida.
Número especial: Espacios urbanos y Sostenibilidad
Authors: Hidalgo M. Carmen
Published: April 2012

Se publica en este número especial una selección de los trabajos presentados en el XI Congreso de Psicología Ambiental (Almería, Febrero 2011). El Congreso ha girado en torno a dos ejes: Espacios urbanos y Sostenibilidad, pero lejos de pretender una división entre ambos, en la mayor parte de las investigaciones, como las aquí presentadas, estos ejes se superponen y complementan. Por otra parte, los artículos seleccionados para este número si bien difieren en las temáticas y metodologías utilizadas, coinciden todos ellos en contribuir y aportar soluciones desde el ámbito de la Psicología Ambiental al incremento del bienestar humano mediante el análisis de la interrelación de las personas con el ambiente (natural y/o urbano) que les rodea, lo que no es sino uno de los objetivos principales de la disciplina (Gifford, 2002).
Evaluation and Bias Correction of Regional Climate Model Results Using Model Evaluation Measures
Authors: Schoetter Robert , Hoffmann Peter , Rechid Diana , Schlünzen K. Heinke
Published: April 2012

For the assessment of regional climate change the reliability of the regional climate models needs to be known. The main goal of this paper is to evaluate the quality of climate model data that are used for impact research. Temperature, precipitation, total cloud cover, relative humidity, and wind speed simulated by the regional climate models Climate Local Model (CLM) and Regional Model (REMO) are evaluated for the metropolitan region of Hamburg in northern Germany for the period 1961–2000. The same evaluation is performed for the global climate model ECHAM5 that is used to force the regional climate models. The evaluation is based on comparison of the simulated and observed climatological annual cycles and probability density functions of daily averages. Several model evaluation measures are calculated to assure an objective model evaluation. As a very selective model evaluation measure, the hit rate of the percentiles is introduced for the evaluation of daily averages. The influence of interannual climate variability is considered by determining confidence intervals for the model evaluation measures by bootstrap resampling. Evaluation shows that, with some exceptions, temperature and wind speed are well simulated by the climate models; whereas considerable biases are found for relative humidity, total cloud cover, and precipitation, although not for all models in all seasons. It is shown that model evaluation measures can be used to decide for which meteorological parameters a bias correction is reasonable.
Air–Sea Enthalpy and Momentum Exchange at Major Hurricane Wind Speeds Observed during CBLAST
Authors: Bell Michael M. , Montgomery Michael T. , Emanuel Kerry A.
Published: April 2012

Quantifying air–sea exchanges of enthalpy and momentum is important for understanding and skillfully predicting tropical cyclone intensity, but the magnitude of the corresponding wind speed–dependent bulk exchange coefficients is largely unknown at major hurricane wind speeds greater than 50 m s−1. Since direct turbulent flux measurements in these conditions are extremely difficult, the momentum and enthalpy fluxes were deduced via absolute angular momentum and total energy budgets. An error analysis of the methodology was performed to quantify and mitigate potentially significant uncertainties resulting from unresolved budget terms and observational errors. An analysis of six missions from the 2003 Coupled Boundary Layers Air–Sea Transfer (CBLAST) field program in major hurricanes Fabian and Isabel was conducted using a new variational technique. The analysis indicates a near-surface mean drag coefficient CD of 2.4 × 10−3 with a 46% standard deviation and a mean enthalpy coefficient CK of 1.0 × 10−3 with a 40% standard deviation for wind speeds between 52 and 72 m s−1. These are the first known estimates of CK and the ratio of enthalpy to drag coefficient CK/CD in major hurricanes. The results suggest that there is no significant change in the magnitude of the bulk exchange coefficients estimated at minimal hurricane wind speeds, and that the ratio CK/CD does not significantly increase for wind speeds greater than 50 m s−1.
Reconstruction of Summer Sea Level Pressure over East Asia since 1470
Authors: Wei Fengying , Hu Lei , Chen Guanjun , Li Qian , Xie Yu
Published: April 2012

A close relationship between sea level pressure (SLP) over East Asia and precipitation indices (PIs) in eastern China was observed in the summers (June–August) of 1850–2008 using singular value decomposition (SVD) analysis. To investigate this relationship over a longer period, the SLP fields were reconstructed back to 1470 based on a mathematical model and the historical precipitation indices of eastern China. A cross-validation test of independent samples suggests that the reconstructed SLPs are statistically acceptable. According to the first three predominant SVD modes of the SLP field, three SLP index series (SLPI1–SLPI3) were developed to quantify the thermodynamic differences among the critical SLP centers of East Asia. Both SLPI1 and SLPI2 are highly correlated with the East Asian summer monsoon index, whereas SLPI3 is related to the index of Eurasian meridional atmospheric circulation. The temporal scales of SLP indices were examined during 1470–2008 using the wavelet power spectra. Results indicate that there is significant variance at a 2–5-yr band in the power spectra of the three SLP indices, suggesting SLPI1–SLPI3 have evident interannual variability. Moreover, the wavelet power spectra of SLPI1 and SLPI2 show significantly higher power at the 8–12-yr scale from 1470 to 1750 and at the 60–90-yr scale after 1750. For SLPI3, besides the interannual variability, it has additional periodical variability of 6–11 and 23–33 yr.
Merging Seasonal Rainfall Forecasts from Multiple Statistical Models through Bayesian Model Averaging
Authors: Wang Q. J. , Schepen Andrew , Robertson David E.
Published: April 2012

Merging forecasts from multiple models has the potential to combine the strengths of individual models and to better represent forecast uncertainty than the use of a single model. This study develops a Bayesian model averaging (BMA) method for merging forecasts from multiple models, giving greater weights to better performing models. The study aims for a BMA method that is capable of producing relatively stable weights in the presence of significant sampling variability, leading to robust forecasts for future events. The BMA method is applied to merge forecasts from multiple statistical models for seasonal rainfall forecasts over Australia using climate indices as predictors. It is shown that the fully merged forecasts effectively combine the best skills of the models to maximize the spatial coverage of positive skill. Overall, the skill is low for the first half of the year but more positive for the second half of the year. Models in the Pacific group contribute the most skill, and models in the Indian and extratropical groups also produce useful and sometimes distinct skills. The fully merged probabilistic forecasts are found to be reliable in representing forecast uncertainty spread. The forecast skill holds well when forecast lead time is increased from 0 to 1 month. The BMA method outperforms the approach of using a model with two fixed predictors chosen a priori and the approach of selecting the best model based on predictive performance.
Semidiurnal Baroclinic Wave Momentum Fluxes at Kaena Ridge, Hawaii
Authors: Pinkel Robert , Rainville Luc , Klymak Jody
Published: April 2012

Kaena Ridge, Hawaii, is a site of energetic conversion of the semidiurnal barotropic tide. Diffuse baroclinic wave beams emanate from the critical-slope regions near the ridge crest, directed upward and southward from the north flank of the ridge and upward and northward from the south flank. Here, the momentum fluxes associated with generation at the ridge are estimated. Continuous vertical profiles of density and velocity from 80 to 800 m were obtained from the Research Platform Floating Instrument Platform (FLIP) over the southern edge of the ridge, as an aspect of the Hawaii Ocean Mixing Experiment. Data are used to estimate the Reynolds stress, Eulerian buoyancy flux, and the combined Eliassen–Palm flux in the semidiurnal band. An upward–southward stress maximum of ~0.5 × 10−4 m2 s−2 appears at depths of 300–500 m, generally consistent with beam-like behavior. A strong off-ridge buoyancy flux (~0.3 × 10−4 m2 s−3) combines with large along-ridge Reynolds stresses to form an Eliassen–Palm flux whose along-ridge and across-ridge magnitudes are comparable. The stress azimuth rotates clockwise with increasing altitude above the ridge crest. The principal upward–southward beam is found to be at depths 100–300 m shallower than are predicted by an analytic two-dimensional (2D) model and a 3D numerical simulation. This discrepancy is consistent with previous observations of the baroclinic energy flux. If these observed tidal momentum fluxes were to diverge in a 100-m-thick near-surface layer, the forcing would be comparable to a moderate wind stress. Pronounced lateral gradients of baroclinic tidal stresses can be expected offshore of Hawaiian topography.
Assimilation of High-Resolution Mode-S Wind and Temperature Observations in a Regional NWP Model for Nowcasting Applications
Authors: de Haan Siebren , Stoffelen Ad
Published: April 2012

In this paper the beneficial impacts of high-resolution (in space and time) wind and temperature observations from aircraft on very short-range numerical weather forecasting are presented. The observations are retrieved using the tracking and ranging radar from the air traffic control facility at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. This enhanced surveillance radar tracks all aircraft in sight every 4 s, generating one million wind and temperature observations per day in a radius of 270 km around the radar. Nowcasting applications will benefit from improved three-dimensional wind fields. When these observations are assimilated into a numerical model with an hourly update cycle, the short-range three-dimensional wind field forecasts match the observations better than those from an operational forecast cycle, which is updated every 3 h. The positive impact on wind in the first hours of the forecast gradually turns into a neutral impact, when compared to other wind and temperature observations. The timeliness of the forecasts combined with the high resolution of the observations are the main reasons for the observed nowcasting benefits. All in all, the assimilation of high-resolution wind (and temperature) observations is found to be beneficial for nowcasting and short-range forecasts up to 2–3 h.
Lethal and Other Serious Assaults
Authors: Jordan Carol E. , Clark James , Pritchard Adam , Charnigo Richard
Published: April 2012

Women represent a relatively small percentage of known violent offenders, a disproportionality in offending that increases as the severity of the crime increases. The exception is intimate partner homicide where some studies find U.S. rates of offending by women approach those of men. Although the literature makes clear that significant gender differences exist in the commission of homicide, a more contextualized picture of the female offenders and the pathways leading to criminal offending does not exist. This study uses data from one state’s correctional system to examine the circumstances under which females kill or seriously assault intimate partners and, in particular, assesses the tenability of a prevailing stereotype that has been invoked to describe female intimate partner violence.
Pressure and oxygen debt on bypass – potential quality markers of perfusion?
Authors: Poullis M , Palmer K , Al-Rawi O , Johnson I , Ridgeway T
Published: April 2012

No markers of quality of perfusion pressure and oxygen delivery during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), to complement rewarming rate, maximum temperature on rewarming, lowest haematocrit, and blood glucose, exist. Using the electronic acquisition of blood pressure on bypass (JOCAP system), the percentage of time perfusion pressure was below 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 mmHg, average deviance, confidence interval, median, mode, standard deviation, variance, and average, maximum and cumulative oxygen debt were calculated. Numerous different readouts of achievement of maintenance of constant pressure on bypass and oxygen debt are now easily achievable with perfusion electronic data management systems. Mean, median, and mode offer poor discrimination of pressure control during CPB. Percentage of time perfusion pressure was below 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 mmHg, average deviance, confidence interval, and standard deviation all have discriminatory power, but need clinical correlation for their significance. A composite score involving non-pressure readouts (e.g. oxygen delivery, arterial and venous saturations, and flow rates) may need to be integrated into any perfusion quality marker. Assessment of adequacy of constant perfusion pressure and oxygen delivery may allow the scientific evaluation of pressure and oxygen delivery on bypass for patients to be compared accurately. Currently, in studies involving CPB, blood pressure targets are stated with no quantitative assessment of adequacy of achievement of these targets. Electronic data monitoring during cardiopulmonary bypass, when correlated with clinical outcome, may help to provide a marker of quality of perfusion pressure during CPB and may, indeed, allow patient-specific perfusion pressure strategies to be developed.
NGO permanent housing 10 years after the Gujarat earthquake: revisiting the FICCI–CARE Gujarat rehabilitation programme
Authors: Sanderson David , Sharma Anshu , Anderson Juliet
Published: April 2012

The January 2001 earthquake that struck the state of Gujarat in India damaged or destroyed some 8,000 villages and 490 towns. In the months and years after the earthquake, many organizations undertook widespread reconstruction programmes. One such collaboration between the NGO CARE India and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) built 5,554 permanent houses as well as schools and community centres in 23 villages. This paper revisits 10 of the 23 villages that were partially or fully rebuilt by FICCI–CARE, 10 years after the earthquake. It finds that while the houses remain structurally strong and are mostly in use, residents’ levels of satisfaction, perception and usage are mixed. A central theme concerns the initial prioritization of seismic safety, which has sacrificed longer-term considerations of comfort, adaptability and the environment. The paper describes the houses that were built and presents findings according to structural condition, engagement in design, adaptations, house selling and perceptions of safety. The discussion presents four issues that emerge from the findings and wider research. The paper ends by proposing a simple equation for good housing, which places people’s involvement in building processes as the vital component.
Participatory integrated assessment of flood protection measures for climate adaptation in Dhaka
Authors: Haque Anika Nasra , Grafakos Stelios , Huijsman Marijk
Published: April 2012

Dhaka is one of the largest megacities in the world and its population is growing rapidly. Due to its location on a deltaic plain, the city is extremely prone to detrimental flooding, and risks associated with this are expected to increase further in the coming years due to global climate change impacts as well as the high rate of urbanization the city is facing. The lowest-lying part of Dhaka, namely Dhaka East, is facing the most severe risk of flooding. Traditionally, excess water in this part of the city was efficiently stored in water ponds and gradually drained into rivers through connected canals. However, the alarming increase in Dhaka’s population is causing encroachment of these water retention areas because of land scarcity. The city’s natural drainage is not functioning well and the area is still not protected from flooding, which causes major threats to its inhabitants. This situation increases the urgency to adapt effectively to current flooding caused by climate variability and also to the impacts of future climate change. Although the government is planning several adaptive measures to protect the area from floods, a systematic framework to analyze and assess them is lacking. The objective of this paper is to develop an integrated framework for the assessment and prioritization of various (current and potential) adaptation measures aimed at protecting vulnerable areas from flooding. The study identifies, analyzes, assesses and prioritizes adaptive initiatives and measures to address flood risks in the eastern fringe area, and the adaptation assessment is conducted within the framework of multi-criteria analysis (MCA) methodology. MCA facilitates the participation of stakeholders and hence allows normative judgements, while incorporating technical expertise in the adaptation assessment. Based on the assessment, adaptive measures are prioritized to indicate which actions should be implemented first. Such a participatory integrated assessment of adaptation options is currently lacking in the decision-making process in the city of Dhaka and could greatly help reach informed and structured decisions in the development of adaptation strategies for flood protection.
Enabling participatory planning with GIS: a case study of settlement mapping in Cuttack, India
Authors: Livengood Avery , Kunte Keya
Published: April 2012

This paper describes the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) devices to map informal settlements in Cuttack, India in ways that enhance and support residents’ participation in the data collection and planning process. Rather than relying on remote sensing to identify informal settlement locations, each settlement is visited individually by a mapping team comprised of community leaders and NGO staff. The mapping team meets with settlement residents to develop a detailed settlement profile and map the settlement boundary using a GPS device. This process has helped to open and sustain a dialogue between the residents of informal settlements and city government around “slum” upgrading, and has influenced the use of a central government fund to support local upgrading plans.
Facilitating community mapping and planning for citywide upgrading: the role of community architects
Authors: Archer Diane , Luansang Chawanad , Boonmahathanakorn Supawut
Published: April 2012

This paper examines the role that community architects and other professionals can play in helping urban poor communities to survey and map their living conditions and draw up comprehensive site plans for upgrading or relocation projects. The mapping process can lead not only to a physical map but also to dialogue and understanding between community residents about the place they call home and how it relates to the wider environment, which will feed into the planning process. In addition, all the communities within a city may join together to carry out citywide mapping of informal settlements, effectively putting themselves on the map and on the local authorities’ agenda. Throughout these stages of mapping, the role of the professional is to facilitate the processes technically, as well as to ask the right questions of the community members so as to encourage them towards a deeper understanding of their socio-political and physical living context, and to take the lead in developing solutions.
Institutional Work in The Wire
Authors: Zundel Mike , Holt Robin , Cornelissen Joep
Published: April 2012

Analysis of institutional work is habitually complicated by the need to combine agentic and structural features. Drawing on the work of Gregory Bateson, the authors suggest that such complications emerge from an error in epistemology whereby the stability and “it-ness” of things is presupposed. As an alternative, they develop a processual analysis that considers the flexibility of adaptation in relational patterns. Here, institutional phenomena are not stable but characterized by regenerative and degenerative cycles of influence that afford or restrict room for maneuver without classifying them “as” something. The authors explicate this by drawing on empirical material covered in the HBO TV series The Wire.
Communicating Environment in the Okavango Delta, Botswana
Authors: Thakadu Olekae T. , Tau Ontiretse S.
Published: April 2012

The study explored environmental communication strategies within the Okavango Delta, northwest Botswana. A survey instrument was administered to 120 respondents, randomly sampled across four villages. The findings show that respondents obtain environmental conservation information from diverse source organizations. Agencies use a multimix approach that utilizes different channels of communication, such as mass media and group channels. Statistically significant associations were found among the radio audience by education and among the television audience by age, education, and gender; and no statistically significance association was found between the kgotla group channel and the three demographic variables. Findings suggest that the interventions have promoted proenvironmental behaviors and attitudes among the respondents. Implications for environmental communication practice and directions for future research are discussed.
Aiming for Social or Political Robustness? Media Strategies Among Climate Scientists
Authors: Tøsse Sunniva Eikeland
Published: April 2012

This study examines climate scientists’ views on media science communication and their strategies for dealing with journalists and climate deniers. Drawing on scholarly calls for openness and public engagement, particularly the concept of “socially robust knowledge,” this article discusses how climate scientists weigh concerns of control, openness, and transparency when considering how to best communicate with the public through the mass media. The author argues that “socially robust knowledge” neglects the challenges of “medialization” of climate science and proposes that the climate scientists’ strategy can better be described as attempts to achieve “politically robust” communication.
Predictors of Pro-Environmental Behaviors of American and Korean Students
Authors: Kim Soojung , Jeong Se-Hoon , Hwang Yoori
Published: April 2012

This study employs the theory of reasoned action and protection motivation theory to predict American and Korean students’ intentions to engage in behaviors that can help mitigate climate change. The results indicate that one’s attitudes toward the prevention of climate change, perceived severity of climate change, response efficacy, and self-efficacy regarding climate change prevention were significant predictors of one’s intentions to engage in a series of pro-environmental behaviors. In addition, there were few cross-cultural differences. These results suggest that protection motivation theory, together with the theory of reasoned action, is a useful framework for understanding pro-environmental behaviors.
Remote Collaboration
Authors: Borwein Jonathan , Borwein Peter , Jungic Veselin
Published: April 2012

In this article, the authors describe the Coast-to-Coast Seminar Series, a pan-Canadian scientific event that has been running since 2005. A short history of the series and a listing of the various stages of its development and related challenges in communicating complex scientific topics to audiences at a number of remote sites is provided. In particular, the authors revisit the original goals of the series and discuss in detail its actual outcomes. They finish by mentioning some present and future applications of their experience as organizers of the series.
Women’s Pathways Into Activism
Authors: Perkins Tracy E.
Published: April 2012

This article explores women’s pathways to participation in environmental justice advocacy in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Many scholars find that women become environmental justice activists according to a common set of experiences in which apolitical women personally experience an environmental problem that launches them into a life activism to protect the health of their families. Although a small group of the 25 women the author interviewed fit this description, overall the interviews reveal a much more diverse array of paths into environmental justice activism. The author’s data complicate the idea that environmental justice activism is the first political activity for most women environmental justice activists and that they are motivated to become activists primarily in order to protect the health of their families. The author discusses the significance of these findings and concludes with a call for scholars to revisit the question of women’s pathways into environmental justice activism.
Skin Viscoelasticity
Authors: Everett Janine S. , Sommers Marilyn S.
Published: April 2012

Skin is the primary interface between health care providers and patients and is assessed clinically to predict physiological stability or instability. The biomechanical properties of human skin, most notably elasticity and viscoelasticity, are critical to its protective function. In this article, the authors describe the physiological basis for skin elasticity and viscoelasticity. The authors discuss the role of viscoelasticity in nursing science and consider avenues for scientific exploration of the skin’s biomechanical properties, including applications in pressure ulcer research, injury, and healing. They also discuss the Cutometer® as one option for measurement of viscoelasticity in clinical and bench research protocols.
Forging friendships: The use of collective pro-terms by pre-school children
Authors: Bateman Amanda
Published: April 2012

This article discusses the ways in which a group of four-year-old children co-constructed friendship networks when they began primary school in Wales, UK. This discussion has emanated from a wider study of the everyday social interactions children engage in when new to their school environment. The children’s interactions were investigated through the use of an inductive, ethnomethodological approach through the combination of conversation analysis (CA) and membership categorization analysis (MCA). The transcriptions revealed that the children used the collective pro-terms ‘we’ and ‘us’ in order to explicate affiliations and exclusions with their peers in their everyday social interactions. These findings offer an insight into the daily social organization processes children engage in and suggests their preference for exclusive dyadic friendships. The article also reveals the social competencies which four-year-old children have in accomplishing social organization.
Contextual frames and their argumentative implications: A case study in media argumentation
Authors: Morasso Sara Greco
Published: April 2012

By presenting a case study based on the argumentative analysis of news in the press, this article introduces and discusses strategic manoeuvring with contextual frames. Drawing on the linguistic notion of frame, I introduce the concept of contextual frame to refer to the news context, that is, the background against which a certain event is presented as a piece of news. I argue that newspapers and journalists make use of contextual frames in the apparently neutral genre of news reporting to propose specific interpretations of the facts at issue, which become the basis for explicit comments and editorials. To show how this works, I investigate in detail a case of newspaper coverage of a complex episode using the pragma-dialectical notion of strategic manoeuvring and the Argumentum Model of Topics (AMT) to analyse argument schemes. I show that, in the use of contextual frames, there is a prominent relation between presentational devices (the lexical choices that build up the frame) and topical potential; contextual frames provide the implicit material premises ( endoxa) which are at the basis of argumentations through which newspapers interpret and comment on the news.
The historical roots of a diffusion process: The three-pillar doctrine and European pension debates (1972–1994)
Authors: Leimgruber Matthieu
Published: April 2012

Brought to fame by a 1994 World Bank report, the idea of pension pillarization has become part of the orthodoxy of pension reform. Yet scholars have neglected both the national origins and the pre-1994 diffusion of the ‘three-pillar doctrine’. This article presents a critical history of the transnational diffusion process that led to the adoption of this concept at the World Bank. My analysis retrieves the Swiss roots of the doctrine during the late 1960s, as well as its gradual adoption and mainstreaming during the 1970s and early 1980s by a transnational epistemic community of life insurers and pension consultants. By 1990, the doctrine was widely used without reference to its national origins: a Swiss trademark had become a generic reform idea that framed controversies on the future shape of old-age provision.
Diabetes mellitus in anaesthesia
Authors: Giquel Jadelis , Rodriguez-Blanco Yiliam F , Matadial Christina , Candiotti Keith
Published: April 2012

Anaesthesiologists frequently encounter patients with diseases of the endocrine system, in particular diabetes mellitus. The major risk factors for people with diabetes undergoing surgery are the associated end-organ diseases: cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy, joint collagen tissue, and immune deficiency. Due to the fact that endocrine diseases can be associated with significant peri-operative morbidity and mortality, it is critical that anaesthesiologists understand these disorders and when indicated request the appropriate investigations.
Left atrial myxoma with aortobifemoral thromboembolism, rhabdomyolysis, acute tubular necrosis and ischaemic paraparesis mimicking metastatic renal cell carcinoma
Authors: Kaul Pankaj , Balaji Subbarayalu , Prescott Stephen , Welsh Colin
Published: April 2012

A 56-year-old man presented with aortobifemoral thromboembolism, ischaemic paraplegia, rhabdomyolysis and acute renal tubular necrosis while awaiting nephrectomy for a right renal tumour. An echocardiogram to investigate the source of embolism revealed a 7 x 3 cm mass attached to the left atrial septal wall which prolapsed through the mitral valve. The patient successfully underwent bilateral femoral embolectomy and staged operations for the excision of the left atrial mass, reported on histopathology as myxoma, and open partial nephrectomy of a high grade papillary type renal cell carcinoma. We discuss the dilemmas of diagnosis and the staging of various surgical interventions in a patient of known malignancy who presents with aortobifemoral thromboembolism with multiorgan complications and also harbours a cardiac mass which could be another thrombus, an unrelated primary benign or malignant tumour or a metastasis from the primary renal tumour.
Effect of a high monounsaturated fatty acid diet alone or with combined vitamin E and C, or lycopene intake on oxidative stress in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus
Authors: Badkook Maha , McCullough Fiona , Ahmed Nessar
Published: April 2012

The aims of this study were to investigate the effect of a high monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) diet alone or with combined vitamin E and C, or lycopene intake on oxidative stress in type 2 diabetes in Saudi Arabia. Forty-eight type 2 diabetic patients consumed a high MUFA diet for 16 weeks. After four weeks of high MUFA diet alone, supplements of vitamins E (400 mg) and C (1,000 mg) were taken for four weeks, followed by a four-week washout period. In the final four weeks, subjects consumed a high MUFA diet with tomato paste (equivalent to 12 mg lycopene). Plasma samples were tested for vitamin E and C, lycopene, malondialdehyde (MDA), total antioxidant status, fasting plasma glucose and glycated haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c). A high-MUFA diet with vitamins E and C or lycopene caused significant elevation of plasma vitamins E, C and lycopene compared to a high-MUFA diet alone. Plasma MDA was reduced with vitamins, but not lycopene supplementation. The total antioxidant status increased significantly following a high-MUFA diet and with vitamin and lycopene supplementations. Fasting glucose was not affected whereas HbA1c decreased significantly after vitamin supplementation compared to baseline. A high-MUFA diet supplemented with vitamin E and C, or lycopene improves antioxidant status in type 2 diabetes.
Hypertriglyceridaemia in type 2 diabetes: prevalence, risk and primary care management
Authors: Sinclair Alan
Published: April 2012

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) associated with type 2 diabetes will impose an increasing burden on primary care over the next few decades. Several mutually reinforcing factors account for the increased CVD risk among patients with diabetes, including hypertriglyceridaemia, the importance of which has been generally underestimated. A consensus from the literature suggests that fasting triglyceride levels of 1.7 mmol/L or above may be a cause for cardiovascular concern and warrant further investigation. Apart from CVD, hypertriglyceridaemia can increase the risk of pancreatitis. Clinicians in primary care should become active in identifying and managing secondary causes of hypertriglyceridaemia and encourage patients with diabetes to implement lifestyle changes. Statins are the mainstay of treatment for diabetic dyslipidaemia that remains inadequately controlled. However, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) suggests prescribing a fibrate if triglyceride levels remain >4.5 mmol/L after addressing secondary causes. Clinicians could consider adding a fibrate if triglyceride levels remain between 2.3 and 4.5 mmol/L despite statin monotherapy for patients at high CVD risk. NICE advocates a trial of highly concentrated, licensed omega-3 fish oils if lifestyle measures and fibrate fail to adequately reduce hypertriglyceridaemia.
Internationalization of the Internet by design: The first decade
Authors: Braman Sandra
Published: April 2012

The successes and failures of Internet Internationalization reveal struggles between two systems: the network political (oriented around the machinic) and the geopolitical (oriented around the social). The frames through which this conflict are understood, and the technical decisions that enacted such frames, were put in place during the first decade of the network design process, 1969–79. Analysis of the technical document series that records the history of that process provides evidence of internationalization processes that include extension of the network outside of the United States, international participation in the design conversation, the influence of international organizations and associations, support for internationalization in the design criteria that serve as policy principles, and attention to issues raised by internationalization within the course of technical decision-making.
Spanish cooperation in culture and communication: An overview of a decade of exchanges with Ibero-America
Authors: Albornoz Luis A. , García Leiva M Trinidad
Published: April 2012

The article presents the main results of the investigation, ‘Current Situation and Prospects of Spanish Cooperation in Culture and Communication with the Rest of Ibero-America, 1997–2007’. The text offers an overview of the initiatives which took place during the period studied, by country, cultural and media sectors, agents involved, and type of activity. Spain’s role in terms of cooperation in culture and communication is analysed, and a reflection on the possibility of building an Ibero-American cultural space appropriate to the new digital scene is also included. Although Ibero-America has traditionally been a privileged geopolitical space for Spanish cooperation policy, this was not developed until well into the new millennium, evolving from simplistic and rhetorical visions based on instrumental conceptions of culture and communication to a gradual recognition of the fact that cooperation is much more than the classical actions of dissemination and promotion of Spanish cultural products.
Touching materiality: Presenting the past of everyday school life
Authors: Rasmussen Lisa Rosén
Published: April 2012

Dripping ink pens, colourful paint on skin, vegetables pots on a school roof. In interviews with three generations of former school pupils, memories of material objects bore a relation to everyday school life in the past. Interwoven, these objects entered the memorizing processes, taking the interviewer and interviewee beyond an exclusively linguistic understanding of memory. This article analyses how the shifting objects of materiality in personal and generational school memories connects to material as well as sensuous experiences of everyday school life and its complex processes of learning. Drawing on anthropological writings, the article argues that the objects of materiality are part of important but non-verbalized memories of schooling. The Dutch philosopher Eelco Runia’s notions of presence and metonymy are incorporated as tools for approaching objects of materiality in memory studies.
Capulet and Slingshot share overlapping functions during Drosophila eye morphogenesis
Authors: Lin Chiao-Ming , Lin Pei-Yi , Li Yu-Chiao , Hsu Jui-Chou
Published: April 2012

Background

CAP/Capulet (Capt), Slingshot (Ssh) and Cofilin/Twinstar (Tsr) are actin-binding proteins that restrict actin polymerization. Previously, it was shown that low resolution analyses of loss-of-function mutations in capt, ssh and tsr all show ectopic F-actin accumulation in various Drosophila tissues. In contrast, RNAi depletion of capt, tsr and ssh in Drosophila S2 cells all affect actin-based lamella formation differently. Whether loss of these three related genes might cause the same effect in the same tissue remains unclear.

Methods

Loss-of-function mutant clones were generated using the MARCM or EGUF system whereas overexpression clones were generated using the Flip-out system. Immunostaining were then performed in eye imaginal discs with clones. FRAP was performed in cultured eye discs.

Results

Here, we compared their loss-of-function phenotype at single-cell resolution, using a sheet of epithelial cells in the Drosophila eye imaginal disc as a model system. Surprisingly, we found that capt and ssh, but not tsr, mutant cells within and posterior to the morphogenetic furrow (MF) shared similar phenotypes. The capt/ssh mutant cells possessed: (1) hexagonal cell packing with discontinuous adherens junctions; and (2) largely complementary accumulation of excessive phosphorylated myosin light chain (p-MLC) and F-actin rings at the apical cortex. We further showed that the capt/ssh mutant phenotypes depended on the inactivation of protein kinase A (PKA) and activation of Rho.

Conclusions

Although Capt, Ssh and Tsr were reported to negatively regulate actin polymerization, we found that Capt and Ssh, but not Tsr, share overlapping functions during eye morphogenesis.
Transplantation of insulin-producing cells from umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats
Authors: Tsai Pei-Jiun , Wang Hwai-Shi , Shyr Yi-Ming , Weng Zen-Chung , Tai Ling-Chen , Shyu Jia-Fwu , Chen Tien-Hua
Published: April 2012

Background

Although diabetes mellitus (DM) can be treated with islet transplantation, a scarcity of donors limits the utility of this technique. This study investigated whether human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from umbilical cord could be induced efficiently to differentiate into insulin-producing cells. Secondly, we evaluated the effect of portal vein transplantation of these differentiated cells in the treatment of streptozotocin-induced diabetes in rats.

Methods

MSCs from human umbilical cord were induced in three stages to differentiate into insulin-producing cells and evaluated by immunocytochemistry, reverse transcriptase, and real-time PCR, and ELISA. Differentiated cells were transplanted into the liver of diabetic rats using a Port-A catheter via the portal vein. Blood glucose levels were monitored weekly.

Results

Human nuclei and C-peptide were detected in the rat liver by immunohistochemistry. Pancreatic β-cell development-related genes were expressed in the differentiated cells. C-peptide release was increased after glucose challengein vitro. Furthermore, after transplantation of differentiated cells into the diabetic rats, blood sugar level decreased. Insulin-producing cells containing human C-peptide and human nuclei were located in the liver.

Conclusion

Thus, a Port-A catheter can be used to transplant differentiated insulin-producing cells from human MSCs into the portal vein to alleviate hyperglycemia among diabetic rats.