bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Early prenatal diagnosis of oculoauriculofrontonasal syndrome by three‐dimensional ultrasound
Authors: Johnson J. M. , Benoit B. , Pierre‐Louis J. , Keating S. , Chitayat D.
Published: December 2004

Oculoauriculofrontonasal syndrome is a rare developmental field defect that represents an abnormal morphogenesis of the frontonasal eminence. It consists of features of both oculoauriculovertebral spectrum and frontonasal malformation. A few cases in the literature have described this syndrome, but to the best of our knowledge the present case is the first early prenatal diagnosis of this severe condition using three‐dimensional ultrasonography. Copyright © 2004 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Loss of RPA1 induces Chk2 phosphorylation through a caffeine‐sensitive pathway
Authors: Araya Runa , Hirai Itaru , Meyerkord Cheryl L. , Wang Hong-Gang
Published: December 2004

RPA is an important component of DNA replication, repair and recombination, but its involvement in the signaling of cell‐cycle checkpoints is not well understood. In this study, we show that knockdown of RPA1 by siRNA duplexes induces ATM (Ser1981) and Chk2 (Thr68), but not Chk1 (Ser345) phosphorylation and results in p21 upregulation in HeLa cells. However, the induction of Chk2 (Thr68) phosphorylation and p21 expression by RPA1 siRNA transfection can be completely blocked by the ATM inhibitor caffeine. Moreover, transfection of siRNAs targeting ATM dramatically reduces Chk2 (Thr68) phosphorylation in RPA1 knockdown cells. Taken together, these results suggest that loss of RPA1 activates the Chk2 signaling pathway in an ATM‐dependent manner.
Gene silencing with STAT6 specific siRNAs blocks eotaxin release in IL‐4/TNFα stimulated human epithelial cells
Authors: Rippmann Jörg F. , Schnapp Andreas , Weith Andreas , Hobbie Silke
Published: December 2004

Small interfering RNAs have evolved as effective tools for the study of gene functions. Here, we demonstrate the use of different siRNAs for the specific knock down of the STAT6 transcription regulator and the complete silencing of the downstream signaling pathway. The knock down of STAT6 resulted in a complete loss of STAT6 specific DNA binding activity and blocked the release of eotaxin‐3 in human epithelial cells (BEAS‐2B) stimulated with IL‐4 and TNFα with no signs of unspecific gene silencing. Other signaling pathways like the EGF stimulated release of IL‐8 were still active in BEAS‐2B cells treated with STAT6 specific siRNAs, demonstrating the specificity of these molecules.
Differential effects of glucose deprivation on the cellular sensitivity towards photodynamic treatment‐based production of reactive oxygen species and apoptosis‐induction
Authors: Kiesslich Tobias , Plaetzer Kristjan , Oberdanner Christian Benno , Berlanda Juergen , Obermair Franz Josef , Krammer Barbara
Published: December 2004

Photodynamic treatment (PDT) employs a photosensitizer and the light‐induced formation of reactive oxygen species – antagonized by cellular antioxidant systems – for the removal of harmful cells. This study addresses the effect of altered carbohydrate metabolism on the cellular antioxidant glutathione system, and the subsequent responses to PDT. It is shown that glucose‐deprivation of 18 h prior to PDT causes a reduced level of intracellular glutathione and an increased cytotoxicity of PDT. These effects can be mimicked by inhibitors of glutathione synthesis (buthionine‐sulfoximine) or its regeneration (1,3‐bis‐(2‐chlorethyl)‐1‐nitrosourea). Inhibited glutathione metabolism shifts the apoptotic window to lower fluences, while glucose deprivation abolishes apoptosis as a result of ATP deficiency. Our results prove evidence for manipulation of the outcome of PDT through internal metabolic pathways.
shRNA‐mediated RNA interference as a tool for genetic synthetic lethality screening in mouse embryo fibroblasts
Authors: Einav Yulia , Agami Reuven , Canaani Dan
Published: December 2004

Previously, we demonstrated the establishment of synthetic lethality screening in cultured somatic human cells, or mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs), for chemicals or mutant genes synergistically lethal with a mutated gene of interest. Here, we show in MEFs that the usage of RNA interference‐based genetic suppressor elements encoding short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) enables for genetic synthetic lethality screening at a frequency much higher than that achieved before with short truncated sense and antisense RNAs. These findings open up the possibility of using in mammalian cells genome‐wide shRNA libraries for genetic synthetic lethality screening at the multi‐gene level.
Television News, Mexico's 2000 Elections and Media Effects in Emerging Democracies
Authors: LAWSON CHAPPELL , McCANN JAMES A.
Published: December 2004

On the basis of an analysis of a four-wave panel survey, we argue that exposure to television news had significant, substantial effects on both attitudes and vote choices in Mexico's watershed presidential election of 2000. These findings support the contention, implicit in some research on political communication, that the magnitude of media effects varies with certain features of the political context. In particular, television influence in electoral campaigns may be substantially larger in emerging democratic systems.
Electoral Incentives, Political Business Cycles and Macroeconomic Performance: Empirical Evidence from Post-War US Personal Income Growth
Authors: KRAUSE GEORGE A.
Published: December 2004

Conventional wisdom suggests that macroeconomic outcomes do not follow a political business cycle (PBC) pattern. In this study, the nature of the electoral underpinnings of such opportunistic behaviour are investigated by analysing alternative formulations of PBC theory: (1) a naïve-unconditional PBC, (2) an electoral security-conditional PBC, (3) an electoral uncertainty-conditional PBC; and (4) a partisan-conditional PBC. Data on the US real personal income growth rate for the 1948:1–2000:4 quarterly period reveals support for both naïve-unconditional and partisan-conditional PBCs, yet rejects an electoral cycle attributable to the incumbent administration's ex ante re-election prospects. Simulation analysis reveals that while Democratic administrations enjoy higher income growth than Republican counterparts for non pre-election stimulus periods, Republican presidents are associated with larger pre-election economic expansions than Democratic presidents consistent with a partisan-conditional PBC theoretical model. This finding supports the notion that incumbent governments engage in partisan-based policy balancing with respect to the creation of opportunistic electoral cycles in real macroeconomic activity. On a broader level, these statistical findings provide strong support for adaptive models of the electoral cycle that emphasize partisan differences while refuting the policy neutrality proposition and rational-competence models predicated on the extent to which an incumbent administration experiences electoral vulnerability.
Policy Transfer in the European Union: An Institutionalist Perspective
Authors: BULMER SIMON , PADGETT STEPHEN
Published: December 2004

Although the concept of policy transfer attracts growing attention in political science, its application to the European Union remains underdeveloped. This article offers a comprehensive conceptual account of EU policy transfer. It starts from the institutionalist premise that transfer processes and outcomes will vary between differently constituted governance regimes. Three forms of EU governance are identified; hierarchy, negotiation and ‘facilitated unilateralism’. The article develops hypotheses about the linkages between institutional variables and transfer outcomes, assessed on a scale from emulation to influence. Hypotheses are set against empirical evidence drawn from a variety of policy areas. We find evidence to support the general hypothesis that stronger forms of policy transfer occur in more highly institutionalized governance regimes. The evidence also points to micro-institutional variables shaping transfer outcomes: the powers accruing to supra-national institutions; decision rules; and the density of exchange between national actors.
Inaccurate, Exceptional, One-Sided or Irrelevant? The Debate about the Alleged Decline of Social Capital and Civic Engagement in Western Societies
Authors: STOLLE DIETLIND , HOOGHE MARC
Published: December 2004

In his 1790 address to the Académie Française in Paris, Condorcet noted that every new generation has a tendency to accuse itself of being less civic-minded than previous cohorts. Two centuries later, this argument has once again regained front-page status. The debate is currently focused on the question of whether or not social capital and civic engagement are declining in Western societies. In his academic best-seller Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam argues that younger age cohorts, socialized in the prosperous economic conditions of the 1960s and onwards, are less inclined to engage in community life and in politics, and also less likely to trust their fellow citizens. By contrast, the ‘long civic generation’, born roughly between 1910 and 1940, is portrayed as much more motivated in these respects. They readily volunteer in community projects, read newspapers and take on more social responsibilities. In this view, a process of generational replacement is responsible for a steady decline of social capital and civic engagement in American society. As the long civic generation is replaced by younger age cohorts, the social capital stock of American communities slowly diminishes. The indicators used to substantiate this claim are numerous and diverse: measures for voter turnout, attendance of club meetings, generalized trust, the number of common family dinners, the number of card games played together, and even respect for traffic rules. All of these attitudes and behaviours, it is argued, depict a significant downward trend.

Although Putnam is by far the most vocal of all scholars in the ‘decline of social capital’ choir, he certainly is not the only author describing an erosion of traditional societal relations.
To Adopt or Not to Adopt Proportional Representation: The Politics of Institutional Choice
Authors: BLAIS ANDRÉ , DOBRZYNSKA AGNIESKA , INDRIDASON INDRIDI H.
Published: December 2004

In September 1864, the Association Internationale pour le Progrès des Sciences Sociales met in Amsterdam to examine the system of proportional representation (PR) which had just been proposed by Thomas Hare. The meeting signalled a growing interest in systems of PR across the more democratic nations of the world – some of which had already begun experimenting with it. Sixty years later, the majority of existing democracies, including Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, had adopted PR for the election of their national legislatures.

Why did so many countries decide to shift to PR? Why did the shift occur at a given point in time, not earlier or later? Why did some countries never move to PR? These are the questions that we address in this Note.

We are interested in exploring the factors that influenced the decision to adopt PR at the turn of the twentieth century. We argue that two factors of considerable theoretical relevance were particularly important in facilitating the shift to PR: the spread of democratic ideas and the presence of a majority (usually two-round) system and, as a consequence, a multi-party system.

Carstairs's classic history of electoral systems shows that at the turn of the twentieth century there was a strong demand for PR, which was linked to a more general demand for democratization. As Carstairs notes,

there was a general movement in the direction of more democratic political institutions which took several different forms … There was a movement for the establishment or strengthening of parliamentary institutions … Extensions of the franchise for parliamentary elections enabled an increasingly large proportion of the population to gain representation in parliament … With these developments it became a matter of increasing concern that the elected members of parliament and the parties they supported should fairly represent the various interests and opinions of the electorate.
SOCIAL POSITION AND HEALTH: ARE OLD AND NEW OCCUPATIONAL CLASSIFICATIONS INTERCHANGEABLE?
Authors: CRAIG PETER , FORBES JOHN
Published: December 2004

There is growing international interest in the choice of socioeconomic indicators for health research. This study used a combination of standard and novel methods to compare three occupation-based measures of social position in terms of their ability to explain variation and measure inequality in self-assessed health. The recently developed National Statistics Socioeconomic Classification (NS-SEC) is compared with its predecessor, the Registrar General’s Social Class schema (RGSC), and with another occupation-based measure, the Cambridge Social Interaction and Stratification Scale (CAMSIS). With data from two large, independent, nationally representative samples of adults aged 16–64 living in private households in Scotland, logistic regression models are used to compare the classifications' ability to predict self-assessed health. Concentration indices are estimated to compare how well they capture inequality in self-assessed health. The study shows that all three classifications are strongly associated with self-assessed health, though the associations are heavily attenuated by adjustment for one another and for other measures of social position. Despite their differing theoretical bases, the three are closely related. No evidence is found that any of them systematically under- or overstate the extent of inequality in self-assessed health in either men or women, and the extent to which they measure independent dimensions of social inequality is questioned. It is concluded that the availability of the new classifications is unlikely to transform our understanding of the extent or the causes of socioeconomic inequality in health, but provides useful opportunities for sensitivity analysis.
PREVALENCE OF PRIMARY INFERTILITY IN CHINA: IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF INFERTILITY DIFFERENTIALS IN THREE MINORITY PROVINCE/AUTONOMOUS REGIONS
Authors: LIU JIHONG , LARSEN ULLA , WYSHAK GRACE
Published: December 2004

Following the 1994 UN International Conference on Population and Development, there was a shift in emphasis on women’s reproductive health and there emerged a need for more knowledge about levels and differentials of infertility. Using the data from the 1988 National TwoPer-Thousand Sample Survey on Fertility and Contraception, this paper estimated the prevalence of primary infertility in China. To determine the predictors of primary infertility, multiple logistic regression analyses were done on three minority province/autonomous regions where primary infertility was the highest. A non-contracepting, sexually active woman was considered to have primary infertility if she had not reported a recognized pregnancy after at least seven years of marriage. The analysis shows that the national level of primary infertility was relatively low (1·3%). Primary infertility was higher in Qinghai (2·3%), Tibet (3·7%) and Xinjiang (3·7%) compared with other provinces. Tibetans in Qinghai and Uygurs in Xinjiang had a higher level of primary infertility than the Han Chinese. Ethnic differences remained after adjusting for other background characteristics. Divorced and remarried women had significantly higher odds of primary infertility compared with first-married women in Qinghai and Xinjiang. The elevated level of primary infertility in Qinghai, Tibet and Xinjiang and its disproportionate prevalence among Tibetans and Uygurs highlight the need for further work to understand the causes and social consequences of infertility for the minority population in China.
PERCEPTIONS OF MEN ON ROLE OF RELIGIOUS LEADERS IN REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH ISSUES IN RURAL PAKISTAN
Authors: ALI MOAZZAM , USHIJIMA HIROSHI
Published: December 2004

Religion holds unique importance in people’s lives, and has been cited as an important factor in reproductive health. Pakistan has a Muslim majority and the character of the country is strongly marked by Islam. In rural areas, where the majority of the population reside, religious leaders are considered as opinion makers. The perception of adult males regarding the influence of the ‘religious factor’ in their use of modern contraceptive methods, and their views on the role of religious leaders in community education, were explored through a cross-sectional survey conducted in twelve rural districts of Pakistan in 2000. A sample of 180 married adult males participated in the study through consecutive sampling. The study was qualitative, utilizing tools such as in-depth and key-informant interviews. The majority of men interviewed considered that religious leaders were against fertility control, and 29% cited religion as a reason for their non-use of modern contraceptives. Respondents also suggested that the involvement of religious leaders in reproductive health programmes is essential for the programmes’ effectiveness in rural areas. They thought that religious leaders could contribute positively to community education, and suggested ways in which they could educate the community in reproductive health issues. They also suggested various channels through which religious leaders could be approached to convince them to cooperate in reproductive health programmes. The study concludes that involving religious leaders in rural settings could enable reproductive health programmes and services to reach more conservative groups in society, and thus contribute effectively to bringing about positive change in the attitudes of Pakistani society towards reproductive health.
SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AS A RISK FACTOR FOR HIV INFECTION IN WOMEN IN EAST, CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AFRICA: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
Authors: WOJCICKI JANET MAIA
Published: December 2004

This is a critical, systematic review of the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and HIV infection in women in Southern, Central and Eastern Africa. In light of the interest in micro-credit programmes and other HIV prevention interventions structured to empower women through increasing women’s access to funds and education, this review examines the epidemiological and public health literature, which ascertains the association between low SES using different measurements of SES and risk of HIV infection in women. Also, given the focus on structural violence and poverty as factors driving the HIV epidemic at a structural/ecological level, as advocated by Paul Farmer and others, this study examines the extent to which differences in SES between individuals in areas with generalized poverty affect risk for SES. Out of 71 studies retrieved, 36 studies met the inclusion criteria including 30 cross-sectional, one case-control and five prospective cohort or nested case-control studies. Thirty-five studies used at least one measurement of female’s SES and fourteen also included a measurement of partner’s SES. Studies used variables measuring educational level, household income and occupation or employment status at the individual and neighbourhood level to ascertain SES. Of the 36 studies, fifteen found no association between SES and HIV infection, twelve found an association between high SES and HIV infection, eight found an association between low SES and HIV infection and one was mixed. In interpreting these results, this review examines the role of potential confounders and effect modifiers such as history of STDs, number of partners, living in urban or rural areas and time and location of study in sub-Saharan Africa. It is argued that STDs and number of partners are on the causal pathway under investigation between HIV and SES and should not be adjusted as confounders in any analysis. In conclusion, it is argued that in low-income sub-Saharan Africans countries, where poverty is widespread, increasing access to resources for women may initially increase risk of HIV or have no effect on risk-taking behaviours. In some parts of Southern Africa where per capita income is higher and within-country inequalities in wealth are greater, studies suggest that increasing SES may decrease risk. This review concludes that increased SES may have differential effects on married and unmarried women and further studies should use multiple measures of SES. Lastly, it is suggested that the partner’s SES (measured by education or income/employment) may be a stronger predictor of female HIV serostatus than measures of female SES.
How much feedback from visual cortex to lateral geniculate nucleus in cat: A perspective
Authors: BUDD JULIAN M.L.
Published: December 2004

Corticothalamic feedback is believed to play an important role in selectively regulating the flow of sensory information from thalamus to cortex. But despite its importance, the size and nature of corticothalamic pathway connectivity is not fully understood. In light of recent empirical data, the aim of this paper was to quantify the contribution of area 17 axon connectivity to the synaptic organization of A-laminae in dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) in cat, the best studied corticothalamic pathway. Numerical constraints indicate that most corticogeniculate synapses are not formed with inhibitory interneurons. However, the main finding is that there was an order of magnitude difference between estimates of the mean number of cortical synapses per A-laminae neuron based on individual corticogeniculate axon data (12,000–16,000 cortical synapses per cell) than that previously derived from partial reconstructions of the synaptic input to two physiologically identified relay cells (1200–1500 cortical synapses per cell). In an attempt to reconcile these different estimates, parameter variation and comparative analyses suggest that previous work may have overestimated the density of corticogeniculate efferent neurons and underestimated the total number of synapses per geniculate neuron. But as this analysis did not include area 18 corticogeniculate axons innervating A-laminae, the discrepancy between different estimates may be greater and require further explanation. Thus, the analysis presented here suggests geniculate neurons receive on average a greater number of cortical synapses per cell but from far fewer corticogeniculate axons than previously thought.
N-type and L-type calcium channels mediate glycinergic synaptic
inputs to retinal ganglion cells of tiger salamanders
Authors: BIEDA MARK C. , COPENHAGEN DAVID R.
Published: December 2004

Synaptically localized calcium channels shape the timecourse of
synaptic release, are a prominent site for neuromodulation, and have
been implicated in genetic disease. In retina, it is well established
that L-type calcium channels play a major role in mediating release of
glutamate from the photoreceptors and bipolar cells. However, little is
known about which calcium channels are coupled to synaptic exocytosis
of glycine, which is primarily released by amacrine cells. A recent
report indicates that glycine release from spiking AII amacrine cells
relies exclusively upon L-type calcium channels. To identify calcium
channel types controlling neurotransmitter release from the population
of glycinergic neurons that drive retinal ganglion cells, we recorded
electrical and potassium evoked inhibitory synaptic currents (IPSCs)
from these postsynaptic neurons in retinal slices from tiger
salamanders. The L-channel antagonist nifedipine strongly inhibited
release and FPL64176, an L-channel agonist, greatly enhanced it,
indicating a significant role for L-channels. ω-Conotoxin MVIIC,
an N/P/Q-channel antagonist, strongly inhibited release,
indicating an important role for non-L channels. While the
P/Q-channel blocker ω-Aga IVA produced only small effects, the
N-channel blocker ω-conotoxin GVIA strongly inhibited release.
Hence, N-type and L-type calcium channels appear to play major roles,
overall, in mediating synaptic release of glycine onto retinal ganglion
cells.
Differential cellular and subcellular distribution of glutamate transporters in the cat retina
Authors: FYK-KOLODZIEJ BOZENA , QIN PU , DZHAGARYAN ARTURIK , POURCHO ROBERTA G.
Published: December 2004

Retrieval of glutamate from extracellular sites in the retina involves at least five excitatory amino acid transporters. Immunocytochemical analysis of the cat retina indicates that each of these transporters exhibits a selective distribution which may reflect its specific function. The uptake of glutamate into Müller cells or astrocytes appears to depend upon GLAST and EAAT4, respectively. Staining for EAAT4 was also seen in the pigment epithelium. The remaining transporters are neuronal with GLT-1α localized to a number of cone bipolar, amacrine, and ganglion cells and GLT-1v in cone photoreceptors and several populations of bipolar cells. The EAAC1 transporter was found in horizontal, amacrine, and ganglion cells. Staining for EAAT5 was seen in the axon terminals of both rod and cone photoreceptors as well as in numerous amacrine and ganglion cells. Although some of the glutamate transporter molecules are positioned for presynaptic or postsynaptic uptake at glutamatergic synapses, others with localizations more distant from such contacts may serve in modulatory roles or provide protection against excitoxic or oxidative damage.
Localization of NMDA receptor subunits and mapping NMDA drive within the mammalian retina
Authors: KALLONIATIS MICHAEL , SUN DANIEL , FOSTER LISA , HAVERKAMP SILKE , WÄSSLE HEINZ
Published: December 2004

Glutamate is a major neurotransmitter in the retina and other parts of the central nervous system, exerting its influence through ionotropic and metabotropic receptors. One ionotropic receptor, the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor, is central to neural shaping, but also plays a major role during neuronal development and in disease processes. We studied the distribution pattern of different subunits of the NMDA receptor within the rat retina including quantifying the pattern of labelling for all the NR1 splice variants, the NR2A and NR2B subunits. The labelling pattern for the subunits was confined predominantly in the outer two-thirds of the inner plexiform layer. We also wanted to probe NMDA receptor function using an organic cation, agmatine (AGB); a marker for cation channel activity. Although there was an NMDA concentration-dependent increase in AGB labelling of amacrine cells and ganglion cells, we found no evidence of functional NMDA receptors on horizontal cells in the peripheral rabbit retina, nor in the visual streak where the type A horizontal cell was identified by GABA labelling. Basal AGB labelling within depolarizing bipolar cells was also noted. This basal bipolar cell AGB labelling was not modulated by NMDA and was completely abolished by the use of L-2-amino-4-phosphono-butyric acid, which is known to hyperpolarize retinal depolarizing bipolar cells. AGB is therefore not only useful as a probe of ligand-gated drive, but can also identify neurons that have constitutively open cationic channels. In combination, the NMDA receptor subunit distribution pattern and the AGB gating experiments strongly suggests that this ionotropic glutamate receptor is functional in the cone-driven pathway of the inner retina.
Light-induced Ca2+ release in the visible cones of the
zebrafish
Authors: CILLUFFO MARIANNE C. , MATTHEWS HUGH R. , BROCKERHOFF SUSAN E. , FAIN GORDON L.
Published: December 2004

We used suction-pipette recording and fluo-4 fluorescence to study
light-induced Ca2+ release from the visible double cones of
zebrafish. In Ringer, light produces a slow decrease in fluorescence
which can be fitted by the sum of two decaying exponentials with time
constants of 0.5 and 3.8 s. In 0Ca2+–0Na+
solution, for which fluxes of Ca2+ across the outer segment
plasma membrane are greatly reduced, light produces a slow increase in
fluorescence. Both the decrease and increase are delayed after
incorporation of the Ca2+ chelator BAPTA, indicating that
both are produced by a change in Ca2+. If the
Ca2+ pool is first released by bright light in
0Ca2+–0Na+ solution and the cone returned
to Ringer, the time course of Ca2+ decline is much faster
than in Ringer without previous light exposure. This indicates that the
time constants of 0.5 and 3.8 s actually reflect a sum of
Na+/Ca2+-K+ exchange and
light-induced release of Ca2+. The Ca2+ released
by light appears to come from at least two sites, the first comprising
66% of the total pool and half-released by bleaching 4.8% of the
pigment. Release of the remaining Ca2+ from the second site
requires the bleaching of nearly all of the pigment. If, after release,
the cone is maintained in darkness, a substantial fraction of the
Ca2+ returns to the release pool even in the absence of
pigment regeneration. The light-induced release of Ca2+ can
produce a modulation of the dark current as large as 0.75 pA
independently of the normal transduction cascade, though the rise time
of the current is considerably slower than the normal light response.
These experiments show that Ca2+ can be released within the
cone outer segment by light intensities within the physiological range
of photopic vision. The role this Ca2+ release plays remains
unresolved.
INTRODUCTION: BOUNDARIES IN THEORY AND HISTORY
Authors: Gagnier Regenia
Published: December 2004

WHEN ANGELIQUE RICHARDSON AND Ibegan collecting the essays included here, we were interested to see how recent theorists of boundaries like Audre Lorde (hyphenated identities), Gloria Anzaldua (borderlands), Donna Haraway (cyborg), J-F Lyotard (the in-between), or Jacques Derrida (deconstruction) fared in relation to classic theorists of boundaries like Aristotle, Hegel, Marx, and Darwin. We found that while the field of Victorian Studies has absorbed the theory, current practitioners may refer little to past or present theoretical masters. Rather they describe which boundaries were salient to the Victorians and why; when they were permeable and how; and who enforced them and to what ends. The essays in this volume focus on specific boundaries and amass a wealth of detailed knowledge about them. They include the boundaries or boundlessness of London and her suburbs (Parrinder, Cunningham); transnational or deterritorialized boundaries of empire (Spear and Meduri); psychological boundaries (Rylance, Trotter); boundaries between body and soul (Moran) and living and dead (Robson); generic boundaries (Barzilai, Howsam, Small, Toker); boundaries of popular representation between art and politics (Ledger, Livesey); and boundaries between humans, animals, and machines (Joseph and Sussman). The essays here interrogate boundaries historically and pragmatically, with a high tolerance of the in-between or queer, to which I shall return below.
KNOWING THE DANCER: EAST MEETS WEST
Authors: Spear Jeffrey L. , Meduri Avanthi
Published: December 2004

The clean and the proper (in the sense of incorporated and incorporable) becomes filthy, the sought-after turns into the banished, fascination into shame.—Julia Kristeva,The Powers of HorrorTHE HISTORY WE ARE SKETCHINGis one of boundaries double crossed between India and the West and between periods of the South Asian past. On one level our story is about an historical irony, how late nineteenth-century Orientalism resuscitated the romantic mystique of the eastern dancer in the West just as South Indian dancers were being repressed in their homeland by Indian reformers influenced by western mores. Within that history there is another dynamic that is less about crossing than about shifting boundaries, boundaries between the sacred and the profane and their expression in colonial law. We will be looking at these movements and transformations within the context of current scholarship that is historicizing even those elements of Indian culture conventionally understood to be most ancient and unchanging.
THE ART OF LOOKING DANGEROUSLY: VICTORIAN IMAGES OF MARTYRDOM
Authors: Moran Maureen
Published: December 2004

BETWEEN1863AND1865 Gerard Manley Hopkins maintained a “little bk. for sins” as a record arising from his daily examination of conscience (6). Many of the failings seem sexually oriented: “Looking with terrible temptation at Maitland” and “Looking at temptations esp. at Geldart naked” (191, 174). The poet's guilty annotations of the illicit homoerotic pleasures of spectatorship are even more striking when the devout Hopkins associates perverse desire with the contemplation of bodies tortured for a religious cause: “Evil thought slightly in drawing made worse by drawing a crucified arm on same page,” or, even more directly blasphemous, “The evil thought in writing on our Lord's passion” (167, 157).
“WHERE HEAVES THE TURF”: THOMAS HARDY AND THE BOUNDARIES OF THE EARTH
Authors: Robson Catherine
Published: December 2004

WHAT DO WE EXPECTto learn when we scrutinize the boundaries of, or within, Victorian literary studies at the beginning of the twenty-first century? Because many nineteenth-century scholars had always worked within an interdisciplinary paradigm, the theoretical shifts of the last thirty years or so, which broke down divisions between generically distinct discourses, could be said to have brought continuity, rather than change, to this particular community. Yet it is probably true that a pre-existing predilection for historicist investigation has gained added strength in Victorianist circles in recent times. Certain kinds of journeys have become especially common: intrepid explorers travel beyond the bounds of a literary text to hitherto unimagined contexts, and then return to said text laden with the spoils of their expeditions. The exotic voyage to discover the strangeness of the Victorians, then, has become a familiar event; we have witnessed an expansion of the empire of possible connections. Rarer than these heroic ventures, however, has been the practice of quiet contemplation: we have perhaps been less adept at standing still, and looking carefully at the ground we already hold, the ground we assume we share with our nineteenth-century predecessors. What happens when we eschew the temptation to strike out across new territory, and turn our eyes merely to the earth below? Might we discover boundaries between the Victorians and ourselves in the most mundane, the most fundamental of places?
VOCATION AND SYMPATHY INDANIEL DERONDA: THE SELF AND THE LARGER WHOLE
Authors: Toker Leona
Published: December 2004

TWO CARNIVALESQUE EVENTSare referred to in George Eliot'sDaniel Deronda. One is used as an example in a discussion of political expediency: the Archbishop of Naples is said to have sanctioned, in what would now be called a populist gesture, the St. Januarius procession against the plague (1993, 384; bk. 4, ch. 33). The other is embedded in a simile: the attitude of the British mainstream society to Jews is compared with the attitude of the matrons of Delphi to the tired Maenads who had wandered into their city: the matrons “tenderly” minister to the Bacchae and take them “safely to their own borders” (195; bk. 2, ch. 17).
FROM QUEEN CAROLINE TO LADY DEDLOCK: DICKENS AND THE POPULAR RADICAL IMAGINATION
Authors: Ledger Sally
Published: December 2004

ON AN AUTUMN DAY IN1842, William Hone lay dying. He was by now an obscure figure, but through the services of an old friend, George Cruikshank, he sent a request to Charles Dickens that he might shake his hand before he died. The famous novelist agreed to the request, and for a brief moment Dickens, Cruikshank, and William Hone came together in Hone's shabby London home. The meeting apparently meant little to Dickens who, subsequently attending Hone's funeral, recounted with comic viciousness Cruikshank's histrionics as his old friend was laid to rest. Writing to an American friend, Cornelius Felton, Dickens described how he found himself “almost sobbing with laughter at the funereal absurdities of George Cruikshank and others” (Ackroyd 407). The encounter between Dickens, Cruikshank, and Hone in 1842 is a little-known but with hindsight a significant convergence; for despite Dickens's seeming disregard for the ailing and rather threadbare old bookseller, the deathbed tableau crystallizes an important and much overlooked connection between Dickens's writings and an earlier popular radical tradition.
PREFIGURING THE POSTHUMAN: DICKENS AND PROSTHESIS
Authors: Sussman Herbert , Joseph Gerhard
Published: December 2004

With every tool man is perfecting his own organs…. by means of spectacles he corrects defects in the lens of his own eye; by means of the telescope he sees into the far distance. Man has become a kind of prosthetic god.—Freud,Civilization and its DiscontentsDOROTHY VAN GHENT'S“View from Todgers's” classic essay of 1950 (about perspective inMartin Chuzzlewit) might be defined as the starting point for what we now accept as the veriest Dickens commonplace: the fact that an interchange between animate human subject and inanimate object characterizes his world view. The boundaries of person and material thing are permeable, are constantly criss-crossing, according to Van Ghent, in a “system that is presumed to be a nervous one…. its predications about persons or objects tend to be statements of metabolic conversion of one into the other” (221). But this persistent reading, expressed here in biological terms–“nervous” system, “metabolic conversion”–of Dickens's stylistic habit, itself depends upon attributing to Dickens the critic's sharp distinction between the “human” and the “inhuman” or “non-human.”
Becoming deer. Corporeal transformations at Star Carr
Authors: Conneller Chantal
Published: December 2004

This article examines the role of red deer antler ‘masks’ recovered from the Early Mesolithic site of Star Carr in northern England. It explores the agency of animals and the type of agency attributable to objects made from parts of animals at the site. When humans use or wear objects that are made from animal parts, I argue that there are also important implications for the way in which the human body is conceived. This article goes on to explore the types of body produced from the taking on of objects made from animal remains and the implications that this has for the ways both humans and animals were perceived during the Mesolithic.
Ist patriotischer Nationalstolz wünschenswert?
Authors: Cohrs J. Christopher , Dimitrova Daniela , Kalchevska Tonya , Kleinke Sandra , Tomova Iva , Vasileva Mariya , Moschner Barbara
Published: December 2004

Zusammenfassung: Patriotischer Nationalstolz (z.B. Stolz auf die Demokratie) übt nach bisherigen Studien - im Gegensatz zu nationalistischem Nationalstolz (z.B. Stolz, Deutsche/r zu sein) - demokratisch erwünschte reduzierende Effekte auf Ethnozentrismus aus. Hier wird angenommen, dass (1) sich patriotischer Stolz auf die drei Komponenten nationale Identifikation, Wichtigkeit demokratischer Aspekte Deutschlands und Glaube an die Realisiertheit demokratischer Aspekte Deutschlands zurückführen lässt und dass (2) diese Komponenten teilweise gegensätzliche Effekte auf Ethnozentrismus und weitere Variablen ausüben. In zwei Fragebogenstudien (N1 = 121, N2 = 150) wird gezeigt, dass (1) die drei genannten Komponenten patriotischen Nationalstolz vorhersagen und (2) die demokratisch erwünschten Effekte des patriotischen Stolzes im Wesentlichen auf die Wichtigkeit demokratischer Aspekte zurückgehen. Es wird gefolgert, dass aus demokratischer Sicht nicht patriotischer Stolz, sondern eine positive Wertschätzung demokratischer Aspekte gefördert werden sollte.
Sexuelle Skripts im Jugendalter
Authors: Krahé Barbara , Bieneck Steffen , Scheinberger-Olwig Renate
Published: December 2004

Zusammenfassung: Zur Analyse sexueller Skripts von Jugendlichen generierten 131 SchülerInnen der 10. und 11.Klasse drei Verhaltensdrehbücher für sexuelle Interaktionen: (1) das allgemeine Skript für den ersten Geschlechtsverkehr mit einem neuen Partner; (2) das individuelle, d.h. für die Person selbst gültige Skript eines ersten Geschlechtsverkehrs mit einem neuen Partner; (3) das Skript für einen unfreiwilligen Geschlechtsverkehr. Außerdem wurden normative Überzeugungen zu Risikoaspekten sexueller Interaktionen sowie die Akzeptanz von Druckausübung erfasst. Es zeigte sich, dass die Skripts für konsensuelle Interaktionen traditionelle Rollenvorstellungen widerspiegeln. Das Skript für den unfreiwilligen Geschlechtsverkehr orientierte sich am Stereotyp des “real rape”. Die individuellen Skripts waren im Vergleich zu den allgemeinen konservativer und mit weniger Risikoelementen behaftet. Die normative Akzeptanz risikohafter Skriptmerkmale sagte die Ausprägung der Risikomerkmale in den individuellen und allgemeinen Skripts vorher. Außerdem wurden die Risikoelemente der individuellen Skripts durch die Akzeptanz von Druckausübung vorhergesagt.
Conditions for plasmoid penetration across abrupt magnetic barriers
Authors: Brenning Nils , Hurtig Tomas , Raadu Michael A.
Published: December 2004

The penetration of plasma clouds, or plasmoids, across abrupt magnetic barriers (of the scale less than a few ion gyro radii, using the plasmoid directed velocity) is studied. The insight gained earlier, from detailed experimental and computer simulation investigations of a case study, is generalized into other parameter regimes. It is concluded for what parameters a plasmoid should be expected to penetrate the magnetic barrier through self-polarization, penetrate through magnetic expulsion, or be rejected from the barrier. The scaling parameters are ne, v0, B⊥, mi, Ti, and the width w of the plasmoid. The scaling is based on a model for strongly driven, nonlinear magnetic field diffusion into a plasma which is a generalization of the earlier laboratory findings. The results are applied to experiments earlier reported in the literature, and also to the proposed application of impulsive penetration of plasmoids from the solar wind into the Earth’s magnetosphere.
Large amplitude parallel propagating electromagnetic oscillitons
Authors: Cattaert Tom , Verheest Frank
Published: December 2004

Earlier systematic nonlinear treatments of parallel propagating electromagnetic waves have been given within a fluid dynamic approach, in a frame where the nonlinear structures are stationary and various constraining first integrals can be obtained. This has lead to the concept of oscillitons that has found application in various space plasmas. The present paper differs in three main aspects from the previous studies: first, the invariants are derived in the plasma frame, as customary in the Sagdeev method, thus retaining in Maxwell’s equations all possible effects. Second, a single differential equation is obtained for the parallel fluid velocity, in a form reminiscent of the Sagdeev integrals, hence allowing a fully nonlinear discussion of the oscilliton properties, at such amplitudes as the underlying Mach number restrictions allow. Third, the transition to weakly nonlinear whistler oscillitons is done in an analytical rather than a numerical fashion.
Hydrostatic-pressure dependence of organic thin-film transistor current versus voltage characteristics
Authors: Rang Zhenlin , Nathan Marshall I. , Ruden P. Paul , Chesterfield Reid , Frisbie C. Daniel
Published: December 2004

We report results of electrical output and transfer characteristics for two top-contact pentacene thin-film transistors under hydrostatic pressure at room temperature. Strong reversible increases of the drain current and the field-effect hole mobility with increasing pressure were observed, in particular for a device with relatively low current at atmospheric pressure.
Thin films of SmCo5 with very high perpendicular magnetic anisotropy
Authors: Sayama J. , Mizutani K. , Asahi T. , Osaka T.
Published: December 2004

Thin films of SmCo5 with extraordinarily high perpendicular magnetic anisotropy were prepared by introducing a Cu∕Ti dual underlayer and controlling the substrate temperature during the sputter deposition. Under optimized conditions, the magnetic anisotropy constant reached 4.0×107erg∕cm3, and the coercivity and the remanence ratio in the direction perpendicular to the film surface were 12.0kOe and unity, respectively. The high perpendicular magnetic anisotropy is attributed to the high degree of preferred orientation of the c axis; the full width at half maximum in the rocking curve of SmCo5(002) reflection was 3.1°.
Pinning a domain wall in (Ga,Mn)As with focused ion beam lithography
Authors: Holleitner A. W. , Knotz H. , Myers R. C. , Gossard A. C. , Awschalom D. D.
Published: December 2004

We utilize a focused beam of Ga+ ions to define magnetization pinning sites in a ferromagnetic epilayer of (Ga,Mn)As. The nonmagnetic defects locally increase the magnetocrystalline anisotropy energies, by which a domain wall is pinned at a given position. We demonstrate techniques for manipulating domain walls at these pinning sites as probed with the giant planar Hall effect. By varying the magnetic field angle relative to the crystal axes, an upper limit is placed on the local effective anisotropy energy.
Head-to-head domain-wall phase diagram in mesoscopic ring magnets
Authors: Kläui M. , Vaz C. A. F. , Bland J. A. C. , Heyderman L. J. , Nolting F. , Pavlovska A. , Bauer E. , Cherifi S. , Heun S. , Locatelli A.
Published: December 2004

The nanoscale spin structure of head-to-head domain walls in mesoscopic ferromagnetic rings has been studied by high-resolution nonintrusive photoemission electron microscopy as a function of both ring width (100–730 nm) and film thickness (2–38 nm). Depending on the geometry, two types of head-to-head domain walls are found (vortex and transverse walls). The experimental phase diagram, which identifies the transition between the wall types, is compared to analytical calculations of the energy and micromagnetic simulations, which are found to agree well with the experimental results.
Electronic charge effects on dislocation cores in silicon
Authors: de Araújo M. M. , Justo J. F. , Nunes R. W.
Published: December 2004

Using first-principles calculations, we investigate electronic charge effects on the structural stability of partial dislocations in silicon. For the 30° partial dislocation, we find that the unreconstructed core sustains all possible charge states associated with the dislocation-related electronic bands, as the Fermi level (μe) sweeps the electronic band gap, while the reconstructed core remains neutral for p-type doping and intrinsic regimes. Both core configurations become negatively charged for n-type doping. In the case of the 90° partial dislocation, the three known core configurations (namely, the single-period and double-period reconstructed cores and the unreconstructed one) remain neutral in the p-type and intrinsic regimes, but the negatively charged states become stable in the n-type region, for all three geometries. More important, we find that the relative stability between the three structures is strongly charge-state dependent, with the unreconstructed core becoming energetically favorable in the n-type regime. Our results provide elements for understanding the role of doping on dislocation mobility in semiconductors.
Bistable chiral tilted-homeotropic nematic liquid crystal cells
Authors: Hsu Jy-Shan , Liang Bau-Jy , Chen Shu-Hsia
Published: December 2004

A bistable chiral tilted-homeotropic nematic cell which uses dual-frequency liquid crystal is demonstrated. This cell can be switched between the tilted homeotropic state and the twisted state. The switching mechanisms are achieved by the backflow effect together with the anisotropic properties of the dual-frequency liquid crystal material. The experimental results of this bistable cell are described explicitly.
Tuning the oxide/organic interface: Benzene on SnO2(101)
Authors: Batzill Matthias , Katsiev Khabibulakh , Diebold Ulrike
Published: December 2004

Two different SnO2(101) bulk terminations have been prepared in order to demonstrate the impact of the oxide surface composition on the interface properties between SnO2(101) and an organic film. The change in work function causes a rigid shift of the molecular orbitals of the condensed organic film by 1eV with respect to the valence band of SnO2. This change in the band alignment between an organic film and an oxide electrode material allows tuning of the barriers for charge transfer across this interface in molecular electronics applications.