bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Unique Case of Bilateral Recurrent Sphenoid Sinus Cerebrospinal Fluid Leaks
Authors: Marston Alexander P. , Van Gompel Jamie J. , Carlson Matthew L. , O’Brien Erin K.
Published: February 2015

Objectives:

This case presents a previously undescribed clinical scenario of spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks secondary to a lateral sphenoid sinus recess skull base dehiscence and contralateral Sternberg’s canal. This case report aims to characterize the presentation and successful management of these lesions.

Methods:

The electronic medical record was used to collect information pertaining to the patient’s clinical history.

Results:

The patient was a middle-aged, obese female with persistent clear rhinorrhea as her only presenting symptom. Neuroradiologic studies localized the defect to the lateral sphenoid sinus recess. CSF opening pressures were within normal limits, but radiographic findings were consistent with elevated intracranial pressure. After an endoscopic transnasal transsphenoidal approach failed to resolve the CSF leak, a transpterygoid approach facilitated CSF leak resolution. The patient then did well for the following 2 years, but later developed a CSF leak through a contralateral Sternberg’s canal. An endoscopic suprapterygoid procedure and ventriculoperitoneal shunt placement led to CSF leak resolution.

Conclusion:

This case demonstrates one of the only published examples of a sphenoid sinus CSF leak secondary to Sternberg’s canal as it was originally described in the literature. Wide endoscopic surgical exposure and intracranial pressure management ultimately led to CSF leak resolution.
Conducting commissioned research in neoliberal academia: The conditions evaluations impose on research practice
Authors: Richter Marina , Hostettler Ueli
Published: February 2015

The article deals with the unease we experience during various commissioned research projects. On the one hand, as social scientists, we feel committed to conducting ‘good research’ that acknowledges quality criteria such as flexibility and transparency and in particular allows for musing and reflexivity to ‘discover’ new aspects of our research topic. On the other hand, we are situated in the context of present-day neoliberal academia. This means that our work is assessed according to a culture of audit characteristic for neoliberal management of universities that values publication indexes and fundamental research. At the same time, universities strive increasingly for third-party funding that favors commissioned research. This article discusses how commissioned research conditions our evaluations and research practice and how these conditions might conflict with the ‘good research’ we hope to conduct.
Does a Well-Informed Employee Have a More Positive Attitude Toward Change? The Mediating Role of Psychological Contract Fulfillment, Trust, and Perceived Need for Change
Authors: van den Heuvel Sjoerd , Schalk René , van Assen Marcel A. L. M.
Published: February 2015

This study examined the mediating role of psychological contract fulfillment, trust, and perceived need for change in the relationship between change information and employee attitude toward organizational change. As one of the first studies in organizational change research, attitude toward change was operationalized here as a tridimensional construct, comprising an affective, a behavioral, and a cognitive dimension. In a sample of 399 employees, data were gathered using questionnaires. The results confirmed that psychological contract fulfillment, trust, and perceived need for change mediated the relationship between change information and attitude toward change. Change information was positively related to all three mediating variables, which in turn were positively related to at least one of the attitude toward change dimensions. Furthermore, the relationship between trust and all three attitude toward change dimensions was mediated by psychological contract fulfillment and perceived need for change. Recommendations for future research and implications for practitioners are discussed.
Immigrant Parents in the Educational System
Authors: Yakhnich Liat
Published: February 2015

This qualitative study focuses on immigrant parents’ perceptions of their children’s academic adaptation, their attitudes toward the host country’s educational system, and their motivation for school involvement. The participants are parents of adolescent children aged 11 to 17 years, who immigrated to Israel from the former Soviet Union (FSU). Open in-depth interviews were used to obtain data regarding the participants’ views and insights. The interviews showed that the immigrant parents perceive education as an essential factor in their children’s successful adaptation to the host country. They report significant disparities between educational methods in the FSU and in Israel. They perceive Israeli schools and teachers as being more “friendly” and sensitive to children and granting them equal opportunities for success, yet they are highly frustrated by the teaching level and by discipline issues. Concerned about their children’s academic adaptation, parents try to influence their learning process from the home. Yet, they have difficulty becoming involved in the school and communicating with the teachers. The primary factor that promotes their school involvement is the teacher’s personal characteristics, such as availability, patience, and flexibility. The findings have significant implications for educators who wish to advance immigrant students’ adjustment by means of meaningful cooperation with their parents.
Social Expectation Improves Speech Perception in Noise
Authors: McGowan Kevin B.
Published: February 2015

Listeners’ use of social information during speech perception was investigated by measuring transcription accuracy of Chinese-accented speech in noise while listeners were presented with a congruent Chinese face, an incongruent Caucasian face, or an uninformative silhouette. When listeners were presented with a Chinese face they transcribed more accurately than when presented with the Caucasian face. This difference existed both for listeners with a relatively high level of experience and for listeners with a relatively low level of experience with Chinese-accented English. Overall, these results are inconsistent with a model of social speech perception in which listener bias reduces attendance to the acoustic signal. These results are generally consistent with exemplar models of socially indexed speech perception predicting that activation of a social category will raise base activation levels of socially appropriate episodic traces, but the similar performance of more and less experienced listeners suggests the need for a more nuanced view with a role for both detailed experience and listener stereotypes.
Gastric neo-adenocarcinoma arising in a gastric tube after Ivor Lewis oesophagectomy for oesophageal adenocarcinoma
Authors: Hanif Faisal , Kerr Joana , Going James J , Fullarton Grant
Published: February 2015

A 69-year-old man, seven years post Ivor-Lewis oesophagectomy for oesophageal adenocarcinoma, was diagnosed to have a moderately differentiated 4 cm, malignant ulcer within the gastric tube remnant on an endoscopic biopsy. His original presentation was with a T1N0 oesophageal adenocarcinoma, histologically intestinal in type with inflammatory features. He presented with anaemia and melena due to a malignant ulcer in the mid body of his gastric tube on an endoscopy which was confirmed to be a gastric neo-adenocarcinoma on biopsy. He underwent right posterolateral thoracotomy and a wedge resection of the gastric tube including the tumour. Pathology confirmed a T3 N0 (0/7 lymph nodes) with clear margins moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma of intestinal phenotype with papillary features and was reported to be a histopathologically new tumour. Proposed surgical treatments in such patients are dependent on patient’s fitness for major resection and may vary from Endoscopic Mucosal Resection to partial resection with preservation of right gastroepiploic vessels or total gastrectomy with intestinal interposition via a retromediastinal route. We suggest that regular endoscopic surveillance may be indicated in such post-oesophagectomy patients as the number of patients developing gastric tube cancers may increase with improve survival of those patients.
Cognitive Representations of Future Gains, Maintenance, and Losses in the Second Half of Life
Authors: Timmer Erika , Steverink Nardi , Dittmann-Kohli Freya
Published: February 2015

The aim of this study is to explore three different developmental dimensions in an aging population. Based on sentence completion responses, the investigation examines personal anticipations of possible gains, maintenance, and losses. Additionally, the effects of age and other personal and situational factors are examined. The study sample consists of 2,934 participants ranging from 40 to 85 years of age, who participated in the German Aging Survey of 1996. Study findings indicate that, to a large extent, the anticipated gains include positive changes in the way of life and increased leisure projects while anticipated maintenance refer to physical and behavioral resources and to life style. Anticipated losses are related to concerns about external living conditions and physical decline. There is a strong association of anticipated gains and maintenance with age, while present health conditions are related to expectations of loss. The implications of the study results for lifespan expectations in the second half of life and for lifespan theory are discussed.
Fear Among the Extremes
Authors: van Prooijen Jan-Willem , Krouwel André P. M. , Boiten Max , Eendebak Lennart
Published: February 2015

The “rigidity of the right” hypothesis predicts that particularly the political right experiences fear and derogates outgroups. We propose that above and beyond that, the political extremes (at both sides of the spectrum) are more likely to display these responses than political moderates. Results of a large-scale sample reveal the predicted quadratic term on socio-economic fear. Moreover, although the political right is more likely to derogate the specific category of immigrants, we find a quadratic effect on derogation of a broad range of societal categories. Both extremes also experience stronger negative emotions about politics than politically moderate respondents. Finally, the quadratic effects on derogation of societal groups and negative political emotions were mediated by socio-economic fear, particularly among left- and right-wing extremists. It is concluded that negative emotions and outgroup derogation flourish among the extremes.
Marital Power Dynamics and Well-Being of Marriage Migrants
Authors: Chang Hsin-Chieh
Published: February 2015

Transnational marriages are increasing within the Asian region where one spouse migrates across national borders to marry. Compared with other forms of intermarriages, little is known about ethnic intermarriages involving transnational migration, especially in societies that are new immigrant destinations. Using social survey from South Korea ( N = 64,972), this article examines the marital power dynamics between transnational couples and the well-being consequences of power differentials for the migrating spouse. The results suggest that upward social mobility obtained through transnational marriages, measured by dyadic gaps in education and family social standing between transnational couples, provides a solid foundation for many marital unions, and thus leads to marriage migrants’ better health, improved life satisfaction, and more positive views on transnational marriage migration. This article sheds light on the unique power dynamics of biethnic families, one of the emerging and unconventional forms of contemporary families, and informs policy makers across family, health, and migration domains.
Student for student: Peer learning in music higher education
Authors: Reid Anna , Duke Michael
Published: February 2015

Students of piano and saxophone were asked to explore what peer learning meant to them. Following instrumental-based discussions, and with no intervention from faculty, the students developed a series of videos intended for use with incoming students. This article analyses the students’ discussions and videos, and describes the complexity of students learning from each other in informal peers contexts. Instrumental culture appears to impact on the forms and priorities for peer learning.
Popular music and school music education: Chinese students’ preferences and dilemmas in Shanghai, China
Authors: Law Wing-Wah , Ho Wai-Chung
Published: February 2015

This empirical study investigates Chinese students’ popular music preferences in daily life and to what extent and in what ways they prefer learning popular music in school in Shanghai, China. Data were drawn from questionnaires completed by 1,730 secondary students (aged 12–17) and interviews with 60 students from 10 secondary schools, between September and October, 2011. Findings from these efforts were supplemented by and triangulated with data from interviews with 18 music teachers and school leaders. Findings revealed the cultural diversification and rational consumption of popular music by Chinese students in and out of school, as well as the cultural dilemmas those students confront due to their preferences for popular (Chinese and non-Chinese) and classical music in the school music curriculum. These findings can be interpreted as indicating that music and music education in formal or informal settings are complex cultural constructs that can be reinvented through the intertwined interplay of different actors concerned with the selection of music elements in a multileveled, multicultural world.
Embodying singing in the choral classroom: A somatic approach to teaching and learning
Authors: Paparo Stephen A.
Published: February 2015

The purpose of this study was to investigate how somatic (mind–body) instruction facilitated participants’ understanding of embodiment and affected their singing performance. Using an integrated case study and action research design, I, as participant-researcher, led movement lessons based on the Feldenkrais Method® that were intended to elicit a greater understanding of embodiment in relation to singing. The participants were high school choral singers and their teacher from a suburban school in the Midwestern United States. Data included participant journals, group and individual interviews, and researcher field notes. Findings suggest that theoretical and practice-oriented perspectives on embodiment provided new possibilities for the choral teacher’s practice and the students’ learning. From this perspective, choral music teaching is, in essence, the facilitation of embodied singing. The implications and suggestions for future research guide those interested in exploring an embodied perspective in choral music education.
Measuring negative and positive caregiving experiences: a psychometric analysis of the Caregiver Strain Index Expanded
Authors: Kruithof Willeke J , Post Marcel WM , Visser-Meily Johanna MA
Published: February 2015

Objective:

To compare the psychometric properties of the Caregiver Strain Index Expanded with those of the original Caregiver Strain Index among partners of stroke patients.

Design and subjects:

Cross-sectional validation study among 173 caregivers of stroke patients six months post-stroke.

Main measures:

Outcome measure: Caregiver Strain Index Expanded. Reference measures: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, two questions on life satisfaction, Barthel Index and Montreal Cognitive Assessment. Additionally, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale.

Results:

Neither the Caregiver Strain Index Expanded nor the original Caregiver Strain Index showed floor or ceiling effects. The sum score of the positive items showed a ceiling effect and was skewed to the right (2.20). Principal component analysis revealed no clear underlying item clustering. Alpha values of the Caregiver Strain Index Expanded and the original Caregiver Strain Index were good (0.82 and 0.83), but the alpha value of the positive subscale of the Caregiver Strain Index Expanded was too low (0.51). Convergent validity was confirmed for the Caregiver Strain Index Expanded, the original Caregiver Strain Index and the positive subscale. The Caregiver Strain Index Expanded and the original Caregiver Strain Index showed nearly identical correlations with the reference measures. Negative caregiving experiences were more strongly related to partners’ mood and life satisfaction than positive caregiving experiences. In the regression analyses, the positive subscale showed little added value in predicting partners’ mood and life satisfaction.

Conclusion:

The addition of five positively phrased items does not improve the psychometric properties of the Caregiver Strain Index.
Comparison of clinical vignettes and standardized patients as measures of physiotherapists’ activity and work recommendations in patients with non-specific low back pain
Authors: Brunner Emanuel , Probst Michel , Meichtry André , Luomajoki Hannu , Dankaerts Wim
Published: February 2015

Objective:

To validate clinical vignettes as a measure of physiotherapists’ activity and work recommendations given to patients with non-specific low back pain.

Design:

Validation study comparing two methods for measuring aspects of health providers’ clinical management: Clinical vignettes and unannounced visits of standardized patients (the gold standard).

Setting:

Outpatient physiotherapy clinics.

Subjects:

Physiotherapists ( N = 59) who consented to see unannounced standardized patients in their clinical practice.

Main measures:

Clinical vignettes were used to initially measure physiotherapists’ self-reported activity and work recommendations. Subsequently, actors performing as standardized patients visited physiotherapists in their clinical practice and rated the advice given by the physiotherapist regarding activity and work. A total of 23 standardized patients were randomly scheduled to physiotherapists. Physiotherapists were blinded towards the standardized patients. To test whether standardized patients were detected, physiotherapists reported if they suspected that they had treated an actor.

Results:

The 23 standardized patients visited 22 different physiotherapists. Physiotherapists detected 12 out of 23 unannounced standardized patients (detection rate: 52%). The estimated agreement between the two measures was poor, for both activity and work recommendations (weighted kappa coefficients: 0.29 resp. –0.21).

Conclusion:

The poor concordance between clinical vignettes and standardized patients indicates the potentially limited validity of clinical vignettes as a measure of health providers’ activity and work recommendations in low back pain practice.
Clinical and Pathologic Study of Feline Merkel Cell Carcinoma With Immunohistochemical Characterization of Normal and Neoplastic Merkel Cells
Authors: Dohata A. , Chambers J. K. , Uchida K. , Nakazono S. , Kinoshita Y. , Nibe K. , Nakayama H.
Published: February 2015

The authors herein describe the morphologic and immunohistochemical features of normal Merkel cells as well as the clinicopathologic findings of Merkel cell carcinoma in cats. Merkel cells were characterized as vacuolated clear cells and were individually located in the epidermal basal layer of all regions examined. Clusters of Merkel cells were often observed adjacent to the sinus hair of the face and carpus. Immunohistochemically, Merkel cells were positive for cytokeratin (CK) 20, CK18, p63, neuron-specific enolase, synaptophysin, and protein gene product 9.5. Merkel cell carcinoma was detected as a solitary cutaneous mass in 3 aged cats (13 to 16 years old). On cytology, large lymphocyte-like cells were observed in all cases. Histologic examinations of surgically resected tumors revealed nests of round cells separated by various amounts of a fibrous stroma. Tumor cells were commonly immunopositive for CK20, CK18, p63, neuron-specific enolase, and synaptophysin, representing the characteristics of normal Merkel cells.
Ambient air pollution, weather and daily emergency department visits for headache
Authors: Vodonos Alina , Novack Victor , Zlotnik Yair , Ifergane Gal
Published: February 2015

Background

Headache is a common condition, and a common complaint leading patients to emergency departments (ED). There have been a number of studies of the effect of environmental factors on headache, such as weather and air pollutants.

Methods

This retrospective cohort study included data on daily ED visits with a chief complaint of headache in Soroka University Medical Center (SUMC) during 2002–2012. Data on weather and air pollutants were obtained from monitor station in Be'er-Sheva. To estimate the short-term effects of air pollution and temperature on number of daily headache ED visits, we applied generalized linear mixed models (GLMM).

Results

A total of 22,021 ED visits were included in the analysis. An increase in 5℃ in temperature was associated with an increase in ED visits, relative risk (RR) = 1.042, (95% CI 1.009; 1.076). RR for headache was associated with an increase in 10 units of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), RR = 1.110 (95% CI 1.057; 1.167), with a higher effect for older patients.

Discussion

The current findings give evidence of an association between air pollution, weather and ED visits for headache, especially for NO2. Short-term increases in air pollution exposure may trigger headache by increasing pulmonary and systemic inflammation, increasing blood coagulability or altering endothelial function.
Castoriadis’s work
Authors: Michelsen Anders
Published: February 2015

The article reviews Suzi Adams’s book on Cornelius Castoriadis, Castoriadis’s Ontology: Being and Creation, by debating the options and possible deficits in Castoriadis’s notion of creativity. While Adams criticizes Castoriadis for neglecting the overarching – and horizontal – worldliness that must ultimately condition creativity in various instances of interpretation, in the most expanded sense as a cosmology, the review ponders an alternative approach which focus on Castoriadis’s creativity seen as a notion of a lateral and emergent positing of the novel, ‘creations ex nihilo – but not in nihilo or cum nihilo’, with the statement in one of the last exposures of his thought (Castoriadis, 1997a: 333).
Will They Stay or Will They Go? Community Features Important in Migration Decisions of Recent University Graduates
Authors: Fiore Ann Marie , Niehm Linda S. , Hurst Jessica L. , Son Jihyeong , Sadachar Amrut , Russell Daniel W. , Swenson David , Seeger Christopher
Published: February 2015

Rural regions of the United States have experienced detrimental out-migration, or brain drain, of college-educated individuals. The present study used survey data, gathered with an interactive website tool containing a comprehensive collection of economic and lifestyle features, to determine those most important in migration decisions for public university graduating seniors from the rural state of Iowa. Economic features (overall cost of living and a strong local economy) were ranked as the top features, followed by lifestyle features including two surprising features (access to basic consumer goods and access to health facilities). The impact of individual differences on the likelihood of moving and the selection of desired community features was also examined and proved to be statistically significant. For instance, in comparison with female graduates, male graduates selected educational level of residents and higher percentage of nonmarried residents features more frequently. Implications for policy development and marketing and economic development strategies are discussed.
Sin as Forgetting: Negotiating Divine Presence
Authors: Wannenwetsch Bernd
Published: February 2015

The article examines sin through the lens of forgetfulness, as both are phenomena situated between passivity and activity, and intricately linked in the biblical tradition. It shows how the propensity to forget God is rooted in a particular form of presence that is characteristic of YHWH. The narrative of the making of the golden calf is analysed for its potential to highlight the ‘predicament’ peculiar to the Jewish and Christian faiths: to seek a more palpable divine presence than that in the word alone. The article explores this theme further by way of theologically juxtaposing the calf with the Agnus Dei and offering considerations on conscience, confession and the opacity of the Christian life.
A step identification method of joint parameters of robots based on the measured pose of end-effector
Authors: Fang Lijin , Dang Pengfei
Published: February 2015

According to the measured pose error of end-effector, a step identification method of joint parameters based on quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization algorithm is proposed to improve the accuracy of robots. Due to the nonlinear characteristic of kinematic model of robots, the identification problem of joint parameters is regarded as a nonlinear optimization problem, and solved through the two-step identification. Firstly, the joint parameters are individually optimized in the convergence order, and the prior converged joint parameter is substituted into optimization model to continue iteration until all of the joint parameters are converged. And secondly, the joint parameters are further optimized simultaneously in the searching space around previous converged values to finish the kinematic identification. The simulation results illustrate that not only the identification accuracy, but the identification efficiency can be improved by adopting this method. Furthermore, the step identification method of joint parameters is feasible for both serial robots and parallel robots.
A new accuracy design for a 6-dof docking mechanism
Authors: Li Jian-guang , Ding Jian , Yao Ying-xue , Fang Hong-gen
Published: February 2015

The accuracy design is an effective approach in accuracy improvement for 6-dof docking mechanism, which involves accuracy analysis and synthesis. To improve the efficiency for accuracy analysis, the number-theoretic method (NTM)-based simulation with Sobol point set is investigated. Compared with traditional Monte Carlo (MC) simulation, Sobol set-based NTM can attain the same precision with only 1/10 sampling size of MC simulation. The accuracy synthesis process considers process ability and adopts orthogonal and uniform design of experiments with Sobol set-based NTM for simulation for efficiency to generate multiple solutions adapted to fluctuation of manufacturing environment, In contrast with another synthesis approach, the costs of some solutions are lowered, and the structure tolerances can be relaxed to 18.66% and 19.28% without accuracy loss.
Analyses of steady and unsteady flows in a turbocharger’s radial turbine
Authors: Cerdoun Mahfoudh , Ghenaiet Adel
Published: February 2015

This study presents the aerodynamic behaviours of a twin-entry radial inflow turbine under steady and transient conditions. The influence of the volute tongue is depicted by a low momentum wake propagating toward the rotor entry, but its effect does not extend beyond a circumferential position of 60°, and more total pressure loss is revealed with respect to the hub side. The transient simulations carried out at different operating conditions and Fast Fourier Transform analysis of static pressure fluctuations induced by the components’ interactions have revealed a space-time periodic behaviour which has been described by a double Fourier decomposition. The flow simulations considering the two sides subject to both non-pulsatile and pulsatile flows conditions have revealed the existing rotor and tongue potential effects and interaction effects the rotor and volute, in addition to the circumferential and spanwise flow non-uniformities at the volute exit, which are more accentuated with a pulsatile flow at inlet. The results of Fast Fourier Transform analysis of temporal pressure fluctuations at the inter-space depict an unsteady behaviour related to the pulsatile frequencies which are characterised by high amplitudes. On the other hand, the spatial pressure fluctuations for the non-pulsatile and pulsatile flows conditions seem to have the same dominant modes since Fast Fourier Transform analysis was carried out at a fixed instant.
Evaluation of acetabular cup initial fixation by using resonance frequency principle
Authors: Henys Petr , Capek Lukas , Fencl Jaroslav , Prochazka Egon
Published: February 2015

The clinical practice shows that the loosening of acetabular cups is more frequent than stem loosening. With standard cups, the incidence of dislocation failure is highest in the first year after arthroplasty implantation. The aim of the study was to quantitatively evaluate the implant-bone stability of a cementless acetabular cup prosthesis by using a device based on resonance frequency analysis. The evaluation of this device was done by finite element analysis and in vitro experiments. It was shown that not all the resonance frequencies can be measured by our device. The resonance frequencies vary within the range of 500–3000 Hz. The proposed power spectrum measurement gives the information about the absolute stiffness of the press-fit implant.
Evaluation of the stiffnesses of the Achilles tendon and soleus from the apparent stiffness of the triceps surae
Authors: París-García Federico , Barroso Alberto , Doblaré Manuel , Cañas José , París Federico
Published: February 2015

The triceps surae plays an important role in the performance of many sports. Although the apparent average mechanical properties of the triceps surae may be a satisfactory parameter for estimating the training level of an athlete, a knowledge of the mechanical properties of the individual constituents of the triceps surae (in particular the Achilles tendon and soleus) permits a more detailed and in-depth control of the effects of training from more physically based parameters. The objective of this work is therefore the estimation of the individual viscoelastic properties (stiffness and viscosity) of soleus and Achilles tendon from the apparent properties of the triceps surae obtained by free vibration techniques. Different procedures have been developed and discussed, showing a high degree of robustness in the predictions. The results obtained for a non-oriented set of subjects present a high level of variability, depending on the training conditions and anthropometric features, although the corresponding average values compare well with data previously reported in the literature, particularly those associated with the tendon stiffness.
Exoskeleton control for lower-extremity assistance based on adaptive frequency oscillators: Adaptation of muscle activation and movement frequency
Authors: Aguirre-Ollinger Gabriel
Published: February 2015

In this article, we analyze a novel strategy for assisting the lower extremities based on adaptive frequency oscillators. Our aim is to use the control algorithm presented here as a building block for the control of powered lower-limb exoskeletons. The algorithm assists cyclic movements of the human extremities by synchronizing actuator torques with the estimated net torque exerted by the muscles. Synchronization is produced by a nonlinear dynamical system combining an adaptive frequency oscillator with a form of adaptive Fourier analysis. The system extracts, in real time, the fundamental frequency component of the net muscle torque acting on a specific joint. Said component, nearly sinusoidal in shape, is the basis for the assistive torque waveform delivered by the exoskeleton. The action of the exoskeleton can be interpreted as a virtual reduction in the mechanical impedance of the leg. We studied the ability of human subjects to adapt their muscle activation to the assistive torque. Ten subjects swung their extended leg while coupled to a stationary hip joint exoskeleton. The experiment yielded a significant decrease, with respect to unassisted movement, of the activation levels of an agonist/antagonist pair of muscles controlling the hip joint’s motion, which suggests the exoskeleton control has potential for assisting human gait. A moderate increase in swing frequency was observed as well. We theorize that the increase in frequency can be explained by the impedance model of the assisted leg. Per this model, subjects adjust their swing frequency in order to control the amount of reduction in net muscle torque.
‘Sauvé du déluge des jours’ : Taxidermy, photography and literature in Adrien Goetz and Karen Knorr’s Le Soliloque de l’empailleur
Authors: Collington Tara L.
Published: February 2015

This paper examines the intersection of photography and literature in Le Soliloque de l’empailleur, a short story by Adrien Goetz which reproduces 12 images from photographer Karen Knorr’s Fables. After discussing the profoundly intertextual nature of Knorr’s photos, which are inspired by Aesop, La Fontaine and Ovid, I undertake a close reading of Goetz’s story, examining the shared themes concerning the art of taxidermy and the disjunction between nature and culture present in both works. I also examine the ways in which the text evokes Knorr’s Fables, as the narrator sometimes describes a specific photo and at other times encourages the reader to imagine a photo that is not reproduced. The shared thematic content between Goetz’s story and Knorr’s photos, and the intermedial interaction between text and image allow the reader to concretise the fictional universe of the museum of taxidermied animals envisaged by both partners in this photo-literary collaboration.
Corps-à-corps, récit-à-récit, mort-à-mort : Violence de mère et de fille dans Le Dernier Mot de Gisèle Fournier
Authors: Morello Nathalie
Published: February 2015

Résumé

L’article analyse ce roman à deux voix – mère et fille dés/unies par une violence destructrice dirigée avec une intensité égale contre soi et l’autre – à la lumière des espoirs exprimés par certaines féministes quant aux possibilités de transformation des relations mère–fille dès lors que les écrivaines choisiraient de réunir dans un même récit une mère et une fille qui parleraient chacune en son propre nom. Après un bref rappel du cadre analytique, et l’examen des stratégies narratives choisies pour mettre en mots la violence féminine réciproque qui mine ici la relation mère–fille, il s’agit de déterminer si le dialogue entrepris par la fille, qui expose l’impact dévastateur de cette violence féminine vient confirmer, nuancer, troubler, ou subvertir les discours codifiés sur la violence féminine et les relations mère–fille, y compris dans de nombreux travaux féministes.
The subject of rape: Feminist discourses on rape and violability in contemporary France
Authors: Robson Kathryn
Published: February 2015

Rape is a tricky issue for feminists, not least because it poses the problem of how to protect women as violable embodied subjects without assuming a mind/body separation that goes against the contemporary conceptualisation of the embodied subject. This article explores this tension in feminist discourses in France in the 1970s and uses Luce Irigaray’s radical reconsideration of the embodied subject as intrinsically violable and relational in Democracy Begins Between Two to explore alternative models of rape and violability in twenty-first-century France. Analysis of recent rape testimonies, including but not exclusively those recounting the highly mediatised phenomenon of the tournantes, challenges prevailing feminist conceptions of rape ‘victims’ and of an autonomous violable subject. This article mobilises the image of the scar as configured in the rape testimonies in order to rethink (feminist) responses to rape more productively and more openly through acknowledgement of (bodily) violability as the site of potential dialogue and resistance.
J. M. G. Le Clézio : L’indigène révolutionnaire
Authors: Simpore Karim
Published: February 2015

Résumé

Dans le journal Le Monde du 7 Avril 2010, Le Clézio et Jean-Patrick Razon dénonçaient avec véhémence un projet de GDF-Suez pour la réalisation d’un barrage hydro-électrique, l’un des plus grands du Brésil. Bien que ce projet soit louable, il n’en demeure pas moins que les conséquences liées à sa réalisation soient des plus désastreuses sur le plan écologique et humanitaire, mais aussi sur la population indigène amazonienne. Si la défense du bassin de la rivière Madeira constitue ici dans cette réflexion le point focal d’une action militante de Le Clézio, elle n’est cependant que l’expression d’un échantillon des valeurs profondes qu’incarnent l’auteur contre l’exploitation des peuples sans voix et de leur environnement. La technologie, moteur des économies performantes, nous interroge sur le seuil de tolérance qu’il faut consentir sur les dégâts que sa réalisation engendre sur les indigènes et l’environnement.
Concentrated solar power: Recent developments and future challenges
Authors: Jelley Nick , Smith Thomas
Published: February 2015

With the mass-manufacture and resulting low cost of silicon photovoltaics driven by Western government subsidy schemes and large-scale manufacturing, concentrated solar power for electricity generation is now at a turning point. The present cost of mirrors, lenses, support structure and plant for concentrated solar thermal power, and of the high-efficiency multi-junction cells, concentrating optics and two-axis tracking systems for concentrated photovoltaic power, has made operational concentrated solar power plants uncompetitive in most scenarios. This is changing the shape of optics as well as the materials from which they are constructed and the size of the components used. We aim to highlight the current research that is being carried out to reduce the cost of concentrated solar power and concentrate on the long-term potential for cost reduction of both concentrated solar power technologies. This review concentrates first on optical and thermodynamic fundamentals, and the technology choices imposed by real world materials. We then review the broad categories of optical concentrators. Developments in solar thermal power generation and heat and thermochemical storage are discussed before briefly describing recent research on thermoelectric generation. Recent trends in concentrated photovoltaics are summarised, and we conclude by considering the present situation for concentrated solar power in the context of mass-market silicon photovoltaics.
Effect of trench width and blowing ratio on double-jet film cooling embedded in trenches
Authors: Liao Gaoliang , Wang Xinjun , Li Jun , Zhou Junfei
Published: February 2015

In order to meet the problem of material damage induced by high turbine inlet temperature, reliable means of improving film cooling effectiveness are increasingly being sought by researchers involved in the study of gas turbines. Numerical investigation of the effects of trench width and blowing ratio on double-jet film cooling embedded in trench has been conducted using three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) model. The trench is perpendicular to the mainstream flow direction. The commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver ANSYS 11.0 has been applied and shear stress transport (SST) turbulence model with gamma theta transitional model is used for turbulence model in simulations. The reliability of the numerical approach has been demonstrated by comparison of numerical results and experimental data. The blowing ratios are from 0.70 to 2.05, and the trench widths range from 5.83D to 7.92D. To investigate the film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient, the cooled surfaces have been given by adiabatic condition and fixed temperature, respectively. It is observed that the film cooling effectiveness has been greatly improved for double-jet with trench. In the vicinity region of film holes, the influence of the trench on the heat transfer coefficient is remarkable. The trench width and blowing ratio have important effects on cooling performance and heat transfer. For a given trench width, an optimum blowing ratio must be selected with an overall consideration of film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient.
Latest Pleistocene and Holocene behaviour of Franklin Glacier, Mt. Waddington area, British Columbia Coast Mountains, Canada
Authors: Mood Bryan J , Smith Dan J
Published: February 2015

Franklin Glacier is an 18-km-long valley glacier that originates in a broad icefield below the west face of Mt. Waddington in the central British Columbia Coast Mountains, Canada. Radiocarbon-dated wood samples from the proximal faces of lateral moraines flanking Franklin Glacier show that the glacier expanded at least nine times since 13,000 cal. yr BP. A probable Younger Dryas advance of Franklin Glacier at 12,910–12,690 cal. yr BP followed the late glacial retreat and down wasting of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet from ca. 16,000 to 12,900 cal. yr BP. During the succeeding early Holocene warm period, Franklin Glacier appears to have retreated significantly, leaving no record of glacial expansion until the mid-Holocene when it repeatedly advanced at 6360–6280, 5470–5280 and 4770–4580 cal. yr BP. Down wasting of the glacier surface after ca. 4770–4580 cal. yr BP was followed by intervals of expansion at 4260–4080, 3210–3020 and 2620–2380 cal. yr BP. Following ice expansion at ca. 2620–2380 cal. yr BP into trees over 224 years in age, there is no record of the glacier activity until 1570–1480 cal. yr BP when Franklin Glacier thickened and advanced into young subalpine fir trees. During the ‘Little Ice Age’, advances at 800–680, 610–560 and 570–510 cal. yr BP preceded a mid-19th to early 20th century advance that saw Franklin Glacier attain its maximum Holocene extent. The dendroglaciological record at Franklin Glacier is among the most comprehensive recovered from the British Columbia Coast Mountains and showcases the complexity of mid- to late Holocene glacier expansion in the region.
Sixteenth-century soil carbon sequestration rates based on Mexican land-grant documents
Authors: Hunter Richard , Sluyter Andrew
Published: February 2015

A significant gap in our understanding of global change involves the linkages between historical land-use and land-cover change (LULCC), Holocene terrestrial carbon (C) pool fluxes, and climate change. To address that research problem, this method uses land grants for sheep ranches awarded in early colonial (1521–1620 CE) Mexico to quantify the amount of land converted from cropland to pastureland. Soil is the largest terrestrial C pool, and converting cropland to pastureland significantly increases soil C sequestration rates, thereby reducing atmospheric C. The land grants and associated archival documents contain location-specific information about soils, vegetation, hydrology, and other variables that make it possible to map the ranches in a Geographic Information System (GIS) and quantify LULCCs and terrestrial C pools over time and space. The results demonstrate the utility of such archival documents to research on Holocene global change, indicate that LULCC during Mexico’s colonial period increased the region’s soil C sequestration rate, and confirm previous research that has suggested that transformations associated with European colonization of the Americas acted as an anthropogenic contributor to the period of moderate cooling known as the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1550–1850 CE).
Copyright and Mass Social Authorship
Authors: Cooper Elena
Published: February 2015

Social authorship ventures involving masses of volunteers like Wikipedia are thought to be a phenomenon enabled by digital technology, presenting new challenges for copyright law. By contrast, the case study explored in this article uncovers copyright issues considered in relation to a 19th-century social authorship precedent: the 70-year process of compiling the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (NED) instigated by the not-for-profit Philological Society in 1858, which involved thousands of casually organized volunteer readers and subeditors. Drawing on extensive original archival research, the article uses the case study as a means of critically reflecting on the claims of existing interdisciplinary literature concerning copyright and ‘authorship’; unlike the claims of the so-called Romanticism thesis, the article argues that copyright law supported an understanding of NED authorship as collaborative and democratic. Further, in uncovering the practical solutions, which lawyers considered in debating issues relating to title and rights clearance, the article uses the 19th-century experience as a vantage point for considering how these issues are approached today; despite the very different context, the copyright problems and solutions debated in the 19th century demonstrate remarkable continuity with those considered in relation to social authorship projects today.
Misdiagnosis versus missed diagnosis: diagnosing autism spectrum disorder in adolescents
Authors: Aggarwal Shilpa , Angus Beth
Published: February 2015

Objective:

The diagnosis of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) is sometimes delayed until adolescence. This study tries to identify the symptoms in clients that initiated a referral to an autism team of an early intervention service providing psychiatric care for young people between the ages of 15 and 25 and who subsequently receive a new diagnosis of autism.

Methods:

Thirty-one ASD assessments were carried out during a period of 3 years in an early intervention service in Australia. An attempt to identify the common presenting symptoms and trends in the referrals for ASD assessment within the service was made.

Results:

Most common presentation of adolescents getting referred for ASD assessment was with depressive symptoms followed by mixed anxiety and depression and primary psychotic symptoms. There was a significant gender difference, with a higher number of males getting referred for ASD assessment.

Conclusion:

ASDs can go undetected during childhood and these clients can sometimes present during adolescence to mental health services for a psychiatric comorbidity. Regular training opportunities for clinicians dealing with them could improve the chances of ASDs being picked up during their episode of care at an early intervention service, thus optimizing their management.
Diagnosing bipolar II disorder: some personal perspectives
Authors: Parker Gordon
Published: February 2015

Objective:

To overview candidate clinical features that support a bipolar II diagnosis.

Methods:

Personal clinical and research-based observations are presented.

Results:

It is argued that clinical assessment should consider the nature of the depressive episodes as well as of the highs, search for a ‘trend break’ onset and a family history, and weight the absence of psychotic features in distinguishing the condition from a bipolar I condition.

Conclusions:

This review argues for bipolar II disorder as differing categorically from bipolar I disorder, and details cross-sectional and longitudinal clinical features found useful in facilitating its diagnosis.
Performance Analysis of National Highways Public Private Partnerships in India
Authors: Gopalkrishna Nagesha , Karnam Gayithri
Published: February 2015

The increasing choice of public private partnerships (PPPs) in infrastructure projects is due to its inherent promise to create value for money (VfM) by providing timely and improved quality of services cost effectively. This article makes an attempt to assess the performance of four national highways (NH) PPP projects in the State of Karnataka. Framework for the evaluation of the projects under review includes time overrun analysis, risk responsibility matrix, and estimation of both quantitative and qualitative VfM, that is, the financial savings to the government and road users. The study finds that the Projects 1, 3, and 4 under review created positive VfM to government (financial savings) to the tune of Rs. 1,040 crore. VfM has also been observed to be positive to the road users by way of average reduction in travel time, saving of fuel, consistency in reaching the destination, and so on. The article also provides suggestions to tone up the PPP policy of India.