bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Vitamin D and Crohn's Disease in the Adult Patient
Authors: Basson Abigail
Published: October 2013

Crohn's disease (CD) is characterized as a chronic immune‐mediated inflammatory disorder of the gastrointestinal tract. Current consensus surrounding the cause of the disease suggests a complex interplay between genetic susceptibility, the intestinal microbiome and environmental factors, leading to the aberrant Th1 and Th17 immune cell mediated response. Vitamin D deficiency is common in CD patients, and long‐standing deficiency has been associated with reduced bone mineral density (BMD). Accumulating evidence now suggests that in addition to maintaining skeletal integrity, vitamin D also plays an integral role in regulating the general immune response, a function employed via its genomic actions on the vitamin D receptor (VDR). The VDR is expressed in all immune cells and both directly and indirectly targeted by the bioactive form of vitamin D, 1,25‐Dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25[OH]2D). Impaired regulation or deficiency of the vitamin has been linked to the promotion of self‐reactive T cell development, loss of immune tolerance to self‐structures, and experimental colitis in animal models, whereas the subsequent administration of the vitamin in these models resulted in the improvement of immune‐mediated symptoms. In addition, low vitamin D has been associated with disease activity in CD patients, and supplementation appears to be beneficial in improving clinical scores and reducing inflammation. Therefore, the primary aims of this article were to review the molecular evidence supporting the immunoregulatory roles of vitamin D and its supplementation in the CD patient, based on existing literature. The physiological processes, accepted serum concentration values, and its well‐recognized role in bone health were also summarized.
Families by Choice and the Management of Low Income Through Social Supports
Authors: Gazso Amber , McDaniel Susan A.
Published: October 2013

Processes of individualization have transformed families in late modernity. Although families may be more opportunistically created, they still face challenges of economic insecurity. In this article, we explore through in-depth qualitative interviews how families by choice manage low income through the instrumental and expressive supports that they give and receive. Two central themes organize our analysis: “defining/doing family” and “generationing.” Coupling the individualization thesis with a life course perspective, we find that families by choice, which can include both kin and nonkin relations, are created as a result of shared life events and daily needs. Families by choice are then sustained through intergenerational practices and relations. Importantly, we add to the growing body of literature that illustrates that both innovation and convention characterize contemporary family life for low-income people.
Multiportal Robotic Access to the Anterior Cranial Fossa: A Surgical and Engineering Feasibility Study
Authors: Bly Randall A. , Su David , Lendvay Thomas S. , Friedman Diana , Hannaford Blake , Ferreira Manuel , Moe Kris S.
Published: October 2013

Objective

Integration of robotic surgical technology into skull base surgery is limited due to minimum angle requirements between robotic tools (narrow funnel effect), steep angle of approach, and instrumentation size. The objectives of this study were to systematically analyze surgical approach portals using a computer model, determine optimal approaches, and assess feasibility of the derived approaches on robotic surgical systems.

Study Design

Computer analysis on 10 computed tomography scans was performed to determine approach trajectories, angles between robotic tools, and distances to specified skull base target locations for transorbital and transnasal surgical approach portals.

Setting

Dry laboratory and cadaver laboratory.

Subjects and Methods

The optimal combinations were tested on the da Vinci and Raven robotic systems.

Results

Multiportal analyses showed the angles between 2 robotic tools were 14.7, 28.3, and 52.0 degrees in the cases of 2 transnasal portals, combined transnasal and medial orbit portals, and bilateral superior orbit portals, respectively, approaching a prechiasmatic target. The addition of medial and superior transorbital portals improved the skull base trajectory angles 21 and 27 degrees, respectively. Two robotic tools required an angle of at least 20 degrees between them to function effectively at skull base targets.

Conclusion

Technical feasibility of robotic transorbital and transnasal approaches to access sella and parasellar target locations was demonstrated. This technique addresses the 2 major drawbacks of (1) the narrow funnel effect generated from portals in close proximity and (2) the steep angle of approach to the skull base, as observed in previous studies analyzing transoral, transcervical, transmaxillary, and transhyoid portals.
Reviewing the Systematic Reviews in OSA Surgery
Authors: Certal Victor , Nishino Naoya , Camacho Macario , Capasso Robson
Published: October 2013

Objective

There is an extensive amount of literature on surgeries as treatment for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome on adults. Previous systematic reviews have been performed to summarize the outcomes for sleep surgeries, with conflicting results. The objective of this study was to critically evaluate these systematic reviews to provide an overview of their quality, strengths, and conclusions.

Data Sources

MEDLINE, Scopus, and the Cochrane Collaboration databases were searched from inception to April 2013.

Review Methods

An overview of systematic reviews was undertaken. Studies included in this review are the systematic reviews whose primary objective was to evaluate the outcomes of sleep apnea surgery on adults. The methodological quality of the studies was analyzed with AMSTAR checklist, and the quality of evidence was evaluated using the GRADE assessment tool. Primary outcome measures assessed the effect of surgery on snoring, sleepiness, and the apnea‐hypopnea index.

Results

A total of 11 studies were included in this study, and the pooled overview includes 378 studies. The systematic reviews were mostly graded as low quality using the GRADE tool and low to moderate according to the AMSTAR checklist. Outcome for apnea‐hypopnea index demonstrated substantial variation leading to conflicting results. Despite a high amount of heterogeneity, outcomes for sleepiness and snoring demonstrated significant improvement across included reviews.

Conclusions

Although obstructive sleep apnea surgery is associated with improved outcomes in most studies, the level and quality of evidence reviews requires improvement.
Biodegradable poly(butylene-carbonate) porous membranes for guided bone regeneration: In vitro and in vivo studies
Authors: Xia Yang , Yao Jing , Shao Cheng-hua , Shen Xin-yuan , Xie Li-Zhe , Chen Gang , Peng Sha-sha , Zhang Fei-min , Gu Ning
Published: October 2013

Poly(butylene-carbonate) is a potential alternative to poly(ε-caprolactone) for biomedical application. Although mechanical properties of porous poly(butylene-carbonate) membranes were inferior to poly(ε-caprolactone), its contact angles (47.41° ± 1.17°) were lower than poly(ε-caprolactone) (77.24° ± 0.54°) (p < 0.001). It degraded faster than poly(ε-caprolactone) during a 10-week in vitro experiment (p < 0.01). Moreover, it had excellent bioactivity during simulated body fluid immersion. Cell spreading on poly(butylene-carbonate) was better than that on poly(ε-caprolactone). Cell behavior tests including cytotoxicity, proliferation, and differentiation were performed. The poly(butylene-carbonate) is more compatible with cells and promotes cell differentiation. In vivo, the defects covered by poly(butylene-carbonate) and poly(ε-caprolactone) membranes had a similar degree of regeneration at 4 weeks. It was concluded that poly(butylene-carbonate) could potentially be used to guide bone regeneration, and it is a potential new biodegradable polymer.
What the Party Wanted to Know
Authors: Dimitrov Martin K.
Published: October 2013

Authoritarian governments produce internal assessments of the quality of governance that allow them to identify and address brewing problems before they threaten regime stability. This paper provides a theory of how the information necessary to produce such assessments is collected. The empirical focus of the paper is on pre-1989 Bulgaria, which is used to illustrate how information-gathering channels in communist autocracies differ from those used in electoral autocracies. The theoretical argument of the paper is that citizen complaints rather than elections function as the main channel for gathering information on popular perceptions about governance problems in communist autocracies. Information compiled through the analysis of complaints is valued because it allows the leadership to identify problems with policy implementation, to track corruption, and to monitor the level of popular trust in the regime. Therefore, citizen complaints serve as a barometer of public opinion regarding governance problems. The archival materials on which this paper is based were accidentally discovered in the 2000s, when a closetful of about 2,000 files of the Information-Sociological Center of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party was located during routine repairs of the Central State Archive in Sofia. These files, which were previously assumed lost, give scholars access to a treasure trove of material that provides a rare internal perspective on governance under late socialism. In conjunction with other formerly classified archival materials, they allow us to document what information on public opinion was collected and transmitted to the top leadership in pre-1989 Bulgaria.
A Dissociation of Performance and Awareness During Binocular Rivalry
Authors: Baker Daniel H. , Cass John R.
Published: October 2013

When conflicting stimuli are presented to equivalent locations in each eye, people experience binocular rivalry, a phenomenon characterized by alternations in conscious awareness of each eye’s image. Attempts at objective measurement using monocular probe-detection methods show that sensitivity to probe stimuli is reduced during periods when those stimuli are reportedly suppressed. But are observers really able to detect stimuli that are perceptually invisible, or does the probe presentation itself reverse rivalry dominance between the two eyes? Here, we measured both judgment accuracy and confidence in those judgments across multiple probe contrast levels, and we found evidence for high accuracy with reduced awareness during suppression that was not due to probe-induced switches in rivalry dominance. This dissociation points to the existence of blindsight-like behavior in normal observers.
On the ontology of psychological attributes
Authors: Maul Andrew
Published: October 2013

Coherent interpretations of many claims about measurement in the psychological sciences depend on philosophically realist commitments regarding the psychological attributes purportedly being measured. However, what it means to be a realist regarding psychological attributes has not been clarified, and this may contribute to the reluctance of psychometricians and others to embrace realist positions. This paper attempts to clarify what a psychological attribute might believably be. Drawing on conceptual resources provided by Searle’s (1992) biological naturalism, as well as other perspectives from the philosophies of mind and language, it is argued that psychological attributes can, in principle, be said to exist. On the realist perspective, the existence of an attribute is a necessary but insufficient condition for its measurability. However, existence is not the same as immutability or independence from human intentionality, and the role that humans play in creating psychological attributes cannot be ignored.
Public service employment restructuring in the crisis in the UK and Ireland: Social partnership in retreat
Authors: Bach Stephen , Stroleny Alexandra
Published: October 2013

The crisis has had major consequences for public service employment relations in the liberal market economies of the UK and Ireland. However, variations in the process of fiscal consolidation reflect different legacies of social partnership, prior patterns of public management reform and different relationships to the eurozone. The measures adopted nevertheless reflect a similar concern to decrease public sector employment, worsen pay and conditions and increase work effort. Despite the deterioration of terms and conditions of employment, industrial action has been muted, reflecting the severe weakness of trade unions. Both cases illustrate that governments have become less concerned to gain trade union support to push through austerity measures.
Financialization and the reform of European industrial relations systems
Authors: Prosser Thomas
Published: October 2013

This article examines the impact of financialization on European systems on industrial relations. It assesses two aspects: the growing power of bond markets and the increasing tendency for firms to threaten to ‘offshore’ operations. Such processes are rooted in the very logic of financialization and have caustic effects on the integrity of European industrial relations regimes. The article concludes that the threat to European systems of industrial relations is likely to be enduring.
Differential immunoglobulin class-mediated responses to components of the U1 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle in systemic lupus erythematosus and mixed connective tissue disease
Authors: Mesa A , Somarelli JA , Wu W , Martinez L , Blom MB , Greidinger EL , Herrera RJ
Published: October 2013

Objective

The objective of this paper is to determine whether patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD) possess differential IgM- and IgG-specific reactivity against peptides from the U1 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle (U1 snRNP).

Methods

The IgM- and IgG-mediated responses against 15 peptides from subunits of the U1 snRNP were assessed by indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) in sera from patients with SLE and MCTD and healthy individuals ( n = 81, 41, and 31, respectively). Additionally, 42 laboratory tests and 40 clinical symptoms were evaluated to uncover potential differences. Binomial logistic regression analyses (BLR) were performed to construct models to support the independent nature of SLE and MCTD. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves corroborated the classification power of the models.

Results

We analyzed IgM and IgG anti-U1 snRNP titers to classify SLE and MCTD patients. IgG anti-U1 snRNP reactivity segregates SLE and MCTD from nondisease controls with an accuracy of 94.1% while IgM-specific anti-U1 snRNP responses distinguish SLE from MCTD patients with an accuracy of 71.3%. Comparison of the IgG and IgM anti-U1 snRNP approach with clinical tests used for diagnosing SLE and MCTD revealed that our method is the best classification tool of those analyzed ( p ≤ 0.0001).

Conclusions

Our IgM anti-U1 snRNP system along with lab tests and symptoms provide additional molecular and clinical evidence to support the hypothesis that SLE and MCTD may be distinct syndromes.
Demarcation of the ethics of care as a discipline
Authors: Klaver Klaartje , Elst Eric van , Baart Andries J
Published: October 2013

This article aims to initiate a discussion on the demarcation of the ethics of care. This discussion is necessary because the ethics of care evolves by making use of insights from varying disciplines. As this involves the risk of contamination of the care ethical discipline, the challenge for care ethical scholars is to ensure to retain a distinct care ethical perspective. This may be supported by an open and critical debate on the criteria and boundaries of the ethics of care. As a contribution, this article proposes a tentative outline of the care ethical discipline. What is characteristic of this outline is the emphasis on relational programming, situation-specific and context-bound judgments, a political–ethical perspective, and empirical groundedness. It is argued that the ethics of care is best developed further by means of an intradisciplinary approach. Two intradisciplinary examples show how within the frame of one discipline, other disciplines are absorbed, both with their body of knowledge and their research methodology.
Turnaround Challenges of a State-owned Enterprise: A Case Study of Orissa Remote Sensing Application Centre, India
Authors: Ganesh S. Senthil , Kumar Niraj
Published: October 2013

Orissa Remote Sensing Applications Centre (ORSAC), an autonomous technology organization established by the Government of Orissa, had grown tremendously; developing competencies in the fields of remote sensing, geographic information system (GIS) and space technology. Since ORSAC was established by the Government of Orissa, ORSAC’s relationship with the state, Department of Science (DoS), National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) and Space Application Centre (SAC) helped it to secure remote sensing and GIS projects effortlessly, thereby ensuring a steady revenue stream for ORSAC during the early days of its inception.

Upon assuming the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Amiya Kumar Mohapatra, an Indian Forest Service officer, realized that he was unable to bring desired changes within the organization. Low motivation amongst the employees prevented the organization from growing and winning large-scale projects. ORSAC faced stiff competition from private players and other government agencies in the ever-advancing remote sensing and GIS market in India.

The CEO realized that dependence on the government for patronage and funding had had a detrimental impact on ORSAC. The organization was unable to recognize the need for developing competencies in marketing its products and services to users until it was too late, and it had already lost large-scale projects in the manufacturing industry to private players. However, an increase in the salary expenses and the salary shortfall in comparison with Department of Science and Technology funding was forcing ORSAC to sustain its operational expenses by securing more projects from the open market.

The organization was facing diverse challenges ranging from high operating costs, especially salary expenses, to low productivity of employees, which were affecting ORSAC’s competitiveness negatively. Additionally, the organization faced a near-permanent recruitment ban by the state government preventing it from sourcing key competencies from the market to keep pace with the changing technologies and customer demands.

Thus, this case study aims to present diverse challenges of a state-owned enterprise by highlighting internal factors such as structural, financial and human resource challenges, as well as external factors such as technological change and competition in the industry, which influences organizational competitiveness and makes organizational turnaround a difficult task.
Learning to get drunk: The importance of drinking in Japanese university sports clubs
Authors: McDonald Brent , Sylvester Kate
Published: October 2013

This paper draws on two ethnographic research projects in Japanese university sports clubs to examine the role alcohol plays in the social and cultural education of students. Over the course of a four-year membership, the university sports club is a site where members learn to negotiate drinking. This negotiation is demonstrated by the range of strategies members employ when engaging in one of the many official drinking parties that punctuate the university sports club calendar. Knowing how to drink is seen as an important byproduct of being a member and this knowledge is acquired via the pedagogical relationships established between junior and senior members. On graduating university Japanese students are literally expected to become full members of society and it is the habitus related to social interaction (including drinking) rather than that related to sport, which has enduring capital. Alcohol plays a central role in many aspects of Japanese social interaction and the university sports club is a site par excellence for the training in and mastery of such skills.
The abandonment of inauthentic humanity: Barth’s theology of baptism as the ground and goal of mission
Authors: Lindsay Mark
Published: October 2013

This article explores the development of Karl Barth’s theology of the sacraments, with specific reference to his evolving understanding of the function and ground of baptism. It is argued here that Barth’s late explication of baptism in the final fragment of Church Dogmatics IV/4 posits an inextricable link between the nature and purpose of baptism and the ground and goal of mission, as two inseparable acts of ethical obedience to the call and Word of God.
Opportunities for bead-based multiplex assays in veterinary diagnostic laboratories
Authors: Christopher-Hennings Jane , Araujo Karla P. C. , Souza Carlos J. H. , Fang Ying , Lawson Steven , Nelson Eric A. , Clement Travis , Dunn Michael , Lunney Joan K.
Published: October 2013

Bead-based multiplex assays (BBMAs) are applicable for high throughput, simultaneous detection of multiple analytes in solution (from several to 50–500 analytes within a single, small sample volume). Currently, few assays are commercially available for veterinary applications, but they are available to identify and measure various cytokines, growth factors and their receptors, inflammatory proteins, kinases and inhibitors, neurobiology proteins, and pathogens and antibodies in human beings, nonhuman primates, and rodent species. In veterinary medicine, various nucleic acid and protein-coupled beads can be used in, or for the development of, antigen and antibody BBMAs, with the advantage that more data can be collected using approximately the same amount of labor as used for other antigen and antibody assays. Veterinary-related BBMAs could be used for detection of pathogens, genotyping, measurement of hormone levels, and in disease surveillance and vaccine assessment. It will be important to evaluate whether BBMAs are “fit for purpose,” how costs and efficiencies compare between assays, which assays are published or commercially available for specific veterinary applications, and what procedures are involved in the development of the assays. It is expected that many veterinary-related BBMAs will be published and/or become commercially available in the next few years. The current review summarizes the BBMA technology and some of the currently available BBMAs developed for veterinary settings. Some of the human diagnostic BBMAs are also described, providing an example of possible templates for future development of new veterinary-related BBMAs.
Testicular yolk sac tumor of myxomatous, reticular, and polyvesicular vitelline type in a newborn calf
Authors: Sakaguchi Kanako , Matsuda Kazuya , Suzuki Hiromi , Yamamoto Nao , Kondo Yumi , Ando Takaaki , Koiwa Masateru , Kagawa Yumiko , Taniyama Hiroyuki
Published: October 2013

Yolk sac tumors (YSTs) are rare neoplasms of germ cell origin. In humans, the tumors primarily occur in the testes or ovaries, but occasionally develop at other sites. The neoplastic cells of YSTs form many histological patterns resembling embryonal structures, and the World Health Organization classification lists 11 such patterns: reticular, macrocystic, endodermal sinus, papillary, solid, glandular-alveolar, myxomatous, sarcomatoid, polyvesicular vitelline, hepatoid, and parietal. Among domestic animals, only 2 cases of YST, which were of testicular and abdominal cavity origin, have been reported in calves. In both cases, neoplastic cells had epithelial properties and disseminated metastases in the abdomen. In the present study, the enlarged testis of a newborn calf, which was subsequently diagnosed as YST and exhibited myxomatous, reticular, and polyvesicular vitelline histological patterns, is described. There was no metastasis in this case, and histological and immunohistochemical features varied from previous cases of YST.
Performance of a traveling wave thermoacoustic-piezoelectric energy harvester: An electrical circuit analogy approach
Authors: Roshwalb Andrew , Nouh Mostafa , Aldraihem Osama , Baz Amr
Published: October 2013

The performance of a traveling wave thermoacoustic-piezoelectric energy harvester is developed using an electrical circuit analogy approach. The harvester converts thermal energy, such as solar or waste heat energy, directly into electrical energy without the need for any moving components. The input thermal energy generates a steep temperature gradient along a porous regenerator. At a critical threshold of the temperature gradient, self-sustained acoustic waves are developed inside an acoustic resonator. The associated pressure fluctuations impinge on a piezoelectric diaphragm, placed at the end of the resonator. The resulting interaction is accompanied by a direct conversion of the acoustic energy into electrical energy. The acoustic pressure oscillations are amplified by a specially designed acoustic feedback loop that introduces appropriate phasing to make the pulsations take the form of traveling waves. Such traveling waves render the harvester to be inherently reversible and thus highly efficient. The behavior of this class of harvesters is modeled using an electrical circuit analogy approach. The developed model is a multifield model that combines the descriptions of the acoustic resonator, feedback loop, and the regenerator with the characteristics of the piezoelectric diaphragm. The onset of self-sustained oscillations of the harvester is predicted using the root locus method. The predictions are validated against published results. The developed electrical analog and the associated analysis approach present invaluable tools for the design of efficient thermoacoustic-piezoelectric energy harvesters.
Low-molecular-weight thermoplastic modifiers as effective healing agents in mendable epoxy networks
Authors: Varley Russell J , Dao Buu , Pillsbury Christopher , Kalista Stephen J , Jones Frank R
Published: October 2013

Solid-state healing of epoxy networks is shown to be an effective and robust mechanism for highly cross-linked epoxy networks. Using diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A epoxy resin and diethyltoluenediamine, the cured epoxy network is transformed into a mendable system using phenoxy resin and low-molecular-weight polybisphenol A-co-epichlorohydrin) thermoplastic modifiers. Using functionally terminated low-molecular-weight poly(bisphenol A-co-epichlorohydrina) thermoplastic modifiers as healing agents reveals that salicylic acid or neutralized sodium salicylate groups produce healing similar to high-molecular-weight non-functional phenoxy resin as measured using single-end notched beam testing. The miscibility of both thermoplastics in the diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A/diethyltoluenediamine system was evaluated using differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis and identified as being important to promoting healing. Near-infrared spectroscopy showed that the network structure was unaffected by the thermoplastic modification, suggesting that healing occurred primarily through physical or non-covalent mechanisms rather than covalent bonding. The potential for self-assembly of the salicylic acid and neutralized sodium salicylate groups to form a high-molecular-weight thermoplastic in situ was also discussed as being a possible reason for the improved level of healing with the low-molecular-weight thermoplastic.
A new imaging approach for in situ and ex situ inspections of conductive fiber–reinforced composites by magnetic induction tomography
Authors: Renner Axel , Marschner Uwe , Fischer Wolf-Joachim
Published: October 2013

Fiber-reinforced plastics for industrial applications face constantly increasing demands regarding efficiency, reliability, and economy. Furthermore, it was shown that fiber-reinforced plastics with tailored reinforcements are superior to metallic or monolithic materials. However, a trustworthy description of the load-specific failure behavior and damage evolution of composite structures can hardly be given, because these processes are very complex and are still not entirely understood. Among other things, several research groups have shown that material damages like fiber fracture, delamination, matrix cracking, or flaws can be discovered by analyzing the electrical properties of conductive composites, for example, carbon fiber–reinforced plastics. Furthermore, it was shown that this method could be used for structural health monitoring or nondestructive evaluation. Within this study, magnetic induction tomography, which is a new imaging approach, is introduced in the topic of nondestructive evaluation of carbon fiber–reinforced plastics. This non-contacting imaging method gains the inner spatial distribution of conductivity of a specimen and depicts material inhomogeneity, like damages, not only in two-dimensional images but also in three-dimensional images. Numerical and experimental investigations are presented, which give a first impression of the performance of this technique. It is demonstrated that magnetic induction tomography is a promising approach for nondestructive evaluation. Potentially, it can be used for fabrication quality control of conductive fiber–reinforced plastics and as a structural health monitoring system using an integrated or superficially applied magnetic induction tomography setup.
A study on controller structure interaction of piezoelectric smart structures based on finite element method
Authors: Dong Xingjian , Ye Lin , Peng Zhike , Hua Hongxing , Meng Guang
Published: October 2013

The control of piezoelectric smart structures described by large-scale finite element models typically requires construction and use of reduced-order models for the purpose of feedback controller design and implementation. However, reduced-order model–based controllers can have deleterious interactions with unmodeled modes. The unwanted controller structure interaction can cause performance degradation and even instability. The concern is that the controller structure interaction is seldom considered in conventional vibration control study of piezoelectric smart structures. In this article, a general framework within which one can study the effect of controller structure interaction is developed by integrating the reduced-order model–based controller into finite element environment. The issue of controller structure interaction is then examined numerically. The importance of including controller structure interaction effects in closed-loop simulation of piezoelectric smart structures is demonstrated. It is shown that the conventional controller design approach is very much influenced by the order of reduction of the piezoelectric smart structure. This suggests that for piezoelectric smart structures in which controller structure interaction is significant, application of the conventional control system design methods may not be adequate. Moreover, examples of controller structure interaction–induced spillover are illustrated via power spectral density of the displacement response.
Design and performance analysis of a compact magnetorheological valve with multiple annular and radial gaps
Authors: Imaduddin Fitrian , Mazlan Saiful Amri , Zamzuri Hairi , Yazid Izyan Iryani Mohd
Published: October 2013

A novel concept of a compact magnetorheological valve is proposed based on the advance characteristics of magnetorheological fluid. The structural design consists of a meandering pattern formed by multiple annular and radial gaps in order to extend the flow path length of magnetorheological fluid. Extending the flow path of magnetorheological fluid is important in order to increase the density of effective area, so that the rheological properties of magnetorheological fluid can be widely regulated in a small size magnetorheological valve. The main objective of this article is to show that the pressure drop as one of the key performance indicators in a magnetorheological valve can be significantly increased using multiple annular and radial gaps configuration. In order to demonstrate the magnetorheological valve performance, simulation work using magnetic simulation software called finite element method–based software for magnetic simulation is conducted and combined with the pressure drop calculation using the derived magnetorheological valve model. Simulation results show that the magnetorheological valve with multiple annular and radial gaps is able to improve the achievable pressure drop. The discussion on the effect of gap size variations on the achievable pressure drop and the operational range of magnetorheological valve is also presented.
Critical Connections
Authors: Casey Colleen
Published: October 2013

This article studies the relationship between linking social capital and credit access for low-wealth entrepreneurs. I argue that the support provided by community-based organizations facilitates critical linkages to credit access for low-wealth entrepreneurs. Data on nascent firms engaging in start-up efforts in the United States in 2005 from the Panel Survey of Entrepreneurial Dynamics II (PSED II) are used to test the effects of government, bank, and community-based organization supports. The results suggest that government support has a positive effect for entrepreneurs overall. However, among low-wealth entrepreneurs, support provided by community-based organizations significantly increases access to credit for start-up activities.
A new use of the elastodynamic reciprocity theorem
Authors: Achenbach Jan D
Published: October 2013

For an isotropic linearly elastic half-space whose elastic moduli and mass density depend on the distance from the free surface, the surface wave motion radiating from a time-harmonic point load applied normal to the surface of the half-space is considered in this paper. The surface wave velocity, which depends on the wave number, together with expressions for the displacements and stresses of free surface waves, are obtained in a high-frequency approximation. Application of the reciprocity theorem using general expressions for the surface wave radiated by the oscillating point load, together with a virtual free surface wave, yields relatively simple expressions for the amplitude factor of the radiated surface wave. For a few examples, results show the velocity of surface waves and the amplitude factor of the surface waves as a function of the wave number.
Towards a new theory of practice for community health psychology
Authors: Nolas Sevasti-Melissa
Published: October 2013

The article sets out the value of theorizing collective action from a social science perspective that engages with the messy actuality of practice. It argues that community health psychology relies on an abstract version of Paulo Freire’s earlier writing, the Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which provides scholar-activists with a ‘map’ approach to collective action. The article revisits Freire’s later work, the Pedagogy of Hope, and argues for the importance of developing a ‘journey’ approach to collective action. Theories of practice are discussed for their value in theorizing such journeys, and in bringing maps (intentions) and journeys (actuality) closer together.
The association of personality, appraisal, catastrophising and vigilance with gastrointestinal symptom-specific anxiety
Authors: McKinnon Andrew C , Van Oudenhove Lukas , Tack Jan , Jones Michael
Published: October 2013

This study investigates the relationship between psychosocial factors and functional gastrointestinal disorder symptomatology by testing a more comprehensive and integrated model than found in prior research. A total of 233 respondents completed an online battery to assess factors such as personality, dysfunctional cognitions and gastrointestinal anxiety. Results based on path modelling provided support for the majority of the hypothesised pathways. This study implicates a number of personality factors and dysfunctional cognitive processes as relevant to functional gastrointestinal disorder symptom burden. These findings have implications for future research, including which dysfunctional cognitive processes should be targeted therapeutically.
Belgian siblings of children with a chronic illness
Authors: Havermans Trudy , Croock Ilse De , Vercruysse Trui , Goethals Eveline , Diest Ilse Van
Published: October 2013

To assess Belgian siblings’ self-reported quality of life (QoL) and the impact of illness on four different paediatric illnesses. Healthy siblings ( n = 131) of children with type 1 diabetes, cancer, congenital heart disease (CHD) and cystic fibrosis (CF) completed the Child Health Questionnaire and the Sibling Perception Questionnaire. Results were compared to those of a matched group of siblings of healthy children. Siblings reported a good QoL, similar to controls, with the exception that siblings reported better on the QoL domain pain ( p < .01). QoL was not related to time since diagnosis but the impact of illness was higher nearer to the time of diagnosis ( r = −.39, p < .001). QoL of siblings of children with CHD or cancer was lower than QoL in the CF or type 1 diabetes group whilst impact of illness was highest for the CHD group. QoL of siblings of a child with a chronic illness is similar to the QoL of peers. Studies investigating siblings’ QoL or the impact of illness on siblings should include the day-to-day demands of the illness as well as less obvious illness-related issues like ‘hidden stress’ and ‘sense of control’.
Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Malay language version of the TZO-AZL Preschool Children Quality of Life questionnaire
Authors: Tay Chee Geap , Jalaludin Muhammad Yazid , Low Wah Yun , Lim Chin Theam
Published: October 2013

The aim of this study is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the translated Malay language version of TZO-AZL Preschool Children Quality of Life (TAPQOL) questionnaire in preschool children. Preterm children and term children aged between two and five years were enrolled into the study. The Malay language version of TAPQOL and a set of questions regarding the child’s health status were answered by the caregivers. The internal consistency, Spearman’s correlation coefficients and principal component analysis (PCA) with Varimax rotation and Mann–Whitney U test for group comparison were employed to evaluate the psychometric properties of this instrument. A total of 258 children (120 preterm children and 138 term children) were recruited to this study with a response rate of 94%. All (sub)domains except one had Cronbach’s α coefficients of more than .7. The Spearman’s correlation coefficients between 12 subdomains were generally low. PCA supported the structural unidimensionality of the items in the instrument. Preterm children had lower quality of life scores than that of term children. Malay version of TAPQOL has multidimensional construct. It is a reliable and valid instrument for preschool children, with almost similar psychometric properties to the original version.
Experiences of expressing and storing colostrum antenatally
Authors: Brisbane Joanna M , Giglia Roslyn C
Published: October 2013

This qualitative study explored the experiences and breastfeeding outcomes of a group of mothers who expressed colostrum in the antenatal period. In-depth interviews were conducted over the telephone with 12 women who had attended a unique antenatal lactation clinic appointment at 37 weeks’ gestation. Seven main response themes were identified. Most women reflected positively upon their attendance and reported that the experience of expressing colostrum allowed them to become familiar with their breasts and gave them a sense of security by having a supply of colostrum stored for possible use after birth. The main negative emotions reported were a sense of embarrassment at expressing the colostrum, particularly in front of another person, the difficulties with expressing colostrum and in one instance, the physical pain associated with the process. Antenatal expression of colostrum may improve maternal breastfeeding confidence. Further research using long-term records will determine whether this practice improves breastfeeding outcomes.
The experiences of parents and nurses of hospitalised infants requiring oxygen therapy for severe bronchiolitis
Authors: Peeler Alison , Fulbrook Paul , Kildea Sue
Published: October 2013

Bronchiolitis is a major cause of children’s admission to hospital. The study aim was to describe the experiences of parents who had, or nurses who cared for, a child admitted to hospital for severe bronchiolitis requiring oxygen therapy. A descriptive phenomenological approach was used to interview 12 mothers and 12 nurses. The findings were clustered into three domains: fear, parent–child interaction and technical caring. The mothers found the experience to be extremely frightening, based on their fear that their child could die. This was compounded by their lack of knowledge and understanding about what was happening and their inability to fulfil their mothering role. Although nurses recognised that parents were anxious, they did not seem to appreciate fully the depth of fear and emotion that mothers were experiencing and tended to describe procedural aspects of their role. The mothers’ relationship with their child was focused upon physical contact and the desire to comfort their child. Their ability to do so was significantly impacted upon by the method of oxygen delivery to their child. For nurses, although they recognised the psychosocial dimension, their emphasis was on health and safety aspects of oxygen therapy, both for the child and themselves.
Journalistic quotation: Reported speech in newspapers from a semiotic-linguistic perspective
Authors: Harry Joseph C
Published: October 2013

A qualitative sample of newspaper articles covering Israeli commandos’ killing of passengers aboard a pro-Palestinian cargo ship was examined to discern how direct and indirect quotation modes function as propositional re-assertion. Using a linguistic-semiotic perspective, journalistic quotation was conceptualized as a series of verbal speech-act signs of three types: direct, free-indirect, and standard indirect quotation. These three essential quotation modes are shown to conform to the semiotic icon, index, and symbol, respectively, and at the linguistic level to entail either relatively neutral, ‘non-subjectivized’ re-assertion, or evaluative, ‘subjectivized’ re-assertion on the reporter’s part. Newspaper quotation segments are related to each variety of quotation, drawing out these co-occurring semiotic and linguistic characteristics to show how each quote mode performs as either a source or writer-centered double-duty speech act, allowing journalists within the traditional objectivity norm to variously provide relatively neutral or highly interpretive re-voicings of propositional assertions originally uttered by news sources.
Democracy in an age of viral reality: A media epidemiography of Spain’s indignados movement
Authors: Postill John
Published: October 2013

The present article draws from fieldwork on the indignados (or 15M) movement in Spain to propose a new approach to the study of protest movements in the digital era: ‘media epidemiography’. This composite of the terms ‘epidemiology’ and ‘ethnography’ is used as a heuristic to address the research challenge of today’s swiftly evolving techno-political terrains. I argue that viral media have played a key role in Spain’s indignados movement, with Twitter as the central site of propagation. Protesters have used Twitter and other viral platforms to great effect and in a range of different ways, including as a means of setting the tone and agenda of the protests, spreading slogans and organizational practices, and offering alternative accounts of the movement. These developments may signal the coming of an era in which political reality is shaped by viral contents ‘shared’ by media professionals and amateurs – an age of viral reality.
Art crawls: Locating artists and audiences in the creative city
Authors: Shaw Samuel
Published: October 2013

This article reconsiders creative city planning strategies in light of a Bourdieuian field model of cultural production. Creative city discourse imagines street-level artistic scenes as tolerant milieus that attract creative human capital and promote growth, whereas a field perspective views art scenes as generating logics and practices of exclusion. Using ethnographic observation and interviews with artists and other stakeholders in art crawl events in Portland, Oregon, and Nashville, Tennessee, this article describes how artists interact with their audiences in new urban contexts. Art crawls are monthly, coordinated, gallery-opening events that bring together art scenes and new audiences in particular times and districts, and they have proliferated in cities of all sizes in recent years, notably in places without rich traditions in the arts. This article finds that artistic professionals work to attract crowds, but the logics of their field then require sorting and selecting between them.
‘License to drink’: White-collar female workers and Japan’s urban night space
Authors: Ho Swee-Lin
Published: October 2013

This article examines the contradictory processes that have given women a greater access to Japan’s urban night space as the increasingly flexible work environment offered them white-collar employment opportunities and enhanced women’s economic resources, which in turn generated shifts in commercial practices to de-problematize drinking for women and a proliferation of diverse drinking venues. This study contends that these changes, which are largely commercially driven and not necessarily reflecting a stronger social acceptance of women drinking in public late at night by the broader Japanese society, nonetheless legitimize women’s place in the once male-dominated urban night space by recognizing women’s contributions to the night-time economy as consumers, hence affirming also the importance of white-collar work for women as a valid realm.
Free space in the processes of action research
Authors: Bladt Mette , Nielsen Kurt Aagaard
Published: October 2013

In Scandinavia there exists an action research tradition called critical utopian action research (CUAR). Within CUAR, criticism and utopia is a core activity in the methods used and in the research as such. The utopian concept in this tradition should be understood as a productive concept, and thus not as eyebrow-lifting fantasy. Utopian horizons are, in light of critical reflection, formulated and developed. They act as horizons indicating the direction of the work. The point of utopian notions – dreams and visions – is that they go beyond ‘the existing’ and become a way of working that allows us to think in concrete alternatives; in ‘different futures’. It allows us to ask the question: how do we wish to live? The rationale for the work of utopia must be found in CUAR’s connection to critical theory. From there, a perception that the world could be different is collected. It is only by utopian thinking that we can move the world in a different direction. Thus the notion of utopia becomes part of an ontologically basic understanding. But these different orientations must be developed and protected in a free space. In this article we will focus on the creation of free space for the utopia work.