bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An After-School Physical Activity Program for Obesity Prevention in Children
Authors: Yin Zenong , Hanes John , Moore Justin B. , Humbles Patricia , Barbeau Paule , Gutin Bernard
Published: January 2005

This article describes the process of setting up a 3-year, school-based after-school physical activity intervention in elementary schools. The primary aim of the study is to determine whether adiposity and fitness will improve in children who are exposed to a fitogenic versus an obesogenic environment. Eighteen schools were randomized to the control (obesogenic) or intervention (fitogenic) group. The study design, program components, and evaluation of the intervention are described in detail. The intervention consists of (a) academic enrichment, (b) a healthy snack, and (c) physical activity in a mastery-oriented environment. Successful implementation would show the feasibility of schools’ being able to provide a fitogenic environment. Significant differences between the groups would provide evidence that a fitogenic environment after school has positive health benefits. If feasibility and efficacy are demonstrated, implementing an after-school program like this one in elementary schools could play a major role in preventing and reducing childhood obesity.
Sharing Stories
Authors: Abma T. A. , Widdershoven G. A. M.
Published: January 2005

Responsive evaluation is an emerging vision and rationale for nursing evaluation. In this vision, evaluation is redefined as an engagement with all stakeholders about the value and meaning of their practice as a vehicle for learning, understanding, and improvement. In this article, the authors aim to illustrate the utility of a particular version of responsive evaluation, one that is connected with recent ideas about narrative and dialogue. They concentrate on methodological issues and use a case example to illustrate these issues. The case concerns a responsive evaluation of the quality of palliative care for cancer patients in a Dutch region. Methodological issues include the collection of stories through the use of conversational interviews. Stories can reveal the meaning and ambiguity of everyday situations. If evaluators listen to different stories and facilitate a dialogue about stories, this will enhance mutual understandings and promote respect, inclusiveness, and social equity.
Is Acupuncture Analgesia an Expectancy Effect?
Authors: Bausell R. Barker , Lao Lixing , Bergman Stewart , Lee Wen-Lin , Berman Brian M.
Published: January 2005

This purpose of this article is to contrast the analgesic efficacy of acupuncture following dental surgery with the analgesic effects based on the expectation of benefit in two independently conducted placebo-controlled trials evaluating acupuncture as an adjunctive therapy for dental surgery. Both trials used pain following dental surgery as the outcome variable, and both included a blinding check to ascertain patients’ beliefs regarding which treatment they were receiving. Although no statistically significant analgesic effect was observed between the acupuncture and placebo groups, participants in both experiments who believed they received real acupuncture reported significantly less pain than patients who believed that they received a placebo. Patients’ beliefs regarding the receipt of acupuncture bore a stronger relationship to pain than any specific action possessed by acupuncture. These results also support the importance of both employing credible controls for the placebo effect in clinical trials and evaluating the credibility of those controls.
Effectiveness of the Toll-Free Line for Public Insurance Programs
Authors: Saunders Cynthia M.
Published: January 2005

Toll-free lines for public insurance programs are a major point of entry to inquire about information. More than 1 million Californians are eligible for public insurance programs based on income but not yet enrolled. In 2000 and 2002, a “mystery-shopper” survey was conducted to ascertain overall effectiveness and interlanguage variation for information provided in Armenian, Cantonese, English, Farsi, Hmong, Khmer, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Although the 2002 study showed statistically significant improvements from 2000, many constructs remained problematic. In 2002, for example, statistically significant interlanguage variation was identified in discussing and checking eligibility for the program. Specifically, Spanish and Armenian callers were less likely than other language callers to have eligibility checked or deemed eligible. Removing barriers to enrollment in public insurance programs often requires political solutions, but improving customer service for the toll-free line necessitates efficiency and a focus on continuous quality improvement.
Can Physicians Improve Patient Satisfaction with Long Waiting Times?
Authors: Feddock Christopher A. , Hoellein Andrew R. , Griffith Charles H. , Wilson John F. , Bowerman Jennifer L. , Becker Natasha S. , Caudill Timothy S.
Published: January 2005

The purpose of our study was to determine how time spent with the physician might be related to patient dissatisfaction with their waiting time. During a 2-month period, patients in our internal medicine resident continuity clinic completed a survey assessing their satisfaction with their waiting time and their estimates of their waiting time and time spent with the resident physician. For patients with long waiting times (more than 15 min in the waiting room or more than 10 min in the exam room), patient dissatisfaction with waiting time was associated with a shorter physician visit (48% were dissatisfied if the physician spent less than 15 min vs. 18% if the physician spent more than 15 min with them, p = .03). These data suggest that physicians can mediate the negative effects of long waiting times by spending more time with their patients. Future studies on patient satisfaction should consider this interaction.
Religion as Moderator of the Depression-Health Connection
Authors: Wink Paul , Dillon Michele , Larsen Britta
Published: January 2005

This study used a representative community-based sample of men and women born in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1920s to investigate the long-term relations between religiousness, spirituality, depression, and physical health. In late adulthood (age late 60s/mid-70s), religiousness buffered against depression associated with poor physical health, with highest levels of depression observed in the low-religiousness-poor-physical-health group. The buffering effect of religiousness was present after controlling for social support and was predicted longitudinally using religiousness scored in middle adulthood (age 40s)—a time interval of approximately 30 years. Spirituality, operationalized in terms of adherence to noninstitutionalized religious beliefs and practices, did not have the same buffering effect as religiousness. The findings are discussed with regard to the mechanisms underlying the salutary effect of religion on depression resulting from personal adversity.
The Sense of Divine Control and the Self-Concept
Authors: Schieman Scott , Pudrovska Tetyana , Milkie Melissa A.
Published: January 2005

Using data from adults aged 65 and older in the District of Columbia and two adjoining counties in Maryland, this study examines the relationship between the sense of divine control and two self-concepts: self-esteem and mastery. Perceived divine control involves the extent to which an individual perceives that God controls the direction and outcomes of life. Among Whites only, divine control is associated negatively with mastery. Adjustments for socioeconomic status, other forms of religiosity, and stressors contribute to that race-contingent association. In addition, among Blacks, divine control is associated positively with self-esteem—especially among Black women. That effect remains net of socioeconomic and other controls. Conversely, among white men, divine control is associated negatively with self-esteem, although adjustment for socioeconomic status explains most of that association. The authors discuss these findings in the context of the ongoing debate about the psychological effects of different forms of religiosity.
Effects of Religious Orientation and Gender on Cardiovascular Reactivity Among Older Adults
Authors: Masters Kevin S. , Lensegrav-Benson Tera L. , Kircher John C. , Hill Robert D.
Published: January 2005

Recent attention has focused on the relationship between religiosity and health. Although many pathways have been proposed to account for this relationship, little empirical research has investigated specific pathways in relation to specific physiological functions. This study assessed the roles that religious orientation and gender play in moderating psychophysiological reactivity to laboratory stressors among older adults. Those participants characterized by an intrinsic religious orientation (IO) demonstrated less reactivity than did those characterized by an extrinsic religious orientation. Gender did not influence reactivity. There was some evidence that the effect of religious orientation is more pronounced for interpersonal than cognitive-type stressors, although the strongest findings were evident when stressors were aggregated. The magnitude of these effects suggests that they are of practical significance. Given these results and the known relationship between reactivity and hypertension, it is proposed that IO may result in decreased risk of developing hypertension in older adults.
Congregation-Based Services for the Elders
Authors: Trinitapoli Jenny
Published: January 2005

This article uses data from the 1998 National Congregations Study, a nationally representative sample of religious congregations in the United States, to provide an overview of church-based services for the elders. The first goal is to describe the prevalence of formal and informal services for this population; the second goal is to examine the types of services being offered, paying particular attention to the prevalence of health-related programs for the elders. Logistic regression is then used to identify characteristics of congregations that do provide services for the elders. The analyses show that religious congregations offer services for the elders at lower levels than previous studies have led us to expect; furthermore, few of the programs offered for the elders are related to health promotion. Finally, in examining correlates of sponsorship, churches that are active in other types of programs are most likely to offer services for the elders.
Heidegger on meaning and reference
Authors: Lafont Cristina
Published: January 2005

This paper is an attempt to criticize the reification of language present in Heidegger’s writings after the Kehre. The steps of the argument are as follows. First, it is argued that the specific features of Heidegger’s conception of language after the Kehre can be traced back to Heidegger’s conception of the ontological difference in Being and Time. The common element in both conceptions is the assumption that meaning determines reference (i.e. that the way entities are understood determines which entities we can refer to). In the next step the implications of this assumption are shown through an analysis of Heidegger’s conception of designation in Being and Time and after the Kehre. Finally, this conception of designation is criticized with the help of the analysis of designation offered by the so-called theories of direct reference.
Meaning, categories and subjectivity in the early Heidegger
Authors: MacAvoy Leslie
Published: January 2005

It has been suggested recently that Heidegger’s philosophy entails a linguistic idealism because it is committed to the thesis that meaning determines reference. I argue that a careful consideration of the relationship between meaning and signification in Heidegger’s work does not support the strong sense of determination required by this thesis. By examining Heidegger’s development of Husserl’s phenomenology, I show that discourse involves a logic that articulates meaning into significations. Further analysis of Heidegger’s phenomenological method at work shows that while meaning serves as a condition of possibility of signification in the sense that all possibilities for a term’s signification are latent in the meaning of that term, meaning under-determines signification and hence reference.
Pierre Bourdieu’s critique of scholarly reason
Authors: Foster Roger
Published: January 2005

This paper investigates the implications of Pierre Bourdieu’s recent reformulation of his social theory as a critique of ‘scholarly reason’. This reformulation is said to point towards a definition of social theory as a sociologically informed version of the Kantian concept of ‘critique’. It is argued that, by this means, Bourdieu is able to extend and develop the critique of ‘intellectualism’ in the philosophies of Wittgenstein and Merleau-Ponty and, furthermore, to ground this critique by showing how the intellectualist error arises from a failure to reflect on the ‘social conditions of possibility’ of reason. The three forms of the critique of scholarly reason (pertaining to the theoretical, the moral-practical and the aesthetic forms of reason) are then briefly presented. In the final section, the critique of scholarly reason is shown to provide the basis for a convincing response to critiques of Bourdieu’s work from critical theorists drawing on Habermas’s conception of discursive rationality. In particular, it is argued that critical theorists influenced by Habermas typically confuse ‘practical reflexivity’ with ‘intellectual reflection’ - the standpoint of ‘scholarly reason’. Finally, it is shown that Bourdieu’s own account of the unity of theory and practice is nonetheless deficient, and must be supplanted with an account centred on the idea of existential clarification.
Why we don’t remain in the provinces
Authors: Wilding Adrian
Published: January 2005

In a radio broadcast from 1933, Martin Heidegger explains his decision to refuse a professorship at the University of Berlin by defending a philosophy that he says is rooted in the ‘provinces’. The broadcast - entitled ‘Creative Landscape’ - sees Heidegger on the cusp of the ‘turn’ in his thought from the existentialism of Being and Time (1927) to the ‘poetic thinking’ of his work from the mid-1930s onwards. It is a fascinating yet neglected snapshot of his thought at a crucial historical moment, and also reveals some of the deeper problems raised by his philosophy - his rejection of epistemology, his anti-modernism, and the contradictions of fundamental ontology itself. The present paper argues that Heidegger’s refusal of the professorship reveals a deep antagonism between his philosophy of Being and the public sphere of the city, and highlights the weakness of Heidegger’s thinking when faced with some of the central problems of modernity.
Is Risk-Adjustor Selection More Important Than Statistical Approach for Provider Profiling? Asthma as an Example
Authors: Huang I-Chan , Dominici Francesca , Frangakis Constantine , Diette Gregory B. , Damberg Cheryl L. , Wu Albert W.
Published: January 2005

Objectives. To examine how the selections of different risk adjustors and statistical approaches affect the profiles of physician groups on patient satisfaction. Data sources. Mailed patient surveys. Patients with asthma were selected randomly from each of 20 California physician groups between July 1998 and February 1999. A total of 2515 patients responded. Research design. A cross-sectional study. Patient satisfaction with asthma care was the performance indicator for physician group profiling. Candidate variables for risk-adjustment model development included sociodemographic, clinical characteristics, and self-reported health status. Statistical strategies were the ratio of observed-to-expected rate (OE), fixed effects (FE), and the random effects (RE) approaches. Model performance was evaluated using indicators of discrimination (C-statistic) and calibration (Hosmer-Lemeshow χ2). Ranking impact of using different risk adjustors and statistical approaches was based on the changes in absolute ranking (AR) and quintile ranking (QR) of physician group performance and the weighted kappa for quintile ranking. Results. Variables that added significantly to the discriminative power of risk-adjustment models included sociodemographic (age, sex, prescription drug coverage), clinical (asthma severity), and health status (SF-36 PCS and MCS). Based on an acceptable goodness-of-fit (P > 0.1)and higher C-statistics, models adjusting for sociodemographic, clinical, and health status variables (Model S-C-H) using either the FE or RE approach were more favorable. However, the C-statistic (=0.68) was only fair for both models. The influence of risk-adjustor selection on change of performance ranking was more salient than choice of statistical strategy (AR: 50%-80% v. 20%-55%; QR: 10%-30% v. 0%-10%). Compared to the model adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical variables only and using OE approach, the Model S-C-H using RE approach resulted in 70% of groups changing in AR and 25% changing in QR (weighted kappa: 0.88). Compared to the Consumer Assessment of Health Plans model, the Model S-C-H using RE approach resulted in 65% of groups changing in AR and 20% changing in QR (weighted kappa: 0.88). Conclusions. In comparing the performance of physician groups on patient satisfaction with asthma care, the use of sociodemographic, clinical, and health status variables maximized risk-adjustment model performance. Selection of risk adjustors had more influence on ranking profiles than choice of statistical strategies. Stakeholders employing provider profiling should pay careful attention to the selection of both variables and statistical approach used in risk-adjustment.
Health State Utilities for Childhood Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Based on Parent Preferences in the United Kingdom
Authors: Secnik Kristina , Matza Louis S. , Cottrell Suzi , Edgell Eric , Tilden Dominic , Mannix Sally
Published: January 2005

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to use standard gamble (SG) utility interviews to assess parent preferences for health states of childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Methods. The study was conducted in August 2003 in London, England. Parents (N = 83) of children diagnosed with ADHD completed SG utility interviews, rating their child’s current health and 14 hypothetical health states describing untreated ADHD and ADHD treated with a nonstimulant, immediate-release stimulant, or extended-release stimulant. Raw temporary utilities ranging from 0 (worst health) to 1 (best health) were adjusted to a chronic utility scale ranging from 0 (death) to 1 (best health) using a linear transformation. Parents rated the severity of their children’s ADHD symptoms using the Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Rating Scale-IV (ADHD-RS) and their children’s health-related quality of life using the EuroQol EQ-5D. Results. Raw and adjusted SG ratings of hypothetical health states ranged from 0.63-0.90 and 0.88-0.96, respectively. Parents’ raw SG scores of their child’s current health state (mean = 0.72) were significantly correlated with inattentive, hyperactive, and overall ADHD symptoms (r = -0.25, -0.27, -0.27; P < 0.05) and the EQ-5D visual analogue scale (r = 0.26; P < 0.05). Conclusion. This UK-based study suggests that parent SG interviews are a valid method for obtaining utilities for child ADHD-related health states. The utilities obtained in this study would be appropriate for use in a cost-utility analysis evaluating the costs and benefits of childhood ADHD treatments in the United Kingdom.
Optimal Statistical Decisions for Hospital Report Cards
Authors: Austin Peter C. , Anderson Geoffrey M.
Published: January 2005

Purpose. Hospital report cards provide information designed to help patients and providers to make decisions. The purpose of this study was to place the design of hospital report cards into a decision-theoretic framework. The authors’ objectives were 2-fold: 1st, to determine what the choice of significance level implies about the relative value of the different types of misclassifications that can arise. Second, to determine optimal significance levels for specific cost functions describing the relative costs associated with different types of misclassifications. Methods. Using a previously published theoretical model for hospital mortality, the authors computed false positive (i.e., falsely classified as providing poor-quality care) and false negative (falsely classified as providing good-quality care) rates. First, they determined the cost functions for false negatives and false positives that are implicitly associated with the use of significance levels of 0.05 and 0.01 for identifying hospitals with higher than average mortality. Second, they determined the levels of statistical significance that should be chosen to minimize predefined cost functions, thus minimizing costs associated with misclassifying hospitals. Results. The lower the statistical significance level required for identifying hospitals with higher than average mortality, the lower the implicit cost of false negatives compared to false positives. For a given significance level, the greater the number of patients treated at each hospital or the greater the proportion of truly poorly performing hospitals, the lower the value of the implicit cost incurred by a false negative compared to that for a false positive. For cost functions that put a high relative penalty on false negatives compared to false positives, the use of significance levels of 0.05 or 0.01 does not result in optimal decisions across expected number of patients treated at each hospital or proportions of truly poor-quality care. Conclusions. Hospital report cards that use significance levels of either 0.05 or 0.01 to identify hospitals that have statistically significantly higher than average mortality make implicit assumptions about cost functions, and the values of the optimal cost function vary across scenarios.
Emotions, Decisions, and the Limits of Rationality: Symposium Introduction
Authors: Ubel Peter A.
Published: January 2005

In this symposium, three speakers describe research that examines ways in which people’s decision-making is affected by emotions. In his paper, Dr. Loewenstein describes research on the properties and effects of “projection bias,” the tendency to allow one’s immediate, often transient, preferences to influence decisions in the future when one’s preferences will be predictable different. Over-shopping on an empty stomach or failing, when not addicted, to appreciate one’s future helplessness in the face of drug craving, are examples. Dr. Schwarz focuses on how experiences that accompany the thought process can influence the ease of access to information or the fluency with which new information can be processed. These meta-cognitive experiences can affect decisions. For example, recalling many risk-increasing behaviors is more difficult than recalling only a few. Drawing on this difficulty, people who recall many risk-increasing behaviors infer that they are at lower risk than people who recall merely a few risk-increasing behaviors, in contrast to what the content of recall would suggest. Finally, Dr. Bodenhausen clarifies what is meant by stereotyping, considers how stereotypes might influence decision-making processes, and discuss why this influence often might not be very desirable. He then describes research about factors that amplify the biasing impact of stereotypes in decision making processes. The authors provide examples, discuss implications of their findings for medical decision-making, and describe strategies that we might employ to minimize or eliminate the biases that might be introduced into decision-making processes.
Sun-Synchronous Robotic Exploration: Technical Description and Field Experimentation
Authors: Wettergreen David , Tompkins Paul , Urmson Chris , Wagner Michael , Whittaker William
Published: January 2005

Sun-synchronous robotic exploration is accomplished by reasoning about sunlight: where the Sun is in the sky, where and when shadows will fall, and how much power can be obtained through various courses of action. We conducted experiments in the Canadian high arctic using a solar-powered rover to prove the concept of Sun-synchronous exploration. Using knowledge of orbital mechanics, local terrain, and locomotion power, the rover Hyperion planned Sun-synchronous routes to visit designated sites while obtaining the necessary solar power for continuous operation. Hyperion executed its plan, beginning and ending each 24-h period with batteries fully charged, after traveling two circuits of more than 6 km in barren, Mars-like terrain.

The objective of the Sun-Synchronous Navigation project (http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/sunsync) was to create hardware and software technologies needed to realize Sun-synchronous exploration and to validate these technologies in field experimentation. In the process, we learned important technical lessons regarding rover mechanism, motion control, planning algorithms, and system architecture. In this paper we describe the concept of Sun-synchronous exploration. We overview the design of the robot Hyperion and the software system that enables it to operate in synchrony with the Sun. We then discuss results and lessons from analysis of our field experiments. This paper describes rover and planetary exploration research at Carnegie Mellon during 2000-2002.
Learning Motion Patterns of People for Compliant Robot Motion
Authors: Bennewitz Maren , Burgard Wolfram , Cielniak Grzegorz , Thrun Sebastian
Published: January 2005

Whenever people move through their environments they do not move randomly. Instead, they usually follow specific trajectories or motion patterns corresponding to their intentions. Knowledge about such patterns enables a mobile robot to robustly keep track of persons in its environment and to improve its behavior. In this paper we propose a technique for learning collections of trajectories that characterize typical motion patterns of persons. Data recorded with laser-range finders are clustered using the expectation maximization algorithm. Based on the result of the clustering process, we derive a hidden Markov model that is applied to estimate the current and future positions of persons based on sensory input. We also describe how to incorporate the probabilistic belief about the potential trajectories of persons into the path planning process of a mobile robot. We present several experiments carried out in different environments with a mobile robot equipped with a laser-range scanner and a camera system. The results demonstrate that our approach can reliably learn motion patterns of persons, can robustly estimate and predict positions of persons, and can be used to improve the navigation behavior of a mobile robot.
Interactive Multimodal Robot Programming
Authors: Iba Soshi , Paredis Christiaan J. J. , Khosla Pradeep K.
Published: January 2005

As robots enter the human environment and come into contact with inexperienced users, they need to be able to interact with users in a multimodal fashion—keyboard and mouse are no longer acceptable as the only input modalities. In this paper we introduce a novel approach for programming robots interactively through a multimodal interface. The key characteristic of this approach is that the user can provide feedback interactively at any time—during both the programming and the execution phase. The framework takes a three-step approach to the problem: multimodal recognition, intention interpretation, and prioritized task execution. The multimodal recognition module translates hand gestures and spontaneous speech into a structured symbolic data stream without abstracting away the user’s intent. The intention interpretation module selects the appropriate primitives to generate a task based on the user’s input, the system’s current state, and robot sensor data. Finally, the prioritized task execution module selects and executes skill primitives based on the system’s current state, sensor inputs, and prior tasks. The framework is demonstrated by interactively controlling and programming a vacuum-cleaning robot. The demonstrations are used to exemplify the interactive programming and the plan recognition aspect of the research.
An Efficient Data Association Approach to Simultaneous Localization and Map Building
Authors: Zhang Sen , Xie Lihua , Adams Martin
Published: January 2005

In this paper we present an efficient integer programming (IP) based data association approach to simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). In this approach, the feature-based SLAM data association problem is formulated as a 0-1 IP problem. The IP problem is approached by first solving a relaxed linear programming (LP) problem. Based on the optimal LP solution, a suboptimal solution to the IP problem is then obtained by applying an iterative heuristic greedy rounding (IHGR) procedure. Unlike the traditional nearest-neighbor (NN) algorithm, the proposed algorithm deals with the global matching between existing features and measurements of each scan and is more robust for an environment of high-density features (the feature number is high and the distances between features are often very close) which is usually the case in outdoor applications. Detailed simulation and experimental studies show that the proposed IHGR-based algorithm has moderate computational requirement and offers a better performance with higher successful rate of SLAM for complex environments of high density of features than the NN algorithm.
Task Planning With Active Sensing For Autonomous Compliant Motion
Authors: Lefebvre Tine , Bruyninckx Herman , De Schutter Joris
Published: January 2005

Previous research has shown that the execution of contact tasks under uncertainty benefits from on-line estimation of the geometrical contact parameters, such as positions, orientations and dimensions of the contacting objects. However, the constant translational and rotational velocities commonly used to trigger the contact formation (CF) transitions are often not sufficiently exciting to estimate all geometrical parameters. In this paper, we focus on the calculation of a fine-motion task plan, which improves the observation of inaccurately known geometrical parameters. This is called active sensing.

Our approach to active sensing is to optimize the task plan (i) by minimizing an objective function, such as the expected execution time, which is an important criterion in industrial applications, and (ii) by constraining the task plans to plans which observe the geometrical parameter estimates to the required accuracy.

Active sensing for compliant motion is a new research area. Hence, this paper primarily aims at formulating the active sensing problem and decoupling it into smaller optimization problems. The main contributions of this paper are (i) the definition of the CF-observable parameter space, which allows us to decouple the active sensing requirement for the task plan into a requirement for the CF sequence and requirements for the active sensing motions in each CF, and (ii) the description of practical (suboptimal) solutions and heuristics, making on-line replanning feasible.
A Probability-Based Similarity Measure for Saupe Alignment Tensors with Applications to Residual Dipolar Couplings in NMR Structural Biology
Authors: Yan Anthony K. , Langmead Christopher J. , Donald Bruce Randall
Published: January 2005

High-throughput nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) structural biology and NMR structural genomics pose a fascinating set of geometric challenges. A key bottleneck in NMR structural biology is the resonance assignment problem. We seek to accelerate protein NMR resonance assignment and structure determination by exploiting a priori structural information. In particular, a method known as nuclear vector replacement (NVR) has been proposed as a method for solving the assignment problem given a priori structural information. Among several different types of input data, NVR uses a particular type of NMR data known as residual dipolar couplings (RDCs). The basic physics of RDCs tells us that the data should be explainable by a structural model and set of parameters contained within the “Saupe alignment tensor”.

In the NVR algorithm, one estimates the Saupe alignment tensors and then proceeds to refine those estimates. We would like to quantify the accuracy of such estimates, where we compare the estimated Saupe matrix to the correct Saupe matrix. In this work, we propose a way to quantify this comparison. Given a correct Saupe matrix and an estimated Saupe matrix, we compute an upper bound on the probability that a randomly rotated Saupe tensor would have an error smaller than the estimated Saupe matrix. This has the advantage of being a quantified upper bound, which also has a clear interpretation in terms of geometry and probability. While the specific application of our rotation probability results is given to NVR, our novel methods can be used for any RDC-based algorithm to bound the accuracy of the estimated alignment tensors. Furthermore, they could also be used in X-ray crystallography or molecular docking to quantitate the accuracy of calculated rotations of proteins, protein domains, nucleic acids, or small molecules.
Inverse Kinematics in Biology: The Protein Loop Closure Problem
Authors: Kolodny Rachel , Guibas Leonidas , Levitt Michael , Koehl Patrice
Published: January 2005

Assembling fragments from known protein structures is a widely used approach to construct structural models for new proteins. We describe an application of this idea to an important inverse kinematics problem in structural biology: the loop closure problem. We have developed an algorithm for generating the conformations of candidate loops that fit in a gap of given length in a protein structure framework. Our method proceeds by concatenating small fragments of protein chosen from small libraries of representative fragments. Our approach has the advantages of ab initio methods since we are able to enumerate all candidate loops in the discrete approximation of the conformational space accessible to the loop, as well as the advantages of database search approach since the use of fragments of known protein structures guarantees that the backbone conformations are physically reasonable. We test our approach on a set of 427 loops, varying in length from four residues to 14 residues. The quality of the candidate loops is evaluated in terms of global coordinate root mean square (cRMS). The top predictions vary between 0.3 and 4.2 Å for four-residue loops and between 1.5 and 3.1 Å for 14-residue loops, respectively.
Pose Analysis of Alpha-Carbons in Proteins
Authors: Lee Sangyoon , Chirikjian Gregory S.
Published: January 2005

In this paper we present a novel method to describe the pose (position and orientation) distribution of amino acid residue pairs within a protein, which are proximal in space and distal in sequence. While the Ramachandran plot provides information of protein conformations using the φ and ψ angles between sequentially proximal residues, our method can offer six-dimensional relative pose information. Distribution data are visualized in the form of continuous distributions by using Gaussian distribution functions on SO(3) and R3. Hence, we discuss how the classical Gaussian functions can be generalized to capture both positional and orientational data. The method is applied to 168 protein structures in the Protein Data Bank and results are discussed.
Multiple Docking for Protein Structure Prediction
Authors: Inbar Yuval , Wolfson Haim J. , Nussinov Ruth
Published: January 2005

Protein structure prediction and protein docking prediction are two related problems in molecular biology. We suggest the use of multiple docking in the process of protein structure prediction. Once reliable structural models are predicted to disjoint fragments of the protein target sequence, a combinatorial assembly may be used to predict their native arrangement. Here, we present CombDock, a combinatorial docking algorithm for the structural units assembly problem. We have tested the algorithm on various examples using both domains and domain substructures as input. Inaccurate models of the structural units were also used, to test the robustness of the algorithm. The algorithm was able to predict a near-native arrangement of the input structural units in almost all of the cases, showing that the combinatorial approach succeeds in overcoming the inexact shape complementarity caused by the inaccuracy of the models.
Investigating Protein Structure Change in the Zona Pellucida with a Microrobotic System
Authors: Sun Yu , Nelson Bradley J. , Greminger Michael A.
Published: January 2005

In this paper we present a microrobotic system that integrates microscope vision and microforce feedback for characterizing biomembrane mechanical properties. We describe robust visual tracking of deformable biomembrane contours using physics-based models. A multi-axis microelectromechanical systems based force sensor is used to determine applied forces on biomembranes and to develop a novel biomembrane mechanical model. By visually extracting biomembrane deformations during loading, geometry changes can be used to estimate applied forces using a biomembrane mechanical model and the determined elastic modulus. Forces on a biomembrane can be visually observed and controlled, thus creating a framework for vision and force assimilated cell manipulation. The experimental results quantitatively describe a stiffness increase seen in the mouse zona pellucida (ZP) after fertilization. Understanding this stiffness increase, referred to as “zona hardening”, helps provide an understanding of ZP protein structure development, i.e., an increase in the number of cross links of protein ZP1 between ZP2 and ZP3 units that is conjectured to be responsible for zona hardening. Furthermore, the system, technique, and model presented in this paper can be applied to investigating mechanical properties of other biomembranes and other cell types, which has the potential to facilitate many biological studies, such as cell injury and recovery where biomembrane mechanical property changes need to be monitored.
The Self-Institution of Society and Representative Government: Can the Circle be Squared?
Authors: Cohen Jean L.
Published: January 2005

This article discusses the work of Cornelius Castoriadis, an important political thinker and theorist of democracy. Castoriadis developed not one but two theories of democracy based on two distinct understandings of autonomy. The first is compatible with the key features of representative government; the second is not. Unfortunately, Castoriadis models his interpretation of the idea of popular sovereignty on the second view, thereby concluding, like Rousseau before him, that it is incompatible with representative government. This article discusses both approaches and presents a reinterpretation of political representation and of the idea of popular sovereignty in order to show how they can be made compatible. I argue that the discourse of popular sovereignty and the modern principles of representative government entail one another.
The Political Form of Europe, Europe as a Political Form
Authors: Wagner Peter
Published: January 2005

European integration needs to be analyzed in terms that address the normative self-understanding of the emerging polity or, in other words, the self-understanding of European modernity. While it is often argued that such European self-understanding is either entirely indistinct from the general self-understanding of the West, i.e. a commitment to human rights and liberal democracy, or highly problematic, because it makes overly ‘thick’ presuppositions, which are untenable against the background of European cultural diversity and risk to revive non-liberal European political traditions, the attempt here to reconstruct European political modernity suggests that the general, universalist commitment to liberal democracy is insufficient to understand Western polities, and it aims to propose this argument by elaborating a more complex concept of political modernity than can usually be found in political theory. The struggles about European political modernity across history are interpreted with a view to understanding how the self-understanding of a modern polity evolved and changed.
The Uses of Failure: Christian Socialism as a Nomadic City of the Gift Economy
Authors: Hogan Trevor
Published: January 2005

Socialism is dead and Christianity, at least in the modern West, is not feeling too good either. What remains of the substantive goals, ethics, and ideals of socialism in an epoch of political defeat and in the aftermath of a century of tragic experiments? Are ‘still existing’ socialists simply nostalgic, seeking consolation in an opiate of lost dreams, or are there fragments of ideas and policies that constitute a still living politics of hope for humanity? Christian socialism is one socialist tradition well-suited to address these meta-questions of faith, meaning and goal, not least because it has no unitary political ideology, party or even movement. It is argued here that Christian socialism’s best legacy and use-value today is in its historic failure to be anything other than a modest discourse and practice of a social ethic of free association, political pluralism and a gift economy. To these ends, I use a case study of a clash between two rival versions of contemporary Christian socialism. I then explicate the more difficult and radical version to be found in the work of its leading representative. I outline Milbank’s arguments for Christian socialism as a counter ontology to the secular politics of the modern nation state, an alternative complex space that conceives of community as ‘nomadic city’, and a free market economy based on the poetic practice of gift-giving. This is an agenda, a discourse and a poetic practice bound to failure. Therein is its use value to socialism.
A Ticklish Subject? Žižek and the Future of Left Radicalism
Authors: Robinson Andrew , Tormey Simon
Published: January 2005

The work of Slavoj Žižek has become an essential reference point for debates concerning the future of left radical thought and practice. His attacks on identity politics, multiculturalism and ‘radical democracy’ have established him as a leading figure amongst those looking to renew the link between socialist discourse and a transformative politics. However, we contend that despite the undeniable radicality of Žižek’s theoretical approach, his politics offers little in the way of inspiration for the progressive left. On the contrary, his commitment to Lacanian categories reasserts the primordial character of alienation, hierarchy and domination, and his proposed schema for confronting the status quo, the model of the Act, serves to reaffirm rather than contest the given. We suggest that a genuinely transformative politics should (contra Žižek) stress the necessity for the prefiguration of alternatives, of linking and radicalizing ‘petty’ resistances, of encouraging critical and utopian forms of thought and activity.
Interface Modification and Mechanical Properties of Natural Fiber-Polyolefin Composite Products
Authors: Sain M. , Suhara P. , Law S. , Bouilloux A.
Published: January 2005

Natural fibers are potentially a high-performance and non-abrasive reinforcing fiber source. In this study, mechanical properties of polypropylene (PP) composites with various natural fibers such as old newsprint, kraft pulp and hemp were studied. The effect of a low-molecular weight, maleated type coupling agent, on the mechanical properties of these natural fiber-filled PP composites was also investigated and the results showed that this can be used as a good interface modifier for improving the strength properties of the PP-filled composites and the optimum level of the coupling agent was found to be around 3-4 percentage by weight of the composite. Kraft pulp and hemp fiber-filled composites showed better tensile, flexural and un-notched impact strength compared to the glass fiber-filled composites at the same fiber loading. Hybrid composite produced using 10 wt% of glass fiber and 30 wt% of hemp fiber showed only a marginal improvement in the mechanical properties.
The Effect of Paper Sludge Content and Size on the Properties of Polypropylene (PP)-Ethylene Propylene Diene Terpolymer (EPDM) Composites
Authors: Ismail Hanafi , Salmah  , Bakar A. A.
Published: January 2005

The effect of paper sludge content and size on the processibility, mechanical properties, swelling behavior and morphology of PP-EPDM composites were examined. Results show that the increasing content of paper sludge in composites has increased the Young’s modulus and water absorption but decreased the tensile strength and elongation at break. At a similar filler content, PP-EPDM composites with the smallest size show the highest mechanical properties but the lowest water absorption resistance. SEM tensile fracture surface of composites show that the smallest size of paper sludge has better filler-matrix interaction than the larger size of paper sludge. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that the increase of paper sludge content has increased the thermal stability of PP-EPDM composites particularly at temperatures above 500 C.
A Finite Element Investigation on Progressive Failure Analysis of Composite Bolted Joints Under Thermal Environment
Authors: Goswami Sanjib
Published: January 2005

The progressive failure analysis of composite bolted joints under thermal environment has been investigated using the finite element method. The emphasis has been on the computational aspects of the problem. The ultimate failure loads and pin-bearing stresses have been computed using different failure criteria and the results have been compared with the experimental data as published in the open literature. In reality, bolted joints have been employed to various situations where the amount of load to be transferred is relatively high and on many occasions thermal effect is an important consideration. So the effect of material property degradation due to temperature has also been considered in this investigation. Progressive damage analyses have been performed for different laminates to give complete load-deflection path beyond failure load that will serve as a future reference. The pin has been modeled as a rigid object and load has been imparted on the structure as a displacement-controlled process to simulate the experimental situation in the laboratory environment. Contact between the bolt and the laminate has been considered in the analysis. A number of “User Subroutines” for ABAQUS software have been developed to incorporate Hashin, maximum stress, and Tsai-Wu failure criteria in the analysis. The effectiveness and performance of various well-known failure criteria as mentioned above have been evaluated and the results have been presented in graphical form.
Hygroscopic Behavior of Woven Fabric Carbon-Epoxy Composites
Authors: Abot J. L. , Yasmin A. , Daniel I. M.
Published: January 2005

The hygroscopic behavior of a woven fabric carbon-epoxy composite and its effect on the viscoelastic properties and glass transition temperature was investigated. The mechanical and thermal properties of the material had been previously fully determined. An experimental study was conducted at full immersion in water and at a specific temperature condition. The moisture absorption process was found to be reversible with a low-saturation moisture uptake. The absorption through-the-thickness was determined to be lower than in the in-plane directions. The coefficients of moisture expansion or hygroelastic coefficients were determined and found to be similar in the warp and fill directions and much lower than through-the-thickness direction. The results were correlated to the behavior of a unidirectional composite with the same fiber and matrix. The viscoelastic properties were not affected during the process but the plasticization was very pronounced.