bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Optimal Scheduling of Track Maintenance on a Railway Network
Authors: Zhang Tao , Andrews John , Wang Rui
Published: March 2012

To ensure the safety and continued operation of the railway network system, many maintenance and renewal activities are performed on the track every month. Unplanned maintenance activities are expensive and would cause low service quality. Therefore, the track condition should be monitored, and when it has degraded beyond some acceptable limit, it should be scheduled for maintenance before failure. An optimal timetable of the maintenance activities is needed to be scheduled, planning the monthly workload, to reduce the effect on the transportation service and to reduce the potential costs. Considering the uncertainties of the deterioration process, the safety of transportation service, the lifetime loss of the replaced track, the maintenance cost and the travel cost, this article advances an optimisation model for the maintenance scheduling of a regional railway network. An enhanced genetic algorithm approach is proposed to search for a solution producing maintenance schedule such that the overall cost is minimised in a finite planning horizon. A case study is given to demonstrate the application of the method. The case study results were derived by using an enhanced genetic algorithm method, which is specifically developed to deal with the characteristics of the railway maintenance problem. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Development of a methodology using gas chromatography‐combustion‐isotope ratio mass spectrometry for the determination of the carbon isotope ratio of caffeine extracted from tea leaves (Camellia sinensis)
Authors: Wu Chen , Yamada Keita , Sumikawa Osamu , Matsunaga Akiko , Gilbert Alexis , Yoshida Naohiro
Published: March 2012

RATIONALE

Compound‐specific isotope analysis (CSIA) of the extracted caffeine can be used to determine the authenticity of the origin of tea. Elemental analysis‐isotope ratio mass spectrometry (EA‐IRMS), which is widely used to measure the carbon isotope ratio of caffeine, has a strict requirement for the purity of the extracted caffeine. To obtain high‐purity caffeine from tea leaves, the conventional extraction process has to be repeated and usually takes about 5–6 h. To improve the measurement of the carbon isotope ratio of caffeine, a more rapid and accurate measuring method is needed.

METHODS

An analytical protocol was developed for the determination of the carbon isotope ratio of caffeine from tea leaves using gas chromatography‐combustion‐isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC‐C‐IRMS) combined with our extraction process. The procedure to extract caffeine and determine its carbon isotope ratio takes around 1.5 h.

RESULTS

The standard deviation of the method is less than 0.1‰ (1σ). The measured carbon isotope ratios were not influenced by the amount of caffeine injected (0.08–0.62 µg) or by the extraction yield of caffeine from the tea leaves.

CONCLUSIONS

The carbon isotope ratios of caffeine from eight tea cultivars were determined using the protocol. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Proton‐transfer reaction mass spectrometry (PTRMS) in combination with thermal desorption (TD) for sensitive off‐line analysis of volatiles
Authors: Crespo Elena , Devasena Samudrala , Sikkens Cor , Centeno Raymund , Cristescu Simona M. , Harren Frans J. M.
Published: March 2012

RATIONALE

When performing trace gas analysis, it is not always possible to bring the source of volatiles and the gas analyzer together. In these cases, volatile storage containers, such as thermal desorption (TD) tubes, can be used for off‐line measurement. TD is routinely combined with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), but so far not with proton‐transfer reaction mass spectrometry (PTRMS), which has a faster response.

METHODS

A PTR‐quadrupole‐MS instrument and a PTR‐ion‐trap‐MS instrument were separately coupled to a TD unit for off‐line analysis of trace volatiles in air. Carbograph 1TD/Carbopack X sorbent tubes were filled with different concentrations of a trace gas mixture containing low molecular weight volatiles (32 g/mol up to 136 g/mol) and measured with the above‐mentioned combinations. The carrier gas in the TD unit was changed from helium to nitrogen to be able to combine this instrument with the mass spectrometer.

RESULTS

Good linearity and reproducibility with the amount of gas stored were obtained. The storage capacity over time (up to 14 days) showed larger variability (<11% for all compounds, except for acetone 27%). Several tubes were filled with breath of different persons, and the breath of a smoker showed increased levels of acetonitrile and benzene. The combination of the PTR ion‐trap instrument with the TD unit was also investigated. Due to its higher sampling rate, the ion‐trap system showed higher throughput capabilities than the quadrupole system.

CONCLUSIONS

The combination of TD with PTRMS using both a quadrupole and an ion trap for off‐line volatile analysis has been validated. TD tubes can be a robust and compact volatile storage method when the mass spectrometry and the sampling cannot be performed in the same place, for example in large screening studies. In addition, a higher measurement throughput than with GC/MS could be obtained. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Subdivision algorithm for optimal control
Authors: Taraba Peter
Published: March 2012

We present a novel algorithm for optimal control of nonlinear systems based on a subdivision algorithm. The algorithm presented in this paper is an alternative to a set‐oriented approach for optimal feedback stabilization. We compare the proposed algorithm to the set‐oriented approach, contrast these two approaches, and use examples to show that the new algorithm produces comparable results. Also, we demonstrate by example that we receive a precomputed optimal solution. The main contribution of the paper is understanding how cost function improves with further subdivision of state space and smaller memory footprint of the final solution in comparison with set‐oriented approach. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Exponential H ∞  filtering for singular systems with Markovian jump parameters
Authors: Wang Guoliang , Zhang Qingling , Yang Chunyu
Published: March 2012

This paper is concerned with the H ∞  filter design for continuous‐time singular systems with Markovian jump parameters, whose system mode is transmitted through an unreliable network. In contrast to the traditionally mode‐dependent or mode‐independent filtering method, a new partially mode‐dependent filter is established via using a mode‐dependent Lyapunov function, where the stochastic property of mode available to a filter is considered. Sufficient conditions for the existence of H ∞  filter are obtained as strict linear matrix inequalities. Finally, numerical examples are used to show the effectiveness of the given theoretical results. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Self‐organizing life cycle management of mobile ad hoc networks
Authors: Caballero‐Gil Cándido , Caballero‐Gil Pino , Molina‐Gil Jezabel
Published: March 2012

A mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a type of wireless network without any infrastructure, where nodes must adapt to the changing dynamic situations that result from their mobility. Because of the decentralization of nodes and the security needs of communications, management of MANETs must be self‐organized, which is a major research challenge. In order to cope with the intrinsic properties of MANETs, a new decentralized management system for MANETs called Self‐organizing Life Cycle Management (SLCM) is here fully described and evaluated. Regarding security, node authentication is the most critical component of access control in any network and, in particular, in MANETs. Broadcasting is also a fundamental data dissemination mechanism in these networks. Both aspects have received special attention when defining the proposed SLCM system. In particular, both a strong access control algorithm, based on the cryptographic paradigm of zero‐knowledge proofs, and a three‐step broadcast protocol are here defined. This work includes the performance evaluation of the scheme, and the obtained experimental results show that SLCM significantly improves both the quality and the security of life cycle management of self‐organized MANETs. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Efficient and strongly unforgeable identity‐based signature scheme from lattices in the standard model
Authors: Liu Zhenhua , Hu Yupu , Zhang Xiangsong , Li Fagen
Published: March 2012

An identity‐based signature scheme from lattices is constructed. The scheme is obtained from a modification of Agrawal, Boneh, and Boyen's lattice identity‐based encryption scheme. In this construction, we use two distinct trapdoors for finding short bases. One trapdoor enables the real implementation to generate short bases for all lattices. The other trapdoor enables the simulator to generate short bases for all lattices. Furthermore, the generating short bases are used to sample short vectors as signatures. Our scheme is computationally efficient. The scheme's strong unforgeability is proven in the standard model and rests on the hardness of the small integer solution problem. Finally, we extend the basic construction to obtain a hierarchical identity‐based signature scheme. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Stressful Life Events and Parkinson's Disease: A Case–Control Study
Authors: Vlajinac Hristina , Sipetic Sandra , Marinkovic Jelena , Ratkov Isidora , Maksimovic Jadranka , Dzoljic Eleonora , Kostic Vladimir
Published: March 2012

A case–control study was conducted in order to investigate the possible link between stressful life events and Parkinson's disease (PD). A group of 110 consecutive newly diagnosed PD cases treated at the Institute of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Belgrade University, was compared with a control group comprising 220 subjects with degenerative joint disease and some diseases of the digestive tract. The case and control subjects were matched by sex, age (±2 years) and place of residence (urban/rural). According to conditional multivariate logistic regression analysis, PD was found to be significantly related to retirement (odds ratio—OR 18.73, 95% confidence interval—95%CI 1.9–175.4), birth of own child (OR 66.22, 95%CI 8.3–526.3) and air raids (OR 5.66, 95%CI 2.4–13.5). The risk of PD significantly increased with the number of stressful events. The results of the present study support the hypothesis that stress may play a role in the development of PD. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Optimization of the batch preparation of starch nanocrystals to reach daily time‐scale
Authors: Le Corre Déborah , Bras Julien , Choisnard Luc , Dufresne Alain
Published: March 2012

Current environmental concerns have turned starch nanocrystals (SNC) into candidates of growing interest as bio‐nanofillers for nanocomposite applications. However, despite previous drastic optimization, the main drawbacks for the more extensive use of SNC remain (i) the preparation duration (5 days) and (ii) their relatively low yield (15%). Also, the final suspension of SNC actually contains both nanocrystals and microparticles. Thus, previous study optimized the SNC‐containing suspension yield, rather than the SNC yield. As an attempt to (i) further limit preparation time (to 1 day) and (ii) increase the yield of SNC assessed after filtration (as opposed to that of the heterogeneous SNC‐containing suspension), a response surface methodology (RSM) analysis has been undertaken. The modeling of size and sulfate content was not possible. On the contrary, a linear model with first‐order interactions was postulated for SNC mass yields. The model postulated to fit the SNC yield of the filtered suspension (1 µm) was more descriptive and predictive than that of the current poorly filtered suspension. Opposite effects for the same parameters have been evidenced. This confirmed the need to better isolate SNC, not only before use, but also for better modeling and optimization.
The role of the social cost of carbon in policy
Authors: Rose Steven K.
Published: March 2012

Estimates of the marginal value of carbon dioxide—the social cost of carbon (SCC)—were recently adopted by both the U.S. and U.K. Governments in order to satisfy requirements to value estimated greenhouse gas (GHG) changes of new federal regulations. However, the development and use of SCC estimates comes with significant challenges and controversial decisions. This paper summarizes the key issues and then derives guidance for developing, selecting, and applying the estimates that follows from the fundamental scientific nature and economic principles associated with GHGs and climate change, as well as an understanding of the state of the art for estimating the SCC. The paper evaluates recent estimates in light of the guidance and finds the estimates inconsistent with the guidance in a number of significant areas. The paper also differentiates SCC policy applications in terms of policies with incremental versus nonincremental implications for global GHGs, and identifies serious issues for application of the SCC in setting and evaluating climate policy targets.WIREs Clim Change2012, 3:163–195. doi: 10.1002/wcc.163

This article is categorized under:

Climate Economics > Aggregation Techniques for Impacts and Mitigation Costs
Double‐threshold cooperative detection for cognitive radio based on weighing
Authors: Liu Xin , Zhang Chengwen , Tan Xuezhi
Published: March 2012

In cognitive radio (CR), the single‐threshold cooperative detection is sensitive to the noise power. In this paper, a double‐threshold cooperative detection scheme based on weighed combination is proposed to improve the global detected performance of the cooperative detection. The double thresholds that are decided by the restriction probability are adopted to divide the energy statistics observed by CRs into three subareas, and the detected performance of the CRs locating in the confusion area is fortified through the weighed data fusion by the coordinator. The CRs in the other two areas can make local binary decisions because of their exact sensing performance and then forward their 1‐bit decisions to the coordinator that will combine all the received decisions to give the final decision on the presence of the primary user. In this paper, both the periodic single‐band and wideband cooperative detections are investigated, and the probabilities of spectrum utilization by these two patterns are respectively analyzed. The simulation shows that the detection probability of the proposed scheme is better than that of the single‐threshold cooperative detection with decision fusion but slightly worse than that of the single‐threshold cooperative detection with data fusion. However, the average number of the bits sent to the coordinator by the proposed algorithm is less than that by the data fusion, and it may increase by the decreasing of the restriction probability. The simulation also shows that the periodic wideband sensing can obtain higher spectrum utilization than the periodic single‐band sensing. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Self‐control: limited resources and extensive benefits
Authors: Alquist Jessica , Baumeister Roy F.
Published: March 2012

Successful self‐control has many benefits for individuals and society as a whole. Self‐regulation relies on a limited resource. After one act of self‐control, this resource is reduced, thereby impairing future acts of self‐control. Self‐control resources can be managed and conserved for future tasks. Recent research on perceived self‐control (in the self and others), self‐control in interpersonal interactions, and the physiological basis of the limited resource model point to promising areas for future self‐control research. WIREs Cogn Sci 2012, 3:419–423. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1173

This article is categorized under:

Psychology > Emotion and Motivation
Chemical bonds and elemental compositions of BCxNy layers produced by chemical vapor deposition with trimethylamine borane, triethylamine borane, or trimethylborazine
Authors: Hoffmann Peter S. , Baake Olaf , Kosinova Marina L. , Beckhoff Burkhard , Klein Andreas , Pollakowski Beatrix , Trunova Valentina A. , Sulyaeva Veronika S. , Kuznetsov Fedor A. , Ensinger Wolfgang
Published: March 2012

BCxNy films were produced from single‐source precursors in a chemical vapor deposition process. The boranes were introduced as precursors at low pressure conditions and at a temperature of 700 °C, whereas the borazine was handled at 400 °C and with a plasma enhancement at an electrical power input of 40 W. Additionally, as inert or reactive gases, H2, He, N2, and NH3, respectively, were used. The films deposited on Si(100) substrates were chemically characterized by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy and by synchrotron radiation‐based total‐reflection X‐ray fluorescence combined with near‐edge X‐ray absorption fine structure and quantified elementally by energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy. The results are critically compared. With the application of boranes without NH3, compounds with a dominating carbidic character were identified, whereas with the addition of NH3 to the boranes, a nitridic character was prevalent. In case of using borazine for the synthesis, the nitridic character was found at the application of all auxiliary gases. For both groups stoichiometric formulas derived from energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy are proposed: B3.5–4C4N2–2.5 for the carbidic region and B3.5C1.5N5 for the nitridic region. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Utility of augmented reality system in hepatobiliary surgery
Authors: Okamoto Tomoyoshi , Onda Shinji , Matsumoto Michinori , Gocho Takeshi , Futagawa Yasuro , Fujioka Shuichi , Yanaga Katsuhiko , Suzuki Naoki , Hattori Asaki
Published: March 2012

Background/purpose

The aim of this study was to evaluate the utility of an image display system for augmented reality in hepatobiliary surgery under laparotomy.

Methods

An overlay display of organs, vessels, or tumor was obtained using a video see‐through system as a display system developed at our institute. Registration between visceral organs and the surface‐rendering image reconstructed by preoperative computed tomography (CT) was carried out with an optical location sensor. Using this system, we performed laparotomy for a patient with benign biliary stricture, a patient with gallbladder carcinoma, and a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Results

The operative procedures performed consisted of choledochojejunostomy, right hepatectomy, and microwave coagulation therapy. All the operations were carried out safely using images of the site of tumor, preserved organs, and resection aspect overlaid onto the operation field images observed on the monitors. The position of each organ in the overlaid image closely corresponded with that of the actual organ. Intraoperative information generated from this system provided us with useful navigation. However, several problems such as registration error and lack of depth knowledge were noted.

Conclusion

The image display system appeared to be useful in performing hepatobiliary surgery under laparotomy. Further improvement of the system with individualized function for each operation will be essential, with feedback from clinical trials in the future.
Lasiodiplodan, an exocellular (1→6)-β-d-glucan from Lasiodiplodia theobromae MMPI: production on glucose, fermentation kinetics, rheology and anti-proliferative activity
Authors: Alves da Cunha Mário A , Turmina Janaína A , Ivanov Raphael C , Barroso Roney R , Marques Patrícia T , Fonseca Eveline A I , Fortes Zuleica B , Dekker Robert F H , Khaper Neelam , Barbosa Aneli M
Published: March 2012

Lasiodiplodan, an exopolysaccharide of the (1→6)-β-d-glucan type, is produced by Lasiodiplodia theobromae MMPI when grown under submerged culture on glucose. The objective of this study was to evaluate lasiodiplodan production by examining the effects of carbon (glucose, fructose, maltose, sucrose) and nitrogen sources (KNO3, (NH4)2SO4, urea, yeast extract, peptone), its production in shake flasks compared to a stirred-tank bioreactor, and to study the rheology of lasiodiplodan, and lasiodiplodan’s anti-proliferative effect on breast cancer MCF-7 cells. Although glucose (2.05 ± 0.05 g L−1), maltose (2.08 ± 0.04 g L−1) and yeast extract (2.46 ± 0.06 g L−1) produced the highest amounts of lasiodiplodan, urea as N source resulted in more lasiodiplodan per unit biomass than yeast extract (0.74 ± 0.006 vs. 0.22 ± 0.008 g g−1). A comparison of the fermentative parameters of L. theobromae MMPI in shake flasks and a stirred-tank bioreactor at 120 h on glucose as carbon source showed maximum lasiodiplodan production in agitated flasks (7.01 ± 0.07 g L−1) with a specific yield of 0.25 ± 0.57 g g−1 and a volumetric productivity of 0.06 ± 0.001 g L−1 h−1. A factorial 22 statistical design developed to evaluate the effect of glucose concentration (20–60 g L−1) and impeller speed (100–200 rpm) on lasiodiplodan production in the bioreactor showed the highest production (6.32 g L−1) at 72 h. Lasiodiplodan presented pseudoplastic behaviour, and the apparent viscosity increased at 60°C in the presence of CaCl2. Anti-proliferative activity of lasiodiplodan was demonstrated in MCF-7 cells, which was time- and dose-dependent with an IC50 of 100 μg lasiodiplodan mL−1.
Synthesis, Surface‐Active Properties, and Anthelmintic Activities of New Cationic Gemini Surfactants Against the Gastrointestinal Nematode, Heligmosomoides polygyrus bakeri, In Vitro
Authors: Sánchez Victoria G. , Giudici Claudio J. , Bassi Amilcar R. , Murguía Marcelo C.
Published: March 2012

A novel series of cationic dimeric surfactants was prepared involving the ketalization reaction, Williamson etherification, and regioselective oxirane ring opening with tertiary alkyl amines. The synthesized compounds were obtained in high purity by a simple purification procedure using column chromatography. The critical micelle concentration (CMC), effectiveness of surface tension reduction (γCMC), surface excess concentration (Γ), and area per molecule at the interface (A) were determined and values indicate that the cationic series is characterized by good surface‐active and self‐aggregation properties. For the first time, we reported the anthelmintic activities against the rodent gastrointestinal nematode Heligmosomoides polygyrus bakeri, in vitro for cationic gemini compounds. In the series of five tested cationic compounds (4a–e), three of them (4a, 4b and 4d) were shown to have an excellent anthelmintic activity in vitro at different concentrations. The anthelmintic activity was found to be dependent on the type of cationic compound, concentration and incubation time. The cationic di‐C12 (4a) derivate of the series was the best anthelmintic agent, its use was optimal at a minimum concentration of 50 ppm and with 60 min of incubation.
Focus on Methodology: Salivary bioscience and research on adolescence: An integrated perspective
Authors: Granger Douglas A. , Fortunato Christine K. , Beltzer Emilie K. , Virag Marta , Bright Melissa A. , Out Dorothée
Published: March 2012

The characterization of the salivary proteome and advances in biotechnology create an opportunity for developmental scientists to measure multi‐level components of biological systems in oral fluids and identify relationships with developmental processes and behavioral and social forces. The implications for developmental science are profound because from a single oral fluid specimen, information can be obtained about a broad array of biological systems and the genetic polymorphisms related to their function. The purpose of this review is to provide a conceptual and tactical roadmap for investigators interested in integrating these measurement tools into research on adolescent health and development.
A Review of Pneumatosis Intestinalis in the Setting of Systemic Cancer Treatments, Including Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors
Authors: Vijayakanthan Niranjan , Dhamanaskar Kavita , Stewart Lori , Connolly Jodie , Leber Brian , Walker Irwin , Trus Michael
Published: March 2012

Purpose

Pneumatosis intestinalis is a radiologic diagnosis that manifests in a variety of clinical settings. We report 4 cases of pneumatosis intestinalis in patients undergoing cancer treatments that included cytotoxic agents and/or tyrosine kinase inhibitors. These reports aim to provide insight into the clinical interpretation and pathogenesis of pneumatosis intestinalis in the setting of cancer treatments and demonstrate a potential association with tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Methods

Radiologists responsible for the interpretation of adult imaging at our tertiary care centre were surveyed to identify cases of pneumatosis intestinalis arising in the midst of cancer treatment. The case histories were reviewed by physicians with expertise in cancer treatment.

Results

Four cases of chemotherapy-related pneumatosis intestinalis were identified. The diagnosis was made in 1 patient during investigations undertaken for non–life-threatening abdominal symptoms and incidentally in 2 patients by abdominal imaging used to measure chemotherapy response. A fourth patient presented in a life-threatening manner, and abdominal imaging was symptom guided. Interestingly, 3 of the 4 patients were receiving treatments that included a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, and this agent was the only identifiable potential etiology in 1 patient.

Conclusions

The significance of pneumatosis intestinalis arising during cancer treatments is difficult to interpret because of the complex nature of the diseases and the treatments that often include combinations of cytotoxic agents and/or novel therapies. These reports demonstrate the importance of classifying this radiologic finding according clinical severity rather than etiology and underscore the need for continued observation for unexplained adverse effects when using novel therapies.
Transient waves generated by a moving bottom obstacle: a new near-field solution
Authors: Madsen Per A. , Hansen Asger Bendix
Published: March 2012

We consider the classical problem of a single-layer homogeneous fluid at rest and a low, slowly varying, long and positive bottom obstacle, which is abruptly started from rest to move with a constant speed $V$. As a result a system of transient waves will develop, and we assume that locally in the region over the obstacle dispersion can be ignored while nonlinearity cannot. The relevant governing equations for the near-field solution are therefore the nonlinear shallow water (NSW) equations. These are bidirectional and can be formulated in terms of a two-family system of characteristics. We analytically integrate and eliminate the backward-going family and achieve a versatile unidirectional single-family formulation, which covers subcritical, transcritical and supercritical conditions with relatively high accuracy. The formulation accounts for the temporal and spatial evolution of the bound waves in the vicinity of the obstacle as well as the development of the transient free waves generated at the onset of the motion. At some distance from the obstacle, dispersion starts to play a role and undular bores develop, but up to this point the new formulation agrees very well with numerical simulations based on a high-order Boussinesq formulation. Finally, we derive analytical asymptotic solutions to the new equations, providing estimates of the asymptotic surface levels in the vicinity of the obstacle as well as the crest levels of the leading non-dispersive free waves. These estimates can be used to predict the height and speed of the leading waves in the undular bores. The numerical and analytical solutions to the new single-family formulation of the NSW equations are compared to results based on the forced Korteweg–de Vries/Hopf equation and to numerical Boussinesq simulations.
Non-singular boundary integral methods for fluid mechanics applications
Authors: Klaseboer Evert , Sun Qiang , Chan Derek Y. C.
Published: March 2012

A formulation of the boundary integral method for solving partial differential equations has been developed whereby the usual weakly singular integral and the Cauchy principal value integral can be removed analytically. The broad applicability of the approach is illustrated with a number of problems of practical interest to fluid and continuum mechanics including the solution of the Laplace equation for potential flow, the Helmholtz equation as well as the equations for Stokes flow and linear elasticity.
Getting Ahead in the Communist Party: Explaining the Advancement of Central Committee Members in China
Authors: SHIH VICTOR , ADOLPH CHRISTOPHER , LIU MINGXING
Published: March 2012

Spectacular economic growth in China suggests the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has somehow gotten it right. A key hypothesis in both economics and political science is that the CCP's cadre evaluation system, combined with China's geography-based governing logic, has motivated local administrators to compete with one another to generate high growth. We raise a number of theoretical and empirical challenges to this claim. Using a new biographical database of Central Committee members, a previously overlooked feature of CCP reporting, and a novel Bayesian method that can estimate individual-level correlates of partially observed ranks, we find no evidence that strong growth performance was rewarded with higher party ranks at any of the postreform party congresses. Instead, factional ties with various top leaders, educational qualifications, and provincial revenue collection played substantial roles in elite ranking, suggesting that promotion systems served the immediate needs of the regime and its leaders, rather than encompassing goals such as economic growth.
Matters (Un-)Becoming: Conversions in Epiphanius of Salamis
Authors: Jacobs Andrew S.
Published: March 2012

In this essay, I reconsider early Christian conversion through the writings of Epiphanius of Salamis (d. 404C.E.).Far from the notion of conversion as an interior movement of soul (familiar from Augustine, A.D. Nock, and William James), Epiphanius shows us a variety of conversions—from lay to clergy, from orthodox to heretic, and from Jew to Christian—in the social and cultural context of empire. Epiphanius can help us reconsider late-ancient conversion not as the internal reorientation to a “new life,” but instead the exteriorized management of status and difference. As Epiphanius crafts conversion as the site of masterful intervention, he also conjures the failure of control, the blurring of boundaries, and collapse of frontiers that haunts the imperial Christian imagination.
The SPCK and the American Revolution: The Limits of International Protestantism
Authors: Engel Katherine Carté
Published: March 2012

The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) occupied an unusual position in the British Atlantic as an internationally minded voluntary organization rooted in Anglicanism but also able to unite members of different Protestant groups. Its history during the American Revolution provides opportunity to examine the ideal of international Protestantism in the latter part of the eighteenth century. This investigation indicates that, despite many international ties and a strong sense of politically based international Protestant unity during the early decades of the century, members of the SPCK did not experience the Revolutionary crisis that ruptured the British Atlantic as a spiritual separation from their fellows in North America. International Protestant engagement within the SPCK was largely personal in nature, based on the experiences of a few individuals. Though the SPCK's regular publications create the impression of an organization leading an international Protestant community, an analysis of its membership reveals a profoundly English group. Thus, during the Revolution, the SPCK rallied to the British cause without a sense that an idealized Protestant union had been divided by fratricidal violence. This article builds on and supports the transnational perspective put forth by scholars in recent years and suggests that international Protestantism was varied and, in the case of the SPCK, politically limited.
The Date and Content of P. Antinoopolis 12 (0232)
Authors: Kruger Michael J.
Published: March 2012

P. Antinoopolis 12 (Aland 0232), a miniature codex containing remnants of 2 John, was considered by C. H. Roberts to be our earliest copy of this short epistle (third century) and also evidence of an early Johannine corpus. However, upon closer examination, both of these claims appear to be problematic. This article will argue that P.Ant. 12 is most likely a fifth-century codex (not third) and that it was far too small to have carried the entire Johannine corpus. Although there is no combination of books that fits perfectly into this codex, the most plausible suggestion seems to be that P.Ant. 12 originally held the book of Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles.
Peter's ‘Hypocrisy’ and Paul's: Two ‘Hypocrites’ at the Foundation of Earliest Christianity?
Authors: Mitchell Margaret M.
Published: March 2012

In an infamous passage in his Letter to the Galatians (2.11–14), Paul called out Peter as a ‘hypocrite’. This passage, especially when read in light of Paul's own appeal to himself as ‘all things to all people’ in 1 Cor 9.19–23, was to cause deep trouble for later Christian interpreters, who sought to defend their movement against charges from outsiders that it had a cracked and unstable foundation in dual ‘hypocrites’. This essay will introduce this ‘pagan’ critique and the cultural force it had, and the various solutions to the inherited dilemma from their scriptures that were offered by patristic authors (Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Jerome and Augustine). In light of this context, we turn to a sustained analysis of an untranslated homily by John Chrysostom,hom. in Gal 2.11(In faciem ei restiti), which addresses not just the hypocrisy of Peter and Paul, but also the sticky problem of the hypocrisy of the Christian who reads this text approvingly as Paul's ‘in your face’ to Peter. Chrysostom does this by engaging in a convoluted pretence of his own.
1 Thessalonians 4.13–18 in Rabbinic Perspective
Authors: Moss Candida R. , Baden Joel S.
Published: March 2012

1 Thessalonians 4.16–17 has occasioned much scholarly speculation regarding Paul's conception of the resurrected body, the character of those caught up in Christ, the ultimate fate of those who are caught up in the air, and Pauline eschatology in general. The interpretation of the passage may be illuminated by comparison with rabbinic traditions in which the righteous escape judgment and destruction in Sheol by flying and being borne aloft by clouds, traditions that, given Paul's Jewish heritage, could well stand in the background of 1 Thess 4.16–17.
BEAUTIFUL SOULS MIXED UP WITH HOOKED NOSES: ART, DEGENERATION, AND ANTI-SEMITISM INTHE MASTERANDTRILBY
Authors: Mendelssohn Michèle
Published: March 2012

The diagnosis made by Dr P. C. Remondino, M.D. was unambiguous. “Trilbyis a masterpiece when viewed in the light of a study in heredity,” he announced in the pages ofPractical Medicinein 1895. “Du Maurier has given us . . . the well digested results of a careful as well as discriminating study. . . . Neither Darwin, [nor] Galton, . . . could have given us a more comprehensive or more lucid study of the subject. Neither could Maudsley” (380–81). Despite the good doctor's critical insight,Trilby's deployment of degenerationist discourse has often gone unnoticed. On the rare occasions it has been touched upon, it has most often been subsumed under the banner offin-de-siècleanti-Semitism or connected to Du Maurier's anti-Aestheticism. Yet what this essay reveals is that art, degeneration, and anti-Semitism were, in fact, intimately connected in the late nineteenth century, and that this not only influenced literature, it also shaped its reception. This essay examinesTrilby(1894) in conjunction withThe Master(1894), a novel by the most important British Zionist of the late nineteenth century, Israel Zangwill. Since Zangwill's death in 1926, literary critics have paid him scant attention. His contributions to degenerationism have been wholly overlooked even though his notion of the “melting pot” was almost certainly the theory of ethnicity with the most traction in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century America.
ON THE CLIFF EDGE OF ENGLAND: TOURISM AND IMPERIAL GOTHIC IN CORNWALL
Authors: Trower Shelley
Published: March 2012

The final chapters of Bram Stoker's novel The Jewel of Seven Stars (1903) are set in a house on the “very verge” of a cliff in Cornwall, the peninsula located at the far south west of England. The narrator, Malcolm Ross, travels overnight from London to Cornwall, then describes his first sight of the house, and a little later the position of the dining-room, its walls hanging over the sea:

We were all impressed by the house as it appeared in the bright moonlight. A great grey stone mansion of the Jacobean period; vast and spacious, standing high over the sea on the very verge of a high cliff. When we had swept round the curve of the avenue cut through the rock, and come out on the high plateau on which the house stood, the crash and murmur of waves breaking against rock far below us came with an invigorating breath of moist sea air . . .

We had supper in the great dining-room on the south side, the walls of which actually hung over the sea. The murmur came up muffled, but it never ceased. As the little promontory stood well out into the sea, the northern side of the house was open; and the due north was in no way shut out by the great mass of rock, which, reared high above us, shut out the rest of the world. Far off across the bay we could see the trembling lights of the castle, and here and there along the shore the faint light of a fisher's window. For the rest the sea was a dark blue plain with here and there a flicker of light as the gleam of starlight fell on the slope of a swelling wave. (195–96; ch. 17)

In this liminal place, there is a confusion of categories: the sea not only crosses the boundary into land (the sound of its “murmur” and its moistness in the air) but seems itself to become land (a “dark blue plain”). The actual land is in contrast invisible from the house, being shut out by a mass of rock that rears high above. From the far distant shore, on the other side of the bay, the lights vibrate across both land and sea, further collapsing the sense of a distinction between them: from the “trembling lights” of the castle to the intermittent “flicker of light” on the waves.
THE MORAL AND LITERARY CHARACTER OF BULWER'S NOVELS
Authors: DANA RICHARD HENRY , Christensen Allan C.
Published: March 2012

While illuminating and justifying the contemporary appreciation of Edward Bulwer's early novels, Richard Henry Dana discerns in his Harvard thesis of 1837 a Bulwerian strategy that he would employ himself in Two Years Before the Mast. Both the undergraduate thesis and Two Years derive from the experiences of Dana's famous voyage, which have led him to recognise the power of literature to exercise a moral force. In the practice of Bulwer, which Dana would seek to emulate, literature becomes a means for liberating voices that the predominating social forces have been hitherto suppressing.
NEO-VICTORIAN STUDIES
Authors: Stetz Margaret D.
Published: March 2012

Long ago, Margery Williams'sThe Velveteen Rabbit(1922) taught us that toys become real when they are loved. Literary genres, however, become real when they are parodied. The neo-Victorian novel, therefore, must now be real, for its features have become so familiar and readily distinguishable that John Crace has been able to have naughty fun at their expense inBrideshead Abbreviated: The Digested Read of the Twentieth Century(2010), where John Fowles'sThe French Lieutenant's Woman(1969) stands as representative of the type. Crace's treatment of Fowles's first-person narrator results in a remarkable effect: the ironic commentary upon the nineteenth century from a twentieth-century vantage point that runs throughout the novel gets subjected, in turn, to ironic commentary from a twenty-first-century point-of-view:
The construct of language proficiency in the study of bilingualism from a cognitive perspective
Authors: HULSTIJN JAN H.
Published: March 2012

This article aims at revitalizing the debate concerning the measurement of language proficiency (LP) in the study of bilingualism (Grosjean, 1998). A review is presented of the way in which LP was measured in a corpus of 140 empirical papers published in volumes 1–14 (1998–2011) of the journalBilingualism: Language and Cognition. In 55% of these papers, in which the assessment of LP as an independent or moderating variable was a necessary or preferred requirement, LP was not measured with an objective LP test. Seldom were participants’ LP scores used in explaining variance obtained in the dependent variable(s). After the discussion of some unresolved problems concerning cross-language comparisons of LP in bilinguals’ languages, recommendations are offered for the measurement of LP. One of the recommendations is that, in studies investigating between-group contrasts, researchers carefully consider the assessment of participants’ proficiency in the language(s) concerned, even in native-speaker comparison groups.
A parody of theOdysseyin the Life ofAesop
Authors: Karla Grammatiki A.
Published: March 2012

TheLife of Aesopis an anonymous text of the first century BC / first century AD, which narrates how Aesop, an ugly slave from Phrygia, gains his freedom thanks to his intelligence, and how he later comes to enjoy fame and popularity, until he arrives at Delphi, where he is falsely accused and finally killed.

Critics have already pointed out that at a crucial point of the narrative, the encounter between Aesop and the inhabitant of Delphi (ch. 124), the author of theLifereaches back to the text of Homer to produce an effective parody. In order to describe the pale faces of the people of Delphi, Aesop quotes Glaucus' words to Diomedes atIliad6.146: οἵη περ φύλλων γενεή, τοίη δὲ καὶ ἀνδρῶν (‘As is the generation of leaves, so is that of humanity’). Nor does Homer's influence seem to be limited to this one conspicuous instance.

In the present paper I hope to show that the meeting between Aesop and his mistress (chs. 29-33) in theLife of Aesop(hereafter theLife) is a comic reversal or parody of a Homeric narrative episode, the meeting of Odysseus and Penelope (Odyssey19.96–316, 19.508–604). The author of theLifepresents the lecherous wife of Xanthos in satirical terms, whilst his allusions to the particular Homeric hypotext produce a clever parody that makes for an even more effective satire.
Fantasising Phryne: The psychology and ethics ofekphrasis
Authors: Morales Helen
Published: March 2012

‘It's such a pity that we don't haveAnything like a photographOf her about whom the ancients rave …’…Fragments, copies, our museums still holdOf statues she modelled, or so we're told

(fromPhryneby Robert Conquest, 2000)

Phryne, the celebrityhetairawho is said to have lived and loved some time during the fourth century BCE, was reputed to be ‘by far the most phenomenal of thehetairai’ (ἐπιφανεστάτη πολὺ τῶν ἑταίρων). This article aims to examine the anecdotes told about Phryne and argues that collectively they constitute a discourse on viewing that illuminates a significant aspect of the production and interpretation of art: the ethical and aesthetic problems involved (for the artist, subject, model and other viewers) in making and describing naturalistic art, especially that which represents the gods. A rich repertoire of written material on Phryne, and on the statue of the Aphrodite of Cnidus for which she was said to have been the model, has survived, although mostly by later rather than contemporary writers. Among the descriptions of the statue there is a group of epigrams collected in theGreek Anthologywhose authorship and dating are largely uncertain. On Phryne we have accounts and imaginative scenarios in Alciphron, Lucian and Pausanias, all presumed to be writing in the second century CE; Athenaeus, who most probably wrote in the third century CE; and quotations from earlier writers.
Socrates on life and death (Plato,Apology40C5–41C7)
Authors: Van Harten Alice
Published: March 2012

In a familiar passage at the end of Plato'sApology, Socrates offers an account of what he believes will happen to us when we die. As in thePhaedo, it is his impending death that prompts Socrates to speculate about the nature of the afterlife: as soon as his verdict is announced, Socrates turns to the jury to gloss on his sentencing. It was unprecedented, as far as we know, for a defendant in the Athenian court to end his trial by addressing the members of the jury, but theApologyhas Socrates doing just that. While his defence in theApologywas already audacious, Socrates' closing speech appears even more provocative. Among other things, he declares that he has no reason to fear death, but that, on the contrary, the death penalty he received only moments before may well be considered a blessing. Socrates supports this claim with an argument in the form of a constructive dilemma: either death involves the cessation of consciousness, in which case our afterlife existence will resemble a single night of dreamless sleep, or after our death we will go to a place where all the dead are ruled over by just judges. Since either scenario constitutes a good state, death should be considered something good (40C5–41C7). This article will examine Socrates' argument in detail and discuss a number of salient problems that arise from it. Commentators have typically attempted to tackle the interpretative problems one by one, but I shall argue that they resist satisfactory resolution and instead alert us to an ironic reading of this passage.
Economic dimensions of armed groups: profiling the financing, costs, and agendas and their implications for mediated engagements
Authors: Wennmann Achim
Published: March 2012

This article introduces the various economic dimensions of armed groups and explores the implications of their engagement through mediation and dialogue. It looks specifically at the financing, operational costs, and economic agendas of armed groups and brings together examples from Angola, Kosovo, Sudan, Colombia, and other places. It emphasizes that information about available financing and operational costs is critical for assessing the financial and operational strength of an armed group. It also highlights the need to understand armed groups in the broader context of their evolution and the changes that organizational and territorial expansions require with regards to financing strategies. Overall, the economic dimensions of armed groups should be approached with an open mind so that issues such as financing, costs, and economic agendas can be perceived as opportunities, and not necessarily as a problem for peace.
The applicability of international humanitarian law to organized armed groups
Authors: Kleffner Jann K.
Published: March 2012

While it is generally accepted today that international humanitarian law (IHL) is binding on organized armed groups, it is less clear why that is so and how the binding force of IHL on organized armed groups is to be construed. A number of explanations for that binding force have been offered. The present contribution critically examines five such explanations, namely that organized armed groups are bound via the state on whose territory they operate; that organized armed groups are bound because their members are bound by IHL as individuals; that norms of IHL are binding on organized armed groups by virtue of the fact that they exercisede factogovernmental functions; that customary IHL is applicable to organized armed groups because of the (limited) international legal personality that they possess; and that organized armed groups are bound by IHL because they have consented thereto.