bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Fasting and postprandial conditions affect both fatty acids and lipid compositions in the hypothalamus and fat-soluble vitamins in the serum of male rats
Authors: Dayangac Alpaslan , Gosselink Kristin Leigh , Yilmaz Okkes
Published: April 2012

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of fasting and re-feeding on lipid derivative patterns in the hypothalamus, and on vitamin, cholesterol and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in serum. Adult male Wistar albino rats were assigned (n = 6/group) as follows: normally-fed controls (CON), fasted for 24 h (24F), fasted for 48 h (48F), and fed normally for 2 d after fasting for 48 h (FAF). Biochemical measures were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Our results demonstrate that hypothalamic saturated fatty acid (C16:0, C18:0) levels were lower, and unsaturated fatty acid (C22:6 n-3, C22:4 n-6, C20:4 n-6) levels were higher, in the 48F and FAF groups than in CON (). In addition, hypothalamic monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) levels were lower, and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) levels were higher, in 24F than in CON. Total hypothalamic lipids in both 24F and 48F were higher than CON, and cholesterol was elevated in the hypothalami of all experimental groups as compared to CON. Serum malondialdehyde was higher in fasted and FAF groups; 24F and 48F also had higher serum cholesterol levels, than CON (, ). Serum α-tocoferol, retinol and vitamin C values were lower in 48F than CON (). In conclusion, we demonstrate that feeding state can significantly alter brain fatty acid and lipid derivative levels, and serum concentrations of cholesterol and vitamins. These changes may consequently influence lipid peroxidation, fatty acid synthase or desaturase system in hypothalamic fields.
Adaptive characters of energy metabolism, thermogenesis and body mass in Eothenomys miletus during cold exposure and rewarming
Authors: Wan-long Zhu , Jin-hong Cai , Xiao Lian , Zheng-kun Wang
Published: April 2012

Environmental cues play important roles in the regulation of an animal’s physiology and behavior. The purpose of the present study was to test the hypothesis that ambient temperature was a cue to induce adjustments in body mass, energy intake and thermogenic capacity, associated with changes in serum leptin levels inEothenomys miletus. We found thatE. miletusincreased resting metabolic rate (RMR) and energy intake and decreased body mass when exposed to cold while it showed a significant increase in body mass after rewarming. The increase in body mass after rewarming was associated with the higher energy intake compared with the control. Uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) content in brown adipose tissue (BAT) increased in the cold and reversed after rewarming. Serum leptin levels decreased in the cold while increased after rewarming, associated with the opposite changes in energy intake. Further, serum leptin levels were positively correlated with body mass and body fat mass. Together, these data supported our hypothesis that ambient temperature was a cue to induce changes in body mass and metabolism. Serum leptin, as a starvation signal in the cold and satiety signal in rewarming, was involved in the processes of thermogenesis and body mass regulation inE. miletus.
Contrastivism and Skepticism
Authors: Luper Steven
Published: April 2012

Recently, Jonathan Schaffer (and others) has defended a contrastivist analysis of knowledge. By appealing to his account, he has attempted to steer a path between skepticism and Moore-style antiskepticism: much like sensitivity theorists and contextualists, he offers significant concessions to, but ultimately rejects, both. In this essay I suggest that in fact Schaffer ends up succumbing to skepticism.
Measurement Properties of a Park Use Questionnaire
Authors: Evenson Kelly R. , Wen Fang , Golinelli Daniela , Rodríguez Daniel A. , Cohen Deborah A.
Published: April 2012

This study determined the criterion validity and test–retest reliability of a brief park use questionnaire. From five U.S. locations, 232 adults completed a brief survey four times and wore a global positioning system (GPS) monitor for 3 weeks. We assessed validity for park visits during the past week and during a usual week by examining agreement between frequency and duration of park visits reported on the questionnaire to the GPS monitor results. Spearman correlation coefficients (SCC) were used to measure agreement. For past week park visit frequency and duration, the SCC were .62 to .65 and .62 to .67, respectively. For usual week park visit frequency and duration, the SCC were .40 to .50 and .50 to .53, respectively. Usual park visit frequency reliability was .78 to .88 (percentage agreement: 69%-82%) and usual park visit duration was .75 to .84 (percentage agreement: 64%-73%). These results suggest that the questionnaire to assess usual and past week park use had acceptable validity and reliability.
Oral tradition, nationalism and Assamese social history: Remembering a peasant uprising
Authors: Saikia Arupjyoti
Published: April 2012

Recent advances in folklore studies makes it possible to reasonably address the complex origin of historical-ballads. This scholarship carefully explores the forms, linguistic styles and more precisely, the mental universe of the rural society embedded in historical ballads. Doli-Puran—an Assamese historical ballad narrating the events related to the peasant rebellion of 1894—could be a key to an understanding of the social history of the Assamese peasantry. The textual content of this oral narrative underwent significant transformation over the years together with the changing political landscape of Assam and the Assamese peasant society. This essay explains the dynamics of the social origin of this oral narrative and its significance. It shows how historical imagination and social memory, mostly drawn from an Assamese rural landscape, influenced the Assamese nation building process in the twentieth century.
Rice trade in the ‘rice bowl of Bengal’: Burdwan 1880–1947
Authors: Dutta Achintya Kumar
Published: April 2012

Burdwan district, with its advantageous position in transportation network and good resource endowments, spontaneously responded to the commercialisation of agriculture. Rice received considerable commercial importance in the second half of the nineteenth century. It found access to new markets within and outside Bengal and consequently rice trade flourished. Rice trade was carried on regularly in an organised way in Burdwan and expanded considerably from the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The business acumen as well as entrepreneurial activities of Burdwan’s traders and merchants was successfully demonstrated with the expansion of commercialisation of agriculture. The rice merchants and rice millers dominated the rice trade of Burdwan, forming associations for protecting and promoting their business. They carried on their trade independently and successfully, demonstrating their entrepreneurial ability.
Defining Predictors of Cleft Lip and Palate Risk
Authors: Yildirim M. , Seymen F. , Deeley K. , Cooper M.E. , Vieira A.R.
Published: April 2012

Individuals with clefts present considerably more dental anomalies than individuals without clefts. We also have shown that these individuals report cancer in their families more often than do unaffected individuals. We investigated how these conditions correlated with genetic variants associated with clefts to ascertain if specific molecular signatures exist that could help identify individuals at risk for having offspring with these defects. We examined 573 individuals, 158 with clefts, 254 unaffected family members, and 161 non-related controls. Several clinical features, such as laterality, the presence of dental anomalies, medical history, and pregnancy history, were used to assess each individual’s cleft status. Then, we performed molecular studies with genes that have been independently associated with oral clefts. We analyzed two datasets: nuclear families and case-control individuals where the case was the child from the family and controls were unrelated non-clefted individuals. In the family data, we confirmed association between clefts and rs987525 on chromosome 8 (p = 0.007) and found an association with rs987525 and tooth agenesis (p = 0.0003). In the case-control data, clefts, supernumerary teeth and familial cancer history were associated with ABCA4-rs481931 on chromosome 1 (p = 2E-19, 0.0007, 2E-06, respectively), and clefts and microdontia were associated with rs1325474 on chromosome 6 (p = 1E-06, 0.0002, respectively).
When and how many: The effects of third party joining on casualties and duration in interstate wars
Authors: Shirkey Zachary C
Published: April 2012

What makes some wars longer and more severe than others is an important question in international relations scholarship. One underexplored answer to this question is the role that third party joiners play in lengthening conflicts, especially those states that intervene militarily after a war’s initial stages. This article argues that late joining complicates bargaining by adding new issues to the war and increases uncertainty about the relative balance of forces. Thus, more information will be needed to resolve the bargaining impasse. This means additional fighting and a longer war. This lengthening in turn increases the number of casualties. This is a distinct process from simply having more participants in a war from the outset as those participants would not add uncertainty in the same way that late joiners do since questions about how those participants affect the relative balances of forces would be answered just as quickly as if there were only two participants at the outset. These claims are supported by a non-proportional hazards model regression, a Cox proportional hazards regression, and an ordinary least squares regression using the Correlates of War interstate war dataset.
Partisan Evaluation of Partisan Information
Authors: Gunther Albert C. , Edgerly Stephanie , Akin Heather , Broesch James A.
Published: April 2012

One recent and conspicuous change in the U.S. media landscape has been the shift toward more markedly partisan news content. At the same time, data suggest that the media audience has become more polarized across a wide array of controversial and politicized issues. Recruiting from a group of highly polarized opponents of childhood vaccinations, this study employed a 3 (content bias) × 2 (partisan vs. neutral participants) × 2 (information source) experimental design to examine audience perceptions of information bias. The data supported an expected hostile media perception in the case of “fair and balanced” information, but different patterns in the other bias conditions suggest that content variables can sometimes disarm defensive processing.
The Bachelet Effect on Gender-Equity Policies
Authors: Stevenson Linda S.
Published: April 2012

From 2006 to 2010, Michelle Bachelet carried out her role as president with a high degree of success in many ways, to the point that she left office with an unprecedented 80 percent popularity rating among all Chileans. Among women, she was an important symbolic figure, and she was supportive of and quite successful at proposing and implementing policy to support liberal and more traditional forms of maternal women’s rights. However, an assessment of policy impacts in terms of their practical results and their political valences reveals that she was less supportive and consequently less successful in the areas of socialist and radical women’s rights.

Entre 2006 y 2010, Michelle Bachelet asumió su cargo como presidente con alto grado de éxito en varias formas, de modo de que al momento de dejar la oficina gozaba una popularidad sin precedente del ochenta porciento de los chilenos. Entre las mujeres fue un símbolo importante ya que apoyaba tanto como promovía de manera exitosa la implementación de una política liberal y tradicional en los derechos maternos. Sin embargo una evaluación de las consecuencias de su política en resultados prácticos y sus valencias políticas pone en relieve que su apoyo fue menos y por consiguiente menos eficaz en el área de los derechos de la mujer socialista y radical.
Gender Differences in Gifted Students’ Advice on Solving the World’s Problems
Authors: Malin Jenessa , Makel Matthew C.
Published: April 2012

Gender differences in interests and preferences are among the currently accepted potential explanations for the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. In an attempt to analyze the development of such preferences, gender differences expressed in essays written by gifted elementary students were assessed. Students were asked to hypothetically embody a cabinet member and advise the president to solve the nation’s most important problem. Numerous significant gender differences were found, including which cabinet post was selected, the type of problem selected as well as the implications for solution implementation. These findings illustrate that the development of gender differences is an ongoing process that has already begun by the end of elementary school.
Early Adoption of Transoral Robotic Surgical Program
Authors: Cognetti David M. , Luginbuhl Adam J. , Nguyen Anthony L. , Curry Joseph M.
Published: April 2012

Objective

The objective of this study is to demonstrate the feasibility and safety of establishing a transoral robotic surgical (TORS) program in the post–Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval setting. Early outcomes are compared with the previously reported results of pioneering centers.

Study Design

Clinical data from a prospective TORS study.

Setting

Academic university institution.

Subjects and Methods

Sixty‐one patients treated with 63 TORS procedures. Main outcome measures: intraoperative times, margin status, complications, time to diet, and percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube retention rate. The authors also report oncologic outcomes on their first 30 patients.

Results

The spectrum of subsites included tongue base, tonsil, parapharyngeal space, retromolar trigone, supraglottis, and posterior pharyngeal wall. Surgical console time averaged 79 ± 53 minutes. After re‐resection of 4 patients, final negative margin status was 94% (50/53). A subset of 30 patients with squamous cell carcinoma reaching an average of 18 months of follow‐up had a local regional control rate of 97% with a disease‐free survival rate of 90%. The PEG tube retention rate was 7%. Complications included 2 readmissions with dehydration, 1 aspiration pneumonia, and 2 with minor oropharyngeal bleeding. Ninety‐one percent of patients resumed an oral diet by the first postoperative visit.

Conclusion

The initiation of a TORS program in the post‐FDA setting can be achieved in a safe and efficient manner. Early results of pioneering TORS centers are reproducible. Continued investigation of TORS as a treatment option for oropharygneal carcinoma is warranted.
Cannabidiol and clozapine reverse MK-801-induced deficits in social interaction and hyperactivity in Sprague–Dawley rats
Authors: Gururajan Anand , Taylor David A , Malone Daniel T
Published: April 2012

Recently, a novel paradigm has been designed to assess social investigative behaviour in pairs of Sprague–Dawley rats, which involves physical separation whilst ensuring they are able to maintain contact through other social cues. We have modified this set-up in order to assess not just social behaviour but also locomotor activity of the rats. Results showed that the MK-801- (0.3 mg/kg) treated rats displayed reduced social investigative behaviour, hyperactivity as well as reduced attention span. Pretreatment with the phytocannabinoid cannabidiol (3 mg/kg) not only normalised social investigative behaviour but increased it beyond control levels. Pretreatment with clozapine (1, 3 mg/kg) also normalised social investigative behaviour. Both cannabidiol and clozapine inhibited MK-801-induced hyperactivity. However, there were no effects of pretreatment on impairments to attention span. Our findings reinforce several aspects of the validity of the MK-801-induced model of social withdrawal and hyperactivity and also support the use of this novel set-up for further investigations to assess the antipsychotic potential of novel compounds.
Reported earnings and analyst forecasts as competing sources of information: A new approach
Authors: Anderson Heather , Chan Howard , Faff Robert , Ho Yew Kee
Published: April 2012

We apply a new methodology, modified Granger causality tests, to further analyze the information flows between earnings and forecasts. Our application focuses on the dynamic interaction between reported earnings and analysts’ forecasts. Based on long time series of analyst earnings forecasts and reported earnings, we provide formal and compelling evidence of bi-directional ‘causality’. Further, we report that the lag structure in information flows is longer than has been documented in the previous literature. This is consistent with our expectation that, in addition to past earnings reports, the forecasts themselves make a significant contribution to the information that is reflected in future earnings. However, the presence of feedback also suggests that past earnings reports, as well as past forecasts, are incorporated into later forecasts. Collectively, our findings imply that the information in earnings reports has inherent positive value and that forecasts do not fully substitute for earnings releases.
Decreased Quality of Life in Children With Hypothalamic Hamartoma and Treatment-Resistant Epilepsy
Authors: Park Cleo , Wethe Jennifer V. , Kerrigan John F.
Published: April 2012

We evaluated health-related quality of life in patients with hypothalamic hamartoma, to see how it differs from that of children with more common neurologic disorders. We used the PedsQL 4.0, along with the Child Behavior Checklist, Hague Seizure Severity Scale, and Side Effects Scale, to evaluate presurgical patients with hypothalamic hamartoma and epilepsy (n = 21). The results were compared with those of age-matched cohorts with migraine (n = 19) and Benign Epilepsy with Central Temporal Spikes (n = 11). In comparison with the migraine group, the patients with hypothalamic hamartoma had decreased health-related quality of life across all domains of the PedsQL 4.0. Compared with the benign epilepsy group, the hypothalamic hamartoma cohort has a significantly lower score in School Function. Comorbid psychomotor retardation was predictive of lower quality of life. Research examining the efficacy of recently developed surgical treatments for hypothalamic hamartoma should include health-related quality of life as an outcome measure.
An Examination of the Local Economic Impacts of Military Base Closures
Authors: Hultquist Andy , Petras Tricia L.
Published: April 2012

The 1988 Base Closure and Realignment Act empowered the Commission on Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) to undertake five rounds of significant military base closure and realignment. Investigating the economic impacts associated with base closures provides the first step in not only determining whether the BRAC Commission has effectively minimized negative impacts on affected communities but also provides guidance to policy makers in targeting future base closures, and helps affected communities prepare for the economic shocks associated with these events. This article examines (a) the local economic impacts associated with general changes in military base employment; (b) if the first four, completed rounds of BRAC closures have a significant differential impact on county-level employment; (c) whether these BRAC closures exhibit economic spillover effects on the employment of neighboring counties; and (d) if the economic impact associated with BRAC losses differs for enlisted and civilian personnel reductions.
Critical design factors for multi-layer coating systems that influence heat partition in the secondary shear deformation zone and machining performance
Authors: Fahad Muhammad , Mativenga Paul T , Sheikh Mohammad A
Published: April 2012

High thermal loads during the cutting process can have a major influence on tool performance. Multilayer coated tools can have a positive impact in improving machining performance, especially at high cutting velocities. In this study TiCN/Al2O3/TiN, TiCN/Al2O3 and TiCN/Al2O3–TiN multilayer chemical vapour deposition (CVD)-coated carbide cutting tool inserts, were investigated in dry turning of AISI/SAE 4140 over a wide range of cutting speeds of between 200 m/min and 879 m/min. While the TiCN/Al2O3/TiN and TiCN/Al2O3 coating layers were deposited uniformly around the insert, TiCN/Al2O3–TiN has TiCN/Al2O3 on the rake face and TiCN/Al2O3/TiN on the flank/clearance faces. For clarity, in this article it is addressed as (TiCN/Al2O3/TiN)flank (TiCN/Al2O3)rake and termed the functionally graded system. The investigations were based on experimental determination of cutting forces, chip compression ratio, tool–chip contact phenomena, and flank wear, as well as finite element modelling of heat partition into the cutting tool. Results show that two layered TiCN/Al2O3 deposited in series gives a better performance against the three layered TiCN/Al2O3/TiN and the functionally graded TiCN/Al2O3–TiN tools. Results from the cutting tests and finite element analysis suggest that selection of an appropriate top coating and optimised coating thickness are two important factors for achieving effective cutting performance.
Evaluation of gas metal arc welding with alternating shielding gases for use on AA6082T6
Authors: Campbell Stuart W , Galloway Alexander M , McPherson Norman A , Gillies Andrew
Published: April 2012

Studies have been carried out to determine the effects of implementing alternating shielding gases for 6082T6 aluminium alloy welding. Alternating shielding gases is a newly developed method of supplying shielding gases to the weld area to enhance the efficiency of the standard gas metal arc welding process.

Alternating shielding gases involves discretely supplying two different shielding gases to the weld zone at a pre-determined frequency that creates a dynamic action in the weld pool. Several benefits have been identified in relation to supplying shielding gases in this manner, including reduced porosity, marginal improvements in mechanical properties, increased travel speed, and as a result of the lower heat input, reduced distortion. This method of shielding gas delivery therefore presents attractive benefits to the manufacturing community; namely the increased productivity and quality, in addition to a reduction in the amount of post-weld straightening required.

However, the literature available on this advanced joining process is very limited, especially so for aluminium alloys. For this reason, an evaluation has been carried out on the application of alternating shielding gases for the gas metal arc welding process on 6082T6 aluminium alloys.
HIV risk in a group of educated urban Black African women in South Africa: Private accounts of gendered power dynamics
Authors: Mashinini Duduzile Phindile , Pelton-Cooper Mary
Published: April 2012

This study explores HIV risk in a small group of Black African women school teachers in South Africa. We used a two-part questionnaire with inductive thematic analysis to explore their private and personal sexual attitudes, as well as their perceptions of male attitudes about sexuality. Key themes are: a desire for power over personal choices, submission to male control in sexual relationships, HIV concern, and the high value these women place on sexual relationships. Although they understood the mechanisms for HIV transmission and enjoyed a degree of financial independence, some of their efforts to avoid HIV risk in sexual relationships, as well as their efforts to communicate about sexuality, were compromised by gendered power dynamics. The results from this study also highlight some gendered strategies they use to preserve their health and relationships. We conclude that an intersectional approach best addresses the problem of preventing HIV/AIDS within an inflexible post-colonial patriarchal structure.
Technologies of gender and childbirth choices: Home birth, elective caesarean and white femininities in South Africa
Authors: Chadwick Rachelle Joy , Foster Don
Published: April 2012

Since the 1970s, feminist research has provided a powerful critique of biomedical models of childbirth. While this critique has been extremely important, it has to some extent led to the neglect of other forms of power. For example, there has been little research which has explored childbirth as a way of ‘doing gender’ in which normative or resistant forms of gender and femininity are (re)performed. Drawing on the Foucauldian notion of ‘technologies of power’, we argue that gender is a form of disciplinary power which shapes the choices that women make in relation to childbirth. Drawing on pre-birth interviews with 21 white, middle-class pregnant South African women who were planning on either a home birth (n = 12) or an elective caesarean section (n = 9), we show how three central technologies of white femininity shaped and regulated women’s childbirth choices. These included: a patriarchal optics of childbirth, the ‘natural childbirth’ ideal and the ‘good mother’ imperative. The article concludes that women’s childbirth choices are heavily shaped by gendered technologies of power and that the decision to have a home birth or an elective caesarean section intersects with scripts of ‘doing white femininity’ in South Africa.
“The constantly recurring argument”: Inferring quantity from order
Authors: Michell Joel
Published: April 2012

The inference from order to quantity is fundamental to psychometrics because the sorts of attributes that psychometricians aspire to measure are experienced directly only as ordered and, yet, it is concluded that such attributes are measurable on interval scales (i.e., that they are quantitative). This inference has been a feature of psychometrics since early last century, before which it permeated scientific thought and played a role in the development of psychophysics. Despite this, its cogency has been analysed only rarely. Elsewhere, I have argued that it is not deductively valid, a point that might be considered obvious except that attempts have been made to show otherwise. Its invalidity displayed, it is easily shown that it is not inductively reasonable either. However, it might still be urged that the inference from order to quantity is an inference to the best explanation: that is, that quantitative structure is reasonably abduced from order. I argue that the opposite is true: the most plausible hypothesis is that the sorts of attributes psychometricians aspire to measure are merely ordinal attributes with impure differences of degree, a feature logically incompatible with quantitative structure. If so, psychometrics is built upon a myth.
Unions and migrant workers: strategic challenges in Britain
Authors: James Phil , Karmowska Joanna
Published: April 2012

This article is based on a recent study of attempts by a range of British trade unions to access and engage with Polish migrant workers at the community or labour market level, rather than workplace level. The findings suggest that migrant workers can indeed be recruited at this level. Doubts are expressed, however, about the sustainability of new membership gained in this way. These doubts are linked to a marked absence of clear union strategies to create a longer-term nexus of interest with those who are recruited, of the type advocated in, for example, the North American ‘new labor movement’ literature. This absence – it is argued – may be less a reflection of a lack of strategic leadership than a product of the difficulties unions face in identifying viable strategies relating to the representation and organization of workers above the workplace level.
The rise and fall of industrial unionism
Authors: Visser Jelle
Published: April 2012

Measured by its achievements, industrial unionism represented the high point in the history of 20th century trade unions. This article analyses the defining characteristics and organizing model of industrial unions and argues that changes both in the labour market, in particular the decline of industry, and in union organizing and sectoral bargaining have led to the ‘fall’ of the industrial union. The article ends with some suggestions with regard to the spirit and agenda of the post-industrial union.
Experimental investigation on energy conversion for dielectric electroactive polymer generator
Authors: Wang Huaming , Zhu Yinlong , Wang Li , Zhao Jun
Published: April 2012

Dielectric electroactive polymer shows considerable promise for harvesting energy from environmental sources such as wind, water current, and ocean waves. Based on the analysis of an energy conversion cycle, circular energy conversion unit is implemented to conduct experiment. Two main factors, namely, bias voltage and stretch displacement, are subsequently determined to investigate their effect on the generated energy and efficiency. Analytical results indicate that the generated energy and efficiency increase as the bias voltage and displacement increase in a certain range of bias voltage, while over high electrical field reduces electrical energy and efficiency due to charge leakage. Furthermore, the effect of stretch speed on transformed voltage is analyzed. Antagonistic connection of two same energy conversion units is investigated, which can boost the total efficiency to 20% because the retracting force of one energy conversion unit is used to stretch the other. To make full use of the input mechanical energy, a generator with multiple energy conversion units, which are deformed by slider–crank mechanisms, is analyzed. The torque needed to actuate generator with more than two energy conversion units is positive in the whole cycle, which means all the mechanical energy is converted to electrical energy. Moreover, fluctuation of torque becomes smaller as the number of energy conversion units increases.
Evaluating an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) Adapted for Social Work
Authors: Bogo Marion , Regehr Cheryl , Katz Ellen , Logie Carmen , Tufford Lea , Litvack Andrea
Published: April 2012

Objectives: To evaluate an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) adapted for social work in a lab course and examine the degree to which it predicts competence in the practicum. Method: 125 Masters students participated in a one-scenario OSCE and wrote responses to standardized reflection questions. OSCE performance and reflections were rated on previously standardized scales, competence in field was evaluated using the online practice-based evaluation. Results: A wide range of scores on OSCE scales indicate that differences in student competencies were captured. Correlational analyses revealed an association between OSCE scales and field final evaluations. Nevertheless, a number of students who performed poorly on the OSCE did well in the practicum. Conclusions: The OSCE method of evaluation warrants cautious optimism and requires further replication and adaptation for social work educational outcomes assessment.
The Unlikely Patient and the Most Likely Patient
Authors: Goldman Babak M.
Published: April 2012

Palliative care is somewhat of a new field in medicine. A field which requires within it an intricate understanding of disease and its prognostic indicators. A field which considers the patient as a whole with the goal of patient-directed care. And a field which necessitates as much medicine as it does art. However, Palliative Care is often consulted by intensivists and primary teams during the last moments of life. And although we can be helpful during this time, we can be of more assistance when incorporated earlier by providing not only end-of-life care, but enhanced pain and symptomatic management, elucidating goals of care, as well as affording patients and their families with emotional, spiritual, and psychosocial support. Our expertise can be useful in all patients, not just the dying.
Anticipatory Grief Among Close Relatives of Persons With Dementia in Comparison With Close Relatives of Patients With Cancer
Authors: Johansson Åsa K. , Sundh Valter , Wijk Helle , Grimby Agneta
Published: April 2012

Close relatives of persons with dementia self-reported reactions on the Anticipatory Grief Scale (AGS), were observed by nurses (Study I), and compared with relatives of cancer patients in a study using the same methodology (Study II). Study I showed an overall stressful situation including feelings of missing and longing, inability to accept the terminal fact, preoccupation with the ill, tearfulness, sleeping problems, anger, loneliness, and a need to talk. The ability to cope was, however, reported high. Self-assessments and nurses' observations did not always converge, e.g. for the acceptance of the illness. The reactions of the relatives in the dementia and the cancer groups showed more similarities than dissimilarities. However, the higher number of responding spouses in the cancer group may have influenced the outcome.
Comfort Measures Only
Authors: Zanartu Cristian , Matti-Orozco B.
Published: April 2012

Despite how frequently we say “comfort measures only” (CMO) in the hospital setting, review of the medical literature yields poor representation and definition of the term. Through a survey in our hospital center, we aimed at understanding what doctors understand as CMO. A total of 176 physicians responded to the survey. We asked them about the moment in the patient care timeline when to use it and what degree of respiratory support, laboratory draws, antibiotic therapy, level of care, and code status should be a part of it. Disparities in responses were the norm, and common defining characteristics were the exception.
Parental Perceptions of Care of Children at End of Life
Authors: Gilmer Mary Jo , Foster Terrah L. , Bell Cynthia J. , Mulder John , Carter Brian S.
Published: April 2012

Objective:

Little is known regarding the perceptions of parents about end-of-life care for their children. This study describes parental perceptions of the care of hospitalized, terminally ill children in the areas of (1) clinical management, (2) interdisciplinary support, and (3) pain and symptom management.

Methods:

Through a mixed methods design, researchers interviewed a representative sampling of bereaved parents via telephone.

Results:

Data provided evidence of areas which lack satisfaction with elements of end-of-life care of hospitalized children.

Conclusion:

Parental satisfaction with their child’s care during end of life indicates need for improvement in pain management, communication, and parental involvement in decision making. While education cannot guarantee desired changes in attitudes or behaviors, it may provide the essential foundation of knowledge, skills, and ethical understanding needed by professional providers.
Education and Information for Practicing School Nurses
Authors: Anderson Lori S. , Enge Karmin J.
Published: April 2012

School nurses care for children with a variety of health-related conditions and they need information about managing these conditions, which is accessible, current, and useful. The goal of this literature review was to gather and synthesize information on technology-supported resources and to determine which met the educational needs of school nurses. Successful online educational programs were interactive and self-directed. The most common barriers were lack of time to find educational information, lack of knowledge about computers, technology, the Internet and specific programs, and lack of administrative support from school officials to use technology to access information and evidence for practice. Recommendations for successful use of technology to meet practicing school nurse’s educational needs are offered.
Young Men Who Kill
Authors: Farrington David P. , Loeber Rolf , Berg Mark T.
Published: April 2012

Prior research has revealed important insights about some factors which increase the probability that individuals will commit murder; however, existing studies rely on retrospective data from institutional samples and have not examined homicide offending using data collected before the murder was committed. We use prospective longitudinal data from the Pittsburgh Youth Study to examine homicide using factors from multiple informants and developmental periods. Early risk scores showed whether homicide offenders could be predicted at an early age. The study reveals early-life factors that increase risk for perpetrating lethal violence and yields information on the dose-response relationships between predictors and homicide.
Measuring Feelings and Beliefs that May Facilitate (or Deter) Homicide
Authors: Roth Randolph
Published: April 2012

The essay seeks to construct measures of feelings and beliefs that may facilitate or deter homicides among unrelated adults. The measures try to quantify political stability, government legitimacy, and fellow feeling along national, religious, or racial lines in the United States from colonial times through the 19th century.
Endovascular correction of cerebrovenous anomalies in multiple sclerosis: A retrospective review of an uncontrolled case series
Authors: Dake Michael D , Dantzker Nicholas , Bennett William L , Cooke John P
Published: April 2012

Endovascular intervention for obstruction to venous drainage of the head and neck is an established treatment for disorders such as superior vena cava syndrome. Some patients with multiple sclerosis have been observed to have anomalies of the veins draining the head and neck. It is possible that some symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis may be secondary to disturbed venous flow. In an uncontrolled clinical series of 40 patients who had been previously diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, anomalies of the venous drainage of the head and neck were observed, including venous stenoses of the internal jugular veins. In 38 of 40 patients, venous stents were placed with restoration of luminal dimensions and abrogation of the venous pressure gradient. The angiographic and hemodynamic improvement was associated with improvement in symptomatology, most particularly in cognitive and constitutional symptoms that may be related to cerebrovenous flow. Serious complications included death in one subject and stent embolization requiring open heart surgery in another. In conclusion, in this series, endovascular intervention to correct venous stenosis associated with multiple sclerosis was associated with improvement in symptoms possibly related to disturbed venous hemodynamics. However, given the serious adverse events in this small series, a randomized clinical trial is required to confirm these findings, and to determine if the procedure has any effect on the progression of multiple sclerosis, or untoward long-term adverse effects.
Inflammation and positive affect are associated with subjective health in women of the general population
Authors: Andreasson Anna Nixon , Szulkin Robert , Undén Anna-Lena , von Essen Jan , Nilsson Lars-Göran , Lekander Mats
Published: April 2012

Poor subjective health has been associated with higher levels of inflammatory cytokines. We investigated whether such an association would apply to women of the general population. Levels of cytokines, affect and subjective health were assessed in 347 women of the general population aged 45 to 90 years. Higher levels of interleukin-6 were associated with poor subjective health, especially in participants over 65 years of age. Positive affect was a more robust determinant of subjective health than negative affect. The presence of low-grade inflammation and absence of positive affect, rather than presence of negative affect, may be important determinants of subjective health.
Theorising maybe: A feminist/queer theory convergence
Authors: Showden Carisa R.
Published: April 2012

In this article, I examine the seemingly incompatible epistemologies of sex offered by dominance (‘governance’) feminism and queer theory. While these bodies of work, especially when applied to US legal and political activity on prostitution, are commonly viewed as divergent sparring partners, I propose a ‘convergence’ of the two in the form of a revived and enhanced sex-positive feminism. If dominance feminism is the ‘theory of no’ to heterosexuality’s male gender power, and if queer theory is the ‘theory of yes’ to the defiant possibilities of sex, sex-positive feminism is a ‘theory of maybe’: it examines practices of gender and sexuality in multiple contexts to find the ways in which heterosexuality can sometimes reify, and other times resist, the transfer of eroticised dominance and submission to political practices of patriarchy. After tracing the split between feminism and queer theory and arguing for a ‘sex-positive queer feminism’, I use the example of prostitution to consider some theoretical and practical implications of this shift in feminist lenses.
A place in the city: Narratives of ‘emplacement’ in a Delhi resettlement neighbourhood
Authors: Read Cressida Jervis
Published: April 2012

In this article I examine the impassioned yet ambivalent accounts of ‘resettlement’ recalled by the residents of a neighbourhood settled as part of a wider slum clearance drive during the state of Emergency, a period of autocratic rule declared in India between 1975 and 1977. In the context of a sometimes overbearing and at times violent postcolonial state, this article seeks to understand what people do with these accounts. Considering how narrators ‘emplot’ themselves in relation to their neighbourhood within these stories, I suggest these accounts can be understood as narratives of ‘emplacement’. By engaging with both the content of the stories narrated, but also their social and spatial dimensions, narration can be seen as a social act and a spatial practice, as residents seek to emplot, incorporate and exclude others in difficult social relations. By considering the narration of place as a spatial practice, the more subtle and contradictory processes of dwelling in the city are opened up for consideration, how people create spaces to live in and speak from in the maelstrom of city life.
‘Exist, endure, erase the city’ (Sheher mein jiye, is ko sahe, ya ise mitaye?): Child vigilantes and micro-cultures of urban violence in a riot-affected Hyderabad slum
Authors: Sen Atreyee
Published: April 2012

Hyderabad, a city in southern India, has witnessed a saga of religious conflict between Hindus and Muslims, the first large-scale riot being recorded in 1939. As recently as March 2010, paramilitary forces were deployed to rein in extensive clashes over the appropriate placing of religious flags across the city. Along with this convoluted history of religious discord, the rapidly growing slum areas of Hyderabad became receptacles not just of poverty but of radical politics and unrest. This essay interrogates the violent identity politics embraced by riot-affected Muslim male children in a communally volatile slum in Hyderabad, and explores why these boys turned to armed and collective vigilantism to position themselves in a landscape of death, destruction and urban displacement.
The city threshold: Mushroom temples and magic remains in Ahmedabad
Authors: Ghassem-Fachandi Parvis
Published: April 2012

This article describes quotidian practices that make use of urban flows in the city of Ahmedabad: erecting roadside structures such as temples and performing urban expiation rituals at crossroads. Both are exemplary for how intimate division relates to vernacular spatial configuration, the former by inscribing religious markers into areas, the latter by expulsion of individual misfortune. While roadside structures become sites of communal identification, conversion, and violent incorporation, expiatory practices displace an unwanted element onto an anonymous resident who carries it away.
Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulation of hydrogen engines using a turbulent flame speed closure combustion model
Authors: Gerke Udo , Boulouchos Konstantinos
Published: April 2012

The mixture formation and combustion process of a hydrogen direct-injection internal combustion engine is computed using a modified version of a commercial three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics code. The aim of the work is the evaluation of hydrogen laminar flame speed correlations and turbulent flame speed closures with respect to combustion of premixed and stratified mixtures at various levels of air-to-fuel equivalence ratio. Heat-release rates derived from in-cylinder pressure traces are used for the validation of the combustion simulations.

A turbulent combustion model with closures for a turbulent flame speed is investigated. The value of the computed heat-release rates mainly depends on the quality of laminar burning velocities and standard of turbulence quantities provided to the combustion model.

Combustion simulations performed with experimentally derived laminar flame speed data give better results than those using laminar flame speeds obtained from a kinetic scheme. However, experimental data of hydrogen laminar flame speeds found in the literature are limited regarding the range of pressures, temperatures and air-to-fuel equivalence ratios, and do not comply with the demand of high-pressure engine-relevant conditions.
Control-oriented modelling of combustion phasing for a fuel-flexible spark-ignited engine with variable valve timing
Authors: Hall Carrie M , Shaver Gregory M , Chauvin Jonathan , Petit Nicolas
Published: April 2012

In an effort to reduce dependence on petroleum-based fuels and increase engine efficiency, fuel-flexible engines with advanced technologies, including variable valve timing, are being developed. Fuel-flexible spark-ignition engines permit the increased use of ethanol–gasoline blends. Ethanol, an alternative to petroleum-based gasoline, is a renewable fuel, which has the added advantage of improving performance in operating regions that are typically knock limited due to the higher octane rating of ethanol. Furthermore, many modern engines are also being equipped with variable valve timing, a technology that can increase engine efficiency by reducing pumping losses. Through control of valve timings, particularly the amount of positive valve overlap, the quantity of burned gas in the engine cylinder can be altered, eliminating the need for intake throttling at many operating points. However, the presence of elevated levels of in-cylinder burned gas and ethanol fuel can have a significant impact on the combustion timing, such that capturing these effects is essential if the combustion phasing is to be properly controlled.

This paper outlines a physically based model capable of capturing the impact of the ethanol blend ratio, burned gas fraction, spark timing and operating conditions on combustion timing. Since efficiency is typically tied to an optimal CA50 (crank angle when 50% of fuel is burned), this model is designed to provide accurate estimates of CA50 that can be used for real-time control efforts – allowing the CA50 to be adjusted to its optimal value despite changes in ethanol blend and burned gas fraction, as well as the variations in engine thermodynamic conditions that may occur during transients. The proposed control-oriented model was extensively validated at over 500 points across the engine operating range for four blends of gasoline and ethanol. Furthermore, the model was utilized to determine the impact of ethanol blend and burned gas fraction on the CA50, as well as their impact on the optimal spark timing. This study indicated that the burned gas fraction could change the optimal spark timing by over 20° at some operating conditions and that ethanol content could further affect the optimal spark timing by up to 6°. Leveraging the model in this manner provides direct evidence that accounting for the impact of these two inputs is critical for proper spark-ignition timing control.