bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Prognostic Significance of Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Cell of Origin Determined by Digital Gene Expression in Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded Tissue Biopsies
Authors: Scott David W. , Mottok Anja , Ennishi Daisuke , Wright George W. , Farinha Pedro , Ben-Neriah Susana , Kridel Robert , Barry Garrett S. , Hother Christoffer , Abrisqueta Pau , Boyle Merrill , Meissner Barbara , Telenius Adele , Savage Kerry J. , Sehn Laurie H. , Slack Graham W. , Steidl Christian , Staudt Louis M. , Connors Joseph M. , Rimsza Lisa M. , Gascoyne Randy D.
Published: August 2015

Purpose

To evaluate the prognostic impact of cell-of-origin (COO) subgroups, assigned using the recently described gene expression–based Lymph2Cx assay in comparison with International Prognostic Index (IPI) score and MYC/BCL2 coexpression status (dual expressers).

Patients and Methods

Reproducibility of COO assignment using the Lymph2Cx assay was tested employing repeated sampling within tumor biopsies and changes in reagent lots. The assay was then applied to pretreatment formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue (FFPET) biopsies from 344 patients with de novo diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) uniformly treated with rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP) at the British Columbia Cancer Agency. MYC and BCL2 protein expression was assessed using immunohistochemistry on tissue microarrays.

Results

The Lymph2Cx assay provided concordant COO calls in 96% of 49 repeatedly sampled tumor biopsies and in 100% of 83 FFPET biopsies tested across reagent lots. Critically, no frank misclassification (activated B-cell–like DLBCL to germinal center B-cell–like DLBCL or vice versa) was observed. Patients with activated B-cell–like DLBCL had significantly inferior outcomes compared with patients with germinal center B-cell–like DLBCL (log-rank P < .001 for time to progression, progression-free survival, disease-specific survival, and overall survival). In pairwise multivariable analyses, COO was associated with outcomes independent of IPI score and MYC/BCL2 immunohistochemistry. The prognostic significance of COO was particularly evident in patients with intermediate IPI scores and the non–MYC-positive/BCL2-positive subgroup (log-rank P < .001 for time to progression).

Conclusion

Assignment of DLBCL COO by the Lymph2Cx assay using FFPET biopsies identifies patient groups with significantly different outcomes after R-CHOP, independent of IPI score and MYC/BCL2 dual expression.
Use and Effectiveness of Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy for Treatment of Ovarian Cancer
Authors: Wright Alexi A. , Cronin Angel , Milne Dana E. , Bookman Michael A. , Burger Robert A. , Cohn David E. , Cristea Mihaela C. , Griggs Jennifer J. , Keating Nancy L. , Levenback Charles F. , Mantia-Smaldone Gina , Matulonis Ursula A. , Meyer Larissa A. , Niland Joyce C. , Weeks Jane C. , O'Malley David M.
Published: August 2015

Purpose

A 2006 randomized trial demonstrated a 16-month survival benefit with intraperitoneal and intravenous (IP/IV) chemotherapy administered to patients who had ovarian cancer, compared with IV chemotherapy alone, but more treatment-related toxicities. The objective of this study was to examine the use and effectiveness of IP/IV chemotherapy in clinical practice.

Patients and Methods

Prospective cohort study of 823 women with stage III, optimally cytoreduced ovarian cancer diagnosed at six National Comprehensive Cancer Network institutions. We examined IP/IV chemotherapy use in all patients diagnosed between 2003 and 2012 (N = 823), and overall survival and treatment-related toxicities with Cox regression and logistic regression, respectively, in a propensity score–matched sample (n = 402) of patients diagnosed from 2006 to 2012, excluding trial participants, to minimize selection bias.

Results

Use of IP/IV chemotherapy increased from 0% to 33% between 2003 and 2006, increased to 50% from 2007 to 2008, and plateaued thereafter. Between 2006 and 2012, adoption of IP/IV chemotherapy varied by institution from 4% to 67% (P < .001) and 43% of patients received modified IP/IV regimens at treatment initiation. In the propensity score–matched sample, IP/IV chemotherapy was associated with significantly improved overall survival (3-year overall survival, 81% v 71%; hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.47 to 0.99), compared with IV chemotherapy, but also more frequent alterations in chemotherapy delivery route (adjusted rates discontinuation or change, 20.4% v 10.0%; adjusted odds ratio, 2.83; 95% CI, 1.47 to 5.47).

Conclusion

Although the use of IP/IV chemotherapy increased significantly at National Comprehensive Cancer Network centers between 2003 and 2012, fewer than 50% of eligible patients received it. Increasing IP/IV chemotherapy use in clinical practice may be an important and underused strategy to improve ovarian cancer outcomes.
Progesterone and Overlooked Endocrine Pathways in Breast Cancer Pathogenesis
Authors: Brisken Cathrin , Hess Kathryn , Jeitziner Rachel
Published: August 2015

Worldwide, breast cancer incidence has been increasing for decades. Exposure to reproductive hormones, as occurs with recurrent menstrual cycles, affects breast cancer risk, and can promote disease progression. Exogenous hormones and endocrine disruptors have also been implicated in increasing breast cancer incidence. Numerous in vitro studies with hormone-receptor-positive cell lines have provided insights into the complexities of hormone receptor signaling at the molecular level; in vivo additional layers of complexity add on to this. The combined use of mouse genetics and tissue recombination techniques has made it possible to disentangle hormone action in vivo and revealed that estrogens, progesterone, and prolactin orchestrate distinct developmental stages of mammary gland development. The 2 ovarian steroids that fluctuate during menstrual cycles act on a subset of mammary epithelial cells, the hormone-receptor-positive sensor cells, which translate and amplify the incoming systemic signals into local, paracrine stimuli. Progesterone has emerged as a major regulator of cell proliferation and stem cell activation in the adult mammary gland. Two progesterone receptor targets, receptor activator of NfκB ligand and Wnt4, serve as downstream paracrine mediators of progesterone receptor-induced cell proliferation and stem cell activation, respectively. Some of the findings in the mouse have been validated in human ex vivo models and by next-generation whole-transcriptome sequencing on healthy donors staged for their menstrual cycles. The implications of these insights into the basic control mechanisms of mammary gland development for breast carcinogenesis and the possible role of endocrine disruptors, in particular bisphenol A in this context, will be discussed below.
Single-cell resolution of morphological changes in hemogenic endothelium
Authors: Bos Frank L. , Hawkins John S. , Zovein Ann C.
Published: August 2015

Endothelial-to-hematopoietic transition (EHT) occurs within a population of hemogenic endothelial cells during embryogenesis, and leads to the formation of the adult hematopoietic system. Currently, the prospective identification of specific endothelial cells that will undergo EHT, and the cellular events enabling this transition, are not known. We set out to define precisely the morphological events of EHT, and to correlate cellular morphology with the expression of the transcription factors RUNX1 and SOX17. A novel strategy was developed to allow for correlation of immunofluorescence data with the ultrastructural resolution of scanning electron microscopy. The approach can identify single endothelial cells undergoing EHT, as identified by the ratio of RUNX1 to SOX17 immunofluorescence levels, and the morphological changes associated with the transition. Furthermore, this work details a new technical resource that is widely applicable for correlative analyses of single cells in their native tissue environments.
Tropomyosin – master regulator of actin filament function in the cytoskeleton
Authors: Gunning Peter W. , Hardeman Edna C. , Lappalainen Pekka , Mulvihill Daniel P.
Published: August 2015

Tropomyosin (Tpm) isoforms are the master regulators of the functions of individual actin filaments in fungi and metazoans. Tpms are coiled-coil parallel dimers that form a head-to-tail polymer along the length of actin filaments. Yeast only has two Tpm isoforms, whereas mammals have over 40. Each cytoskeletal actin filament contains a homopolymer of Tpm homodimers, resulting in a filament of uniform Tpm composition along its length. Evidence for this ‘master regulator’ role is based on four core sets of observation. First, spatially and functionally distinct actin filaments contain different Tpm isoforms, and recent data suggest that members of the formin family of actin filament nucleators can specify which Tpm isoform is added to the growing actin filament. Second, Tpms regulate whole-organism physiology in terms of morphogenesis, cell proliferation, vesicle trafficking, biomechanics, glucose metabolism and organ size in an isoform-specific manner. Third, Tpms achieve these functional outputs by regulating the interaction of actin filaments with myosin motors and actin-binding proteins in an isoform-specific manner. Last, the assembly of complex structures, such as stress fibers and podosomes involves the collaboration of multiple types of actin filament specified by their Tpm composition. This allows the cell to specify actin filament function in time and space by simply specifying their Tpm isoform composition.
Endomembrane PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 activates the PI3K/Akt pathway
Authors: Jethwa Nirmal , Chung Gary H.C. , Lete Marta G. , Alonso Alicia , Byrne Richard D. , Calleja Véronique , Larijani Banafshé
Published: August 2015

PKB/Akt activation is a common step in tumourigenesis, proliferation, and survival. Akt activation is understood to occur at the plasma membrane of cells in response to growth factor stimulation and local production of the phosphoinositide lipid PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 following phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) activation. The metabolism and turnover of phosphoinositides is complex – they act as signalling molecules as well as structural components of biological membranes. The localisation and significance of internal pools of PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 has long been speculated upon. We show, using transfected and recombinant protein probes for PtdIns(3,4,5)P3, that this phosphoinositide is enriched in the nuclear envelope and early endosomes. By exploiting an inducible dimerisation device to recruit Akt to these compartments, we demonstrate that Akt can be locally activated in a PtdIns(3,4,5)P3-dependent manner and has the potential to phosphorylate compartmentally localised downstream substrates. This could be an important mechanism to regulate Akt isoform substrate specificity or influence the timing and duration of PI3K pathway signalling. Defects in phosphoinositide metabolism and localisation are known to contribute to cancer, suggesting that interactions at subcellular compartments may be worthwhile targets for therapeutic intervention.
Size Effect of Carbon-Supported Pd Nanoparticles in the Hydrogen Production from Formic Acid
Authors: Navlani-García Miriam , Mori Kohsuke , Wen Meicheng , Kuwahara Yasutaka , Yamashita Hiromi
Published: August 2015

Particle size dependence in the H2 production from formic acid was investigated over Pd/C catalysts with nanoparticle sizes ranging from 2.7 to 5.5 nm. A volcano type relationship between catalytic activity and nanoparticle size was obtained and the average size of 3.9 nm exhibited the highest activity under mild reaction conditions.
Influence of Preload and Nonlinearity of Railpads on Vibration of Railway Tracks under Stationary and Moving Harmonic Loads
Authors: Koroma Samuel G , Hussein Mohammed FM , Owen John S
Published: August 2015

In railway track dynamics, the stiffness and damping properties of railpads have a significant effect on track vibration, decay rates as well forces transmitted to the track supporting structure. Many studies have shown that railpads exhibit pronounced nonlinear behaviour, with preload and frequency dependent properties. This paper presents a three parameter railpad model, together with its differential equation of motion and the required model parameters obtained from experimental data. A time domain model of a rail discretely supported on these railpads is then formulated using the finite element method. The model is subjected to static and dynamic loading in order to study the effects of preload and frequency on its dynamic behaviour. Results are shown as time histories and frequency spectra for the track displacements and reaction forces for various preload levels. They emphasise the necessity of accounting for nonlinear behaviour based on the large disparities (up to 20 dB) observed between the linear and nonlinear cases for the parameters used in this study.
Interactive Design Exploration with Alt.Text
Authors: Elkhaldi Maher , Woodbury Robert
Published: August 2015

It is well accepted that search is an effective model for design. Newell and Simons' Human Information Processing model is foundational to this view. Designers use symbols and structures to express, store, off-load, recall, and manage their work. They mix general and detailed elements, organize their problem-space differently, seek ways to identify repetitive tasks, and utilize external media. An integral aspect of design-search is the comparison of alternatives, because the goal is usually to come close, if not fully satisfy, a set of requirements. Searching problem-spaces with currently available tools is challenging due to a number of issues related to creating and comparing alternative representations of one's thought process and outcome. In this paper, we present Alt.Text, a prototype that we developed to explore strategies for supporting design search. While Alt.Text only handles text-based documents, we believe that many of its features can be generalized to the domain of architectural design.
Intraorganizational Network Dynamics in Times of Ambiguity
Authors: Srivastava Sameer B.
Published: August 2015

Contrary to the assumption of relational inertia that is prevalent in much of the research on organizational change, I propose that intraorganizational networks are instead subject to transitory shifts when organizational change produces high levels of ambiguity for employees. I develop a theoretical account of how networks defined by formal, semiformal, and informal organizational structure change in response to heightened ambiguity. I argue that, when ambiguity increases, people will tend to (1) decrease communication with formal network ties that do not have a significant semiformal component, (2) increase communication with semiformal network ties that do not have a significant formal component, and (3) increase communication with informal network ties. Empirical support for these propositions comes from unique data—including 40 weeks of archived email metadata, the full roster of email distribution lists, personnel records, and qualitative interviews—that span the period before, during, and after an ambiguity-producing restructuring at a large information services firm. These findings contribute to research on organizational structure, organizational change, and social capital activation and also have implications for management practice.
Diagnosis of cystic fibrosis following the NHS newborn blood spot screening programme
Authors: Watts Sally , Rizzo Roberta
Published: August 2015

This case describes an unexpected genotypic diagnosis of cystic fibrosis (CF) following an initial finding on the Newborn Screening Programme that the baby was a carrier for the condition.

A couple was referred for genetic counselling after routine newborn screening identified that their daughter carried the most common cystic fibrosis mutation in the Caucasian European population; p.Phe508del. The baby was therefore diagnosed as a CF carrier. A paediatric assessment and sweat test were normal. Following genetic testing, her father was found to carry the same mutation, but unexpectedly her mother was found to carry a rarer CF variant (p.Pro750Leu), which is not included in the newborn screening testing panel. This raised the possibility that the baby was at risk of having inherited both mutations. Subsequent testing found that the baby had a genotypic diagnosis of CF as she had two genetic changes that cause the condition; however, the baby did not have a phenotypic diagnosis as she was not manifesting any symptoms of the disease. This case report discusses the implications of the unexpected result for the family and raises the awareness of the possibility of unexpected outcomes from genetic testing for health professionals involved in antenatal and postnatal care.
Attitudes to immunisation in pregnancy among women in the UK targeted by such programmes
Authors: Campbell Helen , Van Hoek Albert Jan , Bedford Helen , Craig Laura , Yeowell Anna-Lisa , Green David , Yarwood Joanne , Ramsay Mary , Amirthalingam Gayatri
Published: August 2015

Introduction:

Vaccines in pregnancy can minimise diseases with associated high morbidity and mortality in pregnant women, their unborn and newly born infants. Immunisations against influenza and pertussis are routinely offered in pregnancy in a number of countries including the UK, US, Australia and Belgium, but vaccine uptake could be improved.

Methods:

In January 2013, an online survey of pregnant women and women with children under 2 years of age was undertaken. The survey focused on vaccination in pregnancy.

Results and conclusions:

Of 1892 respondents, the majority indicated they definitely, or probably, would accept a nationally-approved vaccine offered by their midwife or GP during pregnancy for their own protection (94%) and/or to protect their baby when it was born (96%). Vaccine safety for the baby and for the woman, vaccine effectiveness and perceived seriousness of the disease remain key considerations for women. Health professionals, midwives in particular, are pivotal in informing women, promoting the vaccine and discussing concerns.
Are midwives ready for revalidation?
Authors: Bacon Lisa
Published: August 2015

Launching in October 2015 and effective from April 2016, the only way a nurse or midwife will be able to renew their registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council will be through a process called revalidation. Revalidation builds on the current PREP requirements and is underpinned by the four themes of the new Code. It is a mechanism by which each nurse and midwife will provide the evidence that they are ‘living the Code’ in their professional practice and personal development. There are certain requirements that must be met and then confirmed by a third party. It is suggested that the supervision framework can contribute to revalidation and support and enable midwives to demonstrate they have met the requirements. Midwives need to familiarise themselves with the requirements and start planning as to how they can demonstrate they have met them. A good place to start is by having ‘revalidation conversations’ with their colleagues and their Supervisor of Midwives.
Tongue cleaning: all in the best possible taste
Authors: Prebble Melonie
Published: August 2015

Tongue cleaning is an important part of an oral health regime. Melonie Prebble explains why we should all be equipping patients with the means to unclogging their tastebuds and improving their health
Forensic dentisty: an interview with James Hardy
Authors: Hughes Phil , Hardy James
Published: August 2015

Phil Hughes, Chief Executive of the National Examining Board for Dental Nurses, interviews Colonel James Hardy and discusses with him his additional career as a forensic odontologist
Flexible working: what are your rights?
Authors: Russell Kate
Published: August 2015

The right to request flexible working was introduced into UK law in April 2003 in order to assist the parents of young children by giving them the right to request to work flexibly. The right was extended to all eligible staff in June 2014. This article explains what the new rights entail
Reflection. Part 6: reflection in life
Authors: Fowler John
Published: August 2015

This series has explored reflective practice as it relates to dental nursing. This final article examines how you can transfer your reflection skills from dental nursing to your everyday life. It also provides a summary of the previous five articles on reflection in this series
Effects of sports climbing on muscle performance and balance for patients with multiple sclerosis: A case series
Authors: Jolk Christoph , Dalgas Ulrik , Osada Nani , Platen Petra , Marziniak Martin
Published: August 2015

Background/Aims:

The potential benefits of sports climbing for many diseases have not been investigated. The aim of this case series was to examine whether sports climbing is feasible and whether it can influence isometric muscle performance and balance in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods: Over a 5-week period, six patients (mean Expanded Disability Status Scale score: 2.1 ± 0.8) with MS performed a total of five climbing sessions. Isometric muscle performance was evaluated for the knee extensors, while balance was evaluated based on balance board performance. The climbing exercises were individually tailored and patients were instructed by the trainer to try more difficult routes during each session to ensure progression.

Results:

All patients included in this study completed the 5-week programme, and exercise adherence was 100%. The isometric muscle strength of their knee extensors was found to have improved by 23.4% (p<0.05). The difference in muscle strength between the stronger and weaker leg was not affected after 5 weeks of climbing. Climbing did not have any significant impact on balance.

Conclusions:

Sports climbing appears feasible for people with mild relapsing remitting MS and results suggest improvements in knee extensor muscle performance.
Hoisting a patient: Principles for safer practice
Authors: Wanless Stephen , Wanless Steve G
Published: August 2015

Patient hoists and slings are used in many health care establishments to assist in the moving and handling of patients and to reduce the degree of moving and handling required by the carer. This article provides guidance for employers and employees in health care establishments on safety with mobile hoists and the use of patient handling slings.
Globalization and Contingent Colonialism: Towards a transnational history of “British” India
Authors: Arnold David
Published: August 2015

Global History creates an opportunity to rethink nineteenth- and twentieth-century empire and the extent to which imperial systems were confined to the operations of a single power. This article argues from the example of British India that non-Britons played a major role in staffing and running certain scientific, medical and technical departments and could have a decisive influence on policy. Outsider involvement took a variety of forms and could produce adverse reactions, but the German and American presence in India was particularly marked and extended to commerce and consumer goods as well as to scientific and technical employment.
The Age of Revolutions at the Cape of Good Hope, 1780–1830: Contradictions and connections
Authors: van der Burg Martijn
Published: August 2015

This paper considers the Age of Revolutions at the Cape of Good Hope, which in this period was transformed from an early modern Dutch settlement into a British Crown Colony. It examines the successive regime changes and the associated reforms, and places them in their ideological context. It will be argued, firstly, that British and Dutch actions were not always consistent with their own principles. Secondly, it argues that international revolutionary calls for reform, as well as reactionary responses, reverberated at the Cape. In these ways this paper contributes to the lively debate on the interconnected nature of colonial Empires.
A Radical’s Career: Responsible government, settler colonialism and Indigenous dispossession
Authors: Woollacott Angela
Published: August 2015

Henry Samuel Chapman (1803-1881) was one of the leading advocates of Responsible Government in the white-settler colonies. In tracing the biography and political opinions of one of its main proponents, we can trace roots of Responsible Government in 1830s-40s British radicalism, and see how its principles evolved in specific settler-colonial contexts, as well as being carried and adapted from Canada, to New Zealand and the Australian colonies. Chapman’s extensive writings, including his influential legal judgments, show how a high-level colonial official expressed his contradictory views on Indigenous people, both before and after his own extensive encounters with Maori in particular.
British War-Effort Programme and the Making of the Land Degradation Narrative in Colonial Western Kenya
Authors: Shanguhyia Martin S.
Published: August 2015

Most of the scholarship on colonial environmental policies in Africa focuses on how African communities were cast as culprits for environmental problems that plagued rural Africa. This interpretation overlooks ways in which colonial policies led to problems such as land degradation. This article demonstrates how exigencies of the Second World War elicited British colonial agricultural and labor policies amongst the Abaluyia community in western Kenya that exacerbated soil erosion. The analysis contributes to our understanding of how colonial economic policies and international crises contributed to the evolution of the colonial degradation narrative within the British Empire, and Africa in particular.
Spanish Philology and the Arab Past: A Case Study
Authors: Hamilton Michelle M.
Published: August 2015

This article studies how modern philologists have reconstructed a now lost ninth-century Arabic chronicle, the so-called Chronicle of al-Razi , through the account found in fifteenth-century Castilian chronicles of the defeat of the last Visigothic king of Iberia, Rodrigo. In addition to exploring the construction of a textual history that is populated by a series of phantasmal Iberian translators, manuscripts, and copyists, the creation of a modern Castilian edition of this lost Arabic chronicle speaks to the ideological basis and desires of modern, national philology.
Materialities of the Manuscript: Codex and Court Culture in Fourteenth–Century Paris
Authors: Nichols Stephen G.
Published: August 2015

Resistance to digital technology in manuscript study stems in large part from what detractors perceive as a loss of contact with the material artifact. For them, the digital image represents an illegitimate substitution for “the real thing.” In two movements, this article first suggests why such a term radically misunderstands both the relationship of digital image to manuscript, and also the nature of the manuscript’s performance of the work it represents. A second movement illustrates the performative propensity of manuscript technology—under the impetus of the sudden accumulation of vernacular adaptations of classical works fostered by Charles V in the 1370s—to influence court culture.
What is a Narrator?: Narrator Theory and Medieval Narratives
Authors: Spearing A. C.
Published: August 2015

This article questions the “narrator theory of narration” with particular reference to medieval narratives, often retellings of existing stories, and generally neglected by current theory. Part I analyzes the concept of the internal, potentially unreliable narrator, widely regarded as a narratological necessity. Part II examines the history of the term narrator . Part III studies the theories of narration implied by scribal annotations in some medieval manuscripts. Parts IV, V, and VI discuss three medieval cases—Malory’s Morte Darthur , Chaucer’s Physician’s Tale and the anonymous Pearl —in which application of the narrator theory proves to be misleading.
Constructing and Representing Reality: Hegel and the Making of Erich Auerbach’s Mimesis
Authors: Zakai Avihu
Published: August 2015

Erich Auerbach’s Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature (1946) was profoundly influenced by George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s idealist philosophy. Hegel held that concepts determine the structure of reality: the concept of freedom in his philosophy of history and, for Auerbach, the concept of history in the representation of reality. For both, reality is inextricable from reason, rationality, consciousness, and vice versa; hence, history signifies the rise and progress of human consciousness. Auerbach also shared Hegel’s view that the art of mimesis produces an image of a reality, in contrast to Plato, who thought a work of art is a resemblance opposed to reality. This paper analyzes the influence of Hegel’s philosophy of history on Auerbach’s conceptions of literary history, reality, and truth, as evidenced in Mimesis ’s famous first chapter, “Odysseus’ Scar.” Auerbach chose the Hegelian concept of reality ( Wirklichkeit ) as the subtitle of his book to advance its main thesis, opposing realism to myths and legends, rationality to the flight from reason. He refutes the claim that classical Greek myths, legends, and heroes inaugurated Western culture’s representation of reality and, hence, conception of history. Instead, he finds their origins in the Old Testament, with its formulation of world, universal history, and “concept of the historically becoming,” an important Hegelian concept according to which the temporal becoming and unfolding of the life of human beings is meaningful, intelligible, and should be thought of as evolutionary progress toward a certain goal or end.
Japonica, Indica: Rice and Foreign Trade in Meiji Japan
Authors: Ericson Steven J.
Published: August 2015

This article examines the largely unexplored topic of Japan’s foreign trade in rice during the Meiji period. In the middle decades of that era, japonica -type rice became a major Japanese export, highly esteemed in Western countries. In the 1890s, however, Western markets for Japanese rice shrank as the price of the grain rose; meanwhile, crop failures in Japan, combined with the ready availability of cheaper, long-grain indica varieties from Southeast Asia, prompted huge imports of rice; and the steady increase in per capita consumption drove Japan to become a chronic net importer of the commodity after the turn of the century.
Separating the Word and the Way: Suyama Nantō’s Chūgi Suikodenkai and Edo-Period Vernacular Philology
Authors: Hedberg William C.
Published: August 2015

This study examines Edo-period interest in the Chinese vernacular novel Suikoden (Ch. Shuihu zhuan ). In 1757, Suyama Nantō, a classical scholar from Tosa, published Chūgi Suikodenkai , an annotated guide to the vocabulary of the novel. Although Nantō’s guide can be connected to a larger discourse on linguistic change established by the classical scholar Ogyū Sorai and his Chinese instructor, Okajima Kanzan, the text ultimately rejects their understanding of Sino-Japanese cultural relations in favor of a paradigm rooted in the collection of discrete information about contemporary Chinese material culture that downplayed the ethical and political applications of such information.
What’s Unique about the Japanese Constitution?: A Comparative and Historical Analysis
Authors: McElwain Kenneth Mori , Winkler Christian G.
Published: August 2015

Japan has the oldest unamended constitution in the world. We examine the determinants of its longevity and recent proposals seeking its amendment. While traditional revision attempts have focused on ideological provisions such as Article 9 and the imperial system, changes to political institutions, particularly bicameralism and local governance, have become a focal point since 2005. Our comparative analysis demonstrates that the constitution’s enumeration of institutions is uncommonly vague, leaving room for significant reforms. However, we also show that the most recent (2012) amendment proposal by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) would not “fix” this lacuna, leaving the constitution an international outlier.
Fog and Steel: Mapping Communities of Literary Translation in an Information Age
Authors: Long Hoyt
Published: August 2015

This essay explores the application of social-scientific and computational methods to the study of translation and textual circulation in interwar Japan. Leveraging extensive bibliographic data on modernist poetry journals, as well as techniques such as network analysis and visualization, the essay presents a new model of translation as an affiliative mechanism mediating between diverse communities of writers and the larger literary field in which they positioned themselves. This model aids in mapping transnational textual flows at the macroscale but is itself meant to provoke reflection on “scale” as a concept that can disrupt the restrictive paradigm of close versus distant reading.
Active Postmemory: Testimony Fiction, Multiple Perspectives, and Translation in Everything Is Illuminated
Authors: Doise Eric
Published: August 2015

Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel Everything Is Illuminated tells of a fictional character named Jonathan Safran Foer’s trip to Ukraine, a voyage loosely based on one the author took. The fictional character’s attempt to locate the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis to give her money fails due to inaccurate memories, absences, and language barriers. While some have criticized Foer’s use of fiction for testimonial purposes as undercutting the immediacy of witness literature, I argue that we should see this distancing as one of the novel’s strengths, for it allows Foer to speak to the gaps and ever-shifting nature of experiences postmemory testifiers must confront when bearing witness. Moreover, fiction makes it possible for Foer to present these challenges from the perspectives of the descendants of concentration camp prisoners and the camp’s perpetrators, both of whom exhibit similar signs of trauma. In so doing, it illustrates how the trauma of an event can reach across cultures as well as re-write one’s understanding of the past.
Daniel Anselme: On Leave with the Unknown Famous
Authors: Reid Donald
Published: August 2015

Daniel Anselme lived in Dieulefit during the Occupation, a community renowned for sheltering Jews, political refugees and artists. He participated in the Resistance, the Communist Party, opposition to the Algerian War, Third Worldist politics and the political culture of May 1968. These are often examined separately, but analysis of Anselme as author and activist reveals the importance of a “famous unknown” in the interpretation of these events and of the relations contemporaries drew among them.
Highways of Desolation: The Road and Trash in Boys Don’t Cry and Monster
Authors: Smith Victoria L.
Published: August 2015

“Highways of Desolation” argues that Kimberley Peirce’s Boys Don’t Cry (1999) and Patty Jenkins’s Monster (2003) make their protagonists culturally legible to a general audience by presenting their stories within recognizable genres—the road movie and the melodrama. These genres, which often tell conventional stories with predicable plots, offer a way into the story, partly through familiarity and anticipation. Their intelligibility also depends on stereotyped and naturalized conceptions of gender, sexuality, and class in America.

However, these films are also more complex; they use these genres to point to an excess or unspeakability about complex issues of sex, class, gender, and violence that is displaced onto the films’ mise-en-scene. Further, the genre of the road movie shows the protagonists in a threshold space, one that holds out the possibility for a positive construction of the self. This space is eventually foreclosed because of interlocking and oppressive conceptions of class, pollution, masculinity/femininity, and sexuality, which force the protagonists to remain on the literal and figural margins of society. These two genres work hand in hand, with melodrama providing a structure of feeling for the audience—empathy, terror, shock—while the liminal highway of the road movie offers a specific space and set of objects to figure the protagonists as and in trash.
Representing Tihó-Mérida in Colonial Yucatán: Maya and Spanish Considerations of a Colonial Capital
Authors: Barteet Cody
Published: August 2015

This paper considers how the Spanish colonial capital of Mérida, Yucatán, which was built upon the abandoned Maya ceremonial center of Tihó, was depicted and referenced in colonial era drawings and texts. In these materials I examine how the city was represented as the new cultural and economic center of Yucatán and as a location that processed a vital Maya past. In approaching these themes, my essay engages with current academic and theoretical scholarship that has explored Tihó-Mérida’s multicultural identity. I contribute to this scholarship by bringing together disparate materials not often discussed in accord with one another, specifically Spanish chronicles, the 1581 drawing of the Guardianship of Motul, the drawings from the book of the Chilam Balam of Chumayel, and passages from other books of the Chilam Balams. Spanish and Maya informants created these textual and visual objects that express related but differing ideas about Tihó-Mérida’s importance in Yucatán. Spanish writers often are concerned with affirming the city’s status, while Maya sources either confirm the capital’s authority over Yucatán or attempt to align with or reinstate the capital’s power. In this paper I examine how indigenous agency was enacted in textual and pictorial references to Tihó to reveal some of the ways in which the Maya responded to the social unrest brought about by Spanish colonization.
Louis Untermeyer’s Poetic Engagement of the Popularization of Einstein’s Relativity Theory
Authors: Cornell Elizabeth
Published: August 2015

Following the confirmation of Einstein’s theory of relativity in 1919, the mainstream and avant-garde press erupted with news about theory, offering commentary that ranged from clear-sighted explanations to cartoons and jokes. Though critics have recognized the impact of the theory on modernist literature, few have attended to the mediating factor of these mainstream public narratives and their engagement by modernist writers. Among the most creative responses to relativity theory during this period is Louis Untermeyer’s understudied collection of parodic poetry, Rhyme and Relativity: An Anthology of Poetry Apostrophising the Theories of Einstein . Published in 1921, the same year as Einstein’s widely covered trip to the United States, it appeared in Vanity Fair and the little magazine, Broom . Written in the style of well-known poets, such as Ezra Pound and Amy Lowell, each of the work’s eighteen poems takes some aspect of relativity theory as its subject. This paper offers a close reading of “Einstein Among the Coffee-Cups,” a parody of T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” This paper reveals how Untermeyer’s sophisticated and versatile use of relativity theory, popular culture, and modern poetic form shaped both the content and structure of Rhyme and Relativity , resulting in a humorous, but serious, response to modernist poets and popular culture.
Reviews
Authors: Menchen-Trevino Ericka , Timan Tjerk , Al-Rawi Ahmed
Published: August 2015

The Hidden Agenda of the Political Mind: How Self-Interest Shap es Our Op inions and Why We Won’t Admit it, Jason Weeden and Robert Kurzban (2014) 1st ed., Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 376 pp., ISBN: 9780691161112, h/bk, $29.95; ISBN: 9781400851966, e-book

The Data Revolution: Big Data , Op en Data , Data Infrast ructures and Their Consequences, Rob Kitchin (2014) 1st ed., London: Sage, 240 pp., ISBN: 9781446287484, p/bk, £22.99; ISBN: 9781446287477, h/bk, £65.00; ISBN: 9781473908260, e-book (http://www.uk.sagepub.com/books/Book242780?subject=F00&fs=1)

Media Fram ing of the Muslim World: Conflicts , Crises and Contexts , Halim Rane, Jacqui Ew art and John Martinkus (2014) 1st ed., London: Palgrave Macmillan, 216 pp., ISBN: 9781137334824, p/bk, 18.99 pounds; ISBN: 9781137334817, h/bk, 60 pounds (http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/media-framing-of-the-muslim- world-halim-rane/?K=9781137334817)
Elite interviewing in media and communications policy research
Authors: Herzog Christian , Ali Christopher
Published: August 2015

This article critically examines the use of elite interviews in media and communications policy research. It addresses the fit between various analytical frameworks and elite interviews as a primary source of data, interviewee selection, access, the conduct of interviews and data analysis. It is argued that there is a lack of methodological explanation and reflection in our field of study. Partly, this is determined by the preferences of publishers and space constrains but also a widespread reluctance to engage with methodological issues. This contributes to the diminishing relevance of large amounts of scholarship for policy-makers who tend to privilege studies based on narrowly defined and soundly elaborated empirical methods. Clear and concise methodological rigour, systematization and ethnographic reflexivity, thus, play an incredibly important role.
Digital divides? UK Film Council strategy and the digital screen network
Authors: Boyle Raymond
Published: August 2015

In retrospect it is easy to identify digital technology and the disruptive nature of the Internet as two key factors shaping the broader screen landscape over the last decade or so, but how did organizations deal with that process at the time? This article examines the role that digitization and its wider ramification across the UK film industry’s patterns of distribution and exhibition played in both the strategic thinking and the operational practice of the UK Film Council (UKFC) during its lifetime (2000–2011). It draws on interviews with key policy shapers and asks whether the UKFC was too slow to identify the transformative impact that digital would have on all areas of the film industry. By focusing on the origins and implementation of the Digital Screen Network, this article examines the impact of this programme on the UK film industry. It also offers insight into the organizational challenges of shaping digital film policy in an international industry.
French cultural policy and the cinematic landscape of postwar Saarland: Comparative research on small-town and big-city cinemas, 1945–1955
Authors: Maldener Aline
Published: August 2015

This article offers a case study of cultural policy in the post-World War II period in a transitional, often disputed, European region, the Saarland. It tries to illustrate how the French government struggled to infiltrate Saarland’s cinematic landscape from 1945 to 1955. Preferably by means of cultural and documentary films either respecting the specifities of a Saarland mentality and socio-structure or glorifying the region as a flagship European border country, Saarland’s inhabitants should be proselytized from their one-way orientation towards Germany and instead become more open to French culture and customs. However, in the final analysis we found that the impact of French cultural policy on Saarland’s filmic and cinematic landscape remained what it was from the outset: a top-down policy-programme control and ideal conception that was either totally rejected as French high culture or only slightly diffused into the everyday reality of their targeted recipients.
Optimum density determination for bouguer correction using statistical methods: a case study from north of Iran
Authors: Eshaghzadeh Ata , Kalantari Roghayeh sadat , Moeini Hekmat Zohreh
Published: August 2015

The main aim of initial gravity data processing is to determine the density of under-research geological structures and stratification mat rials in this case. The density is important for the calculation of the Bouguer plate and terrain corrections. To achieve the corrected gravity data with high quality and accuracy, exact estimation of the density is very significant, but representative optimum density value for an area of interest is notoriously difficult to obtain. In this paper, several statistical methods based on the correlation are proposed, such as variation and fractal for surface optimum density determination. The efficiency of the methods has been employed for a case study in north of Iran.
Monotone Valuations on the Space of Convex
Functions
Authors: Cavallina L. , Colesanti A.
Published: August 2015

We consider the space Cn of convex functions u defined in Rn with values in R ∪ {∞}, which are
lower semi-continuous and such that lim|x| } ∞ u(x) = ∞. We study the valuations defined on Cn which are
invariant under the composition with rigid motions, monotone and verify a certain type of continuity. We
prove integral representations formulas for such valuations which are, in addition, simple or homogeneous.
On asymptotic stability of global solutions in the weak L
2 space for the two-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations
Authors: Maekawa Yasunori
Published: August 2015

In this paper we prove the asymptotic stability of small global solutions in the weak L
2 space for the two-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations under a natural functional setting for the class of perturbations. Our result is a global one, that is, we do not impose any smallness on the perturbations.
Prenatal diagnosis of a giant fetal hepatic hemangioma: a case report
Authors: Daher Alain , Dommergues Marc , Kesrouani Assaad , Vibert-Guigue Claude , Nizard Jacky
Published: August 2015

We report a case of uncomplicated giant fetal hepatic hemangioma with a good outcome. A 57×38 mm heterogeneous hepatic mass, mostly hypoechogenic was observed post prenatal ultrasound, at 33 weeks’ gestation (WG) and 5 days. Color Doppler confirmed the vascular pattern of the mass. The image size stayed stable, with no associated complications, and a cesarean birth at 37 WG was performed for fetal protection. Subsequent postnatal follow-up showed spontaneous regression of the tumor. Antenatal diagnosis and management of fetal liver masses are discussed in this paper. This case supports the hypothesis that complications of giant fetal hepatic hemangioma are not related only to its size. Prognostic factors and guidelines for follow-up need to be determined.
Dependence Measuring from Conditional
Variances
Authors: Kamnitui Noppadon , Santiwipanont Tippawan , Sumetkijakan Songkiat
Published: August 2015

A conditional variance is an indicator of the level of independence between two random variables.
We exploit this intuitive relationship and define a measure v which is almost a measure of mutual complete
dependence. Unsurprisingly, the measure attains its minimum value for many pairs of non-independent ran-
dom variables. Adjusting the measure so as to make it invariant under all Borel measurable injective trans-
formations, we obtain a copula-based measure of dependence v* satisfying A. Rényi’s postulates. Finally, we
observe that every nontrivial convex combination of v and v* is a measure of mutual complete dependence.
Modeling the Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) Drying of Banana Slices
Authors: Pirnazari Kianoosh , Esehaghbeygi Ali , Sadeghi Morteza
Published: August 2015

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) drying of banana slices was modeled both numerically and empirically. The drying process was conducted using the EHD technique at 6, 8, and 10 kV cm−1 with banana slices 3 mm thick. Based on the maximum coefficient of determination (R
2) and minimum value of root mean square of error (RMSE) observed in the experimental and predicted values of moisture ratio, the diffusion model was identified as the best prediction model. The values for effective moisture diffusivity were calculated to be in the range of 3.12 × 10−10 to 4.23 × 10−10 m2 s−1. In addition, a theoretical model was developed using the numerical (implicit) solution of the second Fick’s equation based on low variation in the external resistance by applying EHD. Moisture ratio versus time showed a falling rate period indicating that the internal moisture transfer is dominant at EHD. Results of numerical solution showed adequate consistency with experimental data, having the maximum difference of less than 0.16 g g−1 in moisture content.