bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Symbols of Empowerment: Possession, Ritual and Healers in Himachal Himalaya (North India)
Authors: Sharma Mahesh
Published: March 2010

This article is an attempt to understand ‘locality’, where the issues of subversion, subordination and marginalization as well as the problematic notions of liminality and empowerment are more vibrant and real. We shall demonstrate that while the low castes and untouchables were engaged in economic conflict, at various levels, with the high-caste landowners, which resulted in occasional uprisings too, the popular belief system was used by the marginalized as an instrument of assertion of their power against social coercion. It is argued that the social and ritual protest aimed at diluting or subverting the local caste hierarchy in a stratified society is an efficacious threat to the power of the high castes; that the hope of social revision becomes an alternative to economic subordination. More important, the symbols of empowerment are not the ones controlled by the high castes, but those which are located in the specialized rituals of the marginalized dalits. This article is about these symbols, which are liminal in nature, and how they empower, if only for a brief while, the economically exploited and socially marginalized dalit practitioners.
Shanghaied into Cooperation: Framing China’s Socialization of Central Asia
Authors: Kavalski Emilian
Published: March 2010

This article offers a much-needed conceptual analysis of China’s emerging international agency in Central Asia. In particular it engages with the apparent susceptibility of Central Asian states to China’s normative power. The contention is that the emphasis on the dynamics of international socialization offers a relevant framework for evaluating Beijing’s capacity to engage regional states. By relying on its normative power, China has gradually attracted Central Asia into its sphere of influence through the promotion of various initiatives for regional cooperation consolidated in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Such conceptualization of Beijing’s conditioning propensity reflects upon China’s international role(s) in the region.
Transcending Objectifications and Dualisms: Farm Workers and Civil Society in Contemporary Zimbabwe
Authors: Sadomba Wilbert , Helliker Kirk
Published: March 2010

In the academic literature, civil society is often conceptualized in terms of objectifications and subject—object dichotomies. This is the case with regard to both social movements and non-governmental organizations. This article seeks to transcend such argumentation by providing ‘thick descriptions’ of the agency of farm workers and civil society in the context of land reform in contemporary Zimbabwe. We examine a land-based social movement (and the role of farm workers within it) and the involvement of a particular non-governmental organization in farm worker livelihoods. On this basis, we offer a re-formulation of civil society as a social field marked by ambivalences and tensions.
Peasants and Revolutionary Movements: The Viet Cong as a Case Study
Authors: Tovy Tal
Published: March 2010

During the Vietnam War the US government in conjunction with the government of South Vietnam instituted a plan encouraging desertion from the Viet Cong and the ‘return to the embrace of the Vietnamese Nation’. A successful implementation of this plan, the Chieu Hoi (‘Open Arms’) Program, depended on an analysis of the motivations for enlistment in the Viet Cong. The voluminous research on the Viet Cong during the war concentrates on its structure and activities rather than on the patterns of enlistment in and desertion from it. An examination of the factors that led to enlistment in or desertion from the Viet Cong may provide better indications concerning the extent of the United States’ perception of the nature and character of the war. The purpose of this article is to examine peasant motivations for enlistment in the Viet Cong. The study begins with a discussion of theories regarding peasant motivation for joining revolutionary movements. It continues with an analysis of Vietnamese society which provides the necessary basis for understanding peasant motivation for joining the Viet Cong. Finally, the article discusses the reasons for peasant desertion from the organization and comes to the conclusion that motivation for enlistment was not ideological (i.e. Communist) in nature.
Post-socialist energy reforms in critical perspective: Entangled boundaries, scales and trajectories of change
Authors: Bouzarovski Stefan
Published: March 2010

Despite its extensive political, economic and social ramifications, the process of energy sector transformation in the post-socialist states of Eastern and Central Europe (ECE) and the Former Soviet Union (FSU) has received very little theoretical attention to date. In this paper, I draw attention to the multiple ways in which the energy reform experience of the past two decades has undermined established understandings of scale, reform trajectories and national boundaries in this part of the world. With the aid of concepts developed in Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Actor Network Theory (ANT), I discuss the ability of energy relations and interdependencies to create material and political ‘topologies’ and ‘entanglements’ of power in post-socialism. This exploration is grounded in a discussion of the tensions between the legacies and path-dependencies inherited from the centrally planned economy, on the one hand, and the neoliberal project for energy sector reconfiguration that became the dominant reform paradigm in the early 1990s, on the other.
The spirit of post-socialism: Common spaces and the production of diversity
Authors: Pickles John
Published: March 2010

Since 1989 scholars and policy-makers have articulated different notions of post-socialist reform. Each presupposes or privileges distinct notions of space. This paper focuses on the ‘spirit of post-socialism’ and outlines these different understandings of post-socialist reform and their corresponding embedded assumptions about space and geography. It then argues that various attempts to frame post-socialism in terms of a series of broader universal projects of economic harmonization and integration have been increasingly supplemented by more conjunctural analyses of diverse economic and social post-socialist practices and spaces, and comparative analyses of post-socialism and reform-socialisms across and beyond Central and Eastern Europe.
Migration and uneven development within an enlarged European Union: Fathering, gender divisions and male migrant domestic services
Authors: Perrons Diane , Plomien Ania , Kilkey Majella
Published: March 2010

Drawing mainly on qualitative evidence gathered from interviews with migrant handymen and with labour-using households in the UK, this paper analyses how this migration typifies economic and social divisions within Europe and embodies conflicting tensions between economic and social policies at an interpersonal level. By supplying household services, migrant handymen enable labour-using households to alleviate time pressures and conflicts in time priorities arising from tensions between economic expectations regarding working hours and work commitment, and social expectations regarding contemporary ideas of active parenting. Similarly to the outsourcing of feminized domestic labour and care, these tensions are in part resolved for labour-using households by extending class divisions across national boundaries while leaving gender divisions changed but not transformed and in some instances exacerbating work/ life tensions among the migrants. These broad findings are complicated by differential desires and capabilities around fathering practices among fathers in labour-using households and among the migrants, and economic differentiation among the migrant population. Although we cannot tell from our study whether such movement reinforces or redresses uneven development, what we can say is that existing cohesion policies are insufficient to redress uneven development, and individual responses including migration can reinforce existing social divisions. Further, existing social policies for promoting gender equality fail to recognize or redress the deeply embedded gendered norms.
Roman Artefacts Beyond the Northern Frontier: Interpreting the Evidence from the Netherlands
Authors: Galestin Marjan C.
Published: March 2010

The traditional explanation for the presence of Roman artefacts beyond the Roman Empire's frontiers is that these were objects of trade, but this view has been modified in two studies published around the same time. Although they both referred to areas north of the Rhine, each was based on different theoretical premises and presented a different explanation for the presence of Roman artefacts in these areas. One study, based on the concept of world systems theory, concluded that there were uninterrupted and mutually beneficial trade relations across the frontier. The other study was based on a linear culture-historical approach, and it concluded that there were no trade relations between the Empire and the ‘barbarians’, but that Roman artefacts were the result of specific historical events of brief duration. The present article analyses these apparently conflicting outcomes. It focuses on Roman artefacts from the Netherlands, specifically those from the modern province of Friesland, about 150 km north of the Rhine/theLimes.
Isotopic Investigation of Diet and Residential Mobility in the Neolithic of the Lower Rhine Basin
Authors: Smits Elisabeth , Millard Andrew R. , Nowell Geoff , Pearson D. Graham
Published: March 2010

Multiple isotopic systems (C, N, O, S, Sr, Pb) are applied to investigate diet and mobility amongst the Middle Neolithic populations at Schipluiden and Swifterbant (Netherlands). A review of carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of European Mesolithic and Neolithic populations shows a shift in diet from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic, but also great variety in Neolithic diets, several of which incorporate fish. At Swifterbant (c.4300–4000 BC) the population had a diet largely based on terrestrial and freshwater resources, despite proximity to tidal waters. Only one individual (of 10) showed evidence for migration. In contrast at Schipluiden (c.3600–3400 BC) there were migrants who had a diet lower in marine resources than those without evidence for migration. The faunal spectrum and isotopic similarities with sites in the Iron Gates Gorge suggest that sturgeon may have been important. There is some evidence that migrants at Schipluiden were not accorded the formal burial given to locally born people.
The Santiago de Compostela Pilgrim Routes: The Development of European Cultural Heritage Policy and Practice from a Critical Perspective
Authors: Grabow Sven
Published: March 2010

Using the case study of the Council of Europe's European Cultural Routes Project, this article examines if and how far supra-national rhetorics of cultural openness, inclusivity, and diversity become reality in terms of actual cultural heritage projects. Against this background, it conducts a critical examination of what is considered one of the flagships of European supranational cultural heritage projects, the Council of Europe's Santiago de Compostela Pilgrim Routes. It focuses on the specific implementation of the Council of Europe's supra-national message of cultural heritage in this project and in its accompanying guidebook. By placing the project in its historical context and comparing it to later additions to the European Cultural Routes Project, this article reflects on the development of a pan-European cultural identity paradigm over the last two decades.
Towards a poethics of love
Authors: Toye Margaret E.
Published: March 2010

While ethics has become accepted as an important field of inquiry within Anglo-American critical and feminist theory, the same thing cannot be said about ‘love’. I argue that ‘love’ needs to be taken as a serious, valid and crucial subject for academic study, and that feminist theory should have a special investment in the topic. Phenomenological theories of pain and psychoanalytic theories of melancholy can provide a negative definition of love by describing situations where love has lost its objects. These theories help to map connections amongst pain, love, and language, and demonstrate how language — and for Julia Kristeva, how especially literary language — can play an important role in mediating these states. I propose that ‘love’ names not only a particular qualitative relation between a self and an Other, but also a process of altering oneself that involves the creation of an unusual and seemingly contradictory spacing or distance. Luce Irigaray’s work helps us conceive of this concept as an embodied one through her concept of proximate distance. I suggest a ‘poethics of love’ as a theory/methodology that could allow us to continue to think through these complex issues in a way that ties ethical, political and aesthetic concerns together.
Journalism as social networking: The Australian youdecide project and the 2007 federal election
Authors: Flew Terry , Wilson Jason
Published: March 2010

The increasing prevalence of new media technologies and the rise of citizen journalism have coincided with a crisis in industrial journalism — as the figure of the ‘journalist as hero’ is fading, new media forms have facilitated the production of news content ‘from below’ by citizens and ‘pro-am’ journalists. Participation in an action-research project run during the 2007 Australian federal election, youdecide 2007, allowed the authors to gain first-hand insights into the progress of citizen-led news media in Australia, but also allowed us to develop an account of what the work of facilitating citizen journalism involves. These insights are important to understanding the future of professional journalism and journalism education, as more mainstream media organizations move to accommodate and harness user-created content. The article considers the relevance of citizen journalism projects as forms of R&D for understanding news production and distribution in participatory media cultures, and the importance of grounded case studies for moving beyond normative debates about new media and the future of journalism.
Art for October: Thai Cold War State Violence in Trauma Art
Authors: Musikawong Sudarat
Published: March 2010

The visual artwork produced about Thai contemporary political trauma constitutes a “trauma art” expressing a politics of loss—loss of life, loss of history, and loss of leftist memory. While much of the literature on 1970s violence and traumatic memory in Thailand has focused on public discourse, historical chronologies, monuments, and music, the body of visual art about Thai state violence during the 1970s Cold War period raises some of the most relevant questions. Before the public articulation about the October 6, 1976, massacre was made possible by the twentieth anniversary in 1996, some artists produced a critical politics on the side of victims, but after 1996 the artists produced a politics of loss that capitalizes on the shock of the massacre to make the point that Thai society has forgotten it. In this essay, I examine these visceral evocations of terror, grief, longing to heal, and irony through shock that are articulated within specific conditions of production and exhibition. Two of the major conditions I examine are the artist's creative process and issues of silencing present in the content of the artwork or its exhibition practices. Prior to 1996 the artists created varying trauma art about the October 6 massacre as an aesthetic of vengeance, grief, and yearning to heal, of the struggle to remember forgotten histories, and of satiric moral outrage. I argue that the affective engagements of foreclosing retribution, of reconciliation, justice, social healing, or critique of the present day are accessible through a trauma art recounting a politics of the present. By charting the shifting affective engagement and the conditions of production and exhibition, one can see how the stakes changed after 1996, from a trauma art that demanded “Never again!” to a critique of forgetting and of the enjoyment of neoliberal democracy, with free markets, elections, and a history without trauma.
“Vegetarian between Meals”: The Dalai Lama, War, and Violence
Authors: Sautman Barry
Published: March 2010

In May 2008 Time magazine's annual “Time 100” list of influential people in the world put the Dalai Lama at the top. This outcome was related to the preceding six weeks of protests in Tibet and attendant Western criticisms of China's Tibet policies, but it also reflected the two-decade-long construction of the Dalai Lama's international persona as a “man of peace” and “compassion personified.”

This essay interrogates the ubiquitous representation of the Dalai Lama as an apostle of nonviolence. It argues that while he urges nonviolence in general, the Dalai Lama has supported a number of wars, especially those of India and the United States, the Tibetan exiles' two chief patrons. Western political elites and media have reciprocated by making a major contribution to the construction of the Dalai Lama's pacifistic persona.

The Dalai Lama's advocacy of nonviolence is associated with a special level of compassion, but that link is also problematic: his compassion has been largely disconnected from specific, major struggles of the oppressed. The primary examples considered here are the fight against apartheid in South Africa and the struggle against the occupation of Palestinian lands. This disconnect arises from the Dalai Lama's self-orientalizing approach to “race” and racial oppression, within which the peoples and interests of the West are valorized and those of the developing world subordinated. That, in turn, is a function not only of Western state and popular patronage, but also of the Dalai Lama's generally conservative worldview.

The construction of the Dalai Lama's persona of “man of peace” adversely affects efforts to resolve the Tibet question. The “Free Tibet movement” is built around the pacifist persona of the Dalai Lama. The movement garners support from that, but it seeks an outcome that can only be realized in the unlikely event that China disintegrates. The constructed “man of peace” persona thus diverts attention from efforts to forge a compromise solution to the Tibet question. This effect will continue until a critique of political representations of the Dalai Lama are allowed to become part of the international discourse of Tibet.
Treacherous Translation: The 1938 Japanese-Language Theatrical Version of the Korean Tale Ch'unhyangjŏn
Authors: Suh Serk-Bae
Published: March 2010

This essay examines the controversial staging of a Japanese-language version of the popular Korean romance Ch'unhyangjŏn (The Tale of Spring Fragrance) by the Japanese theatrical company Shinkyô in 1938. By analyzing the arguments of Japanese and Korean intellectuals about the play, I reveal that the idea of translation as equal exchange—the focus of much present-day theoretical debate on ethics and translation—was embedded both in the colonizer's affirmation of the play as an exemplary step toward cultural assimilation and in the colonized's protest against it as an “inaccurate” or “unfaithful” translation. I also examine how the limitations of colonized intellectuals' cultural nationalism led them to retreat to a conciliatory insistence on cultural autonomy. Finally, drawing on Karl Marx's critique of equal exchange and Emmanuel Levinas's ethics of the other, I attempt to reframe translation as ethical as well as political practice against the lure of cultural nationalism on the part of the colonized and the enterprise of colonial domination.
Tribute to Donald Lowe
Authors: Xiaojiang Li
Published: March 2010

—English translation by Tani Barlow

—Japanese translation by Paul Atkins and Sachi Schmidt

—French translation by Claudia Pozzana

—Russian translation by Anna Krylova

—Korean translation by Chong Eun Ahn

—Hindi translation by Indranil Dutta

—Italian translation by Claudia Pozzana

—German translation by Wolfgang Kubin
Interview With Michael Kerr
Authors: Fraser Barbara , McKay Linda , Pease Lu
Published: March 2010

The following article was written by Dr Michael Kerr in response to questions put to him by Barbara Fraser; Linda Mackay and Lu Pease when he visited Australia two years ago. These three family therapists took it upon themselves to prepare this interview in recognition of Dr Kerr's unique vantage point on Bowen Theory and family therapy. Michael Kerr was trained by Murray Bowen in the 1970s and subsequently went on to work as faculty at the Georgetown Family centre. He succeeded Bowen as director of the centre where he has devoted his professional life to the understanding, application and extension of theory. He is the co‐author with Dr Bowen of Family Evaluation: An Approach Based on Bowen Theory (Kerr & Bowen, 1988), which remains the most esteemed text on this theory. He is also the editor of Family Systems: A Journal of Natural Systems Thinking in Psychiatry and The Sciences. Bowen's Family Systems Theory grew out of years of research from the 1950s‐1970s, which included observations of inpatient families with a schizophrenic member and using data from Bowen's own interactions with his family of origin (Bowen, 1978). The theory continues to be influential in family therapy with its most well‐known contributions being the process of triangling, the intergenerational transmission of family patterns and the concept of differentiation of self. (Brown, 1999). The following discussion from Dr Kerr brings a fresh perspective on the current applications and developments of this systems theory
A Case of Enhancing Sexual Confidence: Both the Client and the Therapist Are the Experts
Authors: Markovic Desa
Published: March 2010

This case study demonstrates the challenges and possibilities of working on a sexual relationship with a single client and provides an example of integration of sex therapy within the ethical and theoretical framework of a collaborative systemic approach. It illustrates the author's view on the therapeutic relationship involving the expertise of both the client and the therapist. A model for integration of systemic approach and sex therapy is proposed.
Lessons From ‘The Hitting Place’: Reflections of a Family Therapy Novice
Authors: Radford Lyn , Grimwade Jo
Published: March 2010

This case study is an account of a post‐traumatic family attempting to come to terms with life after violence, and the effectiveness of family therapy in supporting this transition. The fighting between two young girls had maintained the violence in the family dynamic and their highly anxious adolescent brother remained unable to let go of his protective position and move forward with his own life. The backdrop of the case was a novice family therapist and a mother with borderline traits who found it difficult to keep the therapeutic work within the bounds of the therapy sessions. Despite these difficulties meaningful change could be seen after only seven sessions of family therapy.
Ethics Anxiety
Authors: Scher Stephen
Published: March 2010

This case report, drawn from an American hospital, explores a phenomenon best described as ethics anxiety, a feeling of uncertainty as to what is ethically required or permitted, leading to clinical delay and confused decisions. In the specific clinical situation presented, the clinicians find themselves confronting, under severe time constraints, a complex, multidimensional problem with ethical and legal implications. The situation deteriorates as the clinicians find themselves unable to find what they perceive as the expert advice, either clinical or ethical, that would enable them to resolve the problem presented. In the discussion section of the case report, some attention is given to the role that the bioethics movement itself has had in creating these situations and undermining clinical decision‐making.
Clients as Teachers: Reciprocal Influences in Therapy Relationships
Authors: Kottler Jeffrey A. , Hunter Sally V.
Published: March 2010

The value of the continuing education industry for therapists is questioned, as is the usefulness of therapy books and journal articles, as a means of engaging therapists in life‐long learning. Instead, it is argued that our clients are our best teachers and that therapists learn most effectively from their clients. Drawing on research studies with prominent theoreticians and therapists, and on case studies from clinical work, a number of important themes are identified as ways in which therapists are influenced by their therapeutic encounters with their clients. The themes explored in this article include: (1) intimacy and high emotional arousal with clients as we witness profound change; (2) being challenged by clients; and (3) allowing for boundary ‘crossings’ in order to develop more flexible ways of working with clients. The implications for professional development are discussed.
Between ‘Lifeworld’ and ‘System’: Caseworker Role Conflict in the Provision of Disability Services to People Injured by Traffic Accidents in Sweden
Authors: Lundälv Jörgen , Lindqvist Rafael
Published: March 2010

The aim of this study was to describe and analyze how caseworkers in the Swedish disability services deal with people disabled by road accidents. Data were collected by means of a web-based survey of 259 caseworkers, and a direct content analysis of open-ended questions was used to interpret and analyse the data. The conceptual toolbox consisted of Habermas' lifeworld-system dichotomy, social recognition, and concepts from human service organisation research. Dilemmas within the following areas were identified: interaction with the service users, experiences of communication, assessment of needs, and inter-organisational cooperation between health care and disability services. These difficulties occurred because of tensions between ‘lifeworld’ and ‘system’, and because social recognition and mutual communicative action were not easy to achieve when cognitive impairments distorted and prevented the development of an ‘ideal speech situation’. Inter-organisational cooperation was difficult because of different regulations and professional perspectives.
Unexpected morphometric differentiation of the Algerian mouse, Mus spretus (Rodentia: Muridae) from Kabylie of Djurdjura (Algeria)
Authors: Khammes-El Homsi Nora , Aulagnier Stéphane
Published: March 2010

A preliminary morphometric study of the Algerian mouse, Mus spretus in Algeria based on populations collected in the Kabylie of Djurdjura revealed an unexpected strong differentiation when compared with samples from Morocco, Tunisia, Spain, and France. Skull, mandible, and teeth have been measured on an original sample of Algerian animals and on foreign specimens from private collections. A first principal component analysis revealed a noticeable morphometric differentiation within populations of Kabylie of Djurdjura based on several variables including palatal breadth, palatal foramina length, and first lower molar breadth. At the scale of the species range the results of a second principal component analysis were even more distinctive with two clearly separated groups, mice from Algeria vs. mice from all other parts of the range. Mice from Algeria are characterized by a finer nose, a broader palate, and smaller teeth. The evolutionary history of this species cannot explain such a differentiation which is more likely a local adaptation.
Masticatory muscle architecture in the gundiCtenodactylus vali(Mammalia, Rodentia)
Authors: Hautier Lionel
Published: March 2010

Gundis, family Ctenodactylidae, display a skull with large auditory bullae and are adapted for life in open areas. Here, the first descriptive comparison of the skull, mandible and jaw muscles of the North African gundiCtenodactylus valiis presented. The gross anatomy of specimens captured in Algeria and internal architecture of the jaw musculature have been studied using dissections. The following muscles are described: temporal, masseter, pterygoids, digastric, mylohyoid, geniohyoid and transverse mandibular. The muscles of the zygomasseteric complex show a strong development with a hystricomorphous type of the skull. The temporal muscle is divided into three parts. The digastric muscles are of the hystricomorphine type. The description of the masticatory apparatus ofC. valioffers a rare opportunity to assess the morphological variation of the masticatory apparatus among Ctenohystrica.
Clinical and experimental assessment of the up-to-date treatment of the tibial shaft fractures
Authors: Wiegand Norbert
Published: March 2010

A lábszártörés az összes csonttörés 15%-a, amely Magyarországon körülbelül 2500 esetet jelent évente. A törést elszenvedettek 90%-át műtéti úton kezeljük. Az utóbbi időkben a lábszártörések incidenciája emelkedett, a törések súlyossága fokozódott, valamint az egyre fejlettebb műtéti ellátások ellenére a szövődmények arányát sem sikerült minimálisra csökkenteni. A nyílt lábszártöröttek ellátása a felfúrás nélküli velőűrszeg bevezetését követően lényegesen megváltozott, a velőűrszegezés fokozatosan vette át a vezető szerepet az egyre magasabb fokú nyílt törések ellátásában, és alkalmassá vált a tibia proximalis és distalis harmada töréseinek kezelésére is. Új eljárásként a Marchetti–Vicenzi-szeget hazánkban elsőként alkalmaztuk klinikánkon, ezzel a módszerrel a tibia törései, különösen a distalis harmadi törések megbízhatóan, alacsony szövődményaránnyal rögzíthetők. A lábszárbrace és a felfúrás nélküli szegezés együttes alkalmazását 1997-ben dolgoztuk ki, bebizonyítottuk, hogy ezzel a módszerrel a lábszártörések gyógyulása gyorsabb, a rehabilitáció rövidebb időt vesz igénybe. A szövődmények klinikai kutatása során bebizonyítottuk, hogy a felfúrásos és a felfúrás nélküli szegezés során különböző mértékben változik a nyomás a tibiát körülvevő izomrekeszekben. Felfúrás nélküli szegezés során a mély rekeszben statisztikailag is magasabb nyomást mértünk. Az irodalmi adatokkal szemben igazoltuk, hogy nincs összefüggés a szegezés módja, a rekeszi nyomás emelkedése és a compartmentszindróma kialakulása között. A szövődmények alapkutatása során a compartmentszindrómás és Volkmann ischaemiás kontraktúrás betegek kóros harántcsíkolt izomszövetének differenciál pásztázó kalorimetriás vizsgálatát végeztük. Igazoltuk, hogy az ép és a keringésében károsodott izomszövet hőstabilitásában különbség van. Bebizonyítottuk, hogy az izomrekeszen belüli nyomás mértéke, a sérült izom strukturális károsodása és a kalorimetriával mért termokémiai értékei között szoros korreláció van. A kalorimetriás vizsgálat szenzitivitásának és specificitásának köszönhetően nagymértékben segítheti és kiegészítheti a helyes diagnózis felállítását azokban az esetekben, amikor az klinikailag nem egyértelmű.
Periodontitis: A Future Risk of Acute Coronary Syndrome? A Follow‐Up Study Over 3 Years
Authors: Renvert Stefan , Ohlsson Ola , Pettersson Thomas , Persson G. Rutger
Published: March 2010

Background: Periodontitis has been associated with cardiovascular disease. We assess if the recurrence of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) could be predicted by preceding medical and periodontal conditions.

Methods: A total of 165 consecutive subjects with ACS and 159 medically healthy, matched control subjects were examined and followed for 3 years. Periodontitis was defined by alveolar bone loss. Subgingival microbial samples were studied by the checkerboard DNA–DNA hybridization method.

Results: The recurrence of ACS was found in 66 of 165 (40.0%) subjects, and a first ACS event was found in seven of 159 (4.4%) subjects among baseline control subjects. Subjects who later had a second ACS event were older (P <0.001). Significantly higher serum levels of high‐density lipoprotein (P <0.05), creatinine (P <0.01), and white blood cell (WBC) counts (P <0.001) were found in subjects with future ACS. Periodontitis was associated with a first event of ACS (crude odds ratio [OR]: 10.3:1; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.1 to 17.4; P <0.001) and the recurrence of ACS (crude OR: 3.6:1; 95% CI: 2.0 to 6.6; P <0.001). General linear modeling multivariate analysis, controlling for age and the prediction of a future ACS event, identified that WBC counts (F = 20.6; P <0.001), periodontitis (F = 17.6; P <0.001), and serum creatinine counts (F = 4.5; P <0.05) were explanatory of a future ACS event.

Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that recurrent ACS events are predicted by serum WBC counts, serum creatinine levels, and a diagnosis of periodontitis. Significantly higher counts of putative pathogens are found in subjects with ACS, but these counts do not predict future ACS events.
Smokeless Tobacco Use and Periodontal Health in a Rural Male Population
Authors: Chu Yong H. , Tatakis Dimitris N. , Wee Alvin G.
Published: March 2010

Background: Despite the reported effects of smokeless tobacco (ST) on the periodontium and high prevalence of ST use in rural populations and in men, studies on this specific topic are limited. The purpose of this cross‐sectional investigation is to evaluate the periodontal health status of male ST users from a rural population.

Methods: Adult male residents of two rural Appalachian Ohio counties and daily ST users, with a unilateral mandibular oral ST keratosis lesion, were recruited. Subjects completed a questionnaire and received oral examination. Teeth present, ST keratosis lesion, plaque and gingival index, probing depth (PD), recession depth (RD), and attachment level were recorded. Statistical analysis compared ST‐site mandibular teeth (teeth adjacent to the subject's unilateral ST keratosis lesion) to NST‐site teeth (contralateral corresponding teeth).

Results: This study includes 73 ST users. Recession prevalence is much greater in ST‐site quadrants (36%) compared to NST‐site quadrants (18%; P <0.001). Twice as many teeth had recession on ST‐site (approximately 20%) than NST‐site (approximately 10%; P = 0.0001). Average buccal RD on ST‐site teeth did not differ from that on the NST‐site teeth (P = 0.0875). Although average buccal attachment loss is greater on ST‐site teeth (P = 0.016), the mean difference is <0.5 mm. When stratified by years of ST use, subjects using ST for 10 to 18 years exhibit the most differences between ST and NST sites, whereas subjects using ST for <10 years show no differences.

Conclusion: The results indicate that greater gingival recession prevalence and extent are associated with ST placement site in rural male ST users.
Esthetic Treatment of Peripheral Giant Cell Granuloma Using a Subepithelial Connective Tissue Graft and a Split‐Thickness Pouch Technique
Authors: Lev Ron , Moses Ofer , Holtzclaw Dan , Tal Haim
Published: March 2010

Background: Peripheral giant cell granuloma (PGCG) is a reactive hyperplastic lesion involving the gingiva or alveolar mucosa consisting of proliferating endothelial cells, a rich capillary bed, chronic inflammatory cells, fibroblasts, and giant cells. After complete clinical removal of PGCG recurrence occurs in about 10% of cases, and may result in an esthetic and functional soft tissue defect. This report describes a surgical procedure involving complete removal of a gingival PGCG in the maxillary esthetic zone and immediate tissue restoration achieving complete gingival augmentation.

Methods: A 15‐year‐old female presented with a red, nodular, asymptomatic lesion, approximately 3.5 mm in diameter, located above the maxillary left lateral incisor. The lesion was excised down to the underlying root resulting in a 6 × 5‐mm mucogingival dehiscence defect. Corrective surgery included a subepithelial connective tissue graft peripherally covered by the surrounding gingiva and stabilized by 5/0 resorbable sutures.

Results: Healing was uneventful, resulting in healthy and esthetic gingiva. Microscopic examination of the biopsy specimen was consistent with the diagnosis of PGCG.

Conclusions: PGCG may follow an aggressive course, sometimes requiring preemptive surgical intervention. Grafting a subepithelial connective tissue graft peripherally covered by the surrounding gingiva, without raising a gingival flap, successfully eliminated the gingival defect. The free gingival margin of the neighboring teeth and the mucogingival junction remained unchanged.
Fast start-up of a pilot-scale deammonification sequencing batch reactor from an activated sludge inoculum
Authors: Jeanningros Y. , Vlaeminck S. E. , Kaldate A. , Verstraete W. , Graveleau L.
Published: March 2010

Deammonification involves the combined application of aerobic and anoxic ammonium-oxidizing bacteria (AerAOB & AnAOB) and allows to treat wastewaters with a high ammonium concentration in a sustainable and cost-efficient way. So far, it could take more than one year to start up the process, even with the addition of AnAOB enriched inocula. In contrast, we started up a deammonifying reactor for the treatment of sludge digestate in less than four months without any AnAOB enriched inoculum. In a single sequencing batch reactor (SBR) of 3 m3, nitritation and anammox were performed without nitrite accumulation. Larger biomass aggregates (>1.0 mm) had a typical reddish colour, but FISH also showed that small aggregates (<0.25 mm) contained a considerable amount of AnAOB. The AerAOB were related to Nitrosomonas halophila, N. eutropha and N. halophila, and the AnAOB to “Candidatus Kuenenia & Brocadia”, as shown by FISH. Our results show that the deammonification inoculum does not play an important role, and that the AnAOB can quickly develop under the proper aerational conditions. Nitrogen was removed stably at high nitrogen loading rates (740 mg N/L/d) and removal efficiency (90%).
Applying solubilization treatment to reverse clogging in laboratory-scale vertical flow constructed wetlands
Authors: Guofen Hua , Wei Zhu , Lianfang Zhao , Yunhui Zhang
Published: March 2010

Substrate clogging is characterized as a frequently occurring operational problem for subsurface-flow constructed wetlands. The application of solubilization treatment to reduce clogging was tested in lab-scaled setups to provide a promising solution. The performance of solubilization treatment on reducing clogging and the related effects on plants and biofilms in the wetland system were investigated in this paper. The results showed that the infiltration rate and available porosity of wetland substrate increased as a function of increased dosage of NaOH, HCl, NaClO, and detergent, respectively. Among the four solvents, it appeared that NaClO had the most obvious effects on reducing clogging and the infiltration rate and effective porosity recovered to 69% of the original condition. The two possible reasons for solubilization were the flocculents' structure of the clogs was broken up or parts of the organic clogs were dissolved. The function of adding NaOH and NaClO was to dissolve the protein and polysaccharides of the organic clogs; the function of adding HCl was to release the anaerobic gas wrapped in the organic clogs. Furthermore, experiments results also showed that the solubilized solvents did not demonstrate a long-term negative effect on plants and biofilms.
Acceptability of the rainwater harvesting system to the slum dwellers of Dhaka City
Authors: Islam M. M. , Chou F. N.-F. , Kabir M. R.
Published: March 2010

Urban area like Dhaka City, in Bangladesh, has scarcity of safe drinking water which is one of the prominent basic needs for human kind. This study explored the acceptability of harvested rainwater in a densely populated city like Dhaka, using a simple and low cost technology. A total of 200 random people from four slums of water-scarce Dhaka City were surveyed to determine the dwellers' perception on rainwater and its acceptability as a source of drinking water. The questionnaire was aimed at finding the socio-economic condition and the information on family housing, sanitation, health, existing water supply condition, knowledge about rainwater, willingness to accept rainwater as a drinking source etc. A Yield before Spillage (YBS) model was developed to know the actual rainwater availability and storage conditions which were used to justify the effective tank size. Cost-benefit analysis and feasibility analysis were performed using the survey results and the research findings. The survey result and overall study found that the low cost rainwater harvesting technique was acceptable to the slum dwellers as only the potential alternative source of safe drinking water.
Kinetic modelling of the photocatalytic inactivation of bacteria
Authors: Marugán Javier , van Grieken Rafael , Cassano Alberto E. , Alfano Orlando M.
Published: March 2010

This work analyzes the kinetic modelling of the photocatalytic inactivation of E. coli in water using different types of kinetic models; from an empirical equation to an intrinsic kinetic model including explicit radiation absorption effects. Simple empirical equations lead to lower fitting errors, but require a total of 12 parameters to reproduce the results of four inactivation curves when the catalyst concentration was increased. Moreover, these parameters have no physical meaning and cannot be extrapolated to different experimental conditions. The use of a pseudo-mechanistic model based on a simplified reaction mechanism reduces the number of required kinetic parameters to 6, being the kinetic constant the only parameter that depends on the catalyst concentration. Finally, a simple modification of a kinetic model based on the intrinsic mechanism of photocatalytic reactions including explicit radiation absorption effects achieved the fitting of all the experiments with only three parameters. The main advantage of this approach is that the kinetic parameters estimated for the model become independent of the irradiation form, as well as the reactor size and its geometrical configuration, providing the necessary information for scaling-up and design of commercial-scale photoreactors for water disinfection.
Characteristics of nutrient retention in a stormwater wetland during dry and wet days
Authors: Yi Qitao , Lu Weiwei , Yu Jianghua , Kim Youngchul
Published: March 2010

A 0.23-ha pilot wetland was constructed to examine its effectiveness for the control of nonpoint source pollution (NPS) from a 7.42-ha agricultural watershed in Korea. The wetland was operated during base flow and storm flow conditions and monitored for four years (2006–2009). The wetland was operated under high hydraulic loading rates (HLRs, 0.78 m/day on average) during rainy days. The average influent nitrogen concentration was 9.8 mg/L during wet days, but around 11.6 mg/L during dry days. Due to the short hydraulic retention time (HRT) on wet days, nitrogen retention at the wetland was poor, only 6.1%; whereas, during dry days the efficiency was higher, around 17.9%. On rainy days, the wetland presented high retention for total phosphorus (TP), with an average efficiency of 68.3%, accompanied with a total suspended solids (TSS) removal of 84.7%. However, on dry days, the wetland showed positive soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) retention other than TP. The interior of the wetland was observed to have different nutrients levels. Furthermore, suggestions are addressed in terms of improved design for better performance.
Seasonal variations in the water quality, diversity and population ecology of intertidal macrofauna at an industrially influenced coast
Authors: Vaghela A. , Bhadja P. , Ramoliya J. , Patel N. , Kundu R.
Published: March 2010

Present communication reports the physico-chemical and biological quality of seawater and status of benthos of a highly industrialized shore of the north-western coastline of India. The coastal area considered for the present study, encircled by a variety of industries, was divided into two sampling sites and monitored for two consecutive years. Results of the water quality suggest that the obtained values of the physical and chemical parameters of seawater were comparable with data reported earlier. However, data obtained in the biological parameters of the seawater showed a declining trend. Results of the intertidal macrofaunal diversity studies revealed that the muddy upper littoral zones were represented by few species of coelenterata, porifera, arthropoda and mollusca. In the rocky—muddy middle littoral zones, gastropods, stars fishes, corallites, crabs, polychetes and tubeworms were present, whereas, predominantly rocky lower littoral zones were comparatively rich in macrofaunal diversity with small patches of coral colonies. However, when the results obtained in the present study was compared with that of earlier reported data, it was clear that the macrofaunal diversity indeed declined considerably over the years. This may be due to habitat destruction and habitat alteration in the coastline caused by increased anthropogenic activities in the area. Seasonal variations in the population density and abundance were observed in most of the faunal groups except in sessile corals and sponges. This may be due to local migration of the faunal groups towards deeper regions of the Gulf, as supported by the analysis of similarity, to avoid influx of freshwater during monsoon, and high temperature during summer and post monsoon seasons. The overall assessment of different parameters of this study revealed that though the physico- chemical characteristics of the seawater did not varied much from the earlier reported status, the biological characteristics of the seawater and intertidal zone was affected possibly by a high degree of anthropogenic pressure.
The effectiveness of humic acid coagulation with the use of cationic polyacrylamides
Authors: Libecki B.
Published: March 2010

The chemical coagulation process is a popular method for eliminating the precursors of disinfection by-products. This study presents the results of a laboratory experiment which investigates the use of cationic polyacrylamide copolymers (CPAMs) as primary coagulants in the purification of solutions containing humic acids (HA). A number of polymers with various molecular weight and charge density were tested. The optimal doses were determined by colloidal titration. The effectiveness of coagulation-flocculation was determined by jar test method. The post-coagulation suspension was separated by filtration through cellulose filter paper. The experiment showed that charge neutralization destabilizes organic colloidal particles. An inversely proportional relationship was observed between the optimal dose and polymer charge density. The effectiveness of UV254 reduction (52–81%) and colour removal (51–88%) was determined by the effectiveness of filtration in removing post-coagulation turbidity, as well as by the type of applied polymer. The results of the study suggest that the use of CPAMs with high charge density and low molecular weight enables effective removal of humic acids from water in the coagulation and filtration process.
Vulnerability of freshwater resources in large and medium Nepalese river basins to environmental change
Authors: Pandey V. P. , Babel M. S. , Shrestha S. , Kazama F.
Published: March 2010

This paper discusses vulnerability of freshwater resources in large and medium Nepalese river basins to environmental change based on evaluation of water resource availability and variation, resource development and use, ecological health and management capacity; and compares the situation with selected sub-basins of the Ganges and the Mekong basins in Asia. Results suggest that water resources in the medium river basins are more vulnerable than in the large basins; and Nepalese basins, in general, are more vulnerable than other selected basins in the Asian region. The vulnerability in the Nepalese basins is more related to poor management capacity followed by resources variation and the least to development pressure. The poor management capacity is mainly related to low productivity of water use and the resources stress is related mainly to variation of the resource.