bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Platonismo e aristotelismo a confronto sulla dialettica nel prologo degli «Scolî» di Proclo al «Cratilo»: riprese plotiniane e punti di convergenza con Siriano ed Ermia alla scuola platonica di Atene nel V sec. d. C.
Authors: Longo Angela
Published: March 2015

In his commentary on Plato’sCratylus, Proclus (5th centuryad) interprets the dialogue not as a mere work on logic or linguistics, but as having a full psychological and theological import.

Late ancient Platonists had already proposed a similar reading for another Platonic dialogue,i.e.theParmenides. In that case too they rejected the logical interpretation, and aimed to find in the text the description of the hierarchy of reality, particularly of the highest beings. As a result, theParmenideswas seen as the accomplished expression of Plato’s theology.

Proclus too draws a comparison between theCratylusand theParmenidesin order to stress their theological significance. He also contrasts Plato’s dialectic (which he considers as a synthesis of logic and ontology/theology) with Aristotle’s dialectic (which he sees as mere logic). Proclus’ interpretation of dialectic is best understood if it is compared to the doctrines of his master Syrianus and of one of his co-disciples,i.e.Hermeias, at the Platonic school of Athens in the 5th centuryad.Contrary to what is sometimes assumed, in this milieu Platonists were not always committed to the task of reconciling the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle. As it happens, they could (following Plotinus’ example) strongly disagree with and even attack Aristotle, and side with Plato. In particular, they greatly valued Plato’s dialectic, which they viewed as the correct form of reasoning and at the same time as a theory of the utmost theological significance. On the other hand, Aristotle’s dialectic was considered as “bare” logic,i.e.as a mere set of logical rules and arguments with no specific contents.

On the basis of a problematicCratylus’passage Proclus defends a theory of truth according to which not only propositions, but also names can be true or false. This allows him to view names as substitutes of propositions. This is particularly the case in the application of the four dialectical methods of definition, division, demonstration and analysis. Proclus’ approach arguably provides a basis—to pagan as well as Christian tradition—for the study of divine names as a part of theology, for the name of a god is held to reveal its attributes.
Merging to Emerge: Elite Insecurity, Collective Supports, and Paratextual Anthologies in Early Modern China
Authors: Park J. P.
Published: March 2015

Liu Xuehu meipu was designed to be a manual on the painting of plum blossoms; however, its original pedagogical content is demonstrably marginal, while the majority of its pages are filled with more than two hundred commentaries, letters, encomiums, and poems extolling the talent and virtue of its author, Liu Shiru (act. 16th c.). This was not the only volume of its type in late Ming China. A prolific scholar-publisher of Jiaxing, Zhou Lüjing (1542-1633), also published a series of anthologies which only contain hundreds of allographic writings dedicated to him by contemporary elites, including many cultural luminaries such as Li Rihua (his nephew), Chen Jiru, Dong Qichang, Tu Long, and Wang Shizhen. While highlighting the unique programs of these books wherein the auxiliary paratexts of encomiums, endorsements, and postfaces in fact function as primary texts, this paper will investigate how such anthologies were related within the larger cultural matrix of the time.
Dukes and Nobles Above, Scholars Below: Beijing’s Old Booksellers’ District Liulichang 琉璃廠, 1769-1941—and Its Influence on 20th-Century Shanghai’s Book Trade
Authors: Reed Christopher A.
Published: March 2015

Books and their production were a key part of the late imperial commodity economy and of the gentry lifestyle that eventually extended into the Republican (1912-1949) era. Liulichang, the capital’s bookselling district, was positioned from the mid-eighteenth century onward as the empire’s premier book emporium. It remained well known to intellectuals and book merchants during late Qing and Republican China as well. In the first three sections of the essay, I show how this important commodity marketplace reflected and influenced late imperial Chinese society on cultural, commercial, and manufacturing levels. Liulichang is seen to have been a cultural center whose essential conservatism can be found in its approach to the commerce and publishing at its core. Both book commerce and publishing are shown to have been enhanced, but not transformed, by the technological options at hand. In the article’s fourth section, I suggest not only how Liulichang’s book dealers had a direct and personal influence on the development of Shanghai’s antiquarian book market, but also that Liulichang served as a cultural prototype for Republican Shanghai’s Wenhuajie (Culture-and-Education Streets, or simply Booksellers’ District). Just as each district functioned as a kind of bellwether for literate, educated consumers of the period in which it was prominent, so too, I argue, Beijing’s booksellers, printers, and publishers paved the way for those who emerged at Shanghai at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Notes on Australian Laius Guérin-Méneville, Dicranolaius Champion and Intybia Pascoe with description of new species related to Dicranolaius c-purpureus (Lea) (Coleoptera: Melyridae: Malachiinae)
Authors: LIU ZHENHUA , ŚLIPIŃSKI ADAM , PANG HONG
Published: March 2015

Remarks on Laius Guérin-Méneville and Dicranolaius Champion are provided. Laius falcifer Champion, 1921 is designated as the type species of Dicranolaius Champion, 1921. Dicranolaius bellulus is attributed to Boisduval (1835) not to Guérin-Méneville (1830). Dicranolaius c-purpureus (Lea) is redescribed and two closely related new species are described: D. weiri sp. n., and D. similis sp. n. Intybia Pascoe, 1866 is recorded from Australia for the first time and Laius filamentarius Lea, 1917 is regarded as member of Intybia comb. n..
A new species of the genus Gekko Laurenti (Squamata: Sauria: Gekkonidae) from Guangxi, China
Authors: YANG JIAN-HUAN
Published: March 2015

A new species of the genus Gekko is described on the basis of six specimens from Wuming county of Guangxi, southern China. Gekko kwangsiensis sp. nov. is distinguished from other congeners by a combination of the following characters: body relatively small (SVL 64.2–69.7 mm in adults), slender; nares in contact with rostral; internasal absent or single; postmentals two (rarely three), enlarged; interorbital scales between anterior corners of the eyes 29–31; dorsal tubercle rows 9–11; ventral scales between mental and cloacal slit 185–208; midbody scale rows 143–156; ventral scale rows 41–45; subdigital lamellae on first toe 11–13, on fourth toe 13–18; finger and toe webbing weakly developed; tubercles absent on upper surface of fore limbs and hind limbs; precloacal pores nine or ten in males, absent in females; postcloacal tubercle single; tubercles present on dorsal surface of tail base; subcaudals enlarged; dorsal surface of body with 9 or 10 thin light bands between nape and sacrum, and dorsal surface of tail with remarkable black and white bands. Data on the natural history of the new species are provided, and the number of species in the genus Gekko recorded from China is now 17.
Recent California Water Year Precipitation Deficits: A 440-Year Perspective*
Authors: Diaz Henry F. , Wahl Eugene R.
Published: March 2015

An analysis of the October 2013–September 2014 precipitation in the western United States and in particular over the California–Nevada region suggests this anomalously dry season, while extreme, is not unprecedented in comparison with the approximately 120-yr-long instrumental record of water year (WY; October–September) totals and in comparison with a 407-yr WY precipitation reconstruction dating back to 1571. Over this longer period, nine other years are known or estimated to have been nearly as dry or drier than WY 2014. The 3-yr deficit for WYs 2012–14, which in California exceeded the annual mean precipitation, is more extreme but also not unprecedented, occurring three other times over the past approximate 440 years in the reconstruction. WY precipitation has also been deficient on average for the past 14 years, and such a run of predominantly dry WYs is also a rare occurrence in the authors’ merged reconstructed plus instrumental period record.
Deafness Gene Variations in a 1120 Nonsyndromic Hearing Loss Cohort
Authors: Nishio Shin-ya , Usami Shin-ichi
Published: March 2015

Objectives:

To elucidate the molecular epidemiology of hearing loss in a large number of Japanese patients analyzed using massively parallel DNA sequencing (MPS) of target genes.

Methods:

We performed MPS of target genes using the Ion PGM system with the Ion AmpliSeq and HiSeq 2000 systems using SureSelect in 1389 samples (1120 nonsyndromic hearing loss cases and 269 normal hearing controls). We filtered the variants identified using allele frequencies in a large number of controls and 12 predication program scores.

Results:

We identified 8376 kinds of variants in the 1389 samples, and 409 835 total variants were detected. After filtering the variants, we selected 2631 kinds of candidate variants. The number of GJB2 mutations was exceptionally high among these variants, followed by those in CDH23, SLC26A4, MYO15A, COL11A2, MYO7A, and OTOF.

Conclusions:

We performed a large number of MPS analyses and clarified the genetic background of Japanese patients with hearing loss. This data set will be a powerful tool to discover rare causative gene mutations in highly heterogeneous monogenic diseases and reveal the genetic epidemiology of deafness.
Why Do SMEs Go Green? An Analysis of Wine Firms in South Africa
Authors: Hamann Ralph , Smith James , Tashman Pete , Marshall R. Scott
Published: March 2015

Studies on why small and medium enterprises (SMEs) engage in pro-environmental behavior suggest that managers’ environmental responsibility plays a relatively greater role than competitiveness and legitimacy-seeking. These categories of drivers are mostly considered independent of each other. Using survey data and comparative case studies of wine firms in South Africa, this study finds that managers’ environmental responsibility is indeed the key driver in a context where state regulation hardly plays any role in regulating dispersed, rural firms. However, especially proactive firms are also characterized by expectations of competitiveness gains. The authors thus emphasize the role of institutional context and potential interaction effects between these drivers in explaining the reasons why SMEs engage in pro-environmental behavior in developing countries.
Carrot and Stick? The Role of Financial Market Intermediaries in Corporate Social Performance
Authors: Slager Rieneke , Chapple Wendy
Published: March 2015

This article examines the role of intermediaries in financial markets in fostering corporate sustainability. Responsible investment (RI) indices have been primarily identified as intermediaries that provide information regarding corporate social performance (CSP) for investors and other stakeholders. The authors argue that the role of these intermediaries is not confined solely to information provision, but they may also incentivize high levels of CSP through mechanisms such as exclusion threats, signaling, and engagement. The authors rely on unique access to the archives of the FTSE4Good Index to examine the effects of these mechanisms on CSP. The study shows that companies facing exclusion threats and signaling are more likely to comply with the intermediary’s criteria, and medium levels of engagement leads to higher levels of CSP. The authors contribute to the study of sustainability in financial markets by explicating the mechanisms that intermediaries and other financial actors could employ to foster greater corporate sustainability.
The Burden of Psychosocial Stressors and Urgent Mental Health Problems in a Pediatric Weight Management Program
Authors: Zenlea Ian S. , Burton E. Thomaseo , Askins Nissa , Pluhar Emily Israel , Rhodes Erinn T.
Published: March 2015

Objective. To systematically screen for behavioral and mental health problems and psychosocial stressors (PS) in newly referred patients and adult caregivers (PACs) in a pediatric weight management program. Methods. We used the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) for caregivers and patients ≥18 years, and assessed urgent mental health concerns and psychosocial stressors. Results. A total of 243 PACs were screened; data were unavailable for 6. Compared with US normative data for the SDQ–Parent Proxy Version, the proportion of patients in our sample with borderline/abnormal total difficulties and conduct problems scores was greater for all age groups. Among adult caregivers with complete CES-D, 18.4% were at risk for depression. Eleven percent of patients screened positive for urgent mental health problems. Overall, 43% of patients and 57.4% of caregivers had PS. Conclusions. Systematic screening identified untreated symptoms and significant PS. Addressing these complex problems likely requires collaborative approaches with community providers.
Still Lost in Translation! A Correction of Three Misunderstandings Between Configurational Comparativists and Regressional Analysts
Authors: Thiem Alrik , Baumgartner Michael , Bol Damien
Published: March 2015

Even after a quarter-century of debate in political science and sociology, representatives of configurational comparative methods (CCMs) and those of regressional analytic methods (RAMs) continue talking at cross purposes. In this article, we clear up three fundamental misunderstandings that have been widespread within and between the two communities, namely that (a) CCMs and RAMs use the same logic of inference, (b) the same hypotheses can be associated with one or the other set of methods, and (c) multiplicative RAM interactions and CCM conjunctions constitute the same concept of causal complexity. In providing the first systematic correction of these persistent misapprehensions, we seek to clarify formal differences between CCMs and RAMs. Our objective is to contribute to a more informed debate than has been the case so far, which should eventually lead to progress in dialogue and more accurate appraisals of the possibilities and limits of each set of methods.
Who am I? Mothers’ shifting identities, loss and sensemaking after workplace exit
Authors: Kanji Shireen , Cahusac Emma
Published: March 2015

We analyse mothers’ retrospective accounts of their transition from professional worker to stay-at-home mother using a framework that integrates sensemaking and border theory. The data come from in-depth interviews with former professional and managerial women in London. Continuing struggles to reconcile professional and maternal identities before and after workplace exit illustrate how identity change is integral to workplace exit. The concept of ‘choice’, which takes place at one point in time, obfuscates this drawn-out process. Mothers pay a high cost in lost professional identities, especially in the initial stages after workplace exit. They cope with this loss and the disjuncture of leaving employment by moving back and forth across the border between home and work – a classic action of sensemaking. Subsequent communal sensemaking and community action bolster mothers’ fragile status at home, eventually leading to reconciliation of their loss and finally enabling them to view their exit ‘choice’ as right.
Black and Minority Ethnic Groups’ Perception and Experience of Early Intervention in Psychosis Services in the United Kingdom
Authors: Islam Zoebia , Rabiee Fatemeh , Singh Swaran P.
Published: March 2015

In the United Kingdom, Black and minority ethnic (BME) service users experience adverse pathways into mental health care. Ethnic differences are evident even at first-episode psychosis; therefore, contributory factors must operate prior to first presentation to psychiatric services. This study examines the cultural appropriateness, accessibility, and acceptability of the Early Intervention (EI) for Psychosis Services in Birmingham (the United Kingdom) in improving the experience of care and outcomes for BME patients. Thirteen focus groups were conducted with EI service users ( n = 22), carers ( n = 11), community and voluntary sector organizations ( n = 6), service commissioners ( n = 10), EI professionals ( n = 9), and spiritual care representatives ( n = 8). Data were analyzed using a thematic approach and framework analysis. Findings suggest that service users and carers have multiple, competing, and contrasting explanatory models of illness. For many BME service users, help-seeking involves support from faith/spiritual healers, before seeking medical intervention. EI clinicians perceive that help-seeking from faith institutions in Asian service users might lead to treatment delays. The value of proactively including service user’s religious and spiritual perspectives and experiences in the initial assessment and therapy is recognized. However, clinicians acknowledge that they have limited spiritual/religious or cultural awareness training. There is little collaborative working between mental health services and voluntary and community organizations to meet cultural, spiritual, and individual needs. Mental health services need to develop innovative collaborative models to deliver holistic and person-centered care.
Major court and tribunal decisions in Australia in 2014
Authors: Forsyth Anthony
Published: March 2015

The year 2014 saw the long-awaited ruling by the High Court of Australia on whether an implied term of mutual trust and confidence exists in employment contracts. In unanimously finding against the existence of such a term, in Commonwealth Bank of Australia v Barker (2014) 312 ALR 356, the Court has taken the common law of employment in Australia in a profoundly different direction from that of the United Kingdom. The year also witnessed several other significant decisions dealing with the contract of employment, the general protections provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) and the new anti-bullying jurisdiction of the Fair Work Commission. Major decisions in 2014 also addressed key features of the statutory framework for enterprise agreements and collective bargaining, as well as penalty rates under modern awards.
Reliability and Validity of Skills and Needs Inventories in Functional Behavior Assessments and Interventions for School Personnel
Authors: Dutt Anuradha S. , Chen Iris , Nair Rahul
Published: March 2015

The Skills and Needs Inventories in Functional Behavior Assessments and Intervention (SNI-FBAI) was developed and administered to 338 special educators and 28 teaching support staff across seven special education schools in Singapore. The SNI-FBAI was evaluated in terms of its content, face, and construct validity. Internal consistency was also established. Results of the study indicate that the SNI-FBAI is a reliable and valid measure. With the psychometric properties of the SNI-FBAI established, schools are encouraged to use this scale to assist with meeting professional development needs of their special educators and teaching support staff in functional behavior assessments and interventions.
Theorizing Teacher Agency and Reform
Authors: Bridwell-Mitchell E. N.
Published: March 2015

One reason reform does not dramatically change public schools is because instructional practices are highly institutionalized. This article advances a theory for how teacher agency can both change and maintain institutionalized instructional practices in schools. Based on findings from one U.S. urban public school undergoing state-mandated reform, I assert that three mechanisms drive a particular form of teacher agency. Whether these three mechanisms change or maintain institutionalized instructional practices depends on a set of counterbalancing forces that determine how much innovation versus socialization exists in peer learning; how much cohesion versus diversity is involved in community interactions; and how much cognitive and normative divergence versus convergence characterizes teachers’ shared understandings, aims, and practices. The theory provides a generalizable framework for the activities that help teachers drive outcomes in their schools and for the cognitive and social conditions that may be more likely to result in the effective implementation of reform.
Meeting the Linguistic Needs of High-Potential English Language Learners
Authors: Pereira Nielsen , de Oliveira Luciana C.
Published: March 2015

The population of English language learners (ELLs) in general education classrooms has been increasing over the last few decades. However, ELLs are still underrepresented in gifted programs and teachers struggle to provide these students with adequate educational experiences. What do teachers need to know about high-potential ELLs? What research-based strategies can be used with these students regardless of their language background? Teachers need to know the distinction between everyday and academic languages and about English language proficiency levels. There are strategies and tools that linguistically responsive teachers can use in educating high-potential ELLs.
The Possibilities of Being “Critical”
Authors: Philip Thomas M. , Zavala Miguel
Published: March 2015

Through a close reading of the talk of a self-identified critical educator of color, we explore the contradictions, possibilities, limitations, and consequences of this identity for teachers and teacher educators. We examine how the performances of particular critical educator of color identities problematically intertwine claims of Freirian pedagogy with crude dichotomizations of people as critical and non-critical. We explore how particular tropes limit the productive possibilities of being critical for other educators of color and erase the centrality of dialogue, reflexivity, and unfinishedness that define Freirian-inspired notions of being critical.
“It’s My Safe Space”: Student Voice, Teacher Education, and the Relational Space of an Urban High School
Authors: Butler Jesse K. , Kane Ruth G. , Morshead Christopher E.
Published: March 2015

White Canadian teacher candidates are brought into direct dialogue with urban high school students through a yearlong immersion in a high school with a “demonized” image in the broader community. Interviews with students reveal experiences of school as “my safe space” and the predominance of a student culture not characterized by resistance, but by a positive experience of school as an autonomous relational space. We argue that attention to student voices through extended immersion in urban high schools enables teacher candidates to experience schools as uniquely situated spaces and disrupts the tendency to essentialize urban students and their schools.
Eleanor McElwee and the Formation of IEEE PCS
Authors: Malone Edward A.
Published: March 2015

This article examines the historical professional project that created the Institute of Radio Engineers’ Professional Group on Engineering Writing an Speech (IRE PGEWS)—now called the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ Professional Communication Society (IEEE PCS)—and recounts the group’s early history in detail. It also traces the career and recovers the professional contributions of the main organizer of PGEWS: Eleanor M. McElwee (1924–2008). The formation of PGEWS in 1957 was an intraoccupational strategy of inclusionary usurpation by “publications people” seeking to elevate their status within the engineering profession rather than attempting to build a separate profession of technical communication.
How Professional Writing Pedagogy and University–Workplace Partnerships Can Shape the Mentoring of Workplace Writing
Authors: Kohn Liberty
Published: March 2015

This article analyzes literature on university–workplace partnerships and professional writing pedagogy to suggest best practices for workplace mentors to mentor new employees and their writing. The article suggests that new employees often experience cultural confusion due to (a) the transfer of education-based writing strategies and (b) the employees' lack of cultural knowledge of the new workplace. The article then outlines implied mentoring strategies based upon this transfer and lack of cultural knowledge. The article also analyzes the literature on discourse community theory, activity theory, service learning, and internships, each of which also imply potential mentoring practices. These comprehensive best practices are also contextualized through social cognitive, community–cultural, and motivational–attitudinal components that writing mentors should consider when mentoring writing in the workplace.
Periorbital necrotising fasciitis in infants: Presentation and management of six cases
Authors: Khurana Saurbhi , Pushker Neelam , Naik Sreedhara S , Changole Milind Devidas , Ghonsikar Vishnukant , Bajaj Mandeep
Published: March 2015

Purpose

To present the clinical features and management of infants presenting with periorbital necrotising fasciitis (NF).

Methods

Retrospective case series.

Results

Six children were studied. The age at presentation was in the range of 5–11 months (median, 8 months). All children presented with acute onset eyelid inflammation and necrosis with fever, lethargy and poor oral intake. The management included intravenous antibiotics and repeated surgical debridement. The infection healed by 2–3 weeks in all cases, resulting in cicatricial ectropion and lagophthalmos. Full thickness skin grafting (with a Hughes tarso-conjunctival graft in one child) was performed in all patients at 3–5 weeks subsequently. Repeat surgery was required in three children. Adequate globe coverage and cosmesis was achieved in five children.

Conclusion

NF of eyelids is a potentially fatal infection that requires urgent and vigorous management and heals with sequelae that may need more than one surgical intervention over a period of time. Adequate cosmetic and functional outcomes can be achieved.
Data transfer regulator for wireless teleoperation
Authors: Márton Lőrinc , Haller Piroska , Vajda Tamás , Szántó Zoltán , Sándor Hunor , Szabó Tamás
Published: March 2015

To achieve stability and transparency in bilateral teleoperation systems, it is critical to have reliable communication channels between the master and slave robots. Efficient data transmission algorithms have to be developed which take explicitly into consideration the characteristics of the applied communication medium. This paper introduces a new data transfer rate adjustment algorithm for bilateral teleoperation systems that includes video transmission from the slave side to the master side and uses wireless local area networks (WLANs) as a communication medium. If a high amount of data is transmitted over the wireless network which is used by the teleoperation system, significant delay, jitter and packet loss can be expected in the channels of the teleoperation system. Based on application layer measurements performed in the communication channels with variable delay, the proposed regulator adjusts the video transfer rate. The algorithm is designed using two cost functions which define the transmission quality in the teleoperation channels and the quality of the video displayed to the human operator, respectively. The obtained algorithm is able to maintain the expected value of the delay and delay variation in the communication channels of the bilateral teleoperation system at a predefined level. The performed real-time experiments show the proper behavior of the data transfer regulator on the teleoperation even in the presence of independent network load.
How public is public administration? A constitutional approach of publicness
Authors: Ringeling Arthur
Published: March 2015

Both in Public Administration and in practice, there is a loss of the concept of public. A view became dominant in which markets were superior to governments and public to private. Not only did the esteem of the public sphere diminish, but also its significance in our reasoning and teaching. It became less clear what the public sphere stood for. In this contribution, renewed attention for the concept and for related concepts like public interest and public values is asked for. Attention for these concepts should stimulate the reflection of our students on the relevance of the publicness of public administration, the relevance of the public sphere, the discussions about these subjects and of the study they follow. We should do so because this theme is crucial for our discipline and what it can deliver in education.
Overview of ICRP Committee 5
Authors: Larsson C-M. , Higley K.A. , Real A.
Published: March 2015

The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) established Committee 5 in 2005 in response to the need to provide direct demonstration of environmental protection from radiation in accordance with national law and international agreements. The development of the ICRP system for environmental protection was facilitated by research over the previous decades, as well as by ICRP’s evaluation of the ethical and philosophical basis for environmental protection as laid out in ICRP Publication 91. The 2007 Recommendations ( Publication 103) incorporated environmental protection as one of the integral elements of the radiation protection system. Over a relatively short time, the system has evolved to incorporate a set of 12 Reference Animals and Plants (RAPs), which is a small enough number to develop comprehensive databases for each RAP, but wide ranging enough to provide some insight into radiation impact and protection against such impact, as appropriate, in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. As necessary, the databases can be used to derive supplementary databases for Representative Organisms typical for a particular exposure situation of concern or under study. The system, to date, details biology of the RAPs ( Publication 108); outlines transfer factors for estimation of internal concentrations of radionuclides of environmental significance under different situations ( Publication 114); provides further information ( Publication 108) on dosimetry, biological effects, and derived consideration reference levels (bands of environmental dose rates where potential detrimental effects may deserve attention); and provides information on application of the system in planned, emergency, and existing exposure situations ( Publication 124). Currently, a review of experimental determinations of relative biological effectiveness, to guide derivation of specific weighting factors for use in environmental radiation protection if possible and necessary, is being concluded, as is work on improved dosimetry. Further work in this area involves consolidation of databases, recommendations for derivation of specific databases for Representative Organisms on the basis of the RAP data, and recommendations for application of the system to environmental protection in relation to certain human activities of potential environmental concern. Consideration needs to be made for the wider range of ecosystem effects that may be covered in ecological risk assessments, which incorporate the complete suite of stressors that result from human activity, and their effects, to understand the role of radiation effects in this context.
Internal Corporate Governance and Classification Shifting Practices
Authors: Zalata Alaa , Roberts Clare
Published: March 2015

The corporate governance literature shows that strong internal corporate governance improves the monitoring of managerial discretion over accounting choices. However, most of these studies investigated the role of internal governance in a setting highly regulated through accounting standards, such as the treatment of accruals. Thus, there is little evidence available on whether internal governance collaborates or substitutes for strict accounting regulations. This study therefore investigates whether boards and audit committees also protect shareholders’ interests in areas that are less regulated through generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Non-recurring items are relatively lightly regulated under International Accounting Standard 1 (IAS 1) and there is increasing concern over the use of non-recurring items to mislead investors (i.e., classifying some recurring expenses as non-recurring). This study therefore investigates whether internal corporate governance constrains classification shifting. Using a sample of 713 U.K. firm-year observations, we find that high-quality internal governance, in terms of the overall quality of board and audit committees, mitigates classification shifting, suggesting therefore that strong internal governance tends to act as a substitute for strict accounting standards. In particular, it appears that long tenure and independence help to mitigate classification shifting, and more CEO directors and share ownership instead may lead to lower quality monitoring.
Assessment of the Potential Ototoxicity of High‐Dose Celecoxib, a Selective Cyclooxygenase‐2 Inhibitor, in Rats
Authors: Li Bei , Su Kaiming , Yang Guang , Feng Yanmei , Xia Li , Yin Shankai
Published: March 2015

Objective

To evaluate the potential ototoxicity of high‐dose celecoxib, a selective cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) inhibitor.

Study Design

Prospective animal study.

Setting

Laboratory.

Methods

Twenty adult male Sprague Dawley rats were divided into 2 groups for hearing and tinnitus tests, respectively. The auditory brain‐stem response (ABR) and the gap prepulse inhibition of acoustic startle (GPIAS) were used as indicators of hearing loss and tinnitus, respectively, and were measured before and at 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24, and 48 hours after administration of celecoxib (2 g/kg) via gavage.

Results

ABR threshold and wave III latencies did not increase significantly at any frequency following celecoxib administration, at any time point (P >. 05). GPIAS remained below 30% after celecoxib, from a baseline of 20.03% ± 3.62%; no change was significant.

Conclusion

High‐dose celecoxib (2 g/kg), a selective COX‐2 inhibitor, did not cause hearing loss or tinnitus in Sprague Dawley rats within 48 hours of administration. Further studies are needed to explore the roles played by COX‐related mechanisms when nonselective COX inhibitors induce ototoxicity.
Prolonged Radiant Exposure of the Middle Ear during Transcanal Endoscopic Ear Surgery
Authors: Shah Parth V. , Kozin Elliott D. , Remenschneider Aaron K. , Dedmon Matthew M. , Nakajima Hideko Heidi , Cohen Michael S. , Lee Daniel J.
Published: March 2015

Transcanal endoscopic ear surgery (EES) provides a high‐resolution, wide‐field view of the middle ear compared with the conventional operating microscope, reducing the need for a postauricular incision or mastoidectomy. Our group has shown in cadaveric human temporal bone studies that radiant energy from the endoscope tip can quickly elevate temperatures of the tympanic cavity. Elevated temperatures of the middle ear are associated with acute auditory brainstem response shifts in animal models. In EES, proposed methods to decrease middle ear temperature include frequent removal of the endoscope and the use of suction to rapidly dissipate heat; however, the routine application of such cooling techniques remains unknown. Herein, we aim to quantify the duration that the tympanic cavity is typically exposed to the endoscope during routine endoscopic middle ear surgery. We find that the tympanic cavity is exposed to the endoscope without a cooling mechanism for a prolonged period of time.
Maternal Attitude towards TV Advertising in India
Authors: Singh Raghbir , Kaur Pavleen
Published: March 2015

Children are an important market segment and so marketers frame and direct ad messages to them to seek a favourable response. Advertisements are particularly targeted at children as they have considerable influence over family food purchases. Parents are concerned about extensive exposure of children to ads (foods particularly) which affect consumption behaviour of their children. The nature and extent of mediation that parents undertake to protect their children against negative effects of advertising is seen to be influenced by their attitude towards advertising. As mothers are seen to be the primary caregivers to children, the article explores the attitude of mothers towards advertising on TV in general, children advertising and food advertising directed at children in India. The findings of the present article highlight that Indian mothers hold negative attitude towards advertising in general, for ads directed at children and also for food ads on TV. They strongly voice that promotions are directed at children in an unethical manner. Attitude of mothers towards advertising in general and towards food advertising is found to be different for younger versus older children.
A critical reflection on my learning and its integration into my professional practice
Authors: Cartwright Sally
Published: March 2015

This paper, ‘A critical reflection on my learning and its integration into my professional practice’, was successfully submitted for a Master’s programme at the University of Bath (UK) in 2010, whilst Sally was working full-time as a teacher in a large secondary school in an English town 10 miles from the city of Bath. Sally died of a brain tumour in 2013. By making her writings public she offered the knowledge she created as a gift to the development of the educational knowledge-base of professional educators. While the detail of practice, procedures, policies and regulations change, the learning she offers is as relevant today as it was then. Teachers continue to experience tensions, as Sally did, in trying to be true to their values and improve the educational experience of their students in contexts dominated by economic rationalism. Sally’s account will particularly resonate with teachers who are committed as professional educators to struggling to develop their professional knowledge and contribute to evolving, rather than revolving, educational practice that contributes to the flourishing of their students.
Creating a profession of educators with the living-theories of master and doctor educators
Authors: Whitehead Jack , Huxtable Marie
Published: March 2015

In our last paper in GEI we presented an argument for teachers to engage in Living Educational Theory research as Continuing Professional Development. In this paper we extend our analysis to show how this can empower educators to improve their practice and, by offering as a gift the knowledge they generate in the process, contribute to the creation of a profession of educators. The extension is grounded in the idea of enhancing professionalism in education through recognising and accrediting accounts of living-educational-theories as knowledge generated by professional practitioners as master and doctor educators. We distinguish Living Educational Theory research from a living-educational-theory. Living Educational Theory research refers to the conceptual principles that distinguish the research approach. A living-educational-theory is a values-based explanation offered by an individual of their educational influence in their own learning, the learning of others and the learning of social formations. It is argued that for this knowledge to be legitimated by universities, in the form of accredited awards, an extension and transformation will be required in the dominating forms of knowledge. It is also argued that educators teaching in continuing professional development programmes need to develop their talents, knowledge and expertise by researching their own practice in the same way as the teachers they are supporting. In doing so they exemplify an educational pedagogy appropriate to providing gifted education internationally for students of any age.
Design and implementation of a mobile crime analysis and monitoring system (MCAM) based on service-oriented architecture (SOA)
Authors: Khemprasit Jintana , Esichaikul Vatcharaporn
Published: March 2015

Globally, crime is a major societal problem. To control crime effectively, police forces require new systems for analysis and monitoring. Crime analysis and monitoring integrates data from different government agencies. Many types of data are collected from multiple heterogeneous sources in different formats and from different platforms. In this study, the problems and requirements of the police in crime analysis and monitoring are summarized and solutions are presented. The primary objective of this study is to propose the design and implementation of a mobile crime analysis and monitoring system based on service-oriented architecture (SOA) that can support data exchange and model sharing from heterogeneous systems. To develop this system, the SOA-based structure is used as the foundation to design and implement the system. The system architecture, business process, and methodologies for locating the nearest police are constructed based on SOA. The developed system is evaluated to measure its efficiency and effectiveness. Time is used for measuring the efficiency and the accuracy of the reported cases is used for measuring the effectiveness of the developed system. The evaluation results confirm that the developed system increases the efficiency of police operations by approximately 60% with an effectiveness increase of 84%.
Understanding Internet of Things (IoT) diffusion
Authors: Hwang Yoon-Min , Kim Moon Gyu , Rho Jae-Jeung
Published: March 2015

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a representative technological innovation for future computing and communications. IoT technologies such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and sensors have garnered huge attention in both academia and industry. However, the expected rapid adoption and diffusion of IoT technologies have not yet taken place and there is still a lack of understanding about IoT and how industries can apply IoT properly. To understand IoT utilization, predict the diffusion trends of IoT, and provide reliable guidelines for potential IoT adopters, this study investigated the value configuration of IoT technologies, focusing on the utilization of specific technology attributes of IoT in particular business contexts. Based on 762 IoT business cases (2008–2012), this study explored the technology attributes and business contexts of IoT usage and identified five representative value configuration models of IoT through cluster analysis: ID-based service model, Multiple operation management model, Service-combined inventory management model, Intelligent inventory transport model, and Sensor-based multiple service model. In addition, propositions for IoT utilization in each industry were provided according to the five value configuration models. The research results provide a holistic view for understanding IoT utilization in various business areas and the value configuration framework approach provides a more elaborate frame to understand diffusion trends of new technology.
Burden, blessing or both? On the mixed role of transnational ties in migrant informal social support
Authors: Boccagni Paolo
Published: March 2015

This article revisits migrants’ informal social support by exploring their exchanges of material and immaterial resources with the family members left behind. The latter are typically constructed as net beneficiaries of migrants’ struggles for a livelihood abroad, and even as a potential constraint on their self-realization. Building on a qualitative study of Ecuadorian domestic workers in Italy, the author explores – instead – whether left-behind kin are also, potentially, a source of social support for them. In fact, transnational family relationships can facilitate the circulation of welfare-relevant resources from both sides. While migrants are expected to transnationally share the benefits of better life conditions abroad, ‘what’ they left behind contributes to their personal wellbeing in three respects: reverse remittances, emotional support and the provision of a locus for cultivating nostalgia, attachment and social status. The mixed influence of home-related family ties and obligations is assessed against the backdrop of migrants’ life course and patterns of integration. Overall, their interdependence with left-behinds is a source of benefits, and costs, which should not go unnoticed.
Self-help relaxation for post-stroke anxiety: a randomised, controlled pilot study
Authors: Golding Katherine , Kneebone Ian , Fife-Schaw Chris
Published: March 2015

Objective:

To consider relaxation as a potential treatment for anxiety in stroke survivors living in the community, including feasibility and acceptability.

Design:

Randomised two group design (intervention and control).

Participants:

All participants ( n = 21) were stroke survivors living in the community who reported experiencing anxiety (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale - Anxiety Subscale ⩾ 6).

Interventions:

The intervention group were asked to listen to a self-help autogenic relaxation CD, five times a week, for at least one month. Participants completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale at screening and then monthly for three months.

Results:

At each assessment following screening, participants who received the relaxation training were significantly more likely to report reduced anxiety compared to those who had not received the training (Month 1 P = 0.002; Month 2 P < 0.001; Month 3 P = 0.001). After one month, seven of the intervention group ( n = 10) had completed the relaxation training as directed and planned to continue using it. The intervention appeared practical to deliver and relatively inexpensive, with minimal adverse effects.

Conclusions:

Preliminary evidence suggests that autogenic relaxation training delivered in a self-help CD format is a feasible and acceptable intervention, and that anxiety is reduced in stroke survivors who received the intervention. Future studies should seek to recruit a larger and more heterogeneous sample of 70 participants.
The effectiveness of a neck and shoulder stretching exercise program among office workers with neck pain: a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Tunwattanapong Punjama , Kongkasuwan Ratcharin , Kuptniratsaikul Vilai
Published: March 2015

Objective:

To determine the effectiveness of neck and shoulder stretching exercises for relief neck pain among office workers.

Design:

Randomized controlled trial.

Setting:

An outpatient setting.

Participants:

A total of 96 subjects with moderate-to-severe neck pain (visual analogue score ⩾5/10) for ⩾3 months.

Interventions:

All participants received an informative brochure indicating the proper position and ergonomics to be applied during daily work. The treatment group received the additional instruction to perform neck and around shoulder stretching exercises two times/day, five days/week during four weeks.

Main outcomes:

Pain, neck functions, and quality of life were evaluated at baseline and week 4 using pain visual analogue scale, Northwick Park Neck Pain Questionnaire, and Short Form-36, respectively.

Results:

Both groups had comparable baseline data. All outcomes were improved significantly from baseline. When compared between groups, the magnitude of improvement was significantly greater in the treatment group than in the control group (–1.4; 95% CI: –2.2, –0.7 for visual analogue scale; –4.8; 95% CI: –9.3, –0.4 for Northwick Park Neck Pain Questionnaire; and 14.0; 95% CI: 7.1, 20.9 for physical dimension of the Short Form-36). Compared with the patients who performed exercises <3 times/week, those who exercised ⩾3 times/week yielded significantly greater improvement in neck function and physical dimension of quality of life scores ( p = 0.005 and p = 0.018, respectively).

Conclusion:

A regular stretching exercise program performed for four weeks can decrease neck and shoulder pain and improve neck function and quality of life for office workers who have chronic moderate-to-severe neck or shoulder pain.