bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Subjectivity and Inadvertence in Computational Art
Authors: Germen Murat
Published: September 2015

Creativity is stochastic and assumptive in nature. The importance of randomness in the creative process must not be ignored, underestimated or intentionally disregarded in a condescending way. Notions of chance, randomness, or unpredictability are much important, especially when it comes to artistic creation. In addition to above notions, serendipity can be seen as the expected contribution for making expedient discoveries by coincidence, by chance. To put serendipity into work, there is need to accumulate a list of questions that need solving, acquaintance with already existing answers, and their use in daily life. Only when this knowledge is present, ‘chance' can take its part in establishing the perfect milieu for the ‘problem' and the ‘solution' to find each other. If there is already a great deal of knowledge accrued in our minds about the problem and the requisites for the solution, chance adds the final piece to the puzzle. It is when we can start to talk about a traditional ‘prescriptive, authoritarian and rather conventional' aesthetics vs. a new ‘generative, irregular, unprescribed' aesthetics.
Computerisation of Clinical Pathways
Authors: Tehrani Jasmine
Published: September 2015

Patient safety incidents are becoming more common in medical situations. The challenge of achieving significant improvements in patient safety is one of the key tasks facing healthcare at the start of the 21st century. Clinical pathways and clinical guidelines provide a measure of standardisation to help reduce medical error, but are often manually created and also prone to human error. This chapter explores the error issues regarding clinical pathways. It presents a method for generating clinical pathways from a semiotic perspective that can addresses social and informal/safety factors which conspire to influence the outcome of patient interaction and safety.
A Systemic, Participative Design of Decision Support Services for Clinical Research
Authors: Quimbaya Alexandra Pomares , González Rafael A. , Bohórquez Wilson Ricardo , Muñoz Oscar , García Olga Milena , Londoño Dario
Published: September 2015

Development of IT-based services to support decision-making in healthcare should be guided by the following considerations: rigor, relevance, user-centered participation and inclusion of the best practices for IT-based service systems. In this paper, the balance between rigor and relevance is achieved by following the design science research methodology; user-centered participation is tackled from the socio-technical tradition in information systems; best practices considered in the planning, design and implementation of the services are informed by the MOF framework. Moreover, and considering the premise that these pillars should holistically converge, this research has been approached from a systemic stance where iterative, participative, socio-technical activities have allowed the effective collaboration between information systems researchers, clinical researchers, medical staff and administrative hospital personnel. This paper argues for a move towards enhancing systemic, participative, design-centered service systems engineering by reporting a case which applies these concepts for providing decision-support services, enabled by data and text mining techniques, to contribute to clinical research and administration by being able to search electronic health records where narrative text hides meaningful information that would otherwise require a time-consuming human revision of these records.
Healthinfo Engineering
Authors: Huang Anpeng , Xie Linzhen
Published: September 2015

Driven by the commission to proliferate information and communication technologies to health services globally, a new multidisciplinary direction is born, which can be named as Health Information (termed as a new word, Healthinfo) Engineering. To highlight the significances of Healthinfo Engineering, the evidence-based mHealth study in the WE-CARE project demonstrates technology perspectives. In this project, the authors built up a WE-CARE system, which integrate various necessary information and communication technologies to fulfill online healthcare services, even including advances from related math/modelling, physics sciences, etc. Without any doubt, such a system is a promising tool to change healthcare delivery. But this project also reveals there are many explicit and implicit factors left when using system-level integration in order to perform healthinfo applications. In general, in contrast to an explicit factor, an implicit factor is hidden from practical applications, which is the critical risk that may break down a healthinfo system. This phenomenon motivates us to investigate what's real bottlenecks in healthinfo systems. Based on the motivation, this paper summarizes healthinfo challenges from evidence study in the WE-CARE project, for instance, scheduling strategy, system light-loading, virtual clinical perception, privacy protection, etc. This technology summary shows that more extensive attention should be needed for healthinfo study not only in mobile and medical areas, and also in computer science, maths, physics, even including ethic, law, etc. In return, the new interdisciplinary cutting-edge science, Healthinfo Engineering, can make contributions to offer a practical life-cycle health management for all human being, including cancer supportive care.
A System for the Semi-Automatic Evaluation of Clinical Practice Guideline Indicators
Authors: Quimbaya Alexandra Pomares , Amórtegui María Patricia , González Rafael A. , Muñoz Oscar , Bohórquez Wilson Ricardo , García Olga Milena , Ascanio Melany Montagut
Published: September 2015

This paper presents EXEMED v2, a system that allows the evaluation of clinical practice guideline indicators. EXEMED v2 includes a knowledge base that supports the definition of executable rules applied over Electronic Health Records (EHR) in order to measure its compliance with a specific clinical guideline. Taking into account that an EHR may include structured attributes and narrative text attributes, EXEMED v2 analyzes both types. The process of evaluation in EXEMED v2 is to define the rules; once the rules are defined EXEMED v2 extracts from the EHR the facts that allow evaluating whether each one of them was accomplished or not. This evaluation includes different levels of certainty, allowing in some cases the interaction of a human evaluator to confirm (or not) automatic evaluation decisions. The functionality of EXEMED v2 was validated applying it in a case study of Acute Myocardial Infarction.
Inclusive Technology for Rural Development
Authors: Mohapatra Sanjay , Agarwal Neha
Published: September 2015

This is a research work on usage of information and communication technology to address the loopholes in the existing system in rural India and suggest an improved way of catering to basic utility services to common people for betterment of their life. The work links all utility related discrete businesses on a common platform and creates a win-win situation for all stakeholders. The model proposed is trying to use mobile phones as a universal communication tool while providing social services in a rural call centre. The work also addresses the relative ranking of services in rural areas based on baseline survey as rural people spend 80% of their expense on obtaining health, transport, and education related information by frequent visits to urban areas. If this model is implemented then it will save time, cost and transport expenses on frequent visit and customer will enjoy the information, tips, and emergency guide line.
Human and Organizational Factors of Healthcare Data Breaches
Authors: Kamoun Faouzi , Nicho Mathew
Published: September 2015

Over the past few years, concerns related to healthcare data privacy have been mounting since healthcare information has become more digitized, distributed and mobile. However, very little is known about the root cause of data breach incidents; making it difficult for healthcare organizations to establish proper security controls and defenses. Through a systematic review and synthesis of data breaches literature, and using databases of earlier reported healthcare data breaches, the authors re-examine and analyze the causal factors behind healthcare data breaches. The authors then use the Swiss Cheese Model (SCM) to shed light on the technical, organizational and human factors of these breaches. The author's research suggests that incorporating the SCM concepts into the healthcare security policies and procedures can assist healthcare providers in assessing the vulnerabilities and risks associated with the maintenance and transmission of protected health information.
Mobile Health Services
Authors: Nisha Nabila , Iqbal Mehree , Rifat Afrin , Idrish Sherina
Published: September 2015

Today, information and communication technology (ICTs) are influencing health system development across many developing countries, particularly through the application of mobile communications. As such, there has been an initiation of a new paradigm of mobile health services which has made healthcare delivery more accessible, affordable and effective. However, such service delivery platform has been mainly targeted towards the rural population, so there is growing concerns about its acceptance and future use intentions in the urban areas. The aim of this paper is to examine and critically assess the underlying factors that can influence future use intentions of mHealth services in the context of Bangladesh. The conceptual model of the study identifies that information quality, facilitating conditions, trust and effort expectancy plays an important role in capturing users' overall perceptions of mobile health services. Finally, the study highlights the managerial implications, future research directions and limitations from the perspective of Bangladesh.
Service Evolution in Clouds for Dementia Patient Monitoring System Usability Enhancement
Authors: Wang Zhe , Cheng Guojian
Published: September 2015

The authors present an analysis which concludes that most e-health system are packaged for large-scale access through cloud-based services shared in a real-time service deployment environment. The service, which has already been deployed in the clouds for e-health construction, needs to instantly change itself in order to enhance the usability for the patients, especially for the dementia patient monitoring system. The evolution for the service in cloud-based systems can be driven fundamentally based on the service function improvement, quality of service improvement, and service collaboration improvement, which can greatly enhance the usability of the dementia patient monitoring system and dynamically enlarge the life-cycle of the current service system in clouds without replacing the reusable service components. The quality of service evolution of the dementia patient monitoring system is essential because the system reliability and instant messaging sending ability is needed in the dementia patient monitoring system. The system should be as reliable as possible for its undertaken the people's life and healthy ensure for all those who use the system.
Acute Non-Atherosclerotic ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction in an Adolescent with Concurrent Hemoglobin H-Constant Spring Disease and Polycythemia Vera
Authors: Rattarittamrong Ekarat , Norasetthada Lalita , Tantiworawit Adisak , Chai-Adisaksopha Chatree , Hantrakool Sasinee , Rattanathammethee Thanawat , Charoenkwan Pimlak
Published: September 2015

Thrombosis is a major complication of polycythemia vera (PV) and also a well-known complication of thalassemia. We reported a case of non-atherosclerotic ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in a 17- year-old man with concurrent post-splenectomized hemoglobin H-Constant Spring disease and JAK2 V617F mutation-positive PV. The patient initially presented with extreme thrombocytosis (platelet counts greater than 1,000,000/μL) and three months later developed an acute STEMI. Coronary artery angiography revealed an acute clot in the right coronary artery without atherosclerotic plaque. He was treated with plateletpheresis, hydroxyurea and antiplatelet agents. The platelet count decreased and his symptoms improved. This case represents the importance of early diagnosis, awareness of the increased risk for thrombotic complications, and early treatment of PV in patients who have underlying thalassemia with marked thrombocytosis.
The Widening Gulf between Genomics Data Generation and Consumption: A Practical Guide to Big Data Transfer Technology
Authors: Feltus Frank A. , Breen Joseph R. , Deng Juan , Izard Ryan S. , Konger Christopher A. , Ligon Walter B. , Preuss Don , Wang Kuang-Ching
Published: September 2015

In the last decade, high-throughput DNA sequencing has become a disruptive technology and pushed the life sciences into a distributed ecosystem of sequence data producers and consumers. Given the power of genomics and declining sequencing costs, biology is an emerging “Big Data” discipline that will soon enter the exabyte data range when all subdisciplines are combined. These datasets must be transferred across commercial and research networks in creative ways since sending data without thought can have serious consequences on data processing time frames. Thus, it is imperative that biologists, bioinformaticians, and information technology engineers recalibrate data processing paradigms to fit this emerging reality. This review attempts to provide a snapshot of Big Data transfer across networks, which is often overlooked by many biologists. Specifically, we discuss four key areas: 1) data transfer networks, protocols, and applications; 2) data transfer security including encryption, access, firewalls, and the Science DMZ; 3) data flow control with software-defined networking; and 4) data storage, staging, archiving and access. A primary intention of this article is to orient the biologist in key aspects of the data transfer process in order to frame their genomics-oriented needs to enterprise IT professionals.
Activated Leukocyte Cell Adhesion Molecule (ALCAM) in Saudi Breast Cancer Patients as Prognostic and Predictive Indicator
Authors: Al-Shehri Fawziah S. , Azeem Eman M. Abd EL
Published: September 2015

Background

Activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecules (ALCAMs) play an essential role in tumor metastasis and are higher in some patients with breast cancer.

AIM

This study aimed to evaluate ALCAM as an early diagnostic biomarker for breast cancer and how it compares with other markers.

Subjects and Methods

One-hundred and sixty-one women were selected for this study. They were divided into three groups: Group 1 consisted of 42 healthy individuals (control) while a patients groups divided into two groups according to tumour grade, Group II, Include 58 breast cancer patient's grade II and Group III, Include 61 patients with grade III of breast cancer. Tumour markers CEA, CA 15–3 and s ALCAM levels were determined and Group 2 consisted of breast cancer patients.

Results

A highly significant elevation was recorded in s ALCAM, CA 15–3 and CEA. Percent change for grade II and grade III were [sALCAM (90, 127)], [CA15–3 (40, 72)] and [CEA (33, 156)]. Operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the biomarkers ALCAM, CA15–3 and CEA with area under the curve (AUC) of (0.99 & 1.0) (AUC 0.947 & 0.99) and (AUC 0.88 & 0.94) for grade II and grade III respectively the incremental values of AUC were statistically highly significant (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

It could be concluded that serum ALCAM concentration represents a suitable biomarker for Saudi arabian breast carcinoma with high sensitivity and has the potential to be used as a diagnostic tool comparable to CA15–3 and CEA.
Diagnosis about Integration process of youth foreign Catalan
Authors: Sabariego Puig Marta , Palou Julián Berta , Luna González Esther
Published: September 2015

This paper presents the results of a diagnostic study on the real integration process of young migrants in Catalonia. The study was carried out using a descriptive survey of 3,830 young Catalans from varying cultural backgrounds aged between 14 and 18, with the aim of identifying the key factors influencing the integration of Catalan migrant youth. Also, in order to analyze these key elements in greater depth as factors easing and/or obstructing integration, four discussion groups were held with the same young people. Results reveal achievements and challenges for further study, useful for the design of social and educational policies which may promote the integration process, understood in its structural, social, cognitive-cultural and identitary dimensions. Our study confirms the need for a society with pluralistic beliefs, principles and actions, which should be reflected in democratic systems and social and educational policies based on the concept of integration as reciprocity.
Online review courses as preparation for first term remedial exams
Authors: Domínguez-Reyes Ricardo , Meléndez Juan , Hernández-Pérez Aarón
Published: September 2015

At Universidad Carlos III de Madrid we have developed a review course (R-Course) with a SPOC structure intended for students who failed the first term regular exams. The purpose of the course is to help students prepare for the remedial exams at the same time they study the second term courses. The R-Course is implemented in an Open-EDX platform that holds digital documents, both theory and solved exercise videos, platform integrated exercises, and forums. The content of the course is divided in videos of less than 10 minutes in length, allowing students to include the R-Course in any schedule and making it compatible with the second term courses. Interactive platform integrated exercises have been devised under different types of methodologies to increase the motivation of the students, and the platform forums give students and tutors a space to discuss and interact for a well-rounded academic experience.
Determinants of Entrepreneurial Intention among University Students: Case of Albania
Authors: Garo E. , Kume V. , Basho S.
Published: September 2015

In Albania, during the last decades entrepreneurship has been in focus. It is commonly agreed that developing entrepreneurship in the long term would be translated into sustainable economic development. Albanian economy, being an economy in transition greatly and urgently needs to invest into increasing the number of entrepreneurs in the country. Entrepreneurial intention is considered to be really important. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to observe the determinants of entrepreneurial intention in Albania. The target is university students. Many programs that foster entrepreneurship such as incubator centers, business plan competitions along with new educational practices have been developed. In addition, even though studies conducting in this field are few, Albanian education institutions have shown a willing to study the factors influencing entrepreneurship development. The reason is the belief that developing and supporting entrepreneurial activities among youth will positively influence the economy of the country in terms of economic growth.

This study widely represents the Albanian students and shows the deteminants of entrepreneurial intention they have. Hopefully the findings of this study would be useful to the policy makers and the Albanian government to undertake effective policies focused on entrepreneurial activity; targeting economic development of the country. 
Positive Institutions and their relationship with transformational leadership, empathy and team performance
Authors: Solares Menegazzo Jessica , Cruz-Ortiz Valeria , Ortega-Maldonado Alberto , Salanova Marisa
Published: September 2015

The current study tests the relationship between transformational leadership, empathy and excellent team performance, based on the HEalthy & Resilient Organizations (HERO) Model (Salanova, Llorens, Cifre & Martínez, 2012) in positive institutions, the third pillar of positive psychology (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). The study of empathy and its role in companies is important because it is not yet widely known the benefits that can provide to any institution. The study attempt to show a full mediating role of empathy in this relationship. The sample consist on  69 work teams, from 7 Small -and Medium- sized Enterprises (SMEs) including 4 educational institutions and 3 institutions of medical services from Spain. The Interclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC1 and ICC2) and the Average Deviation Index (ADM(J)) supports data aggregation at the team level. The results using SEM, through work teams, supported the hypothesis, that is, the empathy plays a full mediating role between transformational leadership and excellent team performance. Finally, theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.
An interdisciplinary complex problem as a starting point for learning: Impact of the PBL method in second-year Environmental engineering students
Authors: Saez de Camara E. , Lopez-Urionabarrenechea A. , Azpiazu M. N. , Ruiz de Arbulo P. , Insunza G.
Published: September 2015

Three courses of the second year degree in Environmental Engineering (Geology and Pedology, Ecology and Economics and Business Administration) have been remodeled using the Problem-Based Learning methodology. The proposed problem is a real-life and integrative problem related to their specialization which must be solved in these three courses at the same time. The results reveal that during this experience students were considerably more active, cooperative and involved, and the success rate doubled that of similar engineering courses of the Faculty. Regarding students’ opinion, it should be emphasized that they perceive that this method is functional and encouraging. A high percentage of the students describe the experience as positive or very positive. Additionally, they stated that the Problem-Based Learning promoted the development of skills that, in their own view, are essential for their career, such as teamwork and communication.
Digital Signage: An Experience of Innovation in Higher Education
Authors: Roger-Monzó Vanessa , Guijarro-García María , Martí-Sánchez Myriam
Published: September 2015

This project on teaching innovation was developed in ESIC Business & Marketing School Valencia and is based on the educational opportunities provided by Digital Signage. This paper describes the different phases undertaken to implement a flexible teaching method that counted on the participation of 43 third-year undergraduate students of Communication and Public Relations during two consecutive academic years (2013-2015). The objectives of this project are to promote educational innovation through the creation of a work structure led by teachers and to encourage students´ independent learning in the process of constructing knowledge through the development of the most appropriate visual designs for the transmission of information and advertising messages from the school. To achieve this, students have used Photoshop, Flash and Premiere software. The obtained results show that this project helps to encourage assimilation and implementation of key concepts in the field of creativity, graphic design and content management. The project also supports that teachers involved in the project should improve education quality by pooling and making the most of the best practices they have implemented on new methodologies in teaching and the development of their subject matters.
Acquisition of transversal skills through PBL: a study of the perceptions of the students and teachers in materials science courses in engineering
Authors: Moliner M. Lidón , Guraya Teresa , Lopez-Crespo Pablo , Royo Marta , Gamez-Perez José , Segarra Mercè , Cabedo Luis
Published: September 2015

The main goal of this work is describing the experience in using Project Based Learning (PBL) methodology in Materials Science courses in several Engineering degrees. The courses were taught simultaneously in four different Spanish universities. In addition, the impact of this proposal on the acquisition of transversal skills through the perceptions of students and teachers is assessed. In order to do so, voices of over 54 students and 5 lecturers involved in the work have been gathered and studied descriptively. Discussion groups and self-reports have been collected and subsequently analysed. The analysis of the data collected by these two instruments has been coded and categorized into general dimensions. The results show how, through the PBL, self-learning is encouraged and the development of transversal skills such as teamwork are enhanced. Meanwhile, the lecturers consider PBL an appropriate methodology for Materials Science courses; however its implementation requires a higher work load. The faculty acknowledged PBL as a very interesting tool to work and evaluate transversal competences. Hence, the PBL methodology stands as one of the most effective methods that meet the demands of the 21st century and enables students to acquire not only content based knowledge, but also other abilities.
Sources, seasonality, and trends of southeast US aerosol: an integrated analysis of surface, aircraft, and satellite observations with the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model
Authors: Kim P. S. , Jacob D. J. , Fisher J. A. , Travis K. , Yu K. , Zhu L. , Yantosca R. M. , Sulprizio M. P. , Jimenez J. L. , Campuzano-Jost P. , Froyd K. D. , Liao J. , Hair J. W. , Fenn M. A. , Butler C. F. , Wagner N. L. , Gordon T. D. , Welti A. , Wennberg P. O. , Crounse J. D. , St. Clair J. M. , Teng A. P. , Millet D. B. , Schwarz J. P. , Markovic M. Z. , Perring A. E.
Published: September 2015

Abstract. We use an ensemble of surface (EPA CSN, IMPROVE, SEARCH, AERONET), aircraft (SEAC4RS), and satellite (MODIS, MISR) observations over the southeast US during the summer–fall of 2013 to better understand aerosol sources in the region and the relationship between surface particulate matter (PM) and aerosol optical depth (AOD). The GEOS-Chem global chemical transport model (CTM) with 25 × 25 km2 resolution over North America is used as a common platform to interpret measurements of different aerosol variables made at different times and locations. Sulfate and organic aerosol (OA) are the main contributors to surface PM2.5 (mass concentration of PM finer than 2.5 μm aerodynamic diameter) and AOD over the southeast US. OA is simulated successfully with a simple parameterization, assuming irreversible uptake of low-volatility products of hydrocarbon oxidation. Biogenic isoprene and monoterpenes account for 60 % of OA, anthropogenic sources for 30 %, and open fires for 10 %. 60 % of total aerosol mass is in the mixed layer below 1.5 km, 25 % in the cloud convective layer at 1.5–3 km, and 15 % in the free troposphere above 3 km. This vertical profile is well captured by GEOS-Chem, arguing against a high-altitude source of OA. The extent of sulfate neutralization (f = [NH4+]/(2[SO42−] + [NO3−]) is only 0.5–0.7 mol mol−1 in the observations, despite an excess of ammonia present, which could reflect suppression of ammonia uptake by OA. This would explain the long-term decline of ammonium aerosol in the southeast US, paralleling that of sulfate. The vertical profile of aerosol extinction over the southeast US follows closely that of aerosol mass. GEOS-Chem reproduces observed total column aerosol mass over the southeast US within 6 %, column aerosol extinction within 16 %, and space-based AOD within 8–28 % (consistently biased low). The large AOD decline observed from summer to winter is driven by sharp declines in both sulfate and OA from August to October. These declines are due to shutdowns in both biogenic emissions and UV-driven photochemistry. Surface PM2.5 shows far less summer-to-winter decrease than AOD and we attribute this in part to the offsetting effect of weaker boundary layer ventilation. The SEAC4RS aircraft data demonstrate that AODs measured from space are consistent with surface PM2.5. This implies that satellites can be used reliably to infer surface PM2.5 over monthly timescales if a good CTM representation of the aerosol vertical profile is available.
Astronomical calibration of the geological timescale: closing the middle Eocene gap
Authors: Westerhold T. , Röhl U. , Frederichs T. , Bohaty S. M. , Zachos J. C.
Published: September 2015

Abstract. To explore cause and consequences of past climate change, very accurate age models such as those provided by the astronomical timescale (ATS) are needed. Beyond 40 million years the accuracy of the ATS critically depends on the correctness of orbital models and radioisotopic dating techniques. Discrepancies in the age dating of sedimentary successions and the lack of suitable records spanning the middle Eocene have prevented development of a continuous astronomically calibrated geological timescale for the entire Cenozoic Era. We now solve this problem by constructing an independent astrochronological stratigraphy based on Earth's stable 405 kyr eccentricity cycle between 41 and 48 million years ago (Ma) with new data from deep-sea sedimentary sequences in the South Atlantic Ocean. This new link completes the Paleogene astronomical timescale and confirms the intercalibration of radioisotopic and astronomical dating methods back through the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, 55.930 Ma) and the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary (66.022 Ma). Coupling of the Paleogene 405 kyr cyclostratigraphic frameworks across the middle Eocene further paves the way for extending the ATS into the Mesozoic.
Severe Mushroom Poisoning in One Macedonian Family
Authors: Chibishev Andon , Perevska Zanina , Simonovska Natasha , Petkovska Lidija , Miletic Milena , Shikole Emilija
Published: September 2015

Background

Collecting and consuming wild mushrooms is a historical tradition in many European countries, including The Republic of Macedonia. This activity is predominantly performed in the period between June and October, when the weather is warm and humidity in the air and soil is at higher levels. The Amanita genus consists of 500 different species of mushrooms; among these, Amanita phaloides, Amanita virosa and Amanita verna are most commonly found in oak forests in our country. These species are highly poisonous and because they can be similar to some edible mushrooms, they have often been misidentified. Their consumption causes severe intoxication.

Purpose

The aim of this case series report is to demonstrate a severe poisoning with Amanita mushrooms ( A. verna) that occurred in 8 patients, all from 1 Macedonian family.

Results

We show the differences in the clinical appearance and status of these patients, the wide spectrum of symptoms as well as the treatment and outcome of this rare poisoning. One patient, an 8-month-old baby, was excluded from the study because the infant was immediately transferred to the pediatric clinic after admission to our clinic.

Conclusions

Despite modern therapy, poisoning due to ingestion of Amanita mushrooms is a serious clinical and health problem that may even be potentially lethal. The most efficient way for the general public to protect itself against potential poisoning is to avoid ingesting mushrooms that may not be edible.
Martin Delrio
Authors: Machielsen Jan
Published: September 2015

The protagonist of this study, the Jesuit Martin Delrio (1551–1608), is a largely forgotten figure, purposefully elided from many of the scholarly and religious spheres to which he contributed. To the extent that he is remembered today it is for his Disquisitiones magicae (1599–1600), a study of witchcraft and superstition that went through numerous editions and was last reprinted in 1755. The present volume recovers the lost world of Delrio’s wider scholarship and shows that the Disquisitiones, removed from this context, has been widely misunderstood. Martin Delrio, as a friend of the Flemish philosopher Justus Lipsius and an enemy of the Huguenot scholar Joseph Scaliger played an important part in the confessional Republic of Letters. As the editor of classical texts, notably Senecan tragedy, he had a number of philological achievements to his name. Delrio’s scholarship after his admission to the Society of Jesus (the Disquisitiones included) marked an important contribution to wider Counter-Reformation scholarship. Catholic contemporaries accordingly rated him highly, as evidenced by a published Vita, but later generations proved less kind. In an important chapter, the book demonstrates that demonology, in Delrio’s hands, was a textual science, an insight that sheds new light on the way witchcraft was believed in. At the same time, the book also develops a wider argument about the significance of Delrio’s scholarship, arguing that the Counter-Reformation must be seen as a textual project and Delrio’s contribution to it as the product of a mindset forged in its fragile borderlands.
From Istanbul with Love
Authors: Alves Jorge Santos
Published: September 2015

The political and diplomatic contacts established over the course of the 1560s are one of the most important chronological and symbolic landmarks of relations between the Sultanate of Aceh and the Ottoman Empire. Recently discovered documents from several European archives have revealed new protagonists, facts, and political, diplomatic and economic articulations encompassing the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, with important ramifications for Southeast Asia. This chapter focuses, above all, on the activities of the espionage and counter-espionage networks, based in Istanbul, but scattered across various Mediterranean ports. These networks were headed by eminent figures from the Jewish and Portuguese New Christian financial and commercial circles, who were close to Süleyman I as well as his successor Selim II. The intelligence produced by these networks during the 1560s is mainly focused on the spice routes from Southeast Asia (particularly Aceh) through the Maldives to the Red Sea.
‘We Hope to Raise the Bendera Stambul’
Authors: Malhi Amrita
Published: September 2015

In the decades between the 1870s and the 1920s, groups of Malay Muslims circulated symbols of the Ottoman Caliphate in gestures of defiance against British colonial intervention on the Malay peninsula. This was the period of ‘forward movement’, in which Britain progressively colonised successive Malay States, and it roughly coincided with the European confrontations which produced the First World War, Ottoman collapse, and the abolition of the Caliphate. At peninsular and global scales, these developments advanced the geo-body as the only legitimate means by which to organise territory. As a result, the Muslim world located around the Indian Ocean was decisively divided into a series of discrete, contiguous states, fragmenting the ummah, its latent political community. Malayan invocations of the Caliphate were local responses to this global reorganisation, of which peninsular colonisation formed an important and disruptive part.
A conscientização e a percepção pós-consumo de produto tóxico na visão dos consumidores
Authors: Streck Letiane , Madruga Lúcia Rejane da Rosa Gama , Ãvila Lucas Veiga
Published: September 2015

As lâmpadas fluorescentes, também conhecidas como lâmpadas econômicas, sofreram ampliação em sua fabricação e consumo nos anos 2000, devido ao programa de redução energética do governo brasileiro. Porém, ao mesmo tempo em que o consumo deste produto crescia, poucas legislações e informações versavam a respeito de seu destino pós- consumo. O presente trabalho apresenta o resultado da pesquisa realizada com a população santa-mariense participante da 26º Edição da FEISMA – Multifeira de Santa Maria - RS. O objetivo deste trabalho consistiu fundamentalmente em investigar as práticas de descarte e o nível de consciência dos consumidores em relação ao resíduo sólido lâmpada fluorescente. Foram inclusos no estudo, variáveis relacionadas ao grau de consciência ambiental, atitudes em relação à destinação sustentável, periculosidade e toxidade dos componentes e o nível de conhecimento de leis e empresas que recolhem este produto. Os resultados apontam um considerável nível de consciência entre os participantes, porém baixo nível de conhecimento de leis e práticas adequadas de destinação final.
Estudo comparativo entre agricultura orgânica e convencional no cultivo de morango em Rancho Queimado (SC)
Authors: Silva Junior Paulo Bispo da , Souza Paula de , Souza Rosimeri Maria de , Lunkes Rogério João
Published: September 2015

Os primeiros sistemas de cultivo existentes no mundo eram orgânicos, praticados nos arredores das moradias dos produtores em terras fertilizadas naturalmente, sem exigir um adicional de qualidade. Mas, após a Revolução Industrial houve um grande aumento do uso da adubação química na atividade agrícola, deixando de considerar os custos econômico, social e ambiental para se obter um maior rendimento da cultura. Nesse contexto, este artigo tem como objetivo realizar uma análise comparativa do cultivo de morango na agricultura orgânica e convencional em Rancho Queimado/SC. Para atingir tal finalidade, foram aplicados questionários in loco com produtores de ambos os sistemas de cultivo, composto por indicadores sociais, ambientais e econômicos, que compreendem desde o histórico do agricultor e da propriedade; posse da terra; tamanho da propriedade; até as formas de venda do produto. Os resultados apontam que os métodos orgânicos de produção são técnica e economicamente viáveis quando comparados aos métodos convencionais de agricultura, apresentando produtividade proporcionalmente maior com uso de técnicas alternativas e sustentáveis. Em contrapartida, é perceptível que os sistemas orgânicos em sua operação são mais dispendiosos que os sistemas convencionais de cultivo, exigindo mais tempo para manutenção e investimentos constantes. Adicionalmente, notou-se que na presente pesquisa e em alguns estudos anteriores, a receita auferida com a venda do produto orgânico pode ser mais alta se comparada ao convencional.
Aspectos e impactos ambientais perceptíveis dos resíduos sólidos: um estudo de caso no lixão de Assú (RN)
Authors: Sales Mardja Luma Silva , Cizenando Tereza Amelia Lopes , Costa Andrezza Grasiely , Lopes Thaís Cristina Souza , Oliveira Ludimilla Cavalho Serafim de , Macêdo Isaac Rodrigo Costa
Published: September 2015

A disposição inadequada dos resíduos sólidos são um dos principais causadores de impactos socioeconômicos e ambientais, estes estão causando impactos de diferentes magnitudes. No Brasil, a grande maioria dos resíduos sólidos produzidos são despejado em lixões. Isto tem como consequência a poluição do ar, do solo, da água, além de favorecer riscos a saúde humana, principalmente dos catadores de lixo. A cidade de Assu localizada na mesorregião Oeste Potiguar e na microrregião do Vale do Açu, estado do Rio Grande do Norte, no Nordeste do Brasil. Tem uma população em torno de 53 mil habitantes e uma área de 1.303 km². Os resíduos sólidos são depositados em sua totalidade num lixão localizado na parte sul da cidade. Neste contexto, este trabalho teve o propósito de conhecer aspectos e impactos socioambientais provocados pelo lixão da cidade de Assu/RN a partir de observações e entrevistas comparadas com a legislação ambiental brasileira vigente. Utilizou-se a pesquisa qualitativa, realizando duas visitas técnicas ao lixão e uma visita à secretaria do meio ambiente do referido do município de Assu/RN, aplicando os formulários com as duas vertentes em questão. Através dos resultados obtidos na realização da pesquisa pode-se aferir que a aplicação dos instrumentos legais não atendem as expectativas desejadas, onde a mesma é marcadamente pela ausência de controle e fiscalização das atividades que poluem consideravelmente, por parte dos órgãos responsáveis, o lixão degrada o Meio Ambiente, coloca em risco a vida da população, principalmente dos catadores e afeta as condições estéticas e sanitárias da cidade, causando assim, Impacto Ambiental, pois altera as propriedades do M.A. e afeta o bem-estar da população. Pode-se notar que as obras estão atrasadas, visto que o prazo, de acordo com a Política Nacional de Resíduos Sólidos (Lei 12.305/2010), das administrações públicas municipais de construir aterros sanitários e eliminar as atividades dos lixões até no ano de 2014. Portanto, existe a necessidade programas de sensibilização/conscientização, tanto por iniciativa do Poder Público como também de iniciativa privada, que permita esclarecer a importância da política dos 5 R’s: Repensar, Recusar, Reduzir, Reutilizar e Reclicar.
¿Intercambio O Movilidad?: Una Evaluación Sobre El Uso De Escalas De Análisis Espaciales Y Curvas De Declinación En Patagonia Centro-Meridional (Argentina)
Authors: Pallo María Cecilia , Borrero Luis Alberto
Published: September 2015

Throughout south-central Patagonia, at the southern tip of South America, artifacts of black obsidian and marine materials are found at sites far from their sources. This distribution is often attributed to the existence of exchange systems among hunter- gatherer groups occupying the region in the late Holocene. In this article, we analyze distance-decay patterns in the frequencies of both items. We explore the use of decay curves for explaining the existence of exchange systems. We also discuss the notion of exchange as a means of obtaining exotic goods. We conclude that there is much intermediate variation that is not explained by the ideal extremes of exchange or mobility (i.e., direct acquisition mode). This variation includes possible visits or other types of social interaction associated with open social formations. We argue that these mechanisms are relevant to understanding the distributional patterns of goods with known source locations recorded in south-central Patagonia.
Polychrome Pottery Economics and Ritual Life in Postclassic Oaxaca, Mexico
Authors: Marc N. Levine  , Lane F. Fargher  , Leslie G. Cecil  , Jamie E. Forde
Published: September 2015

Tututepec was a regional capital that dominated much of southern Oaxaca, Mexico, during the Late Postclassic period (A.D. 1100-1522). This article synthesizes the results of compositional (neutron activation and petrography), stylistic, and iconographic analyses of pottery from commoner household excavations at Tututepec to address questions concerning ceramic production and distribution and also to shed light on aspects of political economy and domestic ritual at the capital. The study focuses primarily on Mixteca-Puebla polychromes, painted serving vessels bearing complex decorative motifs. Our compositional analyses, interpreted in light of the bedrock geology of the region, indicate that commoners obtained at least six to ten distinct varieties of pottery made from raw materials available locally within greater Tututepec. We argue that households probably acquired pottery through a central marketplace at the capital. In addition, our study demonstrates that commoners had regular access to polychromes from multiple producers, challenging the widespread notion that these vessels were restricted to elites who controlled their production. We argue that polychrome serving vessels played a prominent role in commonly occurring domestic rituals. Furthermore, commoners appear to have consciously selected vessels painted with imagery associated with warfare and sacrifice, suggesting that they actively supported the official imperial ideology of Tututepec.
Settlement Organization and Architecture in Late Intermediate Period Chachapoyas, Northeastern Peru
Authors: Guengerich Anna
Published: September 2015

Chachapoya societies that lived on the forested eastern slopes of the Andes in northern Peru between A.D. 1000 and 1450 remain largely absent from broader narratives of the Andean Late Intermediate period (LIP). This paper argues that environmentally deterministic frameworks and lingering Inka biases have led scholars to problematically isolate Chachapoyans from their highland contemporaries. This work reviews three aspects of Chachapoya built environments—settlement patterning, internal organization, and architectural style—in order to provide a baseline for comparison with other regions. Chachapoyas shared a pattern of hilltop settlement locations with nearly all of the highlands, which suggests that its inhabitants faced the same shared factors that prompted changes in settlement organization on a massive scale in this region during the LIP. At the same time, comparison of Chachapoya built environments with others of the northern, central, and southern highlands highlights the considerable diversity within and between regions. This demonstrates that Chachapoyas is best interpreted as simply one of many regions that were characterized by distinctive spatlalltles and architectural forms. These reflected locally specific cultural practices and social institutions. Including Chachapoyas and other regions of the Eastern Andes in accounts of the LIP underscores the diversity and dynamism that characterized this period of significant change in Andean history.
The Knowledge Capital of Nations
Authors: Hanushek Eric A. , Woessmann Ludger
Published: September 2015

A rigorous, pathbreaking analysis demonstrating that a country's prosperity is directly related in the long run to the skills of its population.

In this book Eric Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann make a simple, central claim, developed with rigorous theoretical and empirical support: knowledge is the key to a country's development. Of course, every country acknowledges the importance of developing human capital, but Hanushek and Woessmann argue that message has become distorted, with politicians and researchers concentrating not on valued skills but on proxies for them. The common focus is on school attainment, although time in school provides a very misleading picture of how skills enter into development. Hanushek and Woessmann contend that the cognitive skills of the population—which they term the “knowledge capital” of a nation—are essential to long-run prosperity.

Hanushek and Woessmann subject their hypotheses about the relationship between cognitive skills (as consistently measured by international student assessments) and economic growth to a series of tests, including alternate specifications, different subsets of countries, and econometric analysis of causal interpretations. They find that their main results are remarkably robust, and equally applicable to developing and developed countries. They demonstrate, for example, that the “Latin American growth puzzle” and the “East Asian miracle” can be explained by these regions' knowledge capital. Turning to the policy implications of their argument, they call for an education system that develops effective accountability, promotes choice and competition, and provides direct rewards for good performance.