bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Time-to-depth conversion and seismic velocity estimation using time-migration velocity
Authors: Cameron Maria , Fomel Sergey , Sethian James
Published: October 2008

The objective was to build an efficient algorithm (1) to estimate seismic velocity from time-migration velocity, and (2) to convert time-migrated images to depth. We established theoretical relations between the time-migration velocity and seismic velocity in two and three dimensions using paraxial ray-tracing theory. The relation in two dimensions implies that the conventional Dix velocity is the ratio of the interval seismic velocity and the geometric spreading of image rays. We formulated an inverse problem of finding seismic velocity from the Dix velocity and developed a numerical procedure for solving it. The procedure consists of two steps: (1) computation of the geometric spreading of image rays and the true seismic velocity in time-domain coordinates from the Dix velocity; (2) conversion of the true seismic velocity from the time domain to the depth domain and computation of the transition matrices from time-domain coordinates todepth. For step 1, we derived a partial differential equation (PDE) in two and three dimensions relating the Dix velocity and the geometric spreading of image rays to be found. This is a nonlinear elliptic PDE. The physical setting allows us to pose a Cauchy problem for it. This problem is ill posed, but we can solve it numerically in two ways on the required interval of time, if it is sufficiently short. One way is a finite-difference scheme inspired by the Lax-Friedrichs method. The second way is a spectral Chebyshev method. For step 2, we developed an efficient Dijkstra-like solver motivated by Sethian’s fast marching method. We tested numerical procedures on a synthetic data example and applied them to a field data example. We demonstrated that the algorithms produce a significantly more accurate estimate of seismic velocity than the conventional Dix inversion. This velocity estimate can be used as a reasonable first guess in building velocity models for depth imaging.
Salt interpretation enabled by reverse-time migration
Authors: Buur Jacobus , Kühnel Thomas
Published: October 2008

Many production targets in greenfield exploration are found in salt provinces, which have highly complex structures as a result of salt formation over geologic time. Difficult geologic settings, steep dips, and other wave-propagation effects make reverse-time migration (RTM) the migration method of choice, rather than Kirchhoff migration or other (by definition approximate) one-way equation methods. Imaging of the subsurface using any depth-migration algorithm can be done successfully only when the quality of the prior velocity model is sufficient. The (velocity) model-building loop is an iterative procedure for improving the velocity model. This is done by obtaining certain measurements (residual moveout) on image gathers generated during the migration procedure; those measurements then are input into tomographic updating. Commonly RTM is applied around salt bodies, where building the velocity model fails essentially because tomography is ray-trace based. Our idea is to apply RTM directly inside the model-building loop but to do so without using the image gathers. Although the process is costly, we migrate the full frequency content of the data to create a high-quality stack. This enhances the interpretation of top and bottom salt significantly and enables us to include the resulting salt geometry in the velocity model properly. We demonstrate our idea on a 2D West Africa seismic line. After several model-building iterations, the result is a dramatically improved velocity model. With such a good model as input, the final RTM confirms the geometry of the salt bodies and basically the salt interpretation, and yields a compelling image of the subsurface.
Time-migration velocity analysis by image-wave propagation of common-image gathers
Authors: Schleicher J. , Costa J. C. , Novais A.
Published: October 2008

Image-wave propagation or velocity continuation describes the variation of the migrated position of a seismic event as a function of migration velocity. Image-wave propagation in the common-image gather (CIG) domain can be combined with residual-moveout analysis for iterative migration velocity analysis (MVA). Velocity continuation of CIGs leads to a detection of those velocities in which events flatten. Although image-wave continuation is based on the assumption of a constant migration velocity, the procedure can be applied in inhomogeneous media. For this purpose, CIGs obtained by migration with an inhomogeneous macrovelocity model are continued starting from a constant reference velocity. The interpretation of continued CIGs, as if they were obtained from residual migrations, leads to a correction formula that translates residual flattening velocities into absolute time-migration velocities. In this way, the migration velocity model can be improved iteratively until a satisfactory result is reached. With a numerical example, we found that MVA with iterative image continuation applied exclusively to selected CIGs can construct a reasonable migration velocity model from scratch, without the need to build an initial model from a previous conventional normal-moveout/dip-moveout velocity analysis.
Practical approaches for subsalt velocity model building
Authors: Jiao Junru , Lowrey David R. , Willis John F. , Martínez Ruben D.
Published: October 2008

Imaging sediments below salt bodies is challenging because of the inherent difficulty of estimating accurate velocity models. These models can be estimated in a variety of ways with varying degrees of expense and effectiveness. Two methods are commercially viable trade-offs. In the first method, residual-moveout analysis is performed in a layer-stripping mode. The models produced with this method can be used as a first approximation of the subsalt velocity field. A wave-equation migration scanning technique is more suitable for fine-tuning the velocity model below the salt. Both methods can be run as part of a sophisticated interactive velocity interpretation software package that makes velocity interpretation efficient. Performance of these methods has been tested on synthetic and field data examples.
Turning-ray tomography using a low-spatial-frequency model parameterization
Authors: Simmons James L.
Published: October 2008

A linear least-squares inversion is applied to the turning-ray first-arrival times of a shallow-marine seismic reflection data set to estimate the slowly varying (laterally and vertically) components of the near-surface velocity field. The velocity model is represented with a low-spatial-frequency parameterization (2D cubic B-splines) designed specifically for the predicted components of the data. This model parameterization effectively decouples the slowly varying background from the higher spatial-frequency component of the velocity field produced by shallow, low-velocity, gas-charged sands and allows the solution to be obtained in a single iteration. The observed first-arrival times (background and shallow anomaly-induced perturbations) and the slowly varying first-arrival times related to the background velocity are inverted separately. Similar velocity-model estimates result, demonstrating the decoupling imposed by the B-spline model parameterization. The background velocity and the low-velocity anomalies are best treated as separate inverse problems using very different model parameterizations. Ray tracing a synthetic model containing local low-velocity anomalies embedded in a smooth background does not accurately predict the anomaly-induced first-arrival time perturbations seen in the field data. Acoustic finite-difference waveform modeling shows that reflections and diffractions from the anomalies interfere with the diving-wave first arrivals. First-arrival times picked from the full-waveform synthetics more accurately predict the field data first-arrival times.
A continuation approach to regularization of ill-posed problems with application to crosswell-traveltime tomography
Authors: Bube Kenneth P. , Langan Robert T.
Published: October 2008

In most geometries in which seismic-traveltime tomography is applied (e.g., crosswell, surface-reflection, and VSP), determination of the slowness field using only traveltimes is not a well-conditioned problem. Nonuniqueness is common. Even when the slowness field is uniquely determined, small changes in measured traveltimes can cause large errors in the computed slowness field. A priori information often is available — well logs, initial rough estimates of slowness from structural geology, etc. — and can be incorporated into a traveltime-inversion algorithm by using penalty terms. To further regularize the problem, smoothing constraints also can be incorporated using penalty terms by penalizing derivatives of the slowness field. What weights to use on the penalty terms is a major decision, particularly the smoothing-penalty weights. We use a continuation approach in selecting the smoothing-penalty weights. Instead of using fixed smoothing-penalty weights, we decrease them step by step, using the slowness model computed with the previous, larger weights as the initial slowness model for the next step with the new, smaller weights. This continuation approach can solve synthetic problems more accurately than does one that uses fixed smoothing-penalty weights, and it appears to yield more features of interest in real-data applications of traveltime tomography. We have formulated guidelines for making the many choices needed to implement this continuation strategy effectively and have developed specific choices for crosswell-traveltime tomography.
PHOX2B Is a Novel and Specific Marker for Minimal Residual Disease Testing in Neuroblastoma
Authors: Stutterheim Janine , Gerritsen Annemieke , Zappeij-Kannegieter Lily , Kleijn Ilona , Dee Rob , Hooft Lotty , van Noesel Max M. , Bierings Marc , Berthold Frank , Versteeg Rogier , Caron Huib N. , van der Schoot C. Ellen , Tytgat Godelieve A.M.
Published: October 2008

Purpose

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)–based detection of minimal residual disease (MRD) in neuroblastoma can be used to monitor therapy response and to evaluate stem cell harvests. Commonly used PCR markers, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and GD2 synthase, have expression in normal tissues, thus limiting MRD detection. To identify a more specific MRD marker, we tested PHOX2B.

Patients and Methods

To determine PHOX2B, TH, and GD2 synthase expression in normal tissues, it was measured by real-time quantitative PCR in samples of normal bone marrow (BM; n = 51), peripheral blood (PB; n = 37), and peripheral-blood stem cells (PBSCs; n = 24). Then, 289 samples of 101 Dutch patients and 47 samples of 43 German patients were tested for PHOX2B and TH; these samples included 52 tumor, 214 BM, 32 BM, and 38 PBSC harvests. Of the 214 BM samples, 167 were compared with cytology, and 47 BM samples were compared with immunocytology (IC).

Results

In contrast to TH and GD2 synthase, PHOX2B was not expressed in any of the normal samples. In patient samples, PHOX2B was detected in 32% cytology-negative and in 14% IC-negative samples and in 94% of cytology-positive and in 90% of IC-positive BM samples. Overall, PHOX2B was positive in 43% compared with 31% for TH. In 24% of all samples, TH expression was inconclusive, which is similar to expression found in normal tissues. In 42% of these samples, PHOX2B expression was positive.

Conclusion

PHOX2B is superior to TH and GD2 synthase in specificity and sensitivity for MRD detection of neuroblastoma by using real-time quantitative PCR. We propose to include PHOX2B in additional prospective MRD studies in neuroblastoma alongside TH and other MRD markers.
Cardiac Toxicity of Sunitinib and Sorafenib in Patients With Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma
Authors: Schmidinger Manuela , Zielinski Christoph C. , Vogl Ursula M. , Bojic Andja , Bojic Marija , Schukro Christoph , Ruhsam Marquerite , Hejna Michael , Schmidinger Herwig
Published: October 2008

Purpose

Sunitinib and sorafenib are tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) that have considerable efficacy in metastatic renal cell carcinoma. TKI-associated cardiotoxicity was reported in approximately 10% of the patients. Detailed cardiovascular monitoring during TKI treatment may reveal early signs of myocardial damage.

Patients and Methods

In this observational, single-center study, all patients intended for TKI treatment were analyzed for coronary artery disease (CAD) risk factors, history or evidence of CAD, hypertension, rhythm disturbances, and heart failure. Monitoring included assessment of symptoms, ECGs, and biochemical markers (ie, creatine kinase-MB, troponin T). Echocardiography was performed at baseline in selected patients and in all patients who experienced a cardiac event. A cardiac event was defined as the occurrence of increased enzymes if normal at baseline, symptomatic arrhythmia that required treatment, new left ventricular dysfunction, or acute coronary syndrome.

Results

A total of 86 patients were treated with either sunitinib or sorafenib. Among 74 eligible patients, 33.8% experienced a cardiac event, 40.5% had ECG changes, and 18% were symptomatic. Seven patients (9.4%) were seriously compromised and required intermediate care and/or intensive care admission. All patients recovered after cardiovascular management (ie, medication, coronary angiography, pacemaker implantation, heart surgery) and were considered eligible for TKI continuation. Statistically, there was no significant survival difference between patients who experienced a cardiac event and those who did not experience a cardiac event.

Conclusion

Our observations indicate that cardiac damage from TKI treatment is a largely underestimated phenomenon but is manageable if patients have careful cardiovascular monitoring and cardiac treatment at the first signs of myocardial damage.
Prevalence of Lymphedema in Women With Breast Cancer 5 Years After Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy or Axillary Dissection: Patient Perceptions and Precautionary Behaviors
Authors: McLaughlin Sarah A. , Wright Mary J. , Morris Katherine T. , Sampson Michelle R. , Brockway Julia P. , Hurley Karen E. , Riedel Elyn R. , Van Zee Kimberly J.
Published: October 2008

Purpose

Sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy was adopted for the staging of the axilla with the assumption that it would reduce the risk of lymphedema in women with breast cancer. This study was undertaken to examine patient perceptions of lymphedema and use of precautionary behaviors several years after axillary surgery.

Patients and Methods

Nine hundred thirty-six women who underwent SLN biopsy (SLNB) alone or SLNB followed by axillary lymph node dissection (SLNB/ALND) between June 1, 1999, and May 30, 2003, were evaluated at a median of 5 years after surgery. Patient-perceived lymphedema and avoidant behaviors were assessed through interview and administered a validated instrument, and compared with arm measurements.

Results

Current arm swelling was reported in 3% of patients who received SLNB alone versus 27% of patients who received SLNB/ALND (P < .0001), as compared with 5% and 16%, respectively, with measured lymphedema. Only 41% of patients reporting arm swelling had measured lymphedema, and 5% of patients reporting no arm swelling had measured lymphedema. Risk factors associated with reported arm swelling were greater body weight (P < .0001), higher body mass index (P < .0001), infection (P < .0001), and injury (P = .007) in the ipsilateral arm since surgery. Patients followed more precautions if they had measured or perceived lymphedema.

Conclusion

Body weight, infection, and injury are significant risk factors for perceiving lymphedema. There is significant discordance between the presence of measured and patient-perceived lymphedema. When compared to SLNB/ALND, SLNB-alone results in a significantly lower rate of patient-perceived arm swelling 5 years postoperatively, and is perceived by fewer women than are measured to have it.
Engaging with Public Engagement: Public History and Graduate Pedagogy
Authors: Blee Lisa , Horan Caley , Manuel Jeffrey T. , Tochterman Brian , Urban Andrew , Weiskopf Julie M.
Published: October 2008

Does an increased enthusiasm for publicly engaged scholarship and service learning at many universities translate into a tangible commitment for such projects? How can historians reconcile their participation in public scholarship with trends that promote neoliberal models of university finance and governance, which often put the university at odds with the public outside and inside its walls? In the fall of 2005, a group of history and American Studies PhD students at the University of Minnesota developed a student-created and student-driven seminar titled “Public History and Urban Space.” This article explores the results of this innovative seminar and focuses in depth on two student projects that illustrate the opportunities and challenges of publicly engaged graduate scholarship within the neoliberal university. A public history approach to graduate research forces graduate students to rethink assumptions about the nature and political impact of historical research and scholarship while offering a unique opportunity for methodological training unavailable in many other realms of graduate pedagogy. But as seminar participants confronted theoretical and practical issues involved in creating the proposed projects, they also encountered significant challenges to completing the projects as we had envisioned them. In examining the fate of the projects in this self-designed course, this article grapples with the above questions that are at the heart of both the possibilities of public history and its limitations in the contemporary university.
Democratic Movements, Self-Education, and Economic Democracy: Chartists, Populists, and Wobblies
Authors: Niemi William L. , Plante David J.
Published: October 2008

Mannheim's sociology of knowledge approach is used to study the educational role of movement activities in three radical democratic movements: the British Chartists, the American Populists, and the Industrial Workers of the World. Educational practices in these movements constituted an alternative democratic ideology. The educative role of strikes, free speech and press struggles, the cultural life of jungle camps, and cooperatives created a movement identity and an opening up possibilities for a new democratic political economy; that is, their purposes were educational and ideological. Such activities were at once organizing practices, but were also integral to envisioning a more egalitarian society and fomenting change toward such ends. Pedagogically, the study of the educational role of movements is important because it illustrates that human dignity is not simply utopian. These movements were real world examples of egalitarianism, dignity, and democracy, sometimes in brutal contexts. For each of the movements studied, education was class-based in that it was directed at identifying a producerist interest within a monopolized and hierarchical societal structure that impoverished their members and excluded them from politics. This contrasts with traditional education more often aimed at socialization into existing class, gender, and racial hierarchies.
Multifocal lenses in a monochromat: the harbour seal
Authors: Hanke Frederike D. , Kröger Ronald H. H. , Siebert Ursula , Dehnhardt Guido
Published: October 2008

Previous photorefractive results from harbour seals indicated the presence of a multifocal lens. This was surprising because the evolution of multifocal lenses has served to compensate for chromatic aberration in animals with colour vision, which harbour seals as monochromats should not be capable of. To gain insight into the lens optics of these animals, we extended our photorefractive measurements in live seals under water and in air and,additionally, analyzed eight extracted juvenile harbour seal lenses with schlieren photography and a laser scanning technique. The results from all methods applied support the presence of multifocal lenses in harbour seals. However, the functional significance of multiple focal lengths in harbour seal lenses remains speculative. Interestingly, the slit pupils of harbour seals cannot be considered to be an adaptation to the multifocal optical system of the eye.
Blood flow and metabolic regulation in seal muscle during apnea
Authors: Ponganis Paul J. , Kreutzer Ulrike , Stockard Torre K. , Lin Ping-Chang , Sailasuta Napapon , Tran Tuan-Khan , Hurd Ralph , Jue Thomas
Published: October 2008

In order to examine myoglobin (Mb) function and metabolic responses of seal muscle during progressive ischemia and hypoxemia, Mb saturation and high-energy phosphate levels were monitored with NMR spectroscopy during sleep apnea in elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris). Muscle blood flow(MBF) was measured with laser-Doppler flowmetry (LDF). During six,spontaneous, 8–12 min apneas of an unrestrained juvenile seal, apneic MBF decreased to 46±10% of the mean eupneic MBF. By the end of apnea,MBF reached 31±8% of the eupneic value. The t1/2for 90% decline in apneic MBF was 1.9±1.2 min. The initial post-apneic peak in MBF occurred within 0.20±0.04 min after the start of eupnea. NMR measurements revealed that Mb desaturated rapidly from its eupenic resting level to a lower steady state value within 4 min after the onset of apnea at rates between 1.7±1.0 and 3.8±1.5% min–1, which corresponded to a muscle O2 depletion rate of 1–2.3 ml O2 kg–1 min–1. High-energy phosphate levels did not change with apnea. During the transition from apnea to eupnea, Mb resaturated to 95% of its resting level within the first minute. Despite the high Mb concentration in seal muscle, experiments detected Mb diffusing with a translational diffusion coefficient of 4.5×10–7 cm2 s–1,consistent with the value observed in rat myocardium. Equipoise PO2 analysis revealed that Mb is the predominant intracellular O2 transporter in elephant seals during eupnea and apnea.
Two odometers in honeybees?
Authors: Dacke M. , Srinivasan M. V.
Published: October 2008

Although several studies have examined how honeybees gauge and report the distance and direction of a food source to their nestmates, relatively little is known about how this information is combined to obtain a representation of the position of the food source. In this study we manipulate the amount of celestial compass information available to the bee during flight, and analyse the encoding of spatial information in the waggle dance as well as in the navigation of the foraging bee. We find that the waggle dance encodes information about the total distance flown to the food source, even when celestial compass cues are available only for a part of the journey. This stands in contrast to how a bee gauges distance flown when it navigates back to a food source that it already knows. When bees were trained to find a feeder placed at a fixed distance in a tunnel in which celestial cues were partially occluded and then tested in a tunnel that was fully open to the sky,they searched for the feeder at a distance that corresponds closely to the distance that was flown under the open sky during the training. Thus, when navigating back to a food source, information about distance travelled is disregarded when there is no concurrent input from the celestial compass. We suggest that bees may possess two different odometers – a `community'odometer that is used to provide information to nestmates via the dance, and a `personal' odometer that is used by an experienced individual to return to a previously visited source.
Red-emissive Polyphenylated BODIPY Derivatives: Effect of Peripheral Phenyl Groups on the Photophysical and Electrochemical Properties
Authors: Wakamiya Atsushi , Sugita Naoya , Yamaguchi Shigehiro
Published: October 2008

A series of red-emissive BODIPY derivatives 2–4 having five to seven phenyl groups on their periphery were synthesized, and their photophysical and electrochemical properties were investigated. While the 8-phenyl-substituted derivatives only have moderate fluorescence quantum yields in solution, they can show intense red fluorescence in the PMMA films. The peripheral phenyl groups also affect the redox reversibility in cyclic voltammetry.
Study on Heat Resistance and Flame Retardation of Polyfunctional Epoxy–Silica–Phosphorus Hybrid Resins
Authors: Yu Dan , Liu Weiqu , Liu Yunfeng
Published: October 2008

A novel epoxy resin modifier, phosphorus-containing epoxide siloxane (OPS), was prepared from the sol–gel reaction of GPTMS-DOPO, which was synthesized by the reaction of 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTMS) with 9,10-dihydro-9-oxa-10-phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide (DOPO). OPS with superfluous epoxide groups were confirmed by 29Si NMR, gel permeation chromatography (GPC), elemental analysis, and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Compared with those with no epoxide group and unmodified resins, the hybrid epoxy resins exhibited high glass-transition temperature (Tg), good limited oxygen index (LOI) and tensile strength.
Development of Organic Electronic Devices Using Boronate Esters and Related Heterocycles
Authors: Kojima Takahiro , Nishida Jun-ichi , Tokito Shizuo , Yamashita Yoshiro
Published: October 2008

New oligomers containing tricoordinated boron atoms were prepared, and OFET devices based on these compounds were fabricated. These are first examples of OFET devices based on compounds containing tricoordinated boron atoms.
Helical Twisting Power of Optically Active Spiro Compounds with a 3,3′-(4H,4′H)-Spirobi(2H-naphtho[1,2-b]pyran) Skeleton
Authors: Tojo Kenta , Arisawa Tatsuya , Aoki Yoshio , Terunuma Daiyo
Published: October 2008

New chiral dopants for nematic liquid crystals, containing a (S)-3,3′-(4H,4′H)-spirobi(2H-naphtho[1,2-b]pyran) skeleton, were synthesized and their helical twisting powers (HTP) were evaluated. A chiral dopant with two terphenyl structures showed the highest molar HTP value of 50.3 μm−1 mol−1 kg.
Why Children Die: the report of a pilot confidential enquiry into child death by CEMACH (Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health)
Authors: Pearson Gale
Published: October 2008

The Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health (CEMACH) has published a report entitled ‘Why Children Die: A Pilot Study’. The report contains the results of a large confidential enquiry into child death across one-third of England, all of Wales and all of Northern Ireland in 2006. The report contains a quantitative analysis of 957 deaths which shows some regional and ethnic variation in death rates. Also despite high rates of pre-existent and perhaps life-limiting illness/disability, most children die in hospital, with only small numbers in hospices. Child suicide rates were higher than expected and only one-quarter of these cases were known to mental health services. The report also contains a qualitative analysis of a sample of cases ( n = 126) which were subjected review by multidisciplinary panels. Avoidable factors were found in 26% and potentially avoidable in a further 43%. A recurring avoidable factor in relation to healthcare was ‘failed recognition of serious illness’ by healthcare workers not trained in paediatrics or not supervised by trained individuals.
Robotic surgery in Canadian law
Authors: Dickens Bernard M
Published: October 2008

Robotic surgery fits within the general framework of Canadian medical law regarding such issues as patients' consent and suitability of medical equipment. Its two distinctive features are its relative novelty, and practice by practitioners in one jurisdiction on patients in another. Novelty raises issues of how courts determine legally-set standards of performance. Practitioners are held to the standards of their peers, but when a new technique is pioneered, there are no established standards of performance. However, the standard of disclosure of a technique's novelty and/or a practitioner's unfamiliarity with it exists, since this is not peculiar to robotic surgery. Cross-jurisdictional surgery raises licensure issues of where the surgeon is practising medicine, relevant fee schedules where they differ between jurisdictions, whether dissatisfied patients can sue in the surgeons' jurisdiction, their own, or either, and whether a court applies its own laws or those of an alternative jurisdiction.
Principle of robotic surgery litigation in the United States
Authors: McLean Thomas R
Published: October 2008

After a robotic surgical misadventure in the United States, the subsequent litigation often involves a medical malpractice action against the surgeon and the hospital, and a products liability action against the robotic surgical instrument manufacturer. Because of the multiple Defendants, finger-pointing is common and results in a settlement. However, metadata within the robotic instrument may provide the manufacturer with a strong defence against liability. Accordingly, metadata within the computer may result in hospitals and surgeons shouldering more of the liability for robotic surgical misadventures.
Female genital mutilation
Authors: Morris Nicholas H
Published: October 2008

In the United Kingdom, up to 20,000 young women and children who originate from the horn of Africa, Senegal and various parts of sub-Saharan Africa are potentially at risk of being subjected to this criminal and barbaric ritual. This is despite the efforts of FORWARD and Baroness Ruth Rendell, the writer and human right's campaigner.

There have now been two Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, the first act in 1995 (the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act) and the latest being the Female Genital Mutilation Act of 2003. However we believe that women in this ethnic group, some as young as 4 years old, remain at risk.

It is also difficult to find out if these procedures still take place in the UK. Most young girls are taken out of the country to have the ritual carried out. The new Act of 2003 was set up to protect them from leaving the country.

The medical profession, social services, teachers and the child protection agencies need to work more closely to protect these individuals.

Worldwide 2 million young women remain at risk of being subjected to this ritual every year.
Development of post-pump syndrome in a sheep after mitral valve stenting
Authors: Levionnois Olivier , Kronen Peter
Published: October 2008

A one-year-old healthy sheep received an implant stenting the mural (‘posterior’) leaflet of the mitral valve. The experiment was authorized by the Cantonal Ethical Committee. The surgery was performed on the open, beating heart during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Management of anaesthesia was based on isoflurane with mechanical intermittent positive pressure ventilation (IPPV) of the lungs, combined with intercostal nerve blocks and intravenous fentanyl and lidocaine. Marked cardiovascular depression occurred towards the end of CPB time and required high doses of dopamine, dobutamine, lidocaine and ephedrine to allow for weaning off the CPB pump. Moreover, severe pulmonary dysfunction developed when IPPV was re-initiated after CPB. Hypoxaemia persisted throughout the recovery from general anaesthesia. Multiple organ failure developed gradually during the three postoperative days, leading to euthanasia of the animal. As described in this case, marked lung injury associated with some degree of failure of other vital organs may occur in sheep after CPB. Intraoperative cardiorespiratory complications when weaning-off may indicate the development of ‘post-pump syndrome’.
Assessment of markers of bone formation under controlled environmental factors and their correlation with serum minerals in adult sheep as a model for orthopaedic research
Authors: Dias I R , Viegas C A , De Azevedo J T , Costa E M , Lourenço P , Rodrigues A , Cabrita A S
Published: October 2008

Eighteen healthy skeletally mature (3 years old) ewes, with an average weight of 45 kg, of the Portuguese Churra da Terra Quente breed were used to evaluate the normal values of total and bone-specific isoform of alkaline phosphatase serum activities (ALP and BALP, respectively) and serum osteocalcin (OC) and their correlation with the serum minerals - calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), magnesium (Mg) and ionized calcium (Ca2+). The sheep were maintained under controlled environmental conditions (constant diurnal photoperiod cycle and identical husbandry and feeding) for six weeks before the collection of the blood samples. The measurement of the total ALP and serum minerals was performed with automated biochemistry analysers using the BioMérieux® kits, the serum electrolyte Ca2+ Diametrics Medical, Inc® specific cassettes and the BALP and OC METRATM kits from QUIDEL® Corporation. The mean ± standard deviation values obtained were: total ALP 90.17 ± 85.72 U/L, BALP 15.0 ± 5.44 U/L, ratio BALP/ total ALP 29.28 ± 24.22, OC 13.02 ± 1.87 ng/mL, Ca 2.57 ± 0.37 mmol/L, P 2.13 ± 0.42 mmol/L, Mg 1.04 ± 0.13 mmol/L, Ca2+ 1.29 ± 0.04 mmol/L. Significant correlations were observed between the total ALP and Ca ( r = 0.5939; P = 0.05) and OC and Ca ( r = 0.5706; P = 0.05). Reference to the serum values of bone turnover parameters in sheep could be of great value in research and could provide complementary non-invasive information on the bone healing process, particularly with regard to obtaining an early prognosis of fracture healing.
A Comparative Longitudinal Analysis of Theoretical Perspectives of Interorganizational Relationship Performance
Authors: Palmatier Robert W. , Dant Rajiv P. , Grewal Dhruv
Published: October 2008

Four theoretical perspectives currently dominate attempts to understand the drivers of successful interorganizational relationship performance: (1) commitment–trust, (2) dependence, (3) transaction cost economics, and (4) relational norms. Each perspective specifies a different set and distinct causal ordering of focal constructs as the most critical for understanding performance. Using four years of longitudinal data (N = 396), the authors compare the relative efficacy of these four perspectives for driving exchange performance and provide empirical insights into the causal ordering among key interorganizational constructs. The results demonstrate the parallel and equally important roles of commitment–trust and relationship-specific investments as immediate precursors to and key drivers of exchange performance. Building on the insights gleaned from tests of the four frameworks, the authors parsimoniously integrate these perspectives within a single model of interfirm relationship performance consistent with a resource-based view of an exchange. Managers may be able to increase performance by shifting resources from “relationship building” to specific investments targeted toward increasing the efficacy or effectiveness of the relationship itself to improve the relationship's ability to create value. Moderation analysis indicates that managers may find it productive to allocate more relationship marketing efforts and investments to exchanges in markets with higher levels of uncertainty.
American jokes about lawyers
Authors: Davies Christie
Published: October 2008

In the 1980s, a substantial cycle of lawyer jokes appeared in the United States. Unlike earlier waves of American jokes, the jokes did not spread to Britain and Europe, nor did the peoples of these countries invent large numbers of new jokes about lawyers at this time. The dominant theme of the American jokes was that lawyers are canny—i.e. calculating, crafty, and fond of money. It is striking that such jokes should be told about a group so close to the very core of American society, a society defined by its laws to a far greater extent than the countries of Western Europe. The nearest comparison is with the jokes told about the stupidity of politicians and apparatchiks, the groups at the very center of the former socialist regimes in Eastern Europe in the 1980s. The latter were an indication of the economic stagnation and irrationality of socialism, and the price of stupidity was collapse and failure. The American lawyer jokes relate to the price of American success, namely the intensifying of economic competitiveness that took place in America in the 1980s. American jokes about lawyers are often sadistic tales in which we are invited to rejoice in their meeting a painful death or being slain. Yet death threat jokes about lawyers have no serious counterpart; indeed it is because the jokes do not connect with reality that they circulate so freely. The relationships between our social frustrations and resentments, our choice of targets for “hostile” jokes, and our manifestations of real aggression are complex and uncertain.
The great American lawyer joke explosion
Authors: Galanter Marc
Published: October 2008

After 1980, there was a marked increase in the presence, prominence, and hostility of lawyer jokes in the United States. The long-established themes of joking about lawyers were joined by a whole set of new themes, including those depicting lawyers as objects of scorn and as deserving of extermination or removal from society. Several possible explanations for the shift are examined and found insufficient, including worsening behavior by lawyers, the general spread of cruelty, and the dictates of political correctness. The article argues that the shift in lawyer joking is best understood as a recoil against the pervasive legalization of life in combination with the distinctive American style of diffuse court-and-lawyer centered governance.
Funny as hell: Christianity and humor reconsidered
Authors: Joeckel Samuel
Published: October 2008

Christianity has long been held to be at odds with humor. Centuries of Christian theology, as well as modern studies on religion, illustrate this tension. Though confessing that many Christians and Christian institutions have adopted theological attitudes and orientations that militate against many forms of laughter, this article reconsiders the vexed relationship between Christianity and humor, maintaining that rapprochement between the two seemingly disparate entities holds promise. After surveying previous attempts at reconciling Christianity and humor, the article—drawing upon modern humor theory as well as the field of epistemology—proposes a theoretical framework upon which Christianity can authentically embrace humor and consequently, despite the sackcloth-and-ashes image associated with it, can also be funny as hell.
Tales of tricks and greed and big surprises: Laymen's views of the law in Dutch oral narrative
Authors: Meder Theo
Published: October 2008

Neither in Dutch nor in European narrative folklore does the lawyer have a positive reputation. It does not matter whether we look at the past or the present: in folktales the practice of lawyers is associated with greed, trickery and heartlessness. In the Middle Ages, when the profession was literally for sale, judges were accused of corruption and incompetence, but their reputation improved over time when they became well-educated and impartial professionals. In present and past, the common man looks upon justice as incomprehensible and unpredictable. European and American folktales (especially jokes) about law and lawyers basically share the same themes, but there is a remarkable difference in quantity nowadays. Whereas lawyer jokes are hype in the U.S., they are not in the Netherlands or Western Europe. The main reason seems to be the American “vulture culture” of suing, claiming, and cashing, as exposed in the news media. If Dutch and European lawyers take over the mores of their American colleagues, it will just be a matter of time before a vast number of lawyer jokes are transferred and translated.
Spectrum of Pediatric Neuromyelitis Optica
Authors: Lotze Timothy E. , Northrop Jennifer L. , Hutton George J. , Ross Benjamin , Schiffman Jade S. , Hunter Jill V.
Published: October 2008

OBJECTIVE. Our goal was to describe the spectrum of clinical phenotypes, laboratory and imaging features, and treatment in pediatric patients with neuromyelitis optica.

PATIENTS AND METHODS. The study consisted of a retrospective chart review of patients followed in a pediatric multiple sclerosis center with a diagnosis of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder.

RESULTS. Nine patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders were included, all of whom were female. There were 4 black children, 2 Latin American children, 2 white children, and 1 child of mixed Latin American/white heritage. Median age at initial attack was 14 years (range: 1.9–16 years). Median disease duration was 4 years (range: 0.6–9 years). Tests for neuromyelitis optica immunoglobulin G were positive for 7 patients. Eight patients had transverse myelitis and optic neuritis, and 1 patient had longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis without optic neuritis but had a positive neuromyelitis optica immunoglobulin G antibody titer. Cerebral involvement on MRI was found in all subjects, 5 of whom were symptomatic with encephalopathy, seizures, hemiparesis, aphasia, vomiting, or hiccups. Immunosuppressive therapy reduced attack frequency and progression of disability.

CONCLUSIONS. Pediatric neuromyelitis optica has a diverse clinical presentation and may be difficult to distinguish from multiple sclerosis in the early stages of the disease. The recognition of the broad spectrum of this disease to include signs and symptoms of brain involvement is aided by the availability of a serum biomarker: neuromyelitis optica immunoglobulin G. Early diagnosis and immunosuppresive treatment may help to slow the accumulation of severe disability.
The Meaning of “Spirituality”
Authors: Ahlin Lars
Published: October 2008

In the contemporary Western world one can observe a remarkable popularity of the term “spirituality.” However, there are different understandings of the concept. Among other things, discussion is occupied with the problem of how to differentiate “spirituality” from “religiosity.” However, my intention here is not to present yet another definition, or to give guidelines on how to differentiate it from “religiosity.” My objective is much more limited. On the one hand I intend to propose some beliefs and practices that ought to be included in a substantive definition of “spirituality.” On the other hand I want to discuss some problems involved in this enterprise. My approach is indirect. I have not asked any respondents how they perceive or define “spirituality.”

So it may be asked: How is it possible to say what beliefs and practices people refer to, if you don’t ask them directly?
Some Ideas about the Persistence of Rituals
Authors: Borg M.B. ter
Published: October 2008

In this essay, one particular function of rituals is explored: that of ritual as markers. It is the social importance function as marker that often lends rituals a religious nature, and consequently the religious aspects do not disappear entirely in the course of the process of secularisation, but remain in existence, explicitly at times, and at times also implicitly.
Why (and when) Should We Speak of Implicit Religion?
Authors: Dupré Wilhelm
Published: October 2008

In contrast to an understanding of religion which centres on phenomena we associate explicitly with religious traditions, we can, and have to, think of religion as it presents itself implicitly in the formation of these and other phenomena. In terms of their formation, they belong to the field of religious developments, regardless of whether or not we happen to associate them with the explicit understanding of religion. The paper is an attempt to explain the meaning of implicit religion as a symbol which directs the mind to the formation of religious phenomena and to forms of actual religiosity which either precede the stage in which they present themselves in terms of a specific tradition, or are not explicitly identified as religion.
‘We’ll Hang Ourselves Tomorrow’
Authors: Grainger Roger
Published: October 2008

‘Waiting for Godot’ is a play about behaviour which is identifiably religious from a sociological point of view, although not explicitly so. Because it is a play, it is an icon of implicitness, as plays don’t say what they mean in the form of explicit messages from the author to the audience, but communicate implicitly through fictitious events and personages. In this particular play, the main characters demonstrate by means of what they say and do, that, for them, life’s meaning is associated with a longed-for consummation, a life- and purpose- -giving encounter, and that the action of waiting for this provides the focus for all their other actions and intentions, affecting the way they interpret whatever occurs in their world. They are committed to waiting for Godot to arrive; a state of mind encapsulated within the symbolic scenario which is the play. In other words, then, their behaviour chimes with the three defining characteristics of Implicit Religion: commitment, integrating focus, and extensive effects which proceed from an intensive concern, when these occur in circumstances which are not associated with explicit religion of any kind. The tramps themselves never mention God or religion, and the play’s author is recorded as saying ‘If I had meant God I would have said God’. Nevertheless the parabolic shape and the poetic language of the play produce an effect similar to that of religious ritual.
Membership of Nordic ‘National’ Churches as a ‘Civil Religious’ Phenomenon
Authors: Sundbach Susan
Published: October 2008

The article treats the specifically Nordic paradox, of a high level of church membership in four national populations combining with a low level of religious practice and church attendance. This fact has often been explained as the outcome of a spirit of a civil religiosity, which makes the church a symbol of the nation and of national culture. Church membership is in this view an aspect of the identification of individuals with their country. The concept of civil religiosity is here studied through the data from four Nordic countries in the 1999– 2000 European Values Study survey, concentrating on variables that marginally relate to religious traditions without designating identification with church dogmas. Through factor analysis Nordic civil religiosity seems to appear in two forms; broadly, as carrying elements of traditional ritual behaviour and individual religiosity, and, narrowly, as focusing on church-administered celebrations of family rites of passage. Finally, a ‘civil religious’ model as a prediction of church-membership among the respondents is applied with varying results for the four countries.
Implicit Religion from Below
Authors: Hammond Phillip E
Published: October 2008

As I was writing this paper, I realized that a better title than ‘Implicit Religion from Below’ would have been ‘The Birth and Development of Implicit Religion’. The fact is that little has been written on this topic. Why? Because implicit religions illustrate wonderfully well that aphorism that religion is not created but encountered. Of course, this is the perspective of the believer or practitioner, not that of the scholar of religion. However, even the founder denies making up the doctrine and ethics that he promulgates; instead he ‘receives’ this knowledge; he is only a ‘messenger’.