bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Economics of Ritual at Late Old Babylonian Kish
Authors: Yoffee Norman
Published: June 2005

A small archive of economic documents from the city of Kish in the late Old Babylonian period records amounts of money owed to the “supervisor of kezertu women” from the kezertu account. The employment of kezertu women in ritual performance is investigated as well as the managerial activities of the “supervisor of kezertu women.” The historical reasons for the migration of the cult of Ištar of Uruk to Kish and the economics of ritual performance are considered.
Javanese Markets and the Asian Sea Trade Boom of the Tenth to Thirteenth Centuries A.D.
Authors: Wisseman Christie Jan
Published: June 2005

Between the early tenth and the mid-thirteenth centuries, a boom occurred in the trade linking the seas of maritime Southeast Asia to the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. The impact that this growth in trade had upon the Javanese domestic economy was profound. The expansion of the Chinese market, in particular, for the produce of Java and its archipelago trading network led to changes in Javanese agricultural practices, patterns of domestic marketing and regional trade, and the monetary and tax system. The resulting increase in wealth stimulated a Javanese consumption boom, and competition from commodities imported from China and India provoked innovations in domestic production.
Indian Ocean Dipolelike Variability in the CSIRO Mark 3 Coupled Climate Model
Authors: Cai Wenju , Hendon Harry H. , Meyers Gary
Published: June 2005

Coupled ocean–atmosphere variability in the tropical Indian Ocean is explored with a multicentury integration of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Mark 3 climate model, which runs without flux adjustment. Despite the presence of some common deficiencies in this type of coupled model, zonal dipolelike variability is produced. During July through November, the dominant mode of variability of sea surface temperature resembles the observed zonal dipole and has out-of-phase rainfall variations across the Indian Ocean basin, which are as large as those associated with the model El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). In the positive dipole phase, cold SST anomaly and suppressed rainfall south of the equator on the Sumatra–Java coast drives an anticyclonic circulation anomaly that is consistent with the steady response (Gill model) to a heat sink displaced south of the equator. The northwest–southeast tilting Sumatra–Java coast results in cold sea surface temperature (SST) centered south of the equator, which forces anticylonic winds that are southeasterly along the coast, which thus produces local upwelling, cool SSTs, and promotes more anticylonic winds; on the equator, the easterlies raise the thermocline to the east via upwelling Kelvin waves and deepen the off-equatorial thermocline to the west via off-equatorial downwelling Rossby waves. The model dipole mode exhibits little contemporaneous relationship with the model ENSO; however, this does not imply that it is independent of ENSO. The model dipole often (but not always) develops in the year following El Niño. It is triggered by an unrealistic transmission of the model’s ENSO discharge phase through the Indonesian passages. In the model, the ENSO discharge Rossby waves arrive at the Sumatra–Java coast some 6 to 9 months after an El Niño peaks, causing the majority of model dipole events to peak in the year after an ENSO warm event. In the observed ENSO discharge, Rossby waves arrive at the Australian northwest coast. Thus the model Indian Ocean dipolelike variability is triggered by an unrealistic mechanism. The result highlights the importance of properly representing the transmission of Pacific Rossby waves and Indonesian throughflow in the complex topography of the Indonesian region in coupled climate models.
The Footprint of Urban Areas on Global Climate as Characterized by MODIS
Authors: Jin Menglin , Dickinson Robert E. , Zhang Da
Published: June 2005

One mechanism for climate change is the collected impact of changes in land cover or land use. Such changes are especially significant in urban areas where much of the world’s population lives. Satellite observations provide a basis for characterizing the physical modifications that result from urbanization. In particular, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Terra satellite measures surface spectral albedos, thermal emissivities, and radiative temperatures. A better understanding of these measurements should improve our knowledge of the climate impact of urbanization as well as our ability to specify the parameters needed by climate models to compute the impacts of urbanization. For this purpose, it is useful to contrast urban areas with neighboring nonurban surfaces with regard to their radiative surface temperatures, emissivities, and albedos. Among these properties, surface temperatures have been most extensively studied previously in the context of the “urban heat island” (UHI). Nevertheless, except for a few detailed studies, the UHI has mostly been characterized in terms of surface air temperatures.

To provide a global analysis, the zonal average of these properties are presented here measured over urban areas versus neighboring nonurban areas. Furthermore, individual cities are examined to illustrate the variations of these variables with land cover under different climate conditions [e.g., in Beijing, New York, and Phoenix (a desert city of the United States)]. Satellite-measured skin temperatures are related to the surface air temperatures but do not necessarily have the same seasonal and diurnal variations, since they are more coupled to surface energy exchange processes and less to the overlying atmospheric column. Consequently, the UHI effects from skin temperature are shown to be pronounced at both daytime and nighttime, rather than at night as previously suggested from surface air temperature measurements. In addition, urban areas are characterized by albedos much lower than those of croplands and deciduous forests in summer but similar to those of forests in winter. Thus, urban surfaces can be distinguished from nonurban surfaces through use of a proposed index formed by multiplying skin temperature by albedo.
Antarctic Surface and Subsurface Snow and Ice Melt Fluxes
Authors: Liston Glen E. , Winther Jan-Gunnar
Published: June 2005

This paper presents modeled surface and subsurface melt fluxes across near-coastal Antarctica. Simulations were performed using a physical-based energy balance model developed in conjunction with detailed field measurements in a mixed snow and blue-ice area of Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. The model was combined with a satellite-derived map of Antarctic snow and blue-ice areas, 10 yr (1991–2000) of Antarctic meteorological station data, and a high-resolution meteorological distribution model, to provide daily simulated melt values on a 1-km grid covering Antarctica. Model simulations showed that 11.8% and 21.6% of the Antarctic continent experienced surface and subsurface melt, respectively. In addition, the simulations produced 10-yr averaged subsurface meltwater production fluxes of 316.5 and 57.4 km3 yr−1 for snow-covered and blue-ice areas, respectively. The corresponding figures for surface melt were 46.0 and 2.0 km3 yr−1, respectively, thus demonstrating the dominant role of subsurface over surface meltwater production. In total, computed surface and subsurface meltwater production values equal 31 mm yr−1 if evenly distributed over all of Antarctica. While, at any given location, meltwater production rates were highest in blue-ice areas, total annual Antarctic meltwater production was highest for snow-covered areas due to its larger spatial extent. The simulations also showed higher interannual meltwater variations for surface melt than subsurface melt. Since most of the produced meltwater refreezes near where it was produced, the simulated melt has little effect on the Antarctic mass balance. However, the melt contribution is important for the surface energy balance and in modifying surface and near-surface snow and ice properties such as density and grain size.
Explicit Convection over the Western Pacific Warm Pool in the Community Atmospheric Model
Authors: Ziemiański MichałZ. , Grabowski Wojciech W. , Moncrieff Mitchell W.
Published: June 2005

This paper reports on the application of the cloud-resolving convection parameterization (CRCP) to the Community Atmospheric Model (CAM), the atmospheric component of the Community Climate System Model (CCSM). The cornerstone of CRCP is the use of a two-dimensional zonally oriented cloud-system-resolving model to represent processes on mesoscales at the subgrid scale of a climate model. Herein, CRCP is applied at each climate model column over the tropical western Pacific warm pool, in a domain spanning 10°S–10°N, 150°–170°E. Results from the CRCP simulation are compared with CAM in its standard configuration.

The CRCP simulation shows significant improvements of the warm pool climate. The cloud condensate distribution is much improved as well as the bias of the tropopause height. More realistic structure of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) during the boreal winter and better representation of the variability of convection are evident. In particular, the diurnal cycle of precipitation has phase and amplitude in good agreement with observations. Also improved is the large-scale organization of the tropical convection, especially superclusters associated with Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO)-like systems. Location and propagation characteristics, as well as lower-tropospheric cyclonic and upper-tropospheric anticyclonic gyres, are more realistic than in the standard CAM. Finally, the simulations support an analytic theory of dynamical coupling between organized convection and equatorial beta-plane vorticity dynamics associated with MJO-like systems.
Discovering Associations between Climatic and Oceanic Parameters to Monitor Drought in Nebraska Using Data-Mining Techniques
Authors: Tadesse Tsegaye , Wilhite Donald A. , Hayes Michael J. , Harms Sherri K. , Goddard Steve
Published: June 2005

Drought is a complex natural hazard that is best characterized by multiple climatological and hydrological parameters. Improving our understanding of the relationships between these parameters is necessary to reduce the impacts of drought. Data mining is a recently developed technique that can be used to interact with large databases and assist in the discovery of associations between drought and oceanic data by extracting information from massive and multiple data archives.

In this study, a new data-mining algorithm [i.e., Minimal Occurrences With Constraints and Time Lags (MOWCATL)] has been used to identify the relationships between oceanic parameters and drought indices. Rather than using traditional global statistical associations, the algorithm identifies drought episodes separate from normal and wet conditions and then uses drought episodes to find time-lagged relationships with oceanic parameters. As with all association-based data-mining algorithms, MOWCATL is used to find existing relationships in the data, and is not by itself a prediction tool.

Using the MOWCATL algorithm, the analyses of the rules generated for selected stations and state-averaged data for Nebraska from 1950 to 1999 indicate that most occurrences of drought are preceded by positive values of the Southern Oscillation index (SOI), negative values of the multivariate ENSO index (MEI), negative values of the Pacific–North American (PNA) index, negative values of the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO), and negative values of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The frequency and confidence of the time-lagged relationships between oceanic indices and droughts at the selected stations in Nebraska indicate that oceanic parameters can be used as indicators of drought in Nebraska.
Three Putative Types of El Niño Revealed by Spatial Variability in Impact on Australian Wheat Yield
Authors: Potgieter A. B. , Hammer G. L. , Meinke H. , Stone R. C. , Goddard L.
Published: June 2005

The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon significantly impacts rainfall and ensuing crop yields in many parts of the world. In Australia, El Niño events are often associated with severe drought conditions. However, El Niño events differ spatially and temporally in their manifestations and impacts, reducing the relevance of ENSO-based seasonal forecasts. In this analysis, three putative types of El Niño are identified among the 24 occurrences since the beginning of the twentieth century. The three types are based on coherent spatial patterns (“footprints”) found in the El Niño impact on Australian wheat yield. This bioindicator reveals aligned spatial patterns in rainfall anomalies, indicating linkage to atmospheric drivers. Analysis of the associated ocean–atmosphere dynamics identifies three types of El Niño differing in the timing of onset and location of major ocean temperature and atmospheric pressure anomalies. Potential causal mechanisms associated with these differences in anomaly patterns need to be investigated further using the increasing capabilities of general circulation models. Any improved predictability would be extremely valuable in forecasting effects of individual El Niño events on agricultural systems.
Global Changes of the Water Cycle Intensity
Authors: Bosilovich Michael G. , Schubert Siegfried D. , Walker Gregory K.
Published: June 2005

In this study, numerical simulations of the twentieth-century climate are evaluated, focusing on the changes in the intensity of the global water cycle. A new model diagnostic of atmospheric water vapor cycling rate is developed and employed that relies on constituent tracers predicted at the model time step. This diagnostic is compared to a simplified traditional calculation of cycling rate, based on monthly averages of precipitation and total water content. The mean sensitivity of both diagnostics to variations in climate forcing is comparable. However, the new diagnostic produces systematically larger values with more variability.

Climate simulations were performed using SSTs of the early (1902–21) and late (1979–98) twentieth century along with the appropriate CO2 forcing. In general, the increase of global precipitation with the increases in SST that occurred between the early and late twentieth century is small. However, an increase of atmospheric temperature leads to a systematic increase in total precipitable water. As a result, the residence time of water in the atmosphere increased, indicating a reduction of the global cycling rate. This result was explored further using a number of 50-yr climate simulations from different models forced with observed SST. The anomalies and trends in the cycling rate and hydrologic variables of different GCMs are remarkably similar. The global annual anomalies of precipitation show a significant upward trend related to the upward trend of surface temperature, during the latter half of the twentieth century. While this implies an increase in the simulated hydrologic cycle intensity, a concomitant increase of total precipitable water again leads to a decrease in the calculated global cycling rate. An analysis of the land/sea differences shows that the simulated precipitation over land has a decreasing trend, while the oceanic precipitation has an upward trend consistent with previous studies and the available observations. The decreasing continental trend in precipitation is located primarily over tropical land regions, with some other regions, such as North America, experiencing an increasing trend. Precipitation trends are diagnosed further using the water tracers to delineate the precipitation that occurs because of continental evaporation, as opposed to oceanic evaporation. These model diagnostics show that over global land areas, the recycling of continental moisture is decreasing in time. However, the recycling changes are not spatially uniform so that some regions, most notably over the United States, experience continental recycling of water that increases in time.
Evaluation of Temperature Differences for Paired Stations of the U.S. Climate Reference Network
Authors: Gallo Kevin P.
Published: June 2005

Adjustments to data observed at pairs of climate stations have been recommended to remove the biases introduced by differences between the stations in time of observation, temperature instrumentation, latitude, and elevation. A new network of climate stations, located in rural settings, permits comparisons of temperatures for several pairs of stations without two of the biases (time of observation and instrumentation). The daily, monthly, and annual minimum, maximum, and mean temperatures were compared for five pairs of stations included in the U.S. Climate Reference Network. Significant differences were found between the paired stations in the annual minimum, maximum, and mean temperatures for all five pairs of stations. Adjustments for latitude and elevation differences contributed to greater differences in mean annual temperature for four of the five stations. Lapse rates computed from the mean annual temperature differences between station pairs differed from a constant value, whether or not latitude adjustments were made to the data. The results suggest that microclimate influences on temperatures observed at nearby (horizontally and vertically) stations are potentially much greater than influences that might be due to latitude or elevation differences between the stations.
A Debiased Ranked Probability Skill Score to Evaluate Probabilistic Ensemble Forecasts with Small Ensemble Sizes
Authors: Müller W. A. , Appenzeller C. , Doblas-Reyes F. J. , Liniger M. A.
Published: June 2005

The ranked probability skill score (RPSS) is a widely used measure to quantify the skill of ensemble forecasts. The underlying score is defined by the quadratic norm and is comparable to the mean squared error (mse) but it is applied in probability space. It is sensitive to the shape and the shift of the predicted probability distributions. However, the RPSS shows a negative bias for ensemble systems with small ensemble size, as recently shown. Here, two strategies are explored to tackle this flaw of the RPSS. First, the RPSS is examined for different norms L (RPSSL). It is shown that the RPSSL=1 based on the absolute rather than the squared difference between forecasted and observed cumulative probability distribution is unbiased; RPSSL defined with higher-order norms show a negative bias. However, the RPSSL=1 is not strictly proper in a statistical sense. A second approach is then investigated, which is based on the quadratic norm but with sampling errors in climatological probabilities considered in the reference forecasts. This technique is based on strictly proper scores and results in an unbiased skill score, which is denoted as the debiased ranked probability skill score (RPSSD) hereafter. Both newly defined skill scores are independent of the ensemble size, whereas the associated confidence intervals are a function of the ensemble size and the number of forecasts.

The RPSSL=1 and the RPSSD are then applied to the winter mean [December–January–February (DJF)] near-surface temperature predictions of the ECMWF Seasonal Forecast System 2. The overall structures of the RPSSL=1 and the RPSSD are more consistent and largely independent of the ensemble size, unlike the RPSSL=2. Furthermore, the minimum ensemble size required to predict a climate anomaly given a known signal-to-noise ratio is determined by employing the new skill scores. For a hypothetical setup comparable to the ECMWF hindcast system (40 members and 15 hindcast years), statistically significant skill scores were only found for a signal-to-noise ratio larger than ∼0.3.
The Bible in the Pew: Congregations and Critical Scholarship from the Pastor’s Perspective
Authors: West Jim
Published: June 2005

The Bible is the book of the Church. As such it speaks to a community of faith. Those in the pew who hear the Bible preached and who read the Bible for themselves are deserving of honest, critical and accurate exegesis. Though many Pastors and Academics are under the impression that if the ‘average Christian’ were exposed to critical scholarship they would be offended, this is simply not the case.
Outworkings: Next Steps
Authors: Vincent John J.
Published: June 2005

Gospel Practice Criticism seeks to develop insights into the ways in which the originating practice of God, Jesus, disciples or Christian community recorded in Scripture provoke, inspire or support corresponding or identified practice in a reader’s community and discipleship, in early church times, historically, and today.
Television Dependency in Independent Kazakhstan
Authors: Thomas Amos Owen
Published: June 2005

With little written on media in this oft-forgotten part of Asia, this article seeks to analyse a model of television development within a key post-Soviet state. The research found that there was little programme production or adaptation in Kazakhstan but much done by Russian television on which the former’s channels were dependent. The Russian programming was either broadcast directly, relayed in part by domestic channels or comprised individual programmes purchased for use locally. Thus this article argues that Russia acts as a sub-franchisor in redistributing global creative products, exploiting commonalities in the regional geolinguistic market created through its past communist imperialism. A national policy placing increasing emphasis on Kazak-ization of media has triggered demand for ‘localized’ programming in this transitional Central Asian economy. Yet given the market imperatives of privatized media, this has encouraged the dubbing and adaptation of successful regional and global programmes formats in Russian, rather than production of local originals. In doing so, Kazakhstan may be discerned to be supporting Russia in its role as a semi-periphery country in global cultural production and export, thus mediating capitalism within its non-European region of transitional economies.
Relative Constancy of Advertising Spending
Authors: Chang Byeng-Hee , Chan-Olmsted Sylvia M.
Published: June 2005

This study empirically examines the principle of relative constancy (PRC) across more than 70 nations over time (1991-2001). Focusing on the relationship between advertising spending and national economy as reflected by GDP, the authors found that while GDP is the most obvious explanatory variable for advertising spending, the relationship is not proportionate and there is the potential that other variables also affect a country’s advertising expenditures. The degree of applicability of the PRC might be different depending on the types of media and the characteristics of the nations as the notion of the PRC seems to be more apparent in developed nations.
Mystical missionaries in Hyderabad State
Authors: Green Nile
Published: June 2005

This article discusses the emergence of a Sufi-inspired movement of Muslim reform in the princely state of Hyderabad during the first half of the twentieth century. Attention is paid to the polemical religious context in which the movement arose, using archival material to discuss the activities of Christian missionaries in the city in which it first emerged. Located in Aurangabad, away from the capital of the Nizam's State, the history of the rise of Mu'īn Allāh Shāh's Sufi organisation shows the ways in which pan-Indian religious disputes and developments in Indian Islam were reflected in the provinces of princely India. The modernist character of Mu'īn Allāh's Sufi teachings is reconstructed and discussed in detail. Preaching a return to the core tenets of Islam in the villages of Hyderabad, Mu'īn Allāh and his successor Hamīd ‘Alī nonetheless envisioned this minimalism as central to the mystical rediscovery of the pure and unadulterated self. However, since the movement was closely connected to the expansion of the textile industry in Aurangabad, attention is also paid to its relationship with the social and religious effects of industrialisation in a provincial context.
The Violent Destruction of Community during the ‘Century of Genocide’
Authors: Carmichael Cathie
Published: June 2005

Much of the early criticism of colonial genocide and genocidal practices elsewhere came from Marxists such as August Bebel, Antonio Gramsci and Ho Chi Minh. The German Left were strong critics of the colonial policy that led to the genocide against the Nama and Herero peoples. When Marxist regimes came to power after the First and Second World Wars, they initiated population politics which were highly detrimental to historical ethnic communities. This has led to a serious crisis of legitimacy on the Left. Clearly, the legacy of debates of the early inter-nationalists is still relevant as we discuss genocide as both a historical and contemporary phenomenon, but it is also essential that we use the full range of new analytical approaches as well as the comparative approach to understand and even begin to prevent this phenomenon.
When Less is More
Authors: Ebbinghaus Bernhard
Published: June 2005

The problem of case selection is a crucial but often overlooked issue in comparative cross-national research. The article discusses methodological shortcomings and potential solutions in selecting cases. All comparative research of social entities, whether quantitative or qualitative, faces the problem of contingency, the fact that the potential pool of cases has been pre-selected by historical and political processes. In large- N cross-national studies the use of inference statistics is problematic since random selection is rarely given and the cases represent a highly stratified set. In small- N case studies, however, the selection of cases is a deliberate choice based on the theory-driven comparative method. The epistemological and methodological problems of both comparative approaches are discussed and evaluated.
Catholic Act Analysis and Unintended Side Effects: Time for a New Tradition
Authors: Graham Mark
Published: June 2005

Catholic act analysis cannot reckon effectively or coherently with long-term, worldwide threats to human well-being that are caused by the corporate, cumulative side effects of everyday human activity. Indeed, Catholic act analysis leads moral agents to consider these side effects as morally trivial, when in fact they are not. This article develops the many problems associated with Catholic act analysis and proposes a different method and evaluative criteria to assess our daily patterns of behaviour and the side effects they produce.
Recovery from Sexual Violence and Socially Mediated Dimensions of God’s Grace: Implications for Christian Communities
Authors: Beste Jennifer
Published: June 2005

How are Christians to understand God’s grace for individuals in the midst of severe trauma, particularly in light of a global epidemic of sexual violence against so many women and children? How does the call to witness to the good news of Christ’s love translate into specific obligations that respond to the needs of sexual abuse survivors? The purpose of this article is to explore these questions in the context of Karl Rahner’s theology of grace. When seeking to understand God’s gracious presence in the midst of sexual violation, it is particularly helpful to explore Rahner’s insight that God’s grace is mediated through acts of neighbour-love both within and beyond Christian communities. Such insight into the social mediation of grace has exciting potential to transform perceptions of what is at stake in loving our neighbour and the forms that neighbour-love can take, mobilising Christians for greater social justice in the service of God.
What About Focus Group Interaction Data?
Authors: Duggleby Wendy
Published: June 2005

The purpose of this article is to discuss issues related to group interaction data in focus groups. How should it be analyzed and reported? The author addresses these questions using qualitative research approaches with examples from her research to foster further discussion regarding focus group research.
Research With Participants in Problem Experience: Challenges and Strategies
Authors: Shaw Victor N.
Published: June 2005

In this article, the author draws on his years of fieldwork contact with participants who experience various problem events in life, including truancy, running away, delinquency, vagrancy, homelessness, gang membership, criminal conviction, drug abuse, domestic abuse, sexual deviance, sexually transmitted disease, mental disorder, and infection with HIV/AIDS. He examines challenges from and explores strategies for research with participants in problem experience, on the matter of recruitment, participation, empowerment, cross-checking, and researcher protection. He includes examples to illustrate how generalizations in each category are made from real-world observation.
Signing My Life Away? Researching Sex and Organization
Authors: Brewis Joanna
Published: June 2005

My personal and professional lives have blurred into each other throughout my academic career. This paper focuses on one aspect of this blurring—that certain colleagues believe I am intimate with my coauthors, and that I engage in or have experienced the sexual activities which my research has explored—and seeks to account for this interpretation of my private life through the lens of my public endeavours. In discussing such ‘signings’ of my work, I suggest that they are underpinned by the heterosexual matrix, and perhaps ratify my participation in the academy as a woman. Moreover, such attributions of authorship point to interesting questions concerning the methodology of sex research and the influence that an author’s biography has on their research direction. I also contend that these constructions of me as an author indicate that organization studies still struggles with the idea of sex representing a meaningful topic of enquiry.
Evaluation of a developmental care training programme for neonatal nurses
Authors: Milette Isabelle H. , Richard Lucie , Martel Marie-Josée
Published: June 2005

Although the impact of developmental care on premature infants has been investigated at length, often the issue of professional development and training related to this type of care has not been examined. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of a developmental care training programme on nurses’ behaviours and cognitive attributes with regard to the prevention of overstimulation of premature infants. The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) was the framework underlying the study. This programme evaluation used a quasi-experimental one group pre-test/post-test design. Participants were nurses working in a neonatal intensive care unit. Data were collected by self-administered questionnaires. Significantly higher post-test scores were observed for knowledge and for a variety of theoretical constructs. The results of this study showed the potential of such training programmes to help nurses implement developmental care.
Introducing ICT in Secondary Schools
Authors: Simpson Mary , Payne Fran , Condie Rae
Published: June 2005

Within the Scottish educational system there have recently been significant moves towards devolution of decision taking and the expressed intention that schools must be more responsive to changing community requirements and expectations. We focus on two aspects of those organizations considered successful within changing external contexts: their processes for the effective acquisition, generation and flow of novel information; and their internal mechanisms for informed decision taking and complex communal problem solving. We use data from two studies on the introduction of ICT as the vehicle for exploring the characteristics of the professional activities and organizational features within secondary schools that appear to be barriers to the effective operation of devolved management and empowered professionalism. We interpret the data on the identified nodes of decision taking—the central and local government, the different levels of the secondary school management, and the individual teacher—in terms of aspects of the cultural norms within secondary schools and indicate the multi-level action taken by the Scottish government which may ultimately ‘reculture’ the schools.
Effects of Work-related Attitudes on the Intention to Leave the Profession
Authors: Ladebo Olugbenga Jelil
Published: June 2005

This article examines the influence of work-place factors, job satisfaction and professional commitment on the intent to leave the profession of 165 primary school teachers in the city of Lagos, Nigeria. Most of the teachers were women (74.5 per cent). Teachers’ satisfaction was characterized by job apathy, satisfaction with pay and benefits, and intrinsic satisfaction. Women teachers found the job more satisfying than men. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that professional commitment was significantly related to intrinsic satisfaction, job apathy, and satisfaction with pay and benefits. Material rewards and advancement, working conditions, intrinsic satisfaction, job apathy and professional commitment were associated with an intention to leave the profession. Finally, teachers with higher satisfaction levels were strongly committed to the profession and less likely to leave. Administrative intervention requires financial expenditure to achieve the desired results; thus, the government needs to improve upon the level of funding to the primary education sector.
libcov: A C++ bioinformatic library to manipulate protein structures, sequence alignments and phylogeny
Authors: Butt Davin , Roger Andrew J , Blouin Christian
Published: June 2005

Background

An increasing number of bioinformatics methods are considering the phylogenetic relationships between biological sequences. Implementing new methodologies using the maximum likelihood phylogenetic framework can be a time consuming task.

Results

The bioinformatics library libcov is a collection of C++ classes that provides a high and low-level interface to maximum likelihood phylogenetics, sequence analysis and a data structure for structural biological methods. libcov can be used to compute likelihoods, search tree topologies, estimate site rates, cluster sequences, manipulate tree structures and compare phylogenies for a broad selection of applications.

Conclusion

Using this library, it is possible to rapidly prototype applications that use the sophistication of phylogenetic likelihoods without getting involved in a major software engineering project. libcov is thus a potentially valuable building block to develop in-house methodologies in the field of protein phylogenetics.
Chemistry in Bioinformatics
Authors: Murray-Rust Peter , Mitchell John BO , Rzepa Henry S
Published: June 2005

Chemical information is now seen as critical for most areas of life sciences. But unlike Bioinformatics, where data is openly available and freely re-usable, most chemical information is closed and cannot be re-distributed without permission. This has led to a failure to adopt modern informatics and software techniques and therefore paucity of chemistry in bioinformatics. New technology, however, offers the hope of making chemical data (compounds and properties) free during the authoring process. We argue that the technology is already available; we require a collective agreement to enhance publication protocols.
Which gene did you mean?
Authors: Mons Barend
Published: June 2005

Computational Biology needs computer-readable information records. Increasingly, meta-analysed and pre-digested information is being used in the follow up of high throughput experiments and other investigations that yield massive data sets. Semantic enrichment of plain text is crucial for computer aided analysis. In general people will think about semantic tagging as just another form of text mining, and that term has quite a negative connotation in the minds of some biologists who have been disappointed by classical approaches of text mining. Efforts so far have tried to develop tools and technologies that retrospectively extract the correct information from text, which is usually full of ambiguities. Although remarkable results have been obtained in experimental circumstances, the wide spread use of information mining tools is lagging behind earlier expectations. This commentary proposes to make semantic tagging an integral process to electronic publishing.
Hypothermia in a surgical intensive care unit
Authors: Abelha Fernando J , Castro Maria A , Neves Aida M , Landeiro Nuno M , Santos Cristina C
Published: June 2005

Background

Inadvertent hypothermia is not uncommon in the immediate postoperative period and it is associated with impairment and abnormalities in various organs and systems that can lead to adverse outcomes. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence, the predictive factors and outcome of core hypothermia on admission to a surgical ICU.

Methods

All consecutive 185 adult patients who underwent scheduled or emergency noncardiac surgery admitted to a surgical ICU between April and July 2004 were admitted to the study. Tympanic membrane core temperature (Tc) was measured before surgery, on arrival at ICU and every two hours until 6 hours after admission. The following variables were also recorded: age, sex, body weight and height, ASA physical status, type of surgery, magnitude of surgical procedure, anesthesia technique, amount of intravenous fluids administered during anesthesia, use of temperature monitoring and warming techniques, duration of the anesthesia, ICU length of stay, hospital length of stay and SAPS II score. Patients were classified as either hypothermic (Tc ≤ 35°C) or normothermic (Tc> 35°C). Univariate analysis and multiple regression binary logistic with an odds ratio (OR) and its 95% Confidence Interval (95%CI) were used to compare the two groups of patients and assess the relationship between each clinical predictor and hypothermia. Outcome measured as ICU length of stay and mortality was also assessed.

Results

Prevalence of hypothermia on ICU admission was 57.8%. In univariate analysis temperature monitoring, use of warming techniques and higher previous body temperature were significant protective factors against core hypothermia. In this analysis independent predictors of hypothermia on admission to ICU were: magnitude of surgery, use of general anesthesia or combined epidural and general anesthesia, total intravenous crystalloids administrated and total packed erythrocytes administrated, anesthesia longer than 3 hours and SAPS II scores. In multiple logistic regression analysis significant predictors of hypothermia on admission to the ICU were magnitude of surgery (OR 3.9, 95% CI, 1.4–10.6, p = 0.008 for major surgery; OR 3.6, 95% CI, 1.5–9.0, p = 0.005 for medium surgery), intravenous administration of crystalloids (in litres) (OR 1.4, 95% CI, 1.1–1.7, p = 0.012) and SAPS score (OR 1.0, 95% CI 1.0–1.7, p = 0.014); higher previous temperature in ward was a significant protective factor (OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.1–0.7, p = 0.003). Hypothermia was neither a risk factor for hospital mortality nor a predictive factor for staying longer in ICU.

Conclusion

The prevalence of patient hypothermia on ICU arrival was high. Hypothermia at time of admission to the ICU was not an independent factor for mortality or for staying longer in ICU.
Physicians perceived usefulness of high-cost diagnostic imaging studies: results of a referral study in a German medical quality network
Authors: Schneider Antonius , Rosemann Thomas , Wensing Michel , Szecsenyi Joachim
Published: June 2005

Background

Medical and technological progress has led to increased numbers of diagnostic tests, some of them inducing high financial costs. In Germany, high-cost diagnostic imaging is performed by a medical specialist after referral by a general practitioner (GP) or specialist in primary care. The aim of this study was to evaluate the physicians' perceived usefulness of high-cost diagnostic imaging in patients with different clinical conditions.

Methods

Thirty-four GPs, one neurologist and one orthopaedic specialist in ambulatory care from a Medical Quality Network documented 234 referrals concerning 97 MRIs, 96 CTs-scan and 41 intracardiac catheters in a three month period. After having received the test results, they indicated if these were useful for diagnosis and treatment of the patient.

Results

The physicians' perceived usefulness of tests was lowest in suspected cerebral disease (40% of test results were seen as useful), cervical spine problems (64%) and unexplained abdominal complaints (67%). The perceived usefulness was highest in musculoskeletal symptoms (94%) and second best in cardiological diseases (82%).

Conclusion

The perceived usefulness of high-cost diagnostic imaging was lower in unexplained complaints than in specific diseases. Interventions to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of test ordering should focus on clinical decision making in conditions where GPs perceived low usefulness.
A conscious mouse model of gastric ileus using clinically relevant endpoints
Authors: Firpo Matthew A , Rollins Michael D , Szabo Aniko , Gull Justin D , Jackson Jeffrey D , Shao Yuanlin , Glasgow Robert E , Mulvihill Sean J
Published: June 2005

Background

Gastric ileus is an unsolved clinical problem and current treatment is limited to supportive measures. Models of ileus using anesthetized animals, muscle strips or isolated smooth muscle cells do not adequately reproduce the clinical situation. Thus, previous studies using these techniques have not led to a clear understanding of the pathophysiology of ileus. The feasibility of using food intake and fecal output as simple, clinically relevant endpoints for monitoring ileus in a conscious mouse model was evaluated by assessing the severity and time course of various insults known to cause ileus.

Methods

Delayed food intake and fecal output associated with ileus was monitored after intraperitoneal injection of endotoxin, laparotomy with bowel manipulation, thermal injury or cerulein induced acute pancreatitis. The correlation of decreased food intake after endotoxin injection with gastric ileus was validated by measuring gastric emptying. The effect of endotoxin on general activity level and feeding behavior was also determined. Small bowel transit was measured using a phenol red marker.

Results

Each insult resulted in a transient and comparable decrease in food intake and fecal output consistent with the clinical picture of ileus. The endpoints were highly sensitive to small changes in low doses of endotoxin, the extent of bowel manipulation, and cerulein dose. The delay in food intake directly correlated with delayed gastric emptying. Changes in general activity and feeding behavior were insufficient to explain decreased food intake. Intestinal transit remained unchanged at the times measured.

Conclusion

Food intake and fecal output are sensitive markers of gastric dysfunction in four experimental models of ileus. In the mouse, delayed gastric emptying appears to be the major cause of the anorexic effect associated with ileus. Gastric dysfunction is more important than small bowel dysfunction in this model. Recovery of stomach function appears to be simultaneous to colonic recovery.
Another explanation for the low allergy rate in the rural Alpine foothills
Authors: Wjst Matthias
Published: June 2005

A low allergy rate in coal and wood heated homes has been described in the small villages in the Alpine foothills and subsequently found to be associated with the farming environment. This was interpreted within the framework of the hygiene hypothesis but there are also alternative explanations. Lower air pollution could be one reason, which is, however, unlikely since the differences between the Bavarian countryside and the Munich municipal area were only weak. There could be genetic differences between the urban and rural population by previous isolation or by self-selection. The potential drop-out of allergy genes, however, will also not explain the absent increase of allergies in two generations. More likely, other lifestyle factors are important. Dietary habits are different in farmers and a less frequent vitamin D supplementation of newborns (otherwise expected to be allergy promoting) has been shown recently. The underlying cause for the "non-allergic farm child" remains speculative until the transfer of any farm-associated factor is leading to a similar risk reduction in the general population.
Drug use and risk behaviours among injecting drug users: a comparison between sex workers and non-sex workers in Sydney, Australia
Authors: Roxburgh Amanda , Degenhardt Louisa , Breen Courtney
Published: June 2005

Background

This paper examines the differences in demographics, drug use patterns and self reported risk behaviours between regular injecting drug users (IDU) who report engaging in sex work for money or drugs and regular injecting drug users who do not.

Methods

Cross sectional data collected from regular IDU interviewed as part of the New South Wales (NSW) Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) in 2003 were analysed.

Results

IDU who reported engaging in sex work were more likely to be female, and identify as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent. They initiated injecting drug use at a significantly younger age and were more likely to report injection related problems than IDU who had not engaged in sex work. There were no differences in the drug classes used, but findings suggested that the sex workers tended to be more frequent users of crystalline methamphetamine (ice) and benzodiazepines.

Conclusion

The similarities between these groups were more striking than the differences. Further research, examining a larger sample is needed to clarify whether injecting drug users who are sex workers have heavier use patterns.
Introducing article-processing charges and inviting "detailed methods sections" articles
Authors: Phillips Carl V
Published: June 2005

This editorial introduces the use of article-processing charges at Epidemiologic Perspectives & Innovations and reviews that advantages of publishing in an Open Access journal. In addition, it introduces a new type of article the journal hopes to publish, detailed reports of study design or data analysis methods that have been used in health science research. The new type of article is intended to supplement the woefully constrained methods sections in standard research report articles, providing information that better fulfills the goals of scientific publishing.