bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
When the Villain Steals the Show: The Character of Claudius in Post-1975 Arab(ic) Hamlet Adaptations
Authors: Litvin Margaret
Published: December 2007

The character of Claudius dominates post-1975 Arabic adaptations of Shakespeare's Hamlet. After a brief survey of the twentieth-century Arab Hamlet tradition, this essay examines five recent Arab Hamlet plays. In four Arabic-language plays, a hypertrophied Claudius plainly allegorizes contemporary or recent regimes in Iraq, Syria, and Egypt. He displaces both Hamlet and the Ghost, who become weak characters. Recurrent animal imagery portrays him as literally a brute, lacking a conscience and impervious to reason. However, this essay argues, the plays are not "political in function": they do not work to build audience support for political change. Instead, Claudius' irresistible power demonstrates the futility of political action (in the Aristotelian sense), including political theatre. A recent Arab-themed Hamlet adaptation in English con firms the pattern but enlarges it to cover the international backers of the local tyrant. Rather than a call for political awakening, then, these five plays offer a dark meditation on the limits of politics.
Church and State in Seventeenth-Century Colonial Asia: Dutch-Parava Relations in Southeast India in a Comparative Perspective
Authors: Vink Markus P.M.
Published: December 2007

This article is a comparative study of the relationship between church and state in seventeenth-century colonial Asia in general and South India in particular. In an era when political and religious loyalties were deemed interchangeable, the division of temporal and spiritual authority over the Parava community along the Madurai coast between the Dutch and the Portuguese, respectively, stands out as a unique arrangement. By the end of the seventeenth century, an informal understanding was reached according to which Portuguese Jesuits would exercise religious authority even in areas under immediate Dutch jurisdiction, while the Calvinist Dutch would claim wordly authority over the Roman Catholic Paravas. The arrangement on the Madurai Coast is compared with Dutch policy vis-à-vis similar Indo-Portuguese Catholic communities in other Asian "conquests" where they exercised territorial jurisdiction, such as Maluku (the Moluccas), Batavia (Jakarta), and Melaka (Malacca). The Luso-Dutch accommodation in southeast India is also examined in light of English religious policy at Fort St. George, Madras (Chennai), towards local Indo-Portuguese groups. The understanding between the Protestant English and French Capuchins differed markedly from the working arrangement between the Dutch and the Portuguese Jesuits. This dual comparative framework merely serves to emphasize the singularity of the "Madurai solution."
Jan Van Eyck's Lost Mappamundi-a Token of Fifteenth-Century Power Politics
Authors: Belozerskaya Marina
Published: December 2007

According to Bartholomco Fazio, humanist and secretary to King Alfonso I of Naples, Jan van Eyck painted a mappamundi for Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. The passage regarding this map appears in De viris illustribus, a eulogy of great men of the fifteenth century, and furnishes the only record of this work. The brevity and ambiguity of Fazio's description have prompted scholars to debate the appearance, location, function, and even the authorship of the elusive map. In this article I not only revisit these problems, refuting previous conjectures, but seek to go further in order to gain a wider view of this lost work by a renowned master at the nexus of cartography, diplomacy, commerce, religion, and learning that linked fifteenth-centuty Europe into a community of shared tastes, interests, and concerns-perspectives from which it has not been addressed.
Reflections On the Whig Interpretation of History
Authors: Cosgrove Richard A.
Published: December 2007

Despite significant changes in historiographical fashion in the twentieth century for the writing of English history, obituaries for the Whig interpretation of history have proved premature. So pervasive has this phrase remained that, despite frequent attacks, it has transcended English history and entered the lexicon of many other areas of investigation. This process ensures that Whig history will remain a vehicle for conflicting interpretations of English history for the foreseeable future.
Heavens On Earth. From the Tabula Smaragdina To the Alchemical Fifth Essence
Authors: Pereira Michela
Published: December 2007

Alchemical writings of Arabic origin introduced into the Latin natural philosophy of the twelfth century a cosmological issue that was at variance with Aristotelian cosmology: the idea of a subtle substance that stood at the origin of the four elements and encompassed heaven and earth. In this article, I consider the links of this notion with Hermetic and Stoic thought; its association with the technical process of distillation; its emergence in some philosophical texts of the early thirteenth century; and finally its full development in two fourteenth century alchemical treatises, the Testamentum attributed to Raimond Lull and the Liber de consideratione quintae essentiae written by John of Rupescissa.
"Dispersa Intentio." Alchemy, Magic and Scepticism in Agrippa
Authors: Perrone Compagni Vittoria
Published: December 2007

The study of Agrippa's works confirms his constant interest in the theory and practice of alchemy. The apparent contradiction between De occulta philosophia, which uses alchemical doctrines, and De vanitate scientiarum, where alchemy is harshly criticized, is to be resolved in the light of a moral and cultural reform founded on a Hermetic-Christian perspective on the relationship between faith and reason. The analysis of the alchemic passages in De occulta philosophia proves that Agrippa's transmutatory operations have no secondary role in his 'restored' magic. Furthermore, these operations are oriented towards a utopia, where original unity is to be regained.
Alchemy in Popular Culture: Leonardo Fioravanti and the Search for the Philosopher's Stone
Authors: Eamon William
Published: December 2007

This article examines the alchemical ideas and practices of the sixteenth-century Italian surgeon Leonardo Fioravanti. I argue that Fioravanti's
Alchemy and Chemistry: Chemical Discourses in the Seventeenth Century
Authors: Abbri Ferdinando
Published: December 2007

The landscape of seventeenth-century chemistry is complex, and it is impossible to find in it either a clear-cut distinction between alchemy and chemistry or a sort of simple identification of the two. The seventeenth-century cultural context contained a rich variety of "chemical" discourses with arguments ranging from specific experiments to the justification of the validity of chemistry and its novelty in terms of its extraordinary antiquity. On the basis of an analysis of the works by O. Borch, J.J. Glauber, and J. J. Becher, this paper tries to demonstrate that a historical reconstruction of "chemistry" must consider these different levels of the chemical debate. Only then will it be possible to appreciate the outstanding role played by G.E. Stahl in founding modern chemistry. The paper argues in favor of a contextualization of the historical research on seventeenth-century chemistry.
Evidence, Logic, the Rule and the Exception in Renaissance Law and Medicine
Authors: Maclean Ian
Published: December 2007

This article sets out to investigate aspects of the uptake of Renaissance law and medicine from some of the logical and natural-philosophical components of the university arts course. Medicine is shown to have a much laxer operative logic than law, reflecting its commitment to the theory of idiosyncrasy as opposed to the demands made upon the law by the need for a uniform application of justice. Symptomatic of the different uptake arc the contrasting meanings of "regulariter" and "generaliter" in the two disciplines. Whereas the law treats the rule as inviolable and the exception as only valid if made explicit in due legal form, medicine is able to conceive of a nature as a field of knowledge broader than that encompassed by its rules of art. Both law and medicine approach evidence
Natural Philosophy in Renaissance Italy: the University of Bologna and the Beginnings of Specialization
Authors: Lines David A.
Published: December 2007

In the Italian universities, there was traditionally a strong alliance between natural philosophy and medicine, which however was all to the advantage of the latter; its teachers were better regarded and better paid than others in the faculty of Arts and Medicine, and this led to career paths that sought out the teaching of medicine as soon as possible. This article examines a reversal of this trend observable in sixteenth-century Bologna and some other Italian universities (Pisa and Padua), leading to careers concentrating on natural philosophy and on the interpretation of Aristotelian works. It appears that financial incentives were part of the context leading to specialization in philosophy. An appendix listing the careers of nearly 200 teachers of natural philosophy in Bologna between 1340 and 1600 illustrates the developments.
"Professionalization" and "Confessionalization": the Place of Physics, Philosophy, and Arts Instruction At Central European Academic Institutions During the Reformation Era
Authors: Freedman Joseph S.
Published: December 2007

During the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, physics was regularly taught as part of instruction in philosophy and the arts at Central European schools and universities. However, physics did not have a special or privileged status within that instruction. Three general indicators of this lack of special status are suggested in this article. First, teachers of physics usually were paid less than teachers of most other university-level subject-matters. Second, very few Central European academics during this period appear to have made a career out of teaching physics. And third, Reformation Era schools and universities in Central Europe emphasized language instruction; such instruction not only was instrumental in promoting the confessional-i.e., Calvinist, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic-agendas of those same schools and universities, but also helped to prepare students for service in nascent but growing state governments.
Die Redefigur "Substanz a Produziert Wirkung B" in Den Frühen Rezeptarien Und Der Materia Medica Der Chinesischen Textkultur1
Authors: Schmidt F.R.A.
Published: December 2007

This article focuses on the interaction between recipes unearthed from tombs datable to the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) and the early history of the materia medica. We observed that the two medicographic media, i.e. the materia medica and the recipes, share the following logical structure: [Substance] A [produces] → [effect] B Our arrow (→) indicates a variety of relations, which the present article tries to categorize. As is shown in detail, the routine A → B is on the
The Burning Mirrors of Diocles: Reflections On the Methodology and Purpose of the History of Pre-Modern Science
Authors: Hogendijk Jan P.
Published: December 2007

Much has been done on the publication of original sources in Arabic during the past 30 years, but much more remains to be done. Some of the recent multiple editions are unnecessary duplication of work and therefore waste of energy. This energy could be better spent on the publication of unpublished sources, and on studies involving the contextualization of Islamic sciences. Furthermore, historians of pre-modern science should work on the popularization of their wonderful subject. This exoteric work is as important as esoteric research, because the survival of the field depends on its image among various audiences outside the community of historians of science.
Geometry in Context in the Sixteenth Century: the View From the Museum
Authors: Bennett Jim
Published: December 2007

This paper examines the discrepancy between the attitudes of many historians of mathematics to sixteenth-century geometry and those of museum curators and others interested in practical mathematics and in instruments. It argues for the need to treat past mathematical practice, not in relation to timeless criteria of mathematical worth, but according to the agenda of the period. Three examples of geometrical activity (cartography, surveying and warfare) are used to illustrate this, and two particular contexts (the wider world of human affairs and the discipline of natural philosophy) are presented in which mathematical practice localised in the sixteenth century takes on a special historical significance.
The Language of Demonstration: Translating Science and the Formation of Terminology in Arabic Philosophy and Science
Authors: Endress Gerhard
Published: December 2007

The reception of the rational sciences, scientific practice, discourse and methodology into Arabic Islamic society proceeded in several stages of exchange with the transmitters of Iranian, Christian-Aramaic and Byzantine-Greek learning. Translation and the acquisition of knowledge from the Hellenistic heritage went hand in hand with a continuous refinement of the methods of linguistic transposition and the creation of a standardized technical language in Arabic: terminology, rhetoric, and the genres of instruction. Demonstration more geometrico, first introduced by the paradigmatic sciences-mathematics, astronomy, mechanics-and adopted by philosophers embracing the cosmology of Neoplatonism, was complemented and superseded by the methods of syllogistic demonstration. Faced with the establishment of philosophy as a demonstrative science, which claimed absolute and universal knowledge, even the hermeneuti
Criticism of Authority in the Writings of Moses Maimonides and Fakhr Al-Din Al-Razi
Authors: Tzvi Langermann Y.
Published: December 2007

Criticism of authority was a prominent feature of medieval philosophical writing. In this study the critiques of two contemporaneous scholars, Moses Maimonides and Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, are compared. Maimonides criticized Hellenistic authorities, mainly Aristotle. However, the starting point for his critique was Aristotle's admission of the limitations of his own inquiries. Maimonides admired Aristotle's questioning of his own conclusions; indeed, his own thought was characterized by constant self-doubt. Al-Rāzī criticized an earlier Muslim scholar, Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna), an intellectual giant whose imprint was strongly felt in philosophy and medicine. Al Rāzī used his commentaries on a number of Ibn Sīnā's books as a stage for criticizing the master and for arguing for his own, alternative viewpoints.
Certainty, Doubt, Error: Comments On the Epistemological Foundations of Medieval Arabic Science1
Authors: Gutas Dimitri
Published: December 2007

The article comments on the epistemological foundations of medieval Arabic science and philosophy, as presented in five earlier communications, and attempts to draw some guidelines for the study of its social history. At the very beginning the notion of "Islam" is discounted as a meaningful explanatory category for historical investigation. A first part then looks at the applied sciences and notes three major characteristics of their epistemological approach: (a) they were functionalist and based on (b) experience and (c) observation. The second part looks at the theoretical sciences and notes that their epistemology was based on (a) geo
The Racialization of Crime and Punishment
Authors: Brewer Rose M. , Heitzeg Nancy A.
Published: December 2007

The current explosion in criminalization and incarceration is unprecedented in size, scope, and negative consequences—both direct and collateral—for communities of color. These macro systems exist in relationality to the micro dynamics of living in the midst of police scrutiny, economic marginalization, and political disenfranchisement. Critical race theory is a guide for pedagogy and praxis in exploring the racist and classist foundations of current micro and macro injustices. Using Supreme Court opinions and the voices of political prisoner/prisoners of conscience as evidence of the dominant text and the dissent, this article explores the following issues: the roots of U.S. law, criminal justice, and mass imprisonment in classism and racism; the political economy of the criminal justice system and the prison industrial complex; the intersectionality of injustices rooted in micro and macro systems; and the role of prisoners of conscience/ political prisoners in inspiring resistance to micro and macro injustice.
Telling Tales out of School
Authors: Wellin Chris
Published: December 2007

Colleges and universities are gateways to upward mobility and committed in principle to candid discourse and progressive policies on diversity. In this article, the author relates a narrative of personal experience during graduate study in sociology, to reflect on the subtle texture of racial tension and interaction in a setting that most would assume to be accepting of, if not enlightened about, difference. The discussion highlights four issues that are likely to be generally relevant in the process of working toward racial diversity in graduate programs in the social sciences and humanities: (a) the significance of the composition of groups (i.e., the proportion of people of color in a graduate cohort or program); (b) conflict between individualist versus collectivist orientations; (c) pressure to reconcile multiple perspectives and grievances based on gender and class as well as racial/ethnic identities; and (d) conflicting styles of communicating and resolving racial tensions.
Sample Sizes When Using Multiple Linear Regression for Prediction
Authors: Knofczynski Gregory T. , Mundfrom Daniel
Published: December 2007

When using multiple regression for prediction purposes, the issue of minimum required sample size often needs to be addressed. Using a Monte Carlo simulation, models with varying numbers of independent variables were examined and minimum sample sizes were determined for multiple scenarios at each number of independent variables. The scenarios arrive from varying the levels of correlations between the criterion variable and predictor variables as well as among predictor variables. Two minimum sample sizes were determined for each scenario, a good and an excellent prediction level. The relationship between the squared multiple correlation coefficients and minimum necessary sample sizes were examined. A definite relationship, similar to a negative exponential relationship, was found between the squared multiple correlation coefficient and the minimum sample size. As the squared multiple correlation coefficient decreased, the sample size increased at an increasing rate. This study provides guidelines for sample size needed for accurate predictions.
Building a Home in Nature: an Innovative Framework for Practice
Authors: Berger Ronen
Published: December 2007

This article presents an innovative framework that uses the natural environment as a partner in a creative and nonverbal therapeutic process. Integrating examples from practice, this article illustrates the ways in which the concepts and methods of “nature therapy” can be implemented with different clients and different settings.
Toward Doctoral Education in Nonprofit and Philanthropic Studies
Authors: Allison Lisa , Xiaolei Chen  , Flanigan Shawn T. , Keyes-Williams Joyce , Vasavada Triparna S. , Saidel Judith R.
Published: December 2007

This article provides an overview of the current nature and state of doctoral education in nonprofit and philanthropic studies. Data regarding student interests and demand for courses was gathered using surveys of faculty members and PhD students. A systematic journal database search was conducted to better understand what disciplines engage in research on nonprofit organizations and voluntary action. Arguing that theory-based, doctoral-level education in the field of nonprofit and philanthropic studies is needed by academia and sought after by doctoral students, a framework for meeting the educational needs of the field's future scholars is proposed.
Population-Based Approaches to Inform Policy: Men's Health Disparities and Opportunities for Nonprofits and Philanthropy to Leverage Change
Authors: Treadwell Henrie
Published: December 2007

Certain racial, ethnic, and economic groups, specifically men of color and men with low incomes, experience disproportionately high rates of chronic illness and of diseases and conditions that are leading causes of death in the United States. The dismal rates of morbidity and premature death among poor men and men of color in the United States underscore societal inequities and exacerbate health disparities among these populations. As the evidence of disparities continues to compound, the need for many-layered responses to address complex and intractable health inequalities becomes more obvious. Detailing the actual utilization of health services in specific populations by gender, race, ethnicity, and income can contribute to a wider understanding of health disparities and the costs of inadequate access to quality health care. Such population-based approaches to data collection and health service delivery within a community context can both ameliorate health disparities and suggest novel interventions to inform policy decisions. Nontraditional collaborations that create broad community coalitions around population-based approaches and join nonprofits with philanthropy, academe, and local, state, and federal governmental entities hold the greatest potential for lever-aging change.
Students' Participation and Non-Participation as a Situated Accomplishment
Authors: Tholander Michael
Published: December 2007

Using an approach inspired by conversation analysis, the present study investigates how Swedish students draw on democratic discourse during group work. The analyses demonstrate the importance of democratic issues to students. The analyses also point to how students repeatedly employ democratic discourse for a number of strategic purposes. Moreover, the analyses show that democratic arrangements at school are not always productive for schoolwork. The results are discussed in relation to previous research. In sum, the study implies that democracy must be studied as an interactive process. This entails a focus on how students do democracy at school rather than how they appear as democratic beings or how they experience student democracy retrospectively.
Children's Citizenship Education in Politically Sensitive Societies
Authors: Leonard Madeleine
Published: December 2007

Citizenship is both an individual and collective identity. In politically sensitive societies, the aim of citizenship education is to transform discourses around `us' and `them' into a more inclusive `we'. Yet promoting an inclusive citizenship is beset with challenges and contradictions as it may integrate young people into mainstream political structures to which some of them will have limited allegiance. In politically sensitive societies, discourses around citizenship may promote discourses of silences around existing communal tensions. The paper demonstrates this by drawing on Northern Ireland as a case study. It explores a number of dilemmas associated with citizenship education, including the crucial need to acknowledge the dynamics of power and control which characterize adult/teacher and child/pupil relationships in the school classrooms where citizenship education is transmitted.
Children's Rights and the Imagination of Community in Bangladesh
Authors: White Sarah C.
Published: December 2007

This paper suggests that sharply divergent images of children in Bangladesh reflect different `imagined communities' of society and polity, local and global. Universal concepts of `the rights of the child' contrast strongly with a local culture of `guardianship', as the key social institution that governs children's lives. How might bringing these together affect both analysis and action? Engaging with both the politics of development agency and the anthropology of Bangladesh, the paper asks if the boundaries of community might be `re-imagined' to mobilize more positive cultural and material resources for the children at the margins.
Preparation and Properties of Nanocomposites from Pristine and Modified SWCNTs of Comparable Average Aspect Ratios
Authors: Smith J.G. , Connell J.W. , Delozier D.M. , Watson K.A. , Bekyarova E. , Yu A. , Haddon R.C.
Published: December 2007

Low color, flexible, space-durable polyimide films with inherent and robust electrical conductivity to dissipate electrostatic charge (ESC) have been under investigation as part of a materials development activity for future NASA space missions. The use of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is one means of achieving this goal. Even though the concentration of SWCNTs needed to achieve ESC dissipation is typically low, it is dependent upon purity, size, dispersion and functionalization. In this study, SWCNTs prepared by the electric arc discharge method were used to synthesize nanocomposites using the LaRCTM CP2 backbone as the matrix. Pristine and functionalized SWCNTs were mixed with an alkoxysilane terminated amide acid of LaRC TM CP2 and the soluble imide form of the polymer and the resultant nanocomposites evaluated for mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. Due to the preparative conditions for the pristine and functionalized SWCNTs, the average aspect ratio for both was comparable. This permitted the assessment of SWCNT functionalization with respect to various interactions (e.g. van der Waals, hydrogen bonding, covalent bond formation, etc.) with the matrix and the macroscopic effects upon nanocomposite properties. The results of the study are described.
How to survive Rupert Murdoch
Authors: Dunn Martin
Published: December 2007

Former Murdoch stable editor Dunn, now editor-in-chief of the New York Daily News, sets out the ground rules to be heeded by those at Murdoch’s newly-acquired prize, the Wall Street Journal. Major changes are coming, warns Dunn: “Launching new sections for the Journal, introducing deeper and better coverage in key areas and improving the political coverage will only be part of it. What will be more interesting is his involvement on the business side of the Journal. At many of his publications around the world he knows that winning the editorial war is only part of the battle… Murdoch understands the war is waged on all fronts…Will the Journal succumb to such pressures? Will it maintain its independence and dignity in the face of being part of a global empire with so many interlocking and interdependent pieces? How the Wall Street Journal survives Rupert Murdoch will be one of the great media stories of the next decade.”
Clean-up in spin city
Authors: Oborne Peter
Published: December 2007

The Daily Mail political columnist argues that new Prime Minister Gordon Brown has already restored some honesty to the political process. “He has (and deserves more credit for this than has so far been awarded) voluntarily relinquished some of his own ability to control the press by making newspapers less dependent on the Downing Street machine,” he writes. “As a result reporting from Westminster feels cleaner. Stories can get written up for what they are worth, not fine-tuned to suit party political allegiances… Life is better. Spin is diminishing. Honest, unadulterated political reporting is making a reappearance… Maybe it can really last. With the coming of peace at the end of World War Two the great Daily Mirror cartoonist Philip Zec produced a famous drawing with the message: Don’t Lose it Again. Exactly the same can be said of Fleet Street at the end of the era of Blair.”
Great politicians rise above ridicule
Authors: Baker Kenneth
Published: December 2007

Lord Baker, vice-chairman of The Cartoon Museum and an expert in the field, traces the history of political lampooning from Robert Walpole to Gordon Brown and concludes that the best politicians take both criticism and praise with more than one pinch of sale: “Prime Ministers and politicians can be hurt by cartoons, but they should remember the cartoonist’s role is not to couch favour or approval. They should ignore the ones that flatter and resist wincing at the ones that ridicule. If, at times, the attack does strike home, they should never let it show. The reputations of the real political giants have not been impaired by the images created by the cartoonists. Great politicians rise above the invective, no doubt sufficiently confident of their own reputation to allow their achievements to be judged by history, rather than by cartoons.”
Children and the media quicksand
Authors: Melville-Brown Amber
Published: December 2007

“With a missing child dominating the headlines this summer, and reports that due to obesity our children may not outlive their parents, the question of protecting the next generation is high on the news agenda,” writes media lawyer Melville-Brown. “But it is not just the physical health and well-being of children that is at stake in our modern society. The public’s appetite for news – serious or gossip – and photographic evidence of both, together with the media’s preparedness to feed this hunger, is putting our children at risk of media over-exposure.” So who, she asks, is looking after the children: parents, courts, government or the media? And concludes: “For their own very different reasons, they all must.”
Fifty years on, God's still smiling
Authors: Meara David
Published: December 2007

Interviewed by the editor, the rector of St Bride’s, Fleet Street, reflects on the turbulent history of the church as it celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of its rededication after suffering massive bomb damage in the Second World War. And he observes of the sometimes flimsy relationship between the newspaper industry and religion: “You might ask what this secular, sometimes pretty disreputable trade got to do with the Christian faith, but people working in the industry and working under pressure are stressed in their working lives and sometimes in their private lives sometimes. They need a spiritual anchor point. They need a place where they feel they can be absolutely themselves whatever else is going on and where they can come and feel understood, because I think although people see the public role of newspapers, they don’t understand all the internal pressures…they don’t always realise the cost of the end product in terms of stress and emotion. So newspapermen and women sometimes feel quite isolated. I feel the industry hugely values somewhere where they feel they belong, where they are understood and welcomed just as they are. And where God looks down on them with a smile. And on St Bride’s, too.”
Breaking eggs in Iran
Authors: Smyth Gareth
Published: December 2007

The writer spend four years in Iran working as a foreign correspondent for the Financial Times and here reports that “Western readers and listeners are unaware of the constraints under which their information on Iran has been produced. While the number of resident reporters in the country is low and falling, many outlets retain the dateline by sending visiting hacks who hire quasi-official minders through Ershad. Even the resident reporter finds it hard to gain access to anyone or any place remotely near a real story, although to admit this to editors is dangerous when they are desperate to know what is going on in the ‘axis of evil’.” He concludes: “Hard facts have a way, sometimes, of confounding both propaganda and inaccurate and malicious reporting. Lessons can be learned, and the truth can be recognised. But one thing is clear. If it comes to a U.S. or U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, Western readers and listeners are likely to be even worse prepared than they were for the invasion of Iraq.”
Cervical and Vaginal Cytokine Determinations in Pregnant Women: Methodologic Issues
Authors: Gennaro Susan , Raftery Nancy , Campbell Donald , Shults Justine
Published: December 2007

Investigations of the role cytokines play in preterm birth are complicated by a number of methodologic issues that arise as to the most feasible and efficient methods to measure cytokines. The purpose of this article is to review methodologic issues surrounding the measurement of vaginal and cervical cytokines, specifically IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α, in pregnant women experiencing preterm labor. Specifically, two quantification methods, weight and protein assay, and cytokine specimens from two different sites, vaginal and cervical, were compared. There were no significant correlations between cytokine levels using the protein versus weight quantification method. The weight method had more negative values and thus the protein quantification method was more accurate. There were high correlations between cervical and vaginal IL-1β levels and IL-6 levels, but cervical and vaginal TNF-α levels were not correlated.
A Randomized Clinical Trial of Elk Velvet Antler in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Authors: Allen Marion , Oberle Kathleen , Grace Michael , Russell Anthony , Adewale Adeniyi J.
Published: December 2007

This article examines the effects of elk velvet antler on joint pain and swelling, patient/physician global assessment of disease activity, functional ability, quality of life, blood levels of C-reactive protein, and adverse events in persons with stage 2 to 3 rheumatoid arthritis experiencing residual symptoms after standard treatment. Patients ( N=168) were enrolled in a 6-month randomized, triple-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Instruments included the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scale, the Health Assessment Questionnaire, tender and swollen joint counts, and 100 mm-length visual analogue scales, along with blood tests. There were no significant differences between groups on any measures. The pattern of change of the measures across time points was essentially the same for both groups. Although some patients reported clinical improvements in their symptoms, there were no statistically significant differences between groups. Overall, elk velvet antler does not effectively manage residual symptoms in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Nocturnal Sleep and Daytime Nap Behaviors in Relation to Salivary Cortisol Levels and Temperament in Preschool-Age Children Attending Child Care
Authors: Ward Teresa M. , Gay Caryl , Alkon Abbey , Anders Thomas F. , Lee Kathryn A.
Published: December 2007

The purpose of this study was to describe nocturnal sleep and daytime nap duration in relation to salivary cortisol levels and child temperament in nonproblem nappers and problem nappers. Nighttime sleep and nap durations were obtained with continuous actigraph recordings for 3 days and nights (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) on 38 children aged 3 to 5 years who attended full-day child care centers. Nap times and disruptive behaviors were also observed and coded on each of the 3 days. Parents completed a temperament scale, sleep diaries, and the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire. Salivary cortisol samples were collected midmorning and in the afternoon after a nap on 2 consecutive days (Wednesday and Thursday). Problem napping and disruptive behaviors were associated with more negative affect, higher afternoon cortisol levels, and a smaller decrement in cortisol from morning to afternoon. Problem napping and disruptive behaviors were also associated with longer nighttime sleep, shorter nap durations, and later rise times. These data provide some insight into the associations among nighttime sleep, napping behavior, and salivary cortisol.
Sleep Disorders, Glucose Regulation, and Type 2 Diabetes
Authors: Taub Leslie-Faith Morritt , Redeker Nancy S.
Published: December 2007

Recent epidemiological, biological, and behavioral evidence suggests that sleep disorders may contribute to the development of diabetes; conversely, diabetes itself may contribute to sleep disorders. Sleep appears to moderate the neurohormones that regulate blood glucose. Sleep deprivation and sleep disorders contribute to pathophysiological changes associated with the development of type 2 diabetes. In people who already have diabetes, sleep deprivation contributes to elevations of hemoglobin A1c. Symptoms that occur as a result of diabetes, such as nocturia and neuropathic pain, may in turn contribute to sleep disturbance and exacerbate sleep deprivation. The purposes of this article are to examine the scientific basis for the associations between diabetes and sleep, identify gaps in the understanding of the empirical underpinnings of these relationships, and propose directions for future research.
Motor Skill Training, but not Voluntary Exercise, Improves Skilled Reaching After Unilateral Ischemic Lesions of the Sensorimotor Cortex in Rats
Authors: Maldonado Monica A. , Allred Rachel P. , Felthauser Erik L. , Jones Theresa A.
Published: December 2007

Background and Purpose . Exercise and rehabilitative training each have been implicated in the promotion of restorative neural plasticity after cerebral injury. Because motor skill training induces synaptic plasticity and exercise increases plasticity-related proteins, we asked if exercise could improve the efficacy of training on a skilled motor task after focal cortical lesions. Methods . Female young and middle-aged rats were trained on the single-pellet retrieval task and received unilateral ischemic sensorimotor cortex lesions contralateral to the trained limb. Rats then received both, either, or neither voluntary running and/or rehabilitative training for 5 weeks beginning 5 days postlesion. Motor skill training consisted of daily practice of the impaired forelimb in a tray-reaching task. Exercised rats had free access to running wheels for 6 h/day. Reaching function was periodically probed using the single-pellet retrieval task. Results. In young adults, motor skill training significantly enhanced skilled reaching recovery compared to controls. However, exercise did not significantly enhance performance when administered alone or in combination with skill training. There was also no major benefit of exercise in older rats. Additionally, there were no effects of exercise in a measure of coordinated forelimb placement (the foot-fault test) or in immunocytochemical measures of several plasticity-related proteins in the motor cortex. Conclusions. In young and middle-aged animals, exercise did not improve motor skill training efficacy following ischemic lesions. Practicing motor skills more effectively improved recovery of these skills than did exercise. It remains possible that an alternative manner of administering exercise would be more effective.
Convergence, Connectivity, and the Case of Japanese Mobile Gaming
Authors: Chan Dean
Published: December 2007

The specificities of Japanese mobile telephony are giving rise to new cultural economies of games production and engendering new paradigms of gameplay. These topical developments have considerable technosocial bearing and consequence. The tension between the virtual and the actual resides at the heart of topical debates about the modalities of co-presence in mobile telephony. The potential loss of anonymity in location-based mobile gaming and the increasing awareness that mobile games are mostly played at home add considerable complexity to the already-blurred boundaries of physical and virtual co-presence. The micronarratives of such newly configured and articulated social tropes arguably need to be incorporated into macroperspectives on convergence culture if only to invest the latter with additional levels of nuance and complexity. Japanese mobile gaming therefore has strategic utility in this article as a situated context for analyzing the localized cultural politics of convergence and connectivity in mobile telephony.
Culture and Business of PC Bangs in Korea
Authors: Huhh Jun-Sok
Published: December 2007

In this article, the culture and business of PC bangs in Korea are explored. Once just a convenient spot for high-speed connection, the PC bang has become a space for nurturing online gaming cultures. This article addresses two central characteristics of PC bang that have ensured its success. First, the paper explores the social and cultural dimensions of the PC bang as a space that nurtures the negotiation of offline and online relationships around online gaming cultures in Korea. Second, the paper discusses the role PC bangs play in the emergence of online games as a dominant game genre for Korean players. On the business side, a specialized pricing policy for PC bangs has made a vibrant business environment both for game publishers and PC bangs. Recent introduction of a micropayment business model, however, could be read as the demise of game publishers and PC bangs' synergies.
Walking With another: rural nurses' experiences of mentoring
Authors: Mills Jane , Francis Karen , Bonner Ann
Published: December 2007

The aim of this constructivist grounded theory study was to explore rural nurses' experiences of mentoring. Mentoring is often proposed as a solution to the problem of nursing workforce shortages. The global problem of workforce for nurses can be defined using the parameters of recruitment and retention rates, `problems' with which result in staff shortages, particularly of experienced nurses. Constructivist grounded theory has its foundations in relativism and an appreciation of the multiple truths and realities of subjectivism. Seven Australian rural nurses were interviewed. To ensure data saturation of particular categories and the fit of tentative theoretical conceptualisations, two participants were interviewed twice with no new codes identified from the subsequent interviews. Cultivating and growing new or novice rural nurses was the core category which conceptualised a two-part process consisting of getting to know a stranger and walking with another. Supportive relationships such as mentoring were found to be an existing, integral part of experienced rural nurses' practice — initiated by living and working in the same community. In this grounded theory, cultivating and growing is conceptualised as the core category. A two-part process was identified — getting to know a stranger and walking with another. This paper examines one of these subcategories, walking with another, relating the ways in which experienced rural nurses walk with another by firstly keeping things in perspective for new or novice rural nurses, and secondly using a particular form of language called nurse chat. For experienced rural nurses, mentoring in this way delivers a number of different outcomes with various nurses. Because it is a part of the experienced rural nurse's practice on an ongoing basis, individual mentoring relationships do not provide an end in relation to this nurse's experiences of mentoring, rather they are part of an ongoing experience. Creating supportive environments that include developing relationships such as mentoring is a potential solution to local staffing needs that does not require intensive resources. Experienced nurses engaged in clinical practice have the potential to cultivate and grow new or novice nurses — many already do so. Recognising their role and providing support as well as development opportunities will bring about a cycle of mentoring within the workplace.
Nurses' career commitment and job performance: differences between intensive care units and wards
Authors: Mrayyan Majd T. , Al-Faouri Ibrahim
Published: December 2007

Few studies explore the concepts of nurses' career commitment and job performance. This study aimed to address this by using a survey method. A convenient sample of 640 registered nurses was obtained, with a response rate of 58.1%. All nurses in the sample `agreed' to keep committed to their careers and they felt that they were performing `well' their jobs. There were some significant differences between responses from intensive care units and wards in terms of demographics, career commitment and job performance. The correlation of total scores of nurses' career commitment and job performance indicated a significant and positive relationship. For increased career commitment and improved job performance, nurses need to be offered various professional development opportunities.
Iranian nurses' attitudes toward research utilisation
Authors: Mehrdad Neda , Salsali Mahvash , Kazemnejad Anooshiravan
Published: December 2007

Research utilisation poses significant challenges for the nursing profession in Iran. Nurses' attitudes toward research and their motivation to engage in research utilisation have repeatedly been identified as potential barriers. Yet little is known about the attitudes of Iranian nurses' regarding research. Therefore, there is a need for a study that focuses particularly on Iranian nurses' attitudes toward research utilisation. The objective was to assess the attitude of Iranian clinical nurses and nurse educators towards nursing research. A self-administered questionnaire based on a cross-sectional survey conducted on 410 respondents from 15 educational hospitals and nursing schools affiliated to Tehran Medical Sciences University, Iran. According to the self-report, nurses generally held positive attitudes toward research. Education, professional role and research activities had a statistically significant relationship with their research attitudes. Although the attitudes towards research were positive, they do not perceive that research is relevant to the day-to-day work of nursing and research is not applicable to nursing as well. The majority of nurses are still not convinced of the importance of research to nursing practice and to the nursing profession. This, in turn, means that nurses do not implement research findings in clinical practice. There is an immediate need to improve research training in our teaching hospital to facilitate the development of the local literature both in terms of research utilisation and production.
Autocrine formation of hepcidin induces iron retention in human monocytes
Authors: Theurl Igor , Theurl Milan , Seifert Markus , Mair Sabine , Nairz Manfred , Rumpold Holger , Zoller Heinz , Bellmann-Weiler Rosa , Niederegger Harald , Talasz Heribert , Weiss Günter
Published: December 2007

Hepcidin, a master regulator of iron homeostasis, is produced in small amounts by inflammatory monocytes/macrophages. Chronic immune activation leads to iron retention within monocytes/macrophages and the development of anemia of chronic disease (ACD). We questioned whether monocyte-derived hepcidin exerts autocrine regulation toward cellular iron metabolism. Monocyte hepcidin mRNA expression was significantly induced within 3 hours after stimulation with LPS or IL-6, and hepcidin mRNA expression was significantly higher in monocytes of ACD patients than in controls. In ACD patients, monocyte hepcidin mRNA levels were significantly correlated to serum IL-6 concentrations, and increased monocyte hepcidin mRNA levels were associated with decreased expression of the iron exporter ferroportin and iron retention in these cells. Transient transfection experiments using a ferroportin/EmGFP fusion protein construct demonstrated that LPS inducible hepcidin expression in THP-1 monocytes resulted in internalization and degradation of ferroportin. Transfection of monocytes with siRNA directed against hepcidin almost fully reversed this lipopolysaccharide-mediated effect. Using ferroportin mutation constructs, we found that ferroportin is mainly targeted by hepcidin when expressed on the cell surface. Our results suggest that ferroportin expression in inflammatory monocytes is negatively affected by autocrine formation of hepcidin, thus contributing to iron sequestration within monocytes as found in ACD.