bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ameliorating effects of quercetin and chrysin on 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo- p-dioxin-induced nephrotoxicity in rats
Authors: Ciftci Osman , Ozdemir Ilknur , Vardi Nigar , Beytur Ali , Oguz Fatih
Published: December 2011

The aim of this study is to investigate the beneficial effects of the quercetin (Q) and chrysin (CH) against nephrotoxicity induced by 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo- p-dioxin (TCDD), a persistent environmental contaminant, in rats. Rats were divided randomly into six equal groups. TCDD, Q and CH were administered by gavages dissolved in corn oil at the doses of 2 µg/kg/week, 20 mg/kg/day and 50 mg/kg/day, respectively. The kidney samples were taken from all rats on day 60 for the determination of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels by spectrophotometric method. The results indicated that TCDD significantly induced lipid peroxidation and reduced antioxidant activities in rats. In contrast, Q and CH significantly prevented toxic effects of TCDD via increased GSH, CAT, GPx and SOD levels but decreased formation of TBARS. Also, it was determined that exposure to TCDD leads to significant histological damage in kidney tissue, and these effects can be eliminated with Q and CH treatment. In conclusion, the current study showed that exposure to TCDD can exert nephrotoxicity in rats. When Q and CH were given together with TCDD, they prevented nephrotoxic effects of TCDD. Their preventive effect lends more support to the role of oxidative and histological damage in the overall toxicity of TCDD.
Internet-Based Learning and Applications for Critical Care Medicine
Authors: Wolbrink Traci A. , Burns Jeffrey P.
Published: December 2011

Purpose:

Recent changes in duty hour allowances and economic constraints are forcing a paradigm shift in graduate medical education in the United States. Internet-based learning is a rapidly growing component of postgraduate medical education, including the field of critical care medicine. Here, we define the key concepts of Internet-based learning, summarize the current literature, and describe how Internet-based learning may be uniquely suited for the critical care provider.

Methods:

A MEDLINE/PubMed search from January 2000 to July 2011 using the search terms: “e-learning,” “Web-based learning,” “computer-aided instruction,” “adult learning,” “knowledge retention,” “intensive care,” and “critical care.”

Results:

The growth of the Internet is marked by the development of new technologies, including more user-derived tools. Nonmedical fields have embraced Internet-based learning as a valuable teaching tool. A recent meta-analysis described Internet-based learning in the medical field as being more effective than no intervention and likely as efficacious as traditional teaching methods. Web sites containing interactive features are aptly suited for the adult learner, complementing the paradigm shift to more learner-centered education. Interactive cases, simulators, and games may allow for improvement in clinical care. The total time spent utilizing Internet-based resources, as well as the frequency of returning to those sites, may influence educational gains.

Conclusion:

Internet-based learning may provide an opportunity for assistance in the transformation of medical education. Many features of Web-based learning, including interactivity, make it advantageous for the adult medical learner, especially in the field of critical care medicine, and further work is necessary to develop a robust learning platform incorporating a variety of learning modalities for critical care providers.
Keeping the Doors Closed
Authors: Chiru Mihail , Gherghina Sergiu
Published: December 2011

This article is the first systematic exploration of the leadership selection process in the Romanian party system. We use process-tracing and qualitative tools, using data from party statutes and documents of the national conventions. We focus on the parliamentary political parties throughout the entire post-communist period. The analysis shows that nothing has changed at the level of centralization of decision, and inclusiveness with the members’ involvement remaining marginal in all parties. The competitiveness of the internal elections presents a more diverse and dynamic picture. We propose a novel typology for cross-case comparisons that illustrates the association between informal decentralization and increased competitiveness. Second, we advance explanations for the persistence of the “exclusiveness” status quo that take into account intraorganizational, institutional, and exogenous factors.
Daily Symptom Management Practices for Arthritis Used by Older Adults
Authors: Quandt Sara A. , Grzywacz Joseph G. , Neiberg Rebecca H. , Lang Wei , Altizer Kathryn , Bell Ronny A. , Arcury Thomas A.
Published: December 2011

Objective: This article describes the daily self-management practices of older adults with arthritis and examines the association of symptom experience with the use of self-management behaviors. Method: 197 African American and White participants completed a baseline interview and six sets of three follow-up daily-diary interviews at monthly intervals. Results: Arthritis was reported by 63.5%. Arthritis self-management reported included complementary therapies, over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription medications, foods or beverages, and home remedies. Odds of implementing these self-care practices were greater on days with joint pain, swelling, and stiffness. Although, 78.0% and 72.4% of all participants reported staying in bed or cutting back on activities in response to joint symptoms, these self-management activities were not associated with having arthritis. Conclusions: Focusing on daily responses to symptoms demonstrates that older adults actively manage arthritis symptoms using a wide variety of measures, including complementary therapies.
Living Large
Authors: Duguid Michelle M. , Goncalo Jack A.
Published: December 2011

In three experiments, we tested the prediction that individuals’ experience of power influences their perceptions of their own height. High power, relative to low power, was associated with smaller estimates of a pole’s height relative to the self (Experiment 1), with larger estimates of one’s own height (Experiment 2), and with choice of a taller avatar to represent the self in a second-life game (Experiment 3). These results emerged regardless of whether power was experientially primed (Experiments 1 and 3) or manipulated through assigned roles (Experiment 2). Although a great deal of research has shown that more physically imposing individuals are more likely to acquire power, this work is the first to show that powerful people feel taller than they are. The discussion considers the implications for existing and future research on the physical experience of power.
Group Status Drives Majority and Minority Integration Preferences
Authors: Hehman Eric , Gaertner Samuel L. , Dovidio John F. , Mania Eric W. , Guerra Rita , Wilson David C. , Friel Brian M.
Published: December 2011

This research examined preferences for national- and campus-level assimilative and pluralistic policies among Black and White students under different contexts, as majority- and minority-group members. We targeted attitudes at two universities, one where 85% of the student body is White, and another where 76% of students are Black. The results revealed that when a group constituted the majority, its members generally preferred assimilationist policies, and when a group constituted the minority, its members generally preferred pluralistic policies. The results support a functional perspective: Both majority and minority groups seek to protect and enhance their collective identities.
Stereoscopic particle image velocimetry of the flow field in the rotor exit region of a forward-blade centrifugal turbomachine
Authors: Akbari G , Montazerin N , Akbarizadeh M
Published: December 2011

This article reports the measurements of the complicated flow phenomena in the rotor exit region of a multi-blade centrifugal fan with stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (PIV). The main purpose is to enhance the quality of raw PIV data for future turbulence analyses. The instantaneous and averaged quantities are sensitive to phase-matching of the raw data since the blade-to-blade distance is short. An image processing based procedure is devised that identifies the rotor margin and blade tips location and selects the phase-resolved images. The large measurement area is divided into four fields of view. PIV data post-processing optimizes the relative position of different fields of view and enhances matching between them by detecting the phase-resolved images. The accuracy and reliability of measurements are examined by error and convergency analyses. The results are used to analyse the interactions between jet and wake structures as well as between rotor exit flow and the volute stream near the rotor. Jet/wake structures, non-uniform flow patterns, and high vorticity layers with opposite value in both sides of each blade are novel measured patterns in centrifugal fan which also occur in other centrifugal turbomachines. Such data are a necessary prerequisite for the accurate turbulence modelling of the complicated jet/wake flow and the mixing in the volute.
Asian monsoon precipitation changes and the Holocene methane anomaly
Authors: Zhou Xin
Published: December 2011

It has been suggested that late-Holocene human activities caused the increase in atmospheric methane (CH4) concentration that otherwise would have been a naturally decreasing trend. As one of the places where rice farming originated, China has been considered to play a significant role in pre-industrial changes in atmospheric CH4 concentrations. To establish the climatic context since the first rice cultivation and to evaluate the relative roles of monsoon climate and rice cultivation on late Holocene CH4 rise, we synthesized climate data from China to examine the Holocene trends in monsoon precipitation. The results show high monsoon rainfall from 10,000 to 7000 years ago, and declining precipitation in the late Holocene as shown by most reconstructions. The decreasing trend in monsoon precipitation is consistent with that in other north tropical monsoon regions, and is opposite to the trend in CH4 concentrations. After ruling out several other natural factors and estimating CH4 emissions from early rice farming, we conclude that the late-Holocene methane increase has been significantly influenced by the expansion of early rice paddy fields during the period of declining monsoon precipitation.
Optimal designs for epidemiologic longitudinal studies with binary outcomes
Authors: Mehtälä Juha , Auranen Kari , Kulathinal Sangita
Published: December 2011

Alternating presence and absence of a medical condition in human subjects is often modelled as an outcome of underlying process dynamics. Longitudinal studies provide important insights into research questions involving such dynamics. This article concerns optimal designs for studies in which the dynamics are modelled as a binary continuous-time Markov process. Either one or both the transition rate parameters in the model are to be estimated with maximum precision from a sequence of observations made at discrete times on a number of subjects. The design questions concern the choice of time interval between observations, the initial state of each subject and the choice between number of subjects versus repeated observations per subject. Sequential designs are considered due to dependence of the designs on the model parameters. The optimal time spacing can be approximated by the reciprocal of the sum of the two rates. The initial distribution of the study subjects should be taken into account when relatively few repeated samples per subject are to be collected. A study with a reasonably large size should be designed in more than one phase because there are then enough observations to be spent in the first phase to revise the time spacing for the subsequent phases.
Reflections on meta-analyses involving trials stopped early for benefit: Is there a problem and if so, what is it?
Authors: Bassler Dirk , Montori Victor M , Briel Matthias , Glasziou Paul , Walter Stephen D , Ramsay Tim , Guyatt Gordon
Published: December 2011

We review controversies associated with randomized controlled trials (RCTs) stopped early for apparent benefit (truncated RCTs or tRCTs) and present our groups’ perspective. Long-established theory, simulations and recent empirical evidence demonstrate that tRCTs will on average overestimate treatment effects, and this overestimation may be large, particularly when tRCTs have small number of events. Theoretical considerations and simulations demonstrate that on average, meta-analyses of RCTs with appropriate stopping rules will lead to only trivial overestimation of treatment effects. However, tRCTs will disproportionally contribute to meta-analytic estimates when tRCTs occur early in the sequence of trials with few subsequent studies, publication of nontruncated RCTs is delayed, there is publication bias, or tRCTs result in a ‘freezing’ effect in which ‘correcting’ trials are never undertaken. To avoid applying overestimates of effect to clinical decision-making, clinicians should view the results of individual tRCTs with small sample sizes and small number of events with skepticism. Pooled effects from meta-analyses including tRCTs are likely to overestimate effect when there is a substantial difference in effect estimates between the tRCTs and the nontruncated RCTs, and in which the tRCTs have a substantial weight in the meta-analysis despite themselves having a relatively small number of events. Such circumstances call for sensitivity analyses omitting tRCTs.
Exploring the middle ground between environmental protection and economic growth
Authors: Kaplowitz Michael D. , Lupi Frank , Yeboah Felix K. , Thorp Laurie G.
Published: December 2011

Public preference concerning the environment and the economy typically has been characterized as either pro-environmental protection or pro-economic development. Researchers and policymakers increasingly suggest that environmental protection and economic growth are not mutually exclusive. However, use of dichotomous-choice policy preference questions persists. This note empirically examines an alternative response format for the typical dichotomous-choice environmental/economic policy preference question and explores respondents’ stated policy preferences in light of their support for recycling. We find that most respondents do not view environmental protection and economic development policy goals to be mutually exclusive. Most respondents view economic growth and environmental protection as compatible suggesting a more heterogeneous view of the environment–economic relationship than oft reported. Hence excluding a middle response choice to the standard environment/economic policy preference question may add measurement error, increase item nonresponse, and fail to account for the views of respondents who view these goals as complementary.
The Validity and Effectiveness of a Business Game Beta Test
Authors: Gold Steven C. , Wolfe Joseph
Published: December 2011

New gaming software must undergo a series of tests before its general release. The objective of these tests is to ensure that the simulation is appropriate for its intended audience, plays well, possesses the requisite level of fidelity to the system being modeled, and is free from programming errors. This article first catalogs the design parameters associated with a good beta test. It then compares this ideal against the beta test created for a first-generation online business game released by a major online game publisher. It then examines the actual behaviors and results produced by the study’s beta testers to determine the degree the publisher and authors could be confident that the game met the criteria of targeted audience propriety, playability, model fidelity, and algorithmic accuracy. In this instance, this well-designed beta test could not guarantee the release of error-free software, and the likely reasons for this outcome are identified.
Effectively Training the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Physician Workforce for Improved End-of-Life Health Care in the United States
Authors: Bui Thomas
Published: December 2011

The widening gap between the demand for palliative care services and the supply of trained palliative care professionals has resulted in considerable end-of-life distress for patients. Without formal training in palliative medicine and end-of-life symptom management, physicians in the United States are less equipped to competently address seriously ill and dying patients' medical, emotional, and spiritual needs. Recent attempts within graduate medical education training deliberately seek to prepare a critical mass of physicians as the new hospice and palliative medicine workforce in the United States. In addition, healthcare reform proposals may re-define the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) post-graduate training over the next five years and the Hospice Medicare Benefit altogether. Healthcare policy options include steady changes at multiple levels of medical training —namely, medical school curriculum mandates, requiring all graduate physician residency training to foster patient-centered communication skills and discussions about advanced directives, and instituting palliative medicine proficiency Continuing Medical Education (CME) requirements for all states' medical licensing boards. Attracting qualified physicians to serve patients at the end of life, innovative medical school loan repayment programs and scholarships will also foster excellence in the field of hospice and palliative medicine. Correcting our current paucity of formal training in palliative medicine better utilizes hospice and restores patients' dignity at the end of life.
Sequential analyses of foraging behavior and attack speed in ambush and widely foraging lizards
Authors: McElroy Eric J , McBrayer Lance D , Williams Steven C , Anderson Roger A , Reilly Stephen M
Published: December 2011

Food acquisition mode in lizards (i.e., ambush vs. widely searching) has been intensely scrutinized for the past decade to identify correlations between food acquisition mode, diet, sprint speed, and other aspects of phenotypic diversity. To begin to understand these correlations, we studied foraging mode variation in natural foraging behavior and attack speed in three ambush predators and two widely foraging species in the field. Sequential analyses revealed considerable variation in the temporal structure of behavioral repertoires associated with acquiring food. Ambush and wide-foraging species use unique combinations of behaviors prior to prey attack with differences among and between food acquisition modes. Attack speeds were well below maximum sprint speed for these species. Thus, the widely demonstrated correlation between food acquisition mode and sprint speed is not related to prey capture per se. The striking variation in prey capture repertoires in these model ambush and wide foragers shows that we have a long way to go before we will understand the ecological relevance of many performance and phenotypic traits that are related to foraging mode in lizards.
Co-evolving predator and prey robots
Authors: Nolfi Stefano
Published: December 2011

In this article I briefly discuss the role that artificial (robotic) models can play in the study of competing co-evolutionary dynamics, the main results obtained in the research works addressing the evolution of predator and prey robots, and the implications of these studies for robotics. In particular I discuss the factors that cause the convergence toward a cyclical dynamic and the factors that enable prolonged innovation phases eventually leading to open-ended processes.
Molecular Control of Axon Branching
Authors: Bilimoria Parizad M. , Bonni Azad
Published: December 2011

Axon branching is a complex morphological process, the regulation of which we are just beginning to understand. Many factors known to be important for axon growth and guidance have emerged as key regulators of axon branching. The extrinsic factors implicated in axon branching include traditional axon guidance cues such as the slits, semaphorins, and ephrins; neurotrophins such as BDNF; the secreted glycoprotein Wnt; the extracellular matrix protein anosmin-1; and certain transmembrane cell adhesion molecules—as well as sensory experience and neuronal activity. Although less is known about the intracellular control of axon branching, in recent years significant advances have been made in this area. Kinases and their regulators, Rho GTPases and their regulators, transcription factors, ubiquitin ligases, and several microtubule and actin-binding proteins are now implicated in the control of axon branching. It is likely that many more branching regulators remain to be discovered, as do the links between extrinsic cues and intracellular signaling proteins in the control of axon branching.
Remote rapid prototyping manufacturing network using optimization recurrent hidden Markov models
Authors: Yina Guo , Qinghua Wang , Shuhua Huang , Naik Ganesh R
Published: December 2011

By use of hand gesture recognition technology, traditional remote manufacturing networks can be operated by disabled people who lose the grasp ability. The surface electromyography (sEMG) network inference is critically important for revealing fundamental hand gesture processes, investigating sEMG functions, and understanding their relations. However, current hand gesture recognition methods using sEMG do not sufficiently consider the temporal behavior of this type of data and lack the capability to capture the complex nonlinear system dynamics. It is therefore imperative to have good methods to explore a more suitable choice, which can avoid the problems mentioned above. This paper presents a rapid prototyping manufacturing network with sEMG using recurrent hidden Markov models (RHMMs) and a particle swarm optimization (PSO) approach. It also provides high-level modeling, programming methods, and running results for this remote manufacturing network in terms of software and hardware. PSO is used to train the RHMM and determine the model parameters. Remote manufacturing is accomplished between the network monitor center and a number of sensor nodes by use of a sEMG sensor circuit and Winsock monitor sensors. Furthermore, it has such advantages as network wireless, low cost, and strong interaction and expansibility, and is easy to maintain and promote.
Optimal fuzzy control of an inverted pendulum
Authors: Bui Hai-Le , Tran Duc-Trung , Vu Nhu-Lan
Published: December 2011

In this paper, three controllers, including OFCHA (optimal fuzzy control using hedge algebras – HAs), FCHA (fuzzy control using HAs) and CFC (conventional fuzzy control) are designed. Attention is paid to the stability in the vertical position of a damped-elastic-jointed inverted pendulum subjected to a time-periodic follower force. The different values of the angular coefficient of the follower force are considered. Simulation results are exposed to illustrate the effect of OFCHA in comparison with FCHA and CFC.
A minimax stochastic optimal semi-active control strategy for uncertain quasi-integrable Hamiltonian systems using magneto-rheological dampers
Authors: Feng Ju , Ying Zu-Guang , Zhu Wei-Qiu , Wang Yong
Published: December 2011

A minimax stochastic optimal semi-active control strategy for stochastically excited quasi-integrable Hamiltonian systems with parametric uncertainty by using magneto-rheological (MR) dampers is proposed. Firstly, the control problem is formulated as an n-degree-of-freedom (DOF) controlled, uncertain quasi-integrable Hamiltonian system and the control forces produced by MR dampers are split into the passive part and the semi-active part. Then the passive part is incorporated into the uncontrolled system. After that, the stochastic optimal semi-active control problem is solved by applying the minimax stochastic optimal control strategy based on the stochastic averaging method and stochastic differential game. The worst-case disturbances and the optimal controls are obtained by the minimax dynamical programming equation with the constraints of disturbance bounds and MR damper dynamics. Finally, the system response and the control performance are evaluated by using Monte Carlo simulation. An example of a two-DOF system with coupling damping and parametric uncertainty under Gaussian white noise excitations is worked out in detail to illustrate the procedure and effectiveness of the proposed control strategy, which is also compared with the clipped linear-quadratic-Gaussian control strategy to show the advantages.
Analysis of the vibration characteristics of an experimental mechanical system using neural networks
Authors: Erkaya Selçuk
Published: December 2011

This paper presents an investigation on the vibration analysis of a gearing mechanism using neural network predictors. The experimental system is positioned on a working table with changeable legs. The legs have different shapes such as L, H and O shapes, for finding the exact leg profiles for the experimental system. Two types of neural networks are used to predict vibrations of the system for different leg profiles. The results of two approaches indicate that the proposed neural network with Levenberg–Marquardt learning algorithm has a superior performance to predict vibration parameters of the system.
An analytic formulation for blind modal identification
Authors: McNeill SI
Published: December 2011

In this paper a complex-valued formulation of the modal superposition equation is provided and shown to be equivalent to the original, real-valued Blind Modal IDentification (BMID) problem. The complex-valued variant involves the analytic form of the physical and modal responses. The formulation is shown to be more concise and straightforward than the original. It is noted that complex-valued mode shapes can be obtained using a complex version of the two-step Joint Approximate Diagonalization (JAD) algorithm. Using this approach the modal response pairing step of the original BMID method is eliminated. Since the development of the original BMID method, several new, one-step JAD algorithms have been devised. Many of the algorithms can be extended to identify complex mixing matrices. A complex version of the one-step JAD method known as the Weighted Exhaustive Diagonalization with Gauss itErations algorithm is utilized to solve for the complex mode shapes and modal responses. By using this simplified formulation, the whitening step is eliminated, as well as the modal response pairing step, which is necessary in the original BMID algorithm.

Performance of the new Complex BMID (CBMID) algorithm is evaluated by application to synthesized data from a three-degrees-of-freedom system with complex modes, application to measured laboratory data on a structural frame and application to measured output-only data from the Heritage Court Tower building. It is seen that the CBMID method results in essentially the same estimates of modal responses, complex mode shapes, natural frequencies and modal damping compared to results from BMID. Furthermore, it is shown that modal parameters from BMID and CBMID are very consistent with those obtained from state-of-the-art methods, such as the Eigensystem Realization Algorithm and the covariance-driven Stochastic Subspace Identification method.
A numerical analysis of large amplitude beam vibration under different boundary conditions and excitation patterns
Authors: Das Debabrata , Sahoo Prasanta , Saha Kashinath
Published: December 2011

Large amplitude forced vibration behavior of thin beams under harmonic excitation is studied, incorporating the effect of geometric nonlinearity. Large amplitude free vibration analysis of the same system is also carried out to obtain the backbone curves. When a very small loading is considered, the system response becomes almost identical to the backbone curve, which confirms the validity of the large amplitude study. The sets of governing equations for both forced and free vibration problems are obtained using Hamilton’s principle, whereas the same for the static problem are obtained by applying the variational form of the energy principle. The solution of the static problem provides system stiffness as a function of deflection and it becomes an input to the corresponding free vibration problem. The results are presented in the nondimensional frequency–amplitude plane in the form of response curves, and the related backbone curves are shown to represent the complete system behavior. Results for different combinations of classical flexural boundary conditions and loading patterns are reported.
When Horizons Do Not Merge
Authors: Weiner-Levy Naomi , Popper-Giveon Ariela
Published: December 2011

Gadamer claims that the horizons of the listener and the narrator merge and create a new understanding of the narrative’s meaning. This study examines encounters between researcher and informant in which these horizons do not merge, encounters—usually ignored in the literature—in which the researcher senses that the informant’s statements raise questions, cause confusion, or are perceived as perhaps unacceptable. It analyzes these moments and their implications regarding the research process and findings. We claim that not all statements are accepted. Researchers sift through questionable data, disregarding it at times. This may cause a “converse error,” leading researchers to ignore information perceived as doubtful that in fact could be valuable and contribute innovative understandings and knowledge.
“Thank You for Your Words”
Authors: Berger Ronald J. , Feucht Jon
Published: December 2011

This article recounts the authors’ experiences at the Authentic Voices of America summer camp for severely disabled youths who are learning to become more proficient at using computerized communication devices to speak. The five-day camp was founded by Jon Feucht, who also uses a device and continues to serve as its director. In the summer of 2011, Feucht invited sociologist Ron Berger to attend the camp as part of a collaborative research project about Feucht’s life story. This article is written in Berger’s voice, but includes excerpts from Feucht’s “Straight Talks” that he gave at the camp as well as his views about living with a severe disability. By way of conclusion, insights from critical disability studies and crip theory are also considered.
Enacting Decolonized Methodologies
Authors: Beeman-Cadwallader Nicole , Quigley Cassie , Yazzie-Mintz Tarajean
Published: December 2011

Indigenous scholars have debated the impact that researchers and the act of researching have on Native and Indigenous people and communities. Although literature on this subject has grown, little has been written explicitly laying out the doing of research with these communities. The authors seek to articulate their doing by drawing upon the essential research principles and standards set by scholars. The authors seek to examine their work as education researchers in three different international contexts—Kenya, Cambodia, and “Indian country” in the United States—highlighting research practice shaped by context, relationship, and discourse emergent in their investigations of schooling, language revitalization, and scientific knowledge access. The authors reflect, analyze, and summarize their actions of decolonizing research that were present or particularly challenging cross-culturally, in each context. Examples of common action in the projects include relinquishing control, reenvisioning knowledge, cultivating relationships, and purposeful representation of communities. Finally, the authors connect their actions to the principles and standards set by scholars and discuss lessons learned.
From Whirling to Trembling
Authors: Eryaman Mustafa Yunus
Published: December 2011

This article will be enacted through a performative script that incorporates the dual narratives of the journey of whirling and trembling dervishes by montaging images from Peter Brooks’ movie Meetings With Remarkable Men. Denzin and Lincoln’s notion of the montage is experimented as an editing technique where a series of images and texts are edited into a sequence to condense a narrative. Whirling and trembling dervishes are devotional performers and inquirers of the Islamic sect of Sufism. Their performative inquiries are centered on the idea of an organic unity of groundlessness, nothingness, and love. However, the performances of whirling and trembling dervishes differ from each other—while the former offers a type of nonrestrictive but conventional order of inquiry, the latter constitutes a formless chaos, an ongoing performance, both deconstructive and creative. Two educative narratives called menkıbe in Islamic inquiry will be edited into a sequence to demonstrate the distinction between the tariqas (paths, performances) of whirling and trembling dervishes. At the end of the article, implications of the performances of whirling and trembling dervishes on social science inquiry will be discussed.
Autoethnography and Emotion as Intellectual Resources
Authors: Jewkes Yvonne
Published: December 2011

In contrast to many other social sciences, criminology has largely resisted the notion that qualitative inquiry has autoethnographic dimensions and remained quiet on the subject of the emotional investment required of ethnographic fieldworkers studying stigmatized and/or vulnerable “others” in settings where differential indices of power, authority, vulnerability, and despair are felt more keenly than most. Emotion appears in criminology in discussions about public sentiments, populist punitiveness, and the emotional motivations behind offending but rarely features as a lens through which one might better understand the process of doing research. This article examines the state of the field, discusses the work of a small minority of ethnographers who acknowledge the emotional content of prison studies, and tells the story of a personal research encounter that changed the author’s methodological and theoretical orientation. It argues that a more frank acknowledgment of the convergence of subject-object roles does not necessarily threaten the validity of social science, or at least, “it is a threat with a corresponding gain.”
Self-Control in Postsecondary Settings
Authors: Parker David R. , Hoffman Sharon Field , Sawilowsky Shlomo , Rolands Laura
Published: December 2011

Objective: The objective of this study was to identify undergraduates’ perceptions of the impact of ADHD coaching on their academic success and broader life functioning. Method: One-on-one interviews were conducted with 19 students on 10 different U.S. campuses who comprised a purposive sample of gender, cumulative grade point average, and self-regulation skills variables as measured by the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory. Interview transcripts were coded using NVivo 8 software, and emergent themes were triangulated with students’ descriptions of personal artifacts that symbolized coaching’s influence on their lives. Results: Students reported that ADHD coaching helped them become more self-regulated, which led to positive academic experiences and outcomes. Students described ADHD coaching as a unique service that helped them develop more productive beliefs, experience more positive feelings, and engage in more self-regulated behaviors. Conclusion: ADHD coaching helped participants enhance their self-control as they responded to the multifaceted demands of undergraduate life.
Individuals’ Attitudes Toward Public Transit in a Rural Transit District
Authors: Majumdar Sarmistha Rina , Lentz Corliss
Published: December 2011

During a period of high gasoline prices and in the absence of alternative means of transportation, commuters in rural areas in the United States are incurring higher transportation costs than their urban counterparts. Due to an inadequate investigation of rural commuters’ preferences, this exploratory research is an attempt to understand whether individuals would be willing to use public transit if it were to be provided and what the factors are that influence their decision. Analysis of survey data suggests commuters’ preference for public transit service in a rural transit district, and its sustenance requires a focus on those service attributes that individuals value most.
Sustainable Development Governance
Authors: Hawkins Christopher V. , Wang XiaoHu
Published: December 2011

Although local governments are becoming more active in pursuing environmental sustainability initiatives, understanding the participation mechanisms utilized by communities is critical for improving the management and success of sustainable development. Since sustainable development can also be relatively complex and requires specialized skills, a network of organizations can bolster the capacity of local governments to plan and implement sustainability initiatives. This study is intended to contribute to the literature on sustainability by presenting a conceptual model of sustainable development governance. This model focuses of collaboration among local governments, residents of the community, and organizations of a support network. On the basis of a national survey of U.S. cities, the authors present evidence on the extent to which cities utilize elements of the conceptual model.
Explanations of Homicide Clearances
Authors: Lundman Richard J. , Myers Meghan
Published: December 2011

This research examines four operationalizations of homicide clearances at two time points for 816 homicides in Columbus, Ohio. Our goals are to answer two questions: (a) Does how a homicide clearance is operationalized affect explanations of homicide clearances? (b) Do Time 1 explanations of homicide clearances change when Time 2 homicide clearances are part of the analysis? The data show that how a homicide clearance is operationalized does not affect explanations of homicide clearances, with one exception. The data also show that adding Time 2 clearances does not change explanations of homicide clearances.
Weak knowledge for strengthening competences: A practice-based approach in assessment management
Authors: Ripamonti Silvio , Scaratti Giuseppe
Published: December 2011

The aim of this article is to demonstrate the importance of local knowledge for the design of assessment tools intended to develop and enhance human resources in organizations. With respect to the standardization of assessment procedures brought about by the application of universal and global reference models, the article uses a case study to illustrate the potentialities and shortcomings of using a local approach. After a brief survey of the main theoretical frames of reference, the article describes how local knowledge was used at an assessment centre set up at a multinational operating in the maritime transport sector, with a view to developing the competences required by the company. The article describes and discusses the ways in which certain classic knowledge management situations were adapted at the assessment centre to local needs and conditions, and the main results obtained. Finally discussed are the practical and social implications, as well as the limitations and the transferability, of a local approach to assessment.
Givers and takers
Authors: Jalali Carlos , Silva Patrícia , Silva Sandra
Published: December 2011

This article assesses the relationship between parties and civil society in Portugal between 1999 and 2009, examining the mediating role of parties in patterns of state funding to civil society organizations. We find evidence of a relationship between parties and organized civil society – albeit an instrumental one, largely based on reward-motivated linkages. The analysis of state grants indicates that parties act as brokers between the state and civil society groups, instrumentally using patronage resources. Three distinct dimensions of party influence on funding emerge. The first pertains to party organization: our evidence is consistent with the use of state funding to shore up party organizations and compensate for weak social roots. Second, electoral gains: funding is particularly visible around election periods, with legislative elections significantly more relevant than others. Third, the potential role of ideology: the ideological position of governing parties is also a significant predictor of civil society funding.
Interest group–party interaction in EU politics
Authors: Rasmussen Anne
Published: December 2011

Europe has brought about important changes in representation by strengthening the ability of national interest groups to influence policy at the expense of national political parties. Nevertheless, results from a project on the relationship between interest groups and political parties in Denmark, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom show that interest groups still attach high priority to interacting with national political parties in EU politics and that their party contacts have not moved to Brussels. Instead, national and European party contacts strengthen each other. Moreover, it is not the most but the least Europeanized groups that attach the lowest priority to interacting with national political parties in EU policy. Thus, the strategic adaptations in representation to the new EU opportunity structure may not be as serious as feared by some of the critics of EU democracy.
Party strategies towards civil society in new democracies
Authors: Verge Tània
Published: December 2011

The aim of this article is twofold. First it sheds light on the types of relationship established by political parties with interest groups in new democracies through the identification of the strategies applied by parties towards civil society. Analysis of the Spanish case allows the mapping of three different strategies: the creation and/or sponsoring (of social organizations), penetration (infiltration of social organizations by party members or co-option of them for the party in central or in public office) and collaboration (creation of common forums for contact and action with social organizations). The article also discusses the rationales embedded in these strategies and how their use has changed over time and across parties. The second aim is to examine the environmental and party organizational factors that might explain the patterns revealed and to develop hypotheses on party strategies towards interest groups.
Shady plantations: Theorizing coastal shelter in Tamil Nadu
Authors: Hastrup Frida
Published: December 2011

This article explores practices of protection played out in a coastal plantation in a village in Tamil Nadu. I argue that these practices are articulations of different but coexisting theorizations of shelter, and that the plantation can be seen as that which emerges at the intersections between these, as they are realized in social encounters. This calls for a view of theory and analysis as generative of objects in the world, rather than applied to them from some fictitious elsewhere or posterity. Exploring the plantation and the shelter it offers as an intertwinement and simultaneity of practice and analysis, data and theory, I discuss anthropological knowledge-making as a truly lateral endeavour that engages in describing and cultivating a shared capacity for world-making, the challenge then being to find the right story of sameness and difference, without ascribing fixity and inevitability to our objects of knowledge.
Mechanisms of Cardioprotective Effect of Aged Garlic Extract Against Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiotoxicity
Authors: Alkreathy Huda M. , Damanhouri Zoheir A. , Ahmed Nessar , Slevin Mark , Osman Abdel-Moneim M.
Published: December 2011

Aged garlic has been extensively studied and has been shown to have a number of medicinal properties, including immunomodulatory, hepatoprotective, antimutagenic, anticarcinogenic, and antioxidant effects. The objective of this study was to investigate the mechanisms of the cardioprotective effect of aged garlic extract (AGE), a widely used herbal medicine with potent antioxidant activity, against doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity. Moreover, the study investigated if the cardioprotective effect of AGE might be at the expense of the antitumor effect of the anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX). Primary cultured neonatal rat cardiac myocytes were treated with DOX, AGE, and their combination for 24 hours. DOX increased p53 and caspase 3 activity–induced apoptotic cell death, whereas AGE pretreatment suppressed the action of DOX. AGE pretreatment did not interfere with the cytotoxic activity of DOX, but it increased the DOX uptake into tumor cells and increased the long term survivors of tumor-bearing mice from 30% to 70%. In conclusion, DOX impairs viability of cardiac myocytes, at least partially by activating the p53-mediated apoptotic signaling. AGE can effectively and extensively counteract this action of DOX and may potentially protect the heart from severe toxicity of DOX. At the same time, AGE did not interfere with antitumor activity of DOX.
A Contemporary Review of Cystic Adventitial Disease
Authors: Paravastu Sharath C. V. , Regi John M. , Turner Douglas R. , Gaines Peter A.
Published: December 2011

Cystic adventitial disease (CAD) is a rare vascular disorder, predominantly seen in young healthy men with minimal cardiovascular risk factors. Cystic adventitial disease can affect both arteries and veins. Patients with arterial CAD present with sudden onset or rapidly progressing claudication symptoms, and those with venous CAD present with limb swelling or very rarely deep vein thrombosis. Diagnosis is confirmed with the aid of imaging techniques such as ultrasonography, computed tomography, or magnetic resonance scan. Surgical resection or evacuation of the lesion is usually the preferred approach, with only mixed results reported for percutaneous endovascular techniques.
Moral panics and the transgressive other
Authors: Young Jock
Published: December 2011

The concept of moral panic arose out of a particular conjuncture of political, social and theoretical circumstances; specifically the events of 1968, the social transformations of the late 1960s and the synthesis and energizing of New Deviancy and subcultural theory in British criminology centering on the NDC (National Deviancy Conference) and the CCCS (Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies). This work evoked Mills’s Sociological Imagination: the placing of individual problems as public issues, the relation of the individual to his or her particular time and social structure, and the effect of social dynamics on the psychological and psychodynamics on the social. The sociological imagination is not a constant but is greatly enhanced at times of change: it is this imagination which engenders transformative politics. Such an analysis clearly demands placing both human actors and reactors, in this instance, ‘deviants’ and moral panickers, in structure and historical time and to examine both the immediate and deep roots of their behaviour. There is a tendency in these neo-liberal times to view moral panics as simple mistakes in rationality generated perhaps by the mass media or rumour. In this process any link between the individual and the social structure, between historical period and social conflict, is lost. In particular the peculiar ‘rational irrationality’ of moral panics is obfuscated, the link between social structure and individual belief diminished, and attempts to utilize moral panics to stymie social change and transformative politics obscured.