bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Analysis of Parameter Sensitivity Using Robust Design Techniques for a Flatfish Type Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
Authors: Santhakumar M. , Asokan T. , Sreeram T. R.
Published: March 2010

Hydrodynamic parameters play a major role in the dynamics and control of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs). The performance of an AUV is dependent on the parameter variations and a proper understanding of these parametric influences is essential for the design, modeling, and control of high-performance AUVs. In this paper, the sensitivity of hydrodynamic parameters on the control of a flatfish type AUV is analyzed using robust design techniques such as Taguchi's design method and statistical analysis tools such as Pareto-ANOVA. Since the pitch angle of an AUV is one of the crucial variables in the control applications, the sensitivity analysis of pitch angle variation is studied here. Eight prominent hydrodynamic coefficients are considered in the analysis. The results show that there are two critical hydrodynamic parameters, that is, hydrodynamic force and hydrodynamic pitching moment in the heave direction that influence the performance of a flatfish type AUV. A near-optimal combination of the parameters was identified and the simulation results have shown the effectiveness of the method in reducing the pitch error. These findings are significant for the design modifications as well as controller design of AUVs.
Silencing of Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor 1 by siRNA in EC109 Cells Affects Cell Proliferation and Apoptosis
Authors: Changhui Ma , Tianzhong Ma , Zhongjing Su , Ling Chen , Ning Wang , Ningxia Zhu , Xiancai Chen , Haibin Chen
Published: March 2010

Tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (TNFR1) is a membrane receptor able to bind TNF‐α or TNF‐β. TNFR1 can suppress apoptosis by activating the NF‐κB or JNK/SAPK signal transduction pathway, or it can induce apoptosis through a series of caspase cascade reactions; the particular effect may depend on the cell line. In the present study, we first showed that TNFR1 is expressed at both the gene and protein levels in the esophageal carcinoma cell line EC109. Then, by applying a specific siRNA, we silenced the expression of TNFR1; this resulted in a significant time‐dependent promotion of cell proliferation and downregulation of the apoptotic rate. These results suggest that TNFR1 is strongly expressed in the EC109 cell line and that it may play an apoptosis‐mediating role, which may be suppressed by highly activated NF‐κB.
Elevated Middle Cerebral Artery Peak Systolic Velocity in a Nonanemic Fetus with Alpha-Thalassemia Trait
Authors: Heyborne Kent
Published: March 2010

Background. Elevated middle cerebral artery peak systolic velocity (MCA-PSV) has been reported in nonanemic fetuses following fetal transfusion, and has been attributed to a major population of red blood cells (RBCs) with an adult mean corpuscular volume (MCV) in the fetal circulation. Reported here is an analogous case of elevated MCA-PSV with a normal fetal hematocrit and relative fetal microcytosis due to fetalα-thalassemia trait.Case. Ultrasound findings concerning for early hydrops prompted measurement of MCA-PSV, which was elevated. Cordocentesis revealed fetal microcytosis with a normal hematocrit which proved to be due to fetalα-thalassemia trait inherited from the mother.Conclusion. This case provides another example of elevated MCA-PSV with normal hematocrit and microcytosis, here due to fetalα-thalassemia trait. This finding provides support for the observation that MCA-PSV may be influenced by hematological indices other than the fetal hematocrit.
BART: The Czech Autonomous Observatory
Authors: Nekola Martin , Hudec René , Jelínek Martin , Kubánek Petr , Štrobl Jan , Polášek Cyril
Published: March 2010

The High Energy Astrophysics group of the stellar department of the Astronomical
Institute in Ondřejov operates two small aperture robotic telescopes
called BART and D50. Both telescopes are capable of making automatic followup
observation of gamma‐ray burst optical counterparts. This paper deals with
the smaller telescope BART.
ICAM-1 Clustering on Endothelial Cells Recruits VCAM-1
Authors: van Buul Jaap D. , van Rijssel Jos , van Alphen Floris P. J. , van Stalborch Anna-Marieke , Mul Erik P. J. , Hordijk Peter L.
Published: March 2010

In the initial stages of transendothelial migration, leukocytes use the endothelial integrin ligands ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 for strong adhesion. Upon adhesion of the leukocyte to endothelial ICAM-1, ICAM-1 is clustered and recruited to the adhered leukocyte, promoting strong adhesion. In this study, we provide evidence for the colocalization of VCAM-1 at sites of ICAM-1 clustering. Anti-ICAM-1 antibody-coated beads were used to selectively cluster and recruit ICAM-1 on primary human endothelial cells. In time, co-localization of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 around the adherent beads was observed. Biochemical pull-down assays showed that ICAM-1 clustering induced its association to VCAM-1, suggesting a physical link between these two adhesion molecules. The association was partly dependent on lipid rafts as well as on F-actin and promoted adhesion. These data show that VCAM-1 can be recruited, in an integrin-independent fashion, to clustered ICAM-1 which may serve to promote ICAM-1-mediated leukocyte adhesion.
Applied Model‐Based Analysis and Synthesis for the Dynamics, Guidance, and Control of an Autonomous Undersea Vehicle
Authors: Kim Kangsoo , Ura Tamaki
Published: March 2010

Model‐based analysis and synthesis applied to the dynamics, guidance, and control of an autonomous undersea vehicle are presented. As the dynamic model for describing vehicle motion mathematically, the equations of motion are derived. The stability derivatives in the equations of motion are determined by a simulation‐based technique using computational fluid dynamics analysis. The dynamic model is applied to the design of the low‐level control systems, offering model‐based synthetic approach in dynamics and control applications. As an intelligent navigational strategy for undersea vehicles, we present the optimal guidance in environmental disturbances. The optimal guidance aims at the minimum‐time transit of a vehicle in an environmental flow disturbance. In this paper, a newly developed algorithm for obtaining the numerical solution of the optimal guidance law is presented. The algorithm is a globally working procedure deriving the optimal guidance in any deterministic environmental disturbance. As a fail‐safe tactic in achieving the optimal navigation in environments of moderate uncertainty, we propose the quasi‐optimal guidance. Performances of the optimal and the quasi‐optimal guidances are demonstrated by the simulated navigations in a few environmental disturbances.
Documentation of Significant Losses inCornus floridaL. Populations throughout the Appalachian Ecoregion
Authors: Oswalt Christopher M. , Oswalt Sonja N.
Published: March 2010

Over the last three decades the fungusDiscula destructivaRedlin has severely impactedCornus floridaL. (flowering dogwood—hereafter “dogwood”) populations throughout its range. This study estimates historical and current dogwood populations (number of trees) across the Appalachian ecoregion. Objectives were to (1) quantify current dogwood populations in the Appalachian ecoregion, (2) quantify change over time in dogwood populations, and (3) identify trends in dogwood population shifts. Data from the USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) database were compiled from 41 FIA units in 13 states for county-level estimates of the total number of all live dogwood trees on timberland within the Appalachian ecoregion. Analysis of covariance, comparing historical and current county-level dogwood population estimates with average change in forest density as the covariate, was used to identify significant changes within FIA units. Losses ranging from 25 to 100 percent of the sample population () were observed in 33 of the 41 (80 percent) sampled FIA units. These results indicate that an important component of the eastern deciduous forest has experienced serious losses throughout the Appalachians and support localized empirical results and landscape-scale anecdotal evidence.
A Class of Impulsive Pulse‐Width Sampler Systems and Its Steady‐State Control in Infinite Dimensional Spaces
Authors: Wang JinRong , Wei W. , Yang YanLong
Published: March 2010

This paper investigates a class of impulsive pulse‐width sampler systems and its steadystate control in the infinite dimensional spaces. Firstly, some definitions of pulse‐width sampler systems with impulses are introduced. Then applying impulsive evolution operator and fixed point theorem, some existent results of steady‐state of infinite dimensional linear and semilinear pulse‐width sampler systems with impulses are obtained. An example to illustrate the theory is presented in the end.
Exact Solutions for the Generalized BBM Equation with Variable Coefficients
Authors: Gómez Cesar A. , Salas Alvaro H.
Published: March 2010

The variational iteration algorithm combined with the exp‐function method is suggested to solve the
generalized Benjamin‐Bona‐Mahony equation (BBM) with variable coefficients. Periodic and soliton solutions
are formally derived in a general form. Some particular cases are considered.
Identification of FourEntamoeba histolyticaOrganellar DNA Polymerases of the Family B and Cellular Localization of theEhodp1Gene and EhODP1 Protein
Authors: Herrera-Aguirre María Esther , Luna-Arias Juan Pedro , Labra-Barrios María Luisa , Orozco Esther
Published: March 2010

We report the identification of a family of four active genes (Ehodp1,Ehodp2,Ehodp3,andEhodp4) encoding putative DNA polymerases inEntamoeba histolytica, the protozoan parasite responsible of human amoebiasis. The fourEhodpgenes show similarity to DNA polymerases encoded in fungi and plant mitochondrial plasmids. EhODP polypeptides conserve the3′-5′exonuclease II and5′-3′polymerization domains, and they have the I, II, and III conserved boxes that characterize them as DNA polymerases of family B. Furthermore, we found in EhODP polymerases two novel A and B boxes, present also in DNA polymerases encoded in fungi mitochondrial plasmids. By in situ PCR,Ehodp1gene was located in nuclei and in DNA-containing cytoplasmic structures. Additionally, using polyclonal antibodies against a recombinant rEhODP1-168 polypeptide, and confocal microscopy, EhODP1 was located in cytoplasmic DNA-containing structures.
An Appraisal of Anatomical and Limited Hepatectomy for Regional Hepatolithiasis
Authors: Jiang Hui , Wu Hong , Xu Ying-long , Wang Jing-zhou , Zeng Yong
Published: March 2010

Aim. Determination of first line treatment with limited hepatectomy or Anatomical hepatectomy provides better clinical outcome. Methods. Immediate and long-term outcomes of 106 patients who underwent partial hepatectomy for RH at our institution from January 2001 to February 2005 were analyzed retrospectively. Clinical end-points included time to recovery of hepatic function, residual stones, infection of the liver remnant, bile leakage, recurrent stones, morbidity, and mortality. Results. LH was performed in 59 patients and AH in 47 patients as first-line treatment. The time of hepatic function recovery was not statistically different between the two groups (). However, Patients in AH group suffered from less residual stones (), less infection of the raw surface of liver remnant (), and less bile leakage (), with a median follow-up of months (range 3–48), and AH group suffered a less recurrent stone rate (). No difference in morbidity, and mortality rates between the two groups. Conclusion. AH is a safe and effective treatment for RH, with a fair rate of surgical complications, it should be considered as first-line treatment of RH.
High-Throughput Screening for Salmonella Avirulent Mutants That Retain Targeting of Solid Tumors
Authors: Arrach Nabil , Cheng Pui , Zhao Ming , Santiviago Carlos A. , Hoffman Robert M. , McClelland Michael
Published: March 2010

Salmonella has a natural ability to target a wide range of tumors in animal models. However, strains used for cancer therapy have generally been selected only for their avirulence rather than their tumor-targeting ability. To select Salmonella strains that are avirulent and yet efficient in tumor targeting, a necessary criterion for clinical applications, we measured the relative fitness of 41,000 Salmonella transposon insertion mutants growing in mouse models of human prostate and breast cancer. Two classes of potentially safe mutants were identified. Class 1 mutants showed reduced fitness in normal tissues and unchanged fitness in tumors (e.g., mutants in htrA, SPI-2, and STM3120). Class 2 mutants showed reduced fitness in tumors and normal tissues (e.g., mutants in aroA and aroD). In a competitive fitness assay in human PC-3 tumors growing in mice, class 1 mutant STM3120 had a fitness advantage over class 2 mutants aroA and aroD, validating the findings of the initial screening of a large pool of transposon mutants and indicating a potential advantage of class 1 mutants for delivery of cancer therapeutics. In addition, an STM3120 mutant successfully targeted tumors after intragastric delivery, opening up the oral route as an option for therapy administration. Cancer Res; 70(6); 2165–70
Behavioural change in type 1 diabetes self-management: Why and how?
Authors: Wilson Valerie L
Published: March 2010

Objective To examine whether the communication process between diabetes health professionals and people intensively self-managing their type 1 diabetes influenced behavioural change.

Design Telephone interviews to provide insight into the communication process and its influence on diabetes intensive self-management behaviour.

Setting Interviewees’ own homes.

Method A sub-group of 10 people from a questionnaire survey were contacted to participate in a telephone interview. The taped interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically, both manually and using computer software, to identify common themes in the texts. Results The process of change and maintenance of diabetes self-management behaviours for the majority of participants was enabled by current available intensive treatments and information, education and support from health professionals in primary care, rather than diabetes health professionals specifically.

Conclusions Individuals intensively self-managing their diabetes have a high degree of motivation to improve glycaemic control, but also require the assistance of health professionals in primary and secondary care to enable this to take place.
Comparison of health-related measures of two groups of adolescents in a rural southeastern county in the United States
Authors: Sands Charles D , Hensarling Robert W , Angel James B
Published: March 2010

Objective The purpose of this study was to establish baseline values on physiological parameters for 7—11 graders ( n = 146) in a rural area of Alabama and to examine whether differences existed among the adolescents in the county.

Design Descriptive.

Setting Many adolescents in the southern portion of the United States suffer disproportionately from diseases clearly linked to lifestyle choices (i.e. diabetes, coronary heart disease, hypertension, etc.).

Method Health assessments were measured during physical education classes at two independent high schools. The measures taken included: blood pressure, recovery heart rate, upper and lower body flexibility, percentage of body fat, BMI-for-age, height, weight, and muscular strength and endurance.

Results Results indicated significant differences between two school populations for cardiovascular fitness, hamstring flexibility, and shoulder flexibility. In addition, there were significant differences between genders with respect to recovery heart rate, systolic blood pressure, height, weight, and percentage of body fat.

Conclusion Thus, this research shows differences between similar populations in the same county and these differences must be explored further.
Does weight status influence weight-related beliefs and the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and fast food purchases in adolescents?
Authors: Hearst Mary O , Pasch Keryn E , Fulkerson Jayne A , Lytle Leslie A
Published: March 2010

Objective To determine if weight status affects the relationship between weight-related beliefs and consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) and fast and convenience store food purchases (FCFP).

Design Observational, cross-sectional.

Setting Twin Cities Metropolitan area, Minnesota, USA.

Methods Body composition and psychosocial survey were obtained for 345 adolescents. General Linear Models tested adjusted (age and sex) associations between weight-related beliefs and consumption of SSB and FCFP. Significant associations were tested for moderation by weight status.

Results SSB was positively related to perceptions that people worry too much about their weight (β = 0.103, p = 0.016), with no moderation present. FCFP were positively associated to perceived barriers to maintaining a healthy weight (β = 0.042, p = 0.004) with a subsequent significant interaction by weight status. Stratified models showed a significant association between perceived barriers to a healthy weight and FCFP for overweight adolescents (β = 0.345, p = 0.022).

Conclusions Addressing perceived barriers to a healthy diet may lead to important risk reduction.
Living in a sweetie culture: Scottish parents’ difficulties in maintaining their children’s oral health
Authors: Smith Patricia Anne , Freeman Ruth
Published: March 2010

Objective To investigate the views and experiences of parents whose children have rampant tooth decay.

Methods In-depth, semi-structured interviews were carried out with 19 parents of varied age and social background whose children had been referred to Dundee Dental Hospital for assessment for dental extractions. Participants were encouraged to discuss their own and their child’s dental experiences and their views on how the child developed rampant caries. The interview data was systematically coded using key theme headings, and summary charts were constructed to facilitate analysis.

Results The parents found it difficult to avoid sweets and giving their children sweet treats. They had limited knowledge of oral health maintenance which was poorly applied. These factors, combined with the difficulties of family life — in particular illness and life events — created circumstances in which their children experienced tooth decay.

Conclusions Parents find it difficult to restrict their children’s sugar intake in an environment where sugary snacks are so readily available. More societal support in restricting children’s sugar intake is of central importance. Parents would benefit from more sympathetic and explicit diet and toothbrushing messages tailored to their individual circumstances from those involved in the care of children’s oral health.
George Eliot: Poetry, fiction and European spas
Authors: McCormack Kathleen
Published: March 2010

While the gambling scene that opens George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda has led scholars to believe that she and George Henry Lewes abominated European spas, records of the couple’s travels in Europe reveal that they returned time after time to spas in France, Belgium, Switzerland and especially Germany, and further reveal that these destinations provided considerable stimulation for George Eliot’s creative imagination beyond contributing to the single scene of Gwendolen’s reckless roulette. Although the Leweses did dislike the gambling at such places as Baden Baden and Bad Homburg, they otherwise enjoyed the spa culture generated by (supposedly) healing waters, concerts, society and long walks in the gardens and hills, and there George Eliot found creative inspiration for her literature, as well as acquaintances who enriched her life and her literature. Spas turn up as settings occasionally in her poetry and fiction before becoming a major setting in Daniel Deronda : centrally in ‘Agatha’, where she adapts settings and characters from a short visit to Sankt Märgen in Germany; and tangentially in Middlemarch in the conclusion to Lydgate’s plot. Fellow spa visitors make plausible models for characters, in particular a mother-and-daughter pair who share many similarities to Gwendolen and her mother Mrs Davilow, while nineteenth-century spa guide books contain narrative material similar to plot elements in Daniel Deronda. George Eliot’s last two novels, as well as her less well-remembered but historically important poetry, acquired details of character, plot, setting and metaphor from nearly half a lifetime of her regularly availing herself of the culture and facilities of European spas.
Lachmannian Insights into Strategic Entrepreneurship: Resources, Activities and Routines in a Disequilibrium World
Authors: Mathews John A.
Published: March 2010

Recent contributions to the organizational literature see the radical subjectivist and disequilibrium framework of Ludwig Lachmann as providing a suitable foundation for strategic entrepreneurial studies, in that his approach seeks independence from conventional equilibrium-based reasoning. In a Lachmannian spirit, this article suggests that strategizing can fruitfully be viewed as choices made by the entrepreneur in terms of the organization’s constituent resources, activities and routines together with their recombinations and complexifications. Cast in a general, disequilibrium setting, the strategic goals that guide the organizational entrepreneur’s strategizing can be formulated in terms of the construction and capture of resource complementarities, the pursuit of increasing returns through activities reconfiguration, and the generation of learning and dynamic capabilities through reconfiguration of routines. Once formulated in this way, the strategizing issues may be seen to make sense not just in the comparative static and imperfect equilibrium frameworks within which they have hitherto been posed, but in a more general dynamic and disequilibrium setting that corresponds to the real conditions in which firms are required to make entrepreneurial decisions. The simplified framework offers some hope for overcoming the balkanization of management scholarship that is so widely deplored.
Towards a Foundation of Bricolage in Organization and Management Theory
Authors: Duymedjian Raffi , Rüling Charles-Clemens
Published: March 2010

This article provides a conceptual underpinning for the study of bricolage in organizations. Based on a review of Claude Lévi-Strauss’s original writing, we propose that bricolage involves an ideal-typical configuration of acting (practice), knowing (epistemology) and an underlying world view (metaphysics) and develop the opposed ideal-types of the bricoleur and the engineer. We then explore and propose to distinguish two forms of collective bricolage—familiar and convention-based—depending on the type of interaction and the nature of the conventions employed. Finally, we highlight the tension between ideal-typical bricolage and general organizational norms and standards, and discuss both the bricoleur’s legitimacy and how a bricolage-based arrangement might be embedded into an organizational context.
Induction and Progression of Cholangiofibrosis in Rat Liver Injured by Oral Administration of Furan
Authors: Hickling K. C. , Hitchcock J. M. , Chipman J. K. , Hammond T. G. , Evans J. G.
Published: March 2010

Cholangiofibrosis is a structural anomaly that precedes the development of cholangiocarcinoma in some rodent models. In this article, the authors examine the contribution of the epithelial and mesenchymal cells in the pathogenesis of this complex lesion. Furan was administered to rats by gavage in corn oil at 30 mg/kg b.w. (five daily doses per week) and livers were sampled between eight hr to three months. Characteristically the administration of furan caused centrilobular injury, and restoration was accomplished by proliferation of hepatocytes. Some areas of the liver were, however, more severely affected, and here, injury extended into portal and capsular areas, which resulted in a rapid proliferation of ductular cells that extended into the parenchyma accompanied by a subtype of liver fibroblasts. These ductules either differentiated into hepatocytes, with loss of the associated fibroblasts, or progressed to form tortuous ductular structures that replaced much of the parenchyma, leading to cholangiofibrosis. Although it is unclear what determines the difference in the hepatic response, a loss of micro-environmental cues that instigate hepatocyte differentiation and termination of the hepatocyte stem cell repair response may be perturbed by continual furan administration that results in an irreversible expansile lesion that may mimic the features of cholangiocarcinoma.
Framing the First and Second Intifada: A Longitudinal Quantitative Research Design Applied to the Flemish Press
Authors: Deprez Annelore , Raeymaeckers Karin
Published: March 2010

Frame analysis, based on the hybrid frame concept, has proved difficult to translate into a comparative, replicable and longitudinal research design. This article seeks to place the study of media frames in a wider theoretical framework with special interest for the various methods of empirical research. The article focuses on a further operationalization of the law and order frame and the injustice and defiance frame as introduced by Wolfsfeld. For this purpose, different framing and reasoning devices are ascertained and applied to the study of the coverage of the First and Second Intifada in the Flemish press. While its emphasis lies on the empirical testing of a framing research tool, this article also aims to broaden empirical data on the coverage of the Intifada beyond the American, British and Israeli media context.
Research Note: The Coverage of War: Do Women Matter? A Longitudinal Content Analysis of Broadsheets in Germany
Authors: Fröhlich Romy
Published: March 2010

Our social consciousness reserves the role of fighter solely for men. Women are not considered as being authoritative or decisive actors in the context of war and violence. During armed conflicts or other violent crises, female acting subjects seem to leave the public (i.e. media) stage — a place where they are underrepresented even under normal circumstances. Furthermore, media coverage of war, it is said, largely assigns the role of the victim to women. However, there is not much empirical evidence to support this view due to the significant lack of longitudinal quantitative studies on media coverage of women during wartime. In order to investigate this, a framing analysis of media coverage of war between 1989 and 2000 was conducted in Germany.This article reports on the results of this framing analysis and the representation of women during wartime in quality German newspapers. It is the first longitudinal gender-specific framing analysis of war coverage ever carried out in any country.
Dual Discursive Patterns in Czech Activists’ Internet Media Communication
Authors: Hájek Martin , Kabele Jiří
Published: March 2010

This article studies the internet media communication of 12 organizations representing Czech trade union, feminist, human rights and environmental movements. Drawing on Foucault’s concept that discourse has a formative influence resulting in a specific system of statement allocation, the study investigates the discursive characteristics of activists’ communication. The research is methodologically based on a quantitative exploration of co-occurrences of frequent lexical items. The computer-assisted text analysis reveals an important characteristic of the communication — an internal split in two discursive areas: on the one hand, the ‘conditions area’, dedicated to phrasing the existential conditions of subjects of contest or protection, and, on the other hand, the ‘contention area’, referring to strategies and negotiation with movement opponents. In the study’s interpretation, the discourse constrains activist organizations to communicate both about the life conditions of actors/subjects and about their claims and negotiations, but in large measure separately.
When Do Women Get a Voice? Explaining the Presence of Female News Sources in Belgian News Broadcasts (2003—5)
Authors: De Swert Knut , Hooghe Marc
Published: March 2010

For more than a decade now, it has been demonstrated that female news sources receive little attention in television news. Usually women account for no more than 20—25 percent of total time devoted to people speaking in the news. This article assesses when exactly female news sources are depicted in the news, using a dataset of 25,896 news items and 1600 hours of television, covering public broadcasting and commercial television in Belgium (Flanders) for the years 2003—5. The analysis shows that female news sources are strongly stereotyped and limited to traditional ‘female’ topics. The impact of the gender of the reporter was limited. Contrary to expectations, the broadcasting corporation with a long-standing gender diversity policy actually scored worse than its counterpart without such a policy.The article concludes with a discussion of the apparently difficult relation between traditional news standards and the depiction of gender diversity.
Repositioning ‘Islamdom’
Authors: Salvatore Armando
Published: March 2010

This study articulates the leitmotif of civilizational analysis (the interaction of power and culture) with regard to the relation between religion and the state within the Islamic civilization or ‘Islamdom’. In a first step, it clarifies, by reference to Marshall Hodgson, the extent to which his view of Islamdom as a transcivilizational ecumene can fit into a comparative type of civilizational analysis. The comparative approach to civilizational analysis can be enriched by reevaluating the specific Islamic pattern of mild legitimization of power through culture, and by integrating into the analysis the resulting field of tension vis-à-vis Western power and its supporting normative paradigms. In a second step, in order to better grasp the forms of power governing this field of tension, the article critically reconsiders Rémi Brague’s characterization of Western European civilization as the outcome of an expansive ‘Roman road’ that matched culture with power by investing into the charisma of corporate entities: first, the church, then the state. Against this double background, the study shows that the culture—power syndrome that is proper to Islamdom as a transcivilizational ecumene does not consecrate a separation of ‘religion’ from the body politic, but promotes the building of expansive patterns of connectedness.
World Images, Authority, and Institutions
Authors: Hamilton Gary G.
Published: March 2010

Max Weber famously wrote that world images determine the tracks along which societies move. This article examines the relation between world images and the so-called tracks of society, which in this metaphor resemble the current concept of institution. This concept is now associated with the ‘new institutionalisms’ in social science and has no connection to the civilizational level of analysis that Weber used. This article reexamines Weber’s usage of the terms and employs the terms to analyze differences in the principles of legitimacy between those emerging in the West and those in China, differences that Weber himself did not recognize.
Path Dependency and Civilizational Analysis
Authors: Knöbl Wolfgang
Published: March 2010

This article argues that current civilizational analysis as exemplified by the work of Shmuel N. Eisenstadt still shares the strengths and weaknesses of the original approach as developed by Marcel Mauss (and Émile Durkheim) a century ago. Eisenstadt’s approach basically relies on a particular understanding of path dependency which immediately raises the question how civilizational patterns are reproduced after the crucial turning point of the Axial Age. This problem of civilizational persistence, however, remains largely unresolved and will not even be resolved in the future as long as civilizational analysis relies on mostly culturalist premises. Only a combination of arguments from the field of political sociology and the sociology of religion — as suggested by Johann P. Arnason — promises to explain how civilizations are able to reproduce their patterns over and over again.
The Many Americas
Authors: Smith Jeremy C.A.
Published: March 2010

Civilizational analysis has not concerned itself too greatly with the historical experiences of the American New World. There are good reasons to correct this position and Shmuel Eisenstadt’s principal work on America’s distinct modernities goes some way to establishing the colonization of the Atlantic world as an opening phase of modernity. Nonetheless, a more far-reaching analysis of the distinctiveness of diverse American societies can be developed that goes beyond the image of a Protestant North America contrasted with southern Latin cultures. This article outlines the basis for a more nuanced approach in three steps: a focus on intercivilizational engagement (which goes beyond the notion of ‘intercivilizational encounters’ developed by Benjamin Nelson and Johann Arnason), examination of civilizational factors neglected by Eisenstadt and reconsideration of the conceptual range of the notion of ‘civilization’ itself. The archetype of two Americas is replaced by a model of four with some consideration given to indigenous civilizations as a fifth America.
Political Sociology: Between Civilizations and Modernities
Authors: Spohn Willfried
Published: March 2010

This article outlines a comparative-civilizational multiple modernities perspective on political sociology. In the context of the major currents within political sociology — modernization approaches, critical and neo-Marxist as well as postmodern and global approaches — it is argued that a comparative-civilizational multiple modernities perspective is defined by several characteristics. First, against functionalist-evolutionist modernization approaches it emphasizes the fragility, contradictions and openness as well as civilizational multiplicity of political modernity and political modernization processes. Second, against critical and neo-Marxist approaches, it insists on the cultural and institutional contradictions of political power, social protest and political conflict. Third, against post-modern and post-colonial micro-sociological approaches, often primarily micro-sociological, it holds to a macro-sociological constructivist orientation. Fourth, against the primarily socio-economic and political-institutional approaches to global political sociology, it again emphasizes the historically changing, culturally contradictory and pluri-civilizational dimensions of international relations and world politics. Though sharing with all these major currents in political sociology some common ground, the outlined comparative-civilizational multiple modernities perspective conceptualizes and analyses, more specifically, the varying impacts of civilizations, empires and world religions on the complex dimensions and levels of the political arena and on power relations in a modernizing and globalizing world.
A Note on Civilizations and Economies
Authors: Swedberg Richard
Published: March 2010

This article approaches the topic of civilizations and economies through a discussion of two key texts that appeared during the first wave of interest among social scientists for the phenomenon of civilization: ‘Note on the Notion of Civilization’ ([1913] 1998) by Emile Durkheim and Marcel Mauss, and ‘Author’s Introduction’ ([1920a] 1930) by Max Weber. Durkheim and Mauss were of the opinion that civilizations have their own, unique form of existence that is very difficult to understand and theorize. Civilizations, they nonetheless suggest, are marked off by symbolic boundaries and consist of elements that are hard for political authorities to control, including money, commerce, techniques and tools. Max Weber’s most important attempt to struggle with the idea of civilization, can be found in his portrait of Western civilization in ‘Author’s Introduction’. Weber, as is well known, suggests in this writing that Western civilization is characterized by a ‘specific and peculiar rationalism’ — and he devotes a large part of the text to a portrait of modern rational capitalism. This type of capitalism, we conclude, is consequently civilizational in nature. Its emergence, as Weber also shows elsewhere, cannot be explained by referring to some special group or nation. The two works by Weber and Durkheim and Mauss, the article concludes, allow us to better understand civilizations as distinct social-cultural configurations and also to approach their economic dimension. Both works emphasize the fact that one needs to use an interdisciplinary as well as a comparative approach to undertake a civilizational as well as a civilizational-economic analysis.
The Cultural Turn and the Civilizational Approach
Authors: Arnason Johann P.
Published: March 2010

The revival of civilizational analysis is closely linked to a broader cultural turn in the human sciences. Comparative civilizational approaches accept the primacy of culture, but at the same time, they strive to avoid the cultural determinism familiar from twentieth-century sociology, especially from the Parsonian version of functionalism. To situate this twofold strategy within contemporary cultural sociology, it seems useful to link up with the distinction between a strong and a weak program for the sociological analysis of culture, proposed by Jeffrey Alexander and Philip Smith. The strong program, also described as cultural sociology, stresses the constitutive role of culture in all domains and across the field of social life; the weak program, more precisely the sociology of culture, treats culture as a variable factor among others, and in some important respects subordinate to others. From this point of view, civilizational analysis is, first and foremost, a particularly ambitious version of the strong program: its emphasis on different cultural articulations of the world, as well as on the large-scale and long-term social-historical formations crystallizing around such articulations, adds new dimensions to the autonomy of culture. It also reinforces the hermeneutical stance of cultural sociology and cautions against the acceptance of mainstream explanatory models. On the other hand, the civilizational perspective highlights the variety of interconnections between culture and other components of the social world, and thus takes into account some of the themes favoured by the weak program.
Advanced External Shading Device to Maximize Visual and View Performance
Authors: Jeong Tai Kim  , Kim Gon
Published: March 2010

Controlling or avoiding direct sun beam shining into the interior is a key criterion for consideration in most architectural daylighting designs. This treatment is mainly intended to attenuate the adverse glare and contrast associated with direct sunlight and to lessen the negative contribution of direct sunlight on the cooling load. Window shades are commonly used in Korea to reduce heat gains in the form of direct beam radiation, particularly in summer. Very often they consist of non-movable structures, such as overhangs, vertical fins or composition of both, forming eggcrate-type systems, and ideally should be designed by incorporating these methods. One of the simplest sunlighting controls is Venetian blind. It plays a role in excluding direct sunlight but reflecting light to rear interior, while still allowing a view to exterior. The blinds also go far toward improving uniformity in illuminance. External shading devices are much more effective than internal shading devices. However, it is not popular because of cost, maintenance, and esthetic reasons. We developed an experimental configuration of external shading device, providing better performance of shading and view. A series of simulations and measurements have verified the differentiated advantages in illumination and building energy consumption by using this system.
Performance Prediction by Modelling of a Light-pipe System used under the Climate Conditions of Korea
Authors: Geun Young Yun  , Hwang Taeyon , Jeong Tai Kim
Published: March 2010

A light-pipe system can introduce daylight into the deeper building interiors, thus potentially displacing the requirement for electrical lighting. For the light-pipe system to be widely used in Korea, it is important to quantify its daylighting performance with due consideration regarding the effects imposed by the local climate conditions. This paper reports the development of a model to predict the daylighting performance of a light-pipe system used in Korea. This model study was based on the monitoring data obtained from a window-less space in which the light-pipe system was installed. The model can predict indoor illuminance distributions and daylight penetration factors as a function of outdoor illuminance, solar altitude and the amount of cloud present. Comparisons were made between the predicted and the monitored data obtained from the study; and also between predictions given by the developed model and other existing predictive models. The comparisons have provided validation of the newly developed model and that the predicted results were robust and reliable.
Simulations to Determine the Disinfection Efficiency of Supplementary UV Light Devices in a Ventilated Hospital Isolation Room
Authors: Chan Li  , Baoqing Deng  , Chang Nyung Kim
Published: March 2010

A three-dimensional simulation on biological pollutant concentrations in a hospital isolation room with ultraviolet (UV) light devices has been carried out using computational fluid dynamics software, Fluent 6.3. The effects of the positions of the UV lamps, light intensity, and ventilation rates on the microorganism removal efficiency were examined by this study. The UV light intensity in the air flow domain was obtained with the modified P-1 model. Numerical results showed that the airflow could be very complicated in the room. Two different arrangements of the UV lamps were considered and the microorganism removal efficiency with the UV devices set on the wall was shown to be higher than that set in the corner of the room. The microorganism removal efficiency was shown to increase with an increase in the light intensity. Ventilation could enhance the microorganism removal efficiency, but would reduce the disinfection efficiency.
Investigation of Physical Characteristics of Houses and Occupants’ Behavioural Factors for Mould Infestation in Residential Buildings
Authors: Hyeun Jun Moon  , Young Ran Yoon
Published: March 2010

Mould growth can deteriorate indoor air quality in buildings. To alleviate problems in the built environment, accurate understanding of the risk factors associated for mould infestation is required. This study aimed at identifying the key risk factors that could affect mould growth on interior surfaces in residential buildings in Korea. Both the physical characteristics of buildings and the behaviour of occupants were recognised as key concerns. A questionnaire survey had been conducted randomly on a national basis for this research. The questionnaire included building-related factors, and occupants’ activities and behaviour. A total of 314 completed questionnaires were collected and processed for statistical analysis. The association of mould growth with locations and types (apartments, multiplex houses, and detached houses) of the residential buildings were tested. The relationships between mould growth and activity factors, for example, bathing, washing clothes, and opening windows were also considered. Apartments were shown to be more vulnerable to mould growth in comparison to other types of residential buildings. The results were compared with findings from other regions in the world to further understand the effects of these key factors.
Spatial Representation of Community Shared Spaces Preferred by Residents
Authors: Lee Yeunsook , Kim Hyejin , Yoon Hyegyung
Published: March 2010

Accessibility is the most important element for creating a successful and robust environmental condition to enhance community vitality and health. In the era of diversity where all residents need to be respected, finding the optimal group in providing shared spaces is essential for satisfying residents to the greatest extent. Shared spaces considered here are those for general residents and for the elderly residents. In this context, this study intended to compare space arrangement preferences of three different age groups for creating a community with diverse shared facilities. Online questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data from residents in their 30s, 40s and 50s; and individual interviews of residents in their 60s and 70s. F-test and MDS with PROXSCAL method were carried out to achieve spatial map where various shared spaces were allocated in the most adequate way. As a result, the spatial configuration preferred by the three age groups was found to be different and details of those differences were identified. These results from scientific empirical analysis will be useful to explore a community agreement; providing solutions for the community location that would satisfy the potential users to the greatest extent, thereby promoting a socially integrated community for all ages.
Building Pathology, Investigation of Sick Buildings —Toxic Moulds
Authors: Singh Jagjit , Yu Chuck Wah Francis , Jeong Tai Kim
Published: March 2010

This paper considers the requirements for investigation of sick buildings including some guidelines for assessment of exposure risks with a particular focus on dampness, proliferation of moulds, and dispersion of fungal spores in indoor environments. Building pathology, indoors air quality management and management of bio-deterioration, and health problems in buildings are complex issues requiring multi-disciplinary investigations and environmental monitoring. Lack of maintenance, chronic neglect, and building defects leading to water ingress, condensation, and dampness in the building fabric will often produce proliferation of pathogenic toxic moulds, and other microbial and biological effects that could cause allergic response in sensitive people and generally lead to ‘‘sick buildings.’’ A general guide has been provided by this paper for environmental assessment of toxic moulds in indoor environments, including a suggested guideline for assessing the threshold levels for fungal spores in indoor air.
Ideologies of civic participation in Central Asia: liberal arts in the post-Soviet democratic ethos
Authors: Baker Norma Jo , Thompson Chad D.
Published: March 2010

Higher educational practices in post-Soviet Central Asia remain predicated on an authoritarian conception of expertise rooted in an objective and universal science. While the substance of such education has changed since the Soviet era, the form of education remains rooted in Soviet-era discursive ideological practices, practices that encourage civic passivity outside the classroom. The liberal arts model of higher education represents a significant challenge to prevailing education norms, but it is a model that is honoured more in name than in implementation by domestic and international reformers. The inability to articulate the broader societal significance of the liberal arts suggests a broader act of forgetting the civic inspiration of liberal education in established as well as developing democracies.