bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Transposable elements reveal a stem cell-specific class of long noncoding RNAs
Authors: Kelley David , Rinn John
Published: November 2012

Background

Numerous studies over the past decade have elucidated a large set of long intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs) in the human genome. Research since has shown that lincRNAs constitute an important layer of genome regulation across a wide spectrum of species. However, the factors governing their evolution and origins remain relatively unexplored. One possible factor driving lincRNA evolution and biological function is transposable element (TE) insertions. Here, we comprehensively characterize the TE content of lincRNAs relative to genomic averages and protein coding transcripts.

Results

Our analysis of the TE composition of 9,241 human lincRNAs revealed that, in sharp contrast to protein coding genes, 83% of lincRNAs contain a TE, and TEs comprise 42% of lincRNA sequence. lincRNA TE composition varies significantly from genomic averages - L1 and Alu elements are depleted and broad classes of endogenous retroviruses are enriched. TEs occur in biased positions and orientations within lincRNAs, particularly at their transcription start sites, suggesting a role in lincRNA transcriptional regulation. Accordingly, we observed a dramatic example of HERVH transcriptional regulatory signals correlating strongly with stem cell-specific expression of lincRNAs. Conversely, lincRNAs devoid of TEs are expressed at greater levels than lincRNAs with TEs in all tissues and cell lines, particularly in the testis.

Conclusions

TEs pervade lincRNAs, dividing them into classes, and may have shaped lincRNA evolution and function by conferring tissue-specific expression from extant transcriptional regulatory signals.
New Taiwanese Cinema and its Historical Meanings
Authors: Park Sueng Hyan
Published: November 2012

This article attempts to investigate the historical meanings of New Taiwanese Cinema. First, it plans to examine the emergence of the new cinema movement in Taiwan and factors related to its rise. Not only does the paper want to understand cinematic and other factors, but it also tries
to inspect distinctive aspects of New Taiwanese Cinema, such as its stylistic and thematic characteristics, its contribution to the overall Taiwan film industry. Although new cinema was not a dominant mode in the whole production of Taiwan films, it cannot be denied that this cinema radically
transformed the image of Taiwan cinema.
Images of Uma (Horses) in the Samurai Films of Akira Kurosawa
Authors: Nordin Kenneth
Published: November 2012

This article describes Kurosawa’s symbolic and dramatic use of the horse in some of his most important films set in the medieval era. The Japanese filmmaker’s horse scenes are pregnant with symbolism deeply rooted in archetypes of the horse embedded in worldwide myths, legends,
and folktales. Kurosawa also exploited horse imagery to generate both comedy and pathos.
Food Fight, Food Fight: Culture and Economy in Chicken and Duck Talk
Authors: Stokes Lisa Odham , Hoover Michael
Published: November 2012

The Ronny Yu produced/Clifton Ko directed Chicken and Duck Talk (1988) is a vehicle for the comedic talents and social satire of Michael Hui. Hui’s working class characters lampooned Hong Kongers’ obsession with “getting rich quick,” ridiculed the population’s
“money mania” as mental illness. The filmmaker’s employment of stereotypes familiar to Hong Kongers and his sense of place coupled with everyman characterizations helped to establish new Hong Kong comedy
The Emperor of Shanghai Movies of the 1930s, Jin Yan (1910 - 1983)
Authors: Pock-rey Cho
Published: November 2012

While Korea was under Japanese occupation before World War II, at least four Koreans became rather famous in the film industry of Shanghai--Cheong Gi-tak, Lee Kyeong-son, Cheon Chang-guen, and Jin Yan. This article deals with Jin Yan and includes an interview with Qin Yi, Jin Yan’s
Wife
Imaginary Constructs as Instruments of Critical Engagement: Titanic Reference in Zhang Yimou’s The Road Home
Authors: Miu Aili
Published: November 2012

Focusing on the imaginary constructs, especially the Titanic posters in The Road Home, this paper studies their relevance, function, and significance in the film. By showing how, as necessary references, these imaginary constructs help viewers experience the absences, contradictions,
and anxieties of contemporary Chinese life, this paper contends that they constitute the director’s critical insights into the complexity and the dynamics of Chinese culture and society in the process of globalization. With these imaginary constructs, Zhang Yimou turns Bao Shi’s
simple story about the death of a dedicated school master into a serious contemplation of China’s contemporary reality.
A Woman Director’s Rising Star: The First Two Films of Hisako Matsui (b. 1946)
Authors: McDonald Keiko
Published: November 2012

This article discusses female Japanese directors, and in particular Hisako Matsui. There are enough (Japanese women directors) already to enforce a pause as one considers where to begin, whom to discuss and how. My own choice here does owe something to the recent conspicuous success
of Hisako Matsui (b. 1946). She has made two feature-length films on fairly large budgets: Yukie, released in 1998; and Oriume, first shown in the 2001 Tokyo International Film Festival. But there is more to Matsui than sudden fame, because her accomplishments reflect the long and difficult
road to success in an art as tricky and costly as making and marketing films.
Shadow Archetypes in Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Hulk: A Jungian Perspective
Authors: Nordin Kenneth
Published: November 2012

Ang Lee’s two most recent films, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and The Hulk (2003) explore a common motif: the internal confrontation of the central characters with the unconscious shadows embedded in their psyches. In the earlier film, the young heroine Yu Jen, with the
aid of her two warrior spiritual guides, struggles to free herself from Jade Fox, the personification of her dark shadow. In the more recent film, the brilliant young scientist, Bruce Banner, has to contend with The Incredible Hulk, the green monster that emerges from the young hero’s
unconscious self whenever he becomes angry. Both characters have to confront shadow archetypes shaped by evil, manipulative parent figures. The following article examines the manifestation of the evil, second persona that features in these two films
On the Father Figures in Zhang Yimou’s Films: From Red Sorghum to Hero
Authors: Xihe Chen
Published: November 2012

Since Zhang Yimou’s film Hero was released at the end of 2003, it has stirred up very strong controversy among audience and critics in China. The theme the film presents touches the core issue of the cultural identity of contemporary China; how to posit and treat a father figure.
This issue is an important index for the ideology and value system of contemporary China. The presentation of the father figure and its change reveals the general trend and transition of contemporary culture and the value system in China. From Red Sorghum (1987), the first film ever directed
by Zhang, to Hero, the father image has always been central and critical. Of course, the father is not only a father in terms of biology, but also in terms of authority. Regardless of whether they physically show up in a film, how the director views the father figure deeply affects the tone
and narrative logic of a film. From Red Sorghum to Hero, Zhang Yimou’s position and judgement on the father figure changed dramatically. This article e amines this change in more detail.
Three Seasons and the Aroma of Self-Realization
Authors: Williams Tony
Published: November 2012

Following its status as a triple award winner at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, Three Seasons immediately gained a theatrical release before further distribution on video and DVD formats. Directed by Vietnam exile Tony Bui from a screenplay written by himself and brother Timothy Linh
Bui, the film gained the honor of being the first American-produced film shot in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam following the official end of the Vietnam War and the relaxation of the economic embargo waged by the losing side for about 20 years later. The film is visually beautiful and
lyrical in many ways, so much so that it has often received criticism for its superficial depiction of a post-war society lacking any mention of the Vietnam War itself. Although Tony Bui’s intentions were to move away from the usual cinematic representations of Vietnam, the very nature
of his film is far from being a clichéd, escapist, Hallmark or Masterpiece Theatre, art house production. Many literary and cinematic depictions of Vietnam have recognized the centrality of the country’s essence involving a particular experential dimension in which aroma plays
a key part. Such a representation is neither exotic nor non-materialistic but instead involves a particular narrative trope in which the sensory experience of a national culture represents a crucial aspect of this film.
The Slap’s resonances: Multiculturalism and adolescence in Tsiolkas’ Australia
Authors: Davis Glyn
Published: November 2012

This article discusses Australian author Christos Tsiolkas’ novel The Slap (2008) and its television adaptation (2011). The latter is situated in relation to Television Studies debates relating to ‘quality’, with elements of the adaptation that enable its categorization
as ‘quality TV’ highlighted. Tsiolkas, whose novels all prominently feature Greek-Australian characters, has described The Slap as a response to John Howard’s period as Prime Minister (1996–2007). The article thus examines in detail particular policies produced in Australia
during those years, and the competing discourses relating to ‘multiculturalism’, which were in circulation. Drawing on the writings of Ien Ang and John Stratton, as well as David L. Eng, it is argued that both versions of The Slap expose faultlines in Australian society relating
to race and ethnicity which multiculturalism policies may attempt to paper over and bury. The article also compares and contrasts the two versions of The Slap, situates the novel in relation to Tsiolkas’ other writings and positions the adaptation within the landscape of Australian film
and television. The article concludes with a consideration of the significance of music in Tsiolkas’ novels and how, in particular, this shapes his representations of younger characters.
Appropriative strategies vs modernist orthodoxies: Postmodern concepts in contemporary Greek photography
Authors: Petsini Penelope
Published: November 2012

This article addresses the appropriative paradigms that marked the western art world from the mid-1970s, delineating first some of the wider issues raised by the term and then outlining their introduction into Greek photography from the early 1980s onwards. As a term in art history
and criticism, appropriation is associated with the rise of postmodernism and the introduction of critical theories of representation reflecting on the conditions of authorship. As such, it has a contiguous relationship to the long-standing debate between ‘originality’ and ‘imitation’.
The Greek photography world of the 1980s, defined by a modernist orthodoxy which was (and still is) largely predicated on the triumph of compositional originality could not accept any challenging of the authenticity of a work of art or, even more, of the nature of authorship itself. In effect,
the reception of postmodern ideas such as appropriation involved selective understandings and distortions. Photography practitioners in Greece produced works that were postmodern in sensibility, but they were only understood and framed in a modernist discourse. This article introduces some
prominent examples of these cases and discusses them in the context of postmodern theoretical reflection.
Divergent identities in the virtual Islamic public sphere: A case study of the English discussion forum ‘Islamonline’
Authors: el-Nawawy Mohammed , Khamis Sahar
Published: November 2012

This study utilizes a textual analysis of selected threads from the English discussion forum of one of the most popular Islamic websites, Islamonline (www.Islamonline.net), to explore the potential impact of the new Islamic virtual public sphere and the re-configuration of the ‘virtual
umma’ on the creation of divergent identities online. The study also assesses whether the discourses and deliberations taking place in the English discussion forum of Islamonline.net exemplify an ideal Habermasian public sphere. The findings of this study indicate that there is a gap
between the ‘self’ and the ‘Other’ in most of the analyzed threads. Participants in most threads did not show much willingness to engage in what Habermas calls ‘communicative action’ by failing to explain their points of view in a rational way. Rather, most
participants engaged in what Habermas described as ‘strategic action’ by manoeuvring their way in the argument and trying to forcefully change the positions or the beliefs of the other side. However, despite the fact that the majority of the analyzed threads reflect a highly polemic
discourse which drifts away from the ideal Habermasian public sphere, the article does not nullify the value of Habermas’s model as a viable theoretical framework. Rather, it engages in a critical discussion of why and how it may or may not be applicable in certain situations and proposes
other possible theoretical alternatives.
Representation of Boko Haram discourses in the British broadsheets
Authors: Yusha’u Muhammad Jameel
Published: November 2012

The Boko Haram uprising in which certain Muslim groups ‘opposed’ to western education in northern Nigeria clashed with security forces contributes to the discourses about Islam and Muslims in Nigeria. Such discourses were carried by the foreign media, and their coverage
of the incident has contributed to the perception of Islam in Nigeria among other countries. This article is a study of the coverage of the crisis as reported by two leading broadsheet newspapers in Britain, The Guardian and The Telegraph. These two newspapers represent two ideological divides
in British society, The Guardian representing the centre-left and The Telegraph representing the centre-right. Using critical discourse analysis, I examine how these two newspapers construct the discourses of the Boko Haram incident, and find out whether the ideological divide influenced the
way Islam and Muslims in Nigeria are represented in these newspapers, which have large readership in Britain. The result shows that there is no difference in the way the two newspapers represent the discourses of Boko Haram. I conclude that the way western media represents Islam and Muslims,
anti-Islam has substituted anti-communism as the fifth filter in the propaganda model suggested by Herman and Chomsky.
With Descartes, against dualism
Authors: Bardet Marie , Noceti Florencio
Published: November 2012

At the crossroads between philosophy and ‘somatics’, we interrogate the problem of dualism as something that still more or less explicitly inhabits our discourse, and forms and deforms our practices. By closely following Descartes’ correspondence with the Princess
Elisabeth (1643), we see how Descartes’ concern with distinguishing body from soul never ceases to be problematized by reason of the continual evidence of their union. Considering that in the correspondence the two keys elements that appear when thinking about the union of soul and body
are weight and extension, we utilize these two pathways to comprehend the problems and concerns they have identified within the evidence of union. Furthermore, we seek to retrieve these problems and concerns through Bergson’s later philosophy of ‘extensivity’ as it appears
in Matter and Memory (1896) under a non-classical dualistic model. We do this, not to proclaim either union or extensivity as solutions, nor even to find the right philosophy for somatic pra tices, but to see how these problems historically found can help us look attentively at somatics’
abilities to invent non-dualistic forms and thoughts, particularly in regard to how they think through movement.
Kinetic Awareness® for women with breast cancer: Somatic movement as an aid to treatment
Authors: Green Jill
Published: November 2012

The purpose of this study was to explore ways that Kinetic Awareness®, a somatic body and dance practice, can help women with breast cancer deal with the symptoms of their treatments. The stories of the women are told through a multifaceted case study process, using postpositivist
displays of data such as narrative and split page format. This strategy embodies an approach, which does not attempt to find generalized solutions, or prescriptions; portray the researcher as an authority figure; or attempt to speak for the participants. Rather, it offers a multitude of voices,
viewpoints and possibilities. Through this qualitative approach, the study focuses on finding agency within a medicalized system of care.
Nazi newsreels in the North: The European masterplan and its Nordic inflictions
Authors: Sørensen Lars-Martin , Jönsson Mats , Helseth Tore
Published: November 2012

The German newsreel company Deutsche Wochenschau spearheaded the cultural invasion following military takeover in most German-occupied European countries. But where in Scandinavia was Germany most successful in disseminating newsreel propaganda? In oppressively occupied Norway, collaborating
Denmark, or in neutral Sweden, where Nazi newsreels were also distributed? This article proposes that German propaganda aspirations followed a European master plan, namely to integrate local, German and international items in a seamless unity, and that an important criterion for success was
to insert German newsreels as smoothly as possible into the Nordic countries. This set certain requirements pertaining to what material localized newsreels exposed, how this content was presented, and finally, the manner in which Nazi newsreels were introduced in the respective countries.
‘Look to Norway!’ The Nazi occupation of Norway in Hollywood wartime cinema, 1942–1945
Authors: Lunde Arne
Published: November 2012

The article explores the cycle of six feature-length fiction films made in Hollywood during World War II that represented on-screen the Nazi occupation of Norway between 1940 and 1945. These six features in order of release are Spencer Gordon Bennett's They Raid by Night (1942), John
Farrow's Commandos Strike at Dawn (1942), Lewis Milestone's Edge of Darkness (1943), Irving Pichel's The Moon is Down (1943), Dorothy Arzner's First Comes Courage (1943) and Sylvan Simon's Son of Lassie (1945). While several scholarly surveys of Hollywood war films from this period have paid
some limited attention to this subgenre, this article offers a more comprehensive, deep-focused examination, paying special attention to the material specificity of the six films and differentiations among them. The analysis investigates how differences in Hollywood studios and house styles,
budgetary concerns, production conditions, casting choices, music scores, uses of location shooting in synthesizing a Norwegian landscape, marketing campaigns and other factors all contributed to differentiated final products in each case.
Tea with Goebbels and Hitler: Asta Nielsen in Nazi Germany
Authors: Allen Julie
Published: November 2012

Having spent most of her professional life in Berlin, the Danish silent cinema actress Asta Nielsen's relationship with Germany was both emotionally close and politically complicated, the latter due in large part to the ascendance of the NSDAP in the 1930s, several years before Nielsen
returned permanently to Denmark. Both before and after World War II, Nielsen faced accusations of harbouring Nazi sympathies, which she consistently and publicly denied, but her private letters to close friends in Germany reveal a more nuanced picture of her conflicted ties to the land she
called her 'second homeland'.
Kristina Söderbaum: Swedish citizen, Nazi superstar
Authors: Hedling Erik
Published: November 2012

This article deals with the reception of German film star Kristina Söderbaum in her native Sweden. Söderbaum reached the heights of superstardom, becoming one of Germany's top box office stars of all time. Until 1945 she appeared exclusively in films directed by her husband,
Veit Harlan. The Swedish press closely monitored Söderbaum's career, though her most infamous film Jud Süss/Jew Süss (1940) was banned by Swedish censors. After the war, she tried unsuccessfully to resume her career, among other places in Sweden. Taking into consideration her
close collaboration with Joseph Goebbels, the Swedish press, though negative, treated her surprisingly gently. In fact, Söderbaum's role in Germany during the war was never really discussed in Sweden. This article suggests several reasons for this relative silence.
Fragmented temp(oralities): A Caribbean perspective of time in literature and art
Authors: Edwin Marl’ene , Bonnelame Natasha
Published: November 2012

In the article ‘Writing: Explicating and unfolding condensed textual practices in art and design’ Sean Hall explores and questions our contemporary relationship with time in relation to the practice of writing. Our modern world in a western context, has left us Hall argues,
feeling ‘temporally impoverished’. This collaborative article deconstructs the term temporality and refashions it as temp(oralities). Our temp(oralities) is defined not only as the Caribbean artist/writer seeking to articulate a sense of time and/or timelessness, but also in the
sense of the fragmented nature of time and the orality of the region that the Caribbean artist/writer always seek to interject into their work. Using Hall’s idea of time, and the notion that we are ‘all in search of lost time’ as our point of departure, this article aims
to explore the relationship between temp(orality) and the Caribbean artist/writer. We engage with the absent and fragmented historical narratives of the region to explore how Caribbean artists/writers have attempted to articulate their own sense of time and/or timelessness. For the Caribbean
artist/writer, modernity is paradoxical. It is both the violent movement away from traditional European and African ideals, and the awareness of the intrinsic nature between the Caribbean, Africa and Europe. What implications does this fraught relationship have on the artistic and literary
representation of a Caribbean timescape? If as we are arguing, Caribbean artists/writers work in multiple temp(oralities) how does this affect how we the reader/viewer consume and understand their work?
The art of letters: An epic journey of intimate thought and exchange
Authors: Corble Alice , Dabiri Emma , Halasz Katalin , Kennedy Seraphima , Reddleman Claire
Published: November 2012

A call was sent out to participate in a writing workshop. Five strangers attended and connected through a shared interest in narrative and storytelling. Inspired by ‘Phi territories’, an article in the previous edition of JWCP, they formed the question ‘How is storytelling
an embodiment of performative or tacit processes?’ and set about authoring a collaborative article in response. Despite being united by mutual interest, their visions of how to put those ideas into practice would diverge. How to mould something cohesive and impose form and order on multiple
approaches to content generated by researchers of different backgrounds? An experimental collaborative process was developed, based on writing letters and replying to the next person in the sequence in a relay of call and response. This experiment would be overseen by an outsider member, who
would not be addressed, nor write a letter, but who would receive a copy of each of the letters and create an intervention in response. And so the stage was set for the story to begin …
The effect of acoustic field on the particle concentration profiles in fluidized bed
Authors: Si Chongdian , Zhou Jing , Guo Qingjie , Liu Guangjun
Published: November 2012

The particle concentration profiles were investigated using an optical fiber probe in a fluidized bed with acoustic assistance. The effects of sound frequency, sound pressure level, and sound wave forms on the particle concentration profiles were researched. Experimental results indicated that the application of an acoustic field could remarkably influence the particle concentration profiles in a fluidized bed. The particle concentration increased with increasing sound pressure level. However, the particle concentration was highest at sound frequency of 150 Hz, and decreased towards both low and high frequency. Compared with Square wave, both Sine wave and Triangle wave can enhance particle concentration in radial and axial profiles.
The Process of Phenol Hydroxylation in the Water Solution and over the Ti-MWW Catalyst
Authors: Wróblewska Agnieszka
Published: November 2012

This work presents the studies on the optimization of the process of phenol hydroxylation over the Ti-MWW catalyst. The medium of the reaction was only water introduced into the rector with the 30 wt% hydrogen peroxide (oxidizing agent) and formed during the reaction from the hydrogen peroxide. For the mathematical optimization the rotatable-uniform design was used. The main investigated technological parameters were: the temperature, the molar ratio of phenol/hydrogen peroxide, the catalyst content and the reaction time. The course of the main functions describing the process were presented in the form of layer drawings. The analysis of the layer drawings allowed to establish the most beneficial parameters for this process. Studies have shown that in water solution it is best to conduct phenol hydroxylation process at: the temperature of 93-100oC, phenol/hydrogen peroxide molar ratio 0.9-1, catalyst concentration 3-3.5 wt% and during the reaction time of 55-60 minutes. Under these conditions, it is possible to achieve phenol conversion of 85 mol%, selectivity of transformation to organic compounds in relation to phenol consumed 50 mol% and the yield of hydroquinone about 19 mol%. The phenol hydroxylation method, presented in this article, is a preferred alternative to conventional solutions, as it is more environmentally and cost-effective, taking into account consumption of raw materials and energy.
Formal and Informal Care: An Empirical Bayesian Analysis Using the Two-part Model
Authors: Du Juan
Published: November 2012

Informal care provided to the elderly by their children is proposed as a less expensive alternative to institutional long-term care. This paper explores how the elderly's consumption of medical care changes in response to changes in the informal care they receive from their children. Many earlier studies have ignored both the endogeneity of informal care and the complicated nature of health care utilization data. This paper develops a two-part model with informal care treated as an endogenous regressor and imposes exclusion restrictions on the selection process. The model is fitted using the Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods, in particular the Gibbs sampler and the Metropolis-Hasting algorithm. The average treatment effects and the distributions of the treatment effects are obtained via posterior simulation. The results indicate that informal care provides a substitute for nursing home care and hospital inpatient care, but it does not affect paid home health care on average. The treatment effects are heterogeneous. The largest substitution effects occur for nursing home and hospital inpatient care at the intensive margin. The policy analysis suggests that informal care policies targeting the group that incurs the largest substitution effect may help to reduce government spending on Medicaid and Medicare.
The Distributional Effects of Health Reform Limits on Flexible Spending Accounts
Authors: Cardon James H. , Moore Joel , Showalter Mark H.
Published: November 2012

Flexible spending accounts (FSAs) are a widely used arrangement that allow employees to pay for qualified out-of-pocket health expenses with pre-tax dollars. The tax preference given to FSAs has been controversial and recent health care law (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act) limits the tax exclusion to an inflation-adjusted value of $2,500 (2013 $s). The limit is estimated to increase federal payroll and income tax receipts by $13 billion between 2013 and 2019. But the welfare implications of this change are unclear.This paper uses a unique panel dataset to explore the demographic profile of households likely to be affected by the tax increase. We use a sample of 19,322 households observed over the period 1998–2008. The data include FSA expenditures, insurance claim information for covered medical and dental expenditures, and household demographic information. We explore patterns of FSA usage by income and health status.We find that households likely to be affected by the tax increase disproportionately tend to be households experiencing one or more chronic health conditions. The existence of chronic illness is associated with relatively high and persistent medical expenses and also with relatively older and wealthier households. We estimate an average tax increase of $101 in 2013 for 13.9 million households with an FSA.
Doctors' Remuneration Schemes and Hospital Competition in a Two-Sided Market
Authors: Bardey David , Cremer Helmuth , Lozachmeur Jean-Marie
Published: November 2012

This paper studies the design of doctors' remuneration schemes. Two for-profit hospitals compete to attract patients and to affiliate doctors. The numbers of patients and doctors determine an hospital's quality level which is valued on both sides. Quality can be enhanced by doctors through a (costly) effort. We first consider pure salary, case payment or fee-for-service schemes on the doctors' side. Then, we study schemes that mix fee-for-service with either salary or case payments. We show that case payment schemes (either pure or in combination with fee-for-service) are more patient friendly than (pure or mixed) salary schemes. This comparison is exactly reversed on the doctors' side. Quite surprisingly, patients always lose when a fee-for-service scheme is introduced (pure or mixed). This is true even though the fee-for-service is the only way to induce the doctors to exert effort, and whatever the patients' valuation of this effort. In other words, the increase in doctors' effort brought about by the fee-for-service is more than compensated by the increase in fees faced by patients.
Test Measurement Error and Inference from Value-Added Models
Authors: Koedel Cory , Leatherman Rebecca , Parsons Eric
Published: November 2012

It is widely known that standardized tests are noisy measures of student learning, but value added models (VAMs) rarely account for test measurement error (TME). We incorporate information about TME directly into VAMs, focusing on TME that derives from the testing instrument itself. Our analysis is divided into two parts – one based on simulated data and the other based on administrative micro data from Missouri. In the simulations we control the data generating process, which ensures that we obtain accurate TME metrics. In the real-data portion of our analysis we use estimates of TME provided by a major test publisher. In both the simulations and real-data analyses, we find that inference from VAMs is improved by making simple TME adjustments to the models. The improvement is larger in the simulations, but even in the real-data analysis the improvement is on the order of what one could expect if teacher-level sample sizes were increased by 11 to 17 percent.
Corporate responsibility, multinational corporations, and nation states: An introduction
Authors: Prakash Aseem , Griffin Jennifer J.
Published: November 2012

This special issue of Business and Politics examines how multinational corporations (MNCs) respond to the twin pressures of globalization and localization when implementing corporate responsibility (CR) policies. While MNCs are often viewed as agents of global economic integration, MNCs are impacted by globalization pressures, often in ways they cannot adequately control. As economies globalize, so do politics and stakeholder expectations that MNCs must negotiate as they manage their global operations. Working from the premise that CR strategies need to cohere with product and factor market strategies, the papers in this special issue make two contributions. First, they suggest that CR is an integral component of MNCs’ market and non-market strategies. Second, in addition to multi-domestic CR strategies, MNCs should consider international and global CR strategies as well.
Bargaining for corporate responsibility: The global and the local of framework agreements in the USA
Authors: Fichter Michael , Stevis Dimitris , Helfen Markus
Published: November 2012

Global Framework Agreements (GFAs) are still a marginal topic in political and academic discourses over global governance and corporate responsibility. In functional terms, GFAs are a commitment to include global labor standards with respect to human resource management as part of this broader turn to CR. But to what extent are these intentions and goals actually realized? Are corporations able and willing to implement GFAs in a joint effort together with the unions across a vastly diverse range of institutional settings and national arrangements? And do GFAs have an influence on core elements of a company's business policy decisions? Drawing on the insights from an interdisciplinary and multinational project, this paper uses four case studies to explore the conditions and variations in GFA implementation in the USA. Although we observe, as have others before us, that key matters of business strategy such as investments, acquisitions, restructuring, or relocation are more centralized than corporate policies on labor relations, we provide some evidence that the implementation of GFAs can be moved forward by a confluence of external actor involvement and of corporate strategies motivated by a desire to streamline HRM practices (that include the goals covered by GFAs in their core business practices). This finding of the influence of external actor voice in implementation processes may also have broader explanatory power with respect to CR initiatives in general. And in theoretical terms it allows us to explore the interplay between macro structural explanations like the Varieties of Capitalism approach, and the strategic “micro-political” explanations. Our study, in fact, suggests a strong need to combine these in a more systematic fashion.
Business as usual? An exploration of the determinants of success in the multinational transfer of corporate responsibility initiatives
Authors: Barnett Michael L. , Lee Sunyoung
Published: November 2012

Scholars have shown that corporate responsibility (CR) initiatives can create intangible assets that help MNCs reduce their liability of foreignness and even gain competitive advantage over local rivals. But scholars have not addressed the ability of MNCs to transfer CR initiatives to subsidiaries. This study builds theory about the conditions that influence success and failure in the transfer of CR practices from headquarters to overseas subsidiaries. We analyze CR transfers from the headquarters of an Indian multinational to its subsidiaries in China and the U.K. Our findings suggest that CR transfer differs in substantial ways from operational practice transfer. In particular, the ambiguity of the CR initiative, the social competency of the business unit transferring the CR initiative, and the active involvement of local stakeholders play significant roles in CR transfer success.
Has globalization eroded firms’ responsibility for their employees? A sociological analysis of transnational firms’ corporate social responsibility policies concerning their employees in the Netherlands, 1980–2010
Authors: Quak Sander , Heilbron Johan , van der Veen Romke
Published: November 2012

Since the 1970s many firms expanded their operations across national borders and were restructured to fit the changing economic conditions during these times of economic globalization. Using a sociological approach to transnational firms, in this article the authors research the consequences of these developments for the responsibility of two transnational firms towards their employees in the Netherlands. These firms experienced a shift in their dual embeddedness in national and transnational economic fields, with the latter gaining importance. In response, they adjusted their corporate policies and structure to fit the competitive conditions of these fields, causing a centralization of their corporate labor policy on the transnational level, the polarization of this policy and the instrumentalization of labor and labor policy. This also meant that their responsibility for their employees was restructured and reduced.
Managing corporate responsibility globally and locally: Lessons from a CR leader
Authors: Brown Dana , Knudsen Jette Steen
Published: November 2012

Corporate Responsibility (CR) is today an essential component of corporate global strategy. CR can bolster the institutional context for market expansion fill institutional voids or facilitate market entry as a component of non-market strategy. Yet, in fulfilling these functions, CR may need to be highly sensitive to local contexts. How can transnational firms organize CR so as to maximize efficiencies from globalization and to minimize the fragmentation of corporate organizational cultures? provide a framework for analyzing the way that corporations coordinate global and local functions. We build on this framework in a case study of Novo Nordisk and its approach to determining global and local CR policies and procedures with regard to its China and US subsidiaries. Our findings suggest that it is important for companies to define a common set of organizational norms. In addition, CR need to be sensitive to local institutional contexts, but learning from subsidiary experience is important and lends itself to standardization and replication of initiatives across market contexts.
Multi-level corporate responsibility and the mining sector: Learning from the Canadian experience in Latin America
Authors: Webb Kernaghan
Published: November 2012

The primary research question animating this article revolves around understanding how multinational mining corporations (MMCs) are responding to the twin pressures of globalization and localization to develop Corporate Responsibility (CR) approaches that apply at a global level and to their subsidiaries in various different jurisdictions, with particular attention being paid to the role of home, host and international factors in shaping the CR approaches of MMCs. The focus of attention is on the experience of Canadian MMCs in Latin America, using as an illustration the particular CR response of one Canadian MMC at its subsidiary Guatemalan mining operation. Research suggests that home country factors play an important role in shaping corporate CR approaches in a manner which take into account the circumstances extant at subsidiary operations in developing countries, as do transnational advocacy networks and global normative instruments.
A club theory approach to voluntary social programs: Multinational companies and the extractive industries transparency initiative
Authors: Schuler Douglas A.
Published: November 2012

This study uses club theory to describe the incentives of extractive industry MNCs to support the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a multi-stakeholder promoted voluntary social program (VSP) aimed at creating national legislation to make the royalty payments received by governments from mining and oil and gas companies more transparent to the public. We characterize the EITI as a VSP that lacks stringent standards and that has a moderate to high level of enforcement through the national governments that have adopted its principles. According to club theory, VSPs with these characteristics produce only a low to medium level of club benefits, in this case “social branding,” for member firms. Noting that over 60 MNCs have signed on to the EITI as of April 2012, we argue that VSPs offering low to medium club benefits should be most attractive to MNCs from countries with long arm disclosure laws, to MNCs lacking relationships with NGOs seeking inexpensive CSR, to MNCs relying upon financing from institutional and social investors, to MNCs attempting to differentiate themselves from competitors on social criteria, and to MNCs with broad stakeholder-focused top managers. We also describe the implications for MNCs if the EITI were to include a more stringent set of social requirements.
Identity and origin of a slender Caulerpa taxifolia strain introduced into the Mediterranean Sea
Authors: Jongma Dorris N. , Campo Davide , Dattolo Emanuela , D’Esposito Daniela , Duchi Antonino , Grewe Peter , Huisman John , Verlaque Marc , Yokes Mehmet B. , Procaccini Gabriele
Published: November 2012

On the basis of morphological and molecular studies, we identified the Australian endemic green alga known as Caulerpa distichophylla along the coasts of Sicily (Italy, Mediterranean Sea). The slender Caulerpa previously reported as C. taxifolia from southeastern Turkey (Gulf of Iskenderun) also belongs to C. distichophylla. Morphologically, C. distichophylla clearly differs from C. taxifolia in its slender thallus and the lack of large rhizoidal pillars. However, genetic data do not provide undisputed evidence that the species are distinct. Sequences of the tufA cpDNA gene and of the cp 16S rDNA intron-2 sequences separated the two taxa by only one single nucleotide mutation, whereas ITS rDNA sequences did not clearly distinguish them. The new combination Caulerpa taxifolia var. distichophylla is therefore proposed. Western and eastern Mediterranean populations of C. taxifolia var. distichophylla are probably the result of introduction events from southwestern Australia. Although the vector of primary introductions remains unknown (aquarium trade or shipping), maritime traffic appears to be the most likely vector of secondary dispersal. C. taxifolia var. distichophylla is closely related to C. taxifolia, hence interbreeding with the other C. taxifolia strains in the Mediterranean Sea might be expected to occur.
A comparison between two different in vitro basophil activation tests for gluten- and cow’s milk protein sensitivity in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)-like patients
Authors: Carroccio Antonio , Brusca Ignazio , Mansueto Pasquale , D’alcamo Alberto , Barrale Maria , Soresi Maurizio , Seidita Aurelio , La Chiusa Stella M. , Iacono Giuseppe , Sprini Delia
Published: November 2012

Background: The diagnosis of food hypersensitivity (FH) in adult patients with gastrointestinal symptoms, beyond the immediate IgE-mediated clinical manifestations, is very often difficult. The aims of our study were to: 1) evaluate the frequency of FH in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)-like clinical presentation; and 2) compare the diagnostic accuracy of two different methods of in vitro basophil activation tests.

Methods: Three hundred and five patients (235 females, age range 18–66 years) were included and underwent a diagnostic elimination diet and successive double-blind placebo-controlled (DBPC) challenges. Two different methods of in vitro basophil activation tests (BAT) (CD63 expression after in vitro wheat or cow’s milk proteins stimulation) were evaluated: one was performed on separated leukocytes, and the other on whole blood.

Results: Ninety patients of the 305 studied (29.5%) were positive to the challenges and were diagnosed as suffering from FH. BAT on separate leukocytes showed a sensitivity of 86% and a specificity of 91% in FH diagnosis. BAT on whole blood showed a sensitivity of 15%–20% and a specificity of 73% in FH diagnosis (p<0.0001 compared to the other method).

Conclusions: About one third of the IBS patients included in the study were suffering from FH and were cured on the elimination diet. The BAT based on CD63 detection on whole blood samples did not work in FH diagnosis and showed a significantly lower sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy than the assay based on separated leukocytes.
Genetic defects in folate and cobalamin pathways affecting the brain
Authors: Kirsch Susanne H. , Herrmann Wolfgang , Obeid Rima
Published: November 2012

Folate and cobalamin are necessary for early brain development and function. Deficiency of folate or cobalamin during pregnancy can cause severe malformation in the central nervous system such as neural tube defects. After birth, folate and cobalamin deficiency can cause anemia, failure to thrive, recurrent infections, psychiatric and neurological symptoms. The folate and the homocysteine metabolic pathways interact at a central step where 5-methyltetrahydrofolate donates its methyl group to homocysteine to produce methionine and tetrahydrofolate. Methyl cobalamin and folate interact at this critical step. Both nutrients have a crucial role in DNA synthesis and in delivering S-adenosylmethionine, the universal methyl donor. Severe and mild inherited disorders in folate and cobalamin pathways have been described. The two groups of disorders share some similarities, but differ in the molecular mechanism, metabolic dysregulation, and disease management. This review summarizes selected disorders, including rare and common mutations that affect folate and cobalamin absorption, transport, or dependent enzymes. When the mutations are discovered early enough, many of the described disorders are easily treatable by B vitamin supplementation, which often prevents or reverses the manifestation of the disease. Therefore, the screening for mutations is recommended and should be carried out as early as possible: after occurrence of the first symptoms or when a certain constellations of the folate and cobalamin related markers are measured, such as elevated homocysteine and/or methylmalonic acid.
Sequential amination of heteroaromatic halides with aminopyridine 1 - oxides and their N-protected derivatives based on novel aza-Smiles rearrangement
Authors: Wolińska Ewa
Published: November 2012

The SNAr and Pd-catalyzed amination of chloro derivatives of azines, diazines, and triazines with 2-aminopyridine 1-oxides and their N-protected derivatives was described.
Effect of short-chain silicones bearing different functional groups on the resistance of pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) against decay fungi
Authors: Pries Malte , Wagner Roland , Kaesler Karl-Heinz , Militz Holger , Mai Carsten
Published: November 2012

Blocks of pine sapwood and beech wood were treated with water-based emulsions containing short-chain silicones with different α-ω-bonded functional groups, such as diamino, carboxyl and carbonyl, betain, and epoxy groups. The weight percent gain upon treatment of the pine wood specimens was relatively high (10%–20%), but their cross-sectional bulking was low (1%–2.5%). Thus, the anti-shrink efficiency (ASE) due to the treatment was also low. The first water-submersion tests revealed some hydrophobation of the treated wood. A second submersion test, however, revealed successful hydrophobation only for betain-functionalised material. The carboxylated silicone even increased the speed of water uptake as compared to the controls. The samples treated with silicones bearing epoxy, diamino, and carboxy functionalities showed a distinct reduction in mass loss compared to the control samples after 16 weeks of incubation with the fungi Coniophora puteana and Trametes versicolor according to EN 113 and CEN/TS 15083-1, whereas the betain-functionalised silicone did not enhance fungal resistance. All silicones tested lowered the mass loss in a soft rot test according to ENv 807. The mode of action of the silicones is discussed.