bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A study of unsteady projectile aerodynamics using a moving coordinate method
Authors: Rajesh G , Kim H D , Matsuo S , Setoguchi T
Published: October 2007

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method has been applied to simulate unsteady near-field aerodynamics of the projectile which is launched from a ballistic range. A moving coordinate scheme for a multi-domain technique was employed to investigate the unsteady flow with moving boundary. The coordinate system fixed to each moving domain was applied to the multi-domains, and the effect of virtual mass was added in the governing equations for each domain. The unsteady, axi-symmetric Euler equation systems were numerically solved using the third-order Chakravarthy-Osher total variation diminishing scheme, with Monotone Upstream-centered Scheme for Conservation Laws (MUSCL) approach. The present computations were validated with results of some other CFD works and experimental data available. The computed results reasonably capture the major flow features, such as shock waves, blast waves, shear layers, vortical flows, etc which are generated in launching a projectile up to a supersonic speed. The projectile mass, configuration, and the initial conditions behind the projectile have been varied to investigate its effect on the flow field and the unsteady projectile aerodynamics. The unsteady aerodynamics of the projectile is strongly affected by the projectile mass and configuration. The initial conditions behind the projectile have strong influence on the near flow field structures which govern the development of the blast wave along with the projectile motion.
Experimental observations of an 8 m/s drop test of a metallic helicopter underfloor structure onto water: Part 2
Authors: Hughes K , Vignjevic R , Campbell J
Published: October 2007

This is the second part of a two-part paper that describes the experimental observations for two similar sections of floor that were dropped onto both hard and water surfaces at 8 m/s, as part of one experimental campaign. The current paper provides an assessment of a simple box-beam under floor structure typically found in metallic helicopters and provides an overview of the failure modes and the collapse mechanism observed when dropped onto water at 8 m/s, as well as providing quantitative data for the skin deflections observed.

The results demonstrate that the lack of frame and intersection joint collapse is a common feature, which is caused by the high failure strength of the existing construction, together with the inability of the skin to generate membrane loads that are sufficiently large to trigger progressive collapse within the structure. It is therefore recommended to reduce the collapse force of the structure through the use of geometry, material type, and inclusion of triggers. However, the caveat with this approach is that if the failure strength is optimized for a water impact, a poor crashworthy response may occur during a hard surface impact.

The current paper discusses three main limitations with the design, which are heavily interrelated, as improvements in frame and joint collapse cannot be achieved without considering developing the ductile behaviour of the skin. However, maintaining skin integrity will be critical to maintain the floatation capabilities of the helicopter. The current paper recommends that a next generation design should encompass a passive dual role capability for both hard and soft surface impacts, by being able to degrade the localized strength depending upon the type of surface encountered. This will significantly improve the crashworthy response of a metallic under floor structure and have a significant impact on improving occupant survivability for an impact on water.
Performance analysis and enhancement of the ballistic range
Authors: Rajesh G , Kim H D , Setoguchi T , Raghunathan S
Published: October 2007

The ballistic range has long been employed in a variety of engineering fields such as high-velocity impact engineering, projectile aerodynamics, and aeroballistics, since it can create an extremely high-pressure state in a very short time. Of many different types of ballistic ranges developed to date, a two-stage light-gas gun is being employed most extensively. Since the operation of the ballistic range involves many complicated gas dynamic processes, optimization of various design parameters of the ballistic range is important for the durability of its components. In the present study, a theoretical analysis has been carried out to investigate various unsteady processes involved in the operation of the ballistic range and to assess the performance of the ballistic range. The results obtained are validated with the available experimental data. A shock tube is added in between the pump tube and launch tube and its effect on the performance of the ballistic range is quantified using the present theoretical analysis. Several methods are employed to define the ballistic efficiency. The effect of ratio of pump tube area to launch tube area on the performance is also investigated. A significant performance enhancement is obtained in the ballistic range with the addition of a shock tube.
Helicopter rotor health monitoring- a review
Authors: Pawar P M , Ganguli R
Published: October 2007

A review of the literature on helicopter rotor system health monitoring is conducted in this paper. An introduction is provided to the work on rotor track and balance and commercial health and usage monitoring systems. Research on the modelling of typical rotor system faults using aeroelastic analysis is discussed and the use of damage detection algorithms based on neural network, fuzzy logic, and system identification is pointed out. The use of non-destructive testing (NDT) approaches, such as modal methods, acoustic emission, and wave-based approaches for rotor health monitoring is discussed. Finally, work on the health monitoring of composite helicopter rotors is discussed and inverse problem solution and life prediction issues are addressed. Future research needs in the area are pointed out.
KIN-Nav navigation system for kinematic assessment in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: Features, use, and perspectives
Authors: Martelli S , Zaffagnini S , Bignozzi S , Lopomo N F , Iacono F , Marcacci M
Published: October 2007

In this paper a new navigation system, KIN-Nav, developed for research and used during 80 anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstructions is described. KIN-Nav is a user-friendly navigation system for flexible intraoperative acquisitions of anatomical and kinematic data, suitable for validation of biomechanical hypotheses. It performs real-time quantitative evaluation of antero-posterior, internal-external, and varus-valgus knee laxity at any degree of flexion and provides a new interface for this task, suitable also for comparison of pre-operative and post-operative knee laxity and surgical documentation. In this paper the concept and features of KIN-Nav, which represents a new approach to navigation and allows the investigation of new quantitative measurements in ACL reconstruction, are described. Two clinical studies are reported, as examples of clinical potentiality and correct use of this methodology. In this paper a preliminary analysis of KIN-Nav's reliability and clinical efficacy, performed during blinded repeated measures by three independent examiners, is also given. This analysis is the first assessment of the potential of navigation systems for evaluating knee kinematics.
Ligament balancing in computer-assisted total knee arthroplasty: Improved clinical results with a spring-loaded tensioning device
Authors: Swank M , Romanowski J R , Korbee L L , Bignozzi S
Published: October 2007

Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) remains one of the most successful procedures in orthopaedic surgery. Complications certainly exist and are often related to failure of knee ligament balance. This asymmetry subsequently leads to component mal-alignment and loosening often secondary to deviation of the lower extremity mechanical axis. Understanding knee mechanics is essential, and recent technological advances have begun to minimize postoperative problems. A tensioning device that respects the native patellofemoral anatomy as well as the natural ligamentous strains has been developed. The surgical integration of computer-assisted navigation has allowed for enhanced accuracy and subsequently better results. The purpose of the current paper is to discuss the evolution of an improved ligament tensioning device, in the setting of classic mechanical guidance versus computer assistance and its postoperative impact on total knee outcomes in terms of manipulation rates and two-year radiographic alignment data. Based on a single surgeon series, mechanically guided arthroplasties resulted in a 16 per cent manipulation rate. Computer assistance with spacer blocks decreased the manipulation rate to 14 per cent, while using a novel tensioner device further decreased the manipulation rate to 7 per cent, a significant difference of p <0.01. Radiographic data illustrate all TKAs with the tensioner to be within 4° of the desired position.
Application of surgical navigation to total hip arthroplasty
Authors: Ecker T M , Murphy S B
Published: October 2007

Instability, impingement, and leg-length discrepancy are among the most common early problems following total hip arthroplasty (THA). Component positioning is the primary factor affecting all three of these issues and, therefore, all three can be potentially addressed using surgical navigation. While the advent of less invasive surgical techniques performed through smaller incisions has been shown to accelerate recovery, these techniques have also been associated with a further increase in the incidence of these three problems. Acetabular component malpositioning has been a particular problem with less invasive surgical techniques. Nonetheless, it is clear that maximal preservation of the soft tissues around the hip joint may accelerate recovery following surgery and confer greater hip joint stability. Accomplishing these goals without compromising component positioning is the single greatest potential advantage to the application of surgical navigation to THA. The present paper describes the general principles of surgical navigation in THA with respect to methods of tracking, methods of registration, the role of image-free and image-based navigation, and methods of measuring leg-length change during surgery. Further, a description is given of the clinical effect of combining surgical navigation with use of the superior capsulotomy technique of performing THA, which aims maximally to preserve the soft tissues surrounding the hip joint, allowing unrestricted progression of motion and weight-bearing following surgery. These methods have led to statistically significant acceleration of recovery, improvement in acetabular component positioning, and reductions in peri-operative surgical complications.
A quantitative method of effective soft tissue management for varus knees in total knee replacement surgery using navigational techniques
Authors: Picard F , Deakin A H , Clarke J V , Dillon J M , Kinninmonth A W
Published: October 2007

Total knee replacement (TKR) has become the standard procedure in management of degenerative joint disease with its success depending mainly on two factors: three-dimensional alignment and soft-tissue balancing. The aim of this work was to develop and validate an algorithm to indicate appropriate medial soft tissue release during TKR for varus knees using initial kinematics quantified via navigation techniques. Kinematic data were collected intra-operatively for 46 patients with primary end-stage osteoarthritis undergoing TKR surgery using a computer-tomography-free navigation system. All patients had preoperative varus knees and medial release was made using the surgeon's experience. Based on these data an algorithm was developed. This algorithm was validated on a further set of 35 patients where it was used to define the medial release based on the kinematic data. The post-operative valgus stress angles for the two groups were compared. These results showed that the algorithm was a suitable tool to indicate the type of medial release required in varus knees based on intra-operatively measured pre-implant valgus stress and extension deficit angles. It reduced the percentage of releases made and the results were more appropriate than the decisions made by an experienced surgeon.
Computer-assisted single- or double-cut oblique osteotomies for the correction of lower limb deformities
Authors: Belei P , Schkommodau E , Frenkel A , Mumme T , Radermacher K
Published: October 2007

Corrective osteotomy interventions on lower extremities are widely accepted procedures for restoring axial alignment of lower limbs. However, some studies reveal failure rates of up to 70 per cent in a 10 year time frame, which indicates that the success of corrective osteotomies depends on multiple factors. Based on a comprehensive review of error sources among conventional correction osteotomy interventions, a novel approach was developed in order to reduce these error sources among all clinical working steps (deformity determination, planning, and intra-operative realization). The article describes the implemented methodology for realizing optimal correction osteotomies based on a six-dimensional or 12-dimensional optimization module for single- and double-cut oblique osteotomies. The results show that the realized planning and navigation concept enables reduction in the error sources among the clinical working steps of correction osteotomy interventions.
Accuracy considerations in navigated cup placement for total hip arthroplasty
Authors: Langlotz U , Grützner P A , Bernsmann K , Kowal J H , Tannast M , Caversaccio M , Nolte L-P
Published: October 2007

Computer assisted orthopaedic surgery (CAOS) technology has recently been introduced to overcome problems resulting from acetabular component malpositioning in total hip arthroplasty. Available navigation modules can conceptually be categorized as computer tomography (CT) based, fluoroscopy based, or image-free. The current study presents a comprehensive accuracy analysis on the computer assisted placement accuracy of acetabular cups. It combines analyses using mathematical approaches, in vitro testing environments, and an in vivo clinical trial. A hybrid navigation approach combining image-free with fluoroscopic technology was chosen as the best compromise to CT-based systems. It introduces pointer-based digitization for easily assessable points and bi-planar fluoroscopy for deep-seated landmarks. From the in vitro data maximum deviations were found to be 3.6° for inclination and 3.8° for anteversion relative to a pre-defined test position. The maximum difference between intraoperatively calculated cup inclination and anteversion with the postoperatively measured position was 4° and 5°, respectively. These data coincide with worst cases scenario predictions applying a statistical simulation model. The proper use of navigation technology can reduce variability of cup placement well within the surgical safe zone. Surgeons have to concentrate on a variety of error sources during the procedure, which may explain the reported strong learning curves for CAOS technologies.
A navigation system for shoulder arthroscopic surgery
Authors: Tyryshkin K , Mousavi P , Beek M , Ellis R E , Pichora D R , Abolmaesumi P
Published: October 2007

The general framework and experimental validation of a novel navigation system designed for shoulder arthroscopy are presented. The system was designed to improve the surgeon's perception of the three-dimensional space within the human shoulder. Prior to surgery, a surface model of the shoulder was created from computed tomography images. Intraoperatively optically tracked arthroscopic instruments were calibrated. The surface model was then registered to the patient using tracked freehand ultrasound images taken from predefined landmark regions on the scapula. Three-dimensional models of the surgical instruments were displayed, in real time, relative to the surface model in a user interface. Laboratory experiments revealed only small registration and calibration errors, with minimal time needed to complete the intraoperative tasks.
Computer-assisted hip resurfacing surgery using the Acrobot® Navigation System
Authors: Barrett A R W , Davies B L , Gomes M P S F , Harris S J , Henckel J , Jakopec M , Kannan V , Rodriguez y Baena F M , Cobb J P
Published: October 2007

The authors have previously reported on the laboratory development of the Acrobot® Navigation System for accurate computer-assisted hip resurfacing surgery. This paper describes the findings of using the system in the clinical setting and including the improvements that have been made to expedite the procedure. The aim of the present system is to allow accurate planning of the procedure and precise placement of the prosthesis in accordance with the plan, with a zero intraoperative time penalty in comparison to the standard non-navigated technique.

At present the navigation system is undergoing final clinical evaluation prior to a clinical study designed to demonstrate the accuracy of outcome compared with the conventional technique. While full results are not yet available, this paper describes the techniques that will be used to evaluate accuracy by comparing pre-operative computed tomography (CT)-based plans with post-operative CT scans. Example qualitative clinical results are included based on visual comparison of the plan with post-operative X-rays.
Comparative repeatability of guide-pin axis positioning in computer-assisted and manual femoral head resurfacing arthroplasty
Authors: Hodgson A , Helmy N , Masri B A , Greidanus N V , Inkpen K B , Duncan C P , Garbuz D S , Anglin C
Published: October 2007

The orientation of the femoral component in hip resurfacing arthroplasty affects the likelihood of loosening and fracture. Computer-assisted surgery has been shown to improve significantly the surgeon's ability to achieve a desired position and orientation; nevertheless, both bias and variability in positioning remain and can potentially be improved. The authors recently developed a computer-assisted surgical (CAS) technique to guide the placement of the pin used in femoral head resurfacing arthroplasty and showed that it produced significantly less variation than a typical manual technique in varus/valgus placement relative to a pre-operatively determined surgical plan while taking a comparable amount of time. In the present study, the repeatability of both the CAS and manual techniques is evaluated in order to estimate the relative contributions to overall variability of surgical technique (CAS versus manual), surgeon experience (novice versus experienced), and other sources of variability (e.g. across specimens and across surgeons). This will enable further improvements in the accuracy of CAS techniques.

Three residents/fellows new to femoral head resurfacing and three experienced hip arthroplasty surgeons performed 20-30 repetitions of each of the CAS and manual techniques on at least one of four cadaveric femur specimens. The CAS system had markedly better repeatability (1.2°) in varus/valgus placement relative to the manual technique (2.8°), slightly worse repeatability in version (4.4° versus 3.2°), markedly better repeatability in mid-neck placement (0.7 mm versus 2.5 mm), no significant dependence on surgeon skill level (in contrast to the manual technique), and took significantly less time (50 s versus 123 s). Proposed improvements to the version measurement process showed potential for reducing the standard deviation by almost two thirds.

This study supports the use of CAS for femoral head resurfacing as it is quicker than the manual technique, independent of surgeon experience, and demonstrates improved repeatability.
Application of non-linear turbulence models in an engine-type flow configuration
Authors: Son C. H. , Shethaji T. A. , Rutland C. J. , Barths H , Lippert A , El Tahry S. H.
Published: October 2007

Three non-linear k-ε models were implemented into the multi-dimensional computational fluid dynamics code GMTEC with the purpose of comparing them with existing linear k-ε models including renormalization group variations. The primary focus of the present study is to evaluate the potential of these non-linear models in engineering applications such as the internal combustion engine. The square duct flow and the backwards-facing step flow were two simple test cases chosen for which experimental data are available for comparison. Successful simulations for these cases were followed by simulations of an engine-type intake flow to evaluate the performance of the non-linear models in comparison with experimental data and the standard linear k-ε models as well as two renormalization group types. All the non-linear models are found to be an improvement over the standard linear model, but mostly in simple flows. For more complex flows, such as the engine-type case, only the cubic non-linear models appear to make a modest improvement in the mean flow but without any improvement in the root-mean-square values. These improvements are overshadowed by the stiffness of the cubic models and the requirements for smaller time steps. The contributions of each non-linear term to the Reynolds stress tensor are analysed in detail in order to identify the different characteristics of the different non-linear models for engine intake flows.
Diesel jet impingement on small cylindrical obstacles for mixture homogenization by late injection strategy
Authors: Weclas M , Faltermeier R
Published: October 2007

The paper deals with ‘destroying’ a high-velocity diesel fuel jet by impingement on small cylindrical obstacles. This process permits very quick jet distribution in the volume. Essential is a process of impingement on a first obstacle: its diameter, distance from the nozzle outlet, and injection pressure play a dominant role in characterizing jet distribution in space. This spatial distribution is based on a multijet model, initially observed by diesel jet impingement on a porous structure. In diesel jet impingement on a single obstacle with a smaller diameter (d=1 mm), the distribution angle decreases with an increase of injection pressure. For bigger obstacle diameters (d = 2 mm) the angle between both jets increases almost independently with regard to injection pressure. This angle does not change with time after initial impact. It decreases, however, with an increasing distance between nozzle and obstacle.

For diesel jet impingement on more than one single obstacle, jet distribution depends on the obstacle's geometrical configuration but not necessarily on the number of obstacles. Quite similar distribution has been obtained for configurations with four and eight obstacles. It is possible to design a configuration of small obstacles such as to permit very good charge homogenization within a defined space (combustion chamber). Such an example of five-obstacle configuration has also been investigated in the paper. A multijet structure also permits higher air entrainment as compared with a free jet configuration. All these effects would promote fast spatial distribution of diesel jets and, under hot conditions, faster vaporization and better mixing with air.
Traffic Noise Sources in Cutting Dips Adjacent to Screens
Authors: Peplow Andrew T
Published: October 2007

The use of a single vertical screen to obstruct the propagation of noise from source to receiver over hard and soft flat ground is well known. However, in addition to considerations of acoustical efficiency, the design of road traffic noise barriers depends on many other factors. Site conditions, planning restraints and visual considerations will affect the final selected design, as will engineering considerations related to the construction materials, the weather loading due to wind and precipitation. The aim of this article is to show both the acoustical benefits and drawbacks of using a screen adjacent to a highway located in a cutting dip in otherwise flat ground topography.
Identification of Elite Swimmers' Race Patterns Using Cluster Analysis
Authors: Chen Ilene , Homma Hiroto , Jin Craig , Yan Hong
Published: October 2007

The identification of elite swimmers' race patterns at the same time is an important unresolved problem. This problem appears to be of fundamental importance for coaches in training promising elite swimmers. To address this problem, a system of cluster analysis for studying group structures on the basis of elite swimmers' race results and various available race components, such as lengths, speeds and times, is described that uses standard statistical algorithms to arrange elite swimmers according to similarity in their race patterns. The outputs are displayed graphically using tree-like dendrograms, conveying elite swimmers' race patterns in a form intuitive for coaches. As an illustration of this, we have used this method to uncover a number of key race components in connection with Ian Thorpe's race results in the men's 400m freestyle final at the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics
The Effect of Accentuated Eccentric Load on Jump Kinetics in High-Performance Volleyball Players
Authors: Sheppard Jeremy , Newton Rob , McGuigan Mike
Published: October 2007

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of an accentuated eccentric load on subsequent concentric kinetic factors and block jumping performance in elite male volleyball players. Eleven male volleyball high-performance players (18.9 ± 2.6 years, 203.6 ± 5.6 cm, 91.4 ± 8.2 kg), who were training full time with the national team development squad, participated in this within-subject, counter-balanced study. One half of the subjects performed the block jumps (BJ), followed by a 20 kg accentuated eccentric load block jump (AEBJ) condition, whilst the other half of the subject pool performed the testing in the reverse sequence. Superior jump heights (4.3%) and kinetic and kinematic enhancements (9.4, 3.9, 3.1% for peak power, peak force, and peak velocity respectively) were observed in the AEBJ condition compared to the BJ condition, with no order effect observed. The differences between conditions were statistically significant (p < 0.05), with moderate magnitudes (ES = 0.1–0.4). The results of this study demonstrate that an accentuated eccentric load evokes acute increases in vertical jump height, as well as in the kinetic and kinematic variables that are considered important to vertical jumping ability (force, velocity and power)
Characterization of 16S rRNA mutations that decrease the fidelity of translation initiation
Authors: Qin Daoming , Abdi Nimo M. , Fredrick Kurt
Published: October 2007

In bacteria, initiation of translation is kinetically controlled by factors IF1, IF2, and IF3, which work in conjunction with the 30S subunit to ensure accurate selection of the initiator tRNA (fMet-tRNAfMet) and the start codon. Here, we show that mutations G1338A and A790G of 16S rRNA decrease initiation fidelity in vivo and do so in distinct ways. Mutation G1338A increases the affinity of tRNAfMet for the 30S subunit, suggesting that G1338 normally forms a suboptimal Type II interaction with fMet-tRNAfMet. By stabilizing fMet-tRNAfMet in the preinitiation complex, G1338A may partially compensate for mismatches in the codon–anti-codon helix and thereby increase spurious initiation. Unlike G1338A, A790G decreases the affinity of IF3 for the 30S subunit. This may indirectly stabilize fMet-tRNAfMet in the preinitiation complex and/or promote premature docking of the 50S subunit, resulting in increased levels of spurious initiation.
Plastid mRNAs are neither spliced nor edited in maize and cauliflower mitochondrial in organello systems
Authors: Bolle Nina , Hinrichsen Inga , Kempken Frank
Published: October 2007

The process of RNA editing in chloroplasts and higher plant mitochondria displays some similarities, raising the question of common or similar components in editing apparatus of these two organelles. To investigate the ability of plant mitochondria to edit plastid transcripts, we employed a previously established mitochondrial maize and cauliflower in organello system. Two plastid genes, Zea mays ndhB and ycf3 containing group II introns and several editing sites, were introduced into mitochondria. The genes were transcribed in organello. However, these transcripts of the plastid genes are neither spliced nor edited in plant mitochondria. A comparison of maize ndhB editing sites and maize mitochondrial editing sites reveals considerable sequence similarities between three ndhB editing sites and several mitochondrial sites. Nevertheless, these ndhB editing sites were not recognized in the mitochondria. Thus, we present for the first time direct evidence that the factors present in the plant mitochondria are not sufficient to allow editing and splicing of plastid transcripts.
3′ Terminal oligo U-tract-mediated stimulation of decapping
Authors: Song Man-Gen , Kiledjian Megerditch
Published: October 2007

Decapping is a critical step in the control of gene expression and is regulated by both positive and negativetransfactors. Less is known aboutciselements that promote decapping. In plants, following microRNA (miRNA)-directed cleavage of an mRNA, a uridine tract can be added onto the exposed 3′ end of the resulting 5′ fragment, which can promote 5′ end decay. We now demonstrate that in mammalian cell extract, addition of five uridine residues to the 3′ end of an RNA (U5) promotes decapping relative to an RNA lacking the uridines (U0). Although the decapping stimulation observed in extract required hDcp2, recombinant hDcp2 was unable to support differential decapping of the U0and U5RNAs, indicating that the stimulation was likely due to an indirect recruitment of hDcp2 to the RNA. Consistent with the promotion of 5′ end decapping by the uridine tract, affinity purification with the U5RNA revealed the presence of a decapping subcomplex at least consisting of hDcp2, Dcp1a, Edc4, LSm1, and LSm4 that were specifically bound to the U5RNA but not the U0RNA. In addition to promoting decapping, the U-tract stabilized the 3′ end of the RNA by preventing 3′ to 5′ exonucleolytic decay to ensure 5′ end directional degradation. These data suggest that following post-transcriptional oligo uridylation of an mRNA or mRNA fragment, the U-tract has the capacity to specifically stimulate 5′ end decapping to expedite mRNA decay.
An Elicitation Procedure for the Generalized Trapezoidal Distribution with a Uniform Central Stage
Authors: van Dorp Johan René , Rambaud Salvador Cruz , Pérez José García , Pleguezuelo Rafael Herrerías
Published: October 2007

Recent advances in computation technology for decision/simulation and uncertainty analyses have revived interest in the triangular distribution and its use to describe uncertainty of bounded input phenomena. The trapezoidal distribution is a generalization of the triangular distribution that allows for the specification of the modal value by means of a range of values rather than a single point estimate. Whereas the trapezoidal and the triangular distributions are restricted to linear geometric forms in the successive stages of the distribution, the generalized trapezoidal (GT) distribution allows for a nonlinear behavior at its tails and a linear incline (or decline) in the central stage. In this paper we develop two novel elicitation procedures for the parameters of a special case of the GT family by restricting ourselves to a uniform (horizontal) central stage in accordance with the central stage of the original trapezoidal distribution.
Decentralisation and Primary Care Groups: a paradigm shift for the National Health Service in England?
Authors: Hudson Bob
Published: October 2007

English

As the National Health Service (NHS) celebrates its 50th birthday, the new Labour government has proposed a radical shake-up in the way it is organised. The most innovative feature is the creation of localised Primary Care Groups (PCGs) with commissioning and providing functions. Although undoubtedly new, there have been earlier initiatives in the NHS which give insights into the problems PCGs will encounter. This article draws upon evidence from these initiatives and places it in a framework for analysis based upon the concept of localisation. It argues that PCGs are more likely to succeed if they are rooted in an evidence-based approach to policy and management.
Taming the Obesity Beast: Children, Marketing, and Public Policy Considerations
Authors: Seiders Kathleen , Petty Ross D.
Published: October 2007

This essay explores the policy implications of the findings in this special section for potential remedies and opportunities for further research in the critical area of obesity. Children are an important focus here both because of the dramatic increase in childhood obesity in recent decades and because they lack the cognitive development and social experience to process marketing communications with the sophistication of adults. In addition, children's food purchase decisions are substantially influenced by their parents. Although packaged food marketers are setting their own voluntary restrictions on products to be marketed during entertainment content targeted at children, the impact of such restrictions is limited because children are substantial viewers of general entertainment content. This essay suggests that more prominent nutrition disclosure oriented toward obesity concerns for both packaged foods and fast-food restaurants should be more fully considered. It further suggests that increased marketing research is needed to better understand children as consumers, the role of parents as gatekeepers, and the differences between ethnic population segments. Marketing research also can contribute to the assessment of the effectiveness of different regulatory approaches adopted by various countries and the viability of mass educational approaches versus individual encouragement by parents, doctors, and others. The authors note that because obesity is a long-term health problem, a longitudinal tracking study would be useful in studying both health effects over time and the effectiveness of various policy interventions.
Marketing's Evolving Identity: Defining Our Future
Authors: Lusch Robert F.
Published: October 2007

Marketing thought and practice has evolved over the past 100 years from a philosophy of taking things to market to a philosophy of market(ing) to customers and, increasingly today, to a philosophy of market(ing) with customers. The author discusses the evolution of these philosophies and their influence on how the American Marketing Association has defined marketing.
A Responsibilities Framework for Marketing as a Professional Discipline
Authors: Hunt Shelby D.
Published: October 2007

Many practitioners believe that marketing practice should be viewed as a profession. Similarly, many marketing academics argue that marketing should be taught and researched as a professional discipline. This article develops a “responsibilities framework” that can be used to explore how marketing should be defined if it is to be viewed as a profession.
Discourses of collaborative medical work
Authors: Måseide Per
Published: October 2007

This article looks at the hospital as an expert system organized to promote distributed processes of collaborative medical problem solving. It is composed by subsystems and the collaborative processes resemble processes of socially distributed cognition. Terms like ‘medical discourse’ or ‘institutional interaction’ have been used to describe verbal activities in collaborative medical practice. But the definitions of these terms give a limited understanding of collaborative medicine. Observations of medical practice in a thoracic ward show that medical discourses work at institutional, professional, and moral levels. They deal with a multiplicity of problem types, involve a diversity of human and nonhuman agents, and take place within and generate complex layers of contexts. The development of the problem complex has to be professionally but subtly managed at an interactional level to reach conclusions that are institutionally, professionally, and morally acceptable. While extra-situational contexts may have a strong impact on these processes, medical problems are met and dealt with as concrete situational tasks, in restricted settings with different but concrete participants that operate within and generate local, linguistic, and interactional contexts.
The Gallup poll, democracy, and the vox populi: Ideologies of interviewing and the communicability of modern life
Authors: Briggs Charles L
Published: October 2007

One of Aaron Cicourel's most critical contributions to social science lies in his pioneering work on gaps between the complex pragmatics of research interviews and the ways that they are conceptualized by practitioners. This article argues for systematic attention to ideological constructions of interviewing, taking as its focus George Gallup's ‘civic model’ of polls and his efforts to transform them into a crucial foundation for democratic governance in the United States and beyond. Countering deep skepticism about polling among social scientists, politicians, and journalists in the 1930s and 1940s, Gallup fused ideologies of science, quantification, and democracy with a construction of the production, circulation, and reception of discourse about ‘public opinion’. This communicable cartography (or ideological map) shapes how the current Gallup ‘Editor-in-Chief ’ positions polling as the sine qua non for constructing subjects and states in a neoliberal age. An analysis of a Gallup poll suggests that this communicable cartography is inscribed in multiple ways in each presentation of polling data, thrusting readers into a textual universe that claims to know the ‘real vox populi’ and how it has connected US citizens and politicians for six decades.
Introduction to the Art of Ethnography
Authors: Turner Edith
Published: October 2007

The most human side of anthropology is its ethnography, that is, the significant facts an anthropologist gives about a culture, the living events that the researcher needs to relate to convey how that culture works. Where the researcher's participation in the culture has been vigorous and full, the style of ethnography is often magnificent. This article discusses two kinds of writing, the kind that our field friends would themselves appreciate and the kind that university examiners and grant givers would appreciate. I explain the storytelling method as a tool for conveying a picture nearer to the natural tenor of people's lives.
The Active Voice: Narrative in Applied and Activist Anthropology
Authors: Simonelli Jeanne
Published: October 2007

Applied anthropology strives to support accessible writing, especially in journals that publish the work of nonacademic anthropologists. In this, narrative must be concise and clear, as it reports on active projects that form the basis of research and practice. As such, the resulting texts can neither be jargon filled or excessively interpretive, especially when the production involves the participation of community collaborators. The challenges of writing applied and activist ethnography begin well before the research itself and continue throughout. We must seek informed permission for projects; carry out work in conjunction with the community; obtain preapproval for written products; and work to find a mode of expression that meets complex criteria: to be creative while also being concrete, to present theory to a general audience, and to share the ethnographic endeavor on all levels. This article addresses narrative and ethical dilemmas of applied practice and writing. Illustrations from a number of recent ethnographies supplement text and case studies from Chiapas, Mexico. An examination of the experience of collaborative research and writing that resulted in Duncan Earle and Jeanne Simonelli's book Uprising of Hope: Sharing the Zapatista Journey to Alternative Development (2005) illustrates the process of doing and writing ethnography for and with the community.
Ethnography/Memoir/Imagination/Story
Authors: Stoller Paul
Published: October 2007

Anthropologists have long followed sinuous paths that have crisscrossed many geographical and analytical spaces. In this article, the author, who has been wandering anthropological byways for more than 30 years, considers the myriad ways one can represent anthropological experience. In so doing, he concludes that no matter the direction of one's anthropological path, anthropologists, in the end, are charged with telling stories that speak to the most human of things: fear, pain, love, fate, and humor. That, he argues, is our scholarly obligation. That, he suggests, is our legacy.
Spiritual Translucency and Pornocratic Anthropology: Waiwai and Western Interpretations of a Religious Experience
Authors: Mentore George
Published: October 2007

This short article attempts to work within the craft of anthropology but, ultimately, seeks to do so against its historical intent to objectify. It describes and interprets a personal experience of sacred communion. In doing so, however, it argues that the success of any such processes eventually results in an obscene offence against the very experience of religious mystery.
Demystifying Japanese Therapy: An Analysis of Naikan and the Ajase Complex through Buddhist Thought
Authors: Silva Chikako Ozawa‐de
Published: October 2007

Naikan has been viewed as a culturally specific therapy aimed at resocializing clients into conservative Japanese social norms. The Ajase complex is used to support this view by illustrating specifically Japanese therapeutic needs arising from the Japanese mother‐child dynamic. Based on ethnographic work conducted in Japan and Austria from 1997 to 2003, this article traces the logic of this conservative view and the challenges posed to it by Naikan's increasing success outside Japan. Reexamining Naikan and Ajase in light of the Buddhist tradition from which they stem shows that Naikan's efficacy lies in its mechanism of deconstructing fixed, unrealistic notions of self and other and replacing them with a new understanding of relationality that recognizes individuality as existing only within interdependence. This better explains Naikan's success abroad and shows that the efficacy of culturally situated therapies may be less limited than previously thought if they are based on psychological principles with cross‐cultural relevance.
The Time in the Body: Cultural Construction of Femininity in Ultraorthodox Kindergartens for Girls
Authors: Yafeh Orit
Published: October 2007

This study focuses on the coming into being of young gendered subjects through their bodies and their habitus. It is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Ultraorthodox (Haredi) Jewish kindergartens for girls in Jerusalem, Israel. My analysis explores the cultural constructions of femininity and the body as these are revealed through practices regarding clothing, hair, voice, food consumption, gestures, and whole‐body movements. I suggest that the value of modesty, characterized by abstinence and restraint, becomes the cornerstone of Haredi femininity, which is at the same time embodied in “doing,” in certain acts that become feminine rituals of cultural affiliation. Furthermore, I argue that the girls embody a unique cultural concept of time, which reflects the importance attributed in their culture to reliving the past as a formative experience of both present and future identities. More specifically, I delineate the development of a distinctly female bodily version of Jewish time, which is characterized by a particular synthesis of cultural and individual orders of time.
Popular Prosody: Spectacle and the Politics of Victorian Versification
Authors: Hall Jason David
Published: October 2007

Jason David Hall, “Popular Prosody: Spectacle and the Politics of Victorian Versification” (pp. 222–249)

In July of 1845 a Somerset man named John Clark exhibited an invention called the Eureka, “a machine for making Latin verses,” at the Egyptian Hall in London. This midcentury spectacle was, I argue, much more than a showplace diversion; rather, it was at once the uncanny technological embodiment and a parodic indictment of the Victorian science of prosody, and it functioned, moreover, as an interactive discursive site where debates about the function of prosody as part of a pedagogical model in the universities and, more specifically, the public schools became immediately visible and accessible to a popular and reform-minded audience. As the Latin hexameters that it was capable of “grinding out” were transcribed, explicated, and judged in the improving pages of popular print media, the Eureka figured briefly as the material signifier of an education-reform agenda that was, by and large, hostile to the centrality of prosody in Victorian pedagogy.
Transparency and Epistemology in George Eliot's Daniel Deronda
Authors: Law Jules
Published: October 2007

Jules Law, “Transparency and Epistemology in George Eliot's Daniel Deronda” (pp. 250–277)

The recent turn in George Eliot scholarship toward historicism—and in particular toward intellectual and political history—has tended to occlude the epistemological metaphors in the author's work: those persistent figures that conjoin George Eliot's ethics to her aesthetics but that, according to an earlier generation of critics, also point to the essentially unstable nature of knowledge, whether ethical or aesthetic. This essay examines the figurative schematics and the epistemology by which George Eliot's politics are elaborated in her writing, focusing in particular on the figure of transparency and the thematics of political vocation, and culminating in the figure of the spectral Jew. Every end or purpose, like every origin, in George Eliot's novels is calibrated in relation to the twin horizons of absolute sameness and absolute difference. The tension between these two limits constitutes not only an epistemological, but also a cultural and political, dilemma: one that George Eliot broods constantly upon, most particularly in her ceaseless interrogation of what it would mean for a person to “merge” with his or her political or cultural destiny. This essay argues that George Eliot's uneasy reliance on the concept of transparency—of goals, of motives, of minds—bespeaks her yearning not only for self-evidence in the realm of meanings, but also for a sense of belonging in the realm of culture: a sense of belonging that is inextricable from a certain experience, and thus figuration, of language.
On the Genealogy of a Duplicated Microsatellite
Authors: Zhang Kangyu , Rosenberg Noah A
Published: October 2007

When a microsatellite locus is duplicated in a diploid organism, a single pair of PCR primers may amplify as many as four distinct alleles. To study the evolution of a duplicated microsatellite, we consider a coalescent model with symmetric stepwise mutation. Conditional on the time of duplication and a mutation rate, both in a model of completely unlinked loci and in a model of completely linked loci, we compute the probabilities for a sampled diploid individual to amplify one, two, three, or four distinct alleles with one pair of microsatellite PCR primers. These probabilities are then studied to examine the nature of their dependence on the duplication time and the mutation rate. The mutation rate is observed to have a stronger effect than the duplication time on the four probabilities, and the unlinked and linked cases are seen to behave similarly. Our results can be useful for helping to interpret genetic variation at microsatellite loci in species with a very recent history of gene and genome duplication.