bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Comparison between integrated backscatter intravascular ultrasound and 64-slice multi-detector row computed tomography for tissue characterization and volumetric assessment of coronary plaques
Authors: Yamaki Takahiko , Kawasaki Masanori , Jang Ik-Kyung , Raffel Owen Christopher , Ishihara Yoshiyuki , Okubo Munenori , Kubota Tomoki , Hattori Arihiro , Nishigaki Kazuhiko , Takemura Genzou , Fujiwara Hisayoshi , Minatoguchi Shinya
Published: August 2012

Background

The purpose of this study was to determine the cut-off values of Hounsfield units (HU) for the discrimination of plaque components and to evaluate the feasibility of measurement of the volume of plaque components using multi-detector row computed tomography (MDCT).

Methods

Coronary lesions (125 lesions in 125 patients) were visualized by both integrated backscatter intravascular ultrasound (IB-IVUS) and 64-slice MDCT at the same site. The IB values were used as a gold standard to determine the cut off values of HU for the discrimination of plaque components.

Results

Plaques were classified as lipid pool (n =50), fibrosis (n =65) or calcification (n =35) by IB-IVUS. The HU of lipid pool, fibrosis and calcification were 18 ± 18 HU (−19 to 58 HU), 95 ± 24 HU (46 to 154 HU) and 378 ± 99 HU (188 to 605 HU), respectively. Using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, a threshold of 50 HU was the optimal cutoff values to discriminate lipid pool from fibrosis. Lipid volume measured by MDCT was correlated with that measured by IB-IVUS (r =0.66, p <0.001), whereas fibrous volume was not (r =0.21, p =0.059).

Conclusion

Lipid volume measured by MDCT was moderately correlated with that measured by IB-IVUS. MDCT may be useful for volumetric assessment of the lipid volume of coronary plaques, whereas the assessment of fibrosis volume was unstable.
Addition of low dose hCG to rFSh benefits older women during ovarian stimulation for IVF
Authors: Gomaa Hala , Casper Robert F , Esfandiari Navid , Chang Paul , Bentov Yaakov
Published: August 2012

Background

To compare the outcome of IVF cycles in women receiving controlled ovarian stimulation with recFSH or recFSH plus low dose hCG.

Methods

A retrospective case control study, performed at a private practice affiliated with an academic institute. Patients were infertile women who were treated with IVF/ICSI and controlled ovarian stimulation in a long GnRH agonist protocol using either low dose hCG in addition to recFSH [N = 88] or recFSH alone [N = 99]. Primary outcomes were mean FSH dose, number of mature eggs, number of fertilized eggs, and serum levels of estradiol. Secondary outcomes were endometrial thickness, cycle cancellations and pregnancy rates.

Results

A significant increase in number of mature and fertilized eggs was observed in women over 40 years of age using low dose hCG in addition to recFSH. The estradiol level was significantly higher on the day of hCG administration and the serum level of FSH on cycle day 7 and on the day of hCG administration were lower.

Conclusion

Addition of low dose hCG to recFSH compared with recFSH alone significantly modified cycle characteristics in patients >/= 40 years and could be of potential benefit for IVF cycles in older infertile women.
Correlates of physical activity in a population-based sample of kidney cancer survivors: an application of the theory of planned behavior
Authors: Trinh Linda , Plotnikoff Ronald C , Rhodes Ryan E , North Scott , Courneya Kerry S
Published: August 2012

Background

Over half of kidney cancer survivors (KCS) are completely inactive and only a quarter are meeting physical activity (PA) guidelines. This highlights the need to identify and understand the determinants of PA in this understudied population. The purpose of this study is to determine the social cognitive correlates of PA intention and behavior in KCS using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB).

Methods

All 1,985 KCS diagnosed between 1996 and 2010 in Alberta, Canada were mailed a self-report survey that consisted of the Godin Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire and standard TPB items for intention, planning, perceived behavioral control (PBC), affective and instrumental attitudes, and descriptive and injunctive norms. Standard demographic and medical variables were also collected.

Results

Completed surveys were received from 703 of 1,654 (43%) eligible KCS. The TPB was tested using structural equation modelling and demonstrated an adequate-to-good fit to the data [χ² = 256.88, p < .001; TLI = 0.97; CFI = 0.98; RMSEA = 0.06, 90% CI = 0.05-0.06].

There were significant pathways to PA from PBC (ß = 0.18, p = 0.02), planning (ß = 0.22, p < 0.01), and intention (ß = 0.31, p < 0.01); and to planning from intention (ß = 0.81, p < 0.01). In addition, there were significant model pathways to intention from instrumental attitude (ß = 0.28, p = 0.03), descriptive norm (ß = 0.09, p = 0.01), and PBC (ß = 0.52, p < 0.01). Overall, the TPB accounted for 69%, 63%, and 42% of the variance in intention, planning and PA, respectively.

Conclusion

The TPB appears to be a useful model for explaining PA in KCS. All TPB constructs except injunctive norm and affective attitude were useful for explaining intention with PBC emerging as the largest correlate. Developing PA interventions based on the TPB may be effective in promoting PA in KCS and may lead to important improvements in health.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus gag and protease: partners in resistance
Authors: Fun Axel , Wensing Annemarie MJ , Verheyen Jens , Nijhuis Monique
Published: August 2012

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) maturation plays an essential role in the viral life cycle by enabling the generation of mature infectious virus particles through proteolytic processing of the viral Gag and GagPol precursor proteins. An impaired polyprotein processing results in the production of non-infectious virus particles. Consequently, particle maturation is an excellent drug target as exemplified by inhibitors specifically targeting the viral protease (protease inhibitors; PIs) and the experimental class of maturation inhibitors that target the precursor Gag and GagPol polyproteins. Considering the different target sites of the two drug classes, direct cross-resistance may seem unlikely. However, coevolution of protease and its substrate Gag during PI exposure has been observed bothin vivoandin vitro. This review addresses in detail all mutations in Gag that are selected under PI pressure. We evaluate how polymorphisms and mutations in Gag affect PI therapy, an aspect of PI resistance that is currently not included in standard genotypic PI resistance testing. In addition, we consider the consequences of Gag mutations for the development and positioning of future maturation inhibitors.
Aerosolized avian influenza virus by laboratory manipulations
Authors: Li Zhiping , Li Jinsong , Zhang Yandong , Li Lin , Ma Limin , Li Dan , Gao Feng , Xia Zhiping
Published: August 2012

Background

Avian H5N1 influenza viruses present a challenge in the laboratory environment, as they are difficult to collect from the air due to their small size and relatively low concentration. In an effort to generate effective methods of H5N1 air removal and ensure the safety of laboratory personnel, this study was designed to investigate the characteristics of aerosolized H5N1 produced by laboratory manipulations during research studies.

Results

Normal laboratory procedures used to process the influenza virus were carried out independently and the amount of virus polluting the on-site atmosphere was measured. In particular, zootomy, grinding, centrifugation, pipetting, magnetic stirring, egg inoculation, and experimental zoogenetic infection were performed. In addition, common accidents associated with each process were simulated, including breaking glass containers, syringe injection of influenza virus solution, and rupturing of centrifuge tubes. A micro-cluster sampling ambient air pollution collection device was used to collect air samples. The collected viruses were tested for activity by measuring their ability to induce hemagglutination with chicken red blood cells and to propagate in chicken embryos after direct inoculation, the latter being detected by reverse-transcription PCR and HA test. The results showed that the air samples from the normal centrifugal group and the negative-control group were negative, while all other groups were positive for H5N1.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that there are numerous sources of aerosols in laboratory operations involving H5N1. Thus, laboratory personnel should be aware of the exposure risk that accompanies routine procedures involved in H5N1 processing and take proactive measures to prevent accidental infection and decrease the risk of virus aerosol leakage beyond the laboratory.
Engaging with research ethics in central Francophone Africa: reflections on a workshop about ancillary care
Authors: Tshikala Tomi , Mupenda Bavon , Dimany Pierre , Malonga Aime , Ilunga Vicky , Rennie Stuart
Published: August 2012

Research ethics is predominantly taught and practiced in Anglophone countries, particularly those in North America and Western Europe. Initiatives to build research ethics capacity in developing countries must attempt to avoid imposing foreign frameworks and engage with ethical issues in research that are locally relevant. This article describes the process and outcomes of a capacity-building workshop that took place in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo in the summer of 2011. Although the workshop focused on a specific ethical theme – the responsibilities of researchers to provide health-related care to their research participants – we argue that the structure of the workshop offers a useful method for engaging with research ethics in general, and the theme of ancillary care encourages a broad perspective on research ethics that is highly pertinent in low-income countries. The workshop follows an interactive, locally driven model that could be fruitfully replicated in similar settings.
Vaccination with a non-human random sequence amyloid oligomer mimic results in improved cognitive function and reduced plaque deposition and micro hemorrhage in Tg2576 mice
Authors: Rasool Suhail , Albay Ricardo , Martinez-Coria Hilda , Breydo Leonid , Wu Jessica , Milton Saskia , Misra Sunit , Tran Andy , Pensalfini Anna , Laferla Frank , Kayed Rakez , Glabe Charles G
Published: August 2012

Background

It is well established that vaccination of humans and transgenic animals against fibrillar Aβ prevents amyloid accumulation in plaques and preserves cognitive function in transgenic mouse models. However, autoimmune side effects have halted the development of vaccines based on full length human Aβ. Further development of an effective vaccine depends on overcoming these side effects while maintaining an effective immune response.

Results

We have previously reported that the immune response to amyloid oligomers is largely directed against generic epitopes that are common to amyloid oligomers of many different proteins and independent of a specific amino acid sequence. Here we have examined whether we can exploit this generic immune response to develop a vaccine that targets amyloid oligomers using a non-human random sequence amyloid oligomer. In order to study the effect of vaccination against generic oligomer epitopes, a random sequence oligomer (3A) was selected as it forms oligomers that react with the oligomer specific A11 antibody. Oligomer mimics from 3A peptide, Aβ, islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP), and Aβ fibrils were used to vaccinate Tg2576 mice, which develop a progressive accumulation of plaques and cognitive impairment. Vaccination with the 3A random sequence antigen was just as effective as vaccination with the other antigens in improving cognitive function and reducing total plaque load (Aβ burden) in the Tg2576 mouse brains, but was associated with a much lower incidence of micro hemorrhage than Aβ antigens.

Conclusion

These results shows that the amyloid Aβ sequence is not necessary to produce a protective immune response that specifically targets generic amyloid oligomers. Using a non-human, random sequence antigen may facilitate the development of a vaccine that avoids autoimmune side effects.
Evaluation of a surgical service in the chronic phase of a refugee camp: an example from the Thai-Myanmar border
Authors: Weerasuriya Chathika K , Tan Saw Oo , Alexakis Lykourgos Christos , Set Aung Kaung , Rijken Marcus J , Martyn Paul , Nosten François , McGready Rose
Published: August 2012

Background

Published literature on surgical care in refugees tends to focus on the acute (‘emergent’) phase of crisis situations. Here we posit that there is a substantial burden of non-acute morbidity amenable to surgical intervention among refugees in the ‘chronic’ phase of crisis situations. We describe surgery for non-acute conditions undertaken at Mae La Refugee Camp, Thailand over a two year period.

Methods

Surgery was performed by a general surgeon in a dedicated room of Mae La Refugee Camp over May 2005 to April 2007 with minimal instruments and staff. We obtained the equivalent costs for these procedures if they were done at the local Thai District General Hospital. We also acquired the list (and costs) of acute surgical referrals to the District General Hospital over September 2006 to December 2007.

Results

855 operations were performed on 847 patients in Mae La Refugee Camp (60.1% sterilizations, 13.3% ‘general surgery’, 5.6% ‘gynaecological surgery’, 17.4% ‘mass excisions’, 3.5% ‘other’). These procedures were worth 2,207,500 THB (75,683.33 USD) at costs quoted by the District General Hospital. Total cost encountered for these operations (including staff costs, consumables, anaesthesia and capital costs such as construction) equaled 1,280,000 THB (42,666 USD). Pertaining to acute surgical referrals to District General hospital: we estimate that 356,411.96 THB (11,880.40 USD) worth of operations over 14 months were potentially preventable if these cases had been operated at an earlier, non-acute state in Mae La Refugee Camp.

Conclusions

A considerable burden of non-acute surgical morbidity exists in ‘chronic’ refugee situations. An in-house general surgical service is found to be cost-effective in relieving some of this burden and should be considered by policy makers as a viable intervention.
Hemofiltration compared to hemodialysis for acute kidney injury: systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Friedrich Jan O , Wald Ron , Bagshaw Sean M , Burns Karen EA , Adhikari Neill KJ
Published: August 2012

Introduction

The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to determine the effect of renal replacement therapy (RRT), delivered as hemofiltration vs. hemodialysis, on clinical outcomes in patients with acute kidney injury (AKI).

Methods

MEDLINE, EMBASE and CENTRAL databases and conference abstracts were searched to June 2012 for parallel-group or crossover randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating hemofiltration vs. hemodialysis in patients with AKI. Two authors independently selected studies and abstracted data on study quality and outcomes. Additional information was obtained from trial authors. We pooled data using random-effects models.

Results

Of 6,657 citations, 19 RCTs (10 parallel-group and 9 crossover) met inclusion criteria. Sixteen trials used continuous RRT. Study quality was variable. The primary analysis included three parallel-group trials comparing similar doses of hemofiltration and hemodialysis; sensitivity analyses included trials comparing combined hemofiltration-hemodialysis or dissimilar doses. We found no effect of hemofiltration on mortality (risk ratio (RR) 0.96, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.73 to 1.25, P = 0.76; three trials, n = 121 (primary analysis); RR 1.10, 95% CI 0.88 to 1.38, P = 0.38; eight trials, n = 540 (sensitivity analysis)) or other clinical outcomes (RRT dependence in survivors, vasopressor use, organ dysfunction) compared to hemodialysis. Hemofiltration appeared to shorten time to filter failure (mean difference (MD) -7 hours, 95% CI (-19,+5), P = 0.24; two trials, n = 50 (primary analysis); MD -5 hours, 95% CI (-10, -1), P = 0.01; three trials, n = 113 (including combined hemofiltration-hemodialysis trials comparing similar doses); MD -6 hours, 95% CI (-10, -1), P = 0.02; five trials, n = 383 (sensitivity analysis)). Data primarily from crossover RCTs suggested that hemofiltration increased clearance of medium to larger molecules, including inflammatory cytokines, compared to hemodialysis, although almost no studies measured changes in serum concentrations. Meta-analyses were based on very limited data.

Conclusions

Data from small RCTs do not suggest beneficial clinical outcomes from hemofiltration, but confidence intervals were wide. Hemofiltration may increase clearance of medium to larger molecules. Larger trials are required to evaluate effects on clinical outcomes.
“It Provd but Temporary, & Short Lived”: Pequot Affiliation in the First Great Awakening
Authors: Fisher Linford D.
Published: August 2012

Native participation in the First Great Awakening in New England is often assumed but little investigated. This essay provides an in-depth examination of Pequot involvement in the Awakening through a close analysis of local records in Connecticut. Most historians have typically followed the lead of eighteenth-century ministers who proclaimed that previously unevangelized Indians in southeastern New England suddenly joined churches in droves during the revivals of the 1740s. In this view, the “Indian Awakening” was unprecedented, sudden, and complete. By providing a broader context for Indian-colonist relationships prior to the Awakening, and by looking closely at the church records of a few Congregational churches during the revivals, this essay argues that Indians joined churches in the early 1740s in far fewer numbers than previously thought and within a very specific time frame that peaked in 1742 and tapered off dramatically shortly thereafter. Instead of the Awakening serving as a point of seismic religious and cultural disjuncture for natives—the dropping of traditional ways and adoption of Christian practices—it was instead just one of many attempted negotiations with the surrounding colonial world.
Lakes, Canoes, and the Aquatic Communities of Xochimilco and Chalco, New Spain
Authors: Conway Richard
Published: August 2012

Canoes played a vital part in supporting the distinctive aquatic societies that Nahuas had fashioned from Lakes Xochimilco and Chalco in central Mexico. Residents there had long relied on waterborne transportation to maintain a wide range of enterprises. The lakes facilitated the commercial integration of the region, and the benefits of canoe transportation extended beyond the indigenous sector of the economy to the provisioning of Mexico City. Canoes came to occupy a strategic place in the broader colonial enterprise. The history of canoes can tell us much about the role of the environment in the regional economy, cross-cultural encounters and exchanges, relations between Nahuas and colonial institutions, and the ability of Nahuas to advance their interests and preserve the relative prosperity that under-pinned lakeside societies.
Three Families: Genealogies and Processes among the Sixteenth-Century Kaqchikel Maya
Authors: Hill Robert M.
Published: August 2012

The new political offices introduced after the Spanish conquest of Mesoamerica created new challenges and opportunities for indigenous elites and their supporters. This article traces the careers of three Kaqchikel-Maya families in sixteenth-century Guatemala and reveals a range of concerns about and strategies for maintaining and enhancing aspects of their preconquest social status.
The Arrest of Caleb Williams: Unnatural Crime, Constructive Violence, and Overwhelming Terror in Late Eighteenth-Century England
Authors: Dyer Gary
Published: August 2012

In the later eighteenth century, the twelve justices of the supreme English common law courts ruled repeatedly that blackmailing a man by threatening to accuse him of sodomitical practices constituted the capital offense of robbery; the judges focused on the overwhelming terror they claimed was unique to this threat. This legal doctrine is a covert presence in William Godwin’s novel Caleb Williams (1794). Ferdinando Falkland, fearing that his secret is about to be revealed by Caleb, accuses him of having “robbed” him, and even though Falkland’s secret is literally murder, the mutual persecution and mutual terrorizing that ensue evoke the relation between sodomy and blackmail.
Digital Editing and the Eighteenth-Century Text: Works, Archives, and Miscellanies
Authors: Bullard Paddy
Published: August 2012

This article develops recent work by literary historians on miscellany publication, and on the printed miscellanies that were so important and popular for the early eighteenth-century book trade. It offers a history of the form, illustrated by comments made by the Duke of Buckingham, Francis Osborne, Sir William Temple, Charles de Sainte-Évremond, John Locke, John Wilson, the Earl of Shaftesbury, Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, and John Gay. It examines examples of miscellanies produced by John Dryden and his publisher Jacob Tonson, by John Dennis and Charles Gildon, and by Pope and Swift. Previous commentators have argued that miscellanies were the product of book-trade contingency—publishers simply bundled whatever fugitive poetry they happened to have to hand. This article argues that miscellanies were in fact well-theorized vehicles for authorial and editorial intention. Multiauthor miscellanies often represented complicated patterns of social and cultural allegiance. Miscellaneity had distinct formal meaning. This essay proposes that editors and designers of electronic editions should consider “digital miscellaneity” as an eligible model for future editions of eighteenth-century texts.
We Are Family: The Child and Modern Nationhood in Early Turkish Republican Cartoons (1923–28)
Authors: Gencer Yasemin
Published: August 2012

Images of children appear with striking frequency in Turkish Republican cartoons produced in the years immediately following the War of Independence (1919–23). Turkish nationalistic ideology commonly conceives of the nation as a sacred entity worthy of the people’s devotion and often uses the metaphor of family and blood relations to describe a covenantal bond. Like the members of a family, a national community develops around ideas of shared culture, history, and language. Gencer’s article examines the ways in which nationalist rhetoric influenced the cartoons that were published in popular satirical journals such as Akbaba and Karagöz. Not only did these cartoons consistently imagine and present the Turkish nation as an extended family unit, but they also forwarded the message that the nation, in its child-like state, requires collective nourishment and protection. Likewise, the image of the child is employed by cartoonists as a means to express the new nation’s potential for survival, maturation, and success. Cartoons of this period thus provide insight into the a particular brand of nationalistic ideology disseminated during the early years of the Turkish Republic.
Children without Childhood, Adults without Adulthood: Changing Conceptions of the Iranian Child in Postrevolutionary Iranian Textbooks (1979–2008)
Authors: Malekzadeh Shervin
Published: August 2012

Malekzadeh’s article traces the development of the social, religious, cultural, and political messages that have shaped the image of the child and childhood within postrevolutionary Farsi textbooks (grades 1–3) produced by the Islamic Republic of Iran over the past thirty years (1979–2008). More than just primers, Farsi textbooks serve as the foundation of the state’s project to produce the New Islamic Citizen by providing young students with their first exposure to the ideology of the Revolution and the offcial values of the Islamic Republic. This article demonstrates that the content of Iran’s postrevolutionary curriculum, as seen through the prism of the concept of childhood, has been highly politicized and historically contingent. Representations of childhood are absent from the post-1979 textbooks until the mid-1990s. Since 2003, Iran’s curriculum has embraced childhood as a generalized experience, shared equally by Iranian children of all genders and backgrounds. At the same time, textbook authors attach particularistic qualities to the transition from childhood to adulthood, depicting the process of growing up as a distinctly gendered experience. The article concludes with a consideration of how social and economic structures—specifically Iran’s marriage and labor markets—are artificially extending the experience of childhood. Faced with high rates of unemployment, more and more young Iranians are staying at home with their parents as they extend their education well into their twenties and thirties, trapped in a state of “waithood,” a phenomenon that has done more to shape and refashion the contours of childhood than any of the textbooks produced during the postrevolutionary period.
Illustrating an Islamic Childhood in Syria: Pious Subjects and Religious Authority in Twelver Shi’i Children’s Books
Authors: Szanto Edith
Published: August 2012

Szanto’s study examines a collection of Twelver Shi’i children’s books from the Syrian shrine-town of Sayyida Zaynab. As there are few Twelver Shi’is and Shi’i publishers in Syria, the Shi’i children’s books are imported from Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran. As a result, they reflect both local and regional conceptions and concerns. By drawing on the theoretical models offered by Judith Butler and Saba Mahmood, this article analyzes the processes of pious subject cultivation as well as the construction of religious authority through illustrated children’s books. It demonstrates how the nurturing of Shi’i subjects occurs in stages that emphasize affect, openness to authoritative others, and the acquisition and habituation of virtues. Within this general framework, there also exist differences in opinion with respect to precisely what kind of authorities pious Shi’is should relate to, emulate, and follow.
The 99: Superhero Comic Books from the Arab World
Authors: Deeb Mary-Jane
Published: August 2012

The 99 superhero comics were first published in 2006 by Teshkeel Comics, a division of the Teshkeel media group, in Kuwait. Deeb’s essay covers this comics phenomenon within the context of contemporary Arab society. It analyzes the importance of the historical framework within which the story of the “99” superheroes unfolds, namely the burning of Dar al-Hikma and the great library of Baghdad by the Mongols in AD 1258. While looking at the character of the superheroes, their backgrounds, and the obstacles they face, this article studies the relevance of these fictional and historical protagonists to the problems faced by youth in the Arab world today.
Deleveraging and Monetary Policy: Japan Since the 1990s and the United States Since 2007
Authors: Ueda Kazuo
Published: August 2012

As the U.S. economy works through a sluggish recovery several years after the Great Recession technically came to an end in June 2009, it can only look with horror toward Japan's experience of two decades of stagnant growth since the early 1990s. In contrast to Japan, U.S. policy authorities responded to the financial crisis since 2007 more quickly. Surely, they learned from Japan's experience. I will begin by describing how Japan's economic situation unfolded in the early 1990s and offering some comparisons with how the Great Recession unfolded in the U.S. economy. I then turn to the Bank of Japan's policy responses to the crisis and again offer some comparisons to the Federal Reserve. I will discuss the use of both the conventional interest rate tool—the federal funds rate in the United States, and the “call rate” in Japan—and nonconventional measures of monetary policy and consider their effectiveness in the context of the rest of the financial system.
A Search and Matching Approach to Labor Markets: Did the Natural Rate of Unemployment Rise?
Authors: Daly Mary C , Hobijn Bart , Şahin Ayşegül , Valletta Robert G
Published: August 2012

The U.S. unemployment rate has remained stubbornly high since the 2007–2009 recession, leading some observers to conclude that structural rather than cyclical factors are to blame. Relying on a standard job search and matching framework and empirical evidence from a wide array of labor market indicators, we examine whether the natural rate of unemployment has increased since the recession began, and if so, whether the underlying causes are transitory or persistent. Our preferred estimate indicates an increase in the natural rate of unemployment of about one percentage point during the recession and its immediate aftermath, putting the current natural rate at around 6 percent. An assessment of the underlying factors responsible for this increase, including labor market mismatch, extended unemployment benefits, and uncertainty about overall economic conditions, implies that only a small fraction is likely to be persistent.
Hollywood stars vs variety show hosts: The incompatible case of Frank Sinatra on 1950s television
Authors: McNally Karen
Published: August 2012

This article considers the identity of the variety show host on 1950s American television, exploring how Frank Sinatra's poorly received assumption of the role reveals its strictly limited alignment with a perceived middle-class suburban family audience. Television's attempt to invest
its stars with a sense of the everyday in contrast to the extraordinary glamour provided by Hollywood guest stars is examined in the context of the positioning of Dinah Shore and Perry Como as idealized archetypes of the host identity. Exploring the critical reception of Frank Sinatra as both
a variety show host and guest, as well as the unconventional star image presented through his performances on the small screen, the article argues that Sinatra explicitly illustrates the distinct ways in which the roles of variety show host and guest star were defined around the oppositions
of television and Hollywood, comfort and disruption, ordinary and extraordinary, and suburban and urban.
'Ashley Wilkes Told Me He Likes to See a Girl with a Healthy Appetite': Food and drink in Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind
Authors: Tunc Tanfer Emin
Published: August 2012

Despite the passage of three-quarters of a century since its publication in 1936, critics and biographers still grapple with how to place Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind (GWTW) within southern literature. While some hail GWTW as an example of the 'Great American Novel', others
see the work as contributing to the perpetuation of destructive stereotypes concerning African Americans, as well as a nostalgic distortion of life in the nineteenth-century South. Nevertheless, GWTW remains an important text because of the insight it provides into numerous aspects of southern
culture, especially foodways. The novel is replete with direct and indirect references to the culinary culture of the South, and the ways in which this culture interacted with racial and gender constructions. The presence of food (from the Wilkes barbecue at Twelve Oaks, to Scarlett's and
Rhett's honeymoon feasts in New Orleans) and its absence (especially during the Civil War) serve as an underexamined thread in the work which underscores the interface between black and white and male and female.
Nollywood and the idea of the Nigerian cinema
Authors: Adesokan Akin
Published: August 2012

Nollywood films are among the most visible cinematic forms in the world today, just behind India's Bollywood in the sheer quantity of films released. They are also attaining an unprecedented level of technical sophistication. This article appraises Nollywood's current vitality, but
in relation to the celluloid-formatted films produced in Nigeria in the 1970s and the 1980s, which, it argues, continue to inform the aesthetic and ethical principles of the globally circulating works. Taking a film, Hostages I & II (1996a), as occupying the middle ground between the two
cinematic traditions, the article proposes that the exhaustion of the celluloid films reflected the asynchrony between the discourses of modernization and the national discourses in Nigeria, but that Nollywood represents an open-to-the-world opportunity to advance the discourses.
Self-Threat and Product Failure: How Internal Attributions of Blame Affect Consumer Complaining Behavior
Authors: Dunn Lea , Dahl Darren W.
Published: August 2012

Previous research in complaining behavior has focused on product or service failures in which the organization is responsible for the failure. In these cases, researchers have found that consumers feel better about the product failure after complaining about it. In contrast, the authors show that when consumers are to blame for product failure, complaining has a detrimental effect on consumer reactions to the product. In this context, self-threat from the product failure is shown to motivate defensive processing in both the content of complaints and the subsequent downstream product evaluations. The authors establish the role of self-threat in product failure in two ways: (1) by varying the intensity of the threat from product failure and (2) through mitigating negative outcomes through self-affirmation. The article concludes with discussion on how these findings can benefit companies and where this research could seed opportunities for subsequent investigation.
Demanda de tração e propriedades físicas de um Argissolo em diferentes manejos e intensidades de tráfego
Authors: Rosa David Peres da , Reichert José Miguel , Mentges Marcelo Ivan , Rosa Vanderleia Trevisan da , Vieira Davi Alexandre , Reinert Dalvan José
Published: August 2012

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito da intensidade de tráfego e do sistema de manejo na demandade tração de umahaste sulcadora deadubo,e naspropriedadesfísicas de umArgissoloVermelho-Amarelo. Os tratamentos foram: semeadura direta com tráfego natural, semeadura direta com tráfego adicional de intensidade de 24,79 Mg km ha-1, semeadura direta com tráfego adicional de intensidade de 49,59 Mg km ha-1, cultivo mínimo e cultivo mínimo em solo compactado com tráfego de 24,67 Mg km ha-1. Foram coletados dados de: porosidade total; densidade do solo; resistência mecânica do solo à penetração; e de esforço horizontal, vertical e de tração da haste sulcadora de adubo da semeadora. A subsolagem do cultivo mínimo, utilizada como técnica isolada, não reduziu os efeitos da compactação ocasionados pela intensidade de tráfego de 24,67 Mg km ha-1. O tráfego afeta a estrutura do solo, sem alterar, porém, a demanda de tração. A mudança da intensidade de tráfego, de 24,79 para 49,59 Mg km ha-1, não ocasionou maiores alterações nas propriedades avaliadas.
Selection Pressure, Cropping System, and Rhizosphere Proximity Affect Atrazine Degrader Populations and Activity ins-Triazine–Adapted Soil
Authors: Krutz L. Jason , Zablotowicz Robert M. , Reddy Krishna N.
Published: August 2012

A field study was conducted on ans-triazine–adapted soil to determine the effects ofs-triazine exclusion interval (1, 2, 3, or 4 yr), crop production system (continuous corn or continuous soybean), and rhizosphere proximity (bulk or rhizosphere soil) on atrazine degrader populations and activity. Atrazine degrader populations were quantified by a radiological Most Probable Number technique, while degrader activity was assessed via mineralization of ring-labeled14C-atrazine. As thes-triazine exclusion interval increased, atrazine degrader populations declined exponentially, regardless of crop or rhizosphere proximity. Crop and exclusion interval interacted to affect degrader populations (P = 0.0043). Pooled over rhizosphere and bulk soil, degrader populations were 1.5-fold higher and declined 2.8-fold faster in soybean than corn. An interaction between rhizosphere proximity and exclusion interval was also noted (P = 0.0021), whereby degrader populations were 1.9-fold higher and declined 2.8-fold slower in rhizosphere compared with bulk soil, regardless of crop. The time required for 50% mineralization of ring-labeled14C-atrazine (DT50) following exclusion ofs-triazine herbicides increased linearly at a rate of 2.2 d yr−1. In contrast, the DT50for this site prior to a knowns-triazine application was 85 d and declined exponentially over 5 yr of successive atrazine applications: 24.5 d after 1 yr, 10.8 d after two successive years, and 3.8 d after five successive atrazine applications. Omittings-triazines can reduce degrader populations and activity in adapted soils, but more than 4 yr is required to return mineralization kinetics to nonadapted levels, regardless of crop or rhizosphere proximity.
Biomass, Fecundity, and Interference Ability of Multiple Herbicide-Resistant and -Susceptible Late Watergrass (Echinochloa phyllopogon)
Authors: Boddy Louis G. , Streibig Jens C. , Yamasue Yuji , Fischer Albert J.
Published: August 2012

Echinochloa phyllopogonis a serious weed of California rice that has evolved resistance to most grass herbicides. We assessed differences in growth, interference, and fecundity between multiple resistant (R) and susceptible (S)E. phyllopogon. Interference with rice by R and S plants was similar, although R plants were shorter and had less leaf area and shoot biomass than S plants. Interference by one S or RE. phyllopogonplant with rice was 2.31 or 2.45 times greater than intraspecific interference by one rice plant, respectively. Interference was mostly driven by root interactions andE. phyllopogonon average produced seven times more root dry weight than rice. DeeperE. phyllopogonroot placement compared with rice may explain niche differentiation between the two species. On average, R plants produced 55% less seeds than S plants. Lower fecundity could compromise fitness of R plants in the absence of herbicide selection, but partial avoidance of seed removal during rice harvest through earlier seed shattering may allow greater soil seed bank replenishment by R plants compared with S plants.E. phyllopogoncontrol is needed to prevent high rice yield losses, and suppressing survivors of initial herbicide treatments is essential to limit seed bank replenishment by R plants. The potential benefits of taller rice varieties with enhanced root competitiveness, and that may be harvested earlier, should be considered.
Characterization of a Common Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) Population Resistant to ALS- and PPO-Inhibiting Herbicides
Authors: Rousonelos Stephanie L. , Lee Ryan M. , Moreira Murilo S. , VanGessel Mark J. , Tranel Patrick J.
Published: August 2012

A population of common ragweed from Delaware was not controlled in the field by herbicides that inhibit acetolactate synthase (ALS) or protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO). Research was conducted to ascertain if this population was resistant to these herbicidal modes of action and, if so, to determine the resistance mechanism(s). Resistance was confirmed by dose-response studies on greenhouse-grown plants with multiple ALS- and PPO-inhibiting herbicides. DNA sequence data revealed that resistance to ALS-inhibiting herbicides was due to the previously reported W574L ALS mutation. To assist in determining the mechanism of resistance to PPO-inhibiting herbicides, an F2population was derived from a cross between the resistant biotype (Del-R) and a sensitive biotype (DV1-S). This population segregated in the ratio of three resistant : one sensitive when treated with fomesafen, indicating that resistance to PPO-inhibiting herbicides was conferred by a single, (incompletely) dominant, nuclear gene. Sequences of the target-site genes,PPX1andPPX2, for PPO-inhibiting herbicides were obtained through the screening of a common ragweed cDNA library and subsequent cDNA extension (5′-RACE). Molecular marker analysis with the F2population revealed that thePPX2gene cosegregated with resistance to PPO-inhibiting herbicides. A mutation substituting an arginine codon for a leucine codon at a conserved location (R98L) of thePPX2gene was suspected of being responsible for resistance. By using a transgenicEscherichia colisystem, it was demonstrated that the R98L mutation was sufficient to confer resistance to PPO-inhibiting herbicides. The level of resistance to acifluorfen conferred by the R98L mutation in theE. colisystem was about 31-fold, similar to the level of resistance seen in the whole-plant dose-response study. Last, a DNA-based assay was developed to identify the presence or absence of the common ragweedPPX2R98L mutation. The R98LPPX2mutation is the second mechanism identified for evolved resistance to PPO-inhibiting herbicides.
Late-Season Seed Production in Arable Weed Communities: Management Implications
Authors: Bagavathiannan Muthukumar V. , Norsworthy Jason K.
Published: August 2012

Late-season weed escapes are often ignored because they rarely cause crop yield penalty. Traditional weed management recommendations are based on the economic threshold (ET) approach, wherein management is required if the predicted current-season yield loss is greater than the cost of control interventions. While ET-based weed management can reduce current-season production costs and promote farmland biodiversity, it does not consider the long-term biological and economic consequences associated with late-season weed seed production. An important concern is that late-season weed seed production will replenish the soil seedbank, ensuring future weed problems. In the context of herbicide resistance evolution, allowing late-season weed seed production can be problematic because the probabilities of occurrence of resistant mutants rise with increases in seed production. A key component of herbicide resistance mitigation and management is preventing seed production and buildup of the soil seedbank. Late-season weed management efforts constitute additional expenses to growers, which cannot be recouped in that growing season, but any such investment must be weighed against the perceived long-term benefits. It appears that management of late-season weed escapes is valuable in a number of situations, and the degree to which management interventions should be employed can be case-specific. Adoption of economic optimum thresholds (EOTs), which can be established using bio-economic models, will be useful for making management decisions for late-season weed escapes. In systems vulnerable to herbicide resistance evolution, bio-economic resistance thresholds (BERTs) will be appropriate and bio-economic resistance models (BERMs) will be helpful for establishing such thresholds for specific production scenarios. Management considerations for late-season weed escapes are discussed, and knowledge gaps for future research are identified.
Alignment of the Goals of Host Communities and Energy Companies in Nigeria: The Strategic Place of Community Development and Corporate Social Responsibility for Sustainable Stakeholders Participation
Authors: Ogedengbe Kunle
Published: August 2012

The paper started with conceptual analyses of the concepts in the topic with a view of ensuring same understanding of the concepts and the topic among the people involved and the participants. Causes of poor balance with the environment, host communities and other stakeholders in the oil and gas (energy) industry in Nigeria are highlighted.

Strategies of aligning the goals of the host communities and the oil and gas companies toward ensuring a better environment/community and future for the industry are underlined. Strategies advocated include community development without disregard for the corporate policies of the oil and gas companies; as well as corporate social responsibility.

The advocated strategies are sine qua non for the attainment of sustainable stakeholder participation and management. Behavioral change management is also put forward as a way of cementing stakeholder participation in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.

Above all, a novel model for effective corporate social responsibility is underlined for a win-win situation between the oil and gas companies in Nigeria and other stakeholders. This will lead to development of the host communities for the growth and development of the oil and gas companies directly and indirectly ensures sustainance of a global peace and economic equilibrium which will check the incidence of shock and turbulence in the global price of energy and its derivative products for an equitable world.
3D Extended Reach Drilling in Soft Sediments with Precise Wellbore Placement for Optimum Recovery
Authors: Abhurimen ThankGod , Homburg Heiko , Foekema Nico , Ibrahim Charles , Ogwumike John , Olare Jemine
Published: August 2012

The Adanga Field was discovered in 1974 and is located offshore Calabar in the central part of OML-123 in Nigeria territorial waters. Addax Petroleum took over operatorship of the fields in 1998, when the production from Adanga was just 2,000 BOE per day. Through introduction of new technology, field production increased to over 20,000 BOE per day by 2009. Poor productivity and increasing water cut is an issue in Adanga. Re-interpretation of 3-D seismic data and incorporating additional information from new wells 3-D reservoir modeling confirmed an economic hydrocarbon pool to the west of Adanga (ADW).

Additional reservoir targets were identified in the Adanga South field. The plan was to develop these reservoirs from existing infrastructure. Unfortunately, the existing Adanga South platform had no remaining slot capacity to drill new wells without additional infrastructure investment. Upgrading the platform with additional drilling slots was deemed uneconomical, unsafe and will increase collision risk. The platform on adjacent field, Adanga South West, did have drilling slots available, so it was decided to investigate the feasibility of drilling extended reach wells from the Adanga South West platform to access these otherwise stranded reserves in the Adanga South field

Challenges in drilling these wells include the weak nature of the formation which can pose difficulties to conventional directional drilling techniques, wellbore quality and ECD management.

This paper describes the planning, engineering and execution of constructing two; complex, 3D, horizontal, extended reach wells drilled on the Adanga Field in 2010 to access locked-out reservoir in adjacent field. Using the experience from these two wells, the challenges of drilling complex, high angle wells in the weak sediments of the Niger Delta will be discussed along with how these wells were ultimately drilled and geologically positioned for optimum recovery.