bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A new troglobitic species of the genus Pholeuonopsis (Coleoptera: Leiodidae: Cholevinae: Leptodirini) from western Serbia, with a key to the species from Serbia
Authors: ĆURČIĆ SREĆKO , VRBICA MAJA , VESOVIĆ NIKOLA , ANTIĆ DRAGAN , PETKOVIĆ MATIJA , BOSCO FABRIZIO , ĆURČIĆ BOŽIDAR
Published: March 2015

A new leptodirine leiodid beetle species, Pholeuonopsis (Pholeuonopsis) sljivovicensis sp. n., from a cave in western Serbia is described and diagnosed. The views of both male and female genitalia and other taxonomically important characters are imaged. The new species is clearly distinct from the closest relatives. It probably belongs to an old phyletic lineage of Mesogeid origin, like other known Pholeuonopsis taxa from the western part of the Balkan Peninsula. The new species is both an endemic and a relict inhabiting solely western Serbia. Morphological comparisons among the Serbian Pholeuonopsis species are provided, together with a key to the species. The genus Serbopholeuonopsis B. Ćurčić & Boškova, 2002 is regarded as a junior synonym of the genus Pholeuonopsis Apfelbeck, 1901.
An annotated catalogue of the type material of Elateroidea Leach, 1815 (Coleoptera) deposited in the Coleoptera collection of the Museum of Zoology of the University of São Paulo, Brazil
Authors: FERREIRA VINICIUS DE SOUZA
Published: March 2015

The Museum of Zoology of the University of São Paulo (MZSP) houses one of the most important Coleoptera collections of Brazil and Neotropical Region with nearly 900,000 adult mounted material and about 1,500,000 specimens to be mounted. The superfamily Elateroidea Leach, 1815 (including Cantharoidea) comprises about 24,077 described species in 17 families. The MZSP owns type material of Brachypsectridae LeConte & Horn, 1883, Cantharidae, 1856 (1815), Cerophytidae Latreille, 1834, Elateridae Leach 1815, Eucnemidae Eschscholtz, 1829, Lampyridae Rafinesque, 1815, Lycidae Laporte, 1836, Phengodidae LeConte, 1861 and Rhinorhipidae Lawrence, 1988. This catalogue includes type material of 166 species distributed in 69 genera. Among 1,223 type specimens, are 86 holotypes, 1,133 paratypes, 2 allotypes, 1 lectotype and 1 paralectotype.
Two new species, Caenanthura koreana sp. nov. and Apanthura koreaensis sp. nov. (Crustacea: Isopoda: Anthuridae) from South Korea
Authors: SONG JI-HUN , MIN GI-SIK
Published: March 2015

Two new species of anthuroid isopods, Caenanthura koreana sp. nov. and Apanthura koreaensis sp. nov. are described from the southern and western coasts of the Korean Peninsula. A key to the species and the type locality of Caenanthura are provided. Additionally, we determined the partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) from two new species.
Description of two new species of the genus Stenothemus from Taiwan (Coleoptera: Cantharidae)
Authors: HSIAO YUN
Published: March 2015

Two new species of the genus Stenothemus Bourgeois are described from Taiwan, under the names of S. seediq sp. nov. and S. cou sp. nov. Both species are provided with photos of habitus and illustrations of aedeagi, the seventh abdominal ventrites of females, and a distribution map for both the new species is presented. A key for the identification of Stenothemus species from Taiwan is given.
High-Temporal Resolution Polarimetric X-Band Doppler Radar Observations of the 20 May 2013 Moore, Oklahoma, Tornado
Authors: Kurdzo James M. , Bodine David J. , Cheong Boon Leng , Palmer Robert D.
Published: March 2015

On 20 May 2013, the cities of Newcastle, Oklahoma City, and Moore, Oklahoma, were impacted by a long-track violent tornado that was rated as an EF5 on the enhanced Fujita scale by the National Weather Service. Despite a relatively sustained long track, damage surveys revealed a number of small-scale damage indicators that hinted at storm-scale processes that occurred over short time periods. The University of Oklahoma (OU) Advanced Radar Research Center’s PX-1000 transportable, polarimetric, X-band weather radar was operating in a single-elevation PPI scanning strategy at the OU Westheimer airport throughout the duration of the tornado, collecting high spatial and temporal resolution polarimetric data every 20 s at ranges as close as 10 km and heights below 500 m AGL. This dataset contains the only known polarimetric radar observations of the Moore tornado at such high temporal resolution, providing the opportunity to analyze and study finescale phenomena occurring on rapid time scales. Analysis is presented of a series of debris ejections and rear-flank gust front surges that both preceded and followed a loop of the tornado as it weakened over the Moore Medical Center before rapidly accelerating and restrengthening to the east. The gust front structure, debris characteristics, and differential reflectivity arc breakdown are explored as evidence for a “failed occlusion” hypothesis. Observations are supported by rigorous hand analysis of critical storm attributes, including tornado track relative to the damage survey, sudden track shifts, and a directional debris ejection analysis. A conceptual description and illustration of the suspected failed occlusion process is provided, and its implications are discussed.
Does the threat of longer prison terms reduce the incidence of assault?
Authors: Menéndez Patricia , Weatherburn Don James
Published: March 2015

In a bid to reduce alcohol-related violence, the New South Wales Government recently proposed introducing mandatory minimum prison terms for assault. This article addresses the question of whether the threat of mandatory minimum penalties would reduce the incidence of assault. We exploit an earlier sentencing reform in New South Wales (the introduction of standard non-parole periods) in which longer minimum periods in custody were announced but never actually carried into effect. We use time series structural modelling to see whether assault rates in New South Wales were affected by the threat of more severe penalties. No evidence is found that the threat of longer prison terms had any effect on the incidence of assault in New South Wales. The article discusses the policy implications of this finding and concludes that liquor licensing policy is a more cost-effective policy instrument for dealing with alcohol-related violence than sentencing policy.
Asymmetric Information and Corporate Social Responsibility
Authors: Lopatta Kerstin , Buchholz Frerich , Kaspereit Thomas
Published: March 2015

This article addresses the question whether companies benefit from their commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR). The authors argue that firms which score high on CSR activities build investor confidence and find evidence that they benefit from lower information asymmetry. The authors measure information asymmetry by insider trading, which is defined as the trading of a company’s shares by corporate insiders who have an information advantage with the aim to reap gains or avoid losses. Using a sample of U.S. firms listed in the MSCI World Index during the period 2004 to 2013 and the firm- and industry-level CSR rating from Global Engagement Service (GES), the authors show that insider transactions in firms with a high score on CSR activities lead to lower abnormal returns. This investigation extends current literature on the business case for CSR by explaining the influence of CSR activities on asymmetric information.
The collective endorsement of James Meredith: Initiating a leader identity construction process
Authors: Humphreys John H , Novicevic Milorad M , Smothers Jack , Pane Haden Stephanie S , Hayek Mario , Williams Wallace A , Oyler Jennifer D , Clayton Russell W
Published: March 2015

DeRue and Ashford (2010) proposed a social process of leadership identity construction, asserting that leadership identity is co-constructed by way of claims and grants of leader and follower identities. In addition, these authors suggested that the collective endorsement of the broader social context might serve as a catalyst to initiate the leader identity construction process. As a result, they called for qualitative studies to further develop this idea. During archival research of James Meredith’s historic integration of the University of Mississippi, we discovered evidence to support and extend their theoretical arguments. Accordingly, we interpret the archival evidence of support and opposition of Meredith’s defiant integration to contrast the leader identity construction processes of Meredith with his contemporary antagonist, former Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett. We use this analysis to illustrate how the distinctive social context broadly recognized the key element of defiance and collectively endorsed Meredith as a leader, thereby initiating his leader identity construction process.
The NORAD conundrum: Canada, missile defence, and military space
Authors: Fergusson James
Published: March 2015

Concerns about the future of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) have forever dominated Canadian policy considerations regarding participation in the US missile defence program. Yet, fears that a Canadian decision not to participate could lead to the “demise” or marginalization of NORAD appear entirely unfounded in the wake of the formal Canadian refusal in 2005. This article identifies the reasons behind these fears relative to the nature and future of NORAD, and explains why they are both understandable and misplaced. Since the United States neither has, nor has ever had, a significant system requirement for Canadian participation, Washington has separated missile defence from the NORAD question. While this change in approach and legitimate concerns about NORAD’s marginalization have been managed through a Canadian military space contribution, it is likely that missile defence and military space cooperation will be managed on a bilateral basis largely outside of, and in support of, existing NORAD missions. This process reflects the reality of Canada–US North American defence cooperation, and NORAD’s limited place within it.
The determination of absorbance and scattering coefficients for photochromic composition with the application of the black and white background method
Authors: Viková Martina , Vik Michal
Published: March 2015

Fresnel's postulates and equations of energy transfer, including approximate Kubelka – Munk theory, also allow the determination of other optical parameters for measured materials as for example absorbance coefficient k and scattering coefficients.

In the case of colorants it is possible to determine molar coefficient ε0 by absorption spectrophotometry and Lambert – Beer Law from a calibration set with a different concentration of specific substance. If we use recommended solvents for the photochromic pigments, from the capsules the pigments not only flood out, but also use additives (HALS). This situation results in turbid solution, where use of Lambert – Beer Law is problematic from point of their turbidity.

An advantage for the case of finalized photochromic pigments applied on the textile or other substrates in determination of absorption k and scattering s coefficients is the black and white background method.
Global networks, cities and economic performance: Observations from an analysis of cities in Europe and the USA
Authors: Pain Kathy , Van Hamme Gilles , Vinciguerra Sandra , David Quentin
Published: March 2015

The network paradigm has been highly influential in spatial analysis in the globalisation era. As economies across the world have become increasingly integrated, so-called global cities have come to play a growing role as central nodes in the networked global economy. The idea that a city’s position in global networks benefits its economic performance has resulted in a competitive policy focus on promoting the economic growth of cities by improving their network connectivity. However, in spite of the attention being given to boosting city connectivity little is known about whether this directly translates to improved city economic performance and, if so, how well connected a city needs to be in order to benefit from this. In this paper we test the relationship between network connectivity and economic performance between 2000 and 2008 for cities with over 500,000 inhabitants in Europe and the USA to inform European policy.
Functional specialisation and socio-economic factors in population change: A clustering study in non-metropolitan Australia
Authors: Mardaneh Karim K
Published: March 2015

Although research has examined population growth and decline using functional specialisation, little attention has been paid to the possible combined effects of functional specialisation and socio-economic factors on population change. Using the Australian Bureau of Statistics Census Data 2001–2006 for statistical local areas, this study presents an investigation of the role of both functional specialisation and socio-economic factors in population change in non-metropolitan areas under the sustenance framework. The uniqueness of the study is twofold. Conceptually it develops a framework to compare the combined role of functional specialisation and socio-economic factors on population change; and, empirically it uses data mining (cluster analysis) techniques to investigate the extent of this combined role. The results show the significance of both functional specialisation and socio-economic factors. Policy implications of the study indicate the need to examine regional development and population change in relation to functional specialisation and socio-economic factors and their impact on viability of non-metropolitan areas.
From a Marketplace to a Cultural Space
Authors: Wang Junhua , Wang Hua
Published: March 2015

Culture as a research site and tool has been well established in the field of intercultural business and technical communication. In recent years, the perspective of culture as an ongoing process responding to contextual forces has been widely embraced in the field. Acknowledging the dynamic nature of culture helps communicators make contextual evaluations in intercultural business communication practices. While researchers strive to examine the dynamic nature of culture and contextual factors’ influence on culture and communication, little efforts has been made to examine the process of a cultural element’s generation, development, and transmission. To understand the notion of culture as a dynamic process for effective intercultural business and technical practices, it is necessary to conceptualize or describe how a cultural element or unit originates and develops along an evolutionary path. In this study, we focus on how the online meme serves as an empirically useful unit of culture, explore an online meme’s evolution process when it successfully transfers from an online marketplace to cultural space, and identify the qualities that constitute the success of the online meme.
Translation Criteria
Authors: Zhu Pinfan
Published: March 2015

This article studies how international business could suffer because of using the wrong translation criteria as guidelines in international business translation. The author starts with the discussion of translation criteria of different contemporary schools such as aesthetic equivalence, dynamic equivalence, adaptation school, and alienation school. Then, in light of the characteristics of each school’s criteria, the writer points out that there is not such an issue as to which criteria are more correct or superior to other ones. Each set of criteria has its own application area. Mechanically sticking to a single set of criteria will only yield undesired effects. To justify this point of view, the author uses specific examples of international business translation to show how international business stumbled because of translator’s undifferentiated adherence to the use of the same translation criteria or alienation approach throughout the translation process.
Filter. Remix. Make.
Authors: Dusenberry Lisa , Hutter Liz , Robinson Joy
Published: March 2015

This article establishes traits of adaptable communicators in the 21st century, explains why adaptability should be a goal of technical communication educators, and shows how multimodal pedagogy supports adaptability. Three examples of scalable, multimodal assignments (infographics, research interviews, and software demonstrations) that evidence this philosophy are discussed in detail. Asking students to communicate multimodally drives them to effectively filter information, remix modes, and remake practices that are core characteristics of adaptable communicators. Beyond teaching students how to teach themselves as an essential part of living in an information society, contending with new and unfamiliar tools also prepares students for their roles as empathic mediators in the workplace.
Guaranteed interval of delay for a class of non-linear control systems
Authors: Talebi Soroush , Ataei Mohammad , Ekramian Mohsen
Published: March 2015

A new method is proposed in this article in order to determine a guaranteed interval of time delay in input signal for a class of non-linear control systems with state feedback. This method is based on the stability sufficient condition of a non-linear control system using the Lyapunov direct approach. For this purpose, the dynamic equations of the non-linear input-delayed system are reformulated as a non-linear system without delay, but with delay-dependent coefficients in the state-space description. The control strategy is considered a linear state feedback. Then, by introducing an appropriately related Lyapunov candidate, the stability sufficient condition of the closed-loop system is satisfied, leading to a guaranteed interval of delay according to the state feedback gain. The main results are gathered and proved as a lemma. The effectiveness of this proposed method is investigated by simulating the state feedback control of a non-linear synchronous generator with a delay in input.
Radial position control of a magnetically suspended rotor system in a direct-driven spindle using inverse system scheme
Authors: Sun Xiaodong , Xue Zhengwang , Chen Long , Yang Zebin , Zhu Huangqiu
Published: March 2015

Direct-driven spindles have no mechanical transmission trains and gears, and are the key actuators for computerized numerical control machine tools. These magnetically suspended rotor systems are required to provide fast response and high precision. However, these systems are non-linear and strongly coupled. The traditional proportional, integral, derivative (PID) control method has been widely used for such systems owing to its relative simple realization. However, the tracking, disturbance rejection and robustness properties of the controlled plant may not be satisfied. To solve these problems, this paper presents a decoupling control strategy based on an inverse system scheme and combines it with the internal model control method to guarantee system robustness to the parameter uncertainty and external disturbance. By introducing an inversion of the magnetically suspended rotor system into the original system, a new pseudolinear system is developed. It can be shown that this addition effectively eliminates the influence of the unmodelled dynamics, and improve the accuracy and robustness of the whole system. The simulation and experimental results show that when compared with the traditional control scheme, the proposed control scheme provides good decoupling and robustness performance for the magnetically suspended rotor system in different operating conditions.
Successful Patient Diabetes Education in the Emergency Department
Authors: Lewis Vicki R. , Benda Natalie , Nassar Carine , Magee Michelle
Published: March 2015

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of diabetes self-management education (DSME) provided in a large urban emergency department (ED) by a certified diabetes educator using a “learner-centered” approach to teaching survival skills. It was hypothesized that an intervention providing learner-centered education in the ED would significantly improve diabetes knowledge and self-management skills.

Methods

Participants were patients who presented to the ED with uncontrolled blood glucose with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). A learner-centered DSME approach was developed. Baseline knowledge and skills were assessed in the ED with a 5-question test and a request to demonstrate meter and insulin injection technique. Education focused on identified gaps in knowledge and skills and incorporated an opportunity for the patient to exercise control in the treatment process. At outpatient follow-up, knowledge retention was assessed with the same 5-question test, and skills again were tested.

Results

Patients with T2DM who were provided learner-centered DSME in the ED demonstrated a significant increase in knowledge-related test scores on all questions at follow-up. Significantly fewer patients required meter and insulin injection instruction postintervention, compared to the baseline.

Conclusion

Study results provide evidence supporting the effectiveness of learner-centered DSME delivered in the ED at imparting critical knowledge and skills to patients with T2DM.
An Evaluation of the Consistency and Reliability of the Defense Automated Neurocognitive Assessment Tool
Authors: Russo C. R. , Lathan C. E.
Published: March 2015

A durable, portable, and field-hardened computerized neurocognitive test (CNT) called the Defense Automated Neurobehavioral Assessment (DANA) tool was recently developed to provide a practical means to conduct neurological and psychological assessment in situ. The psychometric properties of the DANA have been previously described. This present work discusses the test–retest reliability of the DANA Rapid test battery, as administered to a homogeneous population of U.S. Air Force Academy football team players ( N = 162) across the duration of the season. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) metric of the DANA is compared with that from two different CNTs recently reported in Cole et al., and the implications of using the metric to interpret comparative test reliability among different CNTs are discussed.
Radiation epidemiology and recent paediatric computed tomography studies
Authors: Boice J.D.
Published: March 2015

Recent record-linkage studies of cancer risk following computed tomography (CT) procedures among children and adolescents under 21 years of age must be interpreted with caution. The reasons why the examinations were performed were not known, and the dosimetric approaches did not include individual dose reconstructions or account for the possibility for missed examinations. The recent report (2013) on children by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation concluded that the associations may have resulted from confounding by indication (also called ‘reverse causation’), and not radiation exposure. The reported cancer associations may very well have been related to the patients’ underlying health conditions that prompted the examinations. Reverse causation has been observed in other epidemiological investigations, such as a Swedish study of thyroid cancer risk following I-131 scintillation imaging scans, and in studies of brain cancer risk following Thorotrast for cerebral angiography. Epidemiological patterns reported in the CT studies were also inconsistent with the world’s literature. For example, in a UK study, teenagers had a higher risk of brain tumour than young children; in an Australian study, cancers not previously linked to radiation were significantly elevated; and in a Taiwanese study, the risk of benign tumours decreased with age at the time of CT examination. In all studies, solid tumours appeared much earlier than previously reported. Remarkably, in the Australian study, brain cancer excesses were seen regardless of whether or not the CT was to the head, i.e. a significant excess was reported for CT examinations of the abdomen and extremities, which involved no radiation exposure to the brain. In the UK study, the significance of the ‘leukaemia’ finding was only because myelodysplastic syndrome was added to the category, and there was no significance for leukaemia alone. Without knowledge of why CT examinations were performed, any future studies will be equally difficult to interpret. It is noteworthy that two recent studies of children in France and Germany found no significant excess cancer risk from CT scans once adjustment was made for conditions that prompted the scan, family history, or other predisposing factors known to be associated with increased cancer risk. Nonetheless, such studies have heightened awareness of these relatively high-dose diagnostic procedures, and the need to reduce unnecessary examinations and lower the dose per examination commensurate with the desired image quality.
Effects of Population Redistribution on Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Authors: Lee Daegoon , Cho Seong-Hoon , Roberts Roland K. , Lambert Dayton M.
Published: March 2015

The objective of this research was to analyze how population dynamics affect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We assessed the effects of population redistribution resulting from the South Korean government’s decentralization efforts on GHG emissions. Simulation results suggest that the direction of change in total GHG emissions depends on the share of the population redistributed from higher to lower population density regions. If the entire redistributed population of 877,000 persons expected from the government’s decentralization project were from the Seoul Area, annual carbon dioxide emission (CO2e) would increase by 1.72 percent to 2.25 percent compared to benchmark levels. Alternatively, more balanced migration between higher and lower population density regions, that is, 65 percent of the 877,000 persons from higher-density locations to lower-density destinations and 35 percent from lower-density to higher-density regions, decreases CO2e by 1.68 percent to 2.50 percent.
A data-driven dynamic ontology
Authors: Fudholi Dhomas Hatta , Rahayu Wenny , Pardede Eric
Published: March 2015

Valuable knowledge in every community is changed frequently. It often remains closely inside a community, even though it has huge potential to promote problem-solving in the wider community. Our research aims to increase the capability of communities in capturing, sharing and maintaining knowledge from any domain. We utilize an ontology, a shareable form, to collect, consolidate and find commonality inside knowledge. Most ontologies available these days were created by domain experts to fulfill certain domain requirements. However, in cases when domain experts are not obtainable or standard agreement within the domain is not available, such as in natural or herbal therapy domain, we propose that an ontology can also be extracted from existing knowledge-bases residing within the community. In order to achieve our aim, we design a data-driven dynamic ontology model. Our model consists of base knowledge creation and knowledge propagation phases. In the base knowledge creation phase, we define a general concept of capturing community knowledge from data into an ontology representation, rather than just transforming a specific data format into an ontology as found in existing studies. In our knowledge propagation phase, the dynamic community knowledge sources become the trigger of propagation. This is different from some approaches in existing studies, where the triggering event is an individual change inside the ontology and external data may not be the base source of the knowledge in the evolving ontology. We define the propagation feature with a novel delta script. The script is minimum yet complete to simplify and save knowledge sharing transportation resources. The evaluation result shows that the data-driven dynamic ontology with its propagation method not only delivers complete and correct semantics but also shows good performance in terms of operation cost and processing time.
If You Can’t Take the Heat: Cultural Beliefs about Questionable Conduct, Stigma, Punishment, and Withdrawal among Mexican Police Officers
Authors: Gonzalez Jorge A. , Pérez-Floriano Lorena R.
Published: March 2015

We introduce the concept of cultural beliefs about questionable conduct, and examine how these beliefs interact with stigma consciousness to influence punishment and two withdrawal behaviors: turnover and absenteeism. We used a sample of Mexican police officers in a border city and implemented a mixed method design, paying attention to the national, occupational, and organizational context of this setting. We conducted a qualitative phase to explore the prevalence and meaning of occupational stigma and four cultural beliefs about questionable conduct: greed, toughness, wariness, and savvy. The results of this phase helped us develop a context-relevant measure of cultural beliefs about questionable conduct using Mexican proverbs. The results of the quantitative phase indicated that, contingent upon stigma consciousness, beliefs about questionable conduct affected received punishment, turnover, and absenteeism. We discuss the theoretical and behavioral implications of our findings for socialization, identity management, occupational stigma, corruption, and ethical behavior.
From Rational Myth to Self-Fulfilling Prophecy? Understanding the Persistence of Means–ends Decoupling as a Consequence of the Latent Functions of Policy Enactment
Authors: Dick Penny
Published: March 2015

Organizations operating in pluralistic institutional environments are facing ever greater pressures to adopt and implement policies and practices that have few if any benefits for their core functions. This situation is characterized by Bromley and Powell as reflective of means–ends decoupling. Current theory suggests that this form of decoupling can be difficult to sustain unless the logic of confidence in the policy/practice is maintained, i.e. actors believe that it is useful, relevant and important. In this study, I argue that part-time working in the UK police service illustrates a sustained case of means–ends decoupling in that its official purpose (to retain the skills and experience of (mainly female) police officers) not only appears to have few benefits for the subunits in which it is implemented, but the practice itself is seen to interfere with the achievement of operational goals, generating efficiency gaps. Despite this situation, the logic of confidence in this practice is maintained. Using Merton’s distinction between the manifest and latent functions of a policy, I argue that this situation can be understood by examining how the policy on part-time working functions latently to increase managers’ accountability regarding the accommodation of part-time working. This means that managers are unwilling to refuse requests for part-time working but its manifest function (the retention of skills and experiences) operates to ameliorate efficiency gaps through a process I term ‘institutional satisficing’. Furthermore, the manifest function of part-time working can be used as a rhetorical tool by managers to justify potentially controversial methods of accommodating part-time officers in frontline roles which can result in the serendipitous recoupling of part-time working to its intended purposes.
Interest Groups, Political Communication, and Jeffrey Alexander’s Sociology of Power
Authors: Nord David Paul
Published: March 2015

This essay argues that Jeffrey Alexander’s magnum opus, The Civil Sphere, presents a valuable but curiously narrow account of how political power works in American society, especially the power of interest groups. Alexander neglects the extensive literature on the “faces of power” in political science and the classic, critical literature on “source reporting” in journalism studies, both of which offer analyses of interest-group activity and discourse that are more compelling than Alexander’s analysis. Using the example of religious interest-group politics, the essay suggests that the language a group employs is not so much a marker of membership in a “civil sphere,” as it is a strategic discourse of ordinary politics. The essay concludes by suggesting that Alexander’s civil sphere may be simply a particular vocabulary of politics rather than a separate and independent social realm.
Inmates’ perspectives on prison drug treatment
Authors: Frank Vibeke Asmussen , Dahl Helle Vibeke , Holm Karina Ellegaard , Kolind Torsten
Published: March 2015

The purpose of this article is to employ a user-perspective on prison drug treatment. Based on data from 32 in-depth qualitative interviews with inmates and three months of observational studies in three Danish prisons, the article examines how drug treatment in prison is experienced and strategically approached by enrolled inmates. The analysis shows the broad range of reasons for entering as well as staying in treatment during imprisonment, including how the prison setting influences and constrains inmates’ experiences in different ways. By employing a user-perspective the article follows the research tradition, beginning in the 1990s, of including drug users’ perspectives on treatment. It adds important information to the drug treatment literature on issues such as organization, social relations and output of drug treatment. Including a user-perspective, we were able to uncover aspects and experiences of treatment services that differ from other actors in the field, e.g. counsellors, medical doctors, nurses, politicians, and officers. A user-perspective also challenges our understanding of what is at play in drug treatment as well as treatment in prisons.
The meaning of home at the end of life: A video-reflexive ethnography study
Authors: Collier Aileen , Phillips Jane L , Iedema Rick
Published: March 2015

Background:

While ‘home’ is cited most frequently as being the preferred place of death, most people will die in institutions. Yet, the meaning and significance of home for people nearing the end of life has not been fully explored.

Aim:

The aim of this article is to critically examine the meaning of home for dying patients and their families.

Design:

The qualitative study used video-reflexive ethnography methods. Data were collected and analysed over an 18-month period.

Setting/participants:

Participants were recruited from two Australian sites: a palliative care day hospital and an acute hospital. Participants included patients with a prognosis of 6 months or less ( n = 29), their nominated family member(s) ( n = 5) and clinicians ( n = 36) caring for them. Patients and families were ‘followed’ through care settings including the palliative care unit and into their own homes.

Results:

Whether or not participants deemed space(s) safe or unsafe was closely related to the notion of home. Six themes emerged concerning this relationship: ‘No place like home’; ‘Safety, home and the hospital’; ‘Hospital “becomes” home’; ‘Home “becomes” hospital’; ‘Hospital and “connections with home”’; and ‘The built environment’.

Conclusion:

Home is a dynamic concept for people nearing the end of life and is concerned with expression of social and cultural identity including symbolic and affective connections, as opposed to being merely a physical dwelling place or street address. Clinicians caring for people nearing the end of life can foster linkages with home by facilitating connections with loved ones and meaningful artefacts.
A scoping review of bereavement risk assessment measures: Implications for palliative care
Authors: Sealey Margaret , Breen Lauren J , O’Connor Moira , Aoun Samar M
Published: March 2015

Background:

Palliative care standards and policies recommend that bereavement support be provided to family caregivers, yet uncertainty surrounds whether support currently offered by palliative care services throughout developed countries meets caregiver needs. The public health model of bereavement support, which aligns bereavement support needs with intervention, may address this gap between policy and practice.

Aim:

The aim was to review the literature to identify bereavement risk assessment measures appropriate for different points in the caring and bereavement trajectories, evaluate their psychometric properties and assess feasibility for use in palliative care.

Design:

A scoping review was systematically undertaken following Arksey and O’Malley’s methodological framework.

Data sources:

PsycINFO, CINAHL, PubMed and Cochrane Reviews databases, as well as grey literature including Internet searches of Google, World Health Organization, CareSearch, the Grey Literature Report and OAIster were searched. Bereavement organisations and palliative care websites, reference lists in obtained articles and grief and bereavement handbooks were also scrutinised.

Results:

Of 3142 records screened, 356 records yielded 70 grief measures. In all, 19 measures published between 1982 and 2014 were identified for inclusion in this review, and categorised for use with family caregivers at three points in time – before the patient’s death ( n = 5), in the period following the death ( n = 10) and for screening of prolonged or complex grief ( n = 4). The majority had acceptable psychometric properties; feasibility for use in palliative care varied substantially.

Conclusion:

This review is an important preliminary step in improving the assessment of bereavement risk and, consequently, better bereavement outcomes for palliative care family caregivers.
Interventions for bereaved parents following a child’s death: A systematic review
Authors: Endo Kaori , Yonemoto Naohiro , Yamada Mitsuhiko
Published: March 2015

Background:

A child’s death is one of the most stressful events that parents and siblings may experience. Interventions for bereaved families following a child’s death have been examined over the last several decades. However, there is little high-quality evidence to support any rationale for determining optimal interventions for bereaved parents and siblings.

Aim:

This study objectives were to evaluate the efficacy of interventions for bereaved parents and siblings following a child’s death, to collect empirical evidence of the quality of these intervention studies, and to identify methodological challenges.

Design:

A systematic review of data from randomized controlled trials of interventions for parents or siblings bereaved after a child loss.

Data sources:

We searched MEDLINE (from 1949), PsycINFO (from 1806), and CINAHL (from 1806) databases for key terms and checked the reference lists of potentially relevant articles.

Results:

We identified nine articles describing eight eligible trials from which we extracted data. The four types of intervention included support groups, counseling, psychotherapy, and crisis intervention. Most intervention trials showed some effect on participants in at least one outcome measure. However, we identified many severe methodological issues and outcome sets in these trials.

Conclusion:

Very little evidence of sufficient quality is available to confirm the effects of intervention measures on bereaved parents and siblings following a child’s death. Well-designed randomized controlled trials are needed to improve our understanding of the efficacy and implementation of interventions targeting bereaved parents and siblings.
Male Breadwinner Ideology and the Inclination to Establish Market Relationships
Authors: Haase Michaela , Becker Ingrid , Nill Alexander , Shultz Clifford J. , Gentry James W.
Published: March 2015

A pattern found in many marketing systems, “male breadwinning,” is contingent upon overlapping and shared ideologies, which influence the economic organization and thus the type and number of relationships in those systems. Implementing a mixed-methods research methodology, this article continues and extends previous work in macromarketing on the interplay of markets, ideology, socio-economic organization, and family. A qualitative study illuminated the main ideologies behind male breadwinning and a model was developed to advance the theoretical analysis of the phenomenon of male breadwinning. An experiment in the form of a vignette study was subsequently designed and administered. The qualitative study and the vignette study both show ideologies interact in the way individuals make sense of them or allow them to influence their decisions. The results have implications for the way families and markets are organized, such as the supply of labor of men and women and the offerings of care-related public and private services in a broader marketing system.
Knockdown of PTTG1 inhibits the growth and invasion of lung adenocarcinoma cells through regulation of TGFB1/SMAD3 signaling
Authors: Li W-H , Chang L , Xia Y-X , Wang L , Liu Y-Y , Wang Y-H , Jiang Z , Xiao J , Wang Z-R
Published: March 2015

Increased expression of pituitary tumor-transforming gene 1 (PTTG1) is expressed in many tumors and regulates tumor growth and progression. However, the precise function of PTTG1 in the tumorigenesis of lung adenocarcinoma (LAC) is not defined yet. Here, we examined the expression of PTTG1 in human LAC tissues by immunohistochemical assay using a tissue microarray procedure. A loss-of-function experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of lentiviral vector-mediated PTTG1 shRNA (shPTTG1) on cell growth and invasive potential in LAC cell lines (A549 and LETPα-2), assessed by MTT and Transwell assays. As a consequence, we found that the expression of PTTG1 protein was markedly upregulated in LAC tissues compared with the adjacent non-cancerous tissues (ANCT) (54.0% vs. 28.0%, P = 0.008), and was positively associated with the lymphatic invasion of the tumor ( P = 0.01). Moreover, knockdown of PTTG1 expression inhibited tumor proliferation and invasion of LAC cells, companied by the decreased expression of CyclinD1 and MMP-2 and increased expression of p-TGFβ1 and p-SMAD3. Collectively, our findings indicate that high expression of PTTG1 is correlated with the tumor metastasis of LAC patients, and knockdown of PTTG1 suppresses the growth and invasion of LAC cells through upregulation of the TGFβ1/SMAD3 signaling, suggesting that PTTG1 may be a potential target for developing an effective immunotherapeutic strategy for LAC.
The Subjective Experiences of Firesetting by Men With Mild Intellectual Disabilities Detained in a Secure Hospital
Authors: Rose John , Lees-Warley Gemma , Thrift Su
Published: March 2015

This article explores the lived experiences of men with mild intellectual disabilities who have deliberately set a fire and are detained in a secure hospital. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore the subjective experiential claims of seven male firesetters with mild intellectual disabilities residing in a forensic intellectual disability hospital. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to interpret participants’ meaning making of their firesetting. Five super-ordinate themes emerged from the analysis: (a) “the importance of the first fire,” (b) “firesetting to escape distress,” (c) “firesetting to enable positive emotional experiences,” (d) “firesetting to communicate with services,” and (e) “Fire Setters Treatment Programme.” The analysis provides an understanding of why some firesetting behaviours emerge and highlights factors that contribute to the maintenance and desistence of repeat firesetting acts. The findings are considered in relation to evolving risk assessment measures and risk reduction strategies for facilitating rehabilitation into community settings.
A Strengths-Based Approach to Prisoner Reentry
Authors: Hunter Bronwyn A. , Lanza A. Stephen , Lawlor Mike , Dyson William , Gordon Derrick M.
Published: March 2015

Scholars have called for a strengths-based approach to prisoner reentry, yet there are few available program models that outline how to integrate this approach into the current reentry program landscape. The present article highlights a strengths-based prisoner reentry program that provided services to men both pre- and post-release from prison to the community in the United States. Qualitative findings from focus groups provide preliminary support for the strengths-based approach and highlight men’s strengths and needs as well as challenges related to the program’s implementation. The reentry program then drew from participants’ reports to inform program development activities. Implications and recommendations for integrating strengths-based approaches into prisoner reentry interventions are discussed.
Investigation of systematic relationship between spectrometry and white light photoelasticity by regression analysis
Authors: Sung Po-Chi , Wang Wei-Chung , Chiang Yu-An , Hung Te-Heng
Published: March 2015

By integrating the white light photoelasticity and spectrometry, a novel method called transmissivity extremities theory of photoelasticity to determine the state of stress has been recently developed. The key of transmissivity extremities theory of photoelasticity is to establish the systematic relationship of transmissivity with stress and wavelength and further derive the stress quantifying formula. Based on the high resolution and sensitivity of the spectrometer and the high measurement accuracy of the white light photoelasticity, transmissivity extremities theory of photoelasticity can determine the low-level stress even in low birefringence materials. Before extending the application of transmissivity extremities theory of photoelasticity to determine the higher level stress, the correlation between different transmissivity extremities linear equations in the systematic relationship and the relationship between parameters in the stress quantifying formula and thicknesses of specimens need to be derived and investigated. Therefore, in this article, a regression analysis of the constant term and first-order harmonic terms of the Fourier series function was employed to obtain the transmissivity extremities linear equations and parameters in the stress quantifying formula from the database. Both PSM-1 and glass were used to confirm the derived correlation and relationship. The effectiveness and merits of transmissivity extremities theory of photoelasticity were demonstrated by comparing simulation results obtained by transmissivity extremities theory of photoelasticity and the conventional white light photoelasticity, comparison between theoretical and experimental results of a diametrically loaded circular disk as well as the determination of the residual stress distribution of a thin glass substrate used for liquid crystal display.
The protective effects of melatonin against cryopreservation-induced oxidative stress in human sperm
Authors: Karimfar MH , Niazvand F , Haghani K , Ghafourian S , Shirazi R , Bakhtiyari Salar
Published: March 2015

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and lipid peroxidation during cryopreservation harm sperm membrane and as a result reduce the recovery of motile sperm. The antioxidant effects of melatonin on different cells have been widely reported. This study was aimed to evaluate changes in post-thaw motility, viability, and intracellular ROS and malondialdehyde (MDA) in response to the addition of melatonin to human sperm freezing extender. Semen of 43 fertile men was collected and each sample was divided into eight equal aliquots. An aliquot was analyzed freshly for viability, motility, and intracellular ROS and MDA. Melatonin was added to the recommended human freezing extender to yield six different final concentrations: 0.001, 0.005, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, and 1 mM. A control group without melatonin was also included. Two weeks after cryopreservation, samples were thawed and pre-freeze analyses repeated. Obtained results showed that cryopreservation significantly ( P <0.05) reduces viability and motility, but increases intracellular ROS and MDA of human sperm. The semen extender supplemented with various doses of melatonin (except for 0.001 mM) significantly ( P <0.05) increased motility and viability, but decreased intracellular ROS and MDA levels of cryopreserved sperm after the thawing process, as compared with the control group. We also found that the most effective concentration of melatonin in protecting human spermatozoa from cryopreservation injuries was 0.01 mM. These findings suggest that melatonin exerts its cryoprotective effects on spermatozoa possibly by counteracting intracellular ROS, and thereby reduces MDA generation. This finally leads to increase of post-thaw viability and motility of cryopreserved spermatozoa.