bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Abnormal switching of ferroelectric domains created by the tip of an atomic force microscope in a congruent LiTaO3 single-crystal thin film
Authors: Brugère, Antoine , Gidon, Serge , Gautier Brice
Published: July 2011

Ferroelectric domains have been created in single-crystal ∼1 μm thick LiTaO3 films using the tip of an atomic force microscope. The presence of a domain with a polarization that is oriented in the opposite direction as compared to the applied field in the center of the domains created by the tip is reported. This paper aims at better understanding this phenomenon. Domains with a polarization oriented toward the bulk do not behave like domains with a polarization oriented toward the surface. The evolution of the size of the abnormal domain as a function of the parameters of the applied voltages and exerted forces is studied using a technique derived from the atomic force microscope (piezoresponse force microscopy), and its kinetics of formation is recorded by means of time resolved piezoresponse force microscopy. The possible causes for its appearance are discussed. The ferroelastic effect does not seem to play a role in the process. A possible artifact from the atomic force microscopy imaging process itself is not relevant. It appears that the most probable mechanism responsible for this phenomenon is the injection of charges during the application of the voltage pulse, which creates a strong electric field when the voltage is removed. The experimental observations are discussed in light of this hypothesis.
Electronic, optical, and mechanical properties of superhard cold-compressed phases of carbon
Authors: Niu Haiyang , Wei Pengyue , Sun Yan , Chen Xing-Qiu , Franchini Cesare , Li Dianzhong , Li Yiyi
Published: July 2011

By means of standard and hybrid density functional theory, we analyzed the electronic, optical, and mechanical properties of the two discovered superhard orthorhombic (W) and monoclinic (M) phases of carbon, synthesized by cold compression. We demonstrated that both phases exhibit a transparent insulating behaviour with indirect band gaps of about 5.4 eV (W) and 4.5 eV (M), and highly isotropic optical spectra, substantially different to those of the related body centered tetragonal C4 phase. The analysis of the elastic constants and Vickers hardness confirmed that these phases are as hard as the second hardest material c-BC2N.
Construction Grammar as a tool for diachronic analysis
Authors: Fried Mirjam
Published: July 2011

Through a discourse-grounded internal reconstruction that aims at capturing the emergence of grammatical structure, the study examines the development of the subjective epistemic particle jestli ‘[in-my-opinion-] maybe’ in conversational Czech. Through internal reconstruction, the change (syntactic complementizer > speaker-centered epistemic contextualizer > subjective epistemic particle) is presented as a metonymy-based conventionalization of a pragmatic meaning implied by certain tokens of indirect Y/N questions into a new modal meaning. Taking a Construction Grammar approach, so far largely untested on diachronic data, the point of the analysis is to show that we can engage in a systematic treatment of the gradualness of change, by (i) combining the ‘holistic’ (constructional) dimension with the internal, feature-based and discourse-motivated mechanisms of complex grammatical shifts, and (ii) appealing to the explanatory potential of general cognitive and communicative principles as they manifest themselves in natural discourse. I also propose a formalism for representing the transitional nature of intermediate patterns.
A frame-semantic approach to logical metonymy
Authors: Sweep Josefien
Published: July 2011

Pustejovsky’s well-known analysis of so-called logical metonymy, such as she began the book (= ‘reading’ or ‘writing’ the book), fails in several respects (cf. e.g. Godard & Jayez 1993, Lascarides & Copestake 1998, Verspoor 1997). The main problem is that his account is based on just a few prototypical examples of logical metonymy. When more examples with other verbs and other objects are analysed, his theory runs into problems. Since verb-concrete object combinations diverge widely in their interpretations, one can even ask to which extent metonymy is actually involved. With the help of FrameNet, this article analyses the semantics of these verbs and their combinations with metonymical objects. On this basis, a new analysis of logical metonymy is proposed.
Count-mass coercion, and the perspective of time and variation
Authors: Ziegeler Debra
Published: July 2011

In an earlier study (Ziegeler 2007), it was emphasised that it was redundant to discuss construction coercion in the face of more transparent mechanisms of cognitive pragmatics such as metonymy, and within the sphere of grammaticalisation studies. The present paper extends such arguments, including examples of (apparent) coercion of count-to-mass nouns in Colloquial Singaporean English, and, comparing the data with examples of noun referentiality in earlier historical English, illustrates that what on the surface may appear to be coercion is just a sub-type of metonymy, involved in the metaphorical generalisation of constructions across lexical-syntactic boundaries. Comparison with retention and unresolved mismatch in grammaticalisation is also considered.
Conversation, grammar, and fixedness
Authors: Thompson Sandra A. , Tao Hongyin
Published: July 2011

The categoriality of ‘adjectives’ has been a favorite topic of discussion in functional Chinese linguistics. However, the literature leaves us with no clear picture of the ‘adjective’ category for Mandarin. In this paper, we take a usage-based approach to revisit the issue of adjectives in Mandarin. Our investigation of a corpus of face-to-face conversations shows that conversational Mandarin favors Predicate Adjectives over Attributive Adjectives. This pattern is explained by two facts: people primarily use Predicate Adjectives in conversation to assess the world around them, and these assessments (including reactive tokens) are a primary way for people to negotiate stance, alignment, and perspective, while Attributive Adjectives are used to introduce new participants into the discourse, which is a less prominent function in everyday conversation. We also argue that whether predicative or attributive, an understanding of adjectives in everyday Mandarin talk involves various facets of fixedness. This is substantiated by the fact that predicate vs. attributive positions attract different types of adjectives, kinds of collocation patterns, kinds of constructions, and pathways to lexicalization. Thus, this paper demonstrates that (1) interactional data can tell us much about the ‘psychological reality’ of the category ‘adjective’ for speakers; and (2) frequency and ongoing prefab creation are crucial to characterizing the categoriality and mental representation of ‘adjectives’ in Mandarin.
Systematic repetition of the first person singular pronoun wo in Mandarin conversation
Authors: Lee Jee Won
Published: July 2011

While repetition was once thought to be “just a marker of a ‘disfluent’ or ‘sloppy’ speaker,” it has been increasingly recognized as a “human social activity, clearly part of our everyday conduct or behavior” (Schegloff 1987). The present study, using video recorded natural conversation data, aims to describe ways in which native speakers of Mandarin Chinese employ repetition of the first person pronoun wo for interactional moves. Repetition of wo is analyzed in conjunction with other interactive strategies, such as syntactic features, phonological features, pragmatic features, gesture, self-grooming, and gaze, as a way to organize and negotiate stances toward the proposition expressed and the co-participants and at the same time to enable intersubjectivity. By showing that within the speech of a single speaker pronominal repetition acts as a stance marker, this paper provides a new perspective on Chinese pronominal use and enriches our understanding of the functions of “disfluent” language in general.
Vocal effect and resonance
Authors: Straumann Barbara
Published: July 2011

In its theoretical framework, my paper participates in the debate over voice ‘after’ Derrida. Drawing on poststructuralist and phenomenological approaches as well as recent contributions in the area of performance and cultural studies, I claim that the voice can be treated as an effect of resonance. Inherently performative and dialogic, the voice emerges by resonating with something else as well as by effecting resonances elsewhere. In Henry James’s The Bostonians (1886), this figuration is epitomized by the charismatic speaker Verena Tarrant. Her extraordinary public voice is read, manipulated and spoken by various figures of authority, who treat her as a stake in their struggle for power and publicity. Possessed by her vocal gift, they seek in turn to take possession of it. Yet while she lends her voice to others by echoing their ideas and phrases, catchwords and clichés, Verena simultaneously produces an impact on her audiences which eludes full appropriation. Her impersonal voice may express neither self-presence nor agency, but its effect is one of powerful resonance. Exceeding the text’s satire of the feminist movement and publicity culture, Verena’s doubly mesmeric voice refers us to an ambiguous and unresolvable fascination, both highlighted and performed by The Bostonians, for the voice in general and the public voice of modernity in particular.
Character and the Career
Authors: Dam Frederik Van
Published: July 2011

In Victorian Britain, the consolidation of capitalism and the absence of bureaucracy had a huge and unsettling impact on politics and culture. This paper argues that the Victorian novelist, like the public moralist, provided a solution to this crisis by forming a construction of the individual as a rational and emotional citizen and of a state adequately representing this citizen. The study’s objective is to examine the details of this construction in Phineas Finn (1869), a novel by Anthony Trollope (1815–1882); it identifies, analyzes and interprets the discourses of subject formation, politics, and character. The method used draws on the work of Paul de Man and is inductive, descriptive and rhetorical.
Go-and-V, come-and-V, go-V and come-V
Authors: Nicolle Steve
Published: July 2011

The present paper aims to complement recent work on deictic movement verb constructions by using a corpus-based approach to identify differences between the four deictic movement verb constructions: go-and-V, come-and-V, go-V and come-V, and to evaluate the proposal made in Nicolle (2007) that go/come-V developed from go/come-and-V in the context of imperative clauses. It will be shown that this is a possible scenario for the development of go-V from go-and-V, although come-V may have developed by analogy with go-V rather than independently from come-and-V. Finally, subjectification will be proposed as a motivating factor in the development of both go-V and come-V.
Logical markers in L1 (Spanish and English) and L2 (English) Business research articles
Authors: Dueñas Pilar Mur
Published: July 2011

A great number of cross-cultural analyses of academic written genres have shown that there are cultural differences in the use of certain rhetorical and metadiscoursal features in texts produced in English and other languages. Intercultural studies of L2 (English) academic texts are more scarce. They tend to point out that these texts occupy a mid-position between those produced in the two L1s. The present research analyses logical markers in L1 research articles (RAs) in Spanish and English and L2 RAs in English in a specific discipline to try to unveil whether the use made of these metadiscoursal features by Spanish scholars in their English RAs resembles that in L1 English or Spanish texts. The use of additive, contrastive and consecutive logical markers is found to be rather different in the English and Spanish RAs and, in turn, their use in the English RAs written by Spanish scholars resembles that in RAs written by Anglo-American peers. Thus, no transfer process seems to occur from L1 (Spanish) RAs into L2 (English) texts. It is hypothesized that some rhetorical and metadiscoursal features may be more likely than others to undergo this transfer in academic genres, a hypothesis which shall be confirmed by future research. The possible reasons for these results are also discussed as well as their pedagogical implications.
Student academic presentations
Authors: Zareva Alla
Published: July 2011

The interactive nature of otherwise largely monologic spoken academic discourse is a feature that has recently attracted some research attention; however, to my knowledge, interactiveness has not been discussed from a processing point of view. In this paper, I argue that the processing side of interactiveness in student presentations should be looked for in presenters’ attempts to use grammatical structure to facilitate their listeners’ processing of dense informational content. The analysis was based on the use of finite adverbial clauses found in L1 and L2 corpora of student presentations. It revealed that presenters’ ordering of adverbial clauses serves both interactional processing and discourse purposes but only their cumulative effect provides a fuller account of students’ ordering preferences in prepared discourse. The findings are discussed in light of the relationship between grammatical weight and informational processing and have implications for L1 and L2 students’ communication training courses.
Alternativity in poetry and drama
Authors: Dancygier Barbara
Published: July 2011

This paper considers the use of alternativity and stance in dramatic and poetic discourse. After a brief look at negation as a phenomenon based on alternative mental spaces, I show how negation can be viewed as ‘intersubjective’. The paper then looks at the intersubjective aspects of negation in a scene from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him). In the next sections, the poetic style of Wislawa Szymborska comes under investigation. In particular, the discussion highlights mechanisms such as frame-evocation, counterfactuality, causation, blending, and the alternativity of or. I argue throughout that the primary role of negation and alternativity in dramatic and poetic discourse is making available uncommunicated mental spaces and construals which are then used in the resulting interpretation.
Joint attention, To the Lighthouse, and modernist representations of intersubjectivity
Authors: Tobin Vera
Published: July 2011

This paper argues that literary modernism can be productively understood as a reflection on what happens when joint attention is frustrated in its operation. Experimental fictions of the early twentieth century frequently dramatize problems of joint attention that can be traced to the ultimate relation between author, reader, and text. Analysis of these dramatizations demonstrates the importance of this joint attentional trope, and suggests a fresh reading of the famous “phantom table” in Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse.
The relationship between lexical competence, collocational competence, and second language proficiency
Authors: Nizonkiza Déogratias
Published: July 2011

This paper assesses the relationship between EFL proficiency, lexical competence, and collocational competence (cf. Meara 1996; Pawley & Syder 1983; Read 1993, 1997, 2000; Bonk 2001). Two paper-based tests, a proficiency test and a vocabulary test, were presented to English majors at the University of Burundi. Scores on both tests significantly correlate and distinguish between levels. This confirms that lexical competence is a reliable predictor of L2 proficiency, which strengthens and extends earlier findings (Meara 1996; Bonk 2001; Gyllstad 2005, 2007; Zareva et al. 2005). Furthermore, mastery of collocations is found to be related to frequency and to predict lexical competence. Thus, the findings of this study underline earlier indications that proficiency testing may be simplified.
Valency changes in the history of English
Authors: van Gelderen Elly
Published: July 2011

This article examines changes in the valency marking in the history of English. I start with a discussion of the typological literature on measuring basic valency and point out the problems with such an approach. A sample of 18 Old English verbs provides no basic valency pattern for Old English; this makes Old English different from the other Germanic languages. I then review the evidence, presented in, for instance, Visser (1963), that there is an increase in transitivity in the history of English and argue that this increase is partly due to verbs ceasing to mark Theme-preserving alternations, between anticausative and causative. I also examine Theme-changing alternations, between intransitive and transitive, and argue that, due to the changes in aspect marking, objects become licensed by a light verb, v. I conclude by suggesting a syntactic structure that accounts for the various stages of English and argue that the main changes are due to an increase in morphological intransparency.
L’acquisition des déterminants nominaux en français et en allemand
Authors: Bassano Dominique , Korecky-Kröll Katharina , Maillochon Isabelle , Dressler Wolfgang U.
Published: July 2011

In many languages, noun determiner acquisition is a central aspect of the emergence of grammar in children. The study compares the development of determiners — between one and three years of age — in the spontaneous productions of two children who acquire French and Austrian German, respectively. Starting with the contrast between Romance and Germanic languages and focusing on morphosyntactic factors, it evaluates the impact of typological and language-specific differences on determiner acquisition. We examine the prediction that determiners should emerge earlier in French than in German and classical hypotheses concerning the pre-eminence of definite over indefinite, masculine over feminine, and singular over plural in the light of developmental data.
Images of “good English” in the Korean conservative press
Authors: Park Joseph Sung-Yul
Published: July 2011

In South Korea, English as a symbolic resource frequently mediates relations of class, privilege, and authority, and the Korean media play a significant role in the negotiation of the place and meaning of English in the country. This paper identifies interdiscursivity (Agha and Wortham 2005) as an important semiotic mechanism for this process, and illustrates this through texts of the conservative print media which rationalize the privileges of Korean elites by representing them as successful learners of English. This paper identifies three distinct yet interrelated processes of interdiscursivity that accomplish this work. First, the process of spatiotemporal extension links geographically and temporally distant communicative events with the here-and-now, setting up the relevance of the English language within local social context. Second, the process of recursivity (Irvine and Gal 2000) reapplies global oppositional relations locally so that the linguistic legitimacy of native speakers of English comes to serve as a basis for local elites’ authority. Third, the process of mediatization (Johnson and Ensslin 2007) allows the media institution to selectively highlight the achievements of elite learners while erasing the problems of unequal opportunities for English language learning in Korea. Together, the three interdiscursive processes in the texts naturalize the linguistic legitimacy of elite learners of English, thereby justifying and reproducing the structure of the linguistic market in which the global language of English indexes local relations of power and privilege.
The adaptation of metaphors across genres
Authors: Semino Elena
Published: July 2011

In this paper I consider the ways in which a metaphor that was first introduced in an article on pain mechanisms published in Science has been adapted and developed in a selection of texts that can be broadly described as ‘educational’: a neuroscience website aimed at children, a self-help guide for chronic pain sufferers, and a book aimed at medical professionals. In the course of the discussion I point out both the advantages and potential disadvantages of these developments. As such, this paper aims to make a contribution to a growing body of research on metaphor in actual contexts of use, and particularly on variation in the use of metaphor across genres that are aimed at different audiences.
Cognitive Semantic ways of teaching figurative phrases
Authors: Boers Frank
Published: July 2011

In this article I review studies published between 1996 and 2010 in which the effectiveness of Cognitive-Semantics informed second language pedagogy was put to the test. Altogether, the published evidence is manifestly favourable, although questions remain as to the scope of application of the approach and the precise properties that produce its positive effects. It must also be recognised that Cognitive Semantic ventures into language pedagogy stand a lot to gain from a closer collaboration with ‘mainstream’ applied linguistics, not only with regard to general insights into the nature of second language acquisition but also with regard to this type of research methodology.
Literature and event understanding
Authors: Bailey Heather , Zacks Jeffrey M.
Published: July 2011

We believe that the scientific study of narrative comprehension will move from using short, laboratory-contrived “textoids” to longer, naturalistic narratives. This move is being driven by technological developments and by theoretical interest in event comprehension mechanisms in reading. One mechanism in which we have been particularly interested is event segmentation, which is the spontaneous organization of incoming information into meaningful discrete events. Behavioral and neurophysiological studies suggest that similar principles govern event segmentation in reading and in the perception of movies and live action. Some of these studies contribute to a growing body of evidence that readers mentally simulate events as they read, including some of their perceptual and motor properties. Based on these trends we look forward to a scientific study of narrative comprehension that is increasingly integrated with broad general theories of perception and memory.
The dynamics of specialized knowledge representation
Authors: Faber Pamela
Published: July 2011

Dynamicity is the condition of being in motion, and thus, is characterized by continuous change, activity, or progress. Not surprisingly, dynamicity is generally acknowledged to be an important part of any kind of knowledge representation system or knowledge acquisition scenario. This means that it might be a good idea to reconsider concept representations in Terminology, and modify them so that they better reflect the nature of conceptualization in the mind and brain. In this sense, recent theories of cognition have emphasized that situated or grounded experiences are activated in cognitive processing (Louwerse and Jeuniaux 2010; Barsalou 1999; Zwaan 2003). According to these theories, meaning construction heavily relies on perceptually simulating the information that is presented to the comprehender. Specialized knowledge representation that facilitates knowledge acquisition could thus be conceived as a situation model or event that enables comprehenders to use communicated information to better interact with the world
A proposed method for analysing the dynamics of cognition through term variation
Authors: Fernández-Silva Sabela , Freixa Judit , Cabré Castellví M. Teresa
Published: July 2011

Today, term variation is commonly accepted to be a widespread phenomenon in specialised communication. Although some degree of arbitrariness is inevitable, the expert’s choice of a term variant is generally motivated to some extent. This article presents a methodology for describing the conceptually motivated patterns of term variation in a real corpus of special language. This method — which analyses the conceptual information displayed on the term’s form — represents an attempt to provide a framework accounting for the flexibility of concepts and conceptual structures in a systematic way. Using data from a bilingual (French and Galician) corpus of texts related to coastal fishing and aquaculture, the applicability of proposed method for analysis is illustrated with a description of the variation patterns pertaining to terms designating human entity concepts within the corpus.
Translating structural pause in the Qur’an
Authors: Al-Azzam Bakri
Published: July 2011

This study aims to investigate the translation of syntactic pause as an under-researched linguistic observable feature from Arabic into English, with particular reference to Qur’anic examples. Due to the lack of studies in this area, and because the phenomenon has not been treated sufficiently in Qur’anic and non-Qur’anic discourses, Qur’anic verses illustrating the point are sampled, analyzed and discussed so as to uncover the difficulties and to suggest translation solutions. A handful of authentic and authoritative Qur’anic exegeses are consulted, in addition to three translations of the Qur’an, in an attempt to explore the role such interpretations can play in rendering the possible syntactic meanings into English. This makes it possible to provide a solid syntactic-translational ground for assigning syntactic-semantic value to the pause in the selected examples. This also allows the author to point out the problematic aspect of this linguistic phenomenon, where two acceptable readings of one syntactic structure can emerge. This study demonstrates that syntactic pause in the Qur’an presents certain challenges for the translator and requires great effort to render faithfully in the target language. The study also suggests how immediate and broader contexts can guide the translator in prioritizing one interpretation over another
Conference interpreting
Authors: Pöchhacker Franz
Published: July 2011

This paper offers a review of survey research among conference interpreters as a way of gaining knowledge about the profession, including the role perception of individual practitioners. A corpus of 40 survey research studies is examined with regard to such research design issues as sampling and question type, and categorized by topic. The conference interpreter’s role emerges as one of the dominant concerns in recent survey research, selected findings from which will be presented.
Occupation or profession
Authors: Katan David
Published: July 2011

The main aim of this paper is to report on an online questionnaire which focused on translator and interpreter perception of their working world, their mindset or Weltanshauung, and the impact of Translation Studies and university training on that world. Questions, both closed and open-ended, addressed academic/professional training, present role(s) and attitudes and beliefs about ‘the profession’ itself. Nearly 1000 respondents replied to the questionnaire worldwide. Particular questions focused on how translation should be taught, the role and status of the profession (ideally and in practice), and on personal satisfaction. The results show that university training has had little impact, and that this group of respondents have relatively little interest in the university itself in comparison with lifelong learning, with most emphasis placed on practice and self-development. Members of the group feel themselves to be ‘professional’ due to their specialized knowledge and abilities. However, their professionalism is mainly limited to their responsibilities to the text itself, and there is relatively little interest in the wider context. They are acutely aware of the lack of public recognition, and both the interpreters and the translators agree that translators in particular suffer from a markedly lower social status. However, only a minority of the respondents feel the need to change the status quo and satisfy trait theory criteria regarding professional recognition, possibly because the vast majority of respondents are more than satisfied with their job. In conclusion, it appears that translation can still only be categorized as an occupation rather than as a profession, and it is suggested that a new role be created with its own university course to cater to the professional language provider.
Conference interpreters and their perception of culture
Authors: Torikai Kumiko
Published: July 2011

This paper seeks to explore the perception of culture held by conference and diplomatic interpreters in post-WWII Japan. Based on oral history research with five Japanese pioneers, interpreters’ perceptions about culture and cultural barriers in communication are studied and then compared with their role perceptions and their actual practice. Although the pioneering conference interpreters perceived their role as more or less invisible, showing little interest in the discussion of culture and cultural mediation, their narratives in life-story interviews demonstrate that they were essential participants in intercultural communication, bridging cultural barriers. Without being aware of their role as cultural mediators, the five interpreters were actively and autonomously involved in intercultural communication as indispensable co-participants.
The intersection of localization and translation
Authors: Jiménez-Crespo Miguel A.
Published: July 2011

For over two decades, the localization industry has striven to produce non-culture-specific texts that can be easily localized into most languages. Nevertheless, contrastive studies have shown that certain features of texts can vary between source and target cultures, such as textual structure or genre-specific terminology and phraseology. This study explores these two seemingly contradictory perspectives through a corpus analysis of original and localized Spanish web forms. Following a genre-based approach (Swales 1990; Bhatia 1993; Gamero 2001), the main analysis concentrates on macrostructural differences and the formulation of conventional linguistic forms associated with rhetorical moves. Significant differences are found in the structural, pragmatic, lexical and syntactical configuration of localized texts as contrasted to online forms spontaneously produced in Spanish. The results shed some light on the question of whether texts can be fully internationalized during the development stages and on the inevitable effect of technological and cognitive constraints during the translation process.
The Prevalence of Health Care–Associated Infection in Older People in Acute Care Hospitals
Authors: Cairns Shona , Reilly Jacqui , Stewart Sally , Tolson Debbie , Godwin Jon , Knight Paul
Published: July 2011

Objective.

To determine the prevalence of health care-associated infection (HAI) in older people in acute care hospitals, detailing the specific types of HAI and specialties in which these are most prevalent.

Design.

Secondary analysis of the Scottish National Healthcare Associated Infection Prevalence Survey data set.

Patients and Setting.

All inpatients in acute care (n = 11,090) in all acute care hospitals in Scotland (n = 45).

Results.

The study found a linear relationship between prevalence of HAI and increasing age (P<.0001) in hospital inpatients in Scotland. Urinary tract infections and gastrointestinal infections represented the largest burden of HAI in the 75–84- and over-85-year age groups, and surgical-site infections represented the largest burden in inpatients under 75 years of age. The prevalence of urinary catheterization was higher in each of the over-65 age groups (P<.0001). Importantly, this study reveals that a high prevalence of HAI in inpatients over the age of 65 years is found across a range of specialties within acute hospital care. An increased prevalence of HAI was observed in medical, orthopedic, and surgical specialties.

Conclusions.

HAI is an important outcome indicator of acute inpatient hospital care, and our analysis demonstrates that HAI prevalence increases linearly with increasing age (P<.0001). Focusing interventions on preventing urinary tract infection and gastrointestinal infections would have the biggest public health benefit. To ensure patient safety, the importance of age as a risk factor for HAI cannot be overemphasized to those working in all areas of acute care.
Hepatitis B Vaccination Coverage and Documented Seroprotection among Matriculating Healthcare Students at an Academic Institution in the United States
Authors: Tohme Rania A. , Ribner Bruce , Huey Michael J. , Spradling Philip R.
Published: July 2011

We evaluated hepatitis B vaccination coverage and documentation of antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs) concentration among a cohort of healthcare students. Of 4,075 students, 59.8% had documentation of vaccination and 83.8% had anti-HBs concentration greater than or equal to 10 mIU/mL. Documenting hepatitis B vaccination and anti-HBs concentration among healthcare students is needed to prevent transmission in healthcare settings.
Validation and mismatch repair of workflows through typed data streams
Authors: Yaikhom Gagarine , Atkinson Malcolm P. , van Hemert Jano I. , Corcho Oscar , Krause Amy
Published: July 2011

The type system of a language guarantees that all of the operations on a set of data comply with the rules and conditions set by the language. While language typing is a fundamental requirement for any programming language, the typing of data that flow between processing elements within a workflow is currently being treated as optional. In this paper, we introduce a three-level type system for typing workflow data streams. These types are parts of the Data Intensive System Process Engineering Language programming language, which empowers users with the ability to validate the connections inside a workflow composition, and apply appropriate data type conversions when necessary. Furthermore, this system enables the enactment engine in carrying out type-directed workflow optimizations.
Towards victim-oriented crime modelling in a social science e-infrastructure
Authors: Malleson Nick , Birkin Mark
Published: July 2011

The National e-Infrastructure for Social Simulation (NeISS) is a multi-disciplinary collaboration between computation and social science within the UK Digital Social Research programme. The project aims to develop new tools and services for social scientists and planners to assist in performing ‘what-if’ scenario predictions in a variety of policy contexts. A key part of the NeISS remit is to explore real-world scenarios and evaluate real policy applications. Research into the processes and drivers behind crime is an important application area that has major implications for both improving crime-related policy and developing effective crime prevention strategies. This paper will discuss how the current e-infrastructure and available microsimulation tools can be used to improve an existing agent-based burglary simulation (BurgdSIM) by including a more realistic representation of the victims of crime. Results show that the model produces different spatial patterns when individual-level victim data are used and a risk profile of the synthetic victims suggests which types of people have the largest burglary risk.
Stork data scheduler: mitigating the data bottleneck in e-Science
Authors: Kosar Tevfik , Balman Mehmet , Yildirim Esma , Kulasekaran Sivakumar , Ross Brandon
Published: July 2011

In this paper, we present the Stork data scheduler as a solution for mitigating the data bottleneck in e-Science and data-intensive scientific discovery. Stork focuses on planning, scheduling, monitoring and management of data placement tasks and application-level end-to-end optimization of networked inputs/outputs for petascale distributed e-Science applications. Unlike existing approaches, Stork treats data resources and the tasks related to data access and movement as first-class entities just like computational resources and compute tasks, and not simply the side-effect of computation. Stork provides unique features such as aggregation of data transfer jobs considering their source and destination addresses, and an application-level throughput estimation and optimization service. We describe how these two features are implemented in Stork and their effects on end-to-end data transfer performance.
Octahedral tilts, symmetry-adapted displacive modes and polyhedral volume ratios in perovskite structures
Authors: Wang Di , Angel Ross J.
Published: July 2011

The structures of tilted perovskites in each of the 15 tilt systems have been decomposed into the amplitudes of symmetry-adapted modes in order to provide a clear and unambiguous definition of the tilt angles. A full expression in terms of the mode amplitudes for the ratio of the volumes of the two polyhedra within the perovskite structure for each of the 15 tilt systems is derived, along with more general expressions in terms of either mode amplitudes or tilt angles that can be used to estimate this ratio when the distortions of the octahedra are small.
Determination of the crystal structure of nifedipine form C by synchrotron powder diffraction
Authors: Bortolotti Mauro , Lonardelli Ivan , Pepponi Giancarlo
Published: July 2011

The crystal structure of the metastable form C polymorph of nifedipine [C17H18N2O6, 3,5-dimethyl 2,6-dimethyl-4-(2-nitrophenyl)-1,4-dihydropyridine-3,5-dicarboxylate] was determined by means of direct-space techniques applied to high-resolution synchrotron powder diffraction data. The polymorph crystallizes in the space group P\bar 1 and exhibits a molecular packing significantly different from that of the stable modification, with molecules aligned in an orthogonal configuration inside the unit cell. The molecular conformation, on the other hand, remains substantially unmodified between the two polymorphs. Additionally, in situ thermal characterization of nifedipine crystallization behaviour was performed, confirming the nucleation of another metastable polymorph (form B) prior to the complete crystallization of the stable modification. A complete structural characterization of form B was not possible owing to its very limited stability interval.
R-free factor and experimental charge-density analysis of 1-(2′-aminophenyl)-2-methyl-4-nitroimidazole: a crystal structure withZ′ = 2
Authors: Paul Agnieszka , Kubicki Maciej , Jelsch Christian , Durand Pierrick , Lecomte Claude
Published: July 2011

The experimental charge-density distribution was determined for 1-(2′-aminophenyl)-2-methyl-4-nitro-1H-imidazole crystals. An anharmonic model was applied to the N atoms of both amino groups and to one nitro group in order to account for high residual peaks after harmonic multipole refinement and to obtain a better charge-density model. FreeR-factor calculations [Brünger (1992).Nature,355, 472–475] with restrained models implemented inMoProwere used to determine the degree of similarity of the two symmetry-independent molecules in the unit cell. The results are compared with 1-phenyl-4-nitroimidazole in order to analyze the influence of the amine and methyl functional groups. The asymmetric unit contains two symmetry-independent molecules giving rise to a dimer connectedviastrong N—H...N hydrogen bonds; these dimers are the building blocks of the crystal. In the crystal structure there are also weaker interactions and many short directional contacts (C—H...O, C—H...N and C—H...π), for which the Koch–Popelier topological criteria were applied. This analysis revealed that the C—H...π interactions lie at the border between weak hydrogen bonds and van der Waals interactions. Special attention was also paid to stabilizing H...H interactions. It turned out that the electron density, Laplacian and density energies at the critical points show an exponential dependence on the contact distance, similar to the relation found for other interactions.
Structural building principles of complex face-centered cubic intermetallics
Authors: Dshemuchadse Julia , Jung Daniel Y. , Steurer Walter
Published: July 2011

Fundamental structural building principles are discussed for all 56 known intermetallic phases with approximately 400 or more atoms per unit cell and space-group symmetry F\bar{4}3m, Fd\bar{3}m, Fd\bar{3}, Fm\bar{3}m or Fm\bar{3}c. Despite fundamental differences in chemical composition, bonding and electronic band structure, their complex crystal structures show striking similarities indicating common building principles. We demonstrate that the structure-determining elements are flat and puckered atomic {110} layers stacked with periodicities 2p. The atoms on this set of layers, which intersect each other, form pentagon face-sharing endohedral fullerene-like clusters arranged in a face-centered cubic packing (f.c.c.). Due to their topological layer structure, all these crystal structures can be described as (p × p × p) = p
3-fold superstructures of a common basic structure of the double-diamond type. The parameter p, with p = 3, 4, 7 or 11, is determined by the number of layers per repeat unit and the type of cluster packing, which in turn are controlled by chemical composition.
Good care in group home living for people with dementia. Experiences of residents, family and nursing staff
Authors: van Zadelhoff Ezra , Verbeek Hilde , Widdershoven Guy , van Rossum Erik , Abma Tineke
Published: July 2011

Aims and objectives:  To investigate experiences of residents, their family caregivers and nursing staff in group living homes for older people with dementia and their perception of the care process.

Background:  Traditional nursing homes for people with dementia have several shortcomings related to depersonalisation, passivity, loss of skills and use of physical restraints. Group living homes are seen as an alternative to regular nursing homes, but experiences with this new care setting have rarely been investigated.

Design:  The study followed a naturalistic design. Qualitative data were collected over a period of 6 months in two group living homes located in the southern part of the Netherlands.

Methods:  Systematic participatory observations were carried out during daily life, care and activities in both homes. In addition, semi‐structured interviews were held with residents, their family and nursing staff. These data were inductively analysed and related to Tronto’s care ethical framework.

Results:  According to all parties, group living homes create structural opportunities for individualised care and attention to the residents’ personal needs. The increased attentiveness and responsiveness for residents’ well‐being was seen as a sign of good care and fits with the phases of caring about and receiving care of Tronto’s care ethical model. However, tensions occurred relating to the phases of taking responsibility and carrying out care. Not all residents and family members want or are able to take responsibility and perform self‐care.

Conclusions:  Group living homes create conditions for good care and stimulate attentiveness and responsiveness. Tensions in these homes may relate to the new division of responsibilities and tasks.

Relevance to clinical practice:  Values of attention to needs and responsiveness are of high importance for nursing staff to provide good care for people with dementia in a nursing home setting.
Non‐medical prescribing: audit, practice and views
Authors: GUMBER R. , KHOOSAL D. , GAJEBASIA N.
Published: July 2011

Accessible summary

Prescribing by nurses and pharmacists (termed ‘non‐medical prescribing’) was implemented nationally to provide a quicker service for patients. We wished to determine whether prescribing nurses and pharmacists within one UK mental health service adhered to the Department of Health's UK Standards which were produced to ensure that safe practices were in place. We also wished to obtain the views and experiences of local non‐medical prescribers about their work as this had not previously been elicited. To do this, data were collected using an anonymized questionnaire.

We found that 75% of our prescribers met the UK Standards. In all, 25% of non‐medical prescribers reported that regular supervision was not taking place. Non‐medical prescribers believed that non‐medical prescribing had benefited psychiatric patients. Some non‐medical prescribers expressed concern about lack of training and supervision. Non‐medical prescribers reported that they appreciated the availability of psychiatrists for support when necessary even though some disagreement occasionally arose.

If the results we obtained are replicated in other Mental Health Trusts, it would appear that non‐medical prescribing could represent safe clinical practice provided there is strict adherence to UK Standards. This could encourage an increased uptake of non‐medical prescribing particularly in speciality areas such as substance misuse and old age psychiatry or in those parts of the country where there is a shortage of psychiatrists. Psychiatric nurses are well placed to do this as they are the largest group of staff providing care in this discipline.

Non‐medical prescribing is increasingly utilized in clinical care and UK Standards have been produced for this. This study was undertaken to investigate compliance with these standards which were adopted by one mental health service and to review whether any changes were necessary to existing arrangements monitoring this compliance. A questionnaire was distributed to all 24 non‐medical prescribers from one UK Mental Health Trust. Participants were asked to respond to questions about demographic data and prescribing practices. We also asked them to rate their experience on a 5‐point scale. In all, 83% of non‐medical prescribers responded. The UK Standards were met even though there was a shortfall in the uptake of training and supervision. Non‐medical prescribers from the Community Drug Team and Older People's Service prescribed a narrow range of speciality drugs than any other category of drugs, but prescribed more often. UK Standards were met by the majority of non‐medical prescribers. However, concerns were noted about a shortfall in training, supervision and experience of some non‐medical prescribers. Conflict with psychiatrists was reported but their availability for support when necessary was valued. Non‐medical prescribers believed that their input with non‐medical prescribing had benefited patients.
Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic modelling of robenacoxib in a feline tissue cage model of inflammation
Authors: PELLIGAND L. , KING J. N. , TOUTAIN P. L. , ELLIOTT J. , LEES P.
Published: July 2011

Pelligand, L., King, J. N., Toutain, P. L., Elliott, J., Lees, P. Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic modelling of robenacoxib in a feline tissue cage model of inflammation. J. vet. Pharmacol. Therap. 35, 19–32.

Robenacoxib is a novel nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drug developed for use in cats. It is a highly selective COX‐2 inhibitor. Results from previous feline studies showed that, despite a short half‐life in blood, the effect of robenacoxib persisted for 24 h in clinical studies. A tissue cage model of acute inflammation was used to determine robenacoxib’s pharmacokinetics and its ex vivo and in vivo selectivity for COX‐1 and COX‐2 using serum TxB2 and exudate PGE2 as surrogate markers for enzyme activity, respectively. After intravenous, subcutaneous and oral administration (2 mg/kg), the clearance of robenacoxib from blood was rapid (0.54–0.71 L·h/kg). The mean residence time (MRT) in blood was short (0.4, 1.9 and 3.3 h after intravenous, subcutaneous and oral administration, respectively), but in exudate MRT was approximately 24 h regardless of the route of administration. Robenacoxib inhibition of COX‐1 in blood was transient, occurring only at high concentrations, but inhibition of COX‐2 in exudate persisted to 24 h. The potency ratio (IC50 COX‐1: IC50 COX‐2) was 171:1, and slopes of the concentration–effect relationship were 1.36 and 1.12 for COX‐1 and COX‐2, respectively. These data highlight the enzymatic selectivity and inflamed tissue selectivity of robenacoxib and support the current recommendation of once‐daily administration.