bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cervical Partial Hydatidiform Molar Pregnancy
Authors: Aytan Hakan , Caliskan Ahmet C. , Demirturk Fazli , Koseoglu R. Dogan , Acu Berat
Published: June 2008

Background: Cervical hydatidiform molar pregnancy is an exceedingly rare occurrence that has been reported only twice before. Case: We report a 25-year-old, G4P1D&C2 woman with a positive pregnancy test and vaginal bleeding. A cervical pregnancy with hydatidiform mole was detected on transvaginal ultrasound and color Doppler examinations. Magnetic resonance imaging was used to localize the lesion. Dilatation and curettage was performed and bleeding that was initially brisk ceased after bimanual pressure. Histopathological examination revealed a partial hydatidiform molar pregnancy. Serial β-hCG measurements showed a decline without need for adjuvant chemotherapy. Conclusion: Conservative fertility-sparing management was successful in this potentially fatal rare case.
Hydroxysafflor Yellow A Inhibits Rat Brain Mitochondrial Permeability Transition Pores by a Free Radical Scavenging Action
Authors: Tian Jingwei , Li Guisheng , Liu Zhifeng , Fu Fenghua
Published: June 2008

Hydroxysafflor yellow A (HSYA), the major and most active antioxidant from Carthamus tinctorius L., has been clinically prescribed in China to treat patients with cerebral ischemia, but the detailed mechanism is not known. This study examines the effect of HSYA on mitochondrial permeability transition pores (mtPTP) in the rat brain. HSYA at 10–80 µmol·l–1 inhibited Ca2+- and H2O2-induced swelling of mitochondria isolated from rat brains. The addition of Ca2+ generated reactive oxygen species (ROS) in isolated mitochondria. HSYA (10–80 µmol·l–1) inhibited Ca2+-induced generation of ROS. At the same time, HSYA significantly improved mitochondrial energy metabolism, enhanced ATP levels and the respiratory control ratio. These results suggest that HSYA inhibits the opening of mtPTP by a free radical scavenging action in the brain, and this may contribute to the neuroprotective effect of HSYA.
TAF1 Interacts with and Modulates Human Papillomavirus 16 E2-Dependent Transcriptional Regulation
Authors: Centeno Federico , Ramírez-Salazar Eric , García-Villa Enrique , Gariglio Patricio , Garrido Efraín
Published: June 2008

High-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the main etiological factor in the development of cervical cancer and viral type 16 is the most frequently found in this neoplasia. The E2 protein plays a key role in viral DNA replication, transcription and genome maintenance. E2 is a sequence-specific DNA-binding protein that activates or represses the transcriptional activity of promoters depending on the distance from the E2-binding sites to the TATA box. The transactivation properties of E2 are modulated by the interaction with several cellular factors that regulate the recruitment of transcription factor IID. Here, we demonstrate by pull-down assays the in vitro interaction of HPV16 E2 and TAF1. The domain of TAF1 necessary for the binding maps into its amino region, while the carboxy-terminal DNA-binding domain and the transactivation domain of the E2 protein are involved in the interaction. By transient cotransfection assays on C-33 A cells, we demonstrated that TAF1 enhances the activation of an E2-dependent artificial promoter while overexpression of TAF1 alleviates the E2-dependent repression of a high-risk HPV long control region. The specific modification of the transcriptional activity of both promoters by TAF1 suggests that the interaction between these proteins could participate in the modulation of the transregulatory properties of E2, with important biological consequences.
Control of Ovulation-Induced Hemoperitoneum by Oral Contraceptives in a Patient with Congenital Hypoprothrombinemia and in Another with Congenital Factor V Deficiency
Authors: Girolami A. , Lombardi A.M. , Candeo N. , Scarparo P. , Paternoster A.
Published: June 2008

Hemoperitoneum is a serious and often life-threatening bleeding manifestation. This is particularly true for women who carry congenital bleeding disorders. We describe here a hemoperitoneum occurring in 1 patient with congenital prothrombin deficiency and another with congenital factor V deficiency. Both patients have been followed by us for many years. The patient with prothrombin deficiency underwent laparoscopy but was treated consecutively with whole blood, plasma transfusions and 1,000 units of prothrombin complex concentrates. Response was good and she was then placed on oral contraceptives (OC) which prevented any recurrence. The patient with factor V deficiency presented several episodes of ovulation-related bleeding which required hospitalization and fresh frozen plasma transfusions. On the fifth occasion, the patient had to undergo surgery, and a left oophorectomy was carried out. After this last episode, she was also placed on OC which were very effective in preventing further recurrences. Both patients tolerated the medications very well which, in addition, were able to control menometrorrhagia with a consequent decrease over time in transfusional needs. OC are the treatment of choice in congenital bleeding disorders to control both the menorrhagia and, more importantly, ovulation-related hemoperitoneum.
Titin Isoforms, Extracellular Matrix, and Global Chamber Remodeling in Experimental Dilated Cardiomyopathy
Authors: Jaber Wissam A. , Maniu Calin , Krysiak Judith , Shapiro Brian P. , Meyer Donna M. , Linke Wolfgang A. , Redfield Margaret M.
Published: June 2008

Background—

Altered titin isoforms may modify cardiac function in heart failure (HF), but the nature of isoform switches and associated functional implications are not well defined. Limited studies have reported an increased compliant isoform (N2BA) expression in human systolic HF. Titin may also modulate stretch-regulated responses such as myocardial natriuretic peptide production.

Methods and Results—

We characterized titin isoform expression and extracellular matrix in all 4 cardiac chambers and the left ventricular (LV) epicardium and endocardium in normal dogs (n=6) and those with HF (n=6) due to tachypacing and characterized functional implications at the LV myofiber and chamber level. Recognizing the potential for uncoupling of the extracellular matrix and cardiomyocyte in tachypacing, myocardial natriuretic peptide production, a molecular marker of stretch-regulated responses, was also assessed. All chambers were dilated in HF, but the extracellular matrix was not increased. HF dogs had markedly lower N2BA in the atria and right ventricle. In failing LVs, N2BA was decreased only in the epicardium, where myofiber passive stiffness was increased. However, LV chamber mechanics were driven by the marked LV dilatation, with no increase in LV diastolic stiffness. Natriuretic peptide concentrations increased markedly in the endocardium in relation to increases in LV wall stress.

Conclusions—

Tachypacing HF is characterized by decreases in compliant titin isoform expression in the atria, right ventricle, and LV epicardium. However, LV chamber mechanics are principally determined by geometric and extracellular matrix changes rather than titin-based myofiber stiffness in this model. Stretch-regulated myocardial responses (natriuretic peptide production) appeared intact, suggesting that the mechanotransduction role of titin was not impaired in HF.
Divining Nuclear Intentions: A Review Essay
Authors: Potter William C. , Mukhatzhanova Gaukhar
Published: June 2008

Although projections of nuclear proliferation abound, they rarely are founded on empirical research or guided by theory. Even fewer studies are informed by a comparative perspective. The two books under review—The Psychology of Nuclear Proliferation: Identity, Emotions, and Foreign Policy, by Jacques Hymans, and Nuclear Logics: Alternative Paths in East Asia and the Middle East, by Etel Solingen, are welcome exceptions to this general state of affairs, and represent the cutting edge of nonproliferation research. Both works challenge conventional conceptions of the sources of nuclear weapons decisions and offer new insights into why past predictions of rapid proliferation failed to materialize and why current prognoses about rampant proliferation are similarly flawed. While sharing a number of common features, including a focus on subsystemic determinants of national behavior, the books differ in their methodology, level of analysis, receptivity to multicausal explanations, and assumptions about decisionmaker rationality and the revolutionary nature of the decision. Where one author emphasizes the importance of the individual leader's national identity conception in determining a state's nuclear path, the other explains nuclear decisions primarily with regard to the political-economic orientation of the ruling coalition. Notwithstanding a tendency to overinterpret evidence, the books represent the best of contemporary social science research and provide compelling interpretations of nuclear proliferation dynamics of great relevance to scholars and policymakers alike.
How American Treaty Behavior Threatens National Security
Authors: Chayes Antonia
Published: June 2008

In recent years, American treaty behavior has produced growing concern among both allies and less friendly nations. On such fundamental issues as nuclear proliferation, terrorism, human rights, civil liberties, environmental disasters, and commerce, the United States has generated confusion and anger abroad. Such a climate is not conducive to needed cooperation in the conduct of foreign and security policy. Among U.S. actions that have caused concern are the failure to ratify several treaties; the attachment of reservations, understandings, and declarations before ratification; the failure to support a treaty regime once ratified; and treaty withdrawal. The structural and historical reasons for American treaty behavior are deeply rooted in the United States' system of government and do not merely reflect superpower arrogance.
The Derivation of kordiakos: A New Proposal
Authors: Rainbow Jesse John
Published: June 2008

The medical term kordiakos (m. Git. 7:1) is derived not from the anatomical situs of disease, but from the harmful action of a pathogenic demon who acts upon the "heart" to effect a husband's legal incompetence. This is consistent with the Talmud's own definition of kordiakos as the name of a spirit. The Talmud's interest in tales of Solomon's mastery of the demons (b. Git. 67b-71b) is due to the derivation of kordiakos from the verb καρδιóω in Song 4:9 (LXX), which readers understood to describe the enchantment whereby Solomon was led to his own moral collapse (1 Kgs 11:1-10).
Christ King: A Charismatic Appeal for an Ecological Lifestyle
Authors: Suurmond Jean-Jacques
Published: June 2008

As yet, neither Pentecostalism nor the charismatic renewal has produced a consistent theology involving the whole of life. In this article, I hope to show how the spiritual gifts (charisms), poured out on the Church, entail the challenge to manifest the universal reign of Christ. By anticipating the end of creation in which God will become "all in all," his eschatological reign promotes already in the present an ecological unity in diversity.
Reconciled Diversity: Where Evangelicals and Catholics Fear To Tread
Authors: Le Bruyns Clint
Published: June 2008

This article explores the relationship and interaction between the Roman Catholic Church and Evangelicals as a test case for religious dialogue in general. Apart from the more recent history of this dialogue the article also identifies a numbers of threats to the search for approchement amidst diversity.
An Intercomparison of Model Simulations and VPR Estimates of the Vertical Structure of Warm Stratiform Rainfall during TWP-ICE
Authors: Prat Olivier P. , Barros Ana P. , Williams Christopher R.
Published: June 2008

A model of rain shaft microphysics that solves the stochastic advection–coalescence–breakup equation in an atmospheric column was used to simulate the evolution of a stratiform rainfall event during the Tropical Warm Pool-International Cloud Experiment (TWP-ICE) in Darwin, Australia. For the first time, a dynamic simulation of the evolution of the drop spectra within a one-dimensional rain shaft is performed using realistic boundary conditions retrieved from real rain events. Droplet size distribution (DSD) retrieved from vertically pointing radar (VPR) measurements are sequentially imposed at the top of the rain shaft as boundary conditions to emulate a realistic rain event. Time series of model profiles of integral parameters such as reflectivity, rain rate, and liquid water content were subsequently compared with estimates retrieved from vertically pointing radars and Joss–Waldvogel disdrometer (JWD) observations. Results obtained are within the VPR retrieval uncertainty estimates. Besides evaluating the model’s ability to capture the dynamical evolution of the DSD within the rain shaft, a case study was conducted to assess the potential use of the model as a physically based interpolator to improve radar retrieval at low levels in the atmosphere. Numerical results showed that relative improvements on the order of 90% in the estimation of rain rate and liquid water content can be achieved close to the ground where the VPR estimates are less reliable. These findings raise important questions with regard to the importance of bin resolution and the lack of sensitivity for small raindrop size (<0.03 cm) in the interpretation of JWD data, and the implications of using disdrometer data to calibrate radar algorithms.
Diagnostic Analysis of Tidal Winds and the Eliassen–Palm Flux Divergence in the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere from TIMED/SABER Temperatures
Authors: Zhu Xun , Yee Jeng-Hwa , Talaat E. R. , Mlynczak M. , Russell J. M.
Published: June 2008

For migrating tides or fast-moving planetary waves, polarization relations derived from the linear wave equations are required to accurately derive the wind components from the temperature field. A common problem in diagnosing winds from the measured temperature is the error amplification associated with apparent singularities in the wave polarization relations. The authors have developed a spectral module that accurately derives tidal winds from the measured tidal temperature field and effectively eliminates the error amplification near the apparent singularities. The algorithm is used to perform a diagnostic analysis of tidal winds and the Eliassen–Palm (EP) flux divergence in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) based on the zonal mean and tidal temperature fields derived from 6 yr of temperature measurements made by the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) instrument onboard the Thermosphere–Ionosphere–Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite. The derived zonal mean wind and diurnal tidal amplitude reveal new insights into the mesospheric biennial oscillation (MBO) that exists in the MLT at both equatorial and midlatitude regions. The equatorial MBO in the zonal mean wind is present in the entire mesosphere from 50 to 90 km. The equatorial MBO in the temperature amplitude of the diurnal tide occurs near the mesopause region between 80 and 90 km and is largely coincident with the downward phase propagation of the equatorial MBO in the zonal mean wind, indicating a possible mechanism of wave–mean flow interaction between the two. On the other hand, the newly discovered midlatitude MBOs in zonal mean wind and the meridional wind in diurnal tide occur at different altitudes, suggesting possibly a remote forcing–response relationship. The acceleration or deceleration of the zonal mean wind due to EP flux divergence that is contributed by the migrating tides peaks at midlatitudes with a typical value of 10–20 m s−1 day−1 around 95 km.
Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Interaction and Variability in the Tropical Atlantic Ocean with and without an Annual Cycle
Authors: Bates Susan C.
Published: June 2008

Many previous studies point to a connection between the annual cycle and interannual variability in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. To investigate the importance of the annual cycle in the generation of tropical Atlantic variability (TAV) as well as its associated coupled feedback mechanisms, a set of controlled experiments is conducted using a global coupled ocean–atmosphere general circulation model (GCM) in which the climatological annual cycle is modified. An anomaly coupling strategy was developed to improve the model-simulated annual cycle and mean sea surface temperature (SST), which is critical to the experiments. Experiments include a control simulation in which the annual cycle is present and a fixed annual cycle simulation in which the coupled model is forced to remain in a perpetual annual mean state. Results reveal that the patterns of TAV, defined as the leading three rotated EOFs, and their relationship to coupled feedback mechanisms are present even in the absence of the annual cycle, suggesting that the generation of TAV is not dependent on the annual cycle. Each pattern of variability arises from an alteration of the easterly trade winds. Results suggest that it is the presence of these winds in the mean state that is the determining factor for the structure of the coupled ocean–atmosphere variability. Additionally, the patterns of variability persist longer in the simulation with no annual cycle. Most remarkable is the doubling of the decay phase related to the north tropical Atlantic variability, which is attributed to the persistence of the local wind–evaporation–sea surface temperature (WES) feedback mechanism. The author concludes that the annual cycle acts to cut off or interrupt conditions favorable for feedback mechanisms to operate, therefore putting a limit on the length of the event life cycle.
Tropical Pacific Climate and Its Response to Global Warming in the Kiel Climate Model
Authors: Park W. , Keenlyside N. , Latif M. , Ströh A. , Redler R. , Roeckner E. , Madec G.
Published: June 2008

A new, non-flux-corrected, global climate model is introduced, the Kiel Climate Model (KCM), which will be used to study internal climate variability from interannual to millennial time scales and climate predictability of the first and second kind. The version described here is a coarse-resolution version that will be employed in extended-range integrations of several millennia. KCM’s performance in the tropical Pacific with respect to mean state, annual cycle, and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is described. Additionally, the tropical Pacific response to global warming is studied.

Overall, climate drift in a multicentury control integration is small. However, KCM exhibits an equatorial cold bias at the surface of the order 1°C, while strong warm biases of several degrees are simulated in the eastern tropical Pacific on both sides off the equator, with maxima near the coasts. The annual and semiannual cycles are realistically simulated in the eastern and western equatorial Pacific, respectively. ENSO performance compares favorably to observations with respect to both amplitude and period.

An ensemble of eight greenhouse warming simulations was performed, in which the CO2 concentration was increased by 1% yr−1 until doubling was reached, and stabilized thereafter. Warming of equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) is, to first order, zonally symmetric and leads to a sharpening of the thermocline. ENSO variability increases because of global warming: during the 30-yr period after CO2 doubling, the ensemble mean standard deviation of Niño-3 SST anomalies is increased by 26% relative to the control, and power in the ENSO band is almost doubled. The increased variability is due to both a strengthened (22%) thermocline feedback and an enhanced (52%) atmospheric sensitivity to SST; both are associated with changes in the basic state. Although variability increases in the mean, there is a large spread among ensemble members and hence a finite probability that in the “model world” no change in ENSO would be observed.
Cloud and Water Vapor Feedbacks in a Vertical Energy-Balance Model with Maximum Entropy Production
Authors: Wang Biao , Nakajima Teruyuki , Shi Guangyu
Published: June 2008

A vertically one-dimensional model is developed with cloud fraction constrained by the maximum entropy production (MEP) principle. The model reasonably reproduces the global mean climate with its surface temperature, radiation and heat fluxes, cloud fraction, and lapse rate. The maximum convection hypothesis in Paltridge’s models is related to the MEP principle, and the MEP state of climate is approximately equivalent to that with the maximum lapse rate. The sensitivity investigation about the model assumptions and the prescribed parameters show that the model is considerably robust in simulating the global mean climate. With the MEP constraint, the feedbacks of cloud and water vapor to external forcings, such as changes of CO2 concentration, solar incidence, and surface albedo, are evaluated. While water vapor always behaves as a strong positive feedback, cloud feedbacks to the different forcings are different, in both magnitude and sign. The modeled feedback of cloud fraction to the forcing resulting from surface albedo variation seems in good agreement with the observed seasonal variation of the global cloud fraction.
Accuracy in Mooring Motion Temperature Corrections
Authors: Meinen Christopher S.
Published: June 2008

Moored temperature sensors, whether fixed or profiling, routinely need to be corrected to remove the signals associated with the vertical motion of the sensors when the moorings “blow over” in strong flow events (for profiling sensors the problems occur only at the upper end of the profiling range). Hydrographic data are used to estimate the accuracy with which moored temperature sensors in the Gulf Stream can be corrected for mooring motion aliasing using standard correction techniques, and the implications for other ocean regions are discussed. Comparison with hydrographic data and coincident inverted echo sounder (IES) data from the Synoptic Ocean Prediction Experiment (SYNOP) shows that the errors inherent in mooring motion corrected temperatures during significant pressure deflections are potentially 2–3 times as large as previous estimates based on a smaller dataset of observations in the Kuroshio at approximately the same latitude in the Pacific. For sensors with a nominal level of 400 dbar and a typical root-mean-square pressure deflection of 150 dbar, accuracy limits of up to 0.7°C on the “corrected” temperatures are applicable. Deeper sensors typically have smaller accuracy bounds. There is a suggestion that the presence of a mode water layer near the nominal depth of the shallowest sensor can result in much higher errors in mooring motion corrected temperature data. The accuracy estimates derived herein should apply not only to moorings deployed in the Gulf Stream but also to all currents that exhibit similar velocity amplitudes and thermal gradients such as the Agulhas or Kuroshio.
Impact of Satellite Observations on the Tropical Cyclone Track Forecasts of the Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System
Authors: Goerss James S.
Published: June 2008

The tropical cyclone (TC) track forecasts of the Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System (NOGAPS) were evaluated for a number of data assimilation experiments conducted using observational data from two periods: 4 July–31 October 2005 and 1 August–30 September 2006. The experiments were designed to illustrate the impact of different types of satellite observations on the NOGAPS TC track forecasts. The satellite observations assimilated in these experiments consisted of feature-track winds from geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites, Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) total column precipitable water and wind speeds, Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A) radiances, and Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) and European Remote Sensing Satellite-2 (ERS-2) scatterometer winds. There were some differences between the results from basin to basin and from year to year, but the combined results for the 2005 and 2006 test periods for the North Pacific and Atlantic Ocean basins indicated that the assimilation of the feature-track winds from the geostationary satellites had the most impact, ranging from 7% to 24% improvement in NOGAPS TC track forecasts. This impact was statistically significant at all forecast lengths. The impact of the assimilation of SSM/I precipitable water was consistently positive and statistically significant at all forecast lengths. The improvements resulting from the assimilation of AMSU-A radiances were also consistently positive and significant at most forecast lengths. There were no significant improvements/degradations from the assimilation of the other satellite observation types [e.g., Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) winds, SSM/I wind speeds, and scatterometer winds]. The assimilation of all satellite observations resulted in a gain in skill of roughly 12 h for the NOGAPS 48- and 72-h TC track forecasts and a gain in skill of roughly 24 h for the 96- and 120-h forecasts. The percent improvement in these forecasts ranged from almost 20% at 24 h to over 40% at 120 h.
Efficiency, Satisfaction and Democracy in Work: Conceptions of Industrial Relations in Post-war Sweden
Authors: Dahlström Edmund
Published: June 2008

This paper is part of an extensive one-man project (Social Trends and Movements in Post-war Sweden) exploring structural changes, and relating them to trends and social movements and seeing the development both as a result of naturalistic forces and as a human drama of conscious movements. It is also a personal document from an industrial sociologist with socialist visions, who started research far back in the 40's. It is a shortened and revised version of the original paper presented in a preliminary version at the Polish-Swedish Seminar on Sociology of Work and Social Policy in Warsaw (October 1976), and later introduced at a seminar on Participation, Workers Control, Self Management, Self Govern ment in Dubrovnik, February 1977. The original analyses the structural and political changes in Sweden as a background for understanding changes in industrial relations and is available as a mimeographed research report from the sociological department of Gothenburg. Some of the references in the original paper have been omitted in this shortened version.
Centre and Periphery: the Marriage of Two Minds
Authors: McKenzie Nigel
Published: June 2008

The article takes up the problem of the centre/periphery concept as it is encountered in social science; specifically in the theories of Johan Galtung, Stein Rokkan, Andre Gunder Frank and Jon Naust dalslid. The author in analysing the theories of Galtung and Gun der Frank finds that the problem of uniting geographic and socio- economic space is not solved, because centre and periphery are seen as points on a 'flow diagram'. Rokkan's more modest theory suffers from the separation of form and content. From this cri tique the author develops, through a reformulation of Naustdalslid's thesis a concept of centre and periphery based on modes of produc tion, linked by an economic integration mode derived from Polanyi.
Magnitude and Source of Compensation in Two Situations of Distributive Injustice'
Authors: Törnblom Kjell Y.
Published: June 2008

A structural and propositional elaboration is presented of work in the area of distributive justice. An experiment is designed to test selected hypotheses derived from that elaboration. The main objec tives of the present study are: (1) to examine the amounts of compensation sought by subjects in two situations of injustice (Under/Over and Under/Just); (2) to examine whether the amount of compensation sought will differ in accord with the magnitude of injustice, when the latter is varied through a manipulation of relative inputs; (3) to examine whether subjects prefer to exact compensation directly from the source of injustice or from an 'experimental fund'; and (4) to examine whether the amount of compensation will differ in two situations, one in which compen sations can only be obtained from the source of injustice (Forced condition), and the other in which a choice can be made between taking from either the source or from an 'experimental fund' (Choice condition).

A 2 x 2 factorial design was employed with the two situations of injustice and the two conditions of compensation alternative comprising the independent variables. The results suggest a different set of predictions than those of J. Stacy Adams with regard to the rank order of injustice situations in terms of the magnitude of motivation to reduce injustice they generate. In addition, some theoretical and methodological implications are substantiated with regard to the suggestion that a given situation of injustice may vary in its magnitude, as determined by the structure of the parti cular 'minor' type involved. The results further show that subjects in the most unjust situation (Under/Over) are likely to retaliate directly against the source of injustice, while subjects in the least unjust situation (Under/Just) prefer compensation from an avail able experimental fund. Finally, subjects in the Under/Over-Choice condition exacted more money from the source of injustice than did subjects in the Under/Over-Forced condition, while subjects in the Under/Just-Choice condition took less from the source than subjects in the Under/Just-Forced condition.
From Level of Aspiration to Cognitive Dissonance, or, What the Middle Class Worries About
Authors: Israel Joachim
Published: June 2008

Social psychological theory has to a large extent been the psycho logy of the 'social' and not the sociological explaination of psycho logical phenomena and processes. In this article we attempt an analysis of the societal conditions seen as the neglected context of social psychological theories ranging from level of aspiration to cognitive dissonance. Three reasons for the choice of these theories are given (1) the author's own research in the field, (2) the coherence in these theoretical frameworks, and (3) the neglect of the societal relevance of the processes studied.

A main thesis is that the people who developed these theories be lieved they were about human beings in general. when they reflected the problems of an academic middle class in a highly competitive social setting, in which man is viewed as the sole proprietor of his capacities which he tries to exchange on the academic market place for a fair remuneration. The ideology of individualistic and competi tive liberalism is implicit in all these mentioned psychological theo ries. They are assumed as 'natural' and accepted without reflexion. Had this pre-theoretical bias been understood by those who devel oped the psychological theories their worries would have been different and their theories may have had a critical function and therefore an impact on society. The article therefore is not so , much a criticism of social psychological theories, as an attempt at criticism of ideology.
Notes on Alcohol and the State
Authors: Mäkelä Klaus , Viikari Matti
Published: June 2008

This article is a slightly shortened version of a paper presented at the IX Nordic Congress of Sociology held at Lund, Sweden, 15- 18 August 1976. It represents an attempt to determine the place of alcohol in society through the state and political processes. The attempt should primarily be viewed in relation to the different traditions of social alcohol research. At the same time, it may be regarded as an example of a study aiming to illustrate factors determining the relationship of the state to a given social pheno menon - in the present instance, to alcohol.

In the first section of this article, several factors are presented for consideration with regard to determining the over-all place of alcohol in any given society: the dominant use values of alcohol, the economic processes involved in the production and distribution of alcohol, the social circumstances and economic resources deter mining the structure of private consumption, and the social conse quences of drinking. Subsequently, the different traditions of social alcohol research are characterized according to the factors which they bring prominently to the fore in the determination of the role of alcohol in society.

In the second section of this article, the general tasks of the capitalist state are discussed, and four kinds of interests relative to alcohol are derived from these: state fiscal interests, interests of industrial policy, interests of public order, and social policy interests.

In the next four sections, attention is paid to the forms which each of the aforementioned interests take under different circum stances and as to how each interest should be described. At the same time, we have made an attempt to localize those objective factors which determine the relative importance of each interest under different social conditions.

The last section contains some general speculation as to the relationship of the state to alcohol under Nordic pre-capitalism, concurrence capitalism and monopoly capitalism.
Unequal Exchange and Uneven Development in Social Life: Continuities in a Structural Theory of Social Exchange
Authors: Burns Tom R.
Published: June 2008

The paper takes up two basic concepts in a structural theory of social exchange: the structuring of exchange systems and unequal exchange. The latter is conceptualized in terms of structural consequences of ex change activity. The two concepts are used to analyze the role of exchange activity in the production and reproduction of social structure and cor responding exchange systems.

The intentional structuring of exchange systems is the focus of the second part (Structuring exchange systems) with two examples from inter national political economy: the structuring of England/Portugal trade re lations in the seventeenth century and the formation of Bretton Woods economic institutions. The third part (Social structure and unequal ex change) examines the reciprocal relationship between social structure and unequal exchange processes. A general model is formulated and applied to exchange systems at different societal levels: husband/wife exchange. capitalist employer/labor exchange, and exchange between enterprises of developed and those of less developed countries. The fourth part (Ques tions for the future) refers to two matters for future research: the trans formation of unequal exchange systems and the role of social context in structuring the logic of social action and meaning in exchange activity.
The Popular Basis of Nordic Cooperation: A Danish Case Study
Authors: Petersen Nikolaj
Published: June 2008

Popular support for Nordic cooperation is seen as a precondition for the Nordic orientation in Danish foreign policy. A survey of mass attitudes shows that while Nordism is very widespread and strong, it tends to be especially strong in societal groups which for social, psychological or political reasons are less likely to be politically influential. The policy implications of this finding are discussed.
Trends in Interlocking Directorships: An International Comparison
Authors: Hughes Michael , Scott John , Mackenzie John
Published: June 2008

This paper critically examines Gustavsen's argument that the extent of interlocking in company directorships is dependent on the level of organization in the corporate environment. Gustavsen's analysis of Nor way and Sweden is compared with time-series data for Scotland from 1906 to 1973. The trend in the figures seems to contradict Gustavsen's argu ment, since the overall level of interlocking has decreased whilst the complexity of the environment has increased. It is argued, however, that interlocking is not the only index of corporate interconnection and that a full analysis must also take account of trends in company mergers and acquisitions.
Epistemology and the Problem of Materialism
Authors: Thomsen Hans Jørgen
Published: June 2008

Marxists have often been of the opinion that the natural sciences on the one hand and the social and humanistic sciences on the other were follow ing two fundamentally different logics of research, because their respec tive objects were fundamentally different. The following pages are wntten on the basis of the opposite opinion, i.e. that the objects of the natural sciences versus the social and humanistic sciences can be seen as incorpo rated parts of the same totalizing logic, which is established as part of and along with the emergence of the logic of capitalist society.

History and nature are then no longer fundamentally different, although in reality they might still appear to be so. On the contrary, with the development of capitalistic technology, historical dimensions as well as consciousness are - so to speak - transported into natural materiality, at the same time as the natural processes, too, begin to act historically, although not quite as a matter of consciousness as Descartes presented it, but perhaps as Hegel and Marx did. In this perspective the ecological problem is also about the fact that new and unforeseen types of processes appear in nature (i.e. unforeseen from the point of view of a postulated, forever valid logic in 'practice' on the one hand, as well as from the point of view of eternal natural laws/dialectics just as postulated on the other). To understand this a genuinely Marxist, critical-materialistic reflection is demanded, which can give the grounds for the emergence of these new fields of problems in social as well as natural sciences. Once more the Marxist dialectics will be able to unveil the rational essences as well as the ideological veilings of new sciences like ecology, cybernetics, theory of value, etc., which are the scientific reflections of these changes.

The following pages are just a slender contribution as they try to recon struct the contents of meaning in Marx's concepts of nature in an attempt to enable actual Marxist science as the only possible one to accomplish an emancipatorily oriented acquisition of the new phenomena, of which the above-mentioned sciences-to put it pointedly-are in fact nothing but symptoms.
Contemporary Capitalism and the Critique of Political Economy: Methodological Aspects
Authors: Kosonen Pekka
Published: June 2008

Recent changes in capitalism, especially the increasing role of the state, have brought up the question of the relationship of these changes to the general theory of capitalism. This also applies to a theory such as Marx's critique of political economy. The critique of political economy can be viewed as a theory which exposes the basic nature of the capitalist mode of production: it is the theory of a specific - the capitalist - social formation. The specificity of capitalism finds explanation in its predominant value and capital relations. Now, in the presentation of the critique of political economy, in Marx Capital , one should place emphasis on certain metho dological solutions. In the first place, the presentation proceeds from the most abstract concepts to the most concrete, a movement which consti tutes the crux of Marx's dialectic method. Secondly, we can distinguish between different levels in the presentation: the internal laws of capitalism and their mode of realization. This means that Marx not only revealed the laws of capitalism but also indicated how they find expression. In addition, it should be pointed out that Capital is not merely an abstract-logical discourse, rather we must also take into account, on the one hand, the relationship of the logical to the historical in Capital, and the laws of development which demonstrate the contradictory development of capi talism on the other.

Monopoly theory has dealt with the question of how free competition was transformed into monopoly capitalism. This transformation is locat ed on the level of the realization of the laws of capitalism, since the laws themselves (the internal nature of capitalism) do not change. In explain ing the genesis of the monopoly it is necessary to analyze the exacerba tion of the contradictions derived from capitalism's laws of development. Generally speaking, the question of the relationship of the historical de velopment of the capitalist mode of production to the critique of political economy can be called the historicity problem. In its resolution, one must take into account the fact, first of all, that theories of the new stages of the development of capitalism have their own historical preconditions (in particular, precursory empirical research), and secondly, that in spite of its pivotal position, the critique of political economy is not in itself suffi cient for explaining transformations; it must be linked to other theories.
Review Article : A Marxist Theory of Class Struggle
Authors: Schmidt Lars-Henrik
Published: June 2008

In this short review the author gives a brief introduction to two new works from the French Althusser school. It deals with problems like surplus value, dictatorship of the proletariat and class struggle. Since the appear ance of Pour Marx and Lire le Capital (Paris 1965) the Althusser school has been one of the most important Marxist innovations. The school has above all attempted to emphasize the class struggle and its status within Marxist-Leninist theory.
Sport and Intracultural Social Change: A Longitudinal Analysis
Authors: Kiviaho Pekka
Published: June 2008

Economic and social changes in advanced countries have affected the development and growth of sports federations for the past fifty years. This paper focuses on the ways in which changes in the development of organi zed sport reflect politico-structural changes in society and what factors are linked with them. Finland is regarded as a good area of research because of the differentiation in sports movements after the civil war in 1919 and the enormous growth in the support of sports federations after the Second World War. The main targets are the Finnish Central Sports Federation and the Workers' Sports Federation. Social cleavages between the work ing and bourgeois classes. between ethnic groups (Finnish and the Swed ish speaking population), as well as different socio-economic factors have affected their development and growth both quantitatively and qualitatively. Changes in support for the Central Federation are not in fluencedby situational structural factors and changes to the same extent as development possibilities in the Workers' Federation are. Support for the Central Federation is more dependent on general social-political condi tions, whereas support for the Workers' Federation with its closer leftist and labour movement links is more closely and directly connected with factors affecting the position of workers in society or their internal organi zations. In spite of many levelling factors, the connections are reflected in the development conditions of the two organizations even during the period after the Second World War. However, there are differences in the explanation of support during the pre-war and post-war periods.
Individual Consumption in Capitalism. An Exercise in the Logic of Capital
Authors: Sulkunen Pekka
Published: June 2008

This is a systematic analysis of the apparent contradictions of private consumption - growing discrepancy between productive potential and actual needs, the degenerating quality of consumption and so on - within the frame of Marx's critique of political economy. Similar analyses of other material and social areas of everyday life such as ideology, technolo gy, forms of consciousness, etc. are referred to as a 'subsumptive ap proach'.

By this is meant a theoretical standpoint that sees the capitalist social form as the subsumptive agent that renders the fundamental social deter minants to every sphere of social life. An exercise is undertaken in order - to see what the formal social determinants of consumption are in the capitalist mode of production. For this reason the determinants of con sumption are analysed in the reproductive circuit of individual capital. The- implications and limitations of this analysis are discussed with respect to problems relating to the theoretical stipulations of the subsumption ap proach and the empirical study of the apparent contradictions of con sumption.
The 'New' Sociology of Education and the Study of Learning Environments: Prospects and Problems*
Authors: Saha Lawrence J.
Published: June 2008

This paper critically examines the 'new' sociology of education with respect to the study of learning environments. While borrowing much from the interpretive schools, such as symbolic interactionism, phenome nology, ethnomethodology, and Marxism, the new paradigm has emerged in Britain partly as a reaction to the lack of success of earlier reform policies based on traditional research. It promises to advance understan ding of educational processes related to classroom interaction, classroom language, and the curriculum. At the same time, ambiguous theoretical - links, an implicit positivism, and unresolved relativism toward policy - formulation weaken its appeal. Rather than replacing the traditional so ciology of education, the new paradigm complements it both theoretically and empincally.
Aristocracy of Labour: Some Old and New Problems
Authors: Toivonen Timo
Published: June 2008

The article can be summarized as follows: (1) Not all the most affluent workers belong to the aristocracy of labour; only those 'bribed' by mono polistic profits. (2) Lenin's thesis is that superprofits are acquired by the exploitation of colonies. Some later authors have tried to show that aris tocracy of labour in this sense has disappeared, and still others that all workers in developed countries belong to the aristocracy of labour. In my opinion, both are wrong. (3) The political meaning of aristocracy of labour was seen by Lenin in its intermediating of revisionistic ideas. (4) New social groups have arisen close, but somewhat superior, to the workers. These groups are sometimes called'the new anstocracy of labour', but it is questionable whether this label fits. (5) There are no empirical studies that try to fathom the 'real' peculiarities of the aristocracy of labour.
Serendipity Tails: A Note on Two Tailed Hypothesis Tests with Asymmetric Regions of Rejection1
Authors: Nosanchuk T.A.
Published: June 2008

Typical criteria for deciding whether to use one or two tailed tests of significance are examined in this paper and found to be too ambiguous to give the researcher useful guidance. This is unfortunate in that the decision creates a dilemma for the researcher. On the one hand, always using symmetric two tailed tests involves a substantial loss of power in the test. On the other hand, using the one tailed test may create the suspicion that the researcher 'peeked' at his data when the results are narrowly signifi cant, and, moreover, should the results substantially differ from the pre diction, the researcher may be unable to attach any statistical weight to the findings. It is suggested here that this dilemma can be satisfactorily sur mounted by avoiding the use of one tailed tests entirely in hypothesis- centered research; instead where the researcher has clear outcome ex pectations, using asymmetric two tailed tests with 90% of the probability in the expected tail and 10% in the unexpected direction to enable the researcher to pick up the serendipidous finding.
A Renewed Social Institution: Non-marital Cohabitation
Authors: Trost Jan
Published: June 2008

In this article it is shown that cohabitation (not legally married but living under marriage-like conditions) is an old Nordic tradition still remaining to some extent in Iceland and frequently occurring in Sweden and Denmark. Evidence proves that the ancient tradition of cohabitation is returning. It is assumed that the phenomenon of a post-industrialized society is instrumental in causing the societal change into this renewed social institution of cohabitation. It is also shown that the dyad as a stable unit is still popular, and thus that the nuclear family system is still preferred and prevalent.