bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Levels of Job Satisfaction among Healthcare Providers in CGHS Dispensaries
Authors: Bhandari Priyanka , Bagga Rajni , Nandan Deoki
Published: December 2010

In the labour-intensive health sector industry the quality of services is ultimately linked to the skills, motivation and satisfaction of the workers providing the healthcare services. Thus in order to study the job satisfaction level of the healthcare providers, so as to suggest measures to enhance it, the present study was carried out at CGHS which is one of the biggest public health sector organisations in the country and caters to a huge section of the organised sector.

Understanding the healthcare provider’s work satisfaction is crucial to the understanding of the dynamics of the healthcare provider’s work force. Job satisfaction has been shown to be important in the retention of the healthcare providers in a given community as low job satisfaction has been associated with an intention to relocate. Recent studies have reported that low levels of job satisfaction among healthcare providers affect the patient-provider relationship and also compromise the quality of healthcare services. The study was undertaken to assess the levels of job satisfaction among the healthcare providers in CGHS dispensaries.

A standardised tool developed by Peter Warr, John Cook and Toby Wall (1979) was used to measure the healthcare providers’ job satisfaction in the present study. For this study 250 healthcare providers working in the CGHS dispensaries of Delhi were interviewed. This included 100 doctors, 50 nurses and 100 paramedics which included both pharmacists and lab technicians. The findings of this study indicated that the levels of job satisfaction were not very high among the healthcare providers who were interviewed.
Gender and Household Health Expenditure in Odisha, India
Authors: Rout Himanshu Sekhar
Published: December 2010

Socially constructed gender has significant influence on the health and Household Health Expenditures (HHE). From the gender and health literatures, three things are clear: most of the studies are macro in nature and based on secondary data; there is lack of research on the issues of gender and health, and out of whatever researches exist, most focus on the female sex; and as health conditions are localised, there is a need for research on the micro aspects of gender and health. In this connection, the present article is a modest attempt to study the gender bias (or unbais) in the HHE based on primary data collected from four districts of Odisha, India, by adopting multi-stage random sampling method. To substantiate the gender bias (or unbais) in health expenditure, multiple regression analysis is used and descriptive statistics are estimated. The result shows that there is a significant difference between the average male and female HHE in rural, urban and combined areas but not in tribal areas. A comparative study of influence of gender on HHE in rural and urban areas shows that the influence of male on the average HHE in rural areas is more than in urban areas whereas the influence of female on it is higher in urban areas. But a comparative study of influence of gender on HHE in rural, urban and tribal areas shows that the influence of male and female on the average HEE is more in tribal areas than rural and urban areas. To reduce the gender disparity in HHE long-term and sustained improvements in women’s and men’s health is required. This may be brought out through expansion of education and economic opportunities among men and women. Moreover, a strong mental and attitudinal change in both men and women is essential.
Social Indicators Affecting Post-Tsunami Trauma of Survivors
Authors: Suar Damodar , Das Namita , Hota Laxmi Bilash
Published: December 2010

The study examines whether widow/widower status, educational level and family income influence post-tsunami trauma of survivors. The data were collected 14 months after the tsunami from 416 adult survivors in nine semi-urban habitations of Nagapattinam district in the state of Tamilnadu (India). Post-tsunami trauma was assessed using inventories of post-traumatic stress, depression, negative and positive affectivity, physical health symptoms and anxiety. Post-tsunami trauma of survivors has increased with increasing age, female gender and more exposure. Controlling the confounding effects of age, gender, and exposure; widow/widower status, illiteracy and lower family income are found to intensify trauma and are the risk factors for post-tsunami morbidity. Only illiterates do not report more physical health symptoms than literates, and lower family income neither heightens depression and negative affectivity nor lessens positive affectivity.
Toilets, Bodies, Selves: Enacting Composting as Counterculture in Hawai’i
Authors: Pickering Lucy
Published: December 2010

Defecation has received limited attention within the social sciences and humanities. Toilets not a great deal. Urination even less. However, examining the practice of composting faeces and ‘pee[ing] on any tree’ by white, West Coast US ‘hippies’ and ‘drop-outs’ living in Hawai’i suggests that the disposal of excreta is never simple disposal. Rather, it entails engagement with the state, one’s own body and sense of placedness. Through looking at the everyday defecatory practices of hippies and drop-outs in Hawai’i, this article seeks to examine the interplay of the acts of defecation and urination with the materiality of toilets themselves. Each depends on the other, and both exist in relation to various others: other toilet designs, other communities, other people. As such, it becomes possible to extend beyond Douglas’s argument that ‘dirt is matter out of place’ to explore the notion that — at least in relation to toilets — ‘dirt is relations out of place’. By placing relationships at the heart of this analysis of defecation and urination, this article provides fertile ground for the exploration of embodiment at its most base level, as site of generative action and social critique.
Reading Friedan: Toward a Feminist Articulation of Heart Disease
Authors: Pollock Anne
Published: December 2010

This article uses Betty Friedan’s idiosyncratic invocations of heart disease in her work from the 1960s through the 1990s, as well as her autobiographical comments about it and her theory of the feminine mystique, to grapple with a feminist articulation of heart disease. Although this leading cause of death for women in industrialized countries has been peripheral to feminist health discourse and most women’s preoccupations, heart disease played an interesting narrative role in Friedan’s work and life. Drawing on Friedan’s unconventional philosophy of health provides an opportunity to problematize health awareness and reconsider the role of disease and health in feminist critique more generally. As we try to understand gendered stories of disease that are emerging at the dawn of the 21st century, rereading Friedan can help illuminate the limits, possibilities and dangers of framing heart disease as a ‘women’s health issue’.
Sketching Under the Influence? Winsor McCay and the Question of Aesthetic Convergence Between Comic Strips and Film
Authors: Morton Drew
Published: December 2010

The formal similarities between comic strips and film have often sparked a contentious debate about aesthetic intersections between the two mediums as well as discussions of influence. Comic historian David Kunzle, drawing from the work of Francis Lacassin, has described how characteristics of film form can be traced back to comic strips of the mid to late 1800s. Film historian Donald Crafton, on the other hand, posits that comic strips had little, if any, influence over the evolution of film language. Analyzing both Winsor McCay’s comic strips and animated adaptations, this article hopes to utilize historically informed textual analysis to complicate the question of aesthetic influence.
Disney’s Alice Comedies: A Life of Illusion and the Illusion of Life
Authors: Telotte J.P.
Published: December 2010

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871) have inspired various Disney texts, including the studio’s Alice comedies of 1923—27, the films that essentially brought the company into being. This early series helped shape Disney’s development of a film mode, that of hybrid animation, which would pay dividends throughout the studio’s history, and despite their often crude style, forecast the studio’s ongoing efforts at negotiating the relationship between the real and the fantastic, including its development of a ‘house style’ that would become known as the ‘illusion of life’. This article examines these foundational texts particularly in light of their emphasis on a hybrid style — i.e. their combination of live-action and animation — which necessitated a greater awareness of realistic spatial issues, as they invited audiences to enter into a fantasy space, to undertake the same sort of liminal explorations as Lewis Carroll’s Alice.
Drawing Animation
Authors: Hosea Birgitta
Published: December 2010

Drawing is a key component of ‘traditional’ practice in classical animation that is sometimes seen as an outmoded form lacking relevance to a digital age. On the contrary, the use of digital tools and virtual materials can still be seen as problematic by some animators schooled in traditional methods. In contemporary art, however, there is an explosion of experimentation with different tools, processes and paradigms, and a resurgence of interest in drawing around issues of time, performance and materiality. This article considers the processes and theorization of drawn animation in light of these different practices and tools. Drawing is reflected on in terms of material basis and conceptualization. It is explored as a process that can represent the passage of time and the performance of a character, yet is in itself a performative activity with duration.
Women, Children, and the Social Organization of Domestic Labor in Chile
Authors: Milanich Nara
Published: December 2010

This article explores the relationship of domestic labor and social reproduction in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Chile, paying particular attention to the roles of children. Children figured as products of women’s reproductive labors, but they were also themselves crucial members of a domestic labor force structured by age as well as gender. Drawing on classified employment ads, judicial cases, and the records of Santiago’s main orphanage, the analysis highlights how the labor of childrearing and the labor of children existed within the same social field. Women’s and children’s domestic work, while increasingly distinct, mutually shaped each other. Children influenced employment opportunities and work arrangements for women, both mothers and childless women, and placed in vivid relief the tensions that pervaded women’s remunerated and unremunerated labors. Women’s work in turn shaped the fate of children. Ultimately, the analysis suggests that domestic and reproductive labor was a resource allocated not just at the level of the individual household but on a societal scale across social groups. Circulating through households of different class statuses and across rural and urban spaces, the labor of childrearing (including wet nursing and fosterage) and the labor of children (as servants and criados) was mobilized across dense social networks. Even as the circulation of this labor linked disparate social groups, it simultaneously differentiated them, materially and symbolically, thereby reproducing the multigenerational patterns of patronage and hierarchy that were constitutive of Chilean society. Finally, while domestic work is often associated with private spaces, the analysis finds that public beneficence institutions played an active role in training, subsidizing, and distributing it.
Speaking of Work and Family: Reciprocity, Child Labor, and Social Reproduction, Mexico City, 1920 – 1940
Authors: Blum Ann S.
Published: December 2010

The belief that children should earn their keep is one of the most significant differences between past and present concepts of childhood. This article examines child labor in Mexico City during the 1920s and 1930s, a period of rapid change in ideas about children’s economic and social roles. In the decades following Mexico’s revolution, activists in Mexico’s child health and protection movement condemned child labor on the grounds that it harmed young workers and led to crime, while a new slate of laws forbade child labor and restricted the kinds of work that adolescents could perform. In contrast, working-class children and adolescents and their parents saw work as integral to family relations. These conflicting views collided in the arena of the juvenile court, one of the principal institutions to emerge from the broad reform agenda focused on children and youth. Yet, while court founders and officials associated child labor with immorality and family dysfunction, the court also provided a forum for working-class children and parents to argue for a different version of family morality founded on long-standing legal definitions of reciprocal obligations of support. Their accounts of children’s economic contributions to family subsistence also shed light on the power dynamics entangled in family relationships founded on work. The encounters between court officials and clients illuminate the tensions between state goals and established practices of social reproduction during a profound transition in social views of childhood, the family, and work.
Shifting Solidarities: The Politics of Household Workers in Cold War Chile
Authors: Hutchison Elizabeth Quay
Published: December 2010

This article examines the unique history of household workers’ activism in Chile from the 1950s to the 1990 transition to democracy, drawing on archival and oral sources to argue that key alliances with the Catholic Church, Center and Left parties, and feminist organizations transformed the legal, social, and political identities of Chilean empleadas (servants). Building on associations formed by the Young Catholic Worker in the early 1950s, household worker activists forged key political alliances in their struggle for increased labor protection prior to the 1973 military coup. Under dictatorship, household worker activists kept a low profile until a new alliance with Chilean feminists reinvigorated their activism in the struggle against dictatorship.
Derivation of Equations Describing Distance Solute Oscillation of Induced Solvent Polarization
Authors: Yang Pei-Kun
Published: December 2010

The dielectric polarization P is the key factor for computing electromagnetic interactions between charged particles in materials in classical electrodynamics, and for computing hydration free energy of biomolecules in the field of physical chemistry. Near-solute P dominates electric contributions to the solute from polarized solvent media and oscillates with decay according to the distance to the solute. This oscillating decay is observed in molecular dynamics simulations and cannot be reproduced from Gauss’s law of Maxwell’s equations. In the present paper, P was decomposed into the electric dipole moment p and the solvent density ρ. Equations and an approximate analytical solution capturing the oscillating decay of p were derived for a spherical solute. The equations can be used to understand physically why p oscillates according to the distance to the solute. The approximate analytical solution can identify factors, such as the solvent molecular radius RW and the solvent molecular electric susceptibility χ eg, changing the amplitude and the oscillation period of p. In addition, the approximate analytical solution of p is similar to the solution of a spring system with harmonic damping. However, the equation describing p uses a first-order integral equation and thus differs from the equation describing a spring system which uses a second-order differential equation.
Structures and Electrical Properties of (BTM-TS-TTP)4PF6
Authors: Yasuda Misaki , Fujiwara Emiko , Aonuma Shuji , Fujiwara Hideki , Sugimoto Toyonari , Nakayashiki Takashi , Tanaka Kazuyoshi , Takahashi Kazuyuki , Kobayashi Hayao , Misaki Yohji
Published: December 2010

(BTM-TS-TTP)4PF6, where BTM-TS-TTP is 2-[4,5-bis(methylthio)-1,3-dithiol-2-ylidene]-5-(1,3-diselenol-2-ylidene)-1,3,4,6-tetrathiapentalene, has been prepared. An X-ray structure analysis reveals that it has a λ-type array of the donors. It exhibited metallic conducting behavior down to 5 K.
Chemistry of Concerto Molecular Catalysis Based on the Metal/NH Bifunctionality
Authors: Ikariya Takao
Published: December 2010

The development of conceptually new bifunctional transition-metal-based catalysts for a wide range of catalytic reactions is described. The bifunctional chiral molecular catalyst based on metal–ligand cooperation was originally developed for asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of ketones and imines and is now applicable to chemo- and stereoselective reductive and oxidative transformations as well as to enantioselective C–C and C–N bond formations with a wide scope and high practicability. The structural modification and electronic fine-tuning of the protic amine chelating ligands are crucial to develop unprecedented catalytic reactions. Cp*Ru complexes bearing a diamine (N–N) or aminophosphine (P–N) ligand readily activate H2, and can effect hydrogenation of polar functionalities. The bifunctional Ir complexes promote aerobic oxidative transformation of alcohols into ketones and esters and are applicable to kinetic resolution of racemic secondary alcohols. A novel imido-bridged dirhodium complex, which is a dinuclear variant of the bifunctional mononuclear amido complexes, promotes aerobic oxidation of a secondary alcohol and H2. In addition, the metal/NH bifunctional property also affects efficiently enantioselective conjugate additions. The present concerto molecular catalysts offer a great opportunity to open up new fundamentals for stereoselective molecular transformations.
Formation of Hierarchically Porous Hollow Spheres Composed of Dehydroxylated Imogolite and Carbonaceous Materials
Authors: Kuroda Yoshiyuki , Kuroda Kazuyuki
Published: December 2010

Hierarchically porous hollow spheres composed of dehydroxylated imogolite and carbonaceous materials were formed by using polystyrene particles as templates. A large amount of polystyrene particles were removed by heat treatment at relatively low temperature, leaving a small amount of highly porous carbonaceous material and retaining micropores of imogolite nanotubes.
Iron(III) Chloride-catalyzed Nucleophilic Substitution of Propargylic Alcohols: A General and Efficient Approach for the Synthesis of 1,4-Diynes
Authors: Lin Min , Chen Xin-liang , Wang Tao , Yan Ping , Xu Su-xia , Zhan Zhuang-ping
Published: December 2010

A wide variety of 1,4-diynes have been constructed via a novel FeCl3-catalyzed coupling reaction of propargylic alcohols with alkynylsilanes. This synthetic approach provides a general, efficient, and economical route to 1,4-diynes.
Utilization Management in a Large Urban Academic Medical Center
Authors: Kim Ji Yeon , Dzik Walter H. , Dighe Anand S. , Lewandrowski Kent B.
Published: December 2010

Management of laboratory test utilization presents an ongoing challenge. Most studies reported in the literature have described efforts to control one or a few tests, but the results cannot be generalized to a broader utilization management strategy. Herein we report our experiences with an organizational utilization management program during a 10-year period. Cumulatively, our program has achieved significant success, saving millions of dollars in blood components and reducing inpatient tests per discharge by 26%. Highlights from our experiences include the importance of implementing an institutional organizational structure to support utilization management, the central role fulfilled by clinical pathologists as leaders of the program, the ability to obtain timely utilization data, and careful selection of the most appropriate implementation tools tailored to the unique circumstances of each utilization management initiative.
ABO Blood Type and Longevity
Authors: Brecher Mark E. , Hay Shauna N.
Published: December 2010

To assess the observation that blood type B might be a marker for longevity, we reviewed the records and determined the ABO blood types of all patients who died in our hospital in 2004. Age was stratified by decade of death, and linear regressions were calculated by ABO percentage. ABO survival curves were compared.

In 2004, 906 patients died; 35 were excluded (stillborn infants). Of the remaining 871 patients, ABO types were available for 772 (88.6%). The percentage of patients with group B blood declined with age (P < .01). None of the other blood type percentages had a statistically significant increase or decrease. The group B survival curve was statistically worse than non-B groups (P ≤ .01); there were no differences in survival among groups A, O, and AB (P =.47).

In our patient population, the percentage of patients with group B blood declines with age. The survival curve in group B was worse than that in groups A, O, and AB. These findings suggest that in our patient population, blood group B is not a marker for longevity but may be a marker for earlier death.
A UK NEQAS ISH Multicenter Ring Study Using the Ventana HER2 Dual-Color ISH Assay
Authors: Bartlett J.M.S. , Campbell Fiona M. , Ibrahim Merdol , O’Grady Anthony , Kay Elaine , Faulkes Catherine , Collins Nadine , Starczynski Jane , Morgan John M. , Jasani Bharat , Miller Keith
Published: December 2010

We performed a multicenter assessment of a new HER2 dual-color chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH) test and herein report on concordance of CISH data with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) data and intraobserver and interlaboratory scoring consistency. HER2 results were evaluated using duplicate cores from 30 breast cancers in 5 laboratories using the Ventana HER2 dual-color ISH assay (Ventana Medical Systems, Cambridgeshire, England) and in 1 central laboratory using a standard FISH assay.

Overall 93.3% of cases were successfully analyzed by CISH across the 5 participating laboratories. There was excellent concordance (98.0% overall) for diagnosis of HER2 amplification by CISH compared with FISH. Intraobserver variability (7.7%) and intersite variability (9.1%) of absolute HER2/chromosome enumeration probe 17 ratios were tightly controlled across all participating laboratories. The Ventana HER2 dual-color ISH assay is robust and reproducible, shows good concordance with a standard FISH assay, and complies with requirements in national and international guidelines for performance of ISH-based diagnostic tests.
Flow Cytometry Rapidly Identifies All Acute Promyelocytic Leukemias With High Specificity Independent of Underlying Cytogenetic Abnormalities
Authors: Dong Henry Y. , Kung Jia Xue , Bhardwaj Vatsala , McGill John
Published: December 2010

Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is a highly aggressive disease requiring prompt diagnosis and specific early intervention. Immunophenotyping by flow cytometry (FCM) facilitates a rapid diagnosis, but commonly used criteria are neither sufficiently sensitive nor specific. With an antibody panel for diagnostic screening in routine practice, we found all 149 APL cases in this study exhibited a unique immunophenotypic profile, ie, a characteristic CD11b– myeloid population and absent CD11c expression in all myeloid populations; 96.6% of cases also lacked HLA-DR expression. These distinctive features allowed recognition of all unusual cases phenotypically resembling the regular myeloblasts (CD34+/HLA-DR+) or granulocytes (CD117–/CD34–/HLA-DR–). FCM effectively identified all 19 APL cases with variant translocations, including cases with a normal karyotype due to a cryptic submicroscopic t(15;17)(q22;q21), t(11;17)(q23;q21) that escaped the detection by fluorescence in situ hybridization for t(15;17) and der(15)ider(17)(q10) that lacked a simple reciprocal t(15;17). When APL-associated profiles were validated against 107 AML cases of non-APL subtypes, including 51 HLA-DR– cases, the diagnostic specificity and positive predictive value were 98%. FCM effectively provides independent detection of APL during diagnostic workup and harmonizes with the subsequent molecular cytogenetic diagnosis.
Chlamydia psittaci Infection in Nongastrointestinal Extranodal MALT Lymphomas and Their Precursor Lesions
Authors: Aigelsreiter Ariane , Gerlza Tanja , Deutsch Alexander J.A. , Leitner Eva , Beham-Schmid Christine , Beham Alfred , Popper Helmut , Borel Nicole , Pospischil Andreas , Raderer Markus , Kessler Harald H. , Neumeister Peter
Published: December 2010

Extranodal marginal zone lymphomas of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) are associated with various infectious pathogens. We analyzed the presence of Chlamydia psittaci, Chlamydia pneumoniae, and Chlamydia trachomatis DNA in 47 nongastrointestinal and 14 gastrointestinal MALT lymphomas, 37 nonmalignant control samples, and 27 autoimmune precursor lesions by polymerase chain reaction amplification and direct sequencing.

In 47 nongastrointestinal MALT lymphomas, 13 (28%) were positive for C psittaci DNA compared with 4 (11%) of 37 nonmalignant control samples (P = .09). C psittaci was detected at variable frequencies in MALT lymphomas of different sites: lung, 100% (5/5; P < .01); thyroid gland, 30% (3/10; P > .05); salivary gland, 13% (2/15; P > .05); ocular adnexa, 15% (2/13); and skin, 25% (1/4). Of 27 autoimmune precursor lesions (11 Hashimoto thyroiditis and 16 Sjögren syndrome), 11 (41%) contained C psittaci DNA. Only 1 (7%) of 14 gastrointestinal MALT lymphomas was positive for C psittaci. All specimens were negative for C trachomatis and C pneumoniae.

Besides ocular adnexal lymphomas, C psittaci infection is associated with nongastrointestinal MALT lymphomas and autoimmune precursor lesions, suggesting possible involvement of C psittaci–induced antigenic-driven MALT lymphomagenesis.
Film Reviews
Authors: Ewens Joseph , Kotecki Kristine
Published: December 2010

Metropolis
(1927) Germany Director Fritz Lang Screenplay Thea von Harbou Producer Erich Pommer Directors of Photography Karl Freund, Gnther Rittau Art Directors Otto Hunte, Erich Kettelhut, Karl Vollbrecht Costumes Aenne Willkomm
With Brigitte Helm (Maria), Alfred Abel (Joh Fredersen), Gustav Frhlich (Freder), Rudolf Klein-Rogge (Rotwang), Fritz Rasp (The Slim One), Theodor Loos (Josaphat), Erwin Biswanger (11811), Heinrich George (Grot) Runtime 145 minutes Cinema UK, 2010 Produced by Universum-Film
AG (Ufa), Berlin Distributed by Eureka Entertainment

Transitland: Video Art from Central and Eastern Europe 19892009, Kathy Rae Huffman et al., (2009), http://www.transitland.eu

Putin-land
or Transitland Competing portrayals of post-socialism
Self-reflexive graphic narrative: Seriality and Art Spiegelman's Portrait of the Artist as a Young &
Authors: McDaniel Nicole
Published: December 2010

In the fall of 2008, Art Spiegelman reissued his first collection of comic strips, Breakdowns: From Maus to Now, in celebration of its 30th anniversary. While the original 1978 version included a brief preface, the new edition of Breakdowns contains an extended self-representational
introduction, titled Portrait of the Artist as a Young & (2008). Portrait tackles the recursivity of memory and the serial nature of experience, and this self-reflexive introduction is uniquely positioned to address the ways in which audiences and authors approach autobiographical
graphic narrative as his texts underscore the possibilities for serial production of graphic life writing. Indeed, Spiegelman's memoirs present self-representation and lived experience as inherently episodic. In turn, and in tandem with the larger memoir boom of the last thirty years, Spiegelman's
graphic memoirs expose a contemporary cultural impulse to engage in the practice of repeated self-examination, self-presentation and visual self-archivization.
Visualizing the Jewish body in Aline Kominsky Crumb's Need More Love
Authors: Oksman Tahneer
Published: December 2010

This article discusses Aline Kominsky Crumb's graphic memoir Need More Love (2007), and especially her portrayals of Jewish identity in this work. Through close readings of several comics found in the memoir, as well as a discussion of the structure of the memoir as a whole,
I show how for her, depicting the body visually and verbally is so inextricably tied to her location and status as a woman that the Jewish body is always inevitably a gendered body. Her graphic memoir questions the constructions that form and inform self-identifications (of woman, Jew or artist),
the constructed boundaries between how we define ourselves and how others define us, and the ways that self-representation on the page, through the interplay of text and image, can inform, supplant or destabilize these various constructions. Her work demonstrates the possibility, through art,
of inhabiting a liminal or in-between space; it is a space or a style that she continually redefines and rearranges as she negotiates the boundaries between self and other.
Young daughter, old artificer: Constructing the Gothic Fun Home
Authors: Schneider Christian W
Published: December 2010

Alison Bechdel's Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (2006), an account of Bechdel's life with her father, is one of the most renowned contemporary autobiographical comics. Despite its relatively recent publication, it has already attracted much scholarly attention. Critics have highlighted
the text's complexity, focussing particularly on Bechdel's diligent graphic attempt to reconstruct her family life, as well as her recurrent intertextual references, and the examination of gender roles entailed by her and her father's respective homosexuality.

This article will propose
another point of access to Bechdel's intricately constructed family story: putting it in the context of the Gothic mode. At first glance, connecting the perceived authenticity of the autobiographic mode with the obvious artifice of Gothic fiction seems counter-intuitive. However, Fun Home
offers more than one way of reading it as a Gothic narrative: not only are there distinctly Gothic elements in Bechdel's description of her family life and home, its basic structure circles around themes of death, trauma, Otherness and the past, ideas central to the Gothic.

In addition
to analysing these parallels, the article will demonstrate how the very act of autobiographical remembrance and reconstruction can be perceived as Gothic. Here, special attention will be paid to notions of construction, artifice and art, which become important in a threefold way: as self-conscious
thematic instances in Bechdel's narrative, as prevalent elements of understanding the self in postmodern autobiography theory, and as inherent traits of the Gothic mode. On this theoretical background, it will be suggested that the Gothic can be used as a valuable concept for investigating
complex and self-aware life narratives, taking the formation, ambiguities and limits of their representation into account. This reading is especially relevant for the unique ways of self-portrayal within the medium of comics and applicable to other prominent graphic autobiographies, interpreting
their multi-faceted representation of past traumata.
Universal Expansions in Negative and Complex Bases
Authors: Komornik Vilmos , Loreti Paola
Published: December 2010

Expansions in noninteger positive bases have been intensively investigated since the pioneering works of Rényi (Acta Math. Hungar. 8: 477–493, 1957) and Parry (Acta Math. Hungar. 11: 401–416, 1960). The discovery of surprising unique expansions in certain noninteger bases by Erdős, Horváth and Joó (Acta Math. Hungar. 58: 333–342, 1991) was followed by many studies aiming to clarify the topological and combinatorial nature of the sets of these bases. In the present work we extend some of these studies to more general, negative or complex bases.
Upper and Lower Bounds for a Function Related to Brown's Lemma
Authors: Ardal Hayri
Published: December 2010

The well-known Brown's lemma says that for every finite coloring of the positive integers, there exist a fixed positive integer
Combinatorial Interpretations of Binomial Coefficient Analogues Related to Lucas Sequences
Authors: Sagan Bruce E. , Savage Carla D.
Published: December 2010

Let

where {
Representation Numbers of Stars
Authors: Akhtar Reza , Evans Anthony B. , Pritikin Dan
Published: December 2010

A graph
An Observation on the Extension of Abel's Lemma
Authors: Patkowski Alexander E.
Published: December 2010

We prove a general formula for a certain class of sums of tails. A new proof of some known identities is given, and a general identity that appears to be the first of its kind is established.
On Binomial Sums for the General Second Order Linear Recurrence
Authors: Kiliç Emrah , Tan Elif
Published: December 2010

In this short paper we establish identities involving sums of products of binomial coefficients and coefficients that satisfy the general second–order linear recurrence. We obtain generalizations of identities of Carlitz, Prodinger and Haukkanen.
A Note on Colored Tornheim's Double Series
Authors: Zhao Jianqiang
Published: December 2010

In this short note, we provide an explicit formula to compute every colored double Tornheim's series by using double polylogarithm values at roots of unity. When the colors are given by ±1 our formula is different from that of Tsumura [Proc. AMS 131: 3633–3641, 2003] even though numerical data confirm both are correct in almost all the cases. This agreement can also be checked rigorously by using regularized double shuffle relations of the alternating double zeta values in weights less than eight.
On a criterion of solvability of the inverse problem of heat conduction
Authors: Kalmenov Tynysbek S. , Shaldanbaev Amir S.
Published: December 2010

In this paper, the criterion of resolvability of the inverse problem of heat conduction is established.
On the approximations of derivatives of integrated semigroups
Authors: Li Miao , Morozov Vladimir , Piskarev Sergey
Published: December 2010

This paper is devoted to regularization in the process of derivative's approximation of integrated semigroups in time variables. We consider the direct method and also the method based on A. N. Tikchonov's approach. It is shown that discrete derivative converges in strong sense and the order of convergence in general Banach space is obtained. The presentation is given in the abstract framework of discrete approximation scheme, which includes finite element methods, finite difference schemes and projection methods.
On the ill-posedness and convergence of the Shack–Hartmann based wavefront reconstruction
Authors: Neubauer Andreas
Published: December 2010

We study the problem of reconstructing a wavefront from measurements by Shack–Hartmann-type sensors. Mathematically, this leads to the problem of reconstructing a function from a discrete set of averages of the gradient.

We investigate this problem in a scale of Hilbert spaces and show that the best approximate solutions are asymptotically ill-posed depending on the scale of the Hilbert spaces. Moreover, we prove convergence of the best approximate solutions and of approximations obtained by the truncated singular value decomposition for increasing dimension of measurements.
The comparison model method for determining the flexural rigidity of a beam
Authors: Lesnic D.
Published: December 2010

Let the steady-state deflectionu(x) of a beam of lengthlbe governed by the Euler–Bernoulli fourth-order ordinary differential beam equation (a(x)u″(x))″ = ƒ(x) forx∈ (0,l), subject to Dirichlet (clamped beams) boundary copnditions. We consider the identification of the spacewise dependent flexural rigiditya(x) of the beam, given the load ƒ(x) and the measured deflectionu(x) by thecomparison model method– a direct method which has been known and applied for sometime in diffusion processes of transport in porous media, but not in the elasticity beam theory, as developed in this study.
Regularization methods for unbounded linear operators
Authors: Pokrzywa Andrzej
Published: December 2010

We propose a method of investigating properties of regularizations of linear operators based on a splitting of an operator into two parts – the first one bounded and the second unbounded with a bounded inverse.
Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede der Prozess- und Fertigungstechnik
Authors: Mersch Henning , Behnen Daniel , Schmitz Dominik , Epple Ulrich , Brecher Christian , Jarke Matthias
Published: December 2010

In der industriellen Produktion haben sich diskrete Fertigung und Prozesstechnik als weitgehend getrennte Domänen herausgebildet. Immer häufiger erfordern heutzutage jedoch sowohl Entwicklungssystematiken als auch konkrete Produktionsanforderungen die Integration der unterschiedlichen Systeme und Modelle. Als Voraussetzung für eine domänenübergreifende, bessere Integration bis hin zur Steuerung hybrider Produktionsanlagen werden in diesem Beitrag physikalische Grundlagen, technische Aufgabenstellungen aber auch entwickelte Modelle und Systeme beider Domänen vergleichend beschrieben und analysiert.
Wissensbasierte Systeme im Engineering der Automatisierungstechnik
Authors: Runde Stefan , Fay Alexander , Schmitz Stefan , Epple Ulrich
Published: December 2010

Wissensbasierte Systeme (WBS) haben im Kontext des Engineerings (automatisierungs-)technischer Systeme gezeigt, dass sie dem gestiegenen Engineeringaufwand entgegenwirken. Der vorliegende Beitrag gibt die Ergebnisse einer Untersuchung hinsichtlich der in der Praxis eingesetzten WBS wieder. Neben den Grundlagen und Potenzialen dieser Systeme fokussiert der Beitrag auf eine ausführliche Darstellung WBS und die Darstellung der Defizite. Ausgehend von diesen Defiziten sind abschließend die zukünftigen Herausforderungen dargestellt.
Flexible Informationsgewinnung in der Automatisierungstechnik mithilfe von Softwareagenten
Authors: Pech Stephan , Göhner Peter
Published: December 2010

Bei der Informationsgewinnung aus heterogenen Datenquellen in automatisierten Systemen muss die kontextabhängige Bedeutung der Daten berücksichtigt werden. Dieser Beitrag zeigt auf, wie Softwareagenten den Vorgang der Informationsgewinnung automatisieren und durch Verwendung semantischen Wissens den Anwender flexibel bei der Informationsgewinnung in automatisierten Systemen unterstützen können.
Einsatz der Impedanzspektroskopie in der Brennstoffzellenforschung
Authors: Wagner Norbert
Published: December 2010

Zur Charakterisierung von Brennstoffzellen und Zellkomponenten wird eine ganze Reihe von verschiedenen Messverfahren eingesetzt. Neben ex-situ-oberflächenanalytischen Charakterisierungsmethoden wie Rasterelektronenmikroskopie (REM) und Energiedispersive Röntgenspektroskopie (EDX), Porosimetrie, Röntgendiffraktometrie (XRD) Röntgenphotoelektronenspektroskopie (XPS) werden noch in-situ-elektrochemische Charakterisierungsmethoden eingesetzt. Die einfachste und daher wohl die am häufigsten verwendete elektrochemische Charakterisierungsmethode ist die Aufnahme einer Strom-Spannungskennlinie (U-i-Kennlinie), die durch elektrochemische, elektronische und ionische Leitfähigkeiten sowie bei hohen Stromdichten zunehmend auch von Diffusionstermen bestimmt wird. Eine quantitative und qualitative Trennung dieser Terme ist nicht nur von grundsätzlichem Interesse, sondern kann auch dazu beitragen, die Elektroden-Membran-Elektroden-Einheiten (MEA) und das Zelldesign gezielt zu verbessern. Die elektrochemische Impedanzspektroskopie (EIS) ist dafür besonders gut geeignet, da nach Auswertung der über einen weiten Frequenzbereich gemessenen Elektrodenimpedanz bzw. Zellimpedanz mit einem Elektrodenmodell (Ersatzschaltbild) diese Größen simultan und in einem großen Potenzialbereich bzw. Stromdichtebereich bestimmt werden können.
Physikalisches Modell der Materialparameterabhängigkeit des Impedanzspektrums planarer Chemosensoren in Mehrschichtbauweise
Authors: Fischerauer Alice , Fischerauer Gerhard
Published: December 2010

Planare Chemosensoren bestehen häufig aus Interdigitalelektroden (IDE), die auf einem Substrat aufgebracht und in mehrere Schichten von Funktionsmaterialien wie Metalloxiden oder Ionenleitern eingebettet wurden. Die Impedanzen solcher Sensoren weisen untereinander ähnliche, charakteristische Spektren auf, was auf ein gemeinsames zugrunde liegendes Funktionsprinzip hindeutet. Zur quantitativen Erfassung der Sensorimpedanz bedarf es daher eines physikalischen Modells, das den Zusammenhang zwischen der Sensorimpedanz und den Materialparametern der eingesetzten Schichten, der Geometrie und der Betriebstemperatur beschreibt. Ausgehend von den Methoden der klassischen Halbleitertheorie wird in der vorgestellten Arbeit der durch den Sensor tretende Strom berechnet. Dabei wird der Einfluss eventuell vorhandener beweglicher Ionen durch eine elektrostatische Näherung beschrieben. Aus den ersten Harmonischen der zeitvariablen Bauteilspannung und des Bauteilstromes lässt sich dann das Impedanzspektrum des Sensors bestimmen, entsprechend der Vorgehensweise in gängigen Impedanzspektrometern. Die Variation einzelner Parameter gibt Aufschluss über das Temperaturverhalten der Sensorimpedanz und liefert Hinweise zur Bauteiloptimierung.
Lineare Deflektometrie — Regularisierung und experimentelles Design
Authors: Balzer Jonathan , Werling Stefan , Beyerer Jürgen
Published: December 2010

Spiegelnde Oberflächen lassen sich mit Hilfe deflektometrischer Methoden vermessen. Die Lösungen des Rekonstruktionsproblems bilden dabei bekanntlich eine einparametrige Familie, mit deren Eigenschaften sich der vorliegende Beitrag befasst. Wir zeigen theoretisch und im Experiment, dass die Formempfindlichkeit der Lösungen mit wachsender Entfernung vom optischen Zentrum der bildgebenden Komponente des Sensorsystems monoton abnimmt und schlagen daraufhin eine neuartige Regularisierungsstrategie vor. Desweiteren werden Empfehlungen für die Konstruktion eines Messaufbaus gegeben, die diese und die dazu konträre Regularisierung durch spekulares Stereo begünstigen.
Ausgleichsgeraden in der Ebene (Corrigendum)
Authors: Krystek Michael
Published: December 2010

Diese Publikation korrigiert einen Fehler in der C-Routine.
Doença de Charcot-Marie-Tooth: estudo da biópsia do nervo sural em 41 pacientes
Authors: Freitas Marcos R.G. , Nascimento Osvaldo J.M. , Chimelli Leila , Freitas Gabriel R. de
Published: December 2010

São apresentados os resultados da biópsia do nervo sural à microscopia óptica e eletrônica (ME) em 41 pacientes com doença de Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) Por estudos de neurocondução prévios nove eram do tipo I e 32 do tipo II. No tipo I, todos tinham grande diminuição do número de fibras, sendo os histogramas do tipo unimodal. Encontramos imagens de desmielinização, remielinização, formação de bulbos de cebola e de regeneração. Um paciente apresentava espessamento da bainha de mielina (atrofia axonal). No tipo II, sete pacientes não apresentavam anomalia à microscopia, com histograma normal. Nos restantes havia discreta a intensa perda de fibras mielínicas principalmente as de grande calibre. Em cinco enfermos havia aumento do número de fibras devido a grande regeneração. Alguns pacientes do tipo II apresentavam à ME imagens de pequenos bulbos de cebola e em um havia também atrofia axonal. Comparando com os dados clínicos e de neurocondução motora, no tipo I não encontramos relação entre a intensidade do quadro clínico e a perda de fibras mielínicas porém houve paralelismo da queda da neurocondução motora e a diminuição do número de fibras. No tipo II não houve relação entre o quadro clínico, a neurocondução e os achados da biópsia nervosa.
Metástase cerebral: tratamento paliativo com radiocirurgia
Authors: Faria Sérgio L. , Souhami Luis , Bahary Jean-Paul , Caron Jean-Louis , Villemure Jean-Guy , Olivier André , Clark Brenda , Podgorsak Ervin B.
Published: December 2010

O artigo faz avaliação de 52 pacientes com metástase cerebral tratados com radiocirurgia estereotática na Universidade McGill, em Montreal. A radiocirurgia foi realizada com a técnica dinâmica em que, ao mesmo tempo, giram a mesa e a cabeça do acelerador linear de 10 MV. Todos os pacientes (56 tratamentos ao todo) foram tratados com um único isocentro e uma dose única mediana de 1800 cGy na periferia da metástase. Em 88% dos casos a radiocirurgia foi usada após falha de tratamento radioterápico fracionado em todo cérebro. Todos os 52 casos tiveram avaliação com CT pós radiocirurgia. O seguimento mediano foi de 6 meses (variou entre 1 e 37 meses) e a taxa de resposta, parcial ou completa, foi de 64%. Apenas 4 pacientes (7%) tiveram algum tipo de complicação tardia relacionada ao tratamento. Estes achados vão de encontro com dados da literatura. A radiocirurgia é tratamento pouco agressivo, bem tolerado e com alta taxa de resposta para lesões locais e pode ser útil para pacientes selecionados. O seu valor definitivo, como tratamento único ou combinado com radioterapia em todo cérebro, está sendo avaliado de forma prospectiva e randomizada.
Surgical approaches to tumors and epileptogenic zones close to Wernicke's area
Authors: Cukiert Arthur , Gronich Gary , Marino Jr Raul
Published: December 2010

Surgical procedures near to language related brain regions may cause severe morbidity in relation to speech. Operations performed under local anesthesia and intraoperative cortical mapping may minimize these risks. Six patients with tumors near the Wernicke's area were treated (2 low-grade astrocytomas, 1 ganglioglioma, 1 xanthoastrocytoma, 1 metastasis, 1 glioblastoma). Their clinical presentation consisted of epilepsy (n=4) and dysphasia (n=2). The skin and periosteum were infiltrated with local anesthetic and an ample craniotomy was performed. Cortical stimulation with an unipolar electrode was then carried out with concomitant speech testing (mainly comprehension and sequential speech). After mapping, the best surgical approach aiming to avoid the mapped area was elected. In 5 cases the resection was total and in 1, partial (glioblastoma). There was a transitory (10 days) worsening of the pre-operative deficit in 1 case (glioblastoma). In 3 patients, the speech areas were displaced: posteriorly (n=2) or anteriorly (n=l). Surgical procedures under local anesthesia are safe and may avoid post-operative language disturbances in patients with tumors near to Wernicke's area.
Cranio-orbital approach for the paraclinoidal and anterior communicating aneurysms
Authors: Souza Jorge Marcondes de , Rodrigues Flávio F. , Silva Marcelo R. da , Maron Ricardo , Martins Leonardo , Souto Antonio A. do , Lima Luciara S.
Published: December 2010

Aneurysms arising at the proximal intracranial carotid artery (between cavernous sinus and posterior communicating artery) and at the anterior communicating complex may present with technical difficulties regarding appropriate access without excessive brain retraction. In a series of 15 patients the authors show the use of the cranio-orbital approach, formerly designed in the access of skull base tumors, for these subgroups of aneurysms. They discuss the advantages of a basal avenue in minimizing brain retraction, better anatomical orientation, obviation of tissue ressection and easier extra-dural bone removal. It was not identified any complication due to the described approach.
Eletrorretinografia por padrão reverso em pacientes com enxaqueca sem aura
Authors: Moreira Filho Pedro F. , Dantas Adalmir M.
Published: December 2010

Foram submetidos a eletrorretinografia por padrão reverso (PERG) 17 pacientes com o diagnóstico de enxaqueca sem aura através dos critérios estabelecidos pela Sociedade Internacional de Cefaléia. O estímulo usado em nossos enfermos foi o estruturado produzido por aparelho de televisão de 20 polegadas. A frequência foi de 1 estímulo por segundo e o total de estímulos somados foi de 512. Constatamos as latências das ondas P 50 e N 95 dentro dos limites de normalidade em todos os nossos casos, a exceção de um em que no olho esquerdo não houve ondas detectadas. Será necessário maior número de exames para que no futuro possamos obter dados que nos ajudem a entender a fisiopatologia da enxaqueca.