bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Johann R. E. Lutjeharms (1944–2011)
Authors: de Ruijter Wilhelmus P. M. , Reason Chris , Ansorge Isabelle , Roman Raymond , Gordon Arnold L.
Published: September 2011

Johann R. E. Lutjeharms, South Africa's leading physical oceanographer, died at the age of 67 at his home in Stellenbosch on World Oceans Day, 8 June 2011, after a 10‐year battle with a complicated form of cancer. His work was central in the process of enlightening the oceanographic and climate system community to the global importance of the complex, energetic, eddy‐rich environment of the Agulhas Current. He aptly referred to this current system, including the transfer of Indian Ocean water into the South Atlantic, as the “Greater Agulhas System.” Johann was born on 13 April 1944 in Bloemfontein, South Africa, where he attended Grey College. At the University of Cape Town (UCT), he completed his bachelor's degree in physics followed by a M.Sc. (cum laude) in oceanography in 1971. His work there led to his first research article (on the variability of the water movement in the southwest Indian Ocean), which appeared in Nature. Many papers would follow, covering a broad range of aspects of the oceans around South Africa. His curriculum vitae lists 177 articles published in peer‐reviewed international journals, many of them in AGU's Journal of Geophysical Research (JGR) and Geophysical Research Letters, including his most frequently cited ones.
Talent beyond Earth and space, careers that are out of this world
Authors: Cooper Paul
Published: September 2011

If you are looking for a job or looking to hire, the AGU Career Center will save you time, money, and effort. The job listings showcase fulfilling opportunities across many employment areas and many disciplines. The resumé database is brimming with highly skilled people. Browse the listings or set up search terms so that you will be notified as soon as new jobs that meet your criteria get posted. Likewise, if you're looking to fill a position, you can create criteria that will let you know when a suitable resumé gets deposited in the database.
Hydrologic response of an alpine watershed: Application of a meteorological wireless sensor network to understand streamflow generation
Authors: Simoni S. , Padoan S. , Nadeau D. F. , Diebold M. , Porporato A. , Barrenetxea G. , Ingelrest F. , Vetterli M. , Parlange M. B.
Published: September 2011

A field measurement campaign was conducted from June to October 2009 in a 20 km2 catchment of the Swiss Alps with a wireless network of 12 weather stations and river discharge monitoring. The objective was to investigate the spatial variability of meteorological forcing and to assess its impact on streamflow generation. The analysis of the runoff dynamics highlighted the important contribution of snowmelt from spring to early summer. During the entire experimental period, the streamflow discharge was dominated by base flow contributions with temporal variations due to occasional rainfall‐runoff events and a regular contribution from glacier melt. Given the importance of snow and ice melt runoff in this catchment, patterns of near‐surface air temperatures were studied in detail. Statistical data analyses revealed that meteorological variables inside the watershed exhibit spatial variability. Air temperatures were influenced by topographic effects such as slope, aspect, and elevation. Rainfall was found to be spatially variable inside the catchment. The impact of this variability on streamflow generation was assessed using a lumped degree‐day model. Despite the variability within the watershed, the streamflow discharge could be described using the lumped model. The novelty of this work mainly consists in quantifying spatial variability for a small watershed and showing to which extent this is important. When the focus is on aggregated outputs, such as streamflow discharge, average values of meteorological forcing can be adequately used. On the contrary, when the focus is on distributed fields such as evaporation or soil moisture, their estimate can benefit from distributed measurements.
A 2D simulation study of Langmuir, whistler, and cyclotron maser instabilities induced by an electron ring-beam distribution
Authors: Lee K. H. , Omura Y. , Lee L. C.
Published: September 2011

We carried out a series of 2D simulations to study the beam instability and cyclotron maser instability (CMI) with the initial condition that a population of tenuous energetic electrons with a ring-beam distribution is present in a magnetized background plasma. In this paper, weakly relativistic cases are discussed with the ring-beam kinetic energy ranging from 25 to 100 keV. The beam component leads to the two-stream or beam instability at an earlier stage, and the beam mode is coupled with Langmuir or whistler mode, leading to excitation of beam-Langmuir or beam-whistler waves. When the beam velocity is large with a strong beam instability, the initial ring-beam distribution is diffused in the parallel direction rapidly. The diffused distribution may still support CMI to amplify the X1 mode (the fundamental X mode). On the contrary, when the beam velocity is small and the beam instability is weak, CMI can amplify the Z1 (the fundamental Z mode) effectively while the O1 (the fundamental O mode) and X2 (the second harmonic X mode) modes are very weak and the X1 mode is not excited. In this report, different cases with various parameters are presented and discussed for a comprehensive understanding of ring-beam instabilities.
Neutrally buoyant particle dynamics in fluid flows: Comparison of experiments with Lagrangian stochastic models
Authors: Sapsis Themistoklis P. , Ouellette Nicholas T. , Gollub Jerry P. , Haller George
Published: September 2011

We study the validity of various models for the dynamics of finite-sized particles in fluids by means of a direct comparison between theory and experimentally measured trajectories and velocities of large numbers of particles in chaotic two-dimensional flow. Our analysis indicates that finite-sized particles follow the predicted particle dynamics given by the Maxey-Riley equation, except for random correlated fluctuations that are not captured by deterministic terms in the equations of motion, such as the Basset-Boussinesq term or the lift force. We describe the fluctuations via spectral methods and we propose three different Lagrangian stochastic models to account for them. These Lagrangian models are stochastic generalizations of the Maxey-Riley equation with coefficients calibrated to the experimental data. We find that one of them is capable of describing the observed fluctuations fairly well, while it also predicts a drag coefficient in near agreement with the theoretical Stokes drag.
Dislocation reduction in heteroepitaxial Ge on Si using SiO2 lined etch pits and epitaxial lateral overgrowth
Authors: Leonhardt Darin , Han Sang M.
Published: September 2011

We report a technique that significantly reduces threading dislocations in Ge on Si heteroepitaxy. Germanium is first grown on Si and etched to produce pits in the surface where threading dislocations terminate. Further processing leaves a layer of SiO2 only within etch pits. Subsequent selective epitaxial Ge growth results in coalescence above the SiO2. The SiO2 blocks the threading dislocations from propagating into the upper Ge epilayer. With annealed Ge films grown on Si, the said method reduces the defect density from 2.6 × 108 to 1.7 × 106 cm−2, potentially making the layer suitable for electronic and photovoltaic devices.
Effect of N/Ga flux ratio on transport behavior of Pt/GaN Schottky diodes
Authors: Roul Basanta , Kumar Mahesh , Rajpalke Mohana K. , Bhat Thirumaleshwara N. , Sinha Neeraj , Kalghatgi A. T. , Krupanidhi S. B.
Published: September 2011

GaN films were grown on c-plane sapphire by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PAMBE). The effect of N/Ga flux ratio on structural, morphological, and optical properties was studied. The dislocation density found to increase with increasing the N/Ga ratio. The surface morphology of the films as seen by scanning electron microscopy shows pits on the surface and found that the pit density on the surface increases with N/Ga ratio. The room temperature photoluminescence study reveals the shift in band-edge emission toward the lower energy with increase in N/Ga ratio. This is believed to arise from the reduction in compressive stress in the films as is evidenced by room temperature Raman study. The transport studied on the Pt/GaN Schottky diodes showed a significant increase in leakage current with an increase in N/Ga ratio and was found to be caused by the increase in pit density as well as increase in dislocation density in the GaN films.
Ferroelectric switching in Langmuir-Blodgett and spin-coated thin films of poly(vinylidene fluoride/trifluoroethylene) copolymers
Authors: Mai Manfang , Martin Bjoern , Kliem Herbert
Published: September 2011

Ferroelectric behaviour of poly(vinylidene fluoride/trifluoroethylene) copolymer thin films has been investigated through polarization switching measurements. Samples prepared by Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) deposition in the range of 37-139 nm and samples prepared by spin coating in the range of 53-327 nm exhibit almost the same switching behaviour. Reducing the sample thickness, the hysteresis loops tend to slant and the switching transients become broader. The coercive field increases with decreasing sample thickness, whereas the remanent polarization is nearly independent of film thickness. The switching time decreases with increasing field and it is almost independent of thickness down to 69 nm in LB films and 71 nm in spun films. Slower switching is observed for a thickness below 60 nm in both LB films and spun films. This could be due to the depolarization field induced by the surface oxidation layers of Al electrodes which becomes the more pronounced the thinner the sample is. Furthermore, retention properties and fatigue endurance of both kinds of films are studied which show a similar decay tendency. The above results suggest thin films in the range of 60-100 nm are promising candidates for technical applications.
Producing translationally cold, ground-state CO molecules
Authors: Blokland Janneke H. , Riedel Jens , Putzke Stephan , Sartakov Boris G. , Groenenboom Gerrit C. , Meijer Gerard
Published: September 2011

Carbon monoxide molecules in their electronic, vibrational, and rotational ground state are highly attractive for trapping experiments. The optical or ac electric traps that can be envisioned for these molecules will be very shallow, however, with depths in the sub-milliKelvin range. Here, we outline that the required samples of translationally cold CO (X1Σ+, v′′ = 0, N′′ = 0) molecules can be produced after Stark deceleration of a beam of laser-prepared metastable CO (a3Π1) molecules followed by optical transfer of the metastable species to the ground state via perturbed levels in the A1Π state. The optical transfer scheme is experimentally demonstrated and the radiative lifetimes and the electric dipole moments of the intermediate levels are determined.
Elastic relaxation in an ultrathin strained silicon-on-insulator structure
Authors: Xiong Gang , Moutanabbir Oussama , Huang Xiaojing , Paknejad Seyed A. , Shi Xiaowen , Harder Ross , Reiche Manfred , Robinson Ian K.
Published: September 2011

Coherent x-ray diffraction was used to study the relaxation in single ultrathin strained silicon structures with nanoscale accuracy. The investigated structure was patterned from 20 nm thick strained silicon-on-insulator substrate with an initial biaxial tensile strain of 0.6%. Two-dimensional maps of the post-patterning relaxation were obtained for single 1 × 1 μm2 structures. We found that the relaxation is localized near the edges, which undergo a significant contraction due to the formation of free surfaces. The relaxation extent decreases exponentially towards the center with a decay length of 50 nm. Three-dimensional simulations confirmed that over-etching is needed to explain the relaxation behavior.
On the possible origin of bulk third harmonic generation in skin cells
Authors: Su Tung-Yu , Liao Chien-Sheng , Yang Chih-Yuan , Zhuo Guan-Yu , Chen Szu-Yu , Chu Shi-Wei
Published: September 2011

We studied third harmonic generation (THG) of melanin solution with concentrations similar to melanocytes in human skin. In contrast to conventional observation of THG at interface, bulk THG was detected inside the solution due to the formation of melanin hydrocolloids. A linear relationship between melanin concentration and THG intensity was found, suggesting THG originated from high-order hyper-Rayleigh scattering. By fitting this linear relationship, third-order hyperpolarizability of melanin hydrocolloids was determined to be three orders larger than that of water. Our result will be useful for interpretation of THG signals in skin and other tissues containing colloidal particles.
The two modes extension to the Berk-Breizman equation: Delayed differential equations and asymptotic solutions
Authors: Marczyński Sławomir
Published: September 2011

The integro-differential Berk-Breizman (BB) equation, describing the evolution of particle-driven wave mode is transformed into a simple delayed differential equation form ν∂a(τ)/∂τ=a(τ) – a2(τ – 1) a(τ – 2). This transformation is also applied to the two modes extension of the BB theory. The obtained solutions are presented together with the derived asymptotic analytical solutions and the numerical results.
Plasmonic backscattering enhanced inverted photovoltaics
Authors: Dissanayake D. M. N. M. , Roberts B. , Ku P.-C.
Published: September 2011

A plasmonic nanoparticle incorporated inverted organic photovoltaic structure was demonstrated where a monolayer of Ag nanoparticles acted as a wavelength selective reflector. Enhanced light harvesting via plasmonic backscattering into the photovoltaic absorber was observed, resulting in a two-fold improvement in the photocurrent and increased open-circuit voltage. Further, utilizing an optical spacer, the plasmonic backscattering was spectrally controlled, thereby modulating the external quantum efficiency and the photocurrent. Unlike a regular thin-film metallic back reflector, excellent off-resonance optical transmission in excess of 80% was observed from the Ag nanoparticles, making this structure highly suitable for semi-transparent and multi-junction photovoltaic applications.
SiNx charge-trap nonvolatile memory based on ZnO thin-film transistors
Authors: Kim Eunkyeom , Kim Youngill , Han Kim Do , Lee Kyoungmi , Parsons Gregory N. , Park Kyoungwan
Published: September 2011

We have demonstrated the fabrication and application of a nonvolatile thin-film transistor memory with SiNx charge traps using a ZnO thin film as the active channel layer. The thin film of ZnO was deposited using an atomic-layer deposition process and was subsequently post-annealed in an O2-filled atmosphere. X-ray diffraction and x-ray photoemission results indicated that the O2 annealing process was effective for the crystallinity and stoichiometry of the ZnO films. A saturation field-effect mobility of 6 cm2/Vs, on/off ratio of ≈105, subthreshold slope of 0.7 V/decade, and threshold voltage of −5 V were obtained in transistor operations. Threshold-voltage shift measurements performed for various stress voltages and time durations revealed that these devices had a large memory window of 5.4 V and a long retention time (>10 years) in nonvolatile memory operations.
An insulating liquid environment for reducing adhesion in a microelectromechanical system
Authors: Ko Seung-Deok , Oen Lee Jeong , Yang Hyun-Ho , Kim Min-Wu , Song Yong-Ha , Yoon Jun-Bo
Published: September 2011

Stiction has been one of the major failure problems in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). As a solution for stiction failure, we investigated an insulating liquid environment for MEMS to eliminate adhesion force. We speculated that three forces—capillary, solid-solid contact, and van der Waals (vdW) forces decrease when the devices are operated in an insulating liquid environment. In the experiment, the adhesion force of the devices was measured to be 42.8 μN on average in air, whereas it decreased to 2.52 μN on average in the insulating liquid, corresponding to a remarkable 94.1% decrement.
Localized surface optical phonon mode in the InGaN/GaN multiple-quantum-wells nanopillars: Raman spectrum and imaging
Authors: Zhu J. H. , Ning J. Q. , Zheng C. C. , Xu S. J. , Zhang S. M. , Yang Hui
Published: September 2011

An interesting phonon mode at around 685–705 cm−1 was clearly observed in the Raman spectra of InGaN/GaN multiple-quantum-wells nanopillars with different diameters at room temperature. The Raman peak position of this mode is found to show a distinct dependence on the nanopillar size, which is in well agreement with theoretical calculation of the surface optical (SO) phonon modes of nanopillars. Moreover, this kind of SO phonon was evidenced to be located on the pillar surface by using scanning confocal micro-Raman microscopy.
Non-equilibrium charge stability diagrams of a silicon double quantum dot
Authors: House M. G. , Pan H. , Xiao M. , Jiang H. W.
Published: September 2011

We report on the experimental characterization of an electrostatically defined, few-electron double quantum dot in a silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) structure. The device incorporates two quasi-one-dimensional channels for sensing the charge states of the double quantum dot. Charge sensor stability diagrams obtained at finite source-drain bias are interpreted and used to find the absolute energy scale of the quantum dots based on a matrix representation of the coupling between the dots and the gates.
The health care system as a social determinant of health: qualitative insights from South Australian maternity consumers
Authors: Newman Lareen A
Published: September 2011

Health systems and policies are important determinants
of health because they influence the type
and quality of health care available to a population.
This study included semi-structured qualitative
interviews and a questionnaire to collect
demographic data and household details for a
purposeful sample of 38 mothers and 24 fathers
from four socioeconomic areas of metropolitan
South Australia who had at least one child aged
between 1 and 6 years of age.
The participants reported that birth experiences
within the predominantly medicalised maternity
system were at odds with the expectations of a
significant proportion of contemporary consumers
that maternity care will leave them not only with a
healthy mother and baby, but also with no undue
adverse impacts on their physical, mental and
relationship health. There appears to be no formal
mechanism in place for regular consumer feedback
of experiences into system and service
planning.
A typology of clause structure
Authors: Broekhuis Hans
Published: September 2011

Current generative grammar predicts a larger set of transitive structures than the six types normally mentioned in the typological handbooks (SVO, SOV, VSO, etc). The main cause of this discrepancy is that, whereas generative grammar investigates the hierarchical positions of the verb and its arguments, most typological research is concerned with their relative surface order. In order to bring together these two lines of research, we have to translate the predictions of generative grammar into a more sophisticated typology in linear terms that can be taken as the point of departure for future typological research. This programmatic article is written in the hope that the generative grammar may help typologists to find certain so far unknown typological differences between languages, and that typologists, in turn, may help generative grammar by providing the relevant typological data that are needed to evaluate the competing theoretical proposals and to improve the most successful ones. Keywords: word order typology, phrase structure theory, verb movement, adverb placement.
Scope marking and Focus in Somali
Authors: Frascarelli Mara
Published: September 2011

In this paper a novel approach is proposed for a particular type of cleft-like construction in Somali, the waxaa sentence, in which wax is a scope marker. As such, it operates a function choice in the alternative set overtly expressed in the embedded clause, which serves as a semantic restrictor. In this line of analysis, wax requires the realization of a bi-clausal, copular construction in which the relativized presupposition (i.e. the restrictor) is merged in subject position, while the focused phrase is the predicate. Indefinite wax is located in the position dedicated to focused constituents in Somali and incorporates the Focus Marker baa, allowing for the realization of an in situ Focus (an option otherwise excluded in this language) and obtaining a specific interpretation for the unfocused part of the sentence. Indeed, based on corpus analysis and interface considerations, evidence is provided that baa and waxaa constructions are by no means interchangeable narrow Focus constructions. Focusing by means of waxaa implies a context in which unfocused information is not properly ‘given’; rather it conveys a type of ‘weakly familiar’ information that contributes somehow to the informative part of the sentence. A discussion about the function and formal properties of internal Topics in Focus-prominent languages concludes the work. Keywords: cleft construction; discourse; (weak) familiarity; (narrow) Focus; presupposition; relative clause; scope marker; specificational (copular) sentence; internal Topic
Resurrection, Return, Reform: Taᶜziyeh as Model for Early Babi Historiography
Authors: Mottahedeh Negar
Published: September 2011

The kind of happiness that could arouse envy in us exists only in the air we have breathed, among the people we could have talked to, women who could have given themselves to us. In other words, our image of happiness is indissolubly bound up with the image of redemption. The same applies to our view of the past, which is the concern of history. The past carries with it a temporal index by which it is referred to redemption.

—Walter Benjamin “Theses on the Philosophy of History”

Although The Title of this Paper is Inspired by the Title to Abbas Amanat's now classic history of the 19th-century Babi movement, its concerns are in essence different. Its aims, rather than being a study of the history of the messianic movement itself, are to reflect on the theoretical conditions or the modes of witnessing that structured the engagement with that history by the movement's contemporaries and early inheritors. This paper emerges out of a larger cultural and literary study of the early texts that narrate Babi history.
Arghun Aqa: Mongol Bureaucrat
Authors: Lane George
Published: September 2011

The question of who ran the Mongol Empire has long challenged historians, and various theories have emerged and retreated in answer to this problem. As far as the question of who ran the Persian part of the empire the answer has been made more elusive by the nature of the sources. Though excellent primary source material for this period abounds, for the most part it is written by the bureaucrats of the Il-Khanate themselves, most of whom were Persian. Very little Mongol material survives. It is this lack of Mongolian material that has prompted historians to speculate that perhaps none ever existed and thus that “the Mongols were happy to leave the tedious minutiae of government to those best qualified to cope with them.” In the case of Persia “those best qualified to cope” meant the traditional bureaucratic classes, and such individual luminaries asᶜAta Malik Juvaini and Rashid al-Din and families such as the Qazvinis and Simnanis spring to mind.
Qizilbash Afterwards: The Afshars in Urmiya from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Century
Authors: Kondo Nobuaki
Published: September 2011

The aim of this paper is to investigate historical change that occurred in a Turkic tribal group, the Afshars in Urmiya, western Azerbaijan, from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. The Afshars were important in Iranian history as part of the Qizilbash tribal confederation that contributed to the rise of the Safavids, and as the founders of the Afsharid dynasty. Their branch in Urmiya also played notable roles in the civil wars of the eighteenth century.

Numerous attempts have been made by scholars to show the political and military role of the Qizilbash in the early Safavid period. However, few studies have dealt with their later history. Recently, Kathryn Babayan argued that as a result of the centralization policy of Shah ᶜAbbas (r. 1587-1629), the Qizilbash lost their power and their political and spiritual cohesion, but after that we know little about their actual situation. More than twenty years ago, Ann Lambton pointed out that the collapse of the Safavids caused a resurgence of tribes like the Afshars and Qajars, in the eighteenth century, but the process of and reasons for this “resurgence” have never been examined.
The Structure and Function of the Household of a Qajar Merchant
Authors: Mahdavi Shireen
Published: September 2011

Private life during the Qajar period is not a subject on which much primary material is available. In an earlier work I made use of material from the Mahdavi Archives in Tehran to describe the life and career of Haj Muhammad Hasan Amin al-Zarb, the first major Iranian entrepreneur. Material from the same archive and other sources allows us a glimpse into the daily life of the household of Amin al-Zarb in Tehran. A native of Isfahan, Muhammad Hasan came to Tehran from Isfahan sometime about 1853. He arrived in the capital and, in his own words, “aside from a few items of clothing and an ᶜabā, my worldly goods consisted of a box of scales and weights (miqāl), the work of Isfahan that I had bought for eleven qirāns, and one hundred riyāls in cash.” By 1863 he had begun the most extensive commercial enterprise in Iran and become the richest and most influential merchant in the country.
In search of teacher assessment–its place in the National Curriculum assessment system of England and Wales
Authors: Daugherty Richard
Published: September 2011

This paper looks at the idea of teacher assessment and its history in relation to the English and Welsh National Curriculum since 1987. The author argues that the way it has been understood and used is ‘almost infinitely flexible’. Furthermore, he suggests that government attempts to cement in place one accepted definition have simply caused confusion. In particular, he shows how some definitions conflate formative and summative purposes. As a result assessment which is central to teaching and learning has become a disputed area of classroom practice and teachers are therefore less positive about its usefulness.
Classroom assessment in Greek primary schools
Authors: Mavrommatis Yiannis
Published: September 2011

This paper briefly presents some of the main findings concerning the implementation of assessment in Greek primary classrooms, from a study which explored the relation between teaching, learning and assessment in the primary classroom. It examines the assessment practices used; the purposes teachers attempted to fulfil when assessing; and the content of these assessments. The broader aim of the study was to present a general picture of assessment procedures in a typical Greek primary classroom. Classroom observations, a questionnaire and informal interviews with observed teachers and pupils provided rich data regarding teachers’ practices and their views of assessment.
Standards in examinations: a matter of trust?
Authors: Wiliam Dylan
Published: September 2011

The notion of a ‘standard’ in an assessment system is defined as the attachment of specific meanings to specific test or examination scores. When these meanings are in terms of the performance of a group of individuals, the standard can be described as norm‐referenced (when the individual is not a member of the reference group) or cohort‐referenced (when the individual is a member of the reference group), and when the meanings are in terms of explicit criteria, the standard is described as criterion‐referenced. It is then argued that none of these approaches adequately describes the way that standards are set in high‐stakes assessment systems, which are best described as construct‐referenced. Building on Cresswell's (1996) definition of examination comparability as being the extent to which the assessments are equivalently valued by users of test results, standard setting is regarded as neither objective nor subjective, but rather intersubjective, where maintenance of standards requires that those responsible for setting standards are full participants in a community of practice, and are trusted by users of assessment results.
History skills and the NSW 1986 Two Unit Modern History syllabus part 1: a focus upon objectives
Authors: Harvey P. I. , Maxwell T. W.
Published: September 2011

This paper explores problems and issues arising from the application of an objectives framework to the discipline of history in the secondary school context. Specifically the focus is upon a close analysis of the use of skills objectives in history. Analysis of interviews with syllabus writers and document analysis provided the basis from which it is concluded that the New South Wales (NSW) 1986 Two Unit Modern History syllabus is an ambitious curriculum document which created considerable difficulties for teachers intent on using its skills‐based objectives.
Science in the National Curriculum: an international perspective
Authors: Orpwood Graham , Barnett John
Published: September 2011

The focus of this article is a comparative review of the science curriculum for England and Wales from the perspective of recent developments in the United States of America, Australia, New Zealand and the Canadian province of Ontario. In the comparison of science curriculum documents and the language deployed, questions are raised about differences as well as commonalities among and between documents from various jurisdictions. Issues discussed include: the varying emphases upon science topics and/or intended learning outcomes; integration with other curriculum areas; the content and organization of the science curriculum; and ways of assessing students’ performances and understandings. The article draws attention to the importance of comparative analysis which informs our understanding of the effects of curriculum change, its relation to students’ achievements in science, and the need to support the development of teachers.
Dimensions of progression in a curriculum
Authors: Adey Philip
Published: September 2011

The focus of this article is upon progression in the curriculum, its relation to a particular psychological model, and implications for policy and practice. The illustrative case is the National Curriculum for England and Wales. Focusing primarily upon the history and the science curricula, the author offers and justifies the idea of a three‐dimensional model for the curriculum to account separately for profiles in acquiring knowledge in a variety of contexts, and for progress in the ability of students to handle increasingly complex concepts. Without a theoretically justified notion of progression, the author concludes that the implementation of the National Curriculum, including its assessment procedures, will continue to be problematic.
The Scottish school history curriculum and issues of national identity
Authors: Wood Sydney , Payne Fran
Published: September 2011

The Scottish curriculum operates through broad guidelines that allow a good deal of freedom to shape the curriculum. This article reports the findings of an investigation into the attitudes towards, and knowledge of Scottish history of 16‐year‐old pupils in Scottish schools. The pupils’ responses to questions about aspects of Scotland's past revealed a very large degree of ignorance about important people, events, circumstances and dates as well as a number of misconceptions about major historical aspects. The content of the school history curriculum has an important part to play in the development of a sense of national identity. The findings are discussed at a time when there is a resurgent sense of national identity, with the people in Scotland recently voting in a referendum for the setting up of a Scottish parliament. The minimal place history occupies in the curriculum may partly explain the lack of pupils’ knowledge. There is a lack of detailed evidence on this issue, both within Scotland and from other nations. A major debate about what matters in Scotland's past is needed, for Scotland has avoided establishing a prescribed history curriculum: a well‐informed teaching profession has to make critical decisions about what to include.
Do Case Vignettes Accurately Reflect Antibiotic Prescription?
Authors: Lucet Jean-Christophe , Nicolas-Chanoine Marie-Hélène , Lefort Agnes , Roy Carine , Diamantis Sylvain , Papy Emmanuelle , Riveros-Palacios Oscar , Grand Jennifer Le , Rioux Christophe , Fantin Bruno , Ravaud Philippe
Published: September 2011

Background.

Antibiotic prescription is frequently inappropriate in hospitals. Our objective was to evaluate whether the quality of antibiotic prescription could be measured using case vignettes to assess physicians' knowledge.

Methods.

The study was conducted in 2 public teaching hospitals, where 33/41 units and 206/412 physicians regularly prescribing antibiotics to inpatients agreed to participate. A cross-sectional survey of knowledge was performed using 4 randomly assigned case vignette sets. Curative antibiotic prescriptions were then evaluated using standard criteria for appropriateness at initiation (day 0), after 2–3 days of treatment (days 2–3), and at treatment completion. We compared knowledge of the physicians with their observed prescriptions in the subset of 106 physicians who completed the case vignettes and prescribed antibiotics at least once.

Results.

The median global case vignette score was 11.4/20 (interquartile range, 8.92-314.3). Of the 483 antibiotic prescriptions, 314 (65%) were deemed appropriate at day 0, 324 (72%) on days 2–3, and 227 (69%) at treatment completion. Prescriptions were appropriate at all 3 time points in only 43% of patients. Appropriate prescription was positively and independently associated with emergency prescription on day 0, documented infection on days 2–3, and 1 of the 2 hospitals at treatment completion. In addition, appropriateness at the 3 evaluation times was positively associated with prescription in anesthesiology or the intensive care unit. Case vignette scores above the median were significantly and independently associated with appropriate antibiotic prescription on days 2–3 and at treatment completion.

Conclusions.

Case vignettes are effective for identifying physicians or hospitals whose knowledge and practice regarding antibiotic prescription require improvement.
Importance of Employee Vaccination against Influenza in Preventing Cases in Long-Term Care Facilities
Authors: Wendelboe Aaron M. , Avery Catherine , Andrade Bernardo , Baumbach Joan , Landen Michael G.
Published: September 2011

Objective.

Employees of long-term care facilities (LTCFs) who have contact with residents should be vaccinated against influenza annually to reduce influenza incidence among residents. This investigation estimated the magnitude of the benefit of this recommendation.

Methods.

The New Mexico Department of Health implemented active surveillance in all of its 75 LTCFs during influenza seasons 2006-2007 and 2007-2008. Information about the number of laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza and the proportion vaccinated of both residents and direct-care employees in each facility was collected monthly. LTCFs reporting at least 1 case of influenza (defined alternately by laboratory confirmation or symptoms of influenza-like illness [ILI]) among residents were compared with LTCFs reporting no cases of influenza. Regression modeling was used to obtain adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between employee vaccination coverage and the occurrence of influenza outbreaks. Covariates included vaccination coverage among residents, the staff-to-resident ratio, and the proportion of filled beds.

Results.

Seventeen influenza outbreaks were reported during this 2-year period of surveillance. Eleven of these were laboratory confirmed (n = 21 residents) and 6 were defined by ILI (n = 40 residents). Mean influenza vaccination coverage among direct-care employees was 51% in facilities reporting outbreaks and 60% in facilities not reporting outbreaks (P = .12). Increased vaccination coverage among direct-care employees was associated with fewer reported outbreaks of laboratory-confirmed influenza (aOR, 0.97 [95% CI, 0.95-0.99]) and ILI (aOR, 0.98 [95% CI, 0.96-1.00]).

Conclusions.

High vaccination coverage among direct-care employees helps to prevent influenza in LTCFs.
Quicker, Easier, and Cheaper? The Promise of Automated Hand Hygiene Monitoring
Authors: Stewardson Andrew , Pittet Didier
Published: September 2011

There are several reasons why surveillance of hand hygiene performance is a crucial part of successful promotion strategies. These can be conceptualized according to the end-user of the data: infection control professionals; healthcare workers (HCWs); researchers; and external stakeholders, such as governmental and nongovernmental accreditation and benchmarking bodies and the general public. Each of these groups comes to hand hygiene performance data with different expectations and preconceptions and will use it for different purposes. Thus, one of the challenges of collecting such data is to do it in such a way that it satisfies the specifications of all interested parties as much as possible.

Boyce provides a thorough and balanced overview of the current state of hand hygiene monitoring. At a time when the field of hand hygiene promotion is maturing rapidly and infection control professionals are facing a vast range of options for monitoring performance in their hospital, this review comes as a timely and welcome summary and answers many common questions in addition to demystifying some newer technologies.
PIRUS2: individual article usage statistics — developing a practical, global standard
Authors: SHEPHERD Peter T.
Published: September 2011

The most granular level at which COUNTER currently requires reporting of usage is for the individual journal. A number of developments have, however, meant that it is now practical to investigate the development of a COUNTER standard for the recording, reporting, and consolidation of usage statistics at the individual article level. The aim of PIRUS2 (Publisher and Institutional Repository Usage Statistics 2) was to take forward the outcomes of the original PIRUS project and build on its recommendations, by developing a prototype service (including technical, organizational, and economic models) that will enable publishers, repositories, and other organizations to generate and share authoritative, trustworthy usage statistics for the individual articles and other items that they host. The PIRUS2 project was completed in June 2011. This article covers the aims, objectives, outputs and recommendations of the project.
The Contextual Approach
Authors: Bevir Mark
Published: September 2011

There are several contextual, historical approaches to texts. They include much hermeneutics, reception theory, and the new historicism. Yet, in the history of political philosophy, the contextual approach is associated narrowly with J. G. A. Pocock, Quentin Skinner, and the Cambridge School they are often said to have inspired. This article examines the rise of this contextualism, the theoretical arguments used to justify it, and its current standing and future prospects. It pursue several arguments. First, the label “Cambridge School” is highly misleading: Pocock and Skinner differ significantly from one another, while many of the other historians involved are suspicious of all theoretical statements and methodological precepts. Second, contextualism arose as a historical practice indebted to modernist empiricist modes of inquiry: contextualist theories arose only later, as Pocock and Skinner grabbed at philosophical vocabularies to defend that practice. Third, recent developments in contextualism involve a retreat from these vocabularies: in the absence of renewed theoretical debate, contextualism may lapse into naive empiricism or bland eclecticism.
Postmodern Approaches to the History of Political Thought
Authors: Dienstag Joshua Foa
Published: September 2011

This article describes the postmodern approach to the history of political thought that has evolved through the practices of a variety of theorists in both Europe and the United States since the 1950s. It maintains that Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy is the originating point of this movement, although neither he nor any of the other theorists it mentions left any canonical statements of methods to compare with the works of Quentin Skinner or Leo Strauss. Terms such as “deconstruction,” “genealogy,” and “radical hermeneutics” are often used to describe these methods. At the broadest level, the postmodern approach displays an acute sensitivity to the role of language in politics, and in political theory itself, that originates in the work of Nietzsche. While postmodernism is nothing if not a congeries of method, this article argues that these diverse approaches have, if not a unity, than at least common sources and overlapping themes.
The Origins of Political Philosophy
Authors: Allen Danielle
Published: September 2011

“Political philosophy” betrays by its name that its origins lie in Greece. Both words, “political,” and “philosophy,” derive from ancient Greek. “Philosophy” comes from philia (“love”) and sophia (“wisdom”) which, taken together, indicate the love of wisdom. “Political” derives from the adjective politikos, which means “belonging or pertaining to the polis.” Typically translated as city or city state, a polis was distinguished from other types of community by the presence of distinct activities, among them commercial exchange, judicial proceedings, and public deliberation. The Greek urban settlements that came to be called poleis date to some time around 1000 bce; they were generally built around an agora or marketplace. We might identify the origins of political philosophy as lying in the conversion of traditions of wisdom literature, under the pressure of the needs of democracy, into analytical accounts of politics that relied increasingly on an abstract and systematic conceptual vocabulary. This article looks at how Greek political thinkers such as Herodotus, Solon, Thucydides, Gorgias, and Lysias contributed to the birth of political philosophy.
Classical Political Philosophy: Plato and Aristotle
Authors: Devereux Daniel
Published: September 2011

Systematic political thought in ancient Greece begins with Plato, and quickly reaches its zenith in the rich and complex discussions in Aristotle's Politics. The political theories of both philosophers are closely tied to their ethical theories, and their interest is in questions concerning constitutions or forms of government. Herodotus sketches a fascinating debate by proponents of three forms of government: democracy, monarchy, and oligarchy. In Euripides' Suppliant Maidens, there is a debate between Theseus, champion of Athenian democracy, and a messenger from Creon, ruler of Thebes. Among Plato's predecessors there was a tradition of political thought and debate, but he was the first Greek thinker to undertake a careful, systematic analysis of fundamental questions in political philosophy. This article discusses Socrates' influence on Plato. It then looks at Plato's masterpiece, the Republic, and considers his model of an ideal constitution. It concludes with a discussion of Aristotle's complex and sophisticated analysis of political constitutions.
Hellenistic Political Theory
Authors: Mitsis Phillip
Published: September 2011

There is an almost schizophrenic quality to much of the surviving evidence for political thought in the Hellenistic period. The philosophers usually taken to be most characteristic of the Hellenistic period and whose views were to prove by far the most influential for subsequent political thinkers—the Epicureans, Stoics, and sometimes, honorifically, because of their influence on the Stoics, the Cynics—all emphatically insist that individuals can achieve perfect happiness completely on their own and under any kinds of inhospitable political conditions. This article considers a range of recent major reconstructions of Hellenistic political views by scholars who claim that the period did indeed engage in genuine political philosophy. It agrees with Isaiah Berlin's claim that the radically depoliticized outlook of Hellenistic philosophers signaled one of the most revolutionary and crucial breaks in the history of Western political thought. Moreover, two of their central tenets—Stoic natural law and the Epicurean social contract—were to prove unexpectedly fruitful for later political thinkers.
Arabic Contributions to Medieval Political Theory
Authors: Butterworth Charles E.
Published: September 2011

This article explores political philosophy within the medieval Arabic-Islamic tradition of the Middle East, focusing on the contributions of a few thinkers including Alfarabi, Avicenna, Ibn Bajja, Ibn Tufayl, Ibn Rushd, Averroes, and Ibn Khaldūn. Political philosophy in general differs from political thought, on the one hand, and political theology, on the other, insofar as it seeks to replace opinion about political affairs by knowledge. Political philosophy in the medieval Arabic-Islamic tradition of the Middle East differs from that in the medieval Arabic-Jewish or Arabic-Christian traditions in that it is beholden neither to political nor to theological currents, its occasional rhetorical bows to one or the other notwithstanding. Political thought, best exemplified by the genre known as “Mirrors for Princes,” is always limited by the opinions that dominate the setting and time. Political theology or, for medieval Islam, jurisprudence focuses on how the beliefs and actions set forth in the religious tradition elucidate the conditions justifying warfare or the qualities an individual must have to be considered a suitable ruler.
The Early Modern Foundations of Classic Liberalism
Authors: Collins Jeffrey
Published: September 2011

The term “liberalism” is of nineteenth-century vintage, but only the most pedantic historian would limit its use to that period. By then, David Hume and the utilitarians had undermined traditional accounts of rights and contract, and “liberalism” largely denoted a reforming mode of political economy. Nineteenth-century liberals were heirs more of Adam Smith than of John Locke, and in this sense the term “liberalism” post-dated the development of “classic,” natural-rights liberalism. Two schemas have tended to structure the historical interpretation of the seventeenth century. “Proto-liberalism” is presumed to be the victorious foe either of Christian political theology, or of antique republicanism. This article explores liberalism's theoretical fundaments, including a dedication to monopolistic sovereignty; belief in the artificiality of political order; an atomistic individualism; dedication to natural equality and popular sovereignty; deployment of the juridical language of rights and contract; a privileging of stability as the primary end of politics.