bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Decision-making support system based on LCA for aseptic packaging recycling
Authors: Varžinskas Visvaldas , Staniškis Jurgis K , Knašytė Milda
Published: July 2012

In Europe post-consumer beverage carton packages are treated in three ways: dumped in a landfill, incinerated for energy recovery, and recycled. In recent years new technologies for beverage carton recycling have been developed and tested. At the same time in Europe the collection of second-hand raw materials is becoming more efficient. In order to facilitate and justify the decision-making process, different possibilities of poly-aluminium handling were analysed. For this reason, the objective of this study was to compare carbon footprints in the whole life cycle of selected technologies and to provide decision-making with data for beverage carton recycling. The paper is based on some of the results of the project ‘Sustainable Production through Innovations in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SPIN)’. The SPIN project is providing small- and medium-sized enterprises with a whole set of instruments that put entrepreneurs in a position to innovate their production processes and products leading to improved business and public benefits.
Effects of diets containing genistein and diadzein in a long-term study on sex steroid dynamics of goldfish (Carassius auratus)
Authors: Bagheri Tahere , Imanpoor Mohammad Reza , Jafari Valiollah
Published: July 2012

The effect of long-term exposure of goldfish to dietary genistein and diadzein on the concentrations of plasma sex steroids (testosterone (T), 17β-estradiol (E2)) and the gonadosomatic index (GSI) was assessed. The study was conducted on four groups for a period of 2 years, from the age of 20 weeks to first spawning. Four doses of genistein and diadzein were applied in the feed: genistein: 0 µg/g, diadzein: 0 µg/g (control group); genistein: 24.26 µg/g, diadzein: 21.7µg/g (diet 1); genistein: 51.55 µg/g, diadzein: 46.13 µg/g (diet 2); and genistein: 75.83 µg/g, diadzein: 67.82µg/g (diet 3). Throughout the experiment, there were no significant dose- or time-related effects of genistein and diadzein contents on the T level in both sexes. Furthermore, at the highest genistein and diadzein contents, there was an elevating plasma concentration of E2 at all sampling points ( p < 0.05) and a time-related effect occurred ( p < 0.05). Although the E2 concentrations in the plasma of female, throughout the experiment, were higher than in males, at the last sampling, the plasma concentrations of E2 reduced among females and became lower than that in males. The effects of isoflavone content were found on GSI of females at the fourth and fifth sampling among the treatments. Isoflavone contents also affect GSI of males at the second, fourth and the last sampling. Our findings suggest that overall genistein and diadzein exposure in early life stages can cause alterations in the reproductive organs and influence sex steroidogenesis.
Docetaxel-loaded composite nanoparticles formed by a temperature-induced phase transition for cancer therapy
Authors: Yuk Soon H , Oh Keun S , Park Jinah , Lee Eun H , Kim Kwangmeyung , Kwon Ick C
Published: July 2012

Docetaxel-loaded composite nanoparticles were prepared by temperature-induced phase transition of a mixture composed of Pluronic F-68 and liquid Tween 80/soybean oil containing docetaxel. Liquid soybean oil/Tween 80 was used as a solubilizer for docetaxel and Pluronic F-68 to stabilize the liquid soybean oil/Tween 80 containing docetaxel. The phase transition was performed at low temperature to avoid degradation. The docetaxel composite nanoparticles were injected into the tail veins of tumor-bearing mice to evaluate the composite delivery system for the release pattern and the tumor growth. The tumor-targeting capability of composite nanoparticles was verified by noninvasive live animal imaging for the time-dependent excretion profile, the in vivo biodistribution, and the circulation time.
The Game Is Violent! Opening Gambits at the Ministry of Culture
Authors: Heritage Paul
Published: July 2012

Brazilian cultural policy achieved a notable prominence under President Lula with the appointment of internationally renowned musician Gilberto Gil as Minister of Culture in 2003. Particular focus was given to creating cultural programmes that matched the social reform and anti-poverty agendas at the heart of Lula’s government. When Ana de Hollanda became the 14th Minister of Culture in January 2011, she declared her commitment to continuity – yet was immediately thrown into a series of high-profile battles that seemed to position her against the digital democracy heralded by the previous administration. This article looks at decisions and directions taken by the Brazilian Ministry of Culture during the first months of 2011 to consider how far current policies seek to consolidate or to challenge the cultural agenda set during eight years of Lula’s presidency. Will the legacy of Gil and his successor Juca Ferreira be continued in the government of Dilma Rousseff?
Geometry design, three-dimensional modeling and kinematic analysis of orthogonal fluctuating gear ratio face gear drive
Authors: Lin Chao , Gong Hai , Nie Ning , Zen Qinlong , Zhang Lei
Published: July 2012

As the current research of face gear drive cannot realize fluctuating gear ratio, a design method of orthogonal fluctuating gear ratio face gear drive is proposed. The mathematical model of orthogonal fluctuating gear ratio face gear drive is found based on the space engagement theory. The equation of the pitch curve, addendum curve and dedendum curve of face gear are derived. The design method of tooth surface of the face gear is available based on the envelope method. The conversion relationship of enveloping coordinate systems is obtained during the enveloping process of orthogonal fluctuating gear ratio face gear drive after the establishment of enveloping coordinate systems. Then combining with equation of generating surface, the tooth surface equation of the face gear is obtained. The three-dimensional model of orthogonal fluctuating gear ratio face gear is acquired on the basis of a modeling program, which is developed under the environment of VB and Solidworks (API). Furthermore, localization of the bearing contact is achieved by the manufacturing method and it is justified by the finite element method analysis result. Finally, the kinematics of the orthogonal fluctuating gear ratio face gear drive is analyzed, and the change laws of transmission ratio, angular displacement and angular acceleration of the face gear are acquired.
Effect of humidity, temperature and railhead contamination on the performance of friction modifiers: Pin-on-disk study
Authors: Lewis Stephen R , Lewis Roger , Olofsson Ulf , Eadie Don T , Cotter John , Lu Xin
Published: July 2012

Commercially available friction modifiers are used in many different countries that have widely different atmospheric conditions. These variations in atmospheric conditions lead to varying levels of railhead oxidation and debris build-up. Friction modifiers can be applied to the rail without any prior cleaning of the rail and this can lead to varying friction modifier/iron oxide ratios potentially affecting the performance of the friction modifier. This paper reports the results of an investigation that was performed to determine the effects of varying atmospheric and oxide conditions on the performance of friction modifiers. A pin-on-disk test rig with an attached environmental chamber was used for the study. Results show that relative humidity has a pronounced effect on the way in which the friction modifier affects friction levels, and also the amount of time it remains on the disk. This also depends on the concentration of oxide in the friction modifier. Glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy analysis was also carried out to assess the effect of the friction modifier and atmospheric conditions on the chemical composition of the surface of the disk. Results show that the depth of surface modification is vastly different depending on the conditions and level of railhead debris.
Mechanical characterization of railway structures based on vertical stiffness analysis and railway substructure stress state
Authors: Montalbán Laura , Real Julia , Real Teresa
Published: July 2012

This paper uses the finite element method to analyse the mechanical behaviour of different track types by considering the different conditions to which they may be subjected: superstructure, height, embankment and foundation quality. The values of the stress and deformation as a function of depth are obtained at each point of the cross-section of the considered track. These values allow quantification of the basic design parameters for railway structures: track stiffness and stress supported by the railway platform. Optimal combinations of superstructure, height, embankment and foundation materials are presented for various specific operation conditions. The presented information can be used to improve the design of railway structures.
Dogs and females: Vivisection, feminists and the novelist Rachilde
Authors: Finn Michael R.
Published: July 2012

This article explores the somewhat unexpected convergence of the French anti-vivisectionist and feminist movements in the late nineteenth century, asking why, in particular, prominent feminists such as Maria Deraismes, Marie Huot, and even that detractor of feminism Rachilde, banded together to oppose the practice. Claude Bernard’s ‘méthode expérimentale’ had made of vivisection the only reputable approach to medical advancement and its defenders noted, maddeningly, that opposition to the practice excluded the female because she was not intellectually equipped by nature to question it. But women realised that, transferred to the domain of experimentation with humans, as was the case with Charcot’s physically invasive experiments upon female hysterics, Bernard’s method could become a dangerous and cruel weapon.
Parisienne femininity and the politics of embodiment
Authors: Humphrey Claire
Published: July 2012

La Parisienne is both myth and icon, projecting a confident, feminine incarnation of Frenchness. The enduring popularity of this figure within France and abroad is evidenced in the numerous (life)style manuals that sell their readers the secrets of balancing femininity with modernity, consumerism with creativity. The ahistorical presentation of la Parisienne contrasts with the way in which increasingly political narratives surround the relationship between femininity, consumerism and citizenship in the French public sphere. A discussion of two counter-culture graffiti artists – Miss.Tic, who uses ‘la Parisienne’ as an urban icon to highlight the gendered dynamics of the street and Princess Hijab, whose images confront associations between consumerism and citizenship – highlights how femininity is presented in one as the celebration of contradiction, and in the other as a way of glossing over perceptions of cultural difference.
Une France passéiste ? La nostalgie comme leitmotiv thématique et esthétique chez Georges Brassens
Authors: Marc Isabelle
Published: July 2012

Le présent article vise à explorer le motif esthétique et thématique de la nostalgie dans la culture française en analysant sa présence concrète dans l’œuvre et le personnage de Georges Brassens. Pour ce faire, nous offrirons premièrement une présentation diachronique du concept de nostalgie et nous étudierons ensuite la nostalgie comme leitmotiv dans les textes de Brassens en analysant ses enjeux sur le plan de l’expression et de la réception. L’analyse nous permettra d’identifier le personnage Brassens comme mythe d’une francité foncièrement passéiste, assimilée à une identité universaliste républicaine, située dans un passé fictionnel, opposée au multiculturalisme problématique de la réalité contemporaine. Les conclusions s’interrogeront sur le rôle de la nostalgie dans la construction de l’identité nationale française.
The terrorist Earth? Some thoughts on Sade and Baudrillard
Authors: McCallam David
Published: July 2012

This article starts from a fictional terrorist act in the marquis de Sade’s La Nouvelle Justine, which harnesses the power of an earthquake in its execution. It raises the question of whether ‘terrible’ large-scale geological phenomena might offer a plausible model for modern terrorism. Eighteenth-century discourses on revolutionary politics and the aesthetics of the sublime afford strong conceptual links which support this premise. They also help to explain Jean Baudrillard’s repeated assertion that terror attack and natural disaster might now be indifferently substituted for one other. His analyses point to a confusion in ‘safety’ and ‘security’ responses in the wake of 9/11, but also to an original conception of the globalised system of power as one which, like its geological counterpart (plate tectonics), is structured by its fault-lines and works because – not in spite of – them. It is these fault-lines that both the Sadean and the modern terrorist exploit.
Narrating a ‘new Europe’: From ‘bitter past’ to self-righteousness?
Authors: Forchtner Bernhard , Kølvraa Christoffer
Published: July 2012

The 1990s and 2000s saw a memory and remembrance boom at both the national and supra-/transnational level. Crucially, many of these emerging memory frames were not simply about a glorious and heroic past, as in, for example, traditional nationalist narratives. Rather, groups started to narrate their symbolic boundaries in a more inclusive way by admitting past wrongdoings. In this article, we look at a corpus of so-called ‘speculative speeches’ by leading politicians in the European Union and, against the aforementioned historical background, analyse their representations of Europe’s past, present and future. By utilising the discourse-historical approach in critical discourse analysis, narrative theory and elements of Reinhart Koselleck’s conceptual history ( Begriffsgeschichte), we illustrate how, first, a ‘new Europe’, based on admitting failure, is narrated. However, second, we also show that such a self-critical narration of a ‘bitter past’ is, paradoxically, transformed into a self-righteous attitude towards Europe’s ‘others’.
On the F word: A corpus-based analysis of the media representation of feminism in British and German press discourse, 1990–2009
Authors: Jaworska Sylvia , Krishnamurthy Ramesh
Published: July 2012

Research in social psychology has shown that public attitudes towards feminism are mostly based on stereotypical views linking feminism with leftist politics and lesbian orientation. It is claimed that such attitudes are due to the negative and sexualised media construction of feminism. Studies concerned with the media representation of feminism seem to confirm this tendency. While most of this research provides significant insights into the representation of feminism, the findings are often based on a small sample of texts. Also, most of the research was conducted in an Anglo-American setting. This study attempts to address some of the shortcomings of previous work by examining the discourse of feminism in a large corpus of German and British newspaper data. It does so by employing the tools of Corpus Linguistics. By investigating the collocation profiles of the search term feminism, we provide evidence of salient discourse patterns surrounding feminism in two different cultural contexts.
Chironomids can be reliable proxies for Holocene temperatures. A comment on Velle et al. (2010)
Authors: Brooks Stephen J , Axford Yarrow , Heiri Oliver , Langdon Peter G , Larocque-Tobler Isabelle
Published: July 2012

Velle et al. (2010) discussed discrepancies between Scandinavian Holocene chironomid-inferred temperature estimates, which they attribute to the response of chironomids to environmental variables other than temperature and to taxonomic shortcomings. They suggest ways in which the reliability of chironomid-based paleotemperature reconstructions could be improved by taking into account ecological complexity. While we agree with many of their recommendations, based on the results of other work, we think their paper is unnecessarily pessimistic regarding the ability of existing chironomid-based temperature inference models to provide reliable estimates of past temperature. We offer a critique of the main points discussed by Velle et al. (2010) and provide evidence that chironomid-based temperature inference models can reliably reconstruct mean July air temperature in the Lateglacial and Holocene over millennial and centennial timescales.
British Military Intelligence in Cyprus during the Great War
Authors: Varnava Andrekos
Published: July 2012

This article explores the impact of civil-military relations and an unreliable – even disloyal – local population upon intelligence-gathering and counter-espionage in Cyprus, and therefore adds to the existing literature on British Near and Middle East military intelligence during the First World War. Drawing upon archives in Britain and Cyprus, and a range of published primary sources, a fresh contribution to First World War intelligence studies is offered through a focus on British counter-espionage efforts in Cyprus after 1916. The article covers Anglo-French intelligence cooperation on the Syrian and Cilician coast, the wartime loyalties of Cypriots and their value as spies, and insights into Ottoman and German human intelligence activity in the region. The primary focus is on the civil-military relations between the Cyprus colonial government and the military intelligence officers. It is argued that Cyprus acquired some importance as a post for intelligence-gathering and especially counter-espionage, but the problems derived from inadequate civil-military relations, disloyal Cypriot subjects, and the island’s status as a backwater hindered its development as a valuable asset in the Near and Middle East theatre.
Scottish Spearmen, 1298–1314: An Answer to Cavalry
Authors: Caldwell David H.
Published: July 2012

In 1298, in a departure from past practice, the Scots under William Wallace fought and lost at Falkirk with large units of spearmen. King Robert Bruce adopted this tactic in 1307. He was successful largely owing to the attention he paid to the selection and training of his men, to the arms and armour they employed, and to the choice and preparation of the field of battle. The Scottish armies of the period may have been larger than allowed by recent historians.
Haldane’s Mackindergarten: A Radical Experiment in British Military Education?
Authors: Sloan Geoff
Published: July 2012

This article investigates the origins, development, and impact of a unique experiment in British military education. It began in 1907 as part of the radical post-Boer War reforms of the British army, and ended in 1932, a victim of the May committee’s financial austerity programme that was forced on the War Office. ‘The Class for the Administrative Training of Army Officers’ was run by the London School of Economics on behalf of the War Office. Its students consisted primarily, but not exclusively, of army logistics officers. It was a synthesis of the ideas and praxis of two men: Richard Haldane, then secretary of state for war, and the polymath Sir Halford Mackinder, then director of the LSE. It delivered a syllabus of officer education that was embedded in a number of ‘special ideas’. The first of these argued that the army existed to produce power, used both to maintain peace and in war to achieve victory. The second was a focus on the power of efficiency, interpreted as an outcome of both empirical knowledge and imagination. Both these ‘special ideas’ linked the course to one of the core functions of strategy, identifying the most suitable means to achieve set objectives. The course represented a synthesis between the practical utility of information and the general principles underlying these special ideas. Despite its radical approach the course passed the hard litmus test of military education. It covered a diverse number of subjects in a relatively short period of time, while ensuring that a single objective was met.
Towards Peace with Justice in Sri Lanka
Authors: Bandarage Asoka
Published: July 2012

Since the end of the armed conflict and the defeat of terrorism in May 2009, the international movement to establish Tamil political autonomy in Sri Lanka’s Northern and Eastern regions has intensified. The faction of the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora which leads the separatist struggle has declared a virtual ‘Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam’. Tamil politicians on the island, the ‘international community’ and India are all calling for maximum political devolution along the lines of the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution introduced following Indian intervention in 1987. This article juxtaposes the growing demands for secessionism and devolution with demographic and ground realities in Sri Lanka and the need for policies that are responsive to the needs and interests of all communities on the island. The article considers calls for a national referendum on devolution, the district as the unit of devolution and changes needed beyond devolution at the local, regional and international levels.
Japan and China
Authors: Panda Rajaram
Published: July 2012

Sino-Japanese relationship is too complex a narrative in the study of security and strategic dynamics of East Asia. Despite historical irritants both have developed such a close economic relationship that neither can afford to derail the partnership by any act of miscalculation. Though neither perceives the relationship in zero-sum-game terms, both realize the benefits that would accrue if it is deepened, nothwithstanding the element of fragility in the relationship. More recently, China’s military modernisation and rising assertiveness in territorial issues have raised anxiety in Japan. Similarly, China does not see kindly to Japan’s Defense Guidelines that mentions China as a matter of ‘concern’. The contending claims over the Senkaku Islands are a sore point in the relationship and a solution does not seem to be in the horizon. This article attempts to analyse the intricacies in the bilateral relationship in the context of changing security dynamics in the Asia Pacific region and in the wake of economic interdependence and the desire to foster economic integration of economies. China is a big challenge for Japan. Managing China through regional institutions such as East Asia summit and ADMM Plus are the desirable options. The extended presence of the US as a stabilising force is likely to stay despite talks of US ‘decline’.
Farewell to Overt Ideological Intervention
Authors: Cooley Jason
Published: July 2012

At times, the leaders of nations send numerous troops abroad so that governments can be created or preserved. Some of these operations are completed without much trouble, but it is important to emphasise how many turn out to be quite arduous. Most officials elect to abandon these difficult missions. This tendency was actually on display in the 1980s. At the beginning of this decade, the leaders of Iran elected to invade Iraq. As this operation commenced, Iranian officials were quite confident that another Islamic theocracy could be established inside this Middle Eastern nation. However, once multiple setbacks were experienced, this confidence began to dissipate and the initiative was brought to an end. Since the conclusion of the 1980s, only a small number of nations have made the same transition as Iran. In this article, it will be argued that the US recently became a member of this select group.
The UN and Global Governance
Authors: Dutt Sagarika
Published: July 2012

This article discusses the role of the UN in global governance. In the absence of a world government to determine codes of conduct and regulate relations between states, multilateral approaches are needed to solve global problems. The UN provides an institutional framework for policy formulation and decision making at the international level. However, policies need to be underpinned by ideas and norms and the intellectual history of the UN suggests that the organisation is the source of many ideas that have led to human progress. For example, the concept of human rights and ideas about social and economic development and environmental sustainability have guided the UN’s work in different countries. But there are gaps in global governance including normative, policy, institutional and compliance gaps that together with a deficiency of resources could undermine the global effort to implement the UN’s ideas for creating a more peaceful and just world.
The impact of Vocational, Education, Training and Employment Coordinator positions on attitudes and practices in a NSW mental health service
Authors: Sommer Joanne , Lunt Bronwyn , Rogers Jeffrey , Poole Roslyn , Singham Asha
Published: July 2012

Objective:

To determine attitudes and practices of community mental health clinicians in relation to employment and education for consumers and to assess the impact of the establishment of Vocational, Education, Training and Employment (VETE) Coordinator positions.

Method:

A snapshot was conducted by surveying community mental health clinicians regarding every consumer on their caseload in 2007. This was repeated in 2010 and the results were compared.

Results:

From 2007 to 2010, the overall rates of VETE interventions increased, including a doubling of the rate of linkage to employment agencies for job seekers. Services with the consistent presence of a VETE Coordinator showed a greater impact on a number of factors, highlighted by a positive shift in clinician attitudes regarding their consumers’ capacity to work.

Conclusion:

The establishment of VETE Coordination positions in the mental health service appears to be an effective way of raising awareness of VETE issues and improving VETE service provision. An important role has been assisting clinicians to begin implementing the principles of the Individual Placement and Support model of Supported Employment and to incorporate support for employment and education as a routine part of practice.
The Effects of the Palliative Medicine Consultation on the DNR Status of African Americans in a Safety-Net Hospital
Authors: Sacco Joseph , Carr Dana R. Deravin , Viola Deborah
Published: July 2012

Objective:

To examine the effectiveness of palliative medicine consultation on completion of advance directives/do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders by racial/ethnic minorities.

Method:

A sample of 1999 seriously ill African American and Hispanic inpatients was obtained from the Palliative Medicine Consultation database (n = 2972). Associations between race/ethnicity and diagnosis and documentation of DNR status on admission and discharge were examined.

Results:

Cancer was the primary diagnosis, 34.5%. Among patients with a consultation, 98% agreed to discuss advance directives; 65% of African Americans and 70% of Hispanics elected DNR status. Inpatient deaths were 46%; 74% of decedents agreed to DNR orders. Discharged patients referred to hospice were 29%.

Conclusion:

Palliative medicine consultations resulted in timely completion of DNR orders and were positively associated with DNR election and hospice enrollment.
Prevalence of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Colonization and Infection in Hospitalized Palliative Care Patients With Cancer
Authors: Ghanem Hafez M. , Abou-Alia Ahmad M. , Alsirafy Samy A.
Published: July 2012

Little is known about the pattern of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonization and infection in hospitalized palliative care (PC) patients. We reviewed 854 admissions for 289 patients with advanced cancer managed by a PC service in a tertiary care hospital. The MRSA screening was performed at least once in 228 (79%) patients, and 21 (9%) of them were MRSA positive. Other cultures were done in 251 (86.8%) patients, and 8 (3%) patients were MRSA positive. The total number of MRSA-positive admissions was 28 (3%), with a median admission duration of 8 days. A substantial proportion of hospitalized PC patients with cancer are MRSA positive. Research is required to study the impact of infection control measures on the quality of PC delivered to MRSA-positive terminally ill patients in hospitals.
The Evaluation of the Relationship Between the Level of Disclosure of Cancer in Terminally Ill Patients With Cancer and the Quality of Terminal Care in These Patients and Their Families Using the Support Team Assessment Schedule
Authors: Nakajima Nobuhisa , Hata Yoshinobu , Onishi Hideki , Ishida Mayumi
Published: July 2012

Aims:

To examine the relationship between informing patients of cancer and the quality of terminal care.

Methods:

This was a study of 87 consecutive terminally ill cancer patients who died during the last 27-month period. Notification of cancer was classified into 4 groups (A, B, C, and D, respectively): “nondisclosure,” “disclosure of cancer diagnosis,” “disclosure of life threatening,” and “disclosure of poor prognosis.” We evaluated the quality of palliative care using Support Team Assessment Schedule–Japanese (STAS-J).

Results:

A, B, C, and D groups included 8, 22, 37, and20 cases, respectively. Regarding physical symptoms, no marked difference was noted. Anxiety was significantly reduced, and the recognition of disease conditions and the level of communication were significantly higher in the groups that received specific information ( P < .001).

Conclusions:

Informing patients of more specific information will increase the quality of terminal care.
Prevalence and Management of Pain by Different Age Groups of Korean Cancer Patients
Authors: Kim Jin Y. , Jang Won Y. , Hur Mi H. , Lee Kang K. , Do Young R. , Park Keon U. , Hong Young S. , Song Hong Suk
Published: July 2012

The aims of this study were to evaluate the differences in cancer prevalence and pain management between young and elderly patients. The patients were grouped into 3 groups. The prevalence of cancer pain was 50.0% in those younger than 65 years, 55.9% in those aged between 65 and 75, and 58.3% in those older than 75 years. The prevalence of cancer pain was higher for patients in advanced stages and with poor performance status. Using logistic regression analysis, we found that performance status has a significant correlation with cancer pain. Severe cancer pain occurred in 8.0% of the patient and was most prevalent in the advanced stage. Side effects of analgesics were observed in 24.5%. Cancer pain correlates with performance status and cancer stage but not significantly with age.
A generalization of the equi-stress principle in optimizing the mechanical performance of two-dimensional grained composites
Authors: Vigdergauz Shmuel
Published: July 2012

A new optimization criterion of minimizing the variations of the boundary tractions in 2D bi-material elastostatic problems is proposed as a relaxation of the well-known equi-stress principle far beyond its primary application. This integral-type assessment of the local stresses offers significant numerical advantages over their direct minimization. In particular, it allows us to obtain reliable results at moderate computational cost through the same flexible scheme as in the author’s previous research on optimizing perforated plates. The scheme combines a genetic algorithm optimization with an efficient direct solver and with an economic shape parametrization, both formulated in the complex variable terms. After an extended analysis of the criterion, its effectiveness is illustrated, as before, by applying to a checkerboard grained plate where the equi-stress inclusions cease to exist at not-too-small volume fractions. The results obtained permit us to make some empirical conclusions which may stimulate further studies in both theoretical and practical directions.
Antioxidant properties, chemical composition and nutritional value of Terfezia boudieri (Chatin) from Turkey
Authors: Dundar A , Yesil O Faruk , Acay H , Okumus V , Ozdemir S , Yildiz A
Published: July 2012

Our objectives were to investigate the chemical composition, nutritive value and antioxidant activity potentials of Terfezia boudieri Chatin collected from different areas from Southeast of Turkey. The amounts of energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate, crude fibre, moisture and ash were 34.00–65.00 (kcal/100 g), 1.40–2.73, 0.86–1.71, 4.84–11.60, 80.86–90.33 (g/100 g, f.w.) and 1.02–1.98 g/100 g dry mass, respectively. Fatty acids and amino acids analyses revealed that linoleic acid and glutamic acid were, respectively the most abundant. Among the essential amino acids leucine was the highest amount and this was followed by threonine. Magnesium was the most abundant element with a concentration value of 182.30 mg/100 g dry mass. T. boudieri exhibited excellent antioxidant activity when compared with standard compounds. In total antioxidant and chelating effect on ferrous ions activity T. boudieri showed the highest activity against the standards. Additionally, at all studied tests antioxidant activity of the mushroom increased with increasing concentration. The total phenolic content of T. boudieri was found as 8.45 mg/g.
Into another world: From creativity to creative learning
Authors: Corner Claire
Published: July 2012

This article is an account of a creative learning project conducted in the author’s school in which she worked with a storyteller to engage a class of 14–15-year-old students in exploring other worlds, inspired by the His Dark Materials novels by Philip Pullman. The project was conceived as teacher-led action research in which the author observed the impact of new creative learning approaches on the motivation of a group of students who had become disengaged from the learning process in school. Analysis of a series of critical incidents and associated evidence gave insights into the issues and challenges encountered and the effects on students’ learning as the project progressed. The author found that her own role in the classroom was challenged, which shifted her research towards a more ethnographic approach. Her belief in the power of creative learning was deepened, leading her to reflect on the implications for school improvement beyond her own practice and suggesting further lines of enquiry.
Evaluation of the Prevention Programs That Work Curriculum to Teach Use of Public Health Evidence to Community Practitioners
Authors: Escoffery Cam , Carvalho Michelle , Kegler Michelle C.
Published: July 2012

Training on use of evidence may increase the adoption of evidence-based strategies in communities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Prevention Programs That Work training. This article summarizes the training modules and evaluation results from three trainings conducted in Spring 2009. The training teaches practitioners from community-based organizations to locate, choose, adopt or adapt, and evaluate an evidence-based program. Participants completed a pretest and posttest that covered competencies related to use of evidence, demographics, and feedback on training. A total of 47 participants attended three trainings. They represented coordinators, directors, nurses, and outreach workers. Participants showed the greatest increases in the following competencies: locate evidence-based resources, narrow search results of potential programs or strategies to reflect programmatic specifics, define steps in the adaptation process, and discuss factors during each phase of implementation. According to participants, the most useful aspects of the training content were the areas that covered program implementation, adaptation, and evaluation. A workshop can increase competencies to use evidence-based strategies among community practitioners. Building competencies is a critical initial step in promoting the dissemination of evidence-based strategies and helping practitioners use a systematic process to select an evidence-based intervention and implement the programs with fidelity.
Hidden decay of impact after education for self-management of chronic illnesses: hypotheses
Authors: Park MJ , Green Joseph , Ishikawa Hirono , Kiuchi Takahiro
Published: July 2012

People with chronic illnesses can benefit from self-management education. However, those benefits are said to decay over time (there is some evidence that this ‘decay of impact’ does occur), and the reinforcements used to prevent that decay appear to be ineffective. We hypothesize that the reinforcements appear to be ineffective because decay of impact occurs only in a subgroup of these programs' participants, so any benefits of reinforcements in that subgroup are concealed by whole-group summary statistics. We also hypothesize that reinforcements can benefit those who need them – those who would otherwise have decay. One approach to testing these hypotheses requires analysis of individual-level data, which is uncommon in this field. Some useful data could come from studies that have already been completed, but the strongest evidence will require prospectively designed tests in future trials. If the hypotheses are false, then time and resources spent on reinforcements can be saved or redirected. If the hypotheses are true, then reinforcements can be implemented with less waste and they can be made more effective. These programs can also be improved to better fit their users’ needs, and there can be a new basis for evaluating the programs’ effectiveness.
Conceptualising decision making in nursing education
Authors: Dowding Dawn , Gurbutt Russell , Murphy Monica , Lascelles Margaret , Pearman Alan , Summers Barbara
Published: July 2012

The ability to exhibit sound judgement and decision-making skills is a fundamental requirement of undergraduate nursing curricula. In order to acquire such skills, students need to develop critical thinking ability, as well as an understanding of how judgements and decisions are reached in complex healthcare environments. The use of techniques such as problem-based learning, simulation and feedback has been hypothesised to help with the development of critical thinking skills. In addition, a curriculum that incorporates teaching on different ways in which judgements and decisions are reached can potentially help students identify how to avoid errors and mistakes in their clinical practice. Feedback has been shown to be a powerful tool to help with developing decision-making skills; evidence for other approaches to teaching critical thinking and decision-making skills is currently limited. This paper reviews theoretical concepts that provide a framework for decision making in nursing, as well as methods by which it can be taught.
The challenges of developing and evaluating complex care scenarios using simulation in nursing education
Authors: Gobbi Mary , Monger Eloise , Weal Mark J. , McDonald John W. , Michaelides Danius , De Roure David
Published: July 2012

Demonstrating the impact and effectiveness of educational interventions, including medium and high-fidelity simulation, has long been fraught with methodological challenges and ambiguities. This is particularly the case when there are several confounding factors and variables operating in situations where control trials are inappropriate, and investigative costs can be high. Current theoretical and empirical evidence, while emerging, is parsimonious and fails to take account of the characteristics of different modes of simulation, their contested theoretical models of learning and the opportunities presented by cutting edge computer science. Medium and high-fidelity simulations, situated within technology-rich environments, generate new forms of complex data that have the potential to provide insights into ‘real-world’ practices. Drawing on a range of locally based studies, we argue that until the methodological questions and data management systems can be addressed, the evidence to determine the judicious and optimal use of simulation to improve student and practitioner performance and patient outcomes will remain primarily reliant on proxy measures of self-efficacy and competence.
Rebalancing the tetraplegic wrist using extensor carpi ulnaris-tenodesis
Authors: Reinholdt C. , Fridén J.
Published: July 2012

Patients with cervical spinal cord injury and tetraplegia often present with a radial deviation deformity of the wrist owing to impaired active wrist flexion and extension. Tenodesis of the extensor carpi ulnaris can help optimize grip strength. The purpose of the study was to compare reconstruction of the grip with and without extensor carpi ulnaris-tenodesis, as well as evaluating the outcome of the procedure. The grip strength of the group with tenodesis of the extensor carpi ulnaris was twice as strong as of the group without the tenodesis and with similar wrist joint flexion–extension range of motion. Correction of the wrist deformity enables a more ergonomic use of the hand. This may also help prevent shoulder pain, which is common among patients with tetraplegia.
Economic geography: Island life
Authors: Peck Jamie
Published: July 2012

An allegorical tale of economic geography’s ‘island life’, and some of its possible futures, is presented. There is much to be gained, it is suggested, from reciprocal intellectual trade with others in the archipelago of heterodox economic studies. Trading exchanges with the continental power that is orthodox economics, however, present special – and apparently growing – problems. It is not simply that the terms of trade are asymmetrical; the transactional relationship itself is beset with epistemological and ontological incompatibilities. The stance of largely indifferent, arm’s length cohabitation, laissez faire et laissez passer, may no longer be an option for economic geography, however. The renewed and active interest among the new breed of ‘geographical economists’ in some of the long-buried treasures on economic geography’s island raises the threat, previously experienced by anthropology and sociology, of selective intellectual colonization, if not inundation. Against the cognitive universalism and expansionist predispositions of orthodox theory, the challenge facing economic geography must be to build stronger and more meaningful alliances – indeed, reciprocal exchanges – across the kula rings of heterodox economic studies. Creative analytical, methodological, and political responses to ‘the market’ warrant strategic significance in this regard, within a pluralist, interdisciplinary project of comparative economy.
Translating comparative economy into material practice
Authors: Wray Felicity
Published: July 2012

Peck’s (2012) paper on ‘island life’ is replete with ingredients that reflect ‘gold standard’ thinking in economic geography, making it hard to take issue with the messages and observations it espouses. Nonetheless, this response raises a series of questions and concerns about how this important dialogue can be animated and translated into material practice. For example, what would a positive intellectual project around comparative economy look like, and what material difference could it potentially make? Likewise, who should be the actors that are involved in these projects and who should benefit from these collaborative projects beyond the academy? Also questioned is whether or not comparative economy and close critical scrutiny of the ‘market’ is the lynchpin to prompt greater interdisciplinary collaborations between economic geographers and economists, given the notion that this is a seemingly cyclical buoy that economic geographers have been around before.
On the waterfront
Authors: Peck Jamie
Published: July 2012

By way of a response to commentaries on the paper, ‘Economic geography: Island life’ (Peck, 2012), three themes are briefly considered – concerning metaphor, markets, and method. Attention to ‘missing’ markets should not be seen as an invitation to market-centricity, but instead to explorations of ‘real’ and heterogeneous markets in a range of instituted contexts, positioned relationally among their others (that is, in relation both to other markets and other non-market forms of economic organization). This will call for creative methodological strategies, including a more explicit embrace of comparative approaches.
A more than relational geography?
Authors: Allen John
Published: July 2012

Anderson et al.’s (2012) attempt to put assemblage thinking onto a firmer ontological footing is to be welcomed. Whether their spaced-out ontology is postrelational, however, is more open to question. The shadow of realism looms large over their account and poses the question as to what kinds of entities make and are made through relations. In this respect, I argue that a more than relational geography may be the more appropriate ontology to think through the basis of assemblage thinking. If so, the kind of realism that comes into play may be of surprise to some geographers.
Materialism and the politics of assemblage
Authors: Anderson Ben , Kearnes Matthew , McFarlane Colin , Swanton Dan
Published: July 2012

In response to the commentaries on Anderson et al. (2012), the authors’ short response raises questions about, first, the status of materialism and realism in current debates around relations and relationality and, second, the implications of understanding assemblage as a particular kind of ethos for the politics of assemblage-based thinking.
Power and the problem of composition
Authors: Ruddick Sue
Published: July 2012

To accept the constitutive power of assemblages as a composition of forces rather than a form, is to accept that the scale, composition and temporality of ‘the thing' in question are not pre-given, but are determined by ‘the thing' by going to the limits of its power. Divergent approaches in assemblage thinking differ in terms of how they understand power relations. I propose a point of commonality between approaches drawing on Spinoza's distinction between potentia and potere, and Deleuze and Guattari's (2000) distinction between legitimate and illegitimate forms of synthesis. This doubled concept of power (and of synthesis) provides a basis for distinguishing between oppressive and emancipatory assemblages.
Assemblage, materiality, race, capital
Authors: Saldanha Arun
Published: July 2012

The emphasis on assemblage in the social sciences and humanities of late naturally leads to the problem of race, or of how bodies assemble together into unequally positioned racial formations. This commentary argues broadly in line with Deleuze and Guattari that assemblage theory should investigate more than it has its relationship to other materialisms, especially Marxism, biology and feminism. Assemblage theory has enormous potential to overcome binaries such as nature/culture, but only if it understands what novelty it brings.
A colonial take on island life
Authors: McDermott Phil
Published: July 2012

Peck’s (2012) reaction to the colonizing impulse of economics is a call to consolidation of economic geography, better connecting diverse sites of inquiry. This appears to be a reaction to the current incursion of orthodoxy in the form of the New Economic Geography into the domain of the old economic geography. This incursion carries with it the ideological eminence of the market which oversimplifies the nature of exchange and consequently obscures the processes which shape places. I question Peck’s proposition. From an applied perspective our understanding of the real world benefits from the heterogeneity of economic geography. Academic resilience comes from diversity. As a result, economic geography already provides a strong and grounded basis for resisting the monotheism of orthodox economics. (I also question the use of the island life analogy as a didactic device in a critique of a similar device, the neoclassical market model.)
Marketing economic geography
Authors: Prince Russell
Published: July 2012

In this essay I suggest that actually existing markets present a useful avenue for pursuing Jamie Peck’s (2012) Polanyian comparative economy project. Markets are not just increasingly used in neoliberalizing economies and so worthy of comparison with other economies, but they are also highly differentiated within those same economies. A comparison between markets for cultural products and food markets in the same economy, for example, can reveal quite different conceptions of ownership, power relations and sites of exchange. The similarities, distinctions and imbrications of these different markets could be quite revealing about market dynamics and development.