bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Virtual Optimization of Nasal Insulin Therapy Predicts Immunization Frequency to Be Crucial for Diabetes Protection
Authors: Fousteri Georgia , Chan Jason R. , Zheng Yanan , Whiting Chan , Dave Amy , Bresson Damien , Croft Michael , von Herrath Matthias
Published: September 2010

OBJECTIVE

Development of antigen-specific strategies to treat or prevent type 1 diabetes has been slow and difficult because of the lack of experimental tools and defined biomarkers that account for the underlying therapeutic mechanisms.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

The type 1 diabetes PhysioLab platform, a large-scale mathematical model of disease pathogenesis in the nonobese diabetic (NOD) mouse, was used to investigate the possible mechanisms underlying the efficacy of nasal insulin B:9-23 peptide therapy. The experimental aim was to evaluate the impact of dose, frequency of administration, and age at treatment on Treg induction and optimal therapeutic outcome.

RESULTS

In virtual NOD mice, treatment efficacy was predicted to depend primarily on the immunization frequency and stage of the disease and to a lesser extent on the dose. Whereas low-frequency immunization protected from diabetes atrributed to Treg and interleukin (IL)-10 induction in the pancreas 1–2 weeks after treatment, high-frequency immunization failed. These predictions were confirmed with wet-lab approaches, where only low-frequency immunization started at an early disease stage in the NOD mouse resulted in significant protection from diabetes by inducing IL-10 and Treg.

CONCLUSIONS

Here, the advantage of applying computer modeling in optimizing the therapeutic efficacy of nasal insulin immunotherapy was confirmed. In silico modeling was able to streamline the experimental design and to identify the particular time frame at which biomarkers associated with protection in live NODs were induced. These results support the development and application of humanized platforms for the design of clinical trials (i.e., for the ongoing nasal insulin prevention studies).
Maria Sklodowska-Curie - scientist, friend, manager
Authors: Slavchev A.
Published: September 2010

Maria Sklodowska-Curie - scientist, friend, manager

Great names in science represent an inexhaustible source and richness of inspiration, satisfaction and consolation, a moving and victorious force. Throughout her exemplifying life, Maria Sklodowska remained modest but with a keen sense of humor, of an outstanding style, a mine of knowledge and experience, of innovative ideas and a rich inner life. Full of love, of passion to give and to share, of natural optimism, mixed with a light melancholy, so typical for sages. She vehemently defended the love of scientific research, of the spirit of adventure and entrepreneurship and fought for international culture, for the protection of personality and talent. Maria Sklodowska left her passion to science, her dedication to work including education and training of young people, her passionate adherence to her family, her belief in her friends, her pure and profound humanity and warmth!

The paper should be a homage to her, an appreciation of her work over the years, but not less a correspondence, a conversation with her! On the other hand, the present solemn occasion resuscitates the personalities of Maria and Pierre Curie and their work, in particular of Maria Sklodowska in her own native land! In this manner, it truly contributes to her immortality!
Concept of a BNCT line with in-pool fission converter at MARIA reactor in Swierk
Authors: Pytel Krzysztof , Andrzejewski Krzysztof , Golnik Natalia , Osko Jakub
Published: September 2010

Concept of a BNCT line with in-pool fission converter at MARIA reactor in Swierk

BNCT facility in the Institute of Atomic Energy in Otwock-Swierk is under construction at the horizontal channel H2 of the research reactor MARIA. Measurements of the neutron energy spectrum performed at the front of the H2 experimental channel, have shown that flux of epithermal neutrons (above 10 keV) at the BNCT irradiation port was below 109 n cm-2 s-1 i.e. it was too low to be directly used for the BNCT treatment. Therefore, a fission converter will be placed between the reactor core and the periphery of the graphite reflector of MARIA reactor. The uranium converter will be powered by the densely packed EK-10 fuel elements with 10% enrichment. Preliminary calculations have shown that the total neutron flux in the converter will be about 1013 n cm-2 s-1 and flux of epithermal neutrons at the entrance to the filter/moderator of the beam will be about 2·1013 n cm-2 s-1.
Fibre tracking: probabilistic approach and preliminary results
Authors: Torresin A. , Moscato A. , Minella M. , Cardinale F. , Minati L. , Aquino D.
Published: September 2010

Fibre tracking: probabilistic approach and preliminary results

The aim of this work is to have a preliminary experience with probabilistic tractography. We performed fibres reconstruction for three tracts of interest with data obtained from two MR imaging units equipped with different gradients system. An acquisition protocol optimization has been necessary in order to obtain a good trade-off between image quality and data collection time. Possible solutions to acquisition and processing problems are discussed. Future developments and possible applications in neurosurgery are also suggested.
Introduction
Authors: Hvorecký Juraj
Published: September 2010

Introduction
The Feeling Brain — The Thinking Soul
Authors: Gáliková Silvia
Published: September 2010

The Feeling Brain — The Thinking Soul

Recent advances in neuroscience have dramatically improved our understanding of human emotional states. With the help of new technologies and models, scholars are beginning to unravel the "mystery" of emotional life. Confusions in contemporary emotion studies are due to the traditional model of a person as a rational conscious agent. The paper highlights two problematic aspects of this prevailing model: the relation between emotion and reason and the relation between emotion and consciousness. Firstly, it is claimed that the difference between emotions and thoughts does not transcend their mutual interconnectivity. Secondly, conscious content and emotional responses are both products of specialized emotion systems that operate unconsciously. Both claims are supported by experimental findings and clinical practice.
Emotions in Social Science: A Reader
Authors: Moreno Eduard
Published: September 2010

Emotions in Social Science: A Reader
Wittgenstein and Value
Authors: Glombíček Petr
Published: September 2010

Wittgenstein and Value
Palaeo-Valleys in the Region of the Słupia River Mouth
Authors: Florek Wacław , Rudowski Stanisław , Szefler Kazimierz
Published: September 2010

Palaeo-Valleys in the Region of the Słupia River Mouth

Basing on results of detailed hydroacoustic research, the geological structure of the bottom to 20-22 m b.s.l. has been studied. The palaeo-Słupia palaeo-valley, buried by a thin cover of marine sands, has been recognized and determined. Some stages of valley development may be distinguished. The deposits of the oldest valley are C14 dated at ca. 21 ka BP. But in the main stage, the valley was formed by action of the subglacial and thawing glacial waters during and after the so-called Gardno Phase. Most probably this valley was connected with the Pomeranian ice margin valley. The next stages of the valley's development were related with changes of the palaeo-Słupia under conditions of the Litorina transgression. The youngest palaeo-Słupia valley is, in the authors' opinion, related with a shallow, long incision, weakly marked in the sea bottom in the central part of the studied area. Field investigations were carried out by the Department of Operational Oceanography of the Maritime Institute in Gdańsk from the r/v Dr Lubecki. A DESO 15 echosounder, Subbottom Profilers model 3010 and the X Star system were used. Eight vibrocores (core length up to 3 m) were taken from the sea bottom and three borings (10-17 m depth) were executed on the shore. Accurate positioning was obtained using the DGPS and HYDRO and Track Point Systems. All data were digitally recorded and processed.
Forest Cover Dynamics in the City of Poznań from 1830 to 2004
Authors: Macias Andrzej , Dryjer Marta
Published: September 2010

Forest Cover Dynamics in the City of Poznań from 1830 to 2004

Forests on the urban areas are of a great importance for the biodiversity of this territory. Moreover, they play numerous functions in the environment and constitute, at present, on important element of the ecological urban system. Nevertheless, the changes of the forest areas in the city of Poznań have never been discussed so far. This article presents the results of research of the changes of forest areas in Poznań within the administrative borders of Poznań in 2004. It was performed for the period 1830-2004 for six selected moments in which topographic maps of this area were prepared i.e. 1830, 1888, 1940, 1960, 1979 and 2004 During this period forest area increased by 2367 ha. The effect of numerous afforestations and deforestations is that forest area which was not subject to these treatments from 1830 to 2004 constitutes only 481 ha (14.6% of forest areas of Poznań). Four periods of dynamics of changes of forest areas were distinguished. During the last one, taking place presently, forest area has decreased slightly. In the case of Poznań, maintaining forests is significant from the point of view of their importance not only for functioning of green wedges but also the whole environment of this city. Therefore, one of the directions of spatial development of the city of Poznań should be maintaining and increasing forest areas as the element of the implementation of sustainable development principles.
Paraglacial Modifications of Glacial Sediments Over Millennial to Decadal Time-Scales in the High Arctic (Billefjorden, Central Spitsbergen, Svalbard)
Authors: Rachlewicz Grzegorz
Published: September 2010

Paraglacial Modifications of Glacial Sediments Over Millennial to Decadal Time-Scales in the High Arctic (Billefjorden, Central Spitsbergen, Svalbard)

The paper discuss the morphologic expression and sedimentological record left after the operation of glacial episodes in the area of Billefjorden, central Spitsbergen, in the period of Late Pleistocene ice-sheet development and in the last advance of glaciers in the Little Ice Age (LIA) around the beginning of the 20th century. No evidence is found for other Holocene glacier advances. Paraglacial activity during several millennia erased the surface expression of Pleistocene glacial deposits, leaving a widespread set of reworked material that adopts features of slope, fluvial, aeolian or littoral environments. Glacial features generated during the past century, and still forming in front of retreating glaciers, undergo intense paraglacial modifications limited to the maximum depth of permafrost thaw during the summer. They deliver vast amounts of erosion-susceptible material from mass movements on buried ice fragments, through the glaciofluvial system to aeolian and littoral activity.
Strength Testing and Analysis of Fatigue Crack Growth in Selected Aircraft Materials
Authors: Kłysz Sylwester , Lisiecki Janusz
Published: September 2010

Strength Testing and Analysis of Fatigue Crack Growth in Selected Aircraft Materials

The study has been intended to determine the most essential mechanical and fatigue properties as well as impact strength of the 30HGSNA steel, to gain own data on the above-mentioned characteristics of materials to be used further on in numerical analyses of life estimates of aeronautical structural components. The scope of the study comprised the following assignments:

- determination of the most fundamental mechanical properties and impact strength of materials

- low-cycle fatigue testing and evaluation of the Manson-Coffin curves

- high-cycle fatigue testing and evaluation of the Wöhler curves

- investigation into fatigue crack growth rates at constant and variable load-cycle amplitudes (determination of curves da/dN = f(ΔK, R), coefficients in Paris and NASGRO equations, coefficients in the Wheeler models of delay, the value of Kth(R))

- crack toughness testing under the plane-state-of-strain conditions at room temperature (determination of the KIc(R)).

The strength/fatigue testing was carried out in the Laboratory for Materials Strength Testing of the AFIT's Division for Aeronautical Systems Reliability and Safety, the lab being accredited by the Polish Centre for Accreditation (Accreditation Certificate No.: AB 430).
Experimental and Theoretical Investigations of Fatigue Crack Growth in D16 Alloy
Authors: Śnieżek Lucjan
Published: September 2010

Experimental and Theoretical Investigations of Fatigue Crack Growth in D16 Alloy

In this work the arising and development of fatigue crack in aluminium alloy D16, taking into consideration the influence of notch in the form of hole with incisions which were done on its sides were tested. The process of working out of tests' programme was preceded by numeric analysis of stresses pattern and strains distribution in the zone of notch's influence which was focused on determination of stresses' face values. To examine stress and strain distributions, the specialised FEM software (MSC. Patran and MSC. Nastran) was applied. Findings have been presented in the form of a statement of σmax and εmax values, and functions of the following factors: aσ, aε, and ak, computed on the grounds of these values for both different distances from the bottom of the notch and assumed levels of loading the specimens. Theoretical analysis has been supplemented with experimental investigation into the microstructure of fatigue-fracture surfaces in the area of crack initiation and that of fatigue of a propagating crack. The paper has been intended to present a model of the probabilistic estimation of fatigue life of structural members. The model has been based on the deterministic description of the cracking. Analyzed were components with notches in the form of centrally located holes with side cuts. In the method of probabilistically approaching the crack propagation, some dependences have been used that take account of the presence of areas showing plastic strains in front of crack tips. It has been assumed that the cracking can be modeled on the grounds of some general-purpose quantity used to describe the energy state in the area of the crack tip, i.e. the Rice's integral (J). The formulated computational model has been used to estimate fatigue life of model components made of D16 alloy. Experimental work was carried out using some flat specimens with centrally positioned holes. They were exposed to flat bending at R = 0. Analytical and experimental results have shown pretty good conformity.
Large Data Stream Processing - Embedded Systems Design Challenges
Authors: Handzlik Adam , Jabłonski Andrzej
Published: September 2010

Large Data Stream Processing - Embedded Systems Design Challenges

The following paper describes an application of reconfigurable hardware architectures for processing of huge data streams. Radar, sonar and high speed internet networks are typical sources of data that require extreme computing power and resources to enable real time acquisition, processing and management. An approach to monitoring of real time multi-gigabit internet network has been described as a practical application of FPGA based board, designed for fast data processing.
A Novel Multi-Exponential Function-based Companding Technique for Uniform Signal Compression over Channels with Limited Dynamic Range
Authors: Moazzeni Taleb , Selvaraj Henry , Jiang Yingtao
Published: September 2010

A Novel Multi-Exponential Function-based Companding Technique for Uniform Signal Compression over Channels with Limited Dynamic Range

Companding, as a variant of audio level compression, can help reduce the dynamic range of an audio signal. In analog (digital) systems, this can increase the signal-to-noise ratio (signal to quantization noise ratio) achieved during transmission. The μ-law algorithm that is primarily used in the digital telecommunication systems of North America and Japan, adapts a companding scheme that can expand small signals and compress large signals especially at the presence of high peak signals. In this paper, we present a novel multi-exponential companding function that can achieve more uniform compression on both large and small signals so that the relative signal strength over the time is preserved. That is, although larger signals may get considerably compressed, unlike μ-law algorithm, it is guaranteed that these signals after companding will definitely not be smaller than expanded signals that were originally small. Performance of the proposed algorithm is compared with μ-law using real audio signal, and results show that the proposed companding algorithm can achieve much smaller quantization errors with a modest increase in computation time.
Software Engineering for Mapping Radio Frequency Pollution
Authors: Chaczko Zenon , Aboura Khalid , Agbinya Johnson
Published: September 2010

Software Engineering for Mapping Radio Frequency Pollution

Electromagnetic fields radiation has raised concerns within several segments of the population in the past three decades. Many studies proved inconclusive, in part due to the scarcity of data. We propose the idea of a geographical model based radiation pollution database. We discuss networked sensing technology for detection and monitoring of electromagnetic fields. We elaborate on software engineering issues for the visualization in real time of electromagnetic field mappings and the dissemination of information through various means and levels of access. We propose the database be complimented by a data algorithmic software solution for the extraction of patterns.
Mapping and Recognition of Radio Frequency Clutter in Various Environments in Australia
Authors: Agbinya Johnson , Lee Vivian , Aboura Khalid , Chaczko Zenon
Published: September 2010

Mapping and Recognition of Radio Frequency Clutter in Various Environments in Australia

Radio frequency spectrum mapping allows determining the radio frequency signatures prevalent within an environment. We address the primary frequency bands used for cellular, wireless Local Area Network (LAN), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and Ultra-wideband (UWB) communications. The purpose of the experiment presented in this paper is to map the detected radio frequencies within an environment and display the collated data on a graphical user interface. A program identifies the presence of the aforementioned radio frequency signatures and recognizes signal levels which exceed the exposure standards enforced by the Australian Communication and Media Authority. The results assist in the understanding of the ramifications of long-term exposure to radio frequency radiation associated with the continued proliferation of wireless devices.
Comparison of Evolutionary Algorithm and Heuristics for Flow Optimization in P2P Systems
Authors: Kucharzak Michal , Siwek Adam , Walkowiak Krzysztof
Published: September 2010

Comparison of Evolutionary Algorithm and Heuristics for Flow Optimization in P2P Systems

Nowadays, many Internet users make use of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) systems to download electronic content including music, movies, software, etc. Growing popularity in P2P based protocol implementations for file sharing purposes caused that the P2P traffic exceeds Web traffic and in accordance with to many statistics, P2P systems produce a more than 50% of the whole Internet traffic. Therefore, P2P systems provide remarkable income for Internet Service Providers (ISP). However, at the same time P2P systems generates many problems related to traffic engineering, optimization, network congestion. In this paper we focus on the problem of flow optimization in P2P file sharing systems. Corresponding to BitTorrent-based systems behaviour, the optimization of P2P flows is very complex and in this work we consider different heuristic strategies for content distribution and moreover we propose a new evolutionary algorithm (EA) for this problem. We compare results of the algorithms against optimal results yielded by CPLEX solver for networks including 10 peers and relation to random algorithm for 100-node systems. According to numerical experiments, the EA provides solutions close to optimal for small instances and all of the heuristics exhibit a superior performance over random search.
Recognizing Sharp Features of 2-D Shapes
Authors: Gewali Laxmi , Scanlan Joseph
Published: September 2010

Recognizing Sharp Features of 2-D Shapes

We present an efficient algorithm for recognizing and extracting sharp-features from complex polygonal shapes. The algorithm executes in O(n2) time, where n is the number of vertices in the polygon. Sharp-feature extraction algorithms can be useful as a pre-processing step for measuring shape-similarity between polygonal shapes.
Evaluation Scheme for NoC-based CMP with Integrated Processor Management System
Authors: Zydek Dawid , Selvaraj Henry , Koszałka Leszek , Poźniak-Koszałka Iwona
Published: September 2010

Evaluation Scheme for NoC-based CMP with Integrated Processor Management System

With the opportunities and benefits offered by Chip Multiprocessors (CMPs), there are many challenges that need to be addressed in order to exploit the full potential of CMPs. Such aspects as parallel programs, interconnection design, cache arrangement and on-chip cores allocation become a limiting factor. To ensure validity of approaches and research, we propose an evaluation system for CMPs with Network-on-Chip (NoC) and processor management system integrated on one die. The suggested experimentation system is described in details. The proposed system that is used for tests and results of the experiments are presented and discussed. As decision making criteria, we consider energy efficiency of Processor Allocator (PA) and NoC, as well as NoC traffic characteristic (load balance). In order to improve the system understanding, brief overview on most important NoC and PA architectures is also presented. Analyzed results reveal that CMP with a PA controlled by IFF allocation algorithm for mesh systems and torus-based NoC driven by DORLB routing with express-virtual-channel flow control achieved the best traffic balance and energy characteristic.
WiMAX Cell Level Simulation Platform Based on ns-2 and DSP Integration
Authors: Flizikowski Adam , Kozik Rafał , Gierszal Henryk , Przybyszewski Marcin , Hołubowicz Witold
Published: September 2010

WiMAX Cell Level Simulation Platform Based on ns-2 and DSP Integration

The WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) system based on the IEEE 802.16 family of standards is a promising technology for last-mile access. Both IEEE 802.16 and 3GPP-LTE systems candidate for becoming the 4G network of choice. The need to evaluate multiple performance enhancing techniques like MIMO, OFDM(A), novel channel coding schemes like non-binary LDPC codes, together with development of standards like IEEE 802.21, that aims at enabling handover and interoperability between heterogeneous network types, make rapid prototyping-based simulations an important issue. This paper presents a novel approach to 4G-oriented simulation environment that integrates popular network simulator (ns-2) and a Digital Signal Processing (DSP) to enable comprehensive link layer and cell level simulations. Proposed simulation environment is intended as an evaluation platform for assessing QoS/QoE and Connection Admission Control (CAC) algorithms designed for WiMAX systems. Moreover we study ways to improve simulation time (with focus on AWGN channel simulation) by using CUDA parallel processing technology for NVIDIA graphic cards.
A Pilot Study Examining the Effectiveness of Physical Therapy as an Adjunct to Selective Nerve Root Block in the Treatment of Lumbar Radicular Pain From Disk Herniation: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Thackeray Anne , Fritz Julie M. , Brennan Gerard P. , Zaman Faisel M. , Willick Stuart E.
Published: September 2010

Background

Therapeutic selective nerve root blocks (SNRBs) are a common intervention for patients with sciatica. Patients often are referred to physical therapy after SNRBs, although the effectiveness of this intervention sequence has not been investigated.

Objective

This study was a preliminary investigation of the effectiveness of SNRBs, with or without subsequent physical therapy, in people with low back pain and sciatica.

Design

This investigation was a pilot randomized controlled clinical trial.

Setting

The settings were spine specialty and physical therapy clinics.

Participants

Forty-four participants (64% men; mean age=38.5 years, SD=11.6 years) with low back pain, with clinical and imaging findings consistent with lumbar disk herniation, and scheduled to receive SNRBs participated in the study. They were randomly assigned to receive either 4 weeks of physical therapy (SNRB+PT group) or no physical therapy (SNRB alone [SNRB group]) after the injections.

Intervention

All participants received at least 1 SNRB; 28 participants (64%) received multiple injections. Participants in the SNRB+PT group attended an average of 6.0 physical therapy sessions over an average of 23.9 days.

Measurements

Outcomes were assessed at baseline, 8 weeks, and 6 months with the Low Back Pain Disability Questionnaire, a numeric pain rating scale, and the Global Rating of Change.

Results

Significant reductions in pain and disability occurred over time in both groups, with no differences between groups at either follow-up for any outcome. Nine participants (5 in the SNRB group and 4 in the SNRB+PT group) underwent surgery during the follow-up period.

Limitations

The limitations of this study were a relatively short-term follow-up period and a small sample size.

Conclusions

A physical therapy intervention after SNRBs did not result in additional reductions in pain and disability or perceived improvements in participants with low back pain and sciatica.
Fashioning Socialism
Authors: Stitziel Judd
Published: September 2010

Fashioning Socialism is the first history of communist fashion in East Germany. Using clothing as a lens to read society, the author unveils wider tensions between the regime and the population and within the regime itself.In telling the surprising - and often bizarre - story of communist haute couture, fashion shows, seasonal clearance sales, the textile and garment industries, and everyday consumer practices, this book explores the paradoxical causes, forms, and consequences of East Germany’s attempt to create a communist consumer culture during the Cold War. In attempting to compete with capitalism on the West’s terms, East Germany unwittingly bred disgruntled consumers - consumers who ultimately tore down the Wall. Topics covered include gender and consumption, Americanization and Sovietization, women as consumer-citizens, and much more.A rare glimpse into consumerism under state socialism, this book offers unique insights into the Cold War, the dynamics and collapse of communism, and modern consumption.
Uniforms Exposed
Authors: Craik Jennifer
Published: September 2010

There is nothing uniform about wearing a uniform. This one article of clothing has arguably had a greater impact on the world than any other. From fascists to fashionistas, Uniforms Exposed looks at this most extraordinary of ordinary garments and its cultural meaning in our everyday lives. Tracing the troubling connections amongst religious orders, the military, schools and fetish clubs, Craik shows how uniforms alternately control bodies and enable subversion. What does it mean to wear one? Why do certain professions require them? Do they really tell wearers how to act and others how to respond? Answering these intriguing questions and many more, Craik shows how the uniform inspires fear and love, conformity and subversion, and why it has continued to fascinate across cultures and throughout history.
Goth Culture
Authors: Brill Dunja
Published: September 2010

Goth Culture explores Goths’ expressive practices of dress, fashion, style and the body, in relation to issues of identity and representation. The book shares vivid accounts of the author’s experiences exploring gender and sexuality and doing fieldwork in the Gothic subculture. Through the voices of Goths from the UK, US and Germany, it draws the reader into the gender-bending and heavily gendered world of Goth. It reassesses the significance of the dress of both male and female Goths, examining these striking and often highly creative subcultural fashion displays. Using a wide range of methods and sources, from ethnography to critical examination of music, literature, social theory and different types of popular media, Goth Culture offers an original and accessible analysis of the fashion, media and counterculture of the Gothic world.
Dress, Gender and Cultural Change
Authors: Lynch Annette
Published: September 2010

While African American dress has long been noted as having a distinctive edge, many people may not know that debutante balls - a relatively recent phenomenon within African American communities - feature young women and men dressed, respectively, in conventional symbols of female purity and male hegemony, and conforming to gender stereotypes that have tended to characterize such events traditionally. Within the Hmong American community, mothers and aunts of teenagers use bangles, lace and traditional handwork techniques to create dazzling displays reflecting the gender and ethnicity of their sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, as they participate in an annual courtship ritual. This book examines these events to show how dress is used to transform gender construction and create positive images of African American and Hmong American youth. Coming-of-age rituals serve as arenas of cultural revision and change. For each of these communities, the choice of dress represents cultural affirmation. This author shows that within the homogenizing context of American society, dress serves as a site for the continual renegotiation of identity - gendered, ethnic and otherwise.
Dressed in Fiction
Authors: Hughes Clair
Published: September 2010

When we look closely at dress in a novel we begin to enrich our sense of the novel's historical and social context. More than this, wealth, class, beauty and moral rectitude can all be coded in fabric. In the modern novel, narratives are increasingly situated within the consciousness of characters, and it is the experience of dress that tells us about the context and the emotional, political and psychological values of the characters. Dressed in Fiction traces the deployment of dress in key fictional texts of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, from Daniel Defoe's Roxana to George Eliot's Middlemarch and Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth. Covering a range of topics, from the growth of the middle classes and the association of luxury with vice, to the reasons why wedding dresses rarely ever symbolize happiness, the book presents a unique study of the history of clothing through the most popular and influential literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Nazi Chic?
Authors: Guenther Irene
Published: September 2010

This is the first book in English to deal comprehensively with German fashion from World War I through to the end of the Third Reich. It explores the failed attempt by the Nazi state to construct a female image that would mirror official gender policies, inculcate feelings of national pride, promote a German victory on the fashion runways of Europe and support a Nazi-controlled European fashion industry. Not only was fashion one of the countrys largest industries throughout the interwar period, but German women ranked among the most elegantly dressed in all of Europe. While exploding the cultural stereotype of the German woman as either a Brunhilde in uniform or a chubby farmers wife, the author reveals the often heated debates surrounding the issue of female image and clothing, as well as the ambiguous and contradictory relationship between official Nazi propaganda and the reality of womens daily lives during this crucial period in German history. Because Hitler never took a firm public stance on fashion, an investigation of fashion policy reveals ambivalent posturing, competing factions and conflicting laws in what was clearly not a monolithic National Socialist state. Drawing on previously neglected primary sources, Guenther unearths new material to detail the inner workings of a government-supported fashion institute and an organization established to help aryanize the German fashion world.How did the few with power maintain style and elegance? How did the majority experience the increased standardization of clothing characteristic of the Nazi years? How did women deal with the severe clothing restrictions brought about by Nazi policies and the exigencies of war? These questions and many others, including the role of anti-Semitism, aryanization and the hypocrisy of Nazi policies, are all thoroughly examined in this pathbreaking book.
Orlan
Authors: Ince Kate
Published: September 2010

The French performance artist Orlan has acquired both fame and infamy for her performances. A multimedia artist since the 1960s, she embarked at the beginning of the 1990s on a project of body modification through plastic surgery, the basic premise of which was to transform herself into a digitally designed pastiche of the greatest icons of female beauty in Western art. Orlan’s project has sparked intense debate in the visual arts, among feminists, and among those concerned with medical ethics, as it raises complex questions about sexuality, beauty, subjectivity, gender and technology. This book addresses all these issues, and focuses on the interrelations of dress, body and culture in Orlan’s work since the 1960s. Surgical performances represent the most extreme phase of Orlan’s artistic practice, but she has made extensive and varied use of costume throughout her career. Using the ‘body theory’ and theories of monstrosity developed by feminist, gender and film theorists, and the work of philosophers Luce Irigaray and Gilles Deleuze, the author examines the challenges Orlan’s performance art poses to its viewers. Anyone working in the fields of gender, the visual arts or cultural studies will find this book and the questions it raises provocative and enlightening.
Sexing La Mode
Authors: Jones Jennifer M.
Published: September 2010

The connection between fashion, femininity, frivolity and Frenchness has become a cliché. Yet, relegating fashion to the realm of frivolity and femininity is a distinctly modern belief that developed along with the urban culture of the Enlightenment. In eighteenth-century France, a commercial culture filled with shop girls, fashion magazines and window displays began to supplant a court-based fashion culture based on rank and distinction, stimulating debates over the proper relationship between women and commercial culture, public and private spheres, and morality and taste. Mary Wollstonecraft was one of those particularly critical of this ‘vulgar’ obsession with ‘tawdry finery’, declaring it to be ‘merely the external mark of a depravity shared with slaves’. The story of how la mode was ‘sexed’ as feminine offers a compelling insight into the political, economic and cultural tensions that marked the birth of modern commercial culture. Jones examines men’s and women’s relation to fashion at this time, looking at both consumption and production to argue how clothing was becoming increasingly conceptualized as feminine/effeminate. A concise history of French fashion culture suitable for anyone interested in eighteenth-century culture, women and gender studies or fashion history.
Techno Fashion
Authors: Quinn Bradley
Published: September 2010

From digital-display dresses to remote control couture, this book exposes the revolutionary interface between contemporary fashion and technology. As twenty-first century fashion makes a dramatic departure from traditional methods, designers no longer turn to the past for inspiration, but look to the hi-tech future. The result is techno fashion, the new wave of intelligent clothing that fuses fashion with communication technology, electronic textiles, and sophisticated design innovations that express new ideas about appearance, construction and wearability. Born out of the collaboration between fashion designers, researchers and scientists, this new dialogue could be the most significant design innovation in fashions history, or indicate its eventual demise. Either way, techno fashion promises to forever disrupt the historical narrative of fashion evolution. Through interviews with designers ranging from innovators such as Hussein Chalayan and Tristan Webber to mavericks like Alexander McQueen, Bradley Quinn examines the impact of this new direction. The fusion of design and technology introduced by Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo and Issey Miyake has created another direction for clothing, creating a new breed of designer-cum-scientist who redefines the way we dress, communicate, and even respond to environmental changes. As technology begins to shape fashion’s future, it redefines the boundaries between clothing, body and machine, forever transforming the ethics and lifestyles traditionally designated by codes of dress.
The Japanese Revolution in Paris Fashion
Authors: Kawamura Yuniya
Published: September 2010

Despite recent challenges from New York, London and Milan, Paris is renowned as the greatest fashion capital in the world. Its distinctive categorization of haute couture, demi-couture, and prt--porter reflects a highly structured and tightly controlled system that non-western designers have had difficulty penetrating. Yet a number of the most influential Japanese designers have broken into this scene and made a major impact. How?

Paris couturiers and designers operate a gate-keeping system that is not only exclusive and rigorous but highly demanding. But, Kawamura asks, does the system facilitate or inhibit new forms of creativity? She shows how traditional French fashion has been both disturbed and strengthened by the addition of outside forces such as Kenzo Takada, Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo and Hanae Mori. At the same time she considers many other key questions the contemporary fashion industry should be asking itself. Has it, for example, become primarily preoccupied with the commercial projection of product images rather than with the clothing itself? And what direction will French fashion take without Saint Laurent, Miyake and Kenzo?

This insightful book provides the first in-depth study of the Japanese revolution in Paris fashion and raises provocative questions for the future of the industry.
The Politics of Appearances
Authors: Wrigley Richard
Published: September 2010

In the turbulent political and social landscape of Revolutionary France, dress played a major role in defining and displaying new identities. What people wore was, in fact, a vital symbol of their allegiances and beliefs. Drawing on a wide range of documentary and visual sources, this book offers a vivid picture of the highly charged politics of Revolutionary appearances. The author explores the dynamic complexity of the new socio-political world, where the identification of who stood for what was such an urgent, if vexed, issue: where identical items of dress could stand for opposing political ideologies, where a variety of institutions - from local societies to the national assembly - tried to define the meanings associated with clothing, and where the clothes a person wore could seal their fate. Tracing the stories surrounding the liberty cap, the different manifestations of official dress, the tricolore cockade and the sans-culotte provides a new and exciting insight into the complexities and uncertainties that made up life in Revolutionary France and the political culture that it created.
Women Who Become Men
Authors: Young Antonia
Published: September 2010

Most people conceive of gender as a culturally informed response to a biological imperative. But such rigid notions are overturned by certain women in remote regions of Albania who elect to ‘become’ men simply for the advantages that accrue to them as a result. They crop their hair, wear men's clothes, roll their own cigarettes, drink brandy and carry guns. In short, their lives are much freer and less regimented than other members of their sex - but at a cost. These women must foreswear sexual relationships, marriage and children. They have been dubbed ‘Sworn Virgins’. What is interesting is that in this region of the Balkans, simply to dress as a man and to behave as a man will earn these women the same respect accorded a man. This is no mean advantage in an area known for sexual inequality and where so many men have suffered violent, premature deaths, thereby heightening the need for more household heads. Traditionally as heads of household, men are revered and the women who attend them utterly subservient. But unlike ‘normal’ women, Sworn Virgins can inherit and manage property, and, in fact, may even be raised to assume the male role by parents who have no male heirs. Based on extensive interviews, this book tells the frank and engrossing stories of these women, but also sets their lives within the wider context of a country undergoing radical upheaval and social transformation.
The Persistence of Teacher Effects in Elementary Grades
Authors: Konstantopoulos Spyros , Chung Vicki
Published: September 2010

Results from experimental and nonexperimental studies have shown that teachers differ in their effectiveness. In addition, evidence from nonexperimental studies has indicated that teacher effects last for 3 years in elementary grades. This study uses data from Project STAR and its follow-up study, the Lasting Benefits Study, to examine whether teacher effects from kindergarten to fifth grade can simultaneously affect sixth grade achievement. Teacher effects are defined as teacher-specific residuals adjusted for student background and treatment effects. Findings indicate that the teacher effects persist through sixth grade in mathematics, reading, and science. The findings also suggest that teacher effects are important and that their cumulative effects on student achievement are considerable.
Application of Postassessment of Kyushy Shinkansen Network to Proposed U.S. High-Speed Railway Project
Authors: Tanaka Yuki , Monji Masaku
Published: September 2010

In April 2009 the Obama administration announced its strategic plan for high-speed rail in the United States. That plan stipulates the public benefits that are to be expected from a high-speed railway system. This paper describes a recently published report outlining the postassessment of the Kyushu Shinkansen project conducted by the Japan Railway Construction, Transport, and Technology Agency. The paper focuses on the effects of the implementation of the Kyushu Shinkansen project on passenger movements and changes in business and environmental aspects that are relevant to the U.S. strategic plan. This is the first analysis outside Japan of the postassessment of the Kyushu Shinkansen project. It first examines the postassessment analysis of changes in traffic volume. It then addresses the effects of the Kyushu Shinkansen project as they relate to the public benefits expected from the U.S. high-speed rail strategic plan, including the economic and social effects as well as the environmental benefits. The paper attempts to provide the Japanese case as a reference for the U.S. high-speed railway project. The postassessment of the Japanese case indicates that the new Kyushu Shinkansen route has an influence on travel behavior when people use rail for commuting and tourism. It also addresses the critical factor of how aviation demand can be shifted to rail to gain substantial benefits. Taking these points into consideration, the Obama administration's Vision for High-Speed Rail in America is just a starting point. A wider network of railways with more vigorous funding must be expected.
High-Speed Rail Project Development Processes in the United States and China
Authors: Chen Xueming (Jimmy) , Zhang Ming
Published: September 2010

Amid increasing global economic competition, both the United States and China are investing in high-speed rail (HSR) as a national strategy to enhance their competitiveness. China is rapidly advancing by laying down HSR tracks, while the United States is deliberating the environmental, social, and economic implications of HSR development before embarking on actual construction. With the California High-Speed Rail Project and the Beijing–Shanghai Express Railway Project as case studies, this paper juxtaposes the HSR development processes concerning investment decisions, planning, and implementation in the United States and China and draws lessons informative to strategic infrastructure investments in both countries.
Privatization versus Public Works for High-Speed Rail Projects
Authors: Kao Tsung-Chung , Lai Yung-Cheng (Rex) , Shih Mei-Cheng
Published: September 2010

With its virtues of high speed, large capacity, reduced levels of energy consumption, and low levels of pollution, high-speed rail (HSR) is emerging as an attractive transportation system. Because of the large investment burden required for HSR projects and the inefficiency of government-sponsored public works projects, many countries are now turning to the alternative of privatizing their HSR projects. The present research evaluates the success of privatized versus public HSR projects by comparing the outcomes for the Taiwan high-speed rail (THSR) project and the South Korean high-speed rail (KHSR) project. Except for the project delivery method (privatized versus public works), these two projects had similar project scopes and objectives and had parallel execution times. The results of the study indicate that a privatized HSR project such as THSR has a better likelihood of achieving traditional project management success in terms of time, cost, and quality; however, a government-sponsored HSR project such as KHSR could successfully promote the national HSR industry.
Energy Consumption and Emissions of High-Speed Trains
Authors: Álvarez Alberto García
Published: September 2010

This paper analyzes the relationships between the speed of passenger trains (especially high-speed trains), their energy consumption, and their greenhouse gas emissions. After an outline of the special energy consumption characteristics of high-speed railway systems, the amounts of energy consumed by conventional and high-speed passenger railway systems are compared. The comparison includes an empirical verification of the differences between high-speed and conventional rail systems and an analysis based on theoretical models. It is shown that, on average, high-speed railway systems usually consume 29% less energy than conventional railway systems. With a comparison of the levels of energy consumption and emissions of high-speed passenger trains with those of all other modes of transportation with which it competes (including conventional passenger trains), the net effects on emissions of high-speed train service on any corridor in the study can be analyzed. This is important because even if the difference in the energy consumption of the Spanish high-speed rail system, Alta Velocidad Española (AVE), and that of conventional rail system is not significant or even if AVE consumes more energy, the diversion of passengers from air travel ultimately yields significant reductions in energy consumption and emissions on a route. The study concludes that each high-speed train passenger accounts for an emissions reduction of approximately 30 kg of CO2 and that this reduction increased on the routes on which AVE reaches higher speeds.