bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Influence of SST Forcing on Stochastic Characteristics of Simulated Precipitation and Drought
Authors: Ferguson Ian M. , Dracup John A. , Duffy Philip B. , Pegion Philip , Schubert Siegfried
Published: December 2009

Recent studies demonstrate that ocean–atmosphere forcing by persistent sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies is a primary driver of seasonal-to-interannual hydroclimatic variability, including drought events. Other studies, however, conclude that although SST anomalies influence the timing of drought events, their duration and magnitude over continental regions is largely governed by land–atmosphere feedbacks. Here the authors evaluate the direct influence of SST anomalies on the stochastic characteristics of precipitation and drought in two ensembles of AGCM simulations forced with observed (interannually varying) monthly SST and their climatological annual cycle, respectively. Results demonstrate that ocean–atmosphere forcing contributes to the magnitude and persistence of simulated seasonal precipitation anomalies throughout the tropics but over few mid- and high-latitude regions. Significant autocorrelation of simulated seasonal anomalies over oceans is directly forced by persistent SST anomalies; over land, SST anomalies are shown to enhance autocorrelation associated with land–atmosphere feedbacks. SST anomalies are shown to have no significant influence on simulated drought frequency, duration, or magnitude over most midlatitude land regions. Results suggest that severe and sustained drought events may occur in the absence of persistent SST forcing and support recent conclusions that ocean–atmosphere forcing primarily influences the timing of drought events, while duration and magnitude are governed by other mechanisms such as land–atmosphere feedbacks. Further analysis is needed to assess the potential model dependence of results and to quantify the relative contribution of land–atmosphere feedbacks to the long-term stochastic characteristics of precipitation and drought.
Diagnosing Land–Atmosphere Interaction from a Regional Climate Model Simulation over West Africa
Authors: van den Hurk Bart J. J. M. , van Meijgaard Erik
Published: December 2009

Land–atmosphere interaction at climatological time scales in a large area that includes the West African Sahel has been explicitly explored in a regional climate model (RegCM) simulation using a range of diagnostics. First, areas and seasons of strong land–atmosphere interaction were diagnosed from the requirement of a combined significant correlation between soil moisture, evaporation, and the recycling ratio. The northern edge of the West African monsoon area during June–August (JJA) and an area just north of the equator (Central African Republic) during March–May (MAM) were identified. Further analysis in these regions focused on the seasonal cycle of the lifting condensation level (LCL) and the convective triggering potential (CTP), and the sensitivity of CTP and near-surface dewpoint depressions HIlow to anomalous soil moisture. From these analyses, it is apparent that atmospheric mechanisms impose a strong constraint on the effect of soil moisture on the regional hydrological cycle.
A Climatology of Midlatitude Mesoscale Convective Vortices in the Rapid Update Cycle
Authors: James Eric P. , Johnson Richard H.
Published: December 2009

Climatological characteristics of mesoscale convective vortices (MCVs) occurring in the state of Oklahoma during the late spring and summer of four years are investigated. The MCV cases are selected based on vortex detection by an objective algorithm operating on analyses from the Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) model. Consistent with a previous study, true MCVs represent only about 20% of the mesoscale relative vorticity maxima detected by the algorithm. The MCVs have a broad range of radii and intensities, and their longevities range between 1 and 54 h. Their median radius is about 200 km, and their median midlevel relative vorticity is 1.2 × 10−4 s−1. There appears to be no significant relationship between MCV longevity and intensity. Similar to past estimates, approximately 40% of the MCVs generate secondary convection within their circulations.

The mean synoptic-scale MCV environment is determined by the use of a RUC-based composite analysis at four different stages in the MCV life cycle, defined based on vortex detection by the objective algorithm. MCV initiation is closely tied to the diurnal cycle of convection over the Great Plains, with MCVs typically forming in the early morning, near the time of maximum extent of nocturnal mesoscale convective systems (MCSs). Features related to the parent MCSs, including upper-level divergent outflow, midlevel convergence, and a low-level jet, are prominent in the initiating MCV composite. The most significant feature later in the MCV life cycle is a persistent mesoscale trough in the midlevel height field. The potential vorticity (PV) structure of the composite MCV consists of a midlevel maximum and an upper-level minimum, with some extension of elevated PV into the lower troposphere as the vortex matures. The environment immediately downshear of the MCV is more conducive to secondary convection than the environment upshear of the MCV.

This midlatitude MCV climatology represents an extension of past individual case studies by providing mean characteristics of a large MCV population; these statistics are suitable for the verification of MCV simulations. Also presented is the first high-resolution composite analysis of the MCV environment at different stages of the MCV life cycle, which will aid in identifying and forecasting these systems.
Teddy Diaries
Authors: Haldar Marit , Wærdahl Randi
Published: December 2009

In this article, we show how circulated diaries can be used as a source of knowledge about the display and normative standards of family life. The par ticular strength of the data lies in the circulation among members of a local public before reaching the researcher. This keeps researcher intervention low, while the data remain socially and culturally saturated. In addition, the method allows for comparative cultural research, which is illustrated by the examples taken from Norway and China. Having two sets of data from different contexts adds to the richness of the data by providing a contrast that is needed to illuminate the taken-for-granted.
Canon Formation in Late 20th-Century British Sociology
Authors: Outhwaite William
Published: December 2009

This article examines the ‘canonical’ status achieved in recent British sociology by four writers: Zygmunt Bauman, Ulrich Beck, Pierre Bourdieu and Anthony Giddens. Along with other key thinkers of the later 20th century such as Foucault and Habermas, these four sociologists, from different geographical and theoretical bases, transformed the shape of British sociology and its relation to social theory.
Locating Where the Action Is
Authors: Irwin Sarah
Published: December 2009

There has been a proliferation of interest in cultural processes amongst those seeking to explain the role of family life in the reproduction of class-related educational inequalities. Analysts of macro level quantitative and micro level qualitative evidence share an interest in internal family dynamics and resources, yet they generate very different pictures of family level processes, and their articulation with broader structures of social inequality. This article critically explores insights and gaps afforded by the differing perspectives. Since qualitative research is well placed to access salient cultural processes in action and interaction, some proposals are made about enhancing such a programme of research, locating the specificity of evidence, confronting class diversity, and better grounding claims about the nature of social reproduction.
Between Citizenship and Human Rights
Authors: Nash Kate
Published: December 2009

This article explores the effects of the legalization of international human rights on citizens and non-citizens within states. Adopting a sociological approach to rights it becomes clear that, even in Europe, the cosmopolitanization of law is not necessarily resulting in greater equality and justice. In fact, ‘actually existing’ cosmopolitan citizenship is characterized by a proliferation of status groups that concretize new forms of inequality, including those of super-citizens, marginal citizens, quasi-citizens, sub-citizens and un-citizens. Far from inaugurating a new era of genuinely universal human rights, in some cases cosmopolitan law may even contribute to the creation of conditions in which fundamental human rights are violated.
The Shadows of Atheology
Authors: Thacker Eugene
Published: December 2009

This essay examines a hidden link in biopolitical thinking after Foucault — the relation between biology and theology. The result is a turn away from the dichotomy of life/death and towards a life-after-life, an afterlife that is vitalist, networked and immanent. The model for this, however, is not in postmodernity but in the pre-modernity of medicine, plague and demonology.
Foucault’s Untimely Struggle
Authors: Rabinow Paul
Published: December 2009

In his series of essays on Kant written during the 1980s, Michel Foucault attempted to discern the difference today made with respect to yesterday. As his essays as well as his lectures (especially at the Collège de France and Berkeley) during the early 1980s demonstrate, he was drawn — and devoted the bulk of his scholarly efforts to a renewed form of genealogical work on themes, venues, practices and modes of governing the subject and others — to experiments in new forms of friendship, sociability and transformations of the self and others that he saw taking shape, or imagined were taking shape around him. This work, which has come to be known unfortunately as the ‘late Foucault’, arose out of deep dissatisfaction with his own life conditions, the broader political climate of the time, and a profound and unexpected rethinking not only of the specific projects he had intended to carry out but of what it meant to think. This article explores some of the elements at play during these deeply (re)formative several years, which as they unfolded were in no way intended to constitute a ‘late Foucault’, quite the opposite, even if fate would have it otherwise. The article begins with a ‘prelude’ that introduces the problem of what mode is appropriate for giving form to thinking. It proceeds to argue that Foucault engaged in a struggle to redefine the object of thinking; that in order to do so he was led to pursue a venue in which such thinking could be practised; and finally to an increasingly articulate and acute quest for a form that would constitute a difference between what Foucault diagnosed as an impoverished modern problem space and a future in which things might be different and better.If we define spirituality as being the form of practices which postulate that, such as he is, the subject is not capable of the truth, but that, such as it is, the truth can transfigure and save the subject, then we can say that the modern age of the relations between the subject and truth begin when it is postulated that, such as he is, the subject is capable of truth, but that, such as it is, the truth cannot save the subject. (Foucault, 2005: 19)
Identity, Nature, Life
Authors: Revel Judith
Published: December 2009

This article examines three terms associated with the take-up of Foucault’s analysis of the biopolitical, namely identity, nature and life. It argues that Foucault opposes their reduction respectively to sameness, to origin, or to some primordial force. These reductions not only fall into species of metaphysics, they fail to recognize the integration of difference and of constitutive relationality in Foucault’s conceptualization of the process of subjectivation and becoming as historically dynamic and mobile. The article emphasizes the importance of historicization and of a constructive genealogy in Foucault’s approach, running counter to metaphysics, and opening new avenues for political action based on the recognition of the interiority of resistance to dispositifs of power and of the creative force in individuation.
Neoliberalism in Action
Authors: Lazzarato Maurizio
Published: December 2009

This paper draws from Foucault’s analysis of liberalism and neoliberalism to reconstruct the mechanisms and the means whereby neoliberalism has transformed society into an ‘enterprise society’ based on the market, competition, inequality, and the privilege of the individual. It highlights the role of financialization, neglected by Foucault, as a key apparatus in achieving this transformation. It elaborates the strategies of individualization, insecuritization and depoliticization used as part of neoliberal social policy to undermine the principles and practices of mutualization and redistribution that the Welfare State and Fordism had promoted. It shows that the aim of neoliberal politics is the restoration of the power of capital to determine the distribution of wealth and to establish the enterprise as dominant form; this requires that it target society as a whole for a fundamental reconstruction, putting in place new mechanisms to control individual conduct. The analysis refers to the case of workers in the culture industry to illustrate the operation of these mechanisms in practice. It also outlines the main elements of the analytical apparatus that makes visible the new role of the state as an ensemble of apparatuses constituting the conditions for neoliberal market capitalism and the new type of individual appropriate for it. The paper thus adds a new dimension to Foucault’s analysis.
Neoliberal Political Economy, Biopolitics and Colonialism
Authors: Venn Couze
Published: December 2009

Foucault’s analysis of the relation of power and the economy in the lectures given at the Collège de France between 1975 and 1979 opens up modern societies for a radically different interrogation of the relations of force inscribed in historically heterogeneous forms of wealth creation and distribution, but more specifically within the period of liberal capitalism. Its vast scope clears the ground for genealogies of power, political economy and race that demonstrate their intertwinement, yet he underplays several elements which have been central for the institution of the political economy of liberal capitalism, particularly regarding colonial expansion and subjugation, the prior existence of trade and other networks operating on a world scale, and politico-economic and technical developments, such as banking and finance, that acted as conditions of possibility. By redressing the balance, this article outlines a different genealogy of the emergence of biopolitics and the mechanisms supporting global capitalism, making visible the constitutive role of colonialism. It suggests elements for a more fundamental critique of inequality, one that relays the Foucaldian themes of economy, territory, security, population and race according to a longer periodization that reveals most economies to have been zero-sum games of ‘winners’ and ‘losers’. Transcending this situation requires a radically different, transcolonial and transindividual understanding of the essentially collaborative and co-implicate character of the production of all life. The implications mean the rejection of ontologies that support not only neoliberalism but other forms of dispossession and pauperization, often allied to the hierarchization of difference, opening the way for a different history of the present and for imagining new economies and socialities.
Alternatives to the Prison
Authors: Foucault Michel
Published: December 2009

This paper examines the problem of alternatives to the prison in order to problematize the prison as an institution, as a form of punishment and as a system for promoting respect for the law. It argues that the mechanisms that were central to the prison during the 19th century, such as the practice of penitence as a principle of rehabilitation, the family as agent of correction, or as agent of legality, and labour as a fundamental instrument for punishment, still operate today, if in altered forms, in both the conventional and alternatives types of prison. The prison has been a factory for producing criminals; this production is not a mark of its failure but of its success. Prison manages control over illegalities by means of a whole set of apparatuses that manage their reorganization, redistributing them according to an economy of illegalisms. It may well be that changes in the economy and in the mechanisms for regulating populations mean that the carceral functions of the prison are today being disseminated at the level of the social body, so that they would now operate beyond the space of the prison through multiple instances of control, surveillance, normalization and re-socialization. The question of the prison cannot be resolved or even posed in terms of a simple penal theory. Neither can it be posed in tems of a psychology or sociology of crime. The question of the role and possible disappearance of the prison can only be posed in terms of an economy and a politics, that is, a political economy of illegalisms.
Neuropsychological consequences of alcohol and drug abuse on different components of executive functions
Authors: Fernández-Serrano María José , Pérez-García Miguel , Schmidt Río-Valle Jacqueline , Verdejo-García Antonio
Published: December 2009

Several studies have shown alterations in different components of executive functioning in users of different drugs, including cannabis, cocaine and heroin. However, it is difficult to establish a specific association between the use of each of these drugs and executive alterations, since most drug abusers are polysubstance abusers, and alcohol is a ubiquitous confounding factor. Moreover, in order to study the association between consumption of different drugs and executive functioning, the patterns of quantity and duration of drugs used must be considered, given the association between these parameters and the executive functioning alteration degree. Based on the multicomponent approach to executive functions, the aims of the present study were: (i) to analyse the differential contribution of alcohol versus cocaine, heroin and cannabis use on executive functions performance; and (ii) to analyse the contribution made by the severity of the different drugs used (quantity and duration patterns) on these functions in a sample of polysubstance abusers that requested treatment for cannabis-, cocaine- or heroin-related problems. We administered measures of fluency, working memory, analogical reasoning, interference, cognitive flexibility, decision-making and self-regulation to two groups: 60 substance-dependent individuals (SDIs) and 30 healthy control individuals (HCIs). SDIs had significantly poorer performance than HCIs across all of the executive domains assessed. Results from hierarchical regression models showed the existence of common correlates of the use of alcohol, cannabis and cocaine on verbal fluency and decision-making; common correlates of quantity of cannabis and cocaine use on verbal working memory and analogical reasoning; common correlates of duration of cocaine and heroin use on shifting; and specific effects of duration of cocaine use on inhibition measures. These findings indicate that alcohol abuse is negatively associated with fluency and decision-making deficits, whereas the different drugs motivating treatment have both generalized and specific deleterious effects on different executive components.
Same-Gender and Cross-Gender Likeability: Associations With Popularity and Status Enhancement: The TRAILS study
Authors: Dijkstra Jan Kornelis , Cillessen Antonius H. N. , Lindenberg Siegwart , Veenstra René
Published: December 2009

This study examined the associations of popularity, substance use, athletic abilities, physical attractiveness, and physical and relational aggression with likeability by same-gender and cross-gender peers among early adolescents ( N = 3,312; M age = 13.60, with 92.7% of the participants in the 12-14 age range). Data collection consisted of peer nominations in 172 classrooms of 34 secondary schools. Taking a goal-framing perspective, it was argued that key to understanding the association between popularity and likeability is the distinction between features that help to achieve popularity and features that help to maintain popularity. In support of our hypotheses, popularity and substance use, athletic abilities, and physical attractiveness (characteristics that help to become popular) contributed significantly to likeability, whereas physical and relational aggression (characteristics that help to maintain popularity) negatively predicted likeability. These specific nature of these effects depended on the reference group (same-gender vs. other-gender peers) and were further moderated by popularity.
Against Superciliousness
Authors: Kalny Eva
Published: December 2009

■ This text will analyze the commonly accepted philosophical foundation of human rights, the international system of protection of human rights and selected perspectives of activists. It argues that dominant European, North American and Australian discourses of human rights do not describe human rights as such but only constitute specific expressions of human rights, and attempts to outline the characteristics of these discourses. It concludes that the limitations of a concept of human rights based on the exclusive reference to the state, as well as on Eurocentrism and processes of othering, can only be overcome through intercultural polylogues based on respect and equality. Rather than focusing on the concept of rights and their development, this text focuses on the concepts of humans and human dignity.
Living Theory
Authors: Gershon Ilana
Published: December 2009

When writing, ethnographers are faced with the hermeneutic task of interweaving their dialogues with scholars and their dialogues with their interlocutors in the field. This article is a critique of a long-standing tendency in anthropology to conflate social analysis in texts with social analysis on the ground. I am taking issue with a tendency to compare social theorists such as Heidegger or Bakhtin with the social analysts met during fieldwork. In this intellectual thought exercise, I compare structural functionalists with Samoan migrants to explore some of the differences between writing and practicing social analysis.
Cosmologies of Criticism: Taste, (Dis)trust, and Uses of Literature in Slovak Secondary Schools
Authors: Larson Jonathan L.
Published: December 2009

■ Social critics in many societies invoke the reading of literature as critical to both a desired form of political organization and the state of national politics. Relatedly, a variety of political projects throughout the past several centuries have employed literature as a technology for the construction of particular subjectivities. This article critiques the quasi-magical powers with which literature has been endowed over space and time, and describes a ‘critical’ orientation toward society encouraged through reading literature in college-preparatory Slovak secondary schools in the first part of the 2000s. Drawing inspiration from anthropological studies of literacy as situated practice, I outline features of how Slovak students have learned social critique while pointing out areas in which anthropologists could improve their perspectives on how classroom practices relate to macrosociological and political phenomena.
Geographies of identity: climate change, governmentality and activism
Authors: Dowling Robyn
Published: December 2009

The possibilities for, and impediments to, progressive social transformation have underpinned many strands of research in human geography. In this, the last of my series of reports on geographies of identity, I tour through the ways in which identities are figuring in geographical explorations of potentials for ‘alternative’ political futures beyond those of current hegemonies. In particular, I draw attention to the diverse scholarship on identity and subject formation that focuses on the practices of development professionals, ethical consumption activities, and climate change activism, among others. Highlighting the growing salience of governmentality as a perspective through which to comprehend identity, the report canvasses: the intensification of economic logics as a rubric of subject formation; the role of food and consumption in both opening up and closing down new political subjectivities; and the identities produced and required to address the challenges of climate change.
Barriers to Disclosing and Reporting Violence Among Women in Pakistan: Findings From a National Household Survey and Focus Group Discussions
Authors: Andersson Neil , Cockcroft Anne , Ansari Umaira , Omer Khalid , Ansari Noor M. , Khan Amir , Ubaid Ullah Chaudhry
Published: December 2009

Worldwide, many women who experience domestic violence keep their experience secret. Few report to official bodies. In a national survey of abuse against women in Pakistan, we examined factors related to disclosure: women who had experienced physical violence telling someone about it. In focus groups, we explored why women do not report domestic violence. Nearly one third of the 23,430 women interviewed had experienced physical violence. Only 35% of them had told anyone about it, almost always someone within their own family. Several personal and family factors were associated with disclosure. Having discussed the issue and feeling empowered to discuss violence were consistent associations. Of the 7,895 women who had suffered physical violence, only 14 had reported the matter to the police. Female focus groups said women who report violence risk their reputation and bring dishonor to the family; women fear reporting violence because it may exacerbate the problem and may lead to separation or divorce and loss of their children. Focus groups of men and women were skeptical about community leaders, councilors, and religious leaders supporting reporting of violence. They suggested setting up local groups where abused women could seek help and advice. There are strong disincentives to reporting violence in Pakistan, which are well known to women. Until better systems for reporting and dealing with reported cases are in place, domestic violence will continue to be a hidden scourge here and elsewhere.
From Emotions to Spirituality: “Spiritual Labor” as the Commodification, Codification, and Regulation of Organizational Members’ Spirituality
Authors: McGuire Tammy
Published: December 2009

Though spirituality is often considered a private matter, this study employs the construct of spiritual labor to examine how spirituality might be managed, manipulated, and/or manufactured in organizations. Modeled on the construct of emotional labor, spiritual labor is defined as the commodification, codification, and regulation of organizational members’ spirituality. Thematic analysis of documents and interviews with parochial boarding school faculty/staff illustrate how the codification of spirituality occurred both overtly in official documents and more subtly in undocumented institutional norms. The regulation of spiritual expectations included normative pressure from both colleagues and administrators. Spiritual labor often led to dissonance and a sense of hypocrisy. Members who highly identified with the organization experienced less dissonance. Implications for issues such as job satisfaction, socialization, and organizational identity are discussed.
A New Role for Place Identity in Managing Organizational Change
Authors: Rooney David , Paulsen Neil , Callan Victor J. , Brabant Madeleine , Gallois Cindy , Jones Elizabeth
Published: December 2009

In an extension of organizational identity research, we draw on place identity theory (PIT) to argue that employees’ identification with their place of work influences their perceptions of large-scale organizational change. To determine how different types of employees respond to threats to their sense of place identity, we conducted 34 interviews with senior and middle managers, supervisory and nonsupervisory staff, and external stakeholders at a public hospital undergoing change. Groups of employees at lower levels of the organizational hierarchy experienced a stronger sense of place and belongingness and greater disruption to their place identity than those at higher levels. We discuss how place identity operates as a component of social identity as well as the responses managers can make to ways in which employees with different place identifications deal with change.
Critiquing Community Engagement
Authors: Dempsey Sarah E.
Published: December 2009

Universities increasingly cast themselves as engaged institutions committed to building collaborative relationships with community-based stakeholders. Although promoted in terms of empowerment, community engagement can reproduce or accentuate problematic social relations. This qualitative case study of a campus—community partnership provides a critical analysis of community engagement. The data reveal how the ambiguities of “community,” including the politics associated with defining and representing local groups, complicate these initiatives. The analysis extends existing conceptualizations of community and community engagement by (a) illustrating how a campus/community divide serves as a rich source of critique and (b) demonstrating the need to reshape community engagement around a critical understanding of community and community representation. In addition to these contributions, this study provides a set of guidelines for future community engagement efforts.
Managing Blended Friendships: Using Empirical Data to Prepare Students and Employees for Relational Outcomes
Authors: Kingsley Westerman Catherine Y. , Hee Sun Park
Published: December 2009

The current study investigates how college students expect to react to inequity in blended friendships. Blended friendship is defined as a friendship that involves interaction at work and outside of work. Data from undergraduate students (N = 185) showed that liking and relational importance were found to be lower in underreward and overreward situations versus equitable situations. Whether the inequity was in the task versus the social dimension of the blended friendship had a small effect on liking but did not affect relational importance. The results of this study could contribute to a general realistic job preview (RJP) to be given to graduating seniors as they prepare to enter the workforce or to employees as they enter new organizations.
Occupational Mobility in Members of the Labor Force: Explaining the Willingness to Change Occupations
Authors: Otto Kathleen , Dette-Hagenmeyer Dorothea E. , Dalbert Claudia
Published: December 2009

It has become a commonplace for people to move from one occupation to another during their career. The authors propose that work-related attitudes and person-related characteristics should be considered when examining the willingness to change occupations (WCOs). Consistent with our hypotheses, we found that high levels of work satisfaction, strong occupational commitment, and work-related worries made employees less WCOs, whereas uncertainty tolerance and mobility self-efficacy were positively associated with WCO (Study 1). The findings regarding person-related characteristics were replicated among unemployed individuals (Study 2). Moreover, a longitudinal study showed high-mobility self-efficacy to be a resource-enhancing WCO over time, and revealed that uncertainty tolerance increased WCO among those who had actually experienced a change in occupational status (Study 3).
Separation-Individuation, Exploration, and Identity Diffusion as Mediators of the Relationship Between Attachment and Career Indecision
Authors: Downing Haley M. , Nauta Margaret M.
Published: December 2009

The purpose of this study was to test the fit of a theoretical model in which separation-individuation, career exploration, and identity diffusion were specified as mediators of the relationship between attachment functioning (anxious and avoidant) and career indecision (informational and personal—emotional). Structural equation modeling (SEM) with latent variables was used to examine the fit of the model to self-report data provided by college students (N = 285). The model provided a good fit to the data, with most theorized paths being significant and in the predicted direction. However, expected paths between separation-individuation and the career-related variables were not significant, raising questions about this construct as a mediator of attachment—career indecision relationships. Implications for future research and for intervention are presented.
Dynamics Between Nonprofit and For-Profit Providers Operating Under the Long-Term Care Insurance System in Japan
Authors: Suda Yuko , Guo Baorong
Published: December 2009

By studying two municipalities in Tokyo that have different environmental conditions in terms of resource allocations, this article examines whether the relationship between for-profit and nonprofit organizations providing long-term care has changed since the introduction of the Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCI) system in Japan. LTCI allocates most resources based on process control, and thus access to resources is easier by conforming to regulations and standards. Findings indicate that for-profit providers behave like nonprofit providers in such an environment. However, when commercialized services are provided besides legally defined LTCI services, outcome control comes into effect in addition to process control. This study finds that the differences between for-profit and nonprofit providers are maintained in this type of environment.Theoretical as well as policy and management implications are discussed, and this article concludes with the directions for future research.
Natalizumab treatment in multiple sclerosis: marked decline of chemokines and cytokines in cerebrospinal fluid
Authors: Mellergård J. , Edström M. , Vrethem M. , Ernerudh J. , Dahle C.
Published: December 2009

Natalizumab exerts impressive therapeutic effects in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The proposed main mode of action is reducing transmigration of leukocytes into the CNS, but other immunological effects may also be operative. Cytokines and chemokines are involved in the regulation of inflammatory responses and may reflect the disease process in MS. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of natalizumab treatment on cytokine and chemokine profiles systemically and intrathecally in multiple sclerosis. We used luminex to analyse a panel of cytokines (IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-α, IFN-γ, GM-CSF) and chemokines (CXCL9, CXCL10, CXCL11, CCL17, CCL22) in blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 31 patients with relapsing MS before and after one year of natalizumab treatment. There was a marked decline in CSF levels of cytokines and chemokines, thus including pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-8) as well as chemokines associated with both Th1 (CXCL9, CXCL10, CXCL11) and Th2 (CCL22). Circulating plasma levels of some cytokines (GM-CSF, TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-10) also decreased after one year of treatment. This is the first study to show that natalizumab treatment is associated with a global decline in cytokine and chemokine levels at a protein level. This finding was most pronounced in CSF, in line with the reduced transmigration of cells into CNS, whereas reduction in plasma levels indicates other possible mechanisms of natalizumab treatment.
Polymorphisms in vitamin D metabolism related genes and risk of multiple sclerosis
Authors: Simon K. Claire , Munger Kassandra L , Xing Yang  , Ascherio Alberto
Published: December 2009

The extent to which potential genetic determinants of vitamin D levels may be related to multiple sclerosis (MS) risk has not been thoroughly explored. The objective of this study was to determine whether polymorphisms in VDR, CYP27B1, CYP24A1, CYP2R1 and DBP are associated with the risk of MS and whether these variants may modify associations between environmental or dietary vitamin D on MS risk.

A nested case-control study was conducted in two, large cohorts of US nurses, including 214 MS cases and 428 age-matched controls. Conditional logistic regression models were used to calculate relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and to assess the significance of gene—environment interactions. No associations were observed for any of the single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in VDR, CYP27B1, CYP24A1, CYP2R1 or DBP (p > 0.05 for all). The authors did observe an interaction (p = 0.04) between dietary intake of vitamin D and the vitamin D receptor FokI polymorphism on MS risk. The protective effect of increasing vitamin D was evident only in individuals with the ‘ff ’ genotype (RR = 0.2, 95% CI: 0.06, 0.78; p = 0.02 for 400 IU/day increase).

It was concluded that this does not support a role for the selected SNPs involved in vitamin D metabolism in the etiology of MS. The finding of a marginally significant gene—environment interaction requires replication in larger datasets, but suggests future genetic studies may benefit from considering relevant environmental context.
The cannabinoid receptor 1 gene (CNR1) and multiple sclerosis: an association study in two case-control groups from Spain
Authors: Ramil E. , Sánchez AJ , González-Pérez P. , Rodríguez-Antigüedad A. , Gómez-Lozano N. , Ortiz P. , Arroyo R. , De las Heras V. , Vilches C. , García-Merino A.
Published: December 2009

Different studies point to the implication of the endocannabinoid system in multiple sclerosis (MS) and animal models of MS. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a possible association of MS with polymorphic markers at the CNR1 gene, encoding the cannabinoid 1 (CB1) receptor. We have performed a genetic analysis of an AAT repeat microsatellite localized in the downstream region of the CNR1 gene, in two case—control groups of MS patients and healthy controls (HC) from Spain (Madrid and Bilbao). MS patients with primary progressive MS (PPMS) had more commonly long ((AAT) ≥13) alleles and genotypes with a significant difference for genotype 7/8 in Madrid (p = 0.043) and in the sum of both groups (p = 0.016); short alleles were less frequently found in PPMS with a significant difference for allele 5 in the analysis of both groups together (p = 0.039). In patients with relapsing MS, no consistent differences in allele and genotype distribution were found. Disease severity and progression was unrelated to AAT repeat variations. In conclusion, long (AAT) ≥13 CNR1 genotypes could behave as risk factors for PPMS.
Renewal of the T-cell compartment in multiple sclerosis patients treated with glatiramer acetate
Authors: Chiarini M. , Sottini A. , Ghidini C. , Zanotti C. , Serana F. , Rottoli M. , Zaffaroni M. , Bergamaschi R. , Cordioli C. , Capra R. , Imberti L.
Published: December 2009

The immunomodulating activity of glatiramer acetate on T-cells of multiple sclerosis patients has only been partially clarified. The objective of this work was to investigate whether glatiramer acetate modifies thymic release of newly produced T-cells and the peripheral composition of the T-cell repertoire. T-cell receptor excision circles, thymic naive (CD4+CD45RA+CCR7 +CD31+) T helper cells, and central (CD4+CD45RA -CCR7+) and effector (CD4+CD45RA-CCR7 -) memory T-cells were evaluated in 89 untreated patients, 84 patients treated for at least 1 year, and 31 patients beginning treatment at the time of inclusion in the study and then followed-up for 12 months; controls were 81 healthy donors. The T-cell repertoire was analysed in selected samples. The percentage of thymicnaive T helper cells was diminished in untreated patients, but rose to control values in treated subjects; a decrease in central memory T-cells was also observed in treated patients. Follow-up patients could be divided into two subgroups, one showing unmodified thymicnaive T helper cells and T-cell diversity, the other in which the increased release of new T-cells was accompanied by modifications of the T-cell repertoire. Glatiramer acetate modifies the peripheral T-cell pool by activating a thymopoietic pathway of T-cell release that leads to a different setting of T-cell diversity and, likely, to a dilution of autoreactive T-cells.
Multiparametric MR investigation of the motor pyramidal system in patients with ‘truly benign’ multiple sclerosis
Authors: Spanò Barbara , Cercignani Mara , Basile Barbara , Romano Silvia , Mannu Rosalba , Centonze Diego , Caltagirone Carlo , Bramanti Placido , Nocentini Ugo , Bozzali Marco
Published: December 2009

One possible explanation for the mismatch between tissue damage and preservation of neurological functions in patients with benign multiple sclerosis (BMS) is that the pathophysiology differs from that occurring in other multiple sclerosis (MS) phenotypes. The objective of this study was to identify pathologically specific patterns of tissue integrity/damage characteristics of patients with BMS, and markers of potential prognostic value. The pyramidal system was investigated in 10 BMS patients and 20 controls using voxel-based morphometry to assess grey matter (GM) atrophy, and diffusion tractography and quantitative magnetization transfer to quantify the microstructural damage in the corticospinal tracts (CSTs). Widespread reductions in GM volume were found in patients compared with controls, including the primary motor cortex. A significant decrease was observed in the mean macromolecular pool ratio (F) of both CSTs, with no fractional anisotropy (FA) change. GM volume of the primary motor areas was associated with clinical scores but not with the CST parameters. The mismatch between F and FA suggests the presence of extensive demyelination in the CSTs of patients with BMS, in the absence of axonal damage. The lack of correlation with GM volume indicates a complex interaction between disruptive and reparative mechanisms in BMS.
Dressed to Kill
Authors: Richards Paul
Published: December 2009

Technology is often defined in terms of tools or machines but, in this article, it is treated as the human capacity to make. The author focuses on clothing as an instance of making in war. Specific attention is paid to the junction between the power to make (or unmake) and the social and ritual capacities for regulation through which making is governed. In this sense, the study is intended as a contribution to a revived interest in the incomplete Durkheimian project on elementary forms of technique, and techniques of the body in particular. The case-study material derives from the civil war in Sierra Leone (1991—2002) in which dress was as important an aspect of making war as weaponry. Various functions and social and material entailments of battle dress are described and differentiated, and the central role of magic for understanding clothing (and technology more generally) is underlined.
Editorial
Authors: Naji Myriem , Douny Laurence
Published: December 2009

The editors of this special issue on ‘“Making” and “Doing” the Material World’ examine some aspects of the anthropology of techniques, a relatively understudied branch of anthropology, which considers the embodied and cognitive engagement of human beings in their lived material world. They suggest that the use of new theories of embodiment, cognition and performance allows for a consideration of the role of the senses, perception, emotions and materiality in the formation of knowledgeable, gendered subjects. They argue that the Francophone and Anglophone traditions in the anthropology of techniques are complementary, despite their divisions (between and within them).
Prospective tracking of a pediatric emergency department e-kiosk to deliver asthma education
Authors: Joshi Ashish , Weng Wenjing , Lichenstein Richard , Arora Mohit , Sears Andrew
Published: December 2009

The study objective was to describe the prospective use of an interactive Patient Education and Motivation Tool (PEMT) placed within a pediatric emergency department (ED). A touch screen computer was utilized to deliver asthma education to children and their parents/guardians during their acute asthma visit between November 2006 and April 2007. Ninety-nine participants were enrolled in this prospective non-randomized pre—post study. PEMT comprised three key components: screening, learning and evaluation. The tool tracked the date the system was used, user characteristics, asthma knowledge, amount of time spent on each screen, and navigational patterns of individuals using the program. The results showed that baseline asthma knowledge had positive association with age and negative association with time spent in the learning module. There was negative association between age and time spent in the learning module. Thus PEMT was effective in improving the asthma knowledge of young patients and those having lower baseline knowledge.
Design Principles of a Federated Service-oriented Architecture Model for Net-centric Data Sharing
Authors: Duan Nick
Published: December 2009

One of the major challenges facing many Service-oriented Architecture (SOA)-based programs used in the Department of Defense (DoD) is how to define a SOA model that is robust and scalable enough to meet mission-specific needs, while satisfying the Net-centric requirements for data sharing across the multiple services and agencies. While there have been many SOA initiatives in the DoD with various successes, data and service interoperability across multiple organizations are still limited due to the lack of a coherent and overarching SOA model. Most SOA implementations in the DoD today still follow a complex centralized model that lacks the necessary flexibility, extensibility, and scalability for large enterprises. We believe that a federated SOA model, as proposed by the present author in a previous work, has the benefits and potential to solve both the scalability and complexity problems that have become prevalent in centralized SOAs. In this paper, several design principles are introduced for implementing such a federated SOA model in a Net-centric Environment. First, we provide a formal definition of interoperability and establish an enterprise model with the necessary model components and behaviors for achieving the desired federation. Secondly, the design principles are described in detail revolving around the use of core enterprise services (i.e., a registry service and a security policy service) and focused on the capability to support disconnected operations. The benefits of the model in representing a federated enterprise are demonstrated via a concrete study on an existing SOA implementation in the DoD. Finally, future research directions, including the establishment of a quantitative federation model and analyzing its behaviors via modeling and simulation techniques, are highlighted.
The Cultural Geography Model: Evaluating the Impact of Tactical Operational Outcomes on a Civilian Population in an Irregular Warfare Environment
Authors: Alt Jonathan K. , Jackson Leroy A. ‘Jack’ , Hudak David , Lieberman Stephen
Published: December 2009

The civilian population has been described as ‘the center of gravity in irregular warfare’. Understanding the behavioral response of the civilian population in irregular warfare operations presents a major challenge area to the joint modeling and simulation community where there is a clear need for the development of models, methods, and tools to address civilian behavior response. This paper provides a conceptual and theoretical overview of the Cultural Geography (CG) model, a government-owned, open-source agent-based model designed to address the behavioral response of civilian populations in conflict environments. With an embedded case study, we describe the development of cognitive modules to represent the civilian population and their implementation as Bayesian belief networks (BBNs), the social structure module implemented using homophily, the process of adjudicating the effects of tactical level outcomes on a population segment within the model, and a sample case study analysis using a designed experiment.