bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
"Context Stinks!"
Authors: Felski Rita
Published: February 2012

This essay draws on the work of Bruno Latour to question conventional methods of "historicizing" and "contextualizing" works of art. Context is typically equated with original historical context, and the act of historicizing a text becomes a matter of linking it to other texts and events in the same slice of time. Such historicist approaches, I argue, cannot account for the transtemporal movement of texts, their ability to resonate across different periods, and the ways in which they speak to us now. Moreover, traditional models of context and its correlates (society, power, ideology, etc.) tend to downplay or actively deny the agency of artworks. What if we were to think of these artworks as nonhuman actors who modify states of affairs by making a difference? Such an approach calls on us to recognize the specificity of works of art as well as their sociability and wordliness. Artworks are not heroic actors engaged in endless opposition, subversion, and resistance; rather they are coactors and codependents, enmeshed in multiple attachments and associations that enable them to survive.
The Cultivation of Moral Feelings and Mengzi's Method of Extension
Authors: McRae Emily
Published: February 2012

Offered here is an interpretation of the ancient Confucian philosopher Mengzi's (372-289 B.C.E. ) method of cultivating moral feelings, which he calls "extension." It is argued that this method is both psychologically plausible and an important, but often overlooked, part of moral life. In this interpretation, extending our moral feelings is not a project in logical consistency, analogical reasoning, or emotional intuition. Rather, Mengzi's method of extension is a project in realigning the human heart that harnesses our rational, reflective, and emotional capacities in order to extend the feelings we already have to the appropriate objects for these feelings. It is argued that there are three main features of Mengzi's account that make it an attractive explanation of the cultivation of moral feelings. The first is the way Mengzi sees reasoning and philosophical reflection as an aid to, rather than the foundation for, moral development. The second is Mengzi's precision regarding the relationship between the basic moral feelings we start with (the "sprouts") and their corresponding virtues. The method of extension acts as a well-designed bridge between feelings and virtues. Third, Mengzi's account, unlike that of the Mohist Yi Zhi, whom he criticizes, pays special attention to the complexities and limitations of human psychology. In conclusion it is shown how a Mengzian understanding of the relationship between feelings and morality can answer some traditional challenges, especially Kantian ones, regarding the proper role of emotion in moral life.
Montaigne and the Comic: Exposing Private Life
Authors: Calhoun Alison
Published: February 2012

Between men of action, men of words, and men—like the philosophers—who find themselves curiously in between, Montaigne would ideally write like Epicurus and Seneca, in a style that unites his actions with his words. This union of "doings" and "sayings," of doctrine and daily activity, is also what Montaigne refers to as the wisdom of the philosophers. His new form of wisdom in the Essays unites his sayings and doings, but without losing touch with the paradox of making the private public, and the inevitability of being judged comic in his time for exposing his private life.
Community Stories and Institutional Stewardship: Digital Curation’s Dual Roles of Story Creation and Resource Preservation
Authors: Kunda Sue , Anderson-Wilk Mark
Published: February 2012

Our institutions of record are facing a new digital knowledge management challenge: stakeholder communities are now expecting customized Web interfaces to institutional knowledge repositories, online environments where community members can contribute content and see themselves represented, as well as access archived resources. Digital curation can be used to address these knowledge management challenges. Digital curation must involve both digital asset preservation and the important value-added function of facilitating user understanding of and engagement with digital resources. This paper presents a model of digital curation that embraces both the digital preservation challenge and the community engagement challenge.
Phenomenological Psychopathology, Profundity, and Schizophrenia
Authors: Stanghellini Giovanni
Published: February 2012

Abstract:
The profound and characteristic modification of schizophrenic existence is a typical kind of depersonalization (the living body becomes a functioning body, a thing-like mechanism in which mental phenomena take place as if they happened in an outer space) and a special kind of derealization (the interpersonal scene becomes a stage on which the patient feels unable to make sense of what the others are doing). I argue that schizophrenic depersonalization/derealization is based on a disorder of common sense epitomized by the hendiadys “deanimated body”—the experience of feeling distant and lifeless—and “disembodied spirit”—the sharp awareness of observing that appears separated from the experience of existing. This basic disturbance is sometimes experienced by persons with schizophrenia, some other times it may pass un-experienced, and can be rescued via phenomenological analysis. This basic disturbance is typical of persons with schizophrenia in the sense that it contributes to a clear-cut differentiation—better than surface signs and symptoms—between schizophrenia and other forms of psychotic existence.
Manufactured Scientific Controversy: Science, Rhetoric, and Public Debate
Authors: Ceccarelli Leah
Published: February 2012

This article examines three cases that have been identified by scholars as “manufactured” scientific controversies, in which rhetors seek to promote or delay public policy by announcing that there is an ongoing scientific debate about a matter for which there is actually an overwhelming scientific consensus. The comparative study of argumentative dynamics in the cases of AIDS dissent, global warming skepticism, and intelligent design reveals the deployment of rhetorical traps that take advantage of balancing norms and appeals to democratic values. It also reveals the ineffectual counterarguments marshalled by defenders of mainstream science. By exploring the inventional possibilities available to those who would respond to manufactured scientific controversies, this article equips readers and their students to confute deceptive arguments about science and engage in a more productive public debate. In so doing, this article initiates an Isocratean orientation to the rhetoric of science as a field of study.
Barack Obama and the Revitalization of Public Reason
Authors: Rowland Robert C.
Published: February 2012

President Barack Obama focused his campaign for health care reform on more than merely winning support; he also aimed to revitalize the very idea of public reason. It is for this reason that in the face of strident opposition from the Right and calls from the Left for him to renounce reasoned discourse that he redoubled his efforts to educate the people. Obama's efforts not only to sell his proposal but also to revitalize the idea of public reason at the heart of Madisonian democracy were not fully successful, but he demonstrated that reasoned argument remains a powerful force in American life.
Do College Student Surveys Have Any Validity?
Authors: Porter Stephen R.
Published: February 2012

Using standards established for validation research, I review the theory and evidence underlying the validity argument of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). I use the NSSE because it is the preeminent survey of college students, arguing that if it lacks validity, then so do almost all other college student surveys. I find that it fails to meet basic standards for validity and reliability, and recommend that higher education researchers initiate a new research agenda to develop valid college student surveys.
How Sound Is NSSE?: Investigating the Psychometric Properties of NSSE at a Public, Research-Extensive Institution
Authors: Campbell Corbin M. , Cabrera Alberto F.
Published: February 2012

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) Benchmarks has emerged as a competing paradigm for assessing institutional effectiveness vis-à-vis the U.S. News & World Report. However, Porter (2009) has critiqued it for failing to meet validity and reliability standards. This study investigated whether the NSSE five benchmarks had construct and predictive validity for non-transfer seniors at one mid-Atlantic, research-extensive institution and found that the five-benchmark model had high intercorrelations among the benchmarks, low item loadings, and low reliability scores. This study also found that the NSSE benchmark model was not a valid predictor of cumulative GPA for this institution.
Assessing Spatial Hydrological Data Integration to Characterize Geographic Trends in Small Reservoirs in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin
Authors: Ignatius Amber , Stallins Jon Anthony
Published: February 2012

Los embalses provocan cambios hidrológicos significativos, incluyendo la pérdida de hábitat, fragmentación del cauce, alteración en la evaporación neta, y modificación en la distribución de sedimentos y de nutrientes. La cuenca del río Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) en Georgia, Alabama, y Florida es reconocida internacionalmente por su biodiversidad de agua dulce, incluye una de las áreas metropolitanas de más rápido crecimiento en el país, y contiene numerosos embalses artificiales. Para evaluar el potencial impacto de los pequeños embalses en el ACF, se construyó una base de datos en los SIG, antes no disponible. La base de datos de embalses se generó a través de una síntesis de datos de varias agencias, el análisis de mapas topográficos, datos de cobertura del suelo, y fotografías aéreas de alta resolución de 2005-2008. En total, más de 24,500 pequeños embalses aparecieron como hechos por el hombre o manejados por el hombre y cubren más de 230 kilómetros cuadrados de superficie (25 por ciento del área total de la superficie de la cuenca del embalse), causando más de 11,000 fragmentaciones en el cauce, y convertido más de 1,900 kilómetro de distancia lineal del cauce de hábitat ribereño a hábitat lacustre de embalse, cerca del 50 por ciento de la distancia total convertida del cauce de la cuenca.
Crossing Empires: Portuguese, Sephardic, and Dutch Business Networks in the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1580-1674
Authors: Silva Filipa Ribeiro da
Published: February 2012

In the last two decades, private entrepreneurship has emerged as an important research area in the field of Adantic history. Various studies have clearly shown the role played by private business in the making of the early modern Adantic economy. Initially, private entrepreneurship was studied separately from imperial entities and did not contemplate activities encompassing several European empires. Recently, however, scholars have started to look into private engagement in various branches of the Adantic colonial trade, broadening our understanding of when and how private business operated simultaneously in different colonial settings. The works of Schnurmann, Studnicki-Gizbert, Ebert, Trivellato, and Antunes are some of the most important contributions.
Reflections on Brazil and Life as a Historian: An Interview with Richard Graham
Authors: Metcalf Alida , Langfur Hal
Published: February 2012

Richard Graham is one of a handful of historians who shaped the field of Latin American studies in the United States. Graham taught for many years at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is Frances Higginbotham Nalle Centennial Professor of History Emeritus. At Texas he directed more than 20 doctoral dissertations and served as associate editor and then editor of the Hispanic American Historical Review from 1971 to 1975. Graham is the author of five books, among them Britain and the Onset of Modernization in Brazil (1968), Patronage and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Brazil (1990), and Feeding the City: From Street Market to Liberal Reform in Salvador, Brazil, 1780-1860 (2010). He has edited five books, including Machado de Assis: Reflections on a Brazilian Master Writer (1999), Independence in Latin America (1972 and 1994), and The Idea of Race in Latin America (1990); he has published more than 40 articles. He was awarded the Conference on Latin American History's Distinguished Service Award in January 2011 (see his CLAH Luncheon Address in this issue), one of many scholarly honors.
Latin America and the Question of Cuban Independence
Authors: Muller Dalia Antonia
Published: February 2012

In a famous account of his travels, titled El destino de un continente, the Argentine writer Manuel Ugarte describes his somewhat disconcerting encounter with the Cuban ex-president Jos Miguel Gmez while traveling through Latin America during the 1920s. Ugarte, a committed advocate of panhispanismo—the idea that Spanish America was and should be unified by its shared Spanish heritage, especially in light of the threat from Anglo- Saxon culture—had come to Cuba to give a series of lectures. Shortly after one of his presentations, the Argentine was introduced to Gmez, who took Ugarte to task for his criticism of Cuba's close relationship to the United States. You reproach us, Gmez said, for not defending our legacy of Spanish civilization, but what have all of you [Latin Americans] done to encourage us, to support us, to make us feel that we are not alone? Taken aback and made suddenly self-conscious by the accusation, Ugarte concluded that the Cuban was admonishing him for failing to uphold the very principles he was espousing in his lectures. It seemed as if, through the voice of her representative, all Cuba was saying, It is not we who broke the link; it was you who broke it in allowing it to be cut. After some time and much thought, Ugarte came to the realization that Cuba was not alone responsible for the Cuban situation. Some responsibility was also borne by Latin America. Through his encounter with Gmez, Ugarte was forced to recognize the limitations of framing what he referred to as the Cuban situation exclusively in the context of a cultural war between the United States and Spain. Indeed, the expresident's challenge inspired him to reconsider Cuba's nineteenth-century struggles with both Spanish colonialism and U.S. imperialism in a distinctly inter-Latin American context.
The Franciscan Missionary Enterprise in Nineteenth-Century Latin America
Authors: Langer Erick D.
Published: February 2012

This essay is in large part inspired by Fr. Antonine Tibesar OFM, whom I had the privilege to meet in 1982 just after I returned from my doctoral research sojourn in Bolivia. Fr. Antonine was for many years the director of the Academy of Franciscan History when that institution had its beautiful campus in Potomac, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. I had corresponded with Fr. Antonine earlier and during my visit enjoyed discussing with him the many facets of Franciscan missions in Latin America. He proudly showed me the large collection of books in the academy library. What impressed me about both Fr. Antonine and the friars I had met in Bolivia during my research was their selflessness and willingness to help a budding scholar—one who at that point had little of scholarship to show. These characteristics got me thinking about the Franciscans and their worldviews and how those must have affected the missions. Although I was determined to write mainly about the indigenous population on the missions (after all, they constituted the vast majority of the mission population and were the ones most profoundly affected by the mission experience), I realized that it was important not to ignore the missionaries. Though few in number—most missions had just one or perhaps two friars—it was their desires for the native population and the overall goals and local organization of the missions they founded that profoundly shaped the human settlements they supervised.
History from Between
Authors: Miller David Philip
Published: February 2012

The Brokered World and its depiction of the crucial role of “go-betweens” in the development of modernity in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The impulse behind this history from between is found to be similar to the 1960s movement for a history from below. While convinced that this critique of the idea of European imperial acquisition of the “view from nowhere” is well placed, the reviewer notes the dangers of over-valorizing the role of the go-between if broad, secular economic and cultural change and its constraints are not duly considered. Capturing the complexities of modernization is no easier from the sole viewpoint of the go-between than from that of the imperial impresario.
Interruption, Intervention, Interculturalism: Robert Wilson's HIT Productions in Taiwan
Authors: Lei Daphne P.
Published: February 2012

Hegemonic Intercultural Theatre (HIT), the theatrical collaboration between East and West in the most traditional sense, is the most established and dominant form of intercultural theatre today. This essay investigates interrupted cultural flows and the problem of intervention in Eastern HIT, the degrees of interruption and intervention determining the success of the intercultural performance. Two examples, Orlando (2009) and 1433: The Grand Voyage (2010), are used to illustrate the notion of interruption and intervention in intercultural theatre. Directed by Robert Wilson and with casts that included Taiwan's famous traditional artists, both of these performances premiered at the National Theatre in Taipei.
'Broken down by race ...': questioning social categories in redress policies
Authors: Maré Gerhard
Published: February 2012

Arguing that choices have to be made between forms of redress, on the one hand, and progress towards a non-racial society and social cohesion and avoidance of group-based social conflict on the other, I propose the 'necessity of utopian thinking' for debate. It is not redress (or 'transformation') that it at issue but the form that it takes. Redress, in its several necessary forms , cannot be constricted by a narrow focus on race. Nor can the consequences of such a near-exclusive focus be ignored: consequences of exclusion or marginalisation of certain factors such as class, ethnicity and gender; consequences of strengthening race thinking; consequences of failure in effectively addressing inequality and poverty; consequences of weakening moves to ensure social cohesion.
Black, yellow, (honorary) white or just plain South African?: Chinese South Africans, identity and affirmative action
Authors: Park Yoon Jung
Published: February 2012

On 18 June 2008, while the country was still reeling from outbreaks of xenophobic violence, the Pretoria High Court issued an order proclaiming that the Chinese South Africans fall within the broad definition of ‘black people’ as contained in the nation’s affirmative action policies. Reaction to the decision was swift, angry and overwhelmingly negative; across the board, South Africans were in disbelief that the Chinese South Africans could be viewed as ‘black’. In this essay the author, a Korean American long resident in South Africa, addresses concerns about affirmative action and argues that these race-based policies are re-racialising the country. Chinese South Africans have long held an ambiguous, confused, in-between position in South Africa. In light of continuing new Chinese migration to the country, the global rise of China and its growing influence on South Africa’s economy and polity, the place and position of Chinese South Africans is further confused. Seen through the lens of the Chinese South African case, affirmative action policies impede progress toward building an inclusive, racially diverse national identity. So long as rewards are doled out solely on the basis of blackness, and blackness increasingly becomes the principal defining characteristic of South Africanness, South Africa fails to construct a national identity that reflects its history and its diversity.
Integrin β1 Signals through Arg to Regulate Postnatal Dendritic Arborization, Synapse Density, and Behavior
Authors: Warren M. Sloan , Bradley William D. , Gourley Shannon L. , Lin Yu-Chih , Simpson Mark A. , Reichardt Louis F. , Greer Charles A. , Taylor Jane R. , Koleske Anthony J.
Published: February 2012

Integrins are heterodimeric extracellular matrix receptors that are essential for the proper development of the vertebrate nervous system. We report here that selective loss of integrin β1 in excitatory neurons leads to reductions in the size and complexity of hippocampal dendritic arbors, hippocampal synapse loss, impaired hippocampus-dependent learning, and exaggerated psychomotor sensitivity to cocaine in mice. Our biochemical and genetic experiments demonstrate that the intracellular tail of integrin β1 binds directly to Arg kinase and that this interaction stimulates activity of the Arg substrate p190RhoGAP, an inactivator of the RhoA GTPase. Moreover, genetic manipulations that reduce integrin β1 signaling through Arg recapitulate the integrin β1 knock-out phenotype in a gene dose-sensitive manner. Together, these results describe a novel integrin β1–Arg–p190RhoGAP pathway that regulates dendritic arbor size, promotes synapse maintenance, supports proper hippocampal function, and mitigates the behavioral consequences of cocaine exposure.
Phosphorylation of HSP27 by Protein Kinase D Is Essential for Mediating Neuroprotection against Ischemic Neuronal Injury
Authors: Stetler R. Anne , Gao Yanqin , Zhang Lili , Weng Zhongfang , Zhang Feng , Hu Xiaoming , Wang Suping , Vosler Peter , Cao Guodong , Sun Dandan , Graham Steven H. , Chen Jun
Published: February 2012

Heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) (or HSPB1) exerts cytoprotection against many cellular insults, including cerebral ischemia. We previously identified apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) as a critical downstream target of HSP27 conferring the neuroprotective effects of HSP27 against neuronal ischemia. However, the function of HSP27 is highly influenced by posttranslational modification, with differential cellular effects based on phosphorylation at specific serine residues. The role of phosphorylation in neuronal ischemic neuroprotection is currently unknown. We have created transgenic mice and viral vectors containing HSP27 mutated at three critical serine residues (Ser15, Ser78, and Ser82) to either alanine (HSP27-A, nonphosphorylatable) or aspartate (HSP27-D, phosphomimetic) residues. Under bothin vitroandin vivoneuronal ischemic settings, overexpression of wild-type HSP27 (HSP27) and HSP27-D, but not HSP27-A, was neuroprotective and inhibited downstream ASK1 signaling pathways. Consistently, overexpressed HSP27 was phosphorylated by endogenous mechanisms when neurons were under ischemic stress, and single-point mutations identified Ser15 and Ser82 as critical for neuroprotection. Using a panel of inhibitors and gene knockdown approaches, we identified the upstream kinase protein kinase D (PKD) as the primary kinase targeting HSP27 directly for phosphorylation. PKD and HSP27 coimmunoprecipitated, and inhibition or knockdown of PKD abrogated the neuroprotective effects of HSP27 as well as the interaction with and inhibition of ASK1 signaling. Together, these data demonstrate that HSP27 requires PKD-mediated phosphorylation for its suppression of ASK1 cell death signaling and neuroprotection against ischemic injury.
Effects of Axonal Topology on the Somatic Modulation of Synaptic Outputs
Authors: Sasaki Takuya , Matsuki Norio , Ikegaya Yuji
Published: February 2012

Depolarization of the neuronal soma augments synaptic output onto postsynaptic neurons via long-range, axonal cable properties. Here, we report that the range of this somatic influence is spatially restricted by not only axonal path length but also a branching-dependent decrease in axon diameter. Cell-attached recordings of action potentials (APs) from multiple axon branches of a rat hippocampal CA3 pyramidal cell revealed that an AP was broadened following a 20 mV depolarization of the soma and reverted to a normal width during propagation down the axon. The narrowing of the AP depended on the distance traveled by the AP and on the number of axon branch points through which the AP passed. These findings were confirmed by optical imaging of AP-induced calcium elevations in presynaptic boutons, suggesting that the somatic membrane potential modifies synaptic outputs near the soma but not long-projection outputs. Consistent with this prediction, whole-cell recordings from synaptically connected neurons revealed that depolarization of presynaptic CA3 pyramidal cells facilitated synaptic transmission to nearby CA3 pyramidal cells, but not to distant pyramidal cells in CA3 or CA1. Therefore, axonal geometry enables the differential modulation of synaptic output depending on target location.
Emergence of Stable Functional Networks in Long-Term Human Electroencephalography
Authors: Chu Catherine J. , Kramer Mark A. , Pathmanathan Jay , Bianchi Matt T. , Westover M. Brandon , Wizon Lauren , Cash Sydney S.
Published: February 2012

Functional connectivity networks have become a central focus in neuroscience because they reveal key higher-dimensional features of normal and abnormal nervous system physiology. Functional networks reflect activity-based coupling between brain regions that may be constrained by relatively static anatomical connections, yet these networks appear to support tremendously dynamic behaviors. Within this growing field, the stability and temporal characteristics of functional connectivity brain networks have not been well characterized. We evaluated the temporal stability of spontaneous functional connectivity networks derived from multi-day scalp encephalogram (EEG) recordings in five healthy human subjects. Topological stability and graph characteristics of networks derived from averaged data epochs ranging from 1 s to multiple hours across different states of consciousness were compared. We show that, although functional networks are highly variable on the order of seconds, stable network templates emerge after as little as ∼100 s of recording and persist across different states and frequency bands (albeit with slightly different characteristics in different states and frequencies). Within these network templates, the most common edges are markedly consistent, constituting a network “core.” Although average network topologies persist across time, measures of global network connectivity, density and clustering coefficient, are state and frequency specific, with sparsest but most highly clustered networks seen during sleep and in the gamma frequency band. These findings support the notion that a core functional organization underlies spontaneous cortical processing and may provide a reference template on which unstable, transient, and rapidly adaptive long-range assemblies are overlaid in a frequency-dependent manner.
Isoform-Specific Toxicity of Mecp2 in Postmitotic Neurons: Suppression of Neurotoxicity by FoxG1
Authors: Dastidar Somasish Ghosh , Bardai Farah H. , Ma Chi , Price Valerie , Rawat Varun , Verma Pragya , Narayanan Vinodh , D'Mello Santosh R.
Published: February 2012

The methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2) is a widely expressed protein, the mutations of which cause Rett syndrome. The level of MeCP2 is highest in the brain where it is expressed selectively in mature neurons. Its functions in postmitotic neurons are not known. TheMeCP2gene is alternatively spliced to generate two proteins with different N termini, designated asMeCP2-e1andMeCP2-e2. The physiological significance of these two isoforms has not been elucidated, and it is generally assumed they are functionally equivalent. We report that in cultured cerebellar granule neurons induced to die by low potassium treatment and in Aβ-treated cortical neurons,Mecp2-e2expression is upregulated whereas expression of theMecp2-e1isoform is downregulated. Knockdown ofMecp2-e2protects neurons from death, whereas knockdown of the e1 isoform has no effect. Forced expression of MeCP2-e2, but not MeCP2-e1, promotes apoptosis in otherwise healthy neurons. We find that MeCP2-e2 interacts with the forkhead protein FoxG1, mutations of which also cause Rett syndrome. FoxG1 has been shown to promote neuronal survival and its downregulation leads to neuronal death. We find that elevated FoxG1 expression inhibits MeCP2-e2 neurotoxicity. MeCP2-e2 neurotoxicity is also inhibited by IGF-1, which prevents the neuronal death-associated downregulation of FoxG1 expression, and by Akt, the activation of which is necessary for FoxG1-mediated neuroprotection. Finally, MeCP2-e2 neurotoxicity is enhanced if FoxG1 expression is suppressed or in neurons cultured fromFoxG1-haplodeficient mice. Our results indicate that Mecp2-e2 promotes neuronal death and that this activity is normally inhibited by FoxG1. Reduced FoxG1expression frees MecP2-e2 to promote neuronal death.
Estrogens and atherosclerosis: insights from animal models and cell systems
Authors: Nofer Jerzy-Roch
Published: February 2012

Estrogens not only play a pivotal role in sexual development but are also involved in several physiological processes in various tissues including vasculature. While several epidemiological studies documented an inverse relationship between plasma estrogen levels and the incidence of cardiovascular disease and related it to the inhibition of atherosclerosis, an interventional trial showed an increase in cardiovascular events among postmenopausal women on estrogen treatment. The development of atherosclerotic lesions involves complex interplay between various pro- or anti-atherogenic processes that can be effectively studied onlyin vivoin appropriate animal models. With the advent of genetic engineering, transgenic mouse models of atherosclerosis have supplemented classical dietary cholesterol-induced disease models such as the cholesterol-fed rabbit. In the last two decades, these models were widely applied along within vitrocell systems to specifically investigate the influence of estrogens on the development of early and advanced atherosclerotic lesions. The present review summarizes the results of these studies and assesses their contribution toward better understanding of molecular mechanisms underlying anti- and/or pro-atherogenic effects of estrogens in humans.
Modelling diffuse instabilities in sands under drained conditions
Authors: RAMOS A.M. , ANDRADE J.E. , LIZCANO A.
Published: February 2012

This paper presents a criterion for detecting diffuse (homogeneous) instabilities in granular soils sheared under fully drained conditions. The criterion is based on bifurcation theory and applied to elasto-plasticity by allowing multiple incremental solutions in elasto-plastic soils, physically losing controllability of stress boundary conditions. Drained diffuse instabilities are poorly understood, and are induced by kinematic modes different from those observed in shear bands and liquefaction instabilities. Unlike shear bands, diffuse instabilities occur under fairly homogenous deformation modes and, unlike liquefaction, drained instabilities are not generated by the excess pore pressures. Recent experiments under drained constant shear report sudden homogeneous instabilities in samples of relatively dense and loose sands. The criterion presented in this paper is used in conjunction with an elasto-plasticity model for sands to predict and explain these reported drained instabilities. From a practical standpoint, these developments serve to expand the repertoire of potential instabilities that occur well before failure, and which have been reported in case studies of puzzling slope instability failures under fully drained conditions.
Does the Communication of Causal Linkages Improve Employee Effort Allocations and Firm Performance? An Experimental Investigation
Authors: Farrell Anne M. , Kadous Kathryn , Towry Kristy L.
Published: February 2012

We use a multi-period production task to experimentally examine whether communication about causal linkages between actions today and performance tomorrow improves employee effort allocations and firm performance. We base our predictions on melioration theory, which anticipates that employees will allocate effort as though causal linkages were not there. We find that, absent communication about causal linkages, one-third of participants allocate effort without regard to causal linkages. Communicating qualitative information about linkages significantly improves effort allocations and performance. Communicating quantitative information about the linkage is no more beneficial than communicating qualitative information. Our results have implications for firms examining the benefits and costs of developing, validating, and quantifying causal linkages between performance measures, and they provide important evidence about how melioration theory can be extended to a rich context.

Data Availability: Data used in this study are available from the authors upon request.
Translocation T(12;17)(Q24.1;Q21) as the Sole Anomaly in a Nasal Chondromesenchymal Hamartoma Arising in a Patient with Pleuropulmonary Blastoma
Authors: Behery Radwa El , Bedrnicek Jiri , Lazenby Audrey , Nelson Marilu , Grove Jennifer , Huang Dali , Smith Russell , Bridge Julia A.
Published: February 2012

The identification of recurrent chromosomal abnormalities in benign and malignant mesenchymal neoplasms has provided important pathogenetic insight as well as powerful diagnostic adjuncts. Nasal chondromesenchymal hamartoma (NCMH), an extremely rare benign tumor arising in the sinonasal tract of infants and children, has not been previously subjected to cytogenetic analysis. Histopathologically composed of mixed mesenchymal elements, NCMH exhibits a relatively wide differential diagnosis to include chondromyxoid fibroma, chondroblastoma, aneurysmal bone cyst, fibrous dysplasia, and osteochondromyxoma. An interesting association with pleuropulmonary blastoma has been reported in a small subset of NCMH patients. In the current study, cytogenetic analysis of a NCMH arising in an 11-year-old boy with a past medical history of pleuropulmonary blastoma revealed a novel 12;17 translocation, t(12;17)(q24.1;q21), as the sole anomaly.
Diagnostic Imaging of an Achilles Tendon Rupture
Authors: Tonarelli John M. , Mabry Lance M. , Ross Michael D.
Published: February 2012

The patient was a 45-year-old man who was referred to a physical therapist with a chief complaint of posterior right ankle pain for the past 2 weeks. The physical therapist requested radiographs, which demonstrated obliteration of Kager's fat pad, a finding highly suspicious for an Achilles tendon rupture. Based upon history, physical examination, and radiographic findings, the physical therapist ordered magnetic resonance imaging which confirmed the diagnosis of Achilles tendon rupture.

J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2011;41(11):904. doi:10.2519/jospt.2011.0422
Thermal and Pressure Pain Sensitivity in Patients with Unilateral Shoulder Pain: Comparison of Involved and Uninvolved Sides
Authors: Coronado Rogelio A. , Kindler Lindsay L. , Valencia Carolina , George Steven Z.
Published: February 2012

Study Design

Cross-sectional.

Background

In the examination of patients with unilateral shoulder pain, pain provocation testing to compare the involved and uninvolved sides has been considered useful. However, side-to-side comparisons of experimental pain sensitivity in patients with unilateral shoulder pain are not widely reported in the literature.

Objectives

To compare experimental pain sensitivity between the involved and uninvolved sides in patients with unilateral shoulder pain.

Methods

In consecutive patients seeking operative treatment for shoulder pain, sensitivity measures of bilateral pressure pain threshold at the shoulder and forearm, and thermal pain threshold, tolerance, and temporal summation at the forearm, were examined. Pressure sensitivity was tested with a Fischer pressure algometer, and thermal sensitivity with a computer-controlled Medoc neurosensory analyzer. The involved and uninvolved sides were compared with an analysis of variance. Influence of sex and location of testing were considered as covariates in the analysis.

Results

Fifty-nine consecutively recruited participants completed experimental pain sensitivity testing. Participants reported significantly lower pressure pain thresholds in the involved side compared to the uninvolved side (F1,56 = 4.96, P = .030). In addition, female compared to male participants demonstrated lower pressure pain thresholds in the bilateral shoulder regions (F1,56 = 10.84, P = .002). There was no difference in thermal pain sensitivity between sides. Average clinical pain intensity was negatively correlated with pressure pain threshold at the involved local site (r = −0.284, P = .029), indicating an influence of clinical pain intensity on local pressure pain.

Conclusion

The results of this study provide evidence for higher experimental pressure pain sensitivity in the involved side of patients with unilateral shoulder pain and no difference between sides for thermal pain sensitivity. Females demonstrated higher pain sensitivity than males to pressure stimuli at the local shoulder region but not at the distal regions. Future studies should incorporate multiple stimuli when describing the pain profile of clinical populations. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther2011;41(3):165–173, Epub 10 November 2010.doi:10.2519/jospt.2011.3416
JOSPT: The Way Ahead
Authors: Simoneau Guy G.
Published: February 2012

Last Fall, JOSPT conducted an extensive environmental survey that attracted 560 respondents. The survey represented the Journal's many stakeholder groups, including authors, reviewers, editors, Orthopaedic and Sports Sections members, individual and institutional subscribers, and international partners. The Journal also held a strategic planning meeting and adopted a plan for the next 2 years. Among other findings, the survey showed that journals remain the most important means by which professionals stay current in the field of musculoskeletal rehabilitation. The survey also highlighted the technological sea change in publishing today. The expansion of JOSPT's online features in recent years, the need to select the “right” technologies, the plethora of content delivery options already available, and the growing demand to read and access the Journal anytime, anywhere, dominated the survey's results. Based on this survey, existing initiatives, and discussion at the planning meeting, JOSPT's plan for the future has at its heart technology as means of developing and disseminating clinically relevant information to improve patient care.

J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2012;42(1):3–4. doi:10.2519/jospt.2012.0102
Atypical Subtrochanteric Femoral Fracture
Authors: Park Si Young , Lee Soon Hyuck , Han Seung Beom
Published: February 2012

The patient was a 72-year-old woman who presented to an emergency department with a chief complaint of severe right thigh pain following a fall. Prior to the fall, the patient reported an 8-month history of worsening right thigh pain. The patient had a 4-year history of alendronate and calcium use to manage her osteoporosis. Dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) hip images taken 1 month prior to the patient's fracture demonstrated lateral cortical thickening in the subtrochanteric region of the femur. In retrospect, this finding was concerning for impending complete fracture.

J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2012;42(1):44. doi:10.2519/jospt.2012.0402
Draw Your Physics Homework? Art as a Path to Understanding in Physics Teaching
Authors: van der Veen Jatila
Published: February 2012

The persistent fear of physics by learners motivated the author to take action to increase all students’ interest in the subject via a new curriculum for introductory college physics that applies Greene’s model of Aesthetic Education to the study of contemporary physics, utilizing symmetry as the mathematical foundation of physics as well as the conceptual link between physics and the arts. The author describes the curriculum and suggests how students’ drawings and written commentaries can provide insights into students’ preferred learning modalities, promote understanding of abstract concepts through visualization, and reveal students’ preexisting attitudes toward science. Outcomes align with the goals of improving students’ attitudes toward physics, indicated by their comments, written work, and results of the Maryland Physics Expectations Survey.
Analysis of Animal Research Ethics Committee Membership at American Institutions
Authors: Hansen Lawrence A. , Goodman Justin R. , Chandna Alka
Published: February 2012

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs) were created to review, approve and oversee animal experiments and to balance the interests of researchers, animals, institutions and the general public. This study analyzed the overall membership of IACUCs at leading U.S. research institutions. We found that these committees and their leadership are comprised of a preponderance of animal researchers, as well as other members who are affiliated with each institution; some of whom also work in animal laboratories. This overwhelming presence of animal research and institutional interests may dilute input from the few IACUC members representing animal welfare and the general public, contribute to previously-documented committee bias in favor of approving animal experiments and reduce the overall objectivity and effectiveness of the oversight system.
Numerical Simulation of Methane Production from Hydrates Induced by Different Depressurizing Approaches
Authors: Ruan Xuke , Song Yongchen , Zhao Jiafei , Liang Haifeng , Yang Mingjun , Li Yanghui
Published: February 2012

Several studies have demonstrated that methane production from hydrate-bearing porous media by means of depressurization-induced dissociation can be a promising technique. In this study, a 2D axisymmetric model for simulating the gas production from hydrates by depressurization is developed to investigate the gas production behavior with different depressurizing approaches. The simulation results showed that the depressurization process with depressurizing range has significant influence on the final gas production. On the contrary, the depressurizing rate only affects the production lifetime. More amount of cumulative gas can be produced with a larger depressurization range or lowering the depressurizing rate for a certain depressurizing range. Through the comparison of the combined depressurization modes, the Class 2 (all the hydrate dissociation simulations are performed by reducing the initial system pressure with the same depressurizing range initially, then to continue the depressurization process conducted by different depressurizing rates and complete when the system pressure decreases to the atmospheric pressure) is much superior to the Class 1 (different depressurizing ranges are adopted in the initial period of the gas production process, when the pressure is reduced to the corresponding value of depressurization process at the different depressurizing range, the simulations are conducted at a certain depressurizing rate until the pressure reaches the atmospheric pressure) for a long and stable gas production process. The parameter analysis indicated that the gas production performance decreases and the period of stable production increases with the initial pressure for the case of depressurizing range. Additionally, for the case of depressurizing range, the better gas production performance is associated with higher ambient temperature for production process, and the effect of thermal conductivity on gas production performance can be negligible. However, for the case of depressurizing rate, the ambient temperature or thermal conductivity is dominant in different period of gas production process.
The Expression Profiling of the Lipoxygenase (LOX) Family Genes During Fruit Development, Abiotic Stress and Hormonal Treatments in Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.)
Authors: Yang Xue-Yong , Jiang Wei-Jie , Yu Hong-Jun
Published: February 2012

Lipoxygenases (LOXs) are non-haem iron-containing dioxygenases that catalyse oxygenation of polyunsaturated fatty acids and lipids to initiate the formation of a group of biologically active compounds called oxylipins. Plant oxylipins play important and diverse functions in the cells. In the current study, expression analysis during cucumber development using semi-quantitative RT-PCR revealed that 13 of 23 CsLOX genes were detectable, and were tissue specific or preferential accumulation. In total, 12 genes were found to be differentially expressed during fruit development and have different patterns of expression in exocarp, endocarp and pulp at day 5 after anthesis. The expression analysis of these 12 cucumber LOX genes in response to abiotic stresses and plant growth regulator treatments revealed their differential transcript in response to more than one treatment, indicating their diverse functions in abiotic stress and hormone responses. Results suggest that in cucumber the expanded LOX genes may play more diverse roles in life cycle and comprehensive data generated will be helpful in conducting functional genomic studies to understand their precise roles in cucumber fruit development and stress responses.
Spectroscopic Parameter and Molecular Constant Investigations on Low-Lying States of BeF Radical
Authors: Zhu Zun Lue , Song Qing Peng , Kou Su Hua , Lang Jian Hua , Sun Jin Feng
Published: February 2012

The potential energy curves (PECs) of X2Σ+, A2Πr and B2Σ+ states of BeF radical have been investigated using the complete active space self-consistent-field (CASSCF) method, followed by the highly accurate valence internally contracted multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) approach at the correlation-consistent basis sets, cc-pV5Z for Be and aug-cc-pV6Z for F. Based on the PECs of X2Σ+, A2Πr and B2Σ+ states, the spectroscopic parameters (De, Re, ωe, ωeχe, αe and Be) have also been determined in the present work. With the PECs determined at the present level of theory, vibrational states have been predicted for each state when the rotational quantum number J equals zero (J = 0). The vibrational levels, inertial rotation and centrifugal distortion constants are determined for the three states, and the classical turning points are also calculated for the X2Σ+ state. Compared with the available experiments and other theories, it can be seen that the present spectroscopic parameter and molecular constant results are more fully in agreement with the experimental findings.