bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Serum uric acid correlates with extracellular superoxide dismutase activity in patients with chronic heart failure
Authors: Alcaino Hernan , Greig Douglas , Chiong Mario , Verdejo Hugo , Miranda Rodrigo , Concepcion Roberto , Vukasovic José Luis , Diaz‐Araya Guillermo , Mellado Rosemarie , Garcia Lorena , Salas Daniela , Gonzalez Leticia , Godoy Ivan , Castro Pablo , Lavandero Sergio
Published: June 2008

Increased serum uric acid has been identified as an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, because of its antioxidant capacity, uric acid may play a beneficial role in endothelial function. This paradoxical relationship between uric acid and endothelial function in chronic heart failure patients remains poorly understood. Thirty‐eight chronic heart failure patients (New York Heart Association functional class II–III, mean age 58±10 years and mean left ventricular ejection fraction 25±8%) and twelve age‐and‐sex‐matched healthy controls were studied. Chronic heart failure patients showed higher uric acid levels (7.3±2.3 mg/dL vs. 6.1±0.2 mg/dL, p<0.05) and lower extracellular superoxide dismutase activity (136±36 U ml−1 min−1 vs. 203±61 U ml−1 min−1, p<0.01) and endothelium‐dependent vasodilatation (4.0±1.6% v. 9.1±3.0%, p<0.01) when compared with control subjects. In chronic heart failure patients, correlations between both uric acid levels and extracellular superoxide dismutase activity (r=0.45; p<0.01), and uric acid and endothelium‐dependent vasodilatation (r=0.35; p=0.03) were detected. These correlations were not observed in healthy individuals, suggesting a positive effect of uric acid on endothelial function partially mediated by modulation of extracellular superoxide dismutase activity in chronic heart failure.
Influence of dementia on multiple components of pain
Authors: Kunz Miriam , Mylius Veit , Scharmann Siegfried , Schepelman Karsten , Lautenbacher Stefan
Published: June 2008

Experimental findings on the influence of dementia on pain have so far been conflicting. There is evidence for a decreased, an unchanged and even for an increased pain processing in patients with dementia. The present study was conducted to add on the description of the impact of dementia on pain processing by assessing multiple components of pain (subjective, facial, motor reflex and autonomic responses) in parallel in one group of demented patients.

Subjective (rating scale), facial (FACS), motor reflex (NFR) and autonomic (SSR, heart rate) responses to noxious electrical stimulation were assessed in 35 demented patients and 46 aged‐matched healthy controls. Stimulus intensities were tailored to the individual NFR threshold.

Demented patients rated the stimuli similarly painful as healthy controls did; however, the ability to provide these self‐report ratings was markedly diminished in demented patients. Facial responses to noxious stimulation were significantly increased in demented patients. In line with this the NFR threshold was markedly decreased in the patient group. Autonomic responses on the other hand tended to be diminished in patients with dementia.

In conclusion, dementia tends to affect different pain components in different ways. Therefore, the assessment of pain in patients with dementia should be based on the measurement of multiple components of pain and not solely on subjective self‐report ratings. Furthermore, taking into account our findings on facial responses and the NFR, we think that there is sufficient evidence suggesting a rather intensified processing of noxious stimulation in this patient group.
General practitioners’ treatment orientations towards low back pain: Influence on treatment behaviour and patient outcome
Authors: Sieben Judith M. , Vlaeyen Johan W.S. , Portegijs Piet J.M. , Warmenhoven Franca C. , Sint Ageeth G. , Dautzenberg Nadine , Romeijnders Arnold , Arntz Arnoud , Knottnerus J. André
Published: June 2008

Background: In low back pain (LBP) treatment and research attention has shifted from a biomedical towards a biopsychosocial approach. Patients’ LBP beliefs and attitudes were found to predict long‐term outcome, and recently it has been suggested that the health care providers’ ideas about LBP are also important predictors of treatment behaviour and outcome.

Aims: In the present study we examined whether (1) differences in General Practitioners’ (GP) LBP treatment orientation are associated with differences in actual treatment behaviour and (2) whether treatment orientation is related to LBP outcome in patients.

Methods: Two hundred twenty two patients consulting their GP with a new episode of LBP were recruited and completed questionnaires on (among others) LBP outcome (graded chronic pain scale) at baseline, during 12 months of follow‐up and at the end of the study. Data on treatment were collected from the GPs. The GPs also completed a set of questionnaires on LBP treatment orientation. Associations between measures of treatment orientation, treatment recommendations, treatment behaviour and LBP outcome were analysed.

Results: A biomedical treatment orientation was found to be associated with more concern about tissue damage and the effect of physical activity on pain and recovery in vignettes. No associations were found between treatment orientation measures, actual treatment behaviour and LBP outcome.

Conclusions: Associations were not found as expected. Still these findings are relevant and may feed a clinically important debate on widely accepted assumptions about the role and influence of health care providers in changing patients’ pain behaviours.
Molecular determinants of ammonia and urea conductance in plant aquaporin homologs
Authors: Dynowski Marek , Mayer Maria , Moran Oscar , Ludewig Uwe
Published: June 2008

Aquaporins and/or aquaglyceroporins regulate the permeability of plant membranes to water and small, uncharged molecules. Using molecular simulations with a plant plasma membrane aquaporin tetramer, the residues in the channel constriction region were identified as the crucial determinants of ammonia and urea conductance. The impact of these residues was experimentally verified using AtPIP2;1 pore mutants. Several, but not all, mutants with a NIP‐like selectivity filter promoted yeast growth on urea or ammonia as sole sources of nitrogen. TIP‐like mutants conducted urea but not NH3, and a residue without direct contact to the pore lumen was critical for conduction in the mutants.
Hundi/Hawala:The Problem of Definition
Authors: MARTIN MARINA
Published: June 2008

In contemporary times,Hundihas collected countless labels; the international press has spurned innumerable villainous descriptions, the bulk of which have helped to perpetuate a dense fog of notoriety. The critical problem lies in definition. As there is an incomplete understanding of hundi's form and remit, there is also a rather limited understanding of why the system persists, set against the backdrop of modern banking. In many ways the problem of definition presented legal and financial authorities of the early and late twentieth century with core issues which remain unresolved and problematic for authorities in the twenty-first century. By drawing on archival and other historical material pertaining to the system's usage amongst Indian merchants, this paper attempts to tackle much of the confusion and many misconceptions surrounding hundi. The discussion explores the idea that hundi is more accurately described as an indigenous banking system endowed with a complex range of functions, but whose central purpose is trade.
Effectiveness of vaccinating household contacts in addition to chemoprophylaxis after a case of meningococcal disease: a systematic review
Authors: HOEK M. R. , CHRISTENSEN H. , HELLENBRAND W. , STEFANOFF P. , HOWITZ M. , STUART J. M.
Published: June 2008

We performed a systematic review to estimate the effectiveness of vaccination, in addition to chemoprophylaxis, in preventing meningococcal disease among household contacts. Medline, EMBASE, EMGM, and EUIBIS were used for data collection. Studies reporting on at least 100 primary cases and on subsequent cases in household settings with follow-up of more than 2 weeks after onset of disease in the primary case were reviewed. A meta-analysis was used to calculate the average attack rate in household contacts given chemoprophylaxis 14–365 days after onset of disease in the primary case. In total, 652 studies were identified, five studies and one unpublished report met the inclusion criteria. The weighted average attack rate was 1·1/1000 household contacts (95% CI 0·7–1·7). This review supports vaccination of household contacts in addition to chemoprophylaxis to reduce the risk of meningococcal disease among household contacts of a case caused by a vaccine-preventable serogroup.
Hospitalized community-acquired pneumonia in the elderly: an Australian case-cohort study
Authors: SKULL S. A. , ANDREWS R. M. , BYRNES G. B. , CAMPBELL D. A. , KELLY H. A. , BROWN G. V. , NOLAN T. M.
Published: June 2008

This study describes the epidemiology of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in elderly Australians for the first time. Using a case-cohort design, cases with CAP were in-patients aged ⩾65 years with ICD-10-AM codes J10-J18 admitted over 2 years to two tertiary hospitals. The cohort sample was randomly selected from all hospital discharges, frequency-matched to cases by month. Logistic regression was used to estimate risk ratios for factors predicting CAP or associated mortality. A total of 4772 in-patients were studied. There were 1952 cases with CAP that represented 4% of all elderly admissions: mean length of stay was 9·0 days and 30-day mortality was 18%. Excluding chest radiograph, 520/1864 (28%) cases had no investigations performed. The strongest predictors of CAP were previous pneumonia, history of other respiratory disease, and aspiration. Intensive-care-unit admission, renal disease and increasing age were the strongest predictors of mortality, while influenza vaccination conferred protection. Hospitalization with CAP in the elderly is common, frequently fatal and a considerable burden to the Australian community. Investigation isad hocand management empirical. Influenza vaccination is associated with reduced mortality. Patient characteristics can predict risk of CAP and subsequent mortality.
Estimation of the basic reproductive number (R0) for epidemic, highly pathogenic avian influenza subtype H5N1 spread
Authors: WARD M. P. , MAFTEI D. , APOSTU C. , SURU A.
Published: June 2008

Three different methods were used for estimating the basic reproductive number (R0) from data on 110 outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) subtype H5N1 that occurred in village poultry in Romania, 12 May to 6 June 2006. We assumed a village-level infectious period of 7 days. The methods applied were GIS-based identification of nearest infectious neighbour (based on either Euclidean or road distance), the method of epidemic doubling time, and a susceptible–infectious (SI) modelling approach. In general, the estimated basic reproductive numbers were consistent: 2·14, 1·95, 2·68 and 2·21, respectively. Although the true basic reproductive number in this epidemic is unknown, results suggest that the use of a range of methods might be useful for characterizing epidemics of infectious diseases. Once the basic reproductive number has been estimated, better control strategies and targeted surveillance programmes can be designed.
Rewriting calculi, higher-order reductions and patterns: introduction
Authors: CIRSTEA HORATIU , FERNÁNDEZ MARIBEL
Published: June 2008

The integration of first-order and higher-order paradigms has been one of the main challenges in the design of both declarative programming languages and proof environments. It has led to the development of new computation models and new logical frameworks, which have been obtained by enriching first-order rewriting with higher-order capabilities or by adding algebraic features to the λ-calculus.
Strong normalisation in two Pure Pattern Type Systems
Authors: WACK BENJAMIN , HOUTMANN CLÉMENT
Published: June 2008

Pure Pattern Type Systems (P2TS) combine the frameworks and capabilities of rewriting and λ-calculus within a unified setting. Their type systems, which are adapted from Barendregt's λ-cube, are especially interesting from a logical point of view. Until now, strong normalisation, which is an essential property for logical soundness, has only been conjectured: in this paper, we give a positive answer for the simply-typed system and the dependently-typed system.

The proof is based on a translation of terms and types fromP2TSinto the λ-calculus. First, we deal with untyped terms, ensuring that reductions are faithfully mimicked in the λ-calculus. For this, we rely on an original encoding of the pattern matching capability ofP2TSinto the System Fω.

Then we show how to translate types: the expressive power of System Fω is needed in order to fully reproduce the original typing judgments ofP2TS. We prove that the encoding is correct with respect to reductions and typing, and we conclude with the strong normalisation of simply-typedP2TSterms. The strong normalisation with dependent types is in turn obtained by an intermediate translation into simply-typed terms.
iRho: an imperative rewriting calculus
Authors: LIQUORI LUIGI , SERPETTE BERNARD PAUL
Published: June 2008

We propose an imperative version of the Rewriting Calculus, a calculus based on pattern matching, pattern abstraction and side effects, which we call iRho.

We formulate both a static and big-stepcall-by-valueoperational semantics of iRho. The operational semantics is deterministic, and immediately suggests how an interpreter for the calculus may be built. The static semantics is given using a first-order type system based on a form of product types, which can be assigned to term-like structures (that is, records).

The calculus isà laChurch, that is, pattern abstractions are decorated with the types of the free variables of the pattern.

iRho is a good candidate for the core of a pattern-matching imperative language, where a (monomorphic) typed store can be safely manipulated and where fixed points are built into the language itself.

Properties such as determinism of the interpreter and subject-reduction have been completely checked using a machine-assisted approach with theCoqproof assistant. Progress and decidability of type checking are proved using pen and paper.
Computation with classical sequents
Authors: VAN BAKEL STEFFEN , LESCANNE PIERRE
Published: June 2008

$\X$is an untyped continuation-style formal language with a typed subset that provides a Curry–Howard isomorphism for a sequent calculus for implicative classical logic.$\X$can also be viewed as a language for describing nets by composition of basic components connected by wires. These features make${\X}$an expressive platform on which many different (applicative) programming paradigms can be mapped. In this paper we will present the syntax and reduction rules for$\X$; in order to demonstrate its expressive power, we will show how elaborate calculi can be embedded, such as the λ-calculus, Bloo and Rose's calculus of explicit substitutions λx, Parigot's λμ and Curien and Herbelin's$\lmmt$.

${\X}$was first presented in Lengrand (2003), where it was called the λξ-calculus. It can be seen as the pure untyped computational content of the reduction system for the implicative classical sequent calculus of Urban (2000).
A call-by-need lambda calculus with locally bottom-avoiding choice: context lemma and correctness of transformations
Authors: SABEL DAVID , SCHMIDT-SCHAUSS MANFRED
Published: June 2008

We present a higher-order call-by-need lambda calculus enriched with constructors,caseexpressions, recursiveletrecexpressions, aseqoperator for sequential evaluation and a non-deterministic operatorambthat is locally bottom-avoiding. We use a small-step operational semantics in the form of a single-step rewriting system that defines a (non-deterministic) normal-order reduction. This strategy can be made fair by adding resources for book-keeping. As equational theory, we use contextual equivalence (that is, terms are equal if, when plugged into any program context, their termination behaviour is the same), in which we use a combination of may- and must-convergence, which is appropriate for non-deterministic computations. We show that we can drop the fairness condition for equational reasoning, since the valid equations with respect to normal-order reduction are the same as for fair normal-order reduction. We develop a number of proof tools for proving correctness of program transformations. In particular, we prove a context lemma for both may- and must- convergence that restricts the number of contexts that need to be examined for proving contextual equivalence. Combining this with so-called complete sets of commuting and forking diagrams, we show that all the deterministic reduction rules and some additional transformations preserve contextual equivalence. We also prove a standardisation theorem for fair normal-order reduction. The structure of the ordering ≤cis also analysed, and we show that Ω is not a least element and ≤calready implies contextual equivalence with respect to may-convergence.
Outcomes of pregnancy in women with tetralogy of Fallot
Authors: Pedersen Lia M. , Pedersen Thais A. L. , Ravn Hanne B. , Hjortdal Vibeke E.
Published: June 2008

Background

Surgical results after repair of tetralogy of Fallot have remained excellent for the last decades, with current long-term rates of survival over 95%. Since functional capacity, quality of life, and social interactions are basically normal in this large group of patients, pregnancy obviously becomes a relevant issue for the female subgroup. In consequence, adequate obstetrical and cardiological management of pregnancy is particularly important.

Objective

To describe the outcomes of pregnancy, and fertility, in a series of women who underwent surgery for tetralogy of Fallot in a single centre.

Methods and results

We obtained data from hospital records, national registries, and questionnaires on 78 women who underwent surgical correction of tetralogy of Fallot between 1972 and 1992. Of 58 women who reached an age of at least 18 years, with 45 of this cohort currently surviving, 13 having died as adults, there were 54 pregnancies in 25 women. The recorded rate of spontaneous abortion was 15%, and infertility rate was 3.4%. There have been 41 life births, with a median weight at birth of 3.2 kg. Only 1 newborn was small for gestational age, and no one was born before the 36th week. The recurrence rate of congenital heart disease was high, at 9.8%. Cardiac complications during or after pregnancy were not observed, and only one woman had pre-eclampsia.

Conclusions

Pregnancy is well tolerated in women with tetralogy of Fallot, and an excellent neonatal outcome is expected. The recurrence risk of congenital cardiac disease, most often tetralogy of Fallot, is high.
Disturbances of coagulation in neonates with functionally univentricular physiology prior to the first stage of surgical reconstruction
Authors: Hakacova Nina , Laluhova-Striezencova Zuzana , Zahorec Martin
Published: June 2008

Background

Altered levels of coagulation factors are reported in patients with functionally univentricular physiology before and following the second and third stages of reconstructive surgery. The aims of our study were to determine if such abnormalities are also present in newborns with this physiology prior to the first stage of surgical treatment.

Patients and methods

We studied 20 neonates with functionally univentricular physiology admitted to the Children’s Cardiac Centre in Slovakia, using 20 healthy neonates as age-matched controls. Demographic characteristics, and concentration of liver enzymes, serum albumin, and complete blood count, did not differ between the two groups. Concentrations of Factor II, V, VII, VIII, Protein C, Protein S and Antithrombin were compared between the groups, and assessed as variable factors for coagulation.

Results

In those with functionally univentricular physiology, procoagulation Factor II (p < 0.001), VII (p < 0.001), VIII (p < 0.01), anticoagulation Protein C (p < 0.001), Protein S (p < 0.001) and Antitrombin III (p < 0.001) all were present in significantly lower values compared with findings in the control group. D-dimer (p < 0.0001) and Fibrin Degradation Products (p < 0.0001) were present at significantly higher levels, but the concentration of plasminogen was significantly lower (p < 0.0001). The activated partial thromboplastin time (p < 0.012), and the prothrombin time (p < 0.0001), was significantly prolonged in those with functionally univentricular physiology compared with their controls.

Conclusion

The presence of abnormal coagulation factors, markers of thrombolysis in the plasma, and increased risk of bleeding, suggests activation of haemostasis, and consumption of factors responsible for coagulation, in those with functionally univentricular physiology. The question arises whether the reported abnormalities are predictive of the known abnormalities of coagulation occurring during the second and third stages of surgical repair for patients with functionally univentricular hearts.
Reducing the costs of surgical correction of congenitally malformed hearts in developing countries
Authors: Talwar Sachin , Kumar Choudhary Shiv , Airan Balram , Juneja Rajnish , Sunder Kothari Shyam , Saxena Anita , Sampath Kumar Arkalgud
Published: June 2008

A large number of patients in developing countries require surgical correction of congenitally malformed hearts. Unfortunately, only a limited number of centres offer these patients surgery at an affordable cost. In this review, we discuss the problems in managing these patients, with an emphasis on reduction of costs, so that the maximum number of patients can benefit. It is apparent that containing costs requires a multipronged approach, which begins with timely referral, and continues with early surgical correction and adequate postoperative care carried out in a scientific manner. Indigenization, innovation, training of manpower, and building a team, are essential to cut the costs, and to improve the quality of care.
Debates Are for Losers
Authors: Schrott Peter R. , Lanoue David J.
Published: June 2008

On the morning of October 30, 2007, Hillary Clinton led Barack Obama, her closest
challenger for the Democratic presidential nomination, by a comfortable margin in every
significant national poll. That night, however, Senator Clinton, debating in Philadelphia,
wandered into an ambush. Asked for her opinion of then-New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's
plan to allow illegal immigrants to apply for driver's licenses, she first seemed to support
the idea and then, under withering attack from Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, almost
immediately backed away from her tepid endorsement. Writing shortly after the debate, Mark
Halperin (2007) of Time magazine
opined that “[i]f [Clinton] loses the nomination, tonight will go down in history as the
first step to her defeat.”
The Real (Lack of) Difference between Republicans and Democrats: A Computer Word Score Analysis of Party Platforms, 1996–2004
Authors: Kidd Quentin
Published: June 2008

For years voters and political pundits have grumbled about the lack of real choice between Republicans and Democrats. Scholars have examined party behavior and suggested reasons for concern. Determining whether there is a real ideological and policy difference between U.S. political parties, and the nature of that difference, is important for political science and for democratic politics generally. Ultimately, democracy is about choices, and where choices are few, democracy is degraded. One way to examine the choices that political parties offer voters is by assessing their political platforms. Even in an era of candidate-centric politics, political party platforms spell out the general programs offered by the parties, and the platforms are heavily influenced by the policy positions of the candidates themselves. In addition, the political platform is the one document that spells out the entire program of the party. Individual candidate speeches capture only snippets (at best) of the policy choices offered to voters. Recent innovations in computerized content analysis make it possible to analyze large bodies of text such as party platforms in a systematic way by treating words as data, then analyzing them statistically.
Gaming Arizona: Public Money and Shifting Candidate Strategies
Authors: Miller Michael
Published: June 2008

Since public election financing was first implemented during the wave of post-Watergate
reforms, the burning question has been, “does it work?” Evaluations of public financing have
focused on its primary objectives, which are designed to address familiar grievances:
Elections are too expensive and not competitive enough. Corporate PACs and other “special
interests” contribute disproportionately to incumbents because they are interested in
purchasing influence. Candidates must devote so much time to fundraising that little is left
for other campaign tasks. Lost in these considerations, however, is the fact that mandated
financial parity changes the strategic environment candidates function in, altering their
decision making and potentially changing the nature of elections. As fully subsidized
elections gain increasing ubiquity in the United States, reformers must decide whether this
is a cost worth bearing.
Using the Internet to Create Research Opportunities: The New Virtual Communities of TESS and the American National Election Studies
Authors: Loftis Kenyatha V. , Lupia Arthur
Published: June 2008

In recent years, evolving communication technologies have produced dramatic changes in how scholars communicate. Through mechanisms such as e-mail, wireless networks, and mobile communication networks, the volume of information that scholars can send—and the range of people to whom information can be sent—are radically different today than they were for previous generations. These changes in communicative capacity raise expectations of what scholars can accomplish. One source of raised expectations is the possibility for dynamic, large-scale, geographically dispersed collaboratories that evolving communication technologies allow. The promise is that large groups of researchers, working together, can generate insights more effectively and efficiently than they would if they worked alone or only with people in their own geographic proximity.
On Europe's Representation: A Symbolic Interpretation of Rejecting the
Constitution
Authors: Zowislo-Grünewald Natascha
Published: June 2008

The lack of enthusiasm for the European Union and its proposed constitution among the
European people surprised the political elite of Europe. Codifying common beliefs and values
seemed to be a good way to represent the European identity in written form. The signing of
the constitutional treaty should have become an important symbolic act, demonstrating the
willingness of the people to bond together. Instead, a so-called Reform Treaty was passed in
Lisbon in 2007 (to be ratified by all member states by 2009) that specifically abandoned any
allusion to symbolic forms of European representation such as the term
constitution, the flag, or a European anthem.
Two Houses: Legislative Studies and the Atlantic Divide
Authors: Martin Shane
Published: June 2008

Legislative scholars have a history of stepping back occasionally to examine the
development and state of the sub-discipline (Budge 1973; Gamm and Huber 2002; Loewenberg,
Patterson, and Jewell 1985; Mezey 1993; Morris-Jones 1983; Pasquino 1973; Patterson 1989). Many of these existing reviews, although
valuable, are predominantly of a qualitative and subjective nature and are, in most cases,
now dated. This paper provides a bibliometrical analysis of the state of legislative studies
in the United States and Europe by exploring the content of eight political science
journals. I looked at six general political science journals, three originating in the
United States and three in Europe, as well as the content of two legislative studies
journals—the American-based Legislative Studies Quarterly and the
British-based Journal of Legislative Studies.
Getting a Job at a Teaching Institution—and Then Succeeding: A Q&A with
Experienced Teacher-Scholars
Authors: Mathews-Gardner Lanethea , Deardorff Michelle D. , Reeher Grant , Hudson William , Borrelli MaryAnne , Halva-Neubauer Glen
Published: June 2008

The December 2006 APSA report, “Trends in the Political Science Profession” (Sedowski and
Brintnall 2006; Brintnall 2005), noted that the number of political science jobs posted on eJobs
reached an all-time high for the academic year. Thirty-six percent of those jobs were in
B.A.-granting institutions, institutions most likely to include a focus on liberal arts
teaching. Similarly, results from the most recently available department chairs' survey show
that almost one-third of all graduates in 2002, including those in non-academic employment,
obtained jobs in B.A. institutions (Lopez 2003).
In response to these circumstances, the Political Science Education Section has, at recent
APSA annual meetings, including 2007's meeting, sponsored a short course titled, “Getting a
Job at a Teaching Institution—and Then Succeeding!” For this article we have drawn on our
experiences in the short course—and in interviewing, hiring, mentoring, and evaluating
colleagues at a range of liberal arts colleges—to compile a list of frequently asked
questions and their answers. B.A.-granting institutions are highly diversified, as evidenced
by the authors' own affiliations. Still, after much discussion, we are confident that the
advice offered here is broadly applicable to colleges focusing upon the liberal arts and
undergraduate education. However, applicants should always research the mission and the
corresponding commitments of the institutions at which they are seeking employment.
Adventures in Podcasting
Authors: Roberts Matthew
Published: June 2008

It all started with a scheduling conflict. Because of a Model United Nations conference,
one student let me know that she would need to miss our research methods class the coming
week. As hands popped up around the room I realized I would be missing almost a third of my
class. Unfortunately they were going to miss crucial lectures on measures of significance
and measures of association, without which they could be considerably lost when it came to
the semester research paper.
Teaching with Lecture or Debate? Testing the Effectiveness of Traditional
versus Active Learning Methods of Instruction
Authors: Omelicheva Mariya Y. , Avdeyeva Olga
Published: June 2008

Lecture is, arguably, the oldest known instructional technique used in the university
setting. Since it was first employed in Plato's Academy, lecture has become an indispensable
part of teaching favored across the college and university curriculum. Recently, this
time-honored method of instruction has come under attack for its presumed inability to
foster higher order cognitive and attitudinal goals (Cashin 1985; Day 1980; Frederick
1999; Renner 1993). Critics of traditional lecture-based formats call for their replacement with
active learning approaches that provide students with an opportunity to meaningfully talk,
interact, write, read, and reflect on the content, ideas, and issues of an academic subject
(Meyers and Jones 1993, 6).
Participation as Assessment: Political Science and Classroom Assessment
Techniques
Authors: Cohen Mel
Published: June 2008

From the beginning of my teaching career I had been drawn to class participation (Cohen
1991; 1993). I enjoyed posing questions and problems to the class, and they seemed to
enjoy the interaction. At the same time, intuitively I was drawn to discussion and
participation as ways to enhance learning. Later I learned that these were part of what was
known as “active learning,” and they really did have the ability to enhance student learning
(Barr and Tagg 1995; Chickering, Gamson, and Barsi
1989; Pascarella and Terenzini 2005, 101–2). My faith bolstered, I continued to
explore ways to actively engage students through developing thought-provoking questions,
assigning in-class writing, utilizing small group work, and integrating short presentations.
Eventually I began to share my ideas with colleagues at conferences and publish them in
respected journals. I discussed what I was doing in class, the basic principles underlying
my approach, the challenges it provided, and the hoped-for results when it came to student
learning.
Protecting Human Research Participants, IRBs, and Political Science Redux:
Editor's Introduction
Authors: Hauck Robert J-P.
Published: June 2008

In the 1990s I testified before a National Science Foundation (NSF) panel headed by Cora
Marrett, then assistant director for the NSF Directorate for the Social, Behavioral and
Economic Sciences. The subject of the panel's inquiry, and this issue's symposium, was
social science research and the federally mandated but decentralized human subjects
protection program and its principal actors, institutional review boards (IRBs). My
testimony addressed the ways in which the regulatory system ill-fit and ill-served political
science research. IRBs had expanded their mission to include all research, not just research
funded by the federal government, enhancing their scope of authority while slowing the
timeliness of reviews. Similarly, and with the same result, IRBs were evaluating secondary
research as well as primary research. Although the federal legislation provided for a
nuanced assessment of risk, the distinction between potentially risk-laden research
necessitating a full IRB review and research posing minimal or no risk that could be either
exempted or given expedited review was disappearing. The length of the review process
threatened the beginning or completion of course work and degree programs. IRBs were judging
the merits of research projects rather than the risks involved. This trend was especially
problematic because representation on many IRBs was skewed toward biological and behavioral
scientists often unfamiliar with the methods and fields of political science and the other
social sciences. And the list went on.
Human Subjects Protection and Large-N Research: When Exempt
is Non-Exempt and Research is Non-Research
Authors: Seligson Mitchell A.
Published: June 2008

Social scientists are well aware of the unintended consequences of public policies. The
protection of human subjects regulations, which emerged in response to a serious problem in
the medical community, provides an ideal example of such unintended consequences; to
paraphrase an old aphorism, “the road to bureaucratic hell is paved with well-intentioned
public policies.” In this essay I will seek to make three points. First, the protection of
human subjects by federal regulation was long overdue. Second, this benefit to society has,
in its application, ignored another widely accepted regulatory principle, namely that the
costs of regulation should not outweigh its benefits; a combination of “bureaucratic creep”
and litigation phobia has resulted in intrusive and counterproductive regulation of social
science research, such that the cure has become worse than the disease. Third, ironically,
because of institutional review boards' definition of what is and what is not research, the
protection of human subjects is denied to subjects who actually could be at risk.
Research Ethics Governance and Political Science in Canada
Authors: Porter Tony
Published: June 2008

The governance of research ethics in Canada, including its research ethics boards (REBs),
which correspond to the institutional review boards in the U.S., often is portrayed as an
exemplary model of cross-disciplinary cooperation and consultation that is altruistically
striving to protect research subjects from abuses in biomedical, social sciences, and
humanities research. While there is indeed a great deal of altruism and good intention among
those involved in this governance, power and interests also play a role that is of
particular concern for political scientists. Governance arrangements have been driven by
biomedical research, which is vastly better funded than social sciences and humanities (SSH)
research. These arrangements have been imposed on the SSH research community with little
sensitivity to the distinctive problems of SSH research, despite concerns about such
problems that political scientists and other SSH researchers have expressed for a decade. A
recent proposal initiated by major research funders to dramatically strengthen research
ethics governance has generated even more alarm.
Reforming Institutional Review Board Policy: Issues in Implementation and
Field Research
Authors: Yanow Dvora , Schwartz-Shea Peregrine
Published: June 2008

Political science as a discipline has largely ignored research regulatory policies
associated with institutional review boards (IRBs). Many political scientists—especially
those in the senior ranks—are either oblivious to the existence of IRBs or actively decide
to sidestep them by not submitting their proposals for review. Based on research conducted
since 2004, we hold that APSA members at all ranks of the profession, along with political
scientists worldwide, need to be concerned, not to say alarmed, about IRB policy. Why this
sense of urgency, and why now?
A Collision of Noble Goals: Protecting Human Subjects, Improving Health Care,
and a Research Agenda for Political Science
Authors: Tolleson-Rinehart Sue
Published: June 2008

Atul Gawande is a surgeon who began creating vivid word paintings of the performance of
the American health care system in The New Yorker's pages while he was
still a resident. Those of us who are immersed in, and charged with measuring, that
system—as I have been for the last decade—find his “Annals of Medicine” column's evocations
of heroic system successes and frightening system failures true to the processes we more
prosaically try to analyze and evaluate. In December 2007 Gawande published a New
Yorker essay called “The Checklist,” followed just days later by an op-ed piece in
the New York Times (Gawande 2007a; 2007b).
Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Aligning IRBs and Research
Practice
Authors: Levine Felice J. , Skedsvold Paula R.
Published: June 2008

In recent years, there has been increased discussion and even debate about how to
reconcile a commitment to the ethical conduct of research in the social and behavioral
sciences with a regulatory apparatus for the protection of human subjects that seems too
often to fall short of its own aspirations and ideals. The gap between regulations and their
implementation whether at the federal, state, or local levels is typically grist for the
mill in political science. When, however, the issues are more in our own backyard—in our
academic and research institutions—insight, interventions, and even empirical study are
harder to come by. The purpose of this essay is neither to applaud what is right nor to
decry what is wrong with the current system for the protection of human subjects as
practiced. Our goal is to help further catalyze through this PS symposium a
conversation about the need to produce system reform, illustrate some readily doable steps
for doing so, and entice social science colleagues to work at their own institutions and at
a national level for system change.
Response to “Predicting and Dissecting the Seat-Votes Curve in the 2006 U.S.
House Election”
Authors: Arrington Theodore S.
Published: June 2008

The article on the seats-votes curve by Kastellec, Gelman, and Chandler (January 2008,
139–45) presents interesting and helpful analysis and data. Especially important is the
insight that incumbency necessarily requires a minority party to receive more than 50% of
the vote to gain control of the House of Representatives. However the article is misleading
in two respects.
Response to “Diagnosing the Leaky Pipeline”
Authors: Saez Lawrence
Published: June 2008

Reading the results of Lavariega-Monforti and Michelson's study of Latinas and Latinos in
the profession in the January issue (“Diagnosing the Leaky Pipeline: Continuing Barriers to
the Retention of Latinas and Latinos in Political Science”) made for depressing reading.
Sadly, their observations are deadly accurate on the experiences of endemic institutional
racism that Latino and Latina political scientists face in American academic institutions.
This culture of endemic racism was vibrant in graduate school while I was getting my Ph.D.
and appears to have changed little since then. For that reason I am very pessimistic that
this situation will change in my generation and, frankly, the APSA has been very slow to act
on this problem. In my personal experience, in British universities I have been evaluated on
my merits, rather than on my ethnic background. I would urge other Latino and Latina
political scientists to consider using their skills in the UK and elsewhere.
2008 APSA Teaching and Learning Track Summaries—Track Three: Diversity,
Inclusiveness, and Inequality
Authors: Allen Marcus D. , Gordon Kea , Mathews-Gardner Lanethea
Published: June 2008

The participants in the Diversity, Inclusiveness, and Inequality track represented a great
deal of diversity themselves and included faculty and students from a rich variety of
research institutions, private liberal arts colleges, and community colleges. While
participants engaged issues and strategies in each of the three substantive areas—diversity,
inclusiveness, and inequality in education (DIIE)—the bulk of our conversations focused on
diversity and inequality. Topics included curriculum and course content issues, negotiating
institutional support for DIIE, challenges of student recruitment and retention, and
negotiating power relationships and identities among different kinds of student populations
both within and outside of the classroom. This summary reviews four sets of questions that
the group addressed and that point to critical areas rich for future research and
reflection. In brief these are: (1) How can we simultaneously promote learning about
difference and learning about ourselves? (2) How can faculty develop a range of strategic
pedagogies and classroom environments in order to avoid some of the challenges inherent in
teaching about DIIE? (3) How can we move beyond narrow understandings of diversity that
limit the concept solely to a category of identity, neglecting the ways in which diversity
and inequality are categories of analysis, processes, and indicative of power relations? (4)
What steps are necessary to more fully integrate DIIE across the political science
curriculum?
2008 APSA Teaching and Learning Track Summaries—Track Six: Simulations and
Role Play II
Authors: Gadson Mark , Repetto Deanne , Wallace Sherri L.
Published: June 2008

The 2008 Simulations and Role Play (S&RP) II track focused on issues in American
politics and theory. Building on conversations in previous tracks (see S&RP track
summaries from 2006 and 2007 in PS), the 25 discussants focused the
dialogue mainly on best practices with some discussion on faculty research.
2008 APSA Teaching and Learning Track Summaries—Track Eight: Civic Engagement
I
Authors: Meinke Timothy S.
Published: June 2008

Political science has always pondered questions of civic engagement. Socrates described
and defended his intimate engagement with Athens in the Apology and
Aristotle argued in the Politics that it was only through engagement with
the polis that humans could set forth and discuss notions of justice. Stephen Leonard (1999) and Hindy Schachter (1998) pointed out in earlier volumes of this journal that at the end of
the nineteenth century the “founding fathers” of modern academic political science were
motivated by ideas of improving citizens through civic education. And this has continued to
be a focus for the American Political Science Association (APSA) through collaborative
efforts such as the 1996 Task Force on Civic Education for the Next Century or, more
recently, tracks during the association's Teaching and Learning Conference.
2008 APSA Teaching and Learning Track Summaries—Track Nine: Civic Engagement
II
Authors: Datta Robin , Laws Serena , Williamson Steven , Mayer Russell
Published: June 2008

The participants in the Civic Engagement II track focused our attention on what we termed
“the trifecta of civic engagement,” namely engaging students, contributing to the community,
and changing institutional commitments of the university.
2008 APSA Teaching and Learning Track Summaries—Track Ten: Teaching Across the
Discipline
Authors: Boutrous Helen , Unmack Cynthia
Published: June 2008

The Teaching Across the Discipline track explored the ways in which political scientists
can enhance student learning through innovative techniques that connect political science to
other academic disciplines and co-curricular activities. Participants in the discussion
agreed that using such techniques require instructors willing to take a risk. That risk,
which may involve borrowing from other disciplines, sharing power with students in the
classroom, requiring students to engage with civic leaders, pitting students in debate and
competition with each other, and recognizing that political science does not exist in a
vacuum, can have great rewards for students and faculty alike. Those rewards include
students' true engagement in the learning process and with it enlightenment on political
issues and theories; and for professors, the satisfaction of knowing that they have helped
to bring their students “out of the cave.”
SMU's Tower Center Links Washington with the “Heartland” and the
World
Authors: Hollifield James F.
Published: June 2008

The Tower Center for Political Studies at SMU maintains an office in the Centennial Center
allowing us to link research activities of Tower Center faculty, fellows, and associates in
Dallas (the heartland) with scholars, institutes, and think tanks in Washington and around
the world. The Tower Center supports research and teaching in three areas: (1) international
and comparative political economy, including trade, migration, and finance; (2) foreign
policy, national security, and defense; and (3) American political development with an
emphasis on policy, institutions, and process. Seyom Brown, Tower Chair in National Security
and Director of Studies in the Tower Center, runs the national security program. Brown is
conducting research for his two current book projects—an updated edition of The
Faces of Power (Columbia University Press) and a new book entitled The
Higher Realism (Paradigm Publishers), which advocates a shift in foreign policy
after the 2008 election. Dennis Ippolito, McElvaney Professor of Political Science at SMU,
leads the Tower Center program on American politics. His recent publications include
Why Budgets Matter (Penn State) and he is working on a book entitled
Welfare Shift, examining the past growth and projected future of federal
social welfare programs and the federal budget.
An “I” on Congress: The Process and Products of Congressional
Investigations
Authors: Reinhard Gina Yannitell
Published: June 2008

On February 13, 2008, a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing was
broadcast on CNN, C-SPAN, and MSNBC. The attention of these networks was not surprising;
they typically air congressional hearings and events. What was unusual was that viewers
could also find the hearings on FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC, and ESPN. One of the hearing's key
witnesses was Roger Clemens, a 24-year veteran of Major League Baseball who holds seven Cy
Young awards. For more than four hours that day, Clemens was questioned by the committee
regarding his alleged use of steroids (U. S. Congress 2008c).