bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Do Human‐Figure Drawings of Children and Adolescents Mirror their Cognitive Style and Self‐Esteem?
Authors: Dey Anindita , Ghosh Paromita 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThe investigation probed relationships among human‐figure drawing, field‐dependent‐independent cognitive style and self‐esteem of 10–15 year olds. It also attempted to predict human‐figure drawing scores of participants based on their field‐dependence‐independence and self‐esteem. Area, stratified and multi‐stage random sampling were used to select a sample of 600 10–15 year olds residing in Kolkata city, India. The sample comprised three age‐based strata: 10 and 11 year olds; 12 and 13 year olds; and 14 and 15 year olds. Each stratum comprised 100 girls and 100 boys. Participants’ actual age‐ranges were 10 years 1 month – 11 years 10 months (first stratum); 12 years 4 months – 13 years 10 months (second stratum); and 14 years 3 months – 15 years 9 months (third stratum). Goodenough‐Harris Drawing Test, Group Embedded Figures Test and Coopersmith Inventory were administered for assessing participants’ human‐figure drawing, field‐dependence‐independence and self‐esteem respectively. Results revealed significant positive relations among pertinent variables. Participants’ human‐figure drawing scores could be significantly predicted by their field‐dependence‐independence and self‐esteem.
The Metamorphosis of Industrial Designers from Novices to Experts
Authors: Wong Ju‐Joan , Chen Po‐Yu , Chen Chun‐Di 
Published: February 2016

AbstractProfessional training for designers is crucial in the field of design studies. The characteristics of novices versus those of expert designers have been identified in the literature; however, studies exploring the issue of professional training processes in the actual workplace are not well developed. Our study addresses the topic by using qualitative research methods along with flexible design. Collected data from the interviewees with different work experience were analysed by open, axial and selective coding. Herein, we argue that the processes by which a designer transforms from a novice into an expert in the industry are constructed through the interaction of several complicated factors. The re‐learning inherent in design professions is implemented through knowledge transfer gained from participation in design projects, particularly regarding tacit knowledge. Also, the novice's process of learning and training yields the characteristics and skills that companies and firms require of designers; this process involves a series of disciplinary sub‐processes, from destructive to reconstructive, implemented by employers. In these sub‐processes, the subjectivity of designers is neglected, leading to the suppression of imaginative expression and feelings of alienation among these workers.
Looking for a Possible Framework to Teach Contemporary Art in Primary School
Authors: Vahter Edna 
Published: February 2016

AbstractTraditionally, the learning of arts in the Estonian primary school has meant completion of practical assignments given by the teacher. The new national curriculum for basic school adopted in 2010 sets out new requirements for art education where the emphasis, in addition to practical assignments, is on discussion and understanding of art. The teacher must introduce pupils to both art history and contemporary art. As a result, primary teachers would likely serve their pupils more effectively if they reconsidered their current understandings of art education and update their teaching correspondingly. The action research method seeks to answer the following question: how should one change the art education process in primary school so that in addition to practical activities pupils would have opportunities to talk about and understand contemporary art? The article discusses a framework for modernising art education in primary school. Research shows that primary school learners are open to innovation and thus discussion of contemporary art can become a natural part of primary school art classes. The balance between creating and responding is a key to planning the art education processes today.
Stiff Left Atrial Syndrome: A Complication Undergoing Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation
Authors: YANG YUFAN , LIU QIMING , WU ZHIHONG , LI XUPING , XIAO YICHAO , TU TAO , ZHOU SHENGHUA 
Published: February 2016

Stiff Left Atrial SyndromeRadiofrequency catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation is an effective approach for treating atrial fibrillation. Its complications have attracted much attention, of which the stiff left atrial syndrome is a recently discovered complication that has not been completely understood. This study aims to investigate the concept, pathologic basis, clinical characteristics, predictors, and treatment protocols of the stiff left atrial syndrome after radiofrequency ablation for atrial fibrillation.
Local Heterogeneous Electrical Restitution Properties of Rabbit Atria
Authors: AL ABED AMR , LOVELL NIGEL H. , DOKOS SOCRATES 
Published: February 2016

Atrial Electrical Restitution HeterogeneityIntroductionThis study aims to characterize the regional variability in rate‐adaptation in the atria.Methods and ResultsAction potential (AP) responses to pulses with uniform as well as pseudo‐random non‐uniform pacing intervals were recorded from rabbit sino‐atrial node, right and left atrial pectinate as well as pulmonary vein antrum tissue preparations using conventional intracellular glass microelectrodes. Steady‐state restitution curves were reconstructed for various AP waveform metrics. We observed significant variability between the four regions under basal pacing representing the rabbit resting heart rate as well as regional variability in rate‐adaptation to increased pacing frequencies. Right‐left atrial restitution differences were further confirmed using the non‐uniform pacing protocol, with significant differences in AP amplitude, duration (APD) as well as maximum phase 0 depolarization rate restitution curves in response to an identical sequence of non‐uniform pacing intervals. In addition, we report regional differences in alternans of AP waveform metrics, over a wide range of pacing frequencies and not simply prior to 1:1 entrainment being lost. We also observed an increase in APD90 along the conduction pathway from the left atrium to pulmonary vein junction.ConclusionsOur results identified significant regional differences in electrical restitution in the rabbit atria and suggest their dependency on both baseline AP morphology and local intrinsic differences in rate‐adaptation. We propose that the atrial heterogeneity in rate‐adaptation could contribute to arrhythmogenesis and the greater susceptibility of pulmonary vein myocardial sleeves to ectopic foci and reentrant activity.
Estimating the Greenhouse Gas Balance of Individual Gas‐Fired and Oil‐Fired Electricity Plants on a Global Scale
Authors: Hauck Mara , Steinmann Zoran J.N. , Schipper Aafke M. , Gorrissen Freek , Venkatesh Aranya , Huijbregts Mark A.J. 
Published: February 2016

SummaryLife cycle greenhouse gas (LC‐GHG) emissions from electricity generated by a specific resource, such as gas and oil, are commonly reported on a country‐by‐country basis. Estimation of variability in LC‐GHG emissions of individual power plants can, however, be particularly useful to evaluate or identify appropriate environmental policy measures. Here, we developed a regression model to predict LC‐GHG emissions per kilowatt‐hour (kWh) of electricity produced by individual gas‐ and oil‐fired power plants across the world. The regression model uses power plant characteristics as predictors, including capacity, age, fuel type (fuel oil or natural gas), and technology type (single or combined cycle) of the plant. The predictive power of the model was relatively high (R2 = 81% for predictions). Fuel and technology type were identified as the most important predictors. Estimated emission factors ranged from 0.45 to 1.16 kilograms carbon dioxide equivalents per kilowatt‐hour (kg CO2‐eq/kWh) and were clearly different between natural gas combined cycle (0.45 to 0.57 kg CO2‐eq/kWh), natural gas single cycle (0.66 to 0.85 kg CO2‐eq/kWh), oil combined cycle power plants (0.63 to 0.79 kg CO2‐eq/kWh), and oil single cycle (0.94 to 1.16 kg CO2‐eq/kWh). Our results thus indicate that emission data averaged by fuel and technology type can be profitably used to estimate the emissions of individual plants.
Girlhood Betrayals of Women Childhood Trauma Survivors in Treatment for Addiction
Authors: Grabbe Linda , Ball Janell , Hall Joanne M. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractPurposeThis research explored the understanding of trauma from the perspective of women who had experienced abuse and neglect in childhood. The goal was to better conceptualize potential avenues or interventions for prevention and treatment.DesignQualitative description of the accounts of eight women who were childhood trauma survivors and in treatment for addiction. Open‐ended interviews focused on key events or experiences during childhood and adolescence and the use of drugs and alcohol.FindingsFour levels of betrayal fit the accounts the participants gave as the dominant theme in their narratives. “Primary betrayal” referred to the direct victimization by a perpetrator; “secondary betrayal” referred to the complicity, denial, or indifference of another adult to the child's victimization; “tertiary betrayal” referred to failures of responsible individuals in community settings to protect the child; and “quaternary betrayal” represented self‐betrayals. Substance misuse was an adolescent self‐betrayal that provided initial solace yet ultimately threatened the integrity of the girls. We found an almost complete lack of support in family and community settings for the participants.ConclusionsThese findings on betrayal inform health care for trauma survivors and can be a framework for preventing violence against children.Clinical RelevanceInterventions for child and adolescent trauma survivors are critical to prevent the life‐long health sequelae of childhood trauma. Pivotal times to engage these survivors include periods when they may be accessed in school and healthcare settings.
A Time Partitioning Technique for Railway Line Design and Timetable Optimization
Authors: Castillo Enrique , Grande Zacarías , Moraga Paola , Sánchez‐Vizcaíno Jesús 
Published: February 2016

AbstractExisting computer models used to optimize railway timetables lead to a high complexity when the number of analyzed services exceeds a given threshold. A time partitioning technique is proposed which allows line design and timetable optimization and a reduction in the complexity of the problem by considering small time windows of the same or different durations in which the timetables of a small (equal or not) number of running trains are optimized in sequence. Though the optimal solution is not expected to be attained with this method, the analyzed examples demonstrate that the resulting solution is close to the global optimum and practically satisfactory. This technique can be used at the planning and implementation stages. Examples of two real lines are analyzed to show the goodness of the proposed methods. One is the network Madrid–Sevilla–Toledo–Málaga–Valencia–Albacete with a dense traffic of 170 trains per day. The second is the Palencia–Santander line with 70 trains in which as an alternative to a double‐track proposal with a cost of M€ 3,200 an alternate double–single‐track (ADST) solution, with a cost of M€ 330 (one tenth) is proposed.
Sectarianism and the Arab Spring: The Case of the Kuwaiti Shiʿa
Authors: Albloshi Hamad H. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThis paper addresses the Arab Spring and Shiʿism in Kuwait. Generally, the Kuwaiti Shiʿa, who constitute 25 to 30 percent of Kuwaiti society, have been supportive of the Bahraini uprising of 2011. However, the Kuwaiti Shiʿa have opposed the Syrian revolution, and they did not support the opposition movement in Kuwait. The Shiʿa's relationship with the authorities and the opposition in the country has changed, and this paper explores this change. Sectarianism may be one reason for their double standards toward the Arab Spring, including the events in Kuwait, and this is an important issue to explore from the perspective of the Kuwaiti Shiʿa. This paper relies on many interviews with Shiʿa political and academic figureheads in Kuwait, to understand their views on the Arab revolt of 2011 and their relationship to the opposition movement in Kuwait.
The Double Movement & Post‐Arab Spring Consociationalism
Authors: Salamey Imad 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThis article explores the theoretical proposition that the Arab Spring is a manifestation of globalization's double movement. On one hand, the global movement of economic and cultural liberalization has fundamentally deconstructed the functional order of centralized national state‐autocracy. On the other hand, globalization's economic, cultural and security integration has been counterbalanced by a movement for autonomous and communitarian protectionism. The latter is being extrapolated by the impact of a growing multipolar regional system and declining state nationalism. The post‐Arab Spring's Middle East and North African governing dilemma manifests this dialectic antagonism. The assertion of the double movement calls for the mutation of globalism and communitarianism within new governing arrangements. This article examines the potential emergence of irredentist power sharing typologies with a special focus on Lebanese consociationalism.
Chronic vagus nerve stimulation in Crohn's disease: a 6‐month follow‐up pilot study
Authors: Bonaz B. , Sinniger V. , Hoffmann D. , Clarençon D. , Mathieu N. , Dantzer C. , Vercueil L. , Picq C. , Trocmé C. , Faure P. , Cracowski J‐L. , Pellissier S. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThe vagus nerve (VN) is a link between the brain and the gut. The VN is a mixed nerve with anti‐inflammatory properties through the activation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis by its afferents and by activating the cholinergic anti‐inflammatory pathway through its efferents. We have previously shown that VN stimulation (VNS) improves colitis in rats and that the vagal tone is blunted in Crohn's disease (CD) patients. We thus performed a pilot study of chronic VNS in patients with active CD. Seven patients under VNS were followed up for 6 months with a primary endpoint to induce clinical remission and a secondary endpoint to induce biological (CRP and/or fecal calprotectin) and endoscopic remission and to restore vagal tone (heart rate variability). Vagus nerve stimulation was feasible and well‐tolerated in all patients. Among the seven patients, two were removed from the study at 3 months for clinical worsening and five evolved toward clinical, biological, and endoscopic remission with a restored vagal tone. These results provide the first evidence that VNS is feasible and appears as an effective tool in the treatment of active CD.
In vivo neutralization of IL‐6 receptors ameliorates gastrointestinal dysfunction in dystrophin‐deficient mdx mice
Authors: Manning J. , Buckley M. M. , O'Halloran K. D. , O'Malley D. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractBackgroundDuchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a fatal disease characterized by progressive deterioration and degeneration of striated muscle. A mutation resulting in the loss of dystrophin, a structural protein which protects cells from contraction‐induced damage, underlies DMD pathophysiology. Damage to muscle fibers results in chronic inflammation and elevated levels of proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin‐6 (IL‐6). However, loss of cellular dystrophin also affects neurons and smooth muscle in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract with complaints such as hypomotility, pseudo‐obstruction, and constipation reported in DMD patients.MethodsUsing dystrophin‐deficient mdx mice, studies were carried out to examine colonic morphology and function compared with wild‐type mice. Treatment with neutralizing IL‐6 receptor antibodies (xIL‐6R) and/or the corticotropin‐releasing factor (CRF) 2 receptor agonist, urocortin 2 (uro2) was tested to determine if they ameliorated GI dysfunction in mdx mice.Key ResultsMdx mice exhibited thickening of colonic smooth muscle layers and delayed stress‐induced defecation. In organ bath studies, neurally mediated IL‐6‐evoked contractions were larger in mdx colons. In vivo treatment of mdx mice with xIL‐6R normalized defecation rates and colon lengths. Uro2 treatment did not affect motility or morphology. The potentiated colonic contractile response to IL‐6 was attenuated by treatment with xIL‐6R.Conclusions & InferencesThese findings confirm the importance of dystrophin in normal GI function and implicate IL‐6 as an important regulator of GI motility in the mdx mouse. Inhibition of IL‐6 signaling may offer a potential new therapeutic strategy for treating DMD‐associated GI symptoms.
The association between systemic sclerosis disease manifestations and esophageal high‐resolution manometry parameters
Authors: Kimmel J. N. , Carlson D. A. , Hinchcliff M. , Carns M. A. , Aren K. A. , Lee J. , Pandolfino J. E. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractBackgroundWe aimed to evaluate the associations between systemic sclerosis (SSc)‐related systemic manifestations and esophageal function using high‐resolution manometry (HRM).MethodsPatients with SSc that had undergone HRM between 1/2004 and 9/2014 were identified and HRMs were analyzed according to the Chicago Classification. Clinical characteristics were identified via retrospective chart review and compared among motility diagnoses while adjusting for age, gender, race, and SSc‐disease duration.Key ResultsSeventy‐nine patients (85% female, ages 25–77) were included. Clinical characteristics were compared between patients with absent contractility (AC, n = 40), ineffective esophageal motility (IEM; n = 15), and normal motility (n = 19); the five remaining patients met criteria for other motility diagnoses. Groups differed in severity of skin involvement measured by the modified Rodnan skin score (0–51): AC (adjusted mean 12.6), IEM (4.4), normal (4.3), p = 0.043. Pulmonary function tests [percent predicted FVC and DLCO) were lower in AC (adjusted mean, FVC: 70.3, DLCO 51.1), than IEM (FVC: 92.0; DLCO: 76.9) and normal motility (FVC: 80.0; DLCO: 67.2), p values 0.057 (FVC) and 0.007 (DLCO). Groups did not differ by SSc‐disease duration, autoantibodies, or reported symptoms of dysphagia or reflux.Conclusions & InferencesIn patients with SSc, absent esophageal contractility on HRM was associated with increased skin disease severity and worse lung function. Obtaining HRM to identify SSc patients with more severe esophageal dysfunction could be considered to enable implementation of management strategies in patients potentially at risk for increased morbidity and mortality.
Social Capital and Economic Growth in Europe: Nonlinear Trends and Heterogeneous Regional Effects
Authors: Peiró‐Palomino Jesús 
Published: February 2016

AbstractMost of the literature focused on the social capital‐growth nexus has followed the one‐size‐fits‐all approach, neglecting that regional disparities might modify this relationship. This article analyses the role of two social capital indicators on the growth of 237 European regions in the period 1995–2007 by implementing non‐parametric regression, which relaxes the linearity assumption and allows the data to give the underlying functional form. The results show that social capital effects on growth are nonlinear. Parameter heterogeneity could also be examined, showing heterogenous effects across regions and over time. In particular, social capital is mostly negative in regions from Eastern and Central Europe during the first years of transition from socialism to market economies. However, this pattern has changed in the more recent period.
A survey of UK optometry trainees’ smoking cessation training
Authors: Lorencatto Fabiana , Harper Alice M. , Francis Jill J. , Lawrenson John G. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractBackgroundSmoking is a risk factor for a number of eye conditions, including age‐related macular degeneration, cataracts and thyroid eye disease. Smoking cessation interventions have been shown to be highly cost‐effective when delivered by a range of healthcare professionals. Optometrists are well placed to deliver smoking cessation advice to a wide population of otherwise healthy smokers. Yet optometrists remain a relatively neglected healthcare professional group in smoking cessation research and policy. Surveys of UK medical/nursing schools and of optometrists’ training internationally demonstrate significant deficits in current curricular coverage regarding smoking cessation. This study aimed to identify the extent of smoking cessation training in UK optometry trainees’ undergraduate and pre‐registration training.MethodsAll undergraduate optometry schools in the UK (n = 9) were invited to participate in a web‐based survey of their curricular coverage and assessment related to smoking cessation, and of perceived barriers to delivering smoking cessation training. A content analysis of the College of Optometrists Scheme for Registration Trainee Handbook 2014 was conducted to identify competence indicators related to smoking cessation.ResultsNine undergraduate optometry schools (100%) responded to the survey. The majority reported dedicating limited hours (0–3) to teaching smoking cessation, and predominantly focused on teaching the harmful effects of smoking (89%). Only one school provides practical skills training for delivering evidence‐based smoking cessation interventions, including very brief advice. The majority of schools (78%) reported that they did not formally examine students on their knowledge or skills for supporting smoking cessation, and rated confidence in their graduates’ abilities to deliver smoking cessation interventions as ‘poor’ (78%). Lack of knowledge amongst staff was identified as the key barrier to teaching about smoking cessation support. The pre‐registration competency framework does not include any competence indicators related to providing support for quitting smoking.ConclusionsThere are substantial gaps in the current curricula of UK optometry training, particularly regarding practical skills for supporting smoking cessation. Increased curricular coverage of these issues is essential to ensure trainee optometrists are adequately trained and competent in supporting patients to quit smoking.