bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Retrospective evaluation of phacoemulsification and aspiration in 41 horses (46 eyes): visual outcomes vs. age, intraocular lens, and uveitis status
Authors: Edelmann Michele L. , McMullen Richard , Stoppini Riccardo , Clode Alison , Gilger Brian C. 
Published: May 2014

AbstractObjectiveTo determine the effect of age at the time of surgery, intraocular lens (IOL) placement, and presence of chronic uveitis on visual outcome after phacoemulsification and aspiration (PA) of cataracts in horses.Animals studiedRecords of 41 horses (46 eyes) receiving unilateral or bilateralPA.MethodsRetrospective analysis of horses receiving unilateral or bilateralPAat theNCSU‐VTH(35 horses, 39 eyes) and in Northern Italy (six horses, seven eyes) was performed. Visual status at last follow‐up was compared to age at the time of surgery,IOLstatus, and presence of chronic uveitis preoperatively. Seven horses with chronic uveitis also underwent placement of a suprachoroidal cyclosporine implant. Clinical ophthalmic examinations and owner questionnaires were used to evaluate visual status.ResultsTwenty‐one of 46 eyes (46%) received anIOLand 12 of 46 eyes (26%) had chronic uveitis. Overall, 25 of 46 eyes (54%) were visual at last follow‐up (mean 35.1 ± 34.8 months). Age (mean 8.6 ± 7.7 years) was not significantly associated with visual outcome. Fourteen of 21 (67%) pseudophakic eyes and 11 of 25 (44%) aphakic eyes were visual at last follow‐up (P = 0.342). Eyes with preoperative chronic uveitis were significantly less likely to be visual (3 of 12 eyes [25%]) than horses without preoperative chronic uveitis (22 of 34 eyes [65%]) (P = 0.023).ConclusionsHorses with chronic uveitis had significantly less favorable visual outcome afterPA. Older age at surgery andIOLuse were not associated with poor visual outcome.
Similar matrix alterations in alveolar and small airway walls of COPD patients
Authors: Eurlings Irene MJ , Dentener Mieke A , Cleutjens Jack PM , Peutz Carine J , Rohde Gernot GU , Wouters Emiel FM , Reynaert Niki L 
Published: May 2014

Abstract

Background
Remodelling in COPD has at least two dimensions: small airway wall thickening and destruction of alveolar walls. Recent studies indicate that there is some similarity between alveolar and small airway wall matrix remodelling. The aim of this study was to characterise and assess similarities in alveolar and small airway wall matrix remodelling, and TGF-β signalling in COPD patients of different GOLD stages.

Methods
Lung tissue sections of 14 smoking controls, 16 GOLD II and 19 GOLD IV patients were included and stained for elastin and collagens as well as hyaluronan, a glycosaminoglycan matrix component and pSMAD2.

Results
Elastin was significantly decreased in COPD patients not only in alveolar, but also in small airway walls. Interestingly, both collagen and hyaluronan were increased in alveolar as well as small airway walls. The matrix changes were highly comparable between GOLD stages, with collagen content in the alveolar wall increasing further in GOLD IV. A calculated remodelling index, defined as elastin divided over collagen and hyaluronan, was decreased significantly in GOLD II and further lowered in GOLD IV patients, suggesting that matrix component alterations are involved in progressive airflow limitation. Interestingly, there was a positive correlation present between the alveolar and small airway wall stainings of the matrix components, as well as for pSMAD2. No differences in pSMAD2 staining between controls and COPD patients were found.

Conclusions
In conclusion, remodelling in the alveolar and small airway wall in COPD is markedly similar and already present in moderate COPD. Notably, alveolar collagen and a remodelling index relate to lung function.
“Professional Risk” Concept in International and National Practice
Authors: Федорец  , Fedorets Aleksandr 
Published: May 2014

The author analyzes the term &#34;professional risk&#34; applied in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation and in national
system of insurance against accidents and occupational diseases. It has been shown that in the system of insurance against
accidents and occupational diseases the &#34;professional risk&#34; level, in fact, means an insurer’s professional (insurance) risk
level. This risk has no any relation to &#34;professional risk&#34; of this or that worker or professional group of economic activity
type. A new, scientifically reasonable interpretation of &#34;professional risk&#34; concept as the risk which owner is the worker
himself, as an owner of profession and professional competences, has been offered.
Results of Experimental Researches of Solid Household Waste Structure in Arkhangelsk City
Authors: Волкодаева  , Volkodaeva M. , Федина  , Fedina Zh. 
Published: May 2014

Results of quality assessment of Arkhangelsk city’s solid household waste structure are presented. Actual data of waste’s morphological
(component) and fractional structure for three groups of research objects: housing stock, housing stock with public objects, public
objects were defined. The received results allow draw a conclusion on prospects of waste’s sorting and secondary processing.
Speaker identification based on artificial neural networks. Case study: the Polish vowel (pilot study)
Authors: Salapa Kinga , Trawińska Agata , Roterman Irena , Tadeusiewicz Ryszard 
Published: May 2014

Abstract
Current statistical methods and technologies used for speaker identification via dynamic formant frequency often involve classic multivariate analyses that must meet a number of criteria in order to be considered trustworthy. The authors propose more advanced classification techniques, including artificial neural networks. Owing to iterative learning algorithms, neural networks can be trained to detect highly complex, nonlinear relations hidden in input data. This study specifically considers feed-forward multilayer perceptron and radial basic function network models. The investigation involves an analysis of the Polish vowel (stressed or unstressed) in selected contexts described by the four lowest formant frequencies. Results indicate high accuracy of neural networks as a speaker identification tool reaching up to 100%. In addition, the authors have determined that the accuracy of classification is similar when based on a single context to when input data are aggregated over several different contexts.
Corrosion behavior of metallic materials in biomedical applications. I. Ti and its alloys
Authors: Pound Bruce G. 
Published: May 2014

AbstractThe use of metallic materials for implantable medical devices has prompted numerous studies aimed at characterizing the corrosion susceptibility of these materials and understanding their electrochemical behavior in simulated and actual physiological liquids. This review focuses on the forms of corrosion that are of principal interest for Ti and its alloysin vivo: general corrosion, pitting corrosion, crevice corrosion, galvanic corrosion, and fretting corrosion. It also addresses environmentally assisted cracking in the form of hydrogen embrittlement. Of particular interest is the susceptibility of Ti and its alloys to the different forms of corrosion with regard to both solution chemistry, especially the effect of organic species, and surface characteristics such as oxide composition, surface inclusions, and wear/fretting.
Moral Portability–Some Insights from Cultural Semiotics
Authors: Leone Massimo 
Published: May 2014

Abstract
Global communication today is strictly connected to the dominant social reproduction system which is regulated by dominant ideology and official discourse. These are grounded in the logic of identity, therefore the logic of roles with their limited responsibilities and alibis, ultimately the logic of self-interest. Human behaviour is sign behaviour and ideological behaviour, in other words, it is never neutral, but, on the contrary, is permeated with values and regulated by social programs. Global semiotics and semioethics contribute towards a critical understanding of communication today, of semiosis, in a globalized world. Dialogism and listening are the condition for a new form of humanism based on the logic of otherness rather than on the logic of identity.
Application of Dynamic Semiotics: Semiotic and Memetic Approach to the Fusion and Unification of Individualistic and Collectivistic Concepts
Authors: Jiazu Gu 
Published: May 2014

Abstract
The author of this paper gives a detailed semiotic analysis to the dynamic change of individualism and collectivism, the main cultural concepts shared by Westerners and Easterners respectively. The author believes that the rise of memetics has contributed immensely to dynamic semiotics and dynamic semiotic analysis, in turn, is made more applicable to many branches of learning in general and to intercultural communication in particular. The author ventures that individualism and collectivism seem opposed to each other, they can be unified and fused as a result of memetic movement including memetic spreading, selection and memetic quality variation. Intercultural communicators can possess at the same time both desirable individualistic and collectivistic concepts in the process of intercultural communication as a result of semiotic production. Such tendency is justified by the existence of androgyny in human character. The author, in the meantime, gives a semiotic analysis to intercultural communicators' cultural structure. The author concludes that interculture is the nature of the cultural structure of intercultural communicators, a semiotic mixture which is different from their home culture or the target culture.
Between Praxeological and Axiological Semiotics in the Cultural Sphere of Intersubjective Meanings
Authors: Wąsik Zdzistew 
Published: May 2014

Abstract
The subject matter of the following paper constitutes the inquiry into the essence of meaning realized in the behavior and products of cultural subjects as participants of intersubjective communication. Accordingly, several philosophical and linguistic approaches to the object-related concepts of sign and meaning will be juxtaposed with the subject-related concepts of meaning-creation-and-utilization occurring in the realm of man as a living organism. A special attention will be paid, in the first case, to the instrumental functions of task-oriented meaning-bearers and, in the second, to the utilitarian values of need-oriented practices of meaning-creators and meaning-utilizers being engaged in changeable processes of solipsistic interpretation and collective understanding.
Interpretation of Arbitrariness of the Linguistic Sign from the Perspective of Language Production Model
Authors: Yongxiang Wang 
Published: May 2014

Abstract
Saussure (1980) gave an incisive exposition on the arbitrariness of the linguistic sign in Course in General Linguistics. During the recent years, however, many scholars have aired challenging viewpoints concerning the principle of arbitrariness from the perspective of motivation or iconicity and have even made attempts to negate the arbitrariness of the linguistic sign. Taking the basic concepts of sign, signifier, signified, etc. as the point of departure, the present study clarifies what Saussure means by arbitrariness, analyses the relationship between arbitrariness and value system, expatiates the distinction between absolute arbitrariness and relative arbitrariness, and constructs a model of language production in order to expound and further confirm arbitrariness, the principle of the linguistic sign.
Esthetic Interpretants: Pragmaticism, Semiotics, and the Meaning of Art
Authors: Pietarinen Ahti-Veikko 
Published: May 2014

Abstract
This paper studies Charles Peirce's theory of esthetics from the point of view of his pragmaticism and the theory of signs. Esthetics is shown to be a theory of habits of feeling, which requires the notion of an esthetic interpretant. An argument is presented which establishes that, beginning with Peirce's theory of signs, pragmaticism supplies esthetic meaning to the works of art.
Semiotics as the Semantic Organizer of Global Human Sciences –Semiotic Theory: Western Philosophy-centered Approach Vs. Global Interdisciplinary Approach
Authors: Li Youzheng 
Published: May 2014

Abstract
There are two identities of semiotics: reality and ideal. We semioticians should keep the double identity in our mind to get rid of the limitation of the existing professional semiotic operation. Theoretical semiotics should at first more deeply learn from philosophy and secondly further tum to the interdisciplinary theoretical creation. Only a more effective semiotic theoretical baste could make semiotics stronger to guide the epistemological modernization of the global human sciences in the New Century. The postmodernist trends, however, tend to make semiotics be the mere intellectual games leading to losing its original scientific power. Originated by Sausäure, Pierce, Husseri, semiotics should defend its traditional rationalism against the scientific-dogmatist and the artistic-commercialized fashions alike. Globalization of semiotics will strongly promote its healthy development along the line of a global multiple-rationalization.
The Process of Intercultural Communication: A Semiotic Perspective
Authors: Shen Juming 
Published: May 2014

Abstract
Intercultural communication has been a popular topic both in and outside academic studies, yet most researches in this field have been conducted with the methodology of comparative anthropology while the studies on the dynamic process of intercultural communication have been limited, which serves as the primary motivation to write this paper. The thorniest obstacle to conduct the study is to find a feasible and applicable methodology for the analysis of the process of intercultural communication, which deflated and even impaired the author's confidence to do the study from time to time. Fortunately, months of meditation finally saw the enlightenments from semiotics, a profound science that can provide insights into various humanity and social sciences. A thorough introduction to semiotics is impossible in an MA paper; therefore, only the related theories helpful to study intercultural communication are presented, including the dichotomy theory by Saussure, trichotomy theory by Peirce, theory of cultural semiotics by Lotman, and the semiotic concept of code by scholars such as Eco and Barthes. With this semiotic theoretical framework, the present paper elaborates the definitions of culture and communication and explains their semiotic features from different perspectives. Culture is semiotic in that it refers to not only the metaphysical existence but also the psychological traces, both of which are related with sign. The semiotic feature of communication is explained by identifying the sign as the carrier of information and semiosis as the realization of meaning. In this sense, intercultural communication as a subject based on culture and communication should be understood via semiotics as well. Limited by the size of the present paper, this study focuses exclusively on the process of intercultural communication. The ingredients involved in the process are figured and their roles are identified to the semiotics theories, based on which a semiotic model of intercultural communication is established. This model as the core of the present paper is described in detail and the mechanism of intercultural communication revealed by the model is explained accordingly. The relationship between the semiospheres, the nature of representamen, and the psychological processes as interpretant, are three most significant factors affecting intercultural communication. The findings of this paper explain the humanity subject of intercultural communication in a scientific view, which provides new understandings as well as indicates new research methods.
On the Theory of General Semiotics
Authors: Sokxnonick Abraham 
Published: May 2014

Abstract
Since I began studying the problems of semiotics in 1990, I have published eight books on the subject (seven in Russian and one in English), as well as many publications in print and in electronic sources. (See a short bibliography of English publications at the end of this paper.) All of these writings were devoted to the problems of general

semiotics. In them, I considered a variety of different issues, and dealt with many of them in an original and innovative way that had not been applied before. In this paper, I will elaborate on some of the themes I presented in my other papers. I will focus on those topics that seem to me to be the most important, and will try to discuss them clearly and concisely.
Social Semiotics as Appliable Semiotics
Authors: Delu Zhang 
Published: May 2014

Abstract
Along with the development of semiotic theories by Saussure and Peirce, there emerged another branch of semiotics, social semiotics, in the last few decades. In a way, it is a natural development of general semiotics, and is complementary with it. In contrast to general semiotics, it focuses on parole and the application of the semiotic theories to other fields. In the present article, it shows its features different from the Saussurian and Peircian semiotics,traces its path of development and proposes six characteristics which characterize it as appliable semiotics; social in nature, practical in orientation, resource for meaning-making, cross-discipline, variable and changeable, and multimodal. As appliable semiotics, social semiotics works with the following four aspects; resources for social interactions, liability to change along with the change of contexts, following certain semiotic principles, and performing two major functions; representational and interactional. The result of the application of social semiotics is multimodal discourses, whose areas of research include the following four aspects; discourse and social practice, genre, style and modality. Multimodal discourses are coherent in terms of the following four aspects; rhythm, composition, information-linking and dialogue. Finally, a relative comprehensive theoretical framework of social semiotics as appliable semiotics is designed and presented.
Cognitive Semiotics and Cognitive Linguistics
Authors: Guo Hong 
Published: May 2014

Abstract
Peircean semiotics is a cognitive science, namely, a cognitive semiotics. The current cognitive linguistics is a branch of cognitive semiotics, the application, embodiment and, in a sense, development of its fundamental theories, thus serving as a great propelling force in developing disciplines of modem linguistics. Cognitive linguistics, following the philosophical tradition of Peircean semiotics, belongs to the trend of thought of scientism of contemporary western philosophy and to the type of linguistic science of studying the physiological and psychological activities of language from the intraorganic point of view.
Philosophy and the Borders of Semiotics: from Aristotle to Husserl
Authors: Magoulas Charalampos 
Published: May 2014

Abstract
The exploration of the modification of signifieds, which interpret human activities, social phenomena and the dialectics between them, has as indispensable presupposition the acceptation on a methodological level of the process of transformation of three necessary elements (thought, semiosis, world) for the perception and ontological identification of physical entities or cultural objects. The phenomenological theory of the beginning of the 20th century seems to consolidate this acceptation and, at the same time, refute it. According to this philosophy, it is very important for one to know the structure of the action of "taking into consideration of something". This structure is perceptible if, free from theoretical schemes of interpretation and bias, one examines what is revealed by itself. This principle seems to contradict a possible theory of semiotics, which intends to define the borders of semiotics by exploring the evolution of phenomena, concepts and interpretations. Notwithstanding, Husserl, citing Franz Brentano's term intentionality, speaks of the extensive character of the conscience, which is not defined as an interior sealed space, but as a flux of experiences, opened towards the world. This paper aims at questioning the term intentionality and its importance for a theory on the borders of semiotics by evoking the example of Aristotle's terms synonymy and homonymy.
Female adolescents’ perspective about reproductive health education needs: a mixed methods study with explanatory sequential design
Authors: Shahhosseini Zohreh , Hamzehgardeshi Zeinab 
Published: May 2014

Abstract
Background: One of the most important and basic needs of adolescent girls is reproductive health services and education, which is different from that required by adults.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine reproductive health education needs from the perspective of adolescent girls living in urban and rural areas, as well as to explore adolescents’ understanding of reproductive health needs.
Subjects: The first phase was a cross-sectional study conducted on 1274 female adolescents. In the second phase, 77 girls in the form of 11 groups participated in focused group discussions.
Methods: This sequential explanatory mixed methods study using follow-up variants was conducted in two phases. Questionnaires, including items on socio-demographic characteristics and reproductive health needs from adolescents’ perspectives, were completed using the self-administered method.
Results: The quantitative results of the study revealed city and village girls’ perspectives on reproductive health education needs. These results showed that village adolescents were nearly 1.5–2 times more in favor of a same sex counselor, reproductive health group education, and the need for sexual health education than city adolescents. A review of the transcripts of the qualitative phase led to the extraction of two themes including the characteristics of the reproductive health educator and priorities of reproductive health education, which explains the adolescent girls’ understanding of reproductive health education needs.
Conclusion: The findings of this study confirm the importance of determining reproductive health education needs from the perspective of adolescent girls. The present study shows how a sequential mixed design can be used for a better understanding of reproductive health needs of adolescent girls. The results of this study can be used in health research, education, policy making, and planning associated with adolescent health.
Nutrition and physical activity during the transition from adolescence to adulthood: further research is warranted
Authors: Diehl Katharina , Hilger Jennifer 
Published: May 2014

Abstract
The transition from adolescence to adulthood is associated with many physical, social, and psychological changes. In addition, adolescents also have to deal with structural changes. An example of one such structural change is the transition from school to university or to other vocational establishments. Structural changes can also entail changes in overall framework conditions and daily life patterns and thus also in dietary habits and physical activity levels. The aim of the present paper was to draw attention to the research deficit in this area with the help of the results of our analyses. The results show that significant changes take place as a consequence of the transition from school to a vocational establishment. However, our analyses could not identify the exact catalysts and the time framework of these changes. In this respect, further research is urgently warranted.