bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Lung Cancer in Never Smokers: Molecular Profiles and Therapeutic Implications
Authors: Rudin Charles M. , Avila-Tang Erika , Harris Curtis C. , Herman James G. , Hirsch Fred R. , Pao William , Schwartz Ann G. , Vahakangas Kirsi H. , Samet Jonathan M. 
Published: September 2009

AbstractThe majority of lung cancers are caused by long term exposure to the several classes of carcinogens present in tobacco smoke. Although a significant fraction of lung cancers in never smokers may also be attributable to tobacco, many such cancers arise in the absence of detectable tobacco exposure, and may follow a very different cellular and molecular pathway of malignant transformation. Recent studies summarized here suggest that lung cancers arising in never smokers have a distinct natural history, profile of oncogenic mutations, and response to targeted therapy. The majority of molecular analyses of lung cancer have focused on genetic profiling of pathways responsible for metabolism of primary tobacco carcinogens. Limited research has been conducted evaluating familial aggregation and genetic linkage of lung cancer, particularly among never smokers in whom such associations might be expected to be strongest. Data emerging over the past several years show that lung cancers in never smokers are much more likely to carry activating mutations of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a key oncogenic factor and direct therapeutic target of several newer anticancer drugs. EGFR mutant lung cancers may represent a distinct class of lung cancers, enriched in the never-smoking population, and less clearly linked to direct tobacco carcinogenesis. These insights followed initial testing and demonstration of efficacy of EGFR-targeted drugs. Focused analysis of molecular carcinogenesis in lung cancers in never smokers is needed, and may provide additional biologic insight with therapeutic implications for lung cancers in both ever smokers and never smokers. (Clin Cancer Res 2009;15(18):5646–61)
Effects of Speaking Rate and Vowel Length on Formant Frequency Displacement in Japanese
Authors: Hirata Yukari , Tsukada Kimiko 
Published: September 2009

Abstract
This study examined effects of phonemic vowel length and speaking rate, two factors that affect vowel duration, on the first and second formants of all vowels in Japanese. The aim was to delineate the aspects of formant displacement that are governed by the physiological proclivity of vowel production shared across languages, and the aspects that reveal language-specific phenomena. Acoustic analysis revealed that the phonemic long vowels occupied a more peripheral portion of the F1 × F2 vowel space than the phonemic short vowels (effect of vowel length), but effects of speaking rate were less clear. This was because of the significant interactions of the two effects: the formants of phonemic short vowels were more affected by speaking rates than the phonemic long vowels. Regression analyses between F2 and duration revealed that formant displacement occurs when vowels are less than 200 ms. Similarities and differences found for Japanese and English are discussed in terms of physiological proclivity of vowel production versus language-specific phonological encoding.
Perceptual Assimilation and L2 Learning: Evidence from the Perception of Southern British English Vowels by Native Speakers of Greek and Japanese
Authors: Lengeris Angelos 
Published: September 2009

Abstract
This study examined the extent to which previous experience with duration in first language (L1) vowel distinctions affects the use of duration when perceiving vowels in a second language (L2). Native speakers of Greek (where duration is not used to differentiate vowels) and Japanese (where vowels are distinguished by duration) first identified and rated the eleven English monophthongs, embedded in /bVb/ and /bVp/ contexts, in terms of their L1 categories and then carried out discrimination tests on those English vowels. The results demonstrated that both L2 groups were sensitive to durational cues when perceiving the English vowels. However, listeners were found to temporally assimilate L2 vowels to L1 category/categories. Temporal information was available in discrimination only when the listeners’ L1 duration category/categories did not interfere with the target duration categories and hence the use of duration in such cases cannot be attributed to its perceptual salience as has been proposed.
State, Society and Natural Disaster: Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar (Burma)
Authors: Seekins Donald 
Published: September 2009

AbstractInternational efforts to provide relief to areas struck by natural disasters, such as tropical cyclones or earthquakes, are usually evaluated in terms of logistical, personnel and technical criteria — how to get needed supplies and services to affected populations quickly and effectively. These criteria are, of course, essential. However, the case of Cyclone Nargis, which struck the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) Delta and other parts of southern Myanmar (Burma) on 2–3 May 2008, shows that the political environment can be a significant negative factor in aid delivery. Fearful of popular unrest and foreign influence, the Myanmar government tried to limit and control the provision of relief to an estimated 2.4 million cyclone survivors. It may be concluded from this experience that governments, such as Myanmar's, with limited popular support and legitimacy are likely to prioritise state security over human security, even in cases of extreme humanitarian need.
Mainland Chinese 'Foreign Talents' in Singapore
Authors: Sixin Sheng , Jin Lee Kiat , Yun Hing Ai 
Published: September 2009

AbstractWith the escalation of skilled international migration since the late 1980s, the subject matter has emerged similarly as a growing field of academic inquiry. Nevertheless, while the relocation of skilled workers has become prevalent with globalisation, accounts of such migration continue to be narrowly focused on several themes. In contrast, by concentrating on mainland Chinese professionals, this essay will seek to describe the intricacies of skilled migration. Furthermore, as it has developed into a middle class phenomenon, skilled international migration must be evaluated from a highly contextualised framework. Consequently, as it has declared its objective to become a talent centre, Singapore is an ideal case concerning the processes in the recruitment, production and employment of skilled international labour.
The Catholic Church and Education as Sources of Institutional Panic in the Philippines
Authors: Cornelio Jayeel Serrano , Raffin Anne 
Published: September 2009

AbstractIn this paper, we analyse two important institutions in the modernising society of the Philippines: the Catholic Church and the educational system. If one is to follow conventional modernisation theories, religion can be seen as a backward institution founded on irrationality, whereas education is a critical institution that ushers in modern thinking. As a developing society, the Philippines and hence its institutions present responses to the contemporary modern condition that run counter to the above. In particular, we focus our attention on seeing certain crises within both the Catholic Church and the school system as indicative of what Blum has called an 'institutional panic'. Taking our cue from what is known about panic responses at the level of the individual, we perceive educational and Catholic religious institutions as exhibiting behaviours of hyper-vigilance as an answer to stress-related situations. At the same time, these entities also have periods during which they let down their institutional guard, and may appear as more passive and demoralised. This perspective allows us to look at the variable nature of panic at an institutional level, and investigate institutional patterns of response to situations of vulnerability.
Civic Organisations and Governance Reform in Indonesian Cities
Authors: Ganie-Rochman Meuthia , Achwan Rochman 
Published: September 2009

AbstractMuch has been written about Indonesia's decentralisation since the fall of Soeharto. Scholars have developed different perspectives and provided useful analyses on 'right governance', but they seem to have largely neglected the organisational problems of civic organisations engaged in governance reform. By employing the concepts of legitimacy, organisational field and networks familiar in the sociology of organisation, this paper explores ways in which they develop and transform their organisations and networks, creating political issues and, mobilising the public. Three cities — Padang, Bandung, and Yogyakarta — were chosen as the study locations for the conspicuous and even prominent engagement of civic organisations in the struggle for reform of public governance. A qualitative method was used to collect data from various actors who are directly and indirectly engaged in contesting and cooperating with organisational actors in this area. This paper shows that the principles of independency and freedom within civic organisations have developed rapidly at the expense of organisational accountability. Such development has hampered the transformation of civic organisations into more influential social actors.
A Struggle with Faith: Freedom of Religion in Malaysia
Authors: Carroll Bruce 
Published: September 2009

AbstractFor many people, the central issue regarding freedom of religion involves the freedom to practice one's chosen religion without burdensome governmental interference. For others, the problems can be very muddled between the struggle for free exercise within state established religions and free exercise for minority religious adherents in nations' with state established religions. This comment examines some of the conflicting options for minority religious adherents in Malaysia and analyzes some of the procedural boundaries faced by minority religious adherents with a special emphasis on one woman's struggle.
Low-Frequency Climate Response and Fluctuation–Dissipation Theorems: Theory and Practice
Authors: Majda Andrew J. , Gershgorin Boris , Yuan Yuan 
Published: September 2009

Abstract
The low-frequency response to changes in external forcing or other parameters for various components of the climate system is a central problem of contemporary climate change science. The fluctuation–dissipation theorem (FDT) is an attractive way to assess climate change by utilizing statistics of the present climate; with systematic approximations, it has been shown recently to have high skill for suitable regimes of an atmospheric general circulation model (GCM). Further applications of FDT to low-frequency climate response require improved approximations for FDT on a reduced subspace of resolved variables. Here, systematic mathematical principles are utilized to develop new FDT approximations on reduced subspaces and to assess the small yet significant departures from Gaussianity in low-frequency variables on the FDT response. Simplified test models mimicking crucial features in GCMs are utilized here to elucidate these issues and various FDT approximations in an unambiguous fashion. Also, the shortcomings of alternative ad hoc procedures for FDT in the recent literature are discussed here. In particular, it is shown that linear regression stochastic models for the FDT response always have no skill for a general nonlinear system for the variance response and can have poor or moderate skill for the mean response depending on the regime of the Lorenz 40-model and the details of the regression strategy. New nonlinear stochastic FDT approximations for a reduced set of variables are introduced here with significant skill in capturing the effect of subtle departures from Gaussianity in the low-frequency response for a reduced set of variables.
Numerical Simulations of the Impacts of the Saharan Air Layer on Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Development
Authors: Sun Donglian , Lau W. K. M. , Kafatos Menas , Boybeyi Zafer , Leptoukh Gregory , Yang Chaiwei , Yang Ruixin 
Published: September 2009

Abstract
In this study, the role of the Saharan air layer (SAL) is investigated in the development and intensification of tropical cyclones (TCs) via modifying environmental stability and moisture, using multisensor satellite data, long-term TC track and intensity records, dust data, and numerical simulations with a state-of-the-art Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF). The long-term relationship between dust and Atlantic TC activity shows that dust aerosols are negatively associated with hurricane activity in the Atlantic basin, especially with the major hurricanes in the western Atlantic region. Numerical simulations with the WRF for specific cases during the NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (NAMMA) experiment show that, when vertical temperature and humidity profiles from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) were assimilated into the model, detailed features of the warm and dry SAL, including the entrainment of dry air wrapping around the developing vortex, are well simulated. Active tropical disturbances are found along the southern edge of the SAL. The simulations show an example where the dry and warm air of the SAL intruded into the core of a developing cyclone, suppressing convection and causing a spin down of the vortical circulation. The cyclone eventually weakened.
To separate the contributions from the warm temperature and dry air associated with the SAL, two additional simulations were performed, one assimilating only AIRS temperature information (AIRST) and one assimilating only AIRS humidity information (AIRSH) while keeping all other conditions the same. The AIRST experiments show almost the same simulations as the full AIRS assimilation experiments, whereas the AIRSH is close to the non-AIRS simulation. This is likely due to the thermal structure of the SAL leading to low-level temperature inversion and increased stability and vertical wind shear. These analyses suggest that dry air entrainment and the enhanced vertical wind shear may play the direct roles in leading to the TC suppression. On the other hand, the warm SAL temperature may play the indirect effects by enhancing vertical wind shear; increasing evaporative cooling; and initiating mesoscale downdrafts, which bring dry air from the upper troposphere to the lower levels.
Living room and bedroom temperatures in homes: recorded values, occupant preference and energy conservation potential
Authors: Nevrala D. J. , Pimbert S. L. 
Published: September 2009

The effect of additional thermal insulation as an energy conservation measure in buildings has been the subject of extensive theoretical research, mainly by use of computer simulation techniques. However, the results of field studies show that not all of the predicted savings are being realised and savings in individual cases vary considerably. It has also been suggested that substantial energy savings would accrue if temperatures in homes were lowered, but there is a dearth of information about the range of temperatures that occupants prefer, or consider tolerable, and what motivates their choice. In order to learn how living room and bedroom temperatures are influenced by variations in insulation levels and occupier preference (which may be dependent on the expenditure on fuel and hence also on insulation) and also to provide a guide to a rational choice of design temperatures, temperature records obtained in the course of two field studies have been analysed. The first field study (33 houses) was carried out in an approximately equal sample of existing uninsulated (original condition) and ‘retrofit-insulated’ homes; the second in 7 new, well-insulated houses. All houses had individual central heating controlled by the occupants. The results of the analysis reported in this paper concentrate on the variation, with external temperature and with retrofit insulation, of living room and bedroom temperatures. In conclusion, the energy conservation potential of retrofit insulation and of additional individual bedroom temperature controls as well as the relationship between satisfaction levels and design temperature are discussed.
The CIBS example weather year
Authors: Hitchin E. R. , Holmes M. J. , Hutt B. C. , Irving S. , Nevrala D. 
Published: September 2009

The CIBS Example Weather Year for Kew (1964/65) has been established1, and some reduced data published2, 3. The thinking behind the concept of an example weather year was presented by Holmes and Hitchin in 19744, since that time the process of selection has been formalised by a CIBS task group under the auspices of the Computer Applications Panel. Two more example years have been selected for areas represented by the Aldergrove and Eskdalemuir Meteorological stations. This paper presents these new years' describing how they were selected, how the data is to be interpreted and gives some general advice on obtaining suitable data from the meteorological office. The Example Weather Years' selected to date are: Kew Oct. 1964–Sept. 1965 Aldergrove Oct. 1977–Sept. 1978 Eskdalemuir Oct. 1970–Sept. 1971
Uses and Limitations of the Balance Technique
Authors: Kopple Joel D. 
Published: September 2009

Classical balance techniques are a powerful, sensitive, and usually accurate technique for assessing the nutritional or metabolic response to changes in nutritional intake or to metabolic or physiological perturbations. Balances are particularly sensitive for examining transient or short‐term responses to nutritional or metabolic stimuli. A major factor responsible for the precision and sensitivity of this technique is the precise control of the activities and environment of an individual during a classical metabolic balance study (eg, the carefully defined dietary intake, degree of exercise, and environmental temperature to prevent sweating); these same factors may enhance the precision and sensitivity of other metabolic or nutritional investigations that may be carried out concurrently with a balance study. Finally, for nitrogen balance studies, the measurement of nitrogen (eg, by the Kjeldahl technique) can be very accurate and sensitive.Despite these advantages, there are important limitations and errors that are inherent in the balance technique. The errors tend to overestimate intake and underestimate output, thereby leading to erroneously positive balances. These errors include losses of food on cooking and eating utensils and dishware, losses of feces or urine on toilet paper or in collection containers, and losses through sweat, exfoliated skin, hair and nail growth, saliva, menses, blood sampling, toothbrushing, semen, and, for nitrogen, from flatus and respiration. Cumulative balance measurements are particularly likely to be falsely positive. The magnitude of unmeasured losses vary among healthy individuals, with the magnitude of the nitrogen intake (for nitrogen), in altered environmental conditions (eg, with sweating), and possibly in disease states. Balance studies are also expensive and time consuming. Finally, the fate and intermediary metabolism of the compounds ingested or infused into the subject and the sources of the output of nitrogen or minerals are poorly defined by the balance technique. Balances are probably most helpful when they are performed in conjunction with other techniques for studying nutrition or metabolism, when the intake is not too high (eg, equal to or less than 12–15 g/day for nitrogen), and when the same individual is studied before and after a perturbation in their nutritional or metabolic status. Classical balance techniques are so complicated and expensive that they are primarily of value for research studies. (Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition 11:79S‐85S, 1987)
Studies on the validity of urinary enzyme assay in the diagnosis of drug-induced renal lesions in rats
Authors: Watanabe M. , Nomura G. , Hirata M. , Imai K. , Koizumi H. 
Published: September 2009

The validity of urinary enzyme assays in the diagnosis of renal lesions was studied in rats for evaluation in comparison with other tests such as urinalysis and serum biochemical assay. Tubular damages of slight or severe degree were induced by daily intramuscular administration of 500 mg/kg or 1,000 mg/kg of kanamycin (KM) for 7 and 6 days respectively. Glomerular lesions were induced subcutaneous injection of 30 mg/kg of puromycin (PM) for 6 days. The enzymes, assayed daily before and after the onset of administration, were lactic dehydrogenase (LDH), aspartate aminotransferase (GOT), alkaline phosphatase (AI-P), acid phosphatase (Ac-P), leucin aminopeptidase (LAP) and γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (γ-GT). The distribution of these enzymic activities in the kidneys was histochemically examined. Assays of LDH and GOT on the kidney tissue homogenate were also conducted. Histological alterations of the kidneys were examined in the rats sacrificed after termination of administration. Significant elevation of the LDH and GOT urine levels were observed within 24 hours in rats treated with 500 mg/kg of KM with the high enzyme levels being maintained throughout the administration period, while the other enzymes remained within pretreatment levels or were only slightly elevated. Serum urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine levels remained unchanged with no abnormality being found in the urinalysis of this group. In the group treated with 1,000 mg/ kg of KM, concomitant rising of all urine enzyme levels was observed, with elevation of the LDH and GOT levels being extreme while the BUN and serum creatinine levels rose only at the termination of the administration period. The BUN level rose earlier than did most of the urinary enzymes in puromycin-treated rats. Depletion of LDH activity was histochemically demonstrated in the kidneys where no histological alteration was observable, while the activities of AI-P, γ-GT, and LAP showed no distinct changes until the tabular destruction became severe. Upon termination of both KM and PM administration, the depletion of LDH and GOT activities was noted in a kidney homogenate assay for the enzymes. These results clearly showed that among the enzymes studied, the LDH and GOT urine levels are the most sensitive indicators for detecting proximal tubular lesions induced by KM. It was further demonstrated that the urinary enzyme assay in combination with serum BUN measurement is an effective examination for distinguishing tubular from glomerular lesions.
Primary Tumors of the Spleen in Guinea Pigs
Authors: Hoch-Ligeti Cornelia , Congdon Charles C. , Deringer Margaret K. , Stewart Harold L. 
Published: September 2009

A classification and morphologic description of primary splenic tumors of guinea pigs is presented for the first time. Twenty glomerate vascular tumors, 15 sinusoidal hemangioendotheliomas, 4 hemangiosarcomas, 2 chondromatous and 5 lipomatous tumors with or without fibrous or vascular components were encountered in the spleen of male and female guinea pigs of 2 inbred strains and one noninbred stock. Foci of cellular arrangements distinctive for splenic tissues were observed in every tumor. In 2 additional guinea pigs, hemangiosarcomas were found disseminated in the spleen, liver, lung and kidney; since the splenic origin of these tumors was uncertain, they were not included in this group of primary splenic tumors. At all levels used, whole body irradiation with X-or gamma rays increased the rate of occurrence and the number of splenic tumors. A significantly greater number of splenic tumors developed in the irradiated than in the untreated inbred guinea pigs after the age of 30 months. In the irradiated noninbred guinea pigs significantly fewer splenic tumors occurred than in the guinea pigs of the inbred strains.