bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Out of Zion Into Philadelphia and West Africa: Faith Tabernacle Congregation, 1897-1925
Authors: Mohr Adam 
Published: March 2010

AbstractIn May 1897 Faith Tabernacle Congregation was formally established in North Philadelphia, emerging from an independent mission that shortly thereafter became the Philadelphia branch of John Alexander Dowie’s Christian Catholic Church. Faith Tabernacle probably abstained from merging with Dowie’s organization because, unlike the Christian Catholic Church, it rigorously followed the faith principle for managing church finances. Like the Christian Catholic Church, Faith Tabernacle established many similar institutions, such as a church periodical (called Sword of the Spirit), a faith home, and a missions department. After Assistant Pastor Ambrose Clark became the second presiding elder in 1917, many of these institutions began flourishing in connection with a marked increase in membership, particularly in the American Mid-Atlantic as well as in Nigeria and Ghana. Unfortunately, a schism occurred in late 1925 that resulted in Clark’s leaving Faith Tabernacle to found the First Century Gospel Church. This event halted much of Faith Tabernacle’s growth both domestically and in West Africa. Subsequently, many of the former Faith Tabernacle followers in Nigeria and Ghana founded the oldest and largest Pentecostal churches in both countries.
Catholic Pentecostalism in Haiti: Spirit, Politics, and Gender
Authors: Rey Terry 
Published: March 2010

AbstractThis paper explores one of the most impressive developments in Haitian religion over the last few decades, that of the Catholic Renewal, situating it in the context of broader social and political change and gauging its trajectory in the course of modern Haitian religious history. While not ignoring the important and related issues of syncretism and apostasy, it focuses on three of the most salient aspects of the renewal in Haiti: 1) its confrontational posture toward the nationally popular African-based religion of Vodou; 2) its contribution to a depoliticization of popular Catholicism; and 3) the overwhelmingly female composition of its membership. What sociological interpretations can be made of all of these aspects, and what specifically Haitian dimensions to them can be discerned? Through historical, regional, and global contextualizations, combined with the author’s multi-site ethnographic research conducted intermittently over a 15-year period, these and related questions are here critically addressed.
The Ancient Dād in Southwest Saudi Arabia
Authors: Al-Azraqi Munira 
Published: March 2010

AbstractAl-dād is a unique sound in Arabic. It is believed that this sound is what makes Arabic a distinguished language. However, its description has confused the linguists for long time. Some modern linguists believe that al-dād described by the ancient linguists is not used in the present time. On the other hand, Arabic speakers may not know that the sound they use for the classical pronunciation of al-dād is not the one described by the ancient Arab linguists. This study records the existence of a sound that has the features of al-dād as described by the ancient Arab linguists. It is used among some speakers in Southwest Saudi Arabia.
Men of War: British Sailors and the Impressment Paradox
Authors: Brunsman Denver 
Published: March 2010

AbstractIn the long eighteenth century, the British Royal Navy established dominance of the seas with the widely despised forced labor system of impressment. Previous attempts at explaining this paradox have erred either in deemphasizing the devastating personal and communal costs of impressment or by stressing that the navy’s oppressive system of discipline left sailors with no choice but to serve admirably. In fact, sailors exercised their agency both by resisting British press-gangs and by serving to the best of their ability on naval vessels. The British navy created incentives that appealed to mariners’ professional self-interests and male gender aspirations. Through naval service, sailors regained some of their dignity and sense of manhood that capture by press-gangs had taken away.
Nharas and Morenas Horras: A Luso-African Model for the Social History of the Spanish Caribbean, c. 1570-1640
Authors: Wheat David 
Published: March 2010

AbstractDrawing on little-used archival materials held in Seville’s Archive of the Indies and ecclesiastical records from the Cathedral of Havana, this article argues that free African and African-descended women participated in Spain’s colonization of the Caribbean to a degree that has not been fully recognized. Regularly described as vecinas (heads of household) and as spouses to Iberian men in key port cities, free women of color played active roles in the formation and maintenance of Spanish Caribbean society during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, not as peripheral or marginalized figures, but as non-elite insiders who pursued their own best interests and those of their families and associates.
Beyond Guns, Germs, and Steel: European Expansion and Maritime Asia, 1400-1750
Authors: Andrade Tonio 
Published: March 2010

AbstractWhy did Europeans rather than other Eurasians build the world’s first global empires, extending a measure of control, however fragile and contingent, over the oceans of the world? This article suggests that the best place to find an answer to the question is not in Europe but in Asia. Europeans were not alone in creating overseas empires in the early modern period, but the Asian counterparts to the Portuguese, Dutch, and English Empires are little known. Focusing on two of those Asian examples—the Ya’rubi Dynasty of Oman and the Zheng maritime empire of China—the author suggests that although European technology did confer an advantage on European mariners, it was not an insuperable advantage. Asian powers could adopt and adapt European cannons, ships, and nautical charts and beat the Europeans at their own game. Indeed, he suggests, this intra-Eurasian borrowing is a key process of history over the longue durée.
Deploying Cognitive Sociology to Advance Human Rights
Authors: Gregg Benjamin 
Published: March 2010

AbstractNo one, neither speculative philosopher nor empirical anthropologist, has ever shown human rights to be anything other than a culturally particular social construction. If human rights are not natural, divine, or metaphysical, then they can only be a social construction of particular cultures. If so, then many cultures may justifiably reject them as culturally foreign and hence without local normative validity. In response to this conclusion I develop a cognitive approach to any local culture ‐ a cognitive approach in distinction to a normative one. It allows for advancing human rights as rights internal to any given community’s culture. Human rights can be advanced internally by means of “cognitive re-framing,” a notion I develop out of Erving Goffman’s theory of frame analysis. I deploy it in two examples: female genital mutilation in Africa and child prostitution in Asia.
Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and Fuzzy-Sets: Agenda for a Research Approach and a Data Analysis Technique
Authors: Schneider Carsten Q. , Wagemann Claudius 
Published: March 2010

Abstract“Qualitative Comparative Analysis” (QCA) is an increasingly applied methodological tool in comparative social sciences. It is well suited for the analysis of causally complex claims framed in terms of necessity and sufficiency. This article presents the epistemology of QCA and discusses its applicability to social science research questions. It also illustrates some of the features that have recently been added to this set of methodological tools. This article is best read in close conjunction with Schneider and Wagemann’s “Standards of Good QCA Practice,” the next paper in this journal issue.
The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Moving from Power Brokerage to Relationship Restructuring
Authors: Harutunian Ruben 
Published: March 2010

AbstractThe conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh represents the failure of mediation efforts in the context of a prolonged and successful ceasefire which has created disincentives for compromise. Today’s difficult negotiation atmosphere originates from perceiving the conflict as primarily an ethnic problem couched in the rhetoric of a territorial dispute. Further, a prolonged and successful ceasefire has entrenched powerful economic and political interests on both sides which stand to gain from continued limbo. With this in mind, the Minsk Group should shift its focus to the implementation of confidence-building measures between the authorities on both sides as well as the three societies involved. Secondly, the Minsk Group co-chairs can no longer just serve as peace brokers, but must be co-signers to the negotiated agreement, emphasizing their role as guarantors of a long-term peace between Armenians and Azeris. Finally, any long-term agreement will have to include aspects of mutual economic development, cross-cultural exchange, and socio-political understanding.
Paradigms of Political Mythologies and Perspectives of Reconciliation in the Case of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict
Authors: Gahramanova Aytan 
Published: March 2010

AbstractIt is widely held that reconciliation follows conflict resolution. However, in the case of “frozen” conflicts, where the negotiation process is protracted and reconciliation is postponed for years, negative transformations take root. In this respect, attention to the past cannot be overestimated. How the past is framed in the domestic public sphere is an indicator of potential positive or negative transformation. By analyzing the frames of political mythology, the elements of ethnic identity and the historicisms based on divergent narratives of the political discourse in rivaling Armenia and Azerbaijan, this article argues that discourse transformation is vital to a successful reconciliation process where the role of mid-level leaders is crucial. While political mythology forces events by creating a context for negative transformation of the conflict, peacebuilding can support a protracted pre-settlement phase (’no peace, no war’) and can also facilitate the conflict settlement process through positive transformation. In order to cope with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, at least in its relational aspect, the whole discourse infrastructure must be transformed. For this to happen, peacebuilding must be linked to reconciliation goals.
National Cultural Autonomy in Russia: A Case of Symbolic Law
Authors: Osipov Alexander 
Published: March 2010

AbstractIn this article, the author discusses the Russian experience in utilizing the no- tion of non-territorial, or 'national cultural', autonomy for the management of ethnic diversity. The term 'national-cultural autonomy' can be used to mean several things, including a right, a political principle, and a specific type of organization. The author assumes that such notions as autonomy, ethnicity, group, and culture should not be reified, and must be regarded as practical categories with shifting meanings and implications; he also emphasizes the need to distinguish between symbolic and instrumental law. The point of departure is the disjuncture between the high symbolic status and negligible instrumental value of national-cultural autonomy in Russia. The author provides an overview of the Russian legislation on nongovernmental organizations, of the 1996 Federal Law on National-Cultural Autonomy, and of other legislation incorporating the notion of national-cultural autonomy. He concludes that NCAs, which are legally defined as NGOs, face a number of disadvantages vis-à-vis other types of NGOs. National-cultural autonomy also should not be seen as a political tool, since no efforts have been made to implement the goals declared or implied in the law or in official statements. In the meantime, the idea of national-cultural autonomy is highly valued, and the number of NCAs in Russia has been growing over the years. The author concludes that the very issue of national-cultural autonomy in Russia should not be regarded in terms of the law and legal regulation; rather, it must be seen in terms of symbolism. The idea of national-cultural autonomy is a component of the Russian public consensus on the way ethnic diversity should be described and managed.
Future, Past and Present in Russian Constitutional Politics: Russian Constitutions in a Conceptual-Historical Perspective
Authors: Ruutu Katja 
Published: March 2010

AbstractThe present article uses the methods of conceptual history to investigate the transformation of Soviet and Russian constitutional concepts. My intention is to show the whole constitutional movement of Russia, and to focus on the 'time layers' (future, past and present) used by actors in constructing the key concepts that inform the narratives of the constitutional unity of the Soviet Union/Russian Federation. By focusing on the six constitutions adopted in the Soviet Union/Russian Federation, the article will seek to show that Soviet/Russian conceptual history is more multifaceted, and more political in nature, than is commonly thought. Because the political unity of the state was restricted not only by the constitution, but also by the party ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, political debates concerning constitutional concepts represented the key discussions for all the reformative pursuits of Soviet politics. Constitutional concepts were the most important means to argue and create a basis for a new political presentation and new political programs. This pattern has also been typical of present-day Russian politics, with the difference that, so far, only one constitution has been adopted in the Russian Federation. Specifically, we will seek to relate Putin's constitutional concepts to the textual base, and the political background, of the previous constitutions. On a more general level, the present article should contribute to the development of a theory of periodization that takes into consideration the shifts in a period's key concepts and vocabularies.
Pharmacoepidemiology of triptans in a headache centre
Authors: Ferrari Anna , Spaccapelo Luca , Sternieri Emilio 
Published: March 2010

Aims: The aims of this survey were: (i) to examine the pharmacoepidemiology of triptans in a headache centre; (ii) to compare the characteristics of patients who continued to take triptans with those of patients who had discontinued them. Methods: We enrolled all migraine patients according to ICHD-II criteria, ensuring they were over 18 years of age, consecutively examined during a follow-up visit at the Headache Centre of the University Hospital of Modena from October 2008 to March 2009. Only patients who had used or were using a triptan were included. A specific questionnaire about the use and tolerability of triptans was created for the study and administered to every patient. Results: On the whole, 343 patients (migraine without aura: 72%; chronic migraine: 26%; migraine with aura: 2%; mean age 40.4 ± 10 years) had used or were using triptans. Most patients (72%) continued to use triptans, above all for their efficacy. The minority (28%) discontinuing them were younger and suffered from less severe migraine; 59% of them had discontinued triptans because of adverse effects. Indeed, 92% of these patients versus 57% of patients who were currently using triptans reported adverse effects ( p < .0001, Fisher’s exact test). The number of patients reporting adverse effects significantly decreased with age ( r = −0.230, p < .005, simple linear regression analysis). The triptan discontinued by the highest percentage of patients (84%) was subcutaneous 6 mg sumatriptan. Significantly more patients reported adverse effects with subcutaneous 6 mg (89%) and tablet 100 mg sumatriptan (67%) than with any other triptan. Conclusions: The increase of the tolerability of triptans with age could partly explain why younger patients suffering from less severe migraine tend to discontinue triptans more than older patients suffering from more severe migraine. In the latter, the efficacy and better tolerability (but not necessarily safety) of triptans could foster the overuse of these medications.
OnabotulinumtoxinA for treatment of chronic migraine: Results from the double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled phase of the PREEMPT 1 trial
Authors: Aurora SK , Dodick DW , Turkel CC , DeGryse RE , Silberstein SD , Lipton RB , Diener HC , Brin MF 
Published: March 2010

Objectives: This is the first of a pair of studies designed to assess efficacy, safety and tolerability of onabotulinumtoxinA (BOTOX®) as headache prophylaxis in adults with chronic migraine. Methods: The Phase III REsearch Evaluating Migraine Prophylaxis Therapy 1 (PREEMPT 1) is a phase 3 study, with a 24-week, double-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled phase followed by a 32-week, open-label phase. Subjects were randomized (1:1) to injections every 12 weeks of onabotulinumtoxinA (155 U–195 U; n = 341) or placebo ( n = 338) (two cycles). The primary endpoint was mean change from baseline in headache episode frequency at week 24. Results: No significant between-group difference for onabotulinumtoxinA versus placebo was observed for the primary endpoint, headache episodes (−5.2 vs. −5.3; p = 0.344). Large within-group decreases from baseline were observed for all efficacy variables. Significant between-group differences for onabotulinumtoxinA were observed for the secondary endpoints, headache days ( p = .006) and migraine days ( p = 0.002). OnabotulinumtoxinA was safe and well tolerated, with few treatment-related adverse events. Few subjects discontinued due to adverse events. Conclusions: There was no between-group difference for the primary endpoint, headache episodes. However, significant reductions from baseline were observed for onabotulinumtoxinA for headache and migraine days, cumulative hours of headache on headache days and frequency of moderate/severe headache days, which in turn reduced the burden of illness in adults with disabling chronic migraine.
Gene regulatory networks modelling using a dynamic evolutionary hybrid
Authors: Maraziotis Ioannis A , Dragomir Andrei , Thanos Dimitris 
Published: March 2010

Abstract

Background
Inference of gene regulatory networks is a key goal in the quest for understanding fundamental cellular processes and revealing underlying relations among genes. With the availability of gene expression data, computational methods aiming at regulatory networks reconstruction are facing challenges posed by the data's high dimensionality, temporal dynamics or measurement noise. We propose an approach based on a novel multi-layer evolutionary trained neuro-fuzzy recurrent network (ENFRN) that is able to select potential regulators of target genes and describe their regulation type.

Results
The recurrent, self-organizing structure and evolutionary training of our network yield an optimized pool of regulatory relations, while its fuzzy nature avoids noise-related problems. Furthermore, we are able to assign scores for each regulation, highlighting the confidence in the retrieved relations. The approach was tested by applying it to several benchmark datasets of yeast, managing to acquire biologically validated relations among genes.

Conclusions
The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the ENFRN in retrieving biologically valid regulatory relations and providing meaningful insights for better understanding the dynamics of gene regulatory networks.
The algorithms and methods described in this paper have been implemented in a Matlab toolbox and are available from: http://bioserver-1.bioacademy.gr/DataRepository/Project_ENFRN_GRN/.
YODA: Software to facilitate high-throughput analysis of chronological life span, growth rate, and survival in budding yeast
Authors: Olsen Brady , Murakami Christopher J , Kaeberlein Matt 
Published: March 2010

Abstract

Background
The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is one of the most widely studied model organisms in aging-related science. Although several genetic modifiers of yeast longevity have been identified, the utility of this system for longevity studies has been limited by a lack of high-throughput assays for quantitatively measuring survival of individual yeast cells during aging.

Results
Here we describe the Yeast Outgrowth Data Analyzer (YODA), an automated system for analyzing population survival of yeast cells based on the kinetics of outgrowth measured by optical density over time. YODA has been designed specifically for quantification of yeast chronological life span, but can also be used to quantify growth rate and survival of yeast cells in response to a variety of different conditions, including temperature, nutritional composition of the growth media, and chemical treatments. YODA is optimized for use with a Bioscreen C MBR shaker/incubator/plate reader, but is also amenable to use with any standard plate reader or spectrophotometer.

Conclusions
We estimate that use of YODA as described here reduces the effort and resources required to measure chronological life span and analyze the resulting data by at least 15-fold.
MPprimer: a program for reliable multiplex PCR primer design
Authors: Shen Zhiyong , Qu Wubin , Wang Wen , Lu Yiming , Wu Yonghong , Li Zhifeng , Hang Xingyi , Wang Xiaolei , Zhao Dongsheng , Zhang Chenggang 
Published: March 2010

Abstract

Background
Multiplex PCR, defined as the simultaneous amplification of multiple regions of a DNA template or multiple DNA templates using more than one primer set (comprising a forward primer and a reverse primer) in one tube, has been widely used in diagnostic applications of clinical and environmental microbiology studies. However, primer design for multiplex PCR is still a challenging problem and several factors need to be considered. These problems include mis-priming due to nonspecific binding to non-target DNA templates, primer dimerization, and the inability to separate and purify DNA amplicons with similar electrophoretic mobility.

Results
A program named MPprimer was developed to help users for reliable multiplex PCR primer design. It employs the widely used primer design program Primer3 and the primer specificity evaluation program MFEprimer to design and evaluate the candidate primers based on genomic or transcript DNA database, followed by careful examination to avoid primer dimerization. The graph-expanding algorithm derived from the greedy algorithm was used to determine the optimal primer set combinations (PSCs) for multiplex PCR assay. In addition, MPprimer provides a virtual electrophotogram to help users choose the best PSC. The experimental validation from 2× to 5× plex PCR demonstrates the reliability of MPprimer. As another example, MPprimer is able to design the multiplex PCR primers for DMD (dystrophin gene which caused Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy), which has 79 exons, for 20×, 20×, 20×, 14×, and 5× plex PCR reactions in five tubes to detect underlying exon deletions.

Conclusions
MPprimer is a valuable tool for designing specific, non-dimerizing primer set combinations with constrained amplicons size for multiplex PCR assays.