Mind, Body, Motion, Matter

Mind, Body, Motion, Matter investigates the relationship between the eighteenth century’s two predominant approaches to the natural world – mechanistic materialism and vitalism – in the works of leading British and French writers such as Daniel Defoe, William Hogarth, Laurence Sterne, the third Earl of Shaftesbury and Denis Diderot. Focusing on embodied experience and the materialization of thought in poetry, novels, art, and religion, the literary scholars in this collection offer new and intriguing readings of these canonical authors. Informed by contemporary currents such as new materialism, cognitive studies, media theory, and post-secularism, their essays demonstrate the volatility of the core ideas opened up by materialism and the possibilities of an aesthetic vitalism of form. This title was made Open Access by libraries from around the world through Knowledge Unlatched

Confidence and Constraint: Public Opinion, Judicial Independence, and the Roberts Court

This Article uses statistical models to show the relationship between public opinion of the Supreme Court and the Court’s propensity to invalidate federal laws on constitutional grounds. Merril, Conway, and Ura analyze this connection to underscore the loss of judicial independence as a result of declining public opinion. The authors note this decline in public opinion allows the President and Congress to leverage public opinion against the Court in order to influence whether a federal law will be invalidated

Longitudinal and cross-sectional modelling of health related quality of life in people with cystic fibrosis

People with cystic fibrosis (CF) must endure up to four hours treatment per day to maintain health and are vulnerable to complications. The Cystic Fibrosis Quality of Life Questionnaire was developed to measure health related quality of life (HRQoL) in the UK. Most studies on HRQoL are cross-sectional in design with HRQoL measured once per patient. However, the Cystic Fibrosis Quality of Life Questionnaire has been used to monitor HRQoL longitudinally with measures taken over a 12 year period at one clinic in the UK. These data were modelled with a binomial distribution for a domain score and with fixed and random coefficients for the patient-level clinical and demographic variables. The longitudinal study included 182 patients whose HRQoL was first measured within a single calendar year and were then followed-up. These data provided an opportunity to compare, directly and by simulation, the modelling of a cross-sectional with the modelling of a longitudinal study and so provided insights into the statistical merits of longitudinal studies compared to cross-sectional studies in HRQoL

Merger Success Factors - An Examination of the Australian Not-for-Profit Aged and Community Care Sector

This research investigated the drivers and success factors for mergers in the Australian not-­for-­profit aged and community care sector. In response to increased demand for aged and community care services and changing expectations of an ageing population, the Australian government is embarking on significant national health reforms to deliver a more market driven service. For a sector dominated by the not-­for-­profit providers, this new competitive paradigm will be an industry shock of such magnitude that it will transform how the sector operates in the future. A literature review of the corporate and health sector confirmed that restructure through mergers is one way for a sector to adapt to industry shocks. An examination of the national profile of the Australian aged and community care sector confirmed that mergers are occurring. Between 2003 and 2010, the sector consolidated by 10% whilst the number of operational services/outlets increased by 23%. The drivers and success factors of mergers in the sector were investigated by drawing on data from an online questionnaire of the not-­for-­profit aged and community care providers in NSW and ACT, as well as in-­depth interviews of six industry CEOs. Mergers and amalgamations are perceived to deliver financial sustainability and allow organisations to position themselves strategically, enabling organisations to adapt to the industry shock of the national health reforms and deliver better client outcomes. The literature review and data collected from CEO interviews emphasised hat post-merger integration is critical in realising the anticipated merger gains. This research demonstrated that the industry will be required to balance the tension between external environmental forces, internal governance activities and internal relationship challenges to maximise the probability of a successful merger

Urinary 11-dehydrothromboxane B₂ concentrations in 20 dogs with primary immune-mediated hemolytic anemia

Background: Thromboembolic disease is a major cause of mortality in dogs with immune-mediated hemolytic anemia (IMHA). At present, no reliable biomarkers of individual patient thrombotic risk are available. In human medicine, increased urinary thromboxane concentrations have utility as markers of prothrombotic tendency in various situations. Hypothesis/Objectives: First, to determine if urinary 11-dehydrothromboxane B2 (u11-dTXB) concentrations are increased in dogs with primary IMHA compared to normal dogs; second, to assess whether u11-dTXB concentration is associated with survival, known prognostic indicators, or frequency of thrombosis in dogs with IMHA. Animals: Twenty client-owned dogs diagnosed with primary IMHA and 17 healthy dogs volunteered by hospital staff. Methods: Prospective case-control study. A previously validated ELISA was used to measure urine 11-dTXB concentrations, which were normalized to urine creatinine concentration (u11-dTXB:Cr). Samples were obtained at presentation from patients with primary IMHA. Standard clincopathological data at baseline and survival data were collected. Urinary 11-dTXB:Cr was compared between outcome subgroups, and correlated with known markers of disease severity. Results: Baseline u11-dTXB:Cr was significantly higher in dogs with IMHA than in healthy dogs (median, 3.75; range, 0.83-25.36 vs 0.65; 0.24-2.57; P = .003) but did not differ between dogs with IMHA that survived and did not survive to 30 days after presentation, nor between dogs with and without clinical suspicion of thrombotic disease. Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Urinary 11-dTXB:Cr is increased in dogs with IMHA compared to healthy controls, consistent with a prothrombotic state. However, in this IMHA population u11-dTXB:Cr was not associated with survival or suspected thrombosis

Ice sheet record of recent sea-ice behavior and polynya variability in the Amundsen Sea, West Antarctica

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2013. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 118 (2013): 118–130, doi:10.1029/2012JC008077.Our understanding of past sea-ice variability is limited by the short length of satellite and instrumental records. Proxy records can extend these observations but require further development and validation. We compare methanesulfonic acid (MSA) and chloride (Cl–) concentrations from a new firn core from coastal West Antarctica with satellite-derived observations of regional sea-ice concentration (SIC) in the Amundsen Sea (AS) to evaluate spatial and temporal correlations from 2002–2010. The high accumulation rate (~39 g∙cm–2∙yr–1) provides monthly resolved records of MSA and Cl–, allowing detailed investigation of how regional SIC is recorded in the ice-sheet stratigraphy. Over the period 2002–2010 we find that the ice-sheet chemistry is significantly correlated with SIC variability within the AS and Pine Island Bay polynyas. Based on this result, we evaluate the use of ice-core chemistry as a proxy for interannual polynya variability in this region, one of the largest and most persistent polynya areas in Antarctica. MSA concentrations correlate strongly with summer SIC within the polynya regions, consistent with MSA at this site being derived from marine biological productivity during the spring and summer. Cl– concentrations correlate strongly with winter SIC within the polynyas as well as some regions outside the polynyas, consistent with Cl– at this site originating primarily from winter sea-ice formation. Spatial correlations were generally insignificant outside of the polynya areas, with some notable exceptions. Ice-core glaciochemical records from this dynamic region thus may provide a proxy for reconstructing AS and Pine Island Bay polynya variability prior to the satellite era.This research was supported by an award from the Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Fellowship Program (DOE SCGF) to ASC, a James E. and Barbara V. Moltz Research Fellowship to SBD, and by grants from NSF-OPP (#ANT-0632031 & #ANT-0631973); NSF-MRI (#EAR-1126217); NASA Cryosphere Program (#NNX10AP09G); and a WHOI Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Award for Innovative Research.2013-07-2

Let's Hear It from the Board...: An analysis of regional development governance in Western Australia and New South Wales

This research examines how board members of regional development agencies in Australia interpret and perform their governance role, and considers what this tells us about the nature of regional development governance. With no previous research into these women and men who accept appointment onto these boards, the board experience has been uncharted and board members invisible in their roles. This research focuses on the boards of state government funded regional development agencies in two states, New South Wales (NSW) and Western Australia (WA). Board members of these agencies are ministerial appointees. Six boards were identified on the basis of geographically dispersed locations, three boards in each state. Fifty-three board members were interviewed (twenty-one women and thirty-two men) from these selected boards in primarily face to face, semi-structured interviews which allowed for issues to be explored during the interview. This research uses grounded theory to analyse the way in which board members describe their boardroom experience and board role to reveal patterns and variations in the way in which regional development governance is practiced

P Cygni Profiles of Molecular Lines Toward Arp 220 Nuclei

We report ~100 pc (0farcs3) resolution observations of (sub)millimeter HCO+ and CO lines in the ultraluminous infrared galaxy Arp 220. The lines peak at two merger nuclei, with HCO+ being more spatially concentrated than CO. Asymmetric line profiles with blueshifted absorption and redshifted emission are discovered in HCO+(3-2) and (4-3) toward the two nuclei and in CO(3-2) toward one nucleus. We suggest that these P Cygni profiles are due to ~100 km s–1 outward motion of molecular gas from the nuclei. This gas is most likely outflowing from the inner regions of the two nuclear disks rotating around individual nuclei, clearing the shroud around the luminosity sources there