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In this book, Booth analyses at length the available data and types of measurement used to be able to say with any certainty what prevailing living standards are in particular societies at particular times as well as comparatively across societies. While it is only possible to gloss Booth's detailed and complex arguments here, the discussion in chapter 8 is an important one for considering how poverty can be reduced and livelihoods improved through policy interventions. Living standards in Southeast Asia: Changes over the long twentieth century, 1900-2015. [Extracted from the article]

'Kebun culture' is a distinctive, emergent form of rural sensibility and social‐economic relations in Malaysia. As a contribution to theories of 'planetary' or thoroughgoing urbanization, the ethnographic evidence presented in the article illustrate a case of urban annexation of rurality, in which kebun (orchards) are detached from the social organization of rural villages and incorporated into urban‐centered Malay society. Kebun, as productive land with non‐rice crops, have traditionally been associated with rural kampung (village). In the late twentieth century, thoroughgoing urbanization, driven by both rural‐to‐urban migration and in situ urbanization of rural kampung, simultaneously produced a social disintegration of Malay kampung and increasingly urban‐oriented Malay society. The kebun, which previously was an ancillary part of kampung social ecology has become dissociated from kampung and instead operates as an annex of urban‐centered social lives. Kebun are also distinctively individuated rather than communal socio‐economic projects. In both reserve lands and kampung areas, urban‐based Malays and rural‐to‐urban return migrants are involved in kebun projects, through which they engage with nostalgic notions of rurality, but without the social entanglements of kampung social relations. At the same time, through kebun projects, urban Malay subjects enter into new social relations, albeit ones marked by commodification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article shares some key guidelines on how social science researchers and academia can strengthen their presence both nationally and worldwide. Topics mentioned include some barriers and opportunities facing the field of social science in Asia, the importance of having a self-awareness on the state of social science, the need to familiarize the use of journal databases, and the assessment of the form and style of writing about social science research.

The synthesis and crystal structures of 2-(4-fluoro­phen­yl)-3-phenyl-2,3-di­hydro-4H-pyrido[3,2-e][1,3]thia­zin-4-one toluene hemisolvate (1), C19H13FN2OS·0.5C7H8, and 2-(4-nitro­phen­yl)-3-phenyl-2,3-di­hydro-4H-pyrido[3,2-e][1,3]thia­zin-4-one iso­propanol 0.25-solvate 0.0625-hydrate (2), C19H13N3O3S·0.25C3H7O·0.0625H2O, are reported. Both are racemic mixtures (centrosymmetric crystal structures) of the individual com­pounds and incorporate solvent mol­ecules in their structures. Compound 2 has four thia­zine mol­ecules in the asymmetric unit. All the thia­zine rings in this study show an envelope pucker, with the C atom bearing the substituted phenyl ring displaced from the other atoms. The phenyl and aryl rings in each of the mol­ecules are roughly orthogonal to each other, with dihedral angles of about 75°. The extended structures of 1 and 2 are consolidated by C—H∙∙∙O and C—H∙∙∙N(π), as well as T-type (C—H∙∙∙π) inter­actions. Parallel aromatic ring inter­actions (π–π stacking) are observed only in 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have related enhancements of theta- (∼4-8 Hz) and alpha-power (∼8-13 Hz) to listening effort based on parallels between enhancement and task difficulty. In contrast, nonauditory works demonstrate that, although increases in difficulty are initially accompanied by increases in effort, effort decreases when a task becomes so difficult as to exceed one's ability. Given the latter, we examined whether theta- and alpha-power enhancements thought to reflect effortful listening show a quadratic trend across levels of listening difficulty from impossible to easy. Listeners ( n = 14) performed an auditory delayed match-to-sample task with frequency-modulated tonal sweeps under impossible, difficult (at ∼70.7% correct threshold), and easy (well above threshold) conditions. Frontal midline theta-power and posterior alpha-power enhancements were observed during the retention interval, with greatest enhancement in the difficult condition. Independent component-based analyses of data suggest that theta-power enhancements stemmed from medial frontal sources at or near the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas alpha-power effects stemmed from occipital cortices. Results support the notion that theta- and alpha-power enhancements reflect effortful cognitive processes during listening, related to auditory working memory and the inhibition of task-irrelevant cortical processing regions, respectively. Theta- and alpha-power dynamics can be used to characterize the cognitive processes that make up effortful listening, including qualitatively different types of listening effort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Many African governments, faced with low rural incomes and food security challenges, have developed input subsidy programs in order to enhance agricultural productivity. This paper adds to recent literature analyzing the effects of input subsidy programs and gender on crop diversification in Sub-Saharan Africa. We investigate the effect of Zambia’s input subsidy program on crop allocation patterns by gender. In relatively land abundant Zambia, we test both single-equation crop diversification index models and multivariate regression models of cropland allocation. Our study finds that input subsidies reduce crop diversification more in male-headed households than in female-headed households. Further, multivariate regression results confirm that this occurs because female-headed households expand maize acreage less in response to the input subsidy. These findings suggest that greater cropland diversification will be maintained if input subsidy programs are accompanied by loan programs and other assistance which support leadership roles for women in farm households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patients with incomplete surgical resection of medulloblastoma are controversially regarded as having a marker of high-risk disease, which leads to patients undergoing aggressive surgical resections, so-called second-look surgeries, and intensified chemoradiotherapy. All previous studies assessing the clinical importance of extent of resection have not accounted for molecular subgroup. We analysed the prognostic value of extent of resection in a subgroup-specific manner.Methods: We retrospectively identified patients who had a histological diagnosis of medulloblastoma and complete data about extent of resection and survival from centres participating in the Medulloblastoma Advanced Genomics International Consortium. We collected from resections done between April, 1997, and February, 2013, at 35 international institutions. We established medulloblastoma subgroup affiliation by gene expression profiling on frozen or formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues. We classified extent of resection on the basis of postoperative imaging as gross total resection (no residual tumour), near-total resection (<1·5 cm(2) tumour remaining), or sub-total resection (≥1·5 cm(2) tumour remaining). We did multivariable analyses of overall survival and progression-free survival using the variables molecular subgroup (WNT, SHH, group 4, and group 3), age (<3 vs ≥3 years old), metastatic status (metastases vs no metastases), geographical location of therapy (North America/Australia vs rest of the world), receipt of chemotherapy (yes vs no) and receipt of craniospinal irradiation (<30 Gy or >30 Gy vs no craniospinal irradiation). The primary analysis outcome was the effect of extent of resection by molecular subgroup and the effects of other clinical variables on overall and progression-free survival.Findings: We included 787 patients with medulloblastoma (86 with WNT tumours, 242 with SHH tumours, 163 with group 3 tumours, and 296 with group 4 tumours) in our multivariable Cox models of progression-free and overall survival. We found that the prognostic benefit of increased extent of resection for patients with medulloblastoma is attenuated after molecular subgroup affiliation is taken into account. We identified a progression-free survival benefit for gross total resection over sub-total resection (hazard ratio [HR] 1·45, 95% CI 1·07-1·96, p=0·16) but no overall survival benefit (HR 1·23, 0·87-1·72, p=0·24). We saw no progression-free survival or overall survival benefit for gross total resection compared with near-total resection (HR 1·05, 0·71-1·53, p=0·8158 for progression-free survival and HR 1·14, 0·75-1·72, p=0·55 for overall survival). No significant survival benefit existed for greater extent of resection for patients with WNT, SHH, or group 3 tumours (HR 1·03, 0·67-1·58, p=0·89 for sub-total resection vs gross total resection). For patients with group 4 tumours, gross total resection conferred a benefit to progression-free survival compared with sub-total resection (HR 1·97, 1·22-3·17, p=0·0056), especially for those with metastatic disease (HR 2·22, 1·00-4·93, p=0·050). However, gross total resection had no effect on overall survival compared with sub-total resection in patients with group 4 tumours (HR 1·67, 0·93-2·99, p=0·084).Interpretation: The prognostic benefit of increased extent of resection for patients with medulloblastoma is attenuated after molecular subgroup affiliation is taken into account. Although maximum safe surgical resection should remain the standard of care, surgical removal of small residual portions of medulloblastoma is not recommended when the likelihood of neurological morbidity is high because there is no definitive benefit to gross total resection compared with near-total resection.Funding: Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute, Terry Fox Research Institute, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, National Institutes of Health, Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, and the Garron Family Chair in Childhood Cancer Research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farang (foreign, Caucasian) men have played a significant role in Thai society for several decades as sex tourists and, more recently, as farang sons-in-law, men who marry Thai wives and often settle down in rural Thai villages. While both of these phenomena have received considerable attention, in neither case have the experiences and motivations of the farang men involved been adequately examined. Based on fieldwork in Bangkok and the northeast region of Isan, we examine the relationship between emergent masculinities of sex tourist and son-in-law at a societal level and the transient subjectivities of men who experience them. Anthropological theory regularly conflates subjectivities and the cultural and social formations, particularly "identities," that shape them. On the basis of our analysis, we argue that a distinction between the two is needed in order to adequately theorize changing masculinities. The ways in which men's subjective experiences of masculinity change are different from the ways in which culturally shared, socially constructed, and politically-economically facilitated masculine identities emerge. We caution that evidence of the former--transient subjectivity at an individual level--is not evidence of the latter--changing or emergent masculine identities at a societal level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guanine nucleotide exchange factors directly activated by cAMP (Epacs) have emerged as important signaling molecules mediating persistent hypersensitivity in animal models of inflammation, by augmenting the excitability of sensory neurons. Although Epacs activate numerous downstream signaling cascades, the intracellular signaling which mediates Epac-induced sensitization of capsaicin-sensitive sensory neurons remains unknown. Here, we demonstrate that selective activation of Epacs with 8-CPT-2′-O-Me-cAMP-AM (8CPT-AM) increases the number of action potentials (APs) generated by a ramp of depolarizing current and augments the evoked release of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) from isolated rat sensory neurons. Internal perfusion of capsaicin-sensitive sensory neurons with GDP-βS, substituted for GTP, blocks the ability of 8CPT-AM to increase AP firing, demonstrating that Epac-induced sensitization is G-protein dependent. Treatment with 8CPT-AM activates the small G-proteins Rap1 and Ras in cultures of sensory neurons. Inhibition of Rap1, by internal perfusion of a Rap1-neutralizing antibody or through a reduction in the expression of the protein using shRNA does not alter the Epac-induced enhancement of AP generation or CGRP release, despite the fact that in most other cell types, Epacs act as Rap-GEFs. In contrast, inhibition of Ras through expression of a dominant negative Ras (DN-Ras) or through internal perfusion of a Ras-neutralizing antibody blocks the increase in AP firing and attenuates the increase in the evoked release of CGRP induced by Epac activation. Thus, in this subpopulation of nociceptive sensory neurons, it is the novel interplay between Epacs and Ras, rather than the canonical Epacs and Rap1 pathway, that is critical for mediating Epac-induced sensitization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speech recognition was measured as a function of the target-to-masker ratio (TMR) with syntactically similar speech maskers. In the first experiment, listeners were instructed to report keywords from the target sentence. Data averaged across listeners showed a plateau in performance below 0 dB TMR when masker and target sentences were from the same talker. In this experiment, some listeners tended to report the target words at all TMRs in accordance with the instructions, while others reported keywords from the louder of the sentences, contrary to the instructions. In the second experiment, stimuli were the same as in the first experiment, but listeners were also instructed to avoid reporting the masker keywords, and a payoff matrix penalizing masker keywords and rewarding target keywords was used. In this experiment, listeners reduced the number of reported masker keywords, and increased the number of reported target keywords overall, and the average data showed a local minimum at 0dB TMR with same-talker maskers. The best overall performance with a same-talker masker was obtained with a level difference of 9dB, where listeners achieved near perfect performance when the target was louder, and at least 80% correct performance when the target was the quieter of the two sentences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I argue that three modalities of citizenship are at play in Singapore: liberal, communal and social. Using a grounded theoretical approach, I highlight the instances in which these modes of conceptualizing citizenship appear in discourse, practice and policy. While past scholarship has highlighted the contrast between liberal and communal modes of citizenship, the social mode has been largely subsumed and obscured within the rubric of communal (or communitarian) democracy and ethno-nationalist citizenship. The article analyzes the interplay among these three modes of citizenship as they played out in the discourse surrounding the 2011 General Election in Singapore. The tension between citizens and noncitizens has become a central political issue in Singapore. Less recognized, but highlighted in my analysis, liberal and communal senses of citizenship are in tension not only with each other but also with a notion of thesocialbased on relationships of mutual benefit and obligation rather than communal, categorical belonging. Drawing on Robert Esposito's critique of modern ideas of community and (re)theorization ofcommunitas, I argue that in the case of Singapore and elsewhere, reintroducing a notion of the social (as distinct from the communal) holds potential for discourses, practices and policies that can transcend the divisiveness associated with communalism and the socioeconomic inequalities associated with liberalism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study tested the hypothesis that the reduced spatial release from speech-on-speech masking typically observed in listeners with sensorineural hearing loss results from increased energetic masking. Target sentences were presented simultaneously with a speech masker, and the spectral overlap between the pair (and hence the energetic masking) was systematically varied. The results are consistent with increased energetic masking in listeners with hearing loss that limits performance when listening in speech mixtures. However, listeners with hearing loss did not exhibit reduced spatial release from masking when stimuli were filtered into narrow bands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International marriage migration is a fraught terrain of gender and power relations.Based on research among Thai women married to Singaporean men, we argue thatpatriarchal outcomes - a distinctive system of transnational patriarchy - result from acomplex interaction of women, men and nation-states. We draw on Deniz Kandiyoti'sinsights into patriarchal bargains as a productive framework through which to identifykey elements in the making of transnational patriarchal relations. This article provides adetailed account of conditions in Thailand, Singapore and the contact zones in whichThai women and Singaporean men negotiate marriage migration. Relating this case toprevious research, particularly among Filipina migrant women, demonstrates points ofcommonality while also highlighting the importance of attending to difference anddiversity among transnational contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inhibition of sulfonylurea receptor 1 (SUR1) by glyburide has been shown to decrease edema after subarachnoid hemorrhage.We investigated if inhibiting SUR1 reduces cerebral edema due to metastases, the most common brain tumor, and explored the putative association of SUR1 and the endothelial tight junction protein, zona occludens-1 (ZO-1). Nude rats were intracerebrally implanted with small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) LX1 or A2058 melanoma cells (n = 36). Rats were administered vehicle, glyburide (4.8 μg twice, orally), or dexamethasone (0.35 mg, intravenous). Blood-tumor barrier (BTB) permeability (Ktrans) was evaluated before and after treatment using dynamic contrastenhanced magnetic resonance imaging. SUR1 and ZO-1 expression was evaluated using immunofluorescence and Western blots. In both models, SUR1 expression was significantly increased (P<.05) in tumors. In animals with SCLC, control mean Ktrans (percent change ± standard error) was 101.8 ± 36.6%, and both glyburide (-21.4 ± 14.2%, P < .01) and dexamethasone (-14.2 ± 13.1%, P < .01) decreased BTB permeability. In animals with melanoma, compared to controls (117.1 ± 43.4%), glyburide lowered BTB permeability increase (3.2 ± 15.4%, P < .05), while dexamethasone modestly lowered BTB permeability increase (63.1 ± 22.1%, P > .05). Both glyburide (P < .001) and dexamethasone (P < .01) decreased ZO-1 gap formation. By decreasing ZO-1 gaps, glyburide was at least as effective as dexamethasone at halting increased BTB permeability caused by SCLC and melanoma. Glyburide is a safe, inexpensive, and efficacious alternative to dexamethasone for the treatment of cerebral metastasis--related vasogenic edema. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blogshops, online sites in which young women model and sell apparel via social media, have exploded onto the Singapore Internet scene. As an extremely popular form of e-commerce, blogshops have catapulted their owners and blogshop models to wealth and fame. The success of blogshops trades on commercial intimacies cultivated by blogshop models and the involvement of blogshop consumers in practices which economic anthropologist Robert Foster identifies as "value (co-)creation." Whereas Foster and others have examined the creation of mass-mediated product intimacy around items such as detergents and soft drinks, we argue that in blogshops the micro-mediated (co-)creation of value rests on persona intimacy. Value (co-)creation does not focus on products per se. Rather it takes place around the online "micro-celebrity" of blogshop models and senses of homo-social intimacy between the persona of models and their audience of readers-cum-consumers. This focus on blogshop models' persona implicates both models and consumers in a homo-social discourse around emphasized femininities, in which women's bodies are subjected to a refracted male gaze carried out by women in the absence of men. This discourse within the commercial sphere produces powerful and disciplining effects for both blogshop consumers and the models themselves, thus highlighting deeply gendered intersections of femininity and commerce in online processes of value (co-)creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Over several generations, since the mid-20th century, anthropology has become an established academic discipline throughout much of Southeast Asia. Academic anthropology in Southeast Asia is emerging as a scholarly practice driven increasingly by local initiatives and dynamics, though still maintaining ties to global academic networks. The purpose of this article is to contribute to an assessment and understanding of the national traditions and transnational practices of anthropology in Southeast Asia through a comparative perspective. I focus on four national traditions - those of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. While providing a comprehensive account of these diverse traditions and practices is not possible in the space of a single article, I attend to four significant issues relevant to the current state of anthropology across the region. First, I compare the emergent national traditions of the four countries, focusing on the transnational conditions shaping their development, particularly in the late colonial and early post-colonial period (i.e., the mid-20th century). Second, I compare the structuring of anthropological selves and others across these traditions, which shapes the ways in which anthropologists see their work and the people they write about. Third, I discuss ways in which localised anthropological practice can and should contribute to theory building by way of grounded theory and critical translation projects. And finally, I conclude by examining emergent transnational linkages and practices, which suggest current directions that anthropology is taking in the region. While only a partial of narrative anthropology in Southeast Asia, this article is a provocation to think beyond both the older dynamics of the-West-versus-the-rest and the newer constraints of methodological nationalism in anthropologists' on-going efforts to build a vital and valuable discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A few extensively studied downhole seismic arrays are commonly used in detailed site response studies. Thus, there is a critical need to increase the number of sites that are used to compare soil constitutive models. Toward this end, we develop a classification scheme for downhole arrays that identifies stations where common wave propagation assumptions are valid. For stations where the one-dimensional (1D) assumption does not hold, we identify different levels of complexity that must be accounted for, which is a function of the inter-event variability and the similarity between the empirical and one-dimensional theoretical transfer functions. The classification is based on 100 seismic arrays in Japan that have recorded surface accelerations in excess of 0.3g, 69 of which exhibit low inter-event variability. The response at 16 of these sites resembles the one-dimensional response, while the others deviate from one-dimensional behavior, indicating that the one-dimensional assumption is not acceptable in most cases. We check our interpretation of the taxonomy with field investigations at two stations. The field observations show large lateral variations of the velocity profile across distances of hundreds of meters at the station where we expect the one-dimensional assumption does not hold. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

National museums are exemplary sites through which nations tell their story and represent themselves to their citizens and others. The national museum has replaced the colonial museum identified by Anderson in Imagined Communities, as a modem technology and form of communication through which national communities are brought into being. Yet national museums tell other stories as well. In this article, I examine how national museums represent the world beyond the nation. Based on an examination of twelve national or national-type .museums in seven Southeast Asian countries, I argue that national museums produce representations of the world beyond the nation and specifically of Southeast Asia that enframe and produce the geo-body of the nation state while simultaneously creating particular imaginaries of the world beyond, including a common use of contemporary Southeast Asia as a regional enframing device. While all national museums frame the nation in reference to the world beyond, they do so in significantly different ways with implications for the international and regional orientations of citizens of Southeast Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Object: The differential diagnosis of hypothalamic masses in children includes hamartomas, which are associated with gelastic seizures and endocrine dysfunction. The purpose of this study was to utilize transendoscopic electroencephalography (EEG) recording at the time of tissue biopsy to further assist in diagnosis, determination of prognosis, and treatment planning. Methods: We present the case of an infant with gelastic seizures and a large hypothalamic mass lesion. Despite a clinical and radiographic presentation typical of hypothalamic hamartoma (HH), slight growth on serial imaging raised concern for a diagnosis of intrinsic neoplasm. Biopsy of the lesion was recommended. Results: Transventricular, endoscopic biopsy, was undertaken, with concurrent intraoperative, transendoscopic EEG recording using a standard epilepsy depth recording macroelectrode. Numerous electrographic seizures were recorded. Histopathology revealed a HH. Conclusion: This is the first report of intraoperative macroelectrode recording of electrographic seizures transendoscopically from a HH. This technique may prove useful for diagnosis, prognosis and treatment planning, as well as to guide transendoscopic therapeutic interventions for HH. Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research analyzes manufacturing growth and decline across metropolitan and nonmetropolitan regions during the 1972-2002 period. We decompose real value added growth across local labor market areas in the lower 48 U.S. states into contributions from labor, capital, and total factor productivity. We then estimate a model describing the long-run growth of labor, capital, and productivity and find that increased productivity increases the growth of labor and capital, as well as a positive correlation between labor and capital stock growth. We also find evidence that human capital investment and agglomeration economies encourage productivity growth, while unionization discourages it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human capital is one factor that significantly influences local economic growth. Our goal in this research is to analyze trends in local human capital dynamics during the past thirty years. The authors find little evidence of convergence in college attainment across metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas and evidence of divergence across Census regions. The authors also find within-distribution divergence for all labor markets, as well as for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas, which is accompanied by lower levels of intra-distributional mobility than we observe for the income distribution. To the extent that human capital accumulation drives growth, these trends are likely to contribute to increasingly different levels of income growth across labor markets in the future. Finally, looking at factors that influence upward mobility within the distribution, the authors find that an increase in the number of four-year colleges and universities per capita increased a labor market’s upward rank and quintile mobility in human capital. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: If quantitative estimates of the seismic properties do not exist at a location of interest then the site response spectral amplifications must be estimated from data collected at other locations. Currently, the most common approach employs correlations of site class with maps of surficial geology. Analogously, correlations of site class with topographic slope can be employed where the surficial geology is unknown. Our goal is to identify and validate a method to estimate site response with greater spatial resolution and accuracy for regions where additional effort is warranted. This method consists of three components: region-specific data collection, a spatial model for interpolating seismic properties, and a theoretical method for computing spectral amplifications from the interpolated seismic properties. We consider three spatial interpolation schemes: correlations with surficial geology, termed the geologic trend (GT), ordinary kriging (OK), and kriging with a trend (KT). We estimate the spectral amplifications from seismic properties using the square root of impedance method, thereby linking the frequency-dependent spectral amplifications to the depth-dependent seismic properties. Thus, the range of periods for which this method is applicable is limited by the depth of exploration. A dense survey of near-surface S-wave slowness (S s ) throughout Kobe, Japan shows that the geostatistical methods give more accurate estimates of S s than the topographic slope and GT methods, and the OK and KT methods perform equally well. We prefer the KT model because it can be seamlessly integrated with geologic maps that cover larger regions. Empirical spectral amplifications show that the region-specific data achieve more accurate estimates of observed median short-period amplifications than the topographic slope method. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The existing body of literature regarding the acoustic design of concert halls has focused almost exclusively on classical music, although there are many more performances of popular music, including rock and pop. Objective measurements were made of the acoustics of 20 rock music venues in Denmark and a questionnaire was used in a subjective assessment of those venues with professional rock musicians and sound engineers as expert listeners. Correlations between the measurements show that clarity, including bass frequencies down to 63 Hz, is important for the general impression of the acoustics of the hall. The best-rated halls in the study have reverberation times that are approximately frequency independent from 0.6 to 1.2 s for hall volumes from 1000 to 6000 m3. The worst rated halls in the study had significantly higher reverberation times in the 63 and 125 Hz bands. Since most audiences at rock concerts are standing, absorption coefficients were measured with a standing audience from 63 Hz to 4 kHz. These measurements showed that a standing audience absorbs about five times as much energy in mid-/high-frequency bands as in low-frequency bands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the implications of the two military redevelopment plans of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Iraq. It mentions that the first plan of the government is to create a structure similar to those in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which implies deviation from the development trajectory laid by the Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq authorities. It notes that the second option is to pursue military development that would play broad roles in both internal and external security, namely a regional powerhouse. It cites the advantage of GCC-like military for U.S. and Iraq neighbors and the challenges pose by regional powerhouse to the interest of other countries such as Arab Gulf states and Jordan.

Transnational mobility affects both high-status and low-income workers, disrupting traditional assumptions of the boundedness of communities. There is a need to reconfigure our most basic theoretical and analytical constructs. In this article I engage in this task by illustrating a complex set of distinctions (as well as connections) between ‘communities’ as ideationally constituted through cultural practices and ‘social networks’ constituted through interaction and exchange. I have grounded the analysis ethnographically in the experiences of foreign workers in Singapore, focusing on domestic and construction workers from the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh. I examine the cultural, social and communicative role that mobile phones play in the lives of workers who are otherwise constrained in terms of mobility, living patterns and activities. Mobile phones are constituted as symbol status markers in relationship to foreign workers. Local representations construct foreign workers as users and consumers of mobile telephony, reinscribing ideas of transnational identities as well as foreignness within the context of Singapore. Migrant workers demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the various telephony options available, but the desire to use phones to communicate can overwhelm their self-control and lead to very high expenditures. The research highlights the constraints – as well as possibilities – individuals experience as subjects and agents within both social and cultural systems, and the ways in which those constraints and possibilities are mediated by a particular technology – in this case, mobile phones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two experiments are presented that measure the acuity of binaural processing of modulated interaural level differences (ILDs) using psychoacoustic methods. In both experiments, dynamic ILDs were created by imposing an interaurally antiphasic sinusoidal amplitude modulation (AM) signal on high-frequency carriers, which were presented over headphones. In the first experiment, the sensitivity to dynamic ILDs was measured as a function of the modulation frequency using puretone, and interaurally correlated and uncorrelated narrow-band noise carriers. The intrinsic interaural level fluctuations of the uncorrelated noise carriers raised the ILD modulation detection thresholds with respect to the pure-tone carriers. The diotic fluctuations of the correlated noise carriers also caused a small increase in the thresholds over the pure-tone carriers, particularly with low ILD modulation frequencies. The second experiment investigated the modulation frequency selectivity in dynamic ILD processing by imposing an interaurally uncorrelated bandpass noise AM masker in series with the interaurally antiphasic AM signal on a pure-tone carrier. By varying the masker center frequencies relative to the signal modulation frequency, broadly tuned, bandpass-shaped patterns were obtained. Simulations with an existing binaural model show that a low-pass filter to limit the binaural temporal resolution is not sufficient to predict the results of the experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the development surrounding the technological innovation in telecommunications. It has been noted by the author that the emergence of mobile phone and wireless services has a positive impact to the understanding of the relationship between information and communication technologies and societies.

Professional academics in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the United States have significantly different subjective experiences of Internet use. This difference appears not only in substantial inequalities of access, but also in a higher level of expectation and value placed on the Internet among Indonesians and secondarily Malaysians. These results, from a survey and interviews of teachers and researchers in the social sciences and humanities, are analyzed in the context of dependency theory within knowledge economies. While inadequate and unequal access to information and communication technology is a substantial problem, the article argues that emphasizing access, resource and skills development alone will not solve academic and other more general dependencies within knowledge economies. Rather, a simultaneous — if sometimes conflicting — emphasis on both infrastructural development and de-centered production of knowledge is called for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We present a method to solve for slowness models from surface-source downhole-receiver seismic travel-times. The method estimates the slownesses in a single inversion of the travel-times from all receiver depths and accounts for refractions at layer boundaries. The number and location of layer interfaces in the model can be selected based on lithologic changes or linear trends in the travel-time data. The interfaces based on linear trends in the data can be picked manually or by an automated algorithm. We illustrate the method with example sites for which geologic descriptions of the subsurface materials and independent slowness measurements are available. At each site we present slowness models that result from different interpretations of the data. The examples were carefully selected to address the reliability of interface-selection and the ability of the inversion to identify thin layers, large slowness contrasts, and slowness gradients. Additionally, we compare the models in terms of ground-motion amplification. These plots illustrate the sensitivity of site amplifications to the uncertainties in the slowness model. We show that one-dimensional site amplifications are insensitive to thin layers in the slowness models; although slowness is variable over short ranges of depth, this variability has little affect on ground-motion amplification at frequencies up to 5Hz. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: This study examines the impact of donor liver macrovesicular steatosis on recurrence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) disease after liver transplantation. Methods: Between 1998 and 2004, 113 patients underwent liver transplantation for HCV-related cirrhosis. Time to histologic recurrence (fibrosis score ≥2) was the primary endpoint of the study. Recurrence was graded according to the system of Ludwig and Batts. A Cox's proportional hazard regression model was used to analyse the association between donor liver steatosis and HCV recurrence. Results: Recurrence-free survival for patients who received steatotic grafts was 82% and 47% at 1 and 4 years, respectively, and 81% and 52% for patients who received a non-steatotic liver. Donor macrovesicular steatosis (5–45%) was found to have no impact on HCV recurrence ( P=0.47). Donor age ( P=0.02) and cold ischaemia time ( P=0.01) were found to increase the relative risk of HCV recurrence. The estimated risk of HCV recurrence increased by 23% for every 10-year increase in donor age. Similarly the risk of recurrence increased by 13% for every 1-h increase in cold ischaemia time. Conclusion: Mild-moderate donor liver macrovesicular steatosis has no impact on HCV recurrence after liver transplantation for HCV-related cirrhosis. Cold ischaemia time and donor age increased the likelihood of HCV recurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: Thymic carcinoma is an uncommon malignant tumor of the anterior mediastinum. Meningeal metastasis from this type of neoplasm is extraordinarily rare and the prognosis is abysmal. Case Description: This article presents the case of a 45-year-old man with known metastatic thymic carcinoma who presented with intractable headaches. An MRI scan was highly suggestive of a meningioma, and it was initially suspected that this patient had 2 primary tumors. Surgical resection of the mass both demonstrated a metastatic thymic lesion and ameliorated the patient''s quality of life. Conclusion: The authors report a case of intracranial meningeal metastasis from a lymphoepithelioma-like poorly differentiated metastatic thymic carcinoma, which was treated by resection and WBRT. A review of the current literature revealed no other cases of this uncommon alhistologic subtype of thymic carcinoma metastatic to the cranium. The incidence, histologic classification of subtypes, and treatment are discussed. This case also illustrates the importance of maintaining a high degree of suspicion for a metastasis in patients with known primary malignancy who present with an MRI highly suspicious for meningioma. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Using methods developed within cognitive anthropology, we examine the relationship between particular national discourses, cultural concepts and subjective ideas about the international system of nation-states referred to colloquially as countries in English, negara in Indonesian and prathet in Thai. The analysis is based on data collected among university students in Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. Broadly speaking, Indonesian, Singaporean and Thai university students share a similar domain of “countries” and similar understanding of what a country is, but they differ in important respects in the descriptive language and cultural schemata they deploy in thinking about this domain. The study has implications for debates on the status of culture in social theory and geography and for the future of regional integration in Southeast Asia. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Ground motions recorded within sedimentary basins are variable over short distances. One important cause of the variability is that local soil properties are variable at all scales. Regional hazard maps developed for predicting site effects are generally derived from maps of surficial geology; however, recent studies have shown that mapped geologic units do not correlate well with the average shear-wave velocity of the upper 30m, V s(30). We model the horizontal variability of near-surface soil shear-wave velocity in the San Francisco Bay Area to estimate values in unsampled locations in order to account for site effects in a continuous manner. Previous geostatistical studies of soil properties have shown horizontal correlations at the scale of meters to tens of meters while the vertical correlations are on the order of centimeters. In this paper we analyze shear-wave velocity data over regional distances and find that surface shear-wave velocity is correlated at horizontal distances up to 4km based on data from seismic cone penetration tests and the spectral analysis of surface waves. We propose a method to map site effects by using geostatistical methods based on the shear-wave velocity correlation structure within a sedimentary basin. If used in conjunction with densely spaced shear-wave velocity profiles in regions of high seismic risk, geostatistical methods can produce reliable continuous maps of site effects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Mucolipidosis Type IV is currently characterized as a lysosomal storage disorder with defects that include corneal clouding, achlorhydria and psychomotor retardation. MCOLN1, the gene responsible for this disease, encodes the protein mucolipin-1 that belongs to the "Transient Receptor Potential" family of proteins and has been shown to function as a non-selective cation channel whose activity is modulated by pH. Two cell biological defects that have been described in MLIV fibroblasts are a hyperacidification of lysosomes and a delay in the exit of lipids from lysosomes. Results: We show that mucolipin-1 localizes to lysosomal compartments in RAW264.7 mouse macrophages that show subcompartmental accumulations of endocytosed molecules. Using stable RNAi clones, we show that mucolipin-1 is required for the exit of lipids from these compartments, for the transport of endocytosed molecules to terminal lysosomes, and for the transport of the Major Histocompatibility Complex II to the plasma membrane. Conclusion: Mucolipin-1 functions in the efficient exit of molecules, destined for various cellular organelles, from lysosomal compartments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we discuss procedures for comparing the cultural salience of semantic domains and their constitutive signifiers between groups of respondents based on free-list data. These methods allow us to assess the relative similarity and difference of the cognitive salience of elements within o domain across groups of respondents. We argue that cultural salience is an important but often overlooked variable in the structure of semantic domains. Comparing cultural salience provides one grounds for claims of cultural difference (or lack thereof) between different socially defined groups (e.g., national, ethnic, gender, academic). We use data collected on the cultural salience of countries in a project on perceptions of Southeast Asia as an example of the methods described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Singapore is a unique polity in the world and in southeast Asia. A survey conducted at the national University of Singapore (NUS) of perceptions generally of countries worldwide and specifically of the Association of southeast Asian nations (ASEAN) demonstrates a sense of Singaporean exceptionalism. While respondents to the survey have a distinct sense of ASEAn as a regional grouping, they see Singapore as largely apart from rather than a part of Southeast Asia. The article examines the results from Singapore, with reference to comparable surveys carried out in four other ASEAn member states. The unique sense of Singaporean exceptionalism is attributed to Singapore's own unusual characteristics, struggles with national identity, and overriding economic imperatives associated with nation survival. This sense of exceptionalism exemplifies challenges to ASEAn integration that are not only of relevance to Singapore but to the region generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Central chemoreception is the mechanism by which the brain detects the level of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the arterial blood and alters breathing accordingly in order to maintain it within physiological levels. The ventral surface of the medulla oblongata (VMS) of animals has long been recognized as a site of chemosensitivity, culminating in the recent identification of chemosensitive serotonergic (5-HT) and glutamatergic (Glut) neurons in this region. In this study, we analyzed the distribution of 5-HT and Glut neurons and their receptors in the arcuate nucleus (Arc) at the VMS of the human infant, using single-and double-label immunohistochemistry with specific antibodies. We also examined the expression of astrocytes, as experimental evidence suggests that astrocytes mediate, at least in part, central chemosensitivity via 5-HT and/or Glut receptors. We identified a small number of 5-HT neurons (approximately 5% of Arc neurons), distributed over the entire extent of the VMS, a large number of Glut neurons (approximately 95% of Arc neurons) that localized almost exclusively to the medial Arc, and a large number of astrocytes distributed across the entire extent of the VMS. The Arc also contained 5-HT1A, kainate (GluR5), and 5-HT2A receptors, which localized predominantly to 5-HT neurons, glutamate neurons and astrocytes, respectively. Astrocytes also expressed the vesicular glutamate transporter 2 and low levels of 5-HT1A and kainate (GluR5) receptors, indicating that astrocytes may store and release glutamate, possibly in response to stimulation by 5-HT and/or Glut. These observations suggest that important functional interactions exist between 5-HT, glutamate, and astrocytes in the Arc. They also support the idea that the Arc is homologous to chemosensitive zones at the VMS in experimental animals. These data are important towards delineating the role of the human Arc in modulation of homeostasis, and its dysfunction in brainstem-associated pathologies such as the sudden infant death syndrome. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Academic networks, sometimes described as `invisible colleges', are known to be important in the production and dissemination of scholarship and knowledge. This article examines the shape of international academic networking via email in the field of Southeast Asian studies. Evidence from a survey of academic Internet users in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the US shows an empirical correspondence to the centre-periphery framework of academic dependency proposed by Syed Farid Alatas and others. At the same time, the results suggest the need for a more fine-grained, institutional-level analysis of these networks. The effects of Internet access and communications also highlight the question of whether this medium promotes broader participation in scholarship or entrenches relationships of academic dependency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors find evidence of income convergence across all substate labor markets in the lower forty-eight U.S. states during the 1969 to 1999 period. However, convergence is not expressed in a uniform way across metropolitan/nonmetropolitan regions, across time periods, or across census regions. The authors show that catching up within the distribution is more common for nonmetropolitan regions than for metropolitan regions. Furthermore, the largest metropolitan regions show strong tendencies to converge toward the bottom of their income distribution while at the same time showing comparatively little distributional mobility. This contrasts with results for the smallest nonmetropolitan regions, which show no evidence of convergence but high levels of intradistributional mobility. The authors also examine the relationship between human capital accumulation and industry mix and subsequent distributional mobility. The results suggest that educational attainment is positively correlated with growth for metropolitan regions, but it appears to be less correlated with upward mobility within the nonmetropolitan distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Malaysia, Malay kampung or villages are modernity's significant other in contemporary discourse. In contrast to this rhetoric, which reinforces a sense of rural-urban difference, this paper argues that Malay kampung are socially urban spaces, in so far as the lived experience of their residents largely conforms to characteristics of social life typically figured as ‘urban’. These include socioeconomic relationships characterised by occupational stratification, consumption and production based on commodification rather than subsistence, and social Interactions marked by formal and attenuated social ties as much as informal and intimate relationships. Simultaneously nostalgic and derogatory narratives of modernity and urbanism fix kampung in social memory as sites marginal to and outside urban modernity. By contrast, the evidence presented in this paper suggests that the lives of kampung residents in contemporary Malaysia are substantially and qualitatively urban. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A dynamic labor market model is used to motivate the inclusion of population characteristics and industrial structure as determinants of regional employment instability. We examine how these factors influence regional employment instability using data from both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan regions in the United States. We find that population characteristics are important determinants of employment volatility and that increased industrial specialization(reduced diversification) increases employment volatility, but the magnitude of that influence drops substantially once population characteristics are considered. We also find that the influence of population characteristics and industrial specialization varies significantly across metropolitan and nonmetropolitan regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing analyses of electricity deregulation have focused on situations where horizontal market power is present. This paper instead evaluates a market where a competitive outcome is more likely. Competitive market supply and demand curves for electricity have been simulated for a twenty-state region. These simulated supply and demand curves are used to predict short-run and long-run prices for electric power. Many consumers will see a drop in the portion of their electric bills accounted for by the current economic costs of supplying them with electricity. Adjustments to consumers’ bills for stranded cost recovery will be determined by legislators and regulators on a state-by-state and utility-by-utility basis. Because of excess capacity that currently exists in the industry, the decline in prices will be greater in the short run than in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mu¨llerian-inhibiting substance (MIS), a member of the transforming growth factor-β family of cytokines that signal through a heteromeric complex of single-transmembrane serine/threonine kinase receptors, is required for Mu¨llerian duct regression and normal reproductive tract development in the male embryo. However, the continued expression of MIS at high levels in males until puberty and its induction in females after birth suggested other roles for MIS. Additionally, Leydig cell development and steroidogenic capacity and ovarian follicle recruitment were abnormal in MIS-knockout or MIS-overexpressing mice. We have shown that MIS inhibits the cAMP-induced expression of cytochrome P450 C17α-hydroxylase/C17-20 lyase (Cyp17) mRNA both in vitro and in vivo. Our current efforts are to understand the molecular mechanisms regulating both MIS type II receptor (MISRII) expression and its signaling in rodent Leydig cell lines. MISRII expression in R2C cells requires both steroidogenic factor-1 and an unknown protein to bind to its proximal promoter in the context of 1.6 kb 5′-flanking DNA. When bound by MIS, signaling by the receptor in MA-10 cells blocks the protein kinase A-mediated induction of Cyp17 expression by a cAMP regulatory element-binding protein independent mechanism. We continue to investigate the molecular mechanisms of MISRII expression and possible interactions between MIS-regulated SMAD activation and cAMP signaling. These studies will provide a better understanding of the role played by MIS during postnatal life. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Investigates the identity of male migrants in Malaysia. Social and cultural elements of late-20th century Malaysia that provide that context for the experiences of working class migrants and middle class migrants; Rural to urban migration; Migrant dissociations from geographic identities; Masculinity in the workforce and family; Development of the 'bangsa' ethnicity or race.

Pays tribute to economist Mark Charles Berger. Contributions of Berger to the field of economics; Berger's academic and career profile.

The contributions that control of cell proliferation and cell growth make to developmental regulation of organ and body size remain poorly explored, particularly with respect to endocycles in polyploid tissues. The epithelium of the marine chordate Oikopleura dioica is composed of a fixed number of cells grouped in territories according to gene-specific expression and nuclear sizes and shapes. As the animal grows 10-fold during the life cycle, epithelial cells increase in size differentially as a function of their spatial position. We show that this cellular pattern reflected differences in ploidy levels ranging from 34 to 1300 C. The diverse ploidy levels in defined cellular fields resulted both from different timing of entry into endocycles and from cell-specific regulation of endocycle lengths. Throughout the life cycle, differential cell size and ploidy increases were accompanied by field-specific profiles of progressive reductions in G-phase duration. Endocycles were asynchronous among cells of a given epithelial territory, but at the resolution of individual cells, both DNA replication timing and ploidy levels were bilaterally symmetric. The transparent, accessible, oikoplastic epithelium is a model of choice for the study of endoreduplication in the context of pattern formation and growth. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Kampung continues to play a role in the lives of the Malay community and in Malaysia's national cultural geography. The article examines the place of the kampung in Malaysia's cultural geography as it is related in the narratives of return migrants to the kampung of Sungai Siputeh in northern peninsular Malaysia. Return migrants are existentially engaged in fashioning their own lives as they move between rural and urban spaces. Their narratives shape the cultural geography of rural subjects within rural Malaysia.