bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
In-plane microvortices micromixer-based AC electrothermal for testing drug induced death of tumor cells
Authors: Lang Qi , Ren Yukun , Hobson Divia , Tao Ye , Hou Likai , Jia Yankai , Hu Qingming , Liu Jiangwei , Zhao Xin , Jiang Hongyuan
Published: November 2016

Herein, we first describe a perfusion chip integrated with an AC electrothermal (ACET) micromixer to supply a uniform drug concentration to tumor cells. The in-plane fluid microvortices for mixing were generated by six pairs of reconstructed novel ACET asymmetric electrodes. To enhance the mixing efficiency, the novel ACET electrodes with rotating angles of 0°, 30°, and 60° were investigated. The asymmetric electrodes with a rotating angle of 60° exhibited the highest mixing efficiency by both simulated and experimental results. The length of the mixing area is 7 mm, and the mixing efficiency is 89.12% (approximate complete mixing) at a voltage of 3 V and a frequency of 500 kHz. The applicability of our micromixer with electrodes rotating at 60° was demonstrated by the drug (tamoxifen) test of human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) for five days, which implies that our ACET in-plane microvortices micromixer has great potential for the application of drug induced rapid death of tumor cells and mixing of biomaterials in organs-on-a-chip systems.
Suppression of phonon tunneling losses by microfiber strings for high-Q membrane microresonators
Authors: Li Zongyang , Zhang Qiang , You Xiang , Li Yongmin , Peng Kunchi
Published: November 2016

We propose to utilize a microfiber string to isolate the tunneling of acoustic waves between a membrane frame and its holder. The displacement response of the membrane frame with and without the vibration isolation is characterized using an optical interferometer. A displacement power suppression of 40 dB is achieved around the fundamental mode frequency of the membrane. We demonstrate that the Q factor of a SiN membrane microresonator with our vibration isolation method can reach 1.78×106 in room temperature.
Renewable energy strategies and energy security
Authors: Nie Pu-yan , Yang Yong-cong
Published: November 2016

This paper considers the effects of renewable energy strategies on energy security. Based on theoretical analysis, we conclude that energy supply shocks benefit firms with a sacrifice of consumer surplus, while the effects on social welfare depend on the degree of environmental concerns. Meanwhile, renewable energy strategies improve energy security by reducing the consumption of conventional energy and by reducing emissions. Furthermore, the total consumption of conventional energy decreases with the number of firms that adopt renewable energy. In addition, for low marginal costs of renewable energy, the efficiencies are equivalent for different covering rates of governmental subsidies. For high fixed costs or marginal costs, governmental subsidies yield excess capacity.
Estimation of adsorption energy for water molecules on a multi-walled carbon nanotube thin film by measuring electric resistance
Authors: Kokabu Takuya , Inoue Shuhei , Matsumura Yukihiko
Published: November 2016

Gas sensors based on carbon nanotube (CNT) films have attracted attention owing to their low power consumption. For further development of these sensors, we need to understand the surface interaction of the films with gas molecules. In our previous research, we investigated the influence of water molecules on the electrical conductance of multi-walled CNT films and explained this phenomenon using a two-layer adsorption model. This work motivated us to measure the adsorption energy of CNT-H2O. In this study, we focused on the first-layer adsorption and investigated the sheet resistance to water vapor pressure at various temperatures using the transmission line method (TLM). The results were fitted to Langmuir adsorption model and the adsorption equilibrium constant was determined. The temperature dependence of the sheet resistance followed a model of fluctuation induced tunneling (FIT), in which the energy barrier at the CNT junction is regarded as the main factor influencing the electrical conductance of the CNT film. The sheet resistance and equilibrium constant decreased as temperature increased. This result was consistent with the adsorption phenomenon. Finally, the adsorption energy was determined to be 0.22–0.31 eV, which is larger than the previously calculated value. It was also reported that the adsorption energy of the gas molecules in the interstitial site between two carbon nanotubes was larger than that on the CNT surface. These results indicate that the CNT junction plays a key role in the detection of gas molecules.
Assessing the potential of the differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR) for estimating burn severity in eastern Canadian boreal forests
Authors: Boucher Jonathan , Beaudoin André , Hébert Christian , Guindon Luc , Bauce Éric
Published: November 2016

There is considerable variation in the degree of burn severity in boreal fires. One approach that has been used to capture this variation from field and remote sensing perspectives for western Canadian boreal forests is the Composite Burn Index (CBI) and differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR). Of interest was how well these methods may perform for fires in eastern Canada. This study investigated the CBI-dNBR relationship for selected fires in the eastern boreal forests of Canada, with a view towards contributing to the generalisation of a Canada-wide model. Results for the sampled region showed no difference in the CBI-dNBR relationship between black spruce- and jack pine-dominated stands, whereas this relationship was best described by a Generalised Additive Model (GAM). The dNBR-derived maps would also be useful in support of research and post-fire management in burns outside the studied territory and time frame covered by the existing burn severity mapping system already used in this region. The Saturated growth model proposed for the western boreal region also performed well for our eastern boreal region, thus further supporting the development of a national model.
Emulating proton-induced conformational changes in the vesicular monoamine transporter VMAT2 by mutagenesis
Authors: Yaffe Dana , Vergara-Jaque Ariela , Forrest Lucy R. , Schuldiner Shimon
Published: November 2016

Significance

Vesicular monoamine transporters (VMATs) are the targets of numerous psychoactive drugs, and play a critical role in the overall process of synaptic transmission by replenishing depleted monoamine stores in synaptic vesicles. VMATs transport monoamines in a process that involves exchange of two H
+
per substrate. Here we show that two potent inhibitors of VMAT2, tetrabenazine and reserpine, bind to different conformations of the protein. The transition that generates a reserpine-binding site requires a proton gradient across the membrane. Here we emulate the effect of the proton gradient by tinkering with residues that form the cytoplasmic gate. These findings provide vital information about the conformational dynamics of a mammalian H
+
-coupled antiporter. Such conformational transitions constitute essential steps in all transport processes.
Stress-induced brain activity, brain atrophy, and clinical disability in multiple sclerosis
Authors: Weygandt Martin , Meyer-Arndt Lil , Behrens Janina Ruth , Wakonig Katharina , Bellmann-Strobl Judith , Ritter Kerstin , Scheel Michael , Brandt Alexander U. , Labadie Christian , Hetzer Stefan , Gold Stefan M. , Paul Friedemann , Haynes John-Dylan
Published: November 2016

Significance

Psychological stress is linked to multiple sclerosis (MS) severity (e.g., to a heightened risk of brain lesion development). The exact mechanisms underlying this association are unknown. To investigate the link between brain activity induced by mild psychological stress and MS disease parameters, we conducted a mental arithmetic neuroimaging task involving performance feedback in MS patients and healthy controls and related the brain activity signals to clinical disability and brain volume. In patients, motor and cognitive impairment were related to activity in the insular cortex. Brain volume was related to activity in overlapping cerebellar areas in patients and controls. This overlap suggests that the link between activity and volume cannot reflect a passive response to clinical disability alone.
Sibling conflict and dishonest signaling in birds
Authors: Caro Shana M. , West Stuart A. , Griffin Ashleigh S.
Published: November 2016

Significance

Should a chick beg for food even if it isn’t struggling to grow? Does it have anything to lose? The answer could be “yes” if it risks losing indirect fitness through the starvation of siblings. Evolutionary theory suggests that offspring may be more likely to exaggerate signals of need when they compete with less-related nestmates or a greater number of nestmates. We found clear support for this hypothesis in an analysis across 60 bird species. Offspring begging was less reliable in species where parents produce larger broods and more broods and where parental divorce or death reduces between-brood relatedness. This result helps explain why chicks of some species are more honest than others and tests general predictions of signaling theory.
Decreasing maternal myostatin programs adult offspring bone strength in a mouse model of osteogenesis imperfecta
Authors: Oestreich Arin K. , Kamp William M. , McCray Marcus G. , Carleton Stephanie M. , Karasseva Natalia , Lenz Kristin L. , Jeong Youngjae , Daghlas Salah A. , Yao Xiaomei , Wang Yong , Pfeiffer Ferris M. , Ellersieck Mark R. , Schulz Laura C. , Phillips Charlotte L.
Published: November 2016

Significance

Osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease) is an incurable genetic disorder. We demonstrate that maternal deficiency of myostatin (a negative regulator of muscle growth) can enhance bone biomechanical strength and integrity in control and osteogenesis imperfecta mouse offspring, using three independent approaches. We provide evidence that bone is responsive to developmental programming and that myostatin can mediate these effects. Embryo transfer experiments show that the effects of maternal myostatin deficiency are conferred by the postimplantation environment. These studies represent a paradigm shift in understanding and treating osteogenesis imperfecta—a shift from believing only genetic and postnatal environmental factors control bone health to the inclusion of prenatal/perinatal developmental programming as a modifiable factor controlling adult bone health.
Epigenetic inactivation of the p53-induced long noncoding RNA TP53 target 1 in human cancer
Authors: Diaz-Lagares Angel , Crujeiras Ana B. , Lopez-Serra Paula , Soler Marta , Setien Fernando , Goyal Ashish , Sandoval Juan , Hashimoto Yutaka , Martinez-Cardús Anna , Gomez Antonio , Heyn Holger , Moutinho Catia , Espada Jesús , Vidal August , Paúles Maria , Galán Maica , Sala Núria , Akiyama Yoshimitsu , Martínez-Iniesta María , Farré Lourdes , Villanueva Alberto , Gross Matthias , Diederichs Sven , Guil Sonia , Esteller Manel
Published: November 2016

Significance

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are starting to be recognized as critical molecules for cellular transformation, although only a few candidates have so far been characterized. Here we report that TP53TG1 is an lncRNA that is critical for the correct response of p53 to DNA damage. The cancer growth suppressor features of TP53TG1 are linked to its ability to block the tumorigenic activity of the RNA binding protein YBX1. The DNA methylation-associated silencing of TP53TG1 produces aggressive tumors that are resistant to cellular death when DNA-damaging agents and small targeted molecules are used. Our study provides an example of a tumor suppressor lncRNA undergoing an epigenetic lesion in cancer that is placed at the crossroads of DNA damage and oncogenic pathways.
In situ solid-state electrochemistry of mass-selected ions at well-defined electrode–electrolyte interfaces
Authors: Prabhakaran Venkateshkumar , Johnson Grant E. , Wang Bingbing , Laskin Julia
Published: November 2016

Significance

In situ characterization of kinetics at electrode–electrolyte interfaces (EEIs) is crucial to the rational design of efficient and sustainable solid-state electrochemical technologies. A significant advancement has been made to rationally understand processes at EEIs using solid-state in situ thin-film electrochemical cells fabricated using specially designed ionic liquid membranes with excellent mass-transfer properties. The in situ cells are used to characterize well-defined EEIs generated using ion soft-landing (SL) in controlled environments, both in vacuum and in the presence of reactant gases. Populating EEIs with precisely defined electroactive species using SL facilitates molecular-level understanding of electron transfer processes within deposited species and between species and electrodes, thus providing a powerful methodology to characterize technologically relevant EEIs during operation.
Two-and-a-half-year-olds succeed at a traditional false-belief task with reduced processing demands
Authors: Setoh Peipei , Scott Rose M. , Baillargeon Renée
Published: November 2016

Significance

Among social scientists interested in the development of children’s ability to infer mental states, an enduring controversy concerns false-belief understanding. When tested with traditional tasks, which require answering questions about the likely actions of agents with false beliefs, children do not succeed until age 4 y or later. When given nontraditional tasks without such questions, however, children succeed much earlier. Are traditional tasks more difficult because they tap an advanced form of false-belief understanding or because they impose greater processing demands? Our experiments support the latter possibility: 2.5-y-old toddlers succeeded at a traditional task when response-generation and inhibitory-control demands were both reduced. Traditional tasks thus assess the same form of false-belief understanding as nontraditional tasks but impose additional processing demands.
Keratin mediates the recognition of apoptotic and necrotic cells through dendritic cell receptor DEC205/CD205
Authors: Cao Longxing , Chang Haishuang , Shi Xiangyi , Peng Chao , He Yongning
Published: November 2016

Significance

DEC205 (CD205) is an endocytotic receptor on dendritic cells that recognizes dead cells in a pH-dependent fashion and has been widely used for vaccine generation in immune therapies. However, the physiological ligand(s) of DEC205 has remained unknown for decades. Here we identify that keratins are the cellular ligands of human DEC205 and DEC205 recognizes keratins specifically at acidic pH. Keratins are structural proteins providing mechanical support for cells and tissues. Our results suggest that keratins act as markers of dead cells in acidic environments. Moreover, since keratins have been used as diagnostic markers for various tumors, the finding of DEC205 as a scavenging receptor of keratins may provide insights for the therapeutic strategies against tumors and other related diseases.
Disease resistance through impairment of α-SNAP–NSF interaction and vesicular trafficking by soybean
Rhg1
Authors: Bayless Adam M. , Smith John M. , Song Junqi , McMinn Patrick H. , Teillet Alice , August Benjamin K. , Bent Andrew F.
Published: November 2016

Significance

The
Rhg1
resistance locus of soybean helps control one of the most damaging diseases in world agriculture. We found that
Rhg1
(resistance to
Heterodera glycines
1)-mediated resistance utilizes an unusual mechanism. Resistant soybeans carry a dysfunctional variant of the housekeeping protein α-SNAP [soluble NSF (
N
-ethylmaleimide–sensitive factor) attachment protein].
Rhg1
resistance-type α-SNAPs interact poorly with NSF and disrupt vesicle trafficking. High levels of resistance-type α-SNAPs interfere with wild-type α-SNAP activities, yet are functionally balanced in most tissues by sufficient wild-type α-SNAP levels. However, the biotrophic plant–pathogen interface is disabled by localized hyperaccumulation of resistance-type α-SNAPs. This study suggests a paradigm of resistance conferred by a dysfunctional version of a core cellular housekeeping protein.
Electrically tunable laser based on oblique heliconical cholesteric liquid crystal
Authors: Xiang Jie , Varanytsia Andrii , Minkowski Fred , Paterson Daniel A. , Storey John M. D. , Imrie Corrie T. , Lavrentovich Oleg D. , Palffy-Muhoray Peter
Published: November 2016

Significance

Liquid-crystal lasers based on micrometer-scale self-organization of organic molecules into the so-called cholesteric liquid crystal are simple to manufacture; they are small in size and low in cost and power consumption. Their potential applications range from sensing and imaging to informational displays and miniature “lab-on-a-chip” devices. We report a cholesteric structure used as the laser’s resonator cavity that enables a continuous real-time tuning of the emitted wavelength in a very broad range by applying an electric field. The structure is heliconical, with the molecules rotating around a helical axis and being tilted toward this axis. The electric field controls the tilt and the pitch, thus changing the wavelength by at least 100 nm.
Archaeal orthologs of Cdc45 and GINS form a stable complex that stimulates the helicase activity of MCM
Authors: Xu Yuli , Gristwood Tamzin , Hodgson Ben , Trinidad Jonathan C. , Albers Sonja-Verena , Bell Stephen D.
Published: November 2016

Significance

For DNA to be duplicated, it must first be unwound. Here, we examine the nature of the helicase engine that drives this unwinding process. In archaea and eukaryotes, the core helicase is the MCM complex. Our studies reveal that the active form of the archaeal replicative helicase is a complex of MCM with the accessory proteins Cdc45 and GINS. Our work reveals functional conservation of this architecture despite the 2 billion-year evolutionary gulf between archaea and eukaryotes.
Nicotinamide benefits both mothers and pups in two contrasting mouse models of preeclampsia
Authors: Li Feng , Fushima Tomofumi , Oyanagi Gen , Townley-Tilson H. W. Davin , Sato Emiko , Nakada Hironobu , Oe Yuji , Hagaman John R. , Wilder Jennifer , Li Manyu , Sekimoto Akiyo , Saigusa Daisuke , Sato Hiroshi , Ito Sadayoshi , Jennette J. Charles , Maeda Nobuyo , Karumanchi S. Ananth , Smithies Oliver , Takahashi Nobuyuki
Published: November 2016

Significance

Preeclampsia (PE), high blood pressure and protein in the urine in the last third of pregnancy, complicates about 1 in 20 human pregnancies, and it is one of the leading causes of pregnancy-related maternal deaths. The only definitive treatment, induced delivery, invariably results in premature babies. Blood pressure-lowering drugs help, but results in preventing preterm delivery and correcting the fetal growth restriction (FGR) that also occurs in PE have been disappointing. Here we show that feeding high doses of nicotinamide, a vitamin, improves the maternal condition, prolongs pregnancies, and prevents FGR in mice having PE-like conditions due to two contrasting causes. Because nicotinamide benefits both mothers and pups, it merits evaluation for preventing or treating PE in humans.
The ‘sensory tolerance limit’: A hypothetical construct determining exercise performance?
Authors: Hureau Thomas J. , Romer Lee M. , Amann Markus
Published: November 2016

Neuromuscular fatigue compromises exercise performance and is determined by central and peripheral mechanisms. Interactions between the two components of fatigue can occur via neural pathways, including feedback and feedforward processes. This brief review discusses the influence of feedback and feedforward mechanisms on exercise limitation. In terms of feedback mechanisms, particular attention is given to group III/IV sensory neurons which link limb muscle with the central nervous system. Central corollary discharge, a copy of the neural drive from the brain to the working muscles, provides a signal from the motor system to sensory systems and is considered a feedforward mechanism that might influence fatigue and consequently exercise performance. We highlight findings from studies supporting the existence of a ‘critical threshold of peripheral fatigue’, a previously proposed hypothesis based on the idea that a negative feedback loop operates to protect the exercising limb muscle from severe threats to homeostasis during whole‐body exercise. While the threshold theory remains to be disproven within a given task, it is not generalisable across different exercise modalities. The ‘sensory tolerance limit’, a more theoretical concept, may address this issue and explain exercise tolerance in more global terms and across exercise modalities. The ‘sensory tolerance limit’ can be viewed as a negative feedback loop which accounts for the sum of all feedback (locomotor muscles, respiratory muscles, organs, and muscles not directly involved in exercise) and feedforward signals processed within the central nervous system with the purpose of regulating the intensity of exercise to ensure that voluntary activity remains tolerable.
The role of decision criterion in the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) false recognition memory: False memory falls and rises as a function of restriction on criterion setting
Authors: Jou Jerwen , Escamilla Eric E. , Arredondo Mario L. , Pena Liann , Zuniga Richard , Perez Martin , Garcia Clarissa
Published: November 2016

How much of the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) false memory is attributable to decision criterion is so far a controversial issue. Previous studies typically used explicit warnings against accepting the critical lure to investigate this issue. The assumption is that if the false memory results from using a liberally biased criterion, it should be greatly reduced or eliminated by an explicit warning against accepting the critical lure. Results showed that warning was generally ineffective. We asked the question of whether subjects can substantially reduce false recognition without being warned when the test forces them to make a distinction between true and false memories. Using a two-alternative forced choice in which criterion plays a relatively smaller role, we showed that subjects could indeed greatly reduce the rate of false recognition. However, when the forced-choice restriction was removed from the two-item choice test, the rate of false recognition rebounded to that of the hit for studied list words, indicating the role of criterion in false recognition.
A family of membrane-shaping proteins at ER subdomains regulates pre-peroxisomal vesicle biogenesis
Authors: Joshi Amit S. , Huang Xiaofang , Choudhary Vineet , Levine Tim P. , Hu Junjie , Prinz William A.
Published: November 2016

Saccharomyces cerevisiae contains three conserved reticulon and reticulon-like proteins that help maintain ER structure by stabilizing high membrane curvature in ER tubules and the edges of ER sheets. A mutant lacking all three proteins has dramatically altered ER morphology. We found that ER shape is restored in this mutant when Pex30p or its homologue Pex31p is overexpressed. Pex30p can tubulate membranes both in cells and when reconstituted into proteoliposomes, indicating that Pex30p is a novel ER-shaping protein. In contrast to the reticulons, Pex30p is low abundance, and we found that it localizes to subdomains in the ER. We show that these ER subdomains are the sites where most preperoxisomal vesicles (PPVs) are generated. In addition, overproduction or deletion of Pex30p or Pex31p alters the size, shape, and number of PPVs. Our findings suggest that Pex30p and Pex31p help shape and generate regions of the ER where PPV biogenesis occurs.
Regulation of EGFR surface levels by COPII-dependent trafficking
Authors: Farhan Hesso
Published: November 2016

Cell surface levels of epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFRs) are thought to be controlled mainly by endocytic trafficking, with biosynthetic EGFR trafficking presumed to be a constitutive and unregulated process. However, Scharaw et al. (2016. J. Cell Biol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201601090) demonstrate a role for inducible COPII trafficking in controlling EGFR surface levels.
Statistical significance based on length and position of the local score in a model of i.i.d. sequences
Authors: Lagnoux Agnès , Mercier Sabine , Vallois Pierre
Published: November 2016

Motivation

The local score of a biological sequence analysis is a mathematical tool largely used to analyse biological sequences. Consequently, determining an accurate estimation of its distribution is crucial.

Results

First, we study the accuracy of classical results on the local score distribution in independent and identically distributed model using a Kolmogorov-Smirnov goodness of fit test. Second, we highlight how the length of the segment that realizes the local score improves the classical setting based on local score only. Finally, we study which part of the sequence contributes to the local score.
The regional structure of spawning phenology and the potential consequences for connectivity of coral assemblages across the Eastern Tropical Pacific
Authors: Romero-Torres Mauricio , Acosta Alberto , Treml Eric A.
Published: November 2016

The coral reefs of the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) are some of the most geographically isolated of the world. A key to understanding their long-term persistence and population recovery via dispersal (i.e. population connectivity), is knowing when the corals spawn in the region. To this end, we reviewed and synthesized the literature on the reproductive phenology of corals (month of spawning) and their dispersal-related characteristics to infer the potential impact on the region’s functional connectivity. We classified the region into four thermal regimes based on long-term mean sea surface temperature (SST) data: Tropical Upwelling, Thermally Stable, Equatorial Upwelling, and Seasonal. Each regime’s unique spawning seasonality was then explored by quantifying the linear dependence between the number of observed spawning events and SST. Finally, the potential impact of this unique regional mismatch in spawning was illustrated using a biophysical larval dispersal model. We found spawning occurs throughout the year in the Upwelling and Thermally Stable regimes (showing low or no linear dependence with SST); whereas spawning had a strong seasonal signal in the Equatorial Upwelling and Seasonal regimes, occurring primarily in the warm months. Considering the region’s mismatch in spawning phenologies, and unique dispersal traits, the simulations of coral larval dispersal across the ETP result in infrequently realized connectivity between ecoregions, low local retention and high self-recruitment, that combined with low recruitment densities in the field indicates more vulnerable populations to disturbance than previously appreciated. The strong relationship between spawning phenology and SST in some regimes suggests a greater susceptibility of these coral assemblages to extreme El Niño and La Niña events and future ocean warming.
On the controllability of networks with nonidentical linear nodes
Authors: Arreola-Delgado A , Barajas-Ramírez J G
Published: November 2016

The controllability of dynamical networks depends on both network structure and node dynamics. For networks of linearly coupled linear dynamical systems the controllability of the network can be determined using the well-known Kalman rank criterion. In the case of identical nodes the problem can be decomposed in local and structural contributions. However, for strictly different nodes an alternative approach is needed. We decomposed the controllability matrix into a structural component, which only depends on the networks structure and a dynamical component which includes the dynamical description of the nodes in the network. Using this approach we show that controllability of dynamical networks with strictly different linear nodes is dominated by the dynamical component. Therefore even a structurally uncontrollable network of different $n$ dimensional nodes becomes controllable if the dynamics of its nodes are properly chosen. Conversely, a structurally controllable network becomes uncontrollable for a given choice of the node’s dynamics. Furthermore, as nodes are not identical, we can have nodes that are uncontrollable in isolation, while the entire network is controllable, in this sense the node’s controllability is overwritten by the network even if the structure is uncontrollable. We illustrate our results using single-controller networks and extend our findings to conventional networks with large number of nodes.
Natural Law in International Legal Theory
Authors: Gordon Geoff
Published: November 2016

This chapter presents an overview of three active periods of natural law scholarship bearing on international legal theory, via two stories that illustrate these to effect. The first story relates in brief the renewed attention to natural law doctrine as part of historiographical and epistemological inquiries in international law and legal theory. The second presents still another means of understanding natural law and its ongoing role in international law, namely as a dialectic by which new conceptions and vocabularies of political organization have arisen under varying historical circumstances. The chapter then traces the role of natural law doctrine as part of a linear consolidation of liberal hegemony internationally from the early modern period forward, and offers the dialectical presentation covering the same time frame. The chapter concludes by returning to how natural law continues to contribute both to the possibility of new normative programs internationally, as well as the hegemonic.
Airborne particulate matter pollution in urban China: a chemical mixture perspective from sources to impacts
Authors: Jin Ling , Luo Xiaosan , Fu Pingqing , Li Xiangdong
Published: November 2016

Rapid urban and industrial development has resulted in severe air-pollution problems in developing countries such as China, especially in highly industrialized and populous urban clusters. Dissecting the complex mixtures of airborne particulate matter (PM) has been a key scientific focus in the last two decades, leading to significant advances in understanding physicochemical compositions for comprehensive source apportionment. However, identifying causative components with an attributable link to population-based health outcomes remains a huge challenge. The microbiome, an integral dimension of the PM mixture, is an unexplored frontier in terms of identities and functions in atmospheric processes and human health. In this review, we identify the major gaps in addressing these issues, and recommend a holistic framework for evaluating the sources, processes and impacts of atmospheric PM pollution. Such an approach and the knowledge generated will facilitate the formulation of regulatory measures to control PM pollution in China and elsewhere.
The Classical Inheritance
Authors: Halpern Richard
Published: November 2016

The question of Shakespeare’s relation to the Greek and Roman playwrights has, historically, possessed a kind of amplitude that his relation to other kinds of tradition has not. While recent scholarship challenges the old claim that Shakespeare had no direct access to Greek drama, Seneca’s status as his chief classical influence remains unchallenged. Moreover, Seneca’s plays self-consciously broadcast their embeddedness in tradition in a way that would allow Shakespeare to reverse engineer Greek drama, even without direct access. His use of central Senecan motifs—excessive revenge, the ghost, furor—demonstrates his awareness that they are also figures for literary tradition.
The Question of Hamlet
Authors: Belsey Catherine
Published: November 2016

‘The Question of Hamlet’ examines some of the puzzling issues in one of Shakespeare’s most familiar plays. Hamlet’s durability owes something to the questions the play raises without always resolving them. Can a Ghost be trusted? Is revenge the nobler course? Where does conscience stand? What does filial passion dictate? Is violence the best way to counter violence? Criticism evades the challenge of engaging with these problems when, eager to find an easy way of mastering a puzzling play, it shifts the focus to the prince’s character. A less psychological, more theatrical Hamlet, on the other hand, confronts its audience with the question it poses: what ought Hamlet to do?
Seeing Blackness
Authors: Smith Ian
Published: November 2016

The tendency to regard vision as providing unimpeded retinal access to the world was already being revised in the early modern period to explain how sight is, in fact, unreliable. Sight is always compromised by culturally embedded ideas, and in Othello, Shakespeare reveals that in the instance of race, prejudicial and broadly shared stereotypes distort vision in ways that misrecognize blackness and make us poor readers of humanity. Blackness, that visible sign, creates a social blind spot. Taking Shakespeare’s specific interrogation of cross-racial reading as its cue, the essay asks to what extent the predominantly white discipline of English studies is implicated in such an inquiry, especially when modern experimental science confirms white bias and negative views of blackness as the American cultural norm that affects the way we read and interpret race.
King Lear and the Death of the World
Authors: Marcus Leah
Published: November 2016

One of the most variable features of the contrast between Quarto and Folio King Lear has to do with speeches to and about elements of the natural world. ‘King Lear and the Death of the World’ interrogates the play’s vitalism: its treatment of natural elements as independent agents with wills and sentiments of their own. In this play, uniquely for Shakespeare, four characters address elements of the natural world directly. Investigation of the play’s intermittent vitalism brings into greater focus its bleakness at the end, which features not merely the deaths of most of the central characters but also, arguably, the death of the world.
The Medieval Inheritance
Authors: Loughnane Rory
Published: November 2016

This chapter discusses the medieval inheritance in Shakespearean tragedy in two ways. First it describes how the literary genre of tragedy in late medieval England was distinct from classical definitions of tragedy as outlined in Aristotle’s Poetics. Rather the early English conception of the genre as found in Chaucer, Lydgate, and others, was informed by the exempla of the De Casibus tradition, with sudden reversals of fortune understood as part of a grand plan of the execution of God’s divine will. Late medieval religious drama (hagiographical plays, mysteries, moralities) also greatly influenced the secular form of tragedy that emerged. The second part of the chapter describes how Shakespeare uses and adapts recognizably ‘medieval’ details in his tragedies. Eschewing a critical path that emphasizes Shakespeare’s early modernity, the chapter concludes with close readings from Hamlet and Titus Andronicus to consider what is inherited and retained rather than discarded.
Tragedy in Twentieth and Twenty-first Century Theatre Production
Authors: Escolme Bridget
Published: November 2016

This chapter discusses the relationship between actor and scenography in twentieth and twenty-first century productions of Hamlet and King Lear, particularly the common theatrical trope of realist acting on abstract stage sets. It argues that whilst in some productions the notion of tragic hero as common man reduces the plays to a set of psychological problems, in others, contrasts and tensions between acting style and scenography or theatre architecture have created what the author calls a ‘politics of intimacy’. These productions have made it possible for detailed, realist acting on non-naturalistic stage sets to pose potent questions about the social and political meanings of human relations in the plays. They have allowed for an audience experience that involves both psychological intimacy and ideological critique.
Ontological Shivers
Authors: Lehmann Courtney
Published: November 2016

This essay explores major movements in film history through the lens of Romeo and Juliet adaptations, including films by Irving Thalberg and George Cukor, Renato Castellani, Franco Zeffirelli, Baz Luhrmann, and Deepa Mehta. More specifically, the essay offers a critical examination of theoretical developments in the notion of realism—including classical realism, neorealism, realismo rosa, and post-realism.
‘The Bowe of Ulysses’
Authors: Byrne Peter
Published: November 2016

This chapter traces the history of the artistic criticism—via retelling—of Shakespearean tragedy, beginning with Dryden and continuing throughout the works of, among others, Edward Bond, Akira Kurosawa, and Jane Smiley. Given Shakespeare’s cultural authority, subjecting his work to revision risks derision or dismissal; the act of reworking self-consciously encounters resistance from a collective predisposed to view Shakespeare as sacrosanct. In “reworking” Shakespeare’s tragic narrative, then, artists from disparate cultures and eras, often operating in different modes, are forced to confront the contemporary and local nature of tragedy and the degree to which Shakespeare either influences or suppresses that nature. This struggle against the cultural absolute of Shakespeare reflects the struggle with the cosmic absolute within tragedy itself, rendering the reworking an attempt to undo the tragic dynamic created between the contemporary author and the legacy of Shakespeare.
‘It is the East’
Authors: Huang Alexa
Published: November 2016

Shakespearean tragedies have played an important part in modern and contemporary East Asian engagements with Western cultures. Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Singaporean translations, rewritings, films, and theatre productions have three important shared characteristics, namely hybridization of genres, intra-regional and trans-historical allusions, and spirituality. These adaptations tend to present the plays in hybrid performative genres, sometimes turning tragedy into comedy or parody. These adaptations are also informed by intra-regional borrowing and allusions that matter to each separate cultural location and to East Asia as a whole. They tend to interpret Shakespearean tragedies through issues of spirituality and through the artists’ personal, rather than national, identities, giving primacy to personal life stories and to the interaction with the audience, rather than attempting ‘authentic’ representations either of Shakespearean tragedy or indeed of ‘Asia’.
Possession and Provincial Practice
Authors: Jördens Andrea
Published: November 2016

While Roman law knew various different forms of control, differentiating meticulously between dominium, possessio and detentio, provincial practice was very different, and evidently conformed to the Roman concepts to only a limited degree. The most detailed information on the condition of property in the provinces of the Imperium Romanum, and the way Rome handled the legal structures and concepts encountered in each case, is without a doubt to be obtained from Aegyptus, on account of the wealth of evidence which has come down to us on papyrus. These sources show that although the Romans respected existing constructs, they nonetheless shoehorned them into their own system, which fundamentally differentiated between ager publicus and ager privatus. This brought with it simplifications with regard to administration. These are outlined in this chapter.
Subjective Well-Being in Psychology
Authors: Lucas Richard
Published: November 2016

Within psychology, subjective well-being refers to a person’s overall evaluation of the quality of life from his or her own perspective. Traditionally, psychologists have focused on three specific components of subjective well-being: life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect, though disagreements exist about precisely how these components should be best measured. Psychological research shows that intuitively appealing predictors of SWB, such as income and health, are typically only weakly correlated with SWB, whereas personality predictors tend to be stronger. This chapter reviews basic psychological research on SWB, addresses questions about the conceptualization and measurement of the construct, and discusses recent attempts to clarify the associations among the various components that are typically studied.
Welfare Comparisons with Heterogeneous Prices, Consumption, and Preferences
Authors: Rao Prasada
Published: November 2016

The chapter provides an overview of the methods and techniques employed by economic statisticians in compiling measures of real expenditure for use in making temporal and spatial comparisons of economic welfare. The role of money-metric utility in making price and welfare comparisons is explored. Temporal measures of price change based on the Konus cost-of-living index and the associated measures of welfare change for individuals and groups of individuals are discussed. Links between the commonly used Laspeyres, Paasche, Fisher, and Tornqvist index numbers and the Konus index-based measures of price and real expenditure change are established. A section of the chapter is devoted to spatial price comparisons where heterogeneity in prices, consumption, and preferences poses challenges for statisticians. Multilateral index number methods based on the money-metric utility used in spatial and cross-country price and welfare comparisons including the Geary, Gini-Éltetö-Köves-Szulc, and spatial chaining methods are canvassed.
Epilogue: The English Novel at the End of the 1820s
Authors: Downie James Alan
Published: November 2016

This chapter evaluates the market for the English novel at the end of the 1820s. It considers the dramatic increase in prices of novels in the later 1820s, as well as the emergence of the ‘triple-decker’ as the publishers’ preferred format for prose fiction and the single-volume arrangement as the principal format for cheap reprints. It also discusses the contribution of Sir Walter Scott to the growing market for novels and explores trends such as authors and publishers taking advantage of the commercial aspects of the novel-publishing business; the inclusion of the words ‘tale’ or ‘tales’ in many more titles than the word ‘novel’; the publication of fiction in serial form; and the appearance of new-style journals in the mould of Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine. The chapter argues that the decade of the 1820s was a turning-point in the process which it calls the making of the English novel.
Introduction
Authors: Lidz Jeffrey L. , Snyder William , Pater Joe
Published: November 2016

This chapter provides an introduction to the topic of Developmental Linguistics, which tries to understand children’s language acquisition in terms of the mental representations that support linguistic behavior. It offers an overview of the chapters in the volume: these examine specific linguistic domains, exploring the cognitive and linguistic supports for learning, patterns of development in children, and the links between cross-linguistic variation and children’s language development.
Root Infinitives in Child Language and the Structure of the Clause
Authors: Grinstead John
Published: November 2016

A central question in the development of the clause is the gradually developing nature of tense marking. This phenomenon has been documented across a wide variety of languages and language typologies. That children’s clauses are syntactically, and not just morpho-phonologically, nonfinite is attested by the wide range of syntactic patterns that vary as a function of finiteness that children follow, including verb-second in Germanic, non-nominative case marking in English, negation-verb order in French. Finiteness also appears sensitive to lexical semantics, as argued in work on the Eventiveness Constraint. Multiple theoretical accounts of the phenomenon are discussed, including generative, usage-based and middle-ground explanations. Nonfinite verbal phenomena in null subject languages and the methodological approaches most appropriate for their study are discussed.
The Acquisition of Phonological Inventories
Authors: Dunbar Ewan , Idsardi William
Published: November 2016

This chapter gives a unified overview of the research on how phonological inventories are acquired in a first language. It surveys the main highlights of the literature from both a perception and a production standpoint, from both linguistics and psychology, with an eye to how we might start to square the various disagreeing sets of facts.
The Expression of Genericity in Child Language
Authors: Pérez-Leroux Ana T.
Published: November 2016

Generic expressions refer to species or kinds of objects, rather than individuals. As generics are encoded in various forms that also have other meanings, and differ across languages, children need to learn which morphosyntactic markers are compatible with generic interpretations. The evidence suggests that children do not need to actively learn generic meanings, but rather, they need to learn to restrict generic interpretations to specific forms of the target grammar. In spontaneous speech children use generic expressions appropriately, early and robustly. In comprehension, while initially overgeneralizing generic interpretations beyond target forms, children also demonstrate that they can exploit the complex relationships between sentence structure and generic meanings; and can integrate the relevant pragmatic and grammatical cues in understanding generic expressions.
Phonological Disorders
Authors: Dinnsen Daniel A. , Barlow Jessica A. , Gierut Judith A.
Published: November 2016

This chapter highlights some of the descriptive and experimental findings about young children’s phonological (non-organic) disorders that have emerged from and contribute to contemporary rule- and constraint-based theories of phonology. Special attention is given to the nature of children’s underlying representations and the processes that relate those representations to corresponding phonetic outputs. Grammatical accounts of several characteristic error patterns are examined from different theoretical perspectives. The focus is on error patterns involving restrictions on phonetic inventories, distributional restrictions, paradigm effects (i.e., morpho-phonological alternations), conspiracies, and consonant clusters. Experimental results from clinical treatment studies are also brought to bear on the evaluation of several phonological claims.
Faḍl-i Ḥaqq Khayrābādī’s (d. 1861),
Authors: McGinnis Jon , Ahmed Asad Q.
Published: November 2016

This chapter surveys the physics of Faḍl-i Ḥaqq Khayrābādī (d. 1861) as it is found in his al-Hadiyya al-saʿīdiyya fī l-ḥikma al-ṭabīʿiyya, which is arguably the last independent work written within the tradition of post-Avicennan natural philosophy. The study particularly emphasizes Khayrābādī’s discussion of natural bodies with an eye to how he both criticizes earlier atomic theories while also trying to incorporate elements from them into his own continuous analysis of natural bodies. Additional subjects of discussion include Khayrābādī’s account of motion and time and their continuity, his critique of post-Copernican astronomy and defense of geocentricism, and finally aspects of his philosophical psychology as they apply to apprehension and perception.
Haji Mullā Hādī Sabzawārī (d. 1878),
Authors: Fena Fatima
Published: November 2016

Ḥājj Mullā Hādī Sabzawārī (1212/1797 or 1798–1289/1873), was one of the major followers and commentators of Mullā Ṣadrā’s transcendent philosophy. Sabzawārī’s profound understanding of the transcendent philosophy and his skill in teaching and commenting upon it was such that after Mullā Ṣadrā himself, Sabzawārī is generally considered to have played one of the most important roles in the development and propagation of this school. The most important work of Sabzawārī is the Ghurar al-farāʾid and his own commentary upon it is a relatively systematic summary of introduction to Mullā Ṣadrā’s magnum opus, the Asfār. The chapter introduces and analyzes the major principles and foundations of Sabzawārī’s philosophical thought, including the three fundamental principles of the ontology of the transcendent philosophy: the primacy of existence (aṣālat al-wujūd), the unity of the reality of existence (waḥdat ḥaqīqat al-wujūd), and gradation in the levels of being (tashkīk al-wujūd).