bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Sex-specific features of emphysema among current and former smokers with COPD
Authors: Hardin Megan , Foreman Marilyn , Dransfield Mark T. , Hansel Nadia , Han MeiLan K. , Cho Michael H. , Bhatt Surya P. , Ramsdell Joe , Lynch David , Curtis Jeffrey L. , Silverman Edwin K. , Washko George , DeMeo Dawn
Published: November 2015

Recent studies suggest that males with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have more emphysema than females. It is not known if these differences persist across degrees of COPD severity. Our aim was to identify sex-specific differences in quantitative emphysema within COPD subgroups based on COPD severity.

We included non-Hispanic white and African-American subjects from the COPDGene study with at least 10 pack-years of smoking and COPD Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) spirometry grade II or greater. We examined sex-specific differences in log-transformed emphysema (log per cent low-attenuation area (%LAA)) by GOLD spirometry grade among subjects with early-onset COPD (<55 years old) and advanced emphysema (>25% emphysema).

Compared with females, males had higher log %LAA: overall (1.97±1.4versus1.69±1.6, β=0.32 (0.04), p=1.34×10−14), and among non-Hispanic white (p=8.37×10−14) and African-American subjects (p=0.002). Females with early-onset COPD, severe emphysema and GOLD grade IV COPD had similar emphysema as males, but markedly fewer pack-years smoking (early-onset, p=0.01; severe emphysema and GOLD grade IV, p<0.001).

This study identifies subsets of female smokers with COPD who are particularly susceptible to parenchymal destruction.
Changes in the incidence, prevalence and mortality of bronchiectasis in the UK from 2004 to 2013: a population-based cohort study
Authors: Quint Jennifer K. , Millett Elizabeth R.C. , Joshi Miland , Navaratnam Vidya , Thomas Sara L. , Hurst John R. , Smeeth Liam , Brown Jeremy S.
Published: November 2015

There is a paucity of data on incidence, prevalence and mortality associated with non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis.

Using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink for participants registered between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2013, we determined incidence, prevalence and mortality associated with bronchiectasis in the UK and investigated changes over time.

The incidence and point prevalence of bronchiectasis increased yearly during the study period. Across all age groups, the incidence in women increased from 21.2 per 100 000 person-years in 2004 to 35.2 per 100 000 person-years in 2013 and in men from 18.2 per 100 000 person-years in 2004 to 26.9 per 100 000 person-years in 2013. The point prevalence in women increased from 350.5 per 100 000 in 2004 to 566.1 per 100 000 in 2013 and in men from 301.2 per 100 000 in 2004 to 485.5 per 100 000 in 2013. Comparing morality rates in women and men with bronchiectasis in England and Wales (n=11 862) with mortality rates in the general population from Office of National Statistics data showed that in women the age-adjusted mortality rate for the bronchiectasis population was 1437.7 per 100 000 and for the general population 635.9 per 100 000 (comparative mortality figure of 2.26). In men, the age-adjusted mortality rate for the bronchiectasis population was 1914.6 per 100 000 and for the general population 895.2 per 100 000 (comparative mortality figure of 2.14).

Bronchiectasis is surprisingly common and is increasing in incidence and prevalence in the UK, particularly in older age groups. Bronchiectasis is associated with a markedly increased mortality.
Novel concepts in airway inflammation and remodelling in asthma
Authors: Saglani Sejal , Lloyd Clare M.
Published: November 2015

The hallmark pathological features of asthma include airway eosinophilic inflammation and structural changes (remodelling) which are associated with an irreversible loss in lung function that tracks from childhood to adulthood. In parallel with changes in function, pathological abnormalities occur early, during the pre-school years, are established by school age and subsequently remain (even though symptoms may remit for periods during adulthood). Given the equal importance of inflammation and remodelling in asthma pathogenesis, there is a significant disparity in studies undertaken to investigate the contribution of each. The majority focus on the role of inflammation, and although novel therapeutics such as those targeted against T-helper cell type 2 (Th2) mediators have arisen, it is apparent that targeting inflammation alone has not allowed disease modification. Therefore, unless airway remodelling is addressed for future therapeutic strategies, it is unlikely that we will progress towards a cure for asthma. Having acknowledged these limitations, the focus of this review is to highlight the gaps in our current knowledge about the mechanisms underlying airway remodelling, the relationships between remodelling, inflammation and function, remodelling and clinical phenotypes, and the importance of utilising innovative and realistic pre-clinical models to uncover effective, disease-modifying therapeutic strategies.
RETRACTED ARTICLE: MiR-362-5p promotes the malignancy of chronic myelocytic leukaemia via down-regulation of GADD45α
Authors: Yang Peng , Ni Fang , Deng Rui-qing , Qiang Guo , Zhao Hua , Yang Ming-zhen , Wang Xin-yi , Xu You-zhi , Chen Li , Chen Dan-lei , Chen Zhi-jun , Kan Li-xin , Wang Si-Ying
Published: November 2015

Background

MicroRNAs (miR, miRNAs) play pivotal roles in numerous physiological and pathophysiological contexts. We investigated whether miR-362-5p act as an oncogene in chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) and aimed to understand its potential underlying mechanisms.

Methods

We compared the miR-362-5p expression levels between CML and non-CML cell lines, and between fresh blood samples from CML patients and normal healthy controls using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and Annexin V-FITC/PI analyses were used to measure the effects of miR-362-5p on proliferation and apoptosis, and Transwell assays were used to evaluate migration and invasion. A xenograft model was used to examine in vivo tumourigenicity. The potential target of miR-362-5p was confirmed by a luciferase reporter assay, qPCR and western blotting. Involvement of the JNK1/2 and P38 pathways was investigated by western blotting.

Results

miR-362-5p was up-regulated in CML cell lines and fresh blood samples from CML patients, and was associated with Growth arrest and DNA damage-inducible (GADD)45α down-regulation. Inhibition of miR-362-5p simultaneously repressed tumour growth and up-regulated GADD45α expression in a xenograft model. Consistently, the knockdown of GADD45α expression partially neutralized the effects of miR-362-5p inhibition. Furthermore study suggested that GADD45α mediated downstream the effects of miR-362-5p, which might indirectly regulates the activation of the JNK1/2 and P38 signalling pathways.

Conclusion

miR-362-5p acts as an oncomiR that down-regulates GADD45α, which consequently activates the JNK1/2 and P38 signalling. This finding provides novel insights into CML leukaemogenesis and may help identify new diagnostic and therapeutic targets.
Inversion of nuclear magnetic resonance echo data based on maximum entropy
Authors: Zou Youlong , Xie Ranhong , Ding Yejiao , Arad Alon
Published: November 2015

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) [Formula: see text] inversion is an ill-posed problem in which regularization techniques are usually adopted to suppress the oscillations caused by noise in the solutions. The maximum entropy concept provides an unbiased way to obtain information from incomplete data, and it implicitly imposes a positive constraint on probability distribution, so we used the maximum entropy method to invert NMR echo data. We have developed a simple and effective method for solving the objective function of the maximum entropy method. First, the solution was replaced by a positive function to achieve the positive constraint of the solution, the objective function was converted to an unconstrained one, and then the Levenberg-Marquardt method was used to solve the newly obtained unconstrained objective function. To suppress the highly tilted tail at the short relaxation time of the [Formula: see text] distribution, a modified or normalized Shannon entropy function was used to replace the standard Shannon entropy function as the penalty term. Furthermore, the S-curve method was used to select the regularization parameter and the formula of the slope of the S-curve was developed. We have determined that the maximum entropy method was better able to separate the peaks of short and long relaxation times in the [Formula: see text] distribution in comparison with the truncated singular value decomposition method. This was true for low signal-to-noise ratio data derived from numerical simulation and the NMR log. In addition, the short relaxation peak caused by the norm smoothing method can also be reduced.
Functional remediation in bipolar disorder: 1-year follow-up of
neurocognitive and functional outcome
Authors: Bonnin C. M. , Torrent C. , Arango C. , Amann B. L. , Solé B. , González-Pinto A. , Crespo J. M. , Tabarés-Seisdedos R. , Reinares M. , Ayuso-Mateos J. L. , García-Portilla M. P. , Ibañez Á. , Salamero M. , Vieta E. , Martinez-Aran A. ,   CIBERSAM Functional Remediation Group
Published: November 2015

Background

Few randomised clinical trials have examined the efficacy of an
intervention aimed at improving psychosocial functioning in bipolar
disorder.

Aims

To examine changes in psychosocial functioning in a group that has been
enrolled in a functional remediation programme 1 year after baseline.

Method

This was a multicentre, randomised, rater-masked clinical trial comparing
three patient groups: functional remediation, psychoeducation and
treatment as usual over 1-year follow-up. The primary outcome was change
in psychosocial functioning measured by means of the Functioning
Assessment Short Test (FAST). Group×time effects for overall psychosocial
functioning were examined using repeated-measures ANOVA (trial
registration NCT01370668).

Results

There was a significant group×time interaction for overall psychosocial
functioning, favouring patients in the functional remediation group
(F = 3.071, d.f. = 2, P =
0.049).

Conclusions

Improvement in psychosocial functioning is maintained after 1-year
follow-up in patients with bipolar disorder receiving functional
remediation.
Ras-activated Dsor1 promotes Wnt signaling in Drosophila development
Authors: Hall Eric T. , Verheyen Esther M.
Published: November 2015

Wnt/Wingless (Wg) and Ras–MAPK signaling both play fundamental roles in growth and cell fate determination, and when dysregulated, can lead to tumorigenesis. Several conflicting modes of interaction between Ras–MAPK and Wnt signaling have been identified in specific cellular contexts, causing synergistic or antagonistic effects on target genes. We find novel evidence that the Drosophila homolog of the dual specificity kinases MEK1/2 (also known as MAP2K1/2), Downstream of Raf1 (Dsor1), is required for Wnt signaling. Knockdown of Dsor1 results in loss of Wg target gene expression, as well as reductions in stabilized Armadillo (Arm; Drosophila β-catenin). We identify a close physical interaction between Dsor1 and Arm, and find that catalytically inactive Dsor1 causes a reduction in active Arm. These results suggest that Dsor1 normally counteracts the Axin-mediated destruction of Arm. We find that Ras–Dsor1 activity is independent of upstream activation by EGFR, and instead it appears to be activated by the insulin-like growth factor receptor to promote Wg signaling. Taken together, our results suggest that there is a new crosstalk pathway between insulin and Wg signaling that is mediated by Dsor1.
Formation of analytical data for multivariate analysis using algebraic model of constructive logic
Authors: Fedorov S. , Kitanina K. , Khromushin V. , Khromushin O.
Published: November 2015

Mathematical device of algebraic model of constructive logic has been used for many years for multivariate analysis in medicine and biology. The resulting mathematical model is represented by a set of output components in the form of factors indicating the detection restrictions, which are united by the sign of con-junction (indicating joint influence). Each resulting component is characterized by a capacity, which is the es-sence of the number of rows in the table with the same factors and their intervals of definition. These capacities characterize the degree of influence of the resulting component on the overall result. The input table must not contain contradictions (when the goal is achieved and not achieved when the same values of the factors). For this purpose, the computer program provides for an exception to those target lines, which coincide with non-target rows. However, this is not always acceptable in cases of a large number of matching target lines and unit numbers of non-target rows or vice versa, because a large number of cases is excluded because of a single non-target rows or single target lines. These contradictions arise, primarily, due to the probabilistic nature of the cases. This is clearly seen in the monitoring of mortality.

In this article the authors propose three ways optimum yield conflicting source data, based on the excess multiplicity of frequencies matching target and non-target cases and estimates of confidence intervals. The pro-posed methods are examined by analyzing data on deaths of persons aged 18 years and older, residents of the Tula region for 2007-2014 (total 208269 cases). An age cohort 45-54 years is a goal of study.

The application of methods of optimum yield conflicting source data is a necessity, which not only im-proves the mathematical model, but, in some cases, is the only way to perform multivariate analysis. All pro-posed methods have their own scope of use, depending on the circumstances.
A Scenario-Based Approach for Operating Theater Scheduling Under Uncertainty
Authors: Freeman Nickolas K. , Melouk Sharif H. , Mittenthal John
Published: November 2015

Elective operation scheduling significantly affects the financial health of a hospital and additional metrics important to stakeholders in an operating theater (OT) environment. In this research, we develop a novel scheduling formulation that explicitly considers the uncertainty in elective operation durations and also plans for potential randomly arriving urgent demands. Using a scenario-based modeling approach, the objective of this formulation is to maximize the expected profit associated with the OT schedule. Since the complexity of the problem is NP-hard, we develop a two-step, heuristic solution approach that allows us to solve practical-sized instances in reasonable time. Experimentation shows that incorporating uncertainty via scenarios increases profit and OT utilization when compared to deterministic scheduling methods. Moreover, explicitly considering urgent arrivals results in a significant reduction in the time that patients of this type wait to receive service, with little impact on other key metrics.
Efficiency of pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli to treatment of effluent petroleum wastewater from AI-Nasiriya refinery – Iraq
Authors: AI-Jawhari Ihsan Flayyih Hasan , Mhail Noor Jabar , AI-RuthaAli Saher Abed
Published: November 2015

Four bacteria isolated from the soil contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbon and wastewaters from the refinery   located in the south part of AI-Nasiriya city in Iraq,by using dilution method.The results showed that Pseudomonas aeruginosa was more dominant with 100% in soil and wastewaters in inside of refinery,and 93%,95% in soil and wastewaters in outside the refinery respectively.The results showed that the second dominant of bacteria was Esherchia coil with 92%,98% in soil and wastewaters in inside the refinery,and 83%,88% in soil and wastewaters in outside of refinery.The remaining two species of bacteria isolated with a very low frequency,these bacteria were Bacillus  subtilis and Klebsiella sp., B.subtilis was obtained with 10%,8% in soil and wastewaters in inside the refinery,and 10%,3% in soil and wastewaters in outside of refinery .In the same time that Klebsiella sp. Was obtained with 10% in soil and wastewaters in inside the refinery,and 8%,3% in soil and wastewaters in outside the refinery.The results showed that mixed two bacteria (high frequency)were more efficient to decrease Biological Oxygen Demande(BOD)with 59% in pH 4,0.5gm / I salt (NaCI) concentration.Chemical Oxygen Demande (COD) was decreased to 75%.The results showed that the Total Acidity(TA) in wastewater were increased to 82% mg / I in 40co ,pH 8 and 2.0 gm/ I NaCI , and Total Suspended Solid (TSS) was decreased to 50 mg / I in 40co, pH,2.0 gm / I NaCI . The results showed that the Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) was removal with 99.99%, and in the same time the numbers of mixed bacteria were increased to 5x108 after incubation 48h in 40co .
Preservative Characteristics of Ascorbic Acid on Color, Texture and Fatty Acid of Cold-Smoked Fish
Authors: Kilic Aydin , Oztan Aydin
Published: November 2015

The objective of this study is to investigate the preservative characteristics of ascorbic acid (A) on the color, texture and fatty acids (FA) of cold-smoked fish. The fish (~250 g) were treated with six different formulation of brine prepared with 10% salt, which is the control(C), treated with 0.4% NaNO2 (N4), 0.2% NaNO2(N2) and only 2.5% A and their combinations (N4A, N2A). The sample groups were cold smoked, then stored at ±4°C and analyzed for 15 days intervals. The results showed that ascorbic acid did not have any negative effect on color, texture or sensory characteristics while there were significant preservative effects on FA. The most stable groups were N and A combinations. The PUFA (Polyunsaturated FA), PUFAω-3, PUFAω-6 and UFA (Unsaturated FA) of N4A and N2A were higher than group C and A. Accordingly, it is expected that, in terms of PUFAω-3 and PUFAω-6, the combination of N and A can contribute to the lipid stability.
Simulation in System-Level Based on Model Order Reduction for a Square-Wave Micromixer
Authors: Chen Xueye , Shen Jienan
Published: November 2015

With the aim to optimize design, a simulation in system level has been presented for the square-wave micromixer in this article. The square-wave micromixer is divided into straight channels and square-wave units. The reduced-order model based on proper orthogonal decomposition is applied in calculating concentration of the sample in the straight channels, and numerical simulation is applied in calculating concentration of the sample in the square-wave units. The data can mutually be transferred between straight channels and square-wave units by data fitting and interpolation. The maximal relative deviation is 1.52% between simulation in system-level and only simulation. The computational efficiency will be improved significantly with the numbers of straight channels increasing. The Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) micromixer is fabricated with mill and hot bonding method. The mixing experiment of fluorescein sodium solution with different concentrations is carried out to verify simulation. The relative deviations between simulation in and experimental results are below 8.26%.
“A Miner Knows Better Than Anybody You Have Little Power Over Mother Nature”: Exploring Genesis 1:26–31 and the Concepts of Control and Power with South Derbyshire Coal Miners
Authors: Webster Tiffany
Published: November 2015

This article seeks to analyze a contextually-reflexive reading of Genesis 1:26–31 that was produced by a group of contemporary “ordinary” readers – in this case, a group of South Derbyshire coal miners. The coal miners used Genesis 1:26–31 as a literary platform upon which they interrogated two principal issues: How ‘masculinity’ is constructed, performed, understood, enforced, and legitimized in coal mining culture; and, what the relationship is between humanity and Earth. This resulted in a reading whereby an attempt was made to synthesize how a man’s understanding of ‘masculinity’ impacts upon his relationship with, and attitude towards, Earth.
“Behold the Man”? Subverting Imperial Masculinity in the Gospel of John
Authors: Ripley Jason J.
Published: November 2015

Modern variations of the “Muscular Christianity” movement emphasize Jesus’ masculinity in various dimensions, inspired in part by the idealized masculinity of Jesus portrayed in the Gospel of John. However, these constructions overlook the Roman context of the Fourth Gospel, and thus miss its critical and subversive engagement with imperial masculinity. I argue that the Gospel of John forges its portrait of Jesus in the rhetorical crucible of honor andvirtus, where Roman masculinity was socially constructed and contested. Within the divergent configurations of manliness that emerge in the early imperial period, the glorious death of John’s Jesus appeals to and subverts reigning constructions of imperial masculinity. Through the portrayal of Jesus’ unflappable courage and conquering via his death, the rhetoric of the Fourth Gospel lays claim to the ideal of Romanvirtus, especially as set forth in the rhetorized renditions of anti-imperial Stoic martyrs (such as Cato and Seneca). However, by constructing Jesus’ masculinity around his bound, beaten, crucified and penetrated body, the Fourth Gospel critiques and subverts imperial configurations of hegemonic manliness and domination. John’s glorification of the cross provides a paradigm of masculinity that exalts courageous critique and rejection of imperial violence even at the cost of one’s life, thereby inverting the shame of crucifixion and imbuing it with honor andvirtus. In so doing, imperial notions of martial masculinity and power are subverted and reconfigured around the cross, thereby opening up new possibilities for the performance of masculinity by ancients and moderns alike.
The Reception of the Bible in the Construction of Masculinities in Jewish and Christian Con/Texts
Authors: Smit Peter-Ben , Creangă Ovidiu , van Klinken Adriaan
Published: November 2015

The introduction to this special issue reviews the articles collected and presented in the volume. After an overview of the contents, the chapter turns to a more refined discussion of the insights resulting from the collection. These insights concern the productivity as well as limitations of canonicity, the importance of contextuality, the embodied practice of masculinity and the subsequent need to acknowledge intersectionality, and finally, it problematizes the rhetoric of ‘tradition(al)’ or ‘biblical’ masculinity. Mapping the future of the study of biblical reception and masculinities, the introduction identifies key issues and areas for further research. These are the necessity of a greater emphasis on multidisciplinarity, the need to demonstrating hermeneutical self-awareness, and a broadening of the scope of the field to include the Qur’an and Muslim cultures as well as newly emerging forms of Christianity in the global South. These features are key to the study of the reception of biblical masculinities going forward.
Use of laboratory information system data for indirect estimation of reference interval for vitamin B12
Authors: Oncel Mufide , Sahin Emel , Kiyici Aysel , Adam Bahattin
Published: November 2015

Background: In common, clinical laboratories use reference intervals recommended by the manufacturers. Various factors affect laboratory tests such as age, sex, diet and genetics. So, it is recommended for each laboratory to determine its own reference ranges for each test used. We aimed to establish our reference interval for vitamin B12.

Methods: The data archive of laboratory information system was searched for a 1-year period between January and December, 2013. Among 2526 subjects searched for vitamin B12, 2368 remained (1–70 years old, 512 male and 1856 female) when we excluded the outliers for estimation of reference range for vitamin B12 with nonparametric method according to National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) C28-A3 guidelines. Serum levels of vitamin B12 were determined with electrochemiluminescent technique.

Results: New reference interval for vitamin B12 derived from our results was 101–702 pg/mL, and was not affected by gender.

Conclusions: New reference interval was different from the one recommended by the manufacturer. We suggest that established reference interval reflects our population better than the values recommended by the manufacturer.
Optical integrated chips with micro and nanostructures for refractive index and SERS-based optical label-free sensing
Authors: Liu Liu , Jin Mingliang , Shi Yaocheng , Lin Jiao , Zhang Yuan , Jiang Li , Zhou Guofu , He Sailing
Published: November 2015

Label-free optical biosensing technologies have superior abilities of
quantitative analysis, unmodified targets, and ultrasmall sample volume,
compared to conventional fluorescence-label-based sensing techniques, in
detecting various biomolecules. In this review article, we introduce our recent
results in the field of evanescent-wavebased refractive index sensing and
surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-based sensing, both of which are
promising platforms for label-free optical biosensors. First,
silicon-on-insulator (SOI) nanowire waveguide and metallic surface plasmon
resonance (SPR)-based refractive index sensing are discussed. In order to
improve the detection limit, phase interrogation techniques are introduced to
these types of sensors based on prism-coupled SPR and SOI microring resonators.
A detection limit in the order of 10−6 refractive index unit is achieved.
Detection of 16.7 pM anti-IgG is also demonstrated based on the SPR devices.
Second, SERS substrates based on various nanometallic structures are discussed.
Metallic nanowire arrays and inverted nanopyramids and grooves with a thin metal
surface are fabricated based on anisotropic wetetching of silicon substrates.
Both structures have demonstrated a Raman signal enhancement on the order of
107. In order to improve the extraction efficiency of the Raman signal at a high
wave number, a nano-bowtie array substrate is fabricated, which exhibits double
resonances at both the excitation wavelength and the desired Raman scattering
wavelength. Experimental results have shown that this double-resonance structure
can further enhance the received Raman signal, as compared to conventional SERS
substrates with only one resonance at the excitation wavelength.
The Secret Sympathy: New Atheism, Protestant Fundamentalism, and Evolution
Authors: Fraser Liam Jerrold
Published: November 2015

In spite of the apparent differences between the two, a number of commentators have suggested an underlying sympathy between new atheism and protestant fundamentalism (e.g. De Botton 2012; Vernon 2007; Flew 2007; Robertson 2010) While such comparisons are intriguing, it not always clear whether they should be taken seriously, as they are frequently asserted without sustained argument. This paper seeks to ameliorate this lack of clarity through a textual study of new atheist and protestant fundamentalist texts. This textual study reveals two presuppositions shared by new atheists and protestant fundamentalists: a literal, univocal, and perspicuous understanding of Scripture, and a disruptive and substitutionary conception of divine activity in nature. As such, for all their differences, both groups share similar beliefs concerning the Christian faith. While scholars frequently critique new atheist and protestant fundamentalist arguments by attacking biblical inerrancy or metaphysical naturalism, this paper concludes by arguing that a more successful critique of these two groups can be advanced by questioning the biblical and theological presuppositions that they share.
Multi-criteria classification for pricing European options
Authors: Gradojevic Nikola
Published: November 2015

This paper builds a novel multi-criteria, non-parametric classification framework in order to improve the accuracy of pricing European options. The proposed approach is based on classifying financial options according to their implied volatility, time to maturity and moneyness. Using a recent data set for the daily S&P 500 index call options, the multi-criteria modular neural network model demonstrates its superior out-of-sample pricing performance relative to competing parametric and non-parametric models. By observing the model’s pricing errors across various option types, the analysis provides additional insights into pricing biases and stresses the importance of selecting appropriate classification criteria.
The Use of X-ray Absorption Spectra for Validation of Classical Force-Field Models
Authors: Kuzmin Alexei , Anspoks Andris , Kalinko Aleksandr , Timoshenko Janis
Published: November 2015

Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy and
molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are two complementary techniques
widely used to study the atomic structure of materials. Their combined
use, known as the MD-EXAFS approach, allows one to access the
structural information, encoded in EXAFS, far beyond the nearest
coordination shells and to validate the accuracy of the interaction
potential models. In this study we demonstrate the use of the MD-EXAFS
method for a validation of several force-field models on an example of
the cubic-perovskite SrTiO3 and hexagonal wurtzite-type ZnO
crystals.
Neonicotinoid concentrations in urine from chronic kidney disease patients in the North Central Region of Sri Lanka
Authors: Kabata Risako , Nanayakkara Shanika , Senevirathna Stmld , Harada Kouji H. , Chandrajith Rohana , Hitomi Toshiaki , Abeysekera Tilak , Takasuga Takumi , Koizumi Akio
Published: November 2015

Neonicotinoid concentrations in urine from chronic kidney disease patients in the North Central Region of Sri Lanka: Risako Kabata, et al. Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University

Objective

Neonicotinoid insecticides have been widely used around the world since the 1990s. Reports have been made since the 1990s of rice paddy farmers in the North Central Region (NCR) of Sri Lanka suffering from chronic kidney disease with unknown etiology (CKDu). A preliminary evaluation of the exposure of local farmers in the NCR of Sri Lanka to neonicotinoids was performed.

Methods

We analyzed neonicotinoid and neonicotinoid metabolite concentrations in spot urine samples. We selected 40 samples, 10 from farmers with CKDu and 10 from controls from each of two areas, Medawachchiya and Girandurukotte.

Results

Imidacloprid and desmethyl‐acetamiprid were found at significantly higher concentrations in the control samples (with medians of 51 ng/l and 340 ng/l, respectively) than in the CKDu samples (medians of 15 ng/l and 150 ng/l, respectively) when the results were not adjusted for the creatinine contents. None of the six compounds that were measured in the urine samples were found at significantly higher concentrations in the CKDu samples than in the control samples. None of the neonicotinoid concentrations in the samples analyzed in this study exceeded the concentrations that have been found in samples from the general population of Japan.

Conclusions

Farmers (both with and without CKDu) living in CKDu‐endemic areas in the NCR of Sri Lanka are exposed to lower neonicotinoid concentrations than non‐occupationally exposed residents of Japan.
Alfredo Colman. 2015. The Paraguayan Harp: From Colonial Transplant to National Emblem
Authors: Arocena Felipe
Published: November 2015

Alfredo Colman. 2015. The Paraguayan Harp: From Colonial Transplant to National Emblem. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. 185pp. ISBN 978-0-7391-9819-3 (hbk)
The Ideology of Capitalism
Authors: Grey Julius
Published: November 2015

This manuscript addresses from a range of perspectives the crisis of capitalism, claiming that it's failures are not an accident or a result of the actions of a few unprincipled men. Rather, it is a harbinger of things to come – loss of employment due to technology and globalization, a world without the myth of constant growth, tension between ethnic and national groups which seek to tilt the scale in favour of their group, a constant need for more radical technology and a fear of its unavoidable frightening side. Its one possible positive effect will occur if there emerges a new willingness to question the assumptions of capitalism and the political correctness of identity politics, shifts in both attitude and behavior that the author deems unlikely at the current juncture or in the foreseeable future.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION

II. THE CURRENT CRISIS

III. THE “SMALL GOVERNMENT” DEFENSE OF CAPITALISM

IV. DOES THE HISTORY OF THE 20TH CENTURY VINDICATE CAPITALISM

V. CAPITALISM AND SOVIET MARXISM

VI. THE NEW MAN

VII. INTERNATIONALISM AND GLOBALIZATION

VIII. THE ALIENATED MAN

IX. ALIENATION AND FAMILY STRUCTURE

X. CAPITALISM AND DEMOCRACY

XI. THE DOUBLETHINK OF CAPITALISM

XII. CULTURE AND CAPITALISM

XIII. THE “CONTRACT” DEFENCE OF CAPITALISM

XIV. THE POSITIVE SIDE OF LIBERAL CAPITALISM

XV. INSTITUTIONAL TAKE-OVER

XVI. CAPITALISM AND THE TOWER OF BABEL

XVII. THE NEW SYSTEM

XVIII. POLITICAL STRUCTURE IN THE NEW SYSTEM

XIX. THE NEW SYSTEM AND INDIVIDUAL HAPPINESS

XX. COURTS AND JUDICIAL REVIEW IN THE NEW SYSTEM

XXI. PHILOSOPHY, SCIENCE AND MORALITY IN THE NEW SYSTEM

XXII. WHY NOT “REAL” SOCIALISM

XXIII. HOW IS A NEW SYSTEM TO BE CREATED

XXIV. EDUCATION

XXV. DISOBEDIENCE AND WITHDRAWAL

XXVI. REFORM OF THE LEFT

XXVII. LABOUR UNIONS AS A SPECIAL INTEREST LOBBY

XXVIII. MULTICULTURALISM AND CULTURE

XXIX. CULTURE AND DEMOGRAPHY

XXX. A BOOT IN THE FACE OF MANKIND FOREVER

XXXI. CONCLUSION
Fictions of Mixed Origins: Iracema, Tay John, and Racial Hybridity in Brazil and Canada
Authors: Braz Albert
Published: November 2015

Given the diasporic origins of the overwhelming majority of their populace, most countries in the Americas have had to indigenize themselves. Some of them have been content to simply “play Indian.” However, many others have attempted to achieve national legitimacy by fusing their Indigenous and non-Indigenous inhabitants, even if they subsequently do not always admit it. In this essay, I examine how two foundational inter-American novels, José de Alencar’s Iracema and Howard O’Hagan’s Tay John, convey the contrasting ways in which Brazil and Canada have used racial hybridity in their national imaginaries; the former by celebrating the union of the Indigenous and the European that culminates in the birth of the first Brazilian, and thus the Brazilian nation; the latter, which is set in the aftermath of the fall of Batoche and the end of the Métis national dream, by dramatizing the apparent impossibility of racial mixing in Canada. Tellingly, despite the fact one country has embraced what one might term an ideology of ethnoracial hybridity and the other has largely rejected it, both of them have been culturally and politically dominated by groups of European descent. No less important, Indigenous people seem to have become more prominent in the country that historically has been uncomfortable with ethnoracial hybridity, Canada, than with the one that ostensibly glories in it, Brazil.
L'"américanisme" de Baudelaire chez les poètes québécois du tournant du XXe siècle
Authors: Charest Nelson
Published: November 2015

Dans des Notes préparatoires qu’il amasse en vue d’écrire un article sur Baudelaire, Jules Laforgue relève ce qu’il appelle son « américanisme », un aspect qu’a bien mis en lumière un article de Daniel Grojnowski (2003). Selon Laforgue, Baudelaire a conservé de l’esthétique d’Edgar Poe, qu’il a traduit comme on sait, un goût pour l’image qui mêle l’idéal et le concret, dans une écriture marquée par la témérité, l’énormité et la crudité. En ce sens Baudelaire inaugure une nouvelle tradition qui commence à s’implanter dans la poésie française à la fin du XIXe siècle, où les œuvres communiquent de plus en plus avec les œuvres étrangères, américaines notamment. D’Émile Nelligan à Alfred Desrochers, Baudelaire demeure une source très présente, en qui on trouve un modèle de prosodie bien ciselée, d’âme sensible ou d’imagination fertile. Il est clair que les influences des poètes québécois, dès cette époque, sont métissées ; ce qui, paradoxalement, les situe en phase avec les esthétiques les plus innovantes du tournant du XXe siècle.
Re/Deconstructing the Rimbaud Myth: Kerouac and Mallarmé
Authors: Catani Damian Paul
Published: November 2015

In 1954, French critic René Étiemble controversially put forward a ground-breaking thesis that exposed a hitherto unrecognised threat to the integrity and rigour of Rimbaud scholarship: namely, that objective evaluation of his poetry was becoming increasingly impeded by the profusion of highly subjective powerful myths about his short, but eventful life. This article has three aims: first, to retrace the origins and lingering impact of the most dominant myths surrounding Arthur Rimbaud –specifically the contrasting myths of the ‘Catholic convert’ and the ‘rebel artist’; secondly, through a comparative analysis of the works on Rimbaud published by Jack Kerouac and Stéphane Mallarmé, to explore the extent to which the Beat author and the Symbolist poet respectively colluded with, or questioned these myths; thirdly, to conclude that Mallarmé’s text emerges as the more balanced and convincing of the two: first, because contrary to Kerouac’s excessive self-identification with Rimbaud, especially through the seductive myth of the rebel artist, it adopts a critical distance that amply fulfils Étiemble’s timely call for a ‘de-mythologised’ approach to this poet as the prerequisite for any accurate assessment of his poetry; secondly, and more broadly, because by portraying Rimbaud as a poet whose literary reputation owes as much to the preconceptions and agendas of outside influences beyond his control than to his intrinsic artistic merits, Mallarmé’s text is equally prescient in its identification of the pitfalls of our modern-day celebrity culture.
Les Fleurs du Mal ou le « fantastique moderne »
Authors: Harvey Cynthia
Published: November 2015

Si une vague fantastique a déferlé en France au cours de la première moitié du XIXe siècle, comme toutes les modes, le fantastique fut bientôt démodé. Néanmoins, il demeura bien vivant, en se transformant, jusqu’à la fin du XIXe siècle et au-delà. Dans Le conte fantastique en France. De Nodier à Maupassant , P.-G. Castex retrace une continuité de la tradition fantastique allant des romantiques de 1830 à Lautréamont, Villers de l'Isle-Adam et Maupassant, le fantastique se modifiant et se reniant d’une génération à l’autre sous diverses influences (le progrès de la psychiatrie et de l'électromagnétisme, le développement du spiritisme ou l’évolution du goût littéraire). Castex ne limite pas le fantastique à un seul genre littéraire ni même à la littérature, le reconnaissant tantôt dans la peinture de Delacroix ou de Boulanger, dans la caricature de Ramelet, dans l’opéra (Robert le Diable), le ballet (La Sylphide), la musique instrumentale (La Symphonie fantastique) et même dans la virtuosité de Paganini. Mais il ne va pas jusqu’à présenter les Fleurs du Mal comme une œuvre fantastique . Au carrefour du romantisme, du Parnasse, du symbolisme, l’auteur des « Correspondances » et de « L’Albatros » suscite une glose abondante, mais l’aspect fantastique de l’œuvre attire peu l’attention. Pourtant, Claude Pichois, dans l’édition de La Pléiade (1975), affirme qu’« un fantastique moderne » naît avec Baudelaire. Quelques critiques, comme Rosemary Lloyd qui s’intéresse à l’influence d’Hoffmann sur Baudelaire, ont abordé l’aspect fantastique de cette œuvre inclassable. D’autres, comme Walter Benjamin, soulignent la parenté de Baudelaire avec Edgar Allan Poe. Mais la question de la spécificité du fantastique baudelairien est loin d’être résolue, notamment en ce qui concerne la modernité de ce fantastique, et surtout la forme qu’il prend dans Les Fleurs du Mal. C’est ce que je me propose d’explorer.
Introduction: From Baudelaire, Flaubert and Zola to the Trial of Remy Couture. Québec in the Modern World.
Authors: Barsky Robert F.
Published: November 2015

Consistent with our effort to study "cultural modernisms" as they crossed borders from France to Québec, this introduction considers the pervasiveness of Baudelaire’s 1857 obscenity trial, for not only did it serve to memorialize and popularize Baudelaire’s work, it also has remains a touchstone in references to work subsequently deemed obscene, right up to this very year in Quebec. Considering similarities between the Remy Couture trial and that of Baudelaire leads us to the long history of litigation regarding obscenity, and, moreover, the presentation of the materials to the court tells us something about how obscenity laws are used to weed out materials deemed “out of place” in societies such as France, England, the US and Canada.
Interview with Michel Pierssens
Authors: Pierssens Michel
Published: November 2015

Interview
Shaping the Grammar of Security.
Authors: De Silva Mary Lynn
Published: November 2015

In Australia, practices of preemptive deterrence construct the political identity of asylum seekers as the ‘illegal other’, and as a threat to national security and to national identity. At the core of the state's illegality regimes lies the endorsement of exclusionary norms through the grammar of security. Who is responsible for the endorsement of these norms and how do they (re)produce illegality regimes? How are securitization moves legitimized and sustained through illegality regimes? How may they be resisted? A case study of Sweden illustrates how the securitization discourses mobilizing illegality regimes may be resisted through norm circles in the political sphere that endorse norms of egalitarianism, justice and equality.

This paper focuses on the ‘critical realism’ associated with the works of Dave Elder-Vass and Roy Bhaskar. Elder-Vass draws on the philosophy of Roy Bhaskar to examine the ontology of language, discourse, culture and knowledge and their contribute to the construction of social reality, thus synthesizing aspects of realism and constructionism. Roy Bhaskar’s philosophy of the social sciences has aimed to crystallize a transcendental realist framework incorporating a form of critical naturalism and also critical hermeneutics.
Les traductions de Baudelaire en Amérique Latine : rhétoriques et moules d’écriture
Authors: Gentile Ana MarÃ­a
Published: November 2015

L’étude des influences et des dialogues littéraires, qui fait l’objet de la littérature comparée, acquiert une nouvelle dimension si nous ajoutons à l’analyse la perspective traductologique, discipline de plus en plus autonome dont les approches enrichissent les points de vue sur les traductions et leur rôle dans un système littéraire et culturel d’accueil. Loin d’une conception de la traduction comme une simple opération de passage opéré entre deux langues, les dernières réflexions, dont une source incontournable est la célèbre préface de Walter Benjamin intitulée « La tâche du traducteur » aux Tableaux Parisiens baudelairiens, remarquent l’aspect créatif et non ancillaire de cette sorte de réécriture productive. C’est dans ce cadre théorique que le présent travail se propose de retracer les traductions de l’oeuvre de Charles Baudelaire en Amérique Latine et de réfléchir sur les rhétoriques et les moules d’écriture qui opèrent dans les versions en espagnol. Plus particulièrement, nous nous demandons sur quelle rhétorique poétique le traducteur crée son poème en espagnol et en même temps quel est le moule d’écriture suggéré par la traduction dans l’invention d’une langue dont l’esthétique oscille entre la sublimation et la cruauté propres au style baudelairien. Pour ce faire, nous prenons le cas de quelques poèmes des Fleurs du Mal et des Tableaux Parisiens.
Wake and Mourning: Apollinaire and Ungaretti
Authors: Livorni Ernesto
Published: November 2015

The Great War is the first modern war in which a great awareness of the double role soldiers played was elaborated, as many of those soldiers were also writers and artists who kept on working on their artistic endeavor while at war. Among them, there were certainly poets who immediately earned the compound title of soldier-poets, according to an order of the two terms that remarked the priority of the urgency of the contingencies of war: they were soldier-poets rather than poet-soldiers. To be sure, the definition of poet-soldier gained some popularity during the Romantic period and the Italian Risorgimento, in particular: one may think of poet-soldiers such as Ugo Foscolo, but also Lord George Byron. Even during World War I there was a poet-soldier of the caliber of Gabriele D’Annunzio. However, it is during the Great War that the compound title of poet-soldier is reversed into soldier-poet. Furthermore, another broader distinction was elaborated: that between combatant and non-combatant. It is this distinction, in conjunction of that within the compound title of soldier-poet, which proves to be crucial in order to read some war poems by Guillaume Apollinaire and Giuseppe Ungaretti as telling in regards to the attitude the soldier-poet had to take before his role as combatant or non-combatant.
End, End, End and For Issa
Authors: Rattner Jonathan
Published: November 2015

Video Synopsis:

End, End, End is a meditation on the fragmentary nature of thoughts, memories, and emotions. Combining found recordings of a man marking the beginning and end of analog audio tapes with a collage of images of the natural world, this experimental short weaves in and out of the past and present, stopping along the way to reflect on death, love, and the appropriate way to make a cup of coffee. This work suggests at once a desperate desire for narrative understanding and the impossibility of ever achieving it.

Video SYNOPSIS:

For Issa is a short work composed as a series of visual haikus in the spirit of 19th century Japanese poet and wanderer Issa. Through a distillation of impressions, the haiku poets of Issa’s time sought to express moments in a crystallized state. In order to capture experience as a unity and totality, the haiku structure consisted of two elements: the first represented the object, condition, or situation; the second represented perception. The desired result was a nexus of self and world.
Peter Hitchcock Interview
Authors: Hitchcock Peter
Published: November 2015

interview
Michael Holquist Interview
Authors: Holquist Michael
Published: November 2015

interview
Leigh Yetter Interview
Authors: Yetter Leigh
Published: November 2015

Interview
Edward H. Friedman Interview
Authors: Friedman Edward H.
Published: November 2015

Interview
Cultural Policy and Cultural Life: Québec’s Experience
Authors: Tremblay Andrée
Published: November 2015

The object of this article is draft a brief history of cultural policymaking in Québec through various initiatives adopted by successive governments in the largely French-speaking province since the middle of the 20th century. These initiatives have been instrumental in the development of an amazingly rich and diversified cultural life within Québec.
Book Review Sodom on the Thames: Sex, love and Scandal in Wilde Times by Morris B. Kaplan
Authors: Ridge Daniel Carl
Published: November 2015

Book Review