bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Active control of flexible one-link manipulators using wavelet networks
Authors: Gervini V. I. , Hemerly E. M. , Gomes S. C. P.
Published: June 2013

The design of control laws for flexible manipulators is known to be a challenging problem, when using a conventional actuator, i.e., a motor with gear. This is due to the friction of the nonlinear actuator, which causes torque dead zone and stick-slip behavior, thereby hampering the good performance of the control system. The torque needed to attenuate the vibrations, although calculated by the control law, is consumed by the friction inside the actuator, rendering it ineffective to the flexible structure control. Nonlinear friction varies with different operational conditions of the actuator and a friction compensation mechanism based on these models cannot always keep a good performance. This study proposes a new control strategy using wavelet network to friction compensation. Experimental results obtained with a flexible manipulator attest to the good performance of the proposed control law.
Path planning for simple wheeled robots: sub-Riemannian and elastic curves on SE(2)
Authors: Maclean Craig , Biggs James D.
Published: June 2013

This paper presents a motion planning method for a simple wheeled robot in two cases: (i) where translational and rotational speeds are arbitrary, and (ii) where the robot is constrained to move forwards at unit speed. The motions are generated by formulating a constrained optimal control problem on the Special Euclidean group SE(2). An application of Pontryagin's maximum principle for arbitrary speeds yields an optimal Hamiltonian which is completely integrable in terms of Jacobi elliptic functions. In the unit speed case, the rotational velocity is described in terms of elliptic integrals, and the expression for the position is reduced to quadratures. Reachable sets are defined in the arbitrary speed case, and a numerical plot of the time-limited reachable sets is presented for the unit speed case. The resulting analytical functions for the position and orientation of the robot can be parametrically optimised to match prescribed target states within the reachable sets. The method is shown to be easily adapted to obstacle avoidance for static obstacles in a known environment.
A globally converging algorithm for adaptive manipulation and trajectory following for mobile robots with serial redundant arms
Authors: Moubarak Paul , Ben-Tzvi Pinhas
Published: June 2013

In this paper the tip-over stability of mobile robots during manipulation with redundant arms is investigated in real-time. A new fast-converging algorithm, called theCircles Of INitialization(COIN), is proposed to calculate globally optimal postures of redundant serial manipulators. The algorithm is capable of trajectory following, redundancy resolution, and tip-over prevention for mobile robots during eccentric manipulation tasks. The proposed algorithm employsa prioritraining data generated from an exhaustive resolution of the arm's redundancy along a single direction in the manipulator's workspace. This data is shown to provide educated initial guess that enablesCOINto swiftly converge to the global optimum for any other task in the workspace. Simulations demonstrate the capabilities ofCOIN, and further highlight its convergence speed relative to existing global search algorithms.
Generic singularities of symplectic and quasi-symplectic immersions
Authors: DOMITRZ W. , JANECZKO S. , ZHITOMIRSKII M.
Published: June 2013

For any k<2n we construct a complete system of invariants in the problem of classifying singularities of immersed k-dimensional submanifolds of a symplectic 2n-manifold at a generic double point.
Differences in the epidemiology between paediatric and adult invasiveStreptococcus pyogenesinfections
Authors: ZACHARIADOU L. , STATHI A. , TASSIOS P. T. , PANGALIS A. , LEGAKIS N. J. ,   the Hellenic Strep-Euro Study Group, PAPAPARASKEVAS J.
Published: June 2013

In order to investigate for possible differences between paediatric and adult invasiveStreptococcus pyogenes(iGAS) infections, a total of 142 cases were identified in 17 Greek hospitals during 2003–2007, of which 96 were children and 46 adults. Bacteraemia, soft tissue infections, streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS), and necrotizing fasciitis were the main clinical presentations (67·6%, 45·1%, 13·4%, and 12·0% of cases, respectively). Bacteraemia and lymphadenitis were significantly more frequent in children (P = 0·019 and 0·021, respectively), whereas STSS was more frequent in adults (P = 0·017). The main predisposing factors in children were varicella and streptococcal pharyngotonsillitis (25% and 19·8%, respectively), as opposed to malignancy, intravenous drug abuse and diabetes mellitus in adults (19·6%, 15·2% and 10·9%, respectively). Of the two dominantemm-types, 1 and 12 (28·2% and 8·5%, respectively), the proportion ofemm-type 12 remained stable during the study period, whereasemm-type 1 rates fluctuated considerably. Strains ofemm-type 1 from children were associated with erythromycin susceptibility, STSS and intensive-care-unit admission, whereasemm-type 12 isolates from adults were associated with erythromycin and clindamycin resistance. Finally, specificemm-types were detected exclusively in adults or in children. In conclusion, several clinical and epidemiological differences were detected, that could prove useful in designing age-focused strategies for prevention and treatment of iGAS infections.
Atrial septal aneurysms in childhood: prevalence, classification, and concurrent abnormalities
Authors: Giannopoulos Andreas , Gavras Christoforos , Sarioglou Stavroula , Agathagelou Fotini , Kassapoglou Irene , Athanassiadou Fani
Published: June 2013

Objectives: This study sought to investigate the prevalence of atrial septal aneurysms in the paediatric population and to define coexisting abnormalities and their incidence. Background: Few papers refer to the prevalence of atrial septal aneurysms in childhood. Methods: We enrolled a total of 4522 children aged more than 12 months who underwent a transthoracic echocardiography. Atrial septal aneurysm was defined as a protrusion of the interatrial septum or part of it >15 mm beyond the plane of the atrial septum or phasic excursion of the interatrial septum during the cardiorespiratory cycle of at least 15 mm in total amplitude and a diameter of the base of the aneurysm of at least 15 mm. Results: Atrial septal aneurysms were found in 47 children (1.04%). They involved almost the entire septum in 14 patients (28.89%) and were limited to the fossa ovalis in 33 (71.11%). An atrial septal aneurysm was an isolated structural defect in 17 (35.56%). In 30 (64.44%) patients, it was associated with interatrial shunting – atrial septal defect and patent foramen ovale. At the echo follow-up after a year, no changes were recorded. Conclusions: Prevalence of atrial septal aneurysms is almost 1%. The most common abnormalities associated are interatrial shunts, that is, a patent foramen ovale and an atrial septal defect. From a medical point of view, it is suggested that no action is to be taken during childhood, as a child with an atrial septal aneurysm is not at increased risk compared with a child without one. Follow-up is scheduled on an individual basis.
Decreased Cognitive Function in Extended Family Members from the Single Late-Onset-Alzheimer's-Disease Pedigree
Authors: Zeng Yan , Chang Wei , Shu Chang , Ma Lina , Huang Yuanyuan , Wang Ruoshi , Zhang Junpeng , Zhu Changcai , McClintock Shawn M.
Published: June 2013

A family history of dementia is associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) late in life (LOAD). This study marked the first attempt to assess the familial contribution to differences in cognitive performance in a large family-based group in the Chinese community. We enrolled 168 participants without dementia from a single pedigree with 9 probable AD patients diagnosed after age 65. These participants were evaluated with a comprehensive neuropsychological battery, the Chinese version of the Mini Mental State Examination, and the Alzheimer Disease Assessment Scale–Cognitive Subscale. Analyses found that extended family members of the LOAD pedigree showed similar performance on measures of global cognitive function and semantic memory compared to controls, but lower scores on episodic memory, attention, and executive function measures. These results indicate that the genetic influences on certain sub-cognitive domains are more detectable despite normal global cognitive function, and that family members with the LOAD pedigree are at risk for developing LOAD by virtue of their family history with an additive risk due to increased age. The findings in this study support the importance of documenting if there is a positive family history of AD in clinical evaluations. (JINS, 2013, 19, 1–11)
CHARACTERIZING SOME COMPLETELY REGULAR SEMIGROUPS BY THEIR SUBSEMIGROUPS
Authors: PETRICH MARIO
Published: June 2013

We consider several familiar varieties of completely regular semigroups such as groups and completely simple semigroups. For each of them, we characterize their members in terms of absence of certain kinds of subsemigroups, as well as absence of certain divisors, and in terms of a homomorphism of a concrete semigroup into the semigroup itself. For each of these varieties $ \mathcal{V} $ we determine minimal non-$ \mathcal{V} $ varieties, provide a basis for their identities, determine their join and give a basis for its identities. Most of this is complete; one of the items missing is a basis for identities for minimal nonlocal orthogroups. Three tables and a figure illustrate the results obtained.
ORDER PRESERVING MAPS ON HERMITIAN MATRICES
Authors: ŠEMRL PETER , SOUROUR AHMED RAMZI
Published: June 2013

We prove that a continuous map $\phi $ defined on the set of all $n\times n$ Hermitian matrices preserving order in both directions is up to a translation a congruence transformation or a congruence transformation composed with the transposition.
MINIMAL VOLUME OF COMPLETE UNIFORM VISIBILITY MANIFOLDS WITH FINITE VOLUME
Authors: KIM SUNGWOON
Published: June 2013

We show that complete uniform visibility manifolds of finite volume with sectional curvature $- 1\leq K\leq 0$ have positive simplicial volume. This implies that their minimal volume is nonzero.
Does inadequate Point-A dose warrant treatment plan modifications in CT-image-based cervix high dose-rate brachytherapy planning? A dosimetric perspective
Authors: Yaparpalvi R. , Mehta K. J. , Mutyala S. , Kuo H. C. , Hong L. , Kalnicki S.
Published: June 2013

Background and purpose

To investigate whether inadequate dose to Point-A necessitates treatment plan changes in a time of computed tomography (CT)-image-guided brachytherapy treatment planning for cervix cancer.

Materials and methods

A total of 125 tandem and ovoid insertions from 25 cervix patients treated were reviewed. CT-image-based treatment planning was carried out for each insertion. Point-A is identified and the dose documented; however, dose optimisation in each plan was based on covering target while limiting critical organ doses (PlanTarget). No attempts were made to equate prescription and Point-A dose. For each insertion, a second hypothetical treatment plan was generated by prescribing dose to Point-A (PlanPoint-A). Plans were inter-compared using dose–volume histogram analyses.

Results

A total of 250 treatment plans were analysed. For the study population, the median cumulative dose at Point-A was 80 Gy (range 70–95) for PlanTarget compared with 84·25 Gy for PlanPoint-A. Bladder and rectal doses were higher for PlanPoint-A compared with PlanTarget (p < 0·0001). Target D90 did not correlate with Point-A dose (p = 0·60).

Conclusions

Depending on applicator geometry, tumour size and patient anatomy, Point-A dose may vary in magnitude compared with prescription dose. Treatment plan modifications purely based on inadequate Point-A dose are unnecessary, as these may result in higher organ-at-risk doses and not necessarily improve target coverage.
Radiation pneumonitis and pulmonary function with lung dose–volume constraints in breast cancer irradiation
Authors: Blom Goldman U. , Anderson M. , Wennberg B. , Lind P.
Published: June 2013

Purpose

We studied symptomatic radiation pneumonitis (RP) and changes in pulmonary function tests (PFTs) after loco-regional radiotherapy (LRRT) with V20 lung constraints in breast cancer (BC).

Patients and methods

Sixty-four women underwent PFTs before and 5 months after 3D planned LRRT for BC. The incidentally irradiated ipsilateral lung V20 was minimised to <30%. Patients were monitored for symptoms of RP 1, 4 and 7 months after radiotherapy (RT) and data on covariates were collected prospectively. The outcome was compared with previous treatment series.

Results

Pneumonitis was less frequent with the applied constraint, that is, four mild and one moderate case, than in our previous report (p < 0·001). In multivariate analyses, neither dosimetric data nor covariates appeared to influence mean changes in vital capacity [−0·11L, standard error of the mean (SEM) 0·03] or diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO) (−0·20 mmol/kPa/min, SEM 0·01), except for pre-RT chemotherapy, which diminished the change in DLCO 5 months post-RT.

Conclusions

The used constraint and 3D planning lowered the rate of RP and short-term changes in PFTs compared with our previous treatment series. Pre-RT chemotherapy affects DLCO baseline levels. Rates of side effects should be continuously studied when new target definitions or therapies are introduced in LRRT of BC.
Pension plan participant choice: Evidence on defined benefit and defined contribution preferences
Authors: GERRANS PAUL , CLARK GORDON L.
Published: June 2013

We report analysis of voluntary switching from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) plans in an environment best characterised as benign. Using a large Australian fund database we identify socio-demographic correlates and the macroeconomic circumstances associated with DB to DC switching. The age of participants is an important correlate of switching behaviour, suggesting a degree of risk tolerance previously not recognised in the literature. It is also noted, however, that this type of switching behaviour may involve secondary behaviour such that uncertainties of DC investment performance are managed by reference to an asset allocation formula that maps to the previous DB investment strategy.
Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Long-Term Sick Leave and Disability Pension: A Population-Based Study of Young Adult Norwegian Twins
Authors: Gjerde Line C. , Knudsen Gun Peggy , Czajkowski Nikolai , Gillespie Nathan , Aggen Steven H. , Røysamb Espen , Reichborn-Kjennerud Ted , Tambs Kristian , Kendler Kenneth S. , Ørstavik Ragnhild E.
Published: June 2013

Although exclusion from the workforce due to long-term sick leave (LTSL) and disability pension (DP) is a major problem in many Western countries, the etiology of LTSL and DP is not well understood. These phenomena have a strong association as most patients receiving DP have first been on LTSL. However, only a few of those on LTSL end up with DP. The present study aimed to investigate the common and specific genetic and environmental risk factors for LTSL and DP. The present study utilizes a population-based sample of 7,710 young adult twins from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health Twin Panel, which has been linked to the Historical-Event Database (FD-Trygd; 1998–2008). Univariate and bivariate twin models were fitted to determine to what degree genetic and environmental factors contribute to variation in LTSL and DP. The estimated heritabilities of LTSL and DP were 0.49 and 0.66, respectively. There was no evidence for shared environmental or sex-specific factors. The phenotypic-, genetic-, and non-familial environmental correlations between the variables were 0.86, 0.82, and 0.94, respectively. Our results indicate that familial transmission of LTSL and DP is due to genetic and not environmental factors. The risk factors contributing to LTSL and DP were mainly shared, suggesting that what increases risk for LTSL also increases risk for DP. However, a non-negligible part of the genetic variance was not shared between the variables, which may contribute to explaining why some progress from LTSL to DP, whereas others return to work.
Potential of cardiac stem/progenitor cells and induced pluripotent stem cells for cardiac repair in ischaemic heart disease
Authors: Wang Wei Eric , Chen Xiongwen , Houser Steven R. , Zeng Chunyu
Published: June 2013

Stem cell therapy has emerged as a promising strategy for cardiac and vascular repair. The ultimate goal is to rebuild functional myocardium by transplanting exogenous stem cells or by activating native stem cells to induce endogenous repair. CS/PCs (cardiac stem/progenitor cells) are one type of adult stem cell with the potential to differentiate into cardiac lineages (cardiomyocytes, smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells). iPSCs (induced pluripotent stem cells) also have the capacity to differentiate into necessary cells to rebuild injured cardiac tissue. Both types of stem cells have brought promise for cardiac repair. The present review summarizes recent advances in cardiac cell therapy based on these two cell sources and discusses the advantages and limitations of each candidate. We conclude that, although both types of stem cells can be considered for autologous transplantation with promising outcomes in animal models, CS/PCs have advanced more in their clinical application because iPSCs and their derivatives possess inherent obstacles for clinical use. Further studies are needed to move cell therapy forward for the treatment of heart disease.
Interleukin-6 neutralization alleviates pulmonary inflammation in mice exposed to cigarette smoke and poly(I:C)
Authors: Hubeau Cedric , Kubera John E. , Masek-Hammerman Katherine , Williams Cara M. M.
Published: June 2013

Increased systemic and pulmonary levels of IL-6 (interleukin-6) are associated with the severity of exacerbations and decline of lung function in patients with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Whether IL-6 is directly involved or plays a bystander role in the pathophysiology of COPD remains unclear. Here we hypothesized that neutralizing circulating levels of IL-6 would modulate episodes of acute pulmonary inflammation following CS (cigarette smoke) exposure and virus-like challenges. For this purpose, we used a model where C57BL/6 mice were exposed to CS twice daily via a nose-only system, and concomitant periodic intranasal challenge with poly(I:C), a synthetic ligand for TLR3 (Toll-like receptor 3) that mimics the encounter with double stranded RNA that is carried by influenza-like viruses. This protocol recapitulates several aspects of acute pulmonary inflammation associated with COPD, including prominent airway neutrophilia, insensitivity to steroid treatment and increased levels of several inflammatory cytokines in BAL (bronchoalveolar lavage) samples. Although IL-6-deficient mice exposed to CS/poly(I:C) developed pulmonary inflammation similar to WT (wild-type) controls, WT mice exposed to CS/poly(I:C) and treated intraperitoneally with IL-6-neutralizing antibodies showed significantly lower blood counts of lymphocytes and monocytes, lower BAL levels of IL-6 and CXCL1 (CXC chemokine ligand 1)/KC (keratinocyte chemoattractant), as well as reduced numbers of BAL neutrophils, lymphocytes and macrophages. Our results thus indicate that the systemic neutralization of IL-6 significantly reduces CS/poly(I:C)-induced pulmonary inflammation, which may be a relevant approach to the treatment of episodes of acute pulmonary inflammation associated with COPD.
Efficient CMOS subthreshold leakage analysis with improved stack based models in presence of parameter variations
Authors: Garg L. , Sahula V.
Published: June 2013

Presented is the error that occurs while estimating subthreshold leakage power of parallel transistor stacks in CMOS gates using leakage power models when there is no consideration of the manufacturing variations, i.e. device geometry related effects in width. For the purpose, efficient support vector machine based macromodels for characterising the transistor stacks of CMOS gates are reported, considering process parameter variations impacting e.g. length, threshold voltage, oxide thickness, supply voltage, temperature and width of the transistors. The experiments show that maximum error can go up to ∼ 15% for AOI22 and OAI22 gate under nominal values of varying parameters without considering manufacturing variations in the width.
Theoretical bound on frequency hopping sequence set
Authors: Liu X. , Peng D.Y.
Published: June 2013

A new bound on the frequency hopping (FH) sequence set with respect to the size of the frequency slot set q, the sequence length N, the family size M, the maximum periodic Hamming correlation Hm is established. The new bound is tighter than the Singleton bound on the FH sequence set when gcd (Hm + 1, N) ≠ 1.
Polypropylene membrane decreases contact wear of piezoelectric transformer with heat transfer structure
Authors: Ju Bin , Shao Weiwei , Pan Chengliang , Feng Zhihua
Published: June 2013

A new design is presented to decrease the contact wear between a piezoelectric transformer and its heat transfer structure by inserting a layer of polypropylene membrane between them. Without significant degradation of performance, the wear problem is well suppressed with notable extension of working life. Compared with the former wear rate of 2.72% per day on the electrodes in the first 2.5 working days, the wear rate with polypropylene membrane is decreased to only 0.03% per day within an accumulated working time of 110 days. Moreover, with the insulating layer, structure design and package become more flexible as the metal electrodes and radiator are isolated.
Instantaneous microwave imaging with time‐domain measurements for breast cancer detection
Authors: Kwon S. , Lee S.
Published: June 2013

A breast cancer imaging system with time‐domain measurements is proposed. This system is based on complementary metal‐oxide semiconductor circuits such that it is very cost‐effective and the image is acquired in a very short time. It consists of ultra‐wideband transceivers and a master controller for system control and data collection. Simulation results with a 3D FDTD hemi‐spherical breast model show the proposed system can reconstruct the breast image in the presence of possible disturbances such as clock skew, clock jitter, and white noise.
Design of a dual‐band bandpass filter with a wide stopband
Authors: Tang C.‐W. , Lu H.X. , Tseng C.T.
Published: June 2013

A novel wide‐stopband dual‐band bandpass filter with a modified coupled line and lowpass filters is proposed. The modified coupled line is realised with two open stubs added to the conventional coupled line's open ends. With this proposed circuit, additional transmission zeros will appear around two passbands. Moreover, these predictable transmission zeros can be utilised to tune the two passbands’ bandwidths. Furthermore, with the lowpass filter embedded, located at the input/output port, a wide stopband can be obtained. Finally, agreement between measurement and the theoretical prediction validates the proposed structure.
Radio‐frequency amplifier with tunable high‐Q RF bandpass filtering for SAW‐less wireless receivers
Authors: Qi Nan , Chi Baoyong , Xu Yang , Wang Zhihua
Published: June 2013

An inductor‐less on‐chip radio frequency bandpass filtering (RF‐BPF) technique with tunable centre frequency is proposed to replace the bulky and expensive external SAW filter. The centre frequency of the BPF not only tracks the local oscillation (LO) frequency (fLO), but also can be shifted from fLO to a controllable offset for low‐IF applications. The RF‐BPF has been embedded into a single‐ended‐input differential‐output radio frequency amplifier (RFA) and implemented in 65nm CMOS. The RFA draws 3.5 mA DC current from a 2.5 V power supply. Measurement results show that the BPF achieves 16 dB attenuation at 150 MHz offset from the 1.5 GHz centre frequency, and 7 MHz tunable range without changing the LO frequency.
Room temperature operated diffraction limited λ ≃ 3 µm diode lasers with 37 mW of continuous‐wave output power
Authors: Hosoda T. , Liang R. , Kipshidze G. , Shterengas L. , Belenky G.
Published: June 2013

Single spatial mode GaSb‐based type‐I quantum well diode lasers operating near 3 µm at room temperature were designed and fabricated by chlorine‐free dry etching technique. The etching profile was optimised to minimise the optical loss. The 5.5 µm‐wide ridge lasers demonstrated the same slope efficiency as that of 100 µm‐wide multimode devices and generated 37 mW of continuous‐wave output power at 17°C.
Planar ultra‐wideband balun using coupled microstrip lines
Authors: Abbosh A.
Published: June 2013

A planar balun based on using parallel‐coupled microstrip lines is presented. It is designed to transfer the unbalanced microstrip line to a balanced coplanar stripline as needed in many applications such as centre‐fed dipole antennas. The balun includes a T‐junction of stepped‐impedance and tapered microstrip lines and two pairs of stepped‐impedance parallel‐coupled lines. The designed balun covers the band from 3 to 11 GHz with less than 0.4 dB insertion loss.
Non‐linear dimensionality reduction using fuzzy lattices
Authors: Kapoor Rajiv , Gupta Rashmi
Published: June 2013

The proposed method is based on extraction of non‐linearity from the nearest neighbourhood elements of image. To detect non‐linearity, relation between the nearest neighbourhood elements of the image, have been expressed in terms of Gaussian membership functions. All the elements of the image are connected with the nearest neighbourhood elements with some membership degree of the Gaussian functions. It results in the formation of number of fuzzy lattices. The lattices have been expressed in the form of Schrödinger equation, to find the kinetic energy (KE) used, corresponding to change occurring in the facial activity of a person. Finally, the KE embedded in three dimension space is used to distinguish non‐linear changes during occurrence of various facial activities. Experimental results show that proposed method is effective in recognition of facial expression as it focuses on extracting the non‐linear features corresponding to contours of maximum energy which are appearing because of different expressions.
Saving Japantown, Serving the People: The Scalar Politics of the Asian American Movement
Authors: Lai Clement
Published: June 2013

This paper uses the case of the Committee Against Nihonmachi Eviction's mobilization against urban renewal in San Francisco's Japantown to examine the scalar politics of the Asian American Movement (AAM) between the late 1960s and early 1980s. The AAM was born on West Coast campuses as part of multiracial struggles to establish ethnic studies departments and create community-oriented higher education. It drew its influences from the antiwar movement, Third World decolonization struggles, the women's movement, and the Black Power Movement. Like other antiracist movements of color at this time the AAM eventually shifted its activism from campuses to include struggles in racialized communities. The AAM's politics, however, were focused on more than the local or community scale. Instead, the AAM attempted to broaden its struggle, ie, ‘jump scale’, through its alliances, worldview, and organizing tactics and was ultimately enmeshed in a larger network of late-1960s and 1970s progressive mobilization and revolutionary nationalism that operated at multiple scales.
Repopulating the Emptiness: A Spatial Critique of Ruination in Israel/Palestine
Authors: Leshem Noam
Published: June 2013

This paper critically examines the notions of spatial emptiness and ruination through their unsettled appearance in the archive of colonization. Focusing on the history of Zionist colonization of Palestine/ Eretz Israel, it illustrates how the encounter with the land fractures the ideological construct of emptiness and foregrounds the ambiguities found at the heart of the self-assured discourse of Zionism. Though there is an established corpus of scholarship that deconstructs the colonial fallacy of ‘the empty land’, the actuality and materiality of emptying processes and acts of ruination remain on the margins of this critical effort. Through a rereading of key Zionist texts from different historical moments, the analysis sheds light on the contradictions and ambiguities that lie at the heart of the Zionist territorial project and the inherent weaknesses of the hegemonic production of space.
Property Ownership, Resource Use, and the ‘Gift of Nature’
Authors: Ravenscroft Neil , Church Andrew , Gilchrist Paul , Heys Belinda
Published: June 2013

Through a theoretical and empirical consideration of gift exchange we argue in this paper that those with legal interests in land have constructed property relations around a claim of reciprocity with nature. This has been used to legitimate the ways in which they have deployed their property power to exclude others, thus seeking to retain their dominion over both humans and nonhumans. In so doing, however, people with such interests have failed to understand the dynamic of gift relationships, with their inherent inculcation of subject and other, to the point where the exercise of power becomes contingent on the continued hegemony of property relations. Using the politics of recreational access to inland waters in England and Wales, we show that power—over both humans and nonhumans—is temporary and conditional in ways that are not fully theorised in most contemporary debates about property rights and their deployment on nonhuman subjects.
Pup numbers of the Australian sea lion (Neophoca cinerea) at The Pages Islands, South Australia, over two decades
Authors: Shaughnessy Peter D. , Goldsworthy Simon D. , Burch Paul , Dennis Terry E.
Published: June 2013

The Australian sea lion is an Australian endemic, restricted to South Australia and Western Australia, with 86% of the population in South Australia. It was listed under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act as Vulnerable in February 2005, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature has listed it as Endangered. Sea lions are taken as bycatch in the gill-net fishery for school shark and gummy shark, and the risk of extinction of breeding colonies is high even from low levels of bycatch. We assessed trends in pup population size at The Pages Islands, a large breeding colony in South Australia. Pup abundance was estimated by direct counting of live and dead pups; the maximum count in each breeding season was used for trend analysis. The average of direct counts of pups in 14 breeding seasons between 1989–90 and 2009–10 was 473 (s.d. = 58.4). There was no trend in pup numbers, contrasting with two other large colonies: Seal Bay, Kangaroo Island (decreasing), and Dangerous Reef (increasing since 2000). The Australian Sea Lion Management Strategy of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority aims to reduce sea lion bycatch in the shark fishery; a key item is a fishery closure around each breeding colony in South Australia. Implementation of the closure around The Pages should lower the risk of bycatch of its sea lions with foraging areas that previously overlapped with the fishery and should allow the colony’s population size to increase.
Evolutionarily conserved
Wolbachia
-encoded factors control pattern of stem-cell niche tropism in
Drosophila
ovaries and favor infection
Authors: Toomey Michelle E. , Panaram Kanchana , Fast Eva M. , Beatty Catherine , Frydman Horacio M.
Published: June 2013

Wolbachia
are intracellular bacteria that infect invertebrates at pandemic levels, including insect vectors of devastating infectious diseases. Although
Wolbachia
are providing novel strategies for the control of several human pathogens, the processes underlying
Wolbachia
’s successful propagation within and across species remain elusive.
Wolbachia
are mainly vertically transmitted; however, there is also evidence of extensive horizontal transmission. Here, we provide several lines of evidence supporting
Wolbachia
’s targeting of ovarian stem cell niches—referred to as “niche tropism”—as a previously overlooked strategy for
Wolbachia
thriving in nature. Niche tropism is pervasive in
Wolbachia
infecting the
Drosophila
genus, and different patterns of niche tropism are evolutionarily conserved. Phylogenetic analysis, confirmed by hybrid introgression and transinfection experiments, demonstrates that bacterial factors are the major determinants of differential patterns of niche tropism. Furthermore, bacterial load is increased in germ-line cells passing through infected niches, supporting previous suggestions of a contribution of
Wolbachia
from stem-cell niches toward vertical transmission. These results support the role of stem-cell niches as a key component for the spreading of
Wolbachia
in the
Drosophila
genus and provide mechanistic insights into this unique tissue tropism.
Reduction potentials of heterometallic manganese–oxido cubane complexes modulated by redox-inactive metals
Authors: Tsui Emily Y. , Agapie Theodor
Published: June 2013

Understanding the effect of redox-inactive metals on the properties of biological and heterogeneous water oxidation catalysts is important both fundamentally and for improvement of future catalyst designs. In this work, heterometallic manganese–oxido cubane clusters [MMn
3
O
4
] (M = Sr
2+
, Zn
2+
, Sc
3+
, Y
3+
) structurally relevant to the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) of photosystem II were prepared and characterized. The reduction potentials of these clusters and other related mixed metal manganese–tetraoxido complexes are correlated with the Lewis acidity of the apical redox-inactive metal in a manner similar to a related series of heterometallic manganese–dioxido clusters. The redox potentials of the [SrMn
3
O
4
] and [CaMn
3
O
4
] clusters are close, which is consistent with the observation that the OEC is functional only with one of these two metals. Considering our previous studies of [MMn
3
O
2
] moieties, the present results with more structurally accurate models of the OEC ([MMn
3
O
4
]) suggest a general relationship between the reduction potentials of heterometallic oxido clusters and the Lewis acidities of incorporated cations that applies to diverse structural motifs. These findings support proposals that one function of calcium in the OEC is to modulate the reduction potential of the cluster to allow electron transfer.
Memory claims and memory constraints. (Re)negotiating statehood and identities in Serbia
Authors: Lazic Sladjana
Published: June 2013

Rather than focusing on often-explored mnemonic practices (memorials, national celebrations, commemorations etc.) the article addresses the role that remembering, as a part of a wider political culture, plays in situations where images of the past are not visible per se, but are implied or even openly invoked to explain and (de)legitimize choices political actors make. By analyzing the interactions of memories and new institutional arrangements related to minority rights in the case of the Bosniak minority in Serbia, the article shows how recollections in political claims and policy-making were used as a medium for negotiations and the contestation of both political interests and competing “group-making projects”.
Stanley depth of powers of the edge ideal of a forest
Authors: Pournaki M. , Seyed Fakhari S. A. , Yassemi S.
Published: June 2013

Let

K

\mathbb {K}

be a field and

S
=

K

[

x
1

,
…
,

x
n

]

S=\mathbb {K}[x_1,\dots ,x_n]

be the polynomial ring in

n
n

variables over the field

K

\mathbb {K}

. Let

G
G

be a forest with

p
p

connected components

G
1

,
…
,

G
p

G_1,\ldots ,G_p

and let

I
=
I
(
G
)

I=I(G)

be its edge ideal in

S
S

. Suppose that

d
i

d_i

is the diameter of

G
i

G_i

,

1
≤
i
≤
p

1\leq i\leq p

, and consider

d
=
max

{

d
i

∣
1
≤
i
≤
p
}

d =\max \hspace {0.04cm}\{d_i\mid 1\leq i\leq p\}

. Morey has shown that for every

t
≥
1

t\geq 1

, the quantity

max
{
⌈

d
−
t
+
2

3

⌉
+
p
−
1
,
p
}

\max \{\lceil \frac {d-t+2}{3}\rceil +p-1,p\}

is a lower bound for

depth

(
S

/

I
t

)

\textrm {depth}(S/I^t)

. In this paper, we show that for every

t
≥
1

t\geq 1

, the mentioned quantity is also a lower bound for

sdepth

(
S

/

I
t

)

\textrm {sdepth}(S/I^t)

. By combining this inequality with Burch’s inequality, we show that any sufficiently large powers of edge ideals of forests are Stanley. Finally, we state and prove a generalization of our main theorem.
The Capelli identity for Grassmann manifolds
Authors: Sahi Siddhartha
Published: June 2013

The column space of a real

n
×
k

n\times k

matrix

x
x

of rank

k
k

is a

k
k

-plane. Thus we get a map from the space

X
X

of such matrices to the Grassmannian

G

\mathbb {G}

of

k
k

-planes in

R

n

\mathbb {R}^{n}

, and hence a

G

L

n

GL_{n}

-equivariant isomorphism
\[
<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper C Superscript normal infinity Baseline left-parenthesis double-struck upper G right-parenthesis almost-equals upper C Superscript normal infinity Baseline left-parenthesis upper X right-parenthesis Superscript upper G upper L Super Subscript k Superscript Baseline period">

C

∞

(

G

)

≈

C

∞

(
X
)

G

L

k

.

C^{\infty }\left ( \mathbb {G}\right ) \approx C^{\infty }\left ( X\right ) ^{GL_{k}}\text {.}

\]
We consider the

O

n

×
G

L

k

O_{n}\times GL_{k}

-invariant differential operator

C
C

on

X
X

given by
\[
<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper C equals det left-parenthesis x Superscript t Baseline x right-parenthesis det left-parenthesis partial-differential Superscript t Baseline partial-differential right-parenthesis comma where x equals left-parenthesis x Subscript i j Baseline right-parenthesis comma partial-differential equals left-parenthesis StartFraction partial-differential Over partial-differential x Subscript i j Baseline EndFraction right-parenthesis period">

C
=
det

(

x

t

x
)

det

(

∂

t

∂
)

,

where 
x
=

(

x

i
j

)

,
 
∂
=

(

∂

∂

x

i
j

)

.

C=\det \left ( x^{t}x\right ) \det \left ( \partial ^{t}\partial \right ),\quad \text {where }x=\left ( x_{ij}\right ),\text { }\partial =\left ( \frac {\partial }{\partial x_{ij}}\right ).

\]
By the above isomorphism,

C
C

defines an

O

n

O_{n}

-invariant operator on

G

\mathbb {G}

.

Since

G

\mathbb {G}

is a symmetric space for

O

n

O_{n}

, the irreducible

O

n

O_{n}

-submodules of

C

∞

(

G

)

C^{\infty }\left ( \mathbb {G}\right )

have multiplicity 1; thus,

O

n

O_{n}

-invariant operators act by scalars on these submodules. Our main result determines these scalars for a general class of such operators including

C
C

. This answers a question raised by Howe and Lee and also gives new Capelli-type identities for the orthogonal Lie algebra.
iAnn: an event sharing platform for the life sciences
Authors: Jimenez Rafael C. , Albar Juan P. , Bhak Jong , Blatter Marie-Claude , Blicher Thomas , Brazas Michelle D. , Brooksbank Cath , Budd Aidan , De Las Rivas Javier , Dreyer Jacqueline , van Driel Marc A. , Dunn Michael J. , Fernandes Pedro L. , van Gelder Celia W. G. , Hermjakob Henning , Ioannidis Vassilios , Judge David P. , Kahlem Pascal , Korpelainen Eija , Kraus Hans-Joachim , Loveland Jane , Mayer Christine , McDowall Jennifer , Moran Federico , Mulder Nicola , Nyronen Tommi , Rother Kristian , Salazar Gustavo A. , Schneider Reinhard , Via Allegra , Villaveces Jose M. , Yu Ping , Schneider Maria V. , Attwood Teresa K. , Corpas Manuel
Published: June 2013

Summary: We present iAnn, an open source community-driven platform for dissemination of life science events, such as courses, conferences and workshops. iAnn allows automatic visualisation and integration of customised event reports. A central repository lies at the core of the platform: curators add submitted events, and these are subsequently accessed via web services. Thus, once an iAnn widget is incorporated into a website, it permanently shows timely relevant information as if it were native to the remote site. At the same time, announcements submitted to the repository are automatically disseminated to all portals that query the system. To facilitate the visualization of announcements, iAnn provides powerful filtering options and views, integrated in Google Maps and Google Calendar. All iAnn widgets are freely available.

Availability:  http://iann.pro/iannviewer

Contact:  manuel.corpas@tgac.ac.uk
Clinicians' attitudes regarding withdrawal of left ventricular assist devices in patients approaching the end of life
Authors: Swetz Keith M. , Cook Katlyn E. , Ottenberg Abigale L. , Chang Nou , Mueller Paul S.
Published: June 2013

Aims

Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) are implanted to support the circulation of patients with advanced heart failure. Patients approaching death, or their surrogates, may request withdrawal of LVAD support. We sought to study the attitudes and practices of heart failure clinicians regarding withdrawal of LVAD support in patients approaching death.

Methods and results

Using internet‐based and secure methods, we surveyed members of the European Society of Cardiology‐Heart Failure Association (ESC‐HFA), the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT), and the Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) to assess their attitudes and practices regarding LVAD withdrawal for patients approaching death. The results indicated that clinicians have varied attitudes and practices regarding withdrawing LVAD support in these patients. Furthermore, ESC‐HFA clinicians (primarily European) and ISHLT and HFSA clinicians (primarily North American) differed in their attitudes and practices regarding withdrawal of LVAD support, particularly its ethical and legal permissibility. For example, more European clinicians than North American clinicians regarded withdrawing LVAD support as a form of euthanasia.

Conclusion

Opinions and level of comfort with LVAD withdrawal vary among clinicians. Clinicians should be aware of suggested approaches or guidelines for managing requests for withdrawal of LVAD therapy.
Harpins, Multifunctional Proteins Secreted by Gram-Negative Plant-Pathogenic Bacteria
Authors: Choi Min-Seon , Kim Wooki , Lee Chanhui , Oh Chang-Sik
Published: June 2013

Harpins are glycine-rich and heat-stable proteins that are secreted through type III secretion system in gram-negative plant-pathogenic bacteria. Many studies show that these proteins are mostly targeted to the extracellular space of plant tissues, unlike bacterial effector proteins that act inside the plant cells. Over the two decades since the first harpin of pathogen origin, HrpN of Erwinia amylovora, was reported in 1992 as a cell-free elicitor of hypersensitive response (HR), diverse functional aspects of harpins have been determined. Some harpins were shown to have virulence activity, probably because of their involvement in the translocation of effector proteins into plant cytoplasm. Based on this function, harpins are now considered to be translocators. Their abilities of pore formation in the artificial membrane, binding to lipid components, and oligomerization are consistent with this idea. When harpins are applied to plants directly or expressed in plant cells, these proteins trigger diverse beneficial responses such as induction of defense responses against diverse pathogens and insects and enhancement of plant growth. Therefore, in this review, we will summarize the functions of harpins as virulence factors (or translocators) of bacterial pathogens, elicitors of HR and immune responses, and plant growth enhancers.
Global Regulatory Networks Control the Hrp Regulon of the Gall-Forming Bacterium Pantoea agglomerans pv. gypsophilae
Authors: Panijel Mary , Chalupowicz Laura , Sessa Guido , Manulis-Sasson Shulamit , Barash Isaac
Published: June 2013

Gall formation by Pantoea agglomerans pv. gypsophilae is dependent on the hypersensitive response and pathogenicity (hrp) system. Previous studies demonstrated that PagR and PagI, regulators of the quorum-sensing system, induce expression of the hrp regulatory cascade (i.e., hrpXY, hrpS, and hrpL) that activates the HrpL regulon. Here, we isolated the genes of the Gac/Rsm global regulatory pathway (i.e., gacS, gacA, rsmB, and csrD) and of the post-transcriptional regulator rsmA. Our results demonstrate that PagR and PagI also upregulate expression of the Gac/Rsm pathway. PagR acts as a transcriptional activator of each of the hrp regulatory genes and gacA in a N-butanoyl-L-homoserine lactone-dependent manner as shown by gel shift experiments. Mutants of the Gac/Rsm genes or overexpression of rsmA significantly reduced Pantoea agglomerans virulence and colonization of gypsophila. Overexpression of rsmB sRNA abolished gall formation, colonization, and hypersensitive reaction on nonhost plants and prevented transcription of the hrp regulatory cascade, indicating a lack of functional type III secretion system. Expression of rsmB sRNA in the background of the csrD null mutant suggests that CsrD may act as a safeguard for preventing excessive production of rsmB sRNA. Results presented indicate that the hrp regulatory cascade is controlled directly by PagR and indirectly by RsmA, whereas deficiency in RsmA activity is epistatic to PagR induction.
13C NMR Metabolomic Evaluation of Immediate and Delayed Mild Hypothermia in Cerebrocortical Slices after Oxygen–Glucose Deprivation
Authors: Liu Jia , Segal Mark R. , Kelly Mark J. S. , Pelton Jeffrey G. , Kim Myungwon , James Thomas L. , Litt Lawrence
Published: June 2013

Background:

Mild brain hypothermia (32°–34°C) after human neonatal asphyxia improves neurodevelopmental outcomes. Astrocytes but not neurons have pyruvate carboxylase and an acetate uptake transporter. 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of rodent brain extracts after administering [1-13C]glucose and [1,2-13C]acetate can distinguish metabolic differences between glia and neurons, and tricarboxylic acid cycle entry via pyruvate dehydrogenase and pyruvate carboxylase.

Methods:

Neonatal rat cerebrocortical slices receiving a 13C-acetate/glucose mixture underwent a 45-min asphyxia simulation via oxygen–glucose-deprivation followed by 6 h of recovery. Protocols in three groups of N = 3 experiments were identical except for temperature management. The three temperature groups were: normothermia (37°C), hypothermia (32°C for 3.75 h beginning at oxygen–-glucose deprivation start), and delayed hypothermia (32°C for 3.75 h, beginning 15 min after oxygen–glucose deprivation start). Multivariate analysis of nuclear magnetic resonance metabolite quantifications included principal component analyses and the L1-penalized regularized regression algorithm known as the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator.

Results:

The most significant metabolite difference (P < 0.0056) was [2-13C]glutamine’s higher final/control ratio for the hypothermia group (1.75 ± 0.12) compared with ratios for the delayed (1.12 ± 0.12) and normothermia group (0.94 ± 0.06), implying a higher pyruvate carboxylase/pyruvate dehydrogenase ratio for glutamine formation. Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator found the most important metabolites associated with adenosine triphosphate preservation: [3,4-13C]glutamate—produced via pyruvate dehydrogenase entry, [2-13C]taurine—an important osmolyte and antioxidant, and phosphocreatine. Final principal component analyses scores plots suggested separate cluster formation for the hypothermia group, but with insufficient data for statistical significance.

Conclusions:

Starting mild hypothermia simultaneously with oxygen–glucose deprivation, compared with delayed starting or no hypothermia, has higher pyruvate carboxylase throughput, suggesting that better glial integrity is one important neuroprotection mechanism of earlier hypothermia.