bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Infrared intensity analysis of hydroxyl stretching modes in carboxylic acid dimers by means of the charge–charge flux–dipole flux model
Authors: da Silva Natieli Alves , Haiduke Roberto Luiz Andrade
Published: July 2019

The Charge‑Charge Flux‑Dipole Flux (CCFDF) model in terms of multipoles from the quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) was used to investigate the variations in infrared intensities of hydroxyl (OH) stretching modes during the dimerization of carboxylic acids. The hydrogen bond formation in these systems results into bathochromic shifts of vibrational frequencies for all the OH stretching modes along with huge infrared intensity increments for some of them. These bands become more intense on dimerization due mainly to changes in the cross‐term contribution between charge and charge flux. In addition, interaction energies for the pair of atoms directly involved in individual hydrogen bonds (O…H) are linearly correlated to electron densities at their bond critical points (BCPs). Therefore, the hydrogen bonds between the carbonyl group (CO) of acetic acid and the hydroxyl group of halogenated monomers show the largest electron density values at their BCPs. The formation of these intermolecular interactions is also accompanied by ionic character enhancements of OH bonds and electron density decrements at their BCPs. We finally noticed that the hydrogen atom belonging to the hydroxyl group loses electronic charge, while the oxygen from the CO end becomes more negatively charged during dimerization. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Underwater compensation for exaggerated weaponry: The role of morphology and environment on crab locomotor performance
Authors: Benso‐Lopes Fernando , Santos Sandro , Palaoro Alexandre V.
Published: July 2019

Exaggerated morphologies may increase fitness, but they might be costly to bear; heavy weight, for instance, might hinder locomotion. Evidence supporting these costs are sparse because animals that move on land or swim have traits reducing those costs, called compensatory traits. Animals that walk underwater, however, are under different environmental pressures than land animals. Buoyancy, for instance, reduces the effective weight of any object, which could decrease the locomotion costs of carrying exagerrated traits. Hence, underwater species might maintain performance without compensation. To test this, we compared males of the freshwater anomuran Aegla longirostri that bear an exaggerated claw to females (the natural control). We first tested whether the exaggerated claw decreased male locomotor performance. Next, we tested if sexual dimorphism in performance is associated with differences in leg asymmetry, length, and muscle size. Lastly, we tested if large males have proportionally heavier legs than smaller males. Unexpectedly, females are faster than males while also having relatively longer legs than males. Therefore, females might walk faster because of the longer legs, which might be unrelated to the male exaggerated claw. Furthermore, larger males did not have proportionally heavier legs than smaller males, further suggesting no compensation. Hence, even though aeglid's claw weigh ~25% of their total body weight, we did not find evidence for burden or compensation on males. The environment might thus decrease the costs of exaggerated traits.
Response to Wilkinson: A Neuro‐Informed Humanistic Perspective
Authors: LUKE CHAD
Published: July 2019

The surge in neuroscience‐integrated counseling practice represents threats to humanistic counseling principles and practices as well as opportunities to engage humanism in potentially complementary ways. This article challenges Wilkinson's (2018) view of neuroscience threats to humanism and offers an alternative that expands the opportunities for thoughtful practice.
Bridging the Brain–Body Divide: A Commentary and Response to Wilkinson
Authors: FIELD THOMAS A.
Published: July 2019

In response to Wilkinson's (2018) critique of humanistic counseling's alliance with neuroscience, the author explores the concept of the brain–body divide, proposes an adjustment to Wilkinson's quadripartite model, and suggests ways for humanistic counselors to integrate levels of consciousness and the brain–body connection into their work with clients.
A Refined and Further Defined Argument on the Limits of Neuroscience in Counseling: Response to Field, Luke, and Beeson and Miller
Authors: WILKINSON BRETT D.
Published: July 2019

Responding to multiple critiques of his article on the limits of neuroscience in counseling (Wilkinson, 2018), the author further explores and defines these limits, clarifying his perspective on the hard problem of consciousness, the support–inform distinction, and the quadripartite humanistic neuroscience model. Identifying naive mischaracterizations of humanistic principles and practices, the author also discusses the limits of neuroscientific support in relation to neurofeedback, neuroeducation, and explanatory power. Finally, the author calls into question the accuracy of the term neurocounseling and the notion that neuroscientific evidence lends greater legitimacy to the counseling profession.
Effectiveness of ‘do not disturb’ strategies in reducing errors during discharge prescription writing
Authors: Zamani Mazdak , Hall Kylie , Cunningham Amanda , Chin Nicholas , Kent‐Ferguson Sally , Wadhwa Vikas
Published: July 2019

Background

Prescribing errors not only impose safety risks, but also delay hospital discharges and adversely affect patient satisfaction. The effect of reducing environmental interruptions on prescribing errors has not been published previously.

Aim

The aim of this study was to determine the combined effect of two ‘do not disturb’ (DND) strategies in decreasing the average number of prescribing errors by reducing distractions during discharge prescription writing. A secondary aim was to assess the effect of the interventions on prescription correction time.

Methods

In all, 392 discharge prescriptions from two general medical wards of a teaching hospital were audited over a 10‐week period in a prospective interventional before‐and‐after audit. Clinical pharmacists collected data on the number and type of errors, and time taken to correct errors. DND vests and workstations were made available during the intervention phase. Junior medical officers (JMO) provided daily feedback to the nurse unit managers (NUM) on the number and source of distractions, as well as the use of DND vests and workstations after the intervention.

Results

The percentage of error‐free discharge prescriptions increased from 29.7% before to 51.5% after the intervention (p < 0.0001). The mean number of errors per prescription decreased from 1.7 to 1.1 (p < 0.01) in both wards combined. The median time taken to correct erroneous prescriptions did not change significantly. Feedback provided by JMOs showed a marked reduction in interruptions, with 73% stating they were not interrupted at all or just once during prescribing after the intervention, compared with 17% before the intervention.

Conclusion

DND strategies decreased the rate of erroneous prescriptions.
Concurrent Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Is Associated With Elevated Tau Concentrations in Peripheral Blood Plasma
Authors: Pattinson Cassandra L. , Gill Jessica M. , Lippa Sara M. , Brickell Tracey A. , French Louis M. , Lange Rael T.
Published: July 2019

Concurrent mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are common in U.S. military service members and veterans. Tau and amyloid‐beta‐42 (Aβ42) are proteins that have been linked to cognitive impairment, neurological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, and may also relate to recovery from mTBI. However, the role of these proteins in the maintenance or resolution of chronic symptoms has not yet been determined. Participants in the current study were 102 service members and veterans who had sustained an mTBI (n = 84) or injured controls (IC) without TBI (n = 18). They were categorized into three groups based on the presence or absence of mTBI and PTSD: IC/PTSD‐Absent (n = 18), mTBI/PTSD‐Absent (n = 63), and mTBI/PTSD‐Present (n = 21). Concentrations of tau and Aβ42 in peripheral blood plasma were measured using SimoaTM, an ultrasensitive technology, and compared across groups. Tau concentrations were highest in the mTBI/PTSD‐Present group, F(2, 99) = 4.33, p = .016, compared to the other two groups. Linear multiple regression was conducted to determine the independent effects of PTSD and mTBI on tau concentrations, controlling for gender and sleep medication. PTSD was a significant and independent predictor of tau concentrations, β = .25, p = .009, ηp2 = .26. Aβ42 concentrations did not differ between the groups. The results indicated that PTSD was associated with an elevation of tau in peripheral blood and suggest that there may be increased biological effects of PTSD in this young cohort of service members and veterans following mTBI.
Evaluation of water and land exploitation based on the ecosystem service value in a hyper‐arid region with intensifying basin management
Authors: Ling Hongbo , Yan Junjie , Guo Bin , Xu Hailiang , Li Xuemei , Deng Xiaoya
Published: July 2019

Effective management is crucial for coordinating the conflict between environment protection and water and land exploitation. Changes in ecosystem service value (ESV) can be used to evaluate the gains and losses of the exploitation in a comprehensive way. Solutions to the following problems will facilitate the incorporating of ESV to the management of arid basin and improve the effectiveness. (a) How to improve the response sensitivity of ESV to the changes in water and land use, (b) how to determine the sustainable approach to land use/exploitation, and (c) how to ascertain the tipping point in the scale of water and land exploitation. In this research, key factors of vegetation cover, human disturbance, and soil drought were selected as the driving factors for the changes in ESV and incorporated in the ESV calculation. The approach enhanced the expression of the spatial heterogeneity in ESV as well as its response sensitivity to changes in the environment. As the management improved in the basin, the benefits of water and land exploitation increased gradually. An appropriate model of natural vegetation protection and exploitation was developed based on ESV produced by per cubic meter of ecological water requirement. Furthermore, the tipping point in the scale of water and land exploitation can be identified by the turning point in the fluctuations of the ESV. The results provide not only a new approach for formulating sustainable land development program in arid basins but also a scientific reference for making timely adjustments in land development strategies.
Extracellular superoxide production by key microbes in the global ocean
Authors: Sutherland Kevin M. , Coe Allison , Gast Rebecca J. , Plummer Sydney , Suffridge Christopher P. , Diaz Julia M. , Bowman Jeff S. , Wankel Scott D. , Hansel Colleen M.
Published: July 2019

Bacteria and eukaryotes produce the reactive oxygen species superoxide both within and outside the cell. Although superoxide is typically associated with the detrimental and sometimes fatal effects of oxidative stress, it has also been shown to be involved in a range of essential biochemical processes, including cell signaling, growth, differentiation, and defense. Light‐independent extracellular superoxide production has been shown to be widespread among many marine heterotrophs and phytoplankton, but the extent to which this trait is relevant to marine microbial physiology and ecology throughout the global ocean is unknown. Here, we investigate the dark extracellular superoxide production of five groups of organisms that are geographically widespread and represent some of the most abundant organisms in the global ocean. These include Prochlorococcus, Synechococcus, Pelagibacter, Phaeocystis, and Geminigera. Cell‐normalized net extracellular superoxide production rates ranged seven orders of magnitude, from undetectable to 14,830 amol cell−1 h−1, with the cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus being the lowest producer and the cryptophyte Geminigera being the most prolific producer. Extracellular superoxide production exhibited a strong inverse relationship with cell number, pointing to a potential role in cell signaling. We demonstrate that rapid, cell‐number–dependent changes in the net superoxide production rate by Synechococcus and Pelagibacter arose primarily from changes in gross production of extracellular superoxide, not decay. These results expand the relevance of dark extracellular superoxide production to key marine microbes of the global ocean, suggesting that superoxide production in marine waters is regulated by a diverse suite of marine organisms in both dark and sunlit waters.
The role of high‐intensity focused ultrasound as a symptomatic treatment for Parkinson's disease
Authors: Moosa Shayan , Martínez‐Fernández Raul , Elias W. Jeffrey , del Alamo Marta , Eisenberg Howard M. , Fishman Paul S.
Published: July 2019

MR‐guided focused ultrasound is a novel, minimally invasive surgical procedure for symptomatic treatment of PD. With this technology, the ventral intermediate nucleus, STN, and internal globus pallidus have been targeted for therapeutic cerebral ablation, while also minimizing the risk of hemorrhage and infection from more invasive neurosurgical procedures. In a double‐blinded, prospective, sham‐controlled randomized controlled trial of MR‐guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy for treatment of tremor‐dominant PD, 62% of treated patients demonstrated improvement in tremor scores from baseline to 3 months postoperatively, as compared to 22% in the sham group. There has been only one open‐label trial of MR‐guided focused ultrasound subthalamotomy for patients with PD, demonstrating improvements of 71% for rigidity, 36% for akinesia, and 77% for tremor 6 months after treatment. Among the two open‐label trials of MR‐guided focused ultrasound pallidotomy for patients with PD, dyskinesia and overall motor scores improved up to 52% and 45% at 6 months postoperatively. Although MR‐guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy is now approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment of parkinsonian tremor, additional high‐quality randomized controlled trials are warranted and are underway to determine the safety and efficacy of MR‐guided focused ultrasound subthalamotomy and pallidotomy for treatment of the cardinal features of PD. These studies will be paramount to aid clinicians to determine the ideal ablative target for individual patients. Additional work will be required to assess the durability of MR‐guided focused ultrasound lesions, ideal timing of MR‐guided focused ultrasound ablation in the course of PD, and the safety of performing bilateral lesions. © 2019 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society
Measuring Parkinson's disease over time: The real‐world within‐subject reliability of the MDS‐UPDRS
Authors: Evers Luc J.W. , Krijthe Jesse H. , Meinders Marjan J. , Bloem Bastiaan R. , Heskes Tom M.
Published: July 2019

Background

An important challenge in Parkinson's disease research is how to measure disease progression, ideally at the individual patient level. The MDS‐UPDRS, a clinical assessment of motor and nonmotor impairments, is widely used in longitudinal studies. However, its ability to assess within‐subject changes is not well known. The objective of this study was to estimate the reliability of the MDS‐UPDRS when used to measure within‐subject changes in disease progression under real‐world conditions.

Methods

Data were obtained from the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative cohort and included repeated MDS‐UPDRS measurements from 423 de novo Parkinson's disease patients (median follow‐up: 54 months). Subtotals were calculated for parts I, II, and III (in on and off states). In addition, factor scores were extracted from each part. A linear Gaussian state space model was used to differentiate variance introduced by long‐lasting changes from variance introduced by measurement error and short‐term fluctuations. Based on this, we determined the within‐subject reliability of 1‐year change scores.

Results

Overall, the within‐subject reliability ranged from 0.13 to 0.62. Of the subscales, parts II and III (OFF) demonstrated the highest within‐subject reliability (both 0.50). Of the factor scores, the scores related to gait/posture (0.62), mobility (0.45), and rest tremor (0.43) showed the most consistent behavior.

Conclusions

Our results highlight that MDS‐UPDRS change scores contain a substantial amount of error variance, underscoring the need for more reliable instruments to forward our understanding of the heterogeneity in PD progression. Focusing on gait and rest tremor may be a promising approach for an early Parkinson's disease population. © 2019 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.
Acute renal impairment characterization using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging: Validation by histology
Authors: Yu Zhixian , Zhu Honghui , Wu Xiuling , Chen Zhongwei , Zhang Zhao , Li Jiance , Ye Qiong
Published: July 2019

Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging has been demonstrated to be a simple, noninvasive and accurate method for the detection of renal microstructure and microcirculation, which are closely linked to renal function. Moreover, serum endothelin‐1 (ET‐1) was also reported as a good indicator of early renal injury.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and capability of diffusion MRI and ET‐1 to detect acute kidney injury by an operation simulating high‐pressure renal pelvic perfusion, which is commonly used during ureteroscopic lithotripsy. Histological findings were used as a reference. Fourteen New Zealand rabbits in an experimental group and 14 in a control group were used in this study. Diffusion tensor imaging and intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion‐weighted imaging were acquired by a 3.0 T MRI scanner.

Significant corticomedullary differences were found in the values of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), pure tissue diffusion, volume fraction of pseudo‐diffusion (fp) and fractional anisotropy (FA) (P < 0.05 for all) in both preoperation and postoperation experimental groups. Compared with the control group, the values of cortical fpmean, medullary ADCmean and FAmean decreased significantly (P < 0.05) after the operation in the experimental group. Also, the change rate of medullary ADCmean in the experimental group was more pronounced than that in the control group (P = 0.018). No significant change was found in serum ET‐1 concentration after surgery in either the experimental (P = 0.80) or control (P = 0.17) groups. In the experimental group, histological changes were observed in the medulla, while no visible change was found in the cortex.

This study demonstrated the feasibility of diffusion MRI to detect the changes of renal microstructure and microcirculation in acute kidney injury, with the potential to evaluate renal function. Moreover, the sensitivity of diffusion MRI to acute kidney injury appears to be superior to that of serum ET‐1.
Transcendental Bernstein series for solving reaction–diffusion equations with nonlocal boundary conditions through the optimization technique
Authors: Avazzadeh Zakieh , Hassani Hossein
Published: July 2019

In this paper, we apply transcendental Bernstein series (TBS) for solving reaction–diffusion equations with nonlocal boundary conditions which is the novel approximation tool. To carry out the method, we firstly expand the solution of the system in the term of TBS through the operational matrix scheme. To determine the unknown free coefficients and control parameters appeared in TBS expansion, we define an optimization problem which combines the reaction–diffusion equation with its nonlocal boundary conditions. Then we use the Lagrange multipliers technique for converting the problem under study into a system of algebraic equations. High accuracy and simplicity in reducing the integral boundary conditions are some privileges of the proposed scheme. We emphasize that Bernstein polynomials is the particular case of transcendental Bernstein series. Theoretical discussion about convergence confirms the reliability of the proposed method. Some test problems are chosen to investigate the applicability and computational efficiency. The experimental results confirm that the obtained results are in good agreement with the exact solutions with high rate of convergence.
Sharing What Can Be Sold: WomenHaus MaketVendors in Port Moresby's Settlements
Authors: Rooney Michelle Nayahamui
Published: July 2019

Dominant narratives of the economy, as well as policy discourses in Papua New Guinea (PNG), tend to separate the ‘formal’ from the ‘informal’ economy. Concurrently, there is a development policy emphasis on women's economic empowerment. In urban areas this has meant a policy focus on larger market places as sites where women need support for economic engagement. Within these policy discourses, one activity in urban areas usually relegated to the ‘informal’ economy is small home‐based market stalls, referred to in this paper ashaus maket. Located at homes or on nearby roads,haus maketare prolific and available to the public, and as such provide a similar function to public market places as spaces to make money. This paper considers these public yet intimate spaces as sites where vendors, usually women, embody and lead contestations between money and moral value spheres. At a time when the policy emphasis is on the formal economy and larger market places in PNG, why do such small market places persist? The first aim of this paper is to establish the role ofhaus maketas a site where spheres of value intersect. Rather than being ‘informal’ and peripheral, I seek to foreground its centrality to the economy but also as a site where economic and social moral values conflate. The second aim of the paper is to examine the role of sharing as a form of transaction in its own right distinct from exchange as a transaction between two actors.Haus maketstalls are sites of sharing and of moral action and value where forms of value in the settlement are shaped and negotiated.
Marketplaces and Morality in Papua New Guinea: Place, Personhood and Exchange
Authors: Busse Mark , Sharp Timothy L. M.
Published: July 2019

In Papua New Guinea (PNG) more rural people, and especially rural women, earn cash from selling in marketplaces than from any other source. PNG's marketplaces are critical for food security, and for the redistribution of wealth. They are also important meeting places where people gather to see friends, hear the latest news, attend court cases, play cards and be entertained. This introduction to this special issue on ‘Marketplaces and Morality in Papua New Guinea’ reviews the history of PNG marketplaces and their contemporary forms. It charts their transformation from introduced colonial spaces into dynamic Melanesian places, which, as places to buy, sell and socialise, have become pervasive institutions in the lives of both urban and rural Papua New Guineans, and places where people interact with both known and unknown others. From this, marketplaces emerge as important spaces of moral evaluation and contestation in relation to what constitutes morally acceptable exchange and what practices are acceptable in these places. The paper demonstrates that exchange in the marketplace should not be reduced to commodity transactions, and questions assumptions about the types of people marketplaces create. It argues that the country's marketplaces are productive sites to consider ideas of exchange, social relations and social personhood, and that there is a critical need to understand the concrete details of what takes place in contemporary marketplaces.
Morality and the Concept of the Market Seller among Gehamo
Authors: Busse Mark
Published: July 2019

This paper examines the negative moral evaluations of people who buy and resell fresh food by Gahuku and Gehamo people in and around Goroka, the capital of Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea. During my fieldwork from 2010 to 2015, vendors in the Goroka fresh food market argued that the value of fresh food should be based on the work that people did to produce it rather than on price competition, or on supply and demand. An examination of market vendors’ practice of ‘giving extra’ to customers, and the responses of vendors who resold food to negative moral evaluations of their activities, led me to an examination of the morality of production in relation to land, ancestors, and social relations; the morality of the marketplace; as well as ideas about what makes someone a good social person. Drawing on Erik Schwimmer's (1979) discussion of the concept of work in Melanesian societies, I argue that vendors in the Goroka market continue to emphasize use value and their own identification with the food that they are selling rather than the exchange value of alienated produce. While marketplaces are the apparent locus par excellence of capitalist economic activity, a consideration of the morality of Goroka market vendors leads to the caution that just because one sees something that looks like a marketplace in which people are engaging in commodity transactions does not necessarily mean that it is a marketplace in which people are engaging in commodity transactions. Similarly, just because something looks like a price does not necessarily mean that it is a price. Those considerations, in turn, lead to a re‐examination of Kenneth Read's (1955) characterization of morality and personhood among Gahuku in light of contemporary market exchange.
Porous, bicontinuous, and cationic polyelectrolyte obtained by high internal phase emulsion polymerization
Authors: Walter Gerardo , Toledo Leandro , Urbano Bruno F.
Published: July 2019

In this work, a cationic polyelectrolyte was synthesized through oil‐in‐water high internal phase emulsion polymerization. The porous polymer was obtained using the monomer (4‐vinyl benzyl)trimethylammonium chloride and cross‐linked with N,N‐methylene‐bis‐acrylamide; additionally, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) was used as the second cross‐linker, which was solubilized in the discontinuous phase leading to a bicontinuous‐like HIPE system because of the characteristics of this cross‐linker and the phase, where polymerized several effects on the polyHIPE were expected. In this way, the effect of the emulsifier and EGDMA content on the pore size, swelling, and rheological properties was assessed. It was observed that an increased concentration of the emulsifier in the polymerization decreased the pore size, narrowed its size distribution, and diminished the swelling capacity of the polymer. Additionally, the poly (HIPE) displayed a close‐cell structure explained by the locus of initiation starting from the droplets of the emulsion. After the addition of EGDMA, the polymer exhibited a major decrease in pore size and a significant decrease in swelling attributed to the polymerized skin layer on the droplet and hydrophobicity provided by the polyEGDMA, respectively. Rheological assays revealed an increase in the complex modulus and shear stress as the pore size decreased, but the addition of EGDMA did not produce an increase in the modulus, as expected. Finally, the sorption capabilities of the cationic porous polymers were evaluated through kinetic and isotherm sorption experiments using the anionic dye Acid Black 24.
Strategies to Improve/Eliminate the Limitations in Shotgun Lipidomics
Authors: Hu Changfeng , Duan Qiao , Han Xianlin
Published: July 2019

Direct infusion‐based shotgun lipidomics is one of the most powerful and useful tools in comprehensive analysis of lipid species from lipid extracts of various biological samples with high accuracy/precision. However, despite many advantages, the classical shotgun lipidomics suffers some general dogmas of limitations, such as ion suppression, ambiguous identification of isobaric/isomeric lipid species, and ion source–generated artifacts, restraining the applications in analysis of low‐abundance lipid species, particularly those less ionizable or isomers that yield almost identical fragmentation patterns. This article reviews the strategies (such as modifier addition, prefractionation, chemical derivatization, charge feature utilization) that have been employed to improve/eliminate these limitations in modern shotgun lipidomics approaches (e.g., high mass resolution mass spectrometry–based and multidimensional mass spectrometry–based shotgun lipidomics). Therefore, with the enhancement of these strategies for shotgun lipidomics, comprehensive analysis of lipid species including isomeric/isobaric species is achieved in a more accurate and effective manner, greatly substantiating the aberrant lipid metabolism, signaling trafficking, and homeostasis under pathological conditions.
The predictive role of self‐compassion in cancer patients' symptoms of depression, anxiety, and fatigue: A longitudinal study
Authors: Zhu Lei , Yao Juntao , Wang Jun , Wu Liyang , Gao Yuhan , Xie Juan , Liu Ailan , Ranchor Adelita V. , Schroevers Maya J.
Published: July 2019

Objective

Self‐compassion is consistently found to be related to better psychological outcomes. As most studies were cross‐sectional, little is known about the predictive role of self‐compassion for future psychological outcomes. This longitudinal study in cancer patients investigated the predictive role of self‐compassion at the time of cancer diagnosis for the course of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and fatigue in the period of receiving cancer treatment.

Methods

This longitudinal study was conducted at the Shaanxi Provincial Tumour Hospital in Xi'an, China. A total of 153 heterogeneous cancer patients were assessed within 1 week after cancer diagnosis (T1) as well as at the start (T2) and the end (T3) of medical treatment. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the research questions.

Results

Cross‐sectional regression analyses at T1 showed that a self‐compassion total score and negative self‐compassion (and to a lesser extent positive self‐compassion) were significantly related to symptoms of depression, anxiety, and fatigue. When controlling for symptoms at T1, positive self‐compassion significantly predicted all three outcomes at T3. A self‐compassion total score only predicted symptoms of anxiety at T2, controlling for T1 symptoms. In contrast, we found no significant predictive value of negative self‐compassion.

Conclusions

This study suggests that the positive aspects of self‐compassion are beneficial for cancer patients for their future functioning, in terms of fewer symptoms of depression, anxiety, and fatigue over time. Future interventions should test how and to what extent self‐compassion can be cultivated and whether increases in self‐compassion are associated with better outcomes.
Battle of the giants: Plants versus animals in idealised landscapes of ‘deep time’
Authors: Vujaković Peter
Published: July 2019

Societal Impact Statement

Understanding our place in the universe is important. If we are to make sense of our place, we have to examine this not only within the context of ‘deep time’, the geological history of our planet, but also within the role of other key organisms, specifically plants. Scientists present this history to the public, but we must be aware of the biases that can often be part of these representations, no matter how well intentioned or seemingly objective. Too often images are focused on animals, especially higher animals, and ignore other vital parts of our ecosystems. This has consequences for understanding Earth's history, and also how we treat organisms today.

Summary

‘Plant blindness’ is a feature of our modern world, and of popular science narratives of the evolution of life. Plants are often overlooked and certainly poorly represented in the visual representations of past life on Earth (deep time). They tend to form the backdrop to the teeming activity of evolving animal life and are only mentioned (with appropriate images) at a few significant waypoints: the movement of life to land, the great coal‐forming forests of the Carboniferous period and the evolution of the flowering plants. While plant life is essential for animal life to thrive on land, chapter titles such as ‘The invasion of land’ and discussion thereof are still generally reserved for animals, and even then, the vertebrates. This paper explores the genesis of this approach to representing deep time as essentially a parade of animal life and shows that during the early period of popular scientific representation, plants were given their due place in some key publications by, for example, Franz Unger and Josef Kuwasseg in the 19th century and Zdenek Burian in the 20th century. Part of the problem appears to be the seemingly static nature of plants and the apparent demand for activity (often predation) that has its origins in science as spectacle, beginning with Henry de la Beche.
Evaluation of explosion pressure of portable small liquefied petroleum gas cylinder
Authors: Kartal Fuat
Published: July 2019

This study aims to estimate the explosive pressures and permanent volume expansion of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) portable small LPG cylinder fuel tanks using experimental and finite element analysis (FEA) approaches. Experimental explosion testing was carried out by means of a hydrostatic device in which the cylinders were pressurized with water. LPG tanks are subjected to increased internal equal pressure in FEA modeling. Three‐dimensional nonlinear models were developed and evaluated under irregular boundary conditions. For analysis, the required real shell properties including the source region and thickness variations were investigated. Therefore, the results of burst pressures and volume expansions are predicted and compared with the experimental ones. The results of finite element method showed similar results with the results obtained from the experiments. The results provide a description of the stages of the explosion and the hazards arising from the damage to the tanks.
Phytochemical constituents and ethnopharmacological properties of Ageratum conyzoides L.
Authors: Yadav Neelam , Ganie Showkat Ahmad , Singh Bijender , Chhillar Anil K. , Yadav Surender Singh
Published: July 2019

Ageratum conyzoides L. (Asteraceae) is an invasive aromatic herb with immense therapeutic importance. The herb is distributed in tropical and subtropical regions. A. conyzoides has imparted numerous ethnomedicinal uses because it has been used to cure various ailments that include leprosy, skin disorders, sleeping sickness, rheumatism, headaches, dyspnea, toothache, pneumonia and many more. A number of phytoconstituents have been scrutinized such as alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenes, chromenes, and sterols from almost every part of this plant. These phytoconstituents have shown diverse pharmacological properties including antimicrobial, anti‐inflammatory, analgesic, antioxidant, anticancer, antiprotozoal, antidiabetic, spasmolytic, allelopathy, and many more. The plant A. conyzoides has provided a platform for doing pharmaceutical and toxicological research in order to isolate some promising active compounds and authenticate their safety in clinical uses. A. conyzoides provides principal information for advanced studies in the field of pharmaceutical industries and agriculture. Present review article describes the cytogenetics, ethnobotany, phytochemistry, pharmacology, and toxicological aspects of A. conyzoides.
As you like it: Understanding the relationship between packing design and accessibility
Authors: Yoxall Alaster , Gonzalez Victor , Best Joshua , Rodriguez‐Falcon Elena M. , Rowson Jennifer
Published: July 2019

Accessible packaging is continually receiving greater attention as an ageing population becomes a primary driver behind inclusive design. As we age, our strength dexterity and some cognitive functions decline. For this reason, the ease of interaction with simple tasks in daily living becomes an ever increasing concern. ISO 17480 “Packaging Guidelines” consider capability issues relating to packaging and ageing to broadly come under three areas, namely, strength, dexterity, and cognition. Significant previous work has been undertaken looking at the issue of strength on packaging accessibility, with fewer studies looking at the relationship between the physical demands of dexterity and the understanding of how to open the pack. In this previous work, there has been little attempt to quantify the effect of the affordances, perceptual information and symbology, and the physical demands of the pack and how this relates to accessibility. Hence, this exploratory study seeks to use motion capture and a dexterity test, along with a cognitive demand test to study this relationship and any changes with age. This research indicates that the dexterous demands of a task are linked to the cognitive demands; and thus in reaching a level of comprehension of the pack and how to access the product a subject may interact with a pack effectively.
Design and analysis of nested case–control studies for recurrent events subject to a terminal event
Authors: Jazić Ina , Haneuse Sebastien , French Benjamin , MacGrogan Gaëtan , Rondeau Virginie
Published: July 2019

The process by which patients experience a series of recurrent events, such as hospitalizations, may be subject to death. In cohort studies, one strategy for analyzing such data is to fit a joint frailty model for the intensities of the recurrent event and death, which estimates covariate effects on the two event types while accounting for their dependence. When certain covariates are difficult to obtain, however, researchers may only have the resources to subsample patients on whom to collect complete data: one way is using the nested case–control (NCC) design, in which risk set sampling is performed based on a single outcome. We develop a general framework for the design of NCC studies in the presence of recurrent and terminal events and propose estimation and inference for a joint frailty model for recurrence and death using data arising from such studies. We propose a maximum weighted penalized likelihood approach using flexible spline models for the baseline intensity functions. Two standard error estimators are proposed: a sandwich estimator and a perturbation resampling procedure. We investigate operating characteristics of our estimators as well as design considerations via a simulation study and illustrate our methods using two studies: one on recurrent cardiac hospitalizations in patients with heart failure and the other on local recurrence and metastasis in patients with breast cancer.
Study of Phytochemicals of Melilotus indicus and Alpha‐Amylase and Lipase Inhibitory Activities of Its Methanolic Extract and Fractions in Different Solvents
Authors: Iftikhar Haroon , Ahmed Dildar , Qamar Muhammad T.
Published: July 2019

Melilotus indicus is used for food and medicinal purposes. The present study aimed to explore its phytochemicals and antidiabetic and anti‐obesity potential. Methanolic extract (ME) of the dried, ground herb, obtained by the Soxhlet method, was fractionated into hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, 1‐butanolic and aqueous fractions. Chromatographic techniques were used for further fractionation. The compounds identified by GC‐MS included 3‐O‐methyl‐D‐glucose, 3‐hydroxyspirost‐8‐en‐11‐one, 1‐phenanthrenecarboxylic acid‐tetradecahydro‐7‐(2‐methoxy‐2‐oxoethylidene)‐1,4a,8‐triethyl‐9‐oxo‐methylester, 3‐(1‐methylhept‐1‐enyl)‐5‐methyl‐2,5‐dihydrofuran‐2‐one, squalene, phytol, 4‐(4‐hydroxy‐2,6,6‐trimethyl‐7‐oxabicyclo[4.1.0]hept‐1‐yl‐3‐buten‐2‐one, 2,4‐bis(1,1‐dimethylethyl)phenol, geranyl isovalerate and thymol. The ME and its fractions displayed porcine pancreatic alpha‐amylase inhibitory activity higher than Acarbose. Interestingly, they promoted the lipase activity showing opposite trend to that Orlistat. The plant may be used to control diabetes and in the in the promotion of lipase action.
Tren‐Cored PAMAM Dendrimer/Silver Nanocomposites: Efficient Colorimetric Sensors for the Determination of Mercury Ions from Aqueous Solutions
Authors: Gürbüz Mustafa U. , Elmacı Gökhan , Ertürk Ali S.
Published: July 2019

Contamination through Hg2+ ions in natural spring waters leads to a major destruction in human health and the universal ecosystem. Therefore, development of rapid, simple and cost‐effective methods for the specific and high sensitive determination of Hg2+ is of great importance. Among these methods, silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) are used for the effective colorimetric detection of metal ions facilitating from the changes in the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band. In this study, we have synthesized dendrimer‐encapsulated Ag NPs (Ag DENPs) by using Tris(2‐aminoethyl)amine (TREN) cored and amine‐terminated generation‐4 poly(amido amine) dendrimer (PAMAM), T4.NH2, as a novel template. The synthesized Ag DENPs were characterized by UV‐Vis, XRD, TEM and further used for the colorimetric and quantitative determination of Hg2+ ions. The developed Ag DENP sensor was tested against common present cations, Co2+, Cu2+, Cd2+, Pb2+, Ni2+ Zn2+, Ba2+, Ca2+, Al3+, in the environment and found to be specific only for Hg2+ ions. Furthermore, limit of detection (LOD) for Hg2+ was found to be 1.18 ppb (5.88 nM). Results revealed that the proposed method can be successfully used with a good sensitivity and selectivity to determine mercury (II) ions in various water samples.
Parallel debugging: An investigative study
Authors: Zakari Abubakar , Lee Sai Peck
Published: July 2019

In the simultaneous localization of multiple software faults, a parallel debugging approach has consistently been utilized. The effectiveness of a parallel debugging approach is critically determined by the type of clustering algorithm and the distance metric used. However, clustering algorithms that group failed tests based on their execution profile similarity with distance metrics such as Euclidean distance, Jaccard distance, and Hamming distance are considered to be problematic and not appropriate. In this paper, we conducted an investigative study on the usefulness of the problematic parallel debugging approach that makes use of k‐means clustering algorithm (that groups failed tests based on their execution profile similarity) with Euclidian distance metric on three similarity coefficient‐based fault localization techniques in terms of localization effectiveness. Secondly, we compare the effectiveness of the problematic parallel debugging approach with one‐bug‐at‐a‐time debugging approach (OBA) and a state‐of‐the‐art parallel debugging approach named MSeer. The empirical evaluation is conducted on 540 multiple‐fault versions of eight medium‐sized to large‐sized subject programs with two, three, four, and five faulty versions. Our results suggest that clustering failed tests based on their execution profile similarity and the utilization of distance metrics such as Euclidean distance is indeed problematic and contributes to the reduction of effectiveness in localizing multiple faults.
Model‐based design of project systems, modes, and states
Authors: Shafaat Ali , Kenley C. Robert
Published: July 2019

The field of project management has been trying to find generalizable sets of rules, and this article applies approaches and methods from systems engineering to develop such rules that support flexible project design. It presents an approach for modeling projects that divides project systems into three interacting subsystems (planned, executed, and interface systems) and proposes a framework for designing projects that integrates project implementation, verification, and validation. To build a generalizable model, this article revisits the notation of modal systems developed by Wymore and combines it with more recent developments in systems engineering, project design, and management. The temporary and changing environments of projects are addressed by adjusting the Wymorian definitions and related mathematical models to represent projects as a sequence of transient modes rather than activities. This approach enables better design and control of projects by reducing uncertainty and its consequences through a systematic framework for planning, monitoring, and controlling projects.
Deformation limits of L‐shaped reinforced concrete shear walls: Experiment and evaluation
Authors: Han Xiaolei , Chen Binbin , Ji Jing , Xie Shunguang , Lu Huaikun
Published: July 2019

L‐shaped reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls have been studied over the years due to their importance in tall buildings. However, few investigations focus on the progression of damage with increasing deformation, especially on the deformation limits for different performance levels. Hence, an experiment was conducted on 12 L‐shaped RC shear walls subjected to axial and cyclic lateral loadings. The variables were shear span ratio, axial load ratio, and longitudinal boundary element reinforcement ratio. The seismic performances were analyzed and discussed in terms of crack pattern, failure mode, hysteretic response, backbone envelope, and ductility factor. On the basis of the three key performance state points on the backbone envelope, a method was proposed to assess the seismic performances of L‐shaped RC shear walls using six distinct performance levels. These performance levels were provided with relevant deformation limits and proved to be in good agreement with six significative damage states. Further, comparative analysis showed that the deformation limits derived from experiments were significantly underestimated by current codes and methods available in literature, because these prediction models were mainly developed for rectangular shear walls. Considering the contribution of flange, a modification of Cui's method yields good estimations of deformation limits for L‐shaped RC shear walls.
Exploring the Positioning of Teacher Expertise in TESOL‐Related Curriculum Standards
Authors: Turner Marianne , Windle Joel
Published: July 2019

This article explores the kinds of teacher knowledge promoted in TESOL‐related curriculum standards in five jurisdictions (Australia and England at the national level, New York City and New York State in the United States, and Ontario, Canada, at the subnational level). Such documents are increasingly important in defining, and potentially undermining, the professional status of specialist TESOL knowledge and roles in schools. Part of the influence of teacher standards is through policy transfer, and the examples analysed here were selected for their status as models for the drafters of an emerging policy framework in Victoria, Australia. Building on an emerging theoretical tradition focused on pedagogical content knowledge, the analysis identifies contrasting paradigms of teacher expertise that vary in depth and relative importance attributed to knowledge of language. The authors argue that the differing constructions of pedagogical content knowledge across jurisdictions imply different kinds of teacher roles that are potentially in tension. The three kinds of positioning that the authors identify are generalist teacher of language and literacy, teacher as TESOL specialist, and teacher of emerging bi/multilinguals. The analysis suggests that greater attention should be given to how teacher knowledge is framed in educational policy, with regard for coherence, practicability, and broader professional expectations.