bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Neoliberal language policies and linguistic entrepreneurship in Higher Education
Authors: Sabaté Dalmau Maria
Published: August 2020

This paper analyzes English-Medium-Instruction (EMI) lecturers’ ambivalent orientations towards neoliberal language
policies and linguistic entrepreneurship. The data includes interviews with six case-study lecturers’ biographic narratives, audiologs and
video/audio-recorded observations, collected in a market-oriented Catalan university. I show that lecturers problematize Englishization
policies but operationalize them by presenting themselves as leading actors in the deployment of EMI. Following “managerialism” logics, they
envision English as an economically-convertible “career skill”, imperative to meet new employability/workplace demands. They carve
advantaged professional ethos linked to their self-attained English-language resources. They devalue their “non-native” accent but present
themselves as content and English-language lecturers, distinguishing themselves from “ordinary” colleagues who teach in
local languages, in narratives of “competitiveness” whereby they naturalize a socioeconomically-stratifying system of meritocracy/revenue
grounded on the marketization of English. This contributes to understand neoliberal-governance regimes which impose language-based
mechanisms for lecturers’ profiling based on views of education as the corporatized “making” of productive workers-to-be.
From verb to New Event Marker
Authors: Luraghi Silvia
Published: August 2020

In Hittite, deictic motion verbs pai- ‘go’ and uwa- ‘come’ may co-occur in a monoclausal
structure with a second verb that carries the lexical meaning. As yet, their exact function remains obscure. I argue that motion verbs
involved in such construction underwent transcategorization and function as New Event Markers. I show that this development is best
explained as an instance of constructionalization involving both the motion verbs and the second verb in the clause, which is based on a
pragmatic inference arising when motion verbs were used without a spatial complement. Either motion verb contributes a different semantics
to the construction based on the different perspective regarding the deictic center identified by the ego, whereby pai-
‘go’ (motion originating from the deictic center) marks an event as close in time and controlled, while uwa- ‘come’ (motion
originating outside the deictic center) indicates distance in time and possible lack of control.
Hierarchical models for evaluating surveillance strategies: diversity within a common modular structure.
Authors: Low-Choy S.
Published: August 2020

This chapter introduces a hierarchical modelling approach to biosecurity surveillance, arguing that this provides a common structure for representing many different existing models, ostensibly proposed within different quantitative paradigms. A Bayesian formulation is demonstrated to provide a natural framework for analysing such hierarchical models. The chapter commences with a description of Bayesian models for estimation and prediction of pest prevalence as well as detectability, and uses this as motivation for describing the concept of Bayesian learning. The role of prior distributions in facilitating estimation with uncertainty is then discussed in detail. Attention then turns to the process of constructing hierarchical Bayesian models for surveillance, including how to model search effort, detectability, prevalence and other important features. The generality of the approach is illustrated through a commentary on stochastic scenario trees, via three-stage Bayesian hierarchical models, three-stage cluster sampling and four-stage multi-scale detection. The chapter concludes with comments on how to choose among quantitative methods, and a comparative discussion of features in the modular model-based view described here.
The role of surveillance in evaluating and comparing international quarantine systems.
Authors: Mittinty M. , Whittle P. , Burgman M. , Mengersen K.
Published: August 2020

The two major aims of this chapter are to understand the role of surveillance in quarantine and to develop a checklist that facilitates the evaluation of international quarantine systems. Despite the global similarity of intention regarding quarantine, there still exist dissimilarities between countries in specific aspects of quarantine practice, that impact on the role that surveillance plays in different quarantine systems and on corresponding risk assessment frameworks. In order to create the checklist, we define the concept of risk in the context of biosecurity and quarantine. The six principles that we used in the comparisons are: (i) harmonization; (ii) appropriate level of protection; (iii) consistency; (iv) equivalence; (v) transparency; and (vi) uncertainty. The checklist is intended to provide a structured platform for evaluating a country's risk analysis methodology, making international comparisons of risk analysis systems, promoting good practice and identifying areas for further improvement. Based on these six principles, surveillance was observed to be an enabler and evidence base for many of the checklist indicators. Surveillance outputs and outcomes can thus be argued to play a strong role in facilitating international quarantine comparisons, identifying information gaps and promoting good practice.
Human ESC‐sEVs alleviate age‐related bone loss by rejuvenating senescent bone marrow‐derived mesenchymal stem cells
Authors: Gong Liangzhi , Chen Bi , Zhang Juntao , Sun Yongjin , Yuan Ji , Niu Xin , Hu Guowen , Chen Yu , Xie Zongping , Deng Zhifeng , Li Qing , Wang Yang
Published: August 2020

Tissue‐resident stem cell senescence leads to stem cell exhaustion, which is a major cause of physiological and pathological ageing. Stem cell‐derived extracellular vesicles (SC‐EVs) have been reported in preclinical studies to possess therapeutic potential for diverse diseases. However, whether SC‐EVs can rejuvenate senescent tissue stem cells to prevent age‐related disorders still remains unknown. Here, we show that chronic application of human embryonic stem cell‐derived small extracellular vesicles (hESC‐sEVs) rescues the function of senescent bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM‐MSCs) and prevents age‐related bone loss in ageing mice. Transcriptome analysis revealed that hESC‐sEVs treatment upregulated the expression of genes involved in antiaging, stem cell proliferation and osteogenic differentiation in BM‐MSCs. Furthermore, liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS) analysis identified 4122 proteins encapsulated in hESC‐sEVs. Bioinformatics analysis predicted that the protein components in the hESCs‐sEVs function in a synergistic way to induce the activation of several canonical signalling pathways, including Wnt, Sirtuin, AMPK, PTEN signalling, which results in the upregulation of antiaging genes in BM‐MSCs and then the recovery of senescent BM‐MSCs function. Collectively, our findings reveal the effect of hESC‐sEVs in reversing BM‐MSCs senescence and age‐related osteogenic dysfunction, thereby preventing age‐related bone loss. Because hESC‐sEVs could alleviate senescence of tissue‐resident stem cells, they might be promising therapeutic candidates for age‐related diseases.
The effect of Se/(S+Se) compositional ratios on the performance of SnS-based solar cell: a numerical simulation
Authors: Montoya De Los Santos I , Cortina-Marrero Hugo J , Hechavarriía-Difur L , Sánchez-Rodríguez F J , Meza-Avendaño C A , Borrego-Pérez J A , Moreno-Oliva Víctor I , Román-Hernández Edwin , Courel Maykel
Published: August 2020

In this work, a path to overcome the highest current efficiency on SnS thin-film solar cells by the Se incorporation is presented. We carried out a theoretical study of the effect of different Se/(S + Se) compositional ratios (CRs) (from 0.0 to 1.0) on the solar cell performance. In this sense, an improvement on power conversion efficiency (PCE) by decreasing the energy band gap (theoretical Se incorporation) from 1.35 to 1.08 eV was observed. All electrical output parameters (open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current density, fill factor and PCE) were increased by an augment of the CR from 0.25 to 0.75. A PCE of 10.23% was obtained for a CR of 0.75. Furthermore, a thickness optimization of the absorber was carried out, where the greatest PCE of 11.78% was obtained at 800 nm. On the other hand, a simulation at different work functions in back contact and different bulk defect density on the absorber were performed in order to achieve higher efficiencies.
Turbulence closure modeling with data-driven techniques: physical compatibility and consistency considerations
Authors: Taghizadeh Salar , Witherden Freddie D , Girimaji Sharath S
Published: August 2020

A recent thrust in turbulence closure modeling research is to incorporate machine learning (ML) elements, such as neural networks, for the purpose of enhancing the predictive capability to cover a broader class of flows. For generalizability to unseen flows, we submit that the data-driven ML approaches must preserve certain fundamental physical principles and closure tenets incumbent in physics-based (PB) models. We propose and investigate three elements to ensure the physical underpinnings of ML turbulence closures: (i) characteristic physical features and constraints that all (PB and ML) closure models must strive to satisfy; (ii) ML training scheme that infuses and preserves selected PB constraints; and (iii) physics-guided formulation of ML loss (objective) function to optimize models predictions. Current ML training and implementation strategies that can potentially cause significant physical incompatibilities and internal inconsistencies are identified. Means of mitigating inconsistencies and improving compatibility between different physical elements of the modeled system are developed. First, key closure constraints dictated by the model system dynamics are derived. Then a closed loop training procedure for enforcing the constraints in a self-consistent manner is proposed. Finally, the simple test case of turbulent channel flow is used to highlight the deficiencies in current ML methods and demonstrate improvements stemming from the proposed mitigation measures. In summary, this work addresses the need for physics-dictated guidance in the development of ML-enhanced turbulence closure models.
Multi-agent management of integrated food-energy-water systems using stochastic games: from Nash equilibrium to the social optimum
Authors: Memarzadeh Milad , Moura Scott , Horvath Arpad
Published: August 2020

System-level integration and optimization of food-energy-water systems (FEWS) require coordination of multiple agencies and decision-makers and incorporating their interdependence. In general, such coordination might be hard to achieve. As a result, the literature on FEWS management either optimizes the operations for one sector (or one decision-maker), or models interdependence among the sectors without optimizing their operations. In this article, we develop a novel multi-agent management optimization approach that is able to incorporate stochasticity and uncertainty in the system’s dynamics and interdependence of the water and energy resources for food production. The proposed method is the first attempt to utilize fundamentals of decision and game theories to optimize operations of multi-agent FEWS. We specifically focus on differentiating between (1) cooperative decision optimization of the operations, where all decision-makers cooperate to achieve the best outcome for the whole system, the social optimum, and (2) non-cooperative decision-making of the agents, the Nash equilibrium. Illustrating with a real-world case study of FEWS in Ventura County, California, we show the difference between the cooperative and non-cooperative decision making in terms of long-term expected cost of managing the system. We further show how the extra costs associated with utilizing the renewable sources of water and energy could be incentivised, so that the non-cooperative solution (the Nash equilibrium) would naturally converge to the best outcome for the whole system (the social optimum).
Understanding consumer perceptions of frailty screening to inform knowledge translation and health service improvements
Authors: Archibald Mandy M , Lawless Michael T , Ambagtsheer Rachel C , Kitson Alison L
Published: August 2020

Background and Objectives

despite growing support for the clinical application of frailty, including regular frailty screening for older adults, little is known about how older adults perceive frailty screening. The purpose of this study was to examine older adults’ perspectives on frailty screening to inform knowledge translation and service improvements for older adults with frailty.

Research Design

interpretive descriptive qualitative design.

Participants

a total of 39 non-frail (18%), pre-frail (33%) and frail or very frail (49%) South Australian older adults aged 62–99 years, sampled from community, assisted living and residential aged care settings.

Methods

seven focus groups were conducted and analysed by two independent investigators using inductive thematic analysis.

Results

three themes were identified. First, older adults question the necessity and logic of an objective frailty measure. Second, older adults believe any efforts at frailty screening need to culminate in an action. Third, older adults emphasise that frailty screening needs to be conducted sensitively given negative perceptions of the term frailty and the potential adverse effects of frailty labelling.

Discussion and Implications

previous screening experiences and underlying beliefs about the nature of frailty as inevitable shaped openness to, and acceptance of, frailty screening. Findings correspond with previous research illuminating the lack of public awareness of frailty and the nascent stage of frailty screening implementation. Incorporating consumer perspectives, along with perspectives of other stakeholder groups when considering implementing frailty screening, is likely to impact uptake and optimise suitability—important considerations in person-centred care provision.
NAMS webserver: coding potential assessment and functional annotation of plant transcripts
Authors: Sun Kun , Wang Huating , Sun Hao
Published: August 2020

Recent advances in transcriptomics have uncovered lots of novel transcripts in plants. To annotate such transcripts, dissecting their coding potential is a critical step. Computational approaches have been proven fruitful in this task; however, most current tools are designed/optimized for mammals and only a few of them have been tested on a limited number of plant species. In this work, we present NAMS webserver, which contains a novel coding potential classifier, NAMS, specifically optimized for plants. We have evaluated the performance of NAMS using a comprehensive dataset containing more than 3 million transcripts from various plant species, where NAMS demonstrates high accuracy and remarkable performance improvements over state-of-the-art software. Moreover, our webserver also furnishes functional annotations, aiming to provide users informative clues to the functions of their transcripts. Considering that most plant species are poorly characterized, our NAMS webserver could serve as a valuable resource to facilitate the transcriptomic studies. The webserver with testing dataset is freely available at http://sunlab.cpy.cuhk.edu.hk/NAMS/.
mixtureS: a novel tool for bacterial strain genome reconstruction from reads
Authors: Li Xin , Hu Haiyan , Li Xiaoman
Published: August 2020

Motivation

It is essential to study bacterial strains in environmental samples. Existing methods and tools often depend on known strains or known variations, cannot work on individual samples, not reliable, or not easy to use, etc. It is thus important to develop more user-friendly tools that can identify bacterial strains more accurately.

Results

We developed a new tool called mixtureS that can de novo identify bacterial strains from shotgun reads of a clonal or metagenomic sample, without prior knowledge about the strains and their variations. Tested on 243 simulated datasets and 195 experimental datasets, mixtureS reliably identified the strains, their numbers and their abundance. Compared with three tools, mixtureS showed better performance in almost all simulated datasets and the vast majority of experimental datasets.

Availability and implementation

The source code and tool mixtureS is available at http://www.cs.ucf.edu/˜xiaoman/mixtureS/.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Exercise alters brain activation in Gulf War Illness and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Authors: Washington Stuart D , Rayhan Rakib U , Garner Richard , Provenzano Destie , Zajur Kristina , Addiego Florencia Martinez , VanMeter John W , Baraniuk James N
Published: August 2020

Gulf War Illness affects 25–30% of American veterans deployed to the 1990–91 Persian Gulf War and is characterized by cognitive post-exertional malaise following physical effort. Gulf War Illness remains controversial since cognitive post-exertional malaise is also present in the more common Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. An objective dissociation between neural substrates for cognitive post-exertional malaise in Gulf War Illness and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome would represent a biological basis for diagnostically distinguishing these two illnesses. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure neural activity in healthy controls and patients with Gulf War Illness and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome during an N-back working memory task both before and after exercise. Whole brain activation during working memory (2-Back > 0-Back) was equal between groups prior to exercise. Exercise had no effect on neural activity in healthy controls yet caused deactivation within dorsal midbrain and cerebellar vermis in Gulf War Illness relative to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients. Further, exercise caused increased activation among Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients within the dorsal midbrain, left operculo-insular cortex (Rolandic operculum) and right middle insula. These regions-of-interest underlie threat assessment, pain, interoception, negative emotion and vigilant attention. As they only emerge post-exercise, these regional differences likely represent neural substrates of cognitive post-exertional malaise useful for developing distinct diagnostic criteria for Gulf War Illness and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Diagnosing anastomotic leak post-esophagectomy: a systematic review
Authors: Barbaro Antonio , Eldredge Thomas A , Shenfine Jonathan
Published: August 2020

Esophagectomy is the gold-standard treatment for esophageal cancer; however, postoperative anastomotic leakage remains the primary concern for surgeons. No consensus exists on the optimal investigations to predict an anastomotic leak. This systematic review aims to identify a single test or combination of tests with acceptable sensitivity and specificity to identify anastomotic leak after esophagectomy and to formulate a diagnostic algorithm to facilitate surgical decision-making. A systematic review of PubMed and EMBASE databases was undertaken to evaluate diagnostic investigations for anastomotic leak post-esophagectomy. Each study was reviewed and where possible, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were extracted. The review identified 3,204 articles, of which 49 met the inclusion criteria. Investigations most commonly used for diagnosis of anastomotic leak were: C-reactive protein (CRP), oral contrast imaging, computed tomography (CT), pleural drain amylase concentration, and the ‘NUn score’. The sensitivity of CRP for detecting anastomotic leak varied from 69.2% to 100%. Oral contrast studies sensitivities varied between 16% and 87.5% and specificity varied from 20% to 100%. Pleural drain amylase sensitivities ranged between 75% and 100% and specificity ranged from 52% to 95.5%. The NUn score sensitivities ranged from 0% to 95% and specificity from 49% to 94.4%. No single investigation was identified to rule out anastomotic leak in asymptomatic patients. However, the authors propose a diagnostic algorithm incorporating CRP, pleural drain amylase concentration, and CT with oral contrast to aid clinicians in predicting anastomotic leak to facilitate safe, timely discharge post-esophagectomy.
Incremental benefit of a novel signal recording system during mapping and ablation
Authors: Padmanabhan Deepak , Sugrue Alan , Vaidya Vaibhav , Witt Chance , Yasin Omar , Naksuk Niyada , Killu Ammar , Foxall Thomas , Drakulic Budimir S , Venkatachalam Kalapathi Lakshminarayana , Asirvatham Samuel J
Published: August 2020

Aims

Current electrophysiology signal recording and mapping systems have limited dynamic range (DR) and bandwidth, which causes loss of valuable information during acquisition of cardiac signals. We evaluated a novel advanced signal processing platform with the objective to obtain and assess additional information of clinical importance.

Methods and results

Over 10 canines, we compared intracardiac recordings within all cardiac chambers, in various rhythms, in pacing and during radiofrequency (RF) ablation across two platforms; a conventional system and the PURE EP™ [(PEP); Bio Sig Technologies, Inc., Los Angeles, CA, USA]. Recording cardiac signals with varying amplitudes were consistently and reproducibly observed, without loss of detail or introduction of artefact. Further the amplitude of current of injury (COI) on the unipolar signals correlated with the instantaneous contact force (CF) recorded on the sensing catheter in all the animals (r2 = 0.94 in ventricle). The maximum change in the unipolar COI correlated with the change in local electrogram amplitude during non-irrigated RF ablation (r2 = 0.61 in atrium). Reduction in artefact attributable to pacing (20 sites) and noise during ablation (48 sites) was present on the PEP system. Within the PEP system, simultaneous display of identical signals, filtered differently, aided the visualization of discrete conduction tissue signals.

Conclusion

Compared to current system, the PEP system provided incremental information including identifying conduction tissue signals, estimates of CF and a surrogate for lesion formation. This novel signal processing platform with increased DR and minimal front-end filtering may be useful in clinical practice.
Social Support, Everyday Discrimination, and Depressive Symptoms Among Older African Americans: A Longitudinal Study
Authors: Qin Weidi , Nguyen Ann W , Mouzon Dawne M , Hamler Tyrone C , Wang Fei
Published: August 2020

Background and Objectives

The purpose of the study was to explore the long-term effects of everyday discrimination on depressive symptoms among older African Americans, as well as the moderating role of social support in this association.

Research Design and Methods

Mixed-effects negative binomial regression analyses were performed on data selected from 6 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (2006–2016; baseline N = 1,144). The number of depressive symptoms was calculated based on an 8-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression measure. Everyday discrimination was measured using a 6-item scale. Contact with and perceived support from extended family and friends were assessed.

Results

Older African Americans who experienced more frequent perceived discrimination had more depressive symptoms over time. Significant interactions between discrimination and perceived support from extended family and friends were found, indicating that among older African Americans who reported higher support from extended family and friends, perceived discrimination was positively associated with depressive symptoms over time. However, perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms were not longitudinally related among those who reported lower levels of perceived support.

Discussion and Implications

This is one of the few studies to examine the effects of discrimination on depressive symptoms over time and the first longitudinal study to test the role of social support in coping with discrimination in older African Americans. This study extends cross-sectional works on discrimination and mental health, indicating that experiences of discrimination can result in worse mental health over time. The significant interactions are consistent with the resource mobilization framework, which suggests that individuals who are more negatively affected by discrimination (more depressive symptoms) are more likely to reach out to friends and family to cope with discrimination.
Obstacle Negotiation in Older Adults: Prefrontal Activation Interpreted Through Conceptual Models of Brain Aging
Authors: Chatterjee Sudeshna A , Seidler Rachael D , Skinner Jared W , Lysne Paige E , Sumonthee Chanoan , Wu Samuel S , Cohen Ronald A , Rose Dorian K , Woods Adam J , Clark David J
Published: August 2020

Background and Objectives

The influence of interindividual differences on brain activation during obstacle negotiation and the implications for walking performance are poorly understood in older adults. This study investigated the extent to which prefrontal recruitment during obstacle negotiation is explained by differences in age, executive function, and sex. These data were interpreted according to the Compensation-Related Utilization of Neural Circuits Hypothesis (CRUNCH) framework of brain aging. We also tested the association between prefrontal recruitment and walking performance.

Research Design and Methods

Prefrontal oxygenated hemoglobin concentration (O2Hb) was measured during typical walking (Typical) and obstacle negotiation (Obstacles) tasks in 50 adults aged 65 years and older using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. The primary outcome was the change in prefrontal recruitment (∆PFR), measured as Obstacles ∆O2Hb minus Typical ∆O2Hb. Multiple regression was used to test the relationship between ∆PFR and age, executive function measured by the Trail Making Test, and sex. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to investigate the association between ∆PFR and the cost of Obstacles walking speed relative to Typical walking.

Results

Age, executive function, and their interaction significantly predicted greater ∆PFR (R2 = 0.34, p = .01). Participants were subgrouped according to age and executive function to examine the interaction effects. Adults of lower age and with lower executive function exhibited greater ∆PFR during Obstacles compared to their peers with higher executive function (p = .03). Adults of advanced age exhibited a ceiling of prefrontal recruitment during obstacle negotiation, regardless of executive function level (p = .87). Greater ∆PFR was significantly associated with a smaller cost of Obstacles (r = 0.3, p = .03).

Discussion and Implications

These findings are consistent with the CRUNCH framework: neural inefficiency where a greater amount of brain activation is needed for task performance at a similar level, compensatory overactivation to prevent a steeper decline in task performance, and capacity limitation with a recruitment ceiling effect.
Associations between health-related skills and young adults’ work ability within a structural health literacy model
Authors: Stassen Gerrit , Grieben Christopher , Hottenrott Nina , Rudolf Kevin , Froböse Ingo , Schaller Andrea
Published: August 2020

Young adults have a high societal relevance but are still an under-represented target group in health promotion. Health literacy is widely acknowledged as one of the strongest predictors and key determinant of health, so its influence on work ability is of great interest. The purpose of the study was to examine the associations between health-related skills and work ability within the structural model of health literacy of Lenartz, Soellner and colleagues, which explains health behaviour and health through the indirect and direct influence of six ‘advanced skills’ (‘self-perception’, ‘proactive approach to health’, ‘dealing with health information’, ‘self-control’, ‘self-regulation’ and ‘communication and cooperation’). The cross-sectional study was based on baseline data of a health literacy promotion intervention (495 vocational school students, 59.0% female, age span 18–25 years). Structural equation modelling with partial least squares was used to examine the associations between the six constructs of the model and the Work Ability Index (WAI). Mean WAI score was 39.7 ± 4.5 (51.1% categorized ‘moderate’/‘poor’). Five out of six constructs of the model showed a statistically significant indirect or direct effect, respectively, on work ability. The model explained 24.8% of the WAI score variance. Our findings show associations between the health literacy model and the work ability among young employees. In view of demographic change, it is crucial to develop and analyse target group-specific health literacy interventions. The model offers new facets in the modelling of health literacy.
Energy analysis of cyclic parameters of organic Rankine cycle system
Authors: Yan Jinglu , Jia Wenguang , Li Kunling , Yu Hang , Guo Xianpei
Published: August 2020

Geothermal energy is a kind of green and non-polluting renewable energy. Medium and low-temperature geothermal energy below 150 °C is usually used directly for heating, industrial and agricultural heating, bathing, etc., and the utilization rate is low. Organic Rankine cycle (ORC) system can be used in a low-temperature geothermal power generation systems. Thermodynamic analysis of the thermal cycle system is carried out in this paper. Based on the principle of exergy analysis, the cycle parameters such as evaporation temperature, condensation temperature, superheating temperature, and supercooling temperature are analyzed. The results show that the exergy efficiency and system output power can improve by increasing evaporation temperature and the exergy loss can decrease in the evaporator. Increasing superheating temperature enhances the output power of the expander and the exergy loss in the condenser, decreases the exergy efficiency simultaneously. Increasing condensation temperature decreases the exergy efficiency of the system and the output power of the expander, and increases the exergy loss of the system. Although the output power of the expander will not be affected by supercooling temperature, the rise of supercooling temperature will reduce the exergy efficiency of the system and increase the exergy loss of the evaporator.
Corporate Governance, Employee Voice and the Interests of Employees: The Broken Promise of a ‘World Leading Package of Corporate Reforms’
Authors: Villiers Charlotte
Published: August 2020

Following a series of corporate governance scandals which involved exploitative treatment of workers, reforms were introduced to the UK’s corporate governance system in 2018, presented both as an attempt to rebuild trust and to afford a stronger voice for workers in that system. This paper explores the new landscape from a workers’ voice and protection perspective. It highlights that, while corporate governance has a role in ensuring workers’ needs are met, there is a tension between the goals of any reforms in this territory: board-level employee representation could be seen as a way of democratising the economy and valuing the part played by labour in that process, but it could also be seen as a way of increasing corporate value, economic performance or employee motivation, and disregarding the implications for labour. It is argued in this paper that worker protection requires a more genuine workplace democracy with full involvement of trade union representation. This would also help to broaden the corporate governance framework’s horizon towards a more genuine stakeholder vision beyond the existing tokenistic legal and regulatory nods in that direction.
Identification of Functional HLA-A*01:01–Restricted Epstein-Barr Latent Membrane Protein 2–Specific T-Cell Receptors
Authors: Huisman Wesley , Gille Ilse , van der Maarel Lieve E , Hageman Lois , Morton Laura T , de Jong Rob C M , Heemskerk Mirjam H M , Amsen Derk , Falkenburg J H Frederik , Jedema Inge
Published: August 2020

Background

Adoptive transfer of genetically engineered T cells expressing antigen-specific T-cell receptors (TCRs) is an appealing therapeutic approach for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)–associated malignancies of latency type II/III that express EBV antigens (LMP1/2). Patients who are HLA-A*01:01 positive could benefit from such products, since no T cells recognizing any EBV-derived peptide in this common HLA allele have been found thus far.

Methods

HLA-A*01:01–restricted EBV-LMP2–specific T cells were isolated using peptide major histocompatibility complex (pMHC) tetramers. Functionality was assessed by production of interferon gamma (IFN-γ) and cytotoxicity when stimulated with EBV-LMP2–expressing cell lines. Functionality of primary T cells transduced with HLA-A*01:01–restricted EBV-LMP2–specific TCRs was optimized by knocking out the endogenous TCRs of primary T cells (∆TCR) using CRISPR-Cas9 technology.

Results

EBV-LMP2–specific T cells were successfully isolated and their TCRs were characterized. TCR gene transfer in primary T cells resulted in specific pMHC tetramer binding and reactivity against EBV-LMP2–expressing cell lines. The mean fluorescence intensity of pMHC-tetramer binding was increased 1.5–2 fold when the endogenous TCRs of CD8+ T cells was knocked out. CD8+/∆TCR T cells modified to express EBV-LMP2–specific TCRs showed IFN-γ secretion and cytotoxicity toward EBV-LMP2–expressing malignant cell lines.

Conclusions

We isolated the first functional HLA-A*01:01–restricted EBV-LMP2–specific T-cell populations and TCRs, which can potentially be used in future TCR gene therapy to treat EBV-associated latency type II/III malignancies.
A huge hepatic angiomyolipoma with growth during 5 years of follow-up
Authors: Machida Michio , Sugo Hiroyuki , Watanobe Ikuo
Published: August 2020

A 45-year-old woman was referred to our hospital with a huge liver tumor that had been diagnosed as a hepatic angiomyolipoma (HAML) 5 years previously. At the time of referral, it had enlarged from 12 to 20 cm within the previous 5 years and become symptomatic. Enhanced computed tomography revealed a very large, well-defined, low-density mass occupying the entire right lobe of the liver. The patient underwent right hemi-hepatectomy. The resected specimen weighed 1620 g and measured 20 × 14 × 8 cm. The pathological diagnosis was confirmed as benign HAML. The estimated growth rate of this tumor was 44% per year with a doubling time of 826 days. Although the majority of HAMLs are stable lesions, resection should perhaps be considered when the tumor is known to be growing and exceeds 6 cm in diameter, even if it has been diagnosed as benign.
Successful eradication of a large orbital hydatid cyst without rupture using fronto-orbitozygomatic approach, the first case reported from Syria
Authors: Abouassi Majd , Aloulou Mohammad , Hawa Nouran , Toutounji Tayf , Alyousef Safwan
Published: August 2020

Hydatid disease is a parasitic infection resulted by Echinococcus granulosus in the larval stage and is most prevalent in the Middle East, India, Africa, South America, New Zealand, Australia, Turkey and Southern Europe. However, orbital hydatid cysts are rare and represent a challenge to the surgeon to eradicate the cyst without rupture. Here, we report a case of a relatively large primary intraconal orbital cyst in a 21-year-old woman. We managed to eradicate the cyst without any complication using fronto-orbitozygomatic approach, and the patient remained disease free after the 3 months of follow-up.
The Usability of the Plan Quality Index to Support Evaluation of Community Health Action Plans
Authors: Courie Anna F , Tate Judith
Published: August 2020

Introduction

The U.S. Army requires community health coalitions to develop targeted action plans in order to more effectively address top public health priorities. Reviews of community action plans indicate that they are often poorly developed and not fully implemented. To date, the U.S. Army has not implemented a standardized tool or process to evaluate action plans and provide recommendations for improvement to local installations. The Plan Quality Index (PQI) is an evidence-based, standardized tool that has been used successfully by technical experts to review and improve community action plans related to the prevention of obesity, injury and violence, and cancer.

Materials and Methods

The objective of this project was to determine the usability of the PQI and to provide recommendations for improving community health action plans focused on injury prevention for the U.S. Army. Five Health Promotion Project Officers and one Health Promotion Project Assistant at Army Public Health Center were trained on the PQI and reviewed injury prevention action plans for 17 installations. After using the PQI to assess injury prevention action plans, the individuals were given a System Usability Scale (SUS) survey to assess the usability of the PQI.

Results

Results of the SUS survey can range from 0 to 100, but do not represent percentages. A score of 65 indicates “greater than average” usability. Participant scores on the SUS demonstrated that the PQI has a high degree of usability. Mean usability was calculated at 83.3 (range 72.5–97.5, median 85, sd +/− 9.3).

Conclusion

The PQI demonstrated a high level of usability by technical experts for providing feedback and recommendations regarding community health action plans for injury prevention in the U.S. Army. As a result, the PQI may be beneficial as a standard tool for community health improvement planning and consultation throughout the Army Public Health Center.
Creating a Tudor Musical Miscellany: the Mcghie/Tenbury 389 Partbooks
Authors: Butler Katherine
Published: August 2020

The best-known Tudor manuscript partbooks tend to be complete or near-complete sets, associated with known individuals, elegantly copied, and with a clear repertorial focus. Yet such manuscripts are not the norm among extant partbooks. Rather most are obscure in origin, the product of workaday copying, and survive as orphans or partial sets. They are miscellanies with wide-ranging contents, complex and seemingly chaotic in their compilation, and their challenges have tended to deter scholarly attention. This article focuses on one particular miscellany from which two partbooks survive—the privately owned McGhie partbook and Bodleian Library Tenbury MS 389—to explore what such collections can reveal about the methods and habits of compilers and the circulation of music. These partbooks were assembled in a series of stages that demonstrate several different strategies for the collection and selection of pieces, methods for organizing scribal labour, and the influence of musical print culture on manuscript production.
The influence of environment on satellite galaxies in the GAEA semi-analytic model
Authors: Xie Lizhi , De Lucia Gabriella , Hirschmann Michaela , Fontanot Fabio
Published: August 2020

Reproducing the observed quenched fraction of satellite galaxies has been a long-standing issue for galaxy formation models. We modify the treatment of environmental effects in our state-of-the-art GAlaxy Evolution and Assembly (GAEA) semi-analytic model to improve our modelling of satellite galaxies. Specifically, we implement gradual stripping of hot gas, ram-pressure stripping of cold gas, and an updated algorithm to account for angular momentum exchanges between the gaseous and stellar disc components of model galaxies. Our updated model predicts quenched fractions that are in good agreement with local observational measurements for central and satellite galaxies, and their dependencies on stellar mass and halo mass. We also find consistency between model predictions and observational estimates of quenching times for satellite galaxies, H i, H2 fractions of central galaxies, and deficiencies of H i, H2, SFR of galaxies in cluster haloes. In the framework of our updated model, the dominant quenching mechanisms are hot gas stripping for low-mass satellite galaxies, and AGN feedback for massive satellite galaxies. The ram-pressure stripping of cold gas only affects the quenched fraction in massive haloes with Mh > 1013.5 M⊙, but is needed to reproduce the observed H i deficiencies.
Thermal desorption of carbon monoxide from model interstellar ice surfaces: revealing surface heterogeneity
Authors: Taj S , McCoustra M R S
Published: August 2020

Temperature programmed desorption has been used to probe the distribution of binding energies of carbon monoxide (CO) to molecular solid thin films of astrophysical relevance. Measurements are reported for solid water (both compact amorphous solid water and crystalline water), ammonia, and methanol surfaces. Binding energy distributions and optimized pre-exponential factors based on the inversion method are tabulated. These are compared to existing data on these systems and astrophysical conclusions drawn.
Black hole mergers from dwarf to massive galaxies with the NewHorizon and Horizon-AGN simulations
Authors: Volonteri Marta , Pfister Hugo , Beckmann Ricarda S , Dubois Yohan , Colpi Monica , Conselice Christopher J , Dotti Massimo , Martin Garreth , Jackson Ryan , Kraljic Katarina , Pichon Christophe , Trebitsch Maxime , Yi Sukyoung K , Devriendt Julien , Peirani Sébastien
Published: August 2020

Massive black hole (MBH) coalescences are powerful sources of low-frequency gravitational waves. To study these events in the cosmological context, we need to trace the large-scale structure and cosmic evolution of a statistical population of galaxies, from dim dwarfs to bright galaxies. To cover such a large range of galaxy masses, we analyse two complementary simulations: horizon-AGN with a large volume and low resolution that tracks the high-mass ($\gt 10^7\, {\rm M_\odot }$) MBH population, and NewHorizon with a smaller volume but higher resolution that traces the low-mass ( $\lt 10^7\, {\rm M_\odot }$) MBH population. While Horizon-AGN can be used to estimate the rate of inspirals for pulsar timing arrays, NewHorizon can investigate MBH mergers in a statistical sample of dwarf galaxies for LISA, which is sensitive to low-mass MBHs. We use the same method to analyse the two simulations, post-processing MBH dynamics to account for time delays mostly determined by dynamical friction and stellar hardening. In both simulations, MBHs typically merge long after galaxies do, so that the galaxy morphology at the time of the MBH merger is no longer determined by the structural disturbances engendered by the galaxy merger from which the MBH coalescence has originated. These time delays cause a loss of high-z MBH coalescences, shifting the peak of the MBH merger rate to z ∼ 1–2. This study shows how tracking MBH mergers in low-mass galaxies is crucial to probing the MBH merger rate for LISA and investigate the properties of the host galaxies.
The impact of composition choices on solar evolution: age, helio- and asteroseismology, and neutrinos
Authors: Capelo Diogo , Lopes Ilídio
Published: August 2020

The Sun is the most studied and well-known star, and as such, solar fundamental parameters are often used to bridge gaps in the knowledge of other stars, when these are required for modelling. However, the two most powerful and precise independent methodologies currently available to infer the internal solar structure are in disagreement. We aim to show the potential impact of composition choices in the overall evolution of a star, using the Sun as example. To this effect, we create two Standard Solar Models and a comparison model using different combinations of metallicity and relative element abundances and compare evolutionary, helioseismic, and neutrino-related properties for each. We report differences in age for models calibrated to the same point on the HR diagram, in red giant branch, of more than 1 Gyr, and found that the current precision level of asteroseismic measurements is enough to differentiate these models, which would exhibit differences in period spacing of 1.30–2.58 per cent. Additionally, we show that the measurement of neutrino fluxes from the carbon–nitrogen–oxygen cycle with a precision of around 17 per cent, which could be achieved by the next generation of solar neutrino experiments, could help resolve the stellar abundance problem.
Tidal dissipation in evolving low-mass and solar-type stars with predictions for planetary orbital decay
Authors: Barker A J
Published: August 2020

We study tidal dissipation in stars with masses in the range 0.1–1.6 M⊙ throughout their evolution, including turbulent effective viscosity acting on equilibrium tides and inertial waves (IWs) in convection zones, and internal gravity waves in radiation zones. We consider a range of stellar evolutionary models and incorporate the frequency-dependent effective viscosity acting on equilibrium tides based on the latest simulations. We compare the tidal flow and dissipation obtained with the conventional equilibrium tide, which is strictly invalid in convection zones, finding that the latter typically overpredicts the dissipation by a factor of 2–3. Dissipation of IWs is computed using a frequency-averaged formalism accounting for realistic stellar structure for the first time, and is the dominant mechanism for binary circularization and synchronization on the main sequence. Dissipation of gravity waves in the radiation zone assumes these waves to be fully damped (e.g. by wave breaking), and is the dominant mechanism for planetary orbital decay. We calculate the critical planetary mass required for wave breaking as a function of stellar mass and age, and show that this mechanism predicts destruction of many hot Jupiters but probably not Earth-mass planets on the main sequence. We apply our results to compute tidal quality factors following stellar evolution, and tidal evolutionary time-scales, for the orbital decay of hot Jupiters, and the spin synchronization and circularization of binary stars. We also provide predictions for shifts in transit arrival times due to tidally driven orbital decay of hot Jupiters that may be detected with NGTS, TESS, or PLATO.
DNA ligase I variants fail in the ligation of mutagenic repair intermediates with mismatches and oxidative DNA damage
Authors: Tang Qun , Kamble Pradnya , Çağlayan Melike
Published: August 2020

DNA ligase I (LIG1) joins DNA strand breaks during DNA replication and repair transactions and contributes to genome integrity. The mutations (P529L, E566K, R641L and R771W) in LIG1 gene are described in patients with LIG1-deficiency syndrome that exhibit immunodeficiency. LIG1 senses 3’-DNA ends with a mismatch or oxidative DNA base inserted by a repair DNA polymerase. However, the ligation efficiency of the LIG1 variants for DNA polymerase-promoted mutagenesis products with 3’-DNA mismatches or 8-oxo-2’-deoxyguanosine (8-oxodG) remains undefined. Here, we report that R641L and R771W fail in the ligation of nicked DNA with 3’-8-oxodG, leading to an accumulation of 5’-AMP-DNA intermediates in vitro. Moreover, we found that the presence of all possible 12 non-canonical base pairs variously impacts the ligation efficiency by P529L and R771W depending on the architecture at the DNA end, whereas E566K exhibits no activity against all substrates tested. Our results contribute to the understanding of the substrate specificity and mismatch discrimination of LIG1 for mutagenic repair intermediates and the effect of non-synonymous mutations on ligase fidelity.