bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Foams at equilibrium
Authors: Cantat Isabelle , Cohen-Addad Sylvie , Elias Florence , Graner François , Höhler Reinhard , Pitois Olivier , Rouyer Florence , Saint-Jalmes Arnaud
Published: October 2013

In this chapter we discuss the structure and stability of foams at equilibrium. We start with a qualitative description of foam physics before turning to very dry foam structures. We will show how equilibrium properties are affected by the presence of a non-negligible amount of liquid in the foam, and we will describe the spatial distribution of this liquid.
Democracy, Self, and the Problem of the General Will in Nineteenth-Century French Political Thought
Authors: Drolet Michael
Published: October 2013

In post-revolutionary France, ‘democracy’ came to be conceived above all as a social condition: the condition of equality that had resulted from the abolition of privilege during the revolutionary years. This chapter focuses on how French thinkers conceptualised the implications – psychological as well as social – of this condition. Many were concerned about an updated version of a classic problem: how to reconcile individual and general interest. Unlike the British, who were relatively relaxed about the pursuit of self-interest, the French continued to believe that the pursuit of the general will imposed significant demands on the self. Both liberals and socialists worried that modern democratic society, inasmuch as it was also characterised by materialism and social division, failed to nurture appropriate forms of self. In consequence, people in general were self-seeking, or the ruling classes specifically were self-seeking. Individuals suffered stress, and society was riven by tension and conflict.
How to activate a power
Authors: McKitrick Jennifer
Published: October 2013

The aim of this chapter is to explore the nature of activation events and their relation to the powers they activate. In particular, we will consider what triggers would look like if all properties were powers, as the dispositional monist or pandispositionalist tells us they are. While many have expressed worries about manifestations involving instantiations of only dispositional properties, it is also worth noting that, on a pandispositionalist scenario, the activation event must be equally dispositional. If all properties are powers, it seems that a triggering event must be an acquisition of a power. But how does something acquiring a power activate another power to produce its manifestation? This chapter suggests and evaluates possible answers. It will be argued that, as with the case of manifestations, a vicious regress threatens the pandispositionalist picture of power activation. The chapter then goes on to consider several possible pandispositionalist responses.
Are natural kinds and natural properties distinct?
Authors: Tobin Emma
Published: October 2013

This chapter discusses the distinction between natural kinds and natural properties. Some theorists deny the distinction, and claim that natural kinds can be identified with properties. For example, natural kinds might be understood as the perfectly natural properties, reducible to properties or the extensions of properties. Alternatively, one might argue that natural kinds and natural properties are distinct and that natural kinds could be considered as a sui generis type of entity. For example, one might hold that natural kinds require a distinct kind of universal, substantival universal, or sortal. Alternatively, one might claim that properties themselves form natural kind groupings, in virtue of causal mechanisms. This chapter argues that classification into natural kinds can reflect real differences between natural groups, without the supplementary ontological distinction between properties and kinds.
Realism about structure and kinds
Authors: Paul L. A.
Published: October 2013

Metaphysical realism about structure has been popular since David Lewis made natural properties a central part of his metaphysical programme, and enjoys currency in contemporary discussions about fundamentality and metametaphysics. This chapter shows how Lewis’s defence of natural properties is a defence of worldly structure that was adopted in response to Putnam’s antirealism about reference and truth, and discusses the prospects for semantic realism. The central argument is that postulating structure is not enough to rebut antirealism: the realist must also make significant, ungrounded assumptions about the nature of the structure. In particular, realism about truth requires one to assume, as a matter of contingent fact, that the kinds that define the structure rule out the possibility of permutability. This is a surprising and counterintuitive result.
Kant and the Creation of Freedom
Authors: Insole Christopher J.
Published: October 2013

Kant actively struggles with the problem of how to conceive of God’s creative action in relation to human freedom. Kant comes to the view that human freedom can only be protected if God withdraws in certain ways from the created world. The two pillars of Kant’s mature philosophy—transcendental idealism and freedom—are in part shaped and motivated by Kant’s need to provide a solution to his theological problem. The medieval and early modern theological tradition conceives of divine action as unlike the action of any created being. When the creature acts, God directly causes this action, but without reducing the creature’s freedom. Kant explicitly discusses and rejects this account of divine and human concursus. This rejection has significant and surprising ramifications for Kant’s wider philosophy, explaining otherwise incomprehensible claims in his critical philosophy. The book presents a definitive study in the history of ideas, engaging with a wide range of Kant’s texts from 1749 until the early 1800s. Kant’s thought is placed in relation to numerous historical and traditional positions, which are themselves illuminated by a close engagement with recent debates in analytical philosophy and systematic theology. Kant is unrelentingly honest when grappling with the difficulty of relating divine and human freedom. This study, of Kant’s theological struggle and legacy, goes to the heart of the problem in the modern reception of what the Christian tradition has affirmed about human freedom. As such, the book throws light on one of the defining fault-lines in modern theology and philosophy.
Is God Free?
Authors: Insole Christopher J.
Published: October 2013

The previous chapter showed that Kant has a positive conception of divine freedom, whereby the scope of choice for the divine will is significantly restricted by rational and moral factors. This chapter sets out the fundamental theological presuppositions that will determine how acceptable one finds Kant’s conception of divine freedom. The chapter does not offer a defence or critique of Kant’s position, except to suggest that it is not wildly and obviously beyond the bounds of a strand of orthodox (albeit contestable) theology. Real possibilities that determine the essential properties of substances do, for Kant, depend upon God, but upon the divine understanding rather than the divine will. Kant calls this a ‘non-moral dependence’. Kant’s position is located in relation to Leibniz and Aquinas. An alternative interpretation of Kant on divine freedom, as set out by Rae Langton, is refuted.
Incoherence
Authors: Insole Christopher J.
Published: October 2013

The notion, set out in the previous chapter, that in some sense our empirical actions derive from a case of atemporal first causation, is found by some commentators (Pereboom and Walker) to be scarcely more credible than a flat contradiction. This has led some commentators to deny that Kant could really hold this view in any significant sense. This chapters defends the claim that Kant is committed to the notion of atemporal first causation, explaining why this would not seem an implausible or epistemically undisciplined claim to Kant. The chapters addresses a challenge to the fundamental coherence of the notion of noumenal first causation: in particular, with reference to the inexplicability of our ability to choose evil. Kant has no good answer to this problem, and he knows this, but Augustinian theologians might like Kant better for this studied admission of incomprehensibility.
Concurrence
Authors: Insole Christopher J.
Published: October 2013

This chapter goes to the heart of Kant’s theological problem, by focusing on the precise ‘causal joint’ between God’s creative action and our free actions. Drawing upon Freddoso, Burrell and Tanner, the chapter sets out the conceptual options in the medieval and early modern period for understanding the relationship between divine and human action: occassionalism, mere conservation and concurrence. The favoured position amongst orthodox philosophical theologians (including Aquinas, Suarez and Leibniz) was ‘concurrence’ or ‘concursus’, where God not only creates and sustains every creature, but acts directly in every action of every creature, including free human action. The chapter shows that Kant is a mere conservationist about both nature and human freedom. Although Kant uses the language of concursus in relation to miracles, and the assistance God gives to human beings, he does so in a ‘conservationist’ way that the tradition would consider to be theologically inadequate.
Legacy
Authors: Insole Christopher J.
Published: October 2013

This chapter interrogates some of the deep tectonic plates that underlie the conflict between supporters and detractors of concurrentism; a conflict that manifests itself in the mutual incomprehension between some philosophers of religion (Flint) and systematic theologians (Tanner). Recently there has been a more affirmative trend in the evaluation of Kant’s legacy to philosophical theology. Sympathetic commentators (such as Mariña, Firestone, Jacobs, Hare and Palmquist) need to consider, though, that due to his denial of concurrence, Kant is not able to say very much about divine action, particularly in areas such as grace and atonement. Nonetheless, there are some passages in Kant, and some dimensions of his thought, which do seem to leave the door open to genuinely concurrentist accounts of the relationship between divine and human action. Kant himself did not go through this door, but a Kantian might, whilst still drawing inspiration from strands of Kant’s own thought.
3 Minority Identities in the Middle East: Ethno-national and Other Minorities
Authors: Joshua Castellino , Kathleen A Cavanaugh
Published: October 2013

Although religion and ethnicity are the primary categories under which we examine minority communities, this chapter adds three additional categories: majoritarian minorities, political minorities, and trapped minorities. Majoritarian majorities are those who are numerically larger but excluded from sites of power, e.g. the Shi?a in Bahrain. Relative size distinguishes what we refer to as political minorities. Like ‘majoritarian’ groups, political minorities are excluded from power but are also a minority in terms of relative numbers; these include Shi?a in Saudi Arabia and Sunnis in Iran. ‘Trapped’ minorities, distinct from ethno-national minorities, are defined as a segment from a larger group spread across two or more states and marginalized, or as we discuss in the case of Palestinian-Israelis, doubly marginalized, subject to hegemonic control by others within these states and, as such, excluded from access to sociopolitical and economic decision-making institutions. In addition to Israeli Arabs, we include Palestinians, Baluchis, and Kurds in this category.
4 Minority Rights in Iraq
Authors: Joshua Castellino , Kathleen A Cavanaugh
Published: October 2013

This chapter seeks to examine and analyse the history and legislative provisions to protect minorities in Iraq. It situates Iraq’s minority communities (Kurds, Kaka’i, Shabak, Yezidi, Marsh Arabs, Christian, Armenian, Assyrian, Sabean Mandaeans, Baha’i, Black Iraqi, Circassians, Jews, Roma and Palestinian) within a socio-legal framework and includes a critique of the fragile unfolding constitution-building process and the conceptual frameworks upon which it has been built. The ‘liquid’ democracy that was meant to accompany the 2003 intervention has proved illusory for Iraqi communities inside and outside Iraq. There can be no other reading of the 2003 US and coalition forces’ intervention in Iraq other than that of a ‘transformative occupation’, which has operated outside the constraints dictated by the laws of occupation. The language of occupation may have been displaced, but the transformation of the political and demographic landscape in Iraq continues and this chapter examines the implications of this for the groups who continue to feel vulnerable within Iraq.
Conclusion
Authors: Joshua Castellino , Kathleen A Cavanaugh
Published: October 2013

The concluding chapter focusses on the ‘Maspero incident’ where a protest by Egyptian Copts resulted in violent clashes between Copts and the wider Egyptian community as well as security forces. Here the ‘official’ explanation of the event engaged in ‘the politics of sectarianism’ and minority rights (in this case for Egyptian Copts) became a surface over which a political contest was waged; a theme that is dominant throughout the book. Tackling the question of minority rights in the Middle East cannot, therefore, be limited to an examination of the laws that seek to protect minority communities. As we have detailed, there is a meta-narrative dimension to how minority communities are understood in the context of the Middle East which transcend the legal and intersect territorial, cultural, and political spaces.
Introduction
Authors: Joshua Castellino , Kathleen A Cavanaugh
Published: October 2013

The Introduction lays out the primary task for this book; to examine the shifting constructions of religious and ethnic minorities in the Middle East with a focus on two primary questions: how the socio-political groups that we define as minorities engage (or are excluded from) various sites of power and, secondly how state practices with regard to minorities (and ostensibly based on Islamic authority) intersect and inform modern constitutionalism and international law.
In undertaking this task, we outline a number of challenges, first amongst these is to avoid a limited and reductionist view of the Middle East and, as we fix our focus on minority rights in the Middle East, we set out a second challenge; to ensure that we do not graft a conceptual concept on to a society or, as White argues, we risk ‘losing sight of how the social and political groups these categories describe appeared and developed’.
Introduction
Authors: Ringström Hans
Published: October 2013

Chapter 1 contains an outline of the prologue. It also contains a discussion of the standard models of the universe and of the Copernican and cosmological principles. Finally, ways of approximating fluids using kinetic theory are described.
An Empirical Epilogue: Quantity, Quality, and Beyond
Authors: Bobek Michal
Published: October 2013

The chapter provides working conclusions for the case studies. At the same time, it also represents the starting point for further discussions of the theoretical aspects of the use of comparative arguments by courts in the third part of this book. It discusses the quality (frequency) of the use of comparative arguments by courts in the systems studied, its character, and qualitative aspects.
Conclusions
Authors: Bobek Michal
Published: October 2013

In spite of being constantly pushed by the legislator and also by the international liberal scholarship towards embracing the ‘global’ or ‘transnational’, most national judges display rather remarkable conservatism. The conclusions offer some final explanations as to why this is so and why the courts will hardly ever become the place for boosting comparative scholarship.
Introduction
Authors: Chierchia Gennaro
Published: October 2013

The introduction sets the stage for the inquiry pursued in the book. The items to be studied include: Universal Free Choice items: English any, Italian qualunque (free choice items with a universal quantificational force); Existential Free Choice items: German irgendein, Italian uno qualunque (free choice items with an existential quantificational force); Epistemic Indefinites: Italian un qualche, Romanian vreun (indefinites associated with an ignorance inference); Weak Negative Polarity Items: English ever, Italian mai (items restricted to (roughly) Downward Entailing contexts); N-words: Italian nessuno, neanche (items that participate in negative concord); Strong Negative Polarity Items: English in weeks, punctual until; (items limited to strongly negative context, such as antiadditive items); Emphatic NPIs and ‘minimizers’: English give a damn, lift a finger, Hindi khoii bhii) The main thesis to be developed is that the core meaning of all of the items in (a)-(e) is the same as that of ordinary indefinites like some/a; the items in (f)-(g) share with indefinites the property of identifying lowest values on some scale.
Striving in the Path of God
Authors: 9780199344949  , Afsaruddin Asma
Published: October 2013

In popular and academic literature, jihād is often assumed to refer to “armed combat,” while martyrdom is understood to be invariably of the military kind. This perspective, derived mainly from legal texts, has led to discussions of jihād and martyrdom predominantly as concepts with fixed, universal meanings. In contradistinction to this approach, this book studies in a more holistic manner the range of significations that can be ascribed to particularly the term jihād from the earliest period to the contemporary period against the backdrop of specific socio-historical and political circumstances which frequently mediated the meanings of this critical term. Instead of privileging the juridical literature, the book canvasses a more diverse genre of texts – Qur’ān, tafsīr, hadīth, edifying and hortatory literature -- to recreate a more nuanced and multifaceted understanding of both jihād and martyrdom through time, especially by introducing the concept of ṣabr as an aspect of jihād. As a result, many conventional assumptions about the essential nature of military jihād and martyrdom are challenged and undermined. The book unearths instead a spectrum of contested scholarly views on the purview of the combative jihād and the constitution of martyrdom through a diachronic survey of critical sources not previously studied in great depth.
Introduction
Authors: Afsaruddin Asma
Published: October 2013

This chapter discusses the methodological approach of the book and explains how it yields a more innovative and comprehensive examination of the concepts of jihād and martyrdom. The importance of a diachronic survey of key sources is emphasized for charting the changing semantic landscape of these concepts. Among these key sources are Qur’ān, hadīth, tafsīr, fadā’il al-jihād; andfadā’il al-ṣabr works.
Striving “for,” “in,” and “in the Path of” God
Authors: Afsaruddin Asma
Published: October 2013

This chapter deals with the Qur’anic concepts of jihād and ṣabr by selectively looking at verses which refer to the non-combative meanings of these terms between the middle Meccan to the early Medinan period. Several key exegetical works from the Umayyad to the Mamlūk periods are consulted. They include the commentaries of Mujāhid b. Jabr (d. ca. 104/722); Muqātil b. Sulaymān (d. 150/767), al-Tabarī (d. 310/ 923); al-Wāhidī (d. 468/1076); al-Zamakhsharī (d. ca. 538/1144) Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606/1210), and al-Qurtubī (d. 671/1273) in order to obtain representative samplings of views from various historical periods. The focus in this chapter, as is true of subsequent chapters, is on the retrieval of multiple and contested understandings of jihād and ṣabr through a comparison of early and later works of exegesis.
The Excellences of Patient Forbearance
Authors: Afsaruddin Asma
Published: October 2013

Chapter Seven documents the existence of competing interpretations of the Qur’anically mandated duty to strive in the path of God by focusing on the reports contained in the fadā’il al-ṣabr literary genre in order to determine their provenance and the whys and wherefores of their deployment. Among the works discussed are al-Sṣabr wa-’l-thawāb ’alayhi by Ibn Abī ’l-Dunyā (d. 281/894), called and the ’Uddat al-ṣābirīn wa-dhakhīrat al-shākirīn by Muhammad b. Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 751/1350). As in the previous chapter, the chains of transmission of a number of the praise reports contained in these works are analyzed to determine their probable provenance and the possible ideological motivations of the transmitters.
Modern and Contemporary Debates on Jihād and Martyrdom II
Authors: Afsaruddin Asma
Published: October 2013

In sharp contrast to most of the modern thinkers and activists we focused on in the previous chapter, the scholars and activists discussed in this chapter are distinguished by their inclination to engage the concept of jihād in a more diachronic and holistic manner and to emphasize its historically-conditioned multi-layered significations through time. The scholars discussed from this group include Muhammad ’Abdūh, Jamāl al-Banna, and Muhammad Sa’īd Ramadān al-Būtī from the pre-September 11 period. From after the September 11 period, the chapter goes on to survey a growing corpus of works in Muslim-majority societies which are vigorously arguing against contemporary militant and extremist understandings of jihād. Amog these works is an influential treatise written by the prominent Egyptian cleric and scholar ’Alī Jum’a. The chapter then proceeds to focus on three contemporary thinkers and writers who emphasize non-violent approaches to conflict resolution: Jawdat Sa’īd, Wahiduddin Khan, and Fethullah Gülen. This pacifist or near-pacifist strain is genuinely a modern development within Islamic thought and tradition and is grounded in a recuperation of the Qur’anic emphasis on ṣabr as the most important dimension of jihād broadly conceived.
Managerialism and the Catholic Deficit
Authors: McDonough Peter
Published: October 2013

This chapters sorts out the reasons behind the Catholic “deficit,” the shortfall of participation among Catholic compared to members of other denominations. Low involvement grows out of a tradition of deference to clerical hierarchy, and it almost certainly goes hand in hand with the relatively modest donations registered by Catholics. However, there is little indication that the participatory gap has grown larger. The increasing bureaucratization of social services and a consequent marginalization of voluntarism may have driven down participation, but professionalization is not peculiar to the Catholic church. In the end, a widespread culture of apathy combines with a tendency for comparatively observant Catholics to be somewhat more conservative than their less involved peers, and this phenomenon makes for sluggish response to efforts at reform.
FutureChurch and the Fog of Reform
Authors: McDonough Peter
Published: October 2013

This chapters looks at FutureChurch—and along the way Call to Action (CTA) as well as VOTF. All of these organizations challenge, to varying degrees, the doctrinal orthodoxy as well as the behavioral and institutional customs of Catholicism. Founded in the bicentennial year 1976 under the auspices of the American bishops, CTA soon broke away to press for women's ordination, optional celibacy for the priesthood, and similar causes. Sr. Christine Schenk founded FutureChurch in the Cleveland area in the 1990s and has concentrated on promoting the “female diaconate”—that is, allowing women to be ordained as permanent deacons, a step just below the priesthood in the Catholic hierarchy. Schenk's agenda opens up a gray area between permissible and expressly forbidden change. Her advocacy inside the church is analogous to the liberalization that John Courtney Murray sought decades earlier in the relations between church and state.
In the Labyrinth
Authors: McDonough Peter
Published: October 2013

This chapter examines the uncertainties along the path of pragmatic reform that Roundtable insiders try to adhere to. One Roundtable member, retired General James Dubik, oversaw the design of a website, CatholicPastors.org, to facilitate confidential exchange among young priests as they learn how to carry out leadership tasks as pastors. The innovation circumvents direct challenges to the ecclesiastical hierarchy, but its execution has lagged because of doubts about its viability in an organizational culture accustomed to surveillance. Chuck Geschke, co-founder of the software giant Adobe Systems, expresses his doubts about the church's exclusionary stance regarding women and gays and its dogmatism about sexuality in general. Robert Bennett, former head of the sexual abuse task force appointed by the bishops, voices similar misgivings. In the midst of these qualms, the Roundtable continues to accentuate reforms that seek to grow the size of the pie rather than redistribute power directly.
Osteointegration and Resorption of Intravertebral and Extravertebral Calcium Phosphate Cement
Authors: Klein Roman , Tetzlaff Ralf , Weiss Christel , Schäfer Meike-Kristina , Tanner Michael , Wiedenhöfer Bernd , Grafe Ingo , Meeder Peter-Jürgen , Noeldge Gerd , Nawroth Peter P. , Kasperk Christian
Published: October 2013

Study Design:

Eleven patients with painful osteoporotic vertebral fractures who underwent kyphoplasty using calcium phosphate (CaP) cement were followed up for 1 week, 1, 2, and 3 years in a monocentric, nonrandomized, noncontrolled retrospective trial.

Objective:

This study investigates long-term radiomorphologic features of intraosseous CaP cement implants and of extraosseous CaP cement leakages for up to 3 years after implantation by kyphoplasty.

Summary of Background Data:

Kyphoplasty is frequently used for the treatment of painful osteoporotic fractures. Of the materials available, CaP is frequently used as a filling material. Resorption of this material is frequently observed, although clinical outcome is comparable with other cements.

Methods:

Kyphoplasty utilizing CaP cement was performed in 11 patients with painful osteoporotic vertebral fractures. All patients received a pharmacological antiosteoporosis treatment consisting of calcium, vitamin D, and a standard dose of oral bisphosphonates. Radiomorphologic measurements, pain, and mobility were assessed.

Results:

Intraosseous and extraosseous CaP cement volumes decreased significantly over 3 years. However, vertebral stability as determined by a constant vertebral body height and the sagittal index was not impaired. Pain improved significantly 2 years after implantation and the mobility scores 1 year after kyphoplasty at least until the third year.

Conclusions:

Intravertebral CaP cement implants are resorbed slowly over time without jeopardizing stability and clinical outcomes most likely because of a slowly progressing osseous replacement. Extraosseous CaP cement material because of leakages during the kyphoplasty procedure is almost completely resorbed as early as 2 years after the leakage occurred. Therefore, CaP cement is an important alternative to PMMA-based cement materials utilized for kyphoplasty of osteoporotic vertebral fractures.
Water security in the Canadian Prairies: science and management challenges
Authors: Wheater Howard , Gober Patricia
Published: October 2013

In this paper, we discuss the multiple dimensions of water security and define a set of thematic challenges for science, policy and governance, based around cross-scale dynamics, complexity and uncertainty. A case study of the Saskatchewan River basin (SRB) in western Canada is presented, which encompasses many of the water-security challenges faced worldwide. A science agenda is defined based on the development of the SRB as a large-scale observatory to develop the underpinning science and social science needed to improve our understanding of water futures under societal and environmental change. We argue that non-stationarity poses profound challenges for existing science and that new integration of the natural sciences, engineering and social sciences is needed to address decision making under deep uncertainty. We suggest that vulnerability analysis can be combined with scenario-based modelling to address issues of water security and that knowledge translation should be coupled with place-based modelling, adaptive governance and social learning to address the complexity uncertainty and scale dynamics of contemporary water problems.
Is water security necessary? An empirical analysis of the effects of climate hazards on national-level economic growth
Authors: Brown Casey , Meeks Robyn , Ghile Yonas , Hunu Kenneth
Published: October 2013

The influence of climate and the role of water security on economic growth are topics of growing interest. Few studies have investigated the potential role that climate hazards, which water security addresses, and their cumulative effects have on the growth prospects for a country. Owing to the relatively stationary spatial patterns of global climate, certain regions and countries are more prone to climate hazards and climate variability than others. For example, El Nino/Southern Oscillation patterns result in greater hydroclimatic variability in much of the tropics than that experienced at higher latitudes. In this study, we use a precipitation index that preserves the spatial and temporal variability of precipitation and differentiates between precipitation maxima (e.g. floods) and minima (e.g. droughts). The index is a more precise instrument for hydroclimate hazards than that used in any previous studies. A fixed effects, for year and country, regression model was developed to test the influence of climate variables on measures of economic growth and activity. The results indicate that precipitation extremes (i.e. floods and droughts) are the dominant climate influences on economic growth and that the effects are significant and negative. The drought index was found to be associated with a highly significant negative influence on gross domestic product (GDP) growth, while the flood index was associated with a negative influence on GDP growth and lagged effects on growth. The flood index was also found to have a negative effect on industrial value added in contemporary and lagged regressions. Temperature was found to have little significant effect. These results have important implications for economic projections of climate change impacts. Perhaps more important, the results make clear that hydroclimatic hazards have measurable negative impacts, and thus lack of water security is an impediment to growth. In addition, adaptation strategies should recognize the importance of managing hazards given the identification of precipitation extremes as the key climate influence on historical GDP growth.
High-Throughput Functional Assays of IP3-Evoked Ca2+Release
Authors: Tovey Stephen C. , Taylor Colin W.
Published: October 2013

This protocol describes procedures for high-throughput functional analyses of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors (IP3Rs) in permeabilized cells. The methods are applicable to native IP3Rs in a variety of cells and to recombinant IP3Rs stably expressed in DT40 cells in which gene disruption has abolished expression of endogenous IP3Rs. A low-affinity Ca2+-indicator (Mag-Fluo-4) trapped within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of permeabilized cells is used to report changes in luminal free Ca2+concentration. A fluorescence plate-reader equipped to allow automated additions permits rapid measurements of the Ca2+release evoked by IP3R. The procedure can be completed in 2–3 h.
Bis(2-methoxybenzylammonium) diaquabis(dihydrogen diphosphato-κ2O,O′)manganate(II) dihydrate
Authors: Elboulali Adel , Akriche Samah , Rzaigui Mohamed
Published: October 2013

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, (C8H12NO)2[Mn(H2P2O7)2(H2O)2]·2H2O, consists of half an MnIIcomplex anion, a 2-methoxybenylammonium cation and a solvent water molecule. The MnIIcomplex anion lies across an inversion center, and has a slightly distorted octahedral coordination environment for the MnIIion, formed by two bidentate dihydrogendiphosphate ligands and two water molecules. In the crystal, the components are linked by O—H...O and N—H...O hydrogen bonds, forming layers parallel to (100). An intramolecular N—H...O hydrogen bond is also observed.
Poly[[μ-chlorido-μ-[2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-1,3-bis(1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)propan-2-ol-κ2N4:N4′]-zinc] chloride dihydrate]
Authors: Pan Gang-Hong , Tang Jin-Niu , Xu Shi-Hua , Huang Zhong-Jing , Mo Bo-Fa
Published: October 2013

The title compound, {[ZnCl(C13H12F2N6O)2]Cl·2H2O}n, is a two-dimensional coordination polymer. The ZnIIatom is six-coordinated by four N atoms from four 2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-1,3-bis(1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)propan-2-ol (HFlu) ligands and by two Cl atoms in a distorted octahedral geometry. Two Cl atoms bridge two ZnIIatoms, forming a centrosymmetric dinuclear unit. The HFlu ligands connect the dinuclear units into a 44net parallel to (001) when the dinuclear unit is considered as a node. O—H...O and O—H...Cl hydrogen bonds link the cationic layer, free chloride anions and lattice water molecules. Intralayer π–π interactions between the triazole rings are observed [centroid–centroid distance = 3.716 (6) Å].
Bis[μ-3,5-bis(pyridin-2-yl)-1H-pyrazole]bis[dibromidoiron(III)]
Authors: Katsuta Nagisa , Mishima Akio , Fuyuhiro Akira , Hayami Shinya , Kawata Satoshi
Published: October 2013

The title dinuclear complex, [Fe2Br4(C13H9N4)2], which lies on an inversion center, features two approximately planar bis(pyridin-2-yl)pyrazole (bpypz−) ligands [maximum deviation = 0.082 (3) Å] and four bromide ions. Each FeIIIion is octahedrally coordinated by four N atoms of two bpypz−ligands and two Br ions. π–π stacking interactions [centroid–centroid distances = 3.7004 (17)–4.0123 (18) Å] are observed between pyridyl and pyrazole rings, and between pyridyl and pyridyl rings of adjacent complex molecules.
2-Allyl-7-nitro-2H-indazole
Authors: Kouakou Assoman , Rakib El Mostapha , Spinelli Domenico , Saadi Mohamed , El Ammari Lahcen
Published: October 2013

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C10H9N3O2, contains two independent molecules linked by a C—H...N hydrogen bond. Each molecule has a similar conformation, being built up from fused five- and six-membered rings, each linked to an ally and nitro group, respectively. The indazole ring system makes dihedral angles of 2.7 (2) and 2.2 (2)°, respectively, with the plane through the nitro group. The allyl group is nearly perpendicular to the indazole system, as indicated by the N—N—C—C torsion angles of −75.3 (2) and −82.2 (2)°, this being the most important difference between the conformations of the two molecules. In the crystal, molecules are linked by C—H...O and π–π [inter-centroid distance = 3.6225 (8) Å] interactions to form a three-dimensional network.
1H-Benzotriazole–4-hydroxybenzoic acid (1/1)
Authors: Thirunavukkarasu A. , Silambarasan A. , Chakkaravarthi G. , Mohankumar R. , Umarani P. R.
Published: October 2013

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C6H5N3·C7H6O3, comprises independent benzotriazole and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid molecules. The dihedral angle between the benzene ring and the benzotriazole ring system is 15.18 (7)°. The mean plane of the carboxyl group is twisted at an angle of 18.55 (1)° with respect to the benzene ring. The crystal structure is stabilized by weak intermolecular N—H...N, O—H...N, O—H...O and C—H...O interactions, forming a three-dimensional network.
4-[2-(Pyridin-1-ium-4-yl)ethyl]pyridin-1-ium bis(2,6-dinitrobenzoate)
Authors: Arman Hadi D. , Miller Tyler , Tiekink Edward R. T.
Published: October 2013

The asymmetric unit of the title salt, C12H14N22+·2C7H3N2O6−, comprises half a 4-[2-(pyridin-1-ium-4-yl)ethyl]pyridin-1-ium dication, being disposed about a centre of inversion, and a 2,6-dinitrobenzoate anion, in a general position. In the anion, the carboxylate group is inclined to the benzene ring [dihedral angle = 85.45 (9)°], whereas near-coplanar and twisted arrangements are found for the nitro groups [O—N—C—C torsion angles = 179.80 (14) and 20.2 (2)°]. In the crystal, three-component aggregates sustained by charge-assisted N+—H...O−hydrogen bonds are found and these are consolidated into a three-dimensional architecture by C—H...O and π–π [inter-centroid distances = 3.6796 (14) and 3.7064 (14) Å] interactions.
Ab-initiophasing using nanocrystal shape transforms with incomplete unit cells
Authors: Liu Haiguang , Zatsepin Nadia A. , Spence John C. H.
Published: October 2013

X-ray free electron lasers are used in measuring diffraction patterns from nanocrystals in the `diffract-before-destroy' mode by outrunning radiation damage. The finite-sized nanocrystals provide an opportunity to recover intensity between Bragg spots by removing the modulating function that depends on crystal shape,i.e.the transform of the crystal shape. This shape-transform dividing-out scheme for solving the phase problem has been tested using simulated examples with cubic crystals. It provides a phasing method which does not require atomic resolution data, chemical modification to the sample, or modelling based on the protein databases. It is common to find multiple structural units (e.g.molecules, in symmetry-related positions) within a single unit cell, therefore incomplete unit cells (e.g.one additional molecule) can be observed at surface layers of crystals. In this work, the effects of such incomplete unit cells on the `dividing-out' phasing algorithm are investigated using 2D crystals within the projection approximation. It is found that the incomplete unit cells do not hinder the recovery of the scattering pattern from a single unit cell (after dividing out the shape transforms from data merged from many nanocrystals of different sizes), assuming that certain unit-cell types are preferred. The results also suggest that the dynamic range of the data is a critical issue to be resolved in order to apply the shape transform method practically.
Poor Functional Status as a Risk Factor for Severe Clostridium difficile Infection in Hospitalized Older Adults
Authors: Rao Krishna , Micic Dejan , Chenoweth Elizabeth , Deng Lili , Galecki Andrzej T. , Ring Cathrin , Young Vincent B. , Aronoff David M. , Malani Preeti N.
Published: October 2013

Objectives

To determine the role of impaired functional status as a risk factor for severe Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in older adults.

Design

Prospective cohort study.

Setting

University of Michigan Health System, a 930‐bed tertiary care hospital.

Participants

Hospitalized individuals with CDI aged 50 and older.

Measurements

Demographic and clinical characteristics and a composite outcome, CDI severity score: fever (>38°C), acute organ dysfunction, white blood cell count greater than 15,000/μL, lack of response to therapy, intensive care unit admission, need for colectomy, or death from CDI. Preadmission functional status was assessed according to ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs); participants were assigned to an ADL class (independent, some assistance, full assistance). Secondary outcomes included length of stay, 90‐day mortality and readmission, and CDI recurrence.

Results

Ninety hospitalized individuals with CDI were identified (mean age 66.6 ± 10.2); 58 (64.4%) had severe CDI as measured according to a positive severity score. At baseline, 25 (27.8%) required assistance with ADLs. On univariate analysis, ADL class of full assistance was associated with a positive severity score (odds ratio (OR) = 7, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.83–26.79, P = .004). In a multivariable model including age, ADL class, congestive heart failure, diabetes mellitus, depression, weighted Charlson‐Deyo comorbidity score, immunosuppression, prior CDI, and proton pump inhibitor use, an ADL class of full assistance retained its association with a positive severity score (OR = 8.1, 95% CI = 1.24–52.95, P = .03). ADL class was not associated with secondary outcomes.

Conclusion

In this cohort of hospitalized older adults, impaired functional status was an independent risk factor for severe CDI.
Association of Inflammation with Loss of Ability to Walk 400 Meters: Longitudinal Findings from the Invecchiare in Chianti Study
Authors: Vasunilashorn Sarinnapha , Ferrucci Luigi , Crimmins Eileen M. , Bandinelli Stefania , Guralnik Jack M. , Patel Kushang V.
Published: October 2013

Objectives

To examine relationships between eight markers of inflammation (interleukin (IL)‐6, IL‐6 receptor (R), C‐reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐alpha, TNF receptor 1 (R1), TNFR2, IL‐1 receptor antagonist, IL‐18) and incident loss of ability to walk 400 m.

Design

Prospective cohort study.

Setting

Older adults enrolled in the Invecchiare in Chianti Study.

Participants

Community‐dwelling participants aged 65 and older (N = 1,006).

Measurements

The eight inflammatory markers were measured at baseline, and an inflammation score was calculated based on the number of inflammatory markers for which the participant was in the highest quartile. Incidence of mobility disability was determined in participants able to walk 400 m at baseline. Logistic regression models were used to determine whether each of the inflammatory markers and the inflammation score predicted loss of the ability to walk 400 m at 6‐year follow‐up.

Results

After adjusting for covariates, individuals with a TNFR1 level in each of the highest three quartiles (Q2, 3, 4) were more likely to be unable to walk 400 m at follow‐up than those with TNFR1 levels in Q1. When adjusting for the same covariates, participants with an inflammation score of 3 or 4 were more likely to become unable to walk 400 m at follow‐up than participants with a score of 0.

Conclusion

These results provide additional evidence that inflammation is a factor in the mechanisms that cause incident mobility disability and suggest that a combined measure of inflammatory markers may improve prediction of functional prognosis.
Instrumental Activity of Daily Living Limitations and Supports in a Clinic Population of Low‐Income Puerto Rican Elderly Adults with Chronic Diseases
Authors: Zayas Luis E. , Wisniewski Angela M. , Kennedy Teri
Published: October 2013

Latino older adults in the United States have disproportionately high rates of chronic and disabling medical conditions. Puerto Ricans have a higher prevalence of several chronic medical conditions and higher rates of functional disability than other Latinos. Earlier studies have documented that Puerto Rican older adults traditionally have relied mostly on family members for assistance with their functional needs, with low use of formal support services, but little is known about their functional help needs and caregiving practices. This study examined independent living and caregiving practices of community‐dwelling Puerto Rican older adults in western New York using a mixed‐methods approach with a sample of 49 individuals attending an inner‐city primary care clinic. Standard instruments were used to obtain information on socioeconomic and health status and functional ability. Forty participants who needed help with any instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) were probed qualitatively for how their needs were addressed. Participants averaged six chronic medical conditions, mean age was 76.2 ± 5.3, most reported annual household income of $15,000 or less and had low fluency in English, and all had healthcare insurance. For the most part, participants' children and spouses were primary caregivers, and few used formal support services. Nearly one‐third reported having insufficient help. Qualitative findings elucidated how IADL needs were addressed. In this sample of indigent Puerto Rican older adults, most needed help with IADLs. Although family members most often helped, one‐third had unmet or undermet needs. Linguistically and culturally congruent formal support services are still needed for Puerto Rican older adults and their family caregivers.
Measuring cerebrovascular reactivity: what stimulus to use?
Authors: Fierstra J. , Sobczyk O. , Battisti‐Charbonney A. , Mandell D. M. , Poublanc J. , Crawley A. P. , Mikulis D. J. , Duffin J. , Fisher J. A.
Published: October 2013

Abstract  Cerebrovascular reactivity is the change in cerebral blood flow in response to a vasodilatory or vasoconstrictive stimulus. Measuring variations of cerebrovascular reactivity between different regions of the brain has the potential to not only advance understanding of how the cerebral vasculature controls the distribution of blood flow but also to detect cerebrovascular pathophysiology. While there are standardized and repeatable methods for estimating the changes in cerebral blood flow in response to a vasoactive stimulus, the same cannot be said for the stimulus itself. Indeed, the wide variety of vasoactive challenges currently employed in these studies impedes comparisons between them. This review therefore critically examines the vasoactive stimuli in current use for their ability to provide a standard repeatable challenge and for the practicality of their implementation. Such challenges include induced reductions in systemic blood pressure, and the administration of vasoactive substances such as acetazolamide and carbon dioxide. We conclude that many of the stimuli in current use do not provide a standard stimulus comparable between individuals and in the same individual over time. We suggest that carbon dioxide is the most suitable vasoactive stimulus. We describe recently developed computer‐controlled MRI compatible gas delivery systems which are capable of administering reliable and repeatable vasoactive CO2 stimuli.
Indirect Solution of Inequality Constrained and Singular Optimal Control Problems Via a Simple Continuation Method
Authors: Fabien Brian C.
Published: October 2013

This paper develops a simple continuation method for the approximate solution of optimal control problems. The class of optimal control problems considered include (i) problems with bounded controls, (ii) problems with state variable inequality constraints (SVIC), and (iii) singular control problems. The method used here is based on transforming the state variable inequality constraints into equality constraints using nonnegative slack variables. The resultant equality constraints are satisfied approximately using a quadratic loss penalty function. Similarly, singular control problems are made nonsingular using a quadratic loss penalty function based on the control. The solution of the original problem is obtained by solving the transformed problem with a sequence of penalty weights that tends to zero. The penalty weight is treated as the continuation parameter. The paper shows that the transformed problem yields necessary conditions for a minimum that can be written as a boundary value problem involving index-1 differential–algebraic equations (BVP-DAE). The BVP-DAE includes the complementarity conditions associated with the inequality constraints. It is also shown that the necessary conditions for optimality of the original problem and the transformed problem differ by a term that depends linearly on the algebraic variables in the DAE. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the efficacy of the proposed technique.