bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
“This Was Being Done Only to Help”: Development and Forced Labor in Barue, Mozambique, 1959–1965
Authors: Kagan Guthrie Zachary
Published: November 2017

This article examines the history of development and forced labor in Barue, a rural district in central Mozambique, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Barue was designated as a labor reserve, whose economic role was to send forced workers into migrant labor elsewhere. This was slated to change in the early 1960s, with the rise of a new developmental discourse in the Portuguese empire. This discourse promised to transform the economic model of Barue and other rural districts, by outlawing forced labor, minimizing migrant labor, and promoting rural agriculture. The Portuguese government, however, lacked the resources and the commitment necessary to actually change Barue's economy. Instead of development transforming Barue's economic model, the economic model transformed development, which was redefined as a series of modest social and economic improvements which neither changed Barue's economy nor reduced its dependence upon migrant labor. Nonetheless, while this narrower definition of “development” did not fulfill the transformative promise of its discursive progenitor, it was compatible with development's broader objective of defending and justifying the Portuguese empire against the threat of decolonization. The ultimate goal of safeguarding Portuguese rule made it possible to reconcile a discourse founded on change with a reality marked by continuity.
Developing Workers: Coerced and “Voluntary” Labor in Zanzibar, 1909–1970
Authors: McMahon Elisabeth
Published: November 2017

This article examines the history of both coerced and exploitative labor in Zanzibar between 1909 and 1970 and demonstrates that these terms were used alongside one another drawing on the same pool of laborers, most of whom were descended from slaves. Not only did these forms of labor continue to marginalize the descendants of ex-slaves, but often it was difficult for the laborers to distinguish between the forms of labor that were coerced and voluntary since both were usually couched in the language of government directives for local benefit. Laborers forced to grow food during World War II could eat that food to survive, just as laborers who voluntarily built a school were possibly able to send their children there (although in reality the poorest children usually had to work with their families). Both brought local benefit, and both were seen locally as required work, but only one was defined by international policy as “forced” labor.
Powderly Will Go to Paris: The Paris Exposition 1889 and the Knights of Labor
Authors: Parfitt Steven
Published: November 2017

This article deals with one of the many neglected chapters of the global history of the Knights of Labor: the events that led the Knights to participate in one of the great international events of the age, the Paris Exposition of 1889, and their attempts to found their assemblies, as they called their branches, on French soil. Drawing on voluminous correspondence between the leaders of the Knights of Labor and their enthusiasts in France, and on the Order's own journal and the proceedings of its conventions, this article analyzes the reasons why the Knights failed to capitalize on their participation in the Exposition, illustrates many of the failings of leadership and organization that afflicted the Order both at home and abroad, and demonstrates some of the problems and potential solutions that faced French labor activists at the end of the nineteenth century.
The Radical Left after 1968: From Ideological Craze to Reconfiguration of Politics
Authors: Falciola Luca
Published: November 2017

By the mid-1970s, Jerry Rubin—icon of American radicalism and cofounder of the Yippies, who campaigned in 1968 to elect a pig as president of the United States and appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee dressed in an eighteenth-century Revolutionary War uniform—had transformed himself from protester to successful businessman. He launched a new career on Wall Street as a stockbroker, became known for his promotion of “networking,” bringing together yuppies at parties in Manhattan, and was an early investor in Apple Computer. For a long time, both in public memory and in many historical accounts, Rubin's conversion embodied the path of an entire generation of leftists who hastily shifted from the ideological craze of 1968–1970 to the disillusionment of the so-called “me decade.”
A strategy for safe 3D navigation of non-holonomic robots among moving obstacles
Authors: Wang Chao , Savkin Andrey V. , Garratt Matthew
Published: November 2017

A non-holonomic robot with a bounded control input travels in a dynamic unknown 3D environment with moving obstacles. We propose a 3D navigation strategy to reach a given final destination point while avoiding collisions with obstacles. A formal analysis of the proposed 3D robot navigation algorithm is given. Computer simulation results and experiments with a real flying autonomous vehicle confirm the applicability and performance of the proposed guidance approach.
Controller design of cooperative manipulators using state-dependent Riccati equation
Authors: Korayem Moharam Habibnejad , Nekoo Saeed Rafee
Published: November 2017

This study examined the use of a state-dependent Riccati equation (SDRE) for controller design and analysis of cooperative manipulators. The connection of end-effectors when holding an object imports constraint and complexity into the problem. Optimal load distribution (OLD) was used to divide the load between arms using a desired rate and omitting Lagrange multipliers. General dynamic structure, OLD formulation, and controller design are presented for an arbitrary number of manipulators. State-dependent coefficient parameterizations for rigid and flexible joint manipulators assuming friction for joints of them were investigated by two methods: controlling each robot independently and an entire system of robots uniformly. The effectiveness of the method, a decrease in errors, and increased stability in motion were also observed. The increase in the number of manipulators greatly expanded the state vector of the system. The SDRE was able to address this by simulation of four arms, each one possessing seven degrees of freedom (DoF). Analyses of a practical model (Scout robot) consisting of two arms with three DoF were presented and the results for connected arms and free arms were compared. The experimental data validated the simulation results and indicated that cooperation definitely improves load-carrying capacity and precision of trajectory tracking.
The development of determiners in the context of French–English bilingualism: a study of cross-linguistic influence
Authors: HERVÉ Coralie , SERRATRICE Ludovica
Published: November 2017

This paper reports the preliminary results of a study examining the role of structural overlap, language exposure, and language use on cross-linguistic influence (CLI) in bilingual first language acquisition. We focus on the longitudinal development of determiners in a corpus of two French–English children between the ages of 2;4 and 3;7. The results display bi-directional CLI in the rate of development, i.e., accelerated development in English and a minor delay in French. Unidirectional CLI from English to French was instead observed in the significantly higher rate of ungrammatical determiner omissions in plural and generic contexts than in singular specific contexts in French. These findings suggest that other language-internal mechanisms may be at play. They also lend support to the role of expressive abilities on the magnitude of this phenomenon.
A New Direction in the People's Liberation Army's Emergent Strategic Thinking, Roles and Missions
Authors: Char James , Bitzinger Richard A.
Published: November 2017

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has been undergoing a profound transformation in terms of its operational capabilities, both with regard to itshardwareas well as itsheartware, i.e. the softer aspects of its development including its operational culture and military ethos. These changes have permeated every facet of the PLA – technological, organizational and doctrinal. Despite successive generations of Chinese leaders having declared their adherence to “peace” and “development,” it has become clearer that Beijing's security policy under Xi Jinping has shifted steadily away from “keeping a low profile.” In that regard, the status of the PLA in the domestic and international calculus of China's new commander-in-chief has, unsurprisingly, become more pronounced, with Xi taking noticeably greater interest in harnessing the Chinese Communist Party's coercive forces as his personal domestic powerbase and foreign policy instrument complementing China's hard economic power.
“Delegation and Then Intervention”: The 2009 Decision to Create the New Rural Pension
Authors: Choi Eun Kyong
Published: November 2017

This article reviews the decision-making process behind the creation of a new rural pension between the early 2000s and 2009. It finds that although policymaking was initially delegated to the bureaucratic level and hence involved a protracted bureaucratic struggle, the issue was resolved by a fiat imposed by top leaders rather than by bureaucratic compromise as a bureaucratic politics model would suggest. I call this policymaking process “delegation and then intervention.” Although the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MOLSS) persistently argued in favour of creating the new rural pension, the Ministry of Finance obstinately objected to it. This study finds that when bureaucratic organizations are in conflict because of their core beliefs, rather than resource allocation, they are less likely to reach a consensus. Faced with a prolonged bureaucratic deadlock, top leaders decided in favour of the MOLSS policy initiative, thereby adopting a progressive measure that would provide a completely subsidized basic pension for the rural elderly.
Reasoning about knowledge and messages in asynchronous multi-agent systems
Authors: KNIGHT SOPHIA , MAUBERT BASTIEN , SCHWARZENTRUBER FRANÇOIS
Published: November 2017

We propose a variant of public announcement logic for asynchronous systems. To capture asynchrony, we introduce two different modal operators for sending and receiving messages. The natural approach to defining the semantics leads to a circular definition, but we describe two restricted cases in which we solve this problem. The first case requires the Kripke model representing the initial epistemic situation to be a finite tree, and the second one only allows announcements from the existential fragment. After establishing some validities, we study the model checking problem and the satisfiability problem in cases where the semantics is well-defined, and we provide several complexity results.
Awakening the Language and Speakers’ Community of Wymysiöeryś
Authors: Wicherkiewicz Tomasz , Król Tymoteusz , Olko Justyna
Published: November 2017

The town of Wilamowice (southern Poland) is the unique home to the community of speakers of Wymysiöeryś. The language enclave originates from Colonial Middle High German and – according to diachronic dialectological analyses – is made up of a sub-exclave of the so-called Bielitz-Bialaer Sprachinsel. As a result of social and political cataclysms brought by the Second World War and the following ban on and gap in its intergenerational transmission, it faced an inescapable language death. That doom, however, has been restrained by the activities of dedicated native speakers, with Tymoteusz Król (born in 1993) functioning as an eco- and sociolinguistic relay between the generation of last speakers passing away and, unexpectedly, a growing group of potential new speakers. The microlanguage, now spoken as native by fewer than 20 Wilamowiceans, and still without any official recognition at the administrative level, is experiencing an astonishing, but well-prepared and local culture-based revitalisation course. This article discusses the recent achievements and prospective challenges of the revival processes for Wymysiöeryś – from an internal (including T. Król as the youngest native speaker and intra-community researcher) and external yet engaged (J. Olko and T. Wicherkiewicz as participating academics) perspectives, including the recent results of activities undertaken within an integral revitalisation programme based on the successful collaboration of the community, two major universities in Poland, as well as the local school and municipal authorities. The programme covers all three levels of language planning: corpus, status and acquisition. Efficiently combining grassroots and top-down approaches, the collaborating actors also ground language revitalisation in the social, cultural and economical benefits of preserving and extending the local cultural heritage and linguistic landscape.
Disorder and Public Governance
Authors: Body-Gendrot Sophie
Published: November 2017

In spite of all their assets and resources, global cities (to be understood as a concentration of global capital players along with a large diversity of other presences) have disorder wired into the urban space itself. There are contrasted understandings of public disorder and of its links with globalization. Some disorder is a necessary step in the adjustment of change. Urban space is then a political resource for all kinds of grievances, given coverage by the media and by the internet. The police are an essential piece in their own interaction with protesters. The ritualized nature of public confrontations should be underlined. France offers a good illustration of this phenomenon with its approach to order maintenance. Police officers’ ability to use or not use force, to distribute social status and to categorize their opponents in dealing with order reveals that the police’s role lies at the root of political order and the claims a state makes upon its people for deference to rules, laws and norms. Recent uprisings unveil the role played by urban space and by the empowerment it provides for people assembled together to make claims. Civil societies’ capacity of resistance to decisions or processes perceived as harmful should not be downplayed. New forms of religious terrorism however mark a new chapter in the links of globalization and disorder. Lots of unknowns emerge and we need to understand and accept unpredictability and even embrace it in order to make sense of it in the future. My assumption is that some current forms of public disorder are not just a repetition of past disorder and that we see new patterns emerging.
Preliminary validation and piloting of a comprehensive measure of household food security in Australia
Authors: Kleve Sue , Gallegos Danielle , Ashby Stephanie , Palermo Claire , McKechnie Rebecca
Published: November 2017

Objective

To investigate the psychometric properties, validity and reliability of a newly developed measure of food insecurity, the Household Food and Nutrition Security Survey (HFNSS), among an Australian population.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Setting

Metropolitan areas of Melbourne, Australia, identified as very high, high or medium vulnerability in the 2008 Vulnerability Assessment for Mortgage, Petrol and Inflation Risks and Expenditure index.

Subjects

A convenience sample of 134 adults (117 females and fifteen males, aged over 18 years).

Results

Rasch modelling and factor analysis identified four items for exclusion. The remaining items yielded excellent reliability among the current sample and assessed three underlying components: the adult experience of food insecurity (component one), initial/periodic changes to children’s food intakes (component two) and progressive/persistent decreases in children’s food intakes (component three). Compared with the widely used US Department of Agriculture Food Security Survey Module, the HFNSS identified a significantly higher proportion of food insecurity; this is likely due to the HFNSS’s identification of food insecurity due to reasons other than (and including) limited financial access.

Conclusions

The HFNSS may be a valid and reliable tool for the assessment of food insecurity among the Australian population and provides a means of assessing multiple barriers to food security beyond poor financial access (which has been identified as a limitation of other existing tools). Future research should explore the validity and reliability of the tool among a more representative sample, as well as specifically among vulnerable population subgroups.
Interrelationship between food security status, home availability of variety of fruits and vegetables and their dietary intake among low-income pregnant women
Authors: Nunnery Danielle L , Labban Jeffrey D , Dharod Jigna M
Published: November 2017

Objective

To (i) determine differences in the availability of variety of fruits and vegetables (F&V) at home by food security status; and (ii) examine the inter-associations between food security status, availability of variety of F&V at home and frequency of F&V intake, among low-income pregnant women.

Design/Setting

Participants were interviewed to collect food security status, home availability of variety of F&V and frequency of F&V intake. Bivariate analyses, multivariate regression and exploratory mediation analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics version 23.0 and the PROCESS macro.

Subjects

Low-income pregnant women (n 198) were interviewed if they were ≥18 years of age, in the second trimester of pregnancy, and spoke English or Spanish.

Results

Low/very low food security was found among 43 % of participants. Compared with fully food-secure participants, very low food-secure participants reported a lower variety of fruits (P=0·028) and vegetables (P=0·058) available at home. Mediation analyses indicated that through home availability of variety of fresh F&V, food security status was associated with the daily intake of F&V (indirect effect (95 % CI): fresh fruits, −0·039 (−0·074, −0·013); fresh vegetables, −0·048 (−0·083, −0·023)). As food security worsened, the available variety of fresh F&V decreased, which was associated with lower intake.

Conclusions

The study highlights the interlink between food security, home food environment and diet quality, and the importance of nutrition education intervention to promote a healthy home food environment and improved pregnancy outcomes among low-income women.
Ultra-processing. An odd ‘appraisal’
Authors: Monteiro Carlos A , Cannon Geoffrey , Moubarac Jean-Claude , Levy Renata B , Louzada Maria Laura C , Jaime Patrícia C
Published: November 2017

It is now generally agreed that the impact of the current nature, purpose and extent of food processing on human well-being, health and disease needs to be better understood and explained, in order to improve public health. The special issue ofPublic Health Nutritiondevoted to the concept of ultra-processing of food, and the NOVA classification of which ultra-processed foods are one category, is a great step forward in this work. Coincidentally, a polemical ‘critical appraisal’ of ultra-processing was recently published in another journal. Debate and discussion are an essential part of the scientific endeavour. In this commentary, we correct inaccurate statements made about NOVA in the ‘appraisal,’ rebut points raised, and discuss the larger issue of scientific responsibility for publishing opposing views on controversial topics.
Automated Inclusion Microanalysis in Steel by Computer-Based Scanning Electron Microscopy: Accelerating Voltage, Backscattered Electron Image Quality, and Analysis Time
Authors: Tang Dai , Ferreira Mauro E. , Pistorius Petrus C.
Published: November 2017

Automated inclusion microanalysis in steel samples by computer-based scanning electron microscopy provides rapid quantitative information on micro-inclusion distribution, composition, size distribution, morphology, and concentration. Performing the analysis at a lower accelerating voltage (10 kV), rather than the generally used 20 kV, improves analysis accuracy and may improve spatial resolution, but at the cost of a smaller backscattered electron signal and potentially smaller rate of generation of characteristic X-rays. These effects were quantified by simulation and practical measurements.
Religious Regulation as Foreign Policy: Morocco's Islamic Diplomacy in West Africa
Authors: Wainscott Ann Marie
Published: November 2017

Studies of religious regulation tend to examine how states manage the domestic religious market. This article extends this research program by analyzing a state that regulates the religious markets of foreign countries. The Moroccan case demonstrates the circumstances under which a religious bureaucracy designed to manage domestic religion can be turned outward, and employed to achieve foreign policy goals. Unlike other cases of foreign religious regulation, however, Morocco's efforts have been welcomed at the same time that the policy advanced Morocco's interests. What explains the success of Morocco's religious foreign policy? Building on interviews with religious elites from a recipient country, this article argues that Moroccan religious foreign policy has been successful because it was perceived as having historical and cultural legitimacy, it built on pre-existing institutions, and it was paired with renewed economic collaboration, three factors that have broader theoretical relevance to the study of religious foreign policies.
Video modeling for the development of personal hygiene skills in youth with autism spectrum disorder
Authors: Piccin S. , Crippa A. , Nobile M. , Hardan A. Y. , Brambilla P.
Published: November 2017

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder mainly characterised by deficits in social communication as well as by narrow patterns of behaviour and interests (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), often accompanied by language, intellectual and sensory impairments. The severity of these impairments may lead to deficits in the development of daily living activities such as simple meal preparation and feeding, community skills (e.g. buying groceries), personal care (e.g. dressing) and personal hygiene skills (bathing, toileting, hand washing, teeth brushing) needed for independence. Among others, the lack of independence in personal hygiene skills increases the burden of the caregiver and makes children with ASD more dependent (Flynn & Healy, 2012). Therefore, it is important to develop tools for helping individuals with ASD in increasing their ability to perform these basic life activities which will lead to savings that can be invested in other critical areas of needs.
Historical Dimensions of the “Cost Disease” in US Higher Education, 1870s–2010s
Authors: Kimball Bruce A. , Luke Jeremy B.
Published: November 2017

Among explanations for the escalating cost of higher education in the United States, two economic theories predominate: the revenue theory of cost and cost disease theory. Since its formulation in the 1960s, distinguished economists have concluded that cost disease theory has convincingly been proven to explain cost escalation in higher education. This article examines three historical dimensions of the cost disease in higher education from the 1870s to the 2010s. First, we explain how the scholarship on the cost disease in higher education has developed over the past 50 years. Second, we concurrently analyze the historical data and the reasoning presented by economists in support of the view that cost disease theory explains cost escalation in higher education. This analysis concludes that the scholarship over the last 50 years provides little validation for that explanation. Finally, we present historical research on cost trends in US higher education from 1875 to 1930. This formative period in US higher education witnessed enormous growth in the national economy. Due to the growth in productivity, cost disease theory would expect costs in higher education, a personal services industry, to rise sharply relative both to costs generally and to the national income. But this historical research reveals that the per capita cost of higher education grew very slowly over this period. These findings consist with our analysis of cost disease scholarship. We therefore conclude that there is little validation that cost disease theory explains cost escalation in US higher education from the 1870s to the 2010s, though it may explain some periods within that span.
Puro tlaxcalteca?Ethnic Integrity and Consciousness in Late Seventeenth-Century Northern New Spain
Authors: Offutt Leslie Scott
Published: November 2017

“The pueblo of San Estevan de Tlaxcala is inhabited bypure blood Tlaxcaltecan Indianswho founded it during the conquest of this country. . . . These Indians speak Spanish and are civilized.” So observed don Nicolás de Lafora, a military engineer accompanying the Marqués de Rubí’s inspection tour of New Spain's northern presidios, as he approached San Esteban and the adjoining Spanish town of Saltillo, in present-day Coahuila, in June 1767. A decade later, fray Agustín de Morfi, chaplain to newly appointed commander general of the Provincias Internas don Teodoro de Croix, echoed Lafora's assessment, linking San Esteban's ability to preserve its privileges for the better part of two centuries to the community'spureza de sangre, preserved through the great care its residents took to avoid “mixing” with thecastas(mixed races) that “infected” Saltillo.
Social Comparison Orientation in Monozygotic and Dizygotic Twins
Authors: Huguet Pascal , Carlier Michèle , Dolan Conor V. , de Geus Eco J. , Boomsma Dorret I.
Published: November 2017

Twin research has offered evidence that monozygotic (MZ) twins are more socially close than dizygotic (DZ) twins, but has not paid much attention to the way twins compare themselves with their co-twin. The few studies in this area suggest that ‘horizontal comparisons’ (social comparison motivated by solidarity or communion with others) matter more for MZ twins than for DZ twins, at least when the co-twin is the social comparison standard. Consistent with this view, we predicted higher interest in MZ twins relative to DZ twins to select their co-twin rather than other people in general as the social comparison standard. The Social Comparison Orientation (SCO) scale, which measures the inclination to compare with others in a horizontal rather than vertical mode (comparing either upward or downward), was administered in 90 MZ pairs and 57 same-sex DZ pairs (63% female; average age 18.06 years) from the Netherlands Twin Register. MZ twin pairs showed significantly higher SCO scores than DZ twin pairs (with a large effect size) on the co-twin SCO, whereas the two groups did not differ from each other on the general SCO excluding the co-twin as social comparison standard. In MZ twin pairs, anxiety was associated with social comparison with others in general, not with their co-twin. For both scales, twin resemblance was explained by additive genetic variance. The present findings provide direct evidence that horizontal comparisons with the co-twin are of particular importance for MZ twins.
Contrasting the relative importance of species sorting and dispersal limitation in shaping marine bacterial versus protist communities
Authors: Wu Wenxue , Lu Hsiao-Pei , Sastri Akash , Yeh Yi-Chun , Gong Gwo-Ching , Chou Wen-Chen , Hsieh Chih-Hao
Published: November 2017

A central challenge in microbial ecology is to understand the underlying mechanisms driving community assembly, particularly in the continuum of species sorting and dispersal limitation. However, little is known about the relative importance of species sorting and dispersal limitation in shaping marine microbial communities; especially, how they are related to organism types/traits and water depth. Here, we used variation partitioning and null model analysis to compare mechanisms driving bacterial and protist metacommunity dynamics at the basin scale in the East China Sea, based on MiSeq paired-end sequencing of 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and 18S rDNA, respectively, in surface, deep chlorophyll maximum and bottom layers. Our analyses indicated that protist communities were governed more strongly by species sorting relative to dispersal limitation than were bacterial communities; this pattern was consistent across the three-depth layers, albeit to different degrees. Furthermore, we detected that bacteria exhibited wider habitat niche breadths than protists, whereas, passive dispersal abilities were not appreciably different between them. Our findings support the ‘size-plasticity’ hypothesis: smaller organisms (bacteria) are less environment filtered than larger organisms (protists), as smaller organisms are more likely to be plastic in metabolic abilities and have greater environmental tolerance.
Cytokinesis requires localized β-actin filament production by an actin isoform specific nucleator
Authors: Chen A. , Arora P. D. , McCulloch C. A. , Wilde A.
Published: November 2017

Cytokinesis is initiated by the localized assembly of the contractile ring, a dynamic actomyosin structure that generates a membrane furrow between the segregating chromosomal masses to divide a cell into two. Here we show that the stabilization and organization of the cytokinetic furrow is specifically dependent on localized β-actin filament assembly at the site of cytokinesis. β-actin filaments are assembled directly at the furrow by an anillin-dependent pathway that enhances RhoA-dependent activation of the formin DIAPH3, an actin nucleator. DIAPH3 specifically generates homopolymeric filaments of β-actin in vitro. By employing enhancers and activators, cells can achieve acute spatio-temporal control over isoform-specific actin arrays that are required for distinct cellular functions.
Optimal percolation on multiplex networks
Authors: Osat Saeed , Faqeeh Ali , Radicchi Filippo
Published: November 2017

Optimal percolation is the problem of finding the minimal set of nodes whose removal from a network fragments the system into non-extensive disconnected clusters. The solution to this problem is important for strategies of immunization in disease spreading, and influence maximization in opinion dynamics. Optimal percolation has received considerable attention in the context of isolated networks. However, its generalization to multiplex networks has not yet been considered. Here we show that approximating the solution of the optimal percolation problem on a multiplex network with solutions valid for single-layer networks extracted from the multiplex may have serious consequences in the characterization of the true robustness of the system. We reach this conclusion by extending many of the methods for finding approximate solutions of the optimal percolation problem from single-layer to multiplex networks, and performing a systematic analysis on synthetic and real-world multiplex networks.
Origin of the unusually strong and selective binding of vanadium by polyamidoximes in seawater
Authors: Ivanov Alexander S. , Leggett Christina J. , Parker Bernard F. , Zhang Zhicheng , Arnold John , Dai Sheng , Abney Carter W. , Bryantsev Vyacheslav S. , Rao Linfeng
Published: November 2017

Amidoxime-functionalized polymeric adsorbents are the current state-of-the-art materials for collecting uranium (U) from seawater. However, marine tests show that vanadium (V) is preferentially extracted over U and many other cations. Herein, we report a complementary and comprehensive investigation integrating ab initio simulations with thermochemical titrations and XAFS spectroscopy to understand the unusually strong and selective binding of V by polyamidoximes. While the open-chain amidoxime functionalities do not bind V, the cyclic imide-dioxime group of the adsorbent forms a peculiar non-oxido V5+complex, exhibiting the highest stability constant value ever observed for the V5+species. XAFS analysis of adsorbents following deployment in environmental seawater confirms V binding solely by the imide-dioximes. Our fundamental findings offer not only guidance for future optimization of selectivity in amidoxime-based sorbent materials, but may also afford insight to understanding the extensive accumulation of V in some marine organisms.
Structure of the transcription activator target Tra1 within the chromatin modifying complex SAGA
Authors: Sharov Grigory , Voltz Karine , Durand Alexandre , Kolesnikova Olga , Papai Gabor , Myasnikov Alexander G. , Dejaegere Annick , Ben Shem Adam , Schultz Patrick
Published: November 2017

The transcription co-activator complex SAGA is recruited to gene promoters by sequence-specific transcriptional activators and by chromatin modifications to promote pre-initiation complex formation. The yeast Tra1 subunit is the major target of acidic activators such as Gal4, VP16, or Gcn4 but little is known about its structural organization. The 430 kDa Tra1 subunit and its human homolog the transformation/transcription domain-associated protein TRRAP are members of the phosphatidyl 3-kinase-related kinase (PIKK) family. Here, we present the cryo-EM structure of the entire SAGA complex where the major target of activator binding, the 430 kDa Tra1 protein, is resolved with an average resolution of 5.7 Å. The high content of alpha-helices in Tra1 enabled tracing of the majority of its main chain. Our results highlight the integration of Tra1 within the major epigenetic regulator SAGA.
Single molecule multiplexed nanopore protein screening in human serum using aptamer modified DNA carriers
Authors: Sze Jasmine Y. Y. , Ivanov Aleksandar P. , Cass Anthony E. G. , Edel Joshua B.
Published: November 2017

The capability to screen a range of proteins at the single-molecule level with enhanced selectivity in biological fluids has been in part a driving force in developing future diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. The combination of nanopore sensing and nucleic acid aptamer recognition comes close to this ideal due to the ease of multiplexing, without the need for expensive labelling methods or extensive sample pre-treatment. Here, we demonstrate a fully flexible, scalable and low-cost detection platform to sense multiple protein targets simultaneously by grafting specific sequences along the backbone of a double-stranded DNA carrier. Protein bound to the aptamer produces unique ionic current signatures which facilitates accurate target recognition. This powerful approach allows us to differentiate individual protein sizes via characteristic changes in the sub-peak current. Furthermore, we show that by using DNA carriers it is possible to perform single-molecule screening in human serum at ultra-low protein concentrations.
Oxygen-rich microporous carbons with exceptional hydrogen storage capacity
Authors: Blankenship L. Scott , Balahmar Norah , Mokaya Robert
Published: November 2017

Porous carbons have been extensively investigated for hydrogen storage but, to date, appear to have an upper limit to their storage capacity. Here, in an effort to circumvent this upper limit, we explore the potential of oxygen-rich activated carbons. We describe cellulose acetate-derived carbons that combine high surface area (3800 m2 g−1) and pore volume (1.8 cm3 g−1) that arise almost entirely (>90%) from micropores, with an oxygen-rich nature. The carbons exhibit enhanced gravimetric hydrogen uptake (8.1 wt% total and 7.0 wt% excess) at −196 °C and 20 bar, rising to a total uptake of 8.9 wt% at 30 bar, and exceptional volumetric uptake of 44 g l−1 at 20 bar, and 48 g l−1 at 30 bar. At room temperature they store up to 0.8 wt% (excess) and 1.2 wt% (total) hydrogen at only 30 bar, and their isosteric heat of hydrogen adsorption is above 10 kJ mol−1.
The natural product carolacton inhibits folate-dependent C1 metabolism by targeting FolD/MTHFD
Authors: Fu Chengzhang , Sikandar Asfandyar , Donner Jannik , Zaburannyi Nestor , Herrmann Jennifer , Reck Michael , Wagner-Döbler Irene , Koehnke Jesko , Müller Rolf
Published: November 2017

The natural product carolacton is a macrolide keto-carboxylic acid produced by the myxobacteriumSorangium cellulosum, and was originally described as an antibacterial compound. Here we show that carolacton targets FolD, a key enzyme from the folate-dependent C1 metabolism. We characterize the interaction between bacterial FolD and carolacton biophysically, structurally and biochemically. Carolacton binds FolD with nanomolar affinity, and the crystal structure of the FolD–carolacton complex reveals the mode of binding. We show that the human FolD orthologs, MTHFD1 and MTHFD2, are also inhibited in the low nM range, and that micromolar concentrations of carolacton inhibit the growth of cancer cell lines. As mitochondrial MTHFD2 is known to be upregulated in cancer cells, it may be possible to use carolacton as an inhibitor tool compound to assess MTHFD2 as an anti-cancer target.
An unexpected protein interaction promotes drug resistance in leukemia
Authors: Pitre Aaron , Ge Yubin , Lin Wenwei , Wang Yao , Fukuda Yu , Temirov Jamshid , Phillips Aaron H. , Peters Jennifer L. , Fan Yiping , Ma Jing , Nourse Amanda , Sinha Chandrima , Lin Hai , Kriwacki Richard , Downing James R. , Gruber Tanja A. , Centonze Victoria E. , Naren Anjaparavanda P. , Chen Taosheng , Schuetz John D.
Published: November 2017

The overall survival of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is poor and identification of new disease-related therapeutic targets remains a major goal for this disease. Here we show that expression of MPP1, a PDZ-domain-containing protein, highly correlated with ABCC4 in AML, is associated with worse overall survival in AML. Murine hematopoietic progenitor cells overexpressing MPP1 acquired the ability to serially replate in methylcellulose culture, a property crucially dependent upon ABCC4. The highly conserved PDZ-binding motif of ABCC4 is required for ABCC4 and MPP1 to form a protein complex, which increased ABCC4 membrane localization and retention, to enhance drug resistance. Specific disruption of this protein complex, either genetically or chemically, removed ABCC4 from the plasma membrane, increased drug sensitivity, and abrogated MPP1-dependent hematopoietic progenitor cell replating in methylcellulose. High-throughput screening identified Antimycin A as a small molecule that disrupted the ABCC4–MPP1 protein complex and reversed drug resistance in AML cell lines and in primary patient AML cells. In all, targeting the ABCC4–MPP1 protein complex can lead to new therapies to improve treatment outcome of AML, a disease where the long-term prognosis is poor.
Comparative genomic analysis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma between Asian and Caucasian patient populations
Authors: Deng Jiaying , Chen Hu , Zhou Daizhan , Zhang Junhua , Chen Yun , Liu Qi , Ai Dashan , Zhu Hanting , Chu Li , Ren Wenjia , Zhang Xiaofei , Xia Yi , Sun Menghong , Zhang Huiwen , Li Jun , Peng Xinxin , Li Liang , Han Leng , Lin Hui , Cai Xiujun , Xiang Jiaqing , Chen Shufeng , Sun Yihua , Zhang Yawei , Zhang Jie , Chen Haiquan , Zhang Shijian , Zhao Yi , Liu Yun , Liang Han , Zhao Kuaile
Published: November 2017

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is a major histological type of esophageal cancer, with distinct incidence and survival patterns among races. Although previous studies have characterized somatic mutations in this disease, a rigorous comparison between different patient populations has not been conducted. Here we sequence the samples of 316 Chinese patients, combine them with those from The Cancer Genome Atlas, and perform a comparative analysis between Asian and Caucasian patients. We find that mutated CSMD3 is associated with better prognosis in Asian patients. Applying a robust computational strategy that adjusts for both technical and biological confounding factors, we find that TP53, EP300, and NFE2L2 show higher mutational frequencies in Asian patients. Moreover, NFE2L2 mutations correlate with the allele status of a nearby high-Fst SNP, suggesting their potential interaction. Our study provides insights into the molecular basis underlying the striking racial disparities of this disease, and represents a general computational framework for such a cross-population comparison.
Giant magnetic splitting inducing near-unity valley polarization in van der Waals heterostructures
Authors: Nagler Philipp , Ballottin Mariana V. , Mitioglu Anatolie A. , Mooshammer Fabian , Paradiso Nicola , Strunk Christoph , Huber Rupert , Chernikov Alexey , Christianen Peter C. M. , Schüller Christian , Korn Tobias
Published: November 2017

Monolayers of semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides exhibit intriguing fundamental physics of strongly coupled spin and valley degrees of freedom for charge carriers. While the possibility of exploiting these properties for information processing stimulated concerted research activities towards the concept of valleytronics, maintaining control over spin–valley polarization proved challenging in individual monolayers. A promising alternative route explores type II band alignment in artificial van der Waals heterostructures. The resulting formation of interlayer excitons combines the advantages of long carrier lifetimes and spin–valley locking. Here, we demonstrate artificial design of a two-dimensional heterostructure enabling intervalley transitions that are not accessible in monolayer systems. The resulting giant effective g factor of −15 for interlayer excitons induces near-unity valley polarization via valley-selective energetic splitting in high magnetic fields, even after nonselective excitation. Our results highlight the potential to deterministically engineer novel valley properties in van der Waals heterostructures using crystallographic alignment.
In situ detection of the protein corona in complex environments
Authors: Carril Monica , Padro Daniel , del Pino Pablo , Carrillo-Carrion Carolina , Gallego Marta , Parak Wolfgang J.
Published: November 2017

Colloidal nanoparticles (NPs) are a versatile potential platform for in vivo nanomedicine. Inside blood circulation, NPs may undergo drastic changes, such as by formation of a protein corona. The in vivo corona cannot be completely emulated by the corona formed in blood. Thus, in situ detection in complex media, and ultimately in vivo, is required. Here we present a methodology for determining protein corona formation in complex media. NPs are labeled with 19F and their diffusion coefficient measured using 19F diffusion-ordered nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. 19F diffusion NMR measurements of hydrodynamic radii allow for in situ characterization of NPs in complex environments by quantification of protein adsorption to the surface of NPs, as determined by increase in hydrodynamic radius. The methodology is not optics based, and thus can be used in turbid environments, as in the presence of cells.
Transcriptional profiling provides new insights into the role of nitric oxide in enhancing Ganoderma oregonense resistance to heat stress
Authors: Chen Cheng , Li Qiang , Wang Qiangfeng , Lu Daihua , Zhang Hong , Wang Jian , Fu Rongtao
Published: November 2017

Ganoderma is well known for its use in traditional Chinese medicine and is widely cultivated in China, Korea, and Japan. Increased temperatures associated with global warming are negatively influencing the growth and development of Ganoderma. Nitric oxide is reported to play an important role in alleviating fungal heat stress (HS). However, the transcriptional profiling of Ganoderma oregonense in response to HS, as well as the transcriptional response regulated by NO to cope with HS has not been reported. We used RNA-Seq technology to generate large-scale transcriptome data from G. oregonense mycelia subjected to HS (32 °C) and exposed to concentrations of exogenous NO. The results showed that heat shock proteins (HSPs), “probable stress-induced proteins”, and unigenes involved in “D-amino-acid oxidase activity” and “oxidoreductase activity” were significantly up-regulated in G. oregonense subjected to HS (P < 0.05). The significantly up-regulated HSPs, “monooxygenases”, “alcohol dehydrogenase”, and “FAD/NAD(P)-binding domain-containing proteins” (P < 0.05) regulated by exogenous NO may play important roles in the enhanced HS tolerance of G. oregonense. These results provide insights into the transcriptional response of G. oregonense to HS and the mechanism by which NO enhances the HS tolerance of fungi at the gene expression level.
Systematic characterization of the effect of Ag@TiO2 nanoparticles on the performance of plasmonic dye-sensitized solar cells
Authors: Nbelayim Pascal , Kawamura Go , Kian Tan Wai , Muto Hiroyuki , Matsuda Atsunori
Published: November 2017

The use of plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) in an effort to enhance their power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) increases light absorbance of the cells but also affect their electron dynamics. This has contributed to the failure of plasmonic NPs to make the expected high impact of PCE enhancement. Herein, we investigated the wide range effects of plasmonic NPs on the performance of DSSCs, using extended characterization and a systematic approach. We prepared DSSCs using Ag@TiO2 NPs-doped TiO2 photoanodes. Using a wide range doping concentration, we obtained panchromatic enhancement effect with two optimal doping concentrations (0.1 and 1 wt. %).They enhanced PCE via mainly: a) optimal band alignment for efficient charge injection; and b) a balance of the negative and positive effects of plasmonic NPs on cell performance parameters (open circuit voltage, fill factor, charge transfer resistance against recombination, electron life time and charge collection efficiency); respectively. The PCE of the pristine sample increased from 4.66 to 4.88 and 5.00% via these 2 routes, respectively. The major cause of not obtaining very high PCE was charge recombination from high charge density. Thus, these observations might serve as invaluable guidance for the preparation of highly efficient plasmonic DSSCs.
Deposition of topological silicene, germanene and stanene on graphene-covered SiC substrates
Authors: Matusalem Filipe , Koda Daniel S. , Bechstedt Friedhelm , Marques Marcelo , Teles Lara K.
Published: November 2017

Growth of X-enes, such as silicene, germanene and stanene, requires passivated substrates to ensure the survival of their exotic properties. Using first-principles methods, we study as-grown graphene on polar SiC surfaces as suitable substrates. Trilayer combinations with coincidence lattices with large hexagonal unit cells allow for strain-free group-IV monolayers. In contrast to the Si-terminated SiC surface, van der Waals-bonded honeycomb X-ene/graphene bilayers on top of the C-terminated SiC substrate are stable. Folded band structures show Dirac cones of the overlayers with small gaps of about 0.1 eV in between. The topological invariants of the peeled-off X-ene/graphene bilayers indicate the presence of topological character and the existence of a quantum spin Hall phase.
Variations in nutrient and trace element composition of rice in an organic rice-frog coculture system
Authors: Sha Zhimin , Chu Qingnan , Zhao Zheng , Yue Yubo , Lu Linfang , Yuan Jing , Cao Linkui
Published: November 2017

Introducing frogs into paddy fields can control pests and diseases, and organic farming can improve soil fertility and rice growth. The aim of this 2-year field study was compare the yield and elemental composition of rice between an organic farming system including frogs (ORF) and a conventional rice culture system (CR). The grain yields were almost the same in the ORF system and the CR system. The ORF significantly increased the contents of phosphorus (P), ion (Fe), zinc (Zn), molybdenum (Mo) and selenium (Se) in rice grain at one or both years. However, the ORF system decreased the calcium (Ca) content in grice grains, and increased the concentration of cadmium, which is potentially toxic. A principal components analysis showed the main impacts of ORF agro-ecosystem on the rice grain ionome was to increase the concentration of P and trace metal(loid)s. The results showed that the ORF system is an ecologically, friendly strategy to avoid excessive use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides without decreasing yields, and to improve the nutritional status of rice by increasing the micronutrient contents. The potential risks of increasing Cd contents in rice grain should be addressed if this cultivation pattern is used in the long term.