bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
DIGITAL VICTORIAN STUDIES TODAY
Authors: Wisnicki Adrian S.
Published: November 2016

Digital Victorian studies, as thefield might be called, has entered a new generation of endeavor. Of course, many older digital Victorian projects remain online and continue to be important resources for scholars working in a variety of areas. In the pantheon of the older projects we might include: The Victorian Web (Landow; 1987–2012), a long-standing project that presents an array of images and texts linked to the Victorian era as nodes in a complex network; the Rossetti Archive (McGann; 1993–2008), a comprehensive digital collection of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's poetry, prose, and visual art as well as diverse contextual materials; NINES (2003-present), a nineteenth-century digital resource aggregator that facilitates integrated searching across a variety of sites and that provides peer review for relevant scholarly projects; the Old Bailey Online (Hitchcock; 2003–15), a large-scale venture that, among other things, makes available digital images and fully searchable, structured text of the 190,000 pages that constitute the Old Bailey Proceedings; and Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (ncse) (Brake; 2005–08), a rigorous edition of six nineteenth-century periodicals and newspapers that explores the issue of modeling nineteenth-century serials in digital form. Many other such projects might also be added. However, the rapid advance of web-based technologies has recently propelled the development of digital Victorian studies in multiple directions at once. The concurrent rise of digital humanities has also ensured that Victorian scholars now have ever more exciting options for creating and analyzing digital Victorian materials and ever more sophisticated questions for interrogating the process by which those materials are created.
DICKENS, DINOSAURS, AND DESIGN
Authors: Dawson Gowan
Published: November 2016

Charles Dickens's novels only occasionally feature images of prehistoric creatures. There is, of course, the famous “elephantine lizard. . .waddling. . .up Holborn Hill” in the opening scenes of Bleak House (1852–53), which, as is brilliantly captured in Tom Gauld's recent cartoon “Fragments of Dickens's Lost Novel ‘A Megalosaur's Progress’” (2011), has become a kind of icon of Dickens's entire fictional oeuvre (Figure 1). But beyond Bleak House’s iconic megalosaurus “forty feet long or so,” Dickens's panoramic representations of urban landscapes, which Adelene Buckland has shown to abound with quasi-geological ruins, are usually populated only by their more diminutive modern inhabitants (1; ch. 1). Even when the changing cityscape of “carcases. . .and fragments” of “giant forms” seems, as in Dombey and Son (1847–48), to suggest the presence of colossal fossilized skeletons thrown up by a “great earthquake,” they remain lifeless and merely augment the pervading atmosphere of urban upheaval (46; ch. 6). Animate extinct animals instead appear more commonly in novels by contemporaries such as William Makepeace Thackeray or, later in the century, Henry James. In their fiction, creatures such as the megatherium, a large edentate from the Pliocene epoch, not only afford apposite metaphors for gargantuan manifestations of industrial modernity, as in the former's Mrs. Perkins's Ball (1846) and the latter's The Bostonians (1885–86). More significantly, they also provide a model for the complex structures of serialized novels, whether commendatory, as in Thackeray's The Newcomes (1853–55), or otherwise, as in the famous epithet “large loose baggy monsters” that James coined in the preface to the New York edition of The Tragic Muse (1908) (1:x).
Effect of bitter gourd (Cucurbitaceae) foliar constituents on development and reproduction of Epilachna dodecastigma (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)
Authors: Sarkar Nupur , Mukherjee Abhishek , Barik Anandamay
Published: November 2016

The influence of young, mature and senescent leaves of bitter gourd Momordica charantia L. (Cucurbitaceae) on the feeding, growth and reproduction of Epilachna dodecastigma (Weid.) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) were studied under laboratory conditions (27 ± 0.5 °C, 12 h light: 12 h dark photoperiod, 65 ± 5% RH). Larval developmental time of E. dodecastigma was longest on senescent leaves followed by young and mature leaves, whereas the pupal period was shortest on young and mature leaves. The longevity of females was generally higher than males. Male and female longevity were highest on mature leaves and lowest on senescent leaves. Fecundity was highest on mature leaves followed by young and senescent leaves. The growth and development of E. dodecastigma were related with nutrient and phenol content of three types of bitter gourd leaves. Carbohydrate content was higher in young and mature leaves, whereas protein, nitrogen, amino acid and lipid content were in greater quantities in mature leaves followed by young and senescent leaves. Phenol content was greatest in senescent leaves and least in mature leaves. Higher level of carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, nitrogen and amino acids including water content and lower phenol content of mature leaves had influenced higher growth rate and fecundity of E. dodecastigma.
Instrumental Divergence and the Value of Control
Authors: Mistry Prachi , Liljeholm Mimi
Published: November 2016

A critical aspect of flexible choice is that alternative actions yield distinct consequences: Only when available action alternatives produce distinct outcome states does discrimination and selection between actions allow an agent to flexibly obtain the currently most desired outcome. Here, we use instrumental divergence – the degree to which alternative actions differ with respect to their outcome probability distributions – as an index of flexible instrumental control, and assess the influence of this novel decision variable on choice preference. In Experiment 1, when other decision variables, such as expected value and outcome entropy, were held constant, we found a significant preference for high instrumental divergence. In Experiment 2, we used an “auto- vs. self-play” manipulation to eliminate outcome diversity as a source of behavioral preferences, and to contrast flexible instrumental control with the complete absence of voluntary choice. Our results suggest that flexible instrumental control over decision outcomes may have intrinsic value.
Complete integrability of information processing by biochemical reactions
Authors: Agliari Elena , Barra Adriano , Dello Schiavo Lorenzo , Moro Antonio
Published: November 2016

Statistical mechanics provides an effective framework to investigate information processing in biochemical reactions. Within such framework far-reaching analogies are established among (anti-) cooperative collective behaviors in chemical kinetics, (anti-)ferromagnetic spin models in statistical mechanics and operational amplifiers/flip-flops in cybernetics. The underlying modeling – based on spin systems – has been proved to be accurate for a wide class of systems matching classical (e.g. Michaelis–Menten, Hill, Adair) scenarios in the infinite-size approximation. However, the current research in biochemical information processing has been focusing on systems involving a relatively small number of units, where this approximation is no longer valid. Here we show that the whole statistical mechanical description of reaction kinetics can be re-formulated via a mechanical analogy – based on completely integrable hydrodynamic-type systems of PDEs – which provides explicit finite-size solutions, matching recently investigated phenomena (e.g. noise-induced cooperativity, stochastic bi-stability, quorum sensing). The resulting picture, successfully tested against a broad spectrum of data, constitutes a neat rationale for a numerically effective and theoretically consistent description of collective behaviors in biochemical reactions.
Diversity and function of the Antarctic krill microorganisms from Euphausia superba
Authors: Cui Xiaoqiu , Zhu Guoliang , Liu Haishan , Jiang Guoliang , Wang Yi , Zhu Weiming
Published: November 2016

The diversity and ecological function of microorganisms associated with Euphausia superba, still remain unknown. This study identified 75 microbial isolates from E. superba, that is 42 fungi and 33 bacteria including eight actinobacteria. And all the isolates showed NaF tolerance in conformity with the nature of the fluoride krill. The maximum concentration was 10%, 3% and 0.5% NaF for actinobacteria, bacteria and fungi, respectively. The results demonstrated that 82.4% bacteria, 81.3% actinobacteria and 12.3% fungi produced antibacterial metabolites against pathogenic bacteria without NaF; the MIC value reached to 3.9 μg/mL. In addition, more than 60% fungi produced cytotoxic metabolites against A549, MCF-7 or K562 cell lines. The presence of NaF led to a reduction in the producing antimicrobial compounds, but stimulated the production of cytotoxic compounds. Furthermore, seven cytotoxic compounds were identified from the metabolites of Penicillium citrinum OUCMDZ4136 under 0.5% NaF, with the IC50 values of 3.6–13.1 μM for MCF-7, 2.2–19.8 μM for A549 and 5.4–15.4 μM for K562, respectively. These results indicated that the krill microbes exert their chemical defense by producing cytotoxic compounds to the mammalians and antibacterial compounds to inhibiting the pathogenic bacteria.
DHA-supplemented diet increases the survival of rats following asphyxia-induced cardiac arrest and cardiopulmonary bypass resuscitation
Authors: Kim Junhwan , Yin Tai , Shinozaki Koichiro , Lampe Joshua W. , Becker Lance B.
Published: November 2016

Accumulating evidence illustrates the beneficial effects of dietary docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on cardiovascular diseases. However, its effects on cardiac arrest (CA) remain controversial in epidemiological studies and have not been reported in controlled animal studies. Here, we examined whether dietary DHA can improve survival, the most important endpoint in CA. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized into two groups and received either a control diet or a DHA-supplemented diet for 7–8 weeks. Rats were then subjected to 20 min asphyxia-induced cardiac arrest followed by 30 min cardiopulmonary bypass resuscitation. Rat survival was monitored for additional 3.5 h following resuscitation. In the control group, 1 of 9 rats survived for 4 h, whereas 6 of 9 rats survived in the DHA-treated group. Surviving rats in the DHA-treated group displayed moderately improved hemodynamics compared to rats in the control group 1 h after the start of resuscitation. Rats in the control group showed no sign of brain function whereas rats in the DHA-treated group had recurrent seizures and spontaneous respiration, suggesting dietary DHA also protects the brain. Overall, our study shows that dietary DHA significantly improves rat survival following 20 min of severe CA.
Environmental Topology and Water Availability Modulates the Catalytic Activity of β-Galactosidase Entrapped in a Nanosporous Silicate Matrix
Authors: Burgos M. Ines , Velasco Manuel I. , Acosta Rodolfo H. , Perillo María A.
Published: November 2016

In the present work we studied the catalytic activity of E. coli β-Gal confined in a nanoporous silicate matrix (Eβ-Gal) at different times after the beginning of the sol-gel polymerization process. Enzyme kinetic experiments with two substrates (ONPG and PNPG) that differed in the rate-limiting steps of the reaction mechanism for their β-Gal-catalyzed hydrolysis, measurements of transverse relaxation times (T2) of water protons through 1H-NMR, and scanning electron microscopy analysis of the gel nanostructure, were performed. In conjunction, results provided evidence that water availability is crucial for the modulation observed in the catalytic activity of β-Gal as long as water participate in the rate limiting step of the reaction (only with ONPG). In this case, a biphasic rate vs. substrate concentration was obtained exhibiting one phase with catalytic rate constant (kcA), similar to that observed in solution, and another phase with a higher and aging-dependent catalytic rate constant (kcB). More structured water populations (lower T2) correlates with higher catalytic rate constants (kcB). The T2-kcB negative correlation observed along the aging of gels within the 15-days period assayed reinforces the coupling between water structure and the hydrolysis catalysis inside gels.
Antioxidative Polyketones from the Mangrove-Derived Fungus Ascomycota sp. SK2YWS-L
Authors: Tan Chunbin , Liu Zhaoming , Chen Senhua , Huang Xishan , Cui Hui , Long Yuhua , Lu Yongjun , She Zhigang
Published: November 2016

Three novel 2,3-diaryl indone derivatives, ascomindones A−C (1−3), and two new isobenzofuran derivatives, ascomfurans A (4) and B (5), together with four know compounds (6−9) were isolated from the culture of a mangrove-derived fungus Ascomycota sp. SK2YWS-L. Their structures were elucidated on the interpretation of spectroscopic data. 1 and 4 were further constructed by analysis of X-ray diffraction. Antioxidant properties based on 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), hydroxyl radical scavenging activities and the ferric reducing ability power (FRAP) of the new compounds were assayed. All of them exhibited significant effects, of which 1 showed more potent activity than ascorbic acid in scavenging DPPH radical with IC50 value of 18.1 μM.
Convenient synthesis of energetic polynitro materials including (NO2)3CCH2CH2NH3-saltsviaMichael addition of trinitromethane
Authors: Axthammer Quirin J. , Klapötke Thomas M. , Krumm Burkhard , Scharf Regina , Unger Cornelia C.
Published: November 2016

Acrylamide and nitroform are precursors for the formation of the 3,3,3-trinitropropylammonium cation, which was combined with several oxygen-containing anions in order to serve as potential HEDO salts.
Anti-atherosclerotic effect of housefly (Musca domestica) maggot-derived protein-enriched extracts by dampened oxidative stress in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice
Authors: Mingzhu Xiao , Xiaobao Jin , Futian Tang , Lijing Wang , Jianwen Mao , Xiaoqiang Li , Fujiang Chu , Yanting Huang , Jing Ding , Weiqiang Chen , Jianguo Geng , Jiayong Zhu
Published: November 2016

Despitemany therapeutic advances, atherosclerosis remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in developed countries.
The binder-free Ca2Ge7O16 nanosheet/carbon nanotube composite as a high-capacity anode for Li-ion batteries with long cycling life
Authors: Liu Xusong , Ma Xiaoxuan , Wang Jing , Liu Xiaoxu , Chi Caixia , Liu Shikun , Zhao Jiupeng , Li Yao
Published: November 2016

Ca2Ge7O16 NS/CNT composites on Ni foam have been successfully fabricated for long cycling lithium-ion batteries.
One-pot preparation of graphene–Ag nano composite for selective and environmentally-friendly recognition of trace mercury(ii)
Authors: Yan Zhengquan , Hu Lei , Nie Li , You Jinmao
Published: November 2016

A graphene–silver nano composite was prepared by a simple one-pot redox method, using ascorbic acid as a catalytic reagent, which was applied for colorimetric Hg2+ detection. The proposed method is selective and sensitive with little secondary pollution.
Chemotaxonomic discrimination of lichen species using an infrared chalcogenide fibre optic sensor: a useful tool for on-field biosourcing
Authors: Le Corvec M. , Boussard-Plédel C. , Charpentier F. , Fatih N. , Le Dare B. , Massart F. , Rojas F. , Tariel H. , Loréal O. , Bureau B. , Boustie J. , Sire O. , LohézicLe Dévéhat F.
Published: November 2016

Spectral analysis of lichen extracts obtained by MIR-FEWS permits to discriminate species and the identification of their major compounds. MIR-FEWS is a rapid, efficient and convenient tool for metabolic profiling.
WS2–3D graphene nano-architecture networks for high performance anode materials of lithium ion batteries
Authors: Lim Yew Von , Huang Zhi Xiang , Wang Ye , Du Fei Hu , Zhang Jun , Chen Tu Pei , Ang L. K. , Yang Hui Ying
Published: November 2016

Tungsten disulfide nanoflakes grown on plasma activated three dimensional graphene networks. The work features a simple growth of TMDs-based LIBs anode materials that has excellent rate capability, high specific capacity and long cycling stability.
Dispersible cobalt chromite nanoparticles: facile synthesis and size driven collapse of magnetism
Authors: Zakutna D. , Matulkova I. , Kentzinger E. , Medlin R. , Su Y. , Nemkovski K. , Disch S. , Vejpravova J. , Niznansky D.
Published: November 2016

Uniform nanoparticles of multiferoic CoCr2O4 dispersible in non-polar solvents were prepared by hydrothermal route in water–alcohol–oleic acid system.
Intercalation compounds of oxidized carbon black
Authors: Maggio Mario , Acocella Maria Rosaria , Guerra Gaetano
Published: November 2016

Crystalline structure of oCB/2HT intercalate. In the top view, bases of hexagonal unit cells of graphite and of the hydrocarbon rotator order.
Synthesis of core–shell imprinting polymers with uniform thin imprinting layer via iniferter-induced radical polymerization for the selective recognition of thymopentin in aqueous solution
Authors: Gao Xumian , Hu Xiaoling , Guan Ping , Du Chunbao , Ding Shichao , Zhang Xiaoyan , Li Bangpeng , Wei Xiongqi , Song Renyuan
Published: November 2016

Core–shell imprinting microspheres for the selective and rapid recognition of thymopentin with the aid of a novel polymeric ionic liquid.
Improved Extraction Yield of Citral from Lemon Myrtle Using a Cellulose-Dissolving Ionic Liquid
Authors: Munakata Koki , Yoshizawa-Fujita Masahiro , Rikukawa Masahiro , Usuki Toyonobu
Published: November 2016

Lemon myrtle is the richest natural source of citral, which has potential medicinal applications. In this study, citral was extracted from lemon myrtle using cellulose-dissolving ionic liquids (ILs), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium methylphosphonate ([C2mim][(MeO)(H)PO2]), N,N-diethyl-N-methyl-N-(2-methoxyethyl)ammonium chloride ([DEME]Cl), and N,N-diethyl-N-methyl-N-(2-methoxyethyl)ammonium 2-methoxyacetate ([DEME][MOAc]). The extraction yield of citral obtained using ILs was up to 2.1 times higher than that obtained using ethanol. The ILs could be recycled and reused nine times for the extraction of citral. The present method provides a greener process when compared with conventional approaches and may be applicable for the extraction of other natural products.
The Associations Between the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form and Self-Reported Physical and Sexual Abuse and Posttraumatic Symptoms in a Sample of Incarcerated Women
Authors: Gottfried Emily D. , Anestis Joye C. , Dillon Kirsten H. , Carbonell Joyce L.
Published: November 2016

This study examined the impact of posttraumatic symptoms and self-reported abuse on the MMPI-2-RF among female inmates ( N = 212). Posttraumatic symptoms were related to demoralization and internalizing dysfunction. MMPI-2-RF scales related to behavioral and externalizing problems, conduct problems, anxiety, anger, fear, guilt, unusual beliefs, somatic complaints, ineffectiveness, stress, family problems, and social isolation were associated with posttraumatic symptoms and abuse. Findings indicate that the MMPI-2-RF has utility for examining the impact of abuse and posttraumatic symptoms in incarcerated women. Using a standardized instrument to examine the effects of trauma provides useful information for treatment management and planning.
Validation of the relative insensitivity of volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plan quality to gantry space resolution
Authors: Murtaza Ghulam , Cora Stefania , Khan Ehsan Ullah
Published: November 2016

Volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) is an efficient form of radiotherapy used to deliver intensity-modulated radiotherapy beams. The aim of this study was to investigate the relative insensitivity of VMAT plan quality to gantry angle spacing (GS). Most previous VMAT planning and dosimetric work for GS resolution has been conducted for single arc VMAT. In this work, a quantitative comparison of dose–volume indices (DIs) was made for partial-, single- and double-arc VMAT plans optimized at 2°, 3° and 4° GS, representing a large variation in deliverable multileaf collimator segments. VMAT plans of six prostate cancer and six head-and-neck cancer patients were simulated for an Elekta SynergyS® Linac (Elekta Ltd, Crawley, UK), using the SmartArc™ module of Pinnacle³ TPS, (version 9.2, Philips Healthcare). All optimization techniques generated clinically acceptable VMAT plans, except for the single-arc for the head-and-neck cancer patients. Plan quality was assessed by comparing the DIs for the planning target volume, organs at risk and normal tissue. A GS of 2°, with finest resolution and consequently highest intensity modulation, was considered to be the reference, and this was compared with GS 3° and 4°. The differences between the majority of reference DIs and compared DIs were <2%. The metrics, such as treatment plan optimization time and pretreatment (phantom) dosimetric calculation time, supported the use of a GS of 4°. The ArcCHECK™ phantom–measured dosimetric agreement verifications resulted in a >95.0% passing rate, using the criteria for γ (3%, 3 mm). In conclusion, a GS of 4° is an optimal choice for minimal usage of planning resources without compromise of plan quality.
Identifying brain nociceptive information transmission in patients with chronic somatic pain
Authors: Davis Don A. , Ghantous Mariam E. , Farmer Melissa A. , Baria Alexis T. , Apkarian A. Vania
Published: November 2016

Introduction:

Recent advances regarding mechanisms of chronic pain emphasize the role of corticolimbic circuitry in predicting risk for chronic pain, independently from the site of injury-related parameters. These results compel revisiting the role of peripheral nociceptive signaling in chronic pain. We address this issue by examining what information brain circuitry transmits regarding the intensity of chronic pain and how this information may be related to a common comorbidity, depression.

Objectives:

To identify what information brain circuitry transmits regarding intensity of chronic somatic pain.

Methods:

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was used in a large group of patients with chronic pain (n = 40 chronic back pain and n = 44 osteoarthritis patients), and in comparison with healthy subjects (n = 88). We used a graph theoretical measure, degree count, to investigate voxelwise information sharing/transmission in the brain. Degree count, a functional connectivity–based measure, identifies the number of voxels functionally connected to every given voxel. Subdividing the chronic pain cohort into discovery, replication, and also for the overall group, we show that only degree counts of diencephalic voxels centered in the ventral–lateral thalamus reflected intensity of chronic pain, independently of depression.

Results:

Pain intensity was reliably associated with degree count of the thalamus, which was correlated negatively with components of the default mode network and positively with the periaqueductal gray (in contrast to healthy controls). Depression scores were not reliably associated with regional degree count.

Conclusion:

Collectively, the results suggest that, across 2 types of chronic pain, nociceptive-specific information is relayed through the spinothalamic pathway to the lateral thalamus, potentiated by pronociceptive descending modulation, and interrupting cortical cognitive processes.
RNA-protein binding motifs mining with a new hybrid deep learning based cross-domain knowledge integration approach
Authors: Pan Xiaoyong , Shen Hong-Bin
Published: November 2016

Background

RNAs play key roles in cells through the interactions with proteins known as the RNA-binding proteins (RBP) and their binding motifs enable crucial understanding of the post-transcriptional regulation of RNAs. How the RBPs correctly recognize the target RNAs and why they bind specific positions is still far from clear. Machine learning-based algorithms are widely acknowledged to be capable of speeding up this process. Although many automatic tools have been developed to predict the RNA-protein binding sites from the rapidly growing multi-resource data, e.g. sequence, structure, their domain specific features and formats have posed significant computational challenges. One of current difficulties is that the cross-source shared common knowledge is at a higher abstraction level beyond the observed data, resulting in a low efficiency of direct integration of observed data across domains. The other difficulty is how to interpret the prediction results. Existing approaches tend to terminate after outputting the potential discrete binding sites on the sequences, but how to assemble them into the meaningful binding motifs is a topic worth of further investigation.

Results

In viewing of these challenges, we propose a deep learning-based framework (iDeep) by using a novel hybrid convolutional neural network and deep belief network to predict the RBP interaction sites and motifs on RNAs. This new protocol is featured by transforming the original observed data into a high-level abstraction feature space using multiple layers of learning blocks, where the shared representations across different domains are integrated. To validate our iDeep method, we performed experiments on 31 large-scale CLIP-seq datasets, and our results show that by integrating multiple sources of data, the average AUC can be improved by 8% compared to the best single-source-based predictor; and through cross-domain knowledge integration at an abstraction level, it outperforms the state-of-the-art predictors by 6%. Besides the overall enhanced prediction performance, the convolutional neural network module embedded in iDeep is also able to automatically capture the interpretable binding motifs for RBPs. Large-scale experiments demonstrate that these mined binding motifs agree well with the experimentally verified results, suggesting iDeep is a promising approach in the real-world applications.

Conclusion

The iDeep framework not only can achieve promising performance than the state-of-the-art predictors, but also easily capture interpretable binding motifs. iDeep is available athttp://www.csbio.sjtu.edu.cn/bioinf/iDeep
Constitutive Immune Activity Promotes Tumorigenesis inDrosophilaIntestinal Progenitor Cells
Authors: Petkau Kristina , Ferguson Meghan , Guntermann Silvia , Foley Edan
Published: November 2016

Gut innate immune defenses contain bacterial populations and protect the host interior from invasive microbes. Although excess intestinal immune activity frequently promotes inflammatory illnesses, we know little about the consequences of chronic innate immune activity exclusively in endodermal gut cells of an otherwise normal animal. To address this question, we generated a transgenic line that allows us to activate inflammatory signals in adult fly intestinal progenitor cells. We found that constitutive immune activity in intestinal progenitors disrupts expression of homeostatic regulators such as Notch signal transduction pathway components and induces hyperplasia throughout the gut. Consistent with these observations, we found that persistent immune signaling interferes with progenitor cell differentiation and exacerbates the formation of Notch-dependent intestinal tumors. These findings uncover a novel link between constitutive immune activity and tumorigenesis in intestinal stem cells.
Crystal structure of 1,3-bis[(E)-4-methoxybenzylideneamino]propan-2-ol
Authors: Rivera Augusto , Miranda-Carvajal Ingrid , Ríos-Motta Jaime , Bolte Michael
Published: November 2016

The title Schiff base, C19H22N2O3, was synthesizedviathe condensation reaction of 1,3-diaminopropan-2-ol with 4-methoxybenzaldehyde using water as solvent. The molecule exists in anE,Econformation with respect to the C=N imine bonds and the dihedral angle between the aromatic rings is 37.25 (15)°. In the crystal, O—H...N hydrogen bonds link the molecules into infiniteC(5) chains propagating along thea-axis direction. The packing of these chains is consolidated by C—H...O interactions and C—H...π short contacts, forming a three-dimensional network.
Crystal structure of a 2:1 piroxicam–gentisic acid co-crystal featuring neutral and zwitterionic piroxicam molecules
Authors: Horstman Elizabeth M. , Bertke Jeffery A. , Woods Toby J. , Kenis Paul J. A.
Published: November 2016

A new 2:1 co-crystal of piroxicam and gentisic acid [systematic name: 4-hydroxy-1,1-dioxo-N-(pyridin-2-yl)-2H-1λ6,2-benzothiazine-3-carboxamide–2-(4-oxido-1,1-dioxo-2H-1λ6,2-benzothiazine-3-amido)pyridin-1-ium–2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid, 2C15H13N3O4S·C7H6O4] has been synthesized using a microfluidic platform and initially identified using Raman spectroscopy. In the co-crystal, one piroxicam molecule is in its neutral form and an intramolecular O—H...O hydrogen bond is observed. The other piroxicam molecule is zwitterionic (proton transfer from the OH group to the pyridine N atom) and two intramolecular N—H...O hydrogen bonds occur. The gentisic acid molecule shows whole-molecule disorder over two sets of sites in a 0.809 (2):0.191 (2) ratio. In the crystal, extensive hydrogen bonding between the components forms layers propagating in theabplane.
“Negotiating partnerships:” parents’ experiences of collaboration in community mental health and substance use services
Authors: Ness Ottar , Borg Marit , Semb Randi , Topor Alain
Published: November 2016

Purpose

The importance of collaboration in the mental health field is a well established theoretical principle, but there has so far been less attention to its practical implications from a parents’ perspective. The purpose of this paper is to describe parents’ experiences of collaboration with mental health practitioners.

Design/methodology/approach

This was a qualitative study based on thematic analysis of multi-stage focus group discussions with ten parents of young adults with co-occurring mental health and substance use problems.

Findings

The authors identified three major themes related to family member’s experiences of collaborative practices: negotiating partnerships, incomprehensible services and being the young adult’s advocate.

Research limitations/implications

A potential limitation of this study is that the parents who agreed to take part in this study were all part of the population who really want to be involved in their relative’s care; other family members who did not take part may have different feelings. It would be interesting to interview the siblings and partners of young adults with mental health and substance abuse problems. A last limitation is that only family parents participated in these focus group discussions; it would be interesting to invite service users and practitioners to elicit information about similarities and differences in their experiences of collaborative practices.

Practical implications

This study emphasises that parents should be seen as unique individuals as well as families. Parents are persons in different contexts. This creates different needs in their collaboration with the professionals. Parents want to be invited to contribute with their experiences and knowledge, being a collaborative partner in the service provision, and not a burden for their young adults, or to the professionals.

Social implications

This study emphasises that it may be important to understand the complex situations of each family parent, supporting their loved ones and at the same time living lives of their own. Families are in demanding and stressful situations often over many years. They want to be invited to contribute with their experiences and knowledge, being a collaborative partner in the service provision, and not a burden for their young adults, or to the professionals.

Originality/value

The importance of collaboration is well established in in the mental health field. However, there has been less attention to what collaboration with parents might involve in practice. This paper describes the collaborative experiences of parents of young adults (18-28 years) with co-occurring mental health and substance use problems.
Stochastic synchronization of neutral-type chaotic impulse neural networks with leakage delay and Markovian jumping parameters
Authors: Zheng Cheng-De , Wang Zhanshan
Published: November 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a methodology for the stochastically asymptotic synchronization problem for a class of neutral-type chaotic neural networks with both leakage delay and Markovian jumping parameters under impulsive perturbations.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors perform drive-response concept and time-delay feedback control techniques to investigate a class of neutral-type chaotic neural networks with both leakage delay and Markovian jumping parameters under impulsive perturbations. New sufficient criterion is established without strict conditions imposed on the activation functions.

Findings

It turns out that the approach results in new sufficient criterion easy to be verified but without the usual assumption of the differentiability and monotonicity of the activation functions. Two examples show the effectiveness of the obtained results.

Originality/value

The novelty of the proposed approach lies in removing the usual assumption of the differentiability and monotonicity of the activation functions, and the use of the Lyapunov functional method, Jensen integral inequality, a novel Gu’s lemma, reciprocal convex and linear convex combination technique for the stochastically asymptotic synchronization problem for a class of neutral-type chaotic neural networks with both leakage delay and Markovian jumping parameters under impulsive perturbations.
The global REIT market: initial-day performance of IPOs
Authors: Brobert Gustav
Published: November 2016

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate whether real estate investment trust (REIT) initial public offerings (IPOs) are exposed to abnormal initial-day performance. Previous studies have predominantly focused on REITs listed in the USA and Australia, only a few studies have utilised a multi-country approach and only one study has used a multi-region approach. This paper adds to the literature by, for a global sample, analysing variables proven important in explaining REIT IPO performance but never used in a global sample before by extending the investigation of initial-day return patterns for new REIT types and by offering the first insights from emerging REIT markets.

Design/methodology/approach

Initial-day raw and abnormal returns were calculated for a sample of 445 IPOs in 26 countries over the period from 1996 to 2014. The returns were partitioned according to a select set of themes and multiple regression analysis was used to isolate the relationship between the explanatory factors and underpricing.

Findings

For the sample as a whole, the mean initial-day raw return is 3.94 per cent and the mean market-adjusted initial-day return is 4.01 per cent. Even though the initial-day return for a REIT IPO typically is positive, negative mean returns are observed for a few countries and during certain years. Investors should note that for European markets, new property type exhibited a robust positive association with abnormal return, and underwriter reputation exhibited a robust negative relationship with abnormal return.

Originality/value

This paper fulfils the need to test important concepts on global REIT IPO markets.
Searching and sourcing online academic literature
Authors: Hsin Ching-Ting , Cheng Ying-Hsueh , Tsai Chin-Chung
Published: November 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore educational researchers’ online literature searching and sourcing strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

Adopting a multiple-case study approach, the authors conducted interviews and compared strategies employed by three groups of researchers: less-experienced doctoral students, experienced doctoral students, and junior faculty.

Findings

The results showed that the three groups differed in four searching strategies and two sourcing strategies. The former included: using and modifying keywords, doing advanced searches to narrow down or expand results, chaining, and networking to retrieve literature, while the latter consisted of: evaluating and selecting multiple-source articles, and self-monitoring the multiple-source searching process. The findings also revealed that the experienced doctoral students and junior faculty were able to adopt searching and sourcing strategies flexibly and simultaneously for the purpose of determining more relevant and useful sources. The findings suggest that these researchers, especially the less-experienced students, need specialized training to acquire sourcing strategies in order to critically evaluate relevant information or scholarly work to fulfill their research purposes.

Originality/value

Information seeking, an essential part of scholars’ work, has been widely examined across disciplines. However, few studies have explored scholars’ searching and sourcing behaviors for online academic literature. This study fulfilled the research gap.
Naltrexone changes the expression of lipid metabolism‐related proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum stress induced hepatic steatosis in mice
Authors: Moslehi Azam , Nabavizadeh Fatemeh , Zekri Ali , Amiri Fatemeh
Published: November 2016

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is closely associated with several chronic diseases such as obesity, atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes, and hepatic steatosis. Steatosis in hepatocytes may also lead to disorders such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis, and possibly cirrhosis. Opioid peptides are involved in triglyceride and cholesterol dysregulation. Naltrexone also attenuates ER stress induced hepatic steatosis in mice. In this study, we evaluated the effects of naltrexone on the expression of lipid metabolism‐related nuclear factors and enzymes in the ER stress induced hepatic steatosis. C57/BL6 mice received saline, DMSO and naltrexone as control groups. In a fourth group, ER stress was induced by tunicamycin (TM) injection and in the last group, naltrexone was given before TM administration. Histopathological evaluations, real‐time RT‐PCR and western blot were performed. We found that GRP78, IRE1α, PERK and ATF6 gene expression and steatosis significantly reduced in naltrexone treated animals. Naltrexone alleviated the gene and protein expression of SREBP1c. Expression of ACAT1, apolipoprotein B (ApoB) and PPARα also increased after naltrexone treatment. In conclusion, this study, for the first time, shows that naltrexone has a considerable role in attenuation of ER stress‐induced liver injury.
Family social capital and health – a systematic review and redirection
Authors: Alvarez Elena Carrillo , Kawachi Ichiro , Romani Jordi Riera
Published: November 2016

The level (or scale) at which social capital can be conceptualised and measured ranges potentially from the macro‐level (regional or country level), to the meso‐level (neighbourhoods, workplaces, schools), down to the individual level. However, one glaring gap in the conceptualisation of social capital within the empirical literature has been the level of the family. Our aim in this review is to examine the family as the ‘missing level’ in studies on social capital and health. To do so, we conducted a systematic review on the use and measurement of this notion in the health literature, with the final intention of articulating a direction for future research in the field. Our findings are consistent with the notion that family social capital is multidimensional and that its components have distinct effects on health outcomes. Further investigation is needed to understand the mechanisms through which family social capital is related to health, as well as determining the most valid ways to measure family social capital.
The Political Economy of Fiscal Supervision and Budget Deficits: Evidence from Germany
Authors: Rösel Felix
Published: November 2016

In many federal countries, local governments run large deficits, even when fiscal supervision by state authorities is tight. I investigate the extent to which party alignment of governments and fiscal supervisors influences budget deficits. The data set includes 427 German local governments for the period 2000–2004. I exploit a period after a far‐reaching institutional reform that entirely re‐distributed political powers on both the government level and the fiscal supervisor level. The results do not show that party alignments of governments and supervisors (co‐partisanship) drive short‐term deficits. Instead, I find that the ideology of partisan governments and supervisors matters: left‐wing local governments run higher deficits than their right‐wing counterparts; left‐wing supervisors tolerate higher deficits than right‐wing supervisors. These findings imply that political independence for fiscal supervisors is recommended.
Controlling for P‐value inflation in allele frequency change in experimental evolution and artificial selection experiments
Authors: Kemppainen Petri , Rønning Bernt , Kvalnes Thomas , Hagen Ingerid J. , Ringsby Thor Harald , Billing Anna M. , Pärn Henrik , Lien Sigbjørn , Husby Arild , Sæther Bernt‐Erik , Jensen Henrik
Published: November 2016

Experimental evolution studies can be used to explore genomic response to artificial and natural selection. In such studies, loci that display larger allele frequency change than expected by genetic drift alone are assumed to be directly or indirectly associated with traits under selection. However, such studies report surprisingly many loci under selection, suggesting that current tests for allele frequency change may be subject to P‐value inflation and hence be anticonservative. One factor known from genomewide association (GWA) studies to cause P‐value inflation is population stratification, such as relatedness among individuals. Here, we suggest that by treating presence of an individual in a population after selection as a binary response variable, existing GWA methods can be used to account for relatedness when estimating allele frequency change. We show that accounting for relatedness like this effectively reduces false‐positives in tests for allele frequency change in simulated data with varying levels of population structure. However, once relatedness has been accounted for, the power to detect causal loci under selection is low. Finally, we demonstrate the presence of P‐value inflation in allele frequency change in empirical data spanning multiple generations from an artificial selection experiment on tarsus length in two free‐living populations of house sparrow and correct for this using genomic control. Our results indicate that since allele frequencies in large parts of the genome may change when selection acts on a heritable trait, such selection is likely to have considerable and immediate consequences for the eco‐evolutionary dynamics of the affected populations.
Dentinal tubules occluded by bioactive glass‐containing toothpaste exhibit high resistance toward acidic soft drink challenge
Authors: Bakri MM , Hossain MZ , Razak FA , Saqina ZH , Misroni AA , Ab‐Murat N , Kitagawa J , Saub RB
Published: November 2016

Background

Dentine hypersensitivity is a common problem attributed by patent dentinal tubules. Ingredients incorporated in toothpastes aim to occlude patent dentinal tubules to minimize the dentine hypersensitivity. However, frequent consumption of acidic soft drinks may reverse the dentinal tubules' occlusion. In this in vitro study, the efficacy of dentinal tubules occluded by commercially available toothpastes to withstand different durations of an acidic soft drink challenge was investigated.

Methods

One hundred and twenty dentine discs were divided into three groups. The discs from each group were brushed with toothpaste containing bioactive glass, arginine and control toothpaste. Each group was then divided into four subgroups and exposed to acidic soft drink over four different time durations.

Results

The scoring and the percentage of occluded dentinal tubules by Novamin‐containing toothpaste was significantly better compared with arginine or the control toothpaste. Acidic soft drink challenge reduced the extent of dentinal tubules occlusion along with time. Dentinal tubules occluded by Novamin‐containing toothpaste withstand the acidic challenge comparatively for a longer period.

Conclusions

The findings demonstrated that occlusion of dentinal tubules is more efficient by the bioactive glass‐containing toothpaste and thus may contribute to its better resistance to acidic soft drink challenge.
Functional brain networks involved in gaze and emotional processing
Authors: Ziaei Maryam , Ebner Natalie C. , Burianová Hana
Published: November 2016

Eye‐gaze direction plays a fundamental role in the perception of facial features and particularly the processing of emotional facial expressions. Yet, the neural underpinnings of the integration of eye gaze and emotional facial cues are not well understood. The primary aim of this study was to delineate the functional networks that subserve the recognition of emotional expressions as a function of eye gaze. Participants were asked to identify happy, angry, or neutral faces, displayed with direct or averted gaze, while their neural responses were measured with fMRI. The results showed that recognition of happy expressions, irrespective of eye‐gaze direction, engaged the critical nodes of the default mode network. Recognition of angry faces, on the other hand, was gaze‐dependent, engaging the critical nodes of the salience network when presented with direct gaze, but fronto‐parietal areas when presented with averted gaze. Functional connectivity analysis further showed gaze‐dependent engagement of a large‐scale network connected to bilateral amygdala during the recognition of angry expressions. This study provides important insights into the functional connectivity between the amygdala and other critical social‐cognitive brain nodes, which are essential in processing of ambiguous, potentially threatening social signals. These findings have implications for psychiatric disorders, such as post‐traumatic stress disorder, which are characterized by aberrant limbic connectivity.
The Metaphysics of Degrees
Authors: van Woudenberg René , Peels Rik
Published: November 2016

Degree‐sentences, i.e. sentences that seem to refer to things that allow of degrees, are widely used both inside and outside of philosophy, even though the metaphysics of degrees is much of an untrodden field. This paper aims to fill this lacuna by addressing the following four questions: [A] Is there some one thing, such that it is degree sensitive? [B] Are there things x, y, and z that stand in a certain relation to each other, viz. the relation that x has more y than z? [C] In those cases in which degree sentences do not refer to phenomena that are degree sensitive, what is responsible for their prima facie seeming to do so? [D] If there are degree sensitive things, to which ontological categories do they belong? We answer each of these questions by arguing that there are, metaphysically speaking, different phenomena that degree sentences refer to: some refer to determinates that emanate from a certain determinable, others to tokens that are instantiations of a certain type, and yet others to what we call ‘complex, resultant properties that are constituted by stereotypical properties’. Finally, we show the relevance of our answers by applying them to the notions of freedom and belief.