bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Imagining a ‘relational’ painting
Authors: Mlicka Agnieszka
Published: November 2016

This article presents a discussion around the idea of painting as a ‘relational’ practice, which has evolved from the invited correspondence between Catherine Ferguson (as Painter) and Ken Wilder (as Non-Painter), facilitated by Agnieszka Mlicka. Their responses to envisaging such a relational painting reflect distinct artistic practices and philosophical traditions, which diverge and converge throughout the writing. For the Painter, on the one hand, painting becomes relational by virtue of its life and process, as an autopoietic entity in a dynamic relation with its environment. For the Non-Painter, on the other hand, the very terms relational and autopoiesis are treated with suspicion, in that it is argued that any critically inclined collaborative painting must reveal the actualities of the genesis of a work’s spatial and temporal performance. In juxtaposing these two trajectories through the process of co-responding, an analogy is created to the idea of a relational painting practice as a dynamic process of negotiation. The emerging interface generates an energy that has more significance than the notion of a completed or realized work. Reflecting on this collaborative experiment, this article suggests that the creation of an agonistic space for discourse is fundamental to imagining how a relational painting might unfold.
Crossing light
Authors: Wang Suling
Published: November 2016

For this visual essay, Suling Wang’s contribution comprises a series paintings on paper, which are juxtaposed with photographic images of the artist’s native Taiwan, combining gestural mark-making with collage to reflect on themes of cultural identity, location and memory. In particular, notions of abstraction and representation are explored in relation to the changing landscape and the artist’s own personal history of travel and living abroad. The work meditates on the abstraction of the painter’s forms in relation to Chinese landscape painting as well as the role of travel and experience in artistic expression.
‘Making It Mine’: An interview with comics creator Dan McDaid
Authors: Gangnes Madeline B.
Published: November 2016

Dan McDaid is a comics artist and writer who currently lives in Dundee, Scotland. He has worked on projects for Doctor Who Magazine, Dark Horse Comics, Image Comics, DC Comics, BOOM! Studios, and IDW, among others. His most recent projects are Dawn of the Planet of the Apes for BOOM! Studios and Judge Dredd: Mega-City Zero for IDW. I spoke with Dan in Dundee on 28 November 2014 to discuss his career, his artistic and writing influences, and his creative process.
Reviews
Authors: Cook Roy T. , Scheman Naomi , Manchester Ashley , Gomes Ivan Lima
Published: November 2016

The New Mutants: Superheroes and the Radical Imagination of American Comics, Ramzi Fawaz (2016) New York: NYU Press, 368 pp., ISBN: 9781479823086, p/bk, $29

Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference, 22–25 March 2016, Sheraton Hotel Seattle, Seattle, Washington

Mythologies du superhéros: histoire, physiologie, géographie, intermedialité, François-Emmanuel Boucher, Sylvain David and Maxime Prévost (eds) (2014) 1st ed., Liège: Presses Universitaires de Liège, 257 pp., ISBN: 9782875620491, p/bk, €40

La bande dessinée en dissidance/Comics in Dissent, Christophe Dony, Tanguy Habrand and Gert Meesters (eds) (2014) 1st ed., Liège: Presses Universitaires de Liège, 219 pp., ISBN: 9782875620385, p/bk, €36
‘Something Like This Just Couldn’t Happen!’: Resolving naturalistic tensions in superhero comics art
Authors: Gavaler Chris
Published: November 2016

In Action Comics #8, Joe Shuster draws a group of juvenile delinquents as initially adult-like and then child-like in later panels. How are readers to make sense of the visual contradiction? Drawing from comics studies’ interdisciplinary fields – including art criticism, communication, literary criticism, philosophy, and psychology – at least four kinds of explanations are available for resolving the tension: literal, accidental, psychological, and metaphorical. I discuss each and their implications for the problematic role of naturalism in superhero comics in general, analyzing further visual examples from Jack Kirby, Sal Buscema, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Neal Adams. By combining elements of cartoon and abstraction with the narrative necessities of minimal counterintuitivity, superhero comics art is grounded in paradox. Ultimately the genre and form reverses assumptions about the metaphysics of the page and its relationship to its implied reality, culminating in the closure-mirroring reading process of diegetic erasure.
A context for the supercontext: On the function of psychedelics in Grant Morrison’s The Invisibles
Authors: Garlington Ian Stuart
Published: November 2016

Grant Morrison is one of the most prolific and well-known superhero comic writers of all time. He wrote his magnum opus, The Invisibles, as a 59-issue comic book series that was published under DC comics’ Vertigo label from 1994 to 2000. At the end of the narrative humanity supposedly enters into a 5th dimensional space called the ‘Supercontext’, which Morrison has at one point described as ‘everyone peaking on the acid trip that never ends’. This article clarifies and contextualizes the role of psychedelics in Grant Morrison et al.’s The Invisibles. There has been a lack of critical attention regarding the influence of psychedelics in Morrison’s work despite Morrison’s frequent comments regarding their significance in his life and writing. The first section of this article introduces some of the common formal attributes found in prior attempts to express various aspects of the psychedelic experience in the comics medium. The Invisibles is then compared with these, thereby confirming the various functions of psychedelics within the text. The next section goes on to demonstrate The Invisibles’ formal similarities with a largely overlooked influence: Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea’s Illuminatus! trilogy (1984). By examining the way in which Wilson and Shea utilized William Burroughs’s ‘fold-in’ technique in order to attempt to depict a higher dimensional ‘universal consciousness’ through the formal attributes of the text, one can identify an analogous relationship to Morrison’s use of braiding to show readers the perspective of the ‘supercontext’ as a higher-dimension outside time. This relationship is identified in order to finally assert that The Invisibles can be grouped alongside other texts of an emerging genre of fiction characterized by its depictions of consciousness at a future stage of human evolution as envisioned through the author’s psychedelic experiences.
Comics as historical source material: Race, ethnicity and power according to Texas History Movies
Authors: Magnussen Anne
Published: November 2016

Texas History Movies was first published as a comic strip in the Dallas Morning News from 1926 to 1928 after which it was distributed to Texas schools and used as a history textbook until the late 1950s. The collection of 428 comic strips mainly reproduces the dominant historical narrative of the time, with the Anglo Americans as the real Texans and with other ethnic groups (Native Americans, African Americans and Mexican Americans) as historical enemies or counter-images to the Anglo American. However, Texas History Movies also differs from this dominant narrative, and it does so in particular ways due to its combination of media and genres. With Texas History Movies as the example this article discusses how the interaction of narrative conventions, medium-specific characteristics and genre expectations both strengthen and undermine dominant narratives about the past and, in this case also, more particularly, of the ethnic dynamics in the comics’ present. The study of a comic such as Texas History Movies constitutes a relevant contribution to historical research by recognizing comics as historical sources and by suggesting a strategy to study comics as such. With relevance more specifically for comics research, the article shows how it is possible to include a broader historical and media-related context in the study of comics while at the same time maintaining an explicit focus on their medium-specific characteristics.
Wireless waves
Authors: Greenspan Anna
Published: November 2016

This paper explores our increasingly intimate engagement with the electromagnetic spectrum. It does so by focusing on technology’s wireless wave, from radio and telegraphy to the mobile phone (a device that has been adopted throughout the planet faster than has any technology in history), as well as the rise of smart objects, wearables and the Internet of Things. It shows how these technologies communicate in frequencies whose range is beyond our perceptual reach, arguing that the technological revelation of the imperceptible waves within which we are immersed is critical to the futurism at the heart of modernity.
Consciousness reframed: Art and consciousness in the post-biological era
Authors: Mamakos Christina , Stefaneas Petros
Published: November 2016

The senses convey impressions, perceptions and ultimately feelings, from which meaning emerges, revealing a platform where perception and thinking are actually very closely involved. From this perspective, the distance between descriptive, mental (cognitive) meaning and emotive, affective (non-cognitive) meaning shrinks, creating a platform to investigate how meaning is generated by posing the question ‘how does meaning actually make sense?’. This project investigates meaning as derived from the physical nature of our brains, our bodies and our physical experiences. We construct a collaborative dialogue between art and the field of logic, specifically studies of embodied mathematics and computational theory as related to the construction of meaning. Here ideas from modern symbolic logic, such as abstract model theory (i.e. theory of institutions), can provide a suitable framework to explore a theory of meaning.
Decolonizing knowledge: Politics and the aesthetic of ‘We’ human-and-technology
Authors: Cho Hyunkyoung , Luke Timothy W. , Yoon Joonsung
Published: November 2016

This article suggests that the relations of politics and aesthetics in the flexible, mobile, variable collaborations of computational/informational technologies open a new way of being-and-knowing. By linking art, technology and humanity as the understandings of ‘We’ human-and-technology in collaborative actions rooted in interdependent perspective, informational technology recomposes both human identity and technological practices as collaborative fusion between the human and technology. The new identity provoked by such technologies might be called ‘We’ human-and-technology. In this conceptualization of ‘We’ human-and-technology, the coded complexities of informatics technology remix the axes and dimensions of action between politics and the aesthetic. Prior investigations of the relation of politics and the aesthetic in contemporary art are stuck in the binary frame of domination in which ‘Us’ versus ‘Them’ enforces a mutual degradation of the human and technified in thought and action. This approach is criticized here from two perspectives. First, the real disruption of ‘We’ human-and-technology is a reified inversion by a frame of fantasy, using the tolerance tactic. Second, the traditional instrumental understanding of technology sees it only as an instrument for colonization, which is a limited appraisal of all that happens in technological praxes.
Regulations to Supplement Weak Environmental Liability
Authors: Calcott Paul
Published: November 2016

Liability for environmental harm is often capped when precaution meets a minimum requirement and is often applied in conjunction with regulations. The correct setting for such regulations depends on the approach that courts take to evaluating the minimum requirement. It may also depend on which of the minimum requirement and capped liability is the more pressing consideration for the firm. Regulatory design is more straightforward when it is capped liability that is more pressing.
The association between EGFR expression and clinical pathology characteristics in gastric cancer
Authors: Chen Yong , Guo Su-yang , Guo Wei
Published: November 2016

Objective

The aim of this study was to investigate epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression in the gastric cancer tissues and the association of EGFR expression with clinical pathology characteristics.

Methods

We firstly analyzed the copy number alteration of EGFR gene in gastric cancer by utilizing the online TCGA resources. We then gathered 71 cases of gastric cancer patients from February 2010 to February 2015 in our hospital. The cancer tissues and normal gastric tissues were tested for EGFR expression by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining and western blotting methods. The association of EGFR expression with clinical pathology characteristics and the prognosis value of EGFR expression were evaluated by the statistical software.

Results

The copy number of EGFR gene was found to be increased in gastric cancer patients. Western blotting confirmed that EGFR protein was obviously upregulated in tested gastric cancer tissues. Additionally, our IHC results showed that the positive rates of EGFR expression in gastric carcinoid tumors (CTs) and distant normal gastric tissues were 45.1% (32/71) and 25.0% (9/36), respectively. The former was significantly higher than the latter (P < 0.05). The EGFR-positive expression in CTs was related to tumor size, invasion depth, and lymphatic metastasis. The median survival of the EGFR-positive patients was 15.6 months, which was less than that (23.0 months) of the EGFR-negative patients [HR = 2.12, 95%CI: 1.29-4.10 (P < 0.05)]. Also, online survival analysis showed that high expression of EGFR predicted shorter overall survival of gastric cancer patients.

Conclusion

EGFR was highly expressed in gastric cancer tissues and associated with poor prognosis.
The microRNA-200 family: still much to discover
Authors: Senfter Daniel , Madlener Sibylle , Krupitza Georg , Mader Robert M.
Published: November 2016

In the last decade, microRNAs (miRs or miRNAs) became of great interest in cancer research due to their multifunctional and active regulation in a variety of vital cellular processes. In this review, we discuss the miR-200 family, which is composed of five members (miR-141, miR-200a/200b/200c and miR-429). Although being among the best investigated miRNAs in the field, there are still many open issues. Here, we describe the potential role of miR-200 as prognostic and/or predictive biomarker, its influence on motility and cell migration as well as its role in epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and metastasis formation in different tumour types. Recent studies also demonstrated the influence of miR-200 on drug resistance and described a correlation between miR-200 expression levels and overall survival of patients. Despite intense research in this field, the full role of the miR-200 family in cancer progression and metastasis is not completely understood and seems to differ between different tumour types and different cellular backgrounds. To elucidate these differences further, a finer characterisation of the role of the individual miRNA-200 family members is currently under investigation.
Fate of two invasive or potentially invasive alien seaweeds in a central Mediterranean transitional water system: failure and success
Authors: Cecere Ester , Alabiso Giorgio , Carlucci Roberto , Petrocelli Antonella , Verlaque Marc
Published: November 2016

Over the past 15 years, populations of two invasive or potentially invasive alien seaweeds have been studied by means of both quantitative and qualitative methods in the Mar Piccolo basin in Taranto (Southern Italy, Mediterranean Sea). The dynamics of the cold-temperate brown seaweed
Reproductive phenology of the subtropical seagrasses Thalassia testudinum (turtle grass) and Halodule wrightii (shoal grass) in the northwest Gulf of Mexico
Authors: Darnell Kelly M. , Dunton Kenneth H.
Published: November 2016

Seagrass cover is declining worldwide, and successful management, conservation and restoration require a complete understanding of individual species’ life histories. The historically undervalued importance of sexual reproduction in seagrass population dynamics has prompted investigations of reproductive phenology and output. Here, we present the results of a multi-year study examining the reproductive phenology and output of two dominant seagrass species in the northwest Gulf of Mexico,
Serological diagnosis and prognosis of severe acute pancreatitis by analysis of serum glycoprotein 2
Authors: Roggenbuck Dirk , Goihl Alexander , Hanack Katja , Holzlöhner Pamela , Hentschel Christian , Veiczi Miklos , Schierack Peter , Reinhold Dirk , Schulz Hans-Ulrich
Published: November 2016

Background:

Glycoprotein 2 (GP2), the pancreatic major zymogen granule membrane glycoprotein, was reported to be elevated in acute pancreatitis in animal models.

Methods:

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) were developed to evaluate human glycoprotein 2 isoform alpha (GP2a) and total GP2 (GP2t) as specific markers for acute pancreatitis in sera of 153 patients with acute pancreatitis, 26 with chronic pancreatitis, 125 with pancreatic neoplasms, 324 with non-pancreatic neoplasms, 109 patients with liver/biliary disease, 67 with gastrointestinal disease, and 101 healthy subjects. GP2a and GP2t levels were correlated with procalcitonin and C-reactive protein in 152 and 146 follow-up samples of acute pancreatitis patients, respectively.

Results:

The GP2a ELISA revealed a significantly higher assay accuracy in contrast to the GP2t assay (sensitivity ≤3 disease days: 91.7%, specificity: 96.7%, positive likelihood ratio [LR+]: 24.6, LR–: 0.09). GP2a and GP2t levels as well as prevalences were significantly elevated in early acute pancreatitis (≤3 disease days) compared to all control cohorts (p<0.05, respectively). GP2a and GP2t levels were significantly higher in patients with severe acute pancreatitis at admission compared with mild cases (p<0.05, respectively). Odds ratio for GP2a regarding mild vs. severe acute pancreatitis with lethal outcome was 7.8 on admission (p=0.0222). GP2a and GP2t levels were significantly correlated with procalcitonin [Spearman’s rank coefficient of correlation (ρ)=0.21, 0.26; p=0.0110, 0.0012; respectively] and C-reactive protein (ρ=0.37, 0.40; p<0.0001; respectively).

Conclusions:

Serum GP2a is a specific marker of acute pancreatitis and analysis of GP2a can aid in the differential diagnosis of acute upper abdominal pain and prognosis of severe acute pancreatitis.
A generalization of Ore’s theorem on polynomials
Authors: Anashkin Alexander V.
Published: November 2016

Let GF(q) be the field of q elements and Vn
(q) denote the n-dimensional vector space over the field GF(q). The linearized polynomial that corresponds to the polynomial

f
(
x
)
=

x
n

−

∑

i
=
0

n
−
1

c
i

x
i

$f(x) = {x^n} - \sum\limits_{i = 0}^{n - 1} {{c_i}{x^i}} \;$

over the field GF(q) is the polynomial

F
(
x
)
=

x

q
n

−

∑

i
=
0

n
−
1

c
i

x

q
i

$F(x) = {x^{{q^n}}} - \sum\limits_{i = 0}^{n - 1} {{c_i}{x^{{q^i}}}}$

. Let Tf
denote the transformation of the vector space Vn
(q) determined by the rule

T
f

(

u
0

,
.
.
.
,

u

n
−
2

,

u

n
−
1

)

=
(

u
1

,
.
.
.
,

u

n
−
1

,

∑

i
=
0

n
−
1

c
i

u
i

)

${T_f}\left( {({u_0},...,{u_{n - 2}},{u_{n - 1}})} \right) = ({u_1},...,{u_{n - 1}},\sum\limits_{i = 0}^{n - 1} {{c_i}{u_i}} )$

. It is shown that if c
0 ≠ 0, then the graph of the transformation Tf
is isomorphic to the graph of the transformation Q: α → αq
on the set of all roots of the polynomial F(x) in its splitting field. In this case the graph of the transformation Tf
consists of cycles of lengths 1 ≤ d
1 ≤ d
2 ≤ ... ≤ dr
if and only if the polynomial F(x) is the product of r + 1 irreducible factors of degrees 1, d
1, d
2, ... dr
.
Perception of primary school teachers to school children’s mental health problems in Southwest Ethiopia
Authors: Kerebih Habtamu , Abrha Hailay , Frank Reiner , Abera Mubarek
Published: November 2016

Background:

Teachers perception of child mental health problems and their attitude to school-based mental health services helps in designing early intervention strategies aimed at promoting the service. However, little is known in this regard among primary school teachers in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study assessed perceptions and attitude of primary school teachers to child mental health problem and school-based mental health programs in Jimma town, southwest Ethiopia in 2013.

Methods:

A cross-sectional study design was implemented among 568 primary school teachers in Jimma town, from 1 to 30 October 2013. Perceptions and attitude of teachers to children with mental health problems and school mental health related information were assessed using a structured self- administered questionnaire.

Results:

About 40% of teachers recognized the list of psychopathology items presented to them as child mental health problems while 54.4% of them rated child mental health problem as severe. Externalizing behaviors were perceived as the most severe problems. Teaching experience and teaching in public schools were significantly associated with the perception of severe type of child mental health problems. About 95% of teachers acknowledged that school-based mental health programs are important but limited availability was reported.

Conclusion:

Despite the high problem severity ratings, teachers’ perception of the psychopathology as a mental health problem in children was low. There was also a favorable attitude on the importance and the need of school-based child mental health programs. Thus, creating mental health awareness for teachers and establishing school mental health services to intervene in child mental health problem is crucial.
Backward Bifurcation in a Fractional-Order SIRS Epidemic Model with a Nonlinear Incidence Rate
Authors: Yousef A. M. , Salman S. M.
Published: November 2016

In this work we study a fractional-order susceptible-infective-recovered-susceptible (SIRS) epidemic model with a nonlinear incidence rate. The incidence is assumed to be a convex function with respect to the infective class of a host population. Local and uniform stability analysis of the disease-free equilibrium is investigated. The conditions for the existence of endemic equilibria (EE) are given. Local stability of the EE is discussed. Conditions for the existence of Hopf bifurcation at the EE are given. Most importantly, conditions ensuring that the system exhibits backward bifurcation are provided. Numerical simulations are performed to verify the correctness of results obtained analytically.
Data-Adaptive Causal Effects and Superefficiency
Authors: Aronow Peter M.
Published: November 2016

Recent approaches in causal inference have proposed estimating average causal effects that are local to some subpopulation, often for reasons of efficiency. These inferential targets are sometimes data-adaptive, in that they are dependent on the empirical distribution of the data. In this short note, we show that if researchers are willing to adapt the inferential target on the basis of efficiency, then extraordinary gains in precision can potentially be obtained. Specifically, when causal effects are heterogeneous, any asymptotically normal and root-

n

$n$

consistent estimator of the population average causal effect is superefficient for a data-adaptive local average causal effect.
No association between ITGAV rs3738919 and rs3768777 polymorphisms and rheumatoid arthritis susceptibility in Iranian population
Authors: Fallah Abbas-Ali , Morovvati Saeid , Ahmadi Kazem , Hossein Alishiri Gholam , Fasihi-Ramandi Mahdi
Published: November 2016

Background:

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by angiogenesis, cell proliferation and bone and cartilage damage in the affected joint. Many genetic and environmental factors contribute to RA susceptibility. ITGAV is a member of the integrin family, which plays a major role in bone destruction, angiogenesis and macrophage-dependent inflammation and has been suggested that it may be an RA susceptibility gene. In this study, we investigated association of two single nucleotide polymorphisms in ITGAV (rs3738919 and rs3768777) with susceptibility to RA.

Methods:

Iranian patients with confirmed RA, aged over 50 years, were compared with healthy controls for allelic and genotypic frequencies of these polymorphisms. The subjects and controls were matched through their race, age and sex. After whole genome extraction, we compared genotype frequencies of analyzed alleles in RA patients and controls using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. Association of rs3738919 and rs3768777 with RA was tested in these two sample sets using the χ2-test.

Results:

Statistical analysis indicated no association between RA and rs3738919 allele frequencies (C and A alleles), single genotype frequencies (AA, AC, CC) and combined genotype frequencies of (AC+CC vs. AA). We also found no evidence of association between rs3768777 SNP allele frequencies, single genotype frequencies and combined genotype frequencies and RA susceptibility.

Conclusions:

This study did not find any association between RA and ITGAV rs3738919 and rs3768777 polymorphisms in Iranian patients. However, this finding is not conclusive due to the limited sample size. A subsequent study with a larger sample size is recommended.
Effect of supplementary feeding on the social behaviour and distribution patterns of free-ranging southern white rhinoceros
Authors: Cinková Ivana , Ganslosser Udo , Kretzschmar Petra
Published: November 2016

An increasing number of free-ranging southern white rhinos (
Crystal structure of tripropylammonium 2′-carboxy-[1,1′-biphenyl]-2-carboxylate – [1,1′-biphenyl]-2,2′-dicarboxylic acid (2/1), C60H72N2O12
Authors: Wu Xiangxiang , Zai Yanbing
Published: November 2016

C60H72N2O12, triclinic, P1 (no. 1), a = 9.6569(4) Å, b = 10.9361(4) Å, c = 13.8551(6) Å, α = 113.198(3)°, β = 95.632(4)°, γ = 91.114(3)°, V = 1335.72(9) Å3, Z = 1, R
gt(F) = 0.0512, wR
ref(F
2) = 0.1380, T = 150(2) K.
Recent developments in the use of nanoparticles for treatment of biofilms
Authors: Han Chendong , Romero Nicholas , Fischer Stephen , Dookran Julia , Berger Aaron , Doiron Amber L.
Published: November 2016

Chronic infections have posed a tremendous burden on health care systems worldwide. Approximately 60% of chronic infections are estimated to be related to biofilms, in large part due to the extraordinary antibiotic resistance of biofilm bacteria. Nanoparticle (NP)-based therapies are viable approaches to treat biofilm-associated infections due to NPs’ unique chemical and physical properties, granted by their high surface area to volume ratio. The mechanism underlying the anti-biofilm activity of various types of NPs is actively under investigation. Simply comparing biofilm disruption or reduction rates is not adequate to describe the effectiveness of NPs; many other factors need to be taken into account, such as the NP type, bacterial strain, concentration of NPs, quantification methods, and the biofilm culture environment. This review focuses on recent research on the creation, characterization, and evaluation of NPs for the prevention or treatment of biofilm infections.
Nanodiscs and solution NMR: preparation, application and challenges
Authors: Puthenveetil Robbins , Nguyen Khiem , Vinogradova Olga
Published: November 2016

Nanodiscs provide an excellent system for the structure-function investigation of membrane proteins. Its direct advantage lies in presenting a water-soluble form of an otherwise hydrophobic molecule, making it amenable to a plethora of solution techniques. Nuclear magnetic resonance is one such high-resolution approach that looks at the structure and dynamics of a protein with atomic level precision. Recently, there has been a breakthrough in making nanodiscs more susceptible for structure determination by solution NMR, yet it still remains to become the preferred choice for a membrane mimetic. In this practical review, we provide a general discourse on nanodisc and its application to solution NMR. We also offer potential solutions to remediate the technical challenges associated with nanodisc preparation and the choice of proper experimental set-ups. Along with discussing several structural applications, we demonstrate an alternative use of nanodiscs for functional studies, where we investigated the phosphorylation of a cell surface receptor, integrin. This is the first successful manifestation of observing activated receptor phosphorylation in nanodisc through NMR. We additionally present an on-column method for nanodisc preparation with multiple strategies and discuss the potential use of alternative nanoscale phospholipid bilayer systems like styrene maleic acid lipid disc and saposin-A lipoprotein disc.
Nanodisc characterization by analytical ultracentrifugation
Authors: Inagaki Sayaka , Ghirlando Rodolfo
Published: November 2016

Due to their unique properties, tunable size, and ability to provide a near native lipid environment, nanodiscs have found widespread use for the structural and functional studies of reconstituted membrane proteins. They have also been developed, albeit in a few applications, for therapeutic and biomedical use. For these studies and applications, it is essential to characterize the nanodisc preparations in terms of their monodispersity, size, and composition, as these can influence the properties of the membrane protein of interest. Of the many biophysical methods utilized for the study and characterization of nanodiscs, we show that analytical ultracentrifugation is able to report on sample homogeneity, shape, size, composition, and membrane protein stoichiometry or oligomerization state in a direct and simple fashion. The method is truly versatile and does not require nanodisc modification or disassembly.
Outcome of severe infections in afebrile neutropenic cancer patients
Authors: Strojnik Ksenija , Mahkovic-Hergouth Ksenija , Novakovic Barbara Jezersek , Seruga Bostjan
Published: November 2016

Background

In some neutropenic cancer patients fever may be absent despite microbiologically and/or clinically confirmed infection. We hypothesized that afebrile neutropenic cancer patients with severe infections have worse outcome as compared to cancer patients with febrile neutropenia.

Patients and methods

We retrospectively analyzed all adult cancer patients with chemotherapy-induced neutropenia and severe infection, who were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at our cancer center between 2000 and 2011. The outcome of interest was 30-day in-hospital mortality rate. Association between the febrile status and in-hospital mortality rate was evaluated by the Fisher’s exact test.

Results

We identified 69 episodes of severe neutropenic infections in 65 cancer patients. Among these, 9 (13%) episodes were afebrile. Patients with afebrile neutropenic infection presented with hypotension, severe fatigue with inappetence, shaking chills, altered mental state or cough and all of them eventually deteriorated to severe sepsis or septic shock. Overall 30-day in-hospital mortality rate was 55.1%. Patients with afebrile neutropenic infection had a trend for a higher 30-day in-hospital mortality rate as compared to patients with febrile neutropenic infection (78% vs. 52%, p = 0.17).

Conclusions

Afebrile cancer patients with chemotherapy-induced neutropenia and severe infections might have worse outcome as compared to cancer patients with febrile neutropenia. Patients should be informed that severe neutropenic infection without fever can occasionally occur during cancer treatment with chemotherapy.
The ratio of weight loss to planning target volume significantly impacts setup errors in nasopharyngeal cancer patients undergoing helical tomotherapy with daily megavoltage computed tomography
Authors: Hou Wei-Hsien , Wang Chun-Wei , Tsai Chiao-Ling , Hsu Feng-Ming , Cheng Jason Chia-Hsien
Published: November 2016

Background

Changes in head and neck anatomy during radiation therapy (RT) produce setup uncertainties of nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) irradiation. We retrospectively analyzed image guidance data to identify clinical predictors of setup errors.

Patients and methods

The data of 217 NPC patients undergoing definitive RT on a helical tomotherapy (HT) unit were analyzed. Factors including tumor stage, body mass index, weight loss, and planning target volume (PTV) were assessed as predictors of daily megavoltage computed tomography (MVCT) setup displacements, which were automatically registered using software.

Results

Mean daily setup displacements (in mm) were 1.2 ± 0.6, 1.8 ± 0.8, 3.4 ± 1.4 in the medial-lateral (ML), superior-inferior (SI), and anterior-posterior (AP) directions, respectively. Mean weight loss was 4.6 ± 3.3 kg (6.8 ± 4.9%). Patients with weight loss > 5% had significantly larger setup displacements in the AP (3.6 ± 1.5 vs. 2.9 ± 1.1 mm, p < 0.001) and SI (1.6 ± 0.7 vs. 1.9 ± 0.9 mm, p = 0.01) direction, but not in the ML direction (p = 0.279). The AP setup error increased 0.06 mm (y = 0.055x + 2.927, x: percentage of weight loss/PTV, y: AP displacement) per one percent increase in weight loss normalized to PTV.

Conclusions

Patients with weight loss > 5% and smaller PTVs, possibly because of small body frame or neck girth, were more likely to have increased setup errors in the AP direction.
A review of electrocoagulation technology for the treatment of textile wastewater
Authors: Naje Ahmed Samir , Chelliapan Shreeshivadasan , Zakaria Zuriati , Ajeel Mohammed A. , Alaba Peter Adeniyi
Published: November 2016

The conventional coagulation technique of textile wastewater treatments is plagued with the issue of low removal rate of pollutants and generation of a large quantity of sludge. Recently, electrocoagulation (EC) technique gained immense attention due to its efficiency. The technique involves dissolution of the sacrificial anodes to provide an active metal hydroxide as a strong coagulant that destabilizes and amasses particles and then removes them by precipitation or adsorption. EC process is influenced by operating parameters such as applied current density, electrodes material and configuration, type of electrical connection, pH and conductivity of the solution, and mixing state. Consequently, this work reviewed the major and minor reactions of EC process with operational parameters, design of EC cell, mass transfer studies and modeling, and industrial wastewater applications. The work also includes comparison of EC technique with conventional coagulation and combinations with other techniques. Special emphasis is on removal of pollutants from textile wastewater. Further, the electrical energy supplies and cost analysis are also discussed. Even though several publications have covered EC process recently, no review work has treated the systematic process design and how to minimize the effect of passivation layer deposited on the surface of the electrodes. EC process with rotating electrodes has been recommended to reduce this phenomenon. The effect of electrodes geometry is considered to enhance the conductivity of the cell and reduce energy consumption. The studies of ionic mass transfer were not implemented before special by limiting current method during the EC process. Moreover, no aforementioned studies used computational fluid dynamics modeling to present the mass transfer inside the EC reactor.
Lung function and dust in climbing halls: two pilot studies
Authors: Moshammer Hanns , Shahraki Shifra , Mondel Thomas , Gebhart Patrik
Published: November 2016

In climbing halls, high levels of dust are found because magnesia powder is used to dry hands. Concerns have been raised about possible health effects after reports from asthmatics experiencing worsening of symptoms while or after climbing. We investigated acute and sub-acute effects of climbing in dusty halls on lung function in two pilot studies. The first study examined 109 climbers before and after a climbing activity that lasted at least 1 h. In the second study, 25 climbers from different age classes participated in a 2-day climbing competition. Of these, 24 agreed to take part in our investigation, but only 22 provided valid lung function tests on both days. The climbers underwent lung function tests before the first round of the competition (in the morning), after the second round approximately 3 h later and in the morning of the second day before the competition started again. In the first study, we found acute effects, a decline in lung function immediately after the exposure, likely due to protective reflexes of the bronchial muscles and stronger declines in persons with higher exhaled nitric oxide (NO) pre-climbing. In the second study, we also expected sub-acute effects on the next day due to inflammation. On the first day of the competition (second study), dust levels at a central monitor increased over time in a linear manner. Most of the dust was in the size range between 2.5 and 10 μm and dust levels of particulate matter (PM10) reached 0.5 mg/m3. There was a decline in lung function over 24 h in persons with higher exhaled NO levels pre-exposure. All spirometric parameters were affected though the effects were not statistically significant in all cases. Younger age classes started earlier in the morning. Because of the increasing trend in dust levels we expected stronger effects with higher numbers but for the acute effects the reverse was true, possibly because younger climbers use magnesia more or with less experience thus causing higher individual exposure. No differences by age or by time of the first climb were observed for the 24-h lung function change.
Motor als Sensor – Ein modellbasierter Ansatz für die Zustandsüberwachung elektromagnetischer Antriebe
Authors: Nienhaus Matthias , Grasso Emanuele , Kleen Stephan
Published: November 2016

Sensorlose Ansteuerverfahren

Strothmann, R.: Device and method for determining the rotational position of a rotor in an electric machine, US Patent 2009/0278485A1, Nov. 12, 2009; Schroedl, M.: Sensorless control of AC machines at low speed and standstill based on the INFORM method, in Proc. 1996 IEEE Conf. IAS, pp. 270–277; Holtz, J.: Developments in Sensorless AC Drive Technology, International Conference on Power Electronics and Drives Systems, pp. 9–16, ISBN 0-7803-9296-5, 2005; Thiemann, C., Mantala, C., Hördler, J., Trautmann, A., Groppe, D., Strothmann, R., Zhou, E.: New Sensorless Rotor Position Detection Technique of PMSM Based on Direct Flux Control, Proc. of the 2011 International Conference on Power Engineering, Energy and Electrical Drives, pp. 24-29, ISBN 978-1-4244- 9845-1, 2011; Nienhaus, M., Strothmann, R.: Sensorloses Ansteuerverfahren für elektronisch kommutierte Elektromotoren basierend auf der Rotorlageabhängigkeit der Stranginduktivitäten. SPS Drives. Nürnberg, 2014; Grasso, E., Kanapari, E., Nienhaus, M.: Analysis of Direct Flux Observation for field oriented control PMSM. Innovative Klein- und Mikroantriebstechnik (IKMT 2015) & IEEE Xplore, Köln, Germany, September 2015.

für elektromagnetische Antriebe dienen vordringlich der Einsparung komplexitätssteigernder Rotorlagesensoren. Einzelne
Verfahren ermöglichen es, neben der Rotorlagebestimmung auch auf weitere Zustandsgrößen und Parameter des Antriebssystems
zu schließen. Nachfolgend wird ein Verfahren vorgestellt, das einen Positionierbetrieb vom Motorstillstand bis hin zu
höchsten Drehzahlen unter anderem für bürstenlose Gleichstrommotoren (BLDC-Motoren) und permanenterregte Synchronmaschinen
(PMSM) in Sternschaltung erlaubt. Neben der präzisen Rotorlageerkennung kann dieses Verfahren weitere
Zustandsinformationen zum Antrieb liefern, ohne dass es dafür separater Sensoren bedarf. Der Motor selber wird so zu einem
multifunktionalen Sensor
erweitert.
Cortical function in Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia
Authors: Wang Pan , Zhang Huihong , Han Lu , Zhou Yuying
Published: November 2016

Objectives

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) are the most common causes of dementia; however, their overlapping clinical syndromes and involved brain regions make a differential diagnosis difficult. We aimed to identify the differences in the cognition and motor cortex excitability between AD and bvFTD patients.

Methods

Twenty-seven AD patients and 30 bvFTD patients were included in the study. Each participant received a neurological evaluation. Cognitive event-related potentials (P300) were recorded during an auditory oddball task. Next, the excitability of the motor cortex, including the resting, facilitated motor threshold (RMT and FMT) and cortical silent period (CSP), were assessed during transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).

Results

The bvFTD patients exhibited significantly longer P300 latencies compared with AD patients. There was a significant negative correlation between cognition and P300 latency in the bvFTD group. The AD patients showed significantly reduced RMT and FMT values compared to the bvFTD group; however, no significant correlation was found between AD severity and the excitability of the motor cortex.

Conclusions

Cognition and motor cortical functions are different between AD and bvFTD patients. Noninvasive electrophysiological examinations have the potential to identify unique pathophysiological features that can be used to differentially diagnose AD and bvFTD patients.
More than a mere sequence: predictive processing of wh-dependencies in early bilinguals
Authors: Kljajevic Vanja
Published: November 2016

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether early bilingual Basque-Spanish speakers, who acquired Spanish by the age of 5, comprehend Spanish wh-dependences as effortlessly as native Spanish speakers. Given that Basque and Spanish are structurally different languages, we hypothesized that predictive processing strategies from the first language (L1) would interfere with predictive processing strategies in the second language (L2). More specifically, since Basque overtly marks the semantic role of agent/subject position, whereas Spanish overtly marks the role of patient/object position, we looked at whether the difference in overt marking of semantic roles would affect comprehension of subject vs. object quien “who” and qué “which” direct and embedded questions as well as subject vs. object relative clauses introduced by qué. The main finding of the study is that overall early Basque-Spanish bilinguals needed more time for the comprehension of wh-dependencies in Spanish compared to native Spanish speakers, as indicated by statistically significant group differences in response times in 9 out of 10 conditions. The results of this exploratory study indicate that a difference in overt marking of semantic roles between the two languages affects the ease of processing of Spanish wh-dependencies in early Basque-Spanish bilinguals, interfering with their ability to make native-like predictions in L2.
Small RNA interactome of pathogenic E. coli revealed through crosslinking of RNase E
Authors: Waters Shafagh A , McAteer Sean P , Kudla Grzegorz , Pang Ignatius , Deshpande Nandan P , Amos Timothy G , Leong Kai Wen , Wilkins Marc R , Strugnell Richard , Gally David L , Tollervey David , Tree Jai J
Published: November 2016

RNA sequencing studies have identified hundreds of non‐coding RNAs in bacteria, including regulatory small RNA (sRNA). However, our understanding of sRNA function has lagged behind their identification due to a lack of tools for the high‐throughput analysis of RNA–RNA interactions in bacteria. Here we demonstrate that in vivo sRNA–mRNA duplexes can be recovered using UV‐crosslinking, ligation and sequencing of hybrids (CLASH). Many sRNAs recruit the endoribonuclease, RNase E, to facilitate processing of mRNAs. We were able to recover base‐paired sRNA–mRNA duplexes in association with RNase E, allowing proximity‐dependent ligation and sequencing of cognate sRNA–mRNA pairs as chimeric reads. We verified that this approach captures bona fide sRNA–mRNA interactions. Clustering analyses identified novel sRNA seed regions and sets of potentially co‐regulated target mRNAs. We identified multiple mRNA targets for the pathotype‐specific sRNA Esr41, which was shown to regulate colicin sensitivity and iron transport in E. coli. Numerous sRNA interactions were also identified with non‐coding RNAs, including sRNAs and tRNAs, demonstrating the high complexity of the sRNA interactome.
Istraživanje zadovoljstva korisnika u knjižnici Filozofskog fakulteta u Osijeku − uspijevamo li ih zadovoljiti?
Authors: Petr Balog Kornelija , Gašo Gordana
Published: November 2016

Knjižnica Filozofskog fakulteta u Osijeku svojim je poslovanjem i strateškim dokumentima jasno naglasila svoju orijentaciju na unapređivanje kvalitete svoga poslovanja. S tim u vezi obvezala se i na kontinuirano istraživanje zadovoljstva svojih korisnika koje se provodi svake tri godine. U ovom se radu prikazuju usporedni rezultati istraživanja zadovoljstva korisnika Knjižnicom Filozofskog fakulteta u Osijeku provedenih u ak. god. 2009./2010. i 2012./2013. Rezultati pokazuju kako Knjižnica uspijeva održati razinu zadovoljstva svojih korisnika.
Audiograđa kao dio zavičajne zbirke u narodnoj knjižnici – studija slučaja radijskih emisija Ivana Hermana
Authors: Batur Monika , Barbarić Ana
Published: November 2016

Rad prikazuje i analizira zakonske i podzakonske akte te standarde, smjernice i pravilnike knjižničarske struke koji se odnose na osnivanje i izgradnju zavičajne zbirke u narodnoj knjižnici. Također, komentiraju se i hrvatski zakoni o elektroničkim medijima i o autorskom pravu jer rad sadržava i studiju slučaja koja se bavi audiograđom, i to onom koja nastaje kao dio radijskoga programa lokalne radijske stanice, a ima visoku odliku zavičajnosti prema kojoj pripada zavičajnoj zbirci. S obzirom na to da takva vrsta građe nije izravno regulirana zakonskim propisima, rad donosi prijedloge rješenja takvih slučaja u korist obogaćivanja fonda zavičajne zbirke narodne knjižnice. Studija slučaja prikazuje sudbinu radijskih emisija Ivana Hermana U četiri ćoška koje su se emitirale na Hrvatskom radiju Županji.Rad prikazuje i analizira zakonske i podzakonske akte te standarde, smjernice i pravilnike knjižničarske struke koji se odnose na osnivanje i izgradnju zavičajne zbirke u narodnoj knjižnici. Također, komentiraju se i hrvatski zakoni o elektroničkim medijima i o autorskom pravu jer rad sadržava i studiju slučaja koja se bavi audiograđom, i to onom koja nastaje kao dio radijskoga programa lokalne radijske stanice, a ima visoku odliku zavičajnosti prema kojoj pripada zavičajnoj zbirci. S obzirom na to da takva vrsta građe nije izravno regulirana zakonskim propisima, rad predstavlja polazište u rješavanju takvih slučaja u korist obogaćivanja fonda zavičajne zbirke narodne knjižnice. Studija slučaja prikazuje sudbinu radijskih emisija Ivana Hermana U četiri ćoška koje su se emitirale na Hrvatskom radiju Županji.