bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Numerical simulation of collision between two droplets in the T-shaped microchannel with lattice Boltzmann method
Authors: Merdasi Arshia , Ebrahimi Saman , Moosavi Ali , Shafii Mohammad Behshad , Kowsary Farshad
Published: November 2016

In this study, the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) is used to investigate the deformation of two droplets within microfluidic T-junctions (MFTD). In order to increase the accuracy the two immiscible fluids are modeled using the He-Chen-Zhang model. First, this model is applied to ensure that the surface tension effect existing between the droplets and the continuous fluid is properly implemented in the model. Then the collision and merging of the two droplets within the intersection of a T-shaped microchannel is investigated. For generating droplet formation the effects of relevant dimensionless parameters such as the Reynolds, the Weber numbers as well as a collision parameter affecting the two droplets during their motion and deformation are studied. It is found that by increasing the relative velocities of the inlet flows and droplet sizes, the deformation of the two droplets increases significantly. Our results also show that when the surface tension increases, it takes less time for the droplets to collide each other. Therefore, the droplet formation in MFTD depends significantly on the droplet size, inlet velocity as well as surface tension. Finally, we successfully investigated a two-phase flow streaming energy conversion system associated with droplet coalescence. The apprehension of fundamental physics of the droplet formation is useful for many applications including, stem cell phenotypes, cell transplantation and drug delivery in biomedical applications.
Polarization- and frequency-tunable microwave circuit for selective excitation of nitrogen-vacancy spins in diamond
Authors: Herrmann Johannes , Appleton Marc A. , Sasaki Kento , Monnai Yasuaki , Teraji Tokuyuki , Itoh Kohei M. , Abe Eisuke
Published: November 2016

We report on a planar microwave resonator providing arbitrarily polarized oscillating magnetic fields that enable selective excitation of the electronic spins of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. The polarization plane is parallel to the surface of diamond, which makes the resonator fully compatible with (111)-oriented diamond. The field distribution is spatially uniform in a circular area with a diameter of 4 mm, and a near-perfect circular polarization is achieved. We also demonstrate that the original resonance frequency of 2.8 GHz can be varied in the range of 2–3.2 GHz by introducing varactor diodes that serve as variable capacitors.
Acoustic total transmission and additional modes in the metamaterials embedded with defects
Authors: Ding Erliang , Wang Yangyang , Liu Xiaozhou , Li Yifeng
Published: November 2016

Total reflection or transmission of waves has been explored extensively in different types of zero-index metamaterials (ZIMs). Almost all previous studies have shown that only monopole modes are excited inside the defects if they are cylindrical. However, the underlying physics for excited modes inside defects is wrongly ignored. In this work, we reveal that there is not only a monopole mode but also additional higher modes excited inside cylindrical defects by a system of two-dimensional waveguides. Actually, the total acoustic transmission and additional higher modes can occur simultaneously in a ZIM waveguide embedded with defects. We reveal the physical mechanism of excited higher modes, which will perfect the current perception of the excited modes in the acoustic metamaterials inside defects. Moreover, numerical simulations are carried out to demonstrate our finding concerning the additional modes.
Exploring interhospital transfers and partnerships in the hospital sector in New South Wales, Australia
Authors: Assareh Hassan , Achat Helen M. , Levesque Jean-Frederic , Leeder Stephen R.
Published: November 2016

Objective The aim of the present study was to explore characteristics of interhospital transfers (IHT) and sharing of care among hospitals in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Methods Data were extracted from patient-level linked hospital administrative datasets for separations from all NSW acute care hospitals from 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2015. Patient discharge and arrival information was used to identify IHTs. Characteristics of patients and related hospitals were then analysed. Results Transfer-in patients accounted for 3.9% of all NSW admitted patients and, overall, 7.3% of NSW admissions were associated with transfers (IHT rate). Patients with injuries and circulatory system diseases had the highest IHT rate, accounting for one-third of all IHTs. Patients were more often transferred to larger than smaller hospitals (61% vs 29%). Compared with private hospitals, public hospitals had a higher IHT rate (8.4% vs 5.1%) and a greater proportion of transfer-out IHTs (52% vs 28%). Larger public hospitals had lower IHT rates (3–8%) compared with smaller public hospitals (13–26%). Larger public hospitals received and retransferred higher proportions of IHT patients (52–58% and 11% respectively) than their smaller counterparts (26–30% and 2–3% respectively). Less than one-quarter of IHTs were between the public and private sectors or between government health regions. The number of interacting hospitals and their interactions varied across hospital peer groups. Conclusion NSW IHTs were often to hospitals with greater speciality services. The patterns of interhospital interactions could be affected by organisational and regional preferences. What is known about the topic? IHTs aim to provide efficient and effective care. Nonetheless, information on transfers and the sharing of care among hospitals in an Australian setting is lacking. Studies of transfers and hospital partnership patterns will inform efforts to improve patient-centred transfers and hospital accountability in terms of end outcomes for patients. What does this paper add? Transfer-in patients accounted for 3.9% of all NSW admissions; they were often (61%) transferred to hospitals with greater speciality services. The number of IHTs and sharing of care among hospitals varied across hospital peer groups, and could have been affected by organisational and regional preferences. What are the implications for practitioners? The findings of the present study suggest that different patterns of IHTs may not only have resulted from clinical priorities, but that organisational and regional preferences are also likely to be influential factors. Patient-centred IHTs and the development of guidelines need to be pursued to enhance the care and functionality of healthcare. Patient sharing should be acknowledged in hospital and regional performance profiling.
Acceptability of alcohol supply to children – associations with adults’ own age of initiation and social norms
Authors: Gilligan Conor , Ward Bernadette , Kippen Rebecca , Buykx Penny , Chapman Kathy
Published: November 2016

Issue addressed

The aim of this study was to investigate predictors of adults’ perceived acceptability of introducing alcohol to children less than 18 years of age.

Methods

An online survey. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine the association between demographic characteristics, alcohol consumption, and social norms and adults’ own age of initiation.

Results

Alcohol consumption, age of initiation and perception of the acceptability of drunkenness were all correlated with the acceptability of introducing children to alcohol. The strongest predictor was adults’ own age of initiation.

Conclusions

Adults who began drinking before the age of 18, and those who drink more heavily, are more likely to perceive the provision of alcohol to children as acceptable.

So what?

Policy and research should continue to focus on and monitor efforts to delay adolescent alcohol initiation and reduce consumption levels among adults. A shift in awareness and perceptions about alcohol use among adults has the potential to influence initiation and heavy drinking among adolescents.
The correlations and sequence of plant stomatal, hydraulic, and wilting responses to drought
Authors: Bartlett Megan K. , Klein Tamir , Jansen Steven , Choat Brendan , Sack Lawren
Published: November 2016

Significance

Many plant species face increasing drought under climate change, making plant drought tolerance integral to predicting species and ecosystem responses. Many physiology traits interact to determine overall drought tolerance, but trait relationships have not been assessed for general patterns across global plant diversity. We analyzed stomatal, hydraulic, and mesophyll drought tolerance traits for 310 species from ecosystems worldwide. We evaluated the sequence of drought responses for plants under increasing water stress, and showed that coselection with environmental water stress drives most trait correlations across species, with functional coordination additionally important for some relationships. These results provide insight into how variation in multiple traits should be represented within plants and across species in models of plant responses to drought.
Practice improves peri-saccadic shape judgment but does not diminish target mislocalization
Authors: Porat Yuval , Zohary Ehud
Published: November 2016

Significance

Visual sensitivity is markedly reduced during saccades, and peri-saccadic stimuli are misperceived as being closer to the saccade target. We show here that peri-saccadic shape discrimination improves significantly with practice. Unlike classical training paradigms that lead to better performance despite external masking, this perceptual learning occurs in the presence of natural, self-induced masking due to the eye movement (i.e., saccadic suppression). Improvement is generalized across saccade direction and stimulus location but is specific to the stimulus type and task. In contrast, stimulus mislocalization remains as pronounced. Thus, the representation of stimulus position probably involves an obligatory process triggered by the upcoming saccade. The results point to a dissociation between shape and location representations of peri-saccadic stimuli.
FEF inactivation with improved optogenetic methods
Authors: Acker Leah , Pino Erica N. , Boyden Edward S. , Desimone Robert
Published: November 2016

Significance

The frontal eye field (FEF) is critical for making eye movements to remembered locations. FEF neurons increase their firing rate in response to seeing a target, to remembering the target location during a delay period, and to planning eye movements to the location. Conventional tools do not allow us to determine what aspects of FEF neuronal activity (i.e., visual, delay, motor) are critical for memory-guided eye movements, so we developed optogenetic tools to inactivate FEF neurons during each task epoch individually. We found that all aspects of FEF firing contribute to behavior. Further, we present tools that inactivate large enough brain volumes for optogenetics to be widely used in primate neuroscience and, potentially, human medicine.
SNARE-mediated membrane fusion trajectories derived from force-clamp experiments
Authors: Oelkers Marieelen , Witt Hannes , Halder Partho , Jahn Reinhard , Janshoff Andreas
Published: November 2016

Significance

Fusion of membranes plays an important role in many biological processes such as vesicle trafficking and viral infection. However, without assistance from specialized proteins such as SNAREs the energy barriers associated with merging of two bilayers are too high to achieve fast kinetics as required for the release of neurotransmitters. We devised a method based on colloidal probe microscopy that allows monitoring the distance of two membranes at a defined contact pressure, providing access to the lifetime of intermediate states of fusion. Changing the contact pressure gives access to the energy landscape and kinetic rates of fusion in the presence of neuronal SNARE proteins. This allows one to explore fusion pathways as a function of molecular composition and environmental cues.
Critical role of ATP-induced ATP release for Ca
2+
signaling in nonsensory cell networks of the developing cochlea
Authors: Ceriani Federico , Pozzan Tullio , Mammano Fabio
Published: November 2016

Significance

This study dissects the mechanisms underlying the occurrence of ATP- and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP
3
)-dependent intracellular cytosolic free calcium concentration [Ca
2+
]
c
oscillations and intercellular Ca
2+
waves in the syncytium formed by nonsensory cells in the postnatal mouse cochlea. The findings are significant with regard to development of the cochlear sensory epithelium, injury signaling in the cochlea, and pathophysiology around connexinopathies that dominate prelingual deafness. On a broader frame, this work provides an accurate, quantitative description of the mode of propagation of extracellular ATP-mediated paracrine signaling in epithelial cells. Critically, the modeling brings together a synthesis of quantitative data on the key elements concerning the signaling molecules (ATP and IP
3
) and propagation mechanisms from a broad range of prior work.
Predicting item difficulty of science national curriculum tests: the case of key stage 2 assessments
Authors: El Masri Yasmine H. , Ferrara Steve , Foltz Peter W. , Baird Jo-Anne
Published: November 2016

Predicting item difficulty is highly important in education for both teachers and item writers. Despite identifying a large number of explanatory variables, predicting item difficulty remains a challenge in educational assessment with empirical attempts rarely exceeding 25% of variance explained.

This paper analyses 216 science items of key stage 2 tests which are national sampling assessments administered to 11 year olds in England. Potential predictors (topic, subtopic, concept, question type, nature of stimulus, depth of knowledge and linguistic variables) were considered in the analysis. Coding frameworks employed in similar studies were adapted and employed by two coders to independently rate items. Linguistic demands were gauged using a computational linguistic facility. The stepwise regression models predicted 23% of the variance with extended constructed questions and photos being the main predictors of item difficulty.

While a substantial part of unexplained variance could be attributed to the unpredictable interaction of variables, we argue that progress in this area requires improvement in the theories and the methods employed. Future research needs to be centred on improving coding frameworks as well as developing systematic training protocols for coders. These technical advances would pave the way to improved task design and reduced development costs of assessments.
Fidelity to and satisfaction with prescribed curriculum in an Arab educational context: ESL teachers' perspective
Authors: Ellili-Cherif Maha , Hadba Hala Mohamed
Published: November 2016

Educational institutions in the Arab Gulf are requiring rapid changes to enhance English language learning to keep up with globalization and economic growth. This urges the need for investigating policy changes such as effectiveness in curriculum orientations and their impact on the actual process of teaching in order to gauge how educational institutions are performing. This paper reports the findings of a survey study on curriculum enactment in the English Language Foundation Program of a higher education institution in the Arab Gulf region. Data collection methods included a survey and interview with teachers investigating their opinions about the curriculum, how much support it offers teachers to reach the objectives of the course, and whether/to what extent as well as the reasons why they feel they need to modify the curriculum at the implementation level. Results showed that most teachers exercised discretion in using the prescribed curriculum materials due to individual contextual factors. Results also indicated that either when implementing the prescribed or modified materials, most participants highlighted the importance of using reliable quality resource materials that can help teachers as well as students to enhance the learning process. Findings have implications for English as a second language curriculum design in Arab higher educational contexts.
Pre-slave trade and pre-colonial Africa in the historical consciousness of African-Americans and African migrants in the USA
Authors: Bondarenko Dmitri M.
Published: November 2016

African-Americans, who are descendants of slaves forcibly brought from Africa to America hundreds of years ago, and contemporary voluntary African migrants to the USA do not form a single ‘black community’. This statement contradicts the claims of many Black Nationalist movements from the nineteenth century onwards, which argued that all black people are ‘brothers and sisters’ because they share common spirituality and have a common cause that demands their joint action all around the world. However, based on evidence collected in seven states in 2013–2015, African- Americans and contemporary African migrants appear to have different historic memories of pre-slave trade and pre-colonial Africa. Furthermore, the two groups identify different events as key to its history. Many members of both groups do not feel that they share a common ‘black history’. To some extent, the idea of a shared history acts to unite Africans and African-Americans as victims of long-lasting white domination. However, in the final analysis, the collective historic memory of both groups works more to separate them from each other by generating and supporting contradictory or even negative images of mutual perception. In general, the relations between African-Americans and recent African migrants are characterized by simultaneous mutual attraction and repulsion of two magnets. While they understand that among all ethno-racial communities in the country, they, as well as African Caribbeans, are the closest to each other, myriads of differences cause mutual repulsion. This attraction–repulsion effect is, in significant part, due to the differences in historic memory of African-Americans and recent African migrants in the USA.
Power–duration relationship: Physiology, fatigue, and the limits of human performance
Authors: Burnley Mark , Jones Andrew M.
Published: November 2016

The duration that exercise can be maintained decreases as the power requirements increase. In this review, we describe the power–duration (PD) relationship across the full range of attainable power outputs in humans. We show that a remarkably small range of power outputs is sustainable (power outputs below the critical power, CP). We also show that the origin of neuromuscular fatigue differs considerably depending on the exercise intensity domain in which exercise is performed. In the moderate domain (below the lactate threshold, LT), fatigue develops slowly and is predominantly of central origin (residing in the central nervous system). In the heavy domain (above LT but below CP), both central and peripheral (muscle) fatigue are observed. In this domain, fatigue is frequently correlated with the depletion of muscle glycogen. Severe‐intensity exercise (above the CP) is associated with progressive derangements of muscle metabolic homeostasis and consequent peripheral fatigue. To counter these effects, muscle activity increases progressively, as does pulmonary oxygen uptake (), with task failure being associated with the attainment of max. Although the loss of homeostasis and thus fatigue develop more rapidly the higher the power output is above CP, the metabolic disturbance and the degree of peripheral fatigue reach similar values at task failure. We provide evidence that the failure to continue severe‐intensity exercise is a physiological phenomenon involving multiple interacting mechanisms which indicate a mismatch between neuromuscular power demand and instantaneous power supply. Valid integrative models of fatigue must account for the PD relationship and its physiological basis.
Asymmetrically localized proteins stabilize basal bodies against ciliary beating forces
Authors: Bayless Brian A. , Galati Domenico F. , Junker Anthony D. , Backer Chelsea B. , Gaertig Jacek , Pearson Chad G.
Published: November 2016

Basal bodies are radially symmetric, microtubule-rich structures that nucleate and anchor motile cilia. Ciliary beating produces asymmetric mechanical forces that are resisted by basal bodies. To resist these forces, distinct regions within the basal body ultrastructure and the microtubules themselves must be stable. However, the molecular components that stabilize basal bodies remain poorly defined. Here, we determine that Fop1 functionally interacts with the established basal body stability components Bld10 and Poc1. We find that Fop1 and microtubule glutamylation incorporate into basal bodies at distinct stages of assembly, culminating in their asymmetric enrichment at specific triplet microtubule regions that are predicted to experience the greatest mechanical force from ciliary beating. Both Fop1 and microtubule glutamylation are required to stabilize basal bodies against ciliary beating forces. Our studies reveal that microtubule glutamylation and Bld10, Poc1, and Fop1 stabilize basal bodies against the forces produced by ciliary beating via distinct yet interdependent mechanisms.
Plastin 1 widens stereocilia by transforming actin filament packing from hexagonal to liquid
Authors: Krey Jocelyn F. , Krystofiak Evan S. , Dumont Rachel A. , Vijayakumar Sarath , Choi Dongseok , Rivero Francisco , Kachar Bechara , Jones Sherri M. , Barr-Gillespie Peter G.
Published: November 2016

With their essential role in inner ear function, stereocilia of sensory hair cells demonstrate the importance of cellular actin protrusions. Actin packing in stereocilia is mediated by cross-linkers of the plastin, fascin, and espin families. Although mice lacking espin (ESPN) have no vestibular or auditory function, we found that mice that either lacked plastin 1 (PLS1) or had nonfunctional fascin 2 (FSCN2) had reduced inner ear function, with double-mutant mice most strongly affected. Targeted mass spectrometry indicated that PLS1 was the most abundant cross-linker in vestibular stereocilia and the second most abundant protein overall; ESPN only accounted for ∼15% of the total cross-linkers in bundles. Mouse utricle stereocilia lacking PLS1 were shorter and thinner than wild-type stereocilia. Surprisingly, although wild-type stereocilia had random liquid packing of their actin filaments, stereocilia lacking PLS1 had orderly hexagonal packing. Although all three cross-linkers are required for stereocilia structure and function, PLS1 biases actin toward liquid packing, which allows stereocilia to grow to a greater diameter.
Negative ion extraction via particle simulation for fusion: critical assessment of recent contributions
Authors: Garrigues L. , Fubiani G. , Boeuf J.P.
Published: November 2016

Particle-in-cell (PIC) models have been extensively used in the last few years to describe negative ion extraction for neutral beam injection applications. We show that some of these models have been employed in conditions far from the requirements of particle simulations and that questionable conclusions about negative ion extraction, not supported by experimental evidence, have been obtained. We present a critical analysis of the method that has led to these conclusions and propose directions toward a more accurate and realistic description of negative ion extraction. We show in particular that, as expected in PIC simulations, mesh convergence is reached only if the grid spacing is on the order of or smaller than the minimum Debye length in the simulation domain, and that strong aberrations in the extracted beam are observed if this constraint is not respected. The method of injection of charged particles in the simulated plasma is also discussed, and we show that some injection methods used in the literature lead to unphysical results.
On the Titchmarsh divisor problem for abelian varieties
Authors: Virdol Cristian
Published: November 2016

In this article we study the Titchmarsh divisor problem in the context of abelian varieties. Under the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis we obtain an asymptotic formula.
On the elliptic Harnack inequality
Authors: Maldonado Diego
Published: November 2016

A brief exposition on some tools for proving the elliptic Harnack inequality is presented.
Weighted sub-Laplacians on Métivier groups: Essential self-adjointness and spectrum
Authors: Bruno Tommaso , Calzi Mattia
Published: November 2016

Let

G
G

be a Métivier group and let

N
N

be any homogeneous norm on

G
G

. For

α
>
0

\alpha >0

denote by

w
α

w_\alpha

the function

e

−

N
α

e^{-N^\alpha }

and consider the weighted sub-Laplacian

L

w
α

\mathcal {L}^{w_\alpha }

associated with the Dirichlet form
<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="phi right-arrow from bar integral Underscript upper G Endscripts double-vertical-bar nabla Subscript script upper H Baseline phi left-parenthesis y right-parenthesis double-vertical-bar squared w Subscript alpha Baseline left-parenthesis y right-parenthesis d y">

ϕ

↦

∫

G

‖

∇

H

ϕ
(
y
)

‖
2

w
α

(
y
)

d
y

\phi \!\mapsto \!\int _{G}\|\nabla _\mathcal {H}\phi (y)\|^2 w_\alpha (y)\,dy

, where

∇

H

\nabla _\mathcal {H}

is the horizontal gradient on

G
G

. Consider

L

w
α

\mathcal {L}^{w_\alpha }

with domain

C
c
∞

C_c^\infty

. We prove that

L

w
α

\mathcal {L}^{w_\alpha }

is essentially self-adjoint when

α
≥
1

\alpha \geq 1

. For a particular

N
N

, which is the norm appearing in

L

\mathcal {L}

’s fundamental solution when

G
G

is an H-type group, we prove that

L

w
α

\mathcal {L}^{w_\alpha }

has purely discrete spectrum if and only if

α
>
2

\alpha >2

, thus proving a conjecture of J. Inglis.
Derivatives of isotropic positive definite functions on spheres
Authors: Trübner Mara , Ziegel Johanna
Published: November 2016

We show that isotropic positive definite functions on the

d
d

-dimensional sphere which are

2
k

2k

times differentiable at zero have

2
k
+
[
(
d
−
1
)

/

2
]

2k+[(d-1)/2]

continuous derivatives on

(
0
,
π
)

(0,\pi )

. This result is analogous to the result for radial positive definite functions on Euclidean spaces. We prove optimality of the result for all odd dimensions. The proof relies on montée, descente and turning bands operators on spheres which parallel the corresponding operators originating in the work of Matheron for radial positive definite functions on Euclidean spaces.
Hemodynamic Determinants of the Short-Term Blood Pressure Variability: Differential Roles of Arterial Stiffness and Wave Reflection
Authors: Hsu Pai-Feng , Cheng Hao-Min , Sung Shih-Hsien , Chuang Shao-Yuan , Lakatta Edward G. , Yin Frank C.P. , Chou Pesus , Chen Chen-Huan
Published: November 2016

BACKGROUND

A high 24-hour ambulatory diastolic (DBP) but not systolic (SBP) blood pressure variability (BPV) is significantly predictive of long-term cardiovascular mortality in untreated hypertensive subjects, independent of office or 24-hour SBP. The present study was aimed to investigate hemodynamic factors that are independently associated with systolic and diastolic BPV from the 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM).

METHODS

A cohort of 624 normotensive and 633 untreated hypertensive participants with baseline ABPM was drawn from a community-based survey. BPV was assessed by the read-to-read average real variability of the 24-hour SBP and DBP (ARVs and ARVd, respectively). Hemodynamic variables including total peripheral resistance (TPR), carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV), and amplitudes of the decomposed forward (Pf) and backward (Pb) carotid pressure waves were analyzed.

RESULTS

In multivariable analyses, hemodynamic variables independently associated with 24-hour SBP were 24-hour heart rate (HR), TPR, cf-PWV, Pf, and Pb (model r2 = 0.535). Hemodynamic factors independently associated with ARV were 24-hour HR, Pf, and Pb for ARVs, and 24-hour HR, cf-PWV, Pf, and Pb for ARVd (model R2 = 0.345 and 0.220, respectively). Addition of 24-hour SBP to the ARV models only slightly improved variance explained by the models (R2 = 0.383 and 0.224, respectively). Pb accounted for >50% of total variance of ARVs and ARVd, whereas cf-PWV was a minor determinant of ARVd (<5% of total variance).

CONCLUSIONS

ARVd was associated with fewer hemodynamic variables than to 24-hour SBP. Among those hemodynamic variables wave reflection but not arterial stiffness had the dominant independent association with ARV.
Effects of pre-sowing seed treatments on establishment of dry direct-seeded early rice under chilling stress
Authors: Wang Weiqin , Peng Shaobing , Chen Qian , Mei Junhao , Dong Huanglin , Nie Lixiao
Published: November 2016

Mechanization and simplification are inevitable trends in agriculture production to decrease input demands and simultaneously improve resource use efficiency. Dry direct-seeded rice is a resource-saving cropping system and has been considered as a replacement for traditional transplanted rice. However, the poor establishment of dry direct-seeded early rice, primarily induced by chilling stress, has limited the wide adoption of this system. To examine the effects of pre-sowing seed treatments on rice germination, seedling growth and associated metabolic events under chilling stress, two seed coating treatments (Hanyubaomu coating and Miaoboshi coating) and two seed priming treatments (selenium priming and salicylic acid priming) were tested in field and growth chamber experiments. The results revealed that under chilling stress, seed priming increased the rice seed germination by 20.96–26.31 %. The length and weight of shoots and roots were also significantly increased. The two seed coating treatments were not effective in enhancing seed germination and seedling growth under chilling stress. The improved germination and seedling growth of primed seeds under chilling stress were strongly linked with higher α-amylase activity and total soluble sugar content. Conclusively, these findings will provide new avenues for understanding and advancing pre-sowing seed treatments of dry direct-seeded early rice.
EGAD: ultra-fast functional analysis of gene networks
Authors: Ballouz Sara , Weber Melanie , Pavlidis Paul , Gillis Jesse
Published: November 2016

Evaluating gene networks with respect to known biology is a common task but often a computationally costly one. Many computational experiments are difficult to apply exhaustively in network analysis due to run-times. To permit high-throughput analysis of gene networks, we have implemented a set of very efficient tools to calculate functional properties in networks based on guilt-by-association methods. EGAD (Extending ′Guilt-by-Association′ by Degree) allows gene networks to be evaluated with respect to hundreds or thousands of gene sets. The methods predict novel members of gene groups, assess how well a gene network groups known sets of genes, and determines the degree to which generic predictions drive performance. By allowing fast evaluations, whether of random sets or real functional ones, EGAD provides the user with an assessment of performance which can easily be used in controlled evaluations across many parameters.

Availability and Implementation

The software package is freely available at https://github.com/sarbal/EGAD and implemented for use in R and Matlab. The package is also freely available under the LGPL license from the Bioconductor web site (http://bioconductor.org).

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
seXY: a tool for sex inference from genotype arrays
Authors: Qian David C , Busam Jonathan A , Xiao Xiangjun , O’Mara Tracy A , Eeles Rosalind A , Schumacher Frederick R , Phelan Catherine M , Amos Christopher I
Published: November 2016

Motivation

Checking concordance between reported sex and genotype-inferred sex is a crucial quality control measure in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). However, limited insights exist regarding the true accuracy of software that infer sex from genotype array data.

Results

We present seXY, a logistic regression model trained on both X chromosome heterozygosity and Y chromosome missingness, that consistently demonstrated >99.5% sex inference accuracy in cross-validation for 889 males and 5,361 females enrolled in prostate cancer and ovarian cancer GWAS. Compared to PLINK, one of the most popular tools for sex inference in GWAS that assesses only X chromosome heterozygosity, seXY achieved marginally better male classification and 3% more accurate female classification.

Availability and Implementation

https://github.com/Christopher-Amos-Lab/seXY

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
MetaboSignal: a network-based approach for topological analysis of metabotype regulation via metabolic and signaling pathways
Authors: Rodriguez-Martinez Andrea , Ayala Rafael , Posma Joram M , Neves Ana L , Gauguier Dominique , Nicholson Jeremy K , Dumas Marc-Emmanuel
Published: November 2016

MetaboSignal is an R package that allows merging metabolic and signaling pathways reported in the Kyoto Encyclopaedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). It is a network-based approach designed to navigate through topological relationships between genes (signaling- or metabolic-genes) and metabolites, representing a powerful tool to investigate the genetic landscape of metabolic phenotypes.

Availability and Implementation

MetaboSignal is available from Bioconductor: https://bioconductor.org/packages/MetaboSignal/

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
The Ottoman Empire, the Origins of Extraterritoriality, and International Legal Theory
Authors: Özsu Umut
Published: November 2016

This chapter argues that it was partly through engagement with the Ottoman Empire, particularly its tradition of extraterritorial consular jurisdiction, that nineteenth-century European and American jurists came to view China, Japan, and a number of other states as ‘semi-civilized’, setting them against ‘civilized’ states on the one hand and ‘savage’ peoples on the other. These states on the ‘semi-periphery’ exercise a greater degree of agency in international law, given their closeness to dominant centers of economic and intellectual production that had come under their influence, as well as their possession of national traditions and state institutions resilient enough to resist formal colonization. These traits are especially evident in the case of the Ottoman Empire, a powerful state that made a point of modifying its profile for different audiences.
Theorizing International Organizations
Authors: Klabbers Jan
Published: November 2016

This chapter outlines a broad history of the development of thinking about the law of international organizations, with a focus on the legal theory of functionalism, as well as a discussion on the latter’s considerable strengths and weaknesses. Functionalism holds that states create international organizations to do things they are unable or reluctant to do on their own, yet consider inherently useful: organize postal relations, control the uses of atomic energy, regulate global health, etc. The chapter also includes a brief discussion of scholarship regarding international organizations in the broader academic landscape, with the concluding section hinting at a few challenges for both theory and practice.
Theorizing the Corporation in International Law
Authors: Johns Fleur
Published: November 2016

This chapter redescribes the rather oblique theorizations of the corporation in public international law, by first outlining some generic characterizations of the corporation in international legal writing, before turning to two areas of international legal doctrine, practice, and scholarly work: international investment law and international human rights. In both of these areas, the corporation has often been identified with potential dysfunction within, or subtraction from, the international legal order. International legal engagement of the corporation has, accordingly, been identified with the discipline’s corrective realignment, rejuvenation or augmentation. So figured, the corporation has been central to the maintenance of prospects of, and aspirations for, ‘governance fusion’ on the global plane. Precisely because of the paragnostic way it has been known to international law, the corporation has been a pivotal figure in international legal knowledge practice.
Theorizing International Law and Development
Authors: Rittich Kerry
Published: November 2016

This chapter explores the scholarship and practice surrounding international law and development. As a field, law and development might be understood as theoretical in its essence: it revolves around the rise, diffusion, transformation, and disintegration of ideas, theories, concepts, and paradigms concerning law and social change. Political agendas, institutional constraints, as well as economic interests are all crucial to understanding the manner in which the law and development agenda has evolved. Development policy and practice have been crucially important to the generation of global governance norms. Law and development has become at once a source and repository of norms about the forms and functions of law, domestic as well as international, and a powerful counterweight to other sources of law in the international order.
Theorizing Private International Law
Authors: Watt Horatia Muir
Published: November 2016

This chapter focuses on the social and economic consequences of private international law, both for the distribution of power in a transnational setting and for issues of identity and community in a world in which new polities are emerging. Furthermore, it highlights the potential insights provided by each of three explanatory models, which in some novel combination may help pave the way towards a renewed theoretical approach to private international law. The three models to be considered are based on conflict, cooperation, and competition. Each uses a distinct vocabulary: protection of sovereignty or state interests, conflicts of systems or, more recently, norm-collision; international harmony, comity, enlightened self-interest, or the mutual convenience of nations; and regulatory arbitrage and competition, a free market for legal products and judicial services, and the interests of the business community.
Transnational Migration, Globalization, and Governance
Authors: Thomas Chantal
Published: November 2016

This chapter emphasizes the role of political economy, and the ways in which global governance has affected (or failed to affect) it, in generating immigration crises. Going beyond politics toward political economy illuminates both the origins of US intervention in Central America, and the ways in which that intervention has shaped migration from the region. US involvement stemmed from global power struggles over the organization of economic production: namely, its concerns about the turn to socialism, particularly after the Cuban Revolution. If foreign policy origins stemmed from economics, often so did policy tools; such measures oriented Central American economies towards the US as a destination for its exports, and increased the Central American presence of US investors and imports. They also engendered profound changes in Central American economic life: changes that each in their own way have reinforced patterns contributing to the current migration surge.
International Legalism and International Politics
Authors: Hoffmann Florian
Published: November 2016

This chapter attempts to measure the gap between law and politics, in a recapitulation of where the liberal project of international law stands, as framed within the tensions evident in the international lawyers’ professional preference for legal objectivism and political agnosticism and, on the other hand, their equally professional unwillingness to openly admit to this preference. Legalism represents that gap, yet it is curiously everywhere and nowhere in international law, a paradox produced by the still empty space between the law and the political. But if one follows a historical-critical reading of international law, ‘legalism’ was already born as an ideological framework to defend a liberal internationalist project.
Creating Poverty
Authors: Beckett Jason
Published: November 2016

This chapter argues that poverty is created, maintained, and regulated. Global poverty occupies a unique position as both the ‘blind spot’ and raison d’être of an international legal system that has long attempted to secure a veneer of cooperation, justice, and legitimacy over a reality of competition, conquest, and exploitation. As such, it vividly illustrates the radical indeterminacy and ‘schizophrenia ‘ that ‘ tear[s]‌ apart the fragile structure’ of international law. That this contradiction appears to be little analysed, that there is so little conversation to detail, is testament to the strategies deployed to naturalize, excuse, and obscure the ‘fact’ of poverty.
Science and Climate Change Law—The Role of the IPCC in International Decision-Making
Authors: Ghaleigh Navraj Singh
Published: November 2016

This chapter describes the contributions of the scientific community in the development of international climate change law, highlighting in particular the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC’s) assessment and research of the scientific, technical, and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of the risk of climate change. Since the Panel’s establishment under the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988, it has released several scientific papers that provide a clear scientific view on the current state of knowledge in climate change. The chapter examines the core of the IPCC’s assessment reports, which are divided into three working groups that deal respectively with the ‘Physical Science Basis of Climate Change’, ‘Climate Change Impact, Adaptation and Vulnerability’, and ‘Mitigation of Climate Change’. The IPCC also addresses specific areas, such as renewable energy, disaster management, and climate engineering.
Common Concern of Humankind
Authors: Soltau Frederiech
Published: November 2016

This chapter examines the various common concerns of humankind. The concept has found its most explicit reference in relation to climate change, in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the conservation of biological diversity in the Convention on Biological Diversity. It encompasses aspects of the global environment that, by virtue of their significance and the need for collective action to protect them, have been designated as common concern of humanity, either in treaties or through decisions of the United Nations General Assembly. The concept has, over the years, been the subject of considerable scholarship. Without delving into a discussion of customary law, this chapter proceeds on the basis that the common concern of humankind can reasonably be described as a principle of international environmental law against the interlinked backdrop of poverty eradication, economic development, energy availability and use, and climate change.
Carbon Leakage and the Migration of Private CO2 Emitters to other Jurisdictions
Authors: Shoyer Andrew , Sul Jung-ui , van der Ven Colette
Published: November 2016

This chapter examines the phenomenon of carbon leakage, which is an increase in carbon emissions as a result of businesses moving to other states without carbon reduction measures. Pursuant to the commitments established by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol, many developed states imposed numerous greenhouse gas emission (GHG) targets, while most developing countries have not adopted any carbon reduction measures. Carbon leakage remains an area of great concern to states and industries seeking to reduce carbon emissions, as it has the potential to undermine the effectiveness of carbon reduction measures and hurt the competitiveness of the industries that decide to remain in those states. The chapter outlines the measures taken to combat carbon leakage. Specifically, it highlights carbon leakage prevention measures under the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme and under similar carbon regulation measures in South Africa and the United States.
The Design and Implementation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading
Authors: van Asselt Harro
Published: November 2016

This chapter offers a cross-jurisdictional analysis of the design and implementation of mandatory emissions trading schemes. It traces the beginning of emissions trading schemes from the sulfur dioxide emissions trading scheme in the United States, which was implemented through the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. After initial experiments at a local and regional level, the United States launched the first large-scale, countrywide trading system. This program sought to address the acid rain problem by creating a trading regime for sulfur dioxide emissions. This was the birthplace of large-scale emissions trading systems and from this point onwards, emissions trading schemes began to spread across jurisdictions. The chapter describes how the EU’s speedy adoption of an emissions trading directive in 2003 could be seen as an instance of horizontal borrowing from the United States, spurred by the simple need to keep the costs of reducing emissions down.
Climate Change Law and Policy in the European Union
Authors: Bogojević Sanja
Published: November 2016

This chapter is concerned with EU’s climate change law and its impact on climate change action at a global level. It investigates whether the international climate change regime ‘tightens’ its own standards so as to match EU climate change law. The corpus of EU climate change law is codified in the Climate and Energy Package, which aims to provide a comprehensive and integrated climate change framework. It includes measures promoting the use of renewable energy, specifying and thus helping to monitor and reduce greenhouse gases from fuel, setting standards for new passenger cars, establishing a framework for the geological storage of carbon dioxide, outlining the effort of Member States to reduce greenhouse gases to meet the 2020 commitments, as well as revising the EU emissions trading regime (ETS).
Brazilian Climate Change Law
Authors: Oliveira Karen Alvarenga
Published: November 2016

This chapter examines the climate change policy of Brazil. In 2010 at the Sixteenth Conference of Parties in Cancún, Brazil announced its voluntary national target of significantly reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions between 36.1 per cent and 38.9 per cent of projected emissions by 2020. These targets were defined in the Brazilian National Policy on Climate Change (PNMC). The PNMC establishes principles, guidelines, and economic instruments for reaching the national voluntary targets. It relies on sectoral plans for mitigation and adaptation to climate change in order to facilitate the move towards a low-carbon economy. The PNMC defined various aspects related to the measurement of goals, formulation of sectoral plans and of action plans for the prevention and control of deforestation in all Brazilian biomes, and governance structure.
The Least Developed Countries and Climate Change Law
Authors: Kameri-Mbote Patricia
Published: November 2016

This chapter describes the roles of the forty-nine least developed countries (LDCs) in the international climate change regime and climate change law. It investigates the following questions: How has the historical role of the LDCs evolved in relation to the climate change regime? What are the key legal challenges facing these countries? In order to address these questions, this chapter examines the role of the LDCs through five phases of the climate negotiations thus far: Pre-1990 (Phase 1), 1990—1996 (Phase 2), 1997—2001 (Phase 3), 2001—2007 (Phase 4), and 2008—2013 (Phase 5). Together, they have contributed the least to the climate change problem, but experienced the highest climate change impacts, because of their higher levels of vulnerability and lower adaptive capacity. The chapter also discusses how the LDCs are caught in the cross-fire between the emerging economies, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and developed countries.