bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
“In the face of the fire”: Melville’s Prometheus, Classical and Romantic Contexts
Authors: McWilliams John P.
Published: January 2019

Prometheus is a crucial analogue through which Ishmael’s quest to know the whale, and Ahab’s quest to destroy it, are to be understood. Melville’s Promethean references are located in the context of literature about Prometheus (Hesiod, Aeschylus, Plato), more particularly in the context of the Romantics’ understanding of Prometheus (Goethe’s “Prometheus,” Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus). Melville had read Frankenstein before writing Moby-Dick. It seems sure that he had read both Aeschylus (a copy of Aeschylus’s plays bought in 1849 in London) and Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound (references to Demogorgon). This essay focuses not on source hunting but rather on how Melville refashioned the Romantic Prometheus to fit the kinds of opposed, paradoxical judgments that his imagination habitually evoked. Ahab’s compulsive Promethean need to “gaze too long in the face of the fire” (“The Try-Works”) emerges both as a daring heroism (on the Aeschylean pattern) and as a self-destructive solipsism of vengeance (in accord with Melville’s image of Narcissus as “the key to it all” in “Loomings”).
Gibbon, Virgil, and the Victorians: Appropriating the Matter of Rome and Renovating the Epic Career
Authors: Adams Edward
Published: January 2019

This chapter proposes that the critical and popular triumph of Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-88) displaced Virgil’s Aeneid as the primary influence upon subsequent imaginings of Rome. More broadly, it holds that Gibbon’s narrative of decline became the dominant paradigm for numerous historians, poets, and novelists who together formed an increasingly self-conscious tradition of Romantic, Victorian, and Modernist narratives of epic decline beyond Rome. The chapter traces Gibbon’s shaping of his history, from its overall narrative structure down to its balanced sentences, with Virgilian epic in mind, but also argues that he systematically rationalized Virgil—eschewing, for example, in medias res, episodic structure, verse, and, above all, the consoling myth of eternity. It concludes with case studies of subsequent writers looking critically to Gibbon as Gibbon had to Virgil—with emphasis upon representative figures from John Ruskin and Henry Adams to H. G. Wells and Isaac Asimov.
The Other Classic: Hebrew Shapes British and American Literature and Culture
Authors: Engell James
Published: January 2019

Hebrew, once regarded as a “classical language,” exerts enormous shaping power on British and American poetry, politics, and culture from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries. It prompts the greatest innovations in post-Renaissance English verse, developments in aesthetics, including the sublime, fruitful arguments in politics, and vital strands of British and American thought that cannot be accounted for otherwise. This shaping power—related to but not the same as the influence of biblical translations regarded as literature—has received only sporadic attention. Hebrew as the other classic has not obtained its rightful place in studies of literature in English, nor in Anglo-American literate culture. This essay explores the other classic in: British and American colleges and universities; Puritan Hebraists; concepts of the sublime; the seminal criticism of Robert Lowth; the work of Dennis, Watts, Smart, Macpherson, Merrick, Blake, Wordsworth, Whitman, Longfellow, and Lazarus; in myths of national origin and identification; in Coleridge, De Quincey, Thoreau, Melville, Arnold, and J. L. Lowes; as well as in an appreciation of the stylistic and moral strengths of Hebrew Scripture. It explores why study of Hebrew declined. The essay challenges the exclusion of Hebrew, upon which all discussion of “classical languages” and their reception by the romantics has been based. The presence of Hebrew as the other classic enlarges and redefines the nature of classical influences on the romantic era.
Picasso’s Stein/Stein’s Picasso:Cubist Perspective/MasculineHomosociality
Authors: Coffman Chris
Published: January 2019

This chapter cross-reads Picasso’s paintings that reference Stein—Gertrude Stein (1906), Homage à Gertrude (1909), and The Architect’s Table (1912)—with her word-portraits “Picasso” (1912) and “If I Told Him A Completed Portrait of Picasso” (1924) to argue that masculine homosociality was an important force in their dynamic. Tracking the ways their portraits of one another use cubist strategies to register the vicissitudes of their bond, I argue that whereas Picasso’s portrait of Stein reflects his trepidation about her masculinity and their masculine homosociality, her portraits of him instead show both fondness and concern about his uneven patterns of artistic production and imperial masculinity. If ultimately, Stein’s portraits of Picasso differentiate her queer transmasculinity from his misogynist masculinity, Czech artist Jiří Kolář’s reinflections of his portraits of her further transform the gaze through which her masculinity—and homosocial bond with Picasso—are made available for view.
‘Torquere’: Stein’s and Hemingway’s Queer Relationality
Authors: Coffman Chris
Published: January 2019

This chapter examines Stein’s friendship with Ernest Hemingway, whose initial supplication to her tutelage transformed into aggression in the wake of his observation of Toklas’s power over Stein. Whereas Stein admits in The Autobiography to having “a weakness for Hemingway”, Hemingway—who spoke of wanting to “lay” Stein—spitefully attacked her relationship with Toklas in A Moveable Feast in retaliation for her calling him “yellow.” Differences between the public and private Hemingway precipitated crises as he disavowed the possibility that his attraction to the masculine Stein may have been driven by a far queerer configuration of gender and desire than the heteronormative logics that governed the works he published during his lifetime. Considering A Moveable Feast as well as Stein’s and Hemingway’s shorter poems about one another—Stein’s “He and They, Hemingway” (1923), “Evidence” (1929), “Genuine Creative Ability” (1930), and “Sentences and Paragraphs” (1931); Hemingway’s “The Soul of Spain” (1924)—this chapter argues that their relationship’s troubling vicissitudes reverberated across their lives and works.
Stein, Van Vechten and Modernism’s Queer Gaze
Authors: Coffman Chris
Published: January 2019

This chapter offers a counterpoint to Stein’s and Hemingway’s mutual aggression by focusing on her queerly productive friendship with modernist impresario Carl Van Vechten. Van Vechten’s friendship with Stein and Toklas was flirtatious and never soured. Rather than deriding Stein’s writing—as Hemingway and Picasso occasionally did—Van Vechten helped place her manuscripts, edited her Selected Writings, organized her 1934-1935 lecture tour of the United States, and took photographs that furthered her celebrity image. To track the vicissitudes of their bond, this chapter reads Stein’s temporally warped account in The Autobiography of her first meeting with Van Vechten; examines her two word-portraits of him (“One Carl Van Vechten,” 1913, and “Van Or Twenty Years After,” 1923); and analyzes several of his photographs of her and the “Woojums” family of choice they formed with Toklas. In a circuit of masculine homosocial desire that was markedly different than those addressed in chapters Five and Six, Stein returned Van Vechten’s affection with verbal portraits that show none of the ambivalence at work in her writings about Picasso and Hemingway.
‘Stirring and advancing times’: Landlords, Agents and Improvement on the Castle Howard Estate, 1826–66
Authors: Gent David
Published: January 2019

This essay explores the career of John Henderson, land agent to the Earls of Carlisle at their Castle Howard estate in Yorkshire between 1827 and the late 1860s. In recent scholarship, historians have increasingly begun to appreciate the importance of land agents in nineteenth-century rural life. It is now evident that agents, as intermediaries between landowners, their tenants and the wider local population, were deeply involved in the social relationships of rural communities. Making use of the voluminous and well-preserved estate records, the essay complements such studies by emphasising the multi-faceted nature of Henderson’s role in the Castle Howard district. It will particularly focus on Henderson’s role as a facilitator of social, economic and technical change. Under the active encouragement of the 7th Earl of Carlisle, a noted liberal politician and reformer, Henderson not only introduced a range of agricultural improvements to the estate, but also a large number of projects aimed at improving the social, economic and moral condition of its population. In doing so, the essay shows that landed estates - and land agents - may have played no less an important part than urban areas in the Victorian culture of 'progress': in participating in what the 7th Earl described as 'stirring and advancing times'.
Divisions of Labour: Inter-managerial Conflict among the Wentworth-Fitzwilliam Agents
Authors: Byrne Fidelma
Published: January 2019

This chapter examines the Wentworth-Fitzwilliam estates in Yorkshire and Ireland and explores the hierarchical structure of the management system, by charting how this tripartite agency developed as a consequence of estate expansion. It discusses the agents’ background, education and training and in so doing, exposes the core belief system underpinning the earls Fitzwilliam philosophy. While morally admirable, this ideology had a somewhat negative effect on the estate in terms of economic progression. However, from the mid-nineteenth century, the impact of landlord paternalism was minimised by the improved economic climate in south Yorkshire which also placed the land agent in a more favourable position when challenged about his management practices. Unlike the Irish land system which was chiefly concerned with agricultural land, the south Yorkshire estate was quite distinct, for in addition to its agricultural interests, it contained industrial elements predominantly coal and ironstone and thus, required a more elaborate administration structure. Perhaps unsurprisingly, in creating an array of roles to oversee the external divisions of labour, internal fissures developed which over time widened to reveal the sometimes flawed management system on the estate.
Sufism in Cinema: The Case ofBab'Aziz: The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul
Authors: Öztürk Ridade
Published: January 2019

This article presents a discussion of key aspects of knowledge in Sufism through an analysis of the film Bab’Aziz: The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul (Nacer Khemir, 2005). The dominant Western perspective argues for the necessity of a rational, objective form of knowledge which is based on logical argument and precepts. This perspective, however, fails to recognize the alternative form of experiential knowledge which lies at the heart of the Sufi tradition. In this respect, Bab'Aziz is an important film because its content and its narrative technique is an expression of certain knowledge, knowledge without doubt, and kashf, unveiling or discovery. This article compares knowledge in Sufism (Tasawwuf) to the concept of knowledge in the Western tradition, and argues for a reconsideration of the meaning of philosophy as understood by the Ancient Greeks.
FPGA Implementation of ECT Digital System for Imaging Conductive Materials
Authors: Deabes Wael
Published: January 2019

This paper presents the hardware implementation of a stand-alone Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT) system employing a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The image reconstruction algorithms of the ECT system demand intensive computation and fast processing of large number of measurements. The inner product of large vectors is the core of the majority of these algorithms. Therefore, a reconfigurable segmented parallel inner product architecture for the parallel matrix multiplication is proposed. In addition, hardware-software codesign targeting FPGA System-On-Chip (SoC) is applied to achieve high performance. The development of the hardware-software codesign is carried out via commercial tools to adjust the software algorithms and parameters of the system. The ECT system is used in this work to monitor the characteristic of the molten metal in the Lost Foam Casting (LFC) process. The hardware system consists of capacitive sensors, wireless nodes and FPGA module. The experimental results reveal high stability and accuracy when building the ECT system based on the FPGA architecture. The proposed system achieves high performance in terms of speed and small design density.
The Effect of Dietary Supplementation of Vitamin E, Selenium, Zinc, Folic Acid, and N-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids on Sperm Motility and Membrane Properties in Dogs
Authors: Alonge Salvatore , Melandri Monica , Leoci Raffaella , Lacalandra Giovanni , Caira Michele , Aiudi Giulio
Published: January 2019

Sub-fertility represents a common challenge in canine reproduction. Different protocols, supplementing daily given quantities of micronutrients, were investigated to improve poor sperm concentration and/or function, which represent breeding major constraining factors in the canine species. Little information is available for dogs concerning the effect of a daily supplementation with a complex of vitamin E, zinc, selenium, folic acid, and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) on semen quality. Thus, the present study investigated this effect on semen motility and sperm membrane properties. Serial semen analyses from fourteen healthy normospermic dogs, fed with the same commercial diet, were performed on Days 0 (T0), 30 (T30), 60 (T60), and 90 (T90). Seven dogs were randomly included in the treatment (T) group, receiving a supplementation of vitamin E, zinc, selenium, folic acid, n-3 PUFA; and seven other subjects composed the control (C) group. Total Sperm Count (TSC), Computer-Assisted Sperm Analysis (CASA) indexes, mortality, and functional membrane integrity were assessed. The ANOVA compared results between groups and sampling times (p < 0.05). From T60, the supplementation significantly improved TSC, progressive motility, functional membrane integrity, and decreased mortality. Present results lead us to consider ameliorative effects of a two-month healthy diet supplementation on canine spermatozoa. The positive effects of the described balanced integration of micronutrients on sperm motility and prevention of oxidative stress should be considered, especially when decreased seminal parameters may result from inadequate intake, reduced absorption, increased losses or demand, or to attenuate the impact of age.
O-Band and C/L-Band III-V Quantum Dot Lasers Monolithically Grown on Ge and Si Substrate
Authors: Feng Qi , Wei Wenqi , Zhang Bin , Wang Hailing , Wang Jianhuan , Cong Hui , Wang Ting , Zhang Jianjun
Published: January 2019

Direct epitaxial growth of III-V heterostructure on CMOS-compatible silicon wafer offers substantial manufacturing cost and scalability advantages. Quantum dot (QD) devices are less sensitive to defect and temperature, which makes epitaxially grown III-V QD lasers on Si one of the most promising technologies for achieving low-cost, scalable integration with silicon photonics. The major challenges are that heteroepitaxial growth of III-V materials on Si normally encounters high densities of mismatch dislocations, antiphase boundaries and thermal cracks, which limit the device performance and lifetime. This paper reviews some of the recent developments on hybrid InAs/GaAs QD growth on Ge substrates and highly uniform (111)-faceted hollow Si (001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). By implementing step-graded epitaxial growth techniques, the emission wavelength can be tuned into either an O band or C/L band. Furthermore, microcavity QD laser devices are fabricated and characterized. The epitaxially grown III-V/IV hybrid platform paves the way to provide a promising approach for future on-chip silicon photonic integration.
Implementation of Atomically Thick Graphene and Its Derivatives in Electromagnetic Absorbers
Authors: Tian Jing , Shi Hongyu , Hu Haoquan , Chen Bo , Bao Yongfang , Tang Pu
Published: January 2019

To reduce the radar cross section at microwave frequencies, it is necessary to implement electromagnetic (EM) absorbing devices/materials to decrease the strength of reflected waves. In addition, EM absorbers also find their applications at higher spectrum such as THz and optical frequencies. As an atomic-thick two-dimensional (2D) material, graphene has been widely used in the development of EM devices. The conductivity of graphene can be electrostatically or chemically tuned from microwave to optical light frequencies, enabling the design of reconfigurable graphene EM absorbers. Meanwhile, the derivatives of graphene such as reduced graphene oxide (rGO) also demonstrate excellent wave absorbing properties when mixed with other materials. In this article, the research progress of graphene and its derivatives based EM absorbers are introduced and the future development of graphene EM absorbing devices are also discussed.
Serpens: A Highly Compliant Low-Cost ROS-Based Snake Robot with Series Elastic Actuators, Stereoscopic Vision and a Screw-Less Assembly Mechanism
Authors: Sanfilippo Filippo , Helgerud Erlend , Stadheim Per Anders , Aronsen Sondre Lieblein
Published: January 2019

Snake robot locomotion in a cluttered environment where the snake robot utilises a sensory-perceptual system to perceive the surrounding operational environment for means of propulsion is defined as perception-driven obstacle-aided locomotion (POAL). From a control point of view, achieving POAL with traditional rigidly-actuated robots is challenging because of the complex interaction between the snake robot and the immediate environment. To simplify the control complexity, compliant motion and fine torque control on each joint is essential. Accordingly, intrinsically elastic joints have become progressively prominent over the last years for a variety robotic applications. Commonly, elastic joints are considered to outperform rigid actuation in terms of peak dynamics, robustness, and energy efficiency. Even though a few examples of elastic snake robots exist, they are generally expensive to manufacture and tailored to custom-made hardware/software components that are not openly available off-the-shelf. In this work, Serpens, a newly-designed low-cost, open-source and highly-compliant multi-purpose modular snake robot with series elastic actuator (SEA) is presented. Serpens features precision torque control and stereoscopic vision. Only low-cost commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components are adopted. The robot modules can be 3D-printed by using Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) manufacturing technology, thus making the rapid-prototyping process very economical and fast. A screw-less assembly mechanism allows for connecting the modules and reconfigure the robot in a very reliable and robust manner. The concept of modularity is also applied to the system architecture on both the software and hardware sides. Each module is independent, being controlled by a self-reliant controller board. The software architecture is based on the Robot Operating System (ROS). This paper describes the design of Serpens and presents preliminary simulation and experimental results, which illustrate its performance.
Optimization of Optical Networks Based on CDC-ROADM Technology
Authors: Kozdrowski Stanisław , Żotkiewicz Mateusz , Sujecki Sławomir
Published: January 2019

New generation of optical nodes in dense wavelength division multiplexed networks enables operators to improve service flexibility and make significant savings, both in operational and capital expenditures. Thus the main objective of the study is to minimize optical node resources, such as transponders, multiplexers and wavelength selective switches, needed to provide and maintain high quality dense wavelength division multiplexed network services using new generation of optical nodes. A model based on integer programming is proposed, which includes a detailed description of an optical network node. The impact on the network performance of conventional reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexer technology is compared with colorless, directionless and contentionless approaches. The main focus of the presented study is the analysis of the network congestion problem arising in the context of both reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexer technologies. The analysis is supported by results of numerical experiments carried out for realistic networks of different dimensions and traffic demand sets.
A Novel Self-Intersection Penalty Term for Statistical Body Shape Models and Its Applications in 3D Pose Estimation
Authors: Wu Zaiqiang , Jiang Wei , Luo Hao , Cheng Lin
Published: January 2019

Statistical body shape models are widely used in 3D pose estimation due to their low-dimensional parameters representation. However, it is difficult to avoid self-intersection between body parts accurately. Motivated by this fact, we proposed a novel self-intersection penalty term for statistical body shape models applied in 3D pose estimation. To avoid the trouble of computing self-intersection for complex surfaces like the body meshes, the gradient of our proposed self-intersection penalty term is manually derived from the perspective of geometry. First, the self-intersection penalty term is defined as the volume of the self-intersection region. To calculate the partial derivatives with respect to the coordinates of the vertices, we employed detection rays to divide vertices of statistical body shape models into different groups depending on whether the vertex is in the region of self-intersection. Second, the partial derivatives could be easily derived by the normal vectors of neighboring triangles of the vertices. Finally, this penalty term could be applied in gradient-based optimization algorithms to remove the self-intersection of triangular meshes without using any approximation. Qualitative and quantitative evaluations were conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness and generality of our proposed method compared with previous approaches. The experimental results show that our proposed penalty term can avoid self-intersection to exclude unreasonable predictions and improves the accuracy of 3D pose estimation indirectly. Further more, the proposed method could be employed universally in triangular mesh based 3D reconstruction.
Synthesis and Encapsulation of a New Zinc Phthalocyanine Photosensitizer into Polymeric Nanoparticles to Enhance Cell Uptake and Phototoxicity
Authors: Mehraban Nahid , Musich Phillip R. , Freeman Harold S.
Published: January 2019

Efforts to enhance the utility of photodynamic therapy as a non-invasive method for treating certain cancers have often involved the design of dye sensitizers with increased singlet oxygen efficiency. More recently, however, sensitizers with greater selectivity for tumor cells than surrounding tissue have been targeted. The present study provides an approach to the modification of the known photosensitizer zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc), to enhance its solubility and delivery to cancer cells. Targeting a photosensitizer to the site of action improves the efficacy of the sensitizer in photodynamic therapy. In this work we used PLGA-b-PEG to encapsulate a new zinc phthalocyanine derivative, 2(3), 9(10), 16(17), 23(24)-tetrakis-(4’-methyl-benzyloxy) phthalocyanine zinc(II) (ZnPcBCH3), to enhance uptake into A549 cells, a human lung cancer cell line. ZnPcBCH3 exhibited the same photochemical properties as the parent compound ZnPc but gave increased solubility in organic solvents, which allowed for efficient encapsulation. In addition, the encapsulated dye showed a near 500-fold increase in phototoxicity for A549 cancer cells compared to free dye.
Estimating Maximum Daily Precipitation in the Upper Vistula Basin, Poland
Authors: Młyński Dariusz , Wałęga Andrzej , Petroselli Andrea , Tauro Flavia , Cebulska Marta
Published: January 2019

The aim of this study was to determine the best probability distributions for calculating the maximum annual daily precipitation with the specific probability of exceedance (Pmaxp%). The novelty of this study lies in using the peak-weighted root mean square error (PWRMSE), the root mean square error (RMSE), and the coefficient of determination (R2) for assessing the fit of empirical and theoretical distributions. The input data included maximum daily precipitation records collected in the years 1971–2014 at 51 rainfall stations from the Upper Vistula Basin, Southern Poland. The value of Pmaxp% was determined based on the following probability distributions of random variables: Pearson’s type III (PIII), Weibull’s (W), log-normal, generalized extreme value (GEV), and Gumbel’s (G). Our outcomes showed a lack of significant trends in the observation series of the investigated random variables for a majority of the rainfall stations in the Upper Vistula Basin. We found that the peak-weighted root mean square error (PWRMSE) method, a commonly used metric for quality assessment of rainfall-runoff models, is useful for identifying the statistical distributions of the best fit. In fact, our findings demonstrated the consistency of this approach with the RMSE goodness-of-fit metrics. We also identified the GEV distribution as recommended for calculating the maximum daily precipitation with the specific probability of exceedance in the catchments of the Upper Vistula Basin.
Mechanism of Ionic Impedance Growth for Palladium-Containing CNT Electrodes in Lithium-Oxygen Battery Electrodes and Its Contribution to Battery Failure
Authors: Chawla Neha , Chamaani Amir , Safa Meer , Herndon Marcus , El-Zahab Bilal
Published: January 2019

The electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and on CNT (carbon nanotube) cathode with a palladium catalyst, palladium-coated CNT (PC-CNT), and palladium-filled CNT (PF-CNT) are assessed in an ether-based electrolyte solution in order to fabricate a lithium-oxygen battery with high specific energy. The electrochemical properties of the CNT cathodes were studied using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Palladium-filled cathodes displayed better performance as compared to the palladium-coated ones due to the shielding of the catalysts. The mechanism of the improvement was associated to the reduction of the rate of resistances growth in the batteries, especially the ionic resistances in the electrolyte and electrodes. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and spectroscopy were used to analyze the products of the reaction that were adsorbed on the electrode surface of the battery, which was fabricated using palladium-coated and palladium-filled CNTs as cathodes and an ether-based electrolyte.
Degradation Phenomena of Bismuth-Modified Felt Electrodes in VRFB Studied by Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy
Authors: Schneider Jonathan , Bulczak Eduard , El-Nagar Gumaa A. , Gebhard Marcus , Kubella Paul , Schnucklake Maike , Fetyan Abdulmonem , Derr Igor , Roth Christina
Published: January 2019

The performance of all-V redox flow batteries (VRFB) will decrease when they are exposed to dynamic electrochemical cycling, but also when they are in prolonged contact with the acidic electrolyte. These phenomena are especially severe at the negative side, where the parasitic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) will be increasingly favored over the reduction of V(III) with ongoing degradation of the carbon felt electrode. Bismuth, either added to the electrolyte or deposited onto the felt, has been reported to suppress the HER and therefore to enhance the kinetics of the V(II)/V(III) redox reaction. This study is the first to investigate degradation effects on bismuth-modified electrodes in the negative half-cell of a VRFB. By means of a simple impregnation method, a commercially available carbon felt was decorated with Bi 2 O 3 , which is supposedly present as Bi(0) under the working conditions at the negative side. Modified and unmodified felts were characterized electrochemically using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in a three-electrode setup. Surface morphology of the electrodes and composition of the negative half-cell electrolyte were probed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (TXRF), respectively. This was done before and after the electrodes were subjected to 50 charge-discharge cycles in a battery test bench. Our results suggest that not only the bismuth catalyst is dissolved from the electrode during battery operation, but also that the presence of bismuth in the system has a strong accelerating effect on electrode degradation.
Looking for A Place for Dose-Dense TMZ Regimens in GBM Patients: An Experience with MGMT Exploratory Evaluation
Authors: Napoleoni Luca , Cortellini Alessio , Cannita Katia , Parisi Alessandro , Dal Mas Antonella , Calvisi Giuseppe , Venditti Olga , Lanfiuti Baldi Paola , Cocciolone Valentina , Ricci Alessandro , Ficorella Corrado
Published: January 2019

Prolonged exposure to temozolomide (TMZ) could improve clinical outcomes in recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) patients. We previously developed a dose-dense regimen of TMZ in a phase II study (180 mg/m2 from days 1 to 5 every two weeks). A retrospective analysis of patients with macroscopic residual GBM treated with “post-induction” dose-dense TMZ was conducted, adding an explorative subgroup analyses among patients with different O6-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) expressions (negative vs positive, < vs ≥ of 50 % of cells stained, < vs ≥ 70% of cells stained). Thirty-six patients were evaluated; after a median follow-up of 36 weeks, median Progression Free Survival (PFS) and median Overall Survival (OS) were 19 and 34 weeks, respectively. MGMT expression (70% cut-off) and sex were confirmed as independent predictors for disease control rate (DCR) at multivariate analysis. At univariate analysis ECOG-PS, Sex (female), extensive tumor resection was shown to be related to a longer PFS, while MGMT expression (cut-off 70%) to a shorter PFS. Multivariate analysis with Cox hazard regression confirmed only ECOG-PS as an independent predictor for PFS. ECOG-PS showed to be significant related to a longer OS. Our analysis showed that dose-dense TMZ regimens are still an option for patients with recurrent GBM, but should be used for re-challenge treatments. MGMT immunohistochemistry high expression might be used as a “surrogate” negative predictor for DCR for dd-TMZ treatments.
Clinical Significance of Serum Membrane-Bound Mucin-2 Levels in Breast Cancer
Authors: Bademler Suleyman , Zirtiloglu Alisan , Sari Murat , Ucuncu Muhammed Zubeyr , Dogru Elif Bilgin , Karabulut Senem
Published: January 2019

This study was conducted to investigate the serum levels of membrane-bound mucin 2 (MUC2) in breast cancer (BC) patients and the relationship with tumour progression and known prognostic parameters. We enrolled 127 female patients with histopathologically diagnosed BC who did not receive chemotherapy (CT) or radiotherapy. Serum MUC2 levels were measured by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method and compared with those of 40 age and sex-matched healthy controls. Median age of diagnosis was 50 (range: 26–78). Twenty-eight (22%) patients were metastatic and the most frequent site of metastasis was bone (n = 17, 61%). The median serum MUC2 level of BC patients was significantly higher than that of the controls (198 vs. 54 ng/mL, p < 0.001). There was no significant difference between patients and controls according to known disease-related clinicopathological or laboratory parameters (p > 0.05). Serum MUC2 levels were not associated with survival (p = 0.65). Although serum MUC2 levels might have a diagnostic role, their predictive and prognostic role in survival in BC patients was not detected. Serum levels of MUC2 should be investigated for diagnostic or screening purposes on a larger scale.
NP-Scout: Machine Learning Approach for the Quantification and Visualization of the Natural Product-Likeness of Small Molecules
Authors: Chen Ya , Stork Conrad , Hirte Steffen , Kirchmair Johannes
Published: January 2019

Natural products (NPs) remain the most prolific resource for the development of small-molecule drugs. Here we report a new machine learning approach that allows the identification of natural products with high accuracy. The method also generates similarity maps, which highlight atoms that contribute significantly to the classification of small molecules as a natural product or synthetic molecule. The method can hence be utilized to (i) identify natural products in large molecular libraries, (ii) quantify the natural product-likeness of small molecules, and (iii) visualize atoms in small molecules that are characteristic of natural products or synthetic molecules. The models are based on random forest classifiers trained on data sets consisting of more than 265,000 to 322,000 natural products and synthetic molecules. Two-dimensional molecular descriptors, MACCS keys and Morgan2 fingerprints were explored. On an independent test set the models reached areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.997 and Matthews correlation coefficients (MCCs) of 0.954 and higher. The method was further tested on data from the Dictionary of Natural Products, ChEMBL and other resources. The best-performing models are accessible as a free web service at http://npscout.zbh.uni-hamburg.de/npscout.
Connectivity Analysis Using Functional Brain Networks to Evaluate Cognitive Activity during 3D Modelling
Authors: Baig Muhammad Zeeshan , Kavakli Manolya
Published: January 2019

Modelling 3D objects in CAD software requires special skills which require a novice user to undergo a series of training exercises to obtain. To minimize the training time for a novice user, the user-dependent factors must be studied. we have presented a comparative analysis of novice/expert information flow patterns. We have used Normalized Transfer Entropy (NTE) and Electroencephalogram (EEG) to investigate the differences. The experiment was divided into three cognitive states i.e., rest, drawing, and manipulation. We applied classification algorithms on NTE matrices and graph theory measures to see the effectiveness of NTE. The results revealed that the experts show approximately the same cognitive activation in drawing and manipulation states, whereas for novices the brain activation is more in manipulation state than drawing state. The hemisphere- and lobe-wise analysis showed that expert users have developed an ability to control the information flow in various brain regions. On the other hand, novice users have shown a continuous increase in information flow activity in almost all regions when doing drawing and manipulation tasks. A classification accuracy of more than 90% was achieved with a simple K-nearest neighbors (k-NN) to classify novice and expert users. The results showed that the proposed technique can be used to develop adaptive 3D modelling systems.
Seismic Evaluation and Strengthening of an Existing Masonry Building in Sarajevo, B&H
Authors: Ademović Naida , Oliveira Daniel V. , Lourenço Paulo B.
Published: January 2019

A significant number of old unreinforced load-bearing masonry (URM) buildings exist in many countries worldwide, but especially in Europe. In particular, Bosnia and Herzegovina has an important stock of masonry buildings constructed from the 1920s until the 1960s without application of any seismic code, due to their nonexistence at that time. With the 1963 Skopje earthquake, this class of buildings were shown to be rather vulnerable to seismic actions, which exhibited serious damage. This article assesses the seismic vulnerability of a typical multi-storey residential unreinforced load-bearing masonry building located in the heart of Sarajevo, which may be exposed to an earthquake of magnitude up to 6 by Richter’s scale. The buildings of this kind make up to 6% of the entire housing stock in the urban region of Sarajevo, while in Slovenia this percentage is much higher (around 30%). The analysis of a typical building located in Sarajevo revealed its drawbacks and the need for some kind of strengthening intervention to be implemented. Additionally, many structures of this type are overstressed by one to two additional floors (not the case of the analyzed structure) constructed from 1996 onwards. This was due to the massive population increase in the city center of Sarajevo and further increased the vulnerability of these buildings.
Assessment of the Applicability of Sustainable Epoxy Composites Containing Waste Rubber Aggregates in Buildings
Authors: Dębska Bernardeta , Lichołai Lech , Miąsik Przemysław
Published: January 2019

The dynamic development of the automotive industry and improvements in quality of life have caused a significant increase in the production of car tires. Unfortunately, when the useful life of these products comes to an end, the problem of their disposal arises. The article presents the results of tests of epoxy mortars in which granules made from waste tires were used as a substitute for sand in the amount of 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100% vol. respectively. The available literature lacks information about resin composites that arise with such a large or complete replacement of sand with rubber waste. Along with the increase in the content of waste, the values of strength parameters of composites decreased; however, a material characterized by very low water absorption, that is lightweight and with a low thermal conduction coefficient was obtained. Using the ADINA program, numerical simulations were carried out regarding the temperature distribution in a part of the building structure containing modified rubber mortar. The results of the simulation confirmed the possibility of practical use of the obtained composite due to its good thermal insulation properties. This approach to testing composites modified with rubber waste is innovative.
3D Mammary Epithelial Cell Models: A Goldmine of DCIS Biomarkers and Morphogenetic Mechanisms
Authors: Rossetti Stefano , Sacchi Nicoletta
Published: January 2019

Breast ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) has been typically recognized by pathologists on the basis of aberrant mammary duct morphology. Thus, there are increasing efforts to detect DCIS biomarkers and druggable targets. In this study we focused on the molecular mechanism involving Annexin A8 (ANXA8), a Ca2+ and phospholipid binding protein, which is regulated by all-trans Retinoic Acid (RA), and it is highly expressed in breast DCIS tissue samples relative to atypical ductal hyperplasia, and normal breast tissue. Using a panel of human mammary epithelial HME1 cell lines that share a common protein signature, and develop in vitro three dimensional (3D) “DCIS-like” amorphous structures, we identified by bioinformatics analysis protein-miRNA pairs, potentially involved in mammary morphogenetic mechanisms, including the ANXA8 mechanism. HME1 cells with genetic mutations hampering the physiological RA regulation of the RA receptor alpha (RARA) transcriptional function, but retain the RARA function controlling the PI3KCA-AKT signaling, develop 3D “DCIS-like” amorphous structures with upregulated ANXA8. Consistently, ectopic ANXA8 expression, by affecting the RARA transcriptional function, induced HME1 DCIS-like amorphous acini expressing phosphorylated AKT (P-AKT). Apparently, a RA-RARA-ANXA8 feedback loop fosters a vicious circle of aberrant morphogenesis. Interestingly, a few miRNAs regulated by RA are predicted to target ANXA8 mRNA. These miRNAs are candidate components of the RA-RARA-ANXA8 mechanism, and their deregulation might induce DCIS initiation.
Stereotactic Radiotherapy for Oligometastasis
Authors: Otake Sotaro , Goto Taichiro
Published: January 2019

Oligometastatic disease is defined as “a condition with a few metastases arising from tumors that have not acquired a potential for widespread metastases.” Its behavior suggests a transitional malignant state somewhere between localized and metastatic cancer. Treatment of oligometastatic disease is expected to achieve long-term local control and to improve survival. Historically, patients with oligometastases have often undergone surgical resection since it was anecdotally believed that surgical resection could result in progression-free or overall survival benefits. To date, no prospective randomized trials have demonstrated surgery-related survival benefits. Short courses of highly focused, extremely high-dose radiotherapies (e.g., stereotactic radiosurgery and stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR)) have frequently been used as alternatives to surgery for treatment of oligometastasis. A randomized study has demonstrated the overall survival benefits of stereotactic radiosurgery for solitary brain metastasis. Following the success of stereotactic radiosurgery, SABR has been widely accepted for treating extracranial metastases, considering its efficacy and minimum invasiveness. In this review, we discuss the history of and rationale for the local treatment of oligometastases and probe into the implementation of SABR for oligometastatic disease.
Role of Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) in Cell Stress Response and Resistance to Cancer Therapy
Authors: O’Neill Clodagh P. , Gilligan Katie E. , Dwyer Róisín M.
Published: January 2019

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanosized particles released by all cells that have been heralded as novel regulators of cell-to-cell communication. It is becoming increasingly clear that in response to a variety of stress conditions, cells employ EV-mediated intercellular communication to transmit a pro-survival message in the tumor microenvironment and beyond, supporting evasion of cell death and transmitting resistance to therapy. Understanding changes in EV cargo and secretion pattern during cell stress may uncover novel, targetable mechanisms underlying disease progression, metastasis and resistance to therapy. Further, the profile of EVs released into the circulation may provide a circulating biomarker predictive of response to therapy and indicative of microenvironmental conditions linked to disease progression, such as hypoxia. Continued progress in this exciting and rapidly expanding field of research will be dependent upon widespread adoption of transparent reporting standards and implementation of guidelines to establish a consensus on methods of EV isolation, characterisation and nomenclature employed.
Treatment Combining CD200 Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor and Tumor-Lysate Vaccination after Surgery for Pet Dogs with High-Grade Glioma
Authors: Olin Michael R. , Ampudia-Mesias Elisabet , Pennell Christopher A. , Sarver Aaron , Chen Clark C. , Moertel Christopher L. , Hunt Matthew A. , Pluhar G. Elizabeth
Published: January 2019

Recent advances in immunotherapy have included inhibition of immune checkpoint proteins in the tumor microenvironment and tumor lysate-based vaccination strategies. We combined these approaches in pet dogs with high-grade glioma. Administration of a synthetic peptide targeting the immune checkpoint protein, CD200, enhanced the capacity of antigen-presenting cells to prime T-cells to mediate an anti-glioma response. We found that in canine spontaneous gliomas, local injection of a canine-specific, CD200-directed peptide before subcutaneous delivery of an autologous tumor lysate vaccine prolonged survival relative to a historical control treated with autologous tumor lysate alone (median survivals of 12.7 months and 6.36 months, respectively). Antigen-presenting cells and T-lymphocytes primed with this peptide suppressed their expression of the inhibitory CD200 receptor, thereby enhancing their ability to initiate immune reactions in a glioblastoma microenvironment replete with the immunosuppressive CD200 protein. These results support consideration of a CD200 ligand as a novel glioblastoma immunotherapeutic agent.
Oxaliplatin-Based Intra-arterial Chemotherapy in Colo-Rectal Cancer Liver Metastases: A Review from Pharmacology to Clinical Application
Authors: Ranieri Girolamo , Laforgia Mariarita , Nardulli Patrizia , Ferraiuolo Simona , Molinari Pasquale , Marech Ilaria , Gadaleta Cosmo Damiano
Published: January 2019

Liver metastases (LM) are often consequences of colo-rectal cancer (CRC)and the majority of patients have unresectable LM. Oxaliplatin-based intravenous chemotherapy represents the gold standard treatment for CRC. Intravenous oxaliplatin has several side effects i.e., nephrologic, hematologic and neurological toxicity. Moreover, hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) of antitumor drugs deeply modifies the treatment of LMCRC due to the knowledge that LM are perfused by the hepatic artery network, whereas healthy tissue is perfused by the portal vein. Therefore, oxaliplatin-based HAI becomes an interesting possibility to treat LMCRC. The aim of this review is to shed light on the important impact of the oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy from a non-conventional clinical point of view, considering that, being universally accepted its antitumor effect if administered intravenously, fragmentary information are known about its clinical applications and benefits deriving from intra-arterial administration in loco-regional chemotherapy.
Ru-Ti Oxide Based Catalysts for HCl Oxidation: The Favorable Oxygen Species and Influence of Ce Additive
Authors: Shi Jian , Hui Feng , Yuan Jun , Yu Qinwei , Mei Suning , Zhang Qian , Li Jialin , Wang Weiqiang , Yang Jianming , Lu Jian
Published: January 2019

Several Ru-Ti oxide-based catalysts were investigated for the catalytic oxidation of HCl to Cl2 in this work. The active component RuO2 was loaded on different titanium-containing supports by a facile wetness impregnation method. The Ru-Ti oxide based catalysts were characterized by XRD, N2 sorption, SEM, TEM, H2-TPR, XPS, and Raman, which is correlated with the catalytic tests. Rutile TiO2 was confirmed as the optimal support even though it has a low specific surface area. In addition to the interfacial epitaxial lattice matching and epitaxy, the extraordinary performance of Ru-Ti rutile oxide could also be attributed to the favorable oxygen species on Ru sites and specific active phase-support interactions. On the other hand, the influence of additive Ce on the RuO2/TiO2-rutile was studied. The incorporation of Ce by varied methods resulted in further oxidation of RuO2 into RuO2δ+ and a modification of the support structure. The amount of favorable oxygen species on the surface was decreased. As a result, the Deacon activity was lowered. It was demonstrated that the surface oxygen species and specific interactions of the Ru-Ti rutile oxide were critical to HCl oxidation.
Microstructure of Plasma Nitrided AISI420 Martensitic Stainless Steel at 673 K
Authors: Aizawa Tatsuhiko , Yoshino Tomoaki , Morikawa Kazuo , Yoshihara Sho-Ichiro
Published: January 2019

Martensitic stainless steel type AISI420 was plasma nitrided at 673 K for 3.6 ks to investigate the initial stage of the nitrogen supersaturation process without the formation of iron and chromium nitrides. SEM-EDX, electron back-scattering diffraction (EBSD), and TEM analyses were utilized to characterize the microstructure of the nitrided layer across the nitriding front end. The original coarse-grained, fully martensitic microstructure turned to be α’- γ two phase and fine-grained by high nitrogen concentration. Below this homogeneously nitrided layer, α’-grains were modified in geometry to be aligned along the plastic slip lines together with the α’ to γ-phase transformation at these highly strained zones. Most of these α’-grains in the two-phase microstructure had a nano-laminated structure with the width of 50 nm.