bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Neurology of Religion
Authors: Maryanski Alexandra , Turner Jonathan H.
Published: March 2018

The human propensity for religious behavior and, eventually, religious organization is the by-product of natural selection working on the neuroanatomy of low-sociality and non-group-forming hominins to become more social and group oriented as a necessary strategy for survival on the African savanna. Using cladistic analysis to determine the behavioral and organizational propensities of the last common ancestor to present-day great apes and humans’ hominin ancestors, while at the same time engaging in comparative neuroanatomy of extant great-ape and human brains, the neurological basis of religion is isolated. Religion emerged under early selection pressures to make hominins more social and able to form stable groups. From the combination of dramatically increased emotionality and cognitive functioning, the transition from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens approximately 300,000 year ago created the neurological platform for religious behaviors among early humans.
Sex Differences in the Human Brain
Authors: Franks David D.
Published: March 2018

In this chapter, the different meanings of the terms sex and gender are discussed: Sex is biological, and gender has to do with social roles. Biological differences such as genes are discussed next, including a discussion of whether these differences should be considered as either/or distinctions or as continuums. Differences in social skills are discussed. Next, differences in the brain’s gray and white matter are explored. Various parts of the brain and the abilities they support are then presented. How sex differences in the brain complement each other is explored, as well as differences and overlaps. The implications for single-sex education are presented. Reasons to discuss brain differences and other differences follow, including sleep problems, anorexia, and bulimia. A subsection on memory and emotion follows.
Dewey’s Art as Experience in the Landscape of Twenty-First-Century Aesthetics
Authors: Haskins Casey
Published: March 2018

As we move beyond earlier postmodern era debates about the alleged death of aesthetics, Art as Experience remains a key resource for multidisciplinary discussions of “everyday aesthetics,” the aesthetics of embodiment, and the dialogue between pragmatist and other traditions such as Adornean Critical Theory. Dewey’s book focuses on what artists and audiences do, but it also presupposes his view of inquiry as a kind of transformative agency. In this way Dewey’s argument suggests a further view about the nonrepresentational nature of aesthetic theorizing itself. Such theorizing occurs—to use a metaphor with multiple Deweyan-pragmatist resonances—on a landscape of different possible linkages between belief and behavior. After addressing the aforementioned subjects, this chapter concludes with further thoughts about how the metaphor of aesthetic theorizing as a “landscape” invites further discussion of the place of art and aesthetic theorizing within the developing natural order as understood by Dewey in Experience and Nature.
Effects of Conversations with Sites of Public Heritage on Collective Memory
Authors: Fagin Martin M.
Published: March 2018

Human beings’ unique drive to immortalize the important lessons we have learned is as old as civilization itself. The drive to pass on our cultural heritage to those we are more immediately temporally linked to, and those that we are more distantly temporally linked to, must then, serve an adaptive function. For animals as socially determined as humans, public heritage, through its reciprocal relationship with collective memory, supports the development of social cohesion between individuals, and therefore allows us to coalesce into groups and societies. How is this achieved? This chapter will focus on evidence that suggests what makes it into, or out of, our public heritage is about the functional role that information plays in shaping collective identity, not its validity, and will be determined by the extended interactional dynamics of the situation. Specifically, we focus on the role that conversational dynamics play in the formation of collective memories.
People in Place
Authors: Buckley James Michael
Published: March 2018

Public heritage practice in American cities has largely focused on the physical landscape of the European-based majority culture. As the nation’s urban areas continue to become more culturally diverse, preservationists have begun to explore new approaches to serve the needs of minority populations through community development planning. Examples include programs in San Francisco that focus less on physical fabric and more on the intangible cultural aspects associated with marginalized groups, and the work of Project Row Houses in Houston, which uses the historic building fabric of an African-American minority community as a canvas for expressing the group’s experience within the majority society. While US public heritage practice still lags behind in its representation of America’s diversity, the ability of preservationists to combine more subjective tools like intangible culture and artistic place-making with community development planning can help prevent the displacement of minority cultures from their traditional locations due to development pressure.
Contesting the Aesthetic Construction of Community
Authors: Lawrence-Zúñiga Denise
Published: March 2018

This chapter considers community conflicts arising over the aesthetic character of homes when advocates use government policies and regulations to impose historic preservation values. Historic preservation is organized as a cosmology that values and seeks to restore original architectural forms as representations of history. Homeowner advocates for preservation are motivated by their own home restoration experiences with material agency, while local municipalities employ “aesthetic governmentality” techniques with graphic codes to help shape homeowner perceptions and change aesthetic norms. Conflicts in two southern California cities illustrate how preservationist residents use regulations to actively protect houses against remodels by “uninformed” homeowners. In another city, affluent Chinese immigrants propose mansion-sized remodels of bungalow houses as a counter aesthetic to preservation. Each aesthetic promotes a distinct but also contrasting moral suburban landscape.
Apologies, Restitutions, and Compensation
Authors: Aldrich Robert
Published: March 2018

Coming to terms with an imperial past has involved difficult and often divisive questions of how far the inhabitants of former imperial powers should accept responsibility for the deeds of their predecessors, how far back into the past one might go to remedy such injustices, and what happens when the reparative demands of injured parties conflict with the security and well-being of others. This chapter looks at a range of cases and claims for restitution, reparation, and apologies in order to consider how the imperial past has entered into the public domain, the selectivity of imperial memories, and processes of reconciliation. After discussing the historical conjuncture in which demands have arisen, this chapter explores three types of ‘reparative politics’: apologies and expressions of regret for colonial-era actions, restitution of heritage objects in metropolitan collections, and monetary compensation for the perceived crimes of colonialism.
Vertical and Horizontal Problems in Financial Regulation and Corporate Governance
Authors: Macey Jonathan R. , O'Hara Maureen
Published: March 2018

This chapter discusses vertical and horizontal problems in financial regulation and corporate governance. More specifically, it examines three contexts in which efforts to mitigate systemic risk and moral hazard in capital markets and financial institutions clash with long-standing principles of corporate governance. The first issue relates to the so-called “vertical” challenge between financial institutions and the separately incorporated holding companies that own and control them. The second issue relates to the “horizontal” challenge, in which regulatory arbitrage occurs between the banking subsidiaries of complex holding companies and their less-regulated nonbank and shadow bank siblings. The third and final issue deals with the conflict between the conception of fiduciary duty in the federal law of insider trading and the concept of fiduciary duty in state law.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy for Substance Use Disorders
Authors: Axelrod Seth R.
Published: March 2018

This chapter discusses Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Substance Use Disorders (DBT-SUD), which expands standard comprehensive DBT to treat individuals with co-occurring Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and SUDs—a particularly high-risk population. It explores the compassionate formulation of addictive behaviour that underlies the treatment model, and describes the DBT-SUD treatment structure, e.g., addictions-focused skills and guidelines for targeting substance use within the DBT treatment target hierarchy. It covers strategic modifications of DBT-SUD as applied to the DBT case management strategies, and specific suggestions for overcoming common addictions treatment obstacles. It reviews the challenges of synthesizing replacement drug medications and drug toxicology screening with DBT, working with individuals who are prescribed potentially addictive medications, and avoiding substance use contagion among group members. It reviews research supporting DBT-SUD and preliminary studies of DBT-SUD with non-BPD populations, and suggests that DBT-SUD modifications can help to better target substance use within general DBT practice settings.
Evidence and Evidentiality in Quechua Narrative Discourse
Authors: Howard Rosaleen
Published: March 2018

This chapter discusses the working of evidentiality in Quechua narrative performance from the central highlands of Peru. In the Quechua narratives analysed, the grammatical marking of source and status of knowledge, and discursive ways of expressing evidence for knowing what is known, are shown to vary strikingly according to performance related factors. On the one hand, narrators base discursively expressed evidence for knowledge, and the veracity and authenticity of the stories they tell, on lived experience. On the other hand, in Huamalíes Quechua the assertion of knowledge and affirmation of validity are grammatically marked by evidential, epistemic modality, and tense suffixes. Taken together, the performative dimensions of discursively expressed evidence, and grammatical choices around evidentiality, constitute the epistemological underpinning of stories about the past in Huamalíes Quechua; both are taken into account in the mixed methods approach to the analysis of Quechua narrative adopted here.
Evidentiality
Authors: Boye Kaspar
Published: March 2018

This chapter surveys the different ways in which evidentiality is conceived of and referred to. It first outlines the history of the term evidentiality and other terms that have been associated with evidentiality. It then discusses different definitions and ways of understanding evidentiality. Most often evidentiality is defined in terms of the notion of information source or related notions. This notion has been understood as an epistemic notion, as a deictic or grounding notion and/or as having subjective and intersubjective aspects. Subsequently, the chapter discusses three distinctions that are significant to understanding information source and evidentiality, viz. distinctions pertaining to coding (coded versus non-coded), way of encoding (grammatical versus lexical encoding), and discourse prominence (discursively secondary versus discursively primary status).
Evidentiality in Tukanoan Languages
Authors: Stenzel Kristine , Gomez-Imbert Elsa
Published: March 2018

This chapter offers a comprehensive overview of evidentiality in the Tukanoan family of northwestern Amazonia. It begins with the organization of Eastern Tukanoan evidential systems, showing their place within a larger ‘clause modality’ paradigm and in the template of finite verbs. It then outlines the semantics of the four-to-five evidential categories typically found in these systems, considers their epistemic and mirative extensions, and discusses the coding of person and tense/aspect distinctions in the varied morphosyntactic realizations of evidentials as bound affixes or analytic constructions. The expression of evidential values in interrogatives, and observations on special cognitive contexts and speakers’ awareness of and attitudes towards evidentiality are then addressed. A final section discusses evidentiality in Western Tukanoan languages and its diachronic development as a defining feature within the Eastern branch.
Evidentiality in the Uto-Aztecan Languages
Authors: Thornes Tim
Published: March 2018

The expression of evidentiality is quite diverse among the languages of the Uto-Aztecan family. This diversity is seen both in the number of terms and associated functional distinctions and in the formal means used to express them. The purpose of this chapter is to synthesize and describe evidential expression across the family, both as a contribution to a typology of evidential systems in the world’s languages and to an understanding of the diachronic development of such systems.

All the languages surveyed in this chapter mark, at a minimum, reported information, and most of them also carry some means for marking inference. The grammaticalization and renewal of reportative evidentials is considered. Most of the languages treat direct evidence either as the default or unspecified case. The overt marking of direct, firsthand evidence is rare, and just a few languages express perceptual evidence, either visual or auditory.
Evidentiality and Epistemic Modality in Gitksan
Authors: Peterson Tyler
Published: March 2018

This chapter presents a sketch of the grammatical evidential system and related epistemic meanings in Gitksan, a critically endangered indigenous language of the Tsimshianic language family spoken in the northwest interior of Canada. A number of basic syntactic and semantic tests utilizing presupposition, negation, and dissent are applied that provide a nuanced description of the meanings of the individual evidentials. A specific feature of the Gitksan evidentials which is examined in detail involves how they can be used to express epistemic modality, and how a speaker’s choice of which evidential to use in a particular speech context is conditioned by her evaluation of the information acquired in that context. One of the effects of this choice is the expression of what can be translated as modal force.
Turkic Indirectivity
Authors: Johanson Lars
Published: March 2018

This chapter deals with various Turkic evidential categories, which typically express the notion of indirectivity. The primary task of indirectivity is not to express an external origin of the addresser’s knowledge of an event, but to indicate that a narrated event is stated in an indirect way, by reference to its reception by a conscious subject. The reception may be realised through hearsay, inference, or perception. Some more elaborate Turkic systems distinguish between reported and non-reported indirectivity. The various evidential notions are realized morphologically by two types of markers. One type consists of post-terminal inflectional markers that sometimes tend to vacillate between evidential and non-evidential readings. The other type consists of copular particles that are more stable markers of evidentiality.
Evidentials in Uralic Languages
Authors: Skribnik Elena , Kehayov Petar
Published: March 2018

This chapter gives an overview of Uralic evidential systems: of the type A3 in Finnic, A2 in Mari and Permic, A1 and A2 in Ob-Ugric (with strong mirativization), of B3, C3, and higher types in Samoyedic, i.e. very different in different branches of the Uralic family. Due to this and to similarities in both semantic values and coding with their geographical neighbours, grammatical evidentiality cannot be considered an inherited feature of Uralic languages—but rather appeared due to areal diffusion and independent innovations with different sources, from past tenses to desubordination.

Uralic evidentials are not used in commands and tend to be incompatible with non-indicative moods; they are rarely found in negative clauses and questions, in which case they are outside the scope of the negative/interrogative operator; i.e. the content of the clause is negated/questioned, not the information source.
Evidentiality and the Expression of Knowledge: An African Perspective
Authors: Storch Anne
Published: March 2018

Evidentials in African languages range from systems that distinguish between firsthand and non-firsthand information to repertoires of evidential markers that express source of information, control over knowledge, reliability of inferred information, etc. Besides more ‘typical’ evidentials, there are also examples where evidential meanings are expressed via spatial deictic markers, discourse markers, and pronominal elements. This contribution provides an overview of evidentiality in a number of African languages and a case study of the pragmatics of these expressions. The chapter’s main argument is that evidential meanings can emerge ad hoc in specific sociolinguistic settings, where a number of factors translate into a need for clarity and unambiguity in phatic communication. To avoid misinterpretations, speakers make use of evidential markers, thereby reacting to social pressure. They also make reference to notions of agency, voice, and control over knowledge. This chapter focuses on individual languages of Nigeria (Jukun, Maaka) and South Sudan (Luwo).
Evidentiality in Japanese
Authors: Narrog Heiko , Yang Wenjiang
Published: March 2018

This chapter provides an overview of the structure, meaning and use of evidential markers in Modern Japanese and a brief summary of evidential markers through Japanese language history. Japanese has inferential evidentials and reportive markers. They are realized as suffixes on a variety of (mainly verbal) predicates, and as grammaticalized nouns. Issues that arise and are discussed in this chapter include the differentiation between markers that are semantically similar, the purported existence of direct evidential uses, the distinction between evidentials (reportives) on the one hand and quotatives on the other, the interaction with other categories of (mainly verbal) predicates such as tense, aspect, and modality, and the use in interrogatives.
Dizqueand other Emergent Evidential forms in Romance Languages
Authors: Alcázar Asier
Published: March 2018

This chapter addresses the origin, meaning, syntax, and classification of dizque ‘they.say.that’. These questions are framed in the context of ongoing diachronic and synchronic investigations of new evidential markers (complementizer que ‘that’, digamos ‘let’s say’) and dizque variants (que dizque, quesque). Contingent on the dialect, dizque is a reportative and/or quotative, with a higher or lower degree of epistemic extensions, and mirativity. Dizque can be primarily epistemic too. Syntactic distribution varies. Most forms behave as a particle, with variable scope, to include sentences, constituents, and predicates. Contact with Quechua is thought to accelerate grammaticalization in some dialects. The origin of dizque is unresolved. Dizque may be substratum influence from indigenous languages of South America. Because Romance presents similar forms, dizque could be part of a more general genealogical development. Considering its early presence in the seed Peninsular Dialect, borrowing from Basque, or a calque from Latin cannot be dismissed.
Evidentiality and Information Source in Signed Languages
Authors: Wilcox Sherman , Shaffer Barbara
Published: March 2018

This chapter examines evidentiality in signed languages. Data comes primarily from three signed languages—American Sign Language (ASL), Brazilian Sign Language (Libras), and Catalan Sign Language (LSC). The relationship between evidentiality, epistemic modality, and mirativity is examined across the expression of perceptual information as an evidential source, inference, and reported speech. It is suggested that evidentiality relies on simulation and subjectification. Finally, a proposal is offered that evidentiality, epistemic modality, and mirativity are primarily expressed through grammaticalized facial markers in signed languages, rather than by means of manual signs. These markers allow for simultaneous expression of grammatical markers. In signed languages, therefore, not only are the semantic components of evidentiality, epistemic modality, and mirativity integrated, so too are the phonological means of expression.
Evidentials and Epistemic Modality
Authors: Wiemer Björn
Published: March 2018

This chapter deals with the relation between the notional domains of information source and epistemic modality. It surveys various approaches to this relation and the cross-linguistic patterns of the way in which linguistic units (of diverse formats) with evidential or epistemic meanings develop extensions whereby they encroach into each other’s domains. Meaning extensions in either direction can adequately be captured, and confusion between both domains can be avoided, only if in the analysis of the meaning of such units (a) an onomasiological and semasiological perspective and (b) a coded-inferred divide are distinguished. Thus, epistemic extensions often arise as Generalized Conversational Implicatures (GCIs). Concomitantly, reliability functions as a mechanism that mediates between, but cannot be identified with, the contributions of evidential and epistemic meanings. Reliability, together with the predictability of specific markers and discourse expectations, is considered responsible for the rise of epistemic GCIs.
Where Do Evidentials Come From?
Authors: Friedman Victor A.
Published: March 2018

This chapter examines the origins of evidential marking, with a focus on the languages of the Eurasian continent. These languages display both transmission and diffusion. Moreover, a feature that diffuses from one system into another can then be elaborated by mechanisms of transmission, while a transmitted system can be affected by diffusion. With the exception of Turkic and Mongolic, historically centrally located in Eurasia, reconstructable evidential systems of the continent have relatively shallow time-depths and are not reconstructable for respective protolanguages. This also appears to be the case for some instances in Native America when reconstruction is possible. Reinterpreted past tenses, subordinate clauses, and nominalizations are major sources, reduced lexical items also occur, on rare occasions future marking, noun incorporation, and the reinterpretation of interrogative or emphatics is attested as relevant. Copying, calquing, and subsequent internal elaboration also play roles.
Evidentials, Information Sources, and Cognition
Authors: Ünal Ercenur , Papafragou Anna
Published: March 2018

This chapter investigates how conceptual representations of sources of knowledge make contact with linguistic evidentiality. By drawing on empirical evidence from both adult and child speakers of languages with different evidential systems, the present chapter aims to understand which aspects of cognition are shared by speakers of different languages and which aspects may be susceptible to linguistic influences. Findings from these lines of work support a universalist view of the relation between language and cognition, according to which linguistic categories of evidentiality do not shape, but build on conceptual representations of sources of knowledge that are shared across speakers of different languages.
Catholicism and Ecumenism
Authors: Murray Paul D.
Published: March 2018

This chapter discusses the theological foundations for and character of Roman Catholic participation in the ecumenical movement. Following a consideration of the emergence of the modern ecumenical movement and the Catholic Church’s ambivalence towards it, the chapter treats Vatican II as a pivotal development that resulted in the Church’s strong commitment to ecumenical engagement. A treatment of the main achievements of the subsequent decades follows, focusing on developments in the dialogue with the Lutheran and Anglican communities. The chapter concludes by examining the gradual stalling of progress in some of these engagements and suggests ways in which the ‘receptive ecumenism’ movement offers new ways forward.
Deep Learning
Authors: Cho Kyunghyun
Published: March 2018

Deep learning has rapidly gained huge popularity among researchers in natural-language processing and computational linguistics in recent years. This chapter gives a comprehensive and detailed overview of recent deep-learning-based approaches to challenging problems in natural-language processing, specifically focusing on document classification, language modelling, and machine translation. At the end of the chapter, new opportunities in natural-language processing made possible by deep learning are discussed, which are multilingual and larger-context modelling.
Contemporary Israel/Palestine
Authors: Molavi Shourideh C.
Published: March 2018

This chapter provides an intellectual and political guide to further our understanding of the ongoing Israel/Palestine conflict and how power, violence, exclusion, and the law shape its various transformations and contemporary realities. Rather than fully covering the assemblage of historical and current policies and practices that make up the conflict, this chapter outlines major theoretical and legal tenets and political starting-points that any serious and honest scholar or observer of Israel/Palestine might consider. Placing together an emphasis on Jewish ethnic privilege, demographic dominance, and a geographic continuity of exclusion, this chapter examines contemporary Israel/Palestine as a Zionist incorporation regime. Here relations and categories of inclusion and exclusion are shaped by a settler-colonial Zionist ideology that work in conjunction, intersect, and fuel one another. Together, they shape the racialized contours of a unitary Zionist incorporation regime that exposes all Palestinian Arabs, as a non-Jewish indigenous population, to a settler-colonial exclusion regardless of their particular legal and political status.
Newton and Spinoza
Authors: Peterman Alison
Published: March 2018

This article examines the relationship between Newton’s philosophy and Spinoza’s. It begins by outlining the historical context in which Spinoza and Newton may have exerted mutual influence, considering in particular the Newtonian response to Spinoza and to Spinozistic doctrines like necessitarianism, monism, and scientific apriorism. It goes on to discuss some of the most interesting aspects of the relationships between Spinoza’s and Newton’s positions on natural-philosophical method, the status of final causes, and God’s relationship to creation. While Newton and Spinoza are fundamentally at odds concerning the role of induction in natural philosophy and the question of whether the investigation of nature reveals God’s designs, shared influences and a concern to emphasize creatures’ dependence on God bring Newton close to aspects of Spinozist ontology.
Conceptualizing Artists’ Rights
Authors: van Haaften-Schick Lauren
Published: March 2018

The Artist’s Reserved Rights Transfer and Sale Agreement (Siegelaub-Projansky Agreement) of 1971 and the certificates of early Conceptual art have been considered contradictory for enabling so-called “dematerialized” artworks to be exchanged as any other commodifiable work, thus negating Conceptual artists’ claims of challenging market and institutional conventions. However, an expanded lens on the life of the Siegelaub-Projansky Agreement in law yields another legacy for these endeavors, where the Agreement is instead evidenced as influencing artists’ rights laws in the United States, and where its rhetoric of collectivity can be viewed as a radical appropriation of private law in an effort to establish more equitable art industry norms. This reclaimed narrative of political influence emerges only when we recognize the capacity of these artistic documents as legal instruments, and consider how they have circulated through and challenged the limits of both fields they are cross-classified between: art and law.
Periurethral Mass Mimicking Neoplasm After Injection of Macroplastique for Postprostatectomy Stress Incontinence
Authors: Richard Capucine , Dejust Sébastien , Moubtakir Abdenasser , Bruna-Muraille Claire , Morland David
Published: March 2018

A 64-year-old man underwent initial 18F-FDG PET/CT staging for gastric cardia adenocarcinoma, which showed the primary gastric tumor, several bone metastases, and high uptake in a periurethral mass mimicking pelvic neoplasm developed after injection of polydimethylsiloxane (Macroplastique) urethral bulking agent 6 years ago for postprostatectomy stress urinary incontinence. This case showed a very rare complication of silicon particle injection therapy, and the intense uptake is likely due to granulomatous reaction around the implant.
FDG PET/CT in 2 Cases of Hepatic Pseudolymphoma
Authors: Zhong Xinping , Dong Aisheng , Dong Hui , Wang Yang
Published: March 2018

Hepatic pseudolymphoma, also known as reactive lymphoid hyperplasia or nodular lymphoid hyperplasia, is a rare benign lymphoproliferative lesion. Preoperative diagnosis of hepatic pseudolymphoma is challenging. We present 2 cases of hepatic pseudolymphoma with focal intense FDG uptake on FDG PET/CT mimicking malignancy. These 2 cases suggest that hepatic pseudolymphoma should be considered as a rare differential diagnosis in patients with focal hypermetabolic hepatic lesion.
False-Positive Uptake of 131I Due to Tubal Ligation in a Patient With Papillary Thyroid Cancer
Authors: Tong Junyu , Jin Yuchen , Liu Min , Lv Zhongwei , Chen Libo
Published: March 2018

A 39-year-old woman with papillary thyroid cancer underwent 131I therapy after thyroidectomy. Posttherapeutic 131I whole-body scan accidentally showed symmetric “hot spots” in the pelvic region beyond known bone metastases. SPECT/CT was immediately added and revealed metal artifacts with 131I accumulation in the nearby uterus. Further inquiry discovered that she underwent tubal ligation 19 years ago. Our case demonstrates that 131I accumulation can occur at the site of oviducts many years after tubal ligation, which should be distinguished from 131I-avid metastases.
Feasibility of Laparoscopy-assisted Gastrectomy for Gastric Cancer in Elderly Patients: A Case-Control Study
Authors: Tsuchiya Nobuhiro , Kunisaki Chikara , Makino Hirochika , Kimura Jun , Takagawa Ryo , Sato Sho , Tanaka Yusaku , Sato Kei , Miyamoto Hiroshi , Kosaka Takashi , Akiyama Hirotoshi , Endo Itaru , Sakamaki Kentaro , Yamanaka Takeharu
Published: March 2018

Purpose:

The present study evaluated the safety and effectiveness of laparoscopic gastrectomy (LG) in elderly gastric cancer patients.

Patients and Methods:

This study included 78 gastric cancer patients aged 80 years or above [39 in the LG group and 39 in the open gastrectomy group (matched)]. Patient characteristics, surgical outcomes, survival time, and immunonutritional status were compared.

Results:

Mean blood loss was significantly lower in the LG group, although the operation time did not differ. There were no significant differences in the number of dissected lymph nodes, postoperative morbidity, mortality, total hospital stay, and the causes of death. The prognostic nutritional index and skeletal muscle index at 1 year were better maintained in the LG group than in the open gastrectomy group. The overall and relapse-free survivals did not differ.

Conclusions:

LG may be feasible in elderly patients with gastric cancer. A prospective randomized controlled trial should be conducted to confirm its efficacy.
Electromyographic Study of Thoracic Paraspinal and Rectus Abdominis Muscles in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Authors: Zambelis Thomas , Koutsoudaki Pinelopi , Anagnostou Evangelos , Kokotis Panagiotis , Karandreas Nikolaos
Published: March 2018

Purpose:

The aim of our study was the comparison of active denervation (fibrillation and/or positive sharp wave potentials) in thoracic paraspinal muscles with rectus abdominis in patients with definite amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Methods:

Ninety-five consecutive patients with clinically definite amyotrophic lateral sclerosis according to the revised El Escorial criteria were studied prospectively over a 5-year period. Concentric needle electromyogram was performed in thoracic paraspinal muscles, in the rectus abdominis at the T9 level, and in limb muscles.

Results:

Active denervation was present in thoracic paraspinal muscles in 75 patients (79%) and in rectus abdominis in 62 patients (65.3%) (P = 0.02). No significant difference was found between the two muscles regarding the type of onset (bulbar, upper, and lower limbs), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis functional rating scale values, and creatine phosphokinase levels.

Conclusions:

Thoracic paraspinal muscles are the first to be tested in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Absence of active denervation in T-PSM is rarely associated with active denervation in rectus abdominis.
Combat biofouling with microscopic ridge-like surface morphology: a bioinspired study
Authors: Fu Jimin , Zhang Hua , Guo Zhenbin , Feng Dan-qing , Thiyagarajan Vengatesen , Yao Haimin
Published: March 2018

Biofouling refers to the unfavourable attachment and accumulation of marine sessile organisms (e.g. barnacles, mussels and tubeworms) on the solid surfaces immerged in ocean. The enormous economic loss caused by biofouling in combination with the severe environmental impacts induced by the current antifouling approaches entails the development of novel antifouling strategies with least environmental impact. Inspired by the superior antifouling performance of the leaves of mangrove tree
Sonneratia apetala
, here we propose to combat biofouling by using a surface with microscopic ridge-like morphology. Settlement tests with tubeworm larvae on polymeric replicas of
S. apetala
leaves confirm that the microscopic ridge-like surface morphology can effectively prevent biofouling. A contact mechanics-based model is then established to quantify the dependence of tubeworm settlement on the structural features of the microscopic ridge-like morphology, giving rise to theoretical guidelines to optimize the morphology for better antifouling performance. Under the direction of the obtained guidelines, a synthetic surface with microscopic ridge-like morphology is developed, exhibiting antifouling performance comparable to that of the
S. apetala
replica. Our results not only reveal the underlying mechanism accounting for the superior antifouling property of the
S. apetala
leaves, but also provide applicable guidance for the development of synthetic antifouling surfaces.
Elucidation of the hierarchical structure of natural eumelanins
Authors: Xiao Ming , Chen Wei , Li Weiyao , Zhao Jiuzhou , Hong You-lee , Nishiyama Yusuke , Miyoshi Toshikazu , Shawkey Matthew D. , Dhinojwala Ali
Published: March 2018

Eumelanin is one of the most ubiquitous pigments in living organisms and plays an important role in coloration and UV protection. Because eumelanin is highly cross-linked and insoluble in solvents, the chemical structure is still not completely known. In this study, we used atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to compare intact eumelanosomes (pigment granules mostly made of eumelanin) from four phylogentically distant species: cuttlefish (
Sepia officinalis
) inks, black fish crow (
Corvus ossifragus
) feathers, iridescent wild turkey (
Melleagris gallopavo
) feathers and black human hair. We found that eumelanosomes from all four species are composed of subunit nanoparticles with a length of 10–60 nm, consistent with earlier observations in eumelanosomes from the sepia ink and human hair. The solid-state NMR results indicate the presence of quinone methide tautomers in all four eumelanins. We also found clear differences in the UV absorbance, the ratio of 5,6-dihydroxyindole-2-carboxylic acid/5,6-dihydroxyindole and protonated aryl carbon ratios in sepia eumelanin relative to the other three. This comparison of natural eumelanin across a phylogenetically broad group of organisms provides insights into the change in the eumelanin structure over the evolutionary history and enables the production of synthetic eumelanin with properties that are similar to natural eumelanin.
Identifying RNA splicing factors using
IFT
genes in
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
Authors: Lin Huawen , Zhang Zhengyan , Iomini Carlo , Dutcher Susan K.
Published: March 2018

Intraflagellar transport moves proteins in and out of flagella/cilia and it is essential for the assembly of these organelles. Using whole-genome sequencing, we identified splice site mutations in two
IFT
genes,
IFT81
(
fla9
) and
IFT121
(
ift121-2
), which lead to flagellar assembly defects in the unicellular green alga
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
. The splicing defects in these
ift
mutants are partially corrected by mutations in two conserved spliceosome proteins, DGR14 and FRA10. We identified a
dgr14
deletion mutant, which suppresses the 3′ splice site mutation in
IFT81
, and a frameshift mutant of
FRA10
, which suppresses the 5′ splice site mutation in
IFT121
. Surprisingly, we found
dgr14-1
and
fra10
mutations suppress both splice site mutations. We suggest these two proteins are involved in facilitating splice site recognition/interaction; in their absence some splice site mutations are tolerated. Nonsense mutations in
SMG1
, which is involved in nonsense-mediated decay, lead to accumulation of aberrant transcripts and partial restoration of flagellar assembly in the
ift
mutants. The high density of introns and the conservation of noncore splicing factors, together with the ease of scoring the
ift
mutant phenotype, make
Chlamydomonas
an attractive organism to identify new proteins involved in splicing through suppressor screening.
Assembly and regulation of γ-tubulin complexes
Authors: Farache Dorian , Emorine Laurent , Haren Laurence , Merdes Andreas
Published: March 2018

Microtubules are major constituents of the cytoskeleton in all eukaryotic cells. They are essential for chromosome segregation during cell division, for directional intracellular transport and for building specialized cellular structures such as cilia or flagella. Their assembly has to be controlled spatially and temporally. For this, the cell uses multiprotein complexes containing γ-tubulin. γ-Tubulin has been found in two different types of complexes, γ-tubulin small complexes and γ-tubulin ring complexes. Binding to adaptors and activator proteins transforms these complexes into structural templates that drive the nucleation of new microtubules in a highly controlled manner. This review discusses recent advances on the mechanisms of assembly, recruitment and activation of γ-tubulin complexes at microtubule-organizing centres.
Optimal random search using limited spatial memory
Authors: Sakiyama Tomoko , Gunji Yukio-Pegio
Published: March 2018

Lévy walks are known to be efficient movements because Lévy walkers search wide areas while restricting returns to previously visited sites. A self-avoiding walk (SAW) is a series of moves on a lattice that visit the same place only once. As such, SAWs can also be effective search algorithms. However, it is not realistic that foragers memorize many visited positions for a long time. In this work, we investigated whether foragers performed optimal searches when having limited memory. The agent in our model followed SAWs to some extent by memorizing and avoiding visited places. However, the agent lost its memory after a while. In that situation, the agent changed its reactions to visited patches by considering global trail patterns based on local memorized information. As a result, we succeeded in making the agent occasionally produce ballistic walks related to power-law tailed movements across some ranges.
Spatial variability in size at maturity of golden king crab (Lithodes aequispinus) and implications for fisheries management
Authors: Olson A. P. , Siddon C. E. , Eckert G. L.
Published: March 2018

Many crab fisheries around the world are managed by size, sex and season, where males are given at least one opportunity to reproduce before being harvested. Golden king crab (Lithodes aequispinus) supports a commercial fishery in Southeast Alaska and legal size is based on growth and maturity information from other parts of their range. Size-at-maturity estimates varied for crabs among seven management areas in Southeast Alaska, where male maturity estimates increased in size with increases in latitude, while maturity estimates across their North Pacific range decreased in size with increases in latitude. Depth, temperature and harvest history were not related to variation observed in male maturity estimates. Management implications from this research include reducing legal size in some areas to maximize harvest potential and increasing in others to allow male crabs the opportunity to reproduce before being harvested. A more conservative strategy would incorporate the largest maturity estimate, thus increasing the legal size which would have a negative impact to the commercial fishery, but allow male crabs the opportunity to reproduce before being harvested. This study shows the importance of understanding how life-history characteristics change over space and the challenge incorporating spatial variability for improved fisheries management.
Substrate texture affects female cricket walking response to male calling song
Authors: Sarmiento-Ponce E. J. , Sutcliffe M. P. F. , Hedwig B.
Published: March 2018

Field crickets are extensively used as a model organism to study female phonotactic walking behaviour, i.e. their attraction to the male calling song. Laboratory-based phonotaxis experiments generally rely on arena or trackball-based settings; however, no attention has been paid to the effect of substrate texture on the response. Here, we tested phonotaxis in femaleGryllus bimaculatus, walking on trackballs machined from methyl-methacrylate foam with different cell sizes. Surface height variations of the trackballs, due to the cellular composition of the material, were measured with profilometry and characterized as smooth, medium or rough, with roughness amplitudes of 7.3, 16 and 180 µm. Female phonotaxis was best on a rough and medium trackball surface, a smooth surface resulted in a significant lower phonotactic response. Claws of the cricket foot were crucial for effective walking. Females insert their claws into the surface pores to allow mechanical interlocking with the substrate texture and a high degree of attachment, which cannot be established on smooth surfaces. These findings provide insight to the biomechanical basis of insect walking and may inform behavioural studies that the surface texture on which walking insects are tested is crucial for the resulting behavioural response.
Effects of geometric nonlinearity in an adhered microbeam for measuring the work of adhesion
Authors: Fang Wenqiang , Mok Joyce , Kesari Haneesh
Published: March 2018

Design against adhesion in microelectromechanical devices is predicated on the ability to quantify this phenomenon in microsystems. Previous research related the work of adhesion for an adhered microbeam to the beam's unadhered length, and as such, interferometric techniques were developed to measure that length. We propose a new vibration-based technique that can be easily implemented with existing atomic force microscopy tools or similar metrology systems. To make such a technique feasible, we analysed a model of the adhered microbeam using the nonlinear beam theory put forth by Woinowsky–Krieger. We found a new relation between the work of adhesion and the unadhered length; this relation is more accurate than the one by Mastrangelo & Hsu (Mastrangelo & Hsu 1993J. Microelectromech. S.,2, 44–55. (doi:10.1109/84.232594)) which is commonly used. Then, we derived a closed-form approximate relationship between the microbeam's natural frequency and its unadhered length. Results obtained from this analytical formulation are in good agreement with numerical results from three-dimensional nonlinear finite-element analysis.
Cleaner wrasse indirectly affect the cognitive performance of a damselfish through ectoparasite removal
Authors: Binning Sandra A. , Roche Dominique G. , Grutter Alexandra S. , Colosio Simona , Sun Derek , Miest Joanna , Bshary Redouan
Published: March 2018

Cleaning organisms play a fundamental ecological role by removing ectoparasites and infected tissue from client surfaces. We used the well-studied cleaning mutualisms involving the cleaner wrasse,
Labroides dimidiatus,
to test how client cognition is affected by ectoparasites and whether these effects are mitigated by cleaners. Ambon damselfish (
Pomacentrus amboinensis)
collected from experimental reef patches without cleaner wrasse performed worse in a visual discrimination test than conspecifics from patches with cleaners. Endoparasite abundance also negatively influenced success in this test. Visual discrimination performance was also impaired in damselfish experimentally infected with gnathiid (Crustacea: Isopoda) ectoparasites. Neither cleaner absence nor gnathiid infection affected performance in spatial recognition or reversal learning tests. Injection with immune-stimulating lipopolysaccharide did not affect visual discrimination performance relative to saline-injected controls, suggesting that cognitive impairments are not due to an innate immune response. Our results highlight the complex, indirect role of cleaning organisms in promoting the health of their clients via ectoparasite removal and emphasize the negative impact of parasites on host's cognitive abilities.
Relatedness decreases and reciprocity increases cooperation in Norway rats
Authors: Schweinfurth Manon K. , Taborsky Michael
Published: March 2018

Kin selection and reciprocity are two mechanisms underlying the evolution of cooperation, but the relative importance of kinship and reciprocity for decisions to cooperate are yet unclear for most cases of cooperation. Here, we experimentally tested the relative importance of relatedness and received cooperation for decisions to help a conspecific in wild-type Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus). Test rats provided more food to non-kin than to siblings, and they generally donated more food to previously helpful social partners than to those that had refused help. The rats thus applied reciprocal cooperation rules irrespective of relatedness, highlighting the importance of reciprocal help for cooperative interactions among both related and unrelated conspecifics.