bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Generalschlüssel
Authors: Zehnder Adalbert
Published: March 2016

Die Pflege Kranker, Alter oder Behinderter ist für die meisten Mitarbeiter weit mehr als ein “Job”. Trotzdem oder deshalb sei im Gesundheitswesen das Bewusstsein dafür, die Qualität und Attraktivität von Arbeitsplätzen systematisch zu pflegen, unterentwickelt, meint Frank Hauser, Leiter des Great Place to Work-Instituts Deutschland. Weil der Markt wachse, während gute Mitarbeiter knapper würden, sei eine gute Unternehmenskultur eine wichtige Voraussetzung für nachhaltigen wirtschaftlichen Erfolg.
Die Wächter
Authors: Gaede Kirsten
Published: March 2016

Kliniken hierzulande handhaben Medikamente sorglos. Ausländische Krankenhäuser sind weiter, viele besitzen elektronische Medikamentenschränke. Diese sorgen für Sicherheit und Wirtschaftlichkeit. Das Centrum für Krankenhausmanagement will nun die Schränke in Deutschland testen. Probanden sind willkommen.
Kleiner, aber mächtiger
Authors: Zehnder Adalbert
Published: March 2016

Mit der Wahl eines Verwaltungsrats hat der geplante Spitzenverband der Gesetzlichen Krankenkassen ein weiteres Stück Gestalt angenommen.
Seitenwechsel
Authors: Mühlnikel Ingrid
Published: March 2016

Dem Kassenwesen den Rücken zugekehrt hat Detlev Heins. Seit dem 1. Mai arbeitet er für die Deutsche Krankenhausgesellschaft als neuer Politikchef.
Zündstoff
Authors: Mühlnikel Ingrid
Published: March 2016

AOK und Techniker Krankenkasse wollen auf Basis der DRG-Pauschalen ein Einkaufsmodell entwickeln.So könnte erstmals Wettbewerb ins System kommen,der diesen Namen auch verdient.
Mit Armband auf Nummer sicher
Authors: Oelschlegel Florian
Published: March 2016

“Und bewahre uns vor Dieben, Verwechslungen und Schwelbränden”, kann der Verwaltungsleiter beten. Vielleicht hilft es. Aber besser ist es, sich mit moderner Sicherheitstechnik gegen alle Komplikationen abzusichern. Sind Umbauten nötig, sollte auch an eine Verbesserung der Energietechnik gedacht werden.
Nicht ohne meinen Fotografen
Authors: Zebothsen Hilkka
Published: March 2016

Der Lebenslauf ist imposant, das Anschreiben pointiert -- fehlt nur noch das Bewerbungsfoto. Eine reine Äußerlichkei, glauben viele Bewerber. Doch sie täuschen sich: Die Augen des Personalchefs bleiben zuerst am Porträtfoto hafte. Wer es versteht, die richigen Zeichen zu setzen, ist eindeutig im Vorteil
Die Stärken stärken
Authors: Gerster Florian
Published: March 2016

Auf der Medica in Düsseldorf – der Weltleitmesse der Gesundheitswirtschaft – wird im November ein besonders dynamischer Wirtschaftszweig Deutschlands zu besichtigen sein.
Ärzte und Betten im Überfluss
Authors: Mühlnikel Ingrid
Published: March 2016

Wir können alles – außer Hochdeutsch. An dem baden-württembergischen Werbeslogan muss was dran sein. Die Bevölkerung im Südwesten Deuschlands wird besonders alt. Im europäischen Vergleich erreicht sie Spitzenwerte in der Lebenserwartung.
Zwei Männer – ein Posten
Authors: Mühlnikel Ingrid
Published: March 2016

Der Verwaltungsrat des Spitzenverband Bund hat den dritten Vorstandsposten besetzt. Karl-Dieter Voß, bislang Vorstandsmitglied des BKK-Bundesverbands, und Gernot Kiefer, stellvertretender Vorstandsvorsitzender des IKK-Bundesverbands teilen sich den Sitz.
Gebrochene Herzen
Authors: Mühlnikel Ingrid
Published: March 2016

Das US-Medizintechnikunternehmen Medtronic hat nach mehreren Todesfällen den Verkauf von Defibrillator-Elektroden mit der Bezeichnung Sprint Fidelis gestoppt. Vermutlich sind fünf Menschen gestorben, weil die Elektroden, die das Herz mit dem Defibrillator verbinden, gebrochen sein könnten.
Jammern auf hohem Niveau
Authors: Mühlnikel Ingrid
Published: March 2016

Die Pharma- und Medizintechnikbranche klagt über Innovationsfeindlichkeit im deutschen Gesundheitssystem. Bei genauerem Hinsehen wird klar: Es ist viel PR-Geklingel im Spiel. Im Kern geht es um einen Systemwechsel im Gesundheitswesen. Die Branchen wollen einen freien Markt für Gesundheitsprodukte und -dienstleistungen.
Ungepflegte Standards
Authors: Ehrhardt Jana
Published: March 2016

Die Produktion von Autos oder Fischstäbchen in Deutschland kennt höhere Qualitätsstandards als die Pflege alter Menschen. Die Branche hat es verschlafen, Qualitätsziele zu entwickeln. Jetzt scheucht sie der Gesetzgeber. Mit dem Inkrafttreten der nächsten Pflegereform müssen laienverständliche Qualitätsberichte veröffentlicht werden.
Die Politik als Problem
Authors: Ranscht Anja
Published: March 2016

Die Gesundheitswirtschaft gilt sich selbst und anderen als potenzieller Wachstumsmotor der kommenden Jahre. Dass dies keineswegs zwangsläufig so kommen muss, zeigt eine neue Studie.
Wer spart, verliert
Authors: Gaede Kirsten
Published: March 2016

In kaum einer anderen Branche gibt es derzeit so viele Zusammenschlüsse wie im Krankenhaussektor. Doch ein Allheilmittel sind Fusionen nicht: Jede zweite ist ein Misserfolg. Es mangelt an Tempo und an Investitonsfreude, meinen Experten.
Realitäten schaffen
Authors: Mau Jens
Published: March 2016

Die elektronische Patientenakte ist eines der wichtigsten und hilfreichsten Instrumente innerhalb des Krankenhausbetriebes. Sicher ist schon heute, dass auch sie Teil der elektronischen Gesundheitskarte (eGK) sein wird. Nicht klar sind die Standards, die die Akte einmal erfüllen soll. Jetzt hat die Rhön-Klinikum AG konzernweit den Startschuss für eine eigene gegeben.
Vol, Vob und Vof
Authors: Zehnder Adalbert
Published: March 2016

Viele halten die gesetzlichen Vorschriften für Ausschreibungen längst für unerträglich kompliziert. Trotzdem muss man sie beachten, sonst können Verträge nichtig sein. Das kostet Nerven, Zeit und Geld. Schlimmstenfalls wird das Verfahren sonst aber zurückgeworfen – auf den Punkt null.
Triumph der Telemedizin
Authors: Oelschlegel Florian
Published: March 2016

Die weltgrößte Messe für Medizintechnik lädt ein. Vom 14. bis 17. November gibt die Medica in Düsseldorf aufregende Einblicke in einen boomenden Markt. 4.300 Aussteller aus 65 Ländern, da kann man leicht den Überblick verlieren. Aber die Trends sind klar: Telemedizin, neue Röntgentechnik und – mal wieder – die Gesundheitskarte. Wer den Anschluss nicht verlieren will, muss dabei sein.
Alles bleibt anders
Authors: Janning Martina
Published: March 2016

Als das Allgemeine Gleichbehandlungsgesetz (AGG) im Sommer 2006 in Kraft trat, fürchteten Krankenhäuser eine Prozessflut. Ein Jahr später zeigt sich: Der Widerstand von Arbeitsgeber- und Wirtschaftsverbänden hat höhere Wellen geschlagen als das Regelwerk selbst. Im Alltag von Kliniken spielt das AGG kaum eine Rolle.
Der Patient will gefragt werden
Authors: Heer Carsten
Published: March 2016

Auf dem Weg zu einem erfolgreichen und beliebten Krankenhaus vergessen die Betreiber oftmals, die Meinung der Patienten einzuholen. Dabei entscheiden diese über den tatsächlichen Stand auf der Beliebtheitsskala. Schließlich sind die Bewertungen auf entsprechenden Portalen im Internet für jeden nachzulesen.
Was Kurse nicht lehren
Authors: Otto Volkmar
Published: March 2016

Jemand kann perfekt Austern essen, bei jeder sich bietenden Gelegenheit einer Dame in den Mantel helfen – und trotzdem ein Rüpel sein. Denn gute Umgangsformen bedeuten, sich achtungsvoll und einfühlsam gegenüber seinen Mitmenschen zu verhalten. Dies bedenken die meisten Benimmkurse – und auch Chefärzte – nicht.
Spontaneous focusing of plasma flow in a weak perpendicular magnetic field
Authors: Moritaka Toseo , Kuramitsu Yasuhiro , Liu Yao-Li , Chen Shih-Hung
Published: March 2016

Structure formation of high-beta plasma flow in a perpendicular magnetic field is investigated in the ion kinetic regime by a fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulation. We demonstrate that directional plasma flow is spontaneously focused to form a sharp density structure. The primary focusing process comes from field-aligned electron inflow associated with the whistler mode and plasma confinement due to a self-generated magnetic field. The resulting concave magnetic field lines modulate ion gyration to cause a secondary focusing process with significant plasma concentration. Required conditions for these processes are determined by a dimensionless parameter α ≡ βi0(ΔW/ρi0), where βi0, ΔW, and ρi0 denote the plasma kinetic beta, window size, and ion gyration radius, respectively. The focusing process is apparent for small α, whereas diamagnetic expansion is dominant for large α. This condition describes a transition between diamagnetic cavity formation and the focusing process.
Continuum kinetic modeling of the tokamak plasma edge
Authors: Dorf M. A. , Dorr M. R. , Hittinger J. A. , Cohen R. H. , Rognlien T. D.
Published: March 2016

The first 4D (axisymmetric) high-order continuum gyrokinetic transport simulations that span the magnetic separatrix of a tokamak are presented. The modeling is performed with the COGENT code, which is distinguished by fourth-order finite-volume discretization combined with mapped multiblock grid technology to handle the strong anisotropy of plasma transport and the complex X-point divertor geometry with high accuracy. The calculations take into account the effects of fully nonlinear Fokker-Plank collisions, electrostatic potential variations, and anomalous radial transport. Topics discussed include: (a) ion orbit loss and the associated toroidal rotation and (b) edge plasma relaxation in the presence of anomalous radial transport.
Collisional damping of the geodesic acoustic mode with toroidal rotation. II. Gyrokinetic formulation
Authors: Xie Baoyi , Yu Jun , Gong Xueyu , Guo Wenfeng , Chen You
Published: March 2016

The collisional damping of the geodesic acoustic mode (GAM) is analytically investigated in toroidally rotating tokamaks by using the gyrokinetic equation. It is found that the toroidal rotation could decrease the collisional damping of the GAM in the small safety factor region and increase the collisional damping of the GAM in the large safety factor region at low ion collision rate; while at high ion collision rate, the toroidal rotation will increase the collisional damping of the GAM with arbitrary safety factor. Furthermore, the change quantity of collisional damping rate of the GAM due to the toroidal rotation at high collision rate is larger than that at low collision rate.
Exit from sliding in piecewise-smooth flows: Deterministic vs. determinacy-breaking
Authors: Jeffrey Mike R.
Published: March 2016

The collapse of flows onto hypersurfaces where their vector fields are discontinuous creates highly robust states called sliding modes. The way flows exit from such sliding modes can lead to complex and interesting behaviour about which little is currently known. Here, we examine the basic mechanisms by which a flow exits from sliding, either along a switching surface or along the intersection of two switching surfaces, with a view to understanding sliding and exit when many switches are involved. On a single switching surface, exit occurs via tangency of the flow to the switching surface. Along an intersection of switches, exit can occur at a tangency with a lower codimension sliding flow, or by a spiralling of the flow that exhibits geometric divergence (infinite steps in finite time). Determinacy-breaking can occur where a singularity creates a set-valued flow in an otherwise deterministic system, and we resolve such dynamics as far as possible by blowing up the switching surface into a switching layer. We show preliminary simulations exploring the role of determinacy-breaking events as organizing centres of local and global dynamics.
Operating a magnetic nozzle helicon thruster with strong magnetic field
Authors: Takahashi Kazunori , Komuro Atsushi , Ando Akira
Published: March 2016

A pulsed axial magnetic field up to ∼2.8 kG is applied to a 26-mm-inner-diameter helicon plasma thruster immersed in a vacuum chamber, and the thrust is measured using a pendulum target. The pendulum is located 30-cm-downstream of the thruster, and the thruster rf power and argon flow rate are fixed at 1 kW and 70 sccm (which gives a chamber pressure of 0.7 mTorr). The imparted thrust increases as the applied magnetic field is increased and saturates at a maximum value of ∼9.5 mN for magnetic field above ∼2 kG. At the maximum magnetic field, it is demonstrated that the normalized plasma density, and the ion flow energy in the magnetic nozzle, agree within ∼50% and of 10%, respectively, with a one-dimensional model that ignores radial losses from the nozzle. This magnetic nozzle model is combined with a simple global model of the thruster source that incorporates an artificially controlled factor α, to account for radial plasma losses to the walls, where α = 0 and 1 correspond to zero losses and no magnetic field, respectively. Comparison between the experiments and the model implies that the radial losses in the thruster source are experimentally reduced by the applied magnetic field to about 10% of that obtained from the no magnetic field model.
Physical and chemical properties of low-pressure argon-chlorine dielectric barrier discharge
Authors: Barjasteh Azadeh , Eslami Esmaeil
Published: March 2016

The influence of adding chlorine on the characteristics of a dielectric barrier discharge in Argon is investigated on the basis of a one-dimensional fluid model. The spatio-temporal characteristics of the discharge are obtained by applying a sinusoidal voltage with a frequency and amplitude of 7 kHz and 350 V, respectively. The study shows that the discharge has a homogeneous feature across the electrodes and has only one current pulse per half cycle of the applied voltage. The calculated electric field and electric potential as well as species number densities indicated that the discharge is in glow mode, and adding chlorine as electronegative gas up to 50% does not change its mode. It is observed that the most abundant negative species are Cl− ions even in low additive chlorine. As a result, the maximum of plasma electronegativity takes place at 30% amounts of chlorine additive. The study of plasma radiations on the discharge gap shows that the main spontaneous emissions are observed at the wavelengths of 128.5 nm and 258 nm due to de-excitation of ArCl* and Cl2* molecules, respectively. Between different Ar/Cl2 mixtures, 0.99Ar−0.01Cl2 has the nearly uniform radiation in the positive column region.
Models, assumptions, and experimental tests of flows near boundaries in magnetized plasmas
Authors: Siddiqui M. Umair , Thompson Derek S. , Jackson Cory D. , Kim Justin F. , Hershkowitz Noah , Scime Earl E.
Published: March 2016

We present the first measurements of ion flows in three dimensions (3Ds) using laser-induced fluorescence in the plasma boundary region. Measurements are performed upstream from a grounded stainless steel limiter plate at various angles (ψ=16° to 80°) to the background magnetic field in two argon helicon experiments (MARIA at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and HELIX at West Virginia University). The Chodura magnetic presheath model for collisionless plasmas [R. Chodura, Phys. Fluids 25, 1628 (1982)] is shown to be inaccurate for systems with sufficient ion-neutral collisions and ionization such as tokamak scrape off layers. A 3D ion fluid model that accounts for ionization and charge-exchange collisions is found to accurately describe the measured ion flows in regions where the ion flux tubes do not intersect the boundary. Ion acceleration in the E→×B→ direction is observed within a few ion Larmor radii of the grounded plate for ψ=80°. We argue that fully 3D ion and neutral acceleration in the plasma boundary are uniquely caused by the long-range presheath electric fields, and that models that omit presheath effects under-predict observed wall erosion in tokamak divertors and Hall thruster channel walls.
A technique for detection of larval fish in the digestive tract of predators by otolith marking
Authors: Gómez M. I. , Fuentes C. M.
Published: March 2016

The aim of the present study was to develop a method to unequivocally detect pre-flexion fish larvae in the digestive tracts of fish predators, even several hours after their ingestion. For this purpose, we evaluated larval mortality and the quality of the marks generated in sagitta otoliths after 0.5- or 2-h immersion in 50–800mg L–1 alizarin red S stain. The optimal condition (2h, 200mg L–1) was chosen to stain Prochilodus lineatus larvae, which were offered to single predators at 5 or 12 days after marking (DAM). The otoliths were searched in the digestive tract of predators killed 1–17h after ingestion of the prey, and were then examined for mark presence. Otolith recovery rates were high (>70%) and mark detection was above 80% up to 3h after ingestion, but even after 9h, 20–40% of the otoliths were recovered, with mark detection levels of 65%. A higher number of DAM was associated with a higher success in otolith recovery and mark detection. Otolith marking constitutes a single and inexpensive technique that could be applied in both laboratory and field experimental studies of predator–prey interactions.
Numerical and experimental investigation of thickness effect on residual stress measurement
Authors: Zhang K. , Zhou Y. , Zhao S. , Chen J.
Published: March 2016

This article studies the effect of thickness on residual stress measurements both numerically and experimentally. First, the released strain of aluminium specimens with different thicknesses subjected to incremental hole drilling is analysed using an efficient finite element model. From these results, the cumulative calibration coefficients and their variations as a function of plate thickness are determined. Then, the residual stress profile of a 1-mm-thick aluminium plate subjected to incremental hole drilling is investigated by in-plane three-directional moiré interferometry. A comparative study between the principle stress data calculated using the special calibration coefficients that match the thickness and the general ASTM calibration coefficients that are designed for thick plates is carried out. The analysis results demonstrate that the thickness significantly influenced the release strain. Moreover, the mismatch between the calibration coefficients and the thicknesses results in a deviation in the stress data of more than 10%, and the deviation increases with decreasing thickness.

This paper is part of a Themed Issue on Measurement, modelling and mitigation of residual stress.
A Fur Headdress for Women in Sixteenth-Century China
Authors: Chen Fang
Published: March 2016

The subject of this paper is a style of fur headdress for women that became fashionable in the sixteenth century and on into the seventeenth, in late Ming China. It has hitherto received little scholarly attention. In Chinese, it is called wotu’er and this can be translated as ‘crouching rabbit’, ‘crouching cottontail’ or ‘crouching lapin’. We know that it was one of the luxury goods of its day, worn as a mark of high social status and wealth. This essay examines the shape of the headdress and how it was worn, as well as its material and price. How long was it in fashion and why did it become fashionable in the first place? The relevance of nomadic dress in influencing women’s garments in the sixteenth century will also be considered, as will the shift in the use of fur from functional to decorative.
Fashionable Figures: Narrative Roundels and Narrative Borders in Nineteenth-Century Han Chinese Women’s Dress
Authors: Silberstein Rachel
Published: March 2016

Figural motifs have received little attention in Chinese dress and textile history; typically interpreted as generic ‘figures in gardens’, they have long been overshadowed by auspicious symbols. Yet embroiderers, like other craftsmen and women in Qing dynasty China (1644–1911), sought inspiration from the vast array of narratives that circulated in print and performance. This paper explores the trend for the figural through the close study of two embroidered jackets from the Royal Ontario Museum collection featuring dramatic scenery embroidered upon ‘narrative roundels’ and ‘narrative borders’. I argue that three primary factors explain the appearance and popularity of narrative imagery in mid- to late Qing dress and textiles: the importance of theatrical performance and narratives in nineteenth-century life; the dissemination of narrative imagery in printed anthologies and popular prints; and the commercialization of embroidery. By placing the fashion for these jackets firmly within the socio-economic context of nineteenth-century China, the paper provides a novel way of understanding the phenomena of narrative figures on women’s dress through the close relationship between popular culture and fashion in nineteenth-century Chinese women’s dress.
The Costume Society Awards 2016
Authors:   The Costume Society
Published: March 2016

Last year, in celebration of the Costume Society’s 50th anniversary the 2015 Jubilee Awards funded one student’s research trip to China and enabled another to complete a full-time, three-month placement at the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood. 2016 will see the launch of some exciting new developments in the Society’s awards and information will appear first on the website — www.costumesociety.org.uk . Visitors to the website or those who follow us on Facebook and Twitter can read about the changing awards as soon as they are announced. The Patterns of Fashion and Conference Student Bursary Awards will continue as in previous years, and further information on the terms and conditions, application procedures and contact details for both awards can be found on the website.
Orally administered hyaluronan affects skin dryness and epidermal thickening in photoaged hairless mice
Authors: Kawada Chinatsu , Kimura Mamoru , Masuda Yasunobu , Nomura Yoshihiro
Published: March 2016

The oral administration of hyaluronans (HAs) (molecular weight, 300k and less than 10k) to photoaged hairless mice increased the moisture content of the stratum corneum and decreased the epidermal thickness, respectively. Furthermore, orally administered HAs suppressed the low-molecular weight of HA content of the skin. This study indicates oral administered HAs may ameliorate the skin condition resulting from photoaging.
Involvement of an SRF-MADS protein McmA in regulation of extracellular enzyme production and asexual/sexual development in Aspergillus nidulans
Authors: Li Nuo , Kunitake Emi , Endo Yoshikazu , Aoyama Miki , Kanamaru Kyoko , Kimura Makoto , Kato Masashi , Kobayashi Tetsuo
Published: March 2016

SRF-MADS proteins are transcription factors conserved among eukaryotes that regulate a variety of cellular functions; however, their physiological roles are still not well understood in filamentous fungi. Effects of a mutation in mcmA gene that encodes the sole SRF-MADS protein in the fungus Aspergillus nidulans were examined by RNA sequencing. Sequencing data revealed that expression levels of cellulase genes were significantly decreased by the mutation as reported previously. However, expression levels of various hemicellulolytic enzyme genes, several extracellular protease genes, the nosA and rosA genes involved in sexual development, and AN4394 encoding an ortholog of EcdR involved in Aspergillus oryzae conidiation, were also significantly decreased by the mutation. As expected from the RNA sequencing data, the mcmA mutant had reduced protease production, cleistothecial development, and conidiation. This is the first report describing the involvement of SRF-MADS proteins in protease production in fungi, and asexual and sexual development in Aspergillus.
tRNA-targeting ribonucleases: molecular mechanisms and insights into their physiological roles
Authors: Ogawa Tetsuhiro
Published: March 2016

Most bacteria produce antibacterial proteins known as bacteriocins, which aid bacterial defence systems to provide a physiological advantage. To date, many kinds of bacteriocins have been characterized. Colicin has long been known as a plasmidborne bacteriocin that kills other Escherichia coli cells lacking the same plasmid. To defeat other cells, colicins exert specific activities such as ion-channel, DNase, and RNase activity. Colicin E5 and colicin D impair protein synthesis in sensitive E. coli cells; however, their physiological targets have not long been identified. This review describes our finding that colicins E5 and D are novel RNases targeting specific E. coli tRNAs and elucidates their enzymatic properties based on biochemical analyses and X-ray crystal structures. Moreover, tRNA cleavage mediates bacteriostasis, which depends on trans-translation. Based on these results and others, cell growth regulation depending on tRNA cleavage is also discussed.
Protein extracts from cultured cells contain nonspecific serum albumin
Authors: Miyara Masatsugu , Umeda Kanae , Ishida Keishi , Sanoh Seigo , Kotake Yaichiro , Ohta Shigeru
Published: March 2016

Serum is an important component of cell culture media. The present study demonstrates contamination of intracellular protein extract by bovine serum albumin from the culture media and illustrates how this contamination can cause the misinterpretation of western blot results. Preliminary experiments can prevent the misinterpretation of some experimental results, and optimization of the washing process may enable specific protein detection.
Purification and characterization of 2S albumin from Nelumbo nucifera
Authors: Khan Sanaullah , Ali Syed Abid , Yasmin Tayyaba , Ahmed Mushtaq , Khan Hidayatullah
Published: March 2016

The 2S albumins are a group of seed storage proteins that have recently attracted considerable attention in the field of allergen science due to their allergenic potential. A new 2S albumin from seeds of Nelumbo nucifera (Nn-2S alb) was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity by the combination of ammonium sulfate fractionation, gel filtration, and ion exchange chromatography. The protein has a molecular mass of about 12 kDa estimated by SDS–PAGE, in good agreement with 12.5 ± 0.01 kDa determined by ESI–MS. Circular dichroism data showed that protein contained about 66% α-helices as estimated by K2D3, indicating that the protein was predominantly helical. The sedimentation coefficient (s°20,w) of the predicted model was 1.72 ± 0.21 S. The predicted 3-dimensional structure of the Nn-2S alb revealed that the protein has a region of 12 amino acids which largely corresponds to the conserved immuno-dominant epitope of 2S allergens.
Thiamine synthesis regulates the fermentation mechanisms in the fungus Aspergillus nidulans
Authors: Shimizu Motoyuki , Masuo Shunsuke , Itoh Eriko , Zhou Shengmin , Kato Masashi , Takaya Naoki
Published: March 2016

Thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP) is a critical cofactor and its biosynthesis is under the control of TPP availability. Here we disrupted a predicted thiA gene of the fungus Aspergillus nidulans and demonstrated that it is essential for synthesizing cellular thiamine. The thiamine riboswitch is a post-transcriptional mechanism for TPP to repress gene expression and it is located on A. nidulans thiA pre-messenger RNA. The thiA riboswitch was not fully derepressed under thiamine-limited conditions, and fully derepressed under environmental stressors. Upon exposure to hypoxic stress, the fungus accumulated more ThiA and NmtA proteins, and more thiamine than under aerobic conditions. The thiA gene was required for the fungus to upregulate hypoxic branched-chain amino acids and ethanol fermentation that involve enzymes containing TPP. These findings indicate that hypoxia modulates thiA expression through the thiamine riboswitch, and alters cellular fermentation mechanisms by regulating the activity of the TPP enzymes.
The Dutch Great Stink: The End of the Cesspit Era in the Pre-Industrial Towns of Leiden and Haarlem
Authors: van Oosten Roos
Published: March 2016

In the nineteenth century, the continuous discharge of sewage from millions of Londoners into the River Thames caused a notorious, unbearable stench during the summer, which reached a climax in 1858 and became known as The Great Stink. In this article it is argued that such a ‘Great Stink’ also occurred in the booming and heavily populated pre-industrial town of Leiden, because cesspits were being replaced by sewers draining directly into canals. Flawed as cesspits may have been, the new, hygienic sewer infrastructure meant the advent of unsanitary conditions normally only associated with the era of the Industrial Revolution. How and why the cesspit was killed off is explained by comparing Leiden with the seventeenth-century boom town of Haarlem, where cesspits remarkably survived the ‘Golden Age’ of the seventeenth century. Using the stakeholder model it becomes clear that the shift in hygienic infrastructure was not the outcome of a single stakeholder calling the shots but was the result of interactions between tenants, housing developers, local government, and textile entrepreneurs (in the case of Leiden), or brewers (in Haarlem).
The Cognitive and Neural Basis of Developmental Prosopagnosia
Authors: Towler John , Fisher Katie , Eimer Martin
Published: March 2016

Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is a severe impairment of visual face recognition in the absence of any apparent brain damage. The factors responsible for DP have not yet been fully identified. This article provides a selective review of recent studies investigating cognitive and neural processes that may contribute to the face recognition deficits in DP, focusing primarily on event-related brain potential (ERP) measures of face perception and recognition. Studies that measured the face-sensitive N170 component as a marker of perceptual face processing have shown that the perceptual discrimination between faces and non-face objects is intact in DP. Other N170 studies suggest that faces are not represented in the typical fashion in DP. Individuals with DP appear to have specific difficulties in processing spatial and contrast deviations from canonical upright visual–perceptual face templates. The rapid detection of emotional facial expressions appears to be unaffected in DP. ERP studies of the activation of visual memory for individual faces and of the explicit identification of particular individuals have revealed differences between DPs and controls in the timing of these processes and in the links between visual face memory and explicit face recognition. These observations suggest that the speed and efficiency of information propagation through the cortical face network is altered in DP. The nature of the perceptual impairments in DP suggests that atypical visual experience with the eye region of faces over development may be an important contributing factor to DP.
Women’s human rights and Tunisian upheavals: is ‘democracy’ enough?
Authors: Winter Bronwyn
Published: March 2016

The regimes that came to power (in some cases ephemerally) in the wake of the so-called ‘Arab spring’ claimed democratic legitimacy as a primary means of credentialling their political agenda in international and even local eyes. Yet, how legitimate some of these new regimes have been is open to question. So-called ‘moderate’ Islamist movements have been criticised as using democratic processes to introduce new forms of theocratic authoritarianism and/or for not paying sufficient attention to strengthening and resourcing the political, legal and civic institutions, which make democracy effective. Moreover, women's rights have been under fire in both overt and covert ways. Through a study of Tunisia, touted as one of the success stories – indeed the only one for the moment – of the ‘Arab spring’, this article investigates the question of ‘democratic legitimacy’ from a feminist perspective.
Population Pharmacokinetics of Single‐Dose Riociguat in Patients with Renal or Hepatic Impairment
Authors: Saleh Soundos , Becker Corina , Frey Reiner , Mück Wolfgang
Published: March 2016

This population pharmacokinetics (PK) analysis characterized the PK of the oral soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator riociguat in patients with renal or hepatic impairment and determined whether smoking affects riociguat dosing. Two phase 1 studies were performed in patients with renal impairment (n = 72, of whom 11 were smokers), and two were performed in those with hepatic impairment (n = 64, of whom 12 were smokers). Plasma and urine samples were collected after a single oral dose of riociguat 1.0 or 0.5 mg. Nonlinear mixed‐effects modeling was used to develop a combined, two‐compartment population PK model for riociguat and its main metabolite, M1. Riociguat and M1 clearance was split into renal and nonrenal parts; the nonrenal part for riociguat was divided into metabolism to M1 and a metabolic (nonrenal) part. Total clearance of riociguat was 1.912 L/h. The main route of riociguat clearance is metabolism to M1 (1.2 L/h). In this model, hepatic function biomarkers or Child‐Pugh classification had no significant effect on riociguat or M1 clearance. Nonrenal (nonmetabolism) riociguat clearance was similar in all groups. Renal clearance (0.242 L/h) contributed less to riociguat total clearance, mainly determined by glomerular filtration (0.174 L/h). Renal impairment reduced riociguat and M1 clearance. Hepatic or renal impairment had limited effects on total exposure to riociguat. However, individual dose adjustment of riociguat should be administered with particular care in patients with moderate hepatic or renal impairment. Riociguat is not recommended in severe hepatic or renal impairment. Smoking reduced riociguat exposure by significantly increasing metabolism to M1.
Electrical properties of varistors based on tin oxide
Authors: Mielcarek W , Prociów K , Warycha J
Published: March 2016

Tin oxide varistors may be an alternative for zinc based ones. The comparative analysis of both materials showed that, after adding suitable dopants, SnO2 has similar semiconducting properties as ZnO. SnO2 varistors were made in two versions: low- and high- added. The distinction lied in the added barium-bismuth compound in an amount of 0.3% and 0.8% respectively. Other metal oxides commonly used in varistors were added as well. Varistors were created using conventional ceramic technology applying sintering temperature 1250 oC.
Psychosocial Factors Are Associated With Blood Pressure Progression Among
African Americans in the Jackson Heart Study
Authors: Ford Cassandra D. , Sims Mario , Higginbotham John C. , Crowther Martha R. , Wyatt Sharon B. , Musani Solomon K. , Payne Thomas J. , Fox Ervin R. , Parton Jason M.
Published: March 2016

BACKGROUND

Research that examines the associations of psychosocial factors with incident hypertension among African Americans (AA) is limited. Using Jackson Heart Study (JHS) data, we examined associations of negative affect and stress with incident hypertension and blood pressure (BP) progression among AA.

METHODS

Our sample consisted of 1,656 normotensive participants at baseline (2000–2004) (mean age 47±12; 61% women). We investigated associations of negative affect (cynical distrust, anger-in, anger-out, and depressive symptoms) and stress (perceived stress, weekly stress inventory (WSI)-event, WSI-impact, and major life events) with BP progression (an increase by one BP stage as defined by JNC VII) and incident hypertension by examination 2 (2005–2008). Poisson regression analysis was utilized to examine the prevalence ratios (PRs; 95% confidence interval (CI)) of BP tracking and incident hypertension with psychosocial factors, adjusting for baseline age, sex, socioeconomic status (SES), and hypertension risk factors.

RESULTS

Fifty-six percentage of the sample (922 cases) had BP progression from 2005 to 2008. After adjustment for age, sex, and SES, a high anger-out score was associated with a 20% increased risk of BP progression compared to a low anger-out score (PR 1.20; 95% CI 1.05–1.36). High depressive symptoms score was associated with BP progression in the age, sex, and SES-adjusted model (PR 1.14; 95% CI 1.00–1.30). High WSI-event scores were associated with BP progression in the fully adjusted model (PR 1.21; 95% CI 1.04–1.40). We did not observe significant associations with any of the psychosocial measures and incident hypertension.

CONCLUSIONS

Psychosocial factors were associated with BP progression, with the strongest evidence for number of stressful events that occurred.
chromPlot: visualization of genomic data in chromosomal context
Authors: Oróstica Karen Y. , Verdugo Ricardo A.
Published: March 2016

Summary: Visualizing genomic data in chromosomal context can help detecting errors in data processing and may suggest new hypotheses to be tested. Here, we report a new tool for displaying large and diverse genomic data along chromosomes. The software is implemented in R so that visualization can be easily integrated with its numerous packages for processing genomic data. It supports simultaneous visualization of multiple tracks of data. Large genomic regions such as QTLs or synteny tracts may be shown along histograms of number of genes, genetic variants, or any other type of genomic element. Tracks can also contain values for continuous or categorical variables and the user can choose among points, connected lines, colored segments, or histograms for representing data. chromPlot takes data from tables in data.frame in GRanges formats. The information necessary to draw chromosomes for mouse and human is included with the package. For other organisms, chromPlot can read Gap and cytoBandIdeo tables from the UCSC Genome Browser. We present common use cases here, and a full tutorial is included as the package’s vignette.

Availability and Implementation: chromPlot is distributed under a GLP2 licence at http://www.bioconductor.org.

Contact:  raverdugo@u.uchile.cl

Supplementary information:  Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Ecological Democracy and the Co-participation of Things
Authors: Disch Lisa
Published: March 2016

Is ecological democracy possible? If so, what would it entail? This chapter first reviews the literature based in deliberative democracy that proposes to extend communicative competence to non-humans, and then traces an alternative constructivist line of environmental political thinking from its beginnings in the strand of science and technology studies pioneered by Bruno Latour and others known as actor-network theory, through two actor-network theory-inspired approaches to political theory, “object-oriented democracy” and “material politics/participation.” Whereas this alternative approach solves some of the conundrums to which the communicative model gives rise, it is neither as radical a departure from politics as it is “normally understood,” nor aspoliticalas its proponents claim.
Framing and Nudging for a Greener Future
Authors: Hall Cheryl
Published: March 2016

Framing and nudging are both ways of designing the contexts that influence people’s interpretations and choices. Both have recently garnered significant attention as potential methods for effecting environmental change. Toward this goal, both attempt to work with certain human characteristics and tendencies in order to encourage rather than force people to live more sustainably. Critics rightly worry that government, “experts,” or other leaders may frame and nudge in manipulative, paternalistic, individualizing, and superficial ways, treating people as objects to be swayed or managed within existing value-systems and institutions. Yet the context design accomplished by framing and nudging cannot be avoided in communal life. The question, then, is not whether to engage in these activities, but how. This chapter argues that context design can be a democratic tool for a greener future, promoting deliberation about environmental issues and encouraging communal self-nudging toward more ecologically balanced forms of living.
Environmental Human Rights
Authors: Woods Kerri
Published: March 2016

In recent public and activist debates, threats to the sustainability of the global ecosystem, such as climate change, have increasingly been posed in terms that link the impact on human well-being to questions of rights. Environmental human rights are emerging in national and international legal practice and have been invoked by environmental political theorists seeking to explicate and justify obligations to protect and sustain the environment and to secure justice for both contemporary communities and future generations. This chapter addresses three key questions in order to unpack the concept of environmental human rights: (1) Why adopt a human rights approach? (2) How have environmental human rights been conceived? and (3) What does an account of environmental human rights entail for rights holders and duty bearers?
Bodies, Environments, and Agency
Authors: Gabrielson Teena
Published: March 2016

This essay reviews much of the recent scholarship on the concept of agency, delineating its relevance for theorizing an inclusive and progressive ecological politics. Mindful of the intimacy between questions of agency and ontology, the essay urges the advantages of conceptualizing agency as collective, embodied, distributed, and emergent within discursive-material assemblages. In contrast to more traditional approaches that treat agency as a singularly human characteristic, this essay looks to identify agential capacity in both humans and non-humans and the interactions among them. It is argued that such an approach offers greater traction in tracing the discursive-material circuits of power and the theorizing of collective forms of responsibility than do traditional conceptions. The essay concludes with a brief example of wildfire to illustrate the advantages of the recommended approach.
Environmental Political Theory, Environmental Ethics, and Political Science
Authors: Smith Kimberly
Published: March 2016

Environmental political theory serves as an important bridge between political science and environmental ethics. Environmental ethics has traditionally focused on our duties to non-humans and expanding our conception of the moral community. But that focus on individual ethical choice limits its usefulness in addressing environmental policy problems. Political science, in contrast, is well-suited to analyzing social structural forces that give rise to environmental problems, but political scientists have had considerable difficulty in moving away from the field’s anthropocentric foundations. I argue that environmental political theory, in contrast to traditional political science, embraces the critique of anthropocentrism developed by environmental ethicists. It attempts to build theories of justice, citizenship, and political rights and duties on a more expansive understanding of the community of justice.
Global Environmental Justice and the Environmentalism of the Poor
Authors: Martinez-Alier Joan
Published: March 2016

There are an increasing number of ecological distribution conflicts around the world ultimately caused from the increase in the metabolism of the economy in terms of flows of energy and materials. There are resource extraction conflicts, transport conflicts, and also waste disposal conflicts. Therefore, there are many local complaints. Since the 1980s and 1990s there has been a globalizing environmental justice movement that in its strategy meetings and practices has developed a set of concepts and slogans to describe and intervene in such conflicts. They include “environmental racism,” “popular epidemiology,” “the environmentalism of the poor and the indigenous,” “biopiracy,” “tree plantations are not forests,” “the ecological debt,” “climate justice,” “food sovereignty,” “water justice,” and so on . . . These notions have been born from socio-environmental activism but sometimes they have been taken up also by academic political ecologists and used in their analyses.
The Limits of Freedom and the Freedom of Limits
Authors: Lambacher Jason
Published: March 2016

When we conceive of “freedom” as the absence of limitations, it is easy to associate green politics with coercion and restriction. This troubling linkage frames environmentalism as hostile to freedom as such, and even leads many green theorists to doubt its relevance to environmental political theory. Is this, however, a narrow way of thinking about the concept of freedom and its relationship to environmentalism? Can freedom be greened to enhance ways of life that advance environmental goals? There are good reasons to think that it can. Green concepts of freedom not only offer salient critiques of ecologically destructive modes of freedom, they also open up creative aspirations to live autonomously and meaningfullywithinecological constraints. Ignoring the potential of freedom as a productive concept in environmental political theory overlooks powerful sources of motivation, experimentation, and political resonance. Green theorists should therefore work with, and not avoid, discourses of freedom in order to explore visions of individual, social, and ecological flourishing.
Population, Environmental Discourse, and Sustainability
Authors: Coole Diana
Published: March 2016

This chapter considers the relationship between population growth and environmental sustainability. This is presented as both an objective, material issue of demographic change and environmental resources and a normative one regarding the quality of life. The discussion begins with Maltuhusian arguments popular in the mid-twentieth century limits to growth discourses, continues with an overview of the 1970s opposition to this discourse, and concludes with an assessment of the challenges that both a growing population and a legacy of racist and misogynist discourse advocating limits to population pose for contemporary efforts to achieve sustainable development. While the chapter is sympathetic to the environmentalist claim that any ecological problem is harder to solve with more people, it finds few signs that any politically or ethically acceptable framework exists that would allow current environmental theorists to advocate population stabilization strategies.
Challenging the Human X Environment Framework
Authors: Frost Samantha
Published: March 2016

Challenges to the idea of the human raised in posthumanist inquiry present both problems and opportunities for understanding and organizing an environmental politics able to transform environmental degradation and address global climate change. This essay explains how arguments about human embodiment, symbiosis, and human embeddedness in social and material habitats have led to a reconceptualization of the human as well as the environment. Next, the essay elaborates two specific approaches—actor network theory and object-oriented ontology—through which the conceptual diminution or displacement of the human elucidates how activities in our daily lives ramify into environmental degradation and global climate change. It explains how the enormity of these problems makes it difficult to imagine how to redress them politically, leading to political apathy, and it makes some tentative proposals about how to overcome these difficulties.
Are There Limits to Limits?
Authors: Dobson Andrew
Published: March 2016

The idea that there might be “limits to growth” is a key and contested feature of environmental politics. This chapter outlines the limits to growth thesis, describes and assesses critical reactions to it, and comments upon its relevance today. It argues that, after an initial highpoint in the early 1970s, the thesis declined in importance during the 1980s and 1990s under criticism from “ecological modernizers” and from environmental justice advocates in the global South who saw it as way of diverting blame for ecological problems from the rich and powerful to the poor and dispossessed. “Peak oil” and climate change have, though, given renewed impetus to the idea, and this has given rise to new discourses and practices around “sustainable prosperity” and “degrowth.”