bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effect of potential on aluminium early-stage electrodeposition onto NdFeB magnet
Authors: Jiang L. , Jin Z. , Xu F. , Yu Y. , Wei G. , Ge H. , Zhang Z. , Cao C.
Published: September 2016

Aluminium film has been electrodeposited onto sintered NdFeB magnet at room temperature (25°C) in ionic liquid electrolytes named aluminium chloride-1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ionic liquid (AlCl3-EMIC). Electrodeposition mechanism of Al film is analysed using cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry measurements. Structure and morphology of specimen are characterised and analysed using X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectrum and atomic force microscopy. The results indicate that the process of Al electrodeposition follows the three-dimensional instantaneous nucleation mechanism. As the potentials vary from −0.4 to −0.8 V, the diffusion coefficient ( D) of [Formula: see text] and the calculated number density of Al valid nuclei sites ( N0) on the sintered NdFeB magnet both increases. The deposited films consist of pure fcc phase of Al metal, and Al grains with crystal orientation of {111}, {200}, {220} and {311} are dominant components. Al film deposited at −0.6 V has finer and smoother surface, with the roughness value of 135.10 nm.
Effect of electrode biasing on m/n  =  2/1 tearing modes in J-TEXT experiments
Authors: Liu Hai , Hu Qiming , Chen Zhipeng , Yu Q. , Zhu Lizhi , Cheng Zhifeng , Zhuang Ge , Chen Zhongyong
Published: September 2016

The effects of electrode biasing (EB) on the m/n  =  2/1 tearing mode have been experimentally studied in J-TEXT tokamak discharges, where m and n are the poloidal and toroidal mode numbers. It is found that for a negative bias voltage, the mode amplitude is reduced, and the mode frequency is increased accompanied by the increased toroidal plasma rotation speed in the counter-I
p direction. For a positive bias voltage, the mode frequency is decreased together with the change of the rotation velocity towards the co-I
p direction, and the mode amplitude is increased. Statistic results show that the variations in the toroidal rotation speed, the 2/1 mode frequency and its amplitude linearly depend on the bias voltage. The threshold voltages for complete suppression and locking of the mode are found. The experimental results suggest that applied electrode biasing is a possible method for the avoidance of mode locking and disruption.
Transport hysteresis of core plasma, isotope effect, and H-mode physics
Authors: Itoh S.-I. , Itoh K. , Inagaki S.
Published: September 2016

This article assesses the understanding of and impact by the hysteresis in transport relation. The rapid changes of fluxes compared to slow changes of plasma parameters are overviewed for both edge barrier and core plasmas. The theoretical approaches to understanding the direct influence of heating power on turbulent transport are addressed. Based on this new theoretical framework, the ‘isotope effect’ of plasma confinement time is discussed. A trial explanation is given for this unresolved mystery in plasma confinement. The advanced data analysis method to research the hysteresis in gradient-flux relation is explained.
ELM behavior in ASDEX Upgrade with and without nitrogen seeding
Authors: Frassinetti L. , Dunne M.G. , Beurskens M. , Wolfrum E. , Bogomolov A. , Carralero D. , Cavedon M. , Fischer R. , Laggner F.M. , McDermott R.M. , Meyer H. , Tardini G. , Viezzer E.
Published: September 2016

The Type I ELM behavior in ASDEX Upgrade with full W plasma facing components is studied in terms of time scales and energy losses for a large set of shots characterized by similar operational parameters but different nitrogen seeding rate and input power. ELMs with no nitrogen can have two typical behaviors, that can be classified depending on their duration, the long and the short ELMs.

The work shows that both short and long ELMs have a similar first phase, but the long ELMs are characterized by a second phase with further energy losses. The second phase disappears when nitrogen is seeded with a flux rate above 1022 (e s−1). The phenomenon is compatible with a threshold effect. The presence of the second phase is related to a high divertor/scrape-off layer (SOL) temperature and/or to a low pedestal temperature.

The ELM energy losses of the two phases are regulated by different mechanisms. The energy losses of the first phase increase with nitrogen which, in turn, produce the increase of the pedestal temperature. So the energy losses of the first phase are regulated by the pedestal top parameters and the increase with nitrogen is due to the decreasing pedestal collisionality. The energy losses of the second phase are related to the divertor/SOL conditions. The long ELMs energy losses increase with increasing divertor temperature and with the number of the expelled filaments.

In terms of the power lost by the plasma, the nitrogen seeding increases the power losses of the short ELMs. The long ELMs have a first phase with power losses comparable to the short ELMs losses. Assuming no major difference in the wetted area, these results suggest that (i) the nitrogen might increase the divertor heat fluxes during the short ELMs and that (ii) the long ELMs, despite the longer time scale, are not beneficial in terms of divertor heat loads.
New equations for central configurations and generic finiteness
Authors: Dias Thiago
Published: September 2016

We consider the finiteness problem for central configurations of the

n
n

-body problem. We prove that, for

n
≥
4

n\geq 4

, there exists a (Zariski) closed subset

B
B

in the mass space

R

n

\mathbb {R}^{n}

, such that if

(

m
1

,
…
,

m
n

)
∈

R

n

∖
B

(m_1,\dots ,m_n) \in \mathbb {R}^n\setminus B

, then there is a finite number of corresponding classes of

(
n
−
2
)

(n-2)

-dimensional central configurations for potential associated to a semi-integer exponent. Also, we obtain trilinear homogeneous polynomial equations of degree

3
3

for central configurations of fixed dimension and, for each integer

k
≥
1

k \geq 1

, we show that the set of mutual distances associated to a

k
k

-dimensional central configuration is contained in a determinantal algebraic set.
Quantitative recurrence for generic homeomorphisms
Authors: Junqueira André
Published: September 2016

In this article we study quantitative recurrence for generic measure preserving homeomorphisms on euclidian spaces with respect to Lebesgue measure and compact manifolds with respect to Oxtoby-Ulam measures (i.e., it is nonatomic and positive on each open set). As an application we show that the decay of correlations of generic measure preserving homeomorphisms on compact manifolds is slow.
Bounds for the first several prime character nonresidues
Authors: Pollack Paul
Published: September 2016

Let

ε
>
0

\varepsilon > 0

. We prove that there are constants

m
0

=

m
0

(
ε
)

m_0=m_0(\varepsilon )

and

κ
=
κ
(
ε
)
>
0

\kappa =\kappa (\varepsilon ) > 0

for which the following holds: For every integer

m
>

m
0

m > m_0

and every nontrivial Dirichlet character modulo

m
m

, there are more than

m

κ

m^{\kappa }

primes

ℓ
≤

m

1

4

e

+
ε

\ell \le m^{\frac {1}{4\sqrt {e}}+\varepsilon }

with

χ
(
ℓ
)
∉
{
0
,
1
}

\chi (\ell )\notin \{0,1\}

. The proof uses the fundamental lemma of the sieve, Norton’s refinement of the Burgess bounds, and a result of Tenenbaum on the distribution of smooth numbers satisfying a coprimality condition. For quadratic characters, we demonstrate a somewhat weaker lower bound on the number of primes

ℓ
≤

m

1
4

+
ϵ

\ell \le m^{\frac 14+\epsilon }

with

χ
(
ℓ
)
=
1

\chi (\ell )=1

.
An inequality for Cauchy products
Authors: Mashreghi Javad
Published: September 2016

We show that

ℓ
p

\ell ^p

is closed under the Cauchy product by

ℓ
1

\ell ^1

sequences.
A characterization of maximal operators associated with radial fourier multipliers
Authors: Kim Jongchon
Published: September 2016

We give a simple necessary and sufficient condition for maximal operators associated with radial Fourier multipliers to be bounded on

L

r
a
d

p

L^p_{rad}

and

L
p

L^p

for certain

p
p

greater than

2
2

. The range of exponents obtained for the

L

r
a
d

p

L^p_{rad}

characterization is optimal for the given condition. The

L
p

L^p

characterization is derived from an inequality of Heo, Nazarov, and Seeger regarding a characterization of radial Fourier multipliers.
An arc graph distance formula for the flip graph
Authors: Gültepe Funda , Leininger Christopher
Published: September 2016

Using existing technology, we prove a Masur-Minsky style distance formula for flip-graph distance between two triangulations, expressed as a sum of the distances of the projections of these triangulations into arc graphs of the suitable subsurfaces of

S
S

.
On the volume of sections of a convex body by cones
Authors: Fradelizi Matthieu , Meyer Mathieu , Yaskin Vlad
Published: September 2016

We prove that in small codimensions, the sections of a convex body in

R

n

\mathbb R^n

through its centroid are quite symmetric with respect to volume. As a consequence of our estimates we give a positive answer to a problem posed by M. Meyer and S. Reisner regarding convex intersection bodies.
On the largest prime factors of consecutive integers in short intervals
Authors: Wang Zhiwei
Published: September 2016

For an integer

n
>
1

n>1

, let

P
(
n
)

P(n)

be the largest prime factor of

n
n

. We prove that, for

x
→
∞

x\rightarrow \infty

, there exists a positive proportion of consecutive integers

n
n

and

n
+
1

n+1

such that

P
(
n
)
>
P
(
n
+
1
)

P(n)>P(n+1)

in short intervals

(
x
,
x
+
y
]

(x, x+y]

with

x

7

/

12

>
y
⩽
x
.

x^{7/12}>y\leqslant x.

In particular, we have
\[

|

{
n
⩽
x
:
P
(
n
)
>
P
(
n
+
1
)
}

|

>
0.1063
x
.

\big |\{n\leqslant x: P(n)> P(n+1)\}\big |> 0.1063 x.

\]
This improves a previous result of La Bretèche, Pomerance and Tenenbaum.
Zeros of polynomials of derivatives of zeta functions
Authors: Nakamura Takashi
Published: September 2016

Let

P
s

∈

D

s

[

X
0

,

X
1

,
…
,

X
l

]

P_s \in \mathcal {D}_s[X_0,X_1, \ldots ,X_l]

be a polynomial whose coefficients are the ring of all general Dirichlet series which converge absolutely in the half-plane

ℜ
(
s
)
>
1

/

2

\Re (s) > 1/2

. In the present paper, we show that the function
<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper P Subscript s Baseline left-parenthesis upper L left-parenthesis s right-parenthesis comma upper L Superscript left-parenthesis 1 right-parenthesis Baseline left-parenthesis s right-parenthesis comma ellipsis comma upper L Superscript left-parenthesis l right-parenthesis Baseline left-parenthesis s right-parenthesis right-parenthesis">

P
s

(
L
(
s
)
,

L

(
1
)

(
s
)
,
…
,

L

(
l
)

(
s
)
)

P_s(L(s), L^{(1)}(s),\ldots , L^{(l)}(s))

has infinitely many zeros in the vertical strip

D
:=
{
s
∈

C

:
1

/

2
>
ℜ
(
s
)
>
1
}

D:= \{ s \in {\mathbb {C}} : 1/2 > \Re (s) >1\}

if

L
(
s
)

L(s)

is hybridly universal and

P
s

∈

D

s

[

X
0

,

X
1

,
…
,

X
l

]

P_s \in \mathcal {D}_s[X_0,X_1, \ldots ,X_l]

is a polynomial such that at least one of the degrees of

X
1

,
…
,

X
l

X_1,\ldots ,X_l

is greater than zero. As a corollary, we prove that the function

(

d
k

/

d

s
k

)

P
s

(
L
(
s
)
)

(d^k / ds^k) P_s(L(s))

with

k
∈

N

k \in {\mathbb {N}}

has infinitely many zeros in the strip

D
D

when

L
(
s
)

L(s)

is hybridly universal and

P
s

∈

D

s

[
X
]

P_s \in \mathcal {D}_s[X]

is a polynomial with degree greater than zero. The upper bounds for the numbers of zeros of
<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper P Subscript s Baseline left-parenthesis upper L left-parenthesis s right-parenthesis comma upper L Superscript left-parenthesis 1 right-parenthesis Baseline left-parenthesis s right-parenthesis comma ellipsis comma upper L Superscript left-parenthesis l right-parenthesis Baseline left-parenthesis s right-parenthesis right-parenthesis">

P
s

(
L
(
s
)
,

L

(
1
)

(
s
)
,
…
,

L

(
l
)

(
s
)
)

P_s(L(s), L^{(1)}(s),\ldots , L^{(l)}(s))

and

(

d
k

/

d

s
k

)

P
s

(
L
(
s
)
)

(d^k / ds^k) P_s(L(s))

are studied as well.
Aubert duals of strongly positive discrete series and a class of unitarizable representations
Authors: Matić Ivan
Published: September 2016

Let

G
n

G_n

denote either the group

S
p
(
n
,
F
)

Sp(n, F)

or

S
O
(
2
n
+
1
,
F
)

SO(2n+1, F)

over a non-archimedean local field

F
F

. We explicitly determine the Aubert duals of strongly positive discrete series representations of the group

G
n

G_n

. This enables us to construct a large class of unitarizable representations of this group.
Hopf bifurcation at infinity and dissipative vector fields of the plane
Authors: Alarcón Begoña , Rabanal Roland
Published: September 2016

This work deals with one–parameter families of differentiable (not necessarily

C
1

C^1

) planar vector fields for which the infinity reverses its stability as the parameter goes through zero. These vector fields are defined on the complement of some compact ball centered at the origin and have isolated singularities. They may be considered as linear perturbations at infinity of a vector field with some spectral property, for instance, dissipativity. We also address the case concerning linear perturbations of planar systems with a global period annulus. It is worth noting that the adopted approach is not restricted to consider vector fields which are strongly dominated by the linear part. Moreover, the Poincaré compactification is not applied in this paper.
On the notion of random chaos
Authors: Andres Jan
Published: September 2016

Deterministic chaos is investigated for random dynamical systems in dimension one. Some well-known as well as new Li-Yorke-type theorems are randomized. Deterministic chaos exhibited by random dynamics is therefore called random chaos for brevity. Chaotic random dynamics are also studied for multivalued maps.
Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity and Bridgeland stability of points in the projective plane
Authors: Coskun Izzet , Hyeon Donghoon , Park Junyoung
Published: September 2016

In this paper, we study the relation between Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity and Bridgeland stability for the Hilbert scheme of

n
n

points on

P

2

\mathbb {P}^2

. For the largest

⌊

n
2

⌋

\lfloor \frac {n}{2} \rfloor

Bridgeland walls, we show that the general ideal sheaf destabilized along a smaller Bridgeland wall has smaller regularity than one destabilized along a larger Bridgeland wall. We give a detailed analysis of the case of monomial schemes and obtain a precise relation between the regularity and the Bridgeland stability for the case of Borel fixed ideals.
Commutants of weighted shift directed graph operator algebras
Authors: Kribs David , Levene Rupert , Power Stephen
Published: September 2016

We consider non-selfadjoint operator algebras

L

(
G
,
λ
)

\mathcal {L} (G,\lambda )

generated by weighted creation operators on the Fock-Hilbert spaces of countable directed graphs 

G
G

. These algebras may be viewed as non-commutative generalizations of weighted Bergman space algebras or as weighted versions of the free semigroupoid algebras of directed graphs. A complete description of the commutant is obtained together with broad conditions that ensure the double commutant property. It is also shown that the double commutant property may fail for

L

(
G
,
λ
)

\mathfrak {L} (G,\lambda )

in the case of the single vertex graph with two edges and a suitable choice of left weight function 

λ
\lambda

.
On the topological 4-genus of torus knots
Authors: Baader S. , Feller P. , Lewark L. , Liechti L.
Published: September 2016

We prove that the topological locally flat slice genus of large torus knots takes up less than three quarters of the ordinary genus. As an application, we derive the best possible linear estimate of the topological slice genus for torus knots with non-maximal signature invariant.
Torus invariant transverse Kähler foliations
Authors: Ishida Hiroaki
Published: September 2016

In this paper, we show the convexity of the image of a moment map on a transverse symplectic manifold equipped with a torus action under a certain condition. We also study properties of moment maps in the case of transverse Kähler manifolds. As an application, we give a positive answer to the conjecture posed by Cupit-Foutou and Zaffran.
Audience Segmentation and Climate Change Communication
Authors: Hine Donald W. , Phillips Wendy J. , Driver Aaron B. , Morrison Mark
Published: September 2016

Scientists and policy makers face significant challenges when attempting to engage the public about climate change. An important first step is to understand the number and nature of the audiences one plans to target—a process known as audience segmentation. Segmentation involves identifying, within an audience or target population, homogenous subgroups that share similar demographic and/or psychographic profiles. After segmenting an audience, climate change communicators can target their messages based on the unique characteristics of each subgroup. For example, to stimulate engagement and behavior change, messages aimed at audiences that are skeptical about climate change may require different content and framing than messages aimed at audiences already deeply concerned about climate change.

The notion of matching message content to audience characteristics has a long history, dating back to the Ancient Greeks. More recently, audience segmentation has played a central role in targeted advertising and also social marketing, which uses marketing principles to help “sell” ideas and behaviors that benefit society. Applications to climate change communication are becoming more common, with major segmentation and communication initiatives being implemented across the globe.

Messages crafted to meet the needs of specific audience segments are more likely to be read, understood, and recalled than generic ones, and are also more likely to change behavior. However, despite these successes, the approach has not been uniformly embraced. Controversies have emerged related to the cost effectiveness of segmentation strategies, choice of segmentation variables, potential effects related to social stigmatization, whether segmentation encourages shallow (as opposed to deep) change, the extent to which segments are “found” as opposed to socially constructed by researchers, and whether interindividual differences are best conceptualized in terms of categories or dimensions.
Rational Choice Institutionalism and European Integration
Authors: Schneider Gerald , Ershova Anastasia
Published: September 2016

Rational choice institutionalism (RCI) conceives of European integration as the outcome of three interplaying forces—interests, information, and institutions. Cooperation in the European Union (EU) is thus based on collective choices among a diverse set of actors ranging from voters to member states that disagree over the potential outcome of the decision-making process, are uncertain about the motives and resources of other players, and are exposed to decision-making rules with varying distributional consequences. RCI distinguishes between two fundamental choices the supranational organization can make. EU actors can in this perspective either decide how the EU should be governed (“decision-making about rules”) or how a policy should be changed with the help of a given rule (“decision-making within rules”). The first perspective deals largely with the intergovernmental conferences during which the European Union has changed the rules that structure the interactions among the member states. The latter viewpoint addresses how the relevant decision makers of the European Union have amended or prevented policy changes alone or in collaboration with other actors.

Both perspectives draw on the standard assumptions of the rational choice research program that actors engage into means-ends calculations in a consistent way, process new information efficiently, and are aware of the preferences and rationality of other relevant actors. This implies, in the context of EU decision-making, that the adoption of new rules and polices is the consequence of the strategic behavior of those players who possess the power to influence the collective choice. The application of the RCI approach to EU integration has resulted in a multitude of studies seeking to explain its capacity for institutional reform, policy change, or absorption of new members. While the European Parliament, like any other legislature, concludes its deliberations through voting, other EU decision-making bodies mainly decide either through bargaining or through delegating certain tasks to a subordinate actor. RCI has adopted different workhorse models borrowed from game theory to reflect the variety of decision-making modes: the spatial theory of voting, non-cooperative bargaining theory, and principal-agent models have become the standard approaches to study European integration.

RCI research has faced several challenges since becoming a mainstream approach in the study of EU decision-making. The first set of criticism focuses on the axiomatic basis of the RCI research program in general and questions its usefulness for understanding the evolution of an organization as complex and large as the EU. Other objections that are frequently raised refer to the empirical tests of the hypotheses derived from the game-theoretic models. Finally, critics of the approach question the ability of the RCI program to deal with the role of informal institutions.
The Empirical Promise of Game Theory
Authors: Debs Alexandre
Published: September 2016

Game theory is a set of mathematical tools used to analyze the strategic interaction between decision makers. Proponents of game theory have offered different perspectives about its potential benefits in the study of politics: It is a rigorous apparatus that can offer a solid foundation for the scientific enterprise; it offers predictions that could be tested with statistical analysis; it can account for the essence of unique cases and could be tested with qualitative evidence. Critics of game theory, in political science and international security specifically, argued in the 1990s that it had generated few empirical insights. Two decades later, game-theoretic approaches to international security remain a robust research program, but their prevalence remains limited. It is important to evaluate the potential benefits of game theory and the contributions that it has made to international security, so as to devise appropriate strategies to maximize its empirical purchase. The controlled comparison approach, using qualitative evidence on a medium number of cases, appears especially promising.
Civil War and Terrorism: A Call for Further Theory Building
Authors: Butcher Charity
Published: September 2016

Since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, terrorism has gained increased prominence in both scholarship and the media. While international terrorist acts are quite visible and highly publicized, such attacks represent only one type of terrorism within the international system. In fact, a very large number of acts of terrorism take place within the context of civil wars. Given the great disparity in power in most civil wars, it is not surprising that terrorism might be seen as a tactic that is often used by insurgent groups, who may have few resources at their disposal to fight a much stronger opponent.

There is a clear linkage between the concepts of terrorism and civil war, yet until recently scholars have largely approached civil war and terrorism separately. Recent literature has attempted to specifically map the intersection of terrorism and civil war, recognizing the extent to which the two overlap. As expected, the findings suggest that civil war and terrorism are highly linked. Other scholars have endeavoured to explain why rebel groups in some civil wars use terrorism, while others do not. Further research focuses on how governments respond to terrorism during civil war or on how the decisions of external actors to intervene in civil wars are affected by the use of terrorism by insurgent groups.

These studies show that there is too little theorizing on the relationship between civil war and terrorism; while scholars are finally considering these concepts collectively, the full nature of their relationship remains unexplored. Additional research is needed to better understand the various ways that terrorism and civil war overlap, interact, and mutually affect other important international and domestic political processes.
Accountability and Responsibility
Authors: Gregory Robert
Published: September 2016

Accountability and responsibility are related ideas that are central to political, constitutional, and institutional arrangements in Western liberal democracies. However, political elites in non-democratic systems are generally not held accountable by citizens through such arrangements, and accountability is primarily a means of securing the compliance of state functionaries to the will of these elites. In liberal democracies the terms “accountability” and “responsibility” are often used in common discourse as if they were synonyms, but they are not. The former is a concept that embodies a number of different types, with a common theme of answerability by an accountor to an accountee, usually—but not necessarily—in a hierarchical relationship designed to ensure compliance and control. Responsibility, on the other hand, speaks of the associated but different domain of individual moral choice, where often conflicting duties of obligation are experienced by those in official positions. Beginning in the 1980s, the so-called new public management movement, which brought major changes to many Western systems of public administration, sought to enhance the accountability of public bureaucrats, especially their answerability to their elected political superiors. The effects have been mixed and uncertain, often with unintended consequences, such as the reinforcement of risk aversion and blame shifting and gaming behavior. The quest for accountability is inherently a political process, in which “holding to account” may often depend much less on any forensic determination of specific culpability and much more on evidential and political disputation, where the search for the “truth” is highly—and increasingly—contestable.
Feminist Criminology and the Visual
Authors: Henne Kathryn , Shah Rita
Published: September 2016

In response to the limitations of mainstream criminology, feminist and visual criminology offer alternative approaches to the study of crime, deviance, justice institutions, and the people implicated by them. Although feminist and visual lines of criminological inquiry have distinct foci and analytical strengths, they both illuminate disciplinary blind spots. Feminist criminology responds to criminology’s embedded gender biases, while visual criminology challenges criminology’s reliance on text and numbers. They offer approaches to redress criminology’s general lack of attention to the broader cultural dynamics that inform crime, both as a category and as a practice. Unpacking the visual through a feminist criminological lens is an emergent critical project, one that brings together and extends existing feminist and visual criminological practices. Combining feminist criminology and visual studies offers new possibilities in the areas of theory and methodology. Doing so also lends to new modes through which to query gendered power relationships embedded in the images of crime, deviance, and culture. Moreover, such an approach provides alternative lenses for illuminating the constitutive relationships between visuality, crime, and society, many of which exceed mainstream criminological framings. It brings together interdisciplinary perspectives from feminist studies and visual studies rarely engaged by mainstream criminology. Thus, a feminist visual criminology, as an extension of feminist criminology’s deconstructivist aims, has the potential to pose significant—arguably foundational—critiques of mainstream criminology.
Mexico’s Political Laboratory: The Revolutionary and Postrevolutionary Southeast
Authors: Osten Sarah
Published: September 2016

The history of the 20th century in the Southeast of Mexico is bookended by two revolutions: the Mexican Revolution as it played out in the region, along with its antecedents and aftermath, and a very different but related revolutionary movement that emerged in the state of Chiapas in the mid-1990s. The former has been little studied at the multistate regional level by historians but is critical for understanding the history of the states of the Southeast in the decades that followed. The latter has been intensively studied by scholars in numerous disciplines, but its long-term historical implications remain to be seen. Equally important but scarcely studied and relatively little known is the political history of the Southeast in between these periods of conflict and revolution.

The Southeast is a region that is commonly regarded as distinct, and even marginal, within national histories of Mexico. In the 1980s, President Miguel de la Madrid suggested that the Mexican Revolution had never reached Chiapas. Yet decades earlier, President Lázaro Cárdenas (1934–1940) famously praised neighboring Tabasco as Mexico’s “laboratory of revolution.” Meanwhile, historian Ben Fallaw contends that Yucatán was one of the most important of Mexico’s political laboratories during the 1930s. Taken together, these seemingly conflicting assertions underscore that many of the things that made the Southeast unique within Mexico also made the region important and influential to the course of modern Mexican history. They also raise the question of the Southeast’s experience of the Revolution and the long-term legacies of the revolutionary political projects that unfolded there.
QUBIC: a bioconductor package for qualitative biclustering analysis of gene co-expression data
Authors: Zhang Yu , Xie Juan , Yang Jinyu , Fennell Anne , Zhang Chi , Ma Qin
Published: September 2016

Motivation

Biclustering is widely used to identify co-expressed genes under subsets of all the conditions in a large-scale transcriptomic dataset. The program, QUBIC, is recognized as one of the most efficient and effective biclustering methods for biological data interpretation. However, its availability is limited to a C implementation and to a low-throughput web interface.

Results

An R implementation of QUBIC is presented here with two unique features: (i) a 82% average improved efficiency by refactoring and optimizing the source C code of QUBIC; and (ii) a set of comprehensive functions to facilitate biclustering-based biological studies, including the qualitative representation (discretization) of expression data, query-based biclustering, bicluster expanding, biclusters comparison, heatmap visualization of any identified biclusters and co-expression networks elucidation.

Availability and Implementation

The package is implemented in R (as of version 3.3) and is available from Bioconductor at the URL: http://bioconductor.org/packages/QUBIC, where installation and usage instructions can be found.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
IT-CARES: an interactive tool for case-crossover analyses of electronic medical records for patient safety
Authors: Caron Alexandre , Chazard Emmanuel , Muller Joris , Perichon Renaud , Ferret Laurie , Koutkias Vassilis , Beuscart Régis , Beuscart Jean-Baptiste , Ficheur Grégoire
Published: September 2016

Background: The significant risk of adverse events following medical procedures supports a clinical epidemiological approach based on the analyses of collections of electronic medical records. Data analytical tools might help clinical epidemiologists develop more appropriate case-crossover designs for monitoring patient safety.

Objective: To develop and assess the methodological quality of an interactive tool for use by clinical epidemiologists to systematically design case-crossover analyses of large electronic medical records databases.

Material and Methods: We developed IT-CARES, an analytical tool implementing case-crossover design, to explore the association between exposures and outcomes. The exposures and outcomes are defined by clinical epidemiologists via lists of codes entered via a user interface screen. We tested IT-CARES on data from the French national inpatient stay database, which documents diagnoses and medical procedures for 170 million inpatient stays between 2007 and 2013. We compared the results of our analysis with reference data from the literature on thromboembolic risk after delivery and bleeding risk after total hip replacement.

Results: IT-CARES provides a user interface with 3 columns: (i) the outcome criteria in the left-hand column, (ii) the exposure criteria in the right-hand column, and (iii) the estimated risk (odds ratios, presented in both graphical and tabular formats) in the middle column. The estimated odds ratios were consistent with the reference literature data.

Discussion: IT-CARES may enhance patient safety by facilitating clinical epidemiological studies of adverse events following medical procedures. The tool’s usability must be evaluated and improved in further research.
Clues to the nature of ultradiffuse galaxies from estimated galaxy velocity dispersions
Authors: Zaritsky Dennis
Published: September 2016

We describe how to estimate the velocity dispersions of ultradiffuse galaxies (UDGs) using a previously defined galaxy scaling relationship. The method is accurate for the two UDGs with spectroscopically measured dispersions, as well as for ultracompact galaxies, ultrafaint galaxies, and stellar systems with little or no dark matter. This universality means that the relationship can be applied without further knowledge or prejudice regarding the structure of a galaxy. We then estimate the velocity dispersions of UDGs drawn from two published samples and examine the distribution of total masses. We find, in agreement with the previous studies of two individual UDGs, that these systems are dark matter dominated systems, and that they span a range of at least 1010 < M200/M⊙ < 1012. These galaxies are not, as an entire class, either all dwarfs or all failed L* galaxies. Estimates of the velocity dispersions can also help identify interesting subsets of UDGs, such as those that are likely to have the largest mass-to-light ratios, for subsequent spectroscopic study.
Embodying Empire: European Tattooing and German Colonial Power*
Authors: Fitzpatrick Matthew P
Published: September 2016

Via an investigation of the broader historical conditions of European tattooing practices, this article argues that the example of the last German Governor of Samoa, Erich Schultz, demonstrates the key role of the body in colonial entanglements. By allowing himself to be tattooed in Samoan style, Schultz signalled his strong affinity with Samoan social practices and politics. Not merely indicative of a subjective shift, his tattooing also furthered his authority as a German colonial official. At a time when other European officials, including Germans in other colonies, shied away from engaging with the cultural and political practices of those they governed, Schultz and other German officials in Samoa self-consciously sought to colonize the Samoans while accepting and employing Samoan symbols of authority.
The economic effect of a physician assistant or nurse practitioner in rural America
Authors: Eilrich Fred C.
Published: September 2016

Revenues generated by physician assistants (PAs) and NPs in clinics and hospitals create employment opportunities and wages, salaries, and benefits for staff, which in turn are circulated throughout the local economy. An input-output model was used to estimate the direct and secondary effects of a rural primary care PA or NP on the community and surrounding area. This type of model explains how input/output from one sector of industry can be the output/input for another sector. Given two example scenarios, a rural PA or NP can have an employment effect of 4.4 local jobs and labor income of $280,476 from the clinic. The total effect to a community with a hospital increases to 18.5 local jobs and $940,892 of labor income.
Expanding Group Peer Review: A Proposal for Medical Education Scholarship
Authors: Dumenco Luba , Engle Deborah L. , Goodell Kristen , Nagler Alisa , Ovitsh Robin K. , Whicker Shari A.
Published: September 2016

After participating in a group peer-review exercise at a workshop presented by Academic Medicine and MedEdPORTAL editors at the 2015 Association of American Medical Colleges Medical Education Meeting, the authors realized that the way their work group reviewed a manuscript was very different from the way by which they each would have reviewed the paper as an individual. Further, the group peer-review process yielded more robust feedback for the manuscript’s authors than did the traditional individual peer-review process. This realization motivated the authors to reconvene and collaborate to write this Commentary to share their experience and propose the expanded use of group peer review in medical education scholarship.

The authors consider the benefits of a peer-review process for reviewers, including learning how to improve their own manuscripts. They suggest that the benefits of a team review model may be similar to those of teamwork and team-based learning in medicine and medical education. They call for research to investigate this, to provide evidence to support group review, and to determine whether specific paper types would benefit most from team review (e.g., particularly complex manuscripts, those receiving widely disparate initial individual reviews). In addition, the authors propose ways in which a team-based approach to peer review could be expanded by journals and institutions. They believe that exploring the use of group peer review potentially could create a new methodology for skill development in research and scholarly writing and could enhance the quality of medical education scholarship.
Integrating Theory, Content, and Method to Foster Critical Consciousness in Medical Students: A Comprehensive Model for Cultural Competence Training
Authors: Dao Diane K. , Goss Adeline L. , Hoekzema Andrew S. , Kelly Lauren A. , Logan Alexander A. , Mehta Sanjiv D. , Sandesara Utpal N. , Munyikwa Michelle R. , DeLisser Horace M.
Published: September 2016

Many efforts to design introductory “cultural competence” courses for medical students rely on an information delivery (competence) paradigm, which can exoticize patients while obscuring social context, medical culture, and power structures. Other approaches foster a general open-minded orientation, which can remain nebulous without clear grounding principles. Medical educators are increasingly recognizing the limitations of both approaches and calling for strategies that reenvision cultural competence training. Successfully realizing such alternative strategies requires the development of comprehensive models that specify and integrate theoretical frameworks, content, and teaching principles.

In this article, the authors present one such model: Introduction to Medicine and Society (IMS), a required cultural competence course launched in 2013 for first-year medical students at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Building on critical pedagogy, IMS is centered on a novel specification of “critical consciousness” in clinical practice as an orientation to understanding and pragmatic action in three relational domains: internal, interpersonal, and structural. Instead of transmitting discrete “facts” about patient “types,” IMS content provokes students to engage with complex questions bridging the three domains. Learning takes place in a small-group space specifically designed to spur transformation toward critical consciousness. After discussing the three key components of the course design and describing a representative session, the authors discuss the IMS model’s implications, reception by students and faculty, and potential for expansion. Their early experience suggests the IMS model successfully engages students and prepares future physicians to critically examine experiences, manage interpersonal dynamics, and structurally contextualize patient encounters.
Propofol Pharmacodynamics and Bispectral Index During Key Moments of Awake Craniotomy
Authors: Soehle Martin , Wolf Christina F. , Priston Melanie J. , Neuloh Georg , Bien Christian G. , Hoeft Andreas , Ellerkmann Richard K.
Published: September 2016

Background:

During awake craniotomy, the patient’s language centers are identified by neurological testing requiring a fully awake and cooperative patient. Hence, anesthesia aims for an unconscious patient at the beginning and end of surgery but an awake and responsive patient in between. We investigated the plasma (C
plasma) and effect-site (C
effect-site) propofol concentration as well as the related Bispectral Index (BIS) required for intraoperative return of consciousness and begin of neurological testing.

Materials and Methods:

In 13 patients, arterial C
plasma were measured by high-pressure liquid chromatography and C
effect-site was estimated based on the Marsh and Schnider pharmacokinetic/dynamic (pk/pd) models. The BIS, C
plasma and C
effect-site were compared during the intraoperative awakening period at designated time points such as return of consciousness and start of the Boston Naming Test (neurological test).

Results:

Return of consciousness occurred at a BIS of 77±7 (mean±SD) and a measured C
plasma of 1.2±0.4 μg/mL. The Marsh model predicted a significantly (P<0.001) higher C
plasma of 1.9±0.4 µg/mL as compared with the Schnider model (C
plasma=1.4±0.4 µg/mL) at return of consciousness. Neurological testing was possible as soon as the BIS had increased to 92±6 and measured C
plasma had decreased to 0.8±0.3 µg/mL. This translated into a time delay of 23±12 minutes between return of consciousness and begin of neurological testing. At begin of neurological testing, C
plasma according to Marsh (C
plasma=1.3±0.5 µg/mL) was significantly (P=0.002) higher as compared with the Schnider model (C
plasma=1.0±0.4 µg/mL).

Conclusions:

To perform intraoperative neurological testing, patients are required to be fully awake with plasma propofol concentrations as low as 0.8 µg/mL. Following our clinical setup, the Schnider pk/pd model estimates propofol concentrations significantly more accurate as compared with the Marsh model at this neurologically crucial time point.
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma: understanding its molecular biology at a fine scale
Authors: Paul Prosenjit , Deka Himangshu , Malakar Arup K. , Halder Binata , Chakraborty Supriyo
Published: September 2016

Among all cancers, the incidence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is quite high in the endemic regions. NPC is a head and neck cancer with poor survival rate, and is rare throughout most of the world but common in certain geographic areas, like southern Asia and some regions of North East India (Nagaland, Manipur, and Mizoram). A clear understanding of its etiology is still lacking, but NPC is widely suspected to be the result of both genetic susceptibility and exposure to environmental factors or Epstein–Barr virus infection. Diagnosis in the early stages needs a high index of clinical acumen, and, although most cross-sectional imaging investigations show the tumor with precision, confirmation is dependent on histology. This article reviews all related research reports on NPC histopathological classifications worldwide that have been published within the past 20 years. Genome-wide association studies suggested that there might be common disease mechanisms between that disease and NPC. Personalized management rules, quality assessment of life in patients, and an understanding of the essential mechanisms of recurrence could be directed toward research into recurrent NPC. Hence, this literature would offer otolaryngologists a deeper insight into the etiological and management aspects of NPC.
Synthetic Poly(l-Glutamic Acid)-conjugated CpG Exhibits Antitumor Efficacy With Increased Retention in Tumor and Draining Lymph Nodes After Intratumoral Injection in a Mouse Model of Melanoma
Authors: Ma Qing , Zhou Dapeng , DeLyria Elizabeth S. , Wen Xiaoxia , Lu Wei , Thapa Prakash , Liu Chengwen , Li Dan , Bassett Roland L. , Overwijk Willem W. , Hwu Patrick , Li Chun
Published: September 2016

There is an urgent need for new clinically applicable drug-delivery methods to enhance accumulation of immune-activating drugs in tumors. We synthesized a poly(l-glutamic acid)-CpG ODN2216 conjugate (PG-CpG) and injected it intratumorally into C57BL/6 mice bearing subcutaneous B16-ovalbumin melanoma. PG-CpG elicited the same potent antitumoral activity as CpG with respect to reducing tumor growth and triggering antigen-specific CD8+ T-cell responses in this well-established solid tumor model. Moreover, PG-CpG was retained significantly longer in both tumor and draining lymph nodes than was free CpG after intratumoral injection. Specifically, 48 hours after injection, 26.5%±16.9% of the injected PG-CpG dose versus 4.72%±2.61% of free CpG remained at the tumor, and 1.53%±1.22% of the injected PG-CpG versus 0.37%±0.33% of free CpG was retained in the draining inguinal lymph nodes. These findings indicate that PG is an effective synthetic polymeric carrier for delivery of immunostimulatory agents to tumors and lymph nodes.
The Economics of Skin Cancer: An Analysis of Medicare Payment Data
Authors: Chen Jenny T. , Kempton Steven J. , Rao Venkat K.
Published: September 2016

Purpose:

The incidence and cost of nonmelanoma skin cancers are skyrocketing. Five million cases cost $8.1 billion in 2011. The average cost of treatment per patient increased from $1000 in 2006 to $1600 in 2011. We present a study of the economics and costs of skin cancer management in Medicare patients.

Methods:

We studied data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in 2014. Treatment modalities for the management of skin cancer were reviewed, and costs of treatment were quantified for a sample of 880,000 providers.

Results:

Review of Medicare payment records related to the management of skin cancer yielded data from over 880,000 health care providers who received $77 billion in Medicare payments in 2012. From 1992 to 2009, the rate of Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) has increased by 700%, and these procedures typically have Medicare payments 120% to 370% more than surgical excision, even when including pathology fees. From 1992 to 2009, MMS increased by 700%, whereas surgical excisions increased by only 20%. In 2009, 1800 providers billed Medicare for MMS; in 2012, that number increased to 3209. On average, 1 in 4 cases of skin cancer is treated with MMS.

Conclusion:

Mohs excision is more expensive than surgical excision in an office setting. Procedures requiring the operating room are much more expensive than office procedures. In an era of high deductible health plans, patients’ financial burden is much less with simple excisions of skin cancers done in a clinic when compared with Mohs surgery or operative interventions.
Breast Cancer Posttreatment Surveillance: Diagnosis and Management of Recurrent Disease
Authors: KARAM AMER K.
Published: September 2016

There has been a steady decline in breast cancer mortality that has led to a significant increase in the number of patients surviving breast cancer. We will review in this manuscript the evidence and guidelines for posttreatment surveillance of patients with breast cancer as well as the management options for patients who are diagnosed with local-regional and distant recurrences.