bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Functional Mechanisms Encoding Others' Direction of Gaze in the Human Nervous System
Authors: Palmer Colin J. , Clifford Colin W. G.
Published: May 2017

The direction of others' gaze is a strong social signal to their intentions and future behavior. Pioneering electrophysiological research identified cell populations in the primate visual cortex that are tuned to specific directions of observed gaze, but the functional architecture of this system is yet to be precisely specified. Here, we develop a computational model of how others' gaze direction is flexibly encoded across sensory channels within the gaze system. We incorporate the divisive normalization of sensory responses—a computational mechanism that is thought to be widespread in sensory systems but has not been examined in the context of social vision. We demonstrate that the operation of divisive normalization in the gaze system predicts a surprising and distinctive pattern of perceptual changes after sensory adaptation to gaze stimuli and find that these predictions closely match the psychophysical effects of adaptation in human observers. We also find that opponent coding, broadband multichannel, and narrowband multichannel models of sensory coding make distinct predictions regarding the effects of adaptation in a normalization framework and find evidence in favor of broadband multichannel coding of gaze. These results reveal the functional principles that govern the neural encoding of gaze direction and support the notion that divisive normalization is a canonical feature of nervous system function. Moreover, this research provides a strong foundation for testing recent computational theories of neuropsychiatric conditions in which gaze processing is compromised, such as autism and schizophrenia.
Consistent Neural Activity Patterns Represent Personally Familiar People
Authors: Thornton Mark A. , Mitchell Jason P.
Published: May 2017

How does the brain encode and organize our understanding of the people we know? In this study, participants imagined personally familiar others in a variety of contexts while undergoing fMRI. Using multivoxel pattern analysis, we demonstrated that thinking about familiar others elicits consistent fine-grained patterns of neural activity. Person-specific patterns were distributed across many regions previously associated with social cognition, including medial prefrontal, medial parietal, and lateral temporoparietal cortices, as well as other regions including the anterior and mid-cingulate, insula, and precentral gyrus. Analogous context-specific patterns were observed in medial parietal and superior occipital regions. These results suggest that medial parietal cortex may play a particularly central role in simulating familiar others, as this is the only region to simultaneously represent both person and context information. Moreover, within portions of medial parietal cortex, the degree to which person-specific patterns were typically instated on a given trial predicted subsequent judgments of accuracy and vividness in the mental simulation. This suggests that people may access neural representations in this region to form metacognitive judgments of confidence in their mental simulations. In addition to fine-grained patterns within brain regions, we also observed encoding of both familiar people and contexts in coarse-grained patterns spread across the independently defined social brain network. Finally, we found tentative evidence that several established theories of person perception might explain the relative similarity between person-specific patterns within the social brain network.
Martin Buber and the Problem of Dialogue in Contemporary Thought
Authors: Joas Hans
Published: May 2017

This paper asks two questions: (1) Who in the history of ideas were the main initiators of dialogical thinking? (2) What are Martin Buber’s main merits in this regard? It comes to the conclusion that Buber’s main achievement was his understanding of the performative character of statements about the personhood of God. His dialogical understanding of religious experience is in need of being synthesized with an empirically grounded understanding of human intersubjectivity as it has been prepared by G. H. Mead and others.
Assessing geographical variation on whistle acoustic structure of three Mediterranean populations of common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)
Authors: La Manna Gabriella , Rako Gospić Nikolina , Manghi Michele , Picciulin Marta , Sarà Gianluca
Published: May 2017

Whistles are acoustic signals produced particularly during social interactions. Here, we compare whistles by bottlenose dolphins from three Mediterranean areas (Croatia, Sicily and Sardinia) to investigate the presence of acoustic divergence and to discuss the possible causes of variability. Whistle parameters differ significantly between populations, but PCA highlights that the majority of variability is due to a limited number of frequency parameters. Cluster and DFA show that the Croatian population is acoustically divergent from the western populations of Sicily and Sardinia. This divergence could be consistent with geographical isolation, and a possible genetic differentiation between populations, and/or an adaptation to the acoustic environment. Moreover, in a comparison of whistle parameters of different Mediterranean populations with those of previously published Atlantic populations, it was revealed that the Sicilian population was acoustically closer to Atlantic populations. Our results represent a contribution to identifying acoustically differentiated populations of bottlenose dolphins in the Mediterranean.
Luring prey to the web: the case of Argiope and Nephila
Authors: Gálvez Dumas
Published: May 2017

The view that orb webs are imperceptible traps has changed since it was discovered that some spiders possess body colorations or web designs that are attractive to prey. Spiders of the genera Argiope and Nephila exemplify both cases and are able to adjust their webs to increase foraging success. In this study, I compared the foraging strategies of A. submanorica and N. clavipes as they foraged on the same natural prey (stingless bees). Argiope submanorica adds UV-reflective decorations while N. clavipes builds non-UV-reflective golden webs. Based on studies that suggest a lack of niche separation between these two species, the objective of this study was to test whether this hypothesis holds when the spiders are competing for a limited resource. In addition, I investigated whether the colorations of the spiders influence their foraging success. The golden webs of N. clavipes intercepted more bees than the decorated webs of A. submanorica, suggesting that some type of niche separation must occur in nature, as otherwise competition would lead to the local extinction of A. submanorica. These differences in foraging success, leading to its ability to outcompete other spider species exploiting the same resource, could explain in part the abundance and distribution of the N. clavipes on the American continent.
The Publishing Program of Ivan Fedorov and Peter Mstislavets: Statement of the Problem – Издательская программа Ивана Федорова и Петра Мстиславца
Authors: Бондар Наталия
Published: May 2017

The article analyzes the publishing program and methods of the two greatest figures in early East Slavic printing during the Renaissance period, the printers and publishers Ivan Fedorov and Petr Mstislavets. Behind their publishing work was their goal to print books for individual use outside the church both as resources for basic literacy instruction and for more advanced education. This goal was pursued by publishing books that aided in the development of reading skills (primers, Books of Hours, Psalters) and texts for gaining a deeper insight into the church’s teachings (the Acts and Epistles, Gospels, Didactic Gospels, the New Testament, and the Bible). The article focuses on Ivan Fedorov’s and Petr Mstislavets’ goal of printing and distributing books among non-clerical segments of the population, particularly among the middle-class townsmen and, possibly, in the emerging urban fraternities. Ivan Fedorov and Petr Mstislavets prepared printed books for use as textbooks in schools and for independent individual reading. The article advances the argument that there were “book fraternities” or reading circles, which have their roots back in the much older European traditions and that often included printers. The article attempts to explain why the publications of Ivan Fedorov and Petr Mstislavets became a model for numerous later editions. The article concludes with several suggestions on how this research might be followed up in the future.
“A Beautiful, Tremendous Russian Book, and Other Things Too”
Authors: Rogatchevskaia Ekaterina
Published: May 2017

The British Library holds one of 65 existing copies of the first dated book printed in Muscovy by Ivan Fedorov and Petr Mstislavets, the Apostol (Acts and Epistles) (1564) and one of two known copies of Ivan Fedorov’s Primer (L’viv, 1574), which is considered by many to be the first Cyrillic book printed in Ukraine. The recent history of these books is linked to the name of the legendary Russian art critic and impresario Serge Diaghilev (1872–1929). Both titles belonged to his private book collection. A story of Diaghilev’s collection became part of the history of the British Library when in 1975 it acquired, among other books and manuscripts, his copy of the famous 1564 Apostol. Diaghilev’s copy of the 1574 Primer resurfaced at Harvard University Library, but its detailed descriptions and facsimile editions helped the British Library curator Christine Thomas, then in charge of the Russian collections, to identify a second copy, which is now held at the British Library. This article tells the story of how over 70 titles from Diaghilev’s collection of rare Russian books and manuscripts were acquired by the British Library, examines possible reasons for Diaghilev’s passion for books, and highlights other themes relevant for the history of private and public book collecting.
Why Did Muscovy Not Participate in the “Communication Revolution” in the Sixteenth Century?
Authors: Filyushkin Alexander
Published: May 2017

The sixteenth century in Europe has been called the period of the “Communication Revolution.” Was Muscovy a participant in this revolution? Though the first printed books appeared in Russia in the mid-sixteenth century, just half a century before the printing boom in Europe, the only correct answer to this question can be “no.” In Russia there was nothing like the preparatory epistolary stage of a Communication Revolution. There were nothing like European “merchants’ letters” or aristocrats’ correspondence. One can hardly even find any “news” narratives describing “the other,” i.e. other countries and nations. Descriptions of manners, customs, the history of neighboring countries, as well as political news were only included in diplomatic documents. The politics of the Russian state was monolithic and unified, lacking political pluralism and freedom of speech, diverse political discourse, and political partisanship typical of Europe. Because of this, Muscovite society did not need political information, because all the necessary information came from the government. The information structures that bound together Russian society were formed around the church in the first place and then the state. Printing was in great demand by the church and state, to be sure, and during the first 150 years after its introduction in Russia, printing in Russia served the interests of church and state almost exclusively. The main reason for the delayed Communication Revolution in Russia was the lack of public demand for information. Apparently, the reason for this attitude was not the technological backwardness of Russia: there had not been any technological obstacles for the formation of a Communication Revolution in Russia since the late sixteenth century. The problem was rather that there was no broad market for print material. The Communication Revolution could be the means of social, political and cultural modernization in Russia (as it had been in Europe). But it came to Russia too late, only in the eighteenth and ninteenth centuries.
Possible Reasons for the Beginning of Book Printing in Russia: Some Preliminary Notes – О возможных причинах начала книгопечатания в России
Authors: Усачев А.С.
Published: May 2017

This article examines the factors that influenced the creation of the first Russian (so-called “anonymous”) printing press around 1553. The article shows that the first attempts to introduce printing took place as early as the 1540s (as seen in the Hans Schlitte mission and in a letter from Ivan IV to the Danish King Christian III). Thus the Sloglav Council (1551) or the conquest of Kazan (1552) could not be the immediate reasons for the introduction of printing in Russia. The direct reason was the need to standardize church service books. The article argues that the production of printed books in Russia also greatly accelerated as a result of the fire in Moscow in 1547, which destroyed an enormous quantity of books in the libraries in the capital. The capacities of the existing scriptoria in Moscow at the time were insufficient to restore quickly the large quantities of books lost in the fire. It became necessary to employ new methods for replacing the lost books (first and foremost, liturgical books). This study is based in a wide range of sources, including materials connected with the so-called “Viskovatyi Affair,” chronicles, the Tale of the Moscow Fire of 1547, the Book of Degrees, marginalia and other inscriptions found in some books, inventories compiled by the scribal staffs in chanceries, the colophon of the 1564 Apostol, and other sources.
Comparing Legal Clinics: Is There a Way to a European Clinical Culture?
Authors: Poillot Elise
Published: May 2017

This paper compares the context of clinical legal education in the us and in continental Europe. It aims to understand whether and to which extent the American clinical legal model can be implemented in continental Europe. It argues that because of the different social and legal environments, this model needs to be adapted to the European context with particular regard to the social justice dimension of legal clinics. It also argues that given the importance granted by the civil law tradition to the teaching of legal science, legal clinics should not be disconnected from legal research, but on the contrary, be framed in order to favour it. It ended by presenting an attempt to implement this approach by describing the functioning of the Consumer Law Clinic of the University of Luxembourg, which was specifically designed to achieve this goal.
The Fairness ‘Dilemma’ in Sharing the Nile Waters: What Lessons from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam for International Law?
Authors: Yihdego Zeray
Published: May 2017

This monograph enquires into the fairness dilemma in connection with the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (gerd) in light of relevant colonial-era Nile treaties, post-1990 Nile framework instruments, and international watercourses law. Thegerdis now afait accompli, but fairness considerations will continue to be vital issues in its completion, filling, and operation. The monograph argues that thegerdis a symbol of a fair share of the Nile waters by Ethiopia, the realization of which depends on,inter alia, an appropriate economic return, benefit sharing and prevention of significant impacts. The monograph also calls for a process to address the issue of unfair agreements, and argues that, although fairness application can be complex, the notions of procedural fairness and distributive justice can be applied to define and delineate the principle with reference to a specific treaty regime.
Synopsis of Sida (Malvaceae, Malvoideae, Malveae) in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil
Authors: LOURENÇO BRANDÃO JOSÉ , SIDNEY BARACHO GEORGE , FERREIRA DE SALES MARGARETH , PAULINO VIEGAS FILHO MARCELO
Published: May 2017

Sida is one of most heterogeneous genera of Malvaceae and one of the richest in species inside Malvoideae. It comprises about 200 pantropical and American species with a few of these extending into the temperate regions, 112 of them occurring in Brazil. Studies on the taxonomy of Sida in this country are few. In the State of Pernambuco, the genus is represented by 24 species widely distributed in all of the four major phytogeographical zones (littoral, agreste, savannah and caatinga). It occurs in different localities and habitats, such as natural and disturbed areas or in urbanized areas. This synopsis includes a taxonomic key, new synonyms, lectotypes and new records, description of one new species (Sida pernambucensis), illustrations, and brief comments of morphology, habitat and geographical distribution.
Updated checklist of Balearic leaf beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)
Authors: PETITPIERRE EDUARD , SACARÉS ANTONI , JURADO-RIVERA JOSÉ A.
Published: May 2017

The first updated checklist of Balearic leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae) since 1960 is presented here, evincing the presence of 118 species. This estimation is clearly lower than the 141 species reported in the only list available to date (Jolivet, 1953), and the dissimilarity is even more pronounced if we take into account that 22 new species have been added during this period. The possible explanations for these differences are discussed. The main island in the archipelago holds most of the species (Mallorca, 113 spp.), followed by Menorca (71 spp.), Eivissa (39 spp.) and Formentera (19 spp.). Thus, the Gymnesian islands (Mallorca and Menorca) are more species-rich than the Pityusic ones (Eivissa and Formentera). The number of species per island is significantly correlated with their respective areas not only for the Balearic but also for the much larger western Mediterranean islands of Corsica and Sardinia, and these abundances are not related with their nearness to the closest mainland. Among the different subfamilies and tribes, the Balearic flea-beetles (Alticinae) are clearly more prevalent whereas on the contrary, the Clytrini are less represented in comparison with the nearest mainland (Iberian Peninsula). The presented checklist includes four endemic species, Cryptocephalus majoricensis (Mallorca, Menorca and Formentera), C. tramuntanae (Mallorca), Cyrtonus majoricensis (Mallorca) and Timarcha balearica (Mallorca and Menorca). Furthermore, two adventitious species, Monoxia obesula and Epitrix hirtipennis of North American origin, have been reported for the first time in the Balearic Islands, in agreement with previous findings in other Mediterranean countries.
Eupithecia gypsophilata, a new species in the graphata species group of the genus Eupithecia Curtis (Lepidoptera, Geometridae, Larentiinae)
Authors: SKOU PEDER , MIRONOV VLADIMIR , RIETZ HARTMUT
Published: May 2017

A new species of the geometrid genus Eupithecia is described from Spain: Eupithecia gypsophilata sp. n. This species belongs to the graphata species group and is somewhat similar externally to Eupithecia gemellata Herrich-Schäffer, 1861.
Siphonoecetini Just, 1983 (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Ischyroceridae) 11: Cephaloecetes schioettei sp. nov. from The Philippines
Authors: JUST JEAN
Published: May 2017

The new species described below, Cephaloecetes schioettei, is the second siphonoecetine to be recorded from the archipelago region of Indonesia, The Philippines and Papua New Guinea. The previous reports were of Borneoecetes wongi Barnard & Thomas, 1984 from Borneo and from Papua New Guinea by Myers (1995).
Notes on Phalangiidae (Arachnida: Opiliones) of southern Africa with description of new species and comments on within-species variation
Authors: TAYLOR CHRISTOPHER K.
Published: May 2017

Notes are provided on a collection of Afrotropical harvestmen (Opiliones: Palpatores: Phalangiidae) from the California Academy of Sciences. A new species of Rhampsinitus, R. conjunctidens n. sp., is described from Limpopo province of South Africa. Rhampsinitus flavobrunneus Staręga 2009 and R. silvaticus Lawrence 1931 are recognised as junior synonyms of R. nubicolus Lawrence 1963 and R. vittatus Lawrence 1931, respectively. Both R. conjunctidens and R. nubicolus are recognised as exhibiting strong male dimorphism with major males exhibiting larger body size and greatly enlarged chelicerae relative to minor males; minor males cannot be readily identified to species without examination of genitalia. A discussion is also provided on generic boundaries within Afrotropical Phalangiidae, and a generic key to males of the region is presented.
New species, new records and updated subgeneric key of Bactrocera Macquart (Diptera: Tephritidae: Dacinae: Dacini) from India
Authors: DAVID K. J. , HANCOCK D. L. , SINGH SHAKTI KUMAR , RAMANI S. , BEHERE G. T. , SALINI S.
Published: May 2017

Two new species of genus Bactrocera Macquart, namely B. (Sinodacus) brevipunctata David and Hancock, sp. nov. and B. (Bactrocera) furcata David and Hancock, sp. nov., are described from India. B. (B.) aethriobasis Hardy, B. (B.) rubigina Wang & Zhao, B. (B.) syzygii Tsuruta & White and B. (B.) tuberculata (Bezzi) are recorded for the first time from India. Updated keys to twelve subgenera of Bactrocera and Indian species of Bactrocera (Bactrocera) are also provided.
An Analysis of Regional Climate Simulations for Western Australia’s Wine Regions—Model Evaluation and Future Climate Projections
Authors: Firth Rebecca , Kala Jatin , Lyons Thomas J. , Andrys Julia
Published: May 2017

The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model is evaluated as a regional climate model for the simulation of climate indices that are relevant to viticulture in Western Australia’s wine regions at a 5-km resolution under current and future climate. WRF is driven with ERA-Interim reanalysis for the current climate and three global climate models (GCMs) for both current and future climate. The focus of the analysis is on a selection of climate indices that are commonly used in climate–viticulture research. Simulations of current climate are evaluated against an observational dataset to quantify model errors over the 1981–2010 period. Changes to the indices under future climate based on the SRES A2 emissions scenario are then assessed through an analysis of future (2030–59) minus present (1970–99) climate. Results show that when WRF is driven with ERA-Interim there is generally good agreement with observations for all of the indices although there is a noticeable negative bias for the simulation of precipitation. The results for the GCM-forced simulations were less consistent. Namely, while the GCM-forced simulations performed reasonably well for the temperature indices, all simulations performed inconsistently for the precipitation index. Climate projections showed significant warming for both of the temperature indices and indicated potential risks to Western Australia’s wine growing regions under future climate, particularly in the north. There was disagreement between simulations with regard to the projections of the precipitation indices and hence greater uncertainty as to how these will be characterized under future climate.
Debonding mechanism of polymeric fibers in reinforced cementitious composites as a function of crystallinity degree of fibers
Authors: Etminani Mohamad Ali , Sharif Farhad
Published: May 2017

Engineered cementitious composites containing polymeric fibers such as poly(vinyl alcohol) show high tensile ductility and toughness. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effect of crystallinity degree of poly(vinyl alcohol) fibers on fiber debonding from cementitious matrix in the bending test. In this work, two types of poly(vinyl alcohol) fibers and one grade of polypropylene fiber were separately incorporated in cementitious composites. The chemical structure, surface chemistry, roughness, and microstructure of fibers were examined by Fourier transform infrared, attenuated total reflection, atomic force microscopy, and wide-angle X-ray diffraction tests, respectively. The compression and flexural behaviors of cementitious composites were also assessed. Attenuated total reflection results were indicative of similar surface chemistry for both poly(vinyl alcohol) fibers, while the main difference was observed in the case of degree of crystallinity, which plays an important role in the Poisson’s ratio. Finally, the way in which the degree of crystallinity and Poisson’s ratio of fibers can lead to premature debonding was described and confirmed by scanning electron microscopic images.
The (re-)establishment of order: Disorder in the priestly understanding and in the teaching and acts of Jesus
Authors: Biddle Mark E.
Published: May 2017

While a biblical doctrine of sin requires the honest and careful assessment of the complexity and plurality of the biblical witness,2 especially with regard to the relationship of the two Testaments, scholarship often draws lines of demarcation between the two Testaments too sharply. Ancient Israel’s priests devoted significant attention to the “objective” quality of wrong done as a pastoral problem, for example. Leviticus establishes that “unintentional sin” covers the whole gamut of behaviors short of willful sin that can result in terrible injury and harm. Indeed, the priests so consistently held the notion that wrong inheres in a situation, regardless of the intention of the actor, that they could use the language of sin to discuss skin diseases (Lev 14:1–32) and mold in houses (Lev 14:33–53). Israel’s priests did not speculate as to the precise point along the spectrum of willfulness and inadvertence at which one becomes morally culpable in the legal sense. Instead, their approach was much more pastoral: whatever the psychological and ethical dynamics preceding and underlying a wrong, the priests saw their role primarily in terms of healing, restoration, and restitution. Jesus and James expanded the priestly notion of sin as an objective reality to include intention as a category in the discussion of sin, but did not make it definitive of sin. Although the Gospels preserve no other discourse of Jesus even impinging on the subject of the concrete reality of sin, Jesus’ behaviors, especially instances when he healed without assigning blame or seeking repentance first, manifest his priestly concern for correcting inherent wrongness, for restoring rightness. Following Jesus, the priests’ view that any disorder threatens the harmony of the cultic community can supply useful and pertinent raw material for Christian theology and ethics today.
Mapping the Social Class Structure: From Occupational Mobility to Social Class Categories Using Network Analysis
Authors: Toubøl Jonas , Larsen Anton Grau
Published: May 2017

This article develops a new explorative method for deriving social class categories from patterns of occupational mobility. In line with Max Weber, our research is based on the notion that, if class boundaries do not inhibit social mobility then the class categories are of little value. Thus, unlike dominant, theoretically defined class schemes, this article derives social class categories from observed patterns in a mobility network covering intra-generational mobility. The network is based on a mobility table of 109 occupational categories tied together by 1,590,834 job shifts on the Danish labour market 2001–2007. The number of categories are reduced from 109 to 34 by applying a new clustering algorithm specifically designed for the study of mobility tables (MONECA). These intra-generational social class categories are related to the central discussions of gender, income, education and political action by providing empirical evidence of strong patterns of intra-generational class divisions along these lines.
The Bachelor’s to PhD Transition: Factors Influencing PhD Completion Among Women in Chemistry and Physics
Authors: Dabney Katherine P. , Chakraverty Devasmita , Hutton Amy C. , Warner Katy A. , Tai Robert H.
Published: May 2017

Existing research has examined if undergraduate factors influence chemistry and physics, or physical science, doctoral degree entry and whether variables during PhD programs associate with graduation. Yet research on the transition from bachelor’s degree to doctoral degree entry (i.e., PhD entry in less than 6 months, attainment of a master’s degree prior to doctoral degree entry, or working in a science-related job for more than a year prior to doctoral degree entry) on PhD degree graduation remains scarce. Our study examines the transition from bachelor’s to doctoral degrees to see if experiences therein associate with female PhD graduation, after doctoral degree enrollment. Our logistic regression analysis, of female chemistry and physics doctorates ( n = 867), indicated that attainment of a master’s degree did not change the likelihood of graduation, when compared to direct entry into physical science doctoral programs. Meanwhile working in a science-related job for a year or more is associated with a significantly lower likelihood of physical science doctoral graduation when compared to women who entered directly into PhD programs or received a master’s degree prior to enrollment.
Massed Trials Versus Trials Embedded Into Game Play: Child Outcomes and Preference
Authors: Ledford Jennifer R. , Chazin Kate T. , Harbin Emilee R. , Ward Sarah E.
Published: May 2017

Limited data are available regarding how response prompting procedures should be used in early childhood settings. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficiency of progressive time delay instruction presented via two trial arrangements: massed and embedded. During massed trial sessions, a short instructional session was conducted, followed by game play. During embedded trial sessions, trials were conducted during game play. Across 12 participants with and without disabilities, efficiency and preference data were mixed. Preference data suggested most participants preferred the instruction type that resulted in most efficient learning. Social validity data suggest inservice and preservice practitioners may be equally likely to use the procedures, but some respondents indicated they might be less willing to use embedded trial arrangements due to increased effort in materials preparation. Implications include the possibility that faster learners may learn better in embedded contexts and that children may prefer instructional contexts that are most efficient for them.
Cooperative gestures for industry: Exploring the efficacy of robot hand configurations in expression of instructional gestures for human–robot interaction
Authors: Sheikholeslami Sara , Moon AJung , Croft Elizabeth A
Published: May 2017

Fast and reliable communication between human worker(s) and robotic assistants is essential for successful collaboration between the agents. This is especially true for typically noisy manufacturing environments that render verbal communication less effective. In this work, we investigate the efficacy of nonverbal communication capabilities of robotic manipulators that have poseable, three-fingered end-effectors (hands). We explore the extent to which different poses of a typical robotic gripper can effectively communicate instructional messages during human–robot collaboration. Within the context of a collaborative car door assembly task, we conducted a series of three studies. We first observed the type of hand configurations that humans use to nonverbally instruct another person (Study 1, N = 17); based on the observation, we examined how well human gestures with frequently used hand configurations are understood by recipients of the message (Study 2, N = 140). Finally, we implemented the most human-recognized human hand configurations on a seven-degree-of-freedom robotic manipulator to investigate the efficacy of having human-inspired hand poses on a robotic hand compared to an unposed hand (Study 3, N = 100).

Contributions of this work include presentation of a set of hand configurations humans commonly use to instruct another person in a collaborative assembly scenario, as well as recognition rate and recognition confidence measures for the gestures that humans and robots express using different hand configurations. Results indicate that most gestures are better recognized with a higher level of confidence when displayed with a posed robot hand.
Extragastrointestinal stromal tumor of the abdominal subcutaneous tissue: Report of a very rare case at an unusual site
Authors: He Xue , Chen Nannan , Lin Li , Wang Congyang , Wang Yan
Published: May 2017

Extragastrointestinal stromal tumors (EGISTs) are rare tumors that arise outside the digestive tract. We report a case of an EGIST arising in the subcutaneous tissue of the abdominal wall, which at this site can often be misdiagnosed as dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans. The tumor was surgically resected from a 72-year-old male Chinese Han patient, and pathological examination revealed spindle-shaped tumor cells with eosinophilic cytoplasm and an oval nucleus. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells showed strong cytoplasmic positivity for CD34, c-KIT (CD117), and DOG1. Tests for activating mutations of GISTs showed that the tumor cells carried an in-frame deletion (NP_000213.1:p.Lys550_Gln556del) in exon 11 of c-KIT (CD117). Thus, an EGIST should be considered in patients with abdominal subcutaneous tumors with an epithelioid, spindle-shaped, or mixed morphology. Immunohistochemistry of c-KIT (CD117) and DOG1 and genetic testing for activating mutations are recommended to aid in the differential diagnosis of subcutaneous tumors. In short, although EGISTs are rare in the abdominal subcutaneous tissue, pathologists must be aware of their possibility.
Clinical characteristics of patients with diabetes mellitus and fatty liver diagnosed by liver/spleen Hounsfield units on CT scan
Authors: Sakitani Kosuke , Enooku Kenichiro , Kubo Hirokazu , Tanaka Akifumi , Arai Hisakatsu , Kawazu Shoji , Koike Kazuhiko
Published: May 2017

Objective

The leading cause of liver injuries in diabetes mellitus may be associated with fatty liver. We aimed to elucidate the relationship between fatty liver and diabetes characteristics.

Methods

Retrospectively, 970 patients with diabetes were analysed. Fatty liver was diagnosed when the liver/spleen Hounsfield unit ratio by computed tomography was below 0.9. Clinical diabetes characteristics were compared between patients with and without fatty liver.

Results

Of 970 patients (717 male and 253 female; mean age 64.4 years), 175 males (24.4%) and 60 females (23.7%) had fatty liver. None of the 28 patients with type 1 diabetes had fatty liver. In male patients with type 2 diabetes, age, visceral adipose tissue (VAT), albumin, alanine amino-transferase (ALT), and triglycerides were independently associated with fatty liver. In females, age and bilirubin were associated with fatty liver.

Conclusions

Fatty liver is associated with type 2 diabetes characteristics, including younger age and elevated VAT, albumin, ALT, and triglycerides in males and younger age and elevated bilirubin levels in females.
Short-interval postconditioning protects the bowel against ischaemia–reperfusion injury in rats
Authors: Ozkisacik Sezen , Erdem Ali Onur , Etensel Barlas , Tataroglu Canten , Serter Mukadder , Yazici Mesut
Published: May 2017

Objective

Acute mesenteric ischaemia leads to intestinal damage. Restoration of blood flow results in further damage to tissue, which is called reperfusion injury. This study aimed to investigate the protective effects of short-interval postconditioning and to determine the optimal interval for reperfusion in an experimental rat model of intestinal ischaemia.

Methods

Forty adult male Wistar rats were grouped as follows: sham (Sh), ischaemia + reperfusion (IR), ischaemia + postconditioning for 5 seconds (PC5), ischaemia + postconditioning for 10 seconds (PC10), and ischaemia + postconditioning for 20 seconds (PC20). For postconditioning, 10 cycles of reperfusion (5, 10, or 20 seconds) interspersed by 10 cycles of 10 seconds of ischaemia were performed. Blood glutathione reductase (GR) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) levels were measured. Intestinal tissue damage was assessed histopathologically.

Results

GR levels were significantly higher in the PC5 group than in the IR group (37.7 ± 9.0 vs. 18.5 ± 2.0 min/g Hb). GPx levels were significantly higher in the PC10 group than in the IR group (43.2 ± 9.2 vs. 15.9 ± 4.6 U/g Hb). The histopathological score was significantly lower in the PC5 group (1.1 ± 0.1) than in the IR group (2.1 ± 0.2).

Conclusion

Short-interval postconditioning reduces reperfusion injury in the ischaemic bowel and the optimal interval for reperfusion is 5 seconds. The long-term effects of short-interval postconditioning and the optimal reperfusion interval in intestinal ischaemia–reperfusion in rats need to be investigated.
Improved power curve monitoring of wind turbines
Authors: Morshedizadeh Majid , Kordestani Mojtaba , Carriveau Rupp , Ting David S-K , Saif Mehrdad
Published: May 2017

Wind turbine power output monitoring can detect anomalies in turbine performance which have the potential to result in unexpected failure. This study examines common Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition data over a period of 20 months. It is common to have more than 150 signals acquired by Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition systems, and applying all is neither practical nor useful. Thus, to address the issue, correlation coefficients analysis has been applied in this work to reveal the most influential parameters on wind turbine active power. Then, radial basis function and multilayer perception artificial neural networks are set up, and their performance is compared in two static and dynamic states. The proposed combination of the feature selection method and the dynamic multilayer perception neural network structure has performed well with favorable prediction error levels compared to other methods. Thus, the combination may be a valuable tool for turbine power curve monitoring.
Electricity production from municipal solid waste in Brazil
Authors: Nordi Guilherme Henrique , Palacios-Bereche Reynaldo , Gallego Antonio Garrido , Nebra Silvia Azucena
Published: May 2017

Brazil has an increasing production of municipal solid waste that, allied to the current waste management system, makes the search for alternatives of energy recovery essential. Thus, this work aims to study the incineration of municipal solid waste and the electricity production through steam cycles evaluating the influence of municipal solid waste composition. Several scenarios were studied, in which it was assumed that some fractions of municipal solid waste were removed previously. The municipal solid waste generated in Santo André city, São Paulo State, Brazil, was adopted for this study. Simulation results showed that the removal of organic matter and inert components impacts advantageously on the cycle performance, improving their parameters in some cases; in addition, there is the possibility of reusing the separated fractions. The separation of some recyclables, as plastic material, showed disadvantages by the reduction in the electricity generation potential owing to the high calorific value of plastics. Despite the high energy content of them, there are other possible considerations on this subject, because some plastics have a better recovery potential by recycling.
Using structured incentives to increase value for money in an academic health sciences centre
Authors: Hébert Guy J. , Colasante Connie , Ilse Renate G. , Forster Alan J.
Published: May 2017

As healthcare continues to consume more and more of provincial government spending, there is a continuing pressure to improve efficiency and cut overall costs. In this increasingly constrained healthcare system, value for money is a growing focus of discussions around accountability and system sustainability; healthcare leaders are required to find ways of measuring, enforcing, and reporting on that value. In 2014, our organization began implementing an innovative system of structured incentives, linking distribution of Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care academic physician funding to quality and performance goals. Through a carefully planned process of benchmarking, stakeholder consultation, model improvement, and change management, we were able to move to a new value for money allocation model. The new model drives accountability by linking distribution of government payments to quality and performance outcomes. Initial results include increased stakeholder satisfaction as well as broader physician engagement in corporate and academic quality improvement initiatives.
Inertia flows of Bingham fluids through a planar channel: Hydroelastic instability analysis
Authors: Jafargholinejad Shapour , Najafi Mohammad
Published: May 2017

In this paper, the effect of inertial terms on hydroelastic stability of a pressure-driven flow of a viscoplastic fluid flowing through a channel lined with a highly compliant polymeric gel is investigated. It is assumed that the fluid obeys the Bingham constuitive equation and the polymeric gel follows a two-constant Mooney–Rivlin material, which is used for modeling a nonviscous hyperelastic polymeric coating. A base-state solution is obtained for the fluid motion and solid deformation, simultaneously. Next, some infinitesimally small two-dimensional disturbances are imposed on the base-state solution. Dropping out all nonlinear perturbation terms, the modal linear stability analysis of the channel flow is conducted. The effects of the Bingham number and material constants are then examined on the critical Reynolds number. It is found that the yield stress has a stabilizing effect while the Mooney–Rivlin parameters have destabilizing effects on the pressure-driven flow of Bingham fluids.
The effect of elasticity in powder metal gears on tooth loading and mean coefficient of friction
Authors: Lindholm Per , Sosa Mario , Olofsson Ulf
Published: May 2017

Powder metal gears have a lower density than conventional steel gears due to their intrinsic porosity from the manufacturing process. This also results in a lower elasticity leading to larger deformations and lower contact pressure in a gear contact. By using different modelling tools (namely FEA and available commercial software), the load behavior along the line of action is studied to compare the influence of lower elasticity with standard wrought steel elasticity for FZG-C type gears. A further step is taken analyzing this effect on the mean coefficient of friction through the recalculation of the gear mesh power loss factor. Conclusions observed are differences in load distribution and marginal differences in the gear mesh power loss factor when comparing sintered and wrought steel FZG-C type gears. Sintered steel showed a marginally longer line of action and simultaneously a decrease of the single tooth contact length when compared to wrought steel, while differences in the gear mesh power loss factor proved non-essential due to the spread in previously measured experimental data.
Testing for differentially expressed genetic pathways with single-subject N-of-1 data in the presence of inter-gene correlation
Authors: Schissler A Grant , Piegorsch Walter W , Lussier Yves A
Published: May 2017

Modern precision medicine increasingly relies on molecular data analytics, wherein development of interpretable single-subject (“N-of-1”) signals is a challenging goal. A previously developed global framework, N-of-1- pathways, employs single-subject gene expression data to identify differentially expressed gene set pathways in an individual patient. Unfortunately, the limited amount of data within the single-subject, N-of-1 setting makes construction of suitable statistical inferences for identifying differentially expressed gene set pathways difficult, especially when non-trivial inter-gene correlation is present. We propose a method that exploits external information on gene expression correlations to cluster positively co-expressed genes within pathways, then assesses differential expression across the clusters within a pathway. A simulation study illustrates that the cluster-based approach exhibits satisfactory false-positive error control and reasonable power to detect differentially expressed gene set pathways. An example with a single N-of-1 patient’s triple negative breast cancer data illustrates use of the methodology.
Stability Study of Epirubicin in Nacl 0.9% Injection
Authors: Pujol Montserrat , Muñoz Montserrat , Prat Josefina , Girona Victoria , De Bolós Jordi
Published: May 2017

Objective

To determine the stability of epirubicin in NaCl 0.9% injection under hospital storage conditions.

Methods

NaCl 0.9% solution was added to epirubicin iyophilized powder to make a final concentration of 1 mg/mL to study the degradation kinetics and 2 mg/mL to study the stability in polypropylene syringes under hospital conditions.

Setting

Physical chemistry laboratory, Unitat de Fisicoquímica, Universitat de Barcelona.

Main outcome Measures

Solutions of epirubicin at 2 mg/mL in NaCl 0.9% solutions stored in plastic syringes were studied under hospital conditions at room temperature (25 ± 1 °C) and under refrigeration (4 ± 1 °C) both protected from light and exposed to room light (~50 lumens/m2). All samples were studied in triplicate and epirubicin concentrations were obtained periodically throughout each storage/time condition via a specific stability-indicating HPLC method. To determine the degradation kinetics, solutions of epirubicin in NaCl 0.9% at 1 mg/mL were stored at different temperatures (40, 50, and 60 °C) to obtain the rate degradation constant and the shelf life at room temperature and under refrigeration.

Results

The degradation of epirubicin in NaCl 0.9% solutions follows first-order kinetics. The shelf life was defined as the time by which the epirubicin concentration had decreased by 10% from the initial concentration. In this study, epirubicin was stable in NaCl 0.9% injection stored in polypropylene containers for all time periods and all conditions. That results in a shelf life of at least 14 and 180 days at 25 and 4 °C, respectively. The maximum decrease in epirubicin concentration observed at 25 °C and 14 days was 4%, and at 4 °C and 180 days was 8%. The predicted shelf life obtained from the Arrhenius equation was 72.9 ± 0.2 and 3070 ± 15 days at 25 and 4 °C, respectively, in both dark and illuminated conditions.

Conclusions

Solutions of epirubicin in NaCl 0.9% at 2 mg/mL are chemically stable when they are stored in polypropylene syringes under hospital storage conditions. No special precaution is neccessary to protect epirubicin solutions (2 mg/mL) from light.