bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Analysis of aquaporin 9 expression in human epidermis and cultured keratinocytes
Authors: Sugiyama Yoshinori , Yamazaki Kohei , Kusaka-Kikushima Ayumi , Nakahigashi Kyoko , Hagiwara Hiromi , Miyachi Yoshiki
Published: June 2014

Aquaporin 9 (AQP9) is a member of the aquaglyceroporin family that transports glycerol, urea and other small solutes as well as water. Compared to the expression and function in epidermal keratinocytes of AQP3, another aquaglyceroporin, our knowledge of epidermal AQP9 remains elusive. In this study, we investigated the expression of AQP9 in the human epidermis and cultured keratinocytes. Immunofluorescence studies revealed that AQP9 expression is highly restricted to the stratum granulosum of the human epidermis, where occludin is also expressed at the tight junctions. Interestingly, the AQP3 staining decreased sharply below the cell layers in which AQP9 is expressed. In cultured normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEK), knock‐down of AQP9 expression in the differentiated cells induced by RNA interference reduced glycerol uptake, which was not as pronounced as was the case with AQP3 knock‐down cells. In contrast, similar reduction of urea uptake was detected in AQP9 and AQP3 knock‐down cells. These findings suggested that AQP9 expression in NHEK facilitates at least the transport of glycerol and urea. Finally, we analyzed the effect of retinoic acid (RA), a potent stimulator of keratinocyte proliferation, on AQP3 and AQP9 mRNA expression in differentiated NHEK. Stimulation with RA at 1 μM for 24 h augmented AQP3 expression and down‐regulated AQP9 expression. Collectively, these results indicate that AQP9 expression in epidermal keratinocytes is regulated in a different manner from that of AQP3.
Short‐term exposure of nontumorigenic human bronchial epithelial cells to carcinogenic chromium(VI) compromises their respiratory capacity and alters their bioenergetic signature
Authors: Cerveira Joana F. , Sánchez-Aragó María , Urbano Ana M. , Cuezva José M.
Published: June 2014

Previous studies on the impact of hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] on mammalian cell energetics revealed alterations suggestive of a shift to a more fermentative metabolism. Aiming at a more defined understanding of the metabolic effects of Cr(VI) and of their molecular basis, we assessed the impact of a mild Cr(VI) exposure on critical bioenergetic parameters (lactate production, oxygen consumption and intracellular ATP levels). Cells derived from normal human bronchial epithelium (BEAS‐2B cell line), the main in vivo target of Cr(VI) carcinogenicity, were subjected for 48 h to 1 μM Cr(VI). We could confirm a shift to a more fermentative metabolism, resulting from the simultaneous inhibition of respiration and stimulation of glycolysis. This shift was accompanied by a decrease in the protein levels of the catalytic subunit (subunit β) of the mitochondrial H+‐ATP synthase (β‐F1‐ATPase) and a concomitant marked increase in those of glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). The corresponding alteration in the β‐F1‐ATPase/GAPDH protein ratio (viewed as a bioenergetic signature) upon Cr(VI) exposure was in agreement with the observed attenuation of cellular respiration and enhancement of glycolytic flux. Altogether, these results constitute a novel finding in terms of the molecular mechanisms of Cr(VI) effects.
Balance and Stability–Focused Exercise Program Improves Stability and Balance in Patients After Acute Stroke in a Resource‐poor Setting
Authors: Puckree Threethambal , Naidoo Pooveshni
Published: June 2014

Objective

To compare the effect of a balance and stability–focused outpatient community‐based rehabilitation and a regular physiotherapy program on balance, stability, and perceptions of improvement after acute stroke.

Design

A randomized controlled trial in a community‐based therapy center.

Participants

Fifty consecutive patients with a first stroke, who reported to a community‐based therapy center over a 7‐month period were allocated to the control group (regular physiotherapy) or the experimental group (balance and stability–focused rehabilitation).

Intervention

A program of physiotherapy focused on balance and stability exercises. The control group received the regular physiotherapy program.

Main Outcome Measurements

The Postural Assessment Scale for Stroke Patients (PASS) and the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) monitored stability and balance. The normalized data (PASS and BBS) were analyzed by using analysis of covariance. Qualitative data were thematically described.

Results

Internal consistency of baseline PASS and BBS scores was high (Cronbach α, .964 and .974, respectively). PASS overall pretest scores increased from 21.96 ± 21.41 (mean ± standard deviation) and 21.52 ± 8.43 to 67.67 ± 28.42 and 80.16 ± 22.60 posttest in the control and experimental groups, respectively. Posttest scores were significantly different (P = .004). The effect size was medium (.490). The overall BBS scores showed overall mean (standard deviation) increases from 44.71 ± 22.24 and 43.43 ± 17.11 pretest to 48.71 ± 23.18 and 59.71 ± 18.20 posttest for the control and experimental groups, respectively. The effect size was considered medium (.532).

Conclusion

The balance and stability–focused community‐based rehabilitation program was more effective in improving stability and balance in patients with stroke compared with the regular physiotherapy program in resource‐poor settings.
“ONLY THE HUMAN WAY MAY BE FOLLOWED” READING THE GUODIAN MANUSCRIPTS AGAINST THEMOZI
Authors: Meyer Andrew
Published: June 2014

Though the Guodian manuscripts have been viewed as an eclectic mix of texts, this article argues that, viewed in historical context, the collection has more coherence than has conventionally been supposed. Since the texts were interred in Chu c. 300b.c.e., they should be read against other expressions of that time and place. TheMozi, much of which was likely used or produced by authors active in Chu at the time of the Guodian internment, is particularly illuminating in this regard. Though the individual Guodian texts do frequently contradict one another, they are yet commonly useful for formulating logical and rhetorical attacks on the teachings of theMozi. The occupant of Guodian Tomb Number One may thus have collected these texts not for their doctrinal consistency with one another, but for their usefulness in use against intellectual opponents (among whom the Mohists clearly ranked). This, in fact, was likely a guiding principle for many Warring States literati in negotiating their production and utilization of texts.
Gastric digestion of α-lactalbumin in adult human subjects using capsule endoscopy and nasogastric tube sampling
Authors: Sullivan Louise M. , Kehoe Joseph J. , Barry Lillian , Buckley Martin J. M. , Shanahan Fergus , Mok K. H. , Brodkorb André
Published: June 2014

In the present study, structural changes in the milk protein α-lactalbumin (α-LA) and its proteolysis were investigated for the potential formation of protein–fatty acid complexes during in vivo gastric digestion. Capsule endoscopy allowed visualisation of the digestion of the test drinks, with nasogastric tubes allowing sampling of the gastric contents. A total of ten healthy volunteers had nasogastric tubes inserted into the stomach and ingested test drinks containing 50 g/l of sucrose and 25 g/l of α-LA with and without 4 g/l of oleic acid (OA). The samples of gastric contents were collected for analysis at 3 min intervals. The results revealed a rapid decrease in the pH of the stomach of the subjects. The fasting pH of 2·31 (sd 1·19) increased to a pH maxima of pH 6·54 (sd 0·29) after ingestion, with a subsequent decrease to pH 2·22 (sd 1·91) after 21 min (n 8). Fluorescence spectroscopy and Fourier transform IR spectroscopy revealed partial protein unfolding, coinciding with the decrease in pH below the isoelectric point of α-LA. The activity of pepsin in the fasting state was found to be 39 (sd 12) units/ml of gastric juice. Rapid digestion of the protein occurred: after 15 min, no native protein was detected using SDS–PAGE; HPLC revealed the presence of small amounts of native protein after 24 min of gastric digestion. Mirocam® capsule endoscopy imaging and video clips (see the online supplementary material) revealed that gastric peristalsis resulted in a heterogeneous mixture during gastric digestion. Unfolding of α-LA was observed during gastric transit; however, there was no evidence of a cytotoxic complex being formed between α-LA and OA.
Higher antioxidant and lower cadmium concentrations and lower incidence of pesticide residues in organically grown crops: a systematic literature review and meta-analyses
Authors: Barański Marcin , Średnicka-Tober Dominika , Volakakis Nikolaos , Seal Chris , Sanderson Roy , Stewart Gavin B. , Benbrook Charles , Biavati Bruno , Markellou Emilia , Giotis Charilaos , Gromadzka-Ostrowska Joanna , Rembiałkowska Ewa , Skwarło-Sońta Krystyna , Tahvonen Raija , Janovská Dagmar , Niggli Urs , Nicot Philippe , Leifert Carlo
Published: June 2014

Demand for organic foods is partially driven by consumers' perceptions that they are more nutritious. However, scientific opinion is divided on whether there are significant nutritional differences between organic and non-organic foods, and two recent reviews have concluded that there are no differences. In the present study, we carried out meta-analyses based on 343 peer-reviewed publications that indicate statistically significant and meaningful differences in composition between organic and non-organic crops/crop-based foods. Most importantly, the concentrations of a range of antioxidants such as polyphenolics were found to be substantially higher in organic crops/crop-based foods, with those of phenolic acids, flavanones, stilbenes, flavones, flavonols and anthocyanins being an estimated 19 (95 % CI 5, 33) %, 69 (95 % CI 13, 125) %, 28 (95 % CI 12, 44) %, 26 (95 % CI 3, 48) %, 50 (95 % CI 28, 72) % and 51 (95 % CI 17, 86) % higher, respectively. Many of these compounds have previously been linked to a reduced risk of chronic diseases, including CVD and neurodegenerative diseases and certain cancers, in dietary intervention and epidemiological studies. Additionally, the frequency of occurrence of pesticide residues was found to be four times higher in conventional crops, which also contained significantly higher concentrations of the toxic metal Cd. Significant differences were also detected for some other (e.g. minerals and vitamins) compounds. There is evidence that higher antioxidant concentrations and lower Cd concentrations are linked to specific agronomic practices (e.g. non-use of mineral N and P fertilisers, respectively) prescribed in organic farming systems. In conclusion, organic crops, on average, have higher concentrations of antioxidants, lower concentrations of Cd and a lower incidence of pesticide residues than the non-organic comparators across regions and production seasons.
Milk protein fractions moderately extend the duration of satiety compared with carbohydrates independently of their digestive kinetics in overweight subjects
Authors: Marsset-Baglieri Agnès , Fromentin Gilles , Airinei Gheorghe , Pedersen Camilla , Léonil Joëlle , Piedcoq Julien , Rémond Didier , Benamouzig Robert , Tomé Daniel , Gaudichon Claire
Published: June 2014

Digestive kinetics are believed to modulate satiety through the modulation of nutrient delivery. We hypothesised that the duration of satiety could be extended by modulating the kinetics of dietary amino acid delivery in overweight subjects, using snacks containing casein and whey protein. In the present study, eighty-two subjects underwent a first satiety test where they received a control snack containing 60 g maltodextrin. For the next 5 d, the subjects consumed a liquid protein snack containing 30 g carbohydrates and 30 g proteins (casein, whey protein or an equal mix of the two; n 26–28 per group). The subjects then underwent a second satiety test after ingesting the protein snack. The time period elapsing between the snack and request for lunch, food intake at lunch and satiety scores were recorded. A subgroup of twenty-four subjects underwent a digestive and metabolic investigation after ingesting their protein snack. Gastric emptying times were 2·5, 4 and 6 h for whey protein, mix and casein, respectively, displaying different kinetics of appearance of dietary N in plasma but without affecting pancreatic and gastrointestinal hormones. Compared with the control snack, proteins extended the duration of satiety (+17 min, P= 0·02), with no difference between the protein groups. The satiating effect of proteins was greater in subjects who ate their lunch early after the snack (below the median value, i.e. 2 h) at the control test (+32 min, P= 0·001). Energy intake at lunch was not modulated by proteins. The satiating effect of proteins is efficient in overweight subjects, especially when the duration of satiety is short, but independently of their digestive and plasma amino acid kinetics.
The Holy Spirit, the voices of nature and environmental prophecy
Authors: Muers Rachel
Published: June 2014

I argue for the theological plausibility of reading contemporary environmental concern as a response to the prophetic voices of nonhuman nature, and in that sense as a movement of the Holy Spirit.

The literature on pneumatology and the environment tends to concentrate either on the Spirit's role in creation (and the continuities between creation and new creation) or on the ecclesial location of the Spirit's transformation of material reality. While these approaches are sound and necessary, neither appears fully to address the specific theological challenge of the contemporary environmental movement and of contemporary environmental stress, as a historical moment between humanity and nonhuman nature. Pneumatology needs to take account of the specific ways in which the environment becomes an issue for theology and society, and of the historical ‘discernment of spirits’ involved in Christian and theological responses to the environmental crisis.

In an attempt to address this need, I take up the now well-developed theological claim that nonhuman nature is a subject, rather than the backdrop of salvation-history, and develop it in relation to the idea that prophecy as the work of the Spirit both reveals and realises God's history with creation. I draw on Eugene Rogers’ approach to pneumatology by exploring the non-identical repetitions of pneumatology's paradigmatic narratives, but, going beyond Rogers, I trace these repetitions in nonhuman and extra-ecclesial realities – in ‘the environment’. The main paradigmatic pneumatological narratives considered in this article are those related to prophecy, and in particular to the miraculous extension of gifts of speech and hearing; rereading these narratives in the contemporary environmental crisis leads to an account of how the ‘voices’ of nonhuman nature are heard as prophetic speech that summons response. In a final section, I turn to another paradigmatic pneumatological narrative – that of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness – and propose, in dialogue with Donald MacKinnon and others, that it offers a starting-point for theological responses to the experience of despair, loss and failure in the context of environmental concern.
Rainfall and temperature affect tree species distribution in Ghana
Authors: Amissah Lucy , Mohren Godefridus M. J. , Bongers Frans , Hawthorne William D. , Poorter Lourens
Published: June 2014

We evaluated the relative importance of annual rainfall, temperature and their seasonality to tree species distribution in Ghana. We used species presence/absence data from 2505 1-ha plots systematically distributed over Ghana's forests. Logistic regression was used to determine species responses to four climatic variables generated from the Worldclim database. The distribution of 95% of 20 species was significantly associated with annual rainfall, 60% with rainfall seasonality, 45% with isothermality and 40% with temperature seasonality. Annual rainfall explained on average most of the variation (17%, range = 0.5–52%) in species distribution, followed by rainfall seasonality 5% (range = 0.5–27%), isothermality 4% (range = 0.8–24%) and temperature seasonality 1% (range = 0.4–4.5%). Our results suggest that, out of the climatic variables investigated, rainfall is the main factor determining tree species distribution in Ghana; temperature also influences the distribution of a number of species, although it explains much less of the variation. The reduction in annual rainfall that prevailing climate-change scenarios predict for the region will result in a shift in the distribution of most species, whereas the predicted increase in temperature variation is likely to have little effect.
Redressing Historic Wrongs, Returning Objects to Their Rightful Owners or Laundering Tainted Objects? 21st-Century UK Remedies for Nazi-Era Injustices
Authors: Woodhead Charlotte
Published: June 2014

The United Kingdom’s Spoliation Advisory Panel hears claims for cultural objects held in museum collections of which their original owners lost possession during the Nazi era. The Panel aims to achieve “fair and just” solutions for the parties and was created in response to the strong impetus to return cultural objects lost by Jewish owners during the Nazi era. This article argues that understanding the rationale for this claims process and the choice of remedies is essential for achieving such just and fair solutions, specifically whether the Panel aims to redress the past injustices of Hitler’s tyranny, return objects to their “rightful owners,” or prevent the public’s unjust enrichment from access to objects “tainted” by their Nazi association. If it aims to return cultural objects to their rightful owners or to strip museums of unjust gains, it is only a small step to allowing moral claims by other claimant groups whose cultural objects reside in national museums.
6. The discovery of diphtheria toxoid and the primary and secondary immune response Glenny AT, Südmersen HJ. J Hyg 1921; 20: 176–220
Authors: BAXBY DERRICK
Published: June 2014

The routine title of the long ‘note’ by Glenny and Südmersen reproduced here [1] hides two of the most significant findings in theoretical and applied immunology: a brief description of diphtheria toxoid and a comprehensive account of the primary and secondary immune response. The introduction of antitoxin treatment of diphtheria was heralded, in 1896, without exaggeration as ‘the most important advance of the [19th] Century in the medical treatment of acute infective disease’ [2]. However, there were problems with the standardization and potency of antitoxin. The former was solved by Ehrlich who, in his analysis of toxin–antitoxin interaction, postulated the existence of ‘toxoid’, a non-toxic component of toxin which combined with antitoxin [3]. The latter was solved by the general observation that repeated injections of gradually increased doses of toxin induced increasingly potent antitoxins, an important basis upon which the present paper was founded.
12. Mathematical modelling: a key to control of infectious diseases in man and animals McLean AR, Anderson RM. Epidemiol Infect 1988; 100: 419–442
Authors: MORGAN-CAPNER PETER
Published: June 2014

Predicting the impact of infectious diseases on the well-being of the community is a cornerstone of identifying effective prevention, control and support. One only has to reflect on the last few years in the United Kingdom to see the impact mathematical modelling has had on public and government, with controversy around the likely numbers of sufferers from new-variant Creutzfeld–Jakob disease, human immunodeficiency virus, and continuing debate as to whether to use vaccine to support control of foot-and-mouth disease. Over the last 20–25 years, Epidemiology and Infection, and before it the Journal of Hygiene, have published many of the sentinel papers in the mathematical modelling of infectious disease, both in humans and animals. The discipline has advanced from relatively simple analyses to the most complex assessments whose underlying mathematics and statistics almost certainly exceed the comprehension of all but a few microbiologists and public health specialists. The depth of the analysis does not obscure the key messages, however, for the epidemiology of infectious disease and its control, and a Special Article in the journal in 1988 overviewed its contribution [1].
Processes and unfoldings: concurrent computations in adhesive categories
Authors: BALDAN PAOLO , CORRADINI ANDREA , HEINDEL TOBIAS , KÖNIG BARBARA , SOBOCIŃSKI PAWEŁ
Published: June 2014

We generalise both the notion of a non-sequential process and the unfolding construction (which was previously developed for concrete formalisms such as Petri nets and graph grammars) to the abstract setting of (single pushout) rewriting of objects in adhesive categories. The main results show that processes are in one-to-one correspondence with switch-equivalent classes of derivations, and that the unfolding construction can be characterised as a coreflection, that is, the unfolding functor arises as the right adjoint to the embedding of the category of occurrence grammars into the category of grammars.

As the unfolding represents potentially infinite computations, we need to work in adhesive categories with ‘well-behaved’ colimits of ω-chains of monos. Compared with previous work on the unfolding of Petri nets and graph grammars, our results apply to a wider class of systems, which is due to the use of a refined notion of grammar morphism.
Finitary -adhesive categories
Authors: GABRIEL KARSTEN , BRAATZ BENJAMIN , EHRIG HARTMUT , GOLAS ULRIKE
Published: June 2014

Finitary$\mathcal{M}$-adhesive categories are$\mathcal{M}$-adhesive categories with finite objects only, where$\mathcal{M}$-adhesive categories are a slight generalisation of weak adhesive high-level replacement (HLR) categories. We say an object is finite if it has a finite number of$\mathcal{M}$-subobjects. In this paper, we show that in finitary$\mathcal{M}$-adhesive categories we not only have all the well-known HLR properties of weak adhesive HLR categories, which are already valid for$\mathcal{M}$-adhesive categories, but also all the additional HLR requirements needed to prove classical results including the Local Church-Rosser, Parallelism, Concurrency, Embedding, Extension and Local Confluence Theorems, where the last of these is based on critical pairs. More precisely, we are able to show that finitary$\mathcal{M}$-adhesive categories have a unique$\mathcal{E}$-$\mathcal{M}$factorisation and initial pushouts, and the existence of an$\mathcal{M}$-initial object implies we also have finite coproducts and a unique$\mathcal{E}$′-$\mathcal{M}$pair factorisation. Moreover, we can show that the finitary restriction of each$\mathcal{M}$-adhesive category is a finitary$\mathcal{M}$-adhesive category, and finitarity is preserved under functor and comma category constructions based on$\mathcal{M}$-adhesive categories. This means that all the classical results are also valid for corresponding finitary$\mathcal{M}$-adhesive transformation systems including several kinds of finitary graph and Petri net transformation systems. Finally, we discuss how some of the results can be extended to non-$\mathcal{M}$-adhesive categories.
Multi-amalgamation of rules with application conditions in -adhesive categories
Authors: GOLAS ULRIKE , HABEL ANNEGRET , EHRIG HARTMUT
Published: June 2014

Amalgamation is a well-known concept for graph transformations that is used to model synchronised parallelism of rules with shared subrules and corresponding transformations. This concept is especially important for an adequate formalisation of the operational semantics of statecharts and other visual modelling languages, where typed attributed graphs are used for multiple rules with nested application conditions. However, the theory of amalgamation for the double-pushout approach has so far only been developed on a set-theoretical basis for pairs of standard graph rules without any application conditions.

For this reason, in the current paper we present the theory of amalgamation for$\mathcal{M}$-adhesive categories, which form a slightly more general framework than (weak) adhesive HLR categories, for a bundle of rules with (nested) application conditions. The two main results are the Complement Rule Theorem, which shows how to construct a minimal complement rule for each subrule, and the Multi-Amalgamation Theorem, which generalises the well-known Parallelism and Amalgamation Theorems to the case of multiple synchronised parallelism. In order to apply the largest amalgamated rule, we use maximal matchings, which are computed according to the actual instance graph. The constructions are illustrated by a small but meaningful running example, while a more complex case study concerning the firing semantics of Petri nets is presented as an introductory example and to provide motivation.
-adhesive transformation systems with nested application conditions. Part 1: parallelism, concurrency and amalgamation
Authors: EHRIG HARTMUT , GOLAS ULRIKE , HABEL ANNEGRET , LAMBERS LEEN , OREJAS FERNANDO
Published: June 2014

Nested application conditions generalise the well-known negative application conditions and are important for several application domains. In this paper, we present Local Church–Rosser, Parallelism, Concurrency and Amalgamation Theorems for rules with nested application conditions in the framework of$\mathcal{M}$-adhesive categories, where$\mathcal{M}$-adhesive categories are slightly more general than weak adhesive high-level replacement categories. Most of the proofs are based on the corresponding statements for rules without application conditions and two shift lemmas stating that nested application conditions can be shifted over morphisms and rules.
The Persistence of the Past: Memory, Generational Cohorts and the ‘Iron Curtain’
Authors: MIHELJ SABINA
Published: June 2014

Despite considerable evidence of the link between generational cohorts and mnemonic persistence in other social and historical contexts, existing research on memory in former state socialist countries tends to focus primarily on evidence of mnemonic change. In contrast, this article seeks to develop a more nuanced understanding of post-state-socialist memories, one capable of accounting for both mnemonic change and persistence. Methodologically, the article combines the analysis of personal memories across several generations with a reconstruction of the changing contours of everyday life in different historical periods, based on archival and secondary sources. To demonstrate the usefulness of such an approach, the article examines the memories of life at the Yugoslav border with Italy, as recounted by the inhabitants of the Slovenian border town of Nova Gorica in 2008.
INTELLECTUALS AND THE STATE: THE FINNISH UNIVERSITY INTELLIGENTSIA AND THE GERMAN IDEALIST TRADITION
Authors: KORTTI JUKKA
Published: June 2014

This essay examines the making of the Finnish intelligentsia and its relation to the state and the nation. The problem is analysed primarily from the perspective of student activism in the twentieth century. The formation of the intelligentsia is viewed in the context of nationalism, (cultural) modernism and radicalism in the development of the public sphere. The main source for the article's findings is the student magazineYlioppilaslehti(Student Magazine), which is not just “any student paper” but a Finnish institution that saw most of Finland's cultural and political elite pass through its editorial staff in the twentieth century. The essay demonstrates the importance of German idealism, as theorized by the Finnish statesman and philosopher J. W. Snellman, in the activities of the Finnish university intelligentsia well into the twenty-first century, and particularly in linking these activities to nation building.
IN THE ENVIRONMENT OF IDEAS: ARTHUR LOVEJOY AND THE HISTORY OF IDEAS AS A FORM OF CULTURAL HISTORY
Authors: WICKBERG DANIEL
Published: June 2014

The last fifteen years have seen a number of attempts to imagine what lies “beyond” the linguistic and cultural turns of recent decades in historiography. The impulse is derived, one suspects, from the need for academic cultures to declare current established practice “dead” in favor of some new departure. We have had thirty years of discourse study, cultural analysis of texts and meaning, attention to the constitutive power of language, and suspicion of reading texts as unmediated referential documents. It seems inevitable that voices would arise declaring the attention to culture and language exhausted, asking us to turn away from language and culture and plant our feet on some firmer ground. Academic disciplinary cultures, try as they might to abandon modernist commitments to a belief in progress in which today's know-how trumps yesterday's ignorance, can't seem to transcend their nineteenth-century origins. We know, or think we do, that the humanities are not the bearers of progress in knowledge, that we are no wiser than our forebears, that the holy grail remains as far out of reach as it ever was. And yet we act as if we can expose the shortcomings of our intellectual ancestors and in doing so inaugurate a new and better understanding of the realm in which human beings act and create meaning. Hence a new generation, having decided that it has either absorbed the lessons of the cultural and linguistic turns or realized what a constraining dead end such a turn represents, advocates a departure for more fertile ground.
THE RECOVERY OF AMERICAN LIBERAL RELIGION
Authors: WORTHEN MOLLY
Published: June 2014

For the past three decades, conservative Christian Americans have enjoyed a great deal of scholarly attention. Historians have produced rich accounts of the evangelical conquest of early America, the twentieth-century rise of the Christian Right, and the advent of the culture wars. They have gleefully overturned the consensus historians’ confidence in America's unifying liberal impulse. They have refuted the prophets of secularization who once foretold the demise of organized religion. In the process, they all but abandoned the archives of mainline denominations—where generations of their colleagues once toiled in order to trace the histories of the mainline Protestant establishment—for the missions, ministries, and megachurches of ascendant evangelicals. The study of liberal religion has come to seem like the brittle great-aunt of American religious historiography, wheezing at the margins as her younger and more boisterous relations take center stage. She is still alive, barely—but some whisper that in her old age she has become rather boring.
An approach to the development of a core set of germplasm using a mixture of qualitative and quantitative data
Authors: Sarkar Rupam Kumar , Meher Prabina Kumar , Wahi S. D. , Mohapatra T. , Rao A. R.
Published: June 2014

Development of a representative and well-diversified core with minimum duplicate accessions and maximum diversity from a larger population of germplasm is highly essential for breeders involved in crop improvement programmes. Most of the existing methodologies for the identification of a core set are either based on qualitative or quantitative data. In this study, an approach to the identification of a core set of germplasm based on the response from a mixture of qualitative (single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping) and quantitative data was proposed. For this purpose, six different combined distance measures, three for quantitative data and two for qualitative data, were proposed and evaluated. The combined distance matrices were used as inputs to seven different clustering procedures for classifying the population of germplasm into homogeneous groups. Subsequently, an optimum number of clusters based on all clustering methodologies using different combined distance measures were identified on a consensus basis. Average cluster robustness values across all the identified optimum number of clusters under each clustering methodology were calculated. Overall, three different allocation methods were applied to sample the accessions that were selected from the clusters identified under each clustering methodology, with the highest average cluster robustness value being used to formulate a core set. Furthermore, an index was proposed for the evaluation of diversity in the core set. The results reveal that the combined distance measureA1B2– the distance based on the average of the range-standardized absolute difference for quantitative data with the rescaled distance based on the average absolute difference for qualitative data – from which three clusters that were identified by using thek-means clustering algorithm along with the proportional allocation method was suitable for the identification of a core set from a collection of rice germplasm.
Modified CPW-fed rotated E-slot antenna for LTE/WiMAX applications
Authors: Singla Geetanjali , Khanna Rajesh
Published: June 2014

In this paper, a rotated E-slot antenna with modified coplanar waveguide (CPW) feeding is presented to obtain broadband characteristics. The antenna comprises of a planar rectangular patch element embedded with E-slot rotated 90° anticlockwise on the radiating side. The CPW feed is modified by extending the ground plane throughout the substrate to surround the rectangular patch. This structure is capable of generating three separate resonant modes with good impedance matching. The antenna is designed on an FR4 substrate of 1.6 mm thickness, covering bands from 3.4 to 3.6 GHz for LTE and 3.4–3.694 GHz for worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) systems. The proposed antenna provides good return loss S11and impedance behavior.
Risk Regulation and Transnationality: Institutional Accountability as a Driver of Innovation
Authors: Baldwin Robert , Black Julia , O’Leary Gerard
Published: June 2014

This article describes the processes that led the Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop a National Inspection Plan for domestic waste water treatment systems, following intervention from European Union institutions. The discussion focuses on two issues: the role of transnational institutional settings in galvanizing innovation and regulatory reform, and the practical challenges of dealing with lower risks. It is argued that multi-level transnational regimes have considerable potential to stimulate high-level reviews of regulatory strategy. As a result, lower risks present challenges that cannot be ignored in favour of policies that focus on the most severe risks. Traditional risk regulation theories, it is contended, do not provide much assistance in selecting intervention strategies in the face of such pressures, but the example of the Irish EPA shows how regulators can address these issues.
Establishing Social Justice Through Financial Inclusivity: Islamic Propagation by Islamic Savings and Credit Cooperatives in Indonesia
Authors: Sakai Minako
Published: June 2014

Islamic finance has been growing significantly across the globe. In Southeast Asia, interest in Islamic finance and its growth is significant in Malaysia. Compared with Malaysia, in Indonesia, however, the largest Muslim population country where an Islamic resurgence has been widely taking place, the growth of Islamic banks remains slower and on a smaller scale. Furthermore, recent research shows that Islamic piety does not systematically translate into the use of Islamic banks among middle-class Indonesians. Against these findings, this article highlights a relatively understudied Islamic finance institution, Islamic Savings and Credit Cooperatives, in Indonesia commonly known as Baitul Maal wat Tamwil (BMT). The BMT sector is separate from the banking sector and as such has received little scholarly attention as part of Islamic finance in Indonesia. The number of the BMTs in Indonesia has increased significantly since the 1990s and they are grass-roots Islamic financial institutions offering financial services to relatively small-scale traders in urban areas. Based on data from anthropological research in Central Java, this article argues that Islamic propagation is an important element among the BMT founders and workers. They perceive their economic activities as Islamic propagation by deeds (dakwah bil hal) to achieve social justice.
Singapore's Changing Demography, the Eldercare Predicament and Transnational ‘Care’ Migration
Authors: Yeoh Brenda S.A. , Huang Shirlena
Published: June 2014

Scholars have recently argued that globalisation processes have significantly altered not just the productive but reproductive sphere. ‘Reproduction’ is formulated to include both biological and social reproduction, and which at the individual level requires ‘care’ throughout the life-cycle – that is, from cradle to grave – in sustaining the body in its corporeal and affective aspects. Concepts that have emerged in the literature in recent decades such as the ‘transnational family’, ‘global householding’ and ‘global care chain’ draw attention to the observation that the formation and sustenance of households is increasingly reliant on the international movement of people and transactions among household members residing in more than one national territory. Applying these notions to the context of the city-state of Singapore where the predicament around eldercare (resulting essentially from rapid fertility decline, shortages of Singapore women's reproductive labour and rigidities in the gender household division of labour) accompanies rapid globalisation, this paper examines strategies of care substitution which draw on the lowly paid labour of two groups of transnational subjects (mainly women) – transnational domestic workers working in the privatised sphere of the home, and transnational healthcare workers in institutionalised settings. The paper reflects upon the interdependencies between flows of transnational care migration and delves into the gender and class implications of these flows for an understanding of the links between transnational migration and social change.
Women Against Children: Early Childhood Education and the Domestic Community in Post-Suharto Indonesia
Authors: Newberry Jan
Published: June 2014

In response to global attention to the young child, early childhood programs have become a national and provincial focus in Indonesia since 2000. The roll out of public programs for low income communities has made use of a longstanding mode of delivery: the volunteered, community-based labour of women. Although susceptible to analysis as a mode of governmentality, an older scholarship on the domestic community, its role in social reproduction, and its shaping by global accumulation offers significant insights as to why this method for delivering social welfare persists, even as it dovetails with more recent work on care and networks of global care labour. Based on ethnographic work in Yogyakarta, this examination of changes in international development regimes considers the contradictory effects for the empowerment of women as against children. Ultimately, the care labour required for early childhood programming, which has been taken to follow from the naturalised link between women's socially appropriate care work and childrearing, provokes instead questions about the awkward relationship between children and women. That is to say, recent developmental regimes seem to promote the empowerment of children as against women. By foregrounding social reproduction, this awkward relationship becomes a productive way to consider the limits of governmentality and to reconsider the domestic community as critical to understand globalisation, neoliberalisation, and the reorganisation of development and social welfare in the early twenty-first century.
Metal Dichalcogenides Monolayers: Novel Catalysts for Electrochemical Hydrogen Production
Authors: Pan Hui
Published: June 2014

Catalyst-driven electrolysis of water is considered as a “cleanest” way for hydrogen production. Finding cheap and abundant catalysts is critical to the large-scale implementation of the technology. Two-dimensional metal dichalcogenides nanostructures have attracted increasing attention because of their catalytic performances in water electrolysis. In this work, we systematically investigate the hydrogen evolution reduction of metal dichalcogenides monolayers based on density-functional-theory calculations. We find that metal disulfide monolayers show better catalytic performance on hydrogen production than other metal dichalcogenides. We show that their hydrogen evolution reduction strongly depends on the hydrogen coverage and the catalytic performance reduces with the increment of coverage because of hydrogenation-induced lower conductivity. We further show that the catalytic performance of vanadium disulfide monolayer is comparable to that of Pt at lower hydrogen coverage and the performance at higher coverage can be improved by hybridizing with conducting nanomaterials to enhance conductivity. These metal disulfide monolayers with lower overpotentials may apply to water electrolysis for hydrogen production.
Methane–oxygen electrochemical coupling in an ionic liquid: a robust sensor for simultaneous quantification
Authors: Wang Zhe , Guo Min , Baker Gary A. , Stetter Joseph R. , Lin Lu , Mason Andrew J. , Zeng Xiangqun
Published: June 2014

Current sensor devices for the detection of methane or natural gas emission are either expensive and have high power requirements or fail to provide a rapid response.
Advances in loop-mediated isothermal amplification: integrated with several point-of-care diagnostic methods
Authors: Gong Pin , Zhang Taotao , Chen Fuxin , Wang Lan , Jin Sai , Bai Xiaohuan
Published: June 2014

Recent outbreaks linked to pathogenic bacteria heighten the need to develop rapid, sensitive, portable and low-cost pathogen diagnostic systems.
Simultaneous determination of amantadine, rimantadine and chlorpheniramine in animal-derived food by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry after fast sample preparation
Authors: Zhao Shenghui , Li Dan , Qiu Jing , Wang Min , Yang Shuming , Chen Dongyu
Published: June 2014

A fast method for simultaneous determination of amantadine, rimantadine, and chlorpheniramine in seven animal derived samples was developed using LC-MS/MS with a new multifunctional syringe filter based on the QuEChERS method.
Photo-regulation of constitutive gene expression in living cells by using ultrafast photo-cross-linking oligonucleotides
Authors: Sakamoto Takashi , Shigeno Atsuo , Ohtaki Yuichi , Fujimoto Kenzo
Published: June 2014

We clearly demonstrated that photoreactive AS-ODNs having CNVK act as effective photo-regulators of constitutive GFP gene expression in living cells with only 10 s of 366 nm irradiation.
Engineering the surface of perovskite La0.5Sr0.5MnO3 for catalytic activity of CO oxidation
Authors: Huang Keke , Chu Xuefeng , Yuan Long , Feng Wenchun , Wu Xiaofeng , Wang Xiyang , Feng Shouhua
Published: June 2014

A simple treatment of La0.5Sr0.5MnO3 with diluted HNO3 creates more B-sites (rich) on the terminated perovskite surface and improves its catalytic activity toward CO oxidation, and the perovskite catalyst possesses a higher ratio of Mn4+/Mn3+ and thus enhances the O2 adsorption capability, favourable for CO oxidation and catalytic activity.
On the encapsulation of hydrocarbon components of natural gas within molecular baskets in water. The role of C–H⋯π interactions and the host's conformational dynamics in the process of encapsulation
Authors: Ruan Y. , Peterson P. W. , Hadad C. M. , Badjić J. D.
Published: June 2014

Molecular baskets encapsulate hydrocarbon components of natural gas by forming C–H⋯π contacts and adjusting the size of their cup-shaped platform.
An “Off-axis” Mn–Mn bond in Mn2(CO)10 at high pressure
Authors: Macchi Piero , Casati Nicola , Evans Shaun R. , Gozzo Fabia , Simoncic Petra , Tiana Davide
Published: June 2014

Pressure induces an “off-axis” Mn–Mn bond in crystals of Mn2(CO)10, but no eclipsing of the equatorial carbonyls was observed.
Constraints to the flat band potential of hematite photo-electrodes
Authors: Hankin A. , Alexander J. C. , Kelsall G. H.
Published: June 2014

Reasons are discussed for the widely disparate, reported flat band potentials for semiconducting hematite (photo-) electrodes in aqueous solutions.
Fluorescent carbon nanomaterials: “quantum dots” or nanoclusters?
Authors: Dekaliuk Mariia O. , Viagin Oleg , Malyukin Yuriy V. , Demchenko Alexander P.
Published: June 2014

Despite many efforts, the mechanisms of light absorption and emission of small fluorescent carbon nanoparticles (C-dots) are still unresolved and are a subject of active discussion.
The effect of substituted 1,2,4-triazole moiety on the emission, phosphorescent properties of the blue emitting heteroleptic iridium(iii) complexes and the OLED performance: a theoretical study
Authors: Srivastava Ruby , Joshi Laxmikanth Rao
Published: June 2014

Quantum chemical methods were applied to evaluate the geometrical, optoelectronic and photophysical properties, and the OLED performance of Ir complexes.
Structural and functional photoacoustic molecular tomography aided by emerging contrast agents
Authors: Nie Liming , Chen Xiaoyuan
Published: June 2014

Emerging optical contrast agents substantially advance photoacoustic molecular tomography on sensitivity and specificity enhancement, structural and functional imaging.
Metal–organic framework membranes: from synthesis to separation application
Authors: Qiu Shilun , Xue Ming , Zhu Guangshan
Published: June 2014

This review provides current techniques for the fabrication of MOF membranes and separation applications of diverse MOF membranes.
New bi-functional zinc catalysts based on robust and easy-to-handle N-chelating ligands for the synthesis of cyclic carbonates from epoxides and CO2 under mild conditions
Authors: Luo Rongchang , Zhou Xiantai , Zhang Wuying , Liang Zhongxiu , Jiang Jun , Ji Hongbing
Published: June 2014

The zinc(ii) complexes containing the rigid N-chelating ligand proved to be highly efficient and bi-functional catalysts towards the synthesis of cyclic carbonate from epoxide and CO2 without the use of any co-catalyst or organic solvent.
Lactic acid production from glucose over polymer catalysts in aqueous alkaline solution under mild conditions
Authors: Wang Xincheng , Song Yanlei , Huang Chongpin , Liang Fengbing , Chen Biaohua
Published: June 2014

Polymerizates of imidazole and epichlorohydrin ([IMEP]Cl) were used to convert simple sugars to lactic acid in water at low temperatures.
Gradient generation platforms: new directions for an established microfluidic technology
Authors: Berthier E. , Beebe D. J.
Published: June 2014

Microscale platforms are enabling for cell-based studies as they allow the recapitulation of physiological conditions such as extracellular matrix (ECM) configurations and soluble factors interactions.
Metallothionein-like peptides involved in sequestration of Zn in the Zn-accumulating ectomycorrhizal fungusRussula atropurpurea
Authors: Leonhardt Tereza , Sácký Jan , Šimek Pavel , Šantrůček Jiří , Kotrba Pavel
Published: June 2014

The first evidence of the existence of gene-encoded Zn-binding peptides that sequester a substantial portion of intracellular Zn in ectomycorrhizal fungi under natural conditions.
A versatile ternary ionic complex for chiral discrimination of molecules with diverse functionalities using 1H NMR
Authors: Pal Indrani , Chaudhari Sachin Rama , Suryaprakash Nagarajarao
Published: June 2014

A novel chiral solvating agent for enantiodiscrimination by NMR spectroscopy is introduced.
N-(Chalcogen)phosphorylated (chalcogen)ureas of zinc and cadmium(ii): SSPs for group 12–16 thin films
Authors: Rojas-Montoya Iván D. , Santana-Silva Alicia , García-Montalvo Verónica , Muñoz-Hernández Miguel-Ángel , Rivera Margarita
Published: June 2014

The bis-chelates [M{R2P(X)NC(Y)NR′-η2-X,Y}2] were evaluated as suitable SSPs for the synthesis of metal chalcogenide thin films by AA-CVD.
Indolo[3,2-b]carbazole and benzofurazan based narrow band-gap polymers for photovoltaic cells
Authors: Zhang Bin , Yu Lei , Fan Li , Wang Na , Hu Liwen , Yang Wei
Published: June 2014

Two indolo[3,2-b]carbazole and 5,6-bis(octyloxy)benzofurazan based narrow band-gap polymersPICzODTBFandPICzHDDTBFgive maximum power conversion efficiencies of 3.32% and 3.13% with open circuit voltages of 0.80 V and 0.95 V, respectively.