bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Myosin VI facilitates connexin 43 gap junction accretion
Authors: Waxse Bennett J. , Sengupta Prabuddha , Hesketh Geoffrey G. , Lippincott-Schwartz Jennifer , Buss Folma
Published: January 2017

In this study, we demonstrate myosin VI enrichment at Cx43 (also known as GJA1)-containing gap junctions (GJs) in heart tissue, primary cardiomyocytes and cell culture models. In primary cardiac tissue and in fibroblasts from the myosin VI-null mouse as well as in tissue culture cells transfected with siRNA against myosin VI, we observe reduced GJ plaque size with a concomitant reduction in intercellular communication, as shown by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) and a new method of selective calcein administration. Analysis of the molecular role of myosin VI in Cx43 trafficking indicates that myosin VI is dispensable for the delivery of Cx43 to the cell surface and connexon movement in the plasma membrane. Furthermore, we cannot corroborate clathrin or Dab2 localization at gap junctions and we do not observe a function for the myosin-VI–Dab2 complex in clathrin-dependent endocytosis of annular gap junctions. Instead, we found that myosin VI was localized at the edge of Cx43 plaques by using total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy and use FRAP to identify a plaque accretion defect as the primary manifestation of myosin VI loss in Cx43 homeostasis. A fuller understanding of this derangement may explain the cardiomyopathy or gliosis associated with the loss of myosin VI.
Stress-specific differences in assembly and composition of stress granules and related foci
Authors: Aulas Anaïs , Fay Marta M. , Lyons Shawn M. , Achorn Christopher A. , Kedersha Nancy , Anderson Paul , Ivanov Pavel
Published: January 2017

Cells have developed different mechanisms to respond to stress, including the formation of cytoplasmic foci known as stress granules (SGs). SGs are dynamic and formed as a result of stress-induced inhibition of translation. Despite enormous interest in SGs due to their contribution to the pathogenesis of several human diseases, many aspects of SG formation are poorly understood. SGs induced by different stresses are generally assumed to be uniform, although some studies suggest that different SG subtypes and SG-like cytoplasmic foci exist. Here, we investigated the molecular mechanisms of SG assembly and characterized their composition when induced by various stresses. Our data revealed stress-specific differences in composition, assembly and dynamics of SGs and SG-like cytoplasmic foci. Using a set of genetically modified haploid human cells, we determined the molecular circuitry of stress-specific translation inhibition upstream of SG formation and its relation to cell survival. Finally, our studies characterize cytoplasmic stress-induced foci related to, but distinct from, canonical SGs, and also introduce haploid cells as a valuable resource to study RNA granules and translation control mechanisms.
The lateral line confers evolutionarily derived sleep loss in the Mexican cavefish
Authors: Jaggard James , Robinson Beatriz G. , Stahl Bethany A. , Oh Ian , Masek Pavel , Yoshizawa Masato , Keene Alex C.
Published: January 2017

Sleep is an essential behavior exhibited by nearly all animals, and disruption of this process is associated with an array of physiological and behavioral deficits. Sleep is defined by changes in sensory gating that reduce sensory input to the brain, but little is known about the neural basis for interactions between sleep and sensory processing. Blind Mexican cavefish comprise an extant surface dwelling form and 29 cave morphs that have independently evolved increased numbers of mechanoreceptive lateral line neuromasts and convergent evolution of sleep loss. Ablation of the lateral line enhanced sleep in the Pachón cavefish population, suggesting that heightened sensory input underlies evolutionarily derived sleep loss. Targeted lateral line ablation and behavioral analysis localized the wake-promoting neuromasts in Pachón cavefish to superficial neuromasts of the trunk and cranial regions. Strikingly, lateral line ablation did not affect sleep in four other cavefish populations, suggesting that distinct neural mechanisms regulate the evolution of sleep loss in independently derived cavefish populations. Cavefish are subject to seasonal changes in food availability, raising the possibility that sensory modulation of sleep is influenced by metabolic state. We found that starvation promotes sleep in Pachón cavefish, and is not enhanced by lateral line ablation, suggesting that functional interactions occur between sensory and metabolic regulation of sleep. Taken together, these findings support a model where sensory processing contributes to evolutionarily derived changes in sleep that are modulated in accordance with food availability.
A new cue for torpor induction: charcoal, ash and smoke
Authors: Stawski Clare , Nowack Julia , Körtner Gerhard , Geiser Fritz
Published: January 2017

Recent work has shown that the use of torpor for energy conservation increases after forest fires in heterothermic mammals, probably in response to the reduction of food. However, the specific environmental cues for this increased torpor expression remain unknown. It is possible that smoke and the novel substrate of charcoal and ash act as signals for an impending period of starvation requiring torpor. We therefore tested the hypothesis that the combined cues of smoke, a charcoal/ash substrate and food shortage will enhance torpor expression in a small forest-dwelling marsupial, the yellow-footed antechinus (Antechinus flavipes), because like other animals that live in fire-prone habitats they must effectively respond to fires to ensure survival. Activity and body temperature patterns of individuals in outdoor aviaries were measured under natural environmental conditions. All individuals were strictly nocturnal, but diurnal activity was observed shortly after smoke exposure. Overall, torpor in females was longer and deeper than that in males. Interestingly, while both males and females increased daily torpor duration during food restriction by >2-fold as anticipated, a combination of food restriction and smoke exposure on a charcoal/ash substrate further increased daily torpor duration by ∼2-fold in both sexes. These data show that this combination of cues for torpor induction is stronger than food shortage on its own. Our study provides significant new information on how a small forest-dwelling mammal responds to fire cues during and immediately after a fire and identifies a new, not previously recognised, regulatory mechanism for thermal biology in mammals.
Effects of activity, genetic selection, and their interaction on muscle metabolic capacities and organ masses in mice
Authors: Kelly Scott A. , Gomes Fernando R. , Kolb Erik M. , Malisch Jessica L. , Garland Theodore
Published: January 2017

Chronic voluntary exercise elevates total daily energy expenditure (DEE) and food consumption, potentially resulting in organ compensation supporting nutrient extraction/utilization. Additionally, species with naturally higher DEE often have larger processing organs, which may represent genetic differences and/or phenotypic plasticity. We tested for possible adaptive changes in organ masses of 4 replicate lines of house mice selected (37 generations) for high running (HR lines) compared with 4 non-selected control (C) lines. Females were housed with or without wheel access for 13-14 weeks beginning at 53-60 days of age. In addition to organ compensation, chronic activity may also require an elevated aerobic capacity. Therefore, we also measured hematocrit and both citrate synthase activity and myoglobin concentration in heart and gastrocnemius. Both selection (HR vs. C) and activity (wheels vs. no wheels) significantly affected morphological and biochemical traits. For example, with body mass as a covariate, mice from HR lines had significantly higher hematocrit and larger ventricles, with more myoglobin. Wheel access lengthened the small intestine, increased relative ventricle and kidney size, and increased skeletal muscle citrate synthase activity and myoglobin concentration. As compared with C lines, HR mice had greater training effects for ventricle mass, hematocrit, large intestine length, and gastrocnemius citrate synthase activity. For ventricle and gastrocnemius citrate synthase activity, the greater training was explainable quantitatively as a result of greater wheel running (i.e., “more pain, more gain”). For hematocrit and large intestine length, differences were not related to amount of wheel running and instead indicate inherently greater adaptive plasticity in HR lines.
Laser-Induced Single Microdroplet Formation and Simultaneous Water-to-Single Microdroplet Extraction/Detection in Aqueous 1-Butanol Solutions
Authors: Kitamura Noboru , Konno Kumiko , Ishizaka Shoji
Published: January 2017

Focused 1064-nm laser beam irradiation to an aqueous 1-butanol (BuOH) solution (7.1–7.4 wt % in H2O) resulted in formation of a single picoliter-volume BuOH droplet. Since water (H2O) absorbs 1064-nm laser light, an aqueous BuOH solution at the laser beam focus is heated via photo-thermal effects and this leads to thermal phase separation of the solution, producing a single BuOH microdroplet. In the presence of a fluorescent dye (10−5–10−7 mol/dm3) in an aqueous BuOH solution, the dye was extracted from the surrounding water phase to the BuOH droplet produced by laser irradiation as demonstrated by in situ fluorescence and Raman microspectroscopies. The present laser-induced water-to-single microdroplet extraction/detection was also extended successfully to that under pressure-driven and electroosmotic flow conditions in microflow devices. In both cases, the single BuOH microdroplets produced by 1064-nm laser irradiation were optically trapped against flow of the solution. Under electroosmotic flow conditions, highly sensitive detection of a fluorescent Al3+-chelate complex injected to an electrophoresis capillary tube was also achieved successfully by single BuOH microdroplet formation and simultaneous extraction of the Al3+ chelate to the droplet by 1064-nm laser irradiation.
The Reproducibility and Reliability of UV–vis Higher-Order Derivative Spectroscopy for Quantitative Analysis of Spectral Changes
Authors: Ichimura Kunihiro
Published: January 2017

The reproducibility of higher-order derivative spectra of aqueous solutions of N-methyl-4-(p-formylstyryl)pyridinium salt (FSbQ) as a model compound were examined by the conversion of UV–vis absorption spectra taken on six spectrophotometers into derivatives with aid of software for data analysis as a common tool for differentiation and smoothing. The spectral shapes of crude fourth and eighth derivatives were not only quite noisy, but also considerably dependent on the spectrophotometers. Savizky–Golay smoothing under the same and appropriate conditions, however, provided satisfactorily identical derivative-spectra, confirming the reproducibility of derivative spectroscopy. In order to reveal the reliability of the quantitative analysis on the basis of Beer’s law, absorbances (A) of aqueous solutions of FSbQ were plotted against dnA/dλn (Dn) values at subpeaks of the fourth as well as eighth derivatives. Excellent linearity between A and Dn was disclosed when A is smaller than ca. 1, leading to the confirmation that Dn values are usable for kinetic studies on the photoisomerization of FSbQ as an example.
The nuclear poly(A) binding protein of mammals, but not of fission yeast, participates in mRNA polyadenylation
Authors: Kühn Uwe , Buschmann Juliane , Wahle Elmar
Published: January 2017

The nuclear poly(A) binding protein (PABPN1) has been suggested, on the basis of biochemical evidence, to play a role in mRNA polyadenylation by strongly increasing the processivity of poly(A) polymerase. While experiments in metazoans have tended to support such a role, the results were not unequivocal, and genetic data show that the S. pombe ortholog of PABPN1, Pab2, is not involved in mRNA polyadenylation. The specific model in which PABPN1 increases the rate of poly(A) tail elongation has never been examined in vivo. Here, we have used 4-thiouridine pulse-labeling to examine the lengths of newly synthesized poly(A) tails in human cells. Knockdown of PABPN1 strongly reduced the synthesis of full-length tails of ∼250 nucleotides, as predicted from biochemical data. We have also purified S. pombe Pab2 and the S. pombe poly(A) polymerase, Pla1, and examined their in vitro activities. Whereas PABPN1 strongly increases the activity of its cognate poly(A) polymerase in vitro, Pab2 was unable to stimulate Pla1 to any significant extent. Thus, in vitro and in vivo data are consistent in supporting a role of PABPN1 but not S. pombe Pab2 in the polyadenylation of mRNA precursors.
Structural basis for guanidine sensing by the ykkC family of riboswitches
Authors: Battaglia Robert A. , Price Ian R. , Ke Ailong
Published: January 2017

Regulation of gene expression by cis-encoded riboswitches is a prevalent theme in bacteria. Of the hundreds of riboswitch families identified, the majority of them remain as orphans, without a clear ligand assignment. The ykkC orphan family was recently characterized as guanidine-sensing riboswitches. Herein we present a 2.3 Å crystal structure of the guanidine-bound ykkC riboswitch from Dickeya dadantii. The riboswitch folds into a boot-shaped structure, with a coaxially stacked P1/P2 stem forming the boot, and a 3′-P3 stem–loop forming the heel. Sophisticated base-pairing and cross-helix tertiary contacts give rise to the ligand-binding pocket between the boot and the heel. The guanidine is recognized in its positively charged guanidinium form, in its sp2 hybridization state, through a network of coplanar hydrogen bonds and by a cation–π stacking contact on top of a conserved guanosine residue. Disruption of these contacts resulted in severe guanidinium-binding defects. These results provide the structural basis for specific guanidine sensing by ykkC riboswitches and pave the way for a deeper understanding of guanidine detoxification—a previously unappreciated aspect of bacterial physiology.
A simulation of contract farming using agent based modeling
Authors: Handayati Yuanita , Simatupang Togar Mangihut , Perdana Tomy , Siallagan Manahan
Published: January 2017

This study aims to simulate the effects of contract farming and farmer commitment to contract farming on supply chain performance by using agent based modeling as a methodology. Supply chain performance is represented by profits and service levels. The simulation results indicate that farmers should pay attention to customer requirements and plan their agricultural activities in order to fulfill these requirements. Contract farming helps farmers deal with demand and price uncertainties. We also find that farmer commitment is crucial to fulfilling contract requirements. This study contributes to this field from a conceptual as well as a practical point of view. From the conceptual point of view, our simulation results show that different levels of farmer commitment have an impact on farmer performance when implementing contract farming. From a practical point of view, the uncertainty faced by farmers and the market can be managed by implementing cultivation and harvesting scheduling, information sharing, and collective learning as ways of committing to contract farming.
[retracted article] What is necessary to improve the Brazilian intermodal terminals? The shippers’ point of view from the stated preference approach
Authors: Martins Ricardo , Lobo Débora Silva , Alves Alexandre Florindo , Sproesser Renato Luiz
Published: January 2017

This study investigates the features of the services that shippers of bulk agricultural products need from intermodal terminals. Agribusiness usually is positively affected by logistics performance, since it normally involves extensive supply chains made up of a large number of agents. The answer to this question may help us understand why Brazilian shippers mainly use road transportation to move low value-added products over long distances and may also help us improve intermodal terminal facilities. Applying the Stated Preference technique, shippers ranked constructs in the following order: reliability, time period, customer relations, cost, and flexibility. The results indicate that constructs associated with quality of service are more highly valued. This implies that there are new points of reference for the transport market which favor the use of long-term contracts and closer relationships.
Six sigma benchmarking of process capability analysis and mapping of process parameters
Authors: Rajashekharaiah Jagadeesh
Published: January 2017

Process capability analysis (PCA) is a vital step in ascertaining the quality of the output from a production process. Particularly in batch and mass production of components with specified quality characteristics, PCA helps to decide about accepting the process and later to continue with it. In this paper, the application of PCA using process capability indices is demonstrated using data from the field and benchmarked against Six Sigma as a motivation to improve to meet the global standards. Further, how the two important process parameters namely mean and the standard deviation can be monitored is illustrated with the help of what if analysis feature of Excel. Finally, the paper enables to determine the improvement efforts using simulation to act as a quick reference for decision makers. The global benchmarking in the form of Six Sigma capability of the process is expected to give valuable insight towards process improvement.
Acumulação de capacidades tecnológicas, inovação e competitividade industrial: alguns resultados para a Indústria Brasileira de Mineração
Authors: Figueiredo Paulo N. , Pinheiro Mauricio Canêdo , Wegner Rubia Cristina , Silva Felipe Queiroz , Cabral Bernardo Pereira , Perin Fernanda Steiner
Published: January 2017

O desenvolvimento industrial e tecnológico é um dos fatores decisivos para que os países avancem para a categoria de alta renda per capita. Não se trata de uma panaceia, mas a história ensina que nações que se desenvolveram industrialmente, por meio da Acumulação de Capacidades Tecnológicas (ACT) para inovação, também obtiveram significativo desenvolvimento socioeconômico. Tornaram-se países de alta renda, transformaram-se em líderes no mercado global e em fornecedores de tecnologia para vários tipos de indústria.Nesse sentido, este documento é parte integrante de um projeto de pesquisa mais amplo sobre o tema da acumulação de capacidades tecnológicas e competitividade industrial no Brasil, que examinou alguns setores industriais, entre eles o de mineração.
Better than we thought? The diagnostic performance of an influenza point-of-care test in children, a Bayesian re-analysis
Authors: Lee Joseph
Published: January 2017

Background: Point-of-care tests (POCTs) for influenza have been criticised for their diagnostic accuracy, with clinical use limited by low sensitivity. These criticisms are based on diagnostic-accuracy studies that often use the questionable assumption of an infallible gold standard. Bayesian latent class modelling can estimate diagnostic performance without this assumption. Methods: Data extracted from published diagnostic-accuracy studies comparing the QuickVue® influenza A+B influenza POCT to reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in two different populations were re-analysed. Classical and Bayesian latent class methods were applied using the Modelling for Infectious diseases CEntre (MICE) web-based application. Results: Under classical analyses the estimated sensitivity and specificity of the QuickVue® were 66.9% (95% confidence interval (CI) 61.4-71.9) and 97.8% (95% CI 95.7-98.9), respectively. Bayesian latent class models estimated sensitivity of 97.8% (95% credible interval (CrI) 82.1-100) and specificity of 98.5% (95% CrI 96.5-100). Conclusions: Data from studies comparing the QuickVue® point-of-care test to RT-PCR are compatible with better diagnostic performance than previously reported.
Latvian Queer Kharms? Sex and Power in Rihards Bargais’ Gossip
Authors: Vērdiņš Kārlis , Ozoliņš Jānis
Published: January 2017

In 2012 the Latvian poet Rihards Bargais published a book called Tenkas (‘Gossip’), a collection of small absurd narratives, inspired by the Russian writer Daniil Kharms, that describes his fellow writers, well-known Latvian personalities and himself. Many of the pieces have an explicitly sexual character; one of them even resulted in legal action for libel, a situation unique in Latvian contemporary literature. Crossing several boundaries of reality and fiction, private and public, as well as the allowed and the forbidden, Bargais confronts society using sexual imagery in his literary work.
Island as an Unreachable Destination: Umberto Eco’s The Island of the Day Before (1994)
Authors: Kundu Rama
Published: January 2017

An island, owing to its very isolation, has accumulated layers of significances as an image, and turned out in course of time to be a multivalent sign, which has been adapted by writers and artists across lands and ages to articulate a rich spectrum of ideas, discourses, and counterdiscourses. In our times Umberto Eco, in a story, located in the mid-seventeenth century, and placed upon a non-space – neither land, nor water, nor air – for its backdrop, has offered yet another unusual approach to this unique signifier by means of installing a fresh paradigm of voyage and [non]arrival at an island, Umberto Eco’s The Island of the Day Before is a story about a search for ‘Terra Incognita’, for ‘the Island not Found’, and an impossible venture, ‘to find the Unfindable’. In spite of the crowded ideas, obscure references and antique time-space continuum the book exerts its own charm upon today’s reader. Some of the perennial themes addressed here are love, life, death, ‘Time’ and God, – and the unreachable island, which is so near, yet remains so far, serves as the pivotal point of this revolving, multi-modal mirror. By means of a superb feat of imaginative flight the dream-element of the situation has been reinforced by the metanarrator as he goes on reconstructing the scraps left behind by the precursor micro-narrator. The hyperreality of Roberto’s specific oxymoronic island , along with its ‘distant proximity’, is accentuated by the dream-tenor of the narrative as well as by covert/and overt mythical allusions, which have been lying strewn about unmistakably. Myths embrace and intersect one another across disparate cultural frames. Eco presents a fantasy island in the garb of mystic knowledge disseminated by a supposedly medieval theologiancum- scientist. The micro-narrator’s search is simultaneously about the Island of Solomon and the longitude, the hundred-eightieth meridian, both belonging to the ‘terra incognita’. The theological notion and the (pseudo) scientific concepts (of the 17th century) seem to be interchangeable variables in the context. At one level it is about ‘the Island not found’, not findable, and the protagonist’s paradoxical voyage for the same. How could one reach the unreachable! And yet, who knows! The reader is left only to imagine and wonder about this postmodern Odysseus who has no home, no kin, no land to rest his feet upon, no mission (which has been lost, along with the wrecked ship, in course of the voyage), and finally no destination even.
The Translator’s Paradox
Authors: Le Baillif Anne-Marie
Published: January 2017

This paper will focus on the translators as their situation has proved to be more and more difficult in France. With examples, we want to consider how one’s position has evolved in the publishing world from the 16th century to the present. Looking at the 16th century, we can observe a real fever for translations of ancient texts. In the Netherlands, Italy and France, printers were translators and signed their translations with their proper name. Playwrights did the same with Latin and Greek works. For example, we know Oedipo tyranno by Giustiniani who translated Sophocles. The name of the Greek or Latin writer was eclipsed by the translator’s name such as Plantin and the Biblia Polyglotta, or Belleforest with his translation of The War of the Jews written by Flavius Josephus. The translation of the title gave the work a new specificity and was considered as the genuine work of the translator even though the name of the original author was still given. During the 16th century in France, Literary Property Laws were called “Privilège” and were attached to the author of the printed text. Later on, this law changed. We know that playwrights used translations and never mentioned the authors as they had actually never done before. Indeed, this particular type of literature often evaded the law. The publishers became more and more important and could thus decide what would be announced on the book’s cover. The author is to be mentioned for legal reasons, but translators are rarely mentioned. Today, you have to search for their name inside the book despite the fact that as our world is becoming more and more global we need them more and more. To some extent, on stage, some directors plunder translations done by specialists and attribute them to themselves. Two avenues of enquiry should help us understand the French translator’s paradox, which consist in the fact that the translator’s status evolves from a finder and producer to an intellectual whose name is today nearly ignored – despite his/her legal status.
The Travailes of the Three English Brothers and the Textual Construction of Early Modern Identities
Authors: López-Peláez Casellas Jesús
Published: January 2017

Day, Rowley and Wilkins’s travel and adventure play The Travailes of the Three English Brothers (1607) dramatises the misadventures of the three Sherley brothers between 1597 and the year of composition of the play. The playwrights, drawing on contemporary writings on/by the Sherleys and their adventures through Turkey, Persia, Venice and Rome, apparently attempted to compose an ideological dramatization of English identities based on cultural and religious difference and English superiority over Muslim (Persian and Ottoman) and Jewish others. However, I will suggest that the play also presents English and Christian identities in a constant state of flux and confusion, contradicting its apparent compliance with a process of identity-building mainly based on confrontation in order to replace it with an alternative approach to religious and political alterity which I have called, following Juri Lotman, symbiotic. This is achieved at both textual and metatextual levels through a number of semiotic and rhetorical strategies which articulate the play’s insertion into various contemporary discussions on nascent capitalism, religious sectarian differences, England’s encounter with other cultures, and the nature of the Sherleys’ exploits. The employment of metatheatrical techniques – like the confusion of the various levels of factuality involved (through the complex mingling of diverse pseudo historical sources) and of various dramatic devices (such as dumb shows, parades, or choruses, and the insertion, as a character in the play, of the Elizabethan actor Will Kemp) – question any reading that attempts to privilege a discourse of English protocolonialism as opposed to Muslim (Persian and Ottoman) otherness.
Cultural Assimilation: Two Ibsenian Women in Traditional Chinese Yue Opera
Authors: Siu-Han Yip Terry
Published: January 2017

Chinese interest in Henrik Ibsen’s plays has flourished for more than a century and many of his plays have been performed on or adapted for the Chinese stage since the early twentieth century. However, attempts to adapt his plays for the traditional Chinese theatre were only made in the past decade with Peer Gynt adapted into Peking opera in 2006, The Lady from the Sea and Hedda Gabler into Yue opera in 2006 and 2010. A close study of the re presentation of two Ibsenian women characters, namely, Ellida Wangel and Hedda Gabler on the Chinese traditional Yue operatic stage during Ibsen’s centenary in 2006 reveals the Chinese cultural assimilation of the two Norwegian women with their distinct character and outlook of life to suit the traditional Chinese notion of femininity and morality, as well as the conventionality of the Yue theatre with its unique theatrical and aesthetic considerations. What is more important is the Chinese desire to invite the audience, especially the young audience, to reconsider what constitutes happiness and integrity for married women in the Chinese context with an emphasis on moral responsibility.
The New York City Police Department’s Domain Awareness System
Authors: Levine E. S. , Tisch Jessica , Tasso Anthony , Joy Michael
Published: January 2017

The New York City Police Department (NYPD), the largest state or local police force in the United States, is charged with securing New York City from crime and terrorism. The NYPD’s Domain Awareness System (DAS) is a citywide network of sensors, databases, devices, software, and infrastructure that informs decision making by delivering analytics and tailored information to officers’ smartphones and precinct desktops. DAS development began in earnest in 2008; since then, the NYPD has used the system to employ a unique combination of analytics and information technology, including pattern recognition, machine learning, and data visualization. DAS is used throughout the NYPD, and the DAS software has been sold to other agencies, bringing in revenue for New York City. Through improving the efficiency of the NYPD’s staff, DAS has generated estimated savings of $50 million per year. Most importantly, the NYPD has used it to combat terrorism and improve its crime-fighting effectiveness. Since DAS was deployed department wide in 2013, the overall crime index in the city has fallen by six percent.
Acessibilidade estrutural na cidade de São Carlos, SP, Brasil
Authors: Capasso da Silva Denise , Rodrigues da Silva Antônio Nélson
Published: January 2017

O Mapa de Acessibilidade Estrutural é a representação geográfica comparativa dos níveis de acessibilidade por modo de transporte para diferentes tipos de oportunidades de geração de viagens. A ferramenta, que é baseada na integração das considerações a respeito do sistema de transporte e do uso do solo, foi validada em uma aplicação na cidade do Porto, Portugal. A proposta do presente trabalho é utilizar o método em questão para análise dos níveis de acessibilidade da cidade de São Carlos. Para isso foram utilizados dados censitários e resultados de uma pesquisa Origem e Destino. Assim, esse trabalho mostra que o Mapa de Acessibilidade Estrutural é um recurso que auxilia a tomada de decisão quando do planejamento do transporte urbano, como pôde ser observado no estudo de caso feito para a cidade São Carlos. Ainda, a aplicação mostra a viabilidade da utilização do método português no contexto considerado.
Avaliação de medidas de desempenho para rodovias de pista simples obtidas a partir de relações fluxo-velocidade
Authors: Bessa Junior Jose Elievam , Setti Jose Reynaldo
Published: January 2017

Para estimar o nível de serviço em rodovias de pista simples, o Highway Capacity Manual 2010 (HCM2010) adota como medidas de desempenho a porcentagem de tempo viajando em pelotões (PTSF) e a velocidade média de percurso (ATS). A PTSF, no entanto, é praticamente impossível de ser observada em campo. Na literatura, algumas pesquisas propõem medidas de desempenho alternativas à PTSF que podem ser coletadas diretamente da observação do tráfego. Além disso, as relações fluxo-velocidade têm um papel fundamental na determinação do nível de serviço no HCM2010 e no HBS2001. A meta deste trabalho foi avaliar medidas de desempenho provenientes de relações fluxo-velocidade que pudessem ser adequa-das para descrever a qualidade de serviço em rodovias de pista simples no Brasil. Usando dados de tráfego sintéticos produ-zidos com uma versão do CORSIM calibrada para rodovias no Brasil, foram obtidas relações fluxo-velocidade para diferentes condições (geometria, porcentagens de veículos pesados e velocidades de fluxo livre). Comparações dos valores provenientes desses modelos com dados de campo indicaram que a velocidade média de percurso dos automóveis e a densidade para automóveis poderiam substituir os critérios atuais do HCM para estimar o nível de serviço em rodovias de pista simples no Brasil.
Gefangen in Kanada
Authors: Kestler Judith
Published: January 2017

Die Internierung deutscher Handelsschiffsbesatzungen ist ein kaum bekanntes Kapitel des Zweiten Weltkriegs. Judith Kestler zeichnet erstmals nach, was deutsche Seeleute in kanadischen Lagern erlebten. Die kulturanthropologische Arbeit leistet eine differenzierte Rekonstruktion von Internierungsbedingungen und fragt nach der Entstehung retrospektiver Deutungen. Dabei verschränkt sie systematisch die Perspektiven von Internierten, Wachen und humanitären Helfern. Auf Basis archivalischer Quellen und Interviews wird Internierung als komplexe kulturelle Praxis greifbar. Die Studie bietet nicht nur Einblicke in ein faszinierendes deutsch-kanadisches Thema, sondern auch neue Perspektiven auf Gefangenschaft als transnationalen Möglichkeitsraum.
Archaisierung und Pinkifizierung
Authors: Böhm Kerstin
Published: January 2017

Kinder- und Jugendliteratur wird zunehmend nicht mehr nur in Buchform, sondern in Medienverbünden verkauft. Reihen wie »Die Wilden (Fußball-)Kerle« und »Die Wilden Hühner« zeigen zudem eine zweite Verkaufsstrategie der Kinder- und Jugendliteraturproduktion: Sie sind, vor allem im Hinblick auf eine männliche Zielgruppe, offensiv geschlechtsspezifisch adressiert. Kerstin Böhm zeichnet nach, wie diese Reihen im Rahmen des Zusammenspiels von kommerzieller Orientierung und Zielgruppenspezifik mittels Strategien der »Archaisierung« und »Pinkifizierung« Mythen von Männlichkeit und Weiblichkeit tradieren, aber zugleich auch aktualisieren.
Grenzfiguren - Zur politischen Theorie des Flüchtlings
Authors: Schulze Wessel Julia
Published: January 2017

Flüchtlinge gelten oftmals als rechtlose Opfer und Ausgeschlossene auch demokratisch eingehegter Gemeinschaften, obwohl sich nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg ihre Rechtsstellung fundamental verändert hat. Meist im Rückgriff auf Hannah Arendt und Giorgio Agamben werden sie außerhalb politischer Räume und damit an den Rändern der Welt angesiedelt. Julia Schulze Wessel zeigt jedoch: Als Grenzfiguren hinterfragen, verletzen und überschreiten Flüchtlinge Grenzen und fordern so auf ihre spezifische Weise demokratische Ordnungen heraus. Auf ihren Wanderungen durch den Grenzraum Europas verweisen sie auch auf die Grenzen des Rechts und begeben sich selbst in das Zentrum gegenwärtiger politischer Auseinandersetzungen.
Transitorisch: Strategien gegen die Vergänglichkeit
Authors: Gardner Belinda Grace
Published: January 2017

Als essenzielle Dynamik unseres Menschseins und unserer fundamental flüchtigen Zeit schlägt sich das TRANSITORISCHE in der Kunst der Gegenwart nieder. Die Untersuchung versammelt 14 internationale Künstlerinnen und Künstler, die dem Ephemeren eine Form und ein Stück weit Dauer geben. Zentrale Themen sind die Beschäftigung mit der Conditio humana und eine existenziell unterfütterte Verbildlichung des Flüchtigen und TRANSITORISCHEN, in denen Kreisläufe des Werdens und Vergehens ebenso produktiv gemacht werden wie die transzendenten Energien der Empathie, der Liebe und der kollektiven Teilhabe. Das TRANSITORISCHE nimmt Gestalt an in: Meret Oppenheims Wolkenformationen, den Zeitfallen von Daniel Spoerri, Maria Fisahns Vitalisierungen des Verfalls, Marilyn Minters Störbildern des Glamours, Catherine Bolducs Luftschlössern der Wahrnehmung, Naho Kawabes existenziellen Licht- und Schattenspielen, Ena Swanseas Malerei einer ungreifbaren Wirklichkeit, Lorenz Estermanns nomadisierenden Bauten zwischen Aufbruch und Verfall, Mirko Reissers Selbstportraits im Wandel, Volker Langs Erinnerungsräumen, Luis Camnitzers mehrfach gebrochenen Spiegelungen, Teresa Margolles' Elegien vergangenen Daseins, Felix Gonzalez-Torres' Memento mori der Liebe und in der Lebensspurensicherung von Christian Boltanski.
Das Ende der Informationskontrolle
Authors: Hagendorff Thilo
Published: January 2017

Nutzerinnen und Nutzer digitaler Medien haben immer weniger Möglichkeiten der Daten- und Informationskontrolle. Hacker, IT-Unternehmen, Geheimdienste, Datenbroker, Technikentwickler etc., aber auch das aufkommende Internet der Dinge, Big Data oder intransparente Algorithmen treiben den Kontrollverlust voran. Vormals voneinander separierte Informationskontexte - Intimes, Privates, Öffentliches, Institutionelles etc. - gehen allmählich ineinander über. Hier setzt Thilo Hagendorff an: Er stellt innovative Mediennutzungsstrategien vor, die den Kontrollverlust erwarten oder sogar vielmehr fest mit ihm rechnen - und sich nicht auf verletzliche Privatheitsnormen oder unzuverlässige Datenschutztechnologien verlassen.
Migrantengemeinden im Wandel
Authors: Weiß Sabrina
Published: January 2017

2013 wurde festlich die 50-Jahr-Feier koreanischer Migrationsgeschichte in Deutschland begangen. Über Religion und Migration wird viel diskutiert, dennoch ist nach wie vor wenig über die Bedingungen der Arbeitsmigration, beispielsweise die Kultur, Tradition und Selbstorganisation der Koreaner_innen in Deutschland, bekannt. Anhand koreanischer Migrantenkirchen in Nordrhein-Westfalen untersucht Sabrina Weiß die Gründung, Etablierung und den Wandel der christlichen Gemeinschaften im Kulturkontakt aus religionswissenschaftlicher Perspektive. Die Studie leistet so einen Beitrag zu Debatten über kirchliche Institutionalisierungsprozesse und religiöse Vielfalt jenseits der etablierten Großkirchen.
Studying sales in terms of export performance: A quantitative research for the border gate of Sarp
Satışların ihracat performansı açısından araştırılması: Sarp sınır kapısında nicel bir çalışma
Authors: Toklu İsmail Tamer
Published: January 2017

Sales made to foreigners by SMEs in Sarp border region are an important commercial activity. A large number of entrepreneurs continue to increase their activities in order to benefit from the advantages of the border region. The purpose of this research is to examine the effects of marketing strategy, entrepreneurship, market attractiveness and foreign trade barriers on sales in terms of export performance. The research data were collected from SMEs operating around Sarp border gate in Hopa/Artvin at Turkey-Georgian border by using convenience sampling method with face to face interview. SPSS and PLS structural equation modelling were used in analyzing the data. According to the findings of the study; marketing strategy, entrepreneurship and market attractiveness were found positively significant on sales performance. But, the effect of the defined barriers on sales performance was not found significant. This study examines the sales at the border region and offers valuable information to the parties interested in the topic. ÖzetSarp sınır bölgesindeki KOBİ’lerin yabancılara yaptığı satışlar önemli bir ticari faaliyettir. Çok sayıda girişimci bölgenin avantajından yararlanabilmek için bu sınır bölgesinde faaliyetlerini arttırarak devam ettirmektedir. Bu çalışmanın amacı pazarlama stratejisi, girişimcilik, pazar çekiciliği ve dış ticaret engellerinin satışlara ihracat performansı açısından etkilerini incelemektedir. Araştırma için oluşturulan modelinin verileri kolayda örnekleme yöntemiyle Türkiye-Gürcistan sınırındaki Hopa/Artvin Sarp bölgesindeki işletmelerle yüz yüze yapılan anketlerden elde edilmiştir. Verilerin analiz edilmesinde SPSS ve PLS yapısal eşitlik modellemesi kullanılmıştır. Araştırmadan elde edilen bulgulara göre; pazarlama stratejisi, girişimcilik ve pazar çekiciliğin satış performansını olumlu yönde etkilediği bulunmuştur. Ancak, tanımlanan engellerin satış performansı üzerindeki etkisi anlamlı bulunmamıştır. Bu çalışma sınır bölgesindeki satışları incelemekte ve konuyla ilgilenen taraflara değerli bilgiler sunmaktadır.
Development of Korean Ewha-AAC Symbols: Validity of Vocabulary and Graphic Symbols
Authors: Park EunHye , Kim YoungTae , Hong Ki-Hyung , Yeon SeokJeong , Kim KyungYang , Lim JangHyun ,   Korean Society of Augmentative and Alternative Communication
Published: January 2017

Background and Objectives: Cultural appropriateness of AAC vocabulary and graphic representation is an important characteristic of the line-drawing AAC symbol system. The purpose of this study was to develop a graphic symbol system which reflect Korean culture of school and life in general. Method: Korean AAC vocabulary set was developed by analyzing various high-tech communication devices and symbol software as well as collecting age specific vocabulary for children, school-aged students, and adults with disabilities. color line drawing graphic symbols were designed for the AAC vocabulary set and were verified multiple times by professionals such as special educators and SLPs who had extensive teaching experience with students with complex communication difficulties. Results: About 10,000 graphic symbols were developed and high validity score was obtained. Conclusion: The development of Ewha-AAC symbol system is meaningful in consideration of age range and cultural context as well as having balance between situational vocabulary and developmental vocabulary. Further study is recommended for symbol iconicity and expansion.
Determination of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase cut-off values in a Tunisian population
Authors: Laouini Naouel , Sahli Chaima Abdelhafidh , Jouini Latifa , Haloui Sabrine , Fredj Sondes Hadj , Daboubi Rym , Siala Hajer , Ouali Faida , Becher Meriam , Toumi Nourelhouda , Bibi Amina , Messsaoud Taieb
Published: January 2017

Background:

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is the commonest enzymopathy worldwide. The incidence depends essentially on the methods used for the assessment. In this respect, we attempted in this study to set cut-off values of G6PD activity to discriminate among normal, heterozygous, and deficient individuals using the World Health Organization (WHO) classification and the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis.

Methods:

Blood samples from 250 female and 302 male subjects were enrolled in this study. The G6PD activity was determined using a quantitative assay. The common G6PD mutations in Tunisia were determined using the amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS-PCR) method. The ROC curve was used to choice the best cut-off.

Results:

Normal G6PD values were 7.69±2.37, 7.86±2.39, and 7.51±2.35 U/g Hb for the entire, male, and female groups, respectively. Cut-off values for the total, male, and female were determined using the WHO classification and ROC curves analysis. In the male population, both cut-offs established using ROC curve analysis (4.00 U/g Hb) and the 60% level (3.82 U/g Hb), respectively are sensitive and specific resulting in a good efficiency of discrimination between deficient and normal males. For the female group the ROC cut-off (5.84 U/g Hb) seems better than the 60% level cut-off (3.88 U/g Hb) to discriminate between normal and heterozygote or homozygote women with higher Youden Index.

Conclusions:

The establishment of the normal values for a population is important for a better evaluation of the assay result. The ROC curve analysis is an alternative method to determine the status of patients since it correlates DNA analysis and G6PD activity.
Characterisation of localised corrosion behaviour of Ti-Ta-Mo alloy for the nuclear industry
Authors: Mutlu Ilven
Published: January 2017

In this study, Ti-Ta-Mo alloy specimens were produced by powder metallurgy for the nuclear industry. For evaluating application of Ti alloys as components for nuclear fuel reprocessing plants, corrosion behaviour of Ti-Ta-Mo alloy was investigated. Localised corrosion (crevice and pitting) behaviour of the Ti-Ta-Mo alloys containing 5–15 wt.% Mo was investigated in 10 wt.% NaCl solution. The effect of composition of the alloys on the corrosion behaviour of specimens was studied. Resistance against localised attack was found to depend on the Mo content of the alloys. Mechanical properties (Young’s modulus) of the specimens were investigated by nondestructive ultrasonic tests.
A safe, efficient and environment friendly biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles using Leucaena leucocephala seed extract and its antioxidant, antimicrobial, antifungal activities and potential in sensing
Authors: Kumar Rajeev , Sharma Priyanka , Bamal Aditi , Negi Sushma , Chaudhary Savita
Published: January 2017

One step green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) from silver nitrate (AgNO3) using Leucaena leucocephala seeds extract as the reducing agent at room temperature was performed. The bioreduced NPs were characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectrophotometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) techniques. Qualitative information of major components in the seed extract was obtained through its phytochemical screening. The phytochemical data of L. leucocephala revealed the presence of terpenes, flavonoids, coumarins and sterols. The reaction was optimized for AgNO3, extract concentration and time duration for the reaction. The obtained NPs showed a characteristic UV peak of AgNPs at 420 nm. TEM and SEM images showed the spherical shaped NPs over which the extract coating was very prominent. The binding of L. leucocephala seeds extract onto NPs was tested using FTIR and TGA. The antifungal activity of the as-synthesized NPs against two fungal species, namely Phlebiopsis gigantea and Echinodontium taxodii, was studied. The antimicrobial effect of the as-synthesized NPs was ascertained against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The antioxidant potential of the AgNPs was tested with 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging. Also, the sensitivity of the NPs towards Fe3+ ions was tested in aqueous media.
Mono- and bis-dipicolinic acid heterocyclic derivatives – thiosemicarbazides, triazoles, oxadiazoles and thiazolidinones as antifungal and antioxidant agents
Authors: Molnar Maja , Pavić Valentina , Šarkanj Bojan , Čačić Milan , Vuković Dubravka , Klenkar Jelena
Published: January 2017

A series of dipicolinic acid derivatives was synthesized and investigated for antimicrobial and antioxidant activity. Mono and bis derivatives of ethyl dipicolinate were utilized as starting materials for synthesis of mono- and bis-hydrazides. Thiosemicarbazides were obtained by reaction of hydrazides with isothiocyanates and cyclized into triazoles, thiadiazoles, oxadiazoles and thiazolidinones. Some of these products, especially those incorporating a thiazolidinone moiety in their structure, are excellent antioxidants, DPPH scavengers and antifungal agents.