bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Aesthetics of Punk Rock
Authors: Prinz Jesse
Published: September 2014

Philosophers should listen to punk rock. Though largely ignored in analytic aesthetics, punk can shed light on the nature, limits, and value of art. Here, I will begin with an overview of punk aesthetics and then extrapolate two lessons. First, punk intentionally violates widely held aesthetic norms, thus raising questions about the plasticity of taste. Second, punk music is associated with accompanying visual styles, fashion, and attitudes; this points to a relationship between art and identity. Together, these lessons suggest that art appreciation is not just about finding beauty or aesthetic worth but is also about constructing a self.
Recent Work on Human Nature: Beyond Traditional Essences
Authors: Kronfeldner Maria , Roughley Neil , Toepfer Georg
Published: September 2014

Recent philosophical work on the concept of human nature disagrees on how to respond to the Darwinian challenge, according to which biological species do not have traditional essences. Three broad kinds of reactions can be distinguished: (1)conservative intrinsic essentialism, which defends essences in the traditional sense, (2)eliminativism, which suggests dropping the concept of human nature altogether, and (3)constructive approaches, which argue that revisions can generate sensible concepts of human nature beyond traditional essences. The different constructive approaches pick out one or two of the three epistemic roles that are fused in traditional essentialist conceptions of human nature: descriptive (descriptivism), explanatory (explanativism), definitional (taxonomic relationalism), or explanatory and definitional (property cluster essentialism). These turns towards diverging epistemic roles are best interpreted pluralistically: there is a plurality of concepts of human nature that have to be clearly distinguished, each with a legitimate role in respective scientific contexts.
The Relative Weights of Direct and Indirect Experiences in the Formation of Environmental Risk Beliefs
Authors: Viscusi W. Kip , Zeckhauser Richard J.
Published: September 2014

Direct experiences, we find, influence environmental risk beliefs more than the indirect experiences derived from outcomes to others. This disparity could have a rational basis. Or it could be based on behavioral proclivities in accord with the well‐established availability heuristic or the vested‐interest heuristic, which we introduce in this article. Using original data from a large, nationally representative sample, this article examines the perception of, and responses to, morbidity risks from tap water. Direct experiences have a stronger and more consistent effect on different measures of risk belief. Direct experiences also boost the precautionary response of drinking bottled water and drinking filtered water, while indirect experiences do not. These results are consistent with the hypothesized neglect of indirect experiences in other risk contexts, such as climate change.
Non‐human Support: Broadening the Scope of Attachment Theory
Authors: Keefer Lucas A. , Landau Mark J. , Sullivan Daniel
Published: September 2014

Attachment theory proposes that people form strong social ties because certain relationships provide feelings of security and support. Traditionally, theorists and researchers have assumed that because this process is innate and evolved, only human targets are capable of meeting a person's needs for security. Recent research challenges this assumption by demonstrating that an array of targets, such as places and pets, can also satisfy needs for security, particularly under conditions of threatened or absent connection to other people. We bring together these diverse findings and discuss how they enrich our understanding of the nature and operation of attachment processes and related phenomena. Specifically, this line of research contributes to a comprehensive picture of the diverse means by which people flexibly seek and maintain psychological security both within and outside of their close, interpersonal relationships. It also raises new research questions concerning the similarities and differences between human and non‐human support.
When Social Partners Unite – Explaining Continuity and Change in Austrian and Dutch Labour Market Governance
Authors: Soentken Menno , Weishaupt J. Timo
Published: September 2014

Why do Austria and the Netherlands, two highly corporatist, coordinated, consensual countries diverge with respect to the involvement of social partners in their Public Employment Service? By comparing and contrasting the competing predictions of the power‐resource, employer‐centred and social partnership approaches, we identify a key omitted variable that can explain the observed variations: the ability of the social partners to unite on reform positions. We demonstrate that when the social partners are divided, their collective power is reduced and partisan‐based policy outcomes become more pronounced. In turn, when the social partners jointly favour a particular outcome, their collective power increases and they can override governmental reform plans, even if the government holds a large legislative majority. These findings highlight the causal importance of power relations between and within the social partners for institutional continuity and change.
Export Experience of Managers and the Internationalisation of Firms
Authors: Sala Davide , Yalcin Erdal
Published: September 2014

As the firm gravitates toward being the core in analyses of international trade, the possibilities for learning from cross‐disciplines studies increase. Managerial resources underlie export initiation in the theory of the multinational enterprise developed in international business studies, but they are largely ignored in empirical studies of international trade. This is probably not because they are unimportant, but more due to the challenges of identifying and measuring these resources. We exploit Danish employer–employee matched data to overcome this challenge and analyse the impact of managers' international experience, together with other managerial characteristics, on the likelihood that the firm starts exporting. We find that productivity and fixed costs associated with exporting are not the sole determinants of selection of firms into international markets, but that ‘managerial inputs’ are just as important. Our data allow us to identify manager export experience based on the CEO's historical career as documented in official registry statistics, a feature that makes our analysis different from other work that relies on self‐assessments.
Labor Politics and Organizing Strategies in Immigrant‐Owned SMEs: The Case of the Confédération Générale du Travail and Chinese Migrant Workers in France
Authors: Chuang Ya‐Han
Published: September 2014

This article focuses on the evolution of the interaction between Chinese migrant workers in France and the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT), France's second largest labor union. My central question is: what can the case of Chinese migrants in France tell us about the relationship among trade unions, migrant workers, and their respective ethnic economies? Analyzing the CGT's changing strategies for mobilizing Chinese workers demonstrates the main tensions between the organization strategies and the employment relationship in family‐based small‐medium enterprises. This article will show the importance of intersectional analysis in the study of the structure of ethnic economies and how, in this case, the employer–employee relationship is a source of domination rather than a mechanism for mobilization. Moreover, while it is possible to include legislative change as a union movements' goal, it also demonstrates how a political goal, in this case the legalization of workers, can undermine the traditional goal of pursuing improvement to working conditions.
Development of Creep–Fatigue Evaluation Method for 316FR Stainless Steel
Authors: Nagae Yuji , Takaya Shigeru , Asayama Tai
Published: September 2014

In the design of fast reactor plants, the most important failure mode to be prevented is creep–fatigue damage at elevated temperatures. 316FR stainless steel is a candidate material for the reactor vessel and internal structures of such plants. The development of a procedure for evaluating creep–fatigue life is essential. The method for evaluating creep–fatigue life implemented in the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers code is based on the time fraction rule for evaluating creep damage. Equations such as the fatigue curve, dynamic stress–strain curve, creep rupture curve, and creep strain curve are necessary for calculating creep–fatigue life. These equations are provided in this paper and the predicted creep–fatigue life for 316FR stainless steel is compared with experimental data. For the evaluation of creep–fatigue life, the longest time to failure is about 100,000 h. The creep–fatigue life is predicted to an accuracy that is within a factor of 2 even in the case with the longest time to failure. Furthermore, the proposed method is compared with the ductility exhaustion method to investigate whether the proposed method gives conservative predictions. Finally, a procedure based on the time fraction rule for the evaluation of creep–fatigue life is proposed for 316FR stainless steel.
Near Wall Modeling for Trailing Edge Slot Film Cooling
Authors: Ling Julia , Rossi Riccardo , Eaton John K.
Published: September 2014

Trailing edge slot film cooling is a widely used active cooling scheme for turbine blade trailing edges. Current Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) models are known to significantly overpredict the adiabatic effectiveness of these configurations. It is shown that this overprediction is due in part to the breakdown of the Reynolds analogy between turbulent shear stress and scalar transport in the near wall region. By examining previously reported direct numerical simulation (DNS) results for a wall-mounted cube in cross flow, it is seen that in a flow with a significantly perturbed outer boundary layer, the turbulent diffusivity is not as strongly damped as the turbulent viscosity in the viscous sublayer and buffer layer of the boundary layer. By removing the Van Driest damping function from the length scale model for the turbulent diffusivity, more accurate turbulent diffusivity predictions are possible. This near wall correction is applied to trailing edge slot film cooling flows and it is demonstrated that the predictive accuracy of the RANS models is significantly enhanced. Detailed comparisons between RANS results and experimental datasets for 15 different cases demonstrate that this correction gives significant improvement to the accuracy of the RANS predictions across a broad range of trailing edge slot film cooling configurations.
Numerical Investigation of an Efficient Method (T-Junction With Valve) for Producing Unequal-Sized Droplets in Micro- and Nano-Fluidic Systems
Authors: Bedram Ahmad , Darabi Amir Ebrahim , Moosavi Ali , Hannani Siamak Kazemzade
Published: September 2014

We investigate an efficient method (T-junction with valve) to produce nonuniform droplets in micro- and nano-fluidic systems. The method relies on breakup of droplets in a T-junction with a valve in one of the minor branches. The system can be simply adjusted to generate droplets with an arbitrary volume ratio and does not suffer from the problems involved through applying the available methods for producing unequal droplets. A volume of fluid (VOF) based numerical scheme is used to study the method. Our results reveal that by decreasing the capillary number, smaller droplets can be produced in the branch with valve. Also, we find that the droplet breakup time is independent of the valve ratio and decreases with the increase of the capillary number. Also, the results indicate that the whole breakup length does not depend on the valve ratio. The whole breakup length decreases with the decrease of the capillary number at the microscales, but it is independent of the capillary number at the nanoscales. In the breakup process, if the tunnel forms the pressure drop does not depend on the valve ratio. Otherwise, the pressure drop reduces linearly by increasing the valve ratio.
Electrospray Ionization of Polymers: Evaporation, Drop Fission, and Deposited Particle Morphology1
Authors: Merrill Marriner H. , Pogue William R. , Baucom Jared N.
Published: September 2014

The fundamental challenge of nanomanufacturing is to create, control, and place immense quantities of nanoscale objects controllably over large surface areas. Electrospray ionization (ESI) has the potential to address this challenge due to its simplicity, applicability to a broad range of materials, and intrinsic scalability. However, the interactions between electrospray parameters and final deposited morphology are not well understood. Experimental results are combined with physics-based models to explain how observed particle size distributions are caused in the spray by evaporation and Coulomb fission of drops with solute concentration gradients.
Reduced Model and Application of Inflating Circular Diaphragm Dielectric Elastomer Generators for Wave Energy Harvesting
Authors: Vertechy Rocco , Papini Rosati Gastone Pietro , Fontana Marco
Published: September 2014

Dielectric elastomers (DE) are incompressible rubberlike solids whose electrical and structural responses are highly nonlinear and strongly coupled. Thanks to their coupled electromechanical response, intrinsic lightness, easy manufacturability, and low-cost, DEs are perfectly suited for the development of novel solid-state polymeric energy conversion units with capacitive nature and high-voltage operation, which are more resilient, lightweight, integrated, economic, and disposable than traditional generators based on conventional electromagnetic technology. Inflated circular diaphragm dielectric elastomer generators (ICD-DEG) are a special embodiment of polymeric transducer that can be used to convert pneumatic energy into usable electricity. Potential application of ICD-DEG is as power take-off system for wave energy converters (WEC) based on the oscillating water column (OWC) principle. This paper presents a reduced, yet accurate, dynamic model for ICD-DEG that features one kinematic degree of freedom and which accounts for DE visco-elasticity. The model is computationally simple and can be easily integrated into existing wave-to-wire models of OWCs to be used for fast analysis and real-time applications. For demonstration purposes, integration of the considered ICD-DEG model with a lumped-parameter hydrodynamic model of a realistic OWC is also presented along with a simulation case study.
A complex iron-calcium cofactor catalyzing phosphotransfer chemistry
Authors: Yong Shee Chien , Roversi Pietro , Lillington James , Rodriguez Fernanda , Krehenbrink Martin , Zeldin Oliver B. , Garman Elspeth F. , Lea Susan M. , Berks Ben C.
Published: September 2014

Cofactors linked to nutrient limitation

Microbes require inventive ways to acquire scarce nutrients from the environment. Enzymes that catalyze the acquisition of phosphorus from dissolved organic matter, for example, rely on complex metal cofactors in the active site. Yong
et al.
determined the crystal structure of the PhoX alkaline phosphatase from
Pseudomonas fluorescens
(see the Perspective by Moore). The metal centers arrange themselves in a triangular structure of two iron atoms and one calcium atom, bridged together by an oxide ion. The presence of iron, which itself is a trace nutrient in most environments, suggests that it limits phosphorus acquisition.

Science
, this issue p.
1170
; see also p.
1120
Applying scientific principles in international law on whaling
Authors: de la Mare William , Gales Nick , Mangel Marc
Published: September 2014

The approach might address disputes beyond whaling and the courtroom
Topology and dynamics of active nematic vesicles
Authors: Keber Felix C. , Loiseau Etienne , Sanchez Tim , DeCamp Stephen J. , Giomi Luca , Bowick Mark J. , Marchetti M. Cristina , Dogic Zvonimir , Bausch Andreas R.
Published: September 2014

Liquid crystals on a deformable substrate

The orientation of the molecules in a liquid crystalline material will change in response to either changes in the substrate or an external field. This is the basis for liquid crystalline devices. Vesicles, which are fluid pockets surrounded by lipid bilayers, will change size or shape in response to solvent conditions or pressure. Keber
et al.
report on the rich interactions between nematic liquid crystals placed on the surface of a vesicle. Changes to the vesicle size, for example, can “tune” the liquid crystal molecules. But conversely, the shape of the vesicles can also change in response to the activity of the nematic molecules.

Science
, this issue p.
1135
Intracellular sensing of complement C3 activates cell autonomous immunity
Authors: Tam Jerry C. H. , Bidgood Susanna R. , McEwan William A. , James Leo C.
Published: September 2014

Bringing in the agent of your own destruction

Cells need mechanisms to detect and disable pathogens that infect them. Tam
et al.
now show that complement C3, a protein that binds to pathogens in the blood, can enter target cells together with the pathogen. Once inside the cell, the presence of C3 triggers both immune signaling and degradation of the internalized pathogen. The discovery of this pathway reveals that cells possess an early warning system of invasion that works against a diverse array of pathogens and does not require recognition of any specific pathogen molecules.

Science
, this issue
10.1126/science.1256070
Direct roles of SPEECHLESS in the specification of stomatal self-renewing cells
Authors: Lau On Sun , Davies Kelli A. , Chang Jessica , Adrian Jessika , Rowe Matthew H. , Ballenger Catherine E. , Bergmann Dominique C.
Published: September 2014

A complex network makes simple pores

Stomata, the pores found on the surface of plant leaves, form at intervals from stem cells. Development of stomata is controlled by the SPEECHLESS transcription factor. Lau
et al.
surveyed the genes that SPEECHLESS itself controls. Targets include genes involved in hormone signaling, control of cell proliferation, and the specification of asymmetric cell fates. Despite the apparent simplicity of a single pore, the genetic network that generates that pore is anything but simple.

Science
, this issue p.
1605
A wake-up call with coffee
Authors: Zamir Dani
Published: September 2014

Recording and archiving crop phenotype diversity needs to catch up with genomic data

[Also see Report by

Denoeud
et al.

]
Partitioning the circadian clock
Authors: Xi Yannan , Chen Danica
Published: September 2014

Sirtuin proteins divide control of the circadian gene expression and metabolism
The catalyst
Authors: Kaiser Jocelyn
Published: September 2014

Marc Lipsitch wants to turn the bitter debate over risky virus research into a search for solutions.
Genome Sequence of Rickettsia tamurae, a Recently Detected Human Pathogen in Japan
Authors: Sentausa Erwin , El Karkouri Khalid , Michelle Caroline , Caputo Aurelia , Raoult Didier , Fournier Pierre-Edouard
Published: September 2014

Rickettsia tamurae
is a member of the spotted fever group rickettsiae, which was reported in 2011 to cause human infections in Japan. We report the draft genome sequence of
R. tamurae
strain AT-1
T
, isolated from
Amblyomma testudinarium
ticks.
Genome Sequences of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis Strains 48252 (Human, Pneumonia), CS_10 (Lab Strain), Ft_2193/67 (Goat, Pus), and CCUG 27541
Authors: Håvelsrud Othilde Elise , Sørum Henning , Gaustad Peter
Published: September 2014

Here we report the genome sequencess of four
Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis
strains. These include a strain isolated from a patient with
C. pseudotuberculosis
pneumonia (48252), a strain isolated from pus in goat (Ft_2193/67), a laboratory strain originating from strain Ft_2193/67 (CS_10), and the draft genome of an equine reference strain, CCUG 27541.
Draft Genome Sequence of a Sulfide-Oxidizing, Autotrophic Filamentous Anoxygenic Phototrophic Bacterium,
Chloroflexus
sp. Strain MS-G (
Chloroflexi
)
Authors: Thiel Vera , Hamilton Trinity L. , Tomsho Lynn P. , Burhans Richard , Gay Scott E. , Schuster Stephan C. , Ward David M. , Bryant Donald A.
Published: September 2014

The draft genome sequence of the thermophilic filamentous anoxygenic phototrophic bacterium
Chloroflexus
sp. strain MS-G (
Chloroflexi
), isolated from Mushroom Spring (Yellowstone National Park, WY, USA) was sequenced and comprises 4,784,183 bp in 251 contigs. The draft genome is predicted to encode 4,059 protein coding genes, 49 tRNA encoding genes, and 3 rRNA operons.
Draft Genome Sequence of
Pseudomonas
sp. Strain JMM, a Sediment-Hosted Environmental Isolate
Authors: Grewal Simmi , Vakhlu Jyoti , Gupta Vipin , Sangwan Naseer , Kohli Puneet , Nayyar Namita , Rani Pooja , Sance Shivani Singh , Lal Rup
Published: September 2014

Pseudomonas
sp. strain JMM was isolated from the sediments of a natural water reservoir (pH, 6 to 7) located at Chambyal village in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Here we report the annotated draft genome sequence of strain JMM having 52 contigs with 5,884 genes and an average G+C content of 66.5%.
Draft Genome Sequences of Ralstonia pickettii Strains SSH4 and CW2, Isolated from Space Equipment
Authors: Monsieurs Pieter , Mijnendonckx Kristel , Provoost Ann , Venkateswaran Kasthuri , Ott C. Mark , Leys Natalie , Van Houdt Rob
Published: September 2014

Ralstonia pickettii
SSH4 and CW2 were isolated from space equipment. Here, we report their draft genome sequences with the aim of gaining insight into their potential to adapt to these environments.
Sore eyes and psychosis
Authors: Colley Samantha , Smith John
Published: September 2014

We present the case of a 30-year-old woman who presented with sexual disinhibition and altered behaviour following an episode of optic neuritis. Her only history was of anxiety disorder. Her differential diagnosis was neurological versus psychiatric. Routine blood tests were unremarkable at this stage. MRI revealed non-specific change and lumbar puncture revealed a slight lymphocytosis and elevated protein and glucose in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). PCR on the CSF was negative for viruses: Adenovirus, varicella zoster virus, herpes simplex virus, enterovirus and parechovirus. She was initially treated with intravenous acyclovir to little effect. Antipsychotics olanzapine and haloperidol were also trialled and continued for 3 weeks in total. Once again these medications failed to affect the patient's behaviour but she did begin to show the side effects associated with these medications. Further test results became available at this point—she was anti-N-methyld-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antibody positive. A diagnosis of anti-NMDA receptor antibody encephalitis was made. The patient was started on cyclophosphamide and methylprednisolone to good effect.
The morphological and immunohistochemical spectrum of gastric biopsies of patients with absorptive hypercalciuria
Authors: Declich Paolo , Belloni Jacopo , Tavani Enrico , Omazzi Barbara , Bellone Stefano , Bortoli Aurora , Arena Ilaria , Devani Massimo
Published: September 2014

Objective

Idiopathic hypercalciuria is characterised by renal stone formation and vertebral osteoporosis. The syndrome displays high clinical variability with patients almost equally distributed between fasting or renal type (prevalent calcium loss) and absorptive type (prevalent increase of intestinal absorption). Absorptive hypercalciuria (AH) is characterised by hypersensitivity of calcium-sensing receptors of antral G cells with normal fasting gastrinaemia and meal hypergastrinaemia. To the best of our knowledge, no study has been published about the morphological aspects of gastric biopsies of patients with AH and the immunohistochemical findings of gastrin-producing G cells. So we studied morphologically and immunohistochemically a group of 38 patients with AH, describing their gastric findings and associated lesion.

Design

All 38 patients had a clinical-laboratory diagnosis of AH with normal fasting hypergastrinaemia and an abnormal rise of gastrinaemia after a standardised meal test. Their 38 antral and 27 body-fundus biopsies, and 5 normal antral and body controls, were stained with H&E, Giemsa stain, polyclonal antiserum anti-Gastrin and a monoclonal antibody anti-Chromogranin A.

Results

Antral biopsies of all 38 patients showed a simple (15) or linear (23) hyperplasia of G cells, whereas only 2 of 27 body biopsies showed a nodular hyperplasia of endocrine cells. In five patients with AH, we found an association with fundic gland polyps (FGPs).

Conclusions

We found in all of the patients with AH a correlation between meal hypergastrinaemia and morphological antral G-cell hyperplasia. Moreover, in five patients, AH was associated with FGPs. We know from literature data that FGPs’ development in Zollinger-Ellison syndrome is statistically associated with hypergastrinaemia. From our present data, we suggest that even in AH the stimulated hypergastrinaemia may have a role in polyp development.
Safety and efficacy of long-term nasobiliary drainage to treat intractable pruritus in cholestatic liver disease
Authors: Appleby V J , Hutchinson J M , Davies M H
Published: September 2014

Introduction

Cholestasis related pruritus, secondary to intrahepatic and/or extrahepatic biliary obstruction is a common manifestation in chronic liver disease. Pruritus is difficult to treat, and results are often suboptimal. A stepwise medical approach is usually employed, followed by a trial molecular adsorbents recirculation system in medication resistant cases. Pruritus resulting in reduced quality of life is a variant syndrome eligible for liver transplantation in the setting of preserved synthetic function.

Aim

This case series describes the use of long-term (LT) nasobiliary drainage (NBD) in three patients with intractable pruritus. This case series tests the hypothesis that LT-NBD could be successfully used to alleviate cholestasis related pruritus, and prevent or delay the need for liver transplantation.

Method

LT-NBD was carried out in three female patients (mean age 43 years) with intractable pruritus secondary to primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) (n=2), and benign recurrent intrahepatic cholestasis (n=1). NBD was carried out through the endoscopic placement of a 6 French Cook Medical nasobiliary catheter into the common bile duct.

Results

Symptomatic relief of pruritus was described by all three cases within 24 h of NBD placement. LT-NBD was stopped in the patient with benign recurrent intrahepatic cholestasis after 8 weeks due to complete resolution of pruritus. In one patient with PBC, LT-NBD was undertaken over 12 months, with complete resolution of pruritus. In the second patient with PBC, LT-NBD was carried out over 14 months, with complete resolution of pruritus.

Discussion

This case series supports the efficacy of LT-NBD in the treatment of intractable pruritus. We propose that NBD offers an accessible modality for the treatment of intractable pruritus in liver disease, potentially avoiding the need for liver transplantation.
Distance-dependent but genetically random mating in a Japanese beech (Fagus crenata) population
Authors: Inanaga Michiko , Nakanishi Atsushi , Torimaru Takeshi , Nishimura Naoyuki , Tomaru Nobuhiro
Published: September 2014

In plant populations, limited seed dispersal may generate the aggregation of related individuals, which is referred to as spatial genetic structure (SGS). If short-distance pollination frequently occurs in populations with SGS, it may lead to frequent mating between related individuals (biparental inbreeding). In this study, we examined patterns of pollen dispersal and inbreeding under such conditions in a population of the wind-pollinated tree species Fagus crenata Blume using microsatellite analyses of adult trees and dispersed seeds. The population showed weak but significant SGS and the pollen dispersal in the population involved a combination of distance-dependent (largely short-range) dispersion at the local scale and long-distance transport. Although SGS and distance-dependent pollination co-occurred, individual inbreeding coefficients for both adults and seeds were almost zero, suggesting that mating generating sound seeds was genetically random with little or no inbreeding, probably because of the weak SGS, long-distance pollen dispersal, and postpollination mechanisms including self-incompatibility and inbreeding depression. The production of sound seeds through genetically random mating may be important for maintaining F. crenata populations because the resulting seedlings may be less affected by inbreeding depression than those resulting from the mating of related individuals.
Effects of ACC deaminase containing rhizobacteria on plant growth and expression of Toc GTPases in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) under salt stress
Authors: Yan Jianmin , Smith Matthew D. , Glick Bernard R. , Liang Yan
Published: September 2014

The bacterial enzyme 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase plays a key role in lowering plant stress ethylene levels, thereby stimulating plant growth. The present study aims to evaluate whether the ACC deaminase producing plant growth promoting rhizobacterium (PGPR) Pseudomonas putida UW4 can maintain and promote plant growth in saline environments and modulate the expression of chloroplast import apparatus genes in salt-treated tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum L.). Tomatoes were grown in the presence and absence of the PGPR and shoot length, fresh and dry mass, and chlorophyll concentration were measured after 6 weeks. The expression levels of the Toc GTPases of the chloroplast protein import apparatus were measured using quantitative real-time PCR. The results showed that the rhizobacteria significantly increased shoot length, shoot fresh and dry mass, and the chlorophyll concentration of tomato seedlings grown in the presence of up to 90 mmol·L–1NaCl. Analysis showed that the expression of most of the Toc GTPase genes was upregulated in tomato seedlings after 6 weeks of exposure to NaCl, which may help facilitate the import into chloroplasts of proteins that are involved in the stress response.
Pyrosequencing assessment of rhizosphere fungal communities from a soybean field
Authors: Sugiyama Akifumi , Ueda Yoshikatsu , Takase Hisabumi , Yazaki Kazufumi
Published: September 2014

Soil fungal communities play essential roles in soil ecosystems, affecting plant growth and health. Rhizosphere bacterial communities have been shown to undergo dynamic changes during plant growth. This study utilized 454 pyrosequencing to analyze rhizosphere fungal communities during soybean growth. Members of the Ascomycota and Basiodiomycota dominated in all soils. There were no statistically significant changes at the phylum level among growth stages or between bulk and rhizosphere soils. In contrast, the relative abundance of small numbers of operational taxonomic units, 4 during growth and 28 between bulk and rhizosphere soils, differed significantly. Clustering analysis revealed that rhizosphere fungal communities were different from bulk fungal communities during growth stages of soybeans. Taken together, these results suggest that in contrast to rhizosphere bacterial communities, most constituents of rhizosphere fungal communities remained stable during soybean growth.
T7flavor symmetry scheme for understanding neutrino mass and mixing in 3-3-1 model with neutral leptons
Authors: Vien V. V.
Published: September 2014

We construct a new version for the 3-3-1 model based on T7flavor symmetry where the left-handed leptons under T7differ from those of our previous work while the SU (3)C⊗ SU (3)L⊗ U (1)Xgauge symmetry is retained. The flavor mixing patterns and mass splitting are obtained without perturbation. The realistic lepton mixing can be obtained if both the direction of breakings T7→Z3and Z3→{ Identity } are taken place in neutrino sector. Maximal CP violation is predicted and Cabibbo–Kobayashi–Maskawa (CKM) matrix is the identity matrix at the tree-level.
Simple neutrino mass matrix with only two free parameters
Authors: Nishiura Hiroyuki , Fukuyama Takeshi
Published: September 2014

A simple form of neutrino mass matrix which has only two free parameters is proposed from a phenomenological point of view. Using this mass matrix, we succeed to reproduce all the observed values for the Maki–Nakagawa–Sakata (MNS) lepton mixing angles and the neutrino mass squared difference ratio. Our model also predicts δν = 155° for the Dirac CP violating phase in the lepton sector and the effective neutrino mass 〈m 〉 = 6.3×10-3 eV in the neutrinoless double beta decay.
Nonperturbative aspects of the two-dimensional massive gauged Thirring model
Authors: Bufalo R. , Pimentel B. M.
Published: September 2014

In this paper, we present a study based on the use of functional techniques on the issue of insertions of massive fermionic fields in the two-dimensional massless gauged Thirring model. As it will be shown, the fermionic mass contributes to the Green's functions in a surprisingly simple way, leaving therefore the original nonperturbative nature of the massless results still intact in the massive theory. Also, by means of complementarity, we present a second discussion of the massive model, now at its bosonic representation.
Test Case Selection: A Systematic Literature Review
Authors: Narciso Everton Note , Delamaro Márcio Eduardo , Nunes Fátima De Lourdes Dos Santos
Published: September 2014

Time and resource constraints should be taken into account in software testing activities, and thus optimizing the test suite is fundamental in the development process. In this context, the test case selection aims to eliminate redundant or unnecessary test data, which is crucial for the definition of test strategies. This paper presents a systematic review on the test case selection conducted through a selection of 449 articles published in leading journals and conferences in Computer Science. We addressed the state-of-art by collecting and comparing existing evidence on the methods used in the different software domains and the methods used to evaluate the test case selection. Our study identified 32 papers that met the research objectives, which featured 18 different selection methods and were evaluated through 71 case studies. The most commonly reported methods are adaptive random testing, genetic algorithms and greedy algorithm. Most approaches rely on heuristics, such as diversity of test cases and code or model coverage. This paper also discusses the key concepts and approaches, areas of application and evaluation metrics inherent to the methods of test case selection available in the literature.
Optimistic limits of Kashaev invariants and complex volumes of hyperbolic links
Authors: Cho Jinseok , Kim Hyuk , Kim Seonhwa
Published: September 2014

Yokota suggested an optimistic limit method of the Kashaev invariants of hyperbolic knots and showed it determines the complex volumes of the knots. His method is very effective and gives almost combinatorial method of calculating the complex volumes. However, to describe the triangulation of the knot complement, he restricted his method to knot diagrams with certain conditions. Although these restrictions are general enough for any hyperbolic knots, we have to select a good diagram of the knot to apply his theory. In this paper, we suggest more combinatorial way to calculate the complex volumes of hyperbolic links using the modified optimistic limit method. This new method works for any link diagrams, and it is more intuitive, easy to handle and has natural geometric meaning.
A relativistic mean field study of multi-strange system
Authors: Ikram M. , Singh S. K. , Usmani A. A. , Patra S. K.
Published: September 2014

In this paper, we study the binding energies, radii, single-particle energies, spin-orbit potential and density profile for multi-strange hypernuclei in the range of light mass to superheavy mass region within the relativistic mean field (RMF) theory. The stability of multi-strange hypernuclei as a function of introduced hyperons (Λ and Σ) is investigated. The neutron, lambda and sigma mean potentials are presented for light to superheavy hypernuclei. The inclusion of hyperons affects the nucleon, lambda and sigma spin-orbit potentials significantly. The bubble structure of nuclei and corresponding hypernuclei is studied. Nucleon and lambda halo structures are also investigated. A large class of bound multi-strange systems formed from the combination of nucleons and hyperons (n, p, Λ, Σ+ and n, p, Λ, Σ-) is suggested in the region of superheavy hypernuclei which might be stable against the strong decay. These multi-strange systems might be produced in heavy-ion reactions.
DEVELOPMENT OF FRACTAL ULTRA-HYDROPHOBIC COATING FILMS TO PREVENT WATER VAPOR DEWING AND TO DELAY FROSTING
Authors: QUAN YUN-YUN , JIANG PEI-GUO , ZHANG LI-ZHI
Published: September 2014

Superhydrophobic films fabricated on copper and aluminum surfaces have potential applications to solve water condensation and frosting problems on chilled ceiling system. The rough surfaces of copper foils obtained by solution immersion method exhibit the existence of fractal structures. The hydrophobicity of copper surfaces is enhanced with fractal structures. The relationship between contact angles (CAs) and the fractal dimensions (FDs) for surface roughness of Cu samples with different etching time is investigated. Moisture condensation and frosting experiments on the two kinds of surfaces are conducted in natural environment under different chilling temperatures. During condensation, micro water condensate droplets drift down the surface like dust floating in the air. Several larger condensate droplets about 1–2 mm appear on the substrates after 3 h condensation. This continuous jumping motion of the condensate will be beneficial in delaying frosting. The results demonstrate that dense nanostructures on copper surfaces are superior to loose lattice-like microstructures on aluminum surfaces for preventing the formation of large droplets condensate and in delaying the icing. The large water droplets of 2–3 mm in diameter that would form on a common metal foil are sharply decreased to dozens of microns and small droplets are formed on a modified surface, which will then drift down like a fog.
FRACTAL MODEL FOR SURFACE EROSION OF COHESIVE SEDIMENTS
Authors: XU YONGFU , JIANG HAO , CHU FEIFEI , LIU CHUANXIN
Published: September 2014

On the basis of the physical interaction of turbulent bursts with cohesive sediments, a fractal model is proposed for the erosion threshold and the erosion rate of the surface erosion. The existed models for the surface erosion of cohesive sediments in general are lacking in considering the aggregate size distribution in cohesive sediments. In this paper, the aggregate structure within cohesive sediments is described by the fractal model. The relationship is developed for the erosion threshold and the erosion rate as functions of the median diameter and excess density from the fractal model. A stochastic formulation for the surface erosion of cohesive sediments is incorporated in the proposed relations. The proposed relations from the fractal model for aggregates are validated against a bulk number of experimental data. The proposed relations have a series of advantages over other methods of direct measuring erodibility.
FRACTAL PARAMETERS OF PORE SPACE FROM CT IMAGES OF SOILS UNDER CONTRASTING MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
Authors: MUÑOZ F. J. , SAN JOSÉ MARTÍNEZ F. , CANIEGO F. J.
Published: September 2014

Soil structure plays an important role in flow and transport phenomena, and a quantitative characterization of the spatial heterogeneity of the pore space geometry is beneficial for prediction of soil physical properties. Morphological features such as pore-size distribution, pore space volume or pore–solid surface can be altered by different soil management practices. Irregularity of these features and their changes can be described using fractal geometry. In this study, we focus primarily on the characterization of soil pore space as a 3D geometrical shape by fractal analysis and on the ability of fractal dimensions to differentiate between two a priori different soil structures. We analyze X-ray computed tomography (CT) images of soils samples from two nearby areas with contrasting management practices. Within these two different soil systems, samples were collected from three depths. Fractal dimensions of the pore-size distributions were different depending on soil use and averaged values also differed at each depth. Fractal dimensions of the volume and surface of the pore space were lower in the tilled soil than in the natural soil but their standard deviations were higher in the former as compared to the latter. Also, it was observed that soil use was a factor that had a statistically significant effect on fractal parameters. Fractal parameters provide useful complementary information about changes in soil structure due to changes in soil management.
PREPARATION AND PROPERTIES OF HNT–SiO2COMPOUNDED SHEAR THICKENING FLUID
Authors: WANG YAN , ZHU YAOFENG , FU YAQIN
Published: September 2014

A novel shear thickening fluid (STF) obtained from a halloysite nanotube (HNT) and SiO2compounded system was successfully prepared using HNT and nano- SiO2as dispersed phases and polyethylene glycol 200 (PEG200) as the dispersion medium. The steady rheological behavior of the STF was investigated using a high-speed rotational rheometer, and the dispersion states of SiO2and HNT in PEG200 were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Results show that HNT and SiO2coexisted in the compounded system, and presented a special state that was both uniformly dispersed and partially enriched. The shear thickening effect of the STF was significantly enhanced by the enrichment of SiO2loaded on the surface of HNTs in the compounded system.
JUST HOW GOOD ARE THE TOP THREE JOURNALS IN FINANCE? AN ASSESSMENT BASED ON QUANTITY AND QUALITY CITATIONS
Authors: CHANG CHIA-LIN , MCALEER MICHAEL
Published: September 2014

The paper is concerned with ranking academic journal quality and research impact in Finance, based on the widely-used Thomson Reuters ISI (2013) Web of Science citations database (hereafter ISI). The paper analyses the 89 leading international journals in the ISI category of "Business–Finance" using quantifiable Research Assessment Measures (RAMs). The analysis highlights the similarities and differences in various RAMs, all of which are based on alternative transformations of journal citations and impact. Alternative RAMs may be calculated annually or updated daily to determine the citations frequency of published papers that are cited in journals listed in ISI. The RAMs include the classic 2-year impact factor including journal self citations (2YIF), 2-year impact factor excluding journal self citations (2YIF*), 5-year impact factor including journal self citations (5YIF), Immediacy including journal self citations, Eigenfactor (or Journal Influence), Article Influence (AI), h-index, Papers Ignored-By Even The Authors (PI-BETA), Self-citation Threshold Approval Rating (STAR), 5YD2 (namely, 5YIF divided by 2YIF), Escalating Self Citations (ESC) and Index of Citation Quality (ICQ). The paper calculates the harmonic mean (HM) of the ranks of up to 16 RAMs. It is shown that emphasizing 2YIF to the exclusion of other informative RAMs can lead to a misleading evaluation of journal quality and impact relative to the HM of the ranks. The analysis of the 89 ISI journals in Finance makes it clear that there are three leading journals in Finance, namely Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics and Review of Financial Studies, which form an exclusive club in terms of the RAMs that measure journal quality and impact based on alternative measures of journal citations. The next two journals in Finance in terms of overall quality and impact are Journal of Accounting and Economics and Journal of Monetary Economics. As Accounting does not have a separate classification in ISI, the tables of rankings given in the paper are also used to rank the top 3 journals in the sub-category of Accounting in the ISI category of "Business – Finance", namely Journal of Accounting and Economics, Accounting Review, and Journal of Accounting Research.
Reach for gold
Authors: Vogel Tobias , Heise Arvid , Draisbach Uwe , Lange Dustin , Naumann Felix
Published: September 2014

Duplicates in a database are one of the prime causes of poor data quality and are at the same time among the most difficult data quality problems to alleviate. To detect and remove such duplicates, many commercial and academic products and methods have been developed. The evaluation of such systems is usually in need of pre-classified results. Such gold standards are often expensive to come by (much manual classification is necessary), not representative (too small or too synthetic), and proprietary and thus preclude repetition (company-internal data). This lament has been uttered in many papers and even more paper reviews.

The proposedannealing standardis a structured set of duplicate detection results, some of which are manually verified and some of which are merely validated by many classifiers. As more and more classifiers are evaluated against the annealing standard, more and more results are verified and validation becomes more and more confident. We formally define gold, silver, and the annealing standard and their maintenance. Experiments show how quickly an annealing standard converges to a gold standard. Finally, we provide an annealing standard for 750,000 CDs to the duplicate detection community.
Compositional verification of a medical device system
Authors: Murugesan Anitha , Whalen Michael W. , Rayadurgam Sanjai , Heimdahl Mats P.E.
Published: September 2014

Complex systems are by necessity hierarchically organized. Decomposition into subsystems allows for intellectual control, as well as enabling different subsystems to be created by distinct teams. This decomposition affects both requirements and architecture. The architecture describes the structure and this affects how requirements ``flow down'' to each subsystem. Moreover, discoveries in the design process may affect the requirements. Demonstrating that a complex system satisfies its requirements when the subsystems are composed is a challenging problem.

In this paper, we present a medical device case example where we apply an iterative approach to architecture and verification based on software architectural models. We represent the hierarchical composition of the system in the Architecture Analysis and Design Language (AADL), and use an extension to the AADL language to describe the requirements at different levels of abstraction for compositional verification. The component-level behavior for the model is described in Simulink/Stateflow. We assemble proofs of system level properties by using the Simulink Design Verifier to establish component-level properties and an open-source plug-in for the OSATE AADL environment to perform the compositional verification of the architecture. This combination of verification tools allows us to iteratively explore design and verification of detailed behavioral models, and to scale formal analysis to large software systems.
Bringing safe, dynamic parallel programming to the spark verifiable subset of ada
Authors: Taft S. Tucker
Published: September 2014

SPARK is a verifiable subset of Ada which has been in use for over 20 years for developing the most critical parts of complex real-time applications [1][2]. A restricted subset of the Ada tasking model is included in the newer versions of SPARK ("RavenSPARK"), but this is a very static model, with a fixed number of tasks and minimal task interaction [3]. In this presentation we will describe an extension of SPARK to support safe highly parallel programming, targeted at the growing number of multicore and manycore processors appearing on the market today.