bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Brain natriuretic peptide and other cardiac markers predicting left ventricular remodeling and function two years after myocardial infarction
Authors: Grybauskienė Regina , Karčiauskaitė Dovilė , Braždžionytė Julija , Janėnaitė Jūratė , Bertašienė Zita , Grybauskas Pranas
Published: July 2018

Background. Left ventricular remodeling is a complex pathologic process of progressive left ventricular dilatation, leading to dysfunction and heart failure in patients after myocardial infarction. Objective. To evaluate biochemical markers, reflecting cardiac remodeling process after first myocardial infarction and compare those markers with clinical characteristics of left ventricular remodeling. Material and methods. Brain natriuretic peptide, troponin I, creatine kinase, creatine kinase MB mass, lactate dehydrogenase levels were measured in 30 patients with acute myocardial infarction on days 1, 2, 3–7 . Brain natriuretic peptide was measured at 3 months, 6 months, and 2 years after myocardial infarction. Echocardiographic parameters of left ventricular remodeling were determined in acute phase (day 1–3), at 3 months, 6 months, and 2 years after MI. Results. In acute phase, brain natriuretic peptide level progressively increased according to worsening of left ventricular geometry: in normal left ventricle geometry group, brain natriuretic peptide level was 84.1 (58.7–121) pg/mL, in concentric remodeling group – 125 (69.2–165) pg/mL, in concentric hypertrophy group – 128 (74–368) pg/mL, and in eccentric hypertrophy group – 470 (459–494) pg/mL, P=0.02. Patients who had increased left ventricular end diastolic diameter index during 2-year period had higher brain natriuretic peptide level in the acute phase (584 (249–865) pg/mL vs. 120 (67–202) pg/mL, P=0.04) and also higher peak lactate dehydrogenase and troponin I levels. Conclusions. Brain natriuretic peptide level in acute phase of myocardial infarction is strongly associated with the markers of myocardial injury and related to left ventricular geometry changes and remodeling. Brain natriuretic peptide together with troponin I levels in acute phase of myocardial infarction might be useful in predicting subsequent cardiac function.
The quality of life of children suffering from oncologic diseases in Lithuania
Authors: Makari Joana , Zaborskis Apolinaras , Labanauskas Liutauras , Ragelienė Lina
Published: July 2018

Nearly 80 new cases of pediatric cancer are diagnosed in Lithuania each year. Since 2005, we have been conducting a study evaluating the quality of life of children suffering from cancer in Lithuania. The participants were children between the ages of 2 and 18 years, diagnosed with oncologic diseases during the period from March 2005 to March 2006, and their parents. The PedsQLTM (Pediatric Quality of Life InventoryTM) was used. This questionnaire is specifically designed for investigating the quality of life in children between the ages of 2 and 18 years. The PedsQL questionnaire is designed according to the level of cognitive activity of children and applied to children of four age groups: 2–4, 5–7, 8–12, and 13–18 years of age. The questionnaires were completed by children between the ages of 8 and 18 years in addition to parents of children from all age groups. The families of 63 children suffering from cancer participated in the study. A total of 44 children and teenagers between the ages of 5 and 18 years and 53 parents (mother, father, close relative) filled out the questionnaire. Data from the study showed that children suffering from cancer (irrespective of their age) in addition to their parents evaluated their physical health as being worse than their psychosocial health. The parents had the opinion that children from all age groups experienced negative emotions: the younger children were afraid of giving blood for tests, whereas the older children were worried about the future. In the oldest age group of participants (13–18 years), children felt disease-related fatigue more often than their younger counterparts.
Comprehensive Metabolomics Analysis of Xueshuan Xinmaining Tablet in Blood Stasis Model Rats Using UPLC-Q/TOF-MS
Authors: Tan Jing , Wang Cuizhu , Zhu Hailin , Zhou Baisong , Xiong Lingxin , Wang Fang , Li Pingya , Liu Jinping
Published: July 2018

Blood stasis syndrome (BSS) is one of the most common Chinese medicine patterns in coronary heart disease. Our previous work proved that Xueshuan Xinmaining Tablet (XXT) could treat blood stasis through regulating the expression of F13a1, Car1 and Tbxa2r. In the current study, the effect and mechanism of XXT on BSS was comprehensively and holistically investigated based on a metabolomics approach. Urine and plasma samples of 10 BBS rats treated with XXT (XT), 9 BSS model rats (BM) and 11 normal control (NC) rats were collected and then determined by UPLC-Q/TOP-MS. Multivariate analyses were applied to distinguish differentiate urinary and plasma metabolite patterns between three groups. Results showed that a clear separation of three groups was achieved. XT group was located between BM group and NC group, and showing a tendency of recovering to NC group, which was consistent with the results of hemorheological studies. Some significantly changed metabolites like cortexolone, 3α,21-dihydroxy-5β-pregnane-11,20-dione and 19S-hete and leukotriene A4, chiefly involved in steroid hormone biosynthesis, arachidonic acid metabolism and lipid metabolism, were found and identified to explain the mechanism. These potential markers and their corresponding pathways will help explain the mechanism of BSS and XXT treatment. This work also proves that metabolomics is effective in traditional Chinese medicinal research.
Effect of Silicon Fertilization on Crop Yield Quantity and Quality—A Literature Review in Europe
Authors: Artyszak Arkadiusz
Published: July 2018

This paper presents a research review of the effect of silicon fertilization on the yield quantity and quality in the last 15 years. The study focuses on plant species grown in Europe: cereals, soybean, rapeseed, sugar beet, potato, meadows, berries and vegetables, and orchard and ornamental plants. The use of silicon is most common in the production of vegetables in greenhouses. However, the use of this element for the fertilization of agricultural plants is rare. Positive prospects of silicon fertilization are associated with foliar application, which is much cheaper and more convenient to use than soil fertilization. Foliar application of silicon has a biostimulative effect, and the best results are observed in stressful conditions for plants such as salinity, deficiency or excess of water, high and low temperature, and the strong pressure of diseases and pests, etc. Based on the results of previous studies, it can be concluded that foliar nutrition should be introduced into production as a standard treatment in the crop management of many species of agricultural plants. It can help farmers to increase the yield of crops. It is also important that it is safe for the environment, which is particularly important in Europe.
Erratum: Khan, Z., et al. Quantitative Estimation of Wheat Phenotyping Traits Using Ground and Aerial Imagery. Remote Sens. 2018, 10, 950
Authors:   Remote Sensing Editorial Office
Published: July 2018

After publication of the research paper [1], the Remote Sensing editorial office noticed errors and wish to make the following corrections.[...]
Damage Detection of L-Shaped Concrete Filled Steel Tube (L-CFST) Columns under Cyclic Loading Using Embedded Piezoceramic Transducers
Authors: Zhang Juan , Li Yong , Du Guofeng , Song Gangbing
Published: July 2018

L-shaped concrete filled steel tube (L-CFST) columns are used frequently in civil engineering, and the concrete damage inside the L-CFST column is difficult to monitor. This research aims to develop a new method to monitor the internal concrete damage in the L-CFST column by using embedded piezoceramic smart aggregates (SAs) under low frequency cyclic loading. The SA enabled active method is used to monitor the concrete damages near the bottom of the L-CFST columns, and the wavelet packet analysis is used to establish a damage index, which is used to analyze the acquired data. During the experiment, three L-CFST columns with different wall thickness of the steel tube were tested. The experimental results find that the structural damage indices under the low-frequency cyclic loading are basically consistent with the results of the hysteretic curves and the skeleton curve of the specimens, and are in good agreement with the experimental phenomena. We conclude that the use of smart aggregate can directly and clearly reflect the damage process of the concrete core, demonstrating the feasibility of using piezoceramic smart aggregates to monitor the internal concrete damage of the L-CFST column.
Inverse Finite Element Method for Reconstruction of Deformation in the Gantry Structure of Heavy-Duty Machine Tool Using FBG Sensors
Authors: Liu Mingyao , Zhang Xiong , Song Han , Zhou Shiguang , Zhou Zude , Zhou Weijian
Published: July 2018

The deformation of the gantry structure in heavy-duty machine tools is an important factor that affects machining accuracy. In order to realize real-time monitoring of the deformation of the gantry structure, which is statically indeterminate and complex in shape, the reconstruction algorithm based on inverse Finite Element Method (iFEM) is proposed and fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors are used to measure strain data. The elements of the gantry structure are divided and the displacement functions of each element are determined. The shape function is obtained by substituting degree of freedoms (DOF) of element nodes into displacement functions. Through a differential method, the relation between strain and DOF of element nodes is established by the strain matrices. Subsequently, the DOF of element nodes are obtained by minimizing an error functional defined as the least-squares error between the analytic strain data and the corresponding experimental strains. Considering coordinate transformation and problem-specific displacement boundary conditions, the total deformation of the gantry structure is obtained. Following this, the experiment was carried out. The deformation simulated by ANSYS was used to replace the experimentally measured deformation and then compared with the deformation reconstructed by iFEM under the same loading condition. The accuracy of iFEM for reconstructing deformation of the gantry structure in heavy-duty machine tools is verified. It provides a new view for improving the machining precision of heavy-duty machine tools.
Cost–Benefit Optimization of Structural Health Monitoring Sensor Networks
Authors: Capellari Giovanni , Chatzi Eleni , Mariani Stefano
Published: July 2018

Structural health monitoring (SHM) allows the acquisition of information on the structural integrity of any mechanical system by processing data, measured through a set of sensors, in order to estimate relevant mechanical parameters and indicators of performance. Herein we present a method to perform the cost–benefit optimization of a sensor network by defining the density, type, and positioning of the sensors to be deployed. The effectiveness (benefit) of an SHM system may be quantified by means of information theory, namely through the expected Shannon information gain provided by the measured data, which allows the inherent uncertainties of the experimental process (i.e., those associated with the prediction error and the parameters to be estimated) to be accounted for. In order to evaluate the computationally expensive Monte Carlo estimator of the objective function, a framework comprising surrogate models (polynomial chaos expansion), model order reduction methods (principal component analysis), and stochastic optimization methods is introduced. Two optimization strategies are proposed: the maximization of the information provided by the measured data, given the technological, identifiability, and budgetary constraints; and the maximization of the information–cost ratio. The application of the framework to a large-scale structural problem, the Pirelli tower in Milan, is presented, and the two comprehensive optimization methods are compared.
A Non-Label and Enzyme-Free Sensitive Detection Method for Thrombin Based on Simulation-Assisted DNA Assembly
Authors: Zhang Yingying , Wang Luhui , Wang Yanan , Dong Yafei
Published: July 2018

Taking advantage of the high selectivity of aptamers and enzyme-free catalyzed hairpin assembly (CHA) amplification strategy, we herein describe a label-free and enzyme-free sensitive fluorescent and colorimetric strategy for thrombin detection in this paper. In the presence of target, the corresponding aptamer of the partial dsDNA probes will bind to the target and liberate the initiation strand, which is artfully designed as the “on” switch for hairpin assembly. Moreover, the displaced initiation strand partakes in a multi-cycle process and produces numerous G-quadruplexes, which have a remarkable enhancement in fluorescent/colorimetric signal from NMM (N-methyl-mesoporphyrin IX) and TMB (3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine), respectively. The proposed amplification strategy for thrombin detection is of high sensitivity, down to 2.4 pM, and also achieves colorimetric signals that are able to be distinguished by naked eye. More importantly, the thermodynamics of interacting DNA strands used in our work, and the process of toehold strand displacement-driven assembly are simulated before biological testing, verifying the feasibility theoretically, and simplifying the subsequent actual experiments. Therefore, our approach and simulation have a certain potential application in biomarker detection and quantitatively monitor for disease diagnosis.
An Electronic Nose Based Method for the Discrimination of Weathered Petroleum-Derived Products
Authors: Aliaño-González María José , Ferreiro-González Marta , Barbero Gerardo F. , Ayuso Jesús , Álvarez José A. , Palma Miguel , Barroso Carmelo G.
Published: July 2018

In recent years pollution due to hydrocarbon spills has increased markedly as a result of the numerous advances in technologies and industrial processes. Anthropogenic activities (accidental or illegal) are responsible for most of these incidents. In some cases, the spills are not detected at the moment they occur and the contaminants are subjected to different degradation phenomena that may change the chemical composition of the hydrocarbon over time. An incorrect or ineffective identification of the spill could lead to significant consequences, bearing in mind that most spills are hazardous to the environment. In the present work the capacity of the analytical technique based on the Electronic Nose (eNose) combined with chemometrics in the identification and discrimination of different weathered petroleum-derived products (PDPs) was studied. Different volumes (40 μL and 80 μL) of PDPs (gasoline, diesel, and paraffin) were poured onto different supports (wood, cork, paper, and cotton sheet) and subjected to a natural weathering process by evaporation for one month. The porosity of the support was also studied. The application of linear discriminant analysis allowed the full discrimination of the samples according to the presence/absence of PDP and a 97.7% of correct discrimination of the different PDPs regardless of the weathering time, support or volume used. The results show that the system is capable of detecting and discriminating the presence of petroleum-derived products in any of the situations studied.
Spectral Imaging Analysis for Ultrasensitive Biomolecular Detection Using Gold-Capped Nanowire Arrays
Authors: Tai Yi-Hsin , Fu Po-Han , Lee Kuang-Li , Wei Pei-Kuen
Published: July 2018

A spectral integration combined with a threshold method for the analysis of spectral scanning surface plasmon resonance (SPR) images can significantly increase signal recognition at low concentration of antibody solution. The 12-well SPR sensing plates consisted of gold-capped nanowire arrays with 500-nm period, 80-nm linewidth and 50-nm gold thickness which were used for generating multiple SPR images. A threshold method is introduced to eliminate background noises in spectral scanning images. Combining spectral integration and the threshold method, the detection limit of antibody concentration was 1.23 ng/mL. Using multiple-well SPR sensing plates and the proposed analytical method, multiple kinetic responses with spectral and spatial information on different sensing areas can be sensitively measured.
A Personalized Healthcare Monitoring System for Diabetic Patients by Utilizing BLE-Based Sensors and Real-Time Data Processing
Authors: Alfian Ganjar , Syafrudin Muhammad , Ijaz Muhammad Fazal , Syaekhoni M. Alex , Fitriyani Norma Latif , Rhee Jongtae
Published: July 2018

Current technology provides an efficient way of monitoring the personal health of individuals. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)-based sensors can be considered as a solution for monitoring personal vital signs data. In this study, we propose a personalized healthcare monitoring system by utilizing a BLE-based sensor device, real-time data processing, and machine learning-based algorithms to help diabetic patients to better self-manage their chronic condition. BLEs were used to gather users’ vital signs data such as blood pressure, heart rate, weight, and blood glucose (BG) from sensor nodes to smartphones, while real-time data processing was utilized to manage the large amount of continuously generated sensor data. The proposed real-time data processing utilized Apache Kafka as a streaming platform and MongoDB to store the sensor data from the patient. The results show that commercial versions of the BLE-based sensors and the proposed real-time data processing are sufficiently efficient to monitor the vital signs data of diabetic patients. Furthermore, machine learning–based classification methods were tested on a diabetes dataset and showed that a Multilayer Perceptron can provide early prediction of diabetes given the user’s sensor data as input. The results also reveal that Long Short-Term Memory can accurately predict the future BG level based on the current sensor data. In addition, the proposed diabetes classification and BG prediction could be combined with personalized diet and physical activity suggestions in order to improve the health quality of patients and to avoid critical conditions in the future.
Internet-Of-Things in Motion: A UAV Coalition Model for Remote Sensing in Smart Cities
Authors: Ismail Adiel , Bagula Bigomokero , Tuyishimire Emmanuel
Published: July 2018

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones are increasingly used in cities to provide service tasks that are too dangerous, expensive or difficult for human beings. Drones are also used in cases where a task can be performed more economically and or more efficiently than if done by humans. These include remote sensing tasks where drones can be required to form coalitions by pooling their resources to meet the service requirements at different locations of interest in a city. During such coalition formation, finding the shortest path from a source to a location of interest is key to efficient service delivery. For fixed-wing UAVs, Dubins curves can be applied to find the shortest flight path. When a UAV flies to a location of interest, the angle or orientation of the UAV upon its arrival is often not important. In such a case, a simplified version of the Dubins curve consisting of two instead of three parts can be used. This paper proposes a novel model for UAV coalition and an algorithm derived from basic geometry that generates a path derived from the original Dubins curve for application in remote sensing missions of fixed-wing UAVs. The algorithm is tested by incorporating it into three cooperative coalition formation algorithms. The performance of the model is evaluated by varying the number of types of resources and the sensor ranges of the UAVs to reveal the relevance and practicality of the proposed model.
Toward a More Complete, Flexible, and Safer Speed Planning for Autonomous Driving via Convex Optimization
Authors: Zhang Yu , Chen Huiyan , Waslander Steven L. , Yang Tian , Zhang Sheng , Xiong Guangming , Liu Kai
Published: July 2018

In this paper, we present a complete, flexible and safe convex-optimization-based method to solve speed planning problems over a fixed path for autonomous driving in both static and dynamic environments. Our contributions are five fold. First, we summarize the most common constraints raised in various autonomous driving scenarios as the requirements for speed planner developments and metrics to measure the capacity of existing speed planners roughly for autonomous driving. Second, we introduce a more general, flexible and complete speed planning mathematical model including all the summarized constraints compared to the state-of-the-art speed planners, which addresses limitations of existing methods and is able to provide smooth, safety-guaranteed, dynamic-feasible, and time-efficient speed profiles. Third, we emphasize comfort while guaranteeing fundamental motion safety without sacrificing the mobility of cars by treating the comfort box constraint as a semi-hard constraint in optimization via slack variables and penalty functions, which distinguishes our method from existing ones. Fourth, we demonstrate that our problem preserves convexity with the added constraints, thus global optimality of solutions is guaranteed. Fifth, we showcase how our formulation can be used in various autonomous driving scenarios by providing several challenging case studies in both static and dynamic environments. A range of numerical experiments and challenging realistic speed planning case studies have depicted that the proposed method outperforms existing speed planners for autonomous driving in terms of constraint type covered, optimality, safety, mobility and flexibility.
Concentrated Phosphorus Recovery from Food Grade Animal Bones
Authors: Someus Edward , Pugliese Massimo
Published: July 2018

Disrupted nutrient recycling is a significant problem for Europe, while phosphorus and nitrogen are wasted instead of being used for plant nutrition. Mineral phosphate is a critical raw material, which may contain environmentally hazardous elements such as cadmium and uranium. Therefore, phosphorus recovery from agricultural and food industrial by-product streams is a critically important key priority. Phosphorus recovery from food grade animal bone by-products have been researched since 2002 and a specific zero emission autothermal carbonization system, called 3R, has been developed in economical industrial scale, providing the animal bone char product (ABC) as output. Different animal bone by-products were tested under different conditions at 400 kg/h throughput capacity in the continuously operated 3R system. Different material core treatment temperatures (between >300 °C and <850 °C) were combined with different residence times under industrial productive processing conditions. It was demonstrated that material core treatment temperature <850 °C with 20 min residence time is necessary to achieve high quality ABC with useful agronomic value. The output ABC product has concentrated >30% phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5), making it a high quality innovative fertilizer.
Expression of Genes Involved in Stress, Toxicity, Inflammation, and Autoimmunity in Relation to Cadmium, Mercury, and Lead in Human Blood: A Pilot Study
Authors: Monastero Rebecca N. , Vacchi-Suzzi Caterina , Marsit Carmen , Demple Bruce , Meliker Jaymie R.
Published: July 2018

There is growing evidence of immunotoxicity related to exposure to toxic trace metals, and an examination of gene expression patterns in peripheral blood samples may provide insights into the potential development of these outcomes. This pilot study aimed to correlate the blood levels of three heavy metals (mercury, cadmium, and lead) with differences in gene expression in 24 participants from the Long Island Study of Seafood Consumption. We measured the peripheral blood mRNA expression of 98 genes that are implicated in stress, toxicity, inflammation, and autoimmunity. We fit multiple linear regression models with multiple testing correction to correlate exposure biomarkers with mRNA abundance. The mean blood Hg in this cohort was 16.1 µg/L, which was nearly three times the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reference dose (5.8 µg/L). The levels of the other metals were consistent with those in the general population: the mean Pb was 26.8 µg/L, and the mean Cd was 0.43 µg/L. The expression of three genes was associated with mercury, four were associated with cadmium, and five were associated with lead, although none were significant after multiple testing correction. Little evidence was found to associate metal exposure with mRNA abundance for the tested genes that were associated with stress, toxicity, inflammation, or autoimmunity. Future work should provide a more complete picture of physiological reactions to heavy metal exposure.
Anti-Infectivity against Herpes Simplex Virus and Selected Microbes and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Compounds Isolated from Eucalyptus globulus Labill.
Authors: Brezáni Viliam , Leláková Veronika , Hassan Sherif T. S. , Berchová-Bímová Kateřina , Nový Pavel , Klouček Pavel , Maršík Petr , Dall’Acqua Stefano , Hošek Jan , Šmejkal Karel
Published: July 2018

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) causes numerous mild-to-serious human diseases, including mucocutaneous herpes infections and life-threatening herpes encephalitis. Moreover, herpes viral lesions can be complicated by inflammation and secondary bacterial infections. The development of resistance to antiviral drugs along with the undesirable side effects of these drugs are relevant argue for the development of new anti-HSV drugs with diverse mechanisms of action. Eucalyptus extracts have been used for decades to combat various infectious diseases. We isolated and studied 12 pure compounds and one mixture of two constitutional isomers from the leaves and twigs of E. globulus. The structures were identified by spectroscopic methods (NMR, HR-MS, IR) and all of them were tested for antiherpetic activity against the replication of antigen types HSV-1 and HSV-2. Tereticornate A (12) (IC50: 0.96 μg/mL; selectivity index CC50/IC50: 218.8) showed the strongest activity in the anti-HSV-1 assay, even greater than acyclovir (IC50: 1.92 μg/mL; selectivity index CC50/IC50: 109.4), a standard antiviral drug. Cypellocarpin C (5) (EC50: 0.73 μg/mL; selectivity index CC50/EC50: 287.7) showed the most potent anti-HSV-2 activity, also more intensive than acyclovir (EC50: 1.75 μg/mL; selectivity index CC50/EC50: 120.0). The antimicrobial activity of the isolated compounds was also evaluated against the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the yeast Candida albicans. The anti-inflammatory potential was examined using LPS-stimulated THP-1-XBlue™-MD2-CD14 and THP-1 macrophages and focusing on the influences of the NF-κB/AP-1 activity and the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and TNF-α.
Bayesian Modeling of Flood Frequency Analysis in Bangladesh Using Hamiltonian Monte Carlo Techniques
Authors: Alam Md Ashraful , Farnham Craig , Emura Kazuo
Published: July 2018

In recent years, several Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods have been proposed in extreme value analysis (EVA) for assessing the flood risk in a certain location. In this study, the Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC) method was employed to obtain the approximations to the posterior marginal distribution of the Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) model by using annual maximum discharges in two major river basins in Bangladesh. As a comparison, the well-known Metropolis-Hasting (MH) algorithm was also applied, but did not converge well and yielded skewness values opposite those of HMC and the statistical characteristic of the data sets. The discharge records of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers in Bangladesh for the past 42 years were analyzed. To estimate flood risk, a return level with 95% confidence intervals (CI) has also been calculated. Results show that the shape parameter of each station was greater than zero, which describes the heavy-tailed Fréchet cases of the GEV distributions. One station, Bahadurabad in the Brahmaputra river basin, estimated 141,387 m3·s−1 with a 95% CI range of [112,636, 170,138] for the 100-year return level, and the 1000-year return level was 195,018 m3·s−1 with a 95% CI of [122,493, 267,544]. The other station, Hardinge Bridge at the Ganges basin, estimated 124,134 m3·s−1 with a 95% CI of [108,726, 139,543] for the 100-year return level, and the 1000-year return level was 170,537 m3·s−1 with a 95% CI of [133,784, 207,289]. As Bangladesh is a flood-prone country, the approach of Bayesian with HMC in EVA can help policy-makers to plan initiatives that could result in preventing damage to both lives and assets.
Zodiacal Exoplanets in Time (ZEIT). VII. A Temperate Candidate Super-Earth in the Hyades Cluster
Authors: Vanderburg Andrew , Mann Andrew W. , Rizzuto Aaron , Bieryla Allyson , Kraus Adam L. , Berlind Perry , Calkins Michael L. , Curtis Jason L. , Douglas Stephanie T. , Esquerdo Gilbert A. , Everett Mark E. , Horch Elliott P. , Howell Steve B. , Latham David W. , Mayo Andrew W. , Quinn Samuel N. , Scott Nicholas J. , Stefanik Robert P.
Published: July 2018

Transiting exoplanets in young open clusters present opportunities to study how exoplanets evolve over their lifetimes. Recently, significant progress detecting transiting planets in young open clusters has been made with the K2 mission, but so far all of these transiting cluster planets orbit close to their host stars, so planet evolution can only be studied in a high-irradiation regime. Here, we report the discovery of a long-period planet candidate, called HD 283869 b, orbiting a member of the Hyades cluster. Using data from the K2 mission, we detected a single transit of a super-Earth-sized (1.96 ± 0.12 R
⊕) planet candidate orbiting the K-dwarf HD 283869 with a period longer than 72 days. As we only detected a single-transit event, we cannot validate HD 283869 b with high confidence, but our analysis of the K2 images, archival data, and follow-up observations suggests that the source of the event is indeed a transiting planet. We estimated the candidate’s orbital parameters and find that if real, it has a period P ≈ 100 days and receives approximately Earth-like incident flux, giving the candidate a 71% chance of falling within the circumstellar habitable zone. If confirmed, HD 283869 b would have the longest orbital period, lowest incident flux, and brightest host star of any known transiting planet in an open cluster, making it uniquely important to future studies of how stellar irradiation affects planetary evolution.
Forty-four New and Known M-dwarf Multiples in the SDSS-III/APOGEE M-dwarf Ancillary Science Sample
Authors: Skinner Jacob , Covey Kevin R. , Bender Chad F. , Rivera Noah , De Lee Nathan , Souto Diogo , Chojnowski Drew , Troup Nicholas , Badenes Carles , Bizyaev Dmitry , Blake Cullen H. , Burgasser Adam , Cañas Caleb , Carlberg Joleen , Maqueo Chew Yilen Gómez , Deshpande Rohit , Fleming Scott W. , Fernández-Trincado J. G. , García-Hernández D. A. , Hearty Fred , Kounkel Marina , Longa-Peñe Penélope , Mahadevan Suvrath , Majewski Steven R. , Minniti Dante , Nidever David , Oravetz Audrey , Pan Kaike , Stassun Keivan , Terrien Ryan , Zamora Olga
Published: July 2018

Binary stars make up a significant portion of all stellar systems. Consequently, an understanding of the bulk properties of binary stars is necessary for a full picture of star formation. Binary surveys indicate that both multiplicity fraction and typical orbital separation increase as functions of primary mass. Correlations with higher-order architectural parameters such as mass ratio are less well constrained. We seek to identify and characterize double-lined spectroscopic binaries (SB2s) among the 1350 M-dwarf ancillary science targets with APOGEE spectra in the SDSS-III Data Release 13. We measure the degree of asymmetry in the APOGEE pipeline cross-correlation functions (CCFs) and use those metrics to identify a sample of 44 high-likelihood candidate SB2s. At least 11 of these SB2s are known, having been previously identified by Deshpande et al. and/or El-Badry et al. We are able to extract radial velocities (RVs) for the components of 36 of these systems from their CCFs. With these RVs, we measure mass ratios for 29 SB2s and five SB3s. We use Bayesian techniques to fit maximum-likelihood (but still preliminary) orbits for four SB2s with eight or more distinct APOGEE observations. The observed (but incomplete) mass-ratio distribution of this sample rises quickly toward unity. Two-sided Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests find probabilities of 18.3% and 18.7%, demonstrating that the mass-ratio distribution of our sample is consistent with those measured by Pourbaix et al. and Fernandez et al., respectively.
NGC 6744: A Nearby Milky Way Twin with a Very Low-luminosity AGN
Authors: Silva Patrícia da , Steiner J. E. , Menezes R. B.
Published: July 2018

NGC 6744 is the nearest and brightest south-hemisphere galaxy with a morphological type similar to that of the Milky Way. Using data obtained with the Integral Field Unit of the Gemini South Multi-Object Spectrograph, we found that this galaxy has a nucleus with LINER (Low Ionization Nuclear Emission Line Region) surrounded by three line emitting regions. The analysis of the Hubble Space Telescope archival images revealed that the nucleus is associated with a blue compact source, probably corresponding to the active galactic nucleus (AGN). The circumnuclear emission seems to be part of the extended narrow line region of the AGN. One of these regions, located ∼1″ southeast of the nucleus, seems to be associated with the ionization cone of the AGN. The other two regions are located ∼1″ south and ∼0.″6 northeast of the nucleus and are not aligned with the gaseous rotating disk. Spectral synthesis shows evidence that this galaxy may have gone through a merger about one billion years ago. On the basis of the kinematic behavior, we found a gaseous rotating disk, not co-aligned with the stellar disk. Given the relative degree of ionization and luminosities of the nuclear and circumnuclear regions, we suggest that the AGN was more luminous in the past and that the current circumnuclear emissions are echoes of that phase.
The Stellar Halo of the Spiral Galaxy NGC 1560
Authors: Greggio Laura , Falomo Renato , Scarpa Riccardo
Published: July 2018

We report on the detection of a stellar halo around NGC 1560, a 109
M
⊙ spiral galaxy member of the Maffei group. We obtained deep images in the r- and i-bands using the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias in a field centered at ∼3.7 arcmin (projected distance of 3.5 kpc) from the center of this galaxy. The luminosity function and the color–magnitude diagram show a clear excess of stars with respect to the expected foreground level at magnitudes fainter than the red giant branch tip at the distance of NGC 1560. The colors of the halo stars imply a metallicity of Z ∼ Z
⊙/50, while their counts correspond to a stellar mass of ∼107
M
⊙ in the sampled region. Assuming a power-law profile for the surface mass density of the halo, our data suggest a total stellar mass of 108
M
⊙ for the halo of NGC 1560.
The Failure of Monte Carlo Radiative Transfer at Medium to High Optical Depths
Authors: Camps Peter , Baes Maarten
Published: July 2018

Computer simulations of photon transport through an absorbing and/or scattering medium form an important research tool in astrophysics. Nearly all software codes performing such simulations for three-dimensional geometries employ the Monte Carlo (MC) radiative transfer (RT) method, including various forms of biasing to accelerate the calculations. Because of the probabilistic nature of the MC technique, the outputs are inherently noisy, but it is often assumed that the average values provide the physically correct result. We show that this assumption is not always justified. Specifically, we study the intensity of radiation penetrating an infinite, uniform slab of material that absorbs and scatters the radiation with equal probability. The basic MCRT method, without any biasing mechanisms, starts to break down for transverse optical depths τ ≳ 20 because so few of the simulated photon packets reach the other side of the slab. When including biasing techniques such as absorption/scattering splitting and path length stretching, the simulated photon packets do reach the other side of the slab but the biased weights do not necessarily add up to the correct solution. While the noise levels seem to be acceptable, the average values sometimes severely underestimate the correct solution. Detecting these anomalies requires the judicious application of statistical tests, similar to those used in the field of nuclear particle transport, possibly in combination with convergence tests employing consecutively larger numbers of photon packets. In any case, for transverse optical depths τ ≳ 75 the MC methods used in our study fail to solve the one-dimensional slab problem, implying the need for approximations such as a modified random walk.
Contre-stéréotypes de sexe et littérature de jeunesse
Authors: Reeb Laurence , Morin-Messabel Christine , Kalampalikis Nikos
Published: July 2018

La littérature de jeunesse est un support privilégié d’acquisition des modèles sexués. L’objectif de notre recherche est d’étudier l’impact de contre-stéréotypes de sexe présentés à travers des modèles auprès de 127 enfants de CE2-CM1 (63 filles et 64 garçons), dans le cadre de la littérature de jeunesse. Un questionnaire exploratoire a mesuré le lien avec le personnage et des éléments intentionnels faisant suite à l’histoire. Les résultats révèlent des scores supérieurs des filles par rapport aux garçons, et ce, pour toutes les questions. Des éléments que nous discutons et qu’il conviendra d’approfondir par la suite nous amènent à penser la nécessité de travailler sur les contre-stéréotypes de sexe auprès des enfants, de manière différenciée entre les filles et les garçons.
Idéologies hypermodernes, quels enjeux dans la construction de la parentalité ?
Authors: Vennat Delphine , Panagiotou Danaé , Mellier Denis
Published: July 2018

Les idéologies hypermodernes valorisent l’individualisme et la réalisation de soi. L’objectif de cet article est de montrer leur impact sur l’accès à la parentalité après la naissance. Cet impact serait important, car la parentalité passe, alors, par des bouleversements identitaires, qui fragilisent les individus. Le soutien légitime du groupe familial risque, ici, de faire défaut au parent. Cette hypothèse est d’abord discutée avant d’être illustrée par un cas clinique. La dépression maternelle post-partum , si fréquente actuellement en Occident, s’accompagne ainsi d’une faiblesse du soutien groupal de la mère. La disparition des rites, qui étayaient le devenir parent, laisse également les individus seuls avec l’injonction de devenir autonomes. Un exemple montre comment, chez une mère, le sentiment de solitude très fort après la naissance perdure jusqu’aux 18 mois du bébé. L’absence réelle de l’étayage par sa famille se double d’une injonction, que cette mère a intériorisée très tôt, de « se débrouiller » par elle-même. Le cas clinique est issu d’un matériel recueilli dans le cadre d’une recherche doctorale. Les familles retenues pour l’étude habitent une zone urbaine en France. Dans ces familles, la mère vit avec le père de l’enfant, elle est primipare et a entre 18 et 40 ans. Le suivi a été réalisé au domicile des parents en huit étapes : avant les 2 semaines du bébé, puis à 6 semaines et à 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 et 18 mois du bébé.
Le libéralisme de Boisguilbert (un pourfendeur de la contre-productivité)
Authors: Ege Ragip , Rivot Sylvie
Published: July 2018

Cette étude se propose de revenir sur la pensée économique de Boisguilbert pour faire ressortir l’originalité et la spécificité du libéralisme que l’auteur préconise. Les enjeux majeurs de ce libéralisme concernent d’une part la « consommation » (la demande solvable) et les « prix de proportion », et d’autre part le motif d’anticipations-informations qui nécessite une réforme conséquente de la taille et du système pernicieux des aides et des douanes. Deux types d’avertissement traversent les analyses économiques de Boisguilbert : un avertissement en direction des agents économiques (particulièrement les producteurs) qui sont invités à ne pas perdre de vue la condition de possibilité de leur propre survie, à savoir le maintien scrupuleux des prix de proportion et un avertissement adressé à l’endroit des pouvoirs publics en leur rappelant constamment que c’est en croyant bien faire qu’on aggrave le mal qu’on croit combattre (le danger de contre-productivité).
De l’institutionnalisme du Wisconsin à une perspective macroéconomique aux États-Unis : le cas du débat à l’origine de l’assurance-chômage
Authors: Bazzoli Laure
Published: July 2018

La politique sociale est un champ d’expression des débats et des évolutions analytiques et politiques pendant le New Deal qui a été peu étudié par les historiens de la pensée économique. Cet article se concentre sur la querelle à l’œuvre dans la genèse de l’institution de l’assurance-chômage américaine qui a mis en scène l’institutionnalisme du Wisconsin autour de J. R. Commons et un groupe disparate de réformateurs et d’économistes développant des « éléments keynésiens » d’analyse dans la pensée américaine. Les enseignements du chemin américain sont mis en avant, complétant ainsi l’historiographie de cette période.
1. Les grandes phases de l’histoire du commerce international
Authors: Becuwe Stéphane , Blancheton Bertrand
Published: July 2018

Cet article met en perspective historique le processus de mondialisation commerciale depuis le début du XIX e  siècle. Il montre que la mondialisation n’est ni linéaire, ni irréversible. L’actuel tassement des échanges est interprété comme une consolidation et non comme une crise de la mondialisation à l’instar de la période 1880-1913.
3. Le protectionnisme est-il inéluctable ?
Authors: Siroën Jean-Marc
Published: July 2018

Depuis la crise de 2009, le discours protectionniste s’est amplifié sans que le monde n’abandonne pour autant le libre-échange. La situation de l’économie mondiale, l’existence d’un leadership, l’abandon des activités de main d’œuvre dans les pays riches associé à la montée des inégalités ont joué de manière contradictoire, mais la mondialisation de la « chaîne de valeur », qui accroit l’interdépendance des pays, reste un frein puissant à la généralisation du protectionnisme.
7. L’émergence d’une classe dominante mondialisée ?
Authors: Wagner Anne Catherine
Published: July 2018

L’article analyse les mécanismes sociaux et institutionnels qui pourraient permettre de parler de la formation d’une classe dominante internationale. Il pose la question de la cohérence et des attaches nationales de cette classe, avant de mettre en regard les dynamiques d’internationalisation des classes dominantes avec celles relatives aux classes dominées.
10. L’OMC et la régulation du commerce international en danger ?
Authors: Abdelmalki Lahsen , Sandretto René
Published: July 2018

Notre objectif dans ce papier est d’expliquer pourquoi l’OMC connaît depuis une vingtaine d’années des difficultés croissantes à mener à bien les missions pour lesquelles elle a été créée, notamment le “ monitoring ” des politiques et des pratiques commerciales des États et la conduite de négociations multilatérales. Ces difficultés croissantes soulèvent de nouveaux défis pour l’organisation et pourraient mettre en danger le système commercial multilatéral lui-même.
Conformer l’économie digitale à un modèle social réinventé
Authors: Degryse Christophe
Published: July 2018

Une approche « sociale » de ce qu’on appelle la digitalisation de l’économie permet d’observer deux évolutions distinctes mais liées, qui auront probablement toutes deux des impacts importants sur l’avenir du travail et de l’emploi. On y trouve d’une part les progrès impressionnants dans l’intelligence artificielle et la robotisation au sens large (sous ses formes d’automatisation de processus et de computérisation de tâches), qui permettent désormais de faire accomplir par des robots des tâches manuelles et cognitives non routinières. De l’autre, l’émergence d’un nouveau business model , celui des plateformes numériques, rendu possible principalement par la généralisation des réseaux, des smartphones et tablettes, et le développement des applications mobiles. Les enjeux sociaux de cette digitalisation de l’économie sont souvent présentés, de manière limitée, sous la forme de risque de destruction d’emplois par l’automatisation. Mais d’autres enjeux existent, qui concernent la transformation des emplois existants et le déplacement du travail, notamment par le phénomène de sous-traitance en ligne.
Des écueils en droit de l’économie de plateformes : regards renouvelés sur certaines dichotomies fondamentales
Authors: Wattecamps Céline , Kleczewski Anne-Grace , Marique Enguerrand
Published: July 2018

L’économie collaborative constitue un phénomène en pleine expansion qui retient l’attention, notamment, des économistes, des sociologues, ainsi que des juristes. En l’absence d’une notion fédératrice, la présente contribution sera consacrée aux « transactions par l’intermédiaire de plateformes numériques ». En effet, ce qui est avant tout déterminant pour l’analyse juridique, c’est l’intervention de plateformes agissant comme intermédiaires entre deux catégories d’utilisateurs, des fournisseurs de biens ou prestataires de service d’une part, et des utilisateurs finaux d’autre part. Que ce soit en droit social, en droit de la consommation ou en droit fiscal, ce phénomène invite à nous interroger sur les catégories et notions légales en vigueur, pour déconstruire la rhétorique de certains acteurs et promouvoir l’existence d’un cadre réglementaire juste et effectif.
Residuos solidos urbanos e industriales: situación y gestión en España
Authors: Mulero Mendigorri Alfonso
Published: July 2018

Residuos sólidos urbanos e industriales: situación y gestión en España. En el presente artículo se recogen diversos aspectos fundamentales para comprender la situación de los residuos sólidos urbanos e industriales y, específicamente, las causas de que éstos se hayan convertido en uno de los grandes retos de la política medioambiental española. Se analizan la producción y el tratamiento de los residuos, incidiendo en su evolución reciente, en los logros obtenidos y en las carencias estructurales que aún persisten. Éstas son el resultado de una gestión desigual e insuficiente, caracterizada, entre otras cosas, por la aparición de profundos contrastes territoriales que se destacan en el artículo. Finalmente se aborda el debate en tomo al futuro de los residuos españoles y se analizan los grandes instrumentos planificadores que se han diseñado para hacer frente al problema.

[fr] Résidus Solides Urbains e Industriels: situation et gestion en Espagne. Dans cet article on étudie divers aspects fondamentaux pour comprendre la situation des résidus solides urbains et industriels, et spécifiquement, les causes qui ont fait que ceux-ci soient devenus l'im des plus grands défis de la politique de l'environnement en Espagne. On analyse la production et le traitement des résidus, leur récente évolution, les réussites et les carences structurelles qui persistent encore. Ces dernières sont le résultat d'une gestion inégale et insuffisante caractérisée, entre autres choses, par le surgissement de profonds contrastes territoriaux soulignés dans l'article. Finalement on aborde le débat sur le futur des résidus espagnols et l'on analyse les grands instruments de planification dessinés pour affronter le problème.