bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Optimistic update bias increases in older age
Authors: Chowdhury R. , Sharot T. , Wolfe T. , Düzel E. , Dolan R. J.
Published: November 2013

Background

Healthy older adults report greater well-being and life satisfaction than their younger counterparts. One potential explanation for this is enhanced optimism. We tested the influence of age on optimistic and pessimistic beliefs about the future and the associated structural neural correlates.

Method

Eighteen young and 18 healthy older adults performed a belief updating paradigm, measuring differences in updating beliefs for desirable and undesirable information about future negative events. These measures were related to regional brain volume, focusing on the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) because this region is strongly linked to a positivity bias in older age.

Results

We demonstrate an age-related reduction in updating beliefs when older adults are faced with undesirable, but not desirable, information about negative events. This greater ‘update bias’ in older age persisted even after controlling for a variety of variables including subjective rating scales and poorer overall memory. A structural brain correlate of this greater ‘update bias’ was evident in greater grey matter volume in the dorsal ACC in older but not in young adults.

Conclusions

We show a greater update bias in healthy older age. The link between this bias and relative volume of the ACC suggests a shared mechanism with an age-related positivity bias. Older adults frequently have to make important decisions relating to personal, health and financial issues. Our findings have wider behavioural implications in these contexts because an enhanced optimistic update bias may skew such real-world decision making.
Analysis of selective vaporization behavior in laser melting of magnesium alloy by plume deposition
Authors: Yingchun Guan , Wei Zhou , Hongyu Zheng , Zhongli Li , Hwee Leng Seng , Minghui Hong
Published: November 2013

Laser surface melting is one of the most important processes in laser material processing. Selective vaporization of alloying elements in laser melting offers fundamental understanding of laser processing on metallic alloys. This work provides linkage between laser melting and material properties using secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) for tiny vaporized species in laser-generated plume and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) for solid solution range in molten pool, both qualitatively and quantitatively (up to hundreds of micron). Silicon wafer was used to collect the generated plume. Chemical analysis was carried out on top surface and sub-surface of the deposited plume. Transport behavior as well as distribution of the vaporized species inside the plume was further proposed.
Artificial, Animal, Machinal: Body, Desire, and Intimacy in Modernist and Postmodernist Theatre
Authors: Harari Dror
Published: November 2013

Exactly one hundred years separate two notorious dramatic aristocrats: Alfred Jarry's wild Ubu and Sarah Kane's apathetic Hippolytus. Ubu is iconic of Jarry's surreal reaction to nineteenth-century positivism and, at the same time, a criticism of modernism's abstract poetics and will-less aesthetic experience. Kane's Hippolytus is a witty and macabre response to the late twentieth-century ‘logic’ of capitalism. Nevertheless, these seemingly diametrically opposed characters share one trait that binds them – spending desire. In this article Dror Harari considers these figures as conspicuous waypoints along a broader spectrum of indispensable relations between body and desire in modern theatre. He tracks certain dramaturgies of desire, as theorized and/or realized by theatre practitioners and philosophers. Starting with modernist attempts to overcome desire by likening the performer's body to a machine, he closes with the indifferent Hippolytus becoming a desiring machine. Dror Harari is senior lecturer in the Department of Theatre Arts, Tel Aviv University. His recent articles have appeared in The Drama Review, Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd'hui, Theatre Research International, and Theatre Annual. His study Self-Performance: Performance Art and the Representation of Self is forthcoming in Hebrew from Resling Publications, an Israeli academic publishing house.
‘The Dead are Still Looking at Us’: Harold Pinter, the Spectral Face, and Human Rights
Authors: Germanou Maria
Published: November 2013

In his essays and speeches, Harold Pinter addressed issues that are central in political and philosophical debates: national identity and the other, the ethics of responsibility, the relational nature of human rights, the politics of death. Discussing his treatment of these issues, Maria Germanou sees Pinter as a Foucauldian intellectual engaged in the politics of truth, and argues that in these texts the postmodern writer enables the political activist. Pinter subjects to scrutiny naturalized political rhetoric, discloses the affinity between meaning and power, and challenges the legitimacy of established hierarchies and their practices. His ultimate purpose is to restore ethics to politics. To this end, he places responsibility for the other at the core of his problematic in ways similar to Emmanuel Levinas, and invites western democracies to redefine ‘humanity’ and the ‘international’ community by taking into consideration accountability for those allowed to die in the name of an alleged justice. Maria Germanou is Professor in English Drama at the University of Athens. She has published in Modern Drama, Comparative Drama, Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Gramma, and elsewhere. Since 2008 she has been co-editor of Synthesis, an e-journal of comparative literature.
Short Proofs of Some Extremal Results
Authors: CONLON DAVID , FOX JACOB , SUDAKOV BENNY
Published: November 2013

We prove several results from different areas of extremal combinatorics, giving complete or partial solutions to a number of open problems. These results, coming from areas such as extremal graph theory, Ramsey theory and additive combinatorics, have been collected together because in each case the relevant proofs are quite short.
Infinite probability computation by cyclic explanation graphs
Authors: SATO TAISUKE , MEYER PHILIPP
Published: November 2013

Tabling in logic programming has been used to eliminate redundant computation and also to stop infinite loop. In this paper we investigate another possibility of tabling, i.e. to compute an infinite sum of probabilities for probabilistic logic programs. Using PRISM, a logic-based probabilistic modeling language with a tabling mechanism, we generalize prefix probability computation for probabilistic context-free grammars (PCFGs) to probabilistic logic programs. Given a top-goal, we search for all proofs with tabling and obtain an explanation graph which compresses them and may be cyclic. We then convert the explanation graph to a set of linear probability equations and solve them by matrix operation. The solution gives us the probability of the top-goal, which, in nature, is an infinite sum of probabilities. Our general approach to prefix probability computation through tabling not only allows to deal with non-probabilistic context-free grammars such as probabilistic left-corner grammars but has applications such as plan recognition and probabilistic model checking and makes it possible to compute probability for probabilistic models describing cyclic relations.
Development and preliminary evaluation of communication skills training program for oncologists based on patient preferences for communicating bad news
Authors: Fujimori Maiko , Shirai Yuki , Asai Mariko , Akizuki Nobuya , Katsumata Noriyuki , Kubota Kaoru , Uchitomi Yosuke
Published: November 2013

Objective:

The purposes of this study were to develop a communication skills training (CST) workshop program based on patient preferences, and to evaluate preliminary feasibility of the CST program on the objective performances of physicians and the subjective ratings of their confidence about the communication with patients at the pre- and post-CST.

Methods:

The CST program was developed, based on the previous surveys on patient preferences (setting up the supporting environment of the interview, making consideration for how to deliver bad news, discussing about additional information, and provision of reassurance and emotional support) and addressing the patient's emotion with empathic responses, and stressing the oncologists' emotional support. The program was participants' centered approach, consisted a didactic lecture, role plays with simulated patients, discussions and an ice-breaking; a total of 2-days. To evaluate feasibility of the newly developed CST program, oncologists who participated it were assessed their communication performances (behaviors and utterances) during simulated consultation at the pre- and post-CST. Participants also rated their confidence communicating with patients at the pre-, post-, and 3-months after CST, burnout at pre and 3 months after CST, and the helpfulness of the program at post-CST.

Results:

Sixteen oncologists attended a newly developed CST. A comparison of pre-post measures showed improvement of oncologists' communication performances, especially skills of emotional support and consideration for how to deliver information. Their confidence in communicating bad news was rated higher score at post-CST than at pre-CST and was persisted at 3-months after the CST. Emotional exhaustion scores decreased at 3-months after CST. In addition, oncologists rated high satisfaction with all components of the program.

Significance of results:

This pilot study suggests that the newly developed CST program based on patient preferences seemed feasible and potentially effective on improving oncologists' communication behaviors what patients prefer and confidence in communicating with patients.
Acting with dedication and expertise: Relatives' experience of nurses' provision of care in a palliative unit
Authors: Grøthe Å. , Biong Stian , Grov E.K.
Published: November 2013

Objectives:

Admission of a cancer patient to a palliative unit when near the final stage of their disease trajectory undoubtedly impacts their relatives. The aim of our study was to illuminate and interpret relatives' lived experiences of health personnel's provision of care in a palliative ward.

Methods:

A phenomenological/hermeneutic approach was employed that was inspired by the philosophical tradition of Heidegger and Ricoeur and further developed by Lindseth and Nordberg. The perspectives of the narrator and the text were interpreted by highlighting relatives' views on a situation in which they have to face existential challenges. The analysis was undertaken in three steps: naïve reading, structural analysis, and comprehensive understanding, including the authors' professional experiences and theoretical background.

Results:

Six subthemes appeared: the dying person, the bubble, the sight, the cover, the provision for children's needs, and the availability of immediate help. These components were further constructed into three themes: the meaning of relating, the meaning of action, and the meaning of resources. Our comprehensive understanding of the results suggests that the most important theme is “acting with dedication and expertise.”

Significance of results:

The following aspects are crucial for relatives of cancer patients hospitalized in a palliative ward: time and existence, family dynamics, and care adjusted to the situation. Our study results led to reflections on the impact of how nurses behave when providing care to patients during the palliative phase, and how they interact with relatives in this situation. We found that cancer patients in a palliative unit most appreciate nurses who act with dedication and expertise.
Course of distress, anxiety, and depression in hematological cancer patients: Association between gender and grade of neoplasm
Authors: Bergerot Cristiane Decat , Clark Karen Lynn , Nonino Alexandre , Waliany Sarah , Buso Marco Murilo , Loscalzo Matthew
Published: November 2013

Objective:

The aim of our study was to explore the impact of gender and hematological cancer grade on distress, anxiety, and depression in patients receiving chemotherapy.

Methods:

A prospective study was done in a cohort of 104 patients with hematological cancer. We employed the (1) Distress Thermometer (DT) and the Problem List (PL) and (2) the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) for assessments at baseline (T1), the halfway timepoint (T2), and completion of chemotherapy (T3).

Results:

The proportion of patients experiencing significant distress (DT ≥ 4) decreased from the first to the last timepoint; the proportion experiencing anxiety and depression (as assessed by HADS) also decreased. Specifically, 50% of participants reported significant distress levels, 47.1% anxiety, and 26% depression at T1. At T2, the proportion of patients experiencing distress was reduced by 60.8%, by 76% for anxiety, and by 48.5% for depression; at T3, the reduction was close to 80% for all assessments compared with T1. Emotional and physical problems were most commonly reported. Significant reductions were discovered for distress and problem-related distress levels over time, and a significant interaction was found between gender and practical and physical problems (p < 0.05).

Significance of results:

Our findings suggest that female patients reported more distress, anxiety, and depression than male patients. Gender differences were related to problem-related distress but not to grade of neoplasm. We observed that, over the course of chemotherapy, the distress levels of patients with hematological cancer decrease over time.
A longitudinal study of delirium phenomenology indicates widespread neural dysfunction
Authors: Leonard Maeve , Adamis Dimitrios , Saunders Jean , Trzepacz Paula , Meagher David
Published: November 2013

Objectives:

Delirium affects all higher cortical functions supporting complex information processing consistent with widespread neural network impairment. We evaluated the relative prominence of delirium symptoms throughout episodes to assess whether impaired consciousness is selectively affecting certain brain functions at different timepoints.

Methods:

Twice-weekly assessments of 100 consecutive patients with DSM-IV delirium in a palliative care unit used the Delirium Rating Scale Revised-98 (DRS-R98) and Cognitive Test for Delirium (CTD). A mixed-effects model was employed to estimate changes in severity of individual symptoms over time.

Results:

Mean age = 7 0.2 ± 10.5 years, 51% were male, and 27 had a comorbid dementia. A total of 323 assessments (range 2–9 per case) were conducted, but up to 6 are reported herein. Frequency and severity of individual DRS-R98 symptoms was very consistent over time even though the majority of patients (80%) experienced fluctuation in symptom severity over the course of hours or minutes. Over time, DRS-R98 items for attention (88–100%), sleep–wake cycle disturbance (90–100%), and any motor disturbance (87–100%), and CTD attention and vigilance were most frequently and consistently impaired. Mixed-effects regression modeling identified only very small magnitudes of change in individual symptoms over time, including the three core domains.

Significance of results:

Attention is disproportionately impaired during the entire episode of delirium, consistent with thalamic dysfunction underlying both an impaired state of consciousness and well-known EEG slowing. All individual symptoms and three core domains remain relatively stable despite small fluctuations in symptom severity for a given day, which supports a consistent state of impaired higher cortical functions throughout an episode of delirium.
The density of the time of ruin in the classical risk model with a constant dividend barrier
Authors: Li Shuanming , Lu Yi
Published: November 2013

In this paper, we investigate the density function of the time of ruin in the classical risk model with a constant dividend barrier. When claims are exponentially distributed, we derive explicit expressions for the density function of the time of ruin and its decompositions: the density of the time of ruin without dividend payments and the density of the time of ruin with dividend payments. These densities are obtained based on their Laplace transforms, and expressed in terms of some special functions which are computationally tractable. The Laplace transforms are being inverted using a magnificent tool, the Lagrange inverse formula, developed in Dickson and Willmot (2005). Several numerical examples are given to illustrate our results.
Prohibitin is associated with antioxidative protection in hypoxia/reoxygenation-induced renal tubular epithelial cell injury
Authors: Zhou Tian-Biao , Qin Yuan-Han , Lei Feng-Ying , Huang Wei-Fang , Drummen Gregor P. C.
Published: November 2013

Prohibitin is an evolutionary conserved and pleiotropic protein that has been implicated in various cellular functions, including proliferation, tumour suppression, apoptosis, transcription and mitochondrial protein folding. We recently demonstrated that prohibitin downregulation results in increased renal interstitial fibrosis. Here we investigated the role of oxidative stress and prohibitin expression in a hypoxia/reoxygenation injury system in renal tubular epithelial cells with lentivirus-based delivery vectors to knockdown or overexpress prohibitin. Our results show that increased prohibitin expression was negatively correlated with reactive oxygen species, malon dialdehyde, transforming-growth-factor-β1, collagen-IV, fibronectin and apoptosis (r = −0.895, −0.764, −0.798, −0.826, −0.817, −0.735; each P < 0.01), but positively correlated with superoxide dismutase, glutathione and mitochondrial membrane potential (r = 0.807, 0.815, 0.739; each P < 0.01). We postulate that prohibitin acts as a positive regulator of mechanisms that counteract oxidative stress and extracellular matrix accumulation and therefore has an antioxidative effect.
Robust fault reconstruction via learning observers in linear parameter‐varying systems subject to loss of actuator effectiveness
Authors: Jia Qingxian , Chen Wen , Zhang Yingchun , Chen Xueqin
Published: November 2013

In this study, the problem of robust fault reconstruction in polytopic linear parameter‐varying systems, subject to loss of actuator effectiveness and external disturbances, is investigated using a learning observer (LO). A polytopic LO is proposed to achieve system state estimation and actuator fault reconstruction at the same time. The proposed LO is sensitive to incipient faults because no chattering is induced. Both constant and time‐varying faults can be accurately reconstructed and detected. Moreover, simultaneous fault reconstruction and detection can be performed using a single LO because the reconstructed fault signal can be employed as a fault alarm. The stability and convergence of polytopic LO and the uniformly ultimately boundedness of the dynamic error system is proved using Lyapunov stability theory and H∞ techniques. A systematic design of the LO is effectively solved using standard linear‐matrix‐inequality techniques. At last, simulation results on a satellite system for attitude control verify the effectiveness of the proposed fault‐reconstruction approach.
Filtering of mixed Gaussian and impulsive noise using morphological contrast detectors
Authors: Mendiola‐Santibañez Jorge D. , Terol‐Villalobos Iván R.
Published: November 2013

Several morphological transformations to detect noise are introduced. The initial method is a modification of a procedure presented previously in the current literature. The proposals given in the study allow to detect noise in two ways: (i) using a contrast measure and (ii) applying different proximity criteria into several proposed toggle mappings. In the end, two of the proposals given in this study yield a better performance with respect to methods in which this research is based. However, although the methodology to identify noise works adequately, the results are limited due to the use of the structuring element. In Section 4, an image with two types of noise is cleaned. Such image is contaminated with zero mean Gaussian noise with 0.01 variance and 5% of salt and pepper noise. From this experiment, the proposal giving the best performance is selected; subsequently, this is compared with other recent operators as PDEs, wavelets, morphological connected rank max opening and amoebas.
Acute and subacute toxicity studies of Pluronic P85/poly (lactic acid) nanoparticles in mice
Authors: Li Yu‐Ping , Sun Li‐Zhen , Yao Li‐Hua , Xiong Xiang‐Yuan , Li Zi‐Ling
Published: November 2013

The objective of the present reported study was to evaluate the oral toxicity of poly (lactic acid)‐b‐Pluronic‐b‐poly (lactic acid) (PLA‐P85‐PLA) nanoparticles (NPs) so as to demonstrate their applicability for drug delivery applications. In acute oral toxicity studies, the animals were fed with 0.4 ml PLA‐P85‐PLA NPs solution in different concentrations (low concentration: 20 mg/l, intermediate concentration: 100 mg/l and higher concentration: 500 mg/l) for 14 days; no deaths or treatment related complications were observed even in the higher concentration treatment. In case of the subacute oral toxicity test, the NPs were administered orally to mice for a period of 28 days. At the end of the study, blood samples were collected for biochemical analysis. For histopathological analysis, organs of the animals were weighed and processed. All the animals survived during the study, with no significant changes in clinical signs, body weight, feed consumption, biochemistry parameters, organ weights and histopathological findings. These results demonstrate that PLA‐P85‐PLA NPs produced no treatment related toxicity in mice following oral administration, thus, they can be exploited for potential therapeutic applications.
The charge breeder beam line for the selective production of exotic species project at INFN-Legnaro National Laboratories
Authors: Galatà A. , Comunian M. , Maggiore M. , Manzolaro M. , Angot J. , Lamy T.
Published: November 2013

SPES (Selective Production of Exotic Species) is an INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) project with the aim at producing and post-accelerating exotic beams to perform forefront research in nuclear physics. To allow post-acceleration of the radioactive ions, an ECR-based Charge Breeder (CB) developed on the basis of the Phoenix booster was chosen. The design of the complete beam line for the SPES-CB will be described: a system for stable 1+ beams production was included; special attention was paid to the medium resolution mass spectrometer after the CB to limit possible superposition of the exotic beams with the impurities present in the ECR plasma.
Photodissociation mechanisms of the CO22+ dication studied using multi-state multiconfiguration second-order perturbation theory
Authors: Zhang Dongwen , Chen Bo-Zhen , Huang Ming-Bao , Meng Qingyong , Tian Zhiyuan
Published: November 2013

Employing the multi-state multiconfiguration second-order perturbation theory (MS-CASPT2) and complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) methods, the geometries, relative energies (Tv′) to the ground state (X3Σg−), adiabatic excited energies, and photodissociation mechanisms and corresponding kinetic energy releases for the lower-lying 14 electronic states of the CO22+ ion are studied. The Tv′ values are calculated at the experimental geometry of the ground state CO2 molecule using MS-CASPT2 method and highly close to the latest threshold photoelectrons coincidence and time-of-flight photoelectron photoelectron coincidence spectrum observations. The O-loss dissociation potential energy curves (PECs) for these 14 states are drawn using MS-CASPT2 partial optimization method at C∞v symmetry with one C–O bond length ranging from 1.05 to 8.0 Å. Those 14 states are confirmed to be correlated to the lowest four dissociation limits [CO+(X2Σ+) + O+(4Su), CO+(A2Π) + O+(4Su), CO+(X2Σ+) + O+(2Du), and CO+(X2Σ+) + O+(2Pu)] by analyzing Coulomb interaction energies, charges, spin densities, and bond lengths for the geometries at the C–O bond length of 8.0 Å. On the basis of these 14 MS-CASPT2 PECs, several state/state pairs are selected to optimize the minimum energy crossing points (MECPs) at the CASSCF level. And then the CASSCF spin-orbit couplings and CASPT2 state/state energies are calculated at these located MECPs. Based on all of the computational results, the photodissociation mechanisms of CO22+ are proposed. The relationships between the present theoretical studies and the previous experiments are discussed.
Electron beam ion sources for use in second generation synchrotrons for medical particle therapy
Authors: Zschornack G. , Ritter E. , Schmidt M. , Schwan A.
Published: November 2013

Cyclotrons and first generation synchrotrons are the commonly applied accelerators in medical particle therapy nowadays. Next generation accelerators such as Rapid Cycling Medical Synchrotrons (RCMS), direct drive accelerators, or dielectric wall accelerators have the potential to improve the existing accelerator techniques in this field. Innovative accelerator concepts for medical particle therapy can benefit from ion sources which meet their special requirements. In the present paper we report on measurements with a superconducting Electron Beam Ion Source, the Dresden EBIS-SC, under the aspect of application in combination with RCMS as a well proven technology. The measurements indicate that this ion source can offer significant advantages for medical particle therapy. We show that a superconducting EBIS can deliver ion pulses of medically relevant ions such as protons, C4 + and C6 + ions with intensities and frequencies required for RCMS [S. Peggs and T. Satogata, “A survey of Hadron therapy accelerator technology,” in Proceedings of PAC07, BNL-79826- 2008-CP, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, 2007; A. Garonna, U. Amaldi et al., “Cyclinac medical accelerators using pulsed C6 +/\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\begin{document}${\rm H}^{+}_2$\end{document}H2+ ion sources,” in Proceedings of EBIST 2010, Stockholm, Sweden, July 2010]. Ion extraction spectra as well as individual ion pulses have been measured. For example, we report on the generation of proton pulses with up to 3 × 109 protons per pulse and with frequencies of up to 1000 Hz at electron beam currents of 600 mA.
Development of a high current H− ion source for cyclotrons
Authors: Etoh H. , Aoki Y. , Mitsubori H. , Arakawa Y. , Mitsumoto T. , Yajima S. , Sakuraba J. , Kato T. , Okumura Y.
Published: November 2013

A multi-cusp DC H− ion source has been designed and fabricated for medical applications of cyclotrons. Optimization of the ion source is in progress, such as the improvement of the filament configuration, magnetic filter strength, extraction electrode's shape, configuration of electron suppression magnets, and plasma electrode material. A small quantity of Cs has been introduced into the ion source to enhance the negative ion beam current. The ion source produced 16 mA of DC H− ion beam with the Cs-seeded operation at a low arc discharge power of 2.8 kW.
Current disruption and its spreading in collisionless magnetic reconnection
Authors: Jain Neeraj , Büchner Jörg , Dorfman Seth , Ji Hantao , Surjalal Sharma A.
Published: November 2013

Recent magnetic reconnection experiments (MRX) [Dorfman et al., Geophys. Res. Lett. 40, 233 (2013)] have disclosed current disruption in the absence of an externally imposed guide field. During current disruption in MRX, both the current density and the total observed out-of-reconnection-plane current drop simultaneous with a rise in out-of-reconnection-plane electric field. Here, we show that current disruption is an intrinsic property of the dynamic formation of an X-point configuration of magnetic field in magnetic reconnection, independent of the model used for plasma description and of the dimensionality (2D or 3D) of reconnection. An analytic expression for the current drop is derived from Ampere's Law. Its predictions are verified by 2D and 3D electron-magnetohydrodynamic (EMHD) simulations. Three dimensional EMHD simulations show that the current disruption due to localized magnetic reconnection spreads along the direction of the electron drift velocity with a speed which depends on the wave number of the perturbation. The implications of these results for MRX are discussed.
Local structure and magnetic properties of cubic iron oxide nanoparticles formed in zeolite as deduced using Mössbauer spectroscopy
Authors: Herojit singh L. , Govindaraj R. , Amarendra G. , Sundar C. S.
Published: November 2013

Local structure and magnetic properties of cubic iron oxide nanoparticles as prepared in zeolite matrix have been studied in a detailed manner using Mössbauer spectroscopy. Superparamagnetic particles of cubic iron oxide are observed to be strongly bound in zeolite matrix. Annealing around 870 K is understood to result in detrapping of the bound nanoparticles. This leads to the onset of coarsening of the nanoparticles thus resulting in an appearence of a broad sextet characterised by a low hyperfine field. On the otherhand, the occurrence of the sextet, due to the onset of coarsening of the bare cubic iron oxide superparamagnetic nanoparticles, has been observed subsequent to annealing around 520 K. Linewidth and quadrupole splitting corresponding to the fraction of 57Fe absorbers associated with superparamagnetic particles are shown to be sensitively dependent upon the annealing temperature with respect to detrapping and aggregation of nanoparticles formed in zeolite.
Large perpendicular magnetic anisotropy at Fe/MgO interface
Authors: Koo J. W. , Mitani S. , Sasaki T. T. , Sukegawa H. , Wen Z. C. , Ohkubo T. , Niizeki T. , Inomata K. , Hono K.
Published: November 2013

A large perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) of 1.4 MJ/m3 was observed from ultrathin Fe/MgO(001) bilayers grown on Cr-buffered MgO(001). The PMA strongly depends on the surface state of Fe prior to the MgO deposition. A large PMA energy density of 1.4 MJ/m3 was achieved for a 0.7 nm thick Fe layer having adsorbate-induced surface reconstruction, which is likely to originate from oxygen atoms floating up from the Cr buffer layer. This large magnitude of PMA satisfies the criterion that is required for thermal stability of magnetization in a few tens nanometer-sized magnetic memory elements.
Optical characterization of orientation-patterned GaP structures by micro reflectance difference spectroscopy
Authors: Lastras-Martínez L. F. , Herrera-Jasso R. , Ulloa-Castillo N. A. , Balderas-Navarro R. E. , Lastras-Martínez A. , Lin Angie C. , Fejer M. M. , Harris James S.
Published: November 2013

The integration of zincblende semiconductors on silicon demands for a real-time control of the crucial steps of epitaxial growth process at a microscopic level. Optical probes, being non-invasive, are very useful in monitoring such processes at a microscopic level. By using the reflectance anisotropy technique with microscopic resolution (μ-RD/RA), which detects the difference in reflectance for two orthogonal crystal directions, we measured the optical anisotropies below and above band gap of orientation-patterned GaP structures deposited on both Si(100) and GaP(100) vicinal substrates. We have developed a physical model to describe the line shape of the spectra below and above the fundamental gap of GaP. By using this model, we have successfully analyzed μ-RD/RA spectra, and we were able to do anisotropy topographic maps of the surface and buried interface, which are consistent to those measured with scanning electron microscopy.
Efficiency droop and incomplete carrier localization in InGaN/GaN quantum well light-emitting diodes
Authors: Bochkareva N. I. , Rebane Y. T. , Shreter Y. G.
Published: November 2013

A direct correlation between efficiency droop and broadening of emission spectrum of InGaN/GaN quantum wells (QWs) with increasing current density is found. A model of incomplete carrier localization in InGaN/GaN QWs is proposed. At low injection, the strong carrier localization and high-energy cutoff of emission spectrum results from fast carrier energy relaxation due to carrier hopping between localized tail states in QWs. At high level injection, the energy relaxation rate decreases due to the partial filling of tail states and high energy slope of the spectrum starts to determine by Boltzmann occupancy of tail states. This results in the incomplete carrier localization and the efficiency droop.
Correlation between Si doping and stacking fault related luminescence in homoepitaxial m-plane GaN
Authors: Khromov S. , Monemar B. , Avrutin V. , Morkoç H. , Hultman L. , Pozina G.
Published: November 2013

Si-doped GaN layers grown by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy on m-plane GaN substrates were investigated by low-temperature cathodoluminescence (CL). We have observed stacking fault (SF) related emission in the range of 3.29–3.42 eV for samples with moderate doping, while for the layers with high concentration of dopants, no CL lines related to SFs have been noted. Perturbation of the SF potential profile by neighboring impurity atoms can explain localization of excitons at SFs, while this effect would vanish at high doping levels due to screening.
Hysteresis regime in the operation of a dual-free-layer spin-torque nano-oscillator with out-of-plane counter-precessing magnetic moments
Authors: Prokopenko O. V. , Krivorotov I. N. , Bankowski E. N. , Meitzler T. J. , Tiberkevich V. S. , Slavin A. N.
Published: November 2013

We studied the operation of a dual-free-layer (DFL) spin-torque nano-oscillator (STNO) and demonstrated that in a practically interesting regime when the magnetizations of the two free layers (FLs) precess in opposite directions along large-angle out-of-plane trajectories, thus doubling the generation frequency, the operation of the DFL STNO is strongly hysteretic as a function of a bias dc current. The stable magnetization dynamics starts at a rather large magnitude of the bias dc current density Jdc>Jthhigh when the bias current is increased, but the regime of stable counter-precession of the FLs persists till rather low magnitudes of the bias dc current density Jthlow<Jdc<Jthhigh when the bias current is decreased. This hysteresis is caused by the dipolar coupling between the FLs, and is especially pronounced for small distances between the FLs and the small magnetic damping in them. The discovered hysteretic behavior of the DFL STNO implies the possibility of application of a strong initial pulse of the bias current (greater than the upper threshold Jthhigh of the stable dynamics) and subsequent reduction of the bias current to a working point (Jthlow<Jdc<Jthhigh) corresponding to the required output frequency f(Jdc). The obtained results are important for the practical development of DFL STNOs with optimized operation characteristics.
High-temperature ferro-electricity in two-dimensional atomic crystal
Authors: Kan Erjun , Wu Fang , Deng Kaiming , Tang Weihua
Published: November 2013

The absence of a high-temperature electric polarization at nanometer scale has blocked the rapid development of traditional ferroelectrics in many modern electric devices. Here we show that hydroxyl-functionalized graphene yields robust ferroelectricity with large electric polarizations, which can survive above room temperature. Significantly, the calculated ferroelectric polarization is about 6.6 μC/cm2, and the estimated Curie temperature is about 700 K. Moreover, such ferroelectrics are environmentally friendly materials, which are necessarily required in next-generation electric devices. These significant attributes not only endow two-dimensional organic ferroelectrics great potential of electric applications but also provide an important strategy to produce ferroelectrics with intriguing properties.
AnchorMS: a bioinformatics tool to derive structural information from the mass spectra of cross-linked protein complexes
Authors: Mayne Shannon L.N. , Patterton Hugh-G.
Published: November 2013

Summary: Mass spectrometry is being increasingly used in the structural elucidation of mega-Dalton protein complexes in an approach termed MS3D, referring to the application of MS to the study of macromolecular structures. This involves the identification of cross-linked residues in the constituent proteins of chemically cross-linked multi-subunit complexes. AnchorMS was developed to simplify MS3D studies by identifying cross-linked peptides in complex peptide mixtures, and to determine the specific residues involved in each cross-link. When identifying cross-linked peptide pairs (CLPP), AnchorMS implements a mathematical model to exclude false positives by using a dynamic score threshold to estimate the number of false-positive peak matches expected in an MS/MS spectrum. This model was derived from CLPPs with randomly generated sequences. AnchorMS does not require specific sample labeling or pre-treatment, and AnchorMS is especially suited for discriminating between CLPPs that differ only in the cross-linked residue pairs.

Availability: AnchorMS was coded in Python, and is available as a free web service at cbio.ufs.ac.za/AnchorMS.

Contact:  patterh@ufs.ac.za
Grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering from Ge nanodots self-organized on Si(001) examined with soft X-rays
Authors: Yamamoto Takayoshi , Okuda Hiroshi , Takeshita Kohki , Usami Noritaka , Kitajima Yoshinori , Ogawa Hiroki
Published: November 2013

Grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) measurements with soft X-rays have been applied to Ge nanodots capped with a Si layer. Spatially anisotropic distribution of nanodots resulted in strongly asymmetric GISAXS patterns in theqydirection in the soft X-ray region, which have not been observed with conventional hard X-rays. However, such apparent differences were explained by performing a GISAXS intensity calculation on the Ewald sphere,i.e.taking the curvature of Ewald sphere into account.
Pulsed resources and the coupling between life‐history strategies and exploration patterns in eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus)
Authors: Montiglio Pierre‐Olivier , Garant Dany , Bergeron Patrick , Messier Gabrielle Dubuc , Réale Denis
Published: November 2013

Understanding the causes of animal personality (i.e. consistent behavioural differences) is a major aim of evolutionary studies.

Recent theoretical work suggests that major personality traits may contribute to evolutionary trade‐offs. However, such associations have only been investigated in a few study systems, and even less so in free ranging animal populations.

Eastern chipmunks exhibit consistent individual differences in exploration, ranging from slow to fast. Birth cohorts also experience dramatic differences in age at first breeding opportunity due to annual differences in beech mast. Individuals may breed for the first time at 24, 33 or 50% of their average life span, depending on year of birth. Here, we used data from a long‐term survey on a wild population to investigate the relationship between reproductive life history and consistent individual differences in exploration. We determined whether predictable differences in age at first breeding opportunity among birth cohorts were associated with exploration differences and favoured individuals with different exploration.

Birth cohorts with a predictably earlier age at first breeding opportunity were faster explorers on average. Slower explorers displayed their highest fecundity (females) or highest fertilization success (males) later in their life compared with faster explorers. Overall, slow explorers attained a higher lifetime reproductive success than fast explorers when given an opportunity to reproduce later in their life.

Our results suggest that the timing of mating seasons, associated with fluctuating food abundance, may favour individual variation in exploration and maintain population variation through its effects on reproductive life history. Together, our result shed light on how fluctuation in ecological conditions may maintain personality differences and on the nature of the relationships between animal personality and life history.
Founders, ancestors, and enemies: memory, family, time, and space in thePernambucosertão
Authors: Marques Ana Claudia
Published: November 2013

This article concerns the use of narrative and genealogical frameworks amongsertanejos, the inhabitants of the hinterlands (sertão) ofPernambuco in theNortheast ofBrazil, in the process of grouping and differentiating families. It explores how accounts produced by different people are linked by shared memories of past conflicts – such ascangaçoandquestões de família(lit. ‘family issues’). Through conceived and lived relationships among relatives and the correlated concepts of ‘blood’ and ‘race’ current in this social formation, I look to identify the different meanings attributed to time and space, inscribed in the collective memory, and implicated in the moving configurations of ‘family’ in a cognatic universe.
Cosmologies of freedom and Buddhist self‐transformation in the Mongolian gold rush
Authors: High Mette M.
Published: November 2013

This article examines how Mongolian Buddhist monks view the freedom they have experienced since the fall of Soviet socialism in 1990. Whereas the anthropological literature on postsocialism tends to focus on political and economic transformations, I argue that contemporary Mongolian politics points to the coexistence and interdependence of human and nonhuman agents. The article highlights how, in the context of the country's current mining boom, postsocialist politics requires attention to contemporary religious practices and spiritual beings beyond the ‘secular’. Considering emerging forms of Buddhist environmentalism, I describe how the freedom projects of Mongolian monks crystallize the intersection of Soviet socialist materialism, neoliberal individualism, and a Buddhist ethics of self‐transformation.
Effect of ethnicity on live birth rates after in vitro fertilisation or intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment
Authors: Jayaprakasan K , Pandian D , Hopkisson J , Campbell BK , Maalouf WE
Published: November 2013

Objective

To assess the relationship between the ethnicity of women and the clinical success of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment.

Design

Observational cohort study.

Setting

Nottingham University Research and Treatment Unit in Reproduction (NURTURE), UK.

Sample

A total of 1517 women, of which 1291 were white Europeans and 226 belonged to an ethnic minority group. All the women were undergoing their first cycle of assisted reproductive technology (ART) between 2006 and 2011.

Methods

All of the women underwent their first cycle of ART between 2006 and 2011.

Main outcome measures

Live birth rates following IVF or ICSI treatment.

Results

Although pre‐treatment ovarian reserve variables [mean age, basal follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), and total antral follicle count] were significantly favourable in the ethnic group, the live birth rates were significantly lower in this group (35%) compared with the white European group (43.8%) (relative risk 0.8; 95% CI 0.66–0.97). On logistic regression analysis, ethnicity was an independent predictor of live birth rate (OR 0.688; 95% CI 0.513–0.924). After controlling for the other independent variables (age and FSH), the significant association between ethnicity and live birth rate remained strong (OR 0.591; 95% CI 0.425–0.822) on multivariate logistic regression analysis.

Conclusions

Live birth rates following IVF or ICSI treatment were significantly lower in the ethnic minority group compared with white European women, which suggests that ethnicity is a major determinant of live birth following IVF treatment.
Opposition party policy shifts in response to no‐confidence motions
Authors: Somer‐Topcu Zeynep , Williams Laron K.
Published: November 2013

No‐confidence motions (NCMs) are attempts by opposition parties to publicise the government's failings in a salient policy arena, and previous research has shown that they often negatively affect citizens' evaluations of governing parties' competence and damage their electoral prospects. Yet currently there is a lack of understanding of how opposition parties respond ideologically to theseNCMs. It is argued in this article that opposition parties should distance themselves from the government challenged byNCMsto show that they are different from the incompetent government and to compete for the votes that the government is likely to lose. Using a sample of 19 advanced democracies from 1970–2007, empirical evidence is presented thatNCMsencourage political parties to move their positions away from the government's position, especially in the presence of reinforcing negative signals about government performance. These results have important implications for our understanding of opposition party policy change, for the economic voting literature, and for the spatial and valence models of party competition.
Cost‐effectiveness of hysterectomy for benign gynecological conditions: a systematic review
Authors: Pynnä Kristiina , Vuorela Piia , Lodenius Leena , Paavonen Jorma , Roine Risto P. , Räsänen Pirjo
Published: November 2013

The objective of this study was to assess the cost‐effectiveness of hysterectomy performed for benign indications. Hysterectomy remains the most common major gynecological operation in the Western world. Rates of hysterectomy have not declined as expected with the introduction of new treatment options. Furthermore, use of laparoscopic techniques varies widely within the Nordic countries. We designed a systematic review in a University Central Hospital. The sample included all published studies regarding the cost‐effectiveness of hysterectomy performed for benign indications (n = 1666). Medline, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Nursing databases were searched. Inclusion criteria were the availability of pre‐ and post‐intervention health‐related quality of life measures (HRQoL) and data on costs.HRQoL, costs, and cost‐effectiveness of treatment were the main outcome measures. Studies (n = 24) focused on treatment of symptomatic fibroids (n = 8), treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding (n = 10), various surgical techniques (n = 5) and the effect of various indications for hysterectomy (n = 2). Follow‐up periods varied from 4 months to over 10 years.SF/RAND‐36 orEQ‐5D measures and societal cost perspective were most commonly used. Only 11 studies used individual patient data.HRQoL following hysterectomy was generally good but costs were high. The cost‐effectiveness depended on indication, age, and duration of follow‐up. The cost‐effectiveness of hysterectomy has been surprisingly poorly studied. Conclusions are difficult to draw due to different study designs, indications, follow‐up times, andHRQoL instruments used. Rates of hysterectomy have declined less than expected with the introduction of new treatment modalities. Costs of surgery are high. Laparoscopic hysterectomy seems to be the least cost‐effective, although further data from original patient cohorts with long‐term follow‐up are needed.
Neurophysiological measures of nociceptive brain activity in the newborn infant – the next steps
Authors: Hartley Caroline , Slater Rebeccah
Published: November 2013

Infants within neonatal intensive care units can receive multiple medically essential painful procedures per day. How they respond to these events, how best to alleviate the negative effects, and the long‐term consequences for the infant are all significant questions that have yet to be fully answered. In recent years, several studies have examined cortical responses to noxious stimuli in the neonate through the use of near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and electroencephalography (EEG). These investigations dispel any notion that the newborn infant does not process noxious stimuli at a cortical level and open the way for future research. In this Viewpoint Article, we review these studies and discuss key clinical challenges which may be elucidated with the use of these techniques.

Conclusion

Simultaneously measuring the changes that are evoked in behaviour, physiology and the cortex following noxious events will provide the best approach to understanding the neonate's experience of pain.