bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Influenza reverse genetics: dissecting immunity and pathogenesis
Authors: Ye Siying , Evans Justin G. , Stambas John
Published: February 2014

Reverse genetics systems allow artificial generation of non-segmented and segmented negative-sense RNA viruses, like influenza viruses, entirely from cloned cDNA. Since the introduction of reverse genetics systems over a decade ago, the ability to generate ‘designer’ influenza viruses in the laboratory has advanced both basic and applied research, providing a powerful tool to investigate and characterise host–pathogen interactions and advance the development of novel therapeutic strategies. The list of applications for reverse genetics has expanded vastly in recent years. In this review, we discuss the development and implications of this technique, including the recent controversy surrounding the generation of a transmissible H5N1 influenza virus. We will focus on research involving the identification of viral protein function, development of live-attenuated influenza virus vaccines, host–pathogen interactions, immunity and the generation of recombinant influenza virus vaccine vectors for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases and cancer.
Propagation characteristics of a high-power broadband laser beam passing through a nonlinear optical medium with defects
Authors: Chen Xueqiong , Li Xiaoyan , Chen Ziyang , Pu Jixiong , Zhang Guowen , Zhu Jianqiang
Published: February 2014

The intensity distributions of a high-power broadband laser beam passing through a nonlinear optical medium with defects and then propagating in free space are investigated based on the general nonlinear Schrödinger equation and the split-step Fourier numerical method. The influences of the bandwidth of the laser beam, the thickness of the medium, and the defects on the light intensity distribution are revealed. We find that the nonlinear optical effect can be suppressed and that the uniformity of the beam can be improved for a high-power broadband laser beam with appropriate wide bandwidth. It is also found that, under the same incident light intensity, a thicker medium will lead to a stronger self-focusing intensity, and that the influence of defects in the optical elements on the intensity is stronger for a narrowband beam than for a broadband beam.
EDITORIAL FOREWORD
Authors: Pursley Sara , Baron Beth
Published: February 2014

Interest in the study of space was already increasing in Middle East studies, as in other areas of scholarship, before the 2011 Arab uprisings and the 2013 Gezi Park protests in Turkey—combined with the Occupy movement in the United States and similar phenomena elsewhere—turned worldwide attention to the politics of public spaces in the era of globalization and neoliberalism. This issue of IJMES reflects both the ongoing “spatial turn” in the scholarship and the more immediate and contingent attempts, sparked by recent events, to (re-)theorize public space in particular.
REVISITING ḤAḌAR AND BADŪ IN KUWAIT: CITIZENSHIP, HOUSING, AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF A DICHOTOMY
Authors: Al-Nakib Farah
Published: February 2014

Kuwait today is 99 percent urbanized. Though hosting a substantial desert population in the past, Kuwait no longer contains any Bedouin who practice a nomadic or pastoral lifestyle. And yet the term badū remains in popular use in Kuwait to designate a group considered sociologically and culturally distinct from the ḥaḍar, or settled urbanites, which in Kuwait's context refers solely to descendants of the pre-oil townspeople. This article explores why these social designations still exist in Kuwait and analyzes the origins of the conflictual relationship between the two groups. I argue that the persistence of the ḥaḍar/badū dichotomy is an outcome of state-building strategies adopted in the early oil years, mainly linked to citizenship and housing policies, that contributed to fixing ḥaḍar and badū as not only socially distinct but also geographically bounded groups. These state policies implemented between the 1950s and 1980s fostered the political integration but social exclusion of the badū. The article examines the lived realities of these incoherent policies as one way of explaining how the badū shifted from being the rulers’ main loyalty base in the early oil decades to becoming their primary opposition today.
SEEKING JUSTICE: TRIBAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND SOCIETAL TRANSFORMATION IN JORDAN
Authors: Watkins Jessica
Published: February 2014

In Jordan, tribal dispute settlements have played a pivotal role in the management of various types of grievances between individuals since long before the establishment of the modern state. To varying degrees, Jordanians—from the East and West Banks, Muslim and Christian, urban and rural—cherish the kinship networks associated with these procedures, and theʿaṭwa(truce) andṣulḥ(reconciliation) processes remain time-honored mechanisms for preventing revenge and making amends for wrongs committed. However, under the state's influence, the purpose of observing tribal settlements is evolving within an increasingly heterogeneous society. Drawing on documentary analysis combined with ethnographic material from across the kingdom, this article investigates the current status of tribal dispute resolution traditions among different sectors of the population. I argue that observance of such traditions can signify conformity with the hegemonic values that the state promotes as well as resistance to aspects of state control.
HOUSEHOLD NETWORKS AND RURAL INTEGRATION IN QAJAR KIRMAN
Authors: Gustafson James M.
Published: February 2014

The governorships of Muhammad Ismaʿil Khan Vakil al-Mulk (1859–68) and Murtaza Quli Khan Vakil al-Mulk II (1868–78) in Qajar Kirman were highlighted by an extensive building campaign which initiated a period of significant social and economic change in the province. This article explores the activities of local elites in managing their family estates in the context of this project through a careful analysis of provincial geographical and historical writings, Persian-language travelogues, and commentary by European administrators and travelers. Kirmani elites began investing in land and commercial agriculture on an unprecedented scale, accelerating Kirman's absorption into global economic patterns as a producer of raw materials like cotton, wool, and opium. An integrated political economy developed regionally through the expanding networks of elite households and their estates, reinforced by families combining landownership with administrative functions in rural areas. This process demonstrates the extent to which Iranians were active participants in transforming their communities in the context of the advance of global capitalism, with longstanding patterns of elite household competition playing an important role in mediating social and political change locally.
THE PYRAMID AND THE CROWN: THE EGYPTIAN BEER INDUSTRY FROM 1897 TO 1963
Authors: Foda Omar D.
Published: February 2014

This paper focuses on a long-running and understudied Egyptian economic institution, the beer industry. While the presence of a well-developed beer industry in a predominantly Muslim country is noteworthy in itself, it is the consistent profitability of this industry despite the vicissitudes of Egypt's economic and political development that have made it truly remarkable. Relying heavily on archival material, including documents preserved in Cairo's Dar al-Wathaʾiq (Egyptian National Archives), this paper tracks the development of the beer industry in Egypt from 1897, when Belgian entrepreneurs started the Pyramid and Crown breweries, to the 1960s, when the Egyptian government nationalized the two companies. This analysis uses the history of the beer company to map larger social and economic trends in the colonial and semicolonial Egyptian economy (1882–1963) and to further problematize the foreign/Egyptian dichotomy that shapes discussions of it.
The Production and Politics of Public Space Radical Democratic Politics and Public Space
Authors: Ehsani Kaveh
Published: February 2014

These are critical times for democratic politics from Morocco to Iran, as heterogeneous popular movements for greater representation and social justice increasingly challenge established authorities. It is not surprising that these struggles have laid claim to symbolic urban places in the process of claiming their collective political demands. Politics is not purely discursive or institutional; it always has material and spatial dimensions, which for democratic politics is manifested through public space. For all the recent enthusiasm about the emancipating possibilities of the digital media, the fact remains that Tahrir Square (Cairo), Gezi Park (Istanbul), Revolution Street (Tehran), and Pearl Roundabout (Manama) are not virtual locations on the Internet.
Gendered Space and Middle East Studies
Authors: Sawalha Aseel
Published: February 2014

Aspects of space and place shape daily life, social structures, politics, and intimate relations among people. In the late 1980s and 1990s, anthropologists, geographers, and sociologists—influenced by the writings of Michel Foucault and Henri Lefebvre on the meaning of social space—started to highlight the spatial in their analysis of social phenomena. These scholars focused on the production of urban space and asserted that space is dynamic and often shaped by the needs of its users as well as by those who design it. With the exception of Setha Low's work on Latin America, these writings were mostly centered on the United States.
Speaking of the City: Establishing Urban Expertise in the Arab Gulf
Authors: Kanna Ahmed
Published: February 2014

The Arab Gulf remains a marginalized, even unfashionable, area of research in the Middle East academy. In spite of—or maybe because of—this marginality, the region offers an interesting vantage point for reflecting on the production of knowledge about geographic and cultural regions. The frame of knowledge production casts into relief discourses of “the city” in Middle East, and particularly Gulf, studies over the past decade.
Beyond the Urban
Authors: Reynolds Nancy Y.
Published: February 2014

Studies of public space focus disproportionately on cities. Complex and densely populated urban built environments—with their streets, plazas, institutional buildings, housing projects, markets—make concrete and visible attempts to manage difference. They also structure the ways that less powerful residents challenge and sometimes remake elites’ spatial visions of the social order. The robust literature in Middle East studies on Islamic cities, colonial cities, dual cities, quarters and ethnicities, port cities, and so forth is no exception to this urban focus.
WHENCE? WHITHER? THE MODERN ARABIC LITERARY NARRATIVE: SOME HAZARDED SPECULATIONS
Authors: Harlow Barbara
Published: February 2014

Postwar Lebanon, Sufism, imperial translations, Hamlet, trials and atlases, city streets, literary cafés, and Tahrir Square: disorienting as these various themes might appear to be, they nonetheless entitle eight recent inquiries into contemporary—and precedent—directions of literary critical studies of the modern Arabic novel and their calculated revisions of, perhaps, another Arabic literary historical narrative that necessarily engages multigenre, comparative literary–historical investigations. Each of the works under review here was published between 2010 and 2013, with just one specifically, and that ex post facto, addressing the momentous events in Cairo's Tahrir Square in the early months of 2011. In other words, these works might well have already anticipated a more than seasonal, some would even argue historic, “Arab spring,” and at least several of the works’ authors found it necessary to append an epilogue to their in-production text, or otherwise slightly, subtly, revise at the last minute their presumptive chronologies and the contested trajectories of modern Arabic literature that attend them. From the classically proverbial “tradition versus modernity” discussions through their historicist implications for the cultural production of new media and alternative public spheres, each of these studies seeks, in its own way/s, to instantiate Arabic literature—and Arabic literary criticism—within and against its respected precursors. But where will that self-same literature, and its current critical mediations, eventually wind up, whether globally, nationally, or historically?
GENDER-BASED ATTITUDES, HIV MISCONCEPTIONS AND FEELINGS TOWARDS MARGINALIZED GROUPS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH STIGMATIZATION IN MUMBAI, INDIA
Authors: BHARAT SHALINI , RAMAKRISHNA JAYASHREE , HEYLEN ELSA , EKSTRAND MARIA L.
Published: February 2014

This study examined the association of gender-based attitudes, HIV misconceptions and community feelings for marginalized groups with stigmatizing responses towards people with HIV/AIDS in Mumbai, India. Participants included 546 men and women sampled in hospital settings during 2007–2008. Structured measures were used to assess avoidance intentions and denial of rights of people with HIV/AIDS. Mean age of participants was 32 years; 42% had less than 10 years of education. Higher HIV transmission misconceptions (β=0.47; p<0.001), more traditional gender attitudes (β=0.11; p<0.01) and more negative feelings towards HIV-positive people (β=0.23; p<0.001) were related to higher avoidance intentions. Endorsement of denial of rights was also significantly associated with higher transmission misconceptions (β=0.20; p<0.001), more traditional gender attitudes (β=0.33; p<0.001) and greater negative feelings towards HIV-positive people (β=0.12; p<0.05), as well as with a lower education level (β=−0.10; p<0.05). The feelings respondents had towards people with HIV/AIDS were more strongly correlated with their feelings towards those with other diseases (tuberculosis, leprosy) than with feelings they had towards those associated with ‘immoral’ behaviour (e.g. sex workers). Eliminating HIV transmission misconceptions and addressing traditional gender attitudes are critical for reducing HIV stigma in Indian society.
Digital processing technology for bone-anchored hearing aids: randomised comparison of two devices in hearing aid users with mixed or conductive hearing loss
Authors: Hill-Feltham P , Roberts S A , Gladdis R
Published: February 2014

Objective:

This study compared the performance of two new bone-anchored hearing aids with older bone-anchored hearing aids that were not fully digital.

Methods:

Fourteen experienced bone-anchored hearing aid users participated in this cross-over study. Performance of their existing bone-anchored hearing aid was assessed using speech-in-noise testing and questionnaires. Participants were then fitted with either a Ponto Pro or a BP100 device. After four weeks of use with each new device, the same assessments were repeated.

Results:

Speech-in-noise testing for the 50 per cent signal-to-noise ratio (the ratio at which 50 per cent of responses were correct) showed no significant differences between the Ponto Pro and the BP100 devices (p = 0.1) However, both devices showed significant improvement compared with the participants' previous bone-anchored hearing aid devices (p < 0.001). There were no significant differences between the two new devices in the questionnaire data.

Conclusion:

Both fully digital bone-anchored hearing aids demonstrated superior speech processing compared with the previous generation of devices. There were no substantial differences between the two digital devices in either objective or subjective tests.
The effects of seasonal variation on the nutritional condition ofNephrops norvegicus(Astacidea: Nephropidae) from wild populations in the western Mediterranean
Authors: Rotllant Guiomar , Company Joan B. , Alvarez-Fernández Inmaculada , García José A. , Aguzzi Jacopo , Durfort Mercè
Published: February 2014

The Norway lobster,Nephrops norvegicusis a target fishery species in European waters. The stock assessment ofN. norvegicusis complicated because it is caught in commercial gear only when it emerges from its burrow. Landings are lower in winter, and feeding limitations have been hypothesized as the cause. Wild large-sized male lobsters were sampled each season (winter, spring, summer and autumn), and two groups of animals were kept in captivity for 90 d (fed and food-deprived). The hepatopancreas and muscle were dissected, weighted, frozen for biochemical analyses (proximal analyses and DNA/RNA) and fixed in Bouin solution for microscopic observations. The oxygen consumption rates in the wild individuals caught in the spring and in the captive animals after the treatments were measured. Significant differences among the experimental groups were observed in the lipid concentration of the hepatopancreas and muscle, the water content in the hepatopancreas, and the numbers of vacuoles and pyknotic nuclei in the cells of the tubules of the hepatopancreas. The results showed that the wild Norway lobsters generally presented intermediate values between those observed in the food-deprived and the fed lobsters kept in captivity, but the values were closer to those obtained for the fed animals. This finding indicates that the wild animals exhibit a good nutritional condition throughout the year. Therefore, the wild males ofN. norvegicusdo not face food deprivation during winter as is suggested by the pattern of commercial catches, the flow of organic matter, and the moulting period/reproductive behaviour of the species.
The influence of flow velocity and suspended particulate concentration on net prey capture rates by the scleractinian coral Balanophyllia europaea (Scleractinia: Dendrophylliidae)
Authors: Purser Autun , Orejas Covadonga , Moje Annika , Thomsen Laurenz
Published: February 2014

Balanophyllia europaea is an endemic Mediterranean sublittoral zooxanthellate solitary coral. Given the broad distribution of the species throughout many areas of the Mediterranean surprisingly little is known of preferred habitat niches or susceptibility of the species to environmental change. In this study we investigated in the laboratory the net prey capture rates of the coral achievable under a range of flow velocities (2.5, 5, 7.5 and 15 cm s−1) and under exposure to different suspended particulate concentrations (0, 7.3 and 170 mg l−1). In recirculation flumes we simulated both commonly occurring and the occasionally high flow velocities and various suspended particulate concentrations reported from the Gulf of Lions (north-west Mediterranean). We then delivered ca 500 A. salina nauplii l−1 as food (Artemia salina nauplii) to the flumes and monitored net prey capture over time. We found net prey capture rates by the species to be highest under flow velocities of 5 cm s−1, with 230 µg C coral individual−1 h−1 achieved. The presence or absence of even environmentally high particulate concentrations (up to 170 mg l−1 resuspended seabed material) did not significantly affect the net prey capture rates achieved by the coral polyps. We found that net prey capture in Balanophyllia europaea is not inhibited during periods of heavy particle exposure, as has been observed in other temperate scleractinian corals. Also, flow velocities of ca ~5 s−1 appear to be optimal for maximum net prey capture by the species.
Recovering the jaguar Panthera onca in peripheral range: a challenge to conservation policy
Authors: Povilitis Tony
Published: February 2014

The recovery goal for the jaguar Panthera onca in the USA should be to restore significant presence with some reproduction, consistent with historical records. Nevertheless, the prevailing conservation strategy for the jaguar does not include restoration in peripheral range and merely seeks long-term survival of the jaguar within its existing northern range, which is almost entirely in Mexico. Broader issues are whether recovery programmes should include peripheral populations, range expansion and species representation across ecoregions. Considering jaguar history, habitat, population requirements, wildlife management and other factors in the southwestern USA, efforts to re-establish the species would have a reasonable chance of success. Recovery of the jaguar in the USA would improve prospects for the adaptation and survival of the species within its northern range, given habitat loss, conflicts with humans and climate change.
The Sri Lankan paradox: high genetic diversity in Plasmodium vivax populations despite decreasing levels of malaria transmission
Authors: GUNAWARDENA SHARMINI , FERREIRA MARCELO U. , KAPILANANDA G. M. G. , WIRTH DYANN F. , KARUNAWEERA NADIRA D.
Published: February 2014

Here we examined whether the recent dramatic decline in malaria transmission in Sri Lanka led to a major bottleneck in the local Plasmodium vivax population, with a substantial decrease in the effective population size. To this end, we typed 14 highly polymorphic microsatellite markers in 185 P. vivax patient isolates collected from 13 districts in Sri Lanka over a period of 5 years (2003–2007). Overall, we found a high degree of polymorphism, with 184 unique haplotypes (12–46 alleles per locus) and average genetic diversity (expected heterozygosity) of 0·8744. Almost 69% (n = 127) isolates had multiple-clone infections (MCI). Significant spatial and temporal differentiation (FST = 0·04–0·25; P⩽0·0009) between populations was observed. The effective population size was relatively high but showed a decline from 2003–4 to 2006–7 periods (estimated as 45 661 to 22 896 or 10 513 to 7057, depending on the underlying model used). We used three approaches – namely, mode-shift in allele frequency distribution, detection of heterozygote excess and the M-ratio statistics – to test for evidence of a recent population bottleneck but only the low values of M-ratio statistics (ranging between 0·15–0·33, mean 0·26) were suggestive of such a bottleneck. The persistence of high genetic diversity and high proportion of MCI, with little change in effective population size, despite the collapse in demographic population size of P. vivax in Sri Lanka indicates the importance of maintaining stringent control and surveillance measures to prevent resurgence.
The British Expedition of Septimius Severus
Authors: Hodgson N.
Published: February 2014

Archaeological evidence has emerged over the last half century which helps shed light on the British expedition (a.d.208–11) of the emperor Septimius Severus and his sons, famously but meagrely reported by the historians Cassius Dio and Herodian. Excavation at the Severan supply-base at South Shields, full publication of excavations of the 1960s and 1970s at the fortress of Carpow on the Tay, and more recently at Cramond, and recent work on the indigenous societies encountered by the Romans, all offer new perspectives. The archaeological evidence is reviewed in conjunction with the historical. A critical assessment is made of: (1) the widespread belief that personal or political considerations brought Severus to Britain rather than actual need for military intervention; (2) recent claims that the fortress at Carpow was founded earlier under Commodus (a.d.180s) and abandoned even before the Severan expedition; (3) the widespread assumption that Severus wished to occupy Scotland permanently and thus be the first conqueror of the whole of Britain; (4) the prevailing view that Carpow and Cramond were abandoned and that all Roman activity in Scotland ceased abruptly on Severus’ death in February 211, and that the campaigns brought about a period of peace in third-century Britain.
LACONIAN AND MESSENIAN PLAQUES WITH SEATED FIGURES: THE SOCIO-POLITICAL DIMENSION
Authors: Salapata Gina
Published: February 2014

The characteristic terracotta plaques with seated figures accompanied by snakes were created for local use, as they are hardly ever found outside Laconia and Messenia. They served a type of cult, the heroic, as shown by both their widespread distribution in this region and their complete absence from divine sanctuaries. Their generalised and standardised iconography made them versatile offerings that could be used in various contexts, with the seated figure acquiring the identity of the locally honoured hero in a specific sanctuary setting. Distribution patterns also show variety. In Laconia, plaque findspots show this type of offering was favoured much more in the region inhabited by thehomoioi. By contrast, the Messenian plaques, offered both at Bronze Age tombs and at urban sanctuaries, must have been dedicated primarily by perioikoi. The similarities between Laconian and Messenian types of plaques need not be correlated with the contested ethnic identity of the Messenians. Rather, they should be attributed to the flexibility and variety in their use. The Messenian cults that attracted plaque dedications honoured heroes not necessarily because they were Achaean, but because they were celebrated local mythical or historical figures. Creating a link with the past through heroes was a well-established way to articulate a strong local and communal, but not necessarily ethnic, identity.
Double layer acceleration by laser radiation
Authors: Eliezer Shalom , Nissim Noaz , Martínez Val José Maria , Mima Kunioki , Hora Heinrich
Published: February 2014

It is shown that it is possible to accelerate micro-foils to velocities from 108 cm/s up to relativistic velocities without the disturbance of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability. The acceleration occurs due to the radiation pressure of proper high power lasers. In these systems, the ablation force is negligible relative to the ponderomotive force that dominates the acceleration. The laser irradiances of 1017 W/cm2 < IL < 1021 W/cm2 with a pulse duration of the order of 10 picoseconds can accelerate a micro-foil by the laser radiation pressure to velocities as high as 109 cm/s before breaking by Rayleigh Taylor (RT) instability. Similarly, laser irradiances of IL > 1021 W/cm2 with pulse duration of the order of 10 femtoseconds can accelerate a micro-foil to relativistic velocities without RT breaking. Due to the nature of the accelerating ponderomotive force, in both the relativistic and non-relativistic cases, the structure of the accelerated target contains a double layer (DL) at the interface of the laser-target interaction. The DL acts as a piston during the acceleration process. The influence of the DL surface tension on the RT instability is also analyzed in this paper.
Particle-in-cell methods in predicting materials behavior during high power deposition
Authors: Genco Filippo , Hassanein Ahmed
Published: February 2014

Large energy fluxes and energy deposition are often found during off normal events in fusion reactors both magnetic and inertial confinement. Great temperature excursions can be found in the plasma facing components materials resulting in melting, evaporation, and expansion of the target material vapor cloud and successive plasma interaction. A general methodology for the computational solution of this very complex problem is proposed in this paper using a novel approach of the Particle-in-Cell method. This novel approach preserves many of the original Particle-in-Cell methodology proposed by Harlow's but introduces several changes to the method, which makes it particularly suitable in plasma dynamics applications as Tokamaks devices. Benchmarking is done using results from the very well-known and benchmarked HEIGHTS computer package and using available results from the MK200 plasma gun experiments. The general scheme is explained in detail and results and discussion related to the main computational aspects are presented. In particular, the critical importance of the starting computational mesh versus the aimed accuracy is studied and explained. The methodology is different from any other presented in literature because the dynamics of the physical problem dictates that as enough energy is being dumped on the target plate, melting and evaporation of the material takes place. As time progresses, new sample particles are introduced in the system making this boundary a dynamic one along time. Computer time is discussed in relation to the initial sample particle loading, aimed accuracy and importance of the time used for solving the radiation transport at each time step.
Asymmetries in phonological development: the case of word-final cluster acquisition in Welsh–English bilingual children
Authors: MAYR ROBERT , HOWELLS GWENNAN , LEWIS RHONWEN
Published: February 2014

This study provides the first systematic account of word-final cluster acquisition in bilingual children. To this end, forty Welsh–English bilingual children differing in language dominance and age (2;6 to 5;0) participated in a picture-naming task in English and Welsh. The results revealed significant age and dominance effects on cluster acquisition, with greater overall accuracy on the English clusters. Interestingly, although the Welsh-dominant children outperformed the English-dominant ones on the Welsh clusters, they did not exhibit a concomitant lag on the English clusters. It is argued that this asymmetry is a direct reflection of the sociolinguistic situation in Wales with English as the majority language and Welsh the minority language. The study also revealed accelerated rates of acquisition for English clusters compared with age-matched monolinguals reported elsewhere (Templin, 1957), thereby supporting claims that bilingual contexts may have a facilitative effect on phonological acquisition (Goldstein & Bunta, 2012; Grech & Dodd, 2008).
New Meridian Arc Formulae by the Least Squares Method
Authors: Tseng Wei-Kuo , Chang Wei-Jie , Pen Chin-Lin
Published: February 2014

Navigational software often lacks official standardisation of the methods used and their accuracy due to commercial confidentiality. The “black box solutions” used by navigational systems are unknown, thus a logical and simple method to solve navigational problems must be presented. This paper presents new meridian arc formulae by the least squares method. As the traditional meridian arc formulae cannot be expressed as a closed form, they are often truncated to the first few terms for practical use and in doing so neglect the values not used. By forming an overdetermined system with known components of the traditional meridian arc formula and actual length of the meridian arc, the least squares method can be used to approximate the best fitting coefficients for the traditional meridian arc formulae and forms the new compact formulae. The new formulae are based on highly accurate values of the meridian arc for the WGS-84 ellipsoid datum, and are perfect for the computational algorithms implemented in navigational software such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS) and other Electronic Chart Systems (ECS). Their accuracy is compared with other methods and shows that the new proposed formulae are shorter and accurate with negligible errors. The new formulae can be adapted to the accuracy needed and imply different numbers of coefficients. This can also shorten the calculations in navigation such as rhumb-line or great elliptic sailing on the ellipsoid because the meridian arc length is essential for these calculations.
High Resolution GNSS Delay Estimation for Vehicular Navigation Utilizing a Doppler Combining Technique
Authors: Sokhandan Negin , Broumandan Ali , Curran James T. , Lachapelle Gérard
Published: February 2014

Multipath propagation can cause significant impairments to the performance of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers and is often the dominant source of accuracy degradation for high precision GNSS applications. Commonly used time-of-arrival estimation techniques cannot provide the required estimation accuracy in severely dense multipath environments such as urban canyons. Multipath components are highly correlated and this results in a rank deficiency of the signal autocorrelation matrix. In this paper the Doppler spectrum broadening of the fast fading channel resulting from the motion of the receiver or surrounding objects is employed to decorrelate signal reflections for the purpose of high-resolution estimation of multipath delays through the subspace-based Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC) technique. Specifically, delay-domain correlator outputs at different Doppler frequencies are combined to enhance the rank of the signal autocorrelation matrix. Simulation and results of real data collected in an urban environment (downtown Calgary) are presented to compare the performance of the proposed method with the spatial-temporal-diversity-based MUSIC technique and a widely available algorithm in commercial GNSS receivers, namely the double-delta correlator technique. The performance metrics are based upon pseudorange and positioning errors, which are derived using an accurate reference trajectory established using a high precision GNSS-INS integrated system.
Dealing with Observation Outages within Navigation Data using Gaussian Process Regression
Authors: Chen Hongmei , Cheng Xianghong , Wang Haipeng , Han Xu
Published: February 2014

Gaussian process regression (GPR) is used in a Spare-grid Quadrature Kalman filter (SGQKF) for Strap-down Inertial Navigation System (SINS)/odometer integrated navigation to bridge uncertain observation outages and maintain an estimate of the evolving SINS biases. The SGQKF uses nonlinearized dynamic models with complex stochastic nonlinearities so the performance degrades significantly during observation outages owing to the uncertainties and noise. The GPR calculates the residual output after factoring in the contributions of the parametric model that is used as a nonlinear SINS error predictor integrated into the SGQKF. The sensor measurements and SINS output deviations from the odometer are collected in a data set during observation availability. The GPR is then applied to predict SINS deviations from the odometer and then the predicted SINS deviations are fed to the SGQKF as an actual update to estimate all SINS biases during observation outages. We demonstrate our method's effectiveness in bridging uncertain observation outages in simulations and in real road tests. The results agree with the theoretical analysis, which demonstrate that SGQKF using GPR can maintain an estimate of the evolving SINS biases during signal outages.
Geographical information software and shopper card data, aided in the discovery of a Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak associated with Turkish pine nuts
Authors: BEDARD B. , KENNEDY B. S. , WEIMER A. C.
Published: February 2014

In 2011, from August to November, the Monroe County Department of Public Health (MCDPH) investigated 47 salmonellosis cases. Geographical information software (GIS) was used to map the address locations of these cases. The resulting GIS analysis and culture information indicated that there were two distinct clusters of Salmonella that were geographically different. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) testing was run at the New York State Department of Health Wadsworth Laboratory and identified S. Enteritidis (23 cases) and S. Typhimurium (10 cases). The epidemiological investigation identified Turkish pine nuts as the link between ill S. Enteritidis cases. Pine nut samples sent for laboratory testing were a PFGE match to human isolates with S. Enteritidis. A national recall of Turkish pine nuts ensued. A multistate outbreak was identified as a result of the initial investigation of MCDPH, in which 43 people were infected with the outbreak strain from five states. GIS software and shopper card data provided important tools in the epidemiological investigation.
Hyperspectral measurements of wet, dry and saline soils from the McMurdo Dry Valleys: soil moisture properties from remote sensing
Authors: Levy Joseph , Nolin Anne , Fountain Andrew , Head James
Published: February 2014

Soil moisture is a spatially heterogeneous quantity in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica that exerts a large influence on the biological community and on the thermal state of Dry Valleys permafrost. The goal of this project was to determine whether hyperspectral remote sensing techniques could be used to determine soil moisture conditions in the Dry Valleys. We measured the spectral reflectance factors of wetted soil samples from the Dry Valleys under natural light conditions and related diagnostic spectral features to surface layer soil moisture content. Diagnostic water absorption features in the spectra at 1.4 µm and 1.9 µm were present in all samples, including samples doped with high concentrations of chloride salts. The depth of the 1.4 µm absorption is shown to increase linearly with increasing gravimetric water content. These results suggest that airborne hyperspectral imaging of the Dry Valleys could generate soil moisture maps of this environment over large spatial areas using non-invasive remote-sensing techniques.
An anatomy of financial crises in Norway, 1830–2010
Authors: Grytten Ola Honningdal , Hunnes Arngrim
Published: February 2014

On the basis of a novel dataset, the article investigates the anatomy of financial crises in Norway from 1830 to 2010. First, nine significant crises are identified. Second, the article examines spillover effects on the real economy. We find a clear but not symmetric relationship. Third, the article investigates key patterns in credit and money volumes. Major financial crises typically occurred after substantial money and credit expansion, causing financial instability.
The Church of Scientology: Legitimacy through Perception Management
Authors: Halupka Max
Published: February 2014

In 1967 the Church of Scientology's tax-exempt status was revoked on the basis that it failed to meet the criteria outlined in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Service. Between its loss, and eventual reacquisition in 1993, the Church of Scientology employed a number of political based tactics in an attempt to legitimize itself to the public sector. This article explores these tactics in relation to the religion's use of perception management. The article argues that the processes of both legal recognition and legitimization draw upon each other in a new faith's transition to mainstream theology. In this, the Church employed perception management in attempt to influence both processes. In exploring this, the paper contributes to our understanding of role that public legitimacy plays in a new faith's development.
Iterated crowdsourcing dilemma game
Authors: Oishi Koji , Cebrian Manuel , Abeliuk Andres , Masuda Naoki
Published: February 2014

The Internet has enabled the emergence of collective problem solving, also known as crowdsourcing, as a viable option for solving complex tasks. However, the openness of crowdsourcing presents a challenge because solutions obtained by it can be sabotaged, stolen and manipulated at a low cost for the attacker. We extend a previously proposed crowdsourcing dilemma game to an iterated game to address this question. We enumerate pure evolutionarily stable strategies within the class of so-called reactive strategies, i.e., those depending on the last action of the opponent. Among the 4096 possible reactive strategies, we find 16 strategies each of which is stable in some parameter regions. Repeated encounters of the players can improve social welfare when the damage inflicted by an attack and the cost of attack are both small. Under the current framework, repeated interactions do not really ameliorate the crowdsourcing dilemma in a majority of the parameter space.
Convenient detection of the thiol functional group using H/D isotope sensitive Raman spectroscopy
Authors: Bandyopadhyay Sabyasachi , Dey Abhishek
Published: February 2014

Convenient detection of thiol groups using Raman spectroscopy.
Correlation and the mechanism of lithium ion diffusion with the crystal structure of Li7La3Zr2O12 revealed by an internal friction technique
Authors: Wang X. P. , Gao Y. X. , Xia Y. P. , Zhuang Z. , Zhang T. , Fang Q. F.
Published: February 2014

The correlation and transport mechanism of lithium ions with the crystal structure of a fast lithium ion conductor Li7La3Zr2O12 are mainly investigated by internal friction (IF) and AC impedance spectroscopy techniques.
A novel type of coordination mode of chloranilic acid leading to the formation of polymeric coordination ribbon in the series of mixed-ligand copper(ii) complexes with 1,10-phenanthroline
Authors: Molčanov Krešimir , Jurić Marijana , Kojić-Prodić Biserka
Published: February 2014

A series of four novel mixed-ligand complexes of copper(ii) with 3,6-dichloro-2,5-dihydroxybenzoquinone (chloranilic acid) and 1,10-phenanthroline was prepared and characterised by X-ray analysis and IR spectroscopy.
Predicting essential genes in prokaryotic genomes using a linear method: ZUPLS
Authors: Song Kai , Tong Tuopong , Wu Fang
Published: February 2014

An effective linear method, ZUPLS, was developed to improve the accuracy and speed of prokaryotic essential gene identification.
Colloidal plasmonic back reflectors for light trapping in solar cells
Authors: Mendes Manuel J. , Morawiec Seweryn , Simone Francesca , Priolo Francesco , Crupi Isodiana
Published: February 2014

Novel plasmonic scattering structures are presented, composed of self-assembled arrays of monosized colloidal gold nanospheres, for light trapping in photovoltaics.
Mesoporous manganese-deficient lithium manganese silicate cathodes for lithium-ion batteries
Authors: Gummow Rosalind J. , He Yinghe
Published: February 2014

A manganese-deficient lithium manganese silicate cathode is synthesised by an emulsion synthesis route, using mesoporous silica as a template, to give a mesoporous product with excellent electrochemical reversibility in lithium cells.
Palladium-catalyzed intermolecular Heck reaction of alkyl halides
Authors: Zou Yinjun , Zhou Jianrong (Steve)
Published: February 2014

An efficient Pd-catalyzed method for intermolecular Heck reaction of common alkyl halides is described for the first time.
Optically and magnetically doped ormosil nanoparticles for bioimaging: synthesis, characterization, and in vitro studies
Authors: Kumar Pramod , Anuradha Anuradha , Roy Indrajit
Published: February 2014

(Left) Scheme depicting formation of ormosil nanoparticles, co-encapsulated with iron oxide nanoparticles and fluorophore. (Right) TEM image of the synthesized nanoparticles.
Mechanical properties of PGA at different water fractions – a molecular dynamics study
Authors: Ju Shin-Pon , Huang Wei-Chun , Lin Ken-Huang , Chen Hui-Lung , Lin Jenn-Sen , Hsieh Jin-Yuan
Published: February 2014

The mechanical properties of polyglycolic acid (PGA) of different water weight fractions (1.7%, 2.9%, and 5%) were investigated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation through a tensile test.
Mn3O4 hollow spheres for lithium-ion batteries with high rate and capacity
Authors: Jian Guoqiang , Xu Yunhua , Lai Li-Chung , Wang Chunsheng , Zachariah Michael R.
Published: February 2014

This work focuses on development of Mn3O4 hollow spheres with high cycling capacity and high rate capability in lithium ion batteries.
Asymmetric geometrical‐based statistical channel model and its multiple‐input and multiple‐output capacity
Authors: Zhou Jie , Cao Zhigang , Kikuchi Hisakazu
Published: February 2014

One of the fundamental research areas in wireless communications is the development of realistic models that can efficiently and accurately describe the wireless propagation channel. In this paper, the authors developed an asymmetric geometrical‐based statistical channel model for mobile system and investigated the multiple‐input and multiple‐output (MIMO) receiving performance. This work was first in the asymmetric geometry literature to derive the closed‐form explicit formulae for the time‐of‐arrival and the angle‐of‐arrival of the multi‐paths, then the Doppler spectra. The channel model assumed that each multi‐path component of the propagating signal undergoes only one bounce travelling from the base station (BS) to the mobile station (MS) and the scattering objects distributed around the BS, are assuming Gaussian and exponential spatial distribution models. Using the channel model, the authors first analysed the performance of MIMO antenna systems and Doppler spectra because of MS's motion.
Sexual Freedom and the Promise of Revolution: Emma Goldman's Passion
Authors: Hemmings Clare
Published: February 2014

This article explores the contributions to a history of sexuality, capitalism and revolution made when we consider the work of anarchist thinker and activist Emma Goldman (1869–1940). I suggest that Goldman's centring of sexual freedom at the heart of revolutionary vision and practice is part of a long tradition of sexual politics, one which struggles to make sense of how productive and reproductive labour come together, and to identify the difference between sexual freedom and capitalist opportunity. Goldman's concern with the significance of kinship in holding together capitalism, militarism and religion, as well as sexual feeling's capacity to disrupt those relationships, echoes across more than a century to resonate with Marxist, feminist and queer scholars’ engagements with similar issues. But where contemporary scholars often tend to retain the opposition between culture and society, representation and the real, making it difficult to produce a materialist analysis of sexuality as transformative rather than always already overdetermined, Goldman's energetic insistence on sexual connectivity as freeing provides an important vantage point. Not only does Goldman consistently situate sexuality in a broad political context of the sexual division of labour, the institutions of marriage and the church, consumerism, patriotism and productive (as well as reproductive) labour, she frames sexual freedom as both the basis of new relationships between men and women, and as a model for a new political future.
‘They're Talkin’ Bout a Revolution’: Feminism, Anarchism and the Politics of Social Change in the Global Justice Movement
Authors: Maiguashca Bice
Published: February 2014

Despite the proliferation of works on the ‘global justice movement’ (GJM) in recent years, surprisingly little has been written on the intersections between feminist and anarchist strands within this ‘movement of movements’. In an effort to rectify this gap in the literature, this article seeks to explore in what ways and to what extent anarchist and feminist renditions of revolution, within the context of the GJM, are conceptually compatible and thereby potentially politically reinforcing. In order to ascertain the degree of convergence between these two radical projects, in the first part of the article I examine what each camp is fighting for and against and whether their struggles for social justice are ideologically consonant. In the second part, I turn my attention to the types of practices being enacted and defended by these two activist constituencies and ask how they see their respective revolutions being brought about. What notions of social change are at work here and are their political practices, and the different temporalities sustaining them, reconcilable? After arguing in the first two parts of this article that anarchism and feminism are more compatible than is often acknowledged and that the considerable synergies between feminist notions of social justice and social change and anarchist conceptions of revolution merit far more attention than they currently receive, I end the piece by reflecting on some of the points of tension that still militate against merging their respective political imaginaries. I do so in an attempt to identify what I see as the conditions of possibility for a more integrated, mutually collaborative feminist anarchist revolutionary politics.