bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A multifunctional setup to record FTIR and UV-vis spectra of organic molecules and their photoproducts in astronomical ices
Authors: Kofman V. , Witlox M. J. A. , Bouwman J. , ten Kate I. L. , Linnartz H.
Published: May 2018

This article describes a new, multi-functional, high-vacuum ice setup that allows to record the in situ and real-time spectra of vacuum UV (VUV)-irradiated non-volatile molecules embedded in a low-temperature (10 K) amorphous solid water environment. Three complementary diagnostic tools—UV-visible (UV-vis) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and temperature-programmed desorption quadrupole mass spectrometry—can be used to simultaneously study the physical and chemical behavior of the organic molecules in the ice upon VUV irradiation. The setup is equipped with a temperature-controlled sublimation oven that enables the controlled homogeneous deposition of solid species such as amino acids, nucleobases, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in ice mixtures prepared from precursor gases and/or liquids. The resulting ice is photo-processed with a microwave discharge hydrogen lamp, generating VUV radiation with a spectral energy distribution representative for the interstellar medium. The characteristics, performance, and future potential of the system are discussed by describing three different applications. First, a new method is introduced, which uses broadband interference transmission fringes recorded during ice deposition, to determine the wavelength-dependent refractive index, nλ, of amorphous solid water. This approach is also applicable to other solids, pure and mixed. Second, the UV-vis and FTIR spectroscopy of an VUV-irradiated triphenylene:water ice mixture is discussed, monitoring the ionization efficiency of PAHs in interstellar ice environments. The third and final example investigates the stability of solid glycine upon VUV irradiation by monitoring the formation of dissociation products in real time.
Communication: Potentials of mean force study of ionic liquid ion pair aggregation in polar covalent molecule solvents
Authors: Bandlamudi Santosh Rathan Paul , Benjamin Kenneth M.
Published: May 2018

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were conducted for 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium methylsulfate [EMIM][MeSO4] dissolved in six polar covalent molecules [acetic acid, acetone, chloroform, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), isopropyl alcohol, and methanol] to understand the free energies of ionic liquid (IL) ion pairing/aggregation in the limit of infinite dilution. Free energy landscapes or potentials of mean force (PMF) were computed using umbrella sampling and the weighted histogram analysis method. The PMF studies showed the strongest IL ion pairing in chloroform, and the strength of IL ion pairing decreases in the order of chloroform, acetone, propanol, acetic acid, DMSO, and methanol. In the limit of infinite dilution, the free energy curves for IL ion aggregation in co-solvents were characterized by two distinct minima [global (∼3.6 Å) and local (∼5.7 Å)], while free energy values at these minima differed significantly for IL in each co-solvent. The PMF studies were extended for determining the free energy of IL ion aggregation as a function of concentration of methanol. Studies showed that as the concentration of methanol increased, the free energy of ion aggregation decreased, suggesting greater ion pair stability, in agreement with previously reported MD clustering and radial distribution function data.
Enhanced doping effect on tuning structural phases of monolayer antimony
Authors: Wang Jizhang , Yang Teng , Zhang Zhidong , Yang Li
Published: May 2018

Doping is capable to control the atomistic structure, electronic structure, and even to dynamically realize a semiconductor-metal transition in two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). However, the high critical doping density (∼1014 electron/cm2), compound nature, and relatively low carrier mobility of TMDs limits broader applications. Using first-principles calculations, we predict that, via a small transition potential, a substantially lower hole doping density (∼6 × 1012 hole/cm2) can switch the ground-state structure of monolayer antimony from the hexagonal β-phase, a 2D semiconductor with excellent transport performance and air stability but an indirect bandgap, to the orthorhombic α phase with a direct bandgap and potentially better carrier mobility. We further show that this structural engineering can be achieved by the established electrostatic doping, surface functional adsorption, or directly using graphene substrate. This gives hope to dynamically tuning and large-scale production of 2D single-element semiconductors that simultaneously exhibit remarkable transport and optical performance.
Perspective: Ring-polymer instanton theory
Authors: Richardson Jeremy O.
Published: May 2018

Since the earliest explorations of quantum mechanics, it has been a topic of great interest that quantum tunneling allows particles to penetrate classically insurmountable barriers. Instanton theory provides a simple description of these processes in terms of dominant tunneling pathways. Using a ring-polymer discretization, an efficient computational method is obtained for applying this theory to compute reaction rates and tunneling splittings in molecular systems. Unlike other quantum-dynamics approaches, the method scales well with the number of degrees of freedom, and for many polyatomic systems, the method may provide the most accurate predictions which can be practically computed. Instanton theory thus has the capability to produce useful data for many fields of low-temperature chemistry including spectroscopy, atmospheric and astrochemistry, as well as surface science. There is however still room for improvement in the efficiency of the numerical algorithms, and new theories are under development for describing tunneling in nonadiabatic transitions.
Digital communication with Rydberg atoms and amplitude-modulated microwave fields
Authors: Meyer David H. , Cox Kevin C. , Fatemi Fredrik K. , Kunz Paul D.
Published: May 2018

Rydberg atoms, with one highly excited, nearly ionized electron, have extreme sensitivity to electric fields, including microwave fields ranging from 100 MHz to over 1 THz. Here, we show that room-temperature Rydberg atoms can be used as sensitive, high bandwidth, microwave communication antennas. We demonstrate near photon-shot-noise limited readout of data encoded in amplitude-modulated 17 GHz microwaves, using an electromagnetically induced-transparency (EIT) probing scheme. We measure a photon-shot-noise limited channel capacity of up to 8.2 Mbit s−1 and implement an 8-state phase-shift-keying digital communication protocol. The bandwidth of the EIT probing scheme is found to be limited by the available coupling laser power and the natural linewidth of the rubidium D2 transition. We discuss how atomic communication receivers offer several opportunities to surpass the capabilities of classical antennas.
Band structures in coupled-cluster singles-and-doubles Green’s function (GFCCSD)
Authors: Furukawa Yoritaka , Kosugi Taichi , Nishi Hirofumi , Matsushita Yu-ichiro
Published: May 2018

We demonstrate that the coupled-cluster singles-and-doubles Green’s function (GFCCSD) method is a powerful and prominent tool drawing the electronic band structures and the total energies, which many theoretical techniques struggle to reproduce. We have calculated single-electron energy spectra via the GFCCSD method for various kinds of systems, ranging from ionic to covalent and van der Waals, for the first time: the one-dimensional LiH chain, one-dimensional C chain, and one-dimensional Be chain. We have found that the bandgap becomes narrower than in HF due to the correlation effect. We also show that the band structures obtained from the GFCCSD method include both quasiparticle and satellite peaks successfully. Besides, taking one-dimensional LiH as an example, we discuss the validity of restricting the active space to suppress the computational cost of the GFCCSD method. We show that the calculated results without bands that do not contribute to the chemical bonds are in good agreement with full-band calculations. With the GFCCSD method, we can calculate the total energies and spectral functions for periodic systems in an explicitly correlated manner.
Gender and aboriginality
Authors: Walton Chris
Published: May 2018

This paper re-examines ideas of culture that have been dominant within the field of Aboriginal education. It draws upon feminist post-structuralism and postmodernism in order to critique the practice of dichotomising differences between Australian Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal cultural practices. It uses this critique to examine current mismatch theories of differential educational location. Finally, it asks whether we need to sustain an interest in macrotheories in order to retain the ability to theorize about gender and Aboriginality across different sites.
Developing language tests for specific populations
Authors: Baker Rosemary
Published: May 2018

This article examines the decisions underpinning language test design in circumstances where existing tests are of questionable validity for particular subpopulations, or where no suitable test exists. Three strands of test development work are described, all concerned with the assessment of language abilities in bilinguals and speakers of English as a second language in Australia. The specific contexts discussed are: (1) the assessment of residual language-processing abilities following stroke; (2) the assessment of communicative ability following stroke; and (3) the assessment of first and second language abilities in Alzheimer’s dementia. For all of these purposes, tests need to be suitable for people of a range of ethnolinguistic backgrounds and degrees of bilingualism. Each context, however, raises its own set of considerations, and has therefore necessitated a different approach. In the first case, the starting point for the development of appropriate test content has been the investigation of a published aphasia test already available in many of the required languages. In the second case, an analysis of the communicative needs of a sample of stroke patients of non-English-speaking background was conducted, and content for a new measure selected on the basis of the results. In the third case, content selection has been informed primarily by the findings of empirical research on language decline in dementia.
Teaching Kanji by focusing on learners’ development of graphemic awareness
Authors: Toyoda Etsuko
Published: May 2018

It has been widely claimed that Kanji is one of the most difficult aspects of Japanese language learning for learners with alphabetic language backgrounds. There are various techniques devised by teachers to teach Kanji effectively. However, given variables such as individual differences, none of these techniques can be a single perfect technique. In this paper, how learners process Kanji is analysed, then based on the findings of the analysis, techniques for teaching Kanji are classified into four categories for developing learners’ proper processing skills. The four categories are: 1) techniques to eliminate learners’ anxiety, 2) techniques to familiarise learners with Kanji, 3) techniques to store Kanji in long-term memory, and 4) techniques to restructure learners’ schema. The paper suggests 1) that learners need to have appropriate graphemic awareness to process Kanji, and 2) that techniques from each category should be implemented in teaching to facilitate the development of proper processing skills.
Avoiding the ‘virtual’
Authors: Thomas Paul
Published: May 2018

This paper explores current arguments on the virtual nature of experiences in learning via the Internet and the World Wide Web in the context of the design and recent implementation of an off-campus distributed language course in Indonesian developed by the author. The establishment of the course has been in response to the demand for more flexible modes of delivery that are capable of assisting learners to accommodate language study with the demands of employment and family commitments. It would appear, however, that for some language learners the remoteness of learning in a virtual classroom is in conflict with their ultimate goal of interpersonal communication within a new cultural context. While on-line or CD-ROM tasks are reflective of those encountered in on-campus language learning, for some learners the unfamiliarity of negotiating through an electronic medium gives little sense of a shared experience. The paper argues that these activities can only be exploited to strong effect when integrated within an approach that constantly seeks to link the learner to a community of learners with whom they share common goals, and to the wider native speaker community whose culture they wish to interact with.
Attrition in the verb system of Italian in Australia
Authors: Caruso Marinella
Published: May 2018

This article reports on an investigation into the loss of morphology expressing temporality in the Italian of second generation Italo-Australians. The purpose of the study is to verify whether the loss of Italian tense and aspect morphology proceeds from marked to unmarked, where markedness is defined on the basis of formal and semantic criteria. Italian language samples are elicited through interviews with first and second generation Italo-Australians, and speakers are placed on an attritional continuum along which the verb forms are compared. The explanations for the patterns of loss identified in the data involve a combination of factors, such as markedness principles, universal or general characteristics of spoken language and interlinguistic influence of dialect.
Framing in online school discussions
Authors: Love Kristina
Published: May 2018

This paper draws on Bernstein’s (1996) notion of framing to examine the variables which control the communication made possible in online discussion in one school context, and the particular forms of pedagogic consciousness (Bernstein, 1996) that are produced as students and teachers negotiate meanings around a literary text. Using genre analysis (Martin, 1992) I examine how students variously contribute in the collaborative construction of an online Discussion genre. Using appraisal analysis (Martin, 2000; White, 2002), I then identify how online interactants variously negotiate their judgements, feelings and appreciations of various aspects of the literary text being discussed, and of each other’s contributions, such that certain forms of reasoning around text are privileged over others. In so doing, I identify how different students have access to different forms of expertise in online discussion, with some students being more able to produce the “legitimate forms of communication” (Bernstein, 1996) in the online environment. I conclude by suggesting that, without a close examination of how online discussions are framed as emerging electronic genres, educators run the risk of validating a new mode of structural inequity and disadvantage.
Modelling agency in HIV treatment decision-making
Authors: Moore Alison Rotha
Published: May 2018

In applying linguistics to the task of analysing how agentivity is construed through verbal interaction, scholars often equate social agency with grammatical agency, and in particular with the grammar of transitivity. The difficulty I want to address in this paper is that we may miss other important, systematic and contrastive patterning in the agentivity with which social actors and other entities are depicted, because such agentivity is realized through a range of dispersed linguistic resources. Systemic Functional Linguistics can provide a useful framework for co-ordinating the contribution of these resources to the overall construal of agency in a text or set of texts. It does this best when it focusses on bringing out the particular stratal alignments that characterise different contexts. The paper draws on a study of treatment decision-making in HIV medicine as an example of a social context where choices in the construal of agency make a crucial difference to choices of professional and institutional practice. In this study the construal of agency was taken as a chief source of evidence about whether doctors and patients engage in shared decision-making, and it was also seen as a strategy which doctors and patients can use to open up or close down opportunities for shared decision-making. A key finding was that doctors and patients in HIV medicine often construe the agency of one participant as a resource for the agency of another, rather than construing the agency of one participant • as competing with the agency of the other. In particular, it is where doctors and patients construe each other as semiotic agents that shared decisionmaking seems most likely to occur.
A case study of multi-stratal analysis
Authors: Matthiessen Christian M.I.M. , Lukin Annabelle , Butt David G. , Cleirigh Chris , Nesbitt Christopher
Published: May 2018

The domains of application in applied linguistics have changed considerably since the early 1960s. In most of these domains, the fundamental property of language as a resource for making meaning has increasingly been foregrounded. This approach recognises, amongst other dimensions of language, its multi-stratal character, i.e. that a given instance of language consists of patterns of meaning (semantics), realized by patterns of wording (grammar), realized by patterns of sounding (phonology) or writing (graphology). The co-selection of these patterns both construes and expresses the kind of social context in which the language operates. There has not yet been a register of English described from the point of view of all four strata. In this paper, we report on a research project which is developing a multi-stratal description of a service encounter, namely the ordering of fast food by telephone. We present some of the findings here regarding the likely cross-stratal patterns for this kind of service encounter, and suggest areas of future research.
Language and communication in Aboriginal land claim hearings
Authors: Koch Harold
Published: May 2018

This paper discusses aspects of the intercultural communication processes involved in the quasi-legal presentation of claims to traditional land by Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory before the Aboriginal Land Commissioner. The findings are documented by means of selected extracts from the transcripts of proceedings. Although the proceedings took place predominantly in English, there was some use of interpreters, liberal use of words from Aboriginal languages, and even considerable usage of nonverbal gestures. Most of the Aboriginal witnesses spoke some form of non-standard English influenced by Kriol and traditional Australian languages. The most salient features of their non-standard English are described here. Aboriginal witnesses accommodated their language toward Standard English. Some of their non-standard utterances were clarified by others for the record. The court also accommodated somewhat to Aboriginal styles and forms of speech. Nevertheless there were numerous instances of communication failure, which had various specific causes but were not aided by the culturally alien general legal procedure of question-and-answer elicitation of information.
English as a lingua franca in Australia especially in industry
Authors: Clyne Michael , Ball Martin J.
Published: May 2018

This paper reports on a project examining the use of English between speakers of differing non-English speaking backgrounds in an industrial context. This is the most multilingual sphere of Australian life, and at the same time the one in which non-English speakers are most likely to use English. Five workplaces have been selected reflecting a diversity of industry type: automotive, electronics, textiles and health; location in Melbourne: north, west, east and south-east; and three of the workplaces are subsidiaries of multi-national companies from the United States, Japan, and West Germany respectively. Data collected to date has highlighted problems pertaining to: levels of directness, cultural expectations of context; turn-taking and discourse sequencing.
Australia’s language policies are we going backwards?
Authors: Clyne Michael
Published: May 2018

The recent White Paper, Australia’s Language – The Australian Language and Literacy Policy, is the latest contribution to the history of language policies in Australia. This article explores that history, giving particular attention to each of the string of policy documents released since the early 1980s. Features of the current debate in Australia are drawn out, and a comparative assessment is made of Australia’s policies and those of other countries.
Language and identity in the Australian deaf community
Authors: Branson Jan , Miller Don
Published: May 2018

This paper examines the relationship between the Deaf1, their language, Auslan2 (Australian Sign Language), and the encompassing dominant hearing society and its culture in the context of the development of effective language policies for the Deaf, not only within the context of schooling but in the years prior to formal education and beyond the school. The paper has developed out of an initial response by AUSLAB (the Australian Sign Language Advisory Board, formed by the Australian Association of the Deaf) to the Federal Government’s Green Paper, The Language of Australia: Discussion Paper on an Australian Literacy and Language Policy for the 1990s. (Commonwealth of Australia 1990), later superseded by the White Paper, Australia’s Language: The Australian Language and Literacy Policy (Commonwealth of Australia 1991a & b).
Language policy in interpreting and translating
Authors: Ozolins Uldis
Published: May 2018

While the area of I/T has had an ambivalent place in Australian language policy, the area of I/T is of interest because Australia serves as a model a kind if I?T which is becoming increasingly common throughout the world. The present summary article explores the particular place of I/T within language policy, identifies some of the significant issues confronted by I/T, and connects them to other areas of language policy.
Language teachers by necessity, not choice
Authors: Makin Laurie
Published: May 2018

More than 90 different languages are spoken in Australia, and approximately 14 percent of children in Australia’s schools speak a language other than English at home (Clyne 1988:22). In many classrooms, between 70 and 100 percent of children fall into this category, particularly at their entry point into formal schooling, usually at the age of five or six. As a result, the majority of mainstream teachers, especially those in early childhood programs for children under the age of eight years, find themselves unwitting language teachers. Yet the majority of these teachers, even those who are themselves bilingual, have had only a rudimentary orientation to bilingual teaching models and methodologies in their preservice training. Currently, the most common model of English language teaching in Australia’s schools (with some significant but relatively minor exceptions) combines limited specialist intervention with classroom ‘submersion’. The recent policy paper, Australia’s language, does not signal any change to this situation. It is the thesis of this paper that, within the unified national system of tertiary education, there resides potential for closer links between Schools of Education, Schools of Linguistics and Schools of Modern Languages that might enable the education system to make better use of its existing linguistic resources for the good of both individuals and the nation.
Universities and lote proficiency
Authors: Mann Chris
Published: May 2018

The methods employed to study languages at university are less important for producing competent language users than the availability of in-country experience. The principal issue to be addressed with regards to this experience is that of equity of access. Real equity can only be achieved through a substantial government commitment to in-country language learning.
Communicative competence in an ESL task
Authors: Osborne Barry , Dawes Glenn
Published: May 2018

This ethnographic study is of an eleven-minute segment of an English as a Second Language lesson in a Year 8 class in Torres Strait. It focuses on a tandem activity where students are asked to get information from each other in ‘proper English sentences.’ Though the aim is laudable, the task is structured more to get the information than to practise the process of talking. Furthermore, it is not situated in a social setting despite student attempts to context it socially. The students have difficulty understanding the complex language used to introduce the task, but ultimately engage in it for a substantial time, practising communicating with each other and with the teacher. However, the neophyte teacher’s goal of grammatical competence plays down the importance of sociolinguistic competence.
Annotated bibliography on language teaching in Australia
Authors: Kirwan Sharyn J.
Published: May 2018

This paper reviews a number of articles that have been published since 1988, just after the release of Lo Bianco’s National policy recommendations on language. The review, which covers two sections 1) theoretical LOTE issues and 2) practical LOTE issues, is by no means exhaustive. The aim of this paper is to provide teachers, students and researchers with an overview of what has been happening, theoretically and practically, in the area of LOTE teaching in Australia during the past 4 years.
Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-based monomer composition analysis of medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates biosynthesized by Pseudomonas spp
Authors: Huang Pengtao , Okoshi Takaya , Mizuno Shoji , Hiroe Ayaka , Tsuge Takeharu
Published: May 2018

Medium-chain-length (mcl)-polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), elastomeric polyesters synthesized by Genus Pseudomonas bacteria, generally have many different monomer components. In this study, PHAs biosynthesized by four type strains of Pseudomonas (P. putida, P. citronellolis, P. oleovorans, and P. pseudoalcaligenes) and a typical PHA producer (P. putida KT2440) were characterized in terms of the monomer structure and composition by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. With a thiomethyl pretreatment of PHA methanolysis derivatives, two unsaturated monomers, 3-hydroxy-5-dodecenoate (3H5DD) and 3-hydroxy-5-tetradecenoate (3H5TD), were identified in mcl-PHAs produced by P. putida and P. citronellolis. The quantitative analysis of PHA monomers was performed by employing GC-MS with methanolysis derivatives, and the results coincided with those obtained by performing nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Only poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) was detected from the P. oleovorans and P. pseudoalcaligenes type strains. These analytical results would be useful as a reference standard for phenotyping of new PHA-producing bacteria.
Enhancing the stability of trehalose synthase via SpyTag/SpyCatcher cyclization to improve its performance in industrial biocatalysts
Authors: Xu Chao , Xu Qing , Huang He , Jiang Ling
Published: May 2018

SpyTag and SpyCatcher can spontaneously and rapidly conjugate to form an irreversible and stable covalent bond. The trehalose synthase (TreS) from Thermomonospora curvata was successfully cyclized after the fusion of a SpyTag to its C-terminus and SpyCatcher to the N-terminus. Cyclized TreS retained more than 85% of its activity at temperatures ranging from 40 to 50°C and more than 95% at a pH range of 8 to 10, while the wild type kept only 60 and 80% of its activity under the same conditions. These results demonstrated that cyclized TreS had better resistance to high temperature and alkali than the wild type. Furthermore, structural analysis revealed that cyclized TreS had better conformational stability and was able to fold correctly at a higher temperature than the wild type. Our findings indicate that the use of SpyTag and SpyCatcher to cyclize enzymes is a promising strategy to increase their stability.
Identification of pyridinoline, a collagen crosslink, as a novel intrinsic ligand for the receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE)
Authors: Murakami Yoto , Fujino Takayuki , Kurachi Ryotaro , Hasegawa Toshiki , Usui Teruyuki , Hayase Fumitaka , Watanabe Hirohito
Published: May 2018

Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) elicit inflammatory responses via the receptor for AGEs (RAGE) and participate in the pathogenesis of diabetic complications. An earlier study showed that 3-hydroxypyridinium (3-HP), a common moiety of toxic AGEs such as glyceraldehyde-derived pyridinium (GLAP) and GA-pyridine, is essential for the interaction with RAGE. However, the physiological significance of 3-HP recognition by RAGE remains unclear. We hypothesized that pyridinoline (Pyr), a collagen crosslink containing the 3-HP moiety, could have agonist activity with RAGE. To test this hypothesis, we purified Pyr from bovine achilles tendons and examined its cytotoxicity to rat neuronal PC12 cells. Pyr elicited toxicity to PC12 cells in a concentration-dependent manner, and this effect was attenuated in the presence of either the anti-RAGE antibody or the soluble form of RAGE. Moreover, surface plasmon resonance-based analysis showed specific binding of Pyr to RAGE. These data indicate that Pyr is an intrinsic ligand for RAGE.

Abbreviations: AGEs: advanced glycation end-products; RAGE: receptor for advanced glycation end-products; DAMPs: damage-associated molecular patterns; PRR: pattern recognition receptor; TLR: toll-like receptor; GLAP: glyceraldehyde-derived pyridinium; 3-HP: 3-hydroxypyridinium; Pyr: pyridinoline; HFBA: heptafluorobutyric acid; GST: glutathione S-transferase; SPR: surface plasmon resonance; ECM: extracellular matrix; EMT: epithelial to mesenchymal transition
A lemon myrtle extract inhibits glucosyltransferases activity ofStreptococcus mutans
Authors: Yabuta Yukinori , Mukoyama Haruka , Kaneda Yoshimi , Kimura Narisa , Bito Tomohiro , Ichiyanagi Tsuyoshi , Ishihara Atsushi , Watanabe Fumio
Published: May 2018

Streptococcus mutans is a bacterium found in human oral biofilms (dental plaques) that is associated with the development of dental caries. Glucosyltransferases (GTFs) are key enzymes involved in dental plaque formation, and compounds that inhibit their activities may prevent dental caries. We developed a screening system for GTF-inhibitory activities, and used it to profile 44 types of herbal tea extracts. Lemon myrtle (Backhousia citriodora) extract exhibited the highest GTF-inhibitory activity, with an IC50 for GTF in solution of 0.14 mg mL−1. Furthermore, lemon myrtle extracts had the third-highest polyphenol content of all tested extracts, and strongly inhibited S. mutans biofilm. Interestingly, lemon myrtle extracts did not inhibit cell growth.
The Judicialization of Politics Disentangled
Authors: Hamlin Rebecca , Sala Gemma
Published: May 2018

The judicialization of politics is an expression that has been widely used in the fields of comparative law and judicial politics alike since it first emerged in the 1980s. Yet, despite its ubiquity, it is difficult to ascertain its specific meaning because it is used to refer to such a wide range of court-related phenomena and processes. Despite its varying usages and meanings, there has been a puzzling lack of scholarly discussion over the scope of the term, and very little critical analysis of its use. This silence has impeded the project of comparative constitutional law. So it is necessary to disentangle and compare the many faces of judicialization that are used in various political science literatures. There are as many as nine distinct forms of the term that are regularly used; yet the various empirical strategies for measuring, defining, and documenting this phenomenon are often incommensurable, and further, the causes of judicialization frequently overlap and occasionally contradict one another. The popularity of this term has come at the cost of conceptual clarity, and this confusion has impeded both the project of building a comparative theory of judicialization, and efforts to have a coherent normative debate about its consequences. With the goal of theory building in mind, a systematic study of judicialization and its multiple usages can be a useful way to illuminate key questions for a new research agenda geared toward a deeper and more nuanced understanding of this term.
tragic history
Authors: Hau Lisa Irene
Published: May 2018

Tragic history is a phrase coined in the late 19th century to describe a certain type of Hellenistic history writing, which was thought to have Peripatetic underpinnings, and whose main proponents were Duris of Samos and Phylarchus (of Athens or Naucratis). The expression gained currency quickly and is still widely used to designate un-Polybian, sensationalist, and emotionally involved historiography from the Hellenistic period (the works of which have all been lost), in spite of the current communis opinio among specialists that there was no real “school” of tragic history.
Trauma-Secondary, Vicarious, Compassion Fatigue
Authors: Gottfried Ruth , Bride Brian E.
Published: May 2018

Over the past three decades, along with the development of the field of traumatology, it has become increasingly clear that the after-effects of trauma exposure extend beyond those experienced by survivors or perpetrators, to include their caregivers. The nomenclature in the field of indirect trauma includes three central terms to describe this experience: vicarious traumatization (VT), secondary traumatic stress (STS), and compassion fatigue (CF). The current encyclopedia entry comprises a comprehensive description of these constructs, with emphasis on the discipline of social work. As VT is based on the theory of constructivist self-development, this theory is addressed as well. Likewise reviewed are relevant theoretical frameworks for both STS and CF, diverse conceptualizations of CF, prevalence rates, risk factors, and microlevel, mezzolevel, and macrolevel recommendations for addressing secondary, vicarious, and CF trauma.
Social Work and Coercion
Authors: Gomory Tomi , Dunleavy Daniel
Published: May 2018

Social work is perhaps most distinctive for its clear and outspoken commitment toward improving the well-being of society’s vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, while still emphasizing the importance of respecting and defending personal rights and freedoms. Though there is a fundamental necessity for coercion, or its threat, for eliciting civil social behavior in a well-functioning society, it is professionally and ethically imperative that social workers make explicit our rationales for, justifications of, and the evidence used to support or reject coercive practices in our work. Social work’s engagement with coercion inevitably entails the ethical and social policy arguments for and against its use, as shown in a review of the empirical evidence regarding its impact on the professions’ clients, exemplified by three domains: (1) child welfare, (2) mental health, and (3) addictions. Recommendations for future improvements involve balancing the potential for harm against the benefits of coercive actions.
ggCyto: next generation open-source visualization software for cytometry
Authors: Van Phu , Jiang Wenxin , Gottardo Raphael , Finak Greg
Published: May 2018

Motivation

Open source software for computational cytometry has gained in popularity over the past few years. Efforts such as FlowCAP, the Lyoplate and Euroflow projects have highlighted the importance of efforts to standardize both experimental and computational aspects of cytometry data analysis. The R/BioConductor platform hosts the largest collection of open source cytometry software covering all aspects of data analysis and providing infrastructure to represent and analyze cytometry data with all relevant experimental, gating and cell population annotations enabling fully reproducible data analysis. Data visualization frameworks to support this infrastructure have lagged behind.

Results

ggCyto is a new open-source BioConductor software package for cytometry data visualization built on ggplot2 that enables ggplot-like functionality with the core BioConductor flow cytometry data structures. Amongst its features are the ability to transform data and axes on-the-fly using cytometry-specific transformations, plot faceting by experimental meta-data variables and partial matching of channel, marker and cell populations names to the contents of the BioConductor cytometry data structures. We demonstrate the salient features of the package using publicly available cytometry data with complete reproducible examples in a Supplementary Material.

Availability and implementation

https://bioconductor.org/packages/devel/bioc/html/ggcyto.html

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Alpine soil microbial ecology in a changing world
Authors: Donhauser Jonathan , Frey Beat
Published: May 2018

Climate change has a disproportionally large impact on alpine soil ecosystems, leading to pronounced changes in soil microbial diversity and function associated with effects on biogeochemical processes at the local and supraregional scales. However, due to restricted accessibility, high-altitude soils remain largely understudied and a considerable heterogeneity hampers the comparability of different alpine studies. Here, we highlight differences and similarities between alpine and arctic ecosystems, and we discuss the impact of climatic variables and associated vegetation and soil properties on microbial ecology. We consider how microbial alpha-diversity, community structures and function change along altitudinal gradients and with other topographic features such as slope aspect. In addition, we focus on alpine permafrost soils, harboring a surprisingly large unknown microbial diversity and on microbial succession along glacier forefield chronosequences constituting the most thoroughly studied alpine habitat. Finally, highlighting experimental approaches, we present climate change studies showing shifts in microbial community structures and function in response to warming and altered moisture, interestingly with some contradiction. Collectively, despite harsh environmental conditions, many specially adapted microorganisms are able to thrive in alpine environments. Their community structures strongly correlate with climatic, vegetation and soil properties and thus closely mirror the complexity and small-scale heterogeneity of alpine soils.
Care Recipient Multimorbidity and Health Impacts on Informal Caregivers: A Systematic Review
Authors: Amer Nordin Awatef , Mohd Hairi Farizah , Choo Wan Yuen , Hairi Noran N
Published: May 2018

Background and Objectives

Caregiving outcomes have often been reported in terms of care recipients of single disease, rather than multiple health conditions. A systematic review was conducted to outline caregiving health outcomes and its association with care recipient multimorbidity for informal caregivers of older adults.

Research Design and Methods

A search strategy was applied in six databases and grey literature. Inclusion criteria were primary observational studies on informal caregiving for care recipients aged 60 years and above, in the English language. Informal caregivers were those not formally hired and multimorbidity referred to presence of at least two health conditions. From a total of 2,101 titles, 230 abstracts were screened, and 19 articles were included. Quality assessment was conducted with application of the Newcastle-Ottawa-Scale.

Results

Health-related and caregiving-related outcomes have been assessed for informal caregivers of older adults with multimorbidity. Caregiver subjective burden was most commonly evaluated and often reported to be low to moderate. In association with care recipient multimorbidity, caregiver burden, quality of life, and perceived difficulty in assisting the older adults were examined in 14 of the studies with mixed results. Studies were heterogeneous, with nonuniform definitions of informal caregivers and multimorbidity as well as measurement tools.

Discussion and Implications

This narrative review found that caring for older adults with multimorbidity impacts caregivers, although overall evidence is not conclusive. Despite caregiving-related outcomes being most commonly assessed among the caregivers, particularly subjective burden, findings suggest that it is worthwhile to examine other outcomes to enrich the evidence base.
The Refugee Integration Survey and Evaluation (RISE): Results from a Four-Year Longitudinal Study
Authors: Lichtenstein Gary , Puma Jini E
Published: May 2018

The Refugee Integration Survey and Evaluation (RISE) study assessed refugee integration longitudinally within a cohort of 467 newly arrived adult refugees over the course of four years (overall participant retention was 70 per cent). The RISE instrument measured 10 ‘pathways’ to integration, as well as Overall Integration, based on Ager and Strang’s integration framework. Results show varying patterns of engagement with specific pathways over time, suggesting that members across the cohort deal with similar issues during different phases of integration. On average, the Overall Integration increased steadily over time. Men had statistically higher means than women each year on Overall Integration, although the rate of change between the two was the same. Statistical differences in rates of integration were observed by ethnicity and age. Overall Integration among refugees who were 55 years or older progressed significantly less than younger refugees. Approximately 5 per cent of the participating refugee cohort regressed to a lower level of integration each year. This study addressed a need for longitudinal research into refugee integration, using a valid and statistically reliable survey that can be adapted to other contexts worldwide.
Hyper Suprime-Cam: Filters
Authors: Kawanomoto Satoshi , Uraguchi Fumihiro , Komiyama Yutaka , Miyazaki Satoshi , Furusawa Hisanori , Finet François , Hattori Takashi , Wang Shiang-Yu , Yasuda Naoki , Suzuki Naotaka
Published: May 2018

We describe five broad-band filters and a narrow-band one for the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) at the prime focus of the Subaru Telescope. Since the HSC is a practical successor to the Suprime-Cam (SC), our broad-band filter set follows the SC's SDSS g΄, r΄, i΄, z΄ filters, and Y filter, and the Hα filter is adopted as our first narrow-band filter. Filters for the HSC are quite large; therefore, they are constructed only by interference coatings. Based on a draft specification guided by that of SC's filters, we made prototype filters which were evaluated at a laboratory, and eventually used them in the actual HSC commissioning observation. Through this process, we learned that transmission measurement with a fine spatial sampling was crucial for reliable understanding of the filter characteristics, and this motivated us to develop an efficient measurement system. Since this measurement system is placed in the summit facility and functions semi-automatically, long-term monitoring of the performance of HSC filters will be achieved. We present in this paper the specifications that the HSC filter should meet, problems and solutions in filter implementation, issues found through the commissioning observing run, the new filter measurement system at the summit facility, and transmission curves and tables of the filters.
Ketamine Anesthesia Does Not Improve Depression Scores in Electroconvulsive Therapy: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Authors: Carspecken Charles William , Borisovskaya Anna , Lan Shu-Tsui , Heller Katherine , Buchholz Jonathan , Ruskin David , Rozet Irene
Published: May 2018

Background:

Although interest in ketamine use during electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has increased, studies have been equivocal with regard to its efficacy. The aims of this clinical trial were to evaluate ketamine’s antidepressive effects in ECT as a primary anesthetic, determine ketamine’s tolerability when compared with standard anesthesia, and determine if plasma brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is necessary for treatment response.

Materials and Methods:

Adults meeting criteria for treatment-resistant depression undergoing index course ECT received either methohexital (1 to 2 mg/kg) or ketamine (1 to 2 mg/kg) anesthesia in this dual-arm double-blinded randomized clinical trial (NCT02752724). The primary outcome of this study is change in depression questionnaire scores before and after ECT. Seizure data, depression severity using self-reported and clinician-assessed questionnaires, cognitive scoring, and plasma BDNF concentrations were obtained before and after completion of ECT.

Results:

There were no differences in seizure lengths, hemodynamics, or seizure stimuli between the ketamine (n=23;138 ECTs) and methohexital (n=27;159 ECTs) groups. Depression scores improved similarly after ECT in both groups. In the methohexital group, 15% of patients failed to achieve adequate seizures and were switched to ketamine and 26% were converted to bilateral ECT stimulus, whereas all ketamine patients achieved adequate seizures and only 4% required bilateral stimulus. Plasma BDNF increased after ECT only in the ketamine group.

Conclusions:

Our data show that ketamine does not significantly improve depression when compared with methohexital as a single induction agent for ECT, increases serum BDNF and does not increase rates of post-ECT agitation. Ketamine use in ECT may have some benefits for some patients that are not captured through standard depression assessment questionnaires alone.
A Prospective Comparative Study in Skin Antiseptic Solutions for Posterior Spine Surgeries
Authors: Yoshii Toshitaka , Hirai Takashi , Yamada Tsuyoshi , Sakai Kenichiro , Ushio Shuta , Egawa Satoru , Yuasa Masato , Kato Tsuyoshi , Inose Hiroyuki , Kawabata Shigenori , Okawa Atsushi
Published: May 2018

Study Design:

This is a prospective comparative study.

Objective:

We evaluated the efficacy of 2 standard antiseptic solutions, chlorhexidine-gluconate (CHG) and povidone-iodine (PD-I), in eliminating bacterial pathogens from surgical sites in posterior spine surgeries.

Summary of Background Data:

Previous studies have shown that CHG is more effective for skin antisepsis than PD-I in joint surgeries. However, few studies have investigated the preoperative use of antiseptic solutions in spine surgery.

Materials and Methods:

A total of 190 patients who received posterior spine surgeries were included in this study. The patients were allocated to the group treated with 0.5% CHG in ethanol (N=98) or 10% PV-I (N=92). Sterile culture swabs were used to obtain samples from the skin area adjacent to the planned incision site before preparation, after preparation, and after wound closure.

Results:

No differences were found between the CHG-treated and the PD-I-treated groups in the patients’ age, sex, disease status, surgical site, operating time, and intraoperative blood loss. Before surgical skin preparation, bacteria grew in the cultures of specimens of 83.7% of the patients; no significant difference was found between the 2 groups. The common organisms isolated from both the cervical and lumbar spine surgical sites were Staphylococcus sp., Corynebacterium sp., and Bacillus sp. After the skin preparation, there were no significant differences observed in the culture positive rate between the CHG (3.1%) and PD-I (5.1%) (P=0.49) solutions. The culture positive rates became higher after wound closure (preop=4.2%, postop=8.4%; P=0.07). The positive rate after wound closure in the CHG-treated group (5.1%) was smaller than in the PD-I-treated group (14.1%) (P=0.046). However, no difference was found in infection rates between the 2 groups.

Conclusions:

While CHG-ethanol and PD-I were equally effective at eliminating the bacterial flora from the surgical site, CHG-ethanol showed a more favorable long-lasting effect for skin antisepsis in posterior spine surgeries.