bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Religiosity, citizenship and attitudes to social policy issues
Authors: Saunders Peter
Published: December 2016

Many social policy objectives align with religious beliefs – poverty alleviation, compassion for the poor and addressing more generally the needs of the vulnerable and disadvantaged in society. Yet there are also conflicting views about means, including the role of the state in redistributing resources from the rich and powerful to the poor and powerless. Redistribution and poverty alleviation are central goals of the welfare state, although ideological and other differences mean that views about the need for, as well as the design, delivery and impact of social programs vary. Against this background, this paper reviews existing national and international studies that have examined how religious belief and practice are associated with the attitudes that underpin the welfare state: compassion, altruism, redistribution and egalitarianism, and the activities that are assumed to align with modern conceptions of ‘a good civic citizen‘: participation and engagement. The analysis draws on recent Australian survey data to examine whether the attitudes of those who actively practice their religious beliefs differ from other groups in society and, if so, whether those differences are consistent with the underlying goals of social policy.
Islamisation and activism of a Muslim NGO in Pakistan: Jama'at‐ud‐Da'wa as a case study
Authors: Yasmeen Samina
Published: December 2016

This paper locates the study of Jamat‐ud‐Da'wa (JUD) within the context of global political developments. Premised on the nexus between the local and the global developments, it discusses how changes in the domestic or international arena shaped the policies of JUD after 9/11. It argues that, as a successor to the Lashker‐e‐Toiba in Pakistan, the JUD has been active in the social welfare space. It has moved into roles that reside in the domain of the state's responsibility but have passed to the private sector due to the state's failure to meet the needs of its citizens, including the provision of education and relief and rescue efforts after natural disasters. Though not categorically identified as being part of the jihadi agenda, this activism increases the appeal of the JUD among Pakistani citizens, with a possibility of increasing their declared and/or active support for JUD's views on Pakistan's foreign policy.
Estimating the impact of the Global Financial Crisis on poverty and deprivation
Authors: Saunders Peter , Wong Melissa
Published: December 2016

Although the Australian economy has avoided going into recession since the onset of the global financial crisis, relatively little is known about the social impact of the crisis. Survey and anecdotal evidence presented by a number of community sector NGOs suggest that the demand for emergency relief and other services rose in the aftermath of the crisis. This article reports results derived from two national surveys on poverty and social disadvantage that were conducted in 2006 and 2010 – prior to and after the crisis struck. The survey data allow income‐based poverty rates to be estimated as well as the extent and nature of deprivation, where deprivation is defined as being unable to afford items that a majority regards as essential: things that no‐one in Australia should have to go without. Poverty and deprivation are not alternative indicators but can be combined into a multi‐dimensional measure of consistent poverty. The paper examines how conventional (income) poverty, deprivation and consistent poverty changed between 2006 and 2010, and analyses the sensitivity of the results to alternative definitions. The findings provide the first comprehensive evidence on how the profile of social disadvantage in Australia changed in the period that spans the financial crisis.
Lone mothers' time allocations: choices and satisfactions
Authors: Le Anh T. , Miller Paul W.
Published: December 2016

This paper uses the 2006 Australian Time Use Survey to examine the allocation of time to personal care, employment‐related activities, home duties, leisure and child care of lone mothers, in comparison to the time allocations of single women, women in childless couples and partnered mothers. Both primary and secondary time allocations are considered. The satisfactions that women report concerning their current time allocations are also analysed. The time use and satisfaction data are described using both tabulations and multiple regression methods. Lone mothers are shown to have similar time allocations as the other types of households, even though they have different financial and time resources. This raises the concern that lone mothers' desire or need to maintain such time allocations may lead to task overload. Consistent with this, lone mothers are found to be less satisfied with the way they allocate their time than single women and partnered mothers. The tensions associated with time use among lone mothers discussed in the literature are real, and important.
The disability self‐direction movement: Considering the benefits and challenges for an Australian response
Authors: Crozier Michelle , Muenchberger Heidi , Colley Jacinta , Ehrlich Carolyn
Published: December 2016

The following article provides a snapshot of the current self‐direction movement within the disability sector across the industrialised world, with particular emphasis on the Australian context. As a global movement, self‐direction has been in progress for several decades through a variety of implemented responses. Despite implementation variation, all self‐direction models aim to facilitate individual control and decision making in care and support services. We describe self‐direction, its various models and programs, and explore its benefits and challenges. We conclude by making broad recommendations for decision makers involved in self‐direction. In particular, we offer a hierarchical decision tree that can be used to inform policy decisions at a systems – government policy – and organisational level.
Working with children checks —time to step back?
Authors: Tilbury Clare
Published: December 2016

Screening the criminal history of people seeking to work or volunteer in child‐related organisations commenced in Australia in 2000, and since then ‘working with children check’ schemes have expanded, largely without question. Every jurisdiction now has a legislated or administrative scheme, routinely checking the criminal histories of thousands of people to determine if they pose a risk to children. But in any regulatory regime, questions of effectiveness and efficiency arise. The main features of working with children check schemes operating in Australia are examined in this paper. Problems related to effectiveness, equity, and costs are identified. A better balance is needed between routine criminal history checks and other mechanisms for identifying and monitoring the risks posed to children by people who work with them.
The treatment of families in the Australian welfare state, 1984 to 2010
Authors: Tapper Alan , Fenna Alan , Phillimore John
Published: December 2016

This paper uses Australian Bureau of Statistics' fiscal incidence figures to track trends in the treatment of families with children in the Australian welfare state across the period 1984 to 2010. Our four main findings are that: sole parent families gained while couple families made no net gain; there was no growth in ‘middle class welfare‘; couple families are slightly better off than elderly households in terms of their final incomes, but considerably less well off in terms of their net worth; and stated differences in policy intentions by the major political parties have had little influence on trends in actual government redistribution.
Employment status transitions among young adults, with and without disability
Authors: Honey Anne , Kariuki Maina , Emerson Eric , Llewellyn Gwynnyth
Published: December 2016

Employment is a crucial avenue through which young people with disability can experience material wellbeing and social participation. While the low employment rates of young people with disability are well established, little is known about the stability of employment status – that is, the degree to which individuals remain in or move in and out of employment. This article uses longitudinal data from a large Australian national data set to investigate the transitions between full‐time, part‐time and non‐employment for young people with and without disability. Considerable mobility was found between employment states for both young people with and without disability, with young people with disability more likely than their peers without disability to transition to reduced levels of employment and less likely to transition to increased levels of employment. Social background and contextual factors predicted employment for young people with disability; however, disability represented an additional penalty even after taking these factors into account. Findings suggest a need for social policy targeted specifically towards the barriers to maintaining and increasing employment experienced by young people with disability.
Access to justice for Aboriginal People in the Northern Territory
Authors: Cunneen Chris , Allison Fiona , Schwartz Melanie
Published: December 2016

This article discusses research in the Northern Territory on Aboriginal civil and family law needs. It is based on focus group discussions and interviews with legal services providers and other associated organisations. The article argues that key areas of legal need involve discrimination, housing, child protection, social security, credit/debt and consumer law problems. It further argues that welfare conditionality, particularly as embodied in the NT Intervention and subsequent Stronger Futures policies, has exacerbated the need for legal assistance and advocacy for Aboriginal people.
Thank God you're here: the coming generation and their role in future‐proofing Australia from the challenges of population ageing
Authors: Churchill Brendan , Denny Lisa , Jackson Natalie
Published: December 2016

Like much of the industrialised world, Australia's population is ageing, the implications of which are twofold: increasing demand for publicly funded services and a decline in the supply of prime working‐age people. In grappling with the challenges of a diminishing workforce, the Australian Government is currently relying on its migration programs to provide both the much‐needed labour and skills for the resource boom and also to stimulate the economy through population growth. However, there may be another, not yet fully considered solution to the upcoming demographic problem. This paper investigates how the grandchildren of the baby boomers, termed here the Thank God You're Here generation (Gen TGYH), might impact on Australia's predicted workforce shortage. This generation of workers will enter the labour force as the last of the baby boomers reach retirement age, and will not only be bigger in size than preceding generations (Y, X and Baby Boomers), but also potentially be better educated than the retiring generation. This paper will also canvas the opportunities for both Gen TGYH and employers as well as the challenges for policymakers and governments in maximising the opportunity provided by this generation in the Australian economy.
Closing the gap: the growing divide between poverty research and policy in Australia
Authors: Saunders Peter
Published: December 2016

This paper reviews major developments in Australian poverty research in the 50 years since the Melbourne poverty study established the Henderson measurement framework. It focuses on the limitations of the dominant, but narrow income (poverty line) approach used in Australia, contrasts it with the deprivation approach pioneered and refined in the United Kingdom, and shows how this provides more compelling evidence that poverty exists. Against the background of recent developments in international poverty research, the paper identifies existing gaps in Australia, and explores what needs to be done to address this situation. It then draws on international experience to examine how anti‐poverty policy has evolved, focusing on the role of poverty targets in producing better data and promoting debate between policy makers, researchers and community sector practitioners about developing better measures. Australia lags behind these developments: a new approach is needed that engages researchers, policy makers, and other key stakeholders in positive dialogue aimed at setting a new framework for poverty measurement and an achievable anti‐poverty policy agenda.
Social inclusion under Labor in South Australia
Authors: Wilson Lou , Spoehr John
Published: December 2016

Social inclusion policies were championed by the former Rann Labor government in South Australia from 2002 to 2011. In 2011 the Social Inclusion Unit was dissolved by the South Australian government. It is argued that the relatively narrow focus of the former SIU on ‘problem’ communities limited its capacity to provide more than residual solutions. The diminishing political returns on social inclusion also encouraged the South Australian government to abandon this initiative. In 2014 this government has had to grapple with the end of car making in Australia and a declining manufacturing labour force, traditionally a ‘mainstream’ constituency of the Labor Party. The return to ‘mainstreaming’ social policy in South Australia might offer limited space for realignment of social policy with the concept of social citizenship. It might also represent a move away from the functionalist morality of social inclusion. Social inclusion as practiced in South Australia has limited capacity to address generalised social disadvantage. The latter is likely to concern a re‐elected Labor minority government grappling with significant job losses and a declining local economy.
The Australian child support reforms: a critical evaluation
Authors: Smyth Bruce , Rodgers Bryan , Son Vu , Vnuk Maria
Published: December 2016

The Australian Child Support Scheme aims to ensure that children continue to be supported financially should their parents separate or never live together. Sweeping changes to the Australian Child Support Scheme were introduced between 2006 and 2008, featuring a dramatically different system for the calculation of child support and a more rigorous enforcement regime. The reforms were intended to respond to ongoing concerns about equity, and to changes in social expectations and practices in gender, work, and parenting. In this article we summarise key findings from a large cross‐sequential study of the child support reforms. Although the new formula initially led to lower child support payments, and an increase in the proportion of separated mothers experiencing income disadvantage, payments two years later had increased slightly. More broadly, the new scheme appears to have resulted in little change in separated parents' policy knowledge, parenting arrangements, perceptions of fairness, and child support compliance. Taken together, these findings suggest that Australia may not have made as much progress as it would have liked in this thorny area of social policy – especially in relation to compliance and perceptions of fairness.
Australia's disabling income support system: tracing the history of the disability pension from 1908 to today
Authors: Mays Jennifer
Published: December 2016

This article is based on a historical‐comparative policy and discourse analysis of the principles underpinning the Australian disability income support system. It determines that these principles rely on a conception of disability that sustains a system of coercion and paternalism that perpetuates disability; this is referred to as disablism. The article examines the construction of disability in Australian income support across four major historical epochs spanning the period 1908–2007. Contextualisation of the policy trajectory and discourses of the contemporary disability pension regime for the time period 2008–now is also provided. The system was found to have perpetuated disablism through the generation of disability categories on the basis of normalcy and ableness as a condition of citizenship. Two major themes were found to have interacted with the ideology of disablism. The first theme – Commonwealth authority – set the tone for legitimising the regulation of disabled citizens. The second theme – conservative sanctioned paternalism and coercion – reflected the tensions between the paternalistic concern for income support provision while attempting to prevent idleness and welfare dependency. This article argues that a non‐disabling provision based on social citizenship, rather than responsible or productive citizenship, counters the tendency for authoritarian and paternal approaches.
Compulsory Income Management in the Northern Territory – evaluating its impact
Authors: Bray J Rob , Gray Matthew , Hand Kelly , Katz Ilan
Published: December 2016

Australia has been experimenting with constraining the ways in which welfare recipients can spend their income support payments, limiting their ability to access cash and purchase some products. The policy objectives include to reduce spending on alcohol, gambling, pornography and tobacco in favour of meeting ‘basic’ family needs, especially for children, to limit the scope for financial harassment, encourage pro‐social behaviours, and build financial capabilities. In the logic of the programs these outcomes are expected to be manifest at the individual, family and community levels. The policy has primarily impacted on Indigenous Australians as a result of its geographic targeting, although a recent report has recommended a more stringent version of the program be introduced universally to all welfare recipients other than the aged. The largest of these experiments is ‘New Income Management’ in the Northern Territory, which has had more than 35,000 participants since its introduction in 2010. This article reports on the key findings of the major independent evaluation of New Income Management commissioned by the Australian Government.
France: working longer takes time, in spite of reforms to raise the retirement age
Authors: Guillemard Anne‐Marie
Published: December 2016

Examination of the French situation from a comparative European perspective exposes the country's poor performance with regard to the employment of seniors and the prolongation of working life. Despite a recent rise in the employment rate of 55–59 year‐olds, worrisome signs have appeared, such as the steep rise in unemployment for this age category; this is indicative of the increasing vulnerability of ageing workers in the labour market. This critical analysis of twenty years of French public policies related to older workers seeks to identify the reasons for France's lag in making working life longer. The principal reason seems to be that public policies have nearly exclusively focused on increasing the supply of senior labour without adequately taking into account incentives for stimulating corporate demand for it. The many pension reforms undertaken from 2003 to 2014 have sought to lift the institutional obstacles to working longer. Accordingly, they have raised both the legal retirement age and the requisite number of quarters of contributions for entitlement to a full pension under Social Security. But effective, active labour market policies for stimulating the demand for senior labour have been lacking.
The great (Australian) property crime decline
Authors: Weatherburn Don , Halstead Imogen , Ramsey Stephanie
Published: December 2016

Between 1973/74 and 2000, rates of robbery, break and enter, motor vehicle theft and most other major forms of theft rose almost without interruption. Between 2000 and 2009, recorded rates of robbery in Australia fell by 63 per cent, recorded rates of burglary fell by 57 per cent, recorded rates of motor vehicle theft fell by 62 per cent, and recorded rates of all other forms of theft fell by 37 per cent. This article considers possible explanations for the fall in theft and robbery in light of the available evidence. It argues that a reduction in heroin dependence, improvements in economic outcomes, increases in the risk of arrest and imprisonment, and improved vehicle security are likely to have been significant contributors to the decline.
Tensions and contradictions in Australian social policy reform: compulsory Income Management and the National Disability Insurance Scheme
Authors: Marston Greg , Cowling Sally , Bielefeld Shelley
Published: December 2016

This paper explores contemporary contradictions and tensions in Australian social policy principles and governmental practices that are being used to drive behavioural change, such as compulsory income management. By means of compulsory income management the Australian Government determines how certain categories of income support recipients can spend their payments through the practice of quarantining a proportion of that payment. In this process some groups in the community, particularly young unemployed people and Indigenous Australians, are being portrayed as requiring a paternalistic push in order to make responsible choices. The poverty experienced by some groups of income support recipients appears to be seen as a consequence of poor spending patterns rather than economic and social inequalities. By contrast, Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has been constructed as a person centred system of support that recognises the importance of both human agency and structural investment to expand personal choices and control. Here we look at the rationale guiding these developments to explore the tensions and contradictions in social policy more broadly, identifying what would be required if governments sought to promote greater autonomy, dignity and respect for people receiving income support payments in Australia.
Direct mapping of melanoma cell ‐ endothelial cell interactions
Authors: Varga Béla , Fazakas Csilla , Molnár Judit , Wilhelm Imola , Domokos Réka A. , Krizbai István A. , Szegletes Zsolt , Váró György , Végh Attila G.
Published: December 2016

The most life‐threatening aspect of cancer is metastasis; cancer patient mortality is mainly due to metastasis. Among all metastases, presence of brain metastasis is one with the poorest prognosis; the median survival time can be counted in months. Therefore, prevention or decreasing their incidence would be highly desired both by patients and physicians. Metastatic cells invading the brain must breach the cerebral vasculature, primarily the blood‐brain barrier. The key step in this process is the establishment of firm adhesion between the cancer cell and the cerebral endothelial layer.

Using the atomic force microscope, a high‐resolution force spectrograph, our aim was to explore the connections among the cell morphology, cellular mechanics, and biological function in the process of transendothelial migration of metastatic cancer cells. By immobilization of a melanoma cell to an atomic force microscope's cantilever, intercellular adhesion was directly measured at quasi‐physiological conditions. Hereby, we present our latest results by using this melanoma‐decorated probe. Binding characteristics to a confluent layer of brain endothelial cells was directly measured by means of single‐cell force spectroscopy. Adhesion dynamics and strength were characterized, and we present data about spatial distribution of elasticity and detachment strength.

These results highlight the importance of cellular mechanics in brain metastasis formation and emphasize the enormous potential toward exploration of intercellular dynamic‐related processes.
Interdecadal change of South China Sea summer monsoon intensity in the mid‐1990s
Authors: Choi Ki‐Seon , Kim Hae‐Dong , Kang Sung‐Dae , Kim Do‐Woo
Published: December 2016

This study analysed the interdecadal variation of the South China Sea summer (June–September) monsoon (SCSSM) in recent 32 years (1979–2010). The SCSSM showed a strengthening interdecadal variability starting from 1995, which was also verified in time series of precipitation and precipitable water averaged over the SCSSM domain. Thus, 32 years of total analysis period was divided into two: first half of past 16 years (1979–1994, hereafter 7994) and recent 16 years (1995–2010, hereafter 9510) thereby analysing a mean difference between 9510 and 7994 periods to determine causes of the strengthened SCSSM since the mid‐1990s. The spatial distribution of difference in outgoing longwave radiation, precipitable water, and precipitation between the two periods showed a typical La Niña pattern. The pattern which occurred during La Niña event has been verified through analysis on differences in 850‐ and 200‐hPa stream flows between the two periods. At 850 hPa, anomalous huge anticyclones were strengthened in the both hemispheres so that anomalous easterlies were strengthened in the equatorial central and western Pacific. As a result, the SCS was affected by anomalous southeasterlies. On the contrary, anomalous huge cyclones were strengthened in the both hemispheres at 200 hPa so that anomalous westerlies were strengthened in the equatorial western and central Pacific. This means that rising air from the tropical western Pacific since the mid‐1990s was moved to the east and then Walker circulation, which was descended at the tropical central and eastern Pacific, was strengthened. Due to the strengthened Walker circulation, La Niña events have been more dominant than before in recent years and as a result of this, SCSSM was more strengthened than before.
Gastric cancer in the young: An advanced disease with poor prognostic features
Authors: Rona Kais A. , Schwameis Katrin , Zehetner Joerg , Samakar Kamran , Green Kyle , Samaan Jamil , Sandhu Kulmeet , Bildzukewicz Nikolai , Katkhouda Namir , Lipham John C.
Published: December 2016

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Gastric cancer in young patients is rare. We analyzed the clinicopathological features and prognosis of early‐onset gastric carcinoma.

METHODS

We retrospectively reviewed patients with gastric adenocarcinoma aged ≤45 years and >45 years at our institution over a 17‐year period. Clinicopathological features were compared and survival analysis was performed using Kaplan‐Meier curves.

RESULTS

A total of 121 patients with gastric carcinoma aged ≤45 years were identified. The young group (YG) had a higher incidence of stage III/IV disease (86.8% vs. 57.9%, P < 0.001), poorly‐differentiated carcinoma (95.9% vs. 74.4%, P < 0.001), and signet‐cell type tumor (88.4% vs. 32.2%, P < 0.001) relative to the older group (OG). The majority of tumors were in the middle third of the stomach in both groups (P = 0.108). Three‐year survival in the YG was 87.1%, 32.2%, and 6.9% in stage I/II, III, and IV disease, respectively. Surgical intervention in young patients with advanced carcinoma was not associated with improved survival. Although median survival was shorter in the YG compared to the OG (11.7 vs. 41.0 months, P < 0.001), stage‐specific survival was similar.

CONCLUSION

Early‐onset gastric cancer demonstrates advanced stage of disease, and a high incidence of poorly‐differentiated and signet‐cell type carcinoma. Overall survival is poor with no added benefit to surgical intervention in advanced disease.
Clinically small tonsils are typically not obstructive in children during drug‐induced sleep endoscopy
Authors: Miller Craig , Purcell Patricia L. , Dahl John P. , Johnson Kaalan , Horn David L. , Chen Maida L. , Chan Dylan K. , Parikh Sanjay R.
Published: December 2016

Objective

To determine whether the degree of lateral pharyngeal wall (LPW) obstruction on pediatric drug‐induced sleep endoscopy (DISE) correlates with preprocedure tonsillar hypertrophy score on physical examination, and to determine if clinically small tonsils are obstructive.

Methods

Retrospective review of 154 patients who underwent DISE at a single pediatric tertiary care center over a 4‐year period. Inclusion criteria were documentation of Brodsky tonsil score on preoperative physical examination. Exclusion criteria were previous tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy, or adenotonsillectomy. Lateral pharyngeal wall obstruction was graded for each patient from 0 (no obstruction) to 3 (severe obstruction) using a validated pediatric DISE scoring system known as the Chan‐Parikh scoring system (C‐P). Data were analyzed using multivariate linear regression controlling for age at time of DISE and presence of comorbid conditions.

Results

One hundred fifteen patients met criteria for analysis. Median age at DISE was 5.1 years. A moderate positive correlation was calculated between Brodsky score and DISE score, Spearman correlation coefficient 0.55, P = < 0.001. Linear regression modeling determined that for every 1‐point increase in tonsil score, there was a 0.7‐point increase in C‐P LPW score (95% confidence interval [0.45, 0.92]). Sensitivity analysis did not detect a difference in correlation between children with comorbid conditions and children who were otherwise in good health. Of the 65 children with a pre‐DISE Brodsky tonsil score of 1, 39 (60%) had a LPW score of 0 (no obstruction); nine (14%) had a score of 1 (< 50% obstruction); 11 (17%) had a score of 2 (> 50% obstruction); and six (9%) had a score of 3 (100% obstruction).

Conclusion

There is a positive correlation between Brodsky Score and DISE LPW score. The majority of children with sleep‐disordered breathing with a Brodsky score of 1 did not demonstrate LPW obstruction. These children may benefit from DISE for identification of alternative sites of upper airway obstruction.

Level of Evidence

4. Laryngoscope, 127:1943–1949, 2017
D‐amino acids do not inhibit Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm formation
Authors: Kao Wee Tin K , Frye Mitchell , Gagnon Patricia , Vogel Joseph P. , Chole Richard
Published: December 2016

Objective

Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a known biofilm‐forming organism, is an opportunistic pathogen that plays an important role in chronic otitis media, tracheitis, cholesteatoma, chronic wounds, and implant infections. Eradication of biofilm infections has been a challenge because the biofilm phenotype provides bacteria with a protective environment from the immune system and antibiotics; thus, there has been great interest in adjunctive molecules that may inhibit biofilm formation or cause biofilm dispersal. There are reports that D‐amino acids may inhibit biofilms. In this study, we test the ability of various D‐amino acids to inhibit P. aeruginosa biofilm formation in vitro.

Study Design

We evaluated the effect of D‐alanine (10 mM), D‐leucine (10 mM), D‐methionine (10 mM), D‐tryptophan (10 mM), and D‐tyrosine (10 uM and 1 mM) on biofilm formation in two commonly studied laboratory strains of P. aeruginosa: PAO1 and PA14.

Methods

Biofilms were grown in 24‐well and 96‐well tissue culture plates, documented photographically and stained with 0.1% crystal violet and solubilized in 33% glacial acetic acid for quantification.

Results

In strains PAO1 and PA14, the addition of D‐amino acids did not result in an inhibitory effect on biofilm growth in 24‐well plates. Repeating the study in 96‐well plates confirmed our findings that D‐amino acids do not inhibit biofilm formation of P. aeruginosa.

Conclusion

We conclude that D‐amino acids only slow the production of biofilms rather than completely prevent biofilm formation; therefore, D‐amino acids represent a poor option for potential clinically therapeutic interventions.

Level of Evidence

N/A.
Differential profile of activated regulatory T cell subsets and microRNAs in tolerant liver transplant recipients
Authors: Revilla‐Nuin Beatriz , de Bejar África , Martínez‐Alarcón Laura , Herrero José Ignacio , Martínez‐Cáceres Carlos Manuel , Ramírez Pablo , Baroja‐Mazo Alberto , Pons José Antonio
Published: December 2016

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) play a potential role in operational tolerance in liver transplantation (LT) patients, and microRNAs (miRNAs) are known to be involved in immunological responses and tolerance. Thus, we analyzed the implication of different peripheral blood Treg subsets and miRNAs on LT tolerance in 24 tolerant (Tol) and 23 non‐tolerant (non‐Tol) LT recipients by cellular, genetic, and epigenetic approximation. Non‐Tol patients had a lower demethylation rate of the forkhead box P3 (FOXP3) regulatory T cell–specific demethylated region (TSDR) than Tol patients that correlated with the frequency of circulating Tregs. Tol patients presented a different signature of Treg subset markers compared with non‐Tol patients with increased expression of HELIOS and FOXP3 and a higher proportion of latency‐associated peptide (LAP)+ Tregs and CD45RA– human leukocyte antigen D related (HLA‐DR)+ activated effector‐memory Tregs. The expression of miR95, miR24, miR31, miR146a, and miR155 was higher in Tol than in non‐Tol patients and was positively correlated with activated Treg markers. In conclusion, these data suggest that activated effector‐memory Tregs and a TSDR‐demethylation state of Tregs may play a role in the complex system of regulation of LT tolerance. In addition, we describe a set of miRNAs differentially expressed in human LT Tol patients providing suggestive evidence that miRNAs are implied in the preservation of self‐tolerance as mediated by Tregs. Liver Transplantation 23 933–945 2017 AASLD.
Nonsteroidal Anti‐Inflammatory Therapy: A Journey Toward Safety
Authors: Pereira‐Leite Catarina , Nunes Cláudia , Jamal Sarah K. , Cuccovia Iolanda M. , Reis Salette
Published: December 2016

The efficacy of nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) against inflammation, pain, and fever has been supporting their worldwide use in the treatment of painful conditions and chronic inflammatory diseases until today. However, the long‐term therapy with NSAIDs was soon associated with high incidences of adverse events in the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, the search for novel drugs with improved safety has begun with COX‐2 selective inhibitors (coxibs) being straightaway developed and commercialized. Nevertheless, the excitement has fast turned to disappointment when diverse coxibs were withdrawn from the market due to cardiovascular toxicity. Such events have once again triggered the emergence of different strategies to overcome NSAIDs toxicity. Here, an integrative review is provided to address the breakthroughs of two main approaches: (i) the association of NSAIDs with protective mediators and (ii) the design of novel compounds to target downstream and/or multiple enzymes of the arachidonic acid cascade. To date, just one phosphatidylcholine‐associated NSAID has already been approved for commercialization. Nevertheless, the preclinical and clinical data obtained so far indicate that both strategies may improve the safety of nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory therapy.
On the sensitivity of matching network to load variation for passive RFID sensor
Authors: Song Xiaotian , Wang Gang
Published: December 2016

A novel study on sensitivity of matching network to load variation is presented in this work. In passive RFID sensor tag, it is desired that a small change in input impedance of tag antenna should yield a significant response, which can be achieved by a matching network with high sensitivity. In this work, network sensitivity is defined and maximum sensitivity matching network is acquired for certain source and load impedances. Several LC and microstrip matching circuits are designed and fabricated to verify the network sensitivity theory. By inserting a sensitive matching network to a temperature sensor tag in literature, three times higher sensitivity is achieved, which proves the merit of the theory. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 59:232–236, 2017
Design and fabrication of widely tunable sampled grating DFB laser diode integrated with sampled grating distributed Bragg reflector
Authors: Chung Youngchul , Oh Su‐Hwan
Published: December 2016

A sampled grating distributed feedback (SGDFB) laser diode integrated with a sampled grating distributed Bragg reflector (SGDBR) is designed, fabricated, and characterized. In the proposed laser diode, only two tuning currents, one into the longitudinal mode tuning electrode and the other into the SGDBR tuning electrode, are required, which provides an easier tuning mechanism. A split‐step time‐ domain modeling is used to simulate the designed tunable laser diode and it is shown that a tuning range of about 27 nm with the side mode suppression ratio (SMSR) larger than 50 dB for the particular device. The designed SGDFB‐SGDBR laser diode is fabricated using butt‐coupling interface between the active and passive waveguides in an InGaAsP/InP platform. The tuning range of the fabricated device is about 20 nm with the SMSR of about 30 dB. The fiber‐coupled output power is about 8mW for the tuned lasing modes. The measured results exhibit the proof‐of‐concept of the SGDFB‐SGDBR laser diode despite the room for improvement in the design and fabrication processes. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 59:252–257, 2017
Experimental investigations of wearable antenna on flexible perforated plastic substrate
Authors: Kumar Raghvendra , Kumar Pankaj , Gupta Nisha , Dubey Rahul
Published: December 2016

In this article, the performance of a rectangular patch antenna on inexpensive perforated flexible plastic substrate is investigated experimentally. The antenna is designed for wearable application operating at Wi‐Fi and HiperLAN frequency bands. The regular perforations in the substrate material help in reducing the dielectric losses which is common with other textile materials thus improving the antenna performance. The prototype model of the proposed antenna is developed and measured. Various parameters such as return loss, VSWR, radiation pattern and gain are presented to validate the suitability for wearable applications. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 59:265–270, 2017
Wideband SIWH‐plane dual‐ridged end‐fire antenna for conformal application
Authors: Li Jian , Huang Yongjun , Wang Ruizhen , Wang Yao , Wen Guangjun , Zhang Haobin
Published: December 2016

A 6–18 GHz wideband substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) H‐Plane dual‐ridged end‐fire antenna is presented in this paper for conformal application. The dual‐ridged configuration is used to reduce the cut‐off frequency and the characteristic impedance of the SIW. Three groups of air‐vias applied in the front of the dielectric slab can improve the impedance matching. And two bending air slots are integrated in the top metallic layer of the SIW to correct the phase disorder and to further improve the impedance matching performance. With these novel improved designs, the proposed antenna shows experimentally a good impedance matching (|S11| < −7 dB) and exactly end‐fire gain (>4.2 dBi) performances in the frequency range of 6–18 GHz. The proposed antenna also keeps low‐profile and easy flush‐mounted characteristic which is suitable for conformal applications of high speed moving objects. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 59:286–292, 2017
A variable gain CMOS phase shifter for phased array antenna applications
Authors: Mitra Dipankar , Roy Palash , Dawn Debasis
Published: December 2016

This letter presents for the first time the development of a variable gain CMOS phase shifter using 0.18 µm CMOS process in the S‐band frequencies to be integrated with conformal phased array beamforming antenna for smart communication radar applications. The vector modulator based phase shifter has an integrated variable gain amplifier codesigned with the phase shifter circuitry in order to be capable of controlling both phase and gain simultaneously which is necessary to recover the degraded radiation pattern due to the conformal shaping of the phased array antenna. The phase shifter achieves measured continuous phase shift of 303° along with measured 7 dB gain control range over 2–2.60 GHz and an insertion loss of 7.12 dB at 2.2 GHz. The measured DC power consumption of the phase shifter is 34.2 mW from a 2 V supply with a smaller chip area of 1.12 mm2 including all pads. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 59:324–328, 2017
Optical fiber reach extended FMCW radar for remote respiratory tracking
Authors: Frejstrup Suhr L. , Monroy I. T. , Olmos J. J. Vegas
Published: December 2016

Wireless monitoring of human vital signs such as breathing rate is a nonintrusive alternative to contemporary solutions relying on physical contact. To ease the installment, fiber optical transmission is used to extend the reach from the transmitter and receiver circuitry to the antenna subsystem. In this paper, a frequency modulated carrier wave radar, operating at 25.7–26.6 GHz and utilizing optical fiber extension, was experimentally demonstrated to accurately recover the breathing rate of a human placed 1 m away from the radar antennas. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 59:353–356, 2017
A low phase noise V‐band 40 NM CMOS phase locked loop for wireless communication
Authors: Zhou Qian , Han Yan , Zhang Shifeng , Han Xiaoxia , Jie Lu , Cheung Ray C. C. , Feng Guangtao
Published: December 2016

This letter presents a V‐band phase‐locked loop (PLL) that employs mutual injection‐locking voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) and zero blind zone phase frequency detector (PFD) to enhance phase noise performance. This architecture is physically implemented in 40nm CMOS process with a die area of 0.7 mm2. The silicon results demonstrate an in‐band phase noise of −90dBc/Hz at 500 kHz offset and −92dBc/Hz at 1MHz offset with 2.5 MHz bandwidth. The PLL draws 40.8 mA current (including output buffer) from a 1.2 V power supply while operating at 60.8 GHz. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 59:278–283, 2017
Design of compact diplexer with novel matching network using cascaded quadruplet filters
Authors: Shao Qiang , Chen Fu‐Chang
Published: December 2016

This letter reports a new kind of matching network to design diplexer. The matching network is comprised by two open‐circuited and one short‐circuited transmission lines. By properly adjusting the input admittance of the matching network, each channel of the diplexer can be designed independently. Therefore, the diplexer can be easily realized by the connection of different bandpass filters without further tuning. Moreover, the proposed matching network occupies little place, and thus the size of the diplexer is mostly determined by the filters. Systematic design procedure for the network is fully presented in this letter. To illustrate the concept, a diplexer is designed, fabricated, and measured. Simulated and measured results are found to be in good agreement with each other. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 59:315–318, 2017
ELC metamaterial based CPW‐fed printed dual‐band antenna
Authors: Boopathi Rani R. , Pandey S.K.
Published: December 2016

This letter presents metamaterial (MTM) based dual band antenna. Two resonances are obtained by making use of square ELC (Electric‐inductive‐capacitive) resonator and CR (Closed Ring) resonator. This research evolves an antenna having dimension only of 21 × 30 × 1.6 mm3 which operates at two bands from 3.28 GHz to 4.52 GHz and from 5.20 GHz to 5.87 GHz. This antenna can be useful for WiMAX and WLAN transceiver at 3.5 GHz and 5 GHz band respectively. It can also be used in RFID applications at 3.9 GHz band. This paper includes the parametric investigations as well as measurement details. Simulation and measurement data have shown good equivalence which emphasis the practicability of the proposed antenna. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 59:304–307, 2017
Circularly polarized stacked antenna with broadband and high gain characteristics
Authors: Wei Jia , Jiang Xing , Peng Lin
Published: December 2016

A broadband and high gain circularly polarized stacked antenna with small size was designed. The antenna includes a double‐Y type slot radiator and two slot‐loaded patches with chamfering. Right hand circular polarization performance is achieved by adjusting the length of the two branch of Y type slot. In order to expand the antenna impedance bandwidth and axial ratio (AR) bandwidth, multilayer structure was used. Two patches with chamfering were chosen for radiating element. With the form of orthogonal, rectangular slot cut on the center of the two patches, small size of antenna can be achieved. The measurements show that, the proposed antenna's −10 dB impedance bandwidth is 32.7% (from 4.1 to 5.7 GHz), the 3 dB (AR) bandwidth is 20.7% (from 4.4 to 5.4 GHz) and the gain of the antenna is about 9 dB, which agree well with the simulations. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 59:292–298, 2017
A novel dual‐band circularly polarized slot antenna with fractal slot geometry
Authors: Shuai Xiang , Xiao Shaoqiu
Published: December 2016

A compact circularly polarized (CP) antenna with fractal‐geometry characteristics for dual‐band applications is proposed in this paper. The antenna is fabricated on a 41 mm × 41 mm × 1.6 mm FR4 substrate with 10‐dB impedance bandwidth of 2.19–3.7 GHz and 3‐dB axial ratio (AR) bandwidth of 2.3 − 2.5 and 3.39–3.55 GHz. The antenna is designed based on fractal theory and the working mechanism is investigated. Due to its unique slot structure, left hand circular polarization radiation is achieved at the upper hemisphere. Simulated results and measured results are given and analyzed in detail. The dual‐band CP performance demonstrates that the proposed antenna is well suited for the WLAN/WiMAX wireless applications. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 59:451–456, 2017
Self‐adapting conformal phased array antennas for complex changing surfaces
Authors: Mansutti Giulia , Khan SaeedM. , Capobianco A.D. , Iftikhar Adnan , Asif Sajid
Published: December 2016

Conformal antennas placed on complex surfaces are gaining more attention as a method to increase coverage of modern wireless communication systems. These antennas are capable of adapting to surfaces that change shape in time thus raising the issue of keeping the radiation pattern undistorted when the array is deformed. In this work the projection method is exploited to solve this problem and to fabricate two new self‐adapting conformal array antennas: a 1 × 4 and a 1 × 6 arrays that bend according to an S‐shaped and a Z‐shaped surface respectively. These two conformal arrays consist of microstrip patch antennas distanced
from each other, a reconfigurable sensor circuit used to measure the curvature of the conformal surfaces and voltage controlled phase‐shifters through which phase‐compensation is implemented to autonomously recover the radiation pattern as the surfaces on which the arrays are placed change shape. Throughout this paper analytical computations, full‐wave numerical simulations and measurements are compared and shown to agree. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 59:393–399, 2017
Miniaturized printed YAGI‐Uda antenna with high directivity for long range UHFRFID item tracking systems
Authors: Kim J.‐H. , Jeong M.‐G. , Bae S.‐H. , Lee W.‐S.
Published: December 2016

A miniaturized printed Yagi‐Uda antenna with high directivity for long‐range ultra‐high‐frequency radio frequency identification item tracking systems is presented. The proposed antenna consists of a meandered driven element and a reflector to obtain a compact size and high directivity. Using a printed microstrip balun, the proposed antenna is fed by a 50‐Ω microstrip line in a printed circuit board. The peak gain and maximum front‐to‐back ratio of the proposed antenna are ∼4.5 dBi and 17 dB at the authorized UHF RFID band in Korea, respectively. The antenna physical size is 80 × 45.5 mm2 (approximately 0.25λ0 × 0.14 λ0 at 920 MHz). © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 59:439–441, 2017