bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Health, Discipline and Appropriate Behaviour: the Body of the Soldier and Space of the Cantonment
Authors: WALD ERICA
Published: November 2011

Anxiety about the intemperance and misbehaviour of the European soldiery in nineteenth century India prompted a raft of regulations which not only imposed a punitive regime on those living and working in and around the cantonments, but prompted an extension of military space. This paper specifically examines the methods and levels of control—both of which existed and were attempted in and around the cantonment. These ranged from regulations enacted to order the physical space of the cantonment, to calls for a more direct control over the bodies of the soldiers themselves as well as the numerous others who occupied the land. Crucially for this argument, moral and medical concerns were of critical importance in moulding this ordering. However, as this paper argues, social and class perceptions of the men—and the fear of provoking their wrath—dictated what officers and officials felt was legally possible. The various ways in which the military and government imposed order on the cantonment (or attempted to do so) had serious implications for the shaping of the empire itself and European understanding of its inhabitants.
It's not what you hear, it's the way you think about it: appraisals as determinants of affect and behaviour in voice hearers
Authors: Peters E. R. , Williams S. L. , Cooke M. A. , Kuipers E.
Published: November 2011

Background

Previous studies have suggested that beliefs about voices mediate the relationship between actual voice experience and behavioural and affective response.

Method

We investigated beliefs about voice power (omnipotence), voice intent (malevolence/benevolence) and emotional and behavioural response (resistance/engagement) using the Beliefs About Voices Questionnaire – Revised (BAVQ-R) in 46 voice hearers. Distress was assessed using a wide range of measures: voice-related distress, depression, anxiety, self-esteem and suicidal ideation. Voice topography was assessed using measures of voice severity, frequency and intensity. We predicted that beliefs about voices would show a stronger association with distress than voice topography.

Results

Omnipotence had the strongest associations with all measures of distress included in the study whereas malevolence was related to resistance, and benevolence to engagement. As predicted, voice severity, frequency and intensity were not related to distress once beliefs were accounted for.

Conclusions

These results concur with previous findings that beliefs about voice power are key determinants of distress in voice hearers, and should be targeted specifically in psychological interventions.
AMPHORAE OF DRESSEL 24SIMILISTYPE IN THE CENTRAL AEGEAN AREA (CHIOS–ERYTHRAI–KYME)
Authors: Opaiţ Andrei , Tsaravopoulos Aris
Published: November 2011

In memoriamVivien Swan

An exhaustive presentation of one of the most important Chian amphora workshops that manufactured amphorae of Dressel 24similistype, as well as ampullae, unguentaria, basins and funnels (vessels and equipment related to the olive oil industry), is followed by an analysis of the origin and evolution of this type since the Hellenistic period in the Chios–Erythrai–Kyme area. These discoveries bring to light the organisation of the amphorae workshops in this region, the same type of kiln being in use until the present day. Petrological and chemical analysis of the Chian and Erythraian fabrics, together with the identification of some Chian Dressel 24similisamphora stamps on the lower Danube and Pontic market, also sheds new light on the flourishing olive oil industry of the central Aegean area during the Early Roman period.
BRITISH LANCASTRIAN SCHOOLS OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY KYTHERA
Authors: Harlan Deborah
Published: November 2011

The island of Kythera (Cerigo) has many well-preserved structures dating from the British protectorate (1815–64): the most striking of these are several stone-built school buildings constructed in 1825–6. Education in these schools was based on a British system, informed by evangelical religious principles that had gained popularity in England in the late eighteenth century, and known as the Lancastrian system after its founder, Joseph Lancaster. Using unpublished archival sources in both Britain and Kythera, this article focuses primarily on the colonial educational system on Cerigo, as embodied in the school buildings. The Cerigo schools are set in the context of socio-political events and ideas in the early nineteenth century: the phenomenon of the Lancastrian school movement, the impact of Protestant missions in the Mediterranean and the colonial initiative of public education in the Ionian Islands. The relationship between the British (officials and missionaries) and the islanders in the establishment and the initial operation of the schools is illustrated by a detailed discussion of teachers, schoolbooks, the number of schools and students, and data regarding the construction of the school buildings. The manifestation of that relationship is shown in the physical form of the British-built school buildings and their placement in the landscape. While the creation of the Cerigo schools may be viewed as a microcosm of British colonial and missionary involvement in the Ionian Islands, it can be demonstrated that subsequent changes in the function of the schools in the Colonial period reflected an increasing alignment with the ideologies of the developing nation-state of Greece.
Mythos and logos
Authors: Fowler Robert L.
Published: November 2011

While the simplistic thesis of Greek progress from mythos to logos in the form stated by Wilhelm Nestle is rightly rejected, some aspects of the emerging new consensus are open to challenge. ‘Mythos’ corresponds in important ways to modern ‘myth’ and Greek logos, with which it is contrasted, stands at the beginning of an unbroken tradition of Western rationalism. The semantic history of the terms is freshly analyzed, with particular attention to the contribution of pre-Socratic philosophers, Herodotos and Sophists, but looking forward also to Hellenistic and Imperial writers. The ‘invention of mythology’ is dated to the middle of the fifth century, not the end. Plato's complicated stand on the issue is interpreted as a reaction to Sophistic views.
Once more the end of Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus
Authors: Sommerstein Alan H.
Published: November 2011

This article challenges the conclusion of Kovacs (2009) that Oedipus Tyrannus 1468–1523 is an interpolation, arguing that the evidence he brings is insufficient (except possibly in regard to 1500–02), that his proposal regarding Sophocles' original conclusion to the play is unsatisfactory and that in 1468–1523 several significant features of the play's opening scenes are repeated or reversed.
UNIT ROOTS IN WHITE NOISE
Authors: Onatski Alexei , Uhlig Harald
Published: November 2011

We show that the empirical distribution of the roots of the vector autoregression (VAR) of order p fitted to T observations of a general stationary or nonstationary process converges to the uniform distribution over the unit circle on the complex plane, when both T and p tend to infinity so that (ln T)/p → 0 and p3/T → 0. In particular, even if the process is a white noise, nearly all roots of the estimated VAR will converge by absolute value to unity. For fixed p, we derive an asymptotic approximation to the expected empirical distribution of the estimated roots as T → ∞. The approximation is concentrated in a circular region in the complex plane for various data generating processes and sample sizes.
TESTING FOR A CHANGE IN CORRELATION AT AN UNKNOWN POINT IN TIME USING AN EXTENDED FUNCTIONAL DELTA METHOD
Authors: Wied Dominik , Krämer Walter , Dehling Herold
Published: November 2011

We propose a new test against a change in correlation at an unknown point in time based on cumulated sums of empirical correlations. The test does not require that inputs are independent and identically distributed under the null. We derive its limiting null distribution using a new functional delta method argument, provide a formula for its local power for particular types of structural changes, give some Monte Carlo evidence on its finite-sample behavior, and apply it to recent stock returns.
TOWARD A UNIFIED INTERVAL ESTIMATION OF AUTOREGRESSIONS
Authors: Chan Ngai Hang , Li Deyuan , Peng Liang
Published: November 2011

An empirical likelihood–based confidence interval is proposed for interval estimations of the autoregressive coefficient of a first-order autoregressive model via weighted score equations. Although the proposed weighted estimate is less efficient than the usual least squares estimate, its asymptotic limit is always normal without assuming stationarity of the process. Unlike the bootstrap method or the least squares procedure, the proposed empirical likelihood–based confidence interval is applicable regardless of whether the underlying autoregressive process is stationary, unit root, near-integrated, or even explosive, thereby providing a unified approach for interval estimation of an AR(1) model to encompass all situations. Finite-sample simulation studies confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method.
A unifying framework for iterative approximate best-response algorithms for distributed constraint optimization problems
Authors: Chapman Archie C. , Rogers Alex , Jennings Nicholas R. , Leslie David S.
Published: November 2011

Distributed constraint optimization problems (DCOPs) are important in many areas of computer science and optimization. In a DCOP, each variable is controlled by one of many autonomous agents, who together have the joint goal of maximizing a global objective function. A wide variety of techniques have been explored to solve such problems, and here we focus on one of the main families, namely iterative approximate best-response algorithms used as local search algorithms for DCOPs. We define these algorithms as those in which, at each iteration, agents communicate only the states of the variables under their control to their neighbours on the constraint graph, and that reason about their next state based on the messages received from their neighbours. These algorithms include the distributed stochastic algorithm and stochastic coordination algorithms, the maximum-gain messaging algorithms, the families of fictitious play and adaptive play algorithms, and algorithms that use regret-based heuristics. This family of algorithms is commonly employed in real-world systems, as they can be used in domains where communication is difficult or costly, where it is appropriate to trade timeliness off against optimality, or where hardware limitations render complete or more computationally intensive algorithms unusable. However, until now, no overarching framework has existed for analyzing this broad family of algorithms, resulting in similar and overlapping work being published independently in several different literatures. The main contribution of this paper, then, is the development of a unified analytical framework for studying such algorithms. This framework is built on our insight that when formulated as non-cooperative games, DCOPs form a subset of the class of potential games. This result allows us to prove convergence properties of iterative approximate best-response algorithms developed in the computer science literature using game-theoretic methods (which also shows that such algorithms can also be applied to the more general problem of finding Nash equilibria in potential games), and, conversely, also allows us to show that many game-theoretic algorithms can be used to solve DCOPs. By so doing, our framework can assist system designers by making the pros and cons of, and the synergies between, the various iterative approximate best-response DCOP algorithm components clear.
Survey of directly mapping SQL databases to the Semantic Web
Authors: Sequeda Juan F. , Tirmizi Syed Hamid , Corcho Oscar , Miranker Daniel P.
Published: November 2011

The Semantic Web anticipates integrated access to a large number of information sources on the Internet represented as Resource Description Framework (RDF). Given the large number of websites that are backed by SQL databases, methods that automate the translation of those databases to RDF are crucial. One approach, taken by a number of researchers, is to directly map the SQL schema to an equivalent Web Ontology Language (OWL) or RDF Schema representation, which in turn, implies an RDF representation for the relational data. This paper reviews this research, and derives a consolidated, overarching set of translation rules expressible as a stratified Datalog program. We present all the possible key combinations in an SQL schema and consider their implied semantic properties. We review the approaches and characterize them with respect to the scope of their coverage of SQL constructs.
WAIT-AND-SEE STRATEGIES IN POLLING MODELS
Authors: Aurzada Frank , Beck Sergej , Scheutzow Michael
Published: November 2011

We consider a general polling model with N stations. The stations are served exhaustively and in cyclic order. Once a station queue falls empty, the server does not immediately switch to the next station. Rather, it waits at the station for the possible arrival of new work (“wait-and-see”) and, in the case of this happening, it restarts service in an exhaustive fashion. The total time the server waits idly is set to be a fixed, deterministic parameter for each station. Switchover times and service times are allowed to follow some general distribution, respectively. In some cases, which can be characterized, this strategy yields a strictly lower average queuing delay than for the exhaustive strategy, which corresponds to setting the “wait-and-see credit” equal to zero for all stations. This extends the results of Peköz [12] and of Boxma et al. [4]. Furthermore, we give a lower bound for the delay for all strategies that allow the server to wait at the stations even though no work is present.
Using Constraints for Shoe Mounted Indoor Pedestrian Navigation
Authors: Abdulrahim Khairi , Hide Chris , Moore Terry , Hill Chris
Published: November 2011

Shoe mounted Inertial Measurement Units (IMU) are often used for indoor pedestrian navigation systems. The presence of a zero velocity condition during the stance phase enables Zero Velocity Updates (ZUPT) to be applied regularly every time the user takes a step. Most of the velocity and attitude errors can be estimated using ZUPTs. However, good heading estimation for such a system remains a challenge. This is due to the poor observability of heading error for a low cost Micro-Electro-Mechanical (MEMS) IMU, even with the use of ZUPTs in a Kalman filter. In this paper, the same approach is adopted where a MEMS IMU is mounted on a shoe, but with additional constraints applied. The three constraints proposed herein are used to generate measurement updates for a Kalman filter, known as ‘Heading Update’, ‘Zero Integrated Heading Rate Update’ and ‘Height Update’.

The first constraint involves restricting heading drift in a typical building where the user is walking. Due to the fact that typical buildings are rectangular in shape, an assumption is made that most walking in this environment is constrained to only follow one of the four main headings of the building. A second constraint is further used to restrict heading drift during a non-walking situation. This is carried out because the first constraint cannot be applied when the user is stationary. Finally, the third constraint is applied to limit the error growth in height. An assumption is made that the height changes in indoor buildings are only caused when the user walks up and down a staircase. Several trials were shown to demonstrate the effectiveness of integrating these constraints for indoor pedestrian navigation. The results show that an average return position error of 4·62 meters is obtained for an average distance of 1557 meters using only a low cost MEMS IMU.
Technique for Initialization and Synchronous Setting of Space Vehicle Time with Navigation System Time
Authors: Majithiya Parimal , Khatri Kriti , Hota J. K.
Published: November 2011

Satellite Navigation Systems (SNS) provide Position, Velocity and Time (PVT) services. The SNS is required to maintain its own System Time with high accuracy. To set up the precise System Time, each system component should maintain its own time within a specified limit. In the SNS, the onboard Space Vehicle (SV) time generator is one of the components and it should be set and maintained with few nanoseconds accuracy. To achieve accurate time setting with minimum difference between the ground and onboard SV systems, the onboard time setting should be highly predictable and accurate. This paper proposes an approach to initialize/set the onboard SV Time. The paper also discusses the concept of synchronization of SV Time with System Time with an overall accuracy better than 1 nsec. The proposed technique requires minimum setting time and synchronization steps and there is no need to predict accurate uplink propagation delay and command execution time.
Tuberculosis and HIV co-infection in healthcare workers in England and Wales, 1999–2005
Authors: CROFTS J. P. , KRUIJSHAAR M. E. , DELPECH V. , NCUBE F. , ABUBAKAR I.
Published: November 2011

This study used linked national tuberculosis (TB) and HIV surveillance data to investigate recent trends and factors associated with HIV co-infection (TB-HIV) in healthcare workers (HCWs) with TB in England and Wales. Methods applied were the χ2trend test and logistic regression. Overall 14% (231/1627) of HCWs with TB were co-infected with HIV, increasing from 8% in 1999 to 14% in 2005 (P<0·001). Most (78%) HCWs were non-UK born and 74% of these developed TB ⩾2 years post-entry. Being born in Sub-Saharan Africa was an independent predictor for TB-HIV, especially for female HCWs (odds ratio 66·5, 95% confidence interval 16·3–271·1), who also had a lower median CD4 count than other co-infected women (106/mm3, interquartile range 40–200,P<0·01). Voluntary HIV testing of new HCWs should be encouraged as an opportunity for early diagnosis. Post-entry, a high index of clinical suspicion for TB in those most at risk remains important.
Colour Me In – an empirical study on consumer responses to the traffic light signposting system in nutrition labelling
Authors: Hieke Sophie , Wilczynski Petra
Published: November 2011

Objective

As a means of empowering consumers, nutrition labelling has become a widely discussed topic. Simplicity and uniformity of labelling systems are regarded as the prevailing demands from the consumer side. In the present study, we analyse the effects of the traffic light signposting scheme on consumers’ food choices.

Design

In an online survey, respondents first rated the understandability of the traffic light signposting scheme. In a following conjoint experiment, they indicated which products they would select as the healthiest of the presented products, based on the nutritive information provided by the traffic light signposting scheme.

Setting

A major German university.

Subjects

In total 2002 undergraduate students participated in the survey. Two-thirds (69 %) of the respondents were female and the majority of the respondents (70 %) were between 18 and 24 years old. Seventy-seven per cent of the participants indicated that they had a higher level of education.

Results

Overall, the participants rated the understandability of the traffic light nutrition signposting scheme fairly high (5·9 out of 7). Sugar and fat were found to be the most important attributes of the scheme. Participants placed greater emphases on a change in a product's nutrient characteristic from ‘amber to ‘red’ compared with a change from ‘green’ to ‘amber’.

Conclusions

Our results confirm the signalling effect of colour coding as it helps reduce the complexity of decision making. Our findings shed new light on the ongoing discussion concerning appropriate and efficient nutrition labelling and provide interesting insights for further research as well as implications for public policy making.
Estimating the transfer of contaminants in animal feedstuffs to livestock tissues, milk and eggs: a review
Authors: MacLachlan D. J.
Published: November 2011

Literature studies on the transfer from livestock feed of residues of organic contaminants, metals and mycotoxins to edible livestock commodities have been reviewed. This review focuses on contaminants relevant to risks assessment of livestock feeds, especially those contaminants for which regulatory standards have been established. Those involved in the supply of livestock feed need to be aware of maximum levels for various contaminants in food and develop strategies to ensure food derived from livestock complies. An impediment to profiling feed ingredients has been the lack of accessible information on the transfer of residues from feed to tissues, milk and eggs derived from exposed livestock. Transfer factors are summarised for 72 contaminants for cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry and can be used in the first tiers of risk assessment to identify contaminant and feed ingredient combinations that require management.
Kinetics and Mechanism of the Reaction of Dichlorotetraaquaruthenium(III) and Thiols
Authors: Nayak Suprava , Brahma Gouri Sankhar , Reddy K. Venugopal
Published: November 2011

The formation of an intermediate ruthenium(iii) thiolate complex by the interaction of thiols, RSH (R = glutathione and l-cysteine) and dichlorotetraaquaruthenium(iii), [RuIIICl2(H2O)4]+, is reported in the temperature range 25–40°C. The kinetics and mechanism of formation of the intermediate complex were studied as a function of [RuIIICl2(H2O)4]+, [RSH], pH, ionic strength and temperature. Reduction of the intermediate complex takes place slowly and results in the corresponding disulfides RSSR and [RuIICl2(H2O)4]+. The results are interpreted in terms of a mechanism involving a rate-determining inner-sphere one-electron transfer from RSH to the oxidant used in the present investigation and a comparison of rate and equilibrium constants is presented with activation parameters.
Scaffold number in yeast signaling system sets tradeoff between system output and dynamic range
Authors: Thomson Ty M. , Benjamin Kirsten R. , Bush Alan , Love Tonya , Pincus David , Resnekov Orna , Yu Richard C. , Gordon Andrew , Colman-Lerner Alejandro , Endy Drew , Brent Roger
Published: November 2011

Although the proteins comprising many signaling systems are known, less is known about their numbers per cell. Existing measurements often vary by more than 10-fold. Here, we devised improved quantification methods to measure protein abundances in the
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
pheromone response pathway, an archetypical signaling system. These methods limited variation between independent measurements of protein abundance to a factor of two. We used these measurements together with quantitative models to identify and investigate behaviors of the pheromone response system sensitive to precise abundances. The difference between the maximum and basal signaling output (dynamic range) of the pheromone response MAPK cascade was strongly sensitive to the abundance of Ste5, the MAPK scaffold protein, and absolute system output depended on the amount of Fus3, the MAPK. Additional analysis and experiment suggest that scaffold abundance sets a tradeoff between maximum system output and system dynamic range, a prediction supported by recent experiments.
Evolution and structure of sustainability science
Authors: Bettencourt Luís M. A. , Kaur Jasleen
Published: November 2011

The concepts of sustainable development have experienced extraordinary success since their advent in the 1980s. They are now an integral part of the agenda of governments and corporations, and their goals have become central to the mission of research laboratories and universities worldwide. However, it remains unclear how far the field has progressed as a scientific discipline, especially given its ambitious agenda of integrating theory, applied science, and policy, making it relevant for development globally and generating a new interdisciplinary synthesis across fields. To address these questions, we assembled a corpus of scholarly publications in the field and analyzed its temporal evolution, geographic distribution, disciplinary composition, and collaboration structure. We show that sustainability science has been growing explosively since the late 1980s when foundational publications in the field increased its pull on new authors and intensified their interactions. The field has an unusual geographic footprint combining contributions and connecting through collaboration cities and nations at very different levels of development. Its decomposition into traditional disciplines reveals its emphasis on the management of human, social, and ecological systems seen primarily from an engineering and policy perspective. Finally, we show that the integration of these perspectives has created a new field only in recent years as judged by the emergence of a giant component of scientific collaboration. These developments demonstrate the existence of a growing scientific field of sustainability science as an unusual, inclusive and ubiquitous scientific practice and bode well for its continued impact and longevity.
A fast doubly hybrid density functional method close to chemical accuracy using a local opposite spin ansatz
Authors: Zhang Igor Ying , Xu Xin , Jung Yousung , Goddard William A.
Published: November 2011

We develop and validate the XYGJ-OS functional, based on the adiabatic connection formalism and Görling-Levy perturbation theory to second order and using the opposite-spin (OS) ansatz combined with locality of electron correlation. XYGJ-OS with local implementation scales as N
3
with an overall accuracy of 1.28 kcal/mol for thermochemistry, bond dissociation energies, reaction barrier heights, and nonbonded interactions, comparable to that of 1.06 kcal/mol for the accurate coupled-cluster based G3 method (scales as N
7
) and much better than many popular density functional theory methods: B3LYP (4.98), PBE0 (4.36), and PBE (12.10).
Estrogen receptor β and 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 6, a growth regulatory pathway that is lost in prostate cancer
Authors: Muthusamy Selvaraj , Andersson Stefan , Kim Hyun-Jin , Butler Ryan , Waage Linda , Bergerheim Ulf , Gustafsson Jan-Åke
Published: November 2011

Estrogen receptor β (ERβ) is activated in the prostate by 5α-androstane-3β,17β-diol (3β-Adiol) where it exerts antiproliferative activity. The proliferative action of the androgen receptor is activated by 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT). Thus, prostate growth is governed by the balance between androgen receptor and ERβ activation. 3β-Adiol is a high-affinity ligand and agonist of ERβ and is derived from DHT by 3-keto reductase/3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase enzymes. Here, we demonstrate that, when it is expressed in living cells containing an estrogen response element-luciferase reporter, 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 6 (17βHSD6) converts the androgen DHT to the estrogen 3β-Adiol, and this leads to activation of the ERβ reporter. This conversion of DHT occurs at concentrations that are in the physiological range of this hormone in the prostate. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that 17βHSD6 is expressed in ERβ-positive epithelial cells of the human prostate and that, in prostate cancers of Gleason grade higher than 3, both ERβ and 17βHSD6 are undetectable. Both proteins were present in benign prostatic hyperplasia samples. These observations reveal that formation of 3β-Adiol via 17βHSD6 from DHT is an important growth regulatory pathway that is lost in prostate cancer.
Beauty is Better Pursued: Effects of Attractiveness in Multiple-Face Tracking
Authors: Liu Chang Hong , Chen Wenfeng
Published: November 2011

Using the multiple-object tracking paradigm, this study examines how spontaneous appraisal for facial beauty affects distributed attention to multiple faces in dynamic displays. Observers tracked attractive faces more effectively than unattractive faces in this task. Tracking performance was only affected by target attractiveness, suggesting an absence of appraisal for distractor attractiveness. Attractive male faces also produced stronger binding of face identity and location for female participants. Together, the results suggest that facial attractiveness was appraised during tracking even though this was task irrelevant. Contrary to the theory that multiple-object tracking is driven by encapsulated low-level vision, our results show that the content of target representation is not only penetrable by social cognition but also modulates the course of tracking operations.
Molecular engineering of carbazole functionalized ruthenium dyes for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells
Authors: Nguyen Hong Minh , Vu Dinh Lam , Nguyen Duc Nghia
Published: November 2011

A new ruthenium complex, coded HMP-12, incorporating an antenna ligand composed of the sequential connection of a conjugated segment and carbazole hole-transport moiety was synthesized. This dye exhibits a lower energy metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) band centered at 536 nm with a high molar absorption coefficient of 21.43×103 
M
−1 
cm
−1. Nanocrystalline ZnO dye-sensitized solar cells employing HMP-12 show good conversion efficiency (4.46%). It was found that the difference in light-harvesting properties between Rut-B1, HMP-11 and HMP-12 is associated mainly with dye structure. The power conversion efficiency of solar cells based on HMP-11 is 4.11% while the Rut-B1 delivered a lower efficiency of 3.57% under the same device fabrication and measuring conditions.
Crystallization and X-ray diffraction analysis of the C-terminal domain of the flax rust effector protein AvrM
Authors: Ve Thomas , Williams Simon J. , Stamp Anna , Valkov Eugene , Dodds Peter N. , Anderson Peter A. , Kobe Bostjan
Published: November 2011

The flax rust effector AvrM is a secreted protein of unknown fold that is recognized by the M resistance protein in flax. In order to investigate the structural basis of the AvrM–M interaction and possible virulence-associated functions of AvrM, the C-terminal domains of two different AvrM variants (AvrM-A and avrM) were crystallized. Crystals of native AvrM-A were obtained using pentaerythritol ethoxylate (15/4 EO/OH) as a precipitant and diffracted X-rays to 2.9 Å resolution. Selenomethionine-derivative crystals of similar quality were obtained using PEG 1500 as a precipitant. Both the native and selenomethionine-labelled AvrM-A crystals had symmetry of space group C2221 with eight molecules in the asymmetric unit. Crystals of avrM had symmetry of space group P212121 and diffracted X-rays to 2.7 Å resolution. Initial AvrM-A phases were calculated using the single-wavelength anomalous dispersion (SAD) method and a partial model was built. Phases for avrM were obtained by molecular replacement using the partial AvrM-A model.
Crystallization of Chlorella deoxyuridine triphosphatase
Authors: Badalucco Laura , Poudel Ishwari , Yamanishi Mamoru , Natarajan Chandrasekhar , Moriyama Hideaki
Published: November 2011

Deoxyuridine triphosphatase (dUTPase) is a ubiquitous enzyme that has been widely studied owing to its function and evolutionary significance. The gene coding for the dUTPase from the Chlorella alga was codon-optimized and synthesized. The synthetic gene was expressed in Escherichia coli and recombinant core Chlorella dUTPase (chdUTPase) was purified. Crystallization of chdUTPase was performed by the repetitive hanging-drop vapor-diffusion method at 298 K with ammonium sulfate as the precipitant. In the presence of 2′-deoxyuridine-5′-[(α,β)-imido]triphosphate and magnesium, the enzyme produced die-shaped hexagonal R3 crystals with unit-cell parameters a = b = 66.9, c = 93.6 Å, γ = 120°. X-ray diffraction data for chdUTPase were collected to 1.6 Å resolution. The crystallization of chdUTPase with manganese resulted in very fragile clusters of needles.
Cloning, expression, purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction studies of a major group 7 allergen, Der f 7, from the dust mite Dermatophagoides farinae
Authors: Tan Kang Wei , Kumar Sundramurthy , Chew Fook Tim , Mok Yu Keung
Published: November 2011

Der f 7 is a major group 7 allergen from the dust mite Dermatophagoides farinae that shows 86% sequence identity to the homologous allergen Der p 7 from D. pteronyssinus. Der f 7 was successfully overexpressed in an Escherichia coli expression system and purified to homogeneity using Ni–NTA affinity and size-exclusion column chromatography. SeMet-labelled Der f 7 was crystallized by the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method using a reservoir solution consisting of 0.1 M bis-tris pH 7.4 and 28% polyethylene glycol monomethyl ether 2000 at 293 K. X-ray diffraction data were collected to 2.24 Å resolution using synchrotron radiation. The crystals belonged to the orthorhombic system, space group P212121, with unit-cell parameters a = 50.19, b = 58.67, c = 123.81 Å. Based on the estimated Matthews coefficient (2.16 Å3 Da−1), two molecules of Der f 7 could be present in the asymmetric unit of the crystal lattice.
Purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction studies of the arsenic repressor ArsR fromCorynebacterium glutamicum
Authors: Santha Sangilimadan , Pandaranayaka Eswari P. J. , Rosen Barry P. , Thiyagarajan Saravanamuthu
Published: November 2011

ArsR is a member of the SmtB/ArsR family of metalloregulatory proteins that regulate prokaryotic arsenic-resistance operons. Here, the crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction studies of a cysteine-free derivative of ArsR fromCorynebacterium glutamicum(CgArsR-C15/16/55S) are reported. CgArsR-C15/16/55S was expressed, purified, crystallized and X-ray diffraction data were collected to 1.86 Å resolution. The protein crystallized in a tetragonal space group (P4), with unit-cell parametersa=b= 41.84,c = 99.47 Å.
Crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of Val57 mutants of the amyloidogenic protein human cystatin C
Authors: Orlikowska Marta , Jankowska Elzbieta , Borek Dominika , Otwinowski Zbyszek , Skowron Piotr , Szymańska Aneta
Published: November 2011

Human cystatin C (hCC) is a low-molecular-mass protein (120 amino-acid residues, 13 343 Da) found in all nucleated cells. Its main physiological role is regulation of the activity of cysteine proteases. Biologically active hCC is a monomeric protein, but all crystallization efforts have resulted in a dimeric domain-swapped structure. Recently, two monomeric structures were reported for cystatin C variants. In one of them stabilization was achieved by abolishing the possibility of domain swapping by the introduction of an additional disulfide bridge connecting the two protein domains (Cys47–Cys69). In the second structure, reported by this group, the monomeric hCC fold was preserved by stabilization of the conformationally constrained loop (L1) by a single-amino-acid substitution (V57N). To further assess the influence of changes in the sequence and properties of loop L1 on the dimerization propensity of cystatin C, two additional hCC mutants were obtained: one with a residue favoured in β-turns (V57D) and another with proline (V57P), a residue that is known to be a structural element that can rigidify but also broaden turns. Here, the expression, purification and crystallization of V57D and V57P variants of recombinant human cystatin C are described. Crystals were grown by the vapour-diffusion method. Several diffraction data sets were collected using a synchrotron source at the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago, USA.
Expression, purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction studies of the human keratin 4-binding domain of serine-rich repeat protein 1 from Streptococcus agalactiae
Authors: Sundaresan Ramya , Samen Ulrike , Ponnuraj Karthe
Published: November 2011

Serine-rich repeat protein 1 (Srr-1) is a surface protein from Streptococcus agalactiae. A 17 kDa region of this protein has been identified to bind to human keratin 4 (K4) and is termed the Srr-1 K4-binding domain (Srr-1-K4BD). Recombinant Srr-1-K4BD was overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) cells. Native and selenomethionine-substituted proteins were prepared using Luria–Bertani (LB) and M9 minimal media, respectively. A two-step purification protocol was carried out to obtain a final homogenous sample of Srr-1-K4BD. Crystals of native Srr-1-K4BD were obtained using PEG 3350 as a precipitant. The crystals diffracted to 3.8 Å resolution using synchrotron radiation and belonged to space group P21, with unit-cell parameters a = 47.56, b = 59.48, c = 94.71 Å, β = 93.95°.
Improved X-ray diffraction from Bacillus megaterium penicillin G acylase crystals through long cryosoaking dehydration
Authors: Rojviriya Catleya , Pratumrat Thunyaluck , Saper Mark A. , Yuvaniyama Jirundon
Published: November 2011

Penicillin G acylase from Bacillus megaterium (BmPGA) is currently used in the pharmaceutical industry as an alternative to PGA from Escherichia coli (EcPGA) for the hydrolysis of penicillin G to produce 6-aminopenicillanic acid (6-APA), a penam nucleus for semisynthetic penicillins. Despite the significant differences in amino-acid sequence between PGAs from Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, a representative PGA structure of Gram-positive origin has never been reported. In this study, crystallization and diffraction studies of BmPGA are described. Poor diffraction patterns with blurred spots at higher resolution were typical for BmPGA crystals cryocooled after a brief immersion in cryoprotectant solution. Overnight soaking in the same cryo-solution substantially improved both the mosaicity and resolution limit through the establishment of a new crystal-packing equilibrium. A crystal of BmPGA diffracted X-rays to 2.20 Å resolution and belonged to the monoclinic space group P21 with one molecule of BmPGA in the asymmetric unit.
Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic studies of the NAD+-dependent deacetylase HST1 fromSaccharomyces cerevisiae
Authors: Zhu Yuwei , Teng Maikun , Li Xu
Published: November 2011

TheSaccharomyces cerevisiaeNAD+-dependent deacetylase HST1 belongs to the class III HDAC family; it acts as a transcriptional corepressor for the specific middle sporulation andde novoNAD+-biosynthesis genes and also takes part in the SET3C and SUM1–RFM1–HST1 complexes. Structural information on HST1 and its related complexes would be helpful in order to understand the structural basis of its deacetylation mechanism and the assembly of these complexes. Here, HST1156–503was expressed and crystallized. Crystals grown by the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method diffracted to 2.90 Å resolution and belonged to space groupP21, with unit-cell parametersa= 40.2,b= 101.7,c = 43.9 Å, β = 103.9°. Both Matthews coefficient analysis and the self-rotation function suggested the presence of four molecules per asymmetric unit in the crystal, with a solvent content of 49.76% (VM= 2.45 Å3 Da−1).
The impact of HFE mutations on haemoglobin and iron status in individuals experiencing repeated iron loss through blood donation*
Authors: Mast Alan E. , Lee Tzong‐Hae , Schlumpf Karen S. , Wright David J. , Johnson Bryce , Carrick Danielle M. , Cable Ritchard G. , Kiss Joseph E. , Glynn Simone A. , Steele Whitney R. , Murphy Edward L. , Sacher Ronald , Busch Michael P. ,   for the NHLBI Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study‐II (REDS‐II)
Published: November 2011

Frequent blood donors become iron deficient. HFE mutations are present in over 30% of donors. A 24‐month study of 888 first time/reactivated donors and 1537 frequent donors measured haemoglobin and iron status to assess how HFE mutations impact the development of iron deficiency erythropoiesis. Donors with two HFE mutations had increased baseline haemoglobin and iron stores as did those with one mutation, albeit to a lesser extent. Over multiple donations haemoglobin and iron status of donors with HFE mutations paralleled those lacking mutations. The prevalence of HFE mutations was not increased in higher intensity donors. Thus, in general, HFE mutations do not temper donation‐induced changes in haemoglobin and iron status. However, in Black donors there was an increase of H63D carriers at baseline, from 3·7% in first time/reactivated donors to 15·8% in frequent donors, suggesting that the relative effects of HFE mutations on iron absorption may vary between racial/ethnic groups. In secondary analyses, venous haemoglobin decreased more slowly in donors with ferritin ≥12 μg/l; and haemoglobin recovery time was shorter in donors with reticulocyte haemoglobin (CHr) ≥32·6 pg, indicating that these biochemical measures are better indicators of a donor’s response to phlebotomy than their HFE mutation status.
Integrating partner professionals. The Early Explorers project: Peers Early Education Partnership and the health visiting service
Authors: Barlow J. , Coe C.
Published: November 2011

Background  A range of voluntary sector organizations are involved in the delivery of services to children, particularly within the Early Year's sector and children's centres. Peers Early Education Partnership (PEEP) Early Explorers project is one example of the way in which explicit partnerships are being forged across statutory and voluntary sectors with the aim of improving outcomes for children and families. This paper reports an exploration of stakeholder views and experiences of two Early Explorer clinics located in areas of high deprivation.

Methods  Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of stakeholders (n= 25) from children's centres, PEEP, the health visiting service and service users. Data were fully transcribed and analysed using a thematic approach.

Results  The data suggest that the two key groups of stakeholders providing Early Explorer clinics (i.e. health visitors and PEEP practitioners) had quite different objectives in terms of their early goals for the clinic, but that despite these differences good progress was achieved in terms of working together effectively. All stakeholders including service users referred to the presence of PEEP as having improved the quality of the clinic environment, and participating mothers identified a wide range of benefits from the enhanced service. However, somewhat restricted views about the role of practitioners within the clinics were identified by users, and the findings suggest that although the early goals for the clinic had been exceeded, these may have been limited in terms of true ‘partnership’ working.

Conclusions  Early Explorer clinics appeared to have enhanced the service provided within traditional child health clinics and to have provided practitioners with access to hard‐to‐reach families and parents with access to services that are consistent with the broader policy aims of improving parent–infant interaction. However, questions remain as to whether the benefit of ‘partnership’ working was fully realized.
Time use patterns in ambulatory adolescents with cerebral palsy
Authors: Maher C. , Kernot J. , Olds T.
Published: November 2011

Background  No studies to date have examined the daily time spent across a variety of activity types (sleep, screen time, physical activity, domestic and school‐related) in children with cerebral palsy (CP).

Aim  To investigate the activity patterns of adolescents with CP and contrast them with those of typically developing (TD) adolescents, using a use‐of‐time approach.

Methods  Forty‐one Australian adolescents with CP and 82 TD adolescents matched for age, sex, weight status and socio‐economic status undertook structured interviews using a validated computerized use of time recall administered over 4 days. Time devoted to sleep, screen time, physical activity, domestic and school‐related activity were compared using anova and Mann–Whitney tests.

Results  Adolescents with CP spent less time in physical activity (91 vs. 147 min/day, P= 0.0003), and in particular, its sub‐components of active transport (28 vs. 52 min/day, P= 0.0013) and team sports (25 vs. 39 min/day, P= 0.04). They experienced significantly more quiet time (116 vs. 80 min/day, P= 0.0025) but spent less time in social interaction (6 vs. 22 min/day, P= 0.0016). There were no significant differences in sleep, screen time, domestic activities or school‐related time.

Conclusions  By and large, the activity patterns of ambulatory adolescents with CP were similar to their TD peers. Results highlight physical activity in younger adolescents (11–13 years) as an area for targeted interventions.
Factors affecting white spruce and aspen survival after partial harvest
Authors: Solarik Kevin A. , Volney W. Jan A. , Lieffers Victor J. , Spence John R. , Hamann Andreas
Published: November 2011

1. Variable retention harvest is an increasingly popular management alternative to clear‐cutting in boreal forest ecosystems. This harvest system retains a portion of the mature trees to maintain structural elements of the forest and preserve biodiversity. Residual trees must, however, survive in the post‐harvest environment to realize these benefits. Here, we investigate which tree and stand characteristics are associated with high survival to aid foresters in designing harvesting prescriptions.

2. We conducted an operational‐scale experiment broadly representative of western North American boreal forests. Treatments were four overstorey compositions (ranging from deciduous to conifer dominated) and five rates of canopy retention (10%, 20%, 50%, 75% and a 100% control). Factors affecting mortality were analysed for the leading tree species (aspenPopulus tremuloidesMichx. and white sprucePicea glauca(Moench) Voss 5 and 10 years after harvest.

3. Mortality of residual aspen was highest in 10% and 20% retention treatments withc.30% mortality after 5 years andc.50% after 10 years. At year 5, most of the dead trees remained upright as snags (87%), but by year 10,c.40% of dead trees had fallen. By contrast, mortality was much lower in the 50% and 75% retention treatments, and similar to that of the unharvested control. Results for white spruce mortality were similar, except the shallow‐rooted spruce that was more susceptible to be blown down.

4. Regression tree analysis was used to identify individual tree attributes that predict 5‐ and 10‐year survival. Mortality was higher for trees with a low percentage of live crown and high height/diameter ratio, when trees were very tall or were close to machine corridors. Smaller residual spruce trees from deciduous‐dominated stands had the lowest mortality rates.

5. Synthesis and application. Where live trees are critical elements of wildlife habitat, forest managers should maintain ≥50% in retention harvest systems. At lower levels of retention (≤20%), mortality can be reduced if foresters select retention trees that are stout, possess large live crowns and are small to intermediate in size. These factors can be used to help design partial harvest systems for effective biodiversity conservation strategies.
Anti‐hepatitis C virus activity of 3‐hydroxy caruilignan C from Swietenia macrophylla stems
Authors: Wu S.‐F. , Lin C.‐K. , Chuang Y.‐S. , Chang F.‐R. , Tseng C.‐K. , Wu Y.‐C. , Lee J.‐C.
Published: November 2011

Summary.  Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection ultimately leads to chronic hepatitis, hepatic cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). As the standard treatment is not completely efficacious, a safer and more effective agent against HCV infection needs to be developed. In this report, we demonstrated that 3‐hydroxy caruilignan C (3‐HCL‐C) isolated from Swietenia macrophylla stems exhibited high anti‐HCV activity at both protein and RNA levels at nontoxic concentrations, with an EC50 value of 10.5 ± 1.2 μm. Combinations of 3‐HCL‐C and interferon‐α (IFN‐α), an HCV NS5B polymerase inhibitor (2′‐C‐methylcytidine; NM‐107) or an HCV NS3/4A protease inhibitor (Telaprevir; VX‐950) increased the suppression of HCV RNA replication. The results suggested that 3‐HCL‐C may be a potential anti‐viral agent. We then demonstrated that 3‐HCL‐C interfered with HCV replication by inducing IFN‐stimulated response element transcription and IFN‐dependent anti‐viral gene expression.