bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Entre la novela y el documento. La narrativa expedicionaria de Filiberto de Oliveira Cézar (1891-1897)
Authors: Haug María Cecilia
Published: February 2018

El presente trabajo propone analizar la mirada de un hombre que a fines de siglo XIX combinó la práctica del viaje tierra adentro con la escritura. Ese hombre es el político, militar y escritor Filiberto de Oliveira Cézar, quien escribió y publicó una serie de relatos sobre el «desierto» argentino del siglo XIX, donde narra las aventuras de un grupo de expedicionarios, sus itinerarios por geografías desconocidas, así como sus relaciones con individuos diferentes a ellos. El centro de atención del trabajo lo ocupan las imágenes, provenientes de artistas reconocidos de la época. A partir de allí, se busca ponerlas en relación con el discurso escrito. Una idea principal recorre la investigación: las imágenes, lejos de ser meras ilustraciones del texto o registro fiel de lo visto, instauraron y construyeron un modo de ver al otro cultural, que articula discursos y trasunta ideologías particulares.
Representaciones del espacio, el tiempo y las mujeres indígenas en fotografías, siglos XIX-XXI
Authors: Yujnovsky Ines
Published: February 2018

Este trabajo se propone comprender la incidencia de las relaciones de poder que ciertas representaciones temporales acerca de grupos indígenas pueden ejercer en nuestra comprensión pasada y actual. Diversas imágenes reprodujeron ideas de indígenas que, aunque estuvieran vivos, mostraban una cultura asimilada a un pasado de amplias dimensiones. Por lo tanto, para comprender el proceso de invisibilización de la diversidad indígena en la cultura nacional, es relevante considerar los mecanismos de montaje discursivo —visuales y textuales—, vinculados con las nociones temporales de indios viviendo en un supuesto tiempo remoto. Atendiendo a ello, se analizan los procesos de montaje, desde la producción de las fotografías hasta la edición y presentación de imágenes, tanto en la prensa como en postales, publicaciones científicas y de divulgación, para ver cómo a veces pequeños cambios de encuadre, contraste, retoque o selección pueden incidir en la construcción de diversas historias, en la comprensión y en los sentidos construidos y en pugna.
Los vicios y virtudes en las imágenes de la Nueva corónica y buen gobierno de Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala: la violencia entre la justicia y la soberbia
Authors: Pérez Gerardo Diana Roselly
Published: February 2018

Desde un análisis historiográfico se examina la representación gráfica de los vicios y las virtudes en la Nueva corónica y buen gobierno de Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala. A partir de los cánones vigentes en la época, que concebían a la historia como herramienta didáctica indispensable para la educación y moralización de la sociedad y de la influencia que la política tridentina ejerció sobre el autor, se contrastan las representaciones de los vicios y las virtudes, tanto de los indios como de los españoles, a lo largo de la obra. Así mismo, se observa la relación que el autor establece entre la noción de justicia y el temor al castigo; de modo que proponemos distinguir aquella violencia asociada al orden y al buen gobierno incaico de las escenas que denuncian el pecado de la soberbia al retratar los abusos perpetrados por españoles y por algunos indios en la colonia.
Combining CXCR4-targeted and nontargeted nanoparticles for effective unassisted in vitro magnetic hyperthermia
Authors: Vilas-Boas Vânia , Espiña Begoña , Kolen'ko Yury V. , Bañobre-Lopez Manuel , Duarte José A. , Martins Verónica C. , Petrovykh Dmitri Y. , Freitas Paulo P. , Carvalho Felix D.
Published: February 2018

The use of targeted nanoparticles for magnetic hyperthermia (MHT) increases MHT selectivity, but often at the expense of its effectiveness. Consequently, targeted MHT is typically used in combination with other treatment modalities. This work describes an implementation of a highly effective monotherapeutic in vitro MHT treatment based on two populations of magnetic particles. Cells were sequentially incubated with two populations of magnetic particles: nonfunctionalized superparamagnetic nanoparticles and anti-CXCR4-functionalized particles. After removing the excess of free particles, an alternating magnetic field (AMF) was applied to produce MHT. The induced cytotoxicity was assessed at different time-points after AMF application. Complete loss of cell viability was observed 72 h after MHT when the iron loading of the anti-CXCR4-functionalized particles was boosted by that of a nontargeted population. Additionally, induction of necrosis resulted in more efficient cell death than did induction of apoptosis. Achieving a uniquely high effectiveness in monotherapeutic MHT demonstrates the potential of this approach to achieve complete loss of viability of cancer cells while avoiding the side effects of dual-treatment strategies that use MHT only as a sensitizing therapy.
An approach for automatic classification of grouper vocalizations with passive acoustic monitoring
Authors: Ibrahim Ali K. , Chérubin Laurent M. , Zhuang Hanqi , Schärer Umpierre Michelle T. , Dalgleish Fraser , Erdol Nurgun , Ouyang B. , Dalgleish A.
Published: February 2018

Grouper, a family of marine fishes, produce distinct vocalizations associated with their reproductive behavior during spawning aggregation. These low frequencies sounds (50–350 Hz) consist of a series of pulses repeated at a variable rate. In this paper, an approach is presented for automatic classification of grouper vocalizations from ambient sounds recorded in situ with fixed hydrophones based on weighted features and sparse classifier. Group sounds were labeled initially by humans for training and testing various feature extraction and classification methods. In the feature extraction phase, four types of features were used to extract features of sounds produced by groupers. Once the sound features were extracted, three types of representative classifiers were applied to categorize the species that produced these sounds. Experimental results showed that the overall percentage of identification using the best combination of the selected feature extractor weighted mel frequency cepstral coefficients and sparse classifier achieved 82.7% accuracy. The proposed algorithm has been implemented in an autonomous platform (wave glider) for real-time detection and classification of group vocalizations.
Experienced and Anticipated Pride and Shame as Predictors of Goal-Directed Behavior
Authors: Gilchrist Jenna D. , Conroy David E. , Sabiston Catherine M.
Published: February 2018

This study examined how experienced and anticipated pride and shame were related to time spent training and effort expended toward training the following week. Participants (N = 158, 76% women; Mage = 35.51, SD = 10.29 years) training for a marathon/half-marathon completed a weekly online questionnaire for 5 weeks leading up to a race. In the multilevel models, time spent training was positively predicted by race proximity, age, and effort expended that week. Effort expended toward training was predicted by the current week’s effort, the amount of time spent training that week, and was greater for participants who usually reported experiencing more pride than others. Neither anticipated pride or shame predicted time or effort, nor did experienced shame. The findings indicate that it is functional to foster high levels of pride when training for a long-distance race. Further work is needed to ascertain the relationship between anticipated emotions on goal-directed behavior.
Development of Echinocandin Resistance in Candida tropicalis following Short-Term Exposure to Caspofungin for Empiric Therapy
Authors: Khan Ziauddin , Ahmad Suhail , Mokaddas Eiman , Meis Jacques F. , Joseph Leena , Abdullah Aneesa , Vayalil Sandhya
Published: February 2018

Isolation of two echinocandin-resistant
Candida tropicalis
strains from endotracheal secretions of a patient following short-term exposure to caspofungin is described. Both strains exhibited resistance to echinocandins by Etest and reference broth microdilution, showing a homozygous S645P mutation within the hot spot 1 (HS-1) region of
FKS1
and belonging to a unique multilocus sequence type. Other
C. tropicalis
isolates collected from patients in the same intensive care unit within a 60-day period were susceptible to echinocandins and contained wild-type
FKS1
sequences.
In Vivo
Transfer and Microevolution of Avian Native IncA/C
2
bla
NDM-1
-Carrying Plasmid pRH-1238 during a Broiler Chicken Infection Study
Authors: Hadziabdic Sead , Fischer Jennie , Malorny Burkhard , Borowiak Maria , Guerra Beatriz , Kaesbohrer Annemarie , Gonzalez-Zorn Bruno , Szabo Istvan
Published: February 2018

The emergence and spread of carbapenemase-producing
Enterobacteriaceae
(CPE) in wildlife and livestock animals pose an important safety concern for public health. With our
in vivo
broiler chicken infection study, we investigated the transfer and experimental microevolution of the
bla
NDM-1
-carrying IncA/C
2
plasmid (pRH-1238) introduced by avian native
Salmonella enterica
subsp.
enterica
serovar Corvallis without inducing antibiotic selection pressure. We evaluated the dependency of the time point of inoculation on donor (
S
. Corvallis [12-SA01738]) and plasmid-free
Salmonella
recipient [
d
-tartrate-fermenting (
d
-Ta
+
)
S
. Paratyphi B (13-SA01617), referred to here as
S
. Paratyphi B (
d
-Ta
+
)] excretion by quantifying their excretion dynamics. Using plasmid profiling by S1 nuclease-restricted pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, we gained insight into the variability of the native plasmid content among
S
. Corvallis reisolates as well as plasmid acquisition in
S
. Paratyphi B (
d
-Ta
+
) and the enterobacterial gut microflora. Whole-genome sequencing enabled us to gain an in-depth insight into the microevolution of plasmid pRH-1238 in
S
. Corvallis and enterobacterial recipient isolates. Our study revealed that the fecal excretion of avian native carbapenemase-producing
S
. Corvallis is significantly higher than that of
S
. Paratyphi (
d
-Ta
+
) and is not hampered by
S
. Paratyphi (
d
-Ta
+
). Acquisition of pRH-1238 in other
Enterobacteriaceae
and several events of plasmid pRH-1238 transfer to different
Escherichia coli
sequence types and
Klebsiella pneumoniae
demonstrated an interspecies broad host range. Regardless of the microevolutionary structural deletions in pRH-1238, the single carbapenem resistance marker
bla
NDM-1
was maintained on pRH-1238 throughout the trial. Furthermore, we showed the importance of the gut
E. coli
population as a vector of pRH-1238. In a potential scenario of the introduction of NDM-1-producing
S
. Corvallis into a broiler flock, the pRH-1238 plasmid could persist and spread to a broad host range even in the absence of antibiotic pressure.
In VitroMeasles Virus Infection of Human Lymphocyte Subsets Demonstrates High Susceptibility and Permissiveness of both Naive and Memory B Cells
Authors: Laksono Brigitta M. , Grosserichter-Wagener Christina , de Vries Rory D. , Langeveld Simone A. G. , Brem Maarten D. , van Dongen Jacques J. M. , Katsikis Peter D. , Koopmans Marion P. G. , van Zelm Menno C. , de Swart Rik L.
Published: February 2018

Measles is characterized by a transient immune suppression, leading to an increased risk of opportunistic infections. Measles virus (MV) infection of immune cells is mediated by the cellular receptor CD150, expressed by subsets of lymphocytes, dendritic cells, macrophages, and thymocytes. Previous studies showed that human and nonhuman primate memory T cells express higher levels of CD150 than naive cells and are more susceptible to MV infection. However, limited information is available about the CD150 expression and relative susceptibility to MV infection of B-cell subsets. In this study, we assessed the susceptibility and permissiveness of naive and memory T- and B-cell subsets from human peripheral blood or tonsils toin vitroMV infection. Our study demonstrates that naive and memory B cells express CD150, but at lower frequencies than memory T cells. Nevertheless, both naive and memory B cells proved to be highly permissive to MV infection. Furthermore, we assessed the susceptibility and permissiveness of various functionally distinct T and B cells, such as helper T (TH) cell subsets and IgG- and IgA-positive memory B cells, in peripheral blood and tonsils. We demonstrated that TH1TH17 cells and plasma and germinal center B cells were the subsets most susceptible and permissive to MV infection. Our study suggests that both naive and memory B cells, along with several other antigen-experienced lymphocytes, are important target cells of MV infection. Depletion of these cells potentially contributes to the pathogenesis of measles immune suppression.

IMPORTANCEMeasles is associated with immune suppression and is often complicated by bacterial pneumonia, otitis media, or gastroenteritis. Measles virus infects antigen-presenting cells and T and B cells, and depletion of these cells may contribute to lymphopenia and immune suppression. Measles has been associated with follicular exhaustion in lymphoid tissues in humans and nonhuman primates, emphasizing the importance of MV infection of B cellsin vivo. However, information on the relative susceptibility of B-cell subsets is scarce. Here, we compared the susceptibility and permissiveness toin vitroMV infection of human naive and memory T- and B-cell subsets isolated from peripheral blood or tonsils. Our results demonstrate that both naive and memory B cells are more permissive to MV infection than T cells. The highest infection levels were detected in plasma cells and germinal center B cells, suggesting that infection and depletion of these populations contribute to reduced host resistance.
CTCF Binding Sites in the Herpes Simplex Virus 1 Genome Display Site-Specific CTCF Occupation, Protein Recruitment, and Insulator Function
Authors: Washington Shannan D. , Musarrat Farhana , Ertel Monica K. , Backes Gregory L. , Neumann Donna M.
Published: February 2018

There are seven conserved CTCF binding domains in the herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) genome. These binding sites individually flank the latency-associated transcript (LAT) and the immediate early (IE) gene regions, suggesting that CTCF insulators differentially control transcriptional domains in HSV-1 latency. In this work, we show that two CTCF binding motifs in HSV-1 display enhancer blocking in a cell-type-specific manner. We found that CTCF binding to the latent HSV-1 genome was LAT dependent and that the quantity of bound CTCF was site specific. Following reactivation, CTCF eviction was dynamic, suggesting that each CTCF site was independently regulated. We explored whether CTCF sites recruit the polycomb-repressive complex 2 (PRC2) to establish repressive domains through a CTCF-Suz12 interaction and found that Suz12 colocalized to the CTCF insulators flanking the ICP0 and ICP4 regions and, conversely, was removed at early times postreactivation. Collectively, these data support the idea that CTCF sites in HSV-1 are independently regulated and may contribute to lytic-latent HSV-1 control in a site-specific manner.

IMPORTANCE
The role of chromatin insulators in DNA viruses is an area of interest. It has been shown in several beta- and gammaherpesviruses that insulators likely control the lytic transcriptional profile through protein recruitment and through the formation of three-dimensional (3D) chromatin loops. The ability of insulators to regulate alphaherpesviruses has been understudied to date. The alphaherpesvirus HSV-1 has seven conserved insulator binding motifs that flank regions of the genome known to contribute to the establishment of latency. Our work presented here contributes to the understanding of how insulators control transcription of HSV-1.
Expanding Primary Metabolism Helps Generate the Metabolic Robustness To Facilitate Antibiotic Biosynthesis in
Streptomyces
Authors: Schniete Jana K. , Cruz-Morales Pablo , Selem-Mojica Nelly , Fernández-Martínez Lorena T. , Hunter Iain S. , Barona-Gómez Francisco , Hoskisson Paul A.
Published: February 2018

The expansion of the genetic repertoire of an organism by gene duplication or horizontal gene transfer (HGT) can aid adaptation.
Streptomyces
bacteria are prolific producers of bioactive specialized metabolites that have adaptive functions in nature and have found extensive utility in human medicine. While the biosynthesis of these specialized metabolites is directed by dedicated biosynthetic gene clusters, little attention has been focused on how these organisms have evolved robustness in their genomes to facilitate the metabolic plasticity required to provide chemical precursors for biosynthesis during the complex metabolic transitions from vegetative growth to specialized metabolite production and sporulation. Here, we examine genetic redundancy in actinobacteria and show that specialized metabolite-producing bacterial families exhibit gene family expansion in primary metabolism. Focusing on a gene duplication event, we show that the two pyruvate kinases in the genome of
Streptomyces coelicolor
arose by an ancient duplication event and that each has evolved altered enzymatic kinetics, with Pyk1 having a 20-fold-higher
k
cat
than Pyk2 (4,703 s
−1
compared to 215 s
−1
, respectively), and yet both are constitutively expressed. The pyruvate kinase mutants were also found to be compromised in terms of fitness compared to wild-type
Streptomyces
. These data suggest that expanding gene families can help maintain cell functionality during metabolic perturbation such as nutrient limitation and/or specialized metabolite production.

IMPORTANCE
The rise of antimicrobial-resistant infections has prompted a resurgence in interest in understanding the production of specialized metabolites, such as antibiotics, by
Streptomyces
. The presence of multiple genes encoding the same enzymatic function is an aspect of
Streptomyces
biology that has received little attention; however, understanding how the metabolic expansion influences these organisms can help enhance production of clinically useful molecules. Here, we show that expanding the number of pyruvate kinases enables metabolic adaptation, increases strain fitness, and represents an excellent target for metabolic engineering of industrial specialized metabolite-producing bacteria and the activation of cryptic specialized metabolites.
CCCTC-Binding Factor Acts as a Heterochromatin Barrier on Herpes Simplex Viral Latent Chromatin and Contributes to Poised Latent Infection
Authors: Lee Jennifer S. , Raja Priya , Pan Dongli , Pesola Jean M. , Coen Donald M. , Knipe David M.
Published: February 2018

Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) establishes latent infection in neurons via a variety of epigenetic mechanisms that silence its genome. The cellular CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) functions as a mediator of transcriptional control and chromatin organization and has binding sites in the HSV-1 genome. We constructed an HSV-1 deletion mutant that lacked a pair of CTCF-binding sites (
CTRL2
) within the latency-associated transcript (
LAT
) coding sequences and found that loss of these CTCF-binding sites did not alter lytic replication or levels of establishment of latent infection, but their deletion reduced the ability of the virus to reactivate from latent infection. We also observed increased heterochromatin modifications on viral chromatin over the
LAT
promoter and intron. We therefore propose that CTCF binding at the
CTRL2
sites acts as a chromatin insulator to keep viral chromatin in a form that is poised for reactivation, a state which we call poised latency.

IMPORTANCE
Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) is a human pathogen that persists for the lifetime of the host as a result of its ability to establish latent infection within sensory neurons. The mechanism by which HSV-1 transitions from the lytic to latent infection program is largely unknown; however, HSV-1 is able to coopt cellular silencing mechanisms to facilitate the suppression of lytic gene expression. Here, we demonstrate that the cellular CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF)-binding site within the latency associated transcript (
LAT
) region is critical for the maintenance of a specific local chromatin structure. Additionally, loss of CTCF binding has detrimental effects on the ability to reactivate from latent infection. These results argue that CTCF plays a critical role in epigenetic regulation of viral gene expression to establish and/or maintain a form of latent infection that can reactivate efficiently.
Exploring the Antimicrobial Action of Quaternary Amines against
Acinetobacter baumannii
Authors: Knauf Gregory A. , Cunningham Ashley L. , Kazi Misha I. , Riddington Ian M. , Crofts Alexander A. , Cattoir Vincent , Trent M. Stephen , Davies Bryan W.
Published: February 2018

Quaternary amine compounds (QAC) are potent antimicrobials used to prevent the spread of pathogenic bacteria. While they are known for their membrane-damaging properties, QAC action has been suggested to extend beyond the surface to intracellular targets. Here we characterize the range of action of the QAC biocide benzalkonium chloride (BZK) against the bacterial pathogen
Acinetobacter baumannii
. At high concentrations, BZK acts through membrane disruption, but at low concentrations we show that wide-spread protein aggregation is associated with BZK-induced cell death. Resistance to BZK is found to develop through ribosomal protein mutations that protect
A. baumannii
against BZK-induced protein aggregation. The multifunctional impact of BZK led us to discover that alternative QAC structures, with low human toxicity, retain potent action against multidrug-resistant
A. baumannii
,
Staphylococcus aureus
, and
Clostridium difficile
and present opportunities for their development as antibiotics.

IMPORTANCE
Quaternary amine compounds (QACs) are widely used to prevent the spread of bacterial pathogens, but our understanding of their mode of action is incomplete. Here we describe disruption of bacterial proteostasis as an unrecognized action of QAC antimicrobial action and uncover the potential of diverse QAC structures to act as multitarget antibiotics.
Prevalence of physical conditions and multimorbidity in a cohort of adults with intellectual disabilities with and without Down syndrome: cross-sectional study
Authors: Kinnear Deborah , Morrison Jill , Allan Linda , Henderson Angela , Smiley Elita , Cooper Sally-Ann
Published: February 2018

Objectives

To investigate the prevalence of multimorbidity in adults with intellectual disabilities with and without Down syndrome.

Design

Large, population-based cross-sectional study.

Setting

The geographical area of one Health Board, Scotland.

Participants

All adults (aged 16+ years) known to general practitioners to have intellectual disabilities and adults receiving services provided or paid by intellectual disabilities health or social work services. 1023/1562 potential participants took part (65.5%); 562 (54.9%) men and 461 (45.1%) women, aged 43.9 years (16–83 years). 186 had Down syndrome and 837 did not.

Main outcome measures

The prevalence of International Statistical Classification of Diseases, 10th revision, physical health conditions and multimorbidity detected at a comprehensive health assessment.

Results

The mean number of physical health conditions/participant was 11.04, and 98.7% had multimorbidity. The most prevalent conditions are painful and/or disabling and, in some cases, life threatening. The five most prevalent were visual impairment, obesity, epilepsy, constipation and ataxic/gait disorders. The pattern of multimorbidity differs from that seen in the general population and is spread across the entire adult life course. The extent of multimorbidity in the adults with Down syndrome was similar to that of the adults without Down syndrome, while the prevalence of individual conditions differed.

Conclusions

This robustly designed study with a large population found an extremely high prevalence of multimorbidity in adults with intellectual disabilities across the entire adult life course. This increases complexity of medical management that secondary healthcare services and medical education are not yet geared towards, as these tend to focus on single conditions. This is in addition to complexity due to limitations in communication and understanding. As the physical conditions within their multimorbidity also differ from that seen in the older general population, urgent attention is needed to develop the care pathways and guidelines that are required to inform and so improve their healthcare.
Microbial diversity and community structure in agricultural soils suffering from 4 years of Pb contamination
Authors: An Fengqiu , Diao Zhan , Lv Jialong
Published: February 2018

Heavy metal pollution has become a widespread environmental problem due to rapid economic development. The phylogenetic diversity and structure of microbial communities in lead (Pb)-contaminated Lou soils were investigated using Illumina MiSeq sequencing of 16S rRNA genes. The presence of Pb2+in soil showed weak impact on the diversity of soil bacteria community, but it influenced the abundance of some genera of bacteria, as well as soil physicochemical properties. We found significant differences in the relative abundances of heavy-metal-resistant bacteria such as Bacillus, Streptococcus, and Arthrobacter at the genus level. Available Pb and total Pb negatively correlated with soil organic matter but positively affected available phosphorus. The abundance of main bacteria phyla was highly correlated with total Pb. The relative abundance of Gemmatimonadetes, Nitrospirae, and Planctomycetes was negatively correlated with total Pb. Collectively, Pb influences both the microbial community composition and physicochemical properties of soil.
Potential of Lactobacillus plantarum ZDY2013 and Bifidobacterium bifidum WBIN03 in relieving colitis by gut microbiota, immune, and anti-oxidative stress
Authors: Wang Yuanyuan , Guo Yilin , Chen Hui , Wei Hua , Wan Cuixiang
Published: February 2018

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease that is difficult to cure, with rising incidence in recent decades. Probiotics have become a new strategy for UC treatment. In this study, we chose 2 new multisource probiotics, Lactobacillus plantarum ZDY2013 from acid beans and Bifidobacterium bifidum WBIN03 from infant feces, and a mixture of both, to investigate the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effect on H2O2-induced oxidative damage in a HT-29 cell model and dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced UC in mice. Compared with the model group, the general relative indices results showed L. plantarum ZDY2013 and B. bifidum WBIN03 have a significant effect on DSS-induced UC in mice, by downregulating the pro-inflammatory cytokines (e.g., TNF-α) and upregulating antioxidant factors (e.g., SOD1, SOD2, GPX2) at the transcriptional level. By means of high-throughput sequencing (16S V3–V4) and systematical bioinformatics analyses, we found that colitis may be associated with the changes in intestinal flora, especially Firmicutes and Bacteroides. Administration of L. plantarum ZDY2013 increased the abundance of Lactobacillus animalis, whereas B. bifidum WBIN03 increased the abundance of Lachnospiraceae bacterium COE1. Our results revealed that a supplement of L. plantarum ZDY2013 and B. bifidum WBIN03 remit UC through modification of gut microbiota to regulate oxidative stress and inflammatory mediators.
Molecular analyses of the agouti allele in the Japanese house mouse identify a novel variant of the agouti gene
Authors: Iwasa Masahiro A. , Kawamura Sayaka , Myoshu Hikari , Suzuki Taichi A.
Published: February 2018

It has been thought that the Japanese house mouse carries the Aw allele at the agouti locus causing light-colored bellies, but they do not always show this coloration. Thus, the presence of the Aw allele seems to be doubtful in them. To ascertain whether the Aw allele is present, a two-pronged approach was used. First, we compared lengths of DNA fragments obtained from three PCRs conducted on them to the known fragment sizes generated from mouse strains exhibiting homozygosities of either a/a, A/A, or Aw/Aw. PCR I, PCR II, and PCR III amplify only in the A and Aw alleles, the a and Aw alleles, and the a allele, respectively, and we detected amplifications in strains with A/A and Aw/Aw by PCR I, in those with a/a and the Japanese house mouse by PCR II, and in those with a/a by PCR III. Second, we sequenced the exon 1A region of the agouti gene and obtained sequences corresponding to the above strains and the Japanese house mouse, but their sequences were similar to those of the a allele. We concluded that their agouti allele is not identical to the Aw allele and seems to be a novel type similar to the a allele.
(2 + 1)-dimensional dynamical black holes in Einstein-nonlinear Maxwell theory
Authors: Gurtug O. , Mazharimousavi S. Habib , Halilsoy M.
Published: February 2018

Radiative extensions of BTZ metric in 2 + 1 dimensions are found which are sourced by nonlinear Maxwell fields and a null current. This may be considered as generalization of the problem formulated long go by Vaidya and Bonnor. The mass and charge are functions of retarded/advanced null coordinate apt for decay/inflation. The new solutions are constructed through a Theorem that works remarkably well for any nonlinear electrodynamic model. Hawking temperature is analyzed for the case of the Born–Infeld electrodynamics.
Graphene–magnesium nanocomposite: An advanced material for aerospace application
Authors: Das D. K. , Sarkar Jit
Published: February 2018

This work focuses on the analytical study of mechanical and thermal properties of a nanocomposite that can be obtained by reinforcing graphene in magnesium. The estimated mechanical and thermal properties of graphene–magnesium nanocomposite are much higher than magnesium and other existing alloys used in aerospace materials. We also altered the weight percentage of graphene in the composite and observed mechanical and thermal properties of the composite increase with increase in concentration of graphene reinforcement. The Young’s modulus and thermal conductivity of graphene–magnesium nanocomposite are found to be [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]165 GPa and [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]175 W/mK, respectively. Nanocomposite material with desired properties for targeted applications can also be designed by our analytical modeling technique. This graphene–magnesium nanocomposite can be used for designing improved aerospace structure systems with enhanced properties.
A Comparison of Game-Theoretic Models for Parallel Trade
Authors: Gnecco Giorgio , Tuncay Berna , Pammolli Fabio
Published: February 2018

Within the EU Single Market for medicines, differences in drug prices, regulations, and transaction costs may create, under suitable conditions, arbitrage opportunities well before patent expiration, giving an incentive to the occurrence of parallel trade. When this is permitted, parallel traders may obtain a profit from buying drugs in a country where prices are lower, then re-selling them in a country where prices are higher. This phenomenon may cause inefficiencies from a global welfare perspective, and reduce the manufacturers’ incentive to invest in Research and Development (R & D). Given this framework, in this paper, we investigate the efficiency (expressed in terms of the price of anarchy) of the subgame-perfect Nash equilibria associated with five dynamic noncooperative game-theoretic models for the parallel trade of pharmaceuticals. We also compare such models with regard to the manufacturer’s incentive to invest in R & D. More specifically, first we find in closed form the optimal value of the global welfare of two countries, which is obtained by solving a suitable quadratic optimization problem modeling the decision-making process of a global planner. Then, we use such a result to evaluate and compare the prices of anarchy of five games modeling the interaction between a manufacturer in the first country and a potential parallel trader in the second country. The first three games refer, respectively, to the cases of no parallel trade threat, parallel trade threat, and parallel trade occurrence at equilibrium. Then, we investigate two modifications of the third game, in which its transfer payment from the potential parallel trader to the manufacturer is, respectively, removed/determined by Nash bargaining. For completeness, we also consider a decision-theoretic model of no parallel trade threat. For what concerns the incentive for the manufacturer to invest in R & D, the results of our numerical comparison show that the decision-theoretic model of no parallel trade threat is always the one with the highest incentive, whereas the two game-theoretic models of parallel trade threat/occurrence that do not include the transfer payment provide typically the lowest incentives. Moreover, the latter two models have the highest prices of anarchy (i.e., their equilibria have the lowest efficiencies). From a policy-making perspective, improvements are obtained if suitable countermeasures are taken to help the manufacturer recover from the costs of R & D, such as the inclusion of a transfer payment in the model.
Formations defined by Doerk–Hawkes operation
Authors: Guo W. , Vorob’ev S. N.
Published: February 2018

For a nonempty formation [Formula: see text], let [Formula: see text] be the least formation containing [Formula: see text] such that [Formula: see text] for all groups [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. If [Formula: see text], then [Formula: see text] is said to be a DH-formation. A function [Formula: see text]: [Formula: see text] is called a formation function and [Formula: see text] is called the support of [Formula: see text]. If [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text], then [Formula: see text] is said to be a local formation defined by [Formula: see text]. If [Formula: see text] for all [Formula: see text], then [Formula: see text] is called a DH-function.

In this paper, we prove that every local formation can be defined by a DH-function [Formula: see text] and each value of the DH-function [Formula: see text] is a DH-formation. Besides, we also give the necessary and sufficient condition under which a local Fitting class [Formula: see text] is a DH-formation.
Towards a classification of finite-dimensional representations of rational Cherednik algebras of type D
Authors: Shelley-Abrahamson Seth , Sun Alec
Published: February 2018

Using a combinatorial description due to Jacon and Lecouvey of the wall crossing bijections for cyclotomic rational Cherednik algebras, we show that the irreducible representations [Formula: see text] of the rational Cherednik algebra [Formula: see text] of type [Formula: see text] for symmetric bipartitions [Formula: see text] are infinite dimensional for all parameters [Formula: see text]. In particular, all finite dimensional irreducible representations of rational Cherednik algebras of type [Formula: see text] arise as restrictions of finite-dimensional irreducible representations of rational Cherednik algebras of type [Formula: see text].
Second-order dynamical systems with penalty terms associated to monotone inclusions
Authors: Boţ Radu Ioan , Csetnek Ernö Robert , László Szilárd Csaba
Published: February 2018

In this paper, we investigate in a Hilbert space setting a second-order dynamical system of the form [Formula: see text] where [Formula: see text]image[Formula: see text] is a maximal monotone operator, [Formula: see text] is the resolvent operator of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are cocoercive operators, and [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] are step size, penalization and, respectively, damping functions, all depending on time. We show the existence and uniqueness of strong global solutions in the framework of the Cauchy–Lipschitz–Picard Theorem and prove ergodic asymptotic convergence for the generated trajectories to a zero of the operator [Formula: see text] where [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] denotes the normal cone operator of [Formula: see text]. To this end, we use Lyapunov analysis combined with the celebrated Opial Lemma in its ergodic continuous version. Furthermore, we show strong convergence for trajectories to the unique zero of [Formula: see text], provided that [Formula: see text] is a strongly monotone operator.
ICT and KM, Drivers of Innovation and Profitability in SMEs
Authors: Valdez-Juárez Luis Enrique , García-Pérez-de-Lema Domingo , Maldonado-Guzmán Gonzalo
Published: February 2018

For more than two decades, the literature has shown that information and communication technology (ICT) and knowledge management (KM) are among the best business practices in the development and competitiveness of large corporations. Recently, for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), these elements have represented a challenge and an opportunity for the consolidation of innovation processes, knowledge protection, and the path to sustained profitability. The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of ICT on KM and their link with innovation and intellectual property (IP) in order to identify how SMEs can achieve higher yields. The data were obtained from a self-directed survey administered to the managers of 412 industrial and service companies established in Northwestern Mexico. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used for the statistical analysis of the data. This work contributes to the development of the literature on the strategic management of SMEs, particularly in relation to the theory of resources and capabilities (TRC) and the theory of dynamic capabilities (TDC). The results show that ICT significantly influences KM, innovation and profitability. In addition, KM significantly influences innovation, and innovation and IP management significantly influence profitability. However, innovation does not influence IP management.
Modular and Integral Knowledge Integration: From the Case of a Chinese IT Enterprise
Authors: Wang Yixuan , Jiang Bowen
Published: February 2018

Numerous enterprises rely on cross-functional teams (CFT) to integrate multi-disciplinary knowledge. However, unexpected results occur in many CFT projects. This exploratory research attempts to illustrate how knowledge integration (KI) is influenced by combining and bonding capabilities in CFT. After a qualitative investigation into a Chinese mobile application company, we found that if a team’s performance was poor, team members tended to work separately, which led to less communication among one another. We defined this type of KI as “modular knowledge integration (MKI)”. In contrast, teams that performed well tended to communicate sufficiently with team members and cooperate well. We called this kind of KI “integral knowledge integration (IKI)”. We propose that enterprises should include IKI rather than MKI in CFT. Additionally, if an enterprise expects to avoid MKI, “combining capability” and “bonding capability” should be improved accordingly.
Five-nuclear phthalocyanine complex bearing terpyridine zinc complex: Synthesis, and photophysicochemical studies
Authors: Sen Pinar , Yildiz S. Zeki , Atmaca Göknur Yasa , Erdogmus Ali
Published: February 2018

The context of this study is based on the synthesis of tetrakis{4-(2-([2,2[Formula: see text]:6[Formula: see text],2[Formula: see text]-terpyridine]Zn(II)-4[Formula: see text]-yl(methyl)amino)ethoxy)}phthalocyaninato zinc (II) (3) bearing four terpyridine-Zn(II) complexes that are directly linked through oxygen bridges to the macrocyclic core in order to create new supramolecular assemblies. The target phthalocyanine (3) was obtained by cyclotetramerization reaction of terpyridine-Zn (II) complex substituted phthalonitrile (2). All novel compounds synthesized in this study were fully characterized by general spectroscopic techniques such as FT-IR, UV-vis, and [Formula: see text]H-NMR, [Formula: see text]C-NMR, elemental analysis and mass spectroscopy. Spectral, photophysical (fluorescence quantum yields and lifetimes) and photochemical (singlet oxygen production and photodegradation under light irradiation) properties of newly synthesized phthalonitrile (2) and its phthalocyanine derivative (3) as five nuclear phthalocyanine were investigated in DMSO solutions.
Independent domination number in Cayley digraphs of rectangular groups
Authors: Nupo Nuttawoot , Panma Sayan
Published: February 2018

Let [Formula: see text] denote the Cayley digraph of the rectangular group [Formula: see text] with respect to the connection set [Formula: see text] in which the rectangular group [Formula: see text] is isomorphic to the direct product of a group, a left zero semigroup, and a right zero semigroup. An independent dominating set of [Formula: see text] is the independent set of elements in [Formula: see text] that can dominate the whole elements. In this paper, we investigate the independent domination number of [Formula: see text] and give more results on Cayley digraphs of left groups and right groups which are specific cases of rectangular groups. Moreover, some results of the path independent domination number of [Formula: see text] are also shown.
Principles of Protein Stability and Their Application in Computational Design
Authors: Goldenzweig Adi , Fleishman Sarel J.
Published: February 2018

Proteins are increasingly used in basic and applied biomedical research. Many proteins, however, are only marginally stable and can be expressed in limited amounts, thus hampering research and applications. Research has revealed the thermodynamic, cellular, and evolutionary principles and mechanisms that underlie marginal stability. With this growing understanding, computational stability design methods have advanced over the past two decades starting from methods that selectively addressed only some aspects of marginal stability. Current methods are more general and, by combining phylogenetic analysis with atomistic design, have shown drastic improvements in solubility, thermal stability, and aggregation resistance while maintaining the protein's primary molecular activity. Stability design is opening the way to rational engineering of improved enzymes, therapeutics, and vaccines and to the application of protein design methodology to large proteins and molecular activities that have proven challenging in the past.
Evolutionary Perspectives on Genetic and Environmental Risk Factors for Psychiatric Disorders
Authors: Keller Matthew C.
Published: February 2018

Evolutionary medicine uses evolutionary theory to help elucidate why humans are vulnerable to disease and disorders. I discuss two different types of evolutionary explanations that have been used to help understand human psychiatric disorders. First, a consistent finding is that psychiatric disorders are moderately to highly heritable, and many, such as schizophrenia, are also highly disabling and appear to decrease Darwinian fitness. Models used in evolutionary genetics to understand why genetic variation exists in fitness-related traits can be used to understand why risk alleles for psychiatric disorders persist in the population. The usual explanation for species-typical adaptations—natural selection—is less useful for understanding individual differences in genetic risk to disorders. Rather, two other types of models, mutation-selection-drift and balancing selection, offer frameworks for understanding why genetic variation in risk to psychiatric (and other) disorders exists, and each makes predictions that are now testable using whole-genome data. Second, species-typical capacities to mount reactions to negative events are likely to have been crafted by natural selection to minimize fitness loss. The pain reaction to tissue damage is almost certainly such an example, but it has been argued that the capacity to experience depressive symptoms such as sadness, anhedonia, crying, and fatigue in the face of adverse life situations may have been crafted by natural selection as well. I review the rationale and strength of evidence for this hypothesis. Evolutionary hypotheses of psychiatric disorders are important not only for offering explanations for why psychiatric disorders exist, but also for generating new, testable hypotheses and understanding how best to design studies and analyze data.
Culture's Influence on Stressors, Parental Socialization, and Developmental Processes in the Mental Health of Children of Immigrants
Authors: Kim Su Yeong , Schwartz Seth J. , Perreira Krista M. , Juang Linda P.
Published: February 2018

Children of immigrants represent one in four children in the United States and will represent one in three children by 2050. Children of Asian and Latino immigrants together represent the majority of children of immigrants in the United States. Children of immigrants may be immigrants themselves, or they may have been born in the United States to foreign-born parents; their status may be legal or undocumented. We review transcultural and culture-specific factors that influence the various ways in which stressors are experienced; we also discuss the ways in which parental socialization and developmental processes function as risk factors or protective factors in their influence on the mental health of children of immigrants. Children of immigrants with elevated risk for mental health problems are more likely to be undocumented immigrants, refugees, or unaccompanied minors. We describe interventions and policies that show promise for reducing mental health problems among children of immigrants in the United States.
A Separation Principle for Control in the Age of Deep Learning
Authors: Achille Alessandro , Soatto Stefano
Published: February 2018

We review the problem of defining and inferring a state for a control system based on complex, high-dimensional, highly uncertain measurement streams, such as videos. Such a state, or representation, should contain all and only the information needed for control and discount nuisance variability in the data. It should also have finite complexity, ideally modulated depending on available resources. This representation is what we want to store in memory in lieu of the data, as it separates the control task from the measurement process. For the trivial case with no dynamics, a representation can be inferred by minimizing the information bottleneck Lagrangian in a function class realized by deep neural networks. The resulting representation has much higher dimension than the data (already in the millions) but is smaller in the sense of information content, retaining only what is needed for the task. This process also yields representations that are invariant to nuisance factors and have maximally independent components. We extend these ideas to the dynamic case, where the representation is the posterior density of the task variable given the measurements up to the current time, which is in general much simpler than the prediction density maintained by the classical Bayesian filter. Again, this can be finitely parameterized using a deep neural network, and some applications are already beginning to emerge. No explicit assumption of Markovianity is needed; instead, complexity trades off approximation of an optimal representation, including the degree of Markovianity.
Apoptosis and Clearance of Apoptotic Cells
Authors: Nagata Shigekazu
Published: February 2018

The human body generates 10–100 billion cells every day, and the same number of cells die to maintain homeostasis in our body. Cells infected by bacteria or viruses also die. The cell death that occurs under physiological conditions mainly proceeds by apoptosis, which is a noninflammatory, or silent, process, while pathogen infection induces necroptosis or pyroptosis, which activates the immune system and causes inflammation. Dead cells generated by apoptosis are quickly engulfed by macrophages for degradation. Caspases are a large family of cysteine proteases that act in cascades. A cascade that leads to caspase 3 activation mediates apoptosis and is responsible for killing cells, recruiting macrophages, and presenting an “eat me” signal(s). When apoptotic cells are not efficiently engulfed by macrophages, they undergo secondary necrosis and release intracellular materials that represent a damage-associated molecular pattern, which may lead to a systemic lupus-like autoimmune disease.