bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Characterization of a new open jet wind tunnel to optimize and test vertical axis wind turbines
Authors: Tourn Silvana , Pallarès Jordi , Cuesta Ildefonso , Paulsen Uwe Schmidt
Published: May 2017

Based on the increasing interest in urban environmental technologies, the study of small scale vertical axis wind turbines shows motivating challenges. In this paper, we present the characteristics and potentials of a new open jet wind tunnel. It has a nozzle exit area of 1.5 × 1.5 m2, and it can be operated with exit velocities from 3 m/s to 17 m/s. The characterization of the flow has been carried out with calibrated pitot tubes, cup anemometers, and hot wire anemometers. Two different configurations of the test area, with and without a ceiling, are considered. Measurements in the range of available exit velocities show that the cross section, where the velocity and turbulence intensities show an acceptable level of uniformity, has an area of 0.8 × 0.8 m2 and a streamwise dimension of 2 m from the nozzle exit of the tunnel. In this working section, the maximum turbulence intensity is 4%. The detailed characterization of the flow carried out indicates that the wind tunnel can be used to test small scale models of wind turbines.
Spin injection into silicon detected by broadband ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy
Authors: Ohshima Ryo , Klingler Stefan , Dushenko Sergey , Ando Yuichiro , Weiler Mathias , Huebl Hans , Shinjo Teruya , Goennenwein Sebastian T. B. , Shiraishi Masashi
Published: May 2017

We studied the spin injection in a NiFe(Py)/Si system using broadband ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy. The Gilbert damping parameter of the Py layer on top of the Si channel was determined as a function of the Si doping concentration and Py layer thickness. For a fixed Py thickness, we observed an increase in the Gilbert damping parameter with decreasing resistivity of the Si channel. For a fixed Si doping concentration, we measured an increasing Gilbert damping parameter for decreasing Py layer thickness. No increase in the Gilbert damping parameter was found for Py/Si samples with an insulating interlayer. We attribute our observations to an enhanced spin injection into the low-resistivity Si by spin pumping.
Highly efficient isolation of waterborne sound by an air-sealed meta-screen
Authors: Bai Xiaoxue , Qiu Chunyin , Wen Xinhua , Peng Shasha , Ke Manzhu , Liu Zhengyou
Published: May 2017

Underwater sound isolation has been a long-standing fundamental issue in industry and military fields. Starting from a simple theoretical model, here an air-sealed meta-screen is proposed to overcome this problem. Comparing with the sample without filling air, the effective impedance of the air-sealed one is greatly reduced and strikingly mismatch with water, accompanying another merit of low sound speed. Deeply suppressed sound transmission (∼50 dB) through such a meta-screen is observed experimentally over a wide range of ultrasonic frequencies and incident angles.
Experimental designs for studying small-mammal responses to fire in North American conifer forests
Authors: Hutchen Jenna , Volkmann Logan A. , Hodges Karen E.
Published: May 2017

Climate change is altering fire regimes. As fire regimes change, it is important to understand how mammals respond to these altered post-fire landscapes. Because fires vary in size, severity and landscape context, it is important to know the experimental designs and response variables used to address post-fire responses of mammals. We analysed 48 papers published from 1988 to 2015 that examined responses of small mammals to natural or prescribed fire in North American conifer forests. These papers used different experimental contrasts (e.g. burned vs unburned sites, time series, within-fire heterogeneity). Most studies (89.6%) presented species richness or index-derived abundances of common species as their response variable(s). Many studies did not fully describe the fires being examined; these omissions make it more difficult to interpret and compare results among studies. The limited scope of inference presented by the papers in this review leads us to recommend a minimal set of information that should be presented about each fire studied. We conclude by outlining how different experimental designs and response variables can be used for effective inference. We highlight major pathways forward for examining responses of small forest mammals to the important changes in fire regime that are occurring.
Assessing body condition in the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus): a comparison of new and old methods
Authors: Macgregor J. W. , Holyoake C. , Munks S. , Connolly J. H. , Robertson I. D. , Fleming P. A. , Lonsdale R. A. , Warren K.
Published: May 2017

Body condition is an important aspect of the health of any animal. The current standard method of body condition assessment in the platypus is the tail volume index (TVI). Although the tail is the largest repository of fat in the platypus, the reliability of TVI has not been adequately demonstrated. The aims of this study were, first to assess performance of the TVI, and second, to develop and evaluate performance of new techniques for routine field assessment of platypus body condition. Morphometric data were collected under anaesthesia from 137 adult wild platypuses (74 males, 63 females) captured in north-west Tasmania; ultrasound images of tail fat were also collected from 100 of these individuals (54 males, 46 females). Three new indices for platypus body condition were identified. An objective tail fat index (Relative Tail Fat Volume: RTFVTBL) was developed, based on cross-sectional area measurements taken from detailed ultrasound images compared with total body length (TBL). Two body condition indices intended for routine field use were developed – one based on body mass (mb) and bill width (BW) (Body Condition Index; BCIBW), and the other based on a single linear ultrasonographic measurement of tail fat depth and BW (Relative Fat Depth; RFDBW). Results indicated that RFDBW outperforms TVI as an index of platypus tail fat. Further work, however, is needed to determine the relationship between tail fat and total body fat in the platypus before conclusions can be drawn about the effectiveness of BCIBW as a body condition index.
GRP78 haploinsufficiency suppresses acinar-to-ductal metaplasia, signaling, and mutant
Kras
-driven pancreatic tumorigenesis in mice
Authors: Shen Jieli , Ha Dat P. , Zhu Genyuan , Rangel Daisy F. , Kobielak Agnieszka , Gill Parkash S. , Groshen Susan , Dubeau Louis , Lee Amy S.
Published: May 2017

Significance

KRAS
is mutated in more than 90% of pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Despite its well-known role in cancer, development of drugs directly targeting
KRAS
has been unfruitful, underscoring the critical need to identify novel therapeutic targets. This study provides evidence that haploinsufficiency of a single cellular protein, GRP78, although having no harmful effect on the normal pancreas, is sufficient to impede
Kras
-driven pancreatic tumorigenesis in a genetically engineered mouse model. This study also establishes a role of GRP78 in acinar-to-ductal metaplasia, which is regarded as a precursor to PDAC development.
Limitations of ex vivo measurements for in vivo neuroscience
Authors: Opitz Alexander , Falchier Arnaud , Linn Gary S. , Milham Michael P. , Schroeder Charles E.
Published: May 2017

Significance

Understanding the physiology of noninvasive brain stimulation requires precise knowledge of biophysical properties of brain tissue (e.g., conductivities). Numerous researchers have tried to measure these properties using in vitro, in vivo, and ex vivo preparations in nonhuman animals or human tissue, though findings have tended to vary across studies. We measured electric fields in the nonhuman primate brain during transcranial electric stimulation both in vivo and ex vivo. We found large changes in electric fields between in vivo and ex vivo measurements that increased with postmortem time, along with a significant effect of body temperature on electric field strength. Our findings underscore the necessity of nonhuman animal models for systematic study of brain stimulation effects under biophysically realistic conditions.
Evolutionarily conserved TRH neuropeptide pathway regulates growth in
Caenorhabditis elegans
Authors: Van Sinay Elien , Mirabeau Olivier , Depuydt Geert , Van Hiel Matthias Boris , Peymen Katleen , Watteyne Jan , Zels Sven , Schoofs Liliane , Beets Isabel
Published: May 2017

Significance

The hypothalamic neuropeptide TRH (thyrotropin-releasing hormone) is one of the major endocrine factors that regulate vertebrate physiology. For decades the general assumption has been that TRH neuropeptides are not present in protostomes, at least not in ecdysozoans, despite the presence of TRH receptor orthologs in these phyla. Here we identify a TRH-related neuropeptide–receptor pathway in the nematode
Caenorhabditis elegans
. TRH-like neuropeptides activate the
C
.
elegans
TRH receptor ortholog in cell-culture cells. Using RNAi and CRISPR/Cas9 reverse genetics, we discovered that TRH-related signaling in the pharyngeal system promotes
C
.
elegans
growth. Our study provides evidence of a functional TRH neuropeptide–receptor pathway in invertebrates, suggesting that TRH signaling had evolved in a bilaterian ancestor more than 700 million years ago.
Sequential allosteric mechanism of ATP hydrolysis by the CCT/TRiC chaperone is revealed through Arrhenius analysis
Authors: Gruber Ranit , Levitt Michael , Horovitz Amnon
Published: May 2017

Significance

Many biological machines consist of oligomeric rings that undergo conformational changes driven by ATP binding and hydrolysis. These conformational changes can take place in a concerted, probabilistic, or sequential fashion. Knowing the mode of conformational switching is important for understanding how these machines work. Here, we show that measuring the temperature dependence of the ATPase reaction of the chaperonin CCT/TRiC provides insight into its mode of switching. Our results show that ATP hydrolysis triggers sequential ‟conformational waves” in CCT/TRiC that proceed both clockwise and counterclockwise around its rings.
Cell geometry dictates TNFα-induced genome response
Authors: Mitra Aninda , Venkatachalapathy Saradha , Ratna Prasuna , Wang Yejun , Jokhun Doorgesh Sharma , Shivashankar G. V.
Published: May 2017

Significance

Cells experience distinct forces within the tissue microenvironment, and their geometry-dependent differential responses to various cytokines are important in the maintenance of their cellular homeostasis. Using micropatterned substrates to alter cell geometry, we show that TNFα stimulation results in differential nuclear localization of the downstream transcription factors and modular changes in gene-expression patterns. Our results highlight the importance of the intrinsic geometric properties of a cell in determining its response to a biochemical signal. Alterations to this cellular homeostasis may result in physiological abnormalities at single-cell level, leading to diseases like fibrosis and cancer.
Interspecies hormonal control of host root morphology by parasitic plants
Authors: Spallek Thomas , Melnyk Charles W. , Wakatake Takanori , Zhang Jing , Sakamoto Yuki , Kiba Takatoshi , Yoshida Satoko , Matsunaga Sachihiro , Sakakibara Hitoshi , Shirasu Ken
Published: May 2017

Significance

Parasitic plants are pests of many plants, including major crop species. An important step toward creating resistance to parasitic plants is gaining a better understanding of how these pathogens control the physiology and development of their hosts. We combined genetic, cell-biological, and biochemical methods to identify the plant hormone cytokinin as a mobile signal between the hemiparasitic plant
Phtheirospermum japonicum
and the host
Arabidopsis thaliana
. Transport of parasite-derived cytokinins induced morphological changes in host roots, revealing insights into how parasitic plants manipulate host development and laying the foundation for future explorations for bioactive molecule transfer from parasitic plants to hosts.
Folate rescues vitamin B
12
depletion-induced inhibition of nuclear thymidylate biosynthesis and genome instability
Authors: Palmer Ashley M. , Kamynina Elena , Field Martha S. , Stover Patrick J.
Published: May 2017

Significance

Vitamin B
12
deficiency causes hematological and neurological pathologies by impairing DNA synthesis. The nucleus is shown to be highly sensitive to 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-methylTHF) accumulation induced by vitamin B
12
depletion in the cytosol, leading to impaired nuclear de novo thymidylate synthesis and genome instability. These effects of the 5-methylTHF trap are exacerbated by folate depletion in nitrous oxide-treated HeLa cells and methionine synthase loss-of-function fibroblasts. These results further our understanding of mechanisms underlying vitamin B
12
–folate interrelationships in pathologies, including megaloblastic anemia and potentially neural tube defects.
Minimizing irreversible losses in quantum systems by local counterdiabatic driving
Authors: Sels Dries , Polkovnikov Anatoli
Published: May 2017

Significance

Losses are ubiquitous in manipulating complex systems. They arise from our lack of control on the microscopic degrees of freedom of the system. A universal way to minimize losses is to consider adiabatic processes. These processes are, however, very slow, which significantly limits their power. In this work, we show how to speed up these protocols for general complex (quantum) systems. Although dissipation cannot be avoided, we show how it can be reduced significantly with only local access to the system. Applications range from quantum information technologies to preparing experiments and even controlling complicated classical systems, such as those found in nature.
Complexity and compositionality in fluid intelligence
Authors: Duncan John , Chylinski Daphne , Mitchell Daniel J. , Bhandari Apoorva
Published: May 2017

Significance

Tests of fluid intelligence are important for their broad association with effective cognition and lifetime achievement. An enduring question concerns basic cognitive mechanisms measured in such tests. Fluid intelligence is usually measured with complex problem-solving tasks, and in such tests, we suggest that the core limit is one of cognitive segmentation, or managing complex activities by selective attention to separate, simpler parts. Here we modify traditional fluid intelligence problems to test this hypothesis and to minimize the roles of working memory capacity and mental speed. The findings suggest a cognitive interpretation for what it is that fluid intelligence tests measure, based on dynamic attentional control functions of frontal and parietal cortex.
Shape-driven solid–solid transitions in colloids
Authors: Du Chrisy Xiyu , van Anders Greg , Newman Richmond S. , Glotzer Sharon C.
Published: May 2017

Significance

Despite the fundamental importance of solid–solid transitions for metallurgy, ceramics, earth science, reconfigurable materials, and colloidal matter, the details of how materials transform between two solid structures are poorly understood. We introduce a class of simple model systems in which the direct control of local order, via colloid shape change, induces solid–solid phase transitions and characterize how the transitions happen thermodynamically. We find that, within a single shape family, there are solid–solid transitions that can occur with or without a thermal activation barrier. Our results provide means for the study of solid–solid phase transitions and have implications for designing reconfigurable materials.
Single-stranded nucleic acid elasticity arises from internal electrostatic tension
Authors: Jacobson David R. , McIntosh Dustin B. , Stevens Mark J. , Rubinstein Michael , Saleh Omar A.
Published: May 2017

Significance

Charged, flexible polymers, such as single-stranded nucleic acids (ssNAs), are ubiquitous in biology and technology. Quantitative description of their solution conformation has remained elusive due to the competing effects of polymer configurational freedom and salt-screened electrostatic repulsion between monomers. We investigate this by measuring the elastic response of single ssNA molecules over a range of salt concentrations. The data are well described by a model, inspired by a mean-field approach, in which intrapolymer electrostatic repulsion creates a salt-dependent internal tension whose interplay with the external force determines the elasticity. The internal tension can be related to the polymer’s charge spacing; thus, our results show how mesoscopic polymer conformation emerges from microscopic structure.
Molecular link between auxin and ROS-mediated polar growth
Authors: Mangano Silvina , Denita-Juarez Silvina Paola , Choi Hee-Seung , Marzol Eliana , Hwang Youra , Ranocha Philippe , Velasquez Silvia Melina , Borassi Cecilia , Barberini María Laura , Aptekmann Ariel Alejandro , Muschietti Jorge Prometeo , Nadra Alejandro Daniel , Dunand Christophe , Cho Hyung-Taeg , Estevez José Manuel
Published: May 2017

Significance

Tip-growing root hairs are an excellent model system for deciphering the molecular mechanism underlying reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated cell elongation. Root hairs are able to expand in response to external signals, increasing several hundred-fold their original size, which is important for survival of the plant. Although their final cell size is of fundamental importance, the molecular mechanisms that control it remain largely unknown. In this study, we propose a molecular mechanism that links the auxin–auxin response factors module to activation of RSL4, which directly targets genes encoding ROS-producing enzymes such as NADPH oxidases (or RESPIRATORY BURST OXIDASE HOMOLOG proteins) and secreted type III peroxidases. Activation of these genes impacts on apoplastic ROS homeostasis, thereby stimulating root hair cell elongation.
Autoantibody-induced internalization of CNS AQP4 water channel and EAAT2 glutamate transporter requires astrocytic Fc receptor
Authors: Hinson Shannon R. , Clift Ian C. , Luo Ningling , Kryzer Thomas J. , Lennon Vanda A.
Published: May 2017

Significance

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a severe inflammatory central nervous system demyelinating disease (IDD). Detection of NMO-specific IgG in serum distinguishes NMO from other IDDs, enables rapid diagnosis, and expedites NMO-appropriate therapy. Binding of NMO-IgG to aquaporin-4 (AQP4), the astrocytic water channel antigen, initiates endocytosis of AQP4 and its coupled EAAT2 glutamate transporter. Sequelae potentially contributing to NMO lesions include reduced water fluxes, reduced extracellular glutamate clearance, activation of a proinflammatory astrocyte response, and complement activation. Our paper investigates early events following IgG–AQP4 interaction and demonstrates that AQP4 and EAAT2 internalization, but not astrocytic secretion of IL-6, requires astrocytic Fc receptor signaling. Selective attenuation of these signaling events offers an upstream therapeutic target.
Lsd1 prevents age-programed loss of beige adipocytes
Authors: Duteil Delphine , Tosic Milica , Willmann Dominica , Georgiadi Anastasia , Kanouni Toufike , Schüle Roland
Published: May 2017

Significance

Over time, beige adipocytes gain a white adipocyte morphology and lose their thermogenic activity. Here we show that levels of the epigenetic eraser lysine-specific demethylase 1 (Lsd1) decrease in aging inguinal white adipose tissue concomitantly with beige fat cell decline. Maintaining adipocyte-specific expression of Lsd1 in transgenic mice preserves the pool of beige adipocytes in old mice. Vice versa, using GFP reporter mice, we traced the fate of beige adipocytes and showed that adipocyte-specific loss of Lsd1 results in a premature beige-to-white adipocyte transition in vivo. Maintenance of beige adipocytes is mediated by the Lsd1 target gene peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (Ppara) and pharmacological activation of Ppara rescues the loss of beige adipocytes in Lsd1-KO mice. Together, we identified Lsd1 as a regulator of beige adipocyte maintenance.
Photonic hypercrystals for control of light–matter interactions
Authors: Galfsky Tal , Gu Jie , Narimanov Evgenii E. , Menon Vinod M.
Published: May 2017

Significance

Light–matter interaction lies at the heart of several fundamental phenomena and technological applications ranging from photosynthesis to lasers. Current approaches to control this interaction such as optical cavities, photonic crystals, and metamaterials either rely on frequency resonance mechanisms which limit the bandwidth or suffer from poor light-coupling issues. Here we report a class of artificial media: photonic hypercrystals to control light–matter interactions. Both bandwidth and outcoupling limitations are overcome using hypercrystals. This characteristic is demonstrated through simultaneous enhancement of spontaneous emission rate (20×) and outcoupling (100×) from quantum dots embedded in the hypercrystal. This platform for broadband control of light–matter interaction will push the boundaries of applications such as ultrafast light-emitting diodes, photovoltaics, and quantum informatics.
Short tandem target mimic rice lines uncover functions of miRNAs in regulating important agronomic traits
Authors: Zhang Hui , Zhang Jinshan , Yan Jun , Gou Feng , Mao Yanfei , Tang Guiliang , Botella José Ramón , Zhu Jian-Kang
Published: May 2017

Significance

Plant microRNAs (miRNAs) control intricate gene regulatory networks and have been implicated in important developmental switches and stress responses. Plant miRNAs have recently emerged as promising targets for crop improvement because they can control complex agronomic traits; however, functional studies using reverse genetics have been hampered by practical difficulties. We have silenced 35 miRNA families in rice to generate a resource for discovering new functions of miRNAs and targets of agronomic improvements. As a proof of concept, we show that manipulation of a promising miRNA, miRNA398, leads to important yield improvements. Our findings also reveal important agronomic roles for several miRNAs.
Protein-mediated viral latency is a novel mechanism for Merkel cell polyomavirus persistence
Authors: Kwun Hyun Jin , Chang Yuan , Moore Patrick S.
Published: May 2017

Significance

Viral latency is required for long-term persistence and allows viruses to evade host immune surveillance. We find that Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV), a life-long human infection that can cause Merkel cell carcinoma, persists as a nonreplicating, silent infection owing to the continuous cellular turnover of its replication protein. Adverse cellular conditions, such as nutrient starvation, inhibit networks controlling MCV replication protein turnover and signal the virus to spread to uninfected cells or to a new host. This study describes a viral latency mechanism based on phosphorylation-regulated viral replication protein stability that may underlie chronic viral infections for some small genome DNA and RNA viruses.
Enantiomerically enriched, polycrystalline molecular sieves
Authors: Brand Stephen K. , Schmidt Joel E. , Deem Michael W. , Daeyaert Frits , Ma Yanhang , Terasaki Osamu , Orazov Marat , Davis Mark E.
Published: May 2017

Significance

Zeolites and zeolite-like molecular sieves are used as adsorbents and heterogeneous catalysts to prepare a wide variety of products ranging from gasoline to monomers for polymers such as polyethylene terephthalate, which is used in plastic bottles. Pharmaceuticals, pesticides, fragrances, and components in food can contain chiral centers. Here, we prepare enantioenriched polycrystalline samples of a molecular sieve and show that this type of porous material can function as an adsorbent to separate chiral molecules and as a heterogeneous catalyst to perform chiral reactions. This initial demonstration proves that bulk, enantioenriched chiral zeolites and zeolite-like molecular sieves can be synthesized and that this type of solid can be used to prepare chiral, small molecules.
Metaphor variation of spatial conceptualizations in Irish English
Authors: Lucek Stephen
Published: May 2017

The current paper offers a novel methodological approach to gathering rich spatial data from Irish English speakers, showing variation in the cognition of physical and conceptual space. A mixed method study was conducted to gather conceptual and sociolinguistic data. This includes the first part of the data gathering: a structured interview, focusing on geographic aspects of the town and two wayfinding exercises. I then describe the second part of the study: twenty cloze procedure questions relating to a written example, followed by questions relating to seventeen hand-drawn images. I take as a baseline the instruments used by, inter alia, Levinson and Wilkins (2006a) and apply them to a within-culture study. I conclude this paper by discussing replicability and future studies. While Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) offers researchers a model to connect physical and conceptual elements of space, we have not seen a large-scale study of how CMT affects the language of space in varieties of English.
‘Idioms in the making’ and variation in conceptual metaphor
Authors: Callies Marcus
Published: May 2017

This paper discusses the culture-specificity of figurative language use in varieties of English. Idioms as a special type of figurative language are understood as being conceptually motivated by underlying metaphorical mappings, also reflecting the nexus of language and culture. On the basis of data from large-scale web corpora of varieties of English, the paper examines the lexico-grammatical and conceptual variability of selected idiomatic expressions related to the source domainsfoodandeating. The results show patterns of lexico-grammatical variation and innovation of idioms in (West) African Englishes and confirm previous research that points towards the high salience and frequency of food and related concepts of eating as source domains in conceptual metaphorical mappings in West African cultures. The paper concludes thatfoodandeatingseem fruitful points of departure for further studies on culture- and variety-specific “linguistic markers” across varieties of English.
Emotion metaphors in new Englishes
Authors: Güldenring Barbara Ann
Published: May 2017

Research into emotion concepts has become an established part of the cognitive-linguistic research agenda and has often revolved around the competing notions of universality (from the perspective of embodied cognition) and (cross- and within-cultural) variation (seeKövecses 2005). At the same time, a relatively recent approach to socio-variational aspects of language in the form of Cognitive Sociolinguistics has created an ideal platform for the study of variation in institutionalized second-language varieties of English, often referred to as new Englishes (seeKristiansen & Dirven 2008;Wolf & Polzenhagen 2009). This paper aims at bringing together these two research strands in a study devoted to variation on the level of metaphor in new Englishes, specifically involved in the conceptualization of emotion. While metaphor is theoretically understood within the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson 1980), this study will make use of a corpus-based method of metaphor retrieval and identification informed by Stefanowitsch’s (2004,2006) Metaphorical Pattern Analysis (MPA) andSteen et al.’s (2010)method for linguistic metaphor identification (MIPVU).angermetaphors will be examined for four second-language varieties of English, namely those spoken in Nigeria, Kenya, India, and Singapore, which are represented in theGlobal Web-based Englishcorpus (GloWbE;Davies 2013).With the assumption that metaphor variation emerges in a variety’s preference for certain source domains in emotion-based mappings vis-à-vis other varieties, the main questions at the core of the analysis are: (1) Which source domains are employed in a respective variety to conceptualizeanger? and (2) To what extent are the source domain preferences of new Englishes similar to a norm-providing variety, namely British English? Although initial results reveal much similarity, some differences in the data are highlighted at a deeper level of analysis. Thus, a discussion of the results provides a basis for inter-variety comparison ofangermetaphors and, thus, contribute to the universality / variation debate.
Cultural conceptualizations of gender and homosexuality in BrE, IndE, and NigE
Authors: Finzel Anna , Wolf Hans-Georg
Published: May 2017

With the spread of English in many parts of the world, numerous local varieties have emerged, shaped by the sociocultural contexts in which they are embedded. Hence, although English is a unifying element, these varieties express different conceptualizations that are deeply rooted in culture. For the most part, these conceptualizations come in the form of conceptual metaphors, which not only influence our perception of the world (Lakoff & Johnson 1980), but also reveal cultural specifics of a particular society.

One of the latest approaches in the field of conceptual metaphor research suggests that conceptual metaphors are actually multimodal, i.e., that they are expressed not only in language, but also, e.g., in gestures, facial expressions, sounds or images (Forceville 2009). Films are an ideal source of data for such multimodal metaphors.

In the form of a pilot study, this paper applies this novel approach to metaphor to the field of World Englishes. While adding to the range of research that has already used the methodological toolbox of Cognitive Linguistics or its cognate discipline Cultural Linguistics in the investigation of the cultural dimension of varieties of English (e.g.,Kövecses 1995;Liu 2002;Malcolm & Rochecouste 2000;Sharifian 2006;Wolf 2001;Wolf & Polzenhagen 2009), we provide a new exploratory angle to that investigation by using cinematic material for the analysis. Specifically, this study focuses on conceptualizations pertaining to the target domainswomanandhomosexuality. The data we have selected are from Great Britain, India and Nigeria, because these countries have important film industries, and British English, Indian English and Nigerian English constitute culturally distinct varieties.
Physiological functions of pyruvate:NADP+ oxidoreductase and 2-oxoglutarate decarboxylase in Euglena gracilis under aerobic and anaerobic conditions
Authors: Nakazawa Masami , Hayashi Ryuta , Takenaka Shigeo , Inui Hiroshi , Ishikawa Takahiro , Ueda Mitsuhiro , Sakamoto Tatsuji , Nakano Yoshihisa , Miyatake Kazutaka
Published: May 2017

In Euglena gracilis, pyruvate:NADP+ oxidoreductase, in addition to the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, functions for the oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvate in the mitochondria. Furthermore, the 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex is absent, and instead 2-oxoglutarate decarboxylase is found in the mitochondria. To elucidate the central carbon and energy metabolisms in Euglena under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, physiological significances of these enzymes involved in 2-oxoacid metabolism were examined by gene silencing experiments. The pyruvate dehydrogenase complex was indispensable for aerobic cell growth in a glucose medium, although its activity was less than 1% of that of pyruvate:NADP+ oxidoreductase. In contrast, pyruvate:NADP+ oxidoreductase was only involved in the anaerobic energy metabolism (wax ester fermentation). Aerobic cell growth was almost completely suppressed when the 2-oxoglutarate decarboxylase gene was silenced, suggesting that the tricarboxylic acid cycle is modified in Euglena and 2-oxoglutarate decarboxylase takes the place of the 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex in the aerobic respiratory metabolism.
Production of d-lactate using a pyruvate-producing Escherichia coli strain
Authors: Akita Hironaga , Nakashima Nobutaka , Hoshino Tamotsu
Published: May 2017

To generate an organism capable of producing d-lactate, NAD+-dependent d-lactate dehydrogenase was expressed in our pyruvate-producing strain, Escherichia coli strain LAFCPCPt-accBC-aceE. After determining the optimal culture conditions for d-lactate production, 18.4 mM d-lactate was produced from biomass-based medium without supplemental mineral or nitrogen sources. Our results show that d-lactate can be produced in simple batch fermentation processes.
The Hollywood Aesthetic
Authors: Berliner Todd
Published: May 2017

Chapter 1 explains Hollywood’s general principles for creating aesthetic pleasure for mass audiences. The chapter introduces the book’s two main theses: (1) Hollywood cinema targets an area, between boredom and confusion, that is optimally pleasing for mass audiences. It seeks to offer enough cognitive challenge to sustain aesthetic interest but not so much that it would jeopardize a film’s hedonic value or cause average spectators to give up the search for understanding. (2) Many of the Hollywood films that offer exhilarating aesthetic experiences beyond a single encounter and over extended periods operate near the boundaries of classicism, veering into areas of novelty and complexity that more typical Hollywood films avoid; however, they do so without sacrificing a mass audience’s ability to cope with the challenge. Such films take risks, and exhilarated pleasure results when they seem on the verge of overburdening or displeasing spectators in some bold and extraordinary way.
Hollywood Style
Authors: Berliner Todd
Published: May 2017

Chapter 5 investigates the aesthetic pleasures of Hollywood’s stylistic norms, as well as pleasures afforded by a handful of noteworthy stylistic deviations. The chapter examines the ways in which Hollywood film style both supports a film’s storytelling function (by enhancing clarity and expressiveness) and offers aesthetic pleasures independent of storytelling (decoration and stylistic harmony). A film’s style may also compete with story (e.g., Touch of Evil), with genre (Leave Her to Heaven), or even with itself (Goodfellas) for control of a film’s mood and meaning. Such stylistically dissonant works inspire cognitive play as we adjust to stylistic cues that harbor disparate attitudes and meanings.
Raging Bull’s Stylistic Dissonance
Authors: Berliner Todd
Published: May 2017

Illustrating some of the points made in chapter 5, chapter 6 offers an extended analysis of some complex tendencies in Raging Bull’s cinematography, editing, and sound devices. The film tests the limits of the classical Hollywood style and sometimes crosses over into avant-garde practice. Raging Bull offers an illustrative case study of the boundaries of Hollywood’s stylistic systems.
Ideology, Emotion, and Aesthetic Pleasure
Authors: Berliner Todd
Published: May 2017

Chapter 7 examines the ways in which a film’s ideological properties contribute to aesthetic pleasure when they intensify, or when they complicate, viewers’ cognitive and affective responses. The chapter demonstrates the ways in which the ideology of a Hollywood film guides our beliefs, values, and emotional responses. In ideologically unified Hollywood films, such as Die Hard, Independence Day, Pickup on South Street, and Casablanca, narrative and stylistic devices concentrate our beliefs, values, and emotional responses, offering us a purer experience than we can find in most real-life situations. By contrast, ideologically complicated Hollywood films, such as Chinatown, The Third Man, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Last Temptation of Christ, and The Dark Knight, advance their worldviews in a novel, ambiguous, or peculiar way, upsetting our appraisals of events and characters and complicating our intellectual and emotional experiences.
Crime Films during the Period of the Production Code Administration
Authors: Berliner Todd
Published: May 2017

Chapter 8 demonstrates the ways in which ideological constraints in studio-era Hollywood shaped the aesthetic properties of an entire body of crime films, now commonly known as film noir. The ideological restrictions of the Production Code Administration posed creative problems that noir filmmakers solved through visual and narrative contortion. The contortions created challenges for audiences, who had to decode and make sense of films that may not show complete clarity or coherence in their storytelling. Film noir remains aesthetically engaging because it operates near the boundaries of classicism without sacrificing classical Hollywood’s accessibility and formal unity.
Complexity and Experimentation in the Western
Authors: Berliner Todd
Published: May 2017

Chapter 12 explains the aesthetic value of increased complexity in genre filmmaking by examining filmmakers’ efforts to continually complicate the figure of the western hero. The chapter studies the appeal, for western cinephiles, of Hollywood’s most complex westerns of the studio era. It also demonstrates how more recent filmmakers have kept the western alive by revitalizing outdated conventions and mining new material from the genre. The western is so solid and reliable that filmmakers found they could sledgehammer its foundational myths without cracking its structure.
Modality in the nominal domain: The case of adnominal conditionals
Authors: Frana Ilaria
Published: May 2017

In 1996, Peter Lasersohn discovered a construction in which an if-clause appears as an NP-modifier, rather than a sentential adjunct (e.g. The price if you pay now is predictable). He dubbed these types of if-clauses “adnominal conditionals” (ACs). Building on Lasersohn’s proposal that ACs are NP modifiers, this chapter provides a compositional analysis of ACs within a restrictor-based analysis of conditionals (Lewis 1975; Kratzer 1986; Heim 1982). According to my proposal, ACs always restrict the domain of an operator within the NP they modify (a modal adjective), and when there is no overt operator within the NP, ACs restrict the domain of a covert necessity modal adjective (cf. Kratzer 1986’s analysis of matrix indicative conditionals).
A modest proposal for the meaning of imperatives
Authors: von Fintel Kai , Iatridou Sabine
Published: May 2017

We discuss two challenges for any semantics for imperatives that has them denote (strong) modal propositions: the use of imperatives to signal acquiescence (A: ‘I’d like to open the window.’ B: ‘Go ahead, open it!’) and their use in conditional conjunctions (‘Ignore the slightest detail and the experiment is flawed’). We examine how the meaning of imperatives arises compositionally, and the division of labor between semantics and pragmatics. We demonstrate remarkable cross-linguistic uniformity in these uses of the imperative. In the course of the investigation, we also explore several puzzles in the analysis of conditional conjunction. We conclude with a recommendation in favor of analyses that give imperatives a non-modal semantics paired with a modulated pragmatics.
The School of Montaigne in Early Modern Europe
Authors: Boutcher Warren
Published: May 2017

This major two-volume study offers an interdisciplinary analysis of Montaigne’s Essais and their fortunes in early modern Europe and the modern Western university. Volume 1 focuses on contexts from within Montaigne’s own milieu, and on the ways in which his book made him a patron-author or instant classic in the eyes of his editor Marie de Gournay and his promoter Justus Lipsius. Volume 2 focuses on the reader-writers across Europe who used the Essais to make their own works, from corrected editions and translations in print, to life-writing and personal records in manuscript. The two volumes work together to offer a new picture of the book’s significance in literary and intellectual history. The school of Montaigne potentially included everyone in early modern Europe with occasion and means to read and write for themselves and for their friends and family, unconstrained by an official function or scholastic institution. The Essais were shaped by the post-Reformation battle to regulate the educated individual’s judgement in reading and acting upon the two books bequeathed by God to man. The book of scriptures and the book of nature were becoming more accessible through print and manuscript cultures. But at the same time that access was being mediated more intensively by teachers such as clerics and humanists, by censors and institutions, by learned authors of past and present, and by commentaries and glosses upon those authors. Montaigne enfranchised the unofficial reader-writer with liberties of judgement offered and taken in the specific historical conditions of his era.
Montaigne at Paris and Blois, 1588
Authors: Boutcher Warren
Published: May 2017

2.1 and 1.7 comprise the core of the two-volume study. Having followed Montaigne and the Essais to Rome in 1580–1 in 1.7, we now follow them to Paris in 1588. It emerges that Montaigne, in his persona as the author of the Essais, did not properly ‘arrive’ in Paris, as far as the French parliamentary elite were concerned, until after the posthumous publication of Paris 1595. Even then, he was not accorded the position of a patron-author, which was held only by great lawmen and scholars such as L’Hospital. He was in the shadow of the friend whose works he had edited and addressed to parlementaires in the early 1570s: La Boétie. He was welcomed in terms that retrospectively inserted the author and his book into a politique context. The major figures discussed include de Thou (whose brush with Roman censorship is contrasted with Montaigne’s), Sainte-Marthe, Pasquier, L’Estoile.
Epilogue
Authors: Boutcher Warren
Published: May 2017

The ‘Epilogue’ (2.7) picks up the discussion from the ‘Prologue’ (1.1) and extends it across a broader canvas in the history of the book and of reading. It asks how the case studies in previous chapters (including Pierre de L’Estoile), and new ones in this chapter of Bishop Camus, Pierre Charron, and Pierre Bayle, might revise the sketch of the Essais offered in Erich Auerbach’s Mimesis. I argue that the fundamental issue at stake in the early modern making and transmission of the Essais is the issue that is explicitly raised by Marie de Gournay in her preface of 1595, and, in a different style and context, by Charron’s use of Montaigne in De la sagesse (1601, 1604): how best to preserve and regulate the well-born individual’s natural liberté of judgement, their franchise or frankness, through reading and writing, in an age of moral corruption and confessional conflict.
Introductory Remarks
Authors: Jakab András , Kochenov Dimitry
Published: May 2017

This introductory chapter puts emphasis on defiance as one of the most important crises facing the EU today. It briefly showcases the apparent inability of the Union to be effective in ensuring that all its Member States comply with the principles and values underlying the integration project in Europe. An array of countries ranging from Hungary and Greece to Poland illustrates this point. While the values in question are spelled out in the Treaties in an overwhelmingly clear fashion, trying to come up with clear examples of their successful enforcement by the Union should problems arise would leave a sense of loss. Defiance in the face of the EU, including not only the letter and the spirit of the acquis sensu stricto, but also seemingly the very values on which the Union is built, has thus come to affect the Union profoundly.
Infringement Proceedings
Authors: Gormley Laurence W
Published: May 2017

This chapter considers whether infringement proceedings can be used for the enforcement of the Union’s values, and whether a concept of systematic infringements would be possible or desirable. It first sets the stage for discussion by providing some observations on infringement proceedings and how they work. Infringement proceedings have long been an important weapon in ensuring that EU law is properly applied and respected in the Member States of the EU. They are the classic method of supervision of the European Commission, yet they are also fraught with weaknesses, which the chapter enumerates in more depth. The chapter also considers the likelihood of the Commission acting via the infringement proceedings route in relation to Article 2 TEU.
Making effective use of Article 260 TFEU
Authors: Wennerås Pål
Published: May 2017

This chapter examines the design of Article 260 TFEU and its application by the Commission and the ECJ. Much has been written on Article 260 TFEU, and the refrain continues along the lines that it is a potentially effective instrument for securing compliance with EU law which has yet to materialize. Some have started to question whether pecuniary sanctions can ever be an effective tool and have eyed the political procedure in Article 7 TEU with a glimmer of hope. But since money talks and the conditions in Article 7 TEU are onerous, it seems premature to discard the value of Article 260 TFEU just yet. Hence the chapter considers the issues surrounding Article 260 TFEU and their possible remedies.
Securing Compliance with Democracy Requirements in Regional Organizations
Authors: Closa Carlos
Published: May 2017

This chapter posits that international and regional organizations respond to the enforcement dilemma by trading off democratic conditionality versus sovereignty. They reach an equilibrium point between the two by favouring institutional designs which grant a large margin for states’ political discretion to decide whether or not breaches exist and to apply the accompanying sanctions provided. In order to discuss this thesis, this chapter first discusses the enforcement dilemma. It then presents the institutional configuration of suspension procedures because of democratic breaches and discusses its actual practice. Finally, the chapter looks at the problems generated in the confluence of institutional design and practice.
Weak Members and the Enforcement of EU Law
Authors: Ioannidis Michael
Published: May 2017

This chapter focuses on cases where the presumption that all Member States are effective in enforcing their law does not hold: when Member States show structural, persistent, and cross-sector ineffectiveness in enforcing their law. Borrowing from literature on international law as well as insights from the rich research on EU compliance, this chapter develops three main points. The first is that, on some occasions, the EU might face a similar challenge with that of international law when dealing with weak states. To describe such cases of structural ineffectiveness, this chapter develops the concept of ‘weak member’. The second point is that these problems can be captured through the lens of EU constitutional law, and more specifically as Rule of Law problems. The last point is to present some of the measures taken during the Eurozone crisis to respond to this type of problem with regard to Greece.
Berkeley’s Theory of Language in Alciphron 7
Authors: Pearce Kenneth L.
Published: May 2017

Berkeley’s most detailed discussion of the philosophy of language appears in Alciphron. Although Berkeley’s discussion is motivated by problems about religious language raised by John Toland, his response is not to develop a theory of religious language as a special case but rather to defend a general theory of language and show that the meaningfulness of these religious utterances is a consequence of that theory. The theory Berkeley adopts holds that words get to be meaningful when they are used according to conventional rules as part of a public social practice aiming at practical ends. Berkeley does not endorse a sharp distinction between emotive and cognitive language, but rather holds that one and the same word is typically associated with a wide variety of rules, which may instruct users not only to have ideas but also to feel emotions or perform a variety of linguistic or non-linguistic actions.