bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Best Practices for Teaching Accessibility in University Classrooms
Authors: Putnam Cynthia , Dahman Maria , Rose Emma , Cheng Jinghui , Bradford Glenn
Published: March 2016

As Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) become more diffuse, developers and designers need to consider a growing diversity of users including people with disabilities and aging populations. As a result, computing education needs to respond by providing students opportunities to learn about accessibility and designing for inclusion. This article presents results of a qualitative research study of practices in teaching accessibility in university-level programs in the US. The study included interviews with 18 professors from some of the top universities in the US and a content analysis of syllabi and other teaching materials. Using the pedagogical theory of authentic learning and elements from the 21st Century Skills framework, we found that instructors emphasized the need for students to develop awareness and understanding for a diversity of ICT users through multiple different experiences; experiences that included research projects that directly involve users with disabilities, guest speakers, field trips, simulating disabilities, and the use of videos/movies. Additionally, instructors used multiple resources (e.g., research papers, online resources), in part, to offset the challenge that there is a perceived lack of a comprehensive textbook. Instructors also emphasized the importance of their individual initiative; that is, the inclusion of accessible topics or courses was often linked to a faculty member's research and/or personal commitment. This article contributes to a gap in the literature by disseminating and sharing different approaches to teaching accessibility across multiple instructors, courses, and campuses.
Ultra-Low-Leakage and High-Performance Logic Circuit Design Using Multiparameter Asymmetric FinFETs
Authors: Chaudhuri Sourindra M. , Jha Niraj K.
Published: March 2016

Recently, multigate field-effect transistors have started replacing traditional planar MOSFETs to keep pace with Moore’s Law in deep submicron technology. Among different multigate transistors, FinFETs have become the preferred choice of the semiconductor industry owing to low fabrication cost, superior performance, lower leakage, and design flexibility. The back and front gates of a FinFET can either be shorted or remain independent, leading to two modes of operation: Shorted-Gate (SG) and Independent-Gate (IG). For a given mode of operation, the physical parameters of the FinFET can either be symmetric or asymmetric in nature. In this article, for the first time, we analyze multiparameter asymmetric SG FinFETs and illustrate their potential for implementing logic gates and circuits that are both ultra-low-leakage and high-performance simultaneously. We restrict this work to SG devices because IG FinFETs (symmetric/asymmetric) suffer from severely degraded on-current, which makes them unattractive for high-performance designs. We first compare head-to-head all viable single- and multiparameter symmetric/asymmetric SG FinFETs. Among all such FinFETs, the traditional SG (which are symmetric in nature), Asymmetric Workfunction Shorted-Gate (AWSG), and Asymmetric Workfunction-Underlap Shorted-Gate (AWUSG) FinFETs show the most promise. We characterize these devices under process variations in gate length (

L
G

), fin thickness (

T
SI

), gate-oxide thickness (

T
OX

), gate underlap (

L
UN

), and gate-workfunction (Φ

G

) as well as supply voltage (

V
DD

) variations, followed by a gate-level leakage/delay analysis at different temperatures. Although AWSG FinFETs consume very low leakage power, they do suffer from performance degradation relative to SG FinFETs. Similarly, our study reveals that no other single-parameter asymmetric FinFET provides a good combination of low-power and high-performance design. We show that gates/circuits based on AWUSG FinFETs are faster, yet consume much less leakage power and less area than gates/circuits based on traditional SG FinFETs. We observe 53.4% (30.2%) maximum (average) reduction in total power at temperature
T
= 348
K
while meeting the same delay constraint, with 14.2% (13.5%) reduction in area for AWUSG circuits relative to SG circuits. At
T
= 373
K
, we see 68.6% (46.9%) maximum (average) reduction in total power.
Efficient 3D Object Segmentation from Densely Sampled Light Fields with Applications to 3D Reconstruction
Authors: Yücer Kaan , Sorkine-Hornung Alexander , Wang Oliver , Sorkine-Hornung Olga
Published: March 2016

Precise object segmentation in image data is a fundamental problem with various applications, including 3D object reconstruction. We present an efficient algorithm to automatically segment a static foreground object from highly cluttered background in light fields. A key insight and contribution of our article is that a significant increase of the available input data can enable the design of novel, highly efficient approaches. In particular, the central idea of our method is to exploit high spatio-angular sampling on the order of thousands of input frames, for example, captured as a hand-held video, such that new structures are revealed due to the increased coherence in the data. We first show how purely local gradient information contained in slices of such a dense light field can be combined with information about the camera trajectory to make efficient estimates of the foreground and background. These estimates are then propagated to textureless regions using edge-aware filtering in the epipolar volume. Finally, we enforce global consistency in a gathering step to derive a precise object segmentation in both 2D and 3D space, which captures fine geometric details even in very cluttered scenes. The design of each of these steps is motivated by efficiency and scalability, allowing us to handle large, real-world video datasets on a standard desktop computer. We demonstrate how the results of our method can be used for considerably improving the speed and quality of image-based 3D reconstruction algorithms, and we compare our results to state-of-the-art segmentation and multiview stereo methods.
High-Volume Hypothesis Testing
Authors: Malik Sana , Shneiderman Ben , Du Fan , Plaisant Catherine , Bjarnadottir Margret
Published: March 2016

Cohort comparison studies have traditionally been hypothesis driven and conducted in carefully controlled environments (such as clinical trials). Given two groups of event sequence data, researchers test a single hypothesis (e.g., does the group taking Medication A exhibit more deaths than the group taking Medication B?). Recently, however, researchers have been moving toward more exploratory methods of retrospective analysis with existing data. In this article, we begin by showing that the task of cohort comparison is specific enough to support automatic computation against a bounded set of potential questions and objectives, a method that we refer to as High-Volume Hypothesis Testing (HVHT). From this starting point, we demonstrate that the diversity of these objectives, both across and within different domains, as well as the inherent complexities of real-world datasets, still requires human involvement to determine meaningful insights. We explore how visualization and interaction better support the task of exploratory data analysis and the understanding of HVHT results (how significant they are, why they are meaningful, and whether the entire dataset has been exhaustively explored). Through interviews and case studies with domain experts, we iteratively design and implement visualization and interaction techniques in a visual analytics tool, CoCo. As a result of our evaluation, we propose six design guidelines for enabling users to explore large result sets of HVHT systematically and flexibly in order to glean meaningful insights more quickly. Finally, we illustrate the utility of this method with three case studies in the medical domain.
Truthful Mechanisms for Agents That Value Privacy
Authors: Chen Yiling , Chong Stephen , Kash Ian A. , Moran Tal , Vadhan Salil
Published: March 2016

Recent work has constructed economic mechanisms that are both truthful and differentially private. In these mechanisms, privacy is treated separately from truthfulness; it is not incorporated in players’ utility functions (and doing so has been shown to lead to nontruthfulness in some cases). In this work, we propose a new, general way of modeling privacy in players’ utility functions. Specifically, we only assume that if an outcome
o
has the property that any report of player
i
would have led to
o
with approximately the same probability, then
o
has a small privacy cost to player
i
. We give three mechanisms that are truthful with respect to our modeling of privacy: for an election between two candidates, for a discrete version of the facility location problem, and for a general social choice problem with discrete utilities (via a VCG-like mechanism). As the number
n
of players increases, the social welfare achieved by our mechanisms approaches optimal (as a fraction of
n
).
X10 and APGAS at Petascale
Authors: Tardieu Olivier , Herta Benjamin , Cunningham David , Grove David , Kambadur Prabhanjan , Saraswat Vijay , Shinnar Avraham , Takeuchi Mikio , Vaziri Mandana , Zhang Wei
Published: March 2016

X10 is a high-performance, high-productivity programming language aimed at large-scale distributed and shared-memory parallel applications. It is based on the Asynchronous Partitioned Global Address Space (APGAS) programming model, supporting the same fine-grained concurrency mechanisms within and across shared-memory nodes.

We demonstrate that X10 delivers solid performance at petascale by running (weak scaling) eight application kernels on an IBM Power--775 supercomputer utilizing up to 55,680 Power7 cores (for 1.7Pflop/s of theoretical peak performance). For the four HPC Class 2 Challenge benchmarks, X10 achieves 41% to 87% of the system’s potential at scale (as measured by IBM’s HPCC Class 1 optimized runs). We also implement K-Means, Smith-Waterman, Betweenness Centrality, and Unbalanced Tree Search (UTS) for geometric trees. Our UTS implementation is the first to scale to petaflop systems.

We describe the advances in distributed termination detection, distributed load balancing, and use of high-performance interconnects that enable X10 to scale out to tens of thousands of cores. We discuss how this work is driving the evolution of the X10 language, core class libraries, and runtime systems.
Designing wearable computing technology for acceptability and accessibility
Authors: Profita Halley P.
Published: March 2016

Wearable forms of assistive technology (AT) have the ability to support users while on the go. However, using AT in public can be subject to sociocultural influences (e.g., societal stigma, judgment, and social isolation) due to the conspicuousness of the device, often leading users to modify, hide, or even abandon their AT. As new physical forms of wearable AT enter the market (e.g., smart garments, head-up displays, and specialized on-body devices), such devices may or may not be socially acceptable when displayed or used in a public setting, respectively. This research seeks to explore how perceptions of wearable and collocated assistive technology, such as, the appearance or associated operation of the device, can influence whether individuals will use their AT. Our objective is to critically understand the role that design and aesthetics can play to mitigate the existing stigma concerns that permeate AT usage in order to inform the design of future AT devices.
Incentivizing high quality crowdwork
Authors: Ho Chien-Ju , Slivkins Aleksandrs , Suri Siddharth , Vaughan Jennifer Wortman
Published: March 2016

We study the causal effects of financial incentives on the quality of crowdwork. We focus on
performance-based payments
(PBPs), bonus payments awarded to workers for producing high quality work. We design and run randomized behavioral experiments on the popular crowdsourcing platform Amazon Mechanical Turk with the goal of understanding
when, where
, and
why
PBPs help, identifying properties of the payment, payment structure, and the task itself that make them most effective. We provide examples of tasks for which PBPs do improve quality. For such tasks, the effectiveness of PBPs is not too sensitive to the threshold for quality required to receive the bonus, while the magnitude of the bonus must be large enough to make the reward salient. We also present examples of tasks for which PBPs do not improve quality. Our results suggest that for PBPs to improve quality, the task must be
effort-responsive
: the task must allow workers to produce higher quality work by exerting more effort. We also give a simple method to determine if a task is effort-responsive
a priori.
Furthermore, our experiments suggest that all payments on Mechanical Turk are, to some degree,
implicitly
performance-based in that workers believe their work may be rejected if their performance is sufficiently poor. In the full version of this paper, we propose a new model of worker behavior that extends the standard principal-agent model from economics to include a worker's subjective beliefs about his likelihood of being paid, and show that the predictions of this model are in line with our experimental findings. This model may be useful as a foundation for theoretical studies of incentives in crowdsourcing markets.
Intestinal and sublingual microcirculation are more severely compromised in hemodilution than in hemorrhage
Authors: Ferrara Gonzalo , Kanoore Edul Vanina Siham , Martins Enrique , Canales Héctor Saúl , Canullán Carlos , Murias Gastón , Pozo Mario Omar , Estenssoro Elisa , Ince Can , Dubin Arnaldo
Published: March 2016

The alterations in O2 extraction in hemodilution have been linked to fast red blood cell (RBC) velocity, which might affect the complete release of O2 from Hb. Fast RBC velocity might also explain the normal mucosal-arterial Pco2 (ΔPco2). Yet sublingual and intestinal microcirculation have not been completely characterized in extreme hemodilution. Our hypothesis was that the unchanged ΔPco2 in hemodilution depends on the preservation of villi microcirculation. For this purpose, pentobarbital-anesthetized and mechanically ventilated sheep were submitted to stepwise hemodilution ( n = 8), hemorrhage ( n = 8), or no intervention (sham, n = 8). In both hypoxic groups, equivalent reductions in O2 consumption (V̇o2) were targeted. Microcirculation was assessed by videomicroscopy, intestinal ΔPco2 by air tonometry, and V̇o2 by expired gases analysis. Although cardiac output and superior mesenteric flow increased in hemodilution, from the very first step (Hb = 5.0 g/dl), villi functional vascular density and RBC velocity decreased (21.7 ± 0.9 vs. 15.9 ± 1.0 mm/mm2 and 1,033 ± 75 vs. 850 ± 79 μm/s, P < 0.01). In the last stage (Hb = 1.2 g/dl), these variables were lower in hemodiution than in hemorrhage (11.1 ± 0.5 vs. 15.4 ± 0.9 mm/mm2 and 544 ± 26 vs. 686 ± 70 μm/s, P < 0.01), and were associated with lower intestinal fractional O2 extraction (0.61 ± 0.04 vs. 0.79 ± 0.02, P < 0.01) but preserved ΔPco2 (5 ± 2 vs. 25 ± 4 mmHg, P < 0.01). Therefore, alterations in O2 extraction in hemodilution seemed related to microvascular shunting, not to fast RBC velocity. The severe microvascular abnormalities suggest that normal ΔPco2 was not dependent on CO2 washout by the villi microcirculation. Increased perfusion in deeper intestinal layers might be an alternative explanation.
Age dependency for coagulation parameters in paediatric populations
Authors: Toulon Pierre , Berruyer Micheline , Brionne-François Marie , Grand François , Lasne Dominique , Telion Caroline , Arcizet Julien , Giacomello Roberta , De Pooter Neila
Published: March 2016

Understanding of developmental haemostasis is critical to ensure optimal prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of haemorrhagic and thrombotic diseases in children. As coagulation test results are known to be dependent on the reagents/analysers used, it is recommended for each laboratory to define the age-dependent reference ranges by using its own technical condition. That study was carried out in seven centers to establish age-specific reference ranges using the same reagents and analyser. Plasma samples were obtained from 1437 paediatric patients from the following age groups: 15 days-4 weeks (n=36), 1–5 months (n=320), 6–12 months (n=176), 1–5 years (n=507), 6–10 years (n=132) and 11–17 years (n=262). Indication of coagulation testing was pre-operative screening for non-acute diseases in most cases. PT values were similar in the different age groups to those in adults, whereas longer aPTTs were demonstrated in the younger children. Plasma levels of all clotting factors, except for FV, were significantly decreased (p<0.0001) in the youngest children, adult values being usually reached before the end of the first year. The same applied to antithrombin, protein C/S, and plasminogen. In contrast, FVIII and VWF levels were elevated in the youngest children and returned to adult values within six months. The same applied to D-dimer levels, which were found elevated, particularly until six months of life, until puberty. These data suggest that most coagulation test results are highly dependent on age, mainly during the first year of life, and that age-specific reference ranges must be used to ensure proper evaluation of coagulation in children.
CalDAG-GEFI Deficiency Reduces Atherosclerotic Lesion Development in Mice
Authors: Boulaftali Yacine , Owens A. Phillip , Beale Ashley , Piatt Raymond , Casari Caterina , Lee Robert H. , Conley Pamela B. , Paul David S. , Mackman Nigel , Bergmeier Wolfgang
Published: March 2016

Objective—

Platelets are important for the development and progression of atherosclerotic lesions. However, relatively little is known about the contribution of platelet signaling to this pathological process. Our recent work identified 2 independent, yet synergistic, signaling pathways that lead to the activation of the small GTPase Rap1; one mediated by the guanine nucleotide exchange factor, CalDAG-GEFI (CDGI), the other by P2Y12, a platelet receptor for adenosine diphosphate and the target of antiplatelet drugs. In this study, we evaluated lesion formation in atherosclerosis-prone low-density lipoprotein receptor deficient (Ldlr
−/−
) mice lacking CDGI or P2Y12 in hematopoietic cells.

Approach and Results—

Lethally irradiated Ldlr
−/−
mice were reconstituted with bone marrow from wild-type (WT), Caldaggef1
−/−
(cdgI
−/−
), p2y12
−/−
, or cdgI
−/−
p2y12
−/−
(double knockout [DKO]) mice and fed a high-fat diet for 12 weeks. Ldlr
−/−
chimeras deficient for CDGI or P2Y12 developed significantly smaller atherosclerotic lesions in the aortic sinus and in aortas when compared with the Ldlr
−/−
/WT controls. We also observed a significant reduction in platelet-leukocyte aggregates in blood from hypercholesterolemic Ldlr
−/−
/cdgI
−/−
and Ldlr
−/−
/p2y12
−/−
chimeras. Consistently, fewer macrophages and neutrophils were detected in the aortic sinus of Ldlr
−/−
/cdgI
−/−
and Ldlr
−/−
/ p2y12
−/−
chimeras. Compared with controls, the plaque collagen content was significantly higher in Ldlr
−/−
chimeras lacking CDGI. Interestingly, no statistically significant additive effects were seen in Ldlr
−/−
/DKO chimeras when compared with chimeras lacking only CDGI.

Conclusions—

Our findings suggest that CDGI is critical for atherosclerotic plaque development in hypercholesterolemic Ldlr
−/−
mice because of its contribution to platelet-leukocyte aggregate formation and leukocyte recruitment to the lesion area.
Angiotensin II Destabilizes Coronary Plaques in Watanabe Heritable Hyperlipidemic Rabbits
Authors: Li Shen , Wang Yan-Ning , Niimi Manabu , Ning Bo , Chen Yajie , Kang Dedong , Waqar Ahmed Bilal , Wang Ziyun , Yu Qi , Liu Enqi , Zhang Jifeng , Shiomi Masashi , Chen Y. Eugene , Fan Jianglin
Published: March 2016

Objective—

Increased plasma concentrations of angiotensin II (Ang II) have been implicated in many cardiovascular diseases, such as atherosclerosis, aortic aneurysms, and myocardial infarction, in humans. However, it is not known whether high levels of plasma Ang II affect coronary plaque stability and subsequent myocardial infarction. This study was designed to examine whether elevated plasma Ang II can directly induce coronary events, such as acute coronary syndrome.

Approach and Results—

To examine the above hypothesis, we infused Ang II (100 ng/min per kg [low group] and 200 ng/min per kg [high group]) or saline vehicle via osmotic minipumps into Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic rabbits, a model of human familial hypercholesterolemia and atherosclerosis. Infusion of Ang II resulted in mortality rates of 50% and 92% in the low- and high-Ang II groups, respectively, whereas there were no deaths in the vehicle group. Pathological analysis revealed that Ang II–infused Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic rabbits that died showed myocardial infarction. Furthermore, Ang II–infused Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic rabbits exhibited coronary plaque erosion and rupture that were associated with thrombosis.

Conclusions—

These findings suggest that increased blood levels of Ang II can destabilize coronary plaques and trigger the thrombosis, which possibly induces myocardial infarction. The model described in this study provides a novel means for the study of human acute coronary syndrome.
Differential Roles of the NADPH-Oxidase 1 and 2 in Platelet Activation and Thrombosis
Authors: Delaney M. Keegan , Kim Kyungho , Estevez Brian , Xu Zheng , Stojanovic-Terpo Aleksandra , Shen Bo , Ushio-Fukai Masuko , Cho Jaehyung , Du Xiaoping
Published: March 2016

Objective—

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are known to regulate platelet activation; however, the mechanisms of ROS production during platelet activation remain unclear. Platelets express different isoforms of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (phosphate) (NAD(P)H) oxidases (NOXs). Here, we investigated the role of NOX1 and NOX2 in ROS generation and platelet activation using NOX1 and NOX2 knockout mice.

Approach and Results—

NOX1
−/Y
platelets showed selective defects in G-protein–coupled receptor–mediated platelet activation induced by thrombin and thromboxane A2 analog U46619, but were not affected in platelet activation induced by collagen-related peptide, a glycoprotein VI agonist. In contrast, NOX2
−/−
platelets showed potent inhibition of collagen-related peptide-induced platelet activation, and also showed partial inhibition of thrombin-induced platelet activation. Consistently, production of ROS was inhibited in NOX1
−/Y
platelets stimulated with thrombin, but not collagen-related peptide, whereas NOX2
−/−
platelets showed reduced ROS generation induced by collagen-related peptide or thrombin. Reduced ROS generation in NOX1/2-deficient platelets is associated with impaired activation of Syk and phospholipase Cγ2, but minimally affected mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways. Interestingly, laser-induced arterial thrombosis was impaired but the bleeding time was not affected in NOX2
−/−
mice. Wild-type thrombocytopenic mice injected with NOX2
−/−
platelets also showed defective arterial thrombosis, suggesting an important role for platelet NOX2 in thrombosis in vivo but not hemostasis.

Conclusions—

NOX1 and NOX2 play differential roles in different platelet activation pathways and in thrombosis. ROS generated by these enzymes promotes platelet activation via the Syk/phospholipase Cγ2/calcium signaling pathway.
Mesenchymal Stem Cells Attenuate NADPH Oxidase-Dependent High Mobility Group Box 1 Production and Inhibit Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms
Authors: Sharma Ashish K. , Salmon Morgan D. , Lu Guanyi , Su Gang , Pope Nicolas H. , Smith Joseph R. , Weiss Mark L. , Upchurch Gilbert R.
Published: March 2016

Objective—

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) formation is characterized by inflammation, smooth muscle activation, and matrix degradation. This study tests the hypothesis that macrophage-produced high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) production is dependent on nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase (Nox2), which leads to increase in interleukin (IL)-17 production resulting in AAA formation and that treatment with human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can attenuate this process thereby inhibiting AAA formation.

Approach and Results—

Human aortic tissue demonstrated a significant increase in HMGB1 expression in AAA patients when compared with controls. An elastase-perfusion model of AAA demonstrated a significant increase in HMGB1 production in C57BL/6 (wild-type [WT]) mice, which was attenuated by MSC treatment. Furthermore, anti-HMGB1 antibody treatment of WT mice attenuated AAA formation, IL-17 production, and immune cell infiltration when compared with elastase-perfused WT mice on day 14. Elastase-perfused Nox2
−/y
mice demonstrated a significant attenuation of HMGB1 and IL-17 production, cellular infiltration, matrix metalloproteinase activity, and AAA formation when compared with WT mice on day 14. In vitro studies showed that elastase-treated macrophages from WT mice, but not from Nox2
−/y
mice, produced HMGB1, which was attenuated by MSC treatment. The production of macrophage-dependent HMGB1 involved Nox2 activation and superoxide anion production, which was mitigated by MSC treatment.

Conclusions—

These results demonstrate that macrophage-produced HMGB1 leads to aortic inflammation and acts as a trigger for CD4
+
T-cell–produced IL-17 during AAA formation. HMGB1 release is dependent on Nox2 activation, which can be inhibited by MSCs leading to attenuation of proinflammatory cytokines, especially IL-17, and protection against AAA formation.
Divine or Human Images? Neoplatonic and Christian Views on Works of Art and Aesthetics
Authors: Karivieri Arja
Published: March 2016

This paper explores how Neoplatonists and Christians experienced and interpreted works of art, and how views on artists and individual works of art, such as Pheidias’ Zeus in Olympia, were expressed by the representatives of traditional Greco-Roman religions and Christians. The way the value of a work of art was expressed in Greco-Roman literature is compared with the comments and opinions of Neoplatonists and Christian authors, which show that art and its appreciation and function are closely connected to the relationship to God in ancient sources. The ideal of beauty took its place to enrich also the Christian view of aesthetics and enhanced the development of both Greco-Roman and Christian art.
Synesius of Cyrene and the American “Synesii”
Authors: Bregman Jay
Published: March 2016

This article explores the Hellenic/Christian synthesis of bishop Synesius and its later influence, especially on nineteenth-century America. Synesius accepted a bishopric despite Neoplatonic reservations concerning Christian doctrine: the uncreated soul pre-exists; the uncreated cosmos is eternal; and the “resurrection” an ineffable mystery, beyond the vulgar. Whether or not born a Christian, his study under Hypatia brought about a conversion to “pagan” Neoplatonism. His attempted synthesis of Hellenism and Christianity was unique, unlike that of any other late antique Christian Platonist.

Later, Renaissance thinkers scanned a new religious horizon reviving Hellenic Neoplatonism, Hermetic thought, Pythagoreanism, etc., included in a “primordial revelation,” contemporaneous with the Mosaic revelation and thereby in harmony with Christianity.

In Romantic-era England, Thomas Taylor revived Hellenic Neoplatonism as the “true” religion, in the spirit of the anti-Christian theurgic Neoplatonist Roman emperor, Julian. Taylor had a significant influence on the American “Synesii,” Transcendentalists and Neoplatonists, e.g., on Bronson Alcott’s Platonic/Pythagorean lifestyle. Reading Taylor’s translations, Ralph Waldo Emerson spoke of the “Trismegisti” whose Neoplatonic religion predated and superseded “parvenu” Christianity. Later Transcendentalists continued the work of Taylor, sympathizing with late antique “pagan” Neoplatonism, but, in the spirit of Synesius, synthesizing it with Christianity and with other religions. They sought a non-sectarian, universal “cosmic theism,” notably through Thomas M. Johnson’s journal,The Platonist, which included translations of Synesius and other Neoplatonists. One of its contributors, Alexander Wilder, also influenced Theosophy on its Neoplatonic side.

More recent Anglophone “Synesii” include Hilary Armstrong, who was a major presence in Neoplatonic scholarship, both in theukand North America. He argued for a return to Hellenic inclusive monotheism, in which a Christian Platonist, like himself, could also venerate Hindu or Isis’ holy images as being true reflections of the divine.
A review of New Zealand and southeast Australian echinothurioids (Echinodermata: Echinothurioida)—excluding the subfamily Echinothuriinae—with a description of a new species of Tromikosoma
Authors: ANDERSON OWEN F.
Published: March 2016

An examination of a large collection of echinothurioid echinoids (excluding the subfamily Echinothuriinae Thomson) from museum collections in New Zealand and Australia has expanded the known diversity of the group in New Zealand from three species in two genera to seven species in five genera, and revealed a new species in the genus Tromikosoma Mortensen.New records for New Zealand and Australia are reported for Sperosoma obscurum Agassiz and Clark, 1907 and S. nudum Shigei, 1978 and new records for New Zealand are reported for Tromikosoma australe (Koehler, 1922) and Kamptosoma asterias (A. Agassiz, 1881). Tromikosoma rugosum sp. nov., remarkable for its unusual wrinkled appearance and exceedingly thin test, is described from deep water in the northeast of New Zealand. No evidence for the existence of Phormosoma rigidum A. Agassiz, 1881 as a species separate from P. bursarium A. Agassiz, 1881 was found, and synonymy with P. bursarium is proposed.Previous records of these echinoid species were rare, as they live mostly in deep water (>1000 m), and three species were previously known from the type material alone. Tromikosoma rugosum sp. nov. now falls into that category, but new material of the other species greatly expands both the number of known records and their geographical distribution. The majority of these new records are from the New Zealand region, with several additional records from south-east Australia.An updated key to the echinothurioids of New Zealand is provided.
Checklist of Aphidiinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and Aphelinus (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) species from Belgium with respectively four
and three new records
Authors: LOPES THOMAS , LIBERT PIERRE-NICOLAS , STARÝ PETR , JAPOSHVILI GEORGE , HATT SÉVERIN , FRANCIS FRÉDÉRIC
Published: March 2016

Aphid parasitoids have good potential for crop protection. However, they have been poorly studied in Belgium, especially in terms of species diversity. Therefore, the aim of this work was to establish the first checklist for the country. To complete the list, aphid parasitoids were sampled in wheat and pea fields near Gembloux (Belgium), in 2013 and 2014. Among the identified species, Aphelinus asychis Walker, Aphelinus daucicola Kurdjumov, Aphelinus fusciscapus (Förster), Aphidius asteris Haliday, Aphidius eadyi Starý, Gonzalez & Hall, Praon barbatum Mackauer, and Trioxys auctus (Haliday) were recorded for the first time in Belgium. Thirty-two Aphidiinae and seven Aphelinus species were included in the checklist. It is hoped this study will stimulate further research, as species diversity is still low compared with neighbouring countries.
Elanela Rolston revisited (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae): new distributional records and description of new species
Authors: GRAZIA JOCELIA , BARROS LURDIANA DAYSE DE , BARÃO KIM RIBEIRO
Published: March 2016

Menidini is highly diverse in the Paleartic and Afrotropical regions. Only two genera, Rio Kirkaldy and Elanela Rolston, are currently known from the Neotropical region. Here we describe five new species of Elanela: E. nigrofemorata sp. nov., E. diamphidiosa sp. nov., E. rafaeli sp. nov., E. fernandesi sp. nov., and E. scutomaculata sp. nov. The generic diagnosis of Elanela is modified to accommodate the new species and a dichotomous key is provided.
Re-description of Cephalobus topali Andrássy, 1970 (Rhabditida, Cephalobidae) from Vietnam, and transfer to Acrobeloides (Cobb, 1924) Thorne, 1937
Authors: NGUYEN THI ANH DUONG , BONKOWSKI MICHAEL , PEÑA-SANTIAGO REYES , ABOLAFIA JOAQUÍN
Published: March 2016

Recently, specimens of Cephalobus topali, collected from an agricultural area from northern Vietnam, are described, including SEM study. They are characterized by their its 306–347 µm long body in females, lateral field with two alae or 3-4 longitudinal incisures, lip region with three pairs of asymmetrical conoid lips, three low and rounded labial probolae separate from the corresponding pair of lips by an incisure, U-shaped primary axils without guard processes, V-shaped secondary axils without guard processes, pharyngeal corpus slightly fusiform and 2.6–3.1 times the isthmus length, spermatheca and postvulval sac poorly developed, female tail conoid (18–24 µm, c = 12.7–17.0, c’ = 1.8–2.7) with rounded terminus ending in an acute or wart-shaped mucro, phasmid at 29–34% of tail length, and male unknown. SEM pictures reveal that lip region pattern significantly differs from that found in members of Cephalobus and fits that observed in Acrobeloides, so that the species is transferred to this genus. Cephalobus quadrilineatus is provisionally maintained as different from C. topali.
Teaching Mathematics at Secondary Level
Authors: Gardiner Tony
Published: March 2016

Teaching Mathematics is nothing less than a mathematical manifesto. Arising in response to a limited National Curriculum, and engaged with secondary schooling for those aged 11 ̶ 14 (Key Stage 3) in particular, this handbook for teachers will help them broaden and enrich their students’ mathematical education. It avoids specifying how to teach, and focuses instead on the central principles and concepts that need to be borne in mind by all teachers and textbook authors—but which are little appreciated in the UK at present.

This study is aimed at anyone who would like to think more deeply about the discipline of ‘elementary mathematics’, in England and Wales and anywhere else. By analysing and supplementing the current curriculum, Teaching Mathematics provides food for thought for all those involved in school mathematics, whether as aspiring teachers or as experienced professionals. It challenges us all to reflect upon what it is that makes secondary school mathematics educationally, culturally, and socially important.
Body-worn video: A systematic review of literature
Authors: Cubitt Timothy IC , Lesic Rebecca , Myers Gemma L , Corry Robert
Published: March 2016

Law enforcement use of video-based technology has substantially increased over the past decade. This systematic review examines the current evidence base for efficacy of body-worn video and the current case for implementation. Five articles were identified as pertinent to this review from a search of five electronic databases, with a further six articles of grey literature included. Inter-rater reliability was high amongst three independent screeners of literature. Articles were short listed for review if they explicitly identified police and recording devices as topic areas. Articles were then excluded if they did not involve an operational trial of body-worn video. Eleven articles were included for review; of the five peer-reviewed studies, two were randomised controlled trials. An abundance of evidence was provided; however, the majority of articles were methodologically weak. Body-worn video was shown to reduce use of force incidents, crime rates for certain crime types and court costs. Public response to body-worn video was varied, as was police officer and public opinion. Due to methodological limitations evident in most studies and the general lack of peer-reviewed material, further research is required; however, there are some considerable benefits reported in the current literature.
Testing Attestations
Authors: Rissing Ben A. , Castilla Emilio J.
Published: March 2016

Each year, hundreds of thousands of immigrants seek legal employment in the United States. Similar to many developed countries, the United States has established immigration policies to protect its citizens’ employment. This study empirically assesses, for the first time, the relationship between U.S. workers’ unemployment rates and immigrant work authorization outcomes, as determined by one key U.S. immigration program—the labor certification process. This program explicitly requires that no willing and qualified U.S. worker be available for the job position offered to a foreign worker. Through the analysis of 40 months of labor certification requests evaluated by U.S. Department of Labor agents, the authors find that, ironically, immigrant labor certification approvals are more likely when the quantity of unemployed U.S. workers within an occupation is high, ceteris paribus. Further, because of the U.S. government’s procedure of auditing applications, the authors are able to assess approval differences when government agents reach similar labor certification decisions using 1) employers’ accounts of their own compliance (e.g., “attestations”) or 2) supporting documentation collected when employers are audited. Only for evaluations of audited applications, in support of the literature on accounts and regulation, are approvals less likely when unemployment is high. The authors conclude by discussing the implications of their findings for theories and policies concerning labor market regulation, immigration, and employment.
The Effect of Cost-sharing Policy on the Dropout Rates of Public Secondary School Students in Limuru District, Kenya
Authors: Wambugu Jedidah , Mokoena Sello
Published: March 2016

The qualitative case study explores the effect of cost-sharing policy on the dropout rates of students in public secondary schools in the Limuru district, Kenya. Interviews were conducted with students who returned to school after they had raised money for tuition, teachers serving on the school district committee and the head teachers. The cost-sharing policy was viewed as a burden that has increased dropout, repetition and absenteeism in schools. Children from poor backgrounds continue to be marginalised as some national schools charge exorbitant school fees. Based on the findings the study offers some recommendations for policy-makers to consider.
Social Networks, Migration Trajectories and Livelihood Strategies of Migrant Domestic and Construction Workers in Accra, Ghana
Authors: Awumbila Mariama , Teye Joseph Kofi , Yaro Joseph Awetori
Published: March 2016

Recent studies indicate that poor migrants are more likely to depend on social capital among other resources for livelihoods in host communities. Relying on insights from the social networks theory and using qualitative data from two migrant sending regions and one migrant destination area in Ghana, this paper examines the role and effects of networks of social capital on migration processes and livelihood strategies of migrants in the construction and domestic work sectors in Accra, Ghana. The paper argues that different categories of migrants fashion out specific migration strategies based on a complex intersection of social networks, which is shaped by specific contexts. Therefore the various ways in which migrants access, maintain and construct different types of networks in varied social locations and with diverse people needs to be interrogated in a more nuanced way and their policy implications addressed.
Preparation of microporous thermoplastic polyurethane by low-temperature supercritical CO2 foaming
Authors: Chu Chien-Chia , Yeh Shu-Kai , Peng Sheng-Ping , Kang Ting-Wei , Guo Wen-Jeng , Yang Jintao
Published: March 2016

Thermoplastic polyurethane possesses many special characteristics. Its flexibility, rigidity, and elasticity can be adjusted by controlling the ratio of soft segments to hard segments. Due to its versatile physical properties, thermoplastic polyurethane is commonly used in transportation, construction, and biomaterials. However, methods for thermoplastic polyurethane foam production using CO2 are still under investigation. We have previously prepared nanoporous thermoplastic polyurethane foam using commercially available thermoplastic polyurethane; however, in this study, thermoplastic polyurethane was synthesized using 4,4′-methylenebis(phenyl isocyanate), poly(propylene glycol) and 1,4-butanediol, without solvents, using a pre-polymer method. The properties of the synthesized thermoplastic polyurethane were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermal analysis, and their mechanical properties were measured. The synthesized thermoplastic polyurethane was foamed by batch foaming using supercritical CO2 as the blowing agent. The effect of saturation temperature and saturation time on the cell morphology of the thermoplastic polyurethane foam was examined.
Early Grade Writing Assessment: An Instrument Model
Authors: Jiménez Juan E.
Published: March 2016

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization promoted the creation of a model instrument for individual assessment of students’ foundational writing skills in the Spanish language that was based on a literature review and existing writing tools and assessments. The purpose of the Early Grade Writing Assessment (EGWA) is to document learners’ basic writing skills, mapped in composing units of increasing complexity to communicate meaning. Validation and standardization of EGWA was conducted in the Canary Islands (Spain) in 12 schools using a cross-sectional design with a sample of 1,653 Spanish-speaking students in Grades 1 through 3. The author describes EGWA’s internal structure, along with the prevalence of learning disabilities (LD) in transcription and developmental differences in writing between Spanish-speaking children with LD and typical peers. Findings suggest that EGWA’s psychometric characteristics are satisfactory, and its internal structure can be attributed to four factors responsible for a high percentage of the variance. The odds ratio indicated that 2 Spanish-speaking children with LD in transcription are identified out of every 100. A comparison between students with and without LD in transcription revealed statistically significant differences concerning sentence and text production across grades. Results are interpreted within current theoretical accounts of writing models.
Alliance networks and trade
Authors: Haim Dotan A
Published: March 2016

How does the network of international political alliances influence trade flows? Previous work suggests that alliances matter in predicting trade outcomes because governments align trade policies with national security interests and firms take political relations between states into account when assessing risk. However, work to date investigates only the relationship between direct political alliances and trade, which ignores the complexity of international alliance structures. In this article, I argue that states and firms not only consider direct political relationships when shaping international trade, but also focus crucially on indirect alliance relationships. I find that higher levels of trade result when states have more shared alliances and when they are in the same alliance community. Once these indirect relationships are accounted for, the apparent association of dyadic alliances with trade is drastically reduced. Joint membership in an alliance community predicts an increase in trade that is more than twice the increase associated with a dyadic alliance. This effect is magnified when considering highly ‘central’ states in the alliance network. States trade significantly more with central states in their own alliance community and less with central states in other communities.
Bringing the Outside In
Authors: West Chad , Cremata Radio
Published: March 2016

Through the lens of hospitality, we explored the meanings that members constructed about their experiences within a blended formal/informal college music ensemble. The focus in this ensemble was not on competition and musical excellence but on independent musicianship and praxis. The bandleader had his roots in tradition but his heart in socially relevant pedagogy and favored a less autocratic teaching and learning style. The makeup of the ensemble also included students from both formal and informal backgrounds. Conducting gesture was casual, bandstand formation was loose and free, outfits were expressive of the individual, and tone and balance were more a reflection and celebration of individuals and less of a whole or single sound. Much of the music was performed from standard notation but was chosen collectively, often related to popular contexts, and the overall emphasis was not on uniformity but on individuality and student creativity. Musical decisions often were made democratically, and opinions from within the ensemble were affirmed in the process. The ensemble consisted of a group of approximately 13 members whose experience ranged from beginner to over 30 years and who played everything from violin to iPad. Themes that emerged were inclusivity, autonomy, and affirmation.
Dealing with Organizational Double Binds
Authors: Hornung Severin , Lampert Bettina , Glaser Jürgen
Published: March 2016

Based on theory regarding the dynamics of organizational double binds, hypotheses were developed about interactive effects of role conflict, role ambiguity, and coping on psychological exhaustion. Hypotheses were tested in a sample of 948 civil servants employed by a government administration in Germany. The sample included 250 (26.4%) women ( M age = 43.6 year, SD = 8.3) and average organizational tenure was 17.1 year ( SD = 10.0). Moderated multiple regression supported the two hypothesized three-way interactions. Under conditions of high role conflict and high role ambiguity, exhaustion was lower in workers reporting high control coping than in workers reporting low control coping. Under conditions of high role conflict and high role ambiguity, worker exhaustion was more pronounced when support coping was high than when it was low. Problem-focused control coping seems crucial to maintain mental health in dealing with contradictory and unclear work role expectations. Emotion-focused support coping appears symptomatic of prolonged involvement in psychologically dysfunctional work situations that cannot otherwise be addressed. Implications are discussed in the context of growing awareness of the contradictory demands organizations impose on employees.
Color-difference assessment and enhancement for driving headlight simulation
Authors: Vidal Quentin , Michelin Sylvain , Laborie Baptiste , Kemeny Andras
Published: March 2016

Real-time headlight simulation in driving conditions is used by most car manufacturers to assure the quality, cost, and delivery of headlight engineering design. An important parameter judged by the headlight assessment team is color restitution; indeed, this parameter has to meet the standard of “lamps for road vehicles.” Therefore, the goal of this study was the color assessment and enhancement of a driving headlight simulator. For this purpose, this study was conducted in two phases: the process of constructing two color acceptability scales that directly reflect the perception of two different populations (experts and “naive”), and the assessment of a method based on the chromatic adaptation transform (CAT) for reducing the color difference between real and virtual environments. In the first phase, we conducted two psychophysical experiments (i.e., one for each population), in which the observers had to report their degree of satisfaction about the color difference. These two experiments enabled the creation of two acceptability scales for headlight simulation. In the second phase, we compared the performance of different chromatic transformations; as a result of this comparison, we advise the use of the CAT02 transformation, in order to reduce the color difference for headlight assessment in driving simulation experiments.