bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Warm Beer and Cold Canons: US Army Chaplains and Alcohol Consumption in World War II
Authors: VIRDEN JENEL
Published: October 2013

US Army Chaplains in World War II grappled with many problems associated with the moral welfare of their soldier congregations. One of the most troubling issues was the consumption of alcohol. Analysing the archival data from the Chief of Chaplains files and the first-person accounts of chaplains, this article focusses on the difficulties chaplains faced with their concerns about saving men's souls during a time of war. Alcohol consumption was high among both enlisted men and officers in the US Army and many chaplains worried about the impact that alcohol would have on the men's moral well-being. There were differences among chaplains relating to their denominations, which goes some way to explaining the different approaches taken by individual chaplains. Methodist chaplains did not approach the issue of alcohol consumption in the same way as many Catholic chaplains, for example. The Chief of Chaplains, as a Catholic and a regular army serviceman, had a more pragmatic view. This article explores those differences.
The heritability of clinically diagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder across the lifespan
Authors: Larsson H. , Chang Z. , D'Onofrio B. M. , Lichtenstein P.
Published: October 2013

Background

No prior twin study has explored the heritability of clinically diagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Such studies are needed to resolve conflicting results regarding the importance of genetic effects for ADHD in adults. We aimed to estimate the relative contribution of genetic and environmental influences for clinically diagnosed ADHD across the lifespan with a specific focus on ADHD in adults.

Method

Information on zygosity and sex was obtained from 59514 twins born between 1959 and 2001 included in the nationwide population-based Swedish Twin Registry. Clinical data for ADHD diagnoses (i.e. stimulant or non-stimulant medication for ADHD) were obtained from the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register (PDR) and from the National Patient Register (i.e. ICD-10 diagnosis of ADHD). Twin methods were applied to clinical data of ADHD diagnoses using structural equation modeling with monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins.

Results

The best-fitting model revealed a high heritability of ADHD [0.88, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.83–0.92] for the entire sample. However, shared environmental effects were non-significant and of minimal importance. The heritability of ADHD in adults was also substantial (0.72, 95% CI 0.56–0.84).

Conclusions

This study shows that the heritability of clinically diagnosed ADHD is high across the lifespan. Our finding of high heritability for clinically diagnosed ADHD in adults indicates that the previous reports of low heritability are best explained by rater effects, and that gene-identification studies of ADHD in adults need to consider pervasiveness (e.g. multiple raters) and developmentally (e.g. childhood-onset criteria) informative data.
Policing methamphetamine problems: a framework for synthesising expert opinion and evaluating alternative policy options
Authors: Manning Matthew , Ransley Janet , Smith Christine , Mazerolle Lorraine , Cook Alana
Published: October 2013

Increasingly, governments and police agencies require evidence of effectiveness and efficiency with respect to law enforcement policies. The existing “what works” literature, specifically on drug law enforcement, focuses mainly on the effectiveness question when making complex choices between drug policy alternatives, but fails when it comes to incorporating empirical evidence and the experience of key experts in the decision-making process. In addition, little attempt has been made to employ sophisticated techniques to assist in complex policy decision making with respect to funding competing policing policy alternatives. We use the methamphetamine problem in Australia to illustrate a way of evaluating, using multi-criteria analysis, alternative policy options for developing better drug policy.
Institutional trust and welfare state support: on the role of trust in market institutions
Authors: Edlund Jonas , Lindh Arvid
Published: October 2013

The importance of institutional trust for structuring welfare state support (WSS) has been advanced by several scholars. Yet, the thesis has not received convincing empirical support. We argue that the weak evidence observed by previous research is caused by the failure of not extending the analytical framework beyond the study of public institutions. Using Sweden as a test case, our analytical framework covers trust in public institutions (TPI) and market institutions (TMI). The main findings are: (1) TMI has a robust negative effect on WSS; (2) the expected relationship between TPI and WSS is strengthened controlling for TMI; (3) TMI mediates the relationships between socio-economic variables and WSS. These findings underline the importance of bringing in other institutional configurations that are seen as conceivable alternatives to the state for administrating social welfare, not the least in studies primarily interested in the link between TPI and support for state-organised welfare.
Structure of a new CaII1/3SbV1/6BiIII1/2PO4 phosphate
Authors: Aatiq Abderrahim , Tigha My Rachid
Published: October 2013

A new Ca1/3Sb1/6Bi1/2PO4 “CaSb0.50Bi1.50(PO4)3” phosphate has been synthesized by conventional solid-state reaction techniques at 900 °C in air atmosphere. Their crystallographic structures were determined at room temperature from X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) data using the Rietveld analysis. CaII1/3SbV1/6BiIII1/2PO4 material possesses the high-temperature BiPO4 monoclinic structure variety. It crystallizes in monoclinic system with P21/m space group and the cell parameters are: a = 4.9358(1) Å, b = 6.9953(2), c = 4.7075(1) Å, and β = 96.2(1)°. Their structure can be described as composed of alternating edge-sharing AO8 (A = Ca, Sb, Bi) bisdisphenoids and PO4 tetrahedra forming chains parallel to the b axis. Every AO8 polyhedron is surrounded by six PO4 and every PO4 tetrahedron is surrounded by six AO8 polyhedra. Infrared spectroscopic study was used to obtain further structural information.
Estimating the incidence reporting rates of new influenza pandemics at an early stage using travel data from the source country
Authors: CHONG K. C. , FONG H. F. , ZEE C. Y.
Published: October 2013

During the surveillance of influenza pandemics, underreported data are a public health challenge that complicates the understanding of pandemic threats and can undermine mitigation efforts. We propose a method to estimate incidence reporting rates at early stages of new influenza pandemics using 2009 pandemic H1N1 as an example. Routine surveillance data and statistics of travellers arriving from Mexico were used. Our method incorporates changes in reporting rates such as linearly increasing trends due to the enhanced surveillance. From our results, the reporting rate was estimated at 0·46% during early stages of the pandemic in Mexico. We estimated cumulative incidence in the Mexican population to be 0·7% compared to 0·003% reported by officials in Mexico at the end of April. This method could be useful in estimation of actual cases during new influenza pandemics for policy makers to better determine appropriate control measures.
Family history of premature coronary heart disease, child cardio-metabolic risk factors and left ventricular mass
Authors: Magnussen Costan G. , Dwyer Terence , Venn Alison
Published: October 2013

In a prospective cohort of 181 individuals followed up since childhood – when aged 9, 12 and 15 years – patients with a family history of premature coronary heart disease (n=18) had higher left ventricular mass index in adulthood – at mean age of 31 years – compared with those without (mean±standard error 39.1±1.9 versus 34.6±0.7 g/m2.7, p=0.04). The correlation between adult left ventricular mass index and child triglycerides (r=0.66, p=0.04 versus r=−0.03, p=0.75; pdiff=0.02) and diastolic blood pressure (r=0.65, p=0.02 versus r=0.16, p=0.07; pdiff=0.05) was stronger among those with a family history of coronary heart disease than in those without. Although preliminary, these data suggest that the higher left ventricular mass index among adults with a family history might be explained by their increased susceptibility to child cardio-metabolic risk factors.
The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and conflict-affected areas: state obligations and business responsibilities
Authors: Davis Rachel
Published: October 2013

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights provide authoritative guidance for states and businesses on how to prevent and address business-related human rights harms, including in conflict-affected areas. States need to explore a more innovative range of policy and regulatory options in such situations, whether they are engaging with cooperating companies or dealing with uncooperative ones. Companies need to be able to know and show that they can operate with integrity – and avoid being involved in gross abuses of human rights – and that their risk assessment, mitigation, and remediation processes take full account of the potential risks to affected stakeholders, not just risks to the business.
Distinct responses of soil microbial communities to elevated CO2 and O3 in a soybean agro-ecosystem
Authors: He Zhili , Xiong Jinbo , Kent Angela D , Deng Ye , Xue Kai , Wang Gejiao , Wu Liyou , Van Nostrand Joy D , Zhou Jizhong
Published: October 2013

The concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and tropospheric ozone (O3) have been rising due to human activities. However, little is known about how such increases influence soil microbial communities. We hypothesized that elevated CO2 (eCO2) and elevated O3 (eO3) would significantly affect the functional composition, structure and metabolic potential of soil microbial communities, and that various functional groups would respond to such atmospheric changes differentially. To test these hypotheses, we analyzed 96 soil samples from a soybean free-air CO2 enrichment (SoyFACE) experimental site using a comprehensive functional gene microarray (GeoChip 3.0). The results showed the overall functional composition and structure of soil microbial communities shifted under eCO2, eO3 or eCO2+eO3. Key functional genes involved in carbon fixation and degradation, nitrogen fixation, denitrification and methane metabolism were stimulated under eCO2, whereas those involved in N fixation, denitrification and N mineralization were suppressed under eO3, resulting in the fact that the abundance of some eO3-supressed genes was promoted to ambient, or eCO2-induced levels by the interaction of eCO2+eO3. Such effects appeared distinct for each treatment and significantly correlated with soil properties and soybean yield. Overall, our analysis suggests possible mechanisms of microbial responses to global atmospheric change factors through the stimulation of C and N cycling by eCO2, the inhibition of N functional processes by eO3 and the interaction by eCO2 and eO3. This study provides new insights into our understanding of microbial functional processes in response to global atmospheric change in soybean agro-ecosystems.
A robust methodology to subclassify pseudokinases based on their nucleotide-binding properties
Authors: Murphy James M. , Zhang Qingwei , Young Samuel N. , Reese Michael L. , Bailey Fiona P. , Eyers Patrick A. , Ungureanu Daniela , Hammaren Henrik , Silvennoinen Olli , Varghese Leila N. , Chen Kelan , Tripaydonis Anne , Jura Natalia , Fukuda Koichi , Qin Jun , Nimchuk Zachary , Mudgett Mary Beth , Elowe Sabine , Gee Christine L. , Liu Ling , Daly Roger J. , Manning Gerard , Babon Jeffrey J. , Lucet Isabelle S.
Published: October 2013

Protein kinase-like domains that lack conserved residues known to catalyse phosphoryl transfer, termed pseudokinases, have emerged as important signalling domains across all kingdoms of life. Although predicted to function principally as catalysis-independent protein-interaction modules, several pseudokinase domains have been attributed unexpected catalytic functions, often amid controversy. We established a thermal-shift assay as a benchmark technique to define the nucleotide-binding properties of kinase-like domains. Unlike in vitro kinase assays, this assay is insensitive to the presence of minor quantities of contaminating kinases that may otherwise lead to incorrect attribution of catalytic functions to pseudokinases. We demonstrated the utility of this method by classifying 31 diverse pseudokinase domains into four groups: devoid of detectable nucleotide or cation binding; cation-independent nucleotide binding; cation binding; and nucleotide binding enhanced by cations. Whereas nine pseudokinases bound ATP in a divalent cation-dependent manner, over half of those examined did not detectably bind nucleotides, illustrating that pseudokinase domains predominantly function as non-catalytic protein-interaction modules within signalling networks and that only a small subset is potentially catalytically active. We propose that henceforth the thermal-shift assay be adopted as the standard technique for establishing the nucleotide-binding and catalytic potential of kinase-like domains.
Size dependent elastic moduli of CdSe nanocrystal superlattices predicted from atomistic and coarse grained models
Authors: Zanjani Mehdi B. , Lukes Jennifer R.
Published: October 2013

Nanocrystal superlattices are materials formed by assembly of monodisperse nanocrystal building blocks that are tunable in composition, size, shape, and surface functionalization. Such materials offer the potential to realize unprecedented combinations of physical properties, but theoretical prediction of such properties, particularly elastic properties, remains a challenge. Here we report the Young's moduli, bulk moduli, and Poisson's ratios of CdSe nanocrystal superlattices computed from fully atomistic molecular dynamics simulations, coarse grained models, and effective medium theory. The atomistic simulations yield Young's moduli in the 4-5 GPa range, in agreement with previously reported results for similar nanocrystal superlattice systems. A clear increase of Young's modulus and bulk modulus with increasing nanocrystal core size is observed, while Poisson's ratio decreases slightly with core size. Effective medium theory overpredicts the moduli, and it is surmised that this arises from its neglect of the atomic-level details of the of the core-ligand interface. The coarse grained calculations, using existing nanocrystal interaction models from the literature, also show similar increases with core size but predict moduli that are two orders of magnitude lower than the present atomistic results and previous literature. It is concluded that coarse grained models, in their current form, are not appropriate for calculating elastic properties of nanocrystal superlattices and that fully atomistic models are better suited for this purpose.
Enhanced many-body effects in 2- and 1-dimensional ZnO structures: A Green's function perturbation theory study
Authors: Wei Wei , Dai Ying , Huang Baibiao , Jacob Timo
Published: October 2013

In order to study many-body effects in ZnO structures with reduced-dimensionality, electronic and optical absorption properties of ZnO monolayer and armchair ZnO nanoribbons (AZnONRs) are studied by means of Green's function perturbation theory using the GW+Bethe−Salpeter equation approach. In both ZnO monolayer and AZnONRs, as a consequence of enhanced quantum confinement, the quasi-particle corrections are significant and the optical absorption properties are dominated by strong excitonic effects with considerable binding energies (1–2 eV) assigned to the lowest-energy bound excitons. It reveals that inclusion of excitonic effects, which are neglected in calculations at single-particle approximation, is crucial to qualitatively and quantitatively describe the optical properties of such materials with reduced-dimensionality.
Molecular recognition of DNA by ligands: Roughness and complexity of the free energy profile
Authors: Zheng Wenwei , Vargiu Attilio Vittorio , Rohrdanz Mary A. , Carloni Paolo , Clementi Cecilia
Published: October 2013

Understanding the molecular mechanism by which probes and chemotherapeutic agents bind to nucleic acids is a fundamental issue in modern drug design. From a computational perspective, valuable insights are gained by the estimation of free energy landscapes as a function of some collective variables (CVs), which are associated with the molecular recognition event. Unfortunately the choice of CVs is highly non-trivial because of DNA's high flexibility and the presence of multiple association-dissociation events at different locations and/or sliding within the grooves. Here we have applied a modified version of Locally-Scaled Diffusion Map (LSDMap), a nonlinear dimensionality reduction technique for decoupling multiple-timescale dynamics in macromolecular systems, to a metadynamics-based free energy landscape calculated using a set of intuitive CVs. We investigated the binding of the organic drug anthramycin to a DNA 14-mer duplex. By performing an extensive set of metadynamics simulations, we observed sliding of anthramycin along the full-length DNA minor groove, as well as several detachments from multiple sites, including the one identified by X-ray crystallography. As in the case of equilibrium processes, the LSDMap analysis is able to extract the most relevant collective motions, which are associated with the slow processes within the system, i.e., ligand diffusion along the minor groove and dissociation from it. Thus, LSDMap in combination with metadynamics (and possibly every equivalent method) emerges as a powerful method to describe the energetics of ligand binding to DNA without resorting to intuitive ad hoc reaction coordinates.
Electronic structures and properties of lanthanide hexaboride nanowires
Authors: Wang Lu , Luo Guangfu , Valencia Daniel , Sierra Llavina Carlos H. , Sabirianov Renat. F. , Lu Jing , Lu Jun-Qiang , Mei Wai-Ning , Li Cheung Chin
Published: October 2013

The promising usage of lanthanide hexaboride nanowires as excellent electron emitter materials is generally attributed to the intrinsic low work functions of their bulk counterparts. Most analytical models for the field enhanced electron emission phenomenon adopt an underlying presumption of little or no change to the work function of the emission materials at the nanoscale. However, such a presumption is difficult to experimentally verify because current analytical models often employ empirical parameters such as the geometrically enhancement factors and the actual field emission areas are hard to determine. Herein, we report our density functional theory study of the size-dependence and element-specificity of the electronic structures and work functions of infinitely long lanthanide hexaboride nanowires constructed with n × n × ∞ unit cells (n = 1, 2, 3, and 4). Our modeling results reveal that the distinguished metal-like electronic properties and the low work function values of the sides of most examined nanowire systems are due to the abundant 4f and 5d states from the lanthanide metal atoms positioned at the Fermi level. These work function values are found to be weakly wire-size-dependent and element-dependent across the lanthanide series. They approach to the bulk values when their lateral wire-sizes are at or above 4-unit cell wide. The presence of abundance states at the Fermi level is found to be a common feature to rationalize the work functions of reported hexaboride systems.
A two-axis in-plane motion measurement system based on optical beam deflection
Authors: Sriramshankar R. , Mrinalini R. Sri Muthu , Jayanth G. R.
Published: October 2013

Measurement of in-plane motion with high resolution and large bandwidth enables model-identification and real-time control of motion-stages. This paper presents an optical beam deflection based system for measurement of in-plane motion of both macro- and micro-scale motion stages. A curved reflector is integrated with the motion stage to achieve sensitivity to in-plane translational motion along two axes. Under optimal settings, the measurement system is shown to theoretically achieve sub-angstrom measurement resolution over a bandwidth in excess of 1 kHz and negligible cross-sensitivity to linear motion. Subsequently, the proposed technique is experimentally demonstrated by measuring the in-plane motion of a piezo flexure stage and a scanning probe microcantilever. For the former case, reflective spherical balls of different radii are employed to measure the in-plane motion and the measured sensitivities are shown to agree with theoretical values, on average, to within 8.3%. For the latter case, a prototype polydimethylsiloxane micro-reflector is integrated with the microcantilever. The measured in-plane motion of the microcantilever probe is used to identify nonlinearities and the transient dynamics of the piezo-stage upon which the probe is mounted. These are subsequently compensated by means of feedback control.
Measurement of optical coupling between adjacent bi-material microcantilevers
Authors: Canetta Carlo , Narayanaswamy Arvind
Published: October 2013

Low thermal conductance bi-material microcantilevers are fabricated with a pad area near the free end to accommodate a focused laser spot. A pair of such cantilevers are proposed as a configuration for measuring thermal conductance of a nanostructure suspended between the two. We determine the resolution of such a device by measuring the stray conductance it would detect in the absence of any nanostructure. Stray conductance, primarily due to optical coupling, is measured for cantilevers with varying pad size and found to be as low as 0.05 nW K−1, with cantilevers with larger pad size yielding the smallest stray conductance.
Layerwise decomposition of water dynamics in reverse micelles: A simulation study of two-dimensional infrared spectrum
Authors: Biswas Rajib , Furtado Jonathan , Bagchi Biman
Published: October 2013

We present computer simulation study of two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy (2D-IR) of water confined in reverse micelles (RMs) of various sizes. The present study is motivated by the need to understand the altered dynamics of confined water by performing layerwise decomposition of water, with an aim to quantify the relative contributions of different layers water molecules to the calculated 2D-IR spectrum. The 0-1 transition spectra clearly show substantial elongation, due to inhomogeneous broadening and incomplete spectral diffusion, along the diagonal in the surface water layer of different sized RMs. Fitting of the frequency fluctuation correlation functions reveal that the motion of the surface water molecules is sub-diffusive and indicate the constrained nature of their dynamics. This is further supported by two peak nature of the angular analogue of van Hove correlation function. With increasing system size, the water molecules become more diffusive in nature and spectral diffusion almost completes in the central layer of the larger size RMs. Comparisons between experiments and simulations establish the correspondence between the spectral decomposition available in experiments with the spatial decomposition available in simulations. Simulations also allow a quantitative exploration of the relative role of water, sodium ions, and sulfonate head groups in vibrational dephasing. Interestingly, the negative cross correlation between force on oxygen and hydrogen of O–H bond in bulk water significantly decreases in the surface layer of each RM. This negative cross correlation gradually increases in the central water pool with increasing RMs size and this is found to be partly responsible for the faster relaxation rate of water in the central pool.
Numerical and laboratory simulations of auroral acceleration
Authors: Gunell H. , De Keyser J. , Mann I.
Published: October 2013

The existence of parallel electric fields is an essential ingredient of auroral physics, leading to the acceleration of particles that give rise to the auroral displays. An auroral flux tube is modelled using electrostatic Vlasov simulations, and the results are compared to simulations of a proposed laboratory device that is meant for studies of the plasma physical processes that occur on auroral field lines. The hot magnetospheric plasma is represented by a gas discharge plasma source in the laboratory device, and the cold plasma mimicking the ionospheric plasma is generated by a Q-machine source. In both systems, double layers form with plasma density gradients concentrated on their high potential sides. The systems differ regarding the properties of ion acoustic waves that are heavily damped in the magnetosphere, where the ion population is hot, but weakly damped in the laboratory, where the discharge ions are cold. Ion waves are excited by the ion beam that is created by acceleration in the double layer in both systems. The efficiency of this beam-plasma interaction depends on the acceleration voltage. For voltages where the interaction is less efficient, the laboratory experiment is more space-like.
Electron-hole pair generation in SiC high-temperature alpha particle detectors
Authors: Garcia Timothy R. , Kumar Ashutosh , Reinke Benjamin , Blue Thomas E. , Windl Wolfgang
Published: October 2013

We demonstrate alpha-particle detection in an n-type 4H-SiC Schottky diode detector up to a temperature of 500 °C using an Am-241 disc source. The measured spectra were used to calculate the electron-hole pair creation energy in 4H-SiC and its non-bandgap contribution, which are both found to decrease with increasing temperature. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the measured alpha-energy peaks was found to increase exponentially with temperature due to an exponential increase of leakage current. For our measurement system, above 300 °C, where the leakage current was 10−6 A, this increase exceeded the FWHM at room temperature.
Control of oxygen sublattice structure in ultra-thin SrCuO2 films studied by X-ray photoelectron diffraction
Authors: Kuiper Bouwe , Samal D. , Blank Dave H. A. , ten Elshof Johan E. , Rijnders Guus , Koster Gertjan
Published: October 2013

Epitaxial and atomically smooth ultra-thin SrCuO2 films are grown on SrTiO3 substrates using pulsed laser deposition. The structural and chemical aspects of these single-layer films of various thickness are characterized using in situ X-ray photoelectron diffraction (XPD) and photoelectron spectroscopy. By comparing XPD scans to multiple-scattering electron diffraction simulations, we demonstrate a structural transformation from bulk-planar to chain-type SrCuO2 as the film thickness is reduced from 9 to 3 unit-cells. This observation is in agreement with the recent theoretical prediction [Z. Zhong, G. Koster, and P. J. Kelly, Phys. Rev. B 85, 121411(R) (2012)] and opens new pathways for structural tuning in ultra-thin films of polar cuprates.
Effect of surface interactions and geometry on the motion of micro bio robots
Authors: Wong Denise , Beattie Elizabeth E. , Steager Edward B. , Kumar Vijay
Published: October 2013

Micro Bio Robots (MBRs) are synthetic microstructures with a monolayer of flagellated bacteria adhered to the surface. The flagella of the bacteria propel the microstructure causing it to rotate and translate in a fluidic environment on a planar surface in the absence of external forces. This paper investigates the force contributions of bacteria adhered to the edge versus the center of the micro-structure by selectively altering their behavior using near-UV light. In particular, we investigate the forces that cause predominant clockwise MBR rotation when viewed from above. Additionally, asymmetric shapes, particularly gears, are used to compare the effect of the adherent bacteria with that of collisions among free-swimming bacteria and the microstructure. We find that bacteria adhered near the edge of the MBR interact with the glass substrate under the MBR, accounting for statistically biased clockwise rotation of MBRs.
Finite length and solvent analysis effects on the squash mode of single walled carbon nanotubes
Authors: de Fréin C. , Quirke N. , Zerulla D.
Published: October 2013

Nanotube diameters (d) are usually characterized using the radial breathing mode d–1; the squash mode frequency (f) however is predicted to vary as d–2. We demonstrate using the MM+ forcefield that for lengths <9 nm the symmetric squash mode (SSM) and asymmetric squash mode (ASM) ((10,0) SWNT (single wall carbon nanotubes)) are non-degenerate with Δf ≤ 55 cm–1. In solution, the SWNT-water interaction upshifts the ASM by 20 cm–1 and the SSM by 10 cm–1. Such asymmetries could be used to simultaneously characterize the length and diameter of short nanotubes for applications including nanoresonators and biomedical probes.
Drastic performance enhancement by using a WOx buffer before ZnO back reflector in amorphous silicon solar cells fabricated at 121 °C
Authors: Jung Kang Sang , Jeon Jin-Wan , Jae Baik Seung , Su Lim Koeng
Published: October 2013

We report on drastic performance improvement by inserting amorphous tungsten oxide (WOx) with a wide optical band gap at the n-type amorphous silicon (n-a-Si)/zinc oxide (ZnO) back reflector interface in a-Si-based solar cells fabricated at 121 °C. We found that a 3-nm-thick WOx film could remarkably reduce the defect density at the n-a-Si/ZnO interface, resulting in decreased series and increased shunt resistances. Consequently, the fill factor and conversion efficiency could be markedly enhanced by 8.6% and 9.2%, respectively. A maximum efficiency of 8.05% was obtained. This technique may be applied to all kinds of thin-film solar cells.
Amplitude evolution equation and transient effects in piezoelectric crystal resonators
Authors: Wang Zhi , Zhao Minghao , Yang Jiashi
Published: October 2013

We study transient effects in AT-cut quartz plate thickness-shear mode acoustic wave resonators. Mindlin's equations for thin crystal plates are employed. Based on the relatively slow evolution of the vibration amplitude compared to the high-frequency thickness-shear vibration, a first-order differential equation governing the amplitude evolution is obtained. The equation allows simple and accurate solutions for transient processes in quartz resonators. A few numerical examples of resonator startup and turning off are given. The equation can be applied to other transient processes in crystal resonators such as driving voltage fluctuations and generalized to resonator-based acoustic wave sensors.
Reactant concentration difference induced microstructure transformation of large-area vapor-grown carbon nanofibers
Authors: Tang Xian , Xie Zhiyong , Yang Piaopiao , Liu Chunxuan , Huang Dong , Huang Qizhong
Published: October 2013

We explore the effect of mass transport on the microstructure formation of chemical-vapor-deposited carbon nanofibers (CNFs), considering the decrease in carbon source gas concentration along the large-area substrate surface. The microstructures of the CNFs grown along the substrate are transformed from porous, to platelet, to herringbone, and exhibit increased graphite ordering. A model for CNF growth under different reactant concentrations is suggested. The results indicate the critical role of mass transport on the CNF growth mechanism and suggest that adjusting the reactant concentration is an easy way of controlling the CNF microstructures during large-area synthesis.
Whither Justice? An Analysis of Local Climate Change Responses from South East Queensland, Australia
Authors: MacCallum Diana , Byrne Jason , Steele Wendy
Published: October 2013

Climate change is a highly contested policy issue in Australia, generating fierce debate at every level of governance. In this paper we explore a crucial tension in both the policy and the public debate: a seeming lack of attention to social inclusion and broader equity implications. We pay special attention to the municipal scale, where concerns about social difference and democratic participation are often foregrounded in political discourse, using South East Queensland—a recognised climate change ‘hotspot’—as a case study. Mobilising critical discourse analysis techniques, we interrogate three local government climate change response strategies, and place these in the context of transscalar discourse networks which appear to sustain a technocratic, ‘ecological modernisation’ approach to the issue. Finally, we suggest a broad strategy for reimagining this approach to embed a notion of climate justice in our policy thinking about climate change.
Bey or bouy
Authors: Oenbring Raymond
Published: October 2013

This paper is the first study of the orthographic patterns of speakers of Bahamian Creole English (BCE) when attempting to write their language in online environments. For the study, a corpus of 2.5 million words was retrieved from the online forum site . Corpus-linguistic software packages were used to determine keywords, concordances, and token frequencies. The study finds that there exists evidence of a non-codified common core of spellings in BCE, a pattern that has not up to now been described in an academic publication. The piece has implications for future lexicographic and orthographic studies of BCE.
The doctorate in Second Language Acquisition
Authors: Thomas Margaret
Published: October 2013

This article surveys nine graduate programs that confer doctoral degrees in Second Language Acquisition, the first of which was founded in 1988, 25 years ago. I examine warrants for the establishment of PhD programs in second language acquisition, the array of institutional bases on which they rest, and their curricula. I also point out distinctive features of particular programs, and report some of the ways in which this relatively new option for graduate education in the field of second language acquisition can be assessed. The goal is to reflect on what the existence and content of PhD programs in second language acquisition contributes to the discipline overall.
The 2012 Josephine Waters Bennett Lecture: The Eighteenth-Century Invention of the Renaissance: Lessons from the Uffizi*
Authors: Findlen Paula
Published: October 2013

This essay explores the role that the eighteenth-century Uffizi gallery played in the invention of the Renaissance. Under the Habsburg-Lorraine rulers, and especially during the reign of Grand Duke Peter Leopold (r. 1765–90), changes to the Medici collections and the gallery’s organization transformed an early modern cabinet of curiosities, paintings, and antiquities into a space in which a historical narrative of art, inspired by rereadings of Giorgio Vasari’s Lives, became visible in a building he designed. A succession of Uffizi personnel was increasingly preoccupied with how to see renaissance, and more specifically Tuscan rinascita, in the collections. The struggles between the director Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni and his vice-director Luigi Lanzi highlight how different understandings of the Renaissance emerged in dialogue with antiquarianism and medievalism. At the end of the eighteenth century the Uffizi would definitively become a museum of the Renaissance to inspire new forms of historical writing in the age of Michelet and Burckhardt.
Assessing the Relative Burden of Hospital-Acquired Infections in a Network of Community Hospitals
Authors: Lewis Sarah S. , Moehring Rebekah W. , Chen Luke F. , Sexton Daniel J. , Anderson Deverick J.
Published: October 2013

Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) occur commonly, cause significant harm to patients, and result in excess healthcare expenditures. The urinary tract is frequently cited as the most common site of HAI, but these estimates were extrapolated from National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance (NNIS) data from the 1990s. Updated information regarding the relative burden of specific types of HAIs would help governmental agencies and other stakeholders within the field of infection prevention to prioritize areas for research and innovation. The objective of our study was to assess the relative proportion of HAIs attributed to each of the following 5 types of infection in a network of community hospitals: catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI), surgical site infection (SSI), ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), central line–associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI), and Clostridium difficile infection (CDI).

We performed a retrospective cohort study using prospectively collected HAI surveillance data from hospitals participating in the Duke Infection Control Outreach Network (DICON). DICON hospital epidemiologists and liaison infection preventionists work directly with local hospital infection preventionists to provide surveillance data validation, benchmarking, and infection prevention consultation services to participating hospitals.
The Hsp70/90 cochaperone, Sti1, suppresses proteotoxicity by regulating spatial quality control of amyloid-like proteins
Authors: Wolfe Katie J. , Ren Hong Yu , Trepte Philipp , Cyr Douglas M.
Published: October 2013

Conformational diseases are associated with the conversion of normal proteins into aggregation-prone toxic conformers with structures similar to that of β-amyloid. Spatial distribution of amyloid-like proteins into intracellular quality control centers can be beneficial, but cellular mechanisms for protective aggregation remain unclear. We used a high-copy suppressor screen in yeast to identify roles for the Hsp70 system in spatial organization of toxic polyglutamine-expanded Huntingtin (Huntingtin with 103Q glutamine stretch [Htt103Q]) into benign assemblies. Under toxic conditions, Htt103Q accumulates in unassembled states and speckled cytosolic foci. Subtle modulation of Sti1 activity reciprocally affects Htt toxicity and the packaging of Htt103Q into foci. Loss of Sti1 exacerbates Htt toxicity and hinders foci formation, whereas elevation of Sti1 suppresses Htt toxicity while organizing small Htt103Q foci into larger assemblies. Sti1 also suppresses cytotoxicity of the glutamine-rich yeast prion [RNQ+] while reorganizing speckled Rnq1–monomeric red fluorescent protein into distinct foci. Sti1-inducible foci are perinuclear and contain proteins that are bound by the amyloid indicator dye thioflavin-T. Sti1 is an Hsp70 cochaperone that regulates the spatial organization of amyloid-like proteins in the cytosol and thereby buffers proteotoxicity caused by amyloid-like proteins.
Increased Risk of Intraoperative Awareness in Patients with a History of Awareness
Authors: Aranake Amrita , Gradwohl Stephen , Ben-Abdallah Arbi , Lin Nan , Shanks Amy , Helsten Daniel L. , Glick David B. , Jacobsohn Eric , Villafranca Alex J. , Evers Alex S. , Avidan Michael S. , Mashour George A.
Published: October 2013

Background:

Patients with a history of intraoperative awareness with explicit recall (AWR) are hypothesized to be at higher risk for AWR than the general surgical population. In this study, the authors assessed whether patients with a history of AWR (1) are actually at higher risk for AWR; (2) receive different anesthetic management; and (3) are relatively resistant to the hypnotic actions of volatile anesthetics.

Methods:

Patients with a history of AWR and matched controls from three randomized clinical trials investigating prevention of AWR were compared for relative risk of AWR. Anesthetic management was compared with the use of the Hotelling’s T2 statistic. A linear mixed model, including previously identified covariates, assessed the effects of a history of AWR on the relationship between end-tidal anesthetic concentration and bispectral index.

Results:

The incidence of AWR was 1.7% (4 of 241) in patients with a history of AWR and 0.3% (4 of 1,205) in control patients (relative risk = 5.0; 95% CI, 1.3–19.9). Anesthetic management did not differ between cohorts, but there was a significant effect of a history of AWR on the end-tidal anesthetic concentration versus bispectral index relationship.

Conclusions:

Surgical patients with a history of AWR are five times more likely to experience AWR than similar patients without a history of AWR. Further consideration should be given to modifying perioperative care and postoperative evaluation of patients with a history of AWR.
Dual Functions of Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM as Protection Against Rotavirus Diarrhea
Authors: Liu Fangning , Wen Ke , Li Guohua , Yang Xingdong , Kocher Jacob , Bui Tammy , Jones Dorothy , Pelzer Kevin , Clark‐Deener Sherrie , Yuan Lijuan
Published: October 2013

Objective:

The aim of the study was to examine the dose effects of Lactobacillus acidophilus (LA) NCFM strain on rotavirus‐specific antibody and B‐cell responses in gnotobiotic pigs vaccinated with an oral attenuated human rotavirus (AttHRV).

Methods:

Pigs were inoculated with AttHRV vaccine in conjunction with high‐dose LA (14 doses, total 2.2 × 109 colony‐forming units [CFU]), intermediate‐dose LA (MidLA) (9 doses, total 3.2 × 106 CFU), low‐dose LA (LoLA) (5 doses, total 2.1 × 106 CFU), or without LA feeding. Protection against rotavirus shedding and diarrhea was assessed upon challenge with a virulent HRV. Rotavirus‐specific immunoglobulin A (IgA) and IgG antibodies in serum and rotavirus‐specific IgA and IgG antibody‐secreting cells (ASCs) and memory B cells in ileum, spleen, and blood of the pigs were measured and compared among treatment groups.

Results:

The MidLA, but not high‐dose LA or LoLA, significantly reduced rotavirus diarrhea (MidLA‐only group) and significantly improved the protection conferred by AttHRV vaccine (MidLA + AttHRV group). Associated with the increased protection, MidLA significantly enhanced rotavirus‐specific antibody, ASCs, and memory B‐cell responses to AttHRV vaccine. High‐dose LA or LoLA did not enhance virus‐specific antibody and ASC responses, and hence did not improve the vaccine efficacy.

Conclusions:

These findings highlight the importance of dose selection and indicate that certain specific lactobacilli strains at the appropriate dose have the dual function of reducing rotavirus diarrhea and enhancing the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of rotavirus vaccines.
Asymmetric effect of market liquidity demand shocks on price shocks
Authors: Xu Xinzhe , Yang Chaojun , Chen Daolun , Chen Gongmeng
Published: October 2013

Purpose

– With the launch of CSI 300 Index Futures trading on April 16, 2010, China's stock market presents a more diversified trend, such as arbitrage, trends strategy entering the market rapidly. Therefore, the liquidity demand also presents a higher frequency, and the change is more complex than the original situation. In recent years, many literatures are engaged in high-frequency trading (HFT) related research, and an important concern is the impact of HFT on market volatility and liquidity. Is it playing the role of stabilizing the market, or bringing more noise and turmoil? Based on this, the purpose of this study is trying to study what kind of impact the HFT have on market liquidity before and after the launch of the CSI 300 Index Futures.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper uses the simultaneous equations model of price and net order flow proposed by Deuskar and Johnson and for the first time introduces an asymmetric identification through heteroskedasticity (ITH) method. The paper applies the method to the high-frequency data of CSI 300 Index and the Futures and classifies the buying and selling orders through volume clock. The price risks are decomposed into a component driven by the impact of liquidity demand shocks (flow-driven risks (FDRs)) and a component driven by external information (information-driven risks (IDRs)).

Findings

– The empirical results show that the flow-driven risk of CSI 300 Index Futures is about 20 percent. In addition, before the introduction of the Index Futures, there is no asymmetric effect between liquidity demand shocks and price shocks existing in either CSI 300 Index or CSI 300 Index Futures. While after the introduction of stock Index Futures, the asymmetric effect in the both two markets emerges. The impact of the buying net order flows on the price is less than the impact of the selling net order flows on CSI 300 Index, whereas the impact of the buying net order flows on the price is larger than the impact of the selling net order flows on CSI 300 Index Futures. The paper further analyzes the relationship between liquidity and FDR and gets the conclusion that the reasons for the deterioration of the liquidity level are caused by the impact of the external information shocks, rather than the liquidity demand shocks. And entries of HFTs like arbitrage traders and hedge traders play a positive role in improving the liquidity level in the market.

Originality/value

– The paper introduces an asymmetric ITH method for the first time and finds asymmetric effect of the net order flow on the return in both CSI 300 Index market and the corresponding Index Futures market.
Simulation to effect of monetary policy with constraint threshold
Authors: Ma Li , Yang Jiayi , Niu Yong
Published: October 2013

Purpose

– Since monetary policy has great economic impacts, before the policy implementation, careful simulation combined with real economy movement condition can predict the policy implementation effect and reduce the cost of monetary policy implementation effectively. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper selects the large commercial banks in China as the research objects, takes commercial bank capital adequacy requirement as the threshold constraint on the traditional monetary policy transmission path, and simulates the implementation effects of policy combination by applying computer technology.

Findings

– It shows that the threshold effect of capital restriction policy will affect the transmission path of monetary policy, suppress the collective irrational behavior caused by the profit maximization behavior of commercial banks, and control the excessive fluctuation of macro economy.

Research limitations/implications

– If using capital adequacy constraints threshold function scientifically and appropriately, the paper can effectively eliminate the negative effect of short-term traditional monetary policy transmission mechanism, control the macroeconomic overall risk within a predetermined range, and realize the goal of monetary policy with low cost.

Originality/value

– Based on the theory of credit rationing from Stigliz and Weiss, combining threshold factors of capital restraint policy with the traditional monetary policy transmission path, this paper examines that the policy combination may lead to the implementation effect. The method of simulation used in this paper has not been found in other literatures, and the results have strong implications to set up a reasonable and scientific macro-prudential banking regulation framework.