bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Highly Active CoFe Layered Double Hydroxide for Water Splitting
Authors: Feng Lanxiang , Li Airong , Li Yuxuan , Liu Jia , Wang Leidanyang , Huang Lieyuan , Wang Yong , Ge Xingbo
Published: February 2017

Highly active, cost‐effective, and durable catalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are required in energy conversion and storage processes. A facile synthesis of CoFe layered double hydroxide (CoFe LDH) is reported as a highly active and stable oxygen evolution catalyst. By varying the concentration of the metal ion precursor, the Co/Fe ratios of LDH products can be tuned from 0.5 to 7.4. The structure and electrocatalytic activity of the obtained catalysts were found to show a strong dependence on the Co/Fe ratios. The Co2Fe1 LDH sample exhibited the best electrocatalytic performance for OER with an onset potential of 1.52 V (vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode, RHE) and a Tafel slope of 83 mV dec−1. The Co2Fe1 LDH was further loaded onto a Ni foam (NF) substrate to form a 3D porous architecture electrode, offering a long‐term current density of 100 mA cm−2 at 1.65 V (vs. RHE) towards the OER.
Laser surface modification of 316L stainless steel
Authors: Balla Vamsi Krishna , Dey Sangeetha , Muthuchamy Adiyen A. , Janaki Ram G. D. , Das Mitun , Bandyopadhyay Amit
Published: February 2017

Medical grade 316L stainless steel was laser surface melted (LSM) using continuous wave Nd‐YAG laser in argon atmosphere at 1 and 5 mm/s. The treated surfaces were characterized using electron backscatter diffraction to study the influence of top surface crystallographic orientation and type of grain boundaries on corrosion resistance, wettability, and biocompatibility. The laser scan velocity was found to have a marginal influence on the surface roughness and the type of grain boundaries. However, the crystal orientation density was found to be relatively high in 1 mm/s samples. The LSM samples showed a higher concentration of {101} and {123} planes parallel to the sample surface as well as a higher fraction of low‐angle grain boundaries. The LSM samples were found to exhibit better surface wettability and enhanced the viability and proliferation of human fetal osteoblast cells in vitro when compared to the untreated samples. Further, the corrosion protection efficiency of 316L stainless steel was improved up to 70% by LSM in as‐processed condition. The increased concentration of {101} and {123} planes on surfaces of LSM samples increases their surface energy, which is believed to be responsible for the improved in vitro cell proliferation. Further, the increased lattice spacing of these planes and high concentration of low‐energy grain boundaries in LSM samples would have contributed to the better in vitro corrosion resistance than untreated 316L stainless steel. Our results indicate that LSM can be a potential treatment option for 316L stainless steel‐based biomedical devices to improve biocompatibility and corrosion resistance. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 106B: 569–577, 2018.
Design and Synthesis of Novel Nonsteroidal Phytoestrogen‐based Probes as Potential Biomarker: Evaluation of Anticancer Activity and Docking Studies
Authors: Kumar Sumit , Verma Nishant , Zubair Swaleha , Faisal Syed Mohd , Kazmi Shadab , Chakraborty Sudipta , Owais M. , Ahmed Naseem
Published: February 2017

Two series of novel flavones and flavone‐tanaproget conjugates were designed, synthesized, 125I­radiolabeled, and evaluated for their antiproliferative activity against human cancer cell lines (MCF‐7, MDA‐MB‐231, and HeLa). They exhibited good‐to‐excellent in vitro antiproliferative activity. For improving the receptor‐binding affinity of synthesized compounds, flavone‐tanaproget moieties were linked together through alkyl‐alkenyl chain spacer, and the butyl chain was substituted at C‐3 position of oxa‐ and aza‐flavones to enhance the lypophilicity of the molecule. These compounds are hypothesized to bind with estrogen and progesterone receptors by docking studies, and binding affinities were shown to increase significantly compared with the reference ligands.
Antibacterial and Antifungal Activities of 2‐(substituted ether)‐5‐(1‐phenyl‐5‐(trifluoromethyl)‐1H‐pyrazol‐4‐yl)‐1,3,4‐oxadiazole Derivatives
Authors: Zhang Teng‐Teng , Wang Pei‐Yi , Zhou Jian , Shao Wu‐Bin , Fang He‐Shu , Zhou Xiang , Wu Zhi‐Bing
Published: February 2017

By replacing the amide bond into 1,3,4‐oxadiazole moiety, a series of 1‐phenyl‐5‐(trifluoromethyl)‐1H‐pyrazole derivatives bearing 1,3,4‐oxadiazole were synthesized and evaluated their antibacterial and antifungal activity. The bioassay results revealed that compounds 7a and 7b showed the strongest antibacterial activity toward pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae with the EC50 values of 15.0 and 6.4 µg/mL, respectively; compound 6a exhibited comprehensive antifungal activity toward six kinds of fungi; compound 6f could selectively inhibit the growth of Sclertinia sclerotiorum and Rhizoctonia solani with the inhibition rates of 82.5 and 80.3% at the concentrate of 100 µg/mL, respectively; compound 7b exerted good antifungal activity toward Fusarium oxysporum, Cytospora mandshurica, and Rhizoctonia solani with the inhibition rates of 70.8, 69.5, and 71.5%, respectively. The results suggested that this kind of compounds could be further studied as promising antimicrobial agents.
Getting away from them all: Managing exhaustion from social interaction with telework
Authors: Windeler Jaime B. , Chudoba Katherine M. , Sundrup Rui Z.
Published: February 2017

Drawing on the conservation of resources and recovery literatures, we examine how social job characteristics—interpersonal interaction, job interdependence, and external interaction—relate to work exhaustion. We then explore the efficacy of a part‐time telework (PTT) practice in alleviating work exhaustion associated with social interaction. Study 1 is a within‐subject assessment of work exhaustion before and after a PTT practice; participants are 51 information technology professionals in a financial services firm. Study 2 is a between‐subject assessment of work exhaustion among part‐time teleworkers and non‐teleworkers; participants are 258 U.S. workers spanning a variety of industries. Study 2 replicated the model tested in Study 1, and we extended the conceptualization of interpersonal interaction to examine both quantity and quality of interaction. In both studies, PTT provided a recovery opportunity, attenuating the relationship between interpersonal interaction and work exhaustion; however, after PTT but not before, work exhaustion increased as external interaction increased. In Study 2, work exhaustion decreased as interaction quality increased; in contrast, work exhaustion increased as interaction quantity increased and PTT attenuated this relationship. Our recommendations aim to help balance telework practices in light of social job characteristics and their opposing effects on work exhaustion. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Separation of epimeric aromatic acid (−)‐menthol esters by countercurrent chromatography using hydroxypropyl‐β‐cyclodextrin as an additive
Authors: Wang Xiaoping , Lv Liqiong , Bu Zhisi , Yan Jizhong , Tong Shengqiang
Published: February 2017

The separation of ten epimeric aromatic acid (−)‐menthol esters by countercurrent chromatography with hydroxypropyl‐β‐cyclodextrin as the mobile phase additive was investigated, and methods for the analysis of all the epimeric esters by reversed‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography were established. A biphasic solvent system composed of n‐hexane/20–70% methanol containing 50 mmol/L of hydroxypropyl‐β‐cyclodextrin (1:1, v/v) was selected, which provided high separation factors for five of the epimeric esters, and successful separations by countercurrent chromatography were achieved. The complete separation of five pairs of epimeric ester was obtained with the purity being over 98% for each peak fractions, as determined by high‐performance liquid chromatography. The recovery of each analyte from the eluted fractions reached around 80–88%.
Evaluation of the interaction between hydroxyapatite and bisphosphonate by nonlinear capillary electrochromatography
Authors: Kong Deying , Chen Zilin
Published: February 2017

Bisphosphonates are a class of chemical compounds used to treat diseases caused by increased bone resorption. Zoledronate is a third‐generation bisphosphonate drug. Hydroxyapatite is main mineral constituent of bones, which can be bound by bisphosphonates in vivo. In this work, we report a method of nonlinear capillary electrochromatography for study on the interaction between hydroxyapatite and bisphosphonate. Hydroxyapatite was modified on the inner wall of capillary by a biomimetic‐mineralization method. Then nonlinear chromatography was used to fit and analyze the interaction between zoledronate and hydroxyapatite. The association rate constants of zoledronate in hydroxyapatite‐modified capillary and bare capillary are 642.3 and 195/M/min, respectively. This indicates that there is strong binding interactions and affinity between zoledronate and hydroxyapatite. Besides, the interaction between zoledronate and hydroxyapatite was confirmed further by ultraviolet spectroscopy. The method of nonlinear capillary electrochromatography provides a fast and effect approach for studying of bone metabolism disease by evaluation of interaction between hydroxyapatite and bisphosphonates.
Tetrakis(2,4,6‐Trimethylbenzoyl)Silane—A Novel Photoinitiator for Visible Light Curing
Authors: Mitterbauer Moritz , Haas Michael , Stüger Harald , Moszner Norbert , Liska Robert
Published: February 2017

Visible light curing of photopolymers has gained increasing interest in recent years. Dental materials are one of the important areas of application, where the bimolecular camphorquinone/amine initiator system is currently state of the art initiator. In this study, the authors describe the synthesis and photochemistry of tetrakis(2,4,6‐trimethylbenzoyl)silane, as cleavable Type I visible light photoinitiator. Besides excellent photobleaching behavior, this photoinitiator can well compete with up to now used long wavelength initiators.

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A genetic female mouse model with congenital genitourinary anomalies and adult stages of urinary incontinence
Authors: Akbari Pedram , Fathollahi Ali , Mo Rong , Kavran Michael , Episalla Nicole , Hui Chi‐Chung , Farhat Walid A. , Hijaz Adonis K.
Published: February 2017

AIMS

To characterize the urinary incontinence observed in adult Gli2+/−; Gli3Δ699/+ female mice and identify the defects underlying the condition.

METHODS

Gli2+/− and Gli3Δ699/+ mice were crossed to generate: wild‐type, mutant Gli2 (Gli2+/−), mutant Gli3 (Gli3Δ699/+), and double mutant (Gli2+/−; Gli3Δ699/+) female mice, verified via Polymerase Chain Reactions. Bladder functional studies including cystometrogram (CMG), leak point pressure (LPP), and voiding testing were performed on adult female mice. Female bladders and urethras were also analyzed via ink injection and histological assays.

RESULTS

CMG tracing showed no signal corresponding to the filling of the Gli2+/−; Gli3Δ699/+ bladders. LPP were significantly reduced in Gli2+/−; Gli3Δ699/+ mice compared to wild‐type mice. CMG studies revealed a decrease in peak micturition pressure values in Gli2+/−; Gli3Δ699/+ mice compared with all other groups. No significant differences between mutant and wild‐type mice were detected in urinary output. Histological analyses revealed Gli2+/−; Gli3Δ699/+ mice exhibited a widened urethra and a decrease in smooth muscle layer thickness in the bladder outlet and urethra, with increased mucosal folding.

CONCLUSIONS

Gli2+/−; Gli3Δ699/+ adult female mice display persistent urinary incontinence due to the malformation of the bladder outlet and urethra. This presents a consistent and reliable genetic mouse model for female urinary incontinence and alludes to the key role of genetic factors involved in the condition.
Ascitic fluid drainage using a peritoneal dialysis catheter to prevent and treat multi‐organ dysfunction in veno‐occlusive disease in children undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
Authors: Parmar Vijal , Lewis Malcolm , Shenoy Mohan , Bonney Denise , Wynn Robert
Published: February 2017

Veno‐occlusive disease (VOD), or sinusoidal obstruction syndrome, is a well‐recognised, serious complication associated with the chemotherapy conditioning therapy used in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Fluid management is typically challenging in children with this condition. We describe effective early use of peritoneal dialysis catheters to drain extravascular, intra‐abdominal fluid in children with VOD, allowing intravascular fluid administration to preserve renal perfusion and function, preventing multi‐organ dysfunction. All but one of the children are long‐term survivors, both of their significant VOD and their HSCT. The child that did not survive died from their underlying metabolic illness, not VOD.
Blastic transformation of juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia caused by the copy number gain of oncogenic KRAS
Authors: Osumi Tomoo , Kato Motohiro , Ouchi‐Uchiyama Meri , Tomizawa Daisuke , Kataoka Keisuke , Fujii Yoichi , Seki Masafumi , Takita Junko , Ogawa Seishi , Uchiyama Toru , Ohki Kentaro , Kiyokawa Nobutaka
Published: February 2017

Previous studies have reported several cases of juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) developing blastic transformation during an indolent clinical course, but the underlying mechanism of transformation is still not well understood. In this report, we describe a case of JMML with blastic transformation possibly caused by additional copy number gains of the KRAS mutant allele. We have discovered that the copy number gain of the mutant allele is an additional possible cause of blastic transformation in JMML.
Opicapone: once‐daily adjunctive therapy for Parkinson's disease
Authors: Chaplin Steve
Published: February 2017

Opicapone (Ongentys) is a new once‐daily catechol‐O‐methyl transferase (COMT) inhibitor with a long duration of action allowing once‐daily dosing, licensed for adjunctive therapy in adults with Parkinson's disease and end‐of‐dose motor fluctuations. This article discusses its indications, efficacy and adverse effects.
Role of polyvinylpyrrolidone bound on silver nanowire surface: Balancing among electrical conductance, sulfuration resistance, and flexibility
Authors: Tomioka Akihiro , Masuda Akihiro , Fushii Sho , Matsuba Yoshitaka , Haru Yuki
Published: February 2017

The electrical conductivity of silver nanowires (AgNWs) deposited on two types of flexible plastic sheets was traced while being bent at 1 mm radius of curvature, which led to a suggestion of a possible role of surface‐bound PVP as a “glue”, but also to a suggestion of weak “glue” to bind AgNWs to a sheet as preferred for bending durability. Ar plasma bombardment successfully partially removed the surface‐bound insulator PVP, leading to better electrical conductivity. It also suppressed the Rayleigh–Plateau instability of AgNWs well above 300 °C, which has the practical importance of enabling thermal treatment above 300 °C in the atmosphere. PVP proved to endow AgNWs with the antisulfuration and ‐oxidation resistance against two weeks’ exposure to ambient conditions, even after partial removal of PVP by Ar plasma bombardment.
Pollen record of the centennial climate changes during 9–7 cal ka BP in the Changjiang (Yangtze) River Delta plain, China
Authors: Song Bing , Li Zhen , Lu Houyuan , Mao Limi , Saito Yoshiki , Yi Sangheon , Lim Jaesoo , Li Zhen , Lu Anqing , Sha Longbing , Zhou Rui , Zuo Xinxin , Pospelova Vera
Published: February 2017

We reconstructed the centennial climate changes for the period of 9–7 cal ka BP in the upper region of the Changjiang (Yangtze) River Delta plain. A general warming and wetting trend from 8560 to 7220 cal yr BP was indicated by the decrease inQuercus(deciduous) and increases inQuercus(evergreen),Pinus, and Polypodiaceae spores. However, there were several brief climate fluctuations. A notable palynological change, from regional assemblages dominated by arboreal pollen to local assemblages mainly consisting of nonarboreal pollen, reflects climate fluctuations. The key indices ofQuercus(deciduous),Pinus, herbs, fern spores, and palynological concentrations showed similar signs of centennial climate fluctuations. We suggest that the climate changes of the Dongge Cave and Yangtze River Delta regions were mainly affected by the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) during the period of 9–7 cal ka BP. The general warming trend may be associated with an intensified EASM, and solar activity may be one of the important factors driving the centennial climate changes. The ~8.2 ka event was also recorded in the Yangtze River Delta region, which suggests that there was a close relationship between the EASM and Greenland climate during the early Holocene.
Dynamic characterization of structural changes in vapochromic compounds by pair distribution function
Authors: Caliandro R. , Belviso B. D. , Cuocci C. , Fuertes S. , Sicilia V. , Hanson J. C. , Tutuncu G. , Doorhyee E. , Altomare A.
Published: February 2017

Two examples of anionic complexes having vapochromic behavior are investigated: [K(H2O)][Pt(ppy)(CN)2] “Pt(ppy)” and [K(H2O)][Pt(bzq)(CN)2] “Pt(bzq)”, where ppy = 2-phenylpyridinate and bzq = 7,8-benzoquinolate. These monohydrate-potassium salts exhibit a change in color from purple to yellow [Pt(ppy)] and from red to yellow [Pt(bzq)] upon heating to 110 °C, and they transform back into the original color upon absorption of water molecules from the environment. Available only in the form of polycrystalline samples, no structural information on such compounds is accessible, due to highly overlapping peaks in powder diffraction profiles. We use in situ Pair Distribution Function measurements on powder samples to investigate the dynamics of the structural changes induced by temperature variations. By means of a multivariate approach, we were able to extract dynamic structural information from collected profiles without using prior knowledge on the static crystal structure of the compounds. The critical temperature and the characteristics of the vapochromic transition have been identified, as well as the main structural changes causing it.
Determination of the [Pt(NH3)5Cl]Br3crystal structure from X-ray powder diffraction data using multi-population genetic algorithm
Authors: Zaloga A. N. , Yakimov I. S. , Dubinin P. S.
Published: February 2017

The paper describes an approach for automated crystal structure solution from powder diffraction data using the multi-population genetic algorithm (MPGA). The advantage of using co-evolution with the best individual exchange, compared with the using of the evolution with a single genetic algorithm without interpopulation exchange, is shown. As an example, the paper describes the use of MPGA for solving the [Pt(NH3)5Cl]Br3crystal structure, having the tetragonalI41/aspace group [a= 17.2587(5) Å,c= 15.1164(3) Å,Z= 16, unit-cell volumeV= 4502.61(10) Å3]. The MPGA convergence charts and the atomic positions distribution maps of the MPGA populations are given. The description of the final structure solution is also shown.
Botanical Gardens and their Role in the Political Economy of Empire: Jamaica (1846–86)
Authors: TAYLOR DUNCAN
Published: February 2017

A variety of plants were distributed across Jamaica from the island's botanical gardens during the second half of the nineteenth century. This work became increasingly important over the period dating from 1846 to the end of the century when succeeding superintendents (subsequently directors) eagerly promoted the scheme. Yet, each head differed in their reasons to send out this ‘useful’ flora. In this article I consider the three men in charge of the public gardens from 1846 to 1886 and the context in which they decided that local plant distribution was important to pursue. Diversification of economic crops occurred, despite the plantocracy arguing that sugar and a few other plantation plants were the be all and end all of the Jamaican agricultural economy. By contextualising this activity we can tentatively start to unpick the role of minor officials in colonial life and the development of an aim to enrol the island's petty agriculturalist in particular economies calibrated around ideas of free trade, class and ‘race’.
ZEB1 regulates glioma stemness through LIF repression
Authors: Edwards Lincoln A. , Li Aiguo , Berel Dror , Madany Mecca , Kim Nam-Ho , Liu Minzhi , Hymowitz Mitch , Uy Benjamin , Jung Rachel , Xu Minlin , Black Keith L. , Rentsendorj Altan , Fan Xuemo , Zhang Wei , Yu John S.
Published: February 2017

The identification of a stem cell regulatory gene which is aberrantly expressed in glioma and associated with patient survival would increase the understanding of the role of glioma cancer stem cells (GCSCs) in the virulence of gliomas. Interrogating the genomes of over 4000 brain cancers we identifiedZEB1deletion in ~15% (grade II and III) and 50% of glioblastomas. Meta-analysis ofZEB1copy number status in 2,988 cases of glioma revealed disruptiveZEB1deletions associated with decreased survival. We identifiedZEB1binding sites within the LIF (stemness factor) promoter region, and demonstrate LIF repression by ZEB1. ZEB1 knockdown in GCSCs causedLIFinduction commensurate with GCSC self-renewal and inhibition of differentiation. IFN-γ treatment to GCSCs induced ZEB1 expression, attenuating LIF activities. These findings implicateZEB1as a stem cell regulator in glioma which when deleted leads to increased stemness, tumorigenicity and shortened patient survival.
Validation of the Hunt Squash Accuracy Test used to assess individual shot performance
Authors: Williams Benjamin Kane , Bourdon Pitre Collier , Graham-Smith Philip , Sinclair Peter J.
Published: February 2017

This study examined the validity of the Hunt Squash Accuracy Test (HSAT) for predicting within-game shot performance and tournament rank. Shots from eight male junior squash players performing the HSAT and tournament match-play were analysed. A typical-error analysis from repeated trials showed the HSAT to be very reliable (1.82%). HSAT rank had significant correlations (p < 0.05) to tournament rank (r = 0.98) and tournament shot success (r = 0.95). HSAT score showed significant correlations to the percentage of winning shots during match-play (r = 0.88). HSAT shots with significant correlations to successful match-play shots were backhand-drive (r = 0.92) and backhand-volley (r = 0.97). These results suggest the HSAT is a valid method of assessing the accuracy and performance of junior squash players. It could potentially be used to track shot improvements and predict match-play performance.
Application of Triphenylammonium Tricyanomethanide as an Efficient and Recyclable Nanostructured Molten-Salt Catalyst for the Synthesis of N-Benzylidene-2-arylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-3-amines
Authors: Baghery Saeed , Zolfigol Mohammad , Schirhagl Romana , Hasani Masoumeh
Published: February 2017

Triphenylammonium tricyanomethanide (Ph3NH)[C(CN)3] was synthesized and used as an efficient and recyclable nanostructured molten-salt (NMS) catalyst for the synthesis of N-benzylidene-2-arylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-3-amines by the reaction of various (het)aryl aldehydes with trimethylsilyl cyanide and pyridin-2-amine under solvent-free conditions at 50 °C. The NMS catalyst could be simply recycled and reused several times without significant loss of its catalytic activity.
Very strong antiferromagnetic interlayer exchange coupling with iridium spacer layer for perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions
Authors: Yakushiji Kay , Sugihara Atsushi , Fukushima Akio , Kubota Hitoshi , Yuasa Shinji
Published: February 2017

We systematically studied the interlayer exchange coupling (IEC) in a perpendicular synthetic antiferromagnetically coupled structure having an Ir spacer layer for perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions (p-MTJs). We found a broader peak in IEC energy density (Jex) versus spacer thickness (tIr) compared with the case of using a Ru spacer. The highest IEC energy density was 2.6 erg/cm2 at a tIr of about 5 nm. The p-MTJ nanopillars had a high magnetoresistance ratio (131%) as well as a high spin-transfer torque (STT) switching efficiency (about 2). An Ir spacer can be used to make a stable reference layer for STT magnetoresistive random access memory.
Mapping QTLs for 100-seed weight in an interspecific soybean cross of Williams 82 (Glycine max) and PI 366121 (Glycine soja)
Authors: Kulkarni Krishnanand P. , Asekova Sovetgul , Lee Dong-Ho , Bilyeu Kristin , Song Jong Tae , Lee Jeong-Dong
Published: February 2017

Seed weight can be an important component for soybean quality and yield. The objective of the present study was to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for 100-seed weight by using 169 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from the cross Williams 82 × PI 366121. The parental lines and RILs were grown for four consecutive years (2012–15) in the field. The seeds were harvested after maturity, dried and used to measure 100-seed weight. Analysis of variance indicated significant differences among the RILs for 100-seed weight. The environment had significant effect on seed-weight expression as indicated by the genotype × environment interaction. QTL analysis employing inclusive composite interval mapping of additive QTLs implemented in QTL IciMapping (Version 4.1) identified nine QTLs (LOD >3) on chromosomes 1, 2, 6, 8, 13, 14, 17 and 20. The individual QTLs explained phenotypic variation in the range 6.1–12.4%. The QTLs were detected in one or two environments, indicating major influence of the growing environment on seed-weight expression. Four QTLs identified in this study, qSW-02_1, qSW-06_1, qSW-13_1 and qSW-14_1, were found to be new QTLs. The findings of the study may be helpful to reveal the molecular genetic basis of the seed-weight trait in soybean.
LEM2 recruits CHMP7 for ESCRT-mediated nuclear envelope closure in fission yeast and human cells
Authors: Gu Mingyu , LaJoie Dollie , Chen Opal S. , von Appen Alexander , Ladinsky Mark S. , Redd Michael J. , Nikolova Linda , Bjorkman Pamela J. , Sundquist Wesley I. , Ullman Katharine S. , Frost Adam
Published: February 2017

Significance

The molecular mechanism for sealing newly formed nuclear envelopes was unclear until the recent discovery that endosomal sorting complexes required for transport III (ESCRT-III) proteins mediate this process. Cmp7p (CHMP7), in particular, was identified as an early acting factor that recruits other ESCRT-III proteins to the nuclear envelope. A fundamental aspect of the varied roles of ESCRT factors is their recruitment by site-specific adaptors, yet the central question of how the ESCRT machinery is targeted to nuclear membranes has remained outstanding. Our study identifies the inner nuclear membrane protein LEM2 as a key, conserved factor that recruits CHMP7 and downstream ESCRT-III proteins to breaches in the nuclear envelope.
Mechanism and bottlenecks in strand photodissociation of split green fluorescent proteins (GFPs)
Authors: Lin Chi-Yun , Both Johan , Do Keunbong , Boxer Steven G.
Published: February 2017

Significance

Split GFPs have been used exclusively as imaging tools to study protein–protein interactions, but the irreversible nature of split GFP complementation can be highly perturbative. Dissociating the split GFP into constituent parts with light irradiation not only remedies this problem but also invites the opportunity for noninvasive optical control of biological processes. By elucidating an energetics–function model for split GFP strand photodissociation, we show that photodissociation is achieved by light-activated
cis-trans
isomerization of the chromophore, a mechanism pervasive among reversibly photoswitchable fluorescent proteins. This observation suggests that these proteins can be engineered to provide active control of in vivo processes as optogenetic tools in addition to their conventional roles as passive imaging reporters.
Specific phospholipid binding to Na,K-ATPase at two distinct sites
Authors: Habeck Michael , Kapri-Pardes Einat , Sharon Michal , Karlish Steven J. D.
Published: February 2017

Significance

Activity and structural integrity of membrane proteins can be regulated by physical properties of the bilayer or specific lipid–protein interactions. This work shows that key properties of the Na,K-ATPase are modulated independently by specific binding of 18:0/18:1 phosphatidylserine (PS) and 18:0/20:4 phosphatidylcholine (PC) in the absence of a bilayer. PS stabilizes the protein, and PC/ phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) stimulates Na,K-ATPase activity. We characterized effects of both types of phospholipids by kinetic approaches, mutant analyses, and native MS. Modulation of Na,K-ATPase function by PS and PC/PE is defined by the phospholipid structural specificity, binding stoichiometry within two specific binding sites, and the kinetic mechanism. We provide detailed mechanistic insights, potentially with important implications for physiological regulation of active Na and K transport.
Domesticity in Victorian Literature
Authors: Cohen Monica F.
Published: February 2017

When Victorian writers talked about the home, they invoked a range of contested ideas and complex affects about the material and imagined space where self and society meet. Emerging as a fully developed ideology by the middle of the 19th century, domesticity organized beliefs about the family, gender identity, sexuality, subject formation, socioeconomic class, work, civilization, and empire. As an ideology, Victorian domesticity pivots on two figures: the figure of separate spheres and the figure of the domestic woman. The binary logic of separate spheres identifies a private domain where femininity, leisure, feeling, and an ethic of care coalesce in opposition to a public domain where masculinity, work, industry, endurance, and an ethic of achievement preside. Governing the private sphere, the idealized middle-class domestic woman exercises a moral authority that derives from her naturally self-sacrificial spirit, a socioeconomic authority in managing a labor-intensive household, and a creative authority in using the materials of private life representing the family’s social status as a matter of financial and ethical respectability. In this sense, the home provided a rhetoric and narrative form for mapping an individual’s accommodation of social categories and economic forces. For better or worse, the image of the family hearth’s comfort, coziness and good cheer—its status as a haven in a heartless world—presided over a large swath of the Victorian imagination despite ripped patches that exposed domestic violence, sexual transgression, gender subordination, and socioeconomic coercion. For every sentimental Dickensian Christmas feast displaying a repentant miser breaking bread with a disabled waif, there were equally popular stories in which children are beaten, wives incarcerated, and households blighted by industrial suffering and bureaucratic indifference. Victorian domesticity thus relied on both mythologizing and demythologizing energies.
Video-Mediated Communication
Authors: Rintel Sean
Published: February 2017

This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. Please check back later for the full article.

Video-mediated communication (VMC) has a long history. Fictional depictions of variously named VMC systems began appearing in late 19th century illustrations and novels as plausible extensions of telegraphy, telephony, and filmic and televisual moving pictures. AT&T demonstrated experimental one-way combined telephone and television streams in 1927, and the German Post Office had a fully operative public videophone system as early as 1936. However, despite the apparent early progress, VMC has had a surprisingly rocky path to mainstream use—indeed, it might even be argued that VMC is still not the ubiquitous medium one would assume of “the next best thing to being there” (as Julius Molnar said of the AT&T Mod I in the 1960s). Commercial VMC and research have intertwined themes. Changing technologies and difficulties in institutional and domestic commercialization are set against research into the value, form-factors, and member methods for conveying social presence over distance. These issues are as relevant to current VMC as they have ever been, and augmented reality technologies will introduce yet more new opportunities and challenges.
Media Use in a Political Context: An Intergroup Communication Perspective
Authors: Lin Mei-Chen , Haridakis Paul
Published: February 2017

Individuals’ political membership of and identification with their political parties or ideologies influence how they interact with members of their own group/party (ingroup) and other groups/parties (outgroups). Such sense of “group-ness” (i.e., us-them) motivates people to find ways to posit their group in a positive light (i.e., ingroup favoritism) and engage in attitudes and behaviors that help maintain a desired political group status. These attitudes and behaviors can include a positively biased attitude toward one’s own political group over the other groups, a tendency to seek information that confirms the viewpoints and reflects positive aspects of one’s own political group, or a perception that the media exhibit bias toward their political group. Hence, we can consider political activities, attitudes, and communication (including media use) as inherently intergroup behaviors where members of political groups constantly appraise political discourse and political landscape through an intergroup lens. These intergroup phenomena are particularly salient during election seasons where political group boundaries are erected and political discourses around core ideological beliefs are debated.

Accordingly, it is important to understand better links between intergroup factors (e.g., intergroup attitudes and behaviors), and political media use. This requires: (a) examining how intergroup factors have been considered in political communication research; (b) assessing political media use and effects in a political context, specifically media effects that could potentially be driven by political group identity and political intergroup attitudes; (c) discussing studies that have highlighted intergroup variables in the process of media selection and effects and how we may conceptualize political media research in an intergroup framework; and (d) considering additional intergroup factors that might be relevant and informative to our understanding of political activities and attitudes and media selection and effects in political settings.
Political Participation and Voting Relevant to Climate Change
Authors: Vraga Emily K.
Published: February 2017

Political participation on the issue of climate change can encompass many different forms of individual and collective actions designed to affect governmental policies. At the most basic level, issue-specific political participation occurs when individuals directly attempt to influence governmental actors or policies on climate change—most notably by voting, but also through donating money and communicating with public officials. These types of participation tend to be relatively rare, limited to a small subset of deeply committed individuals. In contrast, personal action on climate change is more widely dispersed, especially if one includes impact-oriented actions (e.g., actions that influence the environment but are primarily undertaken for other reasons, like convenience or saving money) rather than purely intention-based actions, which occur when individuals adopt behaviors with the goal of addressing climate change. Additionally, opportunities to engage in expressive participation, largely online, create new spaces for individuals to build networks to engage in political action, as well as potentially to reach unengaged groups that are less likely to seek out information on the issue.

A number of forces can contribute to whether an individual chooses to participate on the issue of climate change. Individual characteristics, like perceptions of impersonal and personal risks associated with climate change, knowledge of the issues, and environmental values all tend to produce people more likely to participate—especially when these attitudes become part of an individual’s identity as an opinion leader or activist. As a global issue, social norms play a particularly powerful role; when individuals believe others support and are likely to take action themselves, it tends to foster a sense of efficacy that such behaviors will be effective in producing change. Individual choices about media sources also intersect with media coverage and framing of the issue to influence perceptions of the issue and likelihood of taking action. Such media framing can exacerbate or mitigate the heightened political polarization on the issue of climate change that has erected barriers to effective political action in many democratic societies in recent years, most notably in the United States. New forms of political participation may create opportunities to encourage more participation on the issue of climate change, but they also raise ethical questions about inequality and participatory divides that privilege some groups over others.
Quaternary Climate Variation in Eastern Africa
Authors: Johnson Thomas C.
Published: February 2017

The people of East Africa are particularly vulnerable to the whims of their regional climate. A rapidly growing population depends heavily on rain-fed agriculture, and when the rains deviate from normal, creating severe drought or flooding, the toll can be devastating in terms of starvation, disease, and political instability. Humanity depends upon climate models to ascertain how the climate will change in the coming decades, in response to anthropogenic forcing, to better comprehend what lies in store for East African society, and how they might best cope with the circumstances. These climate models are tested for their accuracy by comparing their output of past climate conditions against what we know of how the climate has evolved. East African climate has undergone dramatic change, as indicated by lake shorelines exposed several tens of meters above present lake levels, by seismic reflection profiles in lake basins displaying submerged and buried nearshore sedimentary sequences, and by the fossil and chemical records preserved in lake sediments, which indicate dramatic past change in lake water chemistry and biota, both within the lakes and in their catchments, in response to shifting patterns of rainfall and temperature. This history, on timescales from decades to millennia, and the mechanisms that account for the observed past climate variation, are summarized in this article. The focus of this article is on paleoclimate data and not on climate models, which are discussed thoroughly in an accompanying article in this volume. Very briefly, regional climate variability over the past few centuries has been attributed to shifting patterns of sea surface temperature in the Indian Ocean. The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) was an arid period throughout most of East Africa, with the exception of the coastal terrain), and the region did not experience much wetter conditions until around 15,000 years ago (15 ka). A brief return to drier times occurred during the Younger Dryas (YD) (12.9–11.7 ka), and then a wet African Humid Period until about 5 ka, after which the region, at least north of Lake Malawi at ~10º S latitude, became relatively dry again. The penultimate ice age was much drier than the LGM, and such megadroughts occurred several times over the previous 1.3 million years. While the African continent north of the equator experienced, on average, progressively drier conditions over the past few million years, unusually wet periods occurred around 2.7–2.5, 1.9–1.7, and 1.1–0.7 million years ago. By contrast, the Lake Malawi basin at ~10º—14º S latitude has undergone a trend of progressively wetter conditions superimposed on a glacial–dry, interglacial–wet cycle since the Mid-Pleistocene Transition at ~900 ka.
Policy Entrepreneurs and Foreign Policy Decision Making
Authors: Mintrom Michael , Luetjens Joannah
Published: February 2017

In recent years, significant effort has been applied to understanding and empirically testing the concept of policy entrepreneurship in a range of different settings. Despite these efforts, studies to date have tended to focus on policy entrepreneurs in domestic policy settings. Few have articulated the potential role that policy entrepreneurs play in understanding foreign policy decision-making. Coupled with theories and evidence from the field of foreign policy analysis, the concept of policy entrepreneurship lends itself to analyzing how actors in the foreign policy space draw attention to problems, advance workable proposals, and link outcomes to symbolic values. This article introduces and applies a framework for the analysis of policy entrepreneurs seeking to influence foreign policy decision-making. This framework is then used to underpin illustrative case studies of foreign policy entrepreneurs. The variety of recent scholarly contributions regarding policy entrepreneurs and foreign policy suggests that many more opportunities exist for such work to be conducted in the future. This is an exciting prospect. Valuable, generalizable insights are more likely to emerge from such a collective research enterprise if the various individual contributions are informed by greater conceptual coherence.
Potentially Harmful Treatments
Authors: Lilienfeld Scott O.
Published: February 2017

Although psychotherapy is on balance effective for a broad array of psychological problems, a relatively small but steadily accumulating body of evidence suggests that at least some psychological interventions are harmful. Until recently, however, relatively little research attention has been paid to the identification of harmful psychological treatments. Although it has long been recognized that a nontrivial minority of people become worse following therapy, this finding does not necessarily mean that they have become worse because of therapy. Nevertheless, recent research has homed in on a small subset of interventions that may produce psychological harm, physical harm, or both. In addition, there is growing interest in pinpointing potential mechanisms of deterioration effects in psychotherapy, as well as in distinguishing harmful therapies from harmful therapists.
U.S. Foreign Mission Movement, c. 1800–1860
Authors: Conroy-Krutz Emily
Published: February 2017

In the early 19th century, American Protestants began to send missionaries abroad as part of the foreign mission movement. They were responding to the Great Commission of the Bible: to go into the world and spread the Gospel. This historical moment allowed them to do so because of political and commercial developments that provided Americans with access to the peoples of the world in an unprecedented way. Emerging alongside religious revivalism and other large-scale movements for social reform, foreign missions responded to a sense of optimism at the time over the possibility of human action to be able to bring about the kingdom of God on Earth. This movement aimed at the conversion of the whole world to Protestant Christianity, which for many of these missionaries in these decades would also involve the embrace of cultural changes. In 1810, the new era of international missions began with the formation of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. By 1860, American missionaries were at work around the globe, with important stations in South and East Asia, Africa, the Middle East, the Pacific Islands, and the Americas. The conversion of the world, though, was out of their grasp; few converts came to the American missions in these years. In spite of that, missionaries opened schools, translated and distributed Scripture and other religious texts, and preached as widely as they could. As missionaries went abroad and sought to change the places they reached, they also became important sources of information about those places to their supporters at home. Missionary publications informed American readers about the people, cultures, and religions of the world and in so doing helped to shape American understandings of how the United States ought to relate to these other foreign spaces.
sexual representation, visual
Authors: Clarke John R.
Published: February 2017

This article treats visual representations of sex between human beings, hypersexual humans and demigods, and phalli in terms of their meanings for ancient Greeks and Romans and their viewing contexts. Building on the research of scholars holding that contemporary concepts of sexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality have no bearing on ancient attitudes and can only lead to anachronistic judgements if applied to the ancient world, the aim is to combine the evidence of classical texts with that of visual representations to determine the meanings of so-called erotica for ancient viewers. Many portrayals deemed pornographic by modern standards constituted proper decoration, whether they appear in the frescoed interiors of Roman houses or on drinking vessels, mirrors, and gemstones. Artists also created hypersexual creatures such as pygmies, Priapus, and Hermaphroditus primarily as apotropaia; representations of the phallus and of phallic deities installed on the streets and in the shops of cities had a similar apotropaic function.
Argument Realization in Syntax
Authors: Hovav Malka Rappaport
Published: February 2017

Words are sensitive to syntactic context. Argument realization is the study of the relation between argument-taking words, the syntactic contexts they appear in and the interpretive properties that constrain the relation between them.
Chinese Semantics
Authors: Pan Haihua , Feng Yuli
Published: February 2017

Cross-linguistic data can add new insights to the development of semantic theories or even induce the shift of the research paradigm. The major topics in semantic studies such as bare noun denotation, quantification, degree semantics, polarity items, donkey anaphora and binding principles, long-distance reflexives, negation, tense and aspects, eventuality are all discussed by semanticists working on the Chinese language. The issues which are of particular interest include and are not limited to: (i) the denotation of Chinese bare nouns; (ii) categorization and quantificational mapping strategies of Chinese quantifier expressions (i.e., whether the behaviors of Chinese quantifier expressions fit into the dichotomy of A-Quantification and D-quantification); (iii) multiple uses of quantifier expressions (e.g., dou) and their implication on the inter-relation of semantic concepts like distributivity, scalarity, exclusiveness, exhaustivity, maximality, etc.; (iv) the interaction among universal adverbials and that between universal adverbials and various types of noun phrases, which may pose a challenge to the Principle of Compositionality; (v) the semantics of degree expressions in Chinese; (vi) the non-interrogative uses of wh-phrases in Chinese and their influence on the theories of polarity items, free choice items, and epistemic indefinites; (vii) how the concepts of E-type pronouns and D-type pronouns are manifested in the Chinese language and whether such pronoun interpretations correspond to specific sentence types; (viii) what devices Chinese adopts to locate time (i.e., does tense interpretation correspond to certain syntactic projections or it is solely determined by semantic information and pragmatic reasoning); (ix) how the interpretation of Chinese aspect markers can be captured by event structures, possible world semantics, and quantification; (x) how the long-distance binding of Chinese ziji ‘self’ and the blocking effect by first and second person pronouns can be accounted for by the existing theories of beliefs, attitude reports, and logophoricity; (xi) the distribution of various negation markers and their correspondence to the semantic properties of predicates with which they are combined; and (xii) whether Chinese topic-comment structures are constrained by both semantic and pragmatic factors or syntactic factors only.