bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Trophic Magnification Slopes of Mercury in Temperate and Tropical Regions Case Studies on the Oregon Coast, USA, Sanriku Coast, Japan, and Jakarta Bay, Indonesia
Authors: Riyadi Adi Slamet , Itai Takaaki , Hayase Daisuke , Isobe Tomohiko , Horai Sawako , Miller Todd W , Omori Koji , Sudaryanto Agus , Ilyas Muhammad , Setiawan Iwan Eka , Tanabe Shinsuke
Published: August 2015

The trophic magnification slope (TMS) of mercury has been reported from >130 aquatic systems in the world. However, data from the Asia-Pacific region is quite lacking despite the need for estimation of Hg exposure via fish consumption in many of those regions in the world. Here we provide TMS values from three marine regions in the Pacific rim, Oregon coast, USA, Sanriku coast, Japan, and Jakarta Bay, Indonesia. A decreasing trend of TMS from temperate to tropical regions was found in this study.
Destabilization of Phase-separated Structures in Local Anesthetic-containing Model Biomembranes
Authors: Sugahara Ko , Shimokawa Naofumi , Takagi Masahiro
Published: August 2015

We observed the phase behaviors, and the changes of membrane fluidity in lipid membranes containing local anesthetics (LAs), lidocaine and tetracaine. The phase separation in DOPC/DPPC binary membranes had not been changed significantly by addition of LAs, whereas that in DOPC/DPPC/Chol ternary membranes was suppressed by LAs. In order to evaluate the membrane fluidity, Laurdan generalized polarization values of membranes were measured. The fluidity of DOPC-rich phase in the ternary membrane became lower as LAs concentration had increased. Our results indicated the correlation between physical property change on membrane and pharmacological functions of LAs.
Application of a Non-thermal Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet to the Decomposition of Salicylic Acid to Inorganic Carbon
Authors: Kuroda Kosuke , Ishijima Tatsuo , Kaga Toshiki , Shiomomura Kai , Ninomiya Kazuaki , Takahashi Kenji
Published: August 2015

A non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma jet technique was applied to decompose salicylic acid to inorganic carbon. Excess hydroxyl radical, which has a high oxidation potential, decomposed salicylic acid within 10 min, and total organic carbon decreased to 20% after 30 min.
Electrospray Mass Spectrometry with Controlled in-Source Atomization as a Promising Elemental Method: Evaluation of Analytical Features
Authors: Gall L.N. , Fomina N.S. , Giles R. , Masukevich S.V. , Beliaeva O.A. , Gall N.R.
Published: August 2015

Electrospray ionization with controlled in-source fragmentation and atomization (ERIAD) is promising method for mass-spectrometric elemental analysis. This paper concerns the main analytical features and necessary instrumentation for ERIAD. The method is shown to be effective for more than 70 elements of the periodic table: those that present as cations in a water solution. It shows a high absolute sensitivity with a low spread from Li to U, and a detection limit of tens of parts per trillion. The soft ionization used results in the absence of plasma chemical reaction products, typical for inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and the spectra are nearly free from interferences. The method does not require a high resolution and can be used for samples with an artificial isotopic content. The method is essentially valid for radiochemistry and metallomics, as it has the possibility to combine measurements of chemical, elemental, and even isotopic content simultaneously.
On the Use of Electron Capture Rate Constants to Describe Electron Capture Dissociation Mass Spectrometry of Peptides
Authors: Vorobyev Aleksey , Zhurov Konstantin O. , Laskay Ünige A. , Tsybin Yury O.
Published: August 2015

Electron capture dissociation (ECD) tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) is a powerful analytical tool for peptide and protein structure analysis. The product ion abundance (PIA) distribution in ECD MS/MS is known to vary as a function of electron irradiation period. This variation complicates the development of a method of peptide identification by correlation of ECD MS/MS data with experimental and theoretical mass spectra. Here, we first develop a kinetic model to describe primary electron capture by peptide dications leading to product ion formation and secondary electron capture resulting in product ion neutralization. We apply the developed kinetic model to calculate product ion formation rate constants and electron capture rate constants of product ions from ECD mass spectra acquired using various electron irradiation periods. Contrary to ECD PIA distributions, the product ion formation rate constants are shown to be independent of electron irradiation period and, thus, may be employed to characterize ECD product ion formation more universally. The electron capture rate constants of product ions in ECD Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance MS were found to correlate (with a correlation factor, R2, of ca 0.9) with ion mobility cross sections of product ions in electron transfer dissociation. Finally, we demonstrate that the electron irradiation period influences the ratio of radical and even-electron c and z product ions.
Effect of Magnetic Field Inhomogeneity on Ion Cyclotron Motion Coherence at High Magnetic Field
Authors: Vladimirov Gleb , Kostyukevich Yury , Hendrickson Christopher L. , Blakney Greg T. , Nikolaev Eugene
Published: August 2015

A three-dimensional code based on the particle-in-cell algorithm modified to account for the inhomogeneity of the magnetic field was applied to determine the effect of Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4, X, Y, ZX, ZY, XZ2 YZ2, XY and X2–Y2 components of an orthogonal magnetic field expansion on ion motion during detection in an FT-ICR cell. Simulations were performed for magnetic field strengths of 4.7, 7, 14.5 and 21 Tesla, including experimentally determined magnetic field spatial distributions for existing 4.7 T and 14.5 T magnets. The effect of magnetic field inhomogeneity on ion cloud stabilization (“ion condensation”) at high numbers of ions was investigated by direct simulations of individual ion trajectories. Z1, Z2, Z3 and Z4 components have the largest effect (especially Z1) on ion cloud stability. Higher magnetic field strength and lower m/z demand higher relative magnetic field homogeneity to maintain cloud coherence for a fixed time period. The dependence of mass resolving power upper limit on Z1 inhomogeneity is evaluated for different magnetic fields and m/z. The results serve to set the homogeneity requirements for various orthogonal magnetic field components (shims) for future FT-ICR magnet design.
FACTORS AND TRENDS ADAPTATION OF YOUTH TO SOCIAL CHANGE IN THE MEGOPOLIS
Authors: Мельничук  , Melnichuk Ekaterina
Published: August 2015

The article is devoted to the research of youth priorities, its life goals, strategies. Special attention is paid to the assessment of the spread of negative phenomena among young people, depending on place of residence. The author analyzes the value orientation of young people living in the megalopolis. The data of expert survey are described that identified a range of views emerging among youth challenges and future concerns.

Analysis shows that megacities are in the focus of global information networks, related to the implementation of economy knowledge, they are the center of political life, influencing the development of relevant economic, social, demographic, cultural processes.
STATE YOUTH POLICY AS THE TOOL IN FIGHT AGAINST EXTREMISM
Authors: Меркулов  , Merkulov Pavel
Published: August 2015

The article deals with the implementation and effectiveness of state youth policy in the context of preventing and combating extremism in modern Russia. Analyzing the situation in the Russian Federation, the author shows that a number of young people entering various organizations of extremist and terrorist nature continues to increase. The article stresses that presence of extremism in the Russian society is considered at the highest level of government as direct threat to the national security. The author considers the concepts of «extremism» and «youth extremism» pointing out the presence of obvious specificity. Particular attention is paid to the problem of increasing the efficiency of state youth policy as a tool in the fight against extremism, proving the thesis that the trend of young people being drawn into extremist activities is largely due to the ineffectiveness of this policy.
APPLIED TOOLS IN IMPLEMENTING INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES OF AUTHORITIES AND POPULATION FEEDBACK
Authors: Скрипникова  , Skripnikova Natalya
Published: August 2015

In the article the author defines basic principles of information and communication interaction in the dialog discourse «power – society», introducing the scheme of information and communication space. On the basis of certain examples the main groups of applied tools of information and communication technologies of authorities and population feedback system alignment are considered. One of the problems of efficient interaction development of "power-society" is considered by the author as information asymmetry, provoking the emergence of rumors filling "semantic gap". The author describes the most common social patterns of interaction between government and public.
INSTITUTIONAL ORGANIZATION OF BODIES LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN THE CONDITIONS OF MUNICIPAL REFORM
Authors: Меркулова  , Merkulova Kseniya
Published: August 2015

The author of article staticized a problem of a choice of models of management of municipalities in the course of reforming of local government. In article political and administrative tendencies of management of municipalities in modern Russia are characterized. The directions of improvement of institutional base of development of local government in the conditions of municipal reform are reasoned. The author raised the question of development of variability of structure of local governments taking into account amending the existing federal legislation.
TRANSFORMATION THE STATET INSTITUTIONS: DIFFICULTIES AND PERSPECTIVES OF E-GOVERNEMENT DEVELOPMENT IN RUSSIA
Authors: Гуляева  , Gulyaeva Valeriya
Published: August 2015

The role of information and communication technologies in the process of transformation of state institutions is studied. On the example of e-government the problems of implementation of these technologies in the sphere of public administration are examined. Their analysis showed that under current conditions special attention should be paid to the following problems: information security, protection of confidentiality, import substitution of software, quality improvement of state services. It is concluded that e-government is the state answer for the worldwide trends based on the development of information and communication technologies. Existing problems are not the reason for refusal from development of e-government system. The solution of these problems will allow to show out the Russian system of state administration on the new level and provide its stability. It is necessary to continue the development of e-government system because it creates favorable conditions for economic activity.
IMPROVING THE EFFICIENCY OF ECONOMIC ENTITIES BY ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES ON THE BASIS OF REDISTRIBUTION OF PROPERTY RIGHTS
Authors: Варламов  , Varlamov Nikolay
Published: August 2015

The mechanism of interaction of participants of economic organization is considered on the basis of improving ownership relations on the means of production. The proposed methodology, ways of distribution relationships allow to concentrate ownership rights in the hands of labor collectives, to contribute to the growth of economic efficiency of economic entities.
PROBLEMS OF DEVELOPMENT OF MONOCITIES IN THE MODERN WORLD
Authors: Полянин  , Polyanin Andrey , Поповичева  , Popovicheva Natalya
Published: August 2015

The article deals with the specifics of monocities in Russia, determined by the features of their appearance, funding and degree of stagnation. The authors prove the need for the development of Russian monocities through diversification of their economies, creating new jobs and attracting investments.

However, diversification is not the only possible way of development of monocity; it is revealed on the basis of the study, in which the models of development of monocities are considered. One of the problems is specified, non-ability of a number of monocities to diversify, which leads to the opposite effect: increasing the risk of loss of viability of the city. This situation requires further development of an integrated comprehensive approach to the problems of monocities, taking into account the entire spectrum of development features of each city.
EDUCATION OF YOUTH AND FAMILY POLICY IN 2000: TRENDS AND CONTROVERSIES
Authors: Симонова  , Simonova Mariya
Published: August 2015

The article discusses the main activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in the field of education of children and youth in the 2000s. The position of the main aspects of the Russian Orthodox Church in the field of family policy is characterized. The key issues and trends in the context of socio-political processes are examined.

In particular, the initiation of cooperation with public organizations, private time preventive programs for families and protection of motherhood are considered.
Eco-Friendly Industry As a Drive for Sustainable Development
Authors: Дарбишева  , Darbisheva P.
Published: August 2015

In this article the author addresses the formation of eco-friendly production as a drive force of sustainable economic development. The article describes basic principles of «green» economy, as well as the production targets dur- ing the transition to it. The history of this concept and ways to create «green» manufacturing in Russia are also considered.
Adoption of International Railway Industry Standard IRIS into Quality Management System of Industrial Enterprise
Authors: Баурина  , Baurina Svetlana
Published: August 2015

This article reveals the peculiarities of adoption of the international railway industry standard IRIS into quality management system of industrial enterprise. The essence of the international railway industry standard IRIS is revealed. Basic requirements of IRIS are characterized. the process of certification of quality management system of industrial enterprise according to the IRIS is described.
On Issue of Increasing Efficiency of Raw Materials Resources of Industrial Corporations
Authors: Игнатова  , Ignatova L.
Published: August 2015

The paper identifies the key factors affecting the efficiency of raw materials resources of industrial corporations. It examines the main problems underly- ing the utilization of raw materials resources in current economic conditions and proposes the approaches to development of internal regulatory system on utilization of raw materials resources.
RCTs: How compatible are they with policy-making?
Authors: Ettelt Stefanie , Mays Nicholas
Published: August 2015

Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have been promoted as a means of improving policy-making by testing new policies. While testing before full-scale roll-out is commendable, this article discusses the challenges of using RCTs in contemporary health policy-making in England. There are at least two challenges in particular that are currently underrepresented in the debate. The first arises from the complexity of many policies which are often too diffuse and unclear in focus to allow for the clear distinction between a policy ‘mechanism’ and its context to be drawn that is required for a RCT. The second challenge relates to the timing of RCTs, which tend to take place either too early in the life of a policy to be meaningful, or too late to have an effect on policy formulation. The authors therefore encourage policy-makers and researchers to be clear about the types of uncertainties ‘field experiments’ are meant to address, which may be addressed better by other types of knowledge generation.
Management of Crohn's disease in pregnancy
Authors: Beery Renée M Marchioni , Kane Sunanda V
Published: August 2015

Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease commonly diagnosed during the reproductive years. Disease management involves advocating conception during periods of stable clinical remission and continuing safe medications throughout pregnancy to achieve optimal maternal and fetal outcomes.
Introducing a proforma to improve clinical care in trauma surgery
Authors: Hussien Amr S , Imam Mohamed A , Elsherbiny Mohamed , Ellahee Najab
Published: August 2015

Introduction:

Accurate trauma operative details are an important part of the care of trauma patients. This study evaluated the adequacy of handwritten operative notes for trauma patients and whether they comply with the standards set by the Royal College of Surgeons of England for optimizing clinical practice in a busy district general hospital.

Patients and methods:

Fifty consecutive sets of handwritten trauma operative notes were reviewed prospectively. A standardized printed proforma was introduced and then another 50 consecutive sets of notes were reviewed. The results were analysed using the Student t-test to obtain two-tailed P values comparing the mean difference between percentages of missing data for both cycles.

Results:

Out of 24 parameters examined, 19 showed improvement after introducing the standardized proforma in trauma surgical notes. There was an overall significant improvement in the studied parameters (P= 0.0134), with a mean difference of 19.3% of missing data for both cycles.

Conclusions:

These results suggest that a standardized prestructured operative note proforma in trauma surgery is a useful tool in recording the operative data, thus helping to improve the medical care provided. It would also provide medicolegally sound evidence of a procedure when needed and so be more beneficial for the surgeon if routinely used. The authors recommend its regular use in different surgical specialties.
Use of smartphone apps by paediatric trainees
Authors: Jyothi Srinivas , Halton Fiona , Goodyear Helen
Published: August 2015

Over 70% of the population owns a smartphone and there are now millions of apps available. This study looks at smartphone and app use among paediatric trainees, in particular whether they are accessing medical apps to help with clinical practice.
Why drawing, now?
Authors: Douglas Anne , Ravetz Amanda , Genever Kate , Siebers Johan
Published: August 2015

This article takes the question ‘why drawing, now?’ as a speculative way to enter the debate on the relationship of art to different understandings of community. Drawing offers a paradox around the place of art in society. Drawing can be thought about as a traditional medium that yields an individually focused interior exploration. It has also performed a social or ritual role historically, in different times and places. Imagine a public event to which participants are invited to draw. There is a large, single sheet of paper or drawing surface and the offer of different drawing implements. Participants respond by drawing with their own style and understanding of what drawing is. The accumulation of individual marks and imaginations make up a whole, in as far as the surface drawn upon is singular and brings these individual productions into one space. Imagine the same shared drawing surface, held up around the edges by a group of participants. A drawing emerges through the marks of an inked ball rolling across the flexible moving surface. In this scenario, the drawing traces – literally marks – the emergent relationship of one individual to another through the shared activity. Both scenarios are possibly very familiar activities in participatory art practices and each offers a different way of imagining community. In both, the act of drawing is pivotal to shared activity. The first assumes that community can be constructed by bringing a group of individuals into the same space and activity. Many of us are enculturated to think that it is individuals – singular units – that make up society. The second, however, suggests that community as already present can be made visible through the drawing activity. Our exploration draws on a period of a collaborative practice-led experimentation, in particular a three-day research workshop involving drawing and writing. The aim was not to focus on what the results ‘looked like’ as art products, an approach that arguably fails to reveal the knowledge underpinning art’s appearances. Instead we set out to create the conditions for experiencing community through drawing. We found that drawing, in its most intimate relationship between maker/viewer, surface and mark, evokes a world to come, a world in formation rather than pre-formed. This revealed the need for careful scrutiny of the ways in which community itself is imagined. Our offer to the practice of participatory arts is to question deeply held assumptions about what community is rather than to propose new forms of access or techniques that can be transferred from one situation to another.
Something special: Care, pre-school television and the dis/abled child
Authors: Holdsworth Amy
Published: August 2015

Through a close reading of the series Something Special (2003–), this article explores the implicit and explicit rhetorics of ‘care’ within the remit and content of the UK pre-school children’s channel CBeebies. With its address to an audience that includes disabled children and children with special educational needs, CBeebies is celebrated as an inclusive site of play and learning for its diverse audience of 0–6 year-olds. In Something Special (2003–), for example, Mr Tumble’s playful encounters with the world around him are supported through the use of Makaton, a sign language designed to help both children in the early stages of language development and those with communication disorders.

With the channel’s emphasis on learning, development and ‘care’, this article questions the ways in which the disabled child both challenges and reinforces understandings of childhood and development. By exploring the manifestations of touch, texture, performance, play and repetition within this programme, it considers this inclusive mode of address for what it reveals about forms of intersubjectivity and non-verbal modes of communication.
A ‘surprising and mature portrait’? Reflecting on representations of mental illness in Rookie Blue
Authors: Brown Shane
Published: August 2015

In 2006, an article in the Journal of Health Communication called for a collaboration between the mental health sector in America and the media industries in order ‘to counter negative portrayals of mental illness, and to explore the potential for positive portrayals to educate and inform, as well as to entertain’. Eight years on, there has been an increase in the portrayals of mental illness in popular North American television drama series. This article focuses on the police procedural drama Rookie Blue (2010–) and the narrative arc in season four which concerns a policewoman with bipolar disorder. This is an autoethnographical article, giving a personal reaction to the portrayal of a condition I have had for twenty years, and the ways in which such portrayals can contribute to the stigmas surrounding mental illness.
Gatekeeping at two main Belgian comics publishers, Dupuis and Lombard, at a time of transition (in the 1980s)
Authors: Lefèvre Pascal
Published: August 2015

Comics studies have not paid much attention to the functioning of comics publishers, although they remain a crucial factor in the selection, creation, distribution and promotion of comics. An important methodological framework, the gatekeeping research, may offer possibilities as is demonstrated in this historical study of two important comics publishers, Dupuis and Lombard (conducted in the summer 1985). On the basis of an exploratory gatekeeping study at the editorial offices of the two publishers and various contemporary interviews with both gatekeepers (editorial staff) and artists, the gatekeeping process is traced out: how were comics selected, how was the interaction between editors and creators, who were the gatekeepers, and what were their criteria for selecting comics suited for publication (in a weekly or as an album). The results of this research were published in 1986 as a master’s thesis in Dutch (in English the translated title is ‘The selecting comics publishers: A gatekeeping study of two big Belgian comics publishers Lombard and Dupuis’), but were never published in any other language afterwards.
On the comics-nature of the Codex Seraphinianus
Authors: Davies Paul Fisher
Published: August 2015

Italian architect Luigi Serafini’s wildly inventive and anarchic Codex Seraphinianus has been entertaining and confusing readers since its publication in the early 1980s. It purports to be a ‘found manuscript’ akin to the Voynich manuscript, written in an alien but tantalizingly familiar-seeming language, and its small print runs and beautiful volumes have made it an object of desire and intrigue. Attempts have been made to decipher the text and numerals, and thereby to ‘read’ the book, but readers have been kept guessing. Serafini has revealed that the text itself is meaningless; but nonetheless the book is in many senses ‘readable’. In what ways can this be done? This article will argue that the text relies on conventions of comics and graphic novels to become accessible despite the alienness of its content; that whilst the ‘words’ have no semantics and no grammar, the text as a whole has a discourse structure, and shares a textual logic with comics that carries the sense that readers can make of it. This ‘comics-nature’ is the key to reading the Codex Seraphinianus. Such an exploration of how the Codex may be read as a comic can reveal to us some of the qualities of that comics-nature itself, and shed light on the reading approaches that readers take to graphic narrative in more familiar forms too.
Reviews
Authors: Gravett Paul , Lim Cheng Tju
Published: August 2015

Asian Comics, John Lent (2015) Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 342 pp., ISBN 9781628461589, h/bk, USD $60

Drawing New Color Lines: Transnational Asian American Graphic Narratives, Monica Chiu (ed.) (2015) Global Connections series: Hong Kong University Press, 336 pp., ISBN: 9789888139385, h/bk, USD $69
More credo, less capes: Why and how we should use comics in the Religious Education classroom
Authors: Hancock Rae
Published: August 2015

Research into religion and comics is flourishing and has called attention to the various ways in which religion features across the medium. However, consideration has not yet been given to the role of comics with religious dimensions in the Religious Education (RE) classroom despite significant attention having been paid to their use in schools through subjects such as English. Nonetheless comics are being used outside the classroom to communicate religious ideas and references to the medium are beginning to appear on exam specifications with the intention that candidates engage with religious representations in the media and popular culture. As such, seeking ways to bring comics with religious dimensions into a subject that concerns itself with ‘learning about’ and ‘learning from’ religion allows comic scholarship the potential to be genuinely impactful. A compulsory subject without a strict, prescriptive curriculum, RE is at once accused of indoctrination and called upon to be at the forefront of the battle against extremism. This article presents an overview of the contemporary RE climate in English state secondary schools, then builds on the rationale of why we should use more comics in RE and suggests approaches to using selected comics. The examples considered are necessarily broader than those typically discussed by scholars as they are chosen based on their pedagogical appropriateness. Consideration is given to the theoretical and practical challenges facing the rationale and it is concluded that in order to continue to explore, refine and validate the usefulness of comics in RE the body of sources used needs to expand and become representative in its breadth. Further, continuing to examine why and how we should use comics in the classroom has the potential to deepen and improve the quality of RE and provide comics scholarship opportunities to examine practical applications of the medium.
Shakespeare, Manga and the pilfering of Japan’s soft power
Authors: Keener Joe
Published: August 2015

The publication of a series of Shakespeare Manga by the British company SelfMadeHero affords the opportunity to consider the motivations and methods behind such publications. Visual style, audience, expressions of identity and attempts to modernize through the youth appeal of technology, gore and a preponderance of the visual are all examined. The motivation behind these phenomena is not just an attempt to emulate a financially successful form of Japanese popular culture, but to appropriate some of the soft power that Japan has accrued through the almost worldwide success of its manga. Soft power is the ability to get what one wants through attraction, and Japanese manga’s infiltrating of not just western cultural products but imaginations confers soft power on Japan. These slim volumes promote Shakespeare while trying to lay claim to some of this soft power. Finally, a deliberation of whether these books are western or eastern leads to the conclusion that they are a part of a new Metaculture space that is both and neither at the same time.
Mytho-auto-bio: Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, the Romantics and Shakespeare’s The Tempest
Authors: Katsiadas Nick
Published: August 2015

This article examines Neil Gaiman’s Sandman as a series that invokes English Romanticism’s perspectives of dreams, heroism, the virtue of storytelling and Shakespeare’s source of authorship, bringing to the fore the series’ relationship with the European literary canon. I initially discuss how popular culture reconstructs possible ‘selves’ of Shakespeare in ways that are designed to suit particular artistic endeavours and/or modern subjectivity, and then focus on ‘how’ and ‘why’ traditional criticism identifies an autobiographical dimension in the playwright’s character Prospero, from The Tempest. Reading the character as metonymic in a Romantic vein, I construct a paradigm to shift current Sandman scholarship from the mythological level to the tropological level to examine its literary values and merit. I maintain throughout the article that Gaiman designs Morpheus with Romantic understandings of Prospero and, drawing from the larger DC Universe of superhero motifs, how Gaiman constructs Morpheus as an alter ego. Rather than a superhero, I argue that Morpheus is a Romantic hero bearing traces of the author’s autobiography. After examining Gaiman’s relationship with the narrative, I discuss the confluences between Gaiman and Samuel Taylor Coleridge locating Shakespeare’s imaginative source in d/Dream (Morpheus) – what Coleridge names the ‘Morphean Space’. Since The Tempest is believed to be Shakespeare’s final play wherein he announces his exeunt from The Globe Theatre and that Gaiman intended to end Sandman with his ‘The Tempest’, I conclude by explaining Gaiman’s use of an autobiographical simile.
Sound affects: Visualizing music, musicians and (sub)cultural identity in BECK and Scott Pilgrim
Authors: Pino Camilo Diaz
Published: August 2015

This article discusses the portrayal of popular music in comics as both a product of sensory and emotive experience, and as a determinant of social identity and labour. To this end, it focuses on the Japanese serialized manga BECK and the Canadian graphic novel series Scott Pilgrim. These two works offer comparable perspectives on music and the social mythos of musicianship, as well as sharing similar young male protagonists and social contexts, despite their disparate settings in Tokyo and Toronto, respectively. Through a comparative reading of these texts, this analysis examines contemporary comic book techniques as well as the cross-cultural dynamics of Japanese and Anglo-American comic book cultures, specifically with regard to the portrayal of workers in fields of cultural production. In order to examine their interrelated depictions of music as both sensorial experience and enactment of collective identity, I first draw on the canon of comic book semiotics established by Scott McCloud, Ian Hague, and others to examine the techniques employed by these texts in communicating music as an emotive sensorial experience. In particular I will concentrate on their use of diagrammatic techniques and visual caricature as a means of communicating music – not through attempted synaesthetic effects, but rather through emotive evocation. Second, I look at their representation of musicianship as an area in which the mythology of artistic entrepreneurialism coexists with imperatives of collective identity and lifestyle. I examine the sociologically idiosyncratic manner in which these comics reflect and build upon these mythologies through the filters of class, cultural and generational identity, creating narratives that at times perpetuate – and at others subvert – the grand entrepreneurial narratives ascribed to musicianship within contemporary neo-liberal notions of creative labour.
An application of two sided power distribution in Bayesian analysis of paired comparison of relative importance of predictors in linear regression models
Authors: Wang Xiaoyin
Published: August 2015

The purpose of determining the relative importance of predictors is to expose the extent of the individual contribution of a predictor in the presence of other predictors within a selected model. The goal of this article is to expand the current research practice by developing a statistical paired comparison model with Two Sided Power (TSP) link function in the Bayesian framework to evaluate the relative importance of each predictor in a multiple regression model. Results from simulation studies and empirical example reveal that the proposed Two Sided Power link function provides similar conclusions as the commonly used logit link function, but has more advantages from both practical and computational perspectives.
The relationships between field dependent/independent cognitive styles and information & communication technologies based programs in gifted education
Authors: Üstünel Hakan , Uçar Erdem , Civelek Turhan , Umut İlhan
Published: August 2015

The research aims to investigate gifted students’ FD/FI cognitive styles and factors affecting them like preferring to take Information & Communication Technologies-based courses at gifted children’s school. The study was carried out on two groups.  First group consisted of 52 students identified as gifted who are attending 6th and 7th grades at the Istanbul Science &Art Center in Istanbul, Turkey,  the second group consisted of 38 students who are not identified as gifted and totally the study consists of 90 students. In order to collect data pertaining to this research, Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) was used to measure Field Dependence/Field Independence, (FD/FI).  According to the findings of the research, it has been observed that there is a significant difference between favored gifted students’ cognitive style scores and other students’ who are not identified as gifted. There is also a significant difference between in favor of Information& Communication Technologies (ICT) based course taking gifted students’ cognitive style scores and other gifted students who are not taking ICT-based courses in Science and Art Center. In contrast to these, there is not a significant differences were found on cognitive styles in terms of gender and grade variants in both groups.
Does Sparing the Rod Spoil the Child? How Praising, Scolding, and an Assertive Tone Can Encourage Desired Behaviors
Authors: Grinstein Amir , Kronrod Ann
Published: August 2015

In search of effective ways to encourage consumers to follow desired behaviors such as healthy eating, recycling, or financial planning, marketers sometimes use praise (e.g., “You are doing great”) and sometimes use scolding (e.g., “You are not doing enough”). However, the effectiveness of each approach in triggering behavior is not clear. A possible reason for the mixed results in this area is that it is not only what one says that matters but also how one says it: praising and scolding can be performed with a more or less assertive tone. This research introduces assertiveness as a moderator that can explain when praising or scolding would be more effective. Two field experiments in the context of hand hygiene and financial planning demonstrate that when communicators praise consumers, an assertive tone may be more effective in encouraging behavior, whereas scolding requires a nonassertive tone. The authors then replicate these field findings in a controlled laboratory experiment, which also provides click rates as an actual behavioral outcome.
Early prediction of gestational diabetes: a practical model combining clinical and biochemical markers
Authors: Thériault Sébastien , Giguère Yves , Massé Jacques , Girouard Joël , Forest Jean-Claude
Published: August 2015

Gestational diabetes (GDM) is usually diagnosed late in pregnancy, precluding early preventive interventions. This study aims to develop a predictive model based on clinical factors and selected biochemical markers for the early risk assessment of GDM.

Based on a prospective cohort of 7929 pregnant women from the Quebec City metropolitan area, a nested case-control study was performed including 264 women who developed GDM. Each woman who developed GDM was matched with two women with normal glycemic profile. Risk prediction models for GDM and GDM requiring insulin therapy were developed using multivariable logistic regression analyses, based on clinical characteristics and the measurement of three clinically validated biomarkers: glycated hemoglobin (HbA

HbA

A simple model based on clinical characteristics and biomarkers available early in pregnancy could allow the identification of women at risk of developing GDM, especially GDM requiring insulin therapy.
How to report results of prothrombin and activated partial thromboplastin times
Authors: Tripodi Armando , Lippi Giuseppe , Plebani Mario
Published: August 2015

Prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) are the most widely used tests to investigate coagulation abnormalities. Varied result reporting have been introduced over the years for the two tests, thus making their interpretation rather confusing in different clinical settings. PT results have been reported as clotting time, percentage activity, PT-ratio (patient-to-normal clotting time) and as international normalized ratio (INR). The INR scale has been devised to harmonize results stemming from different thromboplastins from patients on treatment with vitamin K antagonists. Therefore, there are some theoretical and evidence-based considerations that make the INR formally invalid when the test is used to analyze patients in other clinical settings. Unfortunately, this limitation has been frequently overlooked, and the INR has been (and is currently) used as a universal system of results harmonization. The APTT has been historically reported as clotting time or as ratio (patient-to-normal clotting time). In this opinion paper we review the current state-of-the-art for result reporting and attempt to give practical guidance on how PT and APTT should be reported in different clinical conditions for which the tests are requested.
Tackling the Propensity towards Undeclared Work: Some Policy Lessons from Croatia
Authors: Williams Colin C. , Franic Josip
Published: August 2015

The aim of this paper is to evaluate contrasting policy approaches towards undeclared work. To do so, evidence is reported from 1,000 face-to-face interviews conducted in Croatia during 2013. Logistic regression analysis reveals no association between participation in undeclared work and the perceived level of penalties and risk of detection, but a strong association between participation in undeclared work and the level of tax morality. It thus confirms recent calls for the conventional direct controls approach, which seeks to deter engagement in undeclared work by increasing the penalties and risk of detection, to be replaced by an indirect controls approach which seeks to improve tax morality so as to encourage greater self-regulation and a culture of commitment to compliance. The implications for theory and policy are then discussed.
Adoption and Benefits of Statistical Methods in Enterprises: Differences between Croatian Regions
Authors: Žmuk Berislav
Published: August 2015

This paper aims to address differences in the use of statistical methods by enterprises as one of the factors leading to the uneven level of economic development between different regions. For research purposes, a web survey was conducted on a sample of 667 Croatian enterprises in 2013. In order to better distinguish between Croatian regions, a complex sample survey design was used. The results show that the highest rates of statistical methods use among enterprises are in the Central and East region (36.96%). The conducted logistic regression analysis showed that the enterprises that use statistical methods have 63.5% greater odds of achieving positive net income than enterprises that do not. The research results point out the need for the adoption of statistical methods as a tool for achieving higher net income and for reducing economic dissimilarities between regions.
A novel, cheap and easy to build FESS trainer
Authors: Chiesa Estomba Carlos Miguel , González Guijarro Isabel Rocio
Published: August 2015

BACKGORUND. Simulation models have slowly been gaining a place in training and surgical skills, before attending the operating theatre. This paper presents a model that allows the trainee to practise the functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) training in a safe, non-patient facing environment.

MATERIAL AND METHODS. The method can be practised away from the operating theatre and the skills developed can then be transferred to the operating theatre. To create our FESS simulator, we use a cardboard tube and sheet, scissors, markers, cutter, foam, needles, catheters, plasticine, an inflatable balloon, a 10g lumbar puncture needle, one 5 cc syringe, two Blakesley forceps (straight and angled) and a 0° and 30° Hopkins rigid optics. In this simulator you can practise a puncture of the inferior turbinate, the endoscopic depth, remove a polyp, balloon dilation, a partial ethmoidectomy.

RESULTS. We describe a cheap and easy to build FESS training model, which allows the resident to practise this technique in a risk-free environment, while guaranteeing the reproducibility of the technique under similar conditions.

CONCLUSION. The high cost of digital simulators does not allow possible spreading this technology in every department. For that reason, the purpose of this paper is the acquisition of a set of skills that allow the resident to go to the operating room with clear concepts about the basic techniques.
Multidisciplinary Design Exploration for Sounding Launch Vehicle using Hybrid Rocket Engine in View of Ballistic Performance
Authors: Chiba Kazuhisa , Kanazaki Masahiro , Ariyarit Atthaphon , Yoda Hideyuki , Ito Shoma , Kitagawa Koki , Shimada Toru
Published: August 2015

Conceptual design of a launch vehicle with a hybrid rocket engine (HRE) has been implemented using design informatics approach in order to investigate the feasibility of a single-stage hybrid rocket. Two test design problems were formulated by using two objective functions: maximization of downrange and minimization of initial gross weight, seven design variables which describe geometry and initial conditions, and one constraint relative to target altitude. The optimization result reveals the economical performance of hybrid rocket is limited with HRE in terms of the maximum downrange achievable. Moreover, the data-mining result indicates the mechanism of design-variable behavior.
A Ubl/ubiquitin switch in the activation of Parkin
Authors: Sauvé Véronique , Lilov Asparouh , Seirafi Marjan , Vranas Marta , Rasool Shafqat , Kozlov Guennadi , Sprules Tara , Wang Jimin , Trempe Jean‐François , Gehring Kalle
Published: August 2015

Mutations in Parkin and PINK1 cause an inherited early‐onset form of Parkinson's disease. The two proteins function together in a mitochondrial quality control pathway whereby PINK1 accumulates on damaged mitochondria and activates Parkin to induce mitophagy. How PINK1 kinase activity releases the auto‐inhibited ubiquitin ligase activity of Parkin remains unclear. Here, we identify a binding switch between phospho‐ubiquitin (pUb) and the ubiquitin‐like domain (Ubl) of Parkin as a key element. By mutagenesis and SAXS, we show that pUb binds to RING1 of Parkin at a site formed by His302 and Arg305. pUb binding promotes disengagement of the Ubl from RING1 and subsequent Parkin phosphorylation. A crystal structure of Parkin Δ86–130 at 2.54 Å resolution allowed the design of mutations that specifically release the Ubl domain from RING1. These mutations mimic pUb binding and promote Parkin phosphorylation. Measurements of the E2 ubiquitin‐conjugating enzyme UbcH7 binding to Parkin and Parkin E3 ligase activity suggest that Parkin phosphorylation regulates E3 ligase activity downstream of pUb binding.
Fingerprinting Soybean Germplasm and Its Utility in Genomic Research
Authors: Song Qijian , Hyten David L , Jia Gaofeng , Quigley Charles V , Fickus Edward W , Nelson Randall L , Cregan Perry B
Published: August 2015

The United States Department of Agriculture, Soybean Germplasm Collection includes 18,480 domesticated soybean and 1168 wild soybean accessions introduced from 84 countries or developed in the United States. This collection was genotyped with the SoySNP50K BeadChip containing greater than 50K single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Redundant accessions were identified in the collection, and distinct genetic backgrounds of soybean from different geographic origins were observed that could be a unique resource for soybean genetic improvement. We detected a dramatic reduction of genetic diversity based on linkage disequilibrium and haplotype structure analyses of the wild, landrace, and North American cultivar populations and identified candidate regions associated with domestication and selection imposed by North American breeding. We constructed the first soybean haplotype block maps in the wild, landrace, and North American cultivar populations and observed that most recombination events occurred in the regions between haplotype blocks. These haplotype maps are crucial for association mapping aimed at the identification of genes controlling traits of economic importance. A case-control association test delimited potential genomic regions along seven chromosomes that most likely contain genes controlling seed weight in domesticated soybean. The resulting dataset will facilitate germplasm utilization, identification of genes controlling important traits, and will accelerate the creation of soybean varieties with improved seed yield and quality.