bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Total synthesis of aurachins C, D, and L, and a structurally simplified analog of aurachin C
Authors: Enomoto Masaru , Kitagawa Wataru , Yasutake Yoshiaki , Shimizu Hiroki
Published: June 2014

The quinoline antibiotics aurachins C, D, and L, and a structurally simplified analog of aurachin C were synthesized from 1-(2-nitrophenyl)butane-1,3-dione via reductive cyclizations of δ-nitro ketone intermediates, with zinc or iron as key steps. The results of antimicrobial tests indicate that the N-hydroxyquinolone nucleus mimics the electron carrier in the respiratory chain more strongly than the quinoline N-oxide nucleus.
Running out of road? Dilemmas and issues for the British Labour Party and the Swedish Social Democratic Party in their search for a ‘modern’ welfare state narrative
Authors: Page Robert M.
Published: June 2014

Following significant electoral defeats in 2010, both the British Labour Party and the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) have been re-considering their approach to the welfare state. This article outlines some of the key themes of social democracy and social democratic social policy before discussing the evolution of the latter in both Sweden and Britain. The paper explores the cumulative effect of the revisionist approaches adopted by both parties over time which has resulted in a distancing from a welfare state strategy based on equality, universalism and publicly provided services. It is concluded that both parties now have little road left to construct a modern welfare state narrative that reflects “core” social democratic principles.
Integrated study of the water–ecosystem–economy in the Heihe River Basin
Authors: Cheng Guodong , Li Xin , Zhao Wenzhi , Xu Zhongmin , Feng Qi , Xiao Shengchun , Xiao Honglang
Published: June 2014

The ecological water diversion project in the Heihe River Basin is the first successful case in China in which the ecological systems in a river basin have been rescued. This project serves as a valuable example for the management of ecosystems in other inland river basins. This paper reviews the integrated studies of the water–ecosystem–economy relationship in the Heihe River Basin and concludes that sustainable development in inland river basins requires the basin to be considered as a whole, with the relationships between the upstream, midstream and downstream areas of the basin coordinated appropriately. Successful development in these basins will be reflected in an improved output per cubic meter of water and the implementation of integrated river basin management practices.
Jonson’s Reception in the Restoration and Eighteenth Century
Authors: Brady Jennifer
Published: June 2014

Jonson had a formidable reputation in the Restoration, when his brilliant plots, classical erudition, pugnacious intellect and personal charisma were much admired. After the trauma of the English civil wars, a new generation of ambitious playwrights sought to affiliate themselves to ‘Father Ben’ either by imitating the edgy urban modernity of his humours comedies, as Shadwell did over his career, or by constructing elaborate patrilineal genealogies of influence, as Dryden did in his literary criticism. With the rise of sentimental comedy at the end of the seventeenth century, however, Jonson’s drama fell out of favour. In the next century, Jonson was recast as Shakespeare’s antithesis and envious rival. The comparison turned both playwrights into caricatures: Shakespeare was elevated into a national icon through tributes to his presumably untutored art, while Jonson’s classical learning and intellect, once admired, became grounds for attacks on his pedantry.
Postmodern Archaeologies
Authors: Fahlander Fredrick
Published: June 2014

This chapter is intended to outline the main postmodern theoretical influences in archaeology. Although it may be difficult to identify a distinct postmodern strand of archaeology, it is apparent that there are trends and issues within archaeological theory that are clearly influenced by postmodern lines of thought. One example is the issue of relativity of ‘facts’ and historicity of interpretations stressed by many post-processual archaeologists. This ambivalence regarding archaeological data has for some led to a loss of faith in archaeology’s abilities to say something definitive about the past. For others, it has initiated critical discussions of how, and under what conditions, narratives of the past are produced. For instance, there has been an increasing concern with ethical issues and the political use of archaeology (e.g. heritage management, local and indigenous archaeologies, the repatriation of objects and human remains). Archaeology in the postmodern condition is thus principally characterized by increasing diversity in subject areas and theory, but also by a broader definition of the discipline and its roles in contemporary society.
Landscape and Environment
Authors: Gillings Mark
Published: June 2014

Landscape and environment have long been regarded as separate objects of enquiry around which distinct subdisciplines have coalesced. In such formulations environment has been treated as synonymous with the natural world, whereas landscape has been treated as a more complex entity arising from people’s engagement with that world. Landscape has, accordingly, found itself at the heart of considerable theoretical debate that has stressed its inherent slipperiness and multi-faceted character. Environment, in comparison, has escaped such scrutiny, with the idea that it corresponds to a natural substrate that can profitably be dissolved into distinct categories such as flora, fauna, and soils, pervasive and ubiquitous. Through a focus upon environmental archaeology and landscape archaeology as distinct practices, this chapter argues that neither environment nor landscape can exist separate from the social activities that define them, and it is to these activities and relationships that archaeologists should be turning their attention.
Positivist and Post-Positivist Philosophy of Science
Authors: Preston John
Published: June 2014

Interactions between archaeology and philosophy are traced, from the ‘New Archaeology’s’ use of ideas from logical empiricism, the subsequent loss of confidence in such ideas, the falsificationist alternative, the rise of ‘scientific realism’, and the influence of the ‘new’ philosophies of science of the 1960s on post-processual archaeology. Some recent ideas from philosophy of science are introduced, and that discipline’s recent trajectory, featuring debate between realists and anti-realists, as well as a return to ‘classic’ concerns about explanation, causation, and laws of nature, is described. Many interactions between philosophy of science and archaeology have been based on a misplaced quest for a single ‘off-the-peg’ methodology or other philosophical framework for archaeology. Historical conditions have fostered the damaging idea that archaeologists have to choose between ‘positivism’ and subjectivism. I conclude by suggesting what kinds of contemporary philosophical work might interest archaeologists, and argue that philosophers should recognize the distinctive heterogeneity of archaeology.
Question Answering
Authors: Prager John
Published: June 2014

A question-answering (QA) system is an application program which takes a user’s natural-language input question and attempts to return a precise answer. This chapter describes the current state of the art of the field of QA. We start with an analysis of the space of questions, and discuss which ones typically are suitable for automatic processing by current systems, how they are studied, and the types of QA system that process them. We look at the composition of a typical QA system, some of the recurring linguistic and semantic problems that QA systems must overcome, and a variety of specific approaches that have been developed to address them. We also describe the typical evaluation metrics used to measure the performance of QA systems. An overview of one specific system, IBM’s Watson, is provided at the end.
Conflicts Within the Black Churches
Authors: Harris Angelique
Published: June 2014

This essay examines conflicts concerning sex, sexuality, and gender within Black churches. Black churches are American Protestant churches with a predominantly Black leadership and congregation. Often serving the oppressed and underprivileged, Black churches have a history not only of providing for the spiritual needs of Black Americans, but also of fighting for social justice. Increasingly, controversies have begun to emerge within these churches, about gender equality, HIV/AIDS and safer sex education, and, perhaps the most controversial, about homosexuality and same-sex marriage. This essay discusses how Black churches have responded to these issues and the impact that HIV/AIDS has had on this response. Additionally, examples of the role of women and sexual minorities in Black church denominations and congregations will be provided.
Doctrine and Sexuality
Authors: Rogers Eugene F.
Published: June 2014

This essay will show how Christian doctrine can reinvigorate the theology of sexuality, now dominated by distinctively modern categories (e.g., the appeal to experience). Here traditional doctrines such as those of Scripture, God, Christ, Trinity, liturgy, analogy, and asceticism recover neglected resources for making arguments on topics of sexuality and marriage.
San Miguel the Arcángel, Capitan of Many Troops
Authors: Farfán Ana Patricia
Published: June 2014

St. Michael the Archangel is a biblical icon the Spanish brought to Mexico during the sixteenth century. He was used for evangelization as part of a religious discourse incorporating icons as its principal tool, strongly impacting indigenous people. Considered a leader of God’s armies fighting against evil, Michael became the patron saint of soldiers. Danza de Migueles is a Mexican ritual dance-drama about the fight between good and evil, still performed each year by Nahuas and Totonacas indigenous people of Puebla and Veracruz. It reinvents the military attributes of a Catholic icon within the frame of Mesoamerican religions, shaping indigenous identity with new ways of cultural resistance. This chapter addresses changes and reinterpretations that St. Michael’s iconography underwent when placed in a dancing context and how it has served the Nahuas from Tzinacapan in building their identity as a distinct ethnic group in contemporary Mexico.
Understanding and Treating the Psychosocial Consequences of Infertility
Authors: Greil Arthur L. , Schmidt Lone , Peterson Brennan
Published: June 2014

Psychological distress and infertility are linked in a complex pattern, such that distress may be a cause of infertility and reduce the probability of achieving a pregnancy at the same time that infertility may be a cause of psychological distress. Although infertile women are not more likely to be characterized by psychopathology, they are more likely to experience higher levels of distress than comparison groups. Infertile men also experience psychological distress, but women experience more infertility distress than men. Both infertility and its treatment are stressors putting a heavy psychological strain on couple relationships. Whereas there is general agreement about the need for psychological interventions to treat infertility distress, little is known about the efficacy and effectiveness of psychosocial intervention. Given the prevalence of infertility and the fact that the numbers of individuals and couples seeking infertility treatments are increasing, it is essential that mental health professionals understand the emotional challenges faced by this population.
Maternal Psychopathology and Child Attachment
Authors: Goodman Janice H. , Liu Cindy Hsin-Ju
Published: June 2014

The formation of an attachment bond to a parent or caregiver is a key developmental milestone that occurs during the first year of a child’s life. In this chapter, we examine the relation between maternal psychopathology and the development of the young child’s attachment relationship with his or her mother. In general, the identified direction of effects from research points to greater risk for child insecure or disorganized attachment when the mother is psychiatrically ill, yet the research is equivocal, and findings suggest that other risk factors, as well as resiliency factors, must be considered for their influences of attachment relationship formation in the context of maternal psychopathology. Studies have begun to elucidate some of the mediating and moderating factors, yet much work remains to be done in order to understand the complex relation between maternal mental health and the quality of attachment.
Emerging Approaches to Empirically Based Couples Interventions
Authors: Fleming C. J. Eubanks , Córdova James V.
Published: June 2014

Given the important influence that intimate relationships have on general physical and mental health, the field of couples research is constantly innovating to maximize the impact of interventions on relationship health and intimacy. At present, couples interventions are evolving by either (1) improving the quality of tertiary interventions through deliberately addressing the emotional complexities of relationships in addition to basic skill building or (2) lowering the barriers to help-seeking in an effort to reach the greatest number of people in need at the earliest possible intervention point. This chapter will address how tertiary treatments, such as Insight-oriented Couples Therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy, have been adapted to potentially improve therapy outcomes for couples. Brief and web-based interventions, such as the Marriage Checkup, Power of Two Online, and OurRelationship.com, will also be discussed as examples of making couples’ treatment as timely and as accessible as possible.
Not a Fourth Estate but a Second Legislature
Authors: Hart Roderick P. , LaVally Rebecca
Published: June 2014

This essay argues that political journalism more closely resembles a Second Legislature of debaters than a Fourth Estate of onlookers. Here, we examine the scholarly literature on political news, specifically its linguistic qualities, to assert that journalism acts as a legislature in six ways: (1) By being a vessel of accommodation, (2) by prioritizing nativist agendas, (3) by reproducing regnant power dynamics, (4) by emphasizing traditionalist values, (5) by emphasizing proletarian attitudes, and (6) by being presentistic in orientation. Journalists choose the terms of debate—words that can advantage those in power or sometimes those seeking it. If all politics is local, so essentially is news of politics, fashioned by reporters in constituents’ vernacular. Although journalism guards against disorder, giving sway to institutional priorities, it also can be a cultural bellwether, capable of farsightedness and inclusion. In describing reporters as legislators, we bestow one of the highest compliments a democracy can pay its citizens.
Political Messages and Partisanship
Authors: Jarvis Sharon E.
Published: June 2014

According to Schattschneider (1942, 1), political parties “created democracy, and … democracy is unthinkable” without them. This chapter makes a case for attending to the sounds of partisanship by (1) discussing the importance of listening to partisan messages, (2) examining the major findings on the uses and effects of party labels and partisan styles in the United States, (3) addressing unanswered questions in this area, and (4) showing how the talk surrounding the political parties in the United States, to date at least, underscores their indispensable roles in the polity.
Civic Norms and Communication Competence
Authors: Shah Dhavan V. , Thorson Kjerstin , Wells Chris , Lee Nam-jin , McLeod Jack
Published: June 2014

The chapter examines the extant literature on political socialization, focusing on the role of communication in this process. Reviewing a wide range of approaches to socialization—from those stressing the role the institutions that teach young people civic values and practices to those emphasizing the role of dispositions that encourage political development and learning—we highlight communication’s influence in establishing civic norms and competencies. Increasingly, digital, social, and mobile media are implicated in these dynamics. We first define core concepts such as civic norms and the various sources from which they are acquired, communication competence and the challenges of navigating an increasingly complex media environment, socialization and attention to this ongoing process into adulthood, and citizenship and its changing styles and expanding boundaries. These core concepts provide the basis for considering the major points of development and dispute over political socialization.
Schmitt’s Diaries
Authors: Bendersky Joseph
Published: June 2014

Written between 1912 and 1979, Carl Schmitt’s diaries (published and unpublished) rank among the most illuminating documentary sources of the era. This chapter argues that the published diaries have significantly transformed perceptions of his personality, motivations, and sentiments as well as of his thoughts on crucial intellectual and political questions related to 20th century Germany. Drawing extensively on these primary sources, the chapter finds a consistency between his candid private perspectives and the ideas articulated in his major publications, thereby seriously challenging several pervasive interpretations of Schmitt’s thought and work regarding cultural pessimism, political theology, the “Conservative Revolution,” and war. While documenting his antisemitism, the diaries also confirm his often intimate, complex relationships with Jews. Among other significant insights, the chapter argues, Schmitt did not seek to undermine Weimar or realize his theories in the “Third Reich.” Few documentary collections have ever required such a momentous reevaluation of a historical figure.
The Concept of the Rule-of-Law State in Carl Schmitt’s Verfassungslehre
Authors: Dyzenhaus David
Published: June 2014

This chapter focuses on Schmitt’s critique of the rule of law in his Constitutional Theory. Schmitt argues that liberalism, which once tied the rule of law to the protection of individual liberty, has deteriorated into an account in which any valid law is considered legitimate just because it is valid. This critique is driven by Schmitt’s conception of politics, and, as his oral argument in a crucial constitutional case of 1932 illustrates, his position affirms that law cannot be more than a mere instrument of political power and that it can stabilize politics only if the political power is exercised to bring about a substantive homogeneity in the population subject to the law. In conclusion, it is suggested that Schmitt points to genuine weaknesses in the liberal tradition that require an elaboration of a secular conception of authority in which principles of legality play a central role.
Thoracic Epidural Anesthesia with Ropivacaine Does Not Compromise the Tolerance of Acute Normovolemic Anemia in Pigs
Authors: Pape Andreas , Weber Christian F. , Laout Mohammed , Steche Max , Kutschker Saskia , Horn Oliver , Zwissler Bernhard , Habler Oliver
Published: June 2014

Background:

The initial treatment of an acute blood loss with acellular fluids leads to the dilution of the red cell mass remaining in the vasculature, that is, to acute normovolemic anemia. Whether the compensation and, thus, the tolerance of acute anemia, are affected by sympathetic block induced by thoracic epidural anesthesia has not yet been investigated.

Methods:

Eighteen anesthetized and mechanically ventilated pigs were instrumented with thoracic epidural catheters and randomly assigned to receive an epidural injection of either 5-ml ropivacaine 0.2% (n = 9) aiming for a Th5–Th10 block or saline (n = 9) followed by continuous epidural infusion of 5 ml/h of either fluid. Subsequently, acute normovolemic anemia was induced by replacement of whole blood with 6% hydroxyethyl starch solution until a “critical” limitation of oxygen transport capacity was reached as indicated by a sudden decrease in oxygen consumption. The critical hemoglobin concentration quantified at this time point was the primary endpoint; secondary endpoints were hemodynamic and oxygen transport parameters.

Results:

Thoracic epidural anesthesia elicited only a moderate decrease in mean arterial pressure and cardiac index and a transient decrease in oxygen extraction ratio. During progressive anemia, the compensatory increases in cardiac index and oxygen extraction ratio were not compromised by thoracic epidural anesthesia. Critical hemoglobin concentration was reached at identical levels in both groups (ropivacaine group: 2.5 ± 0.6 g/dl, saline group: 2.5 ± 0.6 g/dl).

Conclusion:

Thoracic epidural anesthesia with ropivacaine 0.2% does not decrease the tolerance to acute normovolemic anemia in healthy pigs. The hemodynamic compensation of acute anemia is fully preserved despite sympathetic block, and the critical hemoglobin concentration remains unaffected.
Erlotinib Salvage Therapy in Pulmonary Adenocarcinoma Patients With Disease Progression After Previous EGFR-TKI Treatment
Authors: Wu Wen-Shuo , Wu Chieh-Hung , Lai Shinn-Liang , Chiu Chao-Hua , Shih Jen-Fu , Lee Yu-Chin , Chen Yuh-Min
Published: June 2014

Background:

Erlotinib is an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) with promising efficacy in treating pulmonary adenocarcinoma. Treatment choices are few when patients with pulmonary adenocarcinoma have failed both EGFR-TKI and chemotherapy. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the efficacy of erlotinib as salvage treatment for these nonresponsive patients.

Methods:

We retrospectively reviewed the chart records of our stage IV pulmonary adenocarcinoma patients who were diagnosed and treated between July 2004 and June 2013. Clinical data, including type of response to treatment, time to disease progression, duration between the end of first-line EGFR-TKI treatment and starting erlotinib treatment, and overall survival time, were collected.

Results:

A total of 98 patients were enrolled, and all had been treated with EGFR-TKI, either as a first-line therapy or following platinum-based chemotherapy; of them, 60 patients had a response to initial EGFR-TKI treatment. All received erlotinib as salvage treatment after their disease had progressed following EGFR-TKI treatment. Ninety-three (93.3%) patients had also received previous platinum-based chemotherapy. The median progression-free survival with erlotinib as salvage treatment for patients with and without a response to front-line EGFR-TKI was 4.9 and 3.4 months (P=0.869), respectively. The progression-free survival with erlotinib treatment in the sensitizing EGFR mutation group was 4.3 months, and in the EGFR wild-type group it was 2.6 months (P=0.22).

Conclusions:

In pulmonary adenocarcinoma patients who had been heavily treated, erlotinib could still be a choice, regardless of the EGFR mutation status, or whether the patients had responded to previous EGFR-TKI treatment.
Novel Association Between a Nonsynonymous Variant (R270H) of the G‐Protein–Coupled Receptor 120 and Liver Injury in Children and Adolescents With Obesity
Authors: Marzuillo Pierluigi , Grandone Anna , Conte Mariasole , Capuano Francesco , Cirillo Grazia , Di Sessa Anna , Umano Giuseppina R. , Romano Roberta , Perrone Laura , Miraglia del Giudice Emanuele
Published: June 2014

The G‐protein–coupled receptor 120 (GPR120) is a receptor for polyunsaturated fatty acids with anti‐inflammatory activity. The R270H variant of GPR120 enhances inflammation in adipose and hepatic tissues. We investigated whether the R270H variant could play a role in determining liver injury in children and adolescents with obesity. Five hundred eighty‐one children with obesity were studied. No homozygotes and 20 heterozygotes for the 270H allele were found. Heterozygotes showed higher alanine transaminase (ALT) levels (P = 0.01) than wild‐type subjects, and also showed an odds ratio to have pathologic ALT of 3.2 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2–8.0, P < 0.05). Moreover, we genotyped the same patients for the patatin‐like phospholipase‐containing domain 3 (PNPLA3) I148M polymorphism, which is implicated in the development of liver steatosis. Stratifying the patients with the GPR120 270H variant on the basis of their PNPLA3 polymorphism, we demonstrated a significant interaction effect on ALT levels (P = 0.00001), suggesting a driving effect of the PNPLA3 148M allele on liver injury in children with obesity carrying this variant.
Magnetohydrodynamic channel flows with weak transverse magnetic fields
Authors: Rothmayer A. P.
Published: June 2014

Magnetohydrodynamic flow of an incompressible fluid through a plane channel with slowly varying walls and a magnetic field applied transverse to the channel is investigated in the high Reynolds number limit. It is found that the magnetic field can first influence the hydrodynamic flow when the Hartmann number reaches a sufficiently large value. The magnetic field is found to suppress the steady and unsteady viscous flow near the channel walls unless the wall shapes become large.
Canonical exact coherent structures embedded in high Reynolds number flows
Authors: Deguchi K. , Hall P.
Published: June 2014

The applications and implications of two recently addressed asymptotic descriptions of exact coherent structures in shear flows are discussed. The first type of asymptotic framework to be discussed was introduced in a series of papers by Hall & Smith in the 1990s and was referred to as vortex–wave interaction theory (VWI). New results are given here for the canonical VWI problem in an infinite region; the results confirm and extend the results for the infinite problem inferred the recent VWI computation of plane Couette flow. The results given define for the first time exact coherent structures in unbounded flows. The second type of canonical structure described here is that recently found for asymptomatic suction boundary layer and corresponds to freestream coherent structures (FCS), in boundary layer flows. Here, it is shown that the FCS can also occur in flows such as Burgers vortex sheet. It is concluded that both canonical problems can be locally embedded in general shear flows and thus have widespread applicability.
Comparison of the 3D organization of sperm and fibroblast genomes using the Hi-C approach
Authors: Battulin Nariman , Fishman Veniamin S. , Mazur Alexander M. , Pomaznoy Mikhail , Khabarova Anna A. , Afonnikov Dmitry A. , Prokhortchouk Egor B. , Serov Oleg L.
Published: June 2014

The 3D organization of the genome is tightly connected to its biological function. The Hi-C approach was recently introduced as a method that can be used to identify higher-order chromatin interactions genome-wide. The aim of this study was to determine genome-wide chromatin interaction frequencies using the Hi-C approach in mouse sperm cells and embryonic fibroblasts. The obtained results demonstrated that the 3D genome organizations of sperm and fibroblast cells show a high degree of similarity both with each other and with the previously described mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells. Both A- and B-compartments and topologically associated domains (TADs) are present in spermatozoa and fibroblasts. Nevertheless, sperm cells and fibroblasts exhibited statistically significant differences between each other in the contact probabilities of defined loci. Tight packaging of the sperm genome resulted in an enrichment of long-range contacts compared with the fibroblasts. However, only 30% of the differences in the number of contacts are based on differences in the densities of their genome packages; the main source of the differences is the gain or loss of contacts that are specific for defined genome regions. An analysis of interchromosomal contacts in both cell types demonstrated that the large chromosomes showed a tendency to interact with each other more than with the small chromosomes and vice versa. We found that the dependence of the contact probability P(s) on genomic distance for sperm is in a good agreement with the fractal globular folding of chromatin. The similarity of the spatial DNA organization in sperm and somatic cell genomes suggests the stability of the 3D structure of genomes through generations.
Pax5 loss imposes a reversible differentiation block in B-progenitor acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Authors: Liu Grace J. , Cimmino Luisa , Jude Julian G. , Hu Yifang , Witkowski Matthew T. , McKenzie Mark D. , Kartal-Kaess Mutlu , Best Sarah A. , Tuohey Laura , Liao Yang , Shi Wei , Mullighan Charles G. , Farrar Michael A. , Nutt Stephen L. , Smyth Gordon K. , Zuber Johannes , Dickins Ross A.
Published: June 2014

Loss-of-function mutations in hematopoietic transcription factors including PAX5 occur in most cases of B-progenitor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), a disease characterized by the accumulation of undifferentiated lymphoblasts. Although PAX5 mutation is a critical driver of B-ALL development in mice and humans, it remains unclear how its loss contributes to leukemogenesis and whether ongoing PAX5 deficiency is required for B-ALL maintenance. Here we used transgenic RNAi to reversibly suppress endogenous Pax5 expression in the hematopoietic compartment of mice, which cooperates with activated signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (STAT5) to induce B-ALL. In this model, restoring endogenous Pax5 expression in established B-ALL triggers immunophenotypic maturation and durable disease remission by engaging a transcriptional program reminiscent of normal B-cell differentiation. Notably, even brief Pax5 restoration in B-ALL cells causes rapid cell cycle exit and disables their leukemia-initiating capacity. These and similar findings in human B-ALL cell lines establish that Pax5 hypomorphism promotes B-ALL self-renewal by impairing a differentiation program that can be re-engaged despite the presence of additional oncogenic lesions. Our results establish a causal relationship between the hallmark genetic and phenotypic features of B-ALL and suggest that engaging the latent differentiation potential of B-ALL cells may provide new therapeutic entry points.
Diethyl 4-(biphenyl-4-yl)-2,6-dimethyl-1,4-dihydropyridine-3,5-dicarboxylate
Authors: Steiger Scott A. , Monacelli Anthony J. , Li Chun , Hunting Janet L. , Natale Nicholas R.
Published: June 2014

The title compound, C25H27NO4, has a flattened dihydropyridine ring. The benzene and phenyl rings are synclinal to one another, forming a dihedral angle of 49.82 (8)°; the axis of the biphenyl rings makes an 81.05 (9)° angle to the plane of the dihydropyridine ring. In the crystal, N—H...O hydrogen bonds link the molecules into chain motifs running along thea-axis direction. The chains are cross-linked by C—H...O interactions, forming sheet motifs running slightly off the (110) plane, together with an intermolecular interaction between head-to tail biphenyl groups, thus making the whole crystal packing a three-dimensional network. Intramolecular C—H...O hydrogen bonds are also observed.
(E)-N′-(3,4-Dimethoxybenzylidene)nicotinohydrazide monohydrate
Authors: Novina J. Josephine , Vasuki G. , Suresh M. , Padusha M. Syed Ali
Published: June 2014

In the title hydrated compound, C15H15N3O3·H2O, the nicotinohydrazide molecule adopts atransconformation with respect to the C=N double bond. The dihedral angle between the benzene and pyridine rings is 5.10 (14)°. In the crystal, the solvent water molecule acts as an acceptor, forming an N—H...O hydrogen bond supported by two C—H...O contacts. It also acts as a donor, forming bifurcated O—H...(O,O) and O—H...N hydrogen bonds that combine with the former contacts to form zigzag chains of molecules along thec-axis direction. An additional O—H...O donor contact completes a set of six hydrogen bonds to and from the water molecule and connects it to a third nicotinohydrazide molecule. This latter contact combines with weaker C—H...O hydrogen bonds supported by a C—H...π contact to stack molecules alongbin a three-dimensional network.
Azide inhibition of urate oxidase
Authors: Gabison Laure , Colloc'h Nathalie , Prangé Thierry
Published: June 2014

The inhibition of urate oxidase (UOX) by azide was investigated by X-ray diffraction techniques and compared with cyanide inhibition. Two well characterized sites for reagents are present in the enzyme: the dioxygen site and the substrate-binding site. To examine the selectivity of these sites towards azide inhibition, several crystallization conditions were developed. UOX was co-crystallized with azide (N3) in the presence or absence of either uric acid (UA, the natural substrate) or 8-azaxanthine (8AZA, a competitive inhibitor). In a second set of experiments, previously grown orthorhombic crystals of the UOX–UA or UOX–8AZA complexes were soaked in sodium azide solutions. In a third set of experiments, orthorhombic crystals of UOX with the exchangeable ligand 8-nitroxanthine (8NXN) were soaked in a solution containing uric acid and azide simultaneously (competitive soaking). In all assays, the soaking periods were either short (a few hours) or long (one or two months). These different experimental conditions showed that one or other of the sites, or the two sites together, could be inhibited. This also demonstrated that azide not only competes with dioxygen as cyanide does but also competes with the substrate for its enzymatic site. A model in agreement with experimental data would be an azide in equilibrium between two sites, kinetically in favour of the dioxygen site and thermodynamically in favour of the substrate-binding site.
Transparency and foreign direct investment into Sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Felix Ayadi Olusegun , Ajibolade Solabomi , Williams Johnnie , M. Hyman Ladelle
Published: June 2014

Purpose

– The financial economics literature points to the likelihood that transparency affects the inflows of direct foreign investments. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between degree of transparency in an economy and the level of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows using cross-section and time series data from 13 Sub-Saharan African countries from 1998 through 2008.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper employed a panel unit root and panel cointegration tests to data from 13 Sub-Saharan countries from 1998 through 2008. The long-run equilibrium relationship is estimated by the fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) method. The cointegration framework employed in this study accounts for individual as well as time effects by adjusting for potential heterogeneity and serial correlation existing in the data panel.

Findings

– The results imply that the level of transparency and size of FDI inflows into Sub-Saharan Africa have a long-run equilibrium relationship.

Research limitations/implications

– The role of multinational corporations in increasing the levels of corruption in host countries is supported in this study.

Practical implications

– The role of multinational corporations in contributing to the absence of transactional transparency in host countries is supported in this study. The OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions should be endorsed by African countries. African countries should make efforts to transform their domestic political and economic environments in order to enhance transparency and allow rule of law to apply.

Originality/value

– This paper is the first to empirically test the aforementioned long-run equilibrium relationship by isolating the role of transparency in international capital flows.
Food waste volume and composition in Finnish households
Authors: Silvennoinen Kirsi , Katajajuuri Juha-Matti , Hartikainen Hanna , Heikkilä Lotta , Reinikainen Anu
Published: June 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to determine the volume and quality of food waste in Finnish households and discuss drivers for waste being produced.

Design/methodology/approach

– In total, 380 households weighed all solid food waste and liquid milk waste daily each time they disposed food during a two-week period. The authors concentrated only on avoidable food waste, i.e. all wasted food and raw material that could have been consumed, had they been stored or prepared differently. Other biowaste, such as vegetable peelings, coffee grounds, or bones, was not measured.

Findings

– The amount of food waste in households ranged from 0 to 160 kg/year. The average annual food waste was 23 kg per capita, 63 kg per household, and in total about 120 million kg/year. When comparing purchased food amount with avoidable food waste, the average waste was about 4-5 per cent. The main discarded foodstuffs were vegetables, home-cooked food and milk products. The principal reasons for disposing of foodstuffs were spoilage: e.g. mould, expiry of best before or use by date, plate leftovers, and preparing more food than needed. When examining waste per person, singles generally produced most waste.

Practical implications

– Knowledge about food waste will help development of new practices to decrease waste.

Originality/value

– The study estimated amounts of food waste in households using diaries and weighing. Such studies have often been based on statistics or interviews rather than exact weighing of waste.
Men in context: privilege and reflexivity in academia
Authors: Styhre Alexander , Tienari Janne
Published: June 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on self-reflexivity and, in particular, explore the notion of context in relation to men's reflexivity in academic work.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper is a commentary on an earlier paper published in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion addressing the issue of reflexivity in organization studies and commented on by three different scholars.

Findings

– Relating specifically to men doing gender studies research, the authors argue that they are always men in context, and their “privilege” (and reflections on it) needs to be accounted for in situ; in relation to the assumptions, relations, and practices at hand, rather to some abstract and vague “privileges” contained in, and carried by, men as a general category.

Originality/value

– The paper seeks to advance a novel understanding of reflexivity not so much anchored in the willful capacity to reflect on scholarly work but as engagement with experiences of exclusion or unexpected outcomes in fieldwork and in interacting with other researchers.
Doing “male” diversity research in France: a self-reflective account
Authors: Klarsfeld Alain
Published: June 2014

Purpose

– Little is known qualitatively about how men become involved in diversity research. The purpose of this paper is to address a part of the gap in this type of research.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper provides a self-reflective account of how the author became involved in diversity work.

Findings

– The author argues that “doing diversity” can be said to reflect an implicit “tempered radical” (Meyerson and Scully, 1995) approach which triggered deep-level concerns about a particular invisible trait that – up to the present paper –the author had never addressed in the research.

Research limitations/implications

– The main limitation is that the contribution is based on a self-reflective account and can only be taken as a possibility among many possibilities; not as a representative situation.

Practical implications

– The diversity concept's vagueness which is often criticized for diluting pre-existing concerns about gender (and other) strands, appears to have the potential of helping male researchers to become aware of diversity strands they had never dared to address before, and to become aware of some of the male privileges they had enjoyed unknowingly.

Social implications

– The paper illuminates that white males can benefit from working on the concept of diversity. Having been induced to work on diversity from social pressures rather than from a personal initiative does not reduce the pleasure, excitement and learning drawn from doing diversity-related work.

Originality/value

– No paper to the author's knowledge focuses on male diversity research in France, an up-to-now silent area.
Entrepreneurial preparedness: an exploratory case study of Chinese private enterprises
Authors: L. Wang Catherine , Rafiq Mohammed , Li Xiaoqing , Zheng Yu
Published: June 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to advance the conceptualisation of entrepreneurial preparedness (EP), and study how EP occurs in new venture creation and management.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper primarily draws evidence from an exploratory case study of two Chinese high-tech private enterprises operating in the healthcare industry in Beijing, following a two-stage sampling process: informal, purposive sampling; and formal, theoretical sampling. Qualitative data collected from multiple semi-structured interviews within each firm were analysed using a thematic analytical framework.

Findings

– The paper advances the conceptualisation of EP as a cumulative, social and purposeful learning process. Accordingly, the paper highlights the roles of experiential learning, social learning and entrepreneurial goals (both performance and learning goals) as mechanisms that enable EP in entrepreneurial management.

Research limitations/implications

– The findings reveal idiosyncrasies of EP in a particular context. Future research may investigate different types of entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial firms. Furthermore, this study uses triangulation of retrospective interview data with concurrent interview and secondary data. Future research may pursue concurrent longitudinal case study data to unpack real-time events in entrepreneurial management.

Practical implications

– The findings have practical implications for entrepreneurs and “would-be” entrepreneurs to better understand their learning needs and how they can prepare themselves for entrepreneurial challenges.

Originality/value

– EP as an emerging concept within the entrepreneurial learning (EL) literature requires conceptual and empirical development. The paper advances the conceptualisation of EP, supported with empirical evidence. By articulating the cumulative, social and purposeful nature of EP, the paper contributes to the understanding of the human and social dynamics of EL.
Asylum, welfare and work: reflections on research in asylum and refugee studies
Authors: Mayblin Lucy
Published: June 2014

Purpose

– Over the past 30 years asylum has become an issue of great political significance, public interest and media coverage in most “Western” countries. Policies and laws designed to deal with asylum seekers have proliferated, as have the resources required to manage them. These developments have come as a result of the rise of asylum as a social, political and economic “problem” which is seen to necessitate urgent action. Within this context, some countries, such as Britain, have sought to limit asylum seekers’ social and economic rights. In Britain specifically this has involved making paid employment illegal for asylum seekers, and in the process making the government liable for the living costs of such individuals – creating a situation of forced welfare dependency. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper provides a review of research into work and welfare policy relating to asylum seekers in Britain. The paper focuses particularly on three key issues which are affected by asylum policies relating to work and welfare. These have all received particular scholarly attention in recent years: destitution, illegal working and forced labour, and the impact on integration outcomes.

Findings

– In the final section the author proposes some directions for future research.

Originality/value

– The review is, of course, not exhaustive, but does provide an overview of key themes in the literature and should be of interest to scholars interested in the politics, sociology and social policy of asylum.
Bank resolution costs, depositor preference and asset encumbrance
Authors: C. Hardy Daniel
Published: June 2014

Purpose

– This paper aims to clarify the effects of introducing depositor preference on resolution costs, probability of default and bank funding costs, allowing for the possibility of collateralized funding.

Design/methodology/approach

– The importance of conflict among creditors in generating bankruptcy costs is documented. A model of such a conflict is provided, which is then used in analyzing the effects of depositor preference and other forms of asset encumbrance. The model takes into account the reactions of providers of secured and unsecured financing.

Findings

– Depositor preference and collateralization of borrowing may reduce the cost of settling the conflicts among creditors that arises in case of resolution or bankruptcy. This net benefit, which may be capitalized into the value of the bank rather than affect creditors’ expected returns, should result in lower overall funding costs and thus a lower probability of distress despite increasing encumbrance of the bank’s balance sheet. The benefit is maximized when resolution is initiated early enough for preferred depositors to remain fully protected.

Research limitations/implications

– The interaction of asset encumbrance with liquidity risk is not addressed directly.

Practical implications

– The issues addressed on the paper are currently the subject of debate by regulators and market participants. There are direct implications for prudential regulation and bank resolution policies.

Originality/value

– The theory of conflict resolution is applied to bankruptcy and bank resolution, generating rigorous analysis of an important practical issue.
Money laundering and the shadow economy in Kazakhstan
Authors: N. Niyetullayev Nurlan , Almond Paul
Published: June 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to assess and highlight the approach taken towards the legal control of illicit money laundering taken in the Republic of Kazakhstan, in particular, the role played by an amnesty on the legalisation of illicit funds. This is particularly important as a basis for a wider discussion about the proper limits of the “criminalising” approaches commonly taken in anti-money laundering regulations.

Design/methodology/approach

– The discussion and evaluation in the paper is based upon a conceptual analysis of the money laundering regime in Kazakhstan, in particular, the legal framework and policies of implementation adopted.

Findings

– The paper demonstrates that the problems that are posed by the shadow economy in post-Soviet transition societies can make the blanket criminalisation of money laundering a self-defeating approach, unless accompanied by measures which allow for the achievement of “market-constituting” effects.

Research limitations/implications

– The paper draws on experience and practice in one jurisdiction only (Kazakhstan); it also limits its focus to one particular example of a money laundering amnesty policy. Both of these limitations, therefore, suggest avenues for further comparative research.

Originality/value

– The paper’s conclusions about the interactions between the shadow economies of transitional societies and the global anti-money laundering agenda have wider application in assessments of international law in this area.