bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Inhibition of Histone Deacetylases Prevents Cardiac Remodeling After Myocardial Infarction by Restoring Autophagosome Processing in Cardiac Fibroblasts
Authors: Wang Yaping , Chen Panpan , Wang Lihan , Zhao Jing , Zhong Zhiwei , Wang Yingchao , Xu Jifeng
Published: September 2018

Background/Aims: Histone deacetylases (HDACs) play a critical role in the regulation of gene transcription, cardiac development, and diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the inhibition of HDACs improves cardiac remodeling and its underlying mechanisms in a mouse myocardial infarction (MI) model. Methods: The HDAC inhibitor trichostatin A (TSA, 0.1 mg/kg/day) was administered via daily intraperitoneal injections for 8 consecutive weeks after MI in C57/BL mice. Echocardiography and tissue histopathology were used to assess cardiac function. Cultured neonatal rat cardiac fibroblasts (NRCFs) were subjected to simulated hypoxia in vitro. Autophagic flux was measured using the tandem fluorescent mCherry-GFP-LC3 assay. Western blot was used to detect autophagic biomarkers. Results: After 8 weeks, the inhibition of HDACs in vivo resulted in improved cardiac remodeling and hence better ventricular function. MI was associated with increased LC3-II expression and the accumulation of autophagy adaptor protein p62, indicating impaired autophagic flux, which was reversed by TSA treatment. Cultured NRCFs exhibited increased cell death after simulated hypoxia in vitro. Increased cell death was associated with markedly increased numbers of autophagosomes but not autolysosomes, as assessed by punctate dual fluorescent mCherry-green fluorescent protein tandem-tagged light chain-3 expression, indicating that hypoxia resulted in impaired autophagic flux. Importantly, TSA treatment reversed hypoxia-induced impaired autophagic flux and led to a 40% decrease in cell death. This was accompanied by improved mitochondrial membrane potential. The beneficial effects of TSA therapy were abolished by RNAi intervention targeting LAMP2; likewise, in vivo delivery of chloroquine abolished the TSA-mediated cardioprotective effects. Conclusion: Our results provide evidence that the HDAC inhibitor TSA prevents cardiac remodeling after MI and is dependent on restoring autophagosome processing of cardiac fibroblasts.
Baicalein Inhibits Proliferation Activity of Human Colorectal Cancer Cells HCT116 Through Downregulation of Ezrin
Authors: Chen Zhi , Hou Ruizhi , Gao Shuohui , Song Defeng , Feng Ye
Published: September 2018

Background/Aims: The present study was aimed at examining Ezrin expression in human colorectal cancer (CRC) tissues and elucidating the influence of baicalein on the proliferation of HCT116 cells. Methods: The expression of Ezrin was determined by qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. HCT116 cells were divided into four groups－ baicalein groups with various concentrations, pcDNA3.1-Ezrin group, si-Ezrin group and dual inhibitory group (baicalein + si-Ezrin). CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry (FCM) were employed to assess cell proliferation and to detect the distribution of cell cycle respectively. The expression levels of Ezrin protein and cell cycle-associated proteins were detected by using western blot. The proliferation ability of CRC cells was also evaluated in vivo. Results: Ezrin expression in CRC tissues was observably higher than that in adjacent colorectal tissues. With drug concentration and action time of baicalein increasing, the cell propagation capacity of HCT116 cells was decreased and the cell cycle progression was arrested. Ezrin expression was inhibited by the administration of baicalein in a dose-dependent way. The levels of CyclinD1 and CDK4 were also significantly decreased, but the expression of P53 pathway proteins P53 and P21 was markedly upregulated. Conclusion: Baicalein repressed proliferation of human colorectal cancer cells HCT116 and blocked cell cycle through downregulating Ezrin and upregulating P53 pathway-related proteins.
Downregulation of MicroRNA-4463 Attenuates High-Glucose- and Hypoxia-Induced Endothelial Cell Injury by Targeting PNUTS
Authors: He Xuemei , Du Chao , Zou Yan , Long Yang , Huang Can , Chen Feng , He Yanzheng , Zhou Xiangyu
Published: September 2018

Background/Aims: Vascular complications are the main reasons for disability and mortality associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and numerous microRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in this process. Our previous study demonstrated that miR-4463 was increased in the plasma of T2DM patients combined with arteriosclerosis of low extremity artery (ASO). However, the role of miR-4463 remains unclear. Methods: miR-4463 expression in the vascular tissues of patients with ASO and T2DM and in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) was detected by qPCR. Cell survival and apoptosis was analyzed via Cell Counting Kit-8 and flow cytometry assays, respectively. Protein expression was determined by Western blot and protein subcellular localization was detected with immunofluorescence. A dual-luciferase assay was used to elucidate the target gene of miR-4463. Results: miR-4463 was elevated in the vascular tissues of patients with T2DM and ASO. In HUVECs, both 25 mmol/L glucose (high glucose, HG) and hypoxia induced miR-4463 expression. Downregulation of miR-4463 promoted HUVEC survival and reduced cell apoptosis under HG and/or hypoxic conditions by facilitating the expression of protein phosphatase-1 nuclear targeting subunit (PNUTS), X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP), p-AKT, p-Bad, increased the Bcl-2/Bax ratio, as well as downregulated cleaved caspase 3 expression. Mechanistically, we identified PNUTS as a direct target gene of miR-4463. Both the inhibition of AKT phosphorylation and silencing of PNUTS diminished the effect of miR-4463 on HUVEC apoptosis. Moreover, downregulation of miR-4463 enhanced PNUTS to enable PTEN nuclear localization, which resulted in AKT phosphorylation. Conclusion: Our results suggest that downregulation of miR-4463 attenuates cell apoptosis by directly enhancing PNUTS expression to promote PTEN nuclear localization, subsequently activating AKT signaling pathway in HUVECs under HG and/ or hypoxic conditions.
Nota sobre infinito atual e forma lógica no Tractatus
Authors: Prado Neto Bento
Published: September 2018

Parece haver quase um consenso, entre os comentadores, em torno da tese segundo a qual o “primeiro Wittgenstein” nada veria de problemático na ideia de um infinito atual, ao contrário do que claramente ocorre com o “segundo Wittgenstein”. O que eu gostaria de fazer aqui não é tentar reverter esse veredicto, mas sugerir que o exame das provas que o sustentam merece ser refeito. Para tanto, começarei por tentar mostrar como a letra dos aforismos 5.526 e 5.5262 parece levantar uma dificuldade para a tese consensual. Em seguida, procurarei encontrar, sob a letra, o espírito dessa dificuldade, isto é, buscarei nos princípios mais básicos do Tractatus as razões que subjazem às afirmações desses aforismos. Para finalizar, após fazer um balanço desse exame no que diz respeito à tese consensual, procurarei mostrar como ele aponta para a relevância da notação para o infinito, que João Vergílio Cuter prescreve para o Tractatus.
Perfil de Rousseau
Authors: Hazlitt William
Published: September 2018

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Hutcheson sobre a importância de ser desinteressado. Um encômio a Shaftesbury?
Authors: Jaffro Laurent
Published: September 2018

Costuma-se dizer que a filososfia moral de Hutcheson seria tributária daquela de Shaftesbury, a ponto mesmo de ser um prolongamento do pensamento moral do filósofo inglês. O artigo busca mostrar que essa é uma visão simplista, examinando para tanto o conceito de desinteresse em Hutcheson.
Obras incompletas, de Friedrich Nietzsche
Authors: Brandão Eduardo
Published: September 2018

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Fora do mundo: lugar e sentido da não-humanidade na ontologia fundamental
Authors: Valentim Marco A.
Published: September 2018

O artigo esboça uma interpretação crítica do pensamento de Martin Heidegger com foco na questão acerca do lugar da não-humanidade no projeto filosófico da ontologia fundamental (1925-1930). Trata-se de investigar, reconstruindo brevemente os conceitos existenciais de mundo, história, natureza e vida, o sentido da relação entre humano e não-humano que a ontologia heideggeriana projeta a partir do vínculo da humanidadeexistente com o ser enquanto tal. Qual é a situação daquilo que, no homem ou fora dele, se constitui ontologicamente contra o sentido próprio da existência como ser-no-mundo?
An Analysis of the Brain Systems Involved with Producing Letters by Hand
Authors: Vinci-Booher Sophia , Cheng Hu , James Karin H.
Published: September 2018

Complex visual–motor behaviors dominate human–environment interactions. Letter production, writing individual letters by hand, is an example of a complex visual–motor behavior composed of numerous behavioral components, including the required motor movements and the percepts that those motor movements create. By manipulating and isolating components of letter production, we provide experimental evidence that this complex visual–motor behavior is supported by a widespread neural system that is composed of smaller subsystems related to different sensorimotor components. Adult participants hand-printed letters with and without “ink” on an MR-safe digital writing tablet, perceived static and dynamic representations of their own handwritten letters, and perceived typeface letters during fMRI scanning. Our results can be summarized by three main findings: (1) Frontoparietal systems were associated with the motor component of letter production, whereas temporo-parietal systems were more associated with the visual component. (2) The more anterior regions of the left intraparietal sulcus were more associated with the motor component, whereas the more posterior regions were more associated with the visual component, with an area of visual–motor overlap in the posterior intraparietal sulcus. (3) The left posterior intraparietal sulcus and right fusiform gyrus responded similarly to both visual and motor components, and both regions also responded more during the perception of one's own handwritten letters compared with perceiving typed letters. These findings suggest that the neural systems recruited during complex visual–motor behaviors are composed of a set of interrelated sensorimotor subsystems that support the full behavior in different ways and, furthermore, that some of these subsystems can be rerecruited during passive perception in the absence of the full visual–motor behavior.
Holy Strangers
Authors: Formenti Ambra
Published: September 2018

This article explores the religious lives of migrants in the African diaspora by focusing on the case of the Missão Evangélica Lusófona (MEL), a congregation settled on the outskirts of Lisbon and formed by migrants from Guinea-Bissau and other Portuguese-speaking countries. MEL is portrayed as an example of how Christian faith enables African believers to cross transnational spaces and to create new spiritual placements in the local environment they inhabit. Against the background of postcolonial Portugal, MEL’s mission discourses are analysed as narratives of moral empowerment that invert the stigmatizing representations of African migrants expressed by their Portuguese-born neighbours. Through these narratives, it is suggested, Evangelical Guinean migrants are able to face their historical and social condition of marginality, by developing a spiritual citizenship grounded in the idea of a Lusophone space of mission.
Leisure in Aristotle’s Political Thought
Authors: Snyder Jacob T.
Published: September 2018

The concept of leisure found in Aristotle’s corpus is both elusive and challenging. It eludes categorization into our current understandings of work and play while at the same time challenging those very conceptions. Here, I attempt to come to grips with Aristotelian leisure by (1) demonstrating its centrality in Aristotle’s thought, (2) explaining leisure as primarily a ‘way of being’ rather than merely the absence of occupation or one of several preconditions to the virtues, and (3) exploring what leisure might mean to liberal democracy. As a ‘way of being’, Aristotelian leisure is more than an absence of work, but is a positive comportment that itself requires virtues, material means, and an education.
A new species and a new record of Parasola from Kerala State, India
Authors: GANGA K. G. GREESHMA , MANIMOHAN PATINJAREVEETTIL
Published: September 2018

Two species of Parasola, P. parvula sp. nov. and P. lilatincta are described from Kerala State, India, based on both morphology and molecular phylogeny. Descriptions with photographs of both the basidiocarps and the micro-structures and comparison with morphologically similar and phylogenetically related species are provided. Sequences of both the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) and the nuclear ribosomal large subunit (nLSU) region of the two species were obtained and used in BLASTn searches. Phylogenetic study was based on Maximum likelihood (ML) analysis of the ITS sequences.
Halamphora primus (Bacillariophyta): a new diatom species from the Gulf of California, Mexico
Authors: LÓPEZ-FUERTE FRANCISCO OMAR , SIQUEIROS-BELTRONES DAVID A.
Published: September 2018

A new diatom species, Halamphora primus sp. nov. is here proposed, and described based on comparison of morphological traits. This new taxon has semi-lanceolate valves, strongly dorsiventral. Its ventral margin goes from slightly concave in the mid part to lightly convex toward the eccentric parts. Unlike most species of Amphora sensu lato that have the raphe distal ends curved dorsally, in H. primus these are curved ventrally. A ledge is present on the dorsal side of raphe, and a short conopeum extends along the raphe sternum fading before reaching the apices. A dorsal fascia is absent. Specimens were collected along with a highly diverse taxocoenosis (S=281) from the skin of stonefish in the Gulf of California, Mexico. However, the scarceness of H. primus frustules in the sampled taxocoenosis strongly suggests that it is not an epizoic form of the stonefish.
Mandatory changes of specific names to agree in gender with Talitriator Methuen, 1913, which is masculine (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Talitridae)
Authors: NAKANO TAKAFUMI
Published: September 2018

The genus Talitriator Methuen, 1913 was originally erected for T. eastwoodae Methuen, 1913, a talitrid amphipod or “land-hopper” from South Africa that was fixed as the type species of this genus by monotypy. Talitriator now includes seven species of land-hopper inhabiting South Africa as well as Saint Helena and Ascension islands in the Southern Atlantic (Stock & Biernbaum 1994; Griffiths 1999; Horton et al. 2018). Although Methuen (1913) did not explicitly explain the etymology of the generic name, it obviously combines the name of the talitrid type genus Talitrus Bosc, 1802 (stem: Talitr-; from Latin talitrum, a rapping or flick of a finger: Jaeger 1962), with the connecting vowel “i” and the Latin masculine agentive suffix “-ator”. On account of the final suffix, the gender of the name Talitriator is masculine. Under Articles 31.2 and 34.2 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature [hereafter “the Code”] (International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 1999), a Latin adjective that is used as a species-group name must agree in gender with the generic name it is combined with. Article 34.2 further specifies that an incorrect gender ending must be changed (a “mandatory change”, as opposed to either an “emendation” or an “incorrect subsequent spelling”: cf. Article 33.1 of the Code). This gender-agreement rule has largely been ignored in publications concerning species of Talitriator, with adjectival names most often being spelled with the feminine suffix “-a” regardless of generic assignment.
Revision of the Alitta virens species complex (Annelida: Nereididae) from the North Pacific Ocean
Authors: VILLALOBOS-GUERRERO TULIO F. , BAKKEN TORKILD
Published: September 2018

Alitta virens species complex encompasses elongate nereidids appreciated commercially both in the fishing and aquaculture industries. This complex has been well studied in biological and ecological terms. Nevertheless, detailed taxonomic analyses have scarcely been addressed, to the extent that only a few species in the complex have been recognized as valid but with some difficulties: Alitta brandti Malmgren, 1865 (Sea of Okhotsk), A. grandis (Stimpson, 1853) (northeastern USA) and A. virens (Sars, 1835) (Norway). Whereas, other several species have typically been regarded as synonyms, including those originally described from the North Pacific Ocean: Nereis (Alitta) virens plenidentata Moore, 1909 (California, USA), Nereis dyamusi Izuka, 1912 (Japan) and Nereis foliata Baird, 1863 (Vancouver, Canada). In this study, an examination of the immature and epitoke type and non-type material available for the A. virens species complex from the North Pacific was carried out. Herein, the status of A. brandti as a valid species is reinforced being clearly distinct from A. virens and related species. Alitta dyamusi n. comb., A. plenidentata n. comb. and A. williami nom. nov. are reinstated and transferred to Alitta, the specific epithet of the latter species is a replacement name for Nereis foliata Baird, 1863, which is a junior, primary homonym of Nereis foliata Dalyell, 1853. Lectotypes for A. plenidentata n. comb. and A. williami nom. nov. are designated. The North Pacific species of the A. virens complex, excluding A. plenidentata n. comb. which has several distinctive features that differ from all the Alitta species, are characterized by having homogomph spinigers in both supracicular and subacicular neurochaetae, oral ring with a larger number of rows and paragnaths, and epitoke males with unmetamorphosed pygidium and epitoke-modified chaetae in both neuropodial fascicles. The morphology of epitoke females in the A. virens complex is described for the first time. Identification keys to atoke and epitoke species of this complex are also provided.
On the Role of Entrainment in the Fate of Cumulus Thermals
Authors: Hernandez-Deckers Daniel , Sherwood Steven C.
Published: September 2018

Mixing is one of the most important processes associated with atmospheric moist convection. It determines the two-way interaction between clouds and their environment, thus having a direct impact on the time evolution of convection. The fractional entrainment rate ε—the main parameter related to mixing—is often parameterized in global circulation models as a function of updraft properties, and at the same time has a strong influence on how convection evolves. Within the framework of cumulus thermal vortices in large-eddy simulations of convection, here we first investigate the validity of some of the most common parameterizations of ε, and then investigate how relevant ε is for the fate of these thermals. We find that 1/R, where R is a measure of the thermal’s radius, best parameterizes ε, but it explains only about 20% of the total variance. On the other hand, we find that both ε and favorable initial conditions—including high initial saturated fraction of the thermals—are key factors that affect the thermals’ ascent rate, mean buoyancy, and distance traveled. The lifetimes of thermals, however, seem not to be affected significantly by either ε or initial conditions, which supports the view of cumulus convection as a succession of many short-lived thermals. Finally, our results suggest that for the majority of in-cloud cumulus thermals the important role of environmental moisture in the deepening of convection results mainly from providing the initial moisture for the short-lived thermals as they initiate at different altitudes above cloud base, rather than favoring their buoyancy as they rise through it.
The Global Historical Climatology Network Monthly Temperature Dataset, Version 4
Authors: Menne Matthew J. , Williams Claude N. , Gleason Byron E. , Rennie J. Jared , Lawrimore Jay H.
Published: September 2018

We describe a fourth version of the Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN)-monthly (GHCNm) temperature dataset. Version 4 (v4) fulfills the goal of aligning GHCNm temperature values with the GHCN-daily dataset and makes use of data from previous versions of GHCNm as well as data collated under the auspices of the International Surface Temperature Initiative. GHCNm v4 has many thousands of additional stations compared to version 3 (v3) both historically and with short time-delay updates. The greater number of stations as well as the use of records with incomplete data during the base period provides for greater global coverage throughout the record compared to earlier versions. Like v3, the monthly averages are screened for random errors and homogenized to address systematic errors. New to v4, uncertainties are calculated for each station series, and regional uncertainties scale directly from the station uncertainties. Correlated errors in the station series are quantified by running the homogenization algorithm as an ensemble. Additional uncertainties associated with incomplete homogenization and use of anomalies are then incorporated into the station ensemble. Further uncertainties are quantified at the regional level, the most important of which is for incomplete spatial coverage. Overall, homogenization has a smaller impact on the v4 global trend compared to v3, though adjustments lead to much greater consistency than between the unadjusted versions. The adjusted v3 global mean therefore falls within the range of uncertainty for v4 adjusted data. Likewise, annual anomaly uncertainties for the other major independent land surface air temperature datasets overlap with GHCNm v4 uncertainties.
Robustness of Relations between the MJO and U.S. Tornado Occurrence
Authors: Tippett Michael K.
Published: September 2018

The Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) is the leading mode of tropical variability on subseasonal time scales and has predictable impacts in the extratropics. Whether or not the MJO has a discernible influence on U.S. tornado occurrence has important implications for the feasibility of extended-range forecasting of tornado activity. Interpretation and comparison of previous studies is difficult because of differing data periods, methods, and tornado activity metrics. Here, a previously described modulation of the frequency of violent tornado outbreaks (days with six or more tornadoes reported rated EF2 or greater) by the MJO is shown to be fairly robust to the addition or removal of years to the analysis period and to changes in the number of tornadoes used to define outbreak days, but is less robust to the choice of MJO index. Earlier findings of a statistically significant MJO signal in the frequency of days with at least one tornado report are shown to be incorrect. The reduction of the frequency of days with tornadoes rated EF1 and greater when MJO convection is present in the Maritime Continent and western Pacific is statistically significant in April and robust across varying thresholds of reliably reported tornado numbers and MJO indices.
The Evolution of Gender Segregation over the Life Course
Authors: Guinea-Martin Daniel , Mora Ricardo , Ruiz-Castillo Javier
Published: September 2018

We propose a measure of gender segregation over the life course that includes differences between women and men in occupational allocation, degree of time involvement in paid work, and their participation in different forms of economic activity and inactivity, such as paid work, homemaking, and retirement. We pool 21 Labour Force Surveys for the United Kingdom to measure, compare, and add up these various forms of segregation—occupational, time-related, and economic—from 1993 to 2013 ( n = 1,815,482). The analysis relies on the Strong Group Decomposability property of the Mutual Information index. There are four main findings. First, the marketplace is the major contributor to gender segregation. Second, over the life course, the evolution of gender segregation parallels the inverted U-shaped pattern of the employment rate. Third, a tradeoff between occupational and non-occupational sources of segregation defines three distinct stages in the life course: the prime childbearing years, the years when children are school age, and the retirement years. Fourth, to a large extent, women’s heterogeneity drives age patterns in segregation.
How do pre-service physical education teachers understand health education and their role as health educators?
Authors: Fane Jennifer , Pill Shane , Rankin Joss
Published: September 2018

Objective:

The purpose of this study was to examine how pre-service physical education (PE) teacher education students understand health education and their role as health educators. The challenges that a cohort of pre-service teachers ( n = 20) majoring and minoring in PE face in engaging in a socially contextualised understanding of health are examined.

Design:

Study participants were in a semester length foundational health education course. Following ethics board approval, participants’ reflective journals were accessed for data. The data were coded for themes and then analysed using Windschitl’s framing of constructivism in practice.

Setting:

Undergraduate health education teacher education programme at an Australian university.

Results:

Findings reveal how PE teacher education students made meaning of socially contextualised and contested areas of health, and developed their own understanding of health education pedagogical practice. Common challenges were evidenced by the students when attempting to explain their expanding understanding of health education pedagogy and practice.

Conclusion:

The simple understandings and conceptual ambiguities evident in this group of students help to explain why health education taught in secondary schools by PE teachers more often takes the form of ‘PE theory’ than health education.
Nurses' Attitudes toward Obese Persons and Certain Ethnic Groups
Authors: Maroney Diane , Golub Sharon
Published: September 2018

Societal attitudes toward obese persons are predominantly negative, and many health care professionals share these beliefs. This study compared attitudes toward obese persons of 67 US nurses to those of 107 Canadian nurses. Also, attitudes toward obesity were examined as a particular class of prejudice. A positive correlation was hypothesized between ethnic prejudice and prejudice regarding obese persons. Significant differences in attitudes toward obese patients were observed between the two groups on several questionnaire items, and the hypothesis was confirmed by the moderate r of .53 for US nurses. A surprising finding was a new target of ethnic prejudice: the Caucasian majority.
Implicit and Explicit Tests: Evidence for Dissociable Motor Skills in Probable Alzheimer's Dementia
Authors: Poe Melinda K. , Seifert Lauren S.
Published: September 2018

Previous authors reported evidence for intact implicit memories (those retrieved without conscious effort) in a serial reaction time task for both Alzheimer's subjects and age-matched controls, although performance on an explicit memory task (requiring conscious effort for retrieval) was poor. The current study assessed latencies on a puzzle-assembly task to assess implicit (procedural) memory for 23 female volunteers. Nine participants suffered from probable Alzheimer's Disease and fourteen did not. Even when subjects had no explicit memory of practicing the task, they demonstrated savings upon relearning. Implications for research on memory dissociations in Alzheimer's Disease are discussed.
Self-Efficacy as a Mechanism Linking Daily Stress to Mental Health in Students: A Three-Wave Cross-Lagged Study
Authors: Schönfeld Pia , Brailovskaia Julia , Zhang Xiao Chi , Margraf Jürgen
Published: September 2018

Background and Objectives

While stress is generally well established to be predictive for different indicators of mental health, little is known about the longitudinal effects of daily life stressors and the role of self-evaluation factors. We tested whether perceived general self-efficacy is a mediator for the association between daily life stressors and psychopathological symptoms as well as subjective well-being.

Methods

Data derived from 2160 Chinese university students was assessed at three time points with one-year intervals. We used the Brief Daily Stressor Screening, the General Self-Efficacy Scale, the Positive Mental Health Scale, and the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales. Total, direct, and indirect effects were estimated using 95% bootstrapped confidence intervals and structural equation modeling.

Results

Latent variable mediation analyses showed that daily stressors were associated with increased symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress and with decreased subjective well-being. All cross-lagged mediational paths via self-efficacy were significant in predicting positive and negative mental health.

Conclusions

Considering stress of daily life as well as including the two dimensions of mental health may be important for future research and practice. This study provides novel evidence for mediating stress effects by perceived self-efficacy, which should be focused in intervention- and prevention-based approaches.
Design and application of Type-2 fuzzy logic system based on improved ant colony algorithm
Authors: Zhang Zhifeng , Wang Tao , Chen Yang , Lan Jie
Published: September 2018

In this paper, an improved ant colony optimization (IACO) with global pheromone update is proposed based on ant colony optimization (ACO), and it is used to design interval Type-2 TSK fuzzy logic system (FLS), including parameters adjustment and rules selection. The performance of the system can be improved by obtaining the optimal parameters and reducing the redundant rules.

In order to verify the feasibility of the proposed method, the intelligent FLS is applied to predict the international petroleum price and the Zhongyuan environmental protection shares price. It is proved that the IACO can improve the efficiency of the original algorithm and accelerate the convergence speed. The simulations show that both IACO and ACO are feasible and have a high performance for the design of FLS. The simulation results compared with back-propagation design (BP algorithm) show that intelligent algorithms have an advantage over the classical algorithm, the simulation result compared with without rule-selection shows that reduced redundant rules can improve the performance, and the result compared with the Type-1 FLS shows that interval Type-2 TSK FLS has a better performance than the Type-1 TSK FLS.
A novel modeling approach and its application in polymer quality index prediction
Authors: Zhang Miao , Liu Xinggao , Zhang Zeyin , Gong Guangbi , Zhang Guoqing , Zhang Changjun , Chen Xu , Zhang Hongxing
Published: September 2018

Accurate and reliable quality index prediction is indispensable in quality control of the industrial propylene polymerization (PP) processes. This paper presents a novel modeling approach for quality index prediction based on optimal fuzzy wavelet neural network (FWNN) with improved gravitational search algorithm (IGSA), where the constant or a linear function of inputs in conclusion part of traditional TSK fuzzy model is replaced with wavelet neural network (WNN). Then, an online learning algorithm of the FWNN model is derived by using gradient descent algorithm, and an IGSA algorithm is proposed to online adapt the learning rates of FWNN. Research on the proposed soft sensor is carried out with the data from a real industrial PP plant, and the results are compared among the WNN, FWNN and IGSA-FWNN models. The research results show that the proposed prediction model achieves a good performance in practical industrial quality index, melt index, prediction process.
Development of a decentralized nonlinear controller for a class of uncertain polynomial interconnected systems: Application for a large scale power system
Authors: Rtibi Hosni , Elloumi Salwa , Benhadj Braiek Naceur
Published: September 2018

This paper presents a new robust decentralized control of nonlinear interconnected systems, which is applied and validated on a large scale power system. Our work is performed in three steps. Firstly, we have developed the polynomial description of the nonlinear uncertain and interconnected system using odd Kronecker power of state vectors, which is an easy-manipulation model for such complex systems. Then we applied Lyapunov’s direct method of stability analysis, associated with a quadratic function, in order to determine a sufficient condition for global asymptotic stability by applying a nonlinear, decentralized and optimal polynomial control. Finally, we carried out a simulation study on a nonlinear uncertain power system with three interconnected machines. We considered different cases of perturbations on its state variables as well as different cases of fault locations. We prove via advanced simulations, the effectiveness of the proposed control technique which is able to mitigate the successive amplitudes of the oscillations, to limit the control actions and to enhance the power system transient stability.
Ego Depletion Reduces Attention Control: Evidence From Two High-Powered Preregistered Experiments
Authors: Garrison Katie E. , Finley Anna J. , Schmeichel Brandon J.
Published: September 2018

Two preregistered experiments with more than 1,000 participants in total found evidence of an ego depletion effect on attention control. Participants who exercised self-control on a writing task went on to make more errors on Stroop tasks (Experiment 1) and the Attention Network Test (Experiment 2) compared with participants who did not exercise self-control on the initial writing task. The depletion effect on response times was nonsignificant. A mini meta-analysis of the two experiments found a small ( d = 0.20) but significant increase in error rates in the controlled writing condition, thereby providing evidence of poorer attention control under ego depletion. These results, which emerged from preregistered experiments in large samples of participants, represent some of the most rigorous evidence yet of the ego depletion effect.
Tracing race, ethnicity, and civilization in the Anthropocene
Authors: Luke Timothy W
Published: September 2018

This study critically reconsiders how the Anthropocene concept defines today’s trends in rapid anthropogenic climate change. As the proposed label for a new geological epoch, it is influencing contemporary debates in many fields of research, because these changes allegedly are caused by all human beings. This explanation, however, is simplistic. Material inequalities between different racial, ethnic, and class groups are the outcome of conflicts won and lost in historical time. Unequal economic growth has produced small concentrations of winners and large groups of losers along existing racial, class, and ethnic divisions in human societies. The destructive material by-products of such inequality now appear to be registering in geological time due to rapid climate change. The Anthropocene concept, in turn, must be challenged on how it constructs theoretical binaries, like self/other, us/them, nature/culture, or happenstance/design, in social theory and collective action. The analysis suggests many understandings of the Anthropocene are politicized interpretations of anthropogenic events in the environment that wrongly attribute them to all humanity as a species when they largely have been caused by a few privileged human beings in white, wealthy Western countries. The argument traces the impact of those social forces in history with specific technological, political, financial, and cultural capacities for mystifying how science and technology reproduce enlightenment as whiteness. Such social forces appear far more responsible for the extreme anthropogenic changes behind the Anthropocene than all humanity as such. This outcome also generates special benefits for them, as planetary managers, while they deploy scientific and technical authority to impose heavy costs on the managed. Given how the material effects of such inequality are altering global environments, the Anthropocene concept is a political problem that merits closer critical reconsideration.
The Colonial Hotel: spacing violence at the Grande Hotel, Beira, Mozambique
Authors: Sarmento João , Linehan Denis
Published: September 2018

In spite of its dereliction, the Grande Hotel in Beira, Mozambique, has emerged as an iconic African building. The dissonant meanings of this site, offer multiple opportunities to investigate the intersection of space and colonialism. We focus upon the cultural and political topologies of the hotel, and of colonial hotels generally, and make the proposition that they were a particular kind of violent colonial institution. By converging a relational reading of both violence and architecture, we reconstruct through the excavation of archival and related materials, the processes present in the histories of the hotel and city at large, to unmask how they acted as spaces of slow violence. White settler’s activities and rationales were underpinned by deliberative strategies of unknowing, forgetting, disavowal which together formed a kind of cultural agnosia that insulated them from the foundational violence that supported the colonial condition. We use a dispersed concept of violence, understood as a tactical and mutable process, which moves between physical, symbolic, embodied and performative domains. We address these domains in the paper through an analysis of the ways the city of Beira was planned, its architecture shaped and represented, and in the recreational and social performances within the hotel.
A flexible optimization-based method for synthesizing intent-expressive robot arm motion
Authors: Bodden Christopher , Rakita Daniel , Mutlu Bilge , Gleicher Michael
Published: September 2018

We present an approach to synthesize robot arm trajectories that effectively communicate the robot’s intent to a human collaborator while achieving task goals. Our approach uses nonlinear constrained optimization to encode task requirements and desired motion properties. Our implementation allows for a wide range of constraints and objectives. We introduce a novel objective function to optimize robot arm motions for intent-expressiveness that works in a range of scenarios and robot arm types. Our formulation supports experimentation with different theories of how viewers interpret robot motion. Through a series of human-subject experiments on real and simulated robots, we demonstrate that our method leads to improved collaborative performance against other methods, including the current state of the art. These experiments also show how our perception heuristic can affect collaborative outcomes.
Pathology and Case Definition of Severe Perkinsea Infection of Frogs
Authors: Isidoro-Ayza Marcos , Grear Daniel A. , Chambouvet Aurélie
Published: September 2018

Severe Perkinsea infection (SPI) is an emerging disease of frogs responsible for mass mortalities of tadpoles across the United States. It is caused by protozoa belonging to the phylum Perkinsozoa that form a distinct group referred to as the Pathogenic Perkinsea Clade of frogs. In this work, we provide detailed description of gross and histologic lesions from 178 naturally infected tadpoles, including 10 species from 22 mortality events and 6 amphibian health monitoring studies from diverse geographic areas. On external examination, we observed abdominal distension (10, 5.6%), cutaneous erythema and petechia (3, 1.7%), subcutaneous edema (3, 1.7%), and areas of white skin discoloration (3, 1.7%). On macroscopic examination of internal organs, we found hepatomegaly (68, 38.2%), splenomegaly (51, 28.7%), nephromegaly (47, 26.4%), ascites (15, 8.4%), segmental irregular thickening and white discoloration of the intestine (8, 4.5%), pancreatomegaly (4, 2.2%), and pancreatic petechia (1, 0.6%). Histologically, over 60% of the liver (148/165, 89.7%), kidney (113/147, 76.9%), spleen (96/97, 99%), and pancreas (46/68, 67.6%) were invaded by myriad intracellular and extracellular Perkinsea hypnospore-like and trophozoite-like organisms. Numerous other tissues were affected to a lesser extent. Mild histiocytic inflammation with fewer lymphocytes or eosinophils was commonly observed in areas of infection that were not obscured by lympho-granulocytic hematopoietic tissue. In light of these observations, we suggest a logical pathogenesis sequence. Finally, we propose a “case definition” for SPI to promote standardized communication of results and prevent misdiagnosis with epidemiological and pathologically overlapping diseases such as ranavirosis.
The Effects of Domestic Violence on Violent Prison Misconduct, Health Status, and Need for Post-Release Assistance Among Female Drug Offenders in Taiwan
Authors: Lai Yung-Lien , Ren Ling , He Ni
Published: September 2018

Although much research has documented the fact that a high percentage of female inmates serving sentences for drug offenses have experienced domestic violence prior to incarceration, little research has been done to explore the potential long-term impact of domestic violence on prison misconduct, health status, and the need for post-release assistance. Based on survey data for 633 female drug offenders collected from Taiwanese correctional facilities in 2014, about one third (32%) of the offenders reported experienced domestic violence at least once prior to their incarceration. In all, 27% of them experienced being violently abused by a spouse/coinhabitant. Multivariate regression analyses indicate that a prior history of domestic violence victimization contributes significantly to inmates’ violent misconduct even after controlling for a set of potential intervening variables. In addition, female drug offenders who were the victims of domestic violence reported higher levels of health problems in the prison setting, and perceived need for greater after-release assistance.
Traffic Incident Duration Estimation Based on a Dual-Learning Bayesian Network Model
Authors: Cong Haozhe , Chen Cong , Lin Pei-Sung , Zhang Guohui , Milton John , Zhi Ye
Published: September 2018

Highway traffic incidents induce a significant loss of life, economy, and productivity through injuries and fatalities, extended travel time and delay, and excessive energy consumption and air pollution. Traffic emergency management during incident conditions is the core element of active traffic management, and it is of practical significance to accurately understand the duration time distribution for typical traffic incident types and the factors that influence incident duration. This study proposes a dual-learning Bayesian network (BN) model to estimate traffic incident duration and to examine the influence of heterogeneous factors on the length of duration based on expert knowledge of traffic incident management and highway incident data collected in Zhejiang Province, China. Fifteen variables related to three aspects of traffic incidents, including incident information, incident consequences, and rescue resources, were included in the analysis. The trained BN model achieves favorable performance in several areas, including classification accuracy, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and the area under curve (AUC) value. A classification matrix, and significant variables and their heterogeneous influences are identified accordingly. The research findings from this study provide beneficial reference to the understanding of decision-making in traffic incident response and process, active traffic incident management, and intelligent transportation systems.
Relationship between Neighborhood Characteristics and Demand for Emergency Health Service Vehicles: A Poisson Hurdle Regression Modeling Approach
Authors: Habib Muhammad Ahsanul , Olajide Babatope , Terashima Mikiko , Campbell Sara
Published: September 2018

The main objective of this study is to explore the spatial and temporal variability of demand for emergency health service vehicles, measured at the 1 km-by-1 km grid level in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. This study utilizes and compares a Poisson regression and Poisson hurdle regression model that examine the effects of neighborhood characteristics on emergency health service vehicle demand. It also develops a time-segmented model to investigate the temporal variability of the effects of factors considered in relation to demand. It analyzes the Nova Scotia emergency health service administrative database for the period from January 2012 to December 2012. A comprehensive set of socio-demographic attributes, land use characteristics, and measures of accessibility to services are used to achieve the objectives of this research. Results found that demand for emergency health service vehicles was higher in areas where there was higher population density, more heterogeneous land uses, and a larger proportion of the population aged 40 years and above. The time-segmented model shows demand was highest during morning peak periods for residential areas, afternoon peak for commercial areas, and morning peak and midday for members of the population aged over 75 years. An assessment of the time-segmented model suggests that the generic model is sufficient for predicting how neighborhood characteristics relate to the demand for emergency health service vehicles. The findings of this study will be beneficial for urban planners and health professionals in designing healthy cities and targeting health promotions to reduce the need for emergency services.
Optimization and sensitivity analysis of drilling parameters for sustainable machining of carbon fiber–reinforced polypropylene composites
Authors: Mudhukrishnan M , Hariharan P , Palanikumar K , Latha B
Published: September 2018

Machining processes face two major challenges: sustainability and cleaner production. However, the effective utilization of tool and methods of lubrication system in sustainable machining have been dealt in depth in earlier investigations. This work aims to optimize sustainable machining parameters in drilling process for recyclable carbon fiber-reinforced polypropylene (CFR-PP) composites. This work is focused on modeling and optimization of drilling parameters for sustainable machining with respect to thrust force and torque for CFR-PP composites. The response surface method based on D-optimal design of experiments is used for modeling and optimization with variables such as drill spindle speed and drill feed rate as numerical factors, which includes different drill material as the categorical factor. The influences of tool materials on the sustainable machining are also discussed in detail. Further, the sensitivity analysis is applied to compare the relative impact of control parameters (spindle speed, feed rate, and drill materials) on thrust force and torque. The scanning electron microscope images are used for analyzing the morphologies of drilled surfaces.
Polyethylene glycol: An effective agent for isocyanate-based polyimide foams with enhanced foaming behavior and flexibility
Authors: Tian Huafeng , Yao Yuanyuan , Liu Weilin , Wang Kai , Fu Liwei , Xiang Aimin
Published: September 2018

A series of polyimide foam materials were prepared via one-step process, and the effect of polyethylene glycol on the morphology and properties of the foams was investigated. The results showed that the mean cellular diameter increased from 0.49 to 0.57 mm with the increase of polyethylene glycol content. Meanwhile, with the addition of polyethylene glycol, the tensile strength of polyimide foams increased from 18 to 23 kPa. It was proved that the foaming behavior and flexibility of polyimide foams were greatly improved due to the introduction of polyethylene glycol. As a kind of chain extender, polyethylene glycol reacted with isocyanate to form the flexible urethane segment, which improved the flexibility of polyimide molecular chain and promoted foaming behavior. In addition, all the foams exhibited fine thermal stability with temperature at 5% weight loss of about 350°C. The limiting oxygen index values of the prepared polyimide foams decreased with the increase of polyethylene glycol content, while the heat release rate increased, indicating certain decrease of the flame retardant properties. However, the fine cell structure can still be observed under the residual carbon structure after the burning, indicating fine flame retardancy.