bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Modelling and control for eliminating flux oscillations in generation IV high temperature gas cooled reactor
Authors: Badgujar K.D. , Park P.G.
Published: December 2015

The core power distribution in the advanced high temperature prismatic reactor (AHTPR 625) belonging to the high temperature gas cooled reactor family is controlled using the constrained receding‐horizon control algorithm. The outputs from each region of the reactor core are used as the inputs of the system. The reactor model is based on the two‐point‐coupled xenon oscillation model. It utilises the nonlinear xenon and iodine balance equations along with the one‐group, one‐dimensional neutron diffusion equation including feedback with a power coefficient. Axially, the reactor core is divided into two regions. Each region has one input and one output. These regions are coupled with each other. The proposed control method demonstrates very fast response to input flux change in the form of a step and ramp change without any residual flux oscillations between the regions of the reactor core. The constrained receding‐horizon control problem involves solving an optimisation problem for finite future samples and obtaining the control with few samples. Among the few constrained control samples only the first one is applied and the process to solve the optimisation problem is repeated again.
2D hierarchical fuzzy clustering using kernel‐based membership functions
Authors: Proietti A. , Liparulo L. , Panella M.
Published: December 2015

2D clustering aims at solving problems concerning bi‐dimensional datasets in several application fields, such as medical imaging, image retrieval, computer vision and so on. A novel approach for 2D hierarchical fuzzy clustering is proposed, which relies on the use of kernel‐based membership functions. This new metric allows to obtain unconstrained structures for data modelling. The performed tests show that the proposed approach can overcome well‐known hierarchical clustering algorithms against different benchmarks, also having the chance to be deployed on parallel computing architectures.
C‐band 60 W GaN power amplifier MMIC designed with harmonic tuned approach
Authors: Yu Xuming , Sun Huan , Xu Yuehang , Hong Wei
Published: December 2015

A C‐band GaN high power amplifier (HPA) microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) with second harmonic tuned circuits is presented. The MMIC is designed with three stages to ensure high gain, and the final stage is matched with optimised second harmonic impedance to improve the power added efficiency (PAE). Experimental results show that the class AB GaN HPA MMIC, with drain voltage of 28 V, can be realised with more than 40% PAE and 60 W output power, with associated gain of 25 dB, in 5–6 GHz at 100 μs pulse width and 10% duty cycle. The chip area is 3.2 × 5.3 mm (16.96 mm).
High‐performance, low‐cost, and highly reliable radiation hardened latch design
Authors: Yan Aibin , Liang Huaguo , Huang Zhengfeng , Jiang Cuiyun
Published: December 2015

Technology scaling results in that, soft errors, due to radiation‐induced single event double‐upset (SEDU) that affects double nodes through charge sharing, become a prominent concern in nanoscale CMOS technology. Existing hardened schemes suffer from being not fully SEDU‐immune, or perform with too large cost penalties regarding propagation delay, silicon area, and power dissipation. A novel high‐performance, low‐cost, and fully SEDU‐immune latch, referred to as HSMUF, is presented to tolerate SEDU when any arbitrary combination pair of nodes is affected by a particle striking. The latch mainly consists of a clock gating‐based triple path DICE and a multiple‐input Muller C‐element. Simulation results demonstrate the SEDU‐immunity and a 99.73% area–power–delay product saving for the HSMUF latch, compared with the SEDU fully immune DNCS‐SEUT latch.
Efficiency enhancement of wideband mobile antenna
Authors: Shin Hyunwoong , Jeon Jihwan , Kim Hyeondong
Published: December 2015

A resonant feeding loop is used to obtain the desired wideband impedance characteristic. Two implementations are presented and their efficiency characteristics are compared: a low‐admittance resonant feeding loop and a high‐admittance resonant feeding loop. Experimentally it is demonstrated that the low‐admittance feeding loop provides better radiation efficiency than the high‐admittance feeding resonant loop.
High‐performance digital replica of analogue peak current mode control for DC–DC converter
Authors: Taeed Fazel , Nymand Morten
Published: December 2015

A simple and robust digital peak current mode controller is proposed in this study. The controller replicates an analogue peak current mode control in the discrete domain. The inner current loop has negligible delay, which results in a high controller bandwidth. The controller structure allows the compensation slope to be updated in each switching cycle; therefore, the controller can maintain a high bandwidth over a wide range of operating points. The modelling principles of an analogue peak current mode controller are used to model the proposed controller. For experimental verification, the controller is implemented in a field programmable gate array to control a 100 W buck converter. The measured loop gain of the system correlates very well with the modelling results. The achieved controller crossover frequency is ∼1/10 of the switching frequency which is close to the crossover frequency of analogue peak current mode controllers.
Two‐level three‐phase voltage source inverter fed low‐power AC induction motor based on unipolar pulse‐width modulation method
Authors: Chen Kai , Ji Shi‐ming , Zhang Li
Published: December 2015

Space vector modulation is a well‐established theory. Generally, a three‐phase voltage source inverter generates eight switching states, including six active and two zero states, by the bipolar method. This study proposes a novel way to synthesise the output voltage vector by turning off both switches in a leg. Accordingly, new leg switching states are defined. A unipolar method is used to achieve discontinuous pulse‐width modulation. The complex reference vector is located by one active vector and two newly defined leg switching states. The most notable features of the proposed method are that it completely overcomes the problem of dead time without current polarity detection. These features make it very attractive for low‐cost, low‐power constant volts per hertz (V/f), open‐loop, three‐phase AC induction motor applications.
Distributed solar battery systems providing primary control reserve
Authors: Hollinger Raphael , Diazgranados Luis Miguel , Braam Felix , Erge Thomas , Bopp Georg , Engel Bernd
Published: December 2015

An increasing number of energy storages will be installed in buildings with photovoltaic systems. However, batteries with only local operation tasks do not exhaust their technical potential. Using the available battery capacity in terms of power and energy to provide ancillary system services is therefore economically reasonable. Providing primary control reserve power in combination with increasing local self‐sufficiency has been identified as a promising option for decentralised PV battery systems. Thereby, part of the battery capacity is used to provide grid services and the remaining part for the management and optimisation of local system operation. Provision of self‐sufficiency increase is limited, when the battery's state of charge is within certain limits. In this study, it is shown that the simultaneous use of the battery to locally increase self‐sufficiency reduces the need for external power sources to correct the storage level. The operational concept, the technical solutions, and a sensitivity analysis are presented. Furthermore, billing and measuring issues as well as the current regulatory framework conditions in Germany are discussed.
Virtual multichannel SAR for ground moving target imaging
Authors: Bacci Alessio , Martorella Marco , Gray Douglas Andrew , Gelli Samuele , Berizzi Fabrizio
Published: December 2015

Slow moving ground targets are invisible within synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images since they appear defocused and their backscattered signal completely overlap the focused ground return. In order for this targets to be detected and refocused the availability of some spatial degrees of freedom is required. This allows for space/slow time processing to be applied to mitigate the ground clutter. However, multichannel SAR (M‐SAR) systems are very expensive and the requirements in terms of baseline length can be very restrictive. In this study a processing scheme that exploits high PRF single channel SAR system to emulate a multichannel SAR is presented. The signal model for both target and clutter components are presented and the difference with respect to an actual M‐SAR are highlighted. The effectiveness of the proposed processing is then demonstrated on simulated a measured dataset.
On the lifetimes of evaporating droplets with related initial and receding contact angles
Authors: Stauber Jutta M. , Wilson Stephen K. , Duffy Brian R. , Sefiane Khellil
Published: December 2015

A physically credible relationship based on the unbalanced Young force between the initial and receding contact angles of an evaporating droplet is proposed and used to give a complete description of the lifetime of a droplet evaporating in an idealised stick-slide mode. In particular, it is shown that the dependence of the lifetime on the initial contact angle is qualitatively different from that when the relationship between the initial and receding contact angles is not taken into account.
A differential magnetoelectric heterostructure: Internal noise reduction and external noise cancellation
Authors: Wang Yaojin , Li Jiefang , Viehland D.
Published: December 2015

A differential heterostructure design which has a capability to reduce the internal noise and reject the external vibration noise for Metglas magnetostrictive foils/Pb(Zr, Ti)O3 piezofiber based-magnetoelectric (ME) laminated composite has been studied. The internal noise reduction is equivalent to that offered by sensor array stacks, and the external noise cancellation is based on a differential method (i.e., ME signal is in-phase but vibration noise is anti-phase). The ability of the structure to reduce the internal noise, and cancel the external vibration noise by a 10-fold attenuation factor, allows for practical applications of these sensors in real-world environments where contamination of magnetic signals by external vibrational noise increases the equivalent magnetic noise.
Design of a 9-loop quasi–exponential waveform generator
Authors: Banerjee Partha , Shukla Rohit , Shyam Anurag
Published: December 2015

We know in an under-damped L-C-R series circuit, current follows a damped sinusoidal waveform. But if a number of sinusoidal waveforms of decreasing time period, generated in an L-C-R circuit, be combined in first quarter cycle of time period, then a quasi-exponential nature of output current waveform can be achieved. In an L-C-R series circuit, quasi-exponential current waveform shows a rising current derivative and thereby finds many applications in pulsed power. Here, we have described design and experiment details of a 9-loop quasi-exponential waveform generator. In that, design details of magnetic switches have also been described. In the experiment, output current of 26 kA has been achieved. It has been shown that how well the experimentally obtained output current profile matches with the numerically computed output.
Interpreting plasmonic response of epitaxial Ag/Si(100) island ensembles
Authors: Kong Dexin , Jiang Liying , Drucker Jeff
Published: December 2015

Associating features in the experimentally measured optical response of epitaxial Ag islands grown on Si(100) with the localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) hosted by the Ag islands is challenging due to the variation of the Si dielectric function over the energy range under consideration. However, it is possible to conclusively identify features in the experimental spectra with LSPR modes oscillating both parallel and perpendicular to the epitaxial interface by simulating the optical response. The Abeles matrix method is used to describe the composite layered system and the Ag islands are modeled using the thin island film model developed by Bedeaux and Vlieger. By incorporating island morphology parameters determined by quantitative analysis of electron micrographs, the simulation faithfully reproduces the main features of the experimental spectra. Individually zeroing the dipoles associated with the LSPR modes enables conclusive identification of their contribution to the optical response of the composite system.
Permutationally invariant fitting of intermolecular potential energy surfaces: A case study of the Ne-C2H2 system
Authors: Li Jun , Guo Hua
Published: December 2015

The permutation invariant polynomial-neural network (PIP-NN) approach is extended to fit intermolecular potential energy surfaces (PESs). Specifically, three PESs were constructed for the Ne-C2H2 system. PES1 is a full nine-dimensional PIP-NN PES directly fitted to ∼42 000 ab initio points calculated at the level of CCSD(T)-F12a/cc-pCVTZ-F12, while the other two consist of the six-dimensional PES for C2H2 [H. Han, A. Li, and H. Guo, J. Chem. Phys. 141, 244312 (2014)] and an intermolecular PES represented in either the PIP (PES2) or PIP-NN (PES3) form. The comparison of fitting errors and their distributions, one-dimensional cuts and two-dimensional contour plots of the PESs, as well as classical trajectory collisional energy transfer dynamics calculations shows that the three PESs are very similar. We conclude that full-dimensional PESs for non-covalent interacting molecular systems can be constructed efficiently and accurately by the PIP-NN approach for both the constituent molecules and intermolecular parts.
Laser-induced transient grating setup with continuously tunable period
Authors: Vega-Flick A. , Eliason J. K. , Maznev A. A. , Khanolkar A. , Abi Ghanem M. , Boechler N. , Alvarado-Gil J. J. , Nelson K. A.
Published: December 2015

We present a modification of the laser-induced transient grating setup enabling continuous tuning of the transient grating period. The fine control of the period is accomplished by varying the angle of the diffraction grating used to split excitation and probe beams. The setup has been tested by measuring dispersion of bulk and surface acoustic waves in both transmission and reflection geometries. The presented modification is fully compatible with optical heterodyne detection and can be easily implemented in any transient grating setup.
Spin-1 Dirac-Weyl fermions protected by bipartite symmetry
Authors: Lin Zeren , Liu Zhirong
Published: December 2015

We propose that bipartite symmetry allows spin-1 Dirac-Weyl points, a generalization of the spin-1/2 Dirac points in graphene, to appear as topologically protected at the Fermi level. In this spirit, we provide methodology to construct spin-1 Dirac-Weyl points of this kind in a given 2D space group and get the classification of the known spin-1 systems in the literature. We also apply the workflow to predict two new systems, P3m1-9 and P31m-15, to possess spin-1 at K/K′ in the Brillouin zone of hexagonal lattice. Their stability under various strains is investigated and compared with that of T3, an extensively studied model of ultracold atoms trapped in optical lattice with spin-1 also at K/K′.
Comparative face-shear piezoelectric properties of soft and hard PZT ceramics
Authors: Miao Hongchen , Chen Xi , Cai Hairong , Li Faxin
Published: December 2015

The face-shear (d36) mode may be the most practical shear mode in piezoelectrics, while theoretically this mode cannot appear in piezoelectric ceramics because of its transversally isotropic symmetry. Recently, we realized piezoelectric coefficient d36 up to 206pC/N in soft PbZr1-xTixO3 (PZT) ceramics via ferroelastic domain engineering [H. C. Miao and F. X. Li, Appl. Phys. Lett. 107, 122902 (2015)]. In this work, we further realized the face-shear mode in both hard and soft PZT ceramics including PZT-4 (hard), PZT-51(soft), and PZT-5H (soft) and investigated the electric properties systematically. The resonance methods are derived to measure the d36 coefficients using both square patches and narrow bar samples, and the obtained values are consistent with that measured by a modified d33 meter previously. For all samples, the pure d36 mode can only appear near the resonance frequency, and the coupled d36-d31 mode dominates off resonance. It is found that both the piezoelectric coefficient d36 and the electromechanical coupling factor k36 of soft PZT ceramics (PZT-5H and PZT-51) are considerably larger than those of the hard PZT ceramics (PZT-4). The obtained d36 of 160–275pC/N, k36 ∼ 0.24, and the mechanical quality factor Q36 of 60–90 in soft PZT ceramics are comparable with the corresponding properties of the d31 mode sample. Therefore, the d36 mode in modified soft PZT ceramics is more promising for industrial applications such as face-shear resonators and shear horizontal wave generators.
High pressure–low temperature phase diagram of barium: Simplicity versus complexity
Authors: Desgreniers Serge , Tse John S. , Matsuoka Takahiro , Ohishi Yasuo , Li Quan , Ma Yanming
Published: December 2015

Barium holds a distinctive position among all elements studied upon densification. Indeed, it was the first example shown to violate the long-standing notion that high compression of simple metals should preserve or yield close-packed structures. From modest pressure conditions at room temperature, barium transforms at higher pressures from its simple structures to the extraordinarily complex atomic arrangements of the incommensurate and self-hosting Ba-IV phases. By a detailed mapping of the pressure/temperature structures of barium, we demonstrate the existence of another crystalline arrangement of barium, Ba-VI, at low temperature and high pressure. The simple structure of Ba-VI is unlike that of complex Ba-IV, the phase encountered in a similar pressure range at room temperature. First-principles calculations predict Ba-VI to be stable at high pressure and superconductive. The results illustrate the complexity of the low temperature-high pressure phase diagram of barium and the significant effect of temperature on structural phase transformations.
Optical absorption and intrinsic recombination in relaxed and strained InAs1–xSbx alloys for mid-wavelength infrared application
Authors: Wen Hanqing , Bellotti Enrico
Published: December 2015

The intrinsic carrier recombination lifetime in relaxed and strained InAs1−xSbx alloys is investigated using the full-band Green's function theory. By computing the phonon-perturbed electron self-energy of the system, both direct and phonon-assisted indirect Auger and radiative processes are studied as functions of antimony molar fractions, lattice temperatures and applied in-plane biaxial strains. To improve the overall accuracy of the calculation, an empirical pseudopotential band structure for the alloy is also fitted to the measured band extrema and effective masses under different biaxial strains. A set of effective screened potentials valid for all the needed antimony fractions x and biaxial strains ϵ, therefore, is obtained and applied to the calculation. The results showed reduced total Auger recombination rates and enhanced radiative recombination rates in InAsSb alloys at room temperature when a compressive strain is applied. Furthermore, the study on the widely employed mid-wavelength infrared detector material, InAs0.91Sb0.09, strained by an InAs substrate, demonstrated that much longer minority carrier lifetime can be achieved compared to that in the lattice-matched situation when the lattice temperature is above 200 K.
Ultrasensitive organic phototransistors with multispectral response based on thin-film/single-crystal bilayer structures
Authors: Pinto R. M. , Gouveia W. , Neves A. I. S. , Alves H.
Published: December 2015

We report on highly efficient organic phototransistors (OPTs) based on thin-film/single-crystal planar bilayer junctions between 5,6,11,12-tetraphenyltetracene (rubrene) and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM). The OPTs show good field-effect characteristics in the dark, with high hole-mobility (4–5 cm2 V−1 s−1), low-contact resistance (20 kΩ cm), and low-operating voltage (≤5 V). Excellent sensing capabilities allow for light detection in the 400–750 nm range, with photocurrent/dark current ratio as high as 4 × 104, responsivity on the order of 20 AW−1 at 27 μW cm−2, and an external quantum efficiency of 52 000%. Photocurrent generation is attributed to enhanced electron and hole transfer at the interface between rubrene and PC61BM, and fast response times are observed as a consequence of the high-mobility of the interfaces. The optoelectronic properties exhibited in these OPTs outperform those typically provided by a-Si based devices, enabling future applications where multifunctionality in a single-device is sought.
Au plasmonics in a WS2-Au-CuInS2 photocatalyst for significantly enhanced hydrogen generation
Authors: Cheng Zhongzhou , Wang Zhenxing , Shifa Tofik Ahmed , Wang Fengmei , Zhan Xueying , Xu Kai , Liu Quanlin , He Jun
Published: December 2015

Promoting the activities of photocatalysts is still the critical challenge in H2 generation area. Here, a Au plasmon enhanced photocatalyst of WS2-Au-CuInS2 is developed by inserting Au nanoparticles between WS2 nanotubes and CuInS2 (CIS) nanoparticles. Due to the localized surface plasmonic resonance properties from Au nanoparticles, WS2-Au-CIS shows the best performance as compared to Au-CIS, CIS, WS2-CIS, CIS-Au, WS2-Au, and WS2-CIS-Au. The surface plasmonic resonance effects dramatically intensify the absorption of visible light and help to inject hot electrons into the semiconductors. Our findings open up an efficient method to optimize the type-II structures for photocatalytic water splitting.
Physics of active jamming during collective cellular motion in a monolayer
Authors: Garcia Simon , Hannezo Edouard , Elgeti Jens , Joanny Jean-François , Silberzan Pascal , Gov Nir S.
Published: December 2015

Significance

Collective cell motion is very important in many biological processes such as wound healing, embryogenesis, or cancer progression. Nevertheless, it is not clear which parameters control the transition from freely moving single cells to collective jammed motion. In this article, we uncover complex dynamics as a cell monolayer ages, where cell motion is shown to gradually slow down with time, while the distance over which cell displacements are correlated first increases drastically and then decreases. This change of behavior is not controlled by cell density but rather by a maturation of the cell−cell and cell−substrate contacts. By comparing experiments, analytic model, and detailed particle-based simulations, we shed light on this biological amorphous solidification process.
Kohn–Sham approach to quantum electrodynamical density-functional theory: Exact time-dependent effective potentials in real space
Authors: Flick Johannes , Ruggenthaler Michael , Appel Heiko , Rubio Angel
Published: December 2015

Significance

Density-functional theory (DFT) is a well-established method to study many-electron systems. Over the past decades advanced algorithms have been designed that allow even large systems to be solved computationally very efficiently. Only recently, DFT has been generalized to correctly incorporate the quantum nature of light, which becomes important, e.g., in cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED). In general, the accuracy in density-functional theory depends crucially on the capability to construct good approximations that reflect the features of the exact effective potential for the Kohn–Sham system. In this work, we introduce a fixed-point scheme to construct these exact effective potentials for a cavity QED system and demonstrate their features for the ground-state and time-dependent situations.
The locus of taboo context effects in picture naming
Authors: Hansen Samuel J. , McMahon Katie L. , Burt Jennifer S. , de Zubicaray Greig I.
Published: December 2015

Speakers respond more slowly when naming pictures presented with taboo (i.e., offensive/embarrassing) than with neutral distractor words in the picture–word interference paradigm. Over four experiments, we attempted to localize the processing stage at which this effect occurs during word production and determine whether it reflects the socially offensive/embarrassing nature of the stimuli. Experiment 1 demonstrated taboo interference at early stimulus onset asynchronies of −150 ms and 0 ms although not at 150 ms. In Experiment 2, taboo distractors sharing initial phonemes with target picture names eliminated the interference effect. Using additive factors logic, Experiment 3 demonstrated that taboo interference and phonological facilitation effects do not interact, indicating that the two effects originate at different processing levels within the speech production system. In Experiment 4, interference was observed for masked taboo distractors, including those sharing initial phonemes with the target picture names, indicating that the effect cannot be attributed to a processing level involving responses in an output buffer. In two of the four experiments, the magnitude of the interference effect correlated significantly with arousal ratings of the taboo words. However, no significant correlations were found for either offensiveness or valence ratings. These findings are consistent with a locus for the taboo interference effect prior to the processing stage responsible for word form encoding. We propose a pre-lexical account in which taboo distractors capture attention at the expense of target picture processing due to their high arousal levels.
Edge plasma responses to energetic-particle-driven MHD instability in Heliotron J
Authors: Ohshima S. , Kobayashi S. , Yamamoto S. , Nagasaki K. , Mizuuchi T. , Okada H. , Minami T. , Hashimoto K. , Shi N. , Zang L. , Kasajima K. , Kenmochi N. , Ohtani Y. , Nagae Y. , Mukai K. , Lee H.Y. , Matsuura H. , Takeuchi M. , Konoshima S. , Sano F.
Published: December 2015

Two different responses to an energetic-particle-driven magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instability, modulation of the turbulence amplitude associated with the MHD instability and dynamical changes in the radial electric field (E
r) synchronized with bursting MHD activities, are found around the edge plasma in neutral beam injection (NBI) heated plasmas of the Heliotron J device using multiple Langmuir probes. The nonlinear phase relationship between the MHD activity and broadband fluctuation is found from bicoherence and envelope analysis applied to the probe signals. The structural changes of the E
r profile appear in perfect synchronization with the periodic MHD activities, and radial transport of fast ions are observed around the last closed flux surface as a radial delay of the ion saturation current signals. Moreover, distortion of the MHD mode structure is clarified in each cycle of the MHD activities using beam emission spectroscopy diagnostics, suggesting that the fast ion distribution in real and/or velocity spaces is distorted in the core plasma, which can modify the radial electric field structure through a redistribution process of the fast ions. These observations suggest that such effects as a nonlinear coupling with turbulence and/or the modification of radial electric field profiles are important and should be incorporated into the study of energetic particle driven instabilities in burning plasma physics.
Toroidal rotation profile structure in KSTAR L-mode plasmas with mixed heating by NBI and ECH
Authors: Shi Y.J. , Ko S.H. , Kwon J.M. , Ko W.H. , Diamond P.H. , Yi S. , Ida K. , Lee K.D. , Jeong J.H. , Seo S.H. , Hahn S.H. , Yoon S.W. , Bae Y.S. , Terzolo L. , Yun G.S. , Bitter M. , Hill K.
Published: December 2015

The structure of the toroidal rotation profile with mixed heating by neutral beam injection (NBI) and electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECH) has been investigated in KSTAR L-mode plasmas. ECH with varying resonance layer positions was used for heating a mix control. The experimental results show that ECH causes a counter-current rotation increment both for off-axis and on-axis ECH heating. For L-mode plasmas, off-axis ECH produces larger counter-current rotation than on-axis ECH. Analysis of ion heat and momentum transport for the ECH L-mode plasmas shows that the electron temperature gradient is the main reason for the degradation of ion heat confinement and also the main driving force for the non-diffusive momentum flux. As a possible mechanism for the counter-current intrinsic torque with ECH, the transition of the turbulence mode from ion temperature gradient (ITG) to the trapped electron mode (TEM) with the resulting sign change of turbulence driven residual stress is suggested. A linear gyro-kinetic analysis shows the ITG  →  TEM transition occurs in a localized region during ECH injection, and the trend of TEM excitation is consistent with the observed macroscopic trend of the toroidal rotation.
Newton polyhedra and weighted oscillatory integrals with smooth phases
Authors: Kamimoto Joe , Nose Toshihiro
Published: December 2015

In his seminal paper, A. N. Varchenko precisely investigates the leading term of the asymptotic expansion of an oscillatory integral with real analytic phase. He expresses the order of this term by means of the geometry of the Newton polyhedron of the phase. The purpose of this paper is to generalize and improve his result. We are especially interested in the cases that the phase is smooth and that the amplitude has a zero at a critical point of the phase. In order to exactly treat the latter case, a weight function is introduced in the amplitude. Our results show that the optimal rates of decay for weighted oscillatory integrals whose phases and weights are contained in a certain class of smooth functions, including the real analytic class, can be expressed by the Newton distance and multiplicity defined in terms of geometrical relationship of the Newton polyhedra of the phase and the weight. We also compute explicit formulae of the coefficient of the leading term of the asymptotic expansion in the weighted case. Our method is based on the resolution of singularities constructed by using the theory of toric varieties, which naturally extends the resolution of Varchenko. The properties of poles of local zeta functions, which are closely related to the behavior of oscillatory integrals, are also studied under the associated situation. The investigation of this paper improves on the earlier joint work with K. Cho.
IKAP: A heuristic framework for inference of kinase activities from Phosphoproteomics data
Authors: Mischnik Marcel , Sacco Francesca , Cox Jürgen , Schneider Hans-Christoph , Schäfer Matthias , Hendlich Manfred , Crowther Daniel , Mann Matthias , Klabunde Thomas
Published: December 2015

Motivation: Phosphoproteomics measurements are widely applied in cellular biology to detect changes in signalling dynamics. However, due to the inherent complexity of phosphorylation patterns and the lack of knowledge on how phosphorylations are related to functions, it is often not possible to directly deduce protein activities from those measurements. Here, we present a heuristic machine learning algorithm that infers the activities of kinases from Phosphoproteomics data using kinase–target information from the PhosphoSitePlus database. By comparing the estimated kinase activity profiles to the measured phosphosite profiles, it is furthermore possible to derive the kinases that are most likely to phosphorylate the respective phosphosite.

Results: We apply our approach to published datasets of the human cell cycle generated from HeLaS3 cells, and insulin signalling dynamics in mouse hepatocytes. In the first case, we estimate the activities of 118 at six cell cycle stages and derive 94 new kinase–phosphosite links that can be validated through either database or motif information. In the second case, the activities of 143 kinases at eight time points are estimated and 49 new kinase–target links are derived.

Availability and implementation: The algorithm is implemented in Matlab and be downloaded from github. It makes use of the Optimization and Statistics toolboxes. https://github.com/marcel-mischnik/IKAP.git.

Contact:  marcel.mischnik@gmail.com

Supplementary information:  Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
An automated workflow for parallel processing of large multiview SPIM recordings
Authors: Schmied Christopher , Steinbach Peter , Pietzsch Tobias , Preibisch Stephan , Tomancak Pavel
Published: December 2015

Summary: Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy (SPIM) allows to image developing organisms in 3D at unprecedented temporal resolution over long periods of time. The resulting massive amounts of raw image data requires extensive processing interactively via dedicated graphical user interface (GUI) applications. The consecutive processing steps can be easily automated and the individual time points can be processed independently, which lends itself to trivial parallelization on a high performance computing (HPC) cluster. Here, we introduce an automated workflow for processing large multiview, multichannel, multiillumination time-lapse SPIM data on a single workstation or in parallel on a HPC cluster. The pipeline relies on snakemake to resolve dependencies among consecutive processing steps and can be easily adapted to any cluster environment for processing SPIM data in a fraction of the time required to collect it.

Availability and implementation: The code is distributed free and open source under the MIT license http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT. The source code can be downloaded from github: https://github.com/mpicbg-scicomp/snakemake-workflows. Documentation can be found here: http://fiji.sc/Automated_workflow_for_parallel_Multiview_Reconstruction.

Contact: schmied@mpi-cbg.de

Supplementary information:  Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
‘The Curse of the Co-ops’: Co-operation, the Mass Press and the Market in Interwar Britain
Authors: Gurney Peter
Published: December 2015

Though it continues to be neglected by historians, the British Co-operative movement had 6.5 million members in the early 1930s. The movement’s phenomenal success inevitably brought it into conflict with both private capitalists and government, who sought to contain co-operators’ ambitions. The movement’s ideologues proclaimed that the great lesson of the Depression was that markets ought to be regulated by the democratic will of the people and that co-operative success proved that this was both practicable and possible. This article assesses the threat that co-operation posed to economic and business elites in this period, highlighting particularly co-operators’ critique of the myth of the ‘free’ market and their fears concerning the rapid post-war growth of combines and syndicates. It explores co-operators’ thwarted attempt to regulate markets in the interest of working-class shoppers by means of the Consumers’ Council Bill after 1929 and then goes on to discuss the ‘penal’ taxation imposed on the Co-operative movement as a kind of disciplinary measure by the National Government in 1933. The role of the mass-circulation press provides a vital thread in the story throughout, for the anti-co-operative ‘crusade’ was fervently taken up by the press barons, Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Rothermere, who used all the powers at their disposal to try to extinguish the largest democratic movement of consumers Britain had ever had.
Taxonomy of Situations and Their Measurement
Authors: Meyer Rustin D.
Published: December 2015

Numerous psychologists across several subdisciplines have argued that the field’s ability to understand and predict human behavior is limited by a lack of a universal way of conceptualizing and categorizing situations. Perhaps the primary reason underlying this lack of consensus is the sheer enormity and complexity of creating a taxonomy of an entity as amorphous and multifaceted as “the situation.” Despite (or perhaps because of) the depth of this challenge, a number of researchers have put forth diverse attempts to create taxonomies of situations. The present effort examines the critical choices that these researchers have faced along the way and reviews specific examples of the various decisions they ultimately made in developing their final product.
Shared Decision-Making for Treatment Planning in Mental Health Care
Authors: Langer David A. , Mooney Tessa K. , Wills Celia E.
Published: December 2015

Shared Decision-Making (SDM) for treatment planning in mental health care is an interactive process through which clinicians and patients collaboratively determine the course of treatment. This chapter is divided into six sections, the first two of which provide a historical perspective on treatment planning and SDM in particular and discuss the core tenets and components of the SDM model. The third section details the key arguments in favor of SDM and summarizes the existing empirical support for the usefulness of SDM. The fourth and fifth sections focus on the components of SDM and implementing SDM in practice, and the final section proposes future directions for the field as SDM becomes more prominent in clinical care.
Sentencing Policies and Practices in California
Authors: Vitiello Michael
Published: December 2015

This chapter traces sentencing policies and practices in California, including the decision to abandon indeterminate sentencing and the enactment of a sentencing reform statute called Realignment. It first discusses California’s sentencing policies and practices from 1970 through the sentencing reductions driven by litigation in the federal courts and by initiatives that have signaled the voters’ rethinking of California’s approach to punishment. It then considers how California has reversed the trend toward longer prison sentences, along with its Three Strikes legislation and its effect on California’s prison overcrowding crisis. It examines the declining crime rates in California and whether Three Strikes is responsible for that downturn; the national trend that has questioned the overuse of incarceration; the shift of prisoners from state prisons to county jails; and California’s failed efforts to adopt a sentencing commission in the past and prospects for future reforms. It concludes by looking at California’s death penalty.
Taxation in the Achaemenid Empire
Authors: Kleber Kristin
Published: December 2015

The present contribution treats taxation in the Achaemenid, or First Persian, Empire, which lasted from 538 to 330 b.c.e. Its focus lies on information derived from the cuneiform texts discovered in Babylonia and Iran. Until very recently, Greek authors, in particular Herodotus, were used almost exclusively as sources of information on taxation. However, the original sources from the empire itself show that the reality had little in common with the view perpetuated by Herodotus. The differences are discussed here, and an overview of tax bases is given for the satrapy Babylonia because most of the relevant source material comes from there.
Contemporary Daoist Tangki Practice
Authors: Chan Margaret
Published: December 2015

Since 1979, China has seen a renaissance of indigenous belief systems, including Daoist tangki spirit-medium practice. Tangki traditions have Neolithic roots. The founding myth is of a man who magically battled flood demons to save China. In imperial times, ordi-nary people, disenfranchised by the state religion and pawns of dynastic wars, created a soteriology of self-empowerment. Ordinary people would transform through spirit pos-session into warrior gods who would save the community. Millennia-old tangki traditions have diffused into the modern Chinese quotidian. With a remote Central Committee of the Communist Party recalling distant emperors, village temples, many led by tangkis, have formed “second governments” to deal with day-to-day exigencies. Religion offers a cultural lens to obtain new perspectives of the Chinese worldview.
Environmental Science
Authors: Parker Wendy
Published: December 2015

Arguments in environmental ethics often appeal to information from environmental science, such as information about the causes of environmental problems. Contemporary work in philosophy of science can shed light on the practice of environmental science as well as some of the challenges it faces. This chapter surveys some of this work, focusing on three interrelated topics: the nature of scientific evidence, including connections with uncertainty and consensus; the use and evaluation of scientific models; and values and objectivity in scientific practice. A better understanding of these topics can help to ensure that scientific information is used appropriately and effectively in ethical argumentation.
Contextual Errors in Medical Decision Making: Overlooked and Understudied
Authors: Weiner Saul J. , Schwartz Alan
Published: December 2015

Although it is widely recognized that effective clinical practice requires attending to the circumstances and needs of individual patients—their life context—rather than just treating disease, the implications of not doing so are rarely assessed. What are, for instance, the consequences of prescribing a medication that is appropriate for treating a clinical condition but inappropriate for a particular individual either because she or he cannot afford it, lacks the skills to administer it correctly, or is unable to adhere to the regimen because of competing responsibilities such as working the night shift? Conversely, what are the gains to health and health care when such contextual factors are addressed? Finally, can performance measures be employed and developed for the clinician behaviors associated with contextualizing care to guide improvements in care? The authors have explored these questions through observational and experimental studies to define the parameters of patient context, introduce strategies for measuring clinician attention to patient context, and assess the impact of that attention on care planning, patient health care outcomes, and costs. The authors suggest that inattention to patient context is an underrecognized cause of medical error (“contextual error”), that detecting its presence usually requires listening in on the visit, and that it has significant implications for quality of care. Also described is preliminary work to reduce contextual errors. Evidence suggests that this nascent area of research has significant implications for performance assessment and medical education in addressing deficits in quality of care.
Opening of the Adenosine Triphosphate-sensitive Potassium Channel Attenuates Morphine Tolerance by Inhibiting JNK and Astrocyte Activation in the Spinal Cord
Authors: Cao Zhijuan , Dai Wenling , Zhang Ran , Chen Lu , Yang Xiangyu , Hu Liang , Chiang Li-Yang , Liu Wentao
Published: December 2015

Objectives:

In the present study, we investigated the role of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-sensitive potassium (KATP) channels in chronic morphine tolerance.

Materials and Methods:

Male mice were injected intrathecally with morphine or saline, respectively (each in 10 μL). Different doses of the KATP opener cromakalim (0.3, 1, or 3 μg/10 μL/mouse) were administered 15 minutes before the morphine (10 μg/10 μL/mouse) challenge daily for 7 consecutive days. Half an hour after morphine injection, the tail-flick latency was measured to evaluate the antinociceptive effect of morphine. On the seventh day, mice were euthanized with sodium pentobarbital (100 mg/kg) at 1 hour after morphine injection, and their spinal cords were removed for the assays of Western blot, immunofluorescence, and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction.

Results:

Opening of the KATP channel attenuates chronic morphine tolerance, suppresses astrocyte activation inhibits the increase in interleukin-1β at the transcriptional and the translational levels, and reduces the upregulation of phosphorylated c-Jun N-terminal kinase mitogen-activated protein kinase in the spinal cord after chronic morphine treatment. Moreover, transcriptional levels of spinal cord astrocyte KATP channel subunits, named the inwardly rectifying potassium (Kir) 6.1 and sulfonylurea receptor 1, are decreased in morphine-tolerant mice.

Discussion:

Cromakalim suppresses morphine-induced astrocyte activation significantly by suppressing the c-Jun N-terminal kinase pathway, resulting in a reduced release of interleukin-1β and the attenuation of morphine chronic antinociceptive tolerance.
Assessing the Impact of Renal Function on Trajectory of Intravenous Patient-controlled Analgesic Demands Over Time After Open and Laparoscopic Colorectal Surgery Using Latent Curve Analysis
Authors: Chao Pei-Wen , Lin Shih-Pin , Tsou Mei-Yung , Kuo I-Ting , Chang Kuang-Yi
Published: December 2015

Objectives:

Intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IVPCA) is often used to relieve pain after colorectal surgery. This study aimed to model the trajectory of analgesic demand over time after colorectal cancer surgery and explore potentially relevant influential factors using latent curve analysis, focusing on laparoscopic-assisted surgery and renal function.

Materials and Methods:

Patients receiving colorectal surgery with postoperative IVPCA were randomly divided into 2 equal parts to enable model construction and cross validation. Archived data were retrieved from the IVPCA pump. Latent curve modeling with 2 latent variables that reflected the baseline and slope of IVPCA demand trajectory over time was used and the effects of potentially influential factors on the 2 latent variables were evaluated. Goodness-of-fit indices were used to assess the model fit to both the model construction and validation data sets.

Results:

Data were collected from 834 patients, of whom 112 had laparoscopic-assisted surgery. Latent curve analysis revealed that body weight increased the baseline analgesic demand over time, whereas increasing age, female sex, poor renal function, and laparoscopic-assisted surgery decrease it. By contrast, only age and weight exerted significant effects on the slope parameter to modify the trajectory of IVPCA demand. Patients with higher age or less weight tended to have a smoother decreasing trajectory of analgesic demands over time. There was good cross validation, as the parameter estimates derived from the model construction data set fitted well to the validation data set (root mean square error of approximation: 0.05).

Conclusion:

Laparoscopic-assisted surgery and renal function affected the baseline trajectory of IVPCA demand over time, but had no significant effect on its shape.