bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Are clear boundaries a prerequisite for well‐functioning collaboration in home health care? A mixed methods study
Authors: Beijer Ulla , Vingare Emme‐Li , Eriksson Hans G. , Umb Carlsson Õie
Published: May 2017

Aim

The aim of this study was to examine whether professional collaboration in home health care is associated with clear boundaries between principals′ areas of responsibility and the professions areas of responsibility, respectively.

Methods

Data were derived from a web‐based survey that was carried out in one county in the middle of Sweden during spring 2013. Participants were health professionals and managers from the county council and from all the municipalities in the county. Both structured and open‐ended questions were utilised. A total of 421 individuals (90% women) answered the structured questions, and 91 individuals (22% of the 421) answered the open‐ended questions. Quantitative data were analysed with descriptive statistics methods, tests of independence and of correlation strength. Qualitative data were analysed with content analysis.

Results

The results from the structured questions showed that well‐functioning collaboration was associated with clear boundaries between principals in the county overall, and for respondents in two of three parts of the county. Association between clear boundaries between professions and well‐functioning collaboration was found in the county overall among the municipality population. However, in one part of the county, we did not find any correlations between well‐functioning collaboration and clear boundaries between professions or principals, with the exception of home help services. The analysis of the open questions gave similar results as the quantitative analysis, illustrated within three themes: The significance of concepts, trust and interdependence, and collaboration as a means for well‐being.

Conclusion

The results indicate that, recently after an organisational change, clear boundaries between the principals′ areas of responsibility and professions' area of responsibility respectively are necessary for effective cooperation between professionals. If the organisation and professionals have previous positive experience of colocated activities, clear boundaries do not share the same importance.
Marital Relations
Authors: Sousa Lisa
Published: May 2017

Chapter 4 examines marital relations in indigenous communities of highland Mexico. The first part of the chapter reveals the social, political, and economic significance of marriage to shed light on marital expectations and obligations. The chapter also considers informal unions, and the circumstances that gave rise to these types of arrangements. The second section of the chapter examines marital conflicts and domestic violence that developed in failed relationships. Formal and informal attempts to resolve disputes illustrate cultural expectations and attitudes about one’s rights within a relationship. The study reveals a complex process of negotiation among husbands and wives, their households, and local native officials, in which women sometimes aired their grievances before the community. Chapter 4 argues that the criminal prosecution of wife-beating suggests that domestic violence, especially when it was deemed excessive, was not condoned in indigenous communities.
Sexual Attitudes and Concepts
Authors: Sousa Lisa
Published: May 2017

Chapter 5 examines indigenous sexual ideology and attitudes based on the analysis of Mesoamerican metaphors and symbols that were used to discuss and represent sexual matters. The chapter shows that the principal concern in these texts was the necessity for moderation in sexual relations. Excessive intercourse, adulterous relations, and the use of aphrodisiacs could all lead to impotence, illness, and violence. Flowers, food, feathers, speech, and sight were invoked in metaphors and as symbols to represent sexuality in alphabetic and pictorial texts. They continued to resonate in the narratives and actions of indigenous people in colonial times. Chapter 5 considers how Spanish friars adopted some indigenous concepts in their efforts to promote Christian morality, and in turn how Spanish mores, Christian teaching, and colonial law affected native sexuality. The chapter argues, however, that Spanish Christian values regarding morality and sexuality influenced, but did not completely change, indigenous attitudes and practices.
“No Crowing”: Reagan, Trust, and Human Rights
Authors: Snyder Sarah B.
Published: May 2017

This chapter explores Ronald Reagan's strategy of “quiet diplomacy” toward the Soviet Union with regard to human rights as a trust-building initiative, arguing that the success of that approach was key in the developments that finally brought the Cold War to an end. It examines Reagan's efforts for exit visas on behalf of human rights activists, Jewish refuseniks, and religious dissidents such as Pentecostals, following the trail of his strategy through the 1985 Geneva and 1986 Reykjavik summits until his departure from office. The chapter demonstrates how Reagan's promise not to “crow” about his successes in this area and his decision to limit public pressure on Gorbachev about human rights led to increasing concessions by the Soviet Union, which fostered a rising level of trust in their relationship and eventually facilitated the end of the Cold War.
Trust and Transparency at the CSCE, 1969–1975
Authors: Morgan Michael Cotey
Published: May 2017

This chapter examines the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) from 1969 to 1975. It contends that trust was both a tool and objective of the conference, detailing how, even in the absence of trust, a major international agreement was concluded with the Helsinki Final Act of 1975, the outcome of the CSCE talks. In a clear attempt to advance their respective interests, Warsaw Pact member states focused on state sovereignty and the immutability of post-World War II European borders as a cornerstone of their definition of international security, whereas North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member states emphasized transparency, freer movement, and human rights, as well as confidence-building measures. As this chapter argues, the “tangled lines of trust and distrust” at the CSCE among the United States, the Western European countries, the neutral states, and the Soviet Union were incredibly complex, but they eventually secured the conference's success.
Trust through Familiarity: Transatlantic Relations and Public Diplomacy in the 1980s
Authors: Kreis Reinhild
Published: May 2017

This chapter investigates public diplomacy as an attempt to (re)build trust within the Western alliance during the late 1970s and 1980s. Public diplomacy was supposed to help prevent the alleged “drifting apart” of Western Europe and the United States, and to overcome suspicion of and mistrust in the partners' intentions and capabilities, both of which had been shaken during the 1970s and seemed to threaten the cohesion of the Atlantic alliance. Taking West German–American relations as an example, the chapter shows how increased public diplomacy efforts aimed at creating familiarity as a precondition of trust, trying to build on a societal level what is known from interpersonal contacts: trust through familiarity, generated via interaction and shared experiences.
The Genesis of Confessional Choice
Authors: Schainker Ellie R.
Published: May 2017

Chapter 1 charts the institutionalization of confessional difference in the Russian Empire, from Tsar Alexander I and the genesis of confessional choice for Jews in 1817, to freedom of conscience measures instituted by Tsar Nicholas II in the wake of the 1905 revolution, which allowed Jewish converts to all tolerated confessions to legally reclaim their ancestral faith. The chapter uses the 1820 conversion to Catholicism of Moshe Schneerson, scion to the Chabad Hasidic dynasty, to illustrate the conditions in pre-reform imperial Russia (1817-1855) that shaped the conversion landscape for Jews. The tsarist state’s missionary impulse was tempered by religious toleration and the empire’s increasing patronage and sponsorship of a variety of Christian and non-Christian religions. The Schneerson case also highlights how contemporary Jews actively engaged with the problem of Jewish conversion and leveraged their confessional status to vie with the state for control over apostasy and communal belonging.
From Vodka to Violence
Authors: Schainker Ellie R.
Published: May 2017

Chapter 4 analyzes narratives of Jewish violence against converts as another aspect of the provincial social threads of conversion. Here, the local spaces of conversion are important for the proximity of baptisms to the controlling gaze of Jewish family and community and the vulnerability of convert relapse into a Jewish milieu. Conversion as a form of boundary crossing raised anxieties about close interfaith living and became a flashpoint for negotiating the local politics of confessional coexistence and religious toleration. In these stories of violence in response to conversions, confessional feuds became family affairs--complete with familial contestation and the breakdown of the imperial, patriarchal family through conversion. The chapter offers a view of Jewish politics, shaped through empire and the confessional state, and the ways Jews worked through state documentary practices to alternatively endorse and resist conversion, and even mimic the previously violent, coercive practices of the state towards converts.
Wahhabi Expansion in Saudi-Occupied Mecca
Authors: Farquhar Michael
Published: May 2017

This chapter explores the use of education as a tool for expanding Wahhabi influence in the Hijaz, in the period immediately following its occupation by the Saudis in the 1920s. This project was fraught with tensions, occurring as it did in the context of a process of state-building within an occupied territory with its own religious traditions quite different from those of the Wahhabi heartlands of Najd. The chapter argues that this period saw the consolidation of numerous strategies — including not only material investment but also cultural appropriation, hegemonic modification of religious discourse, and the recruitment of migrants from across the Middle East to lend legitimacy to Wahhabi proselytizing — which would later become central to the role of education in expanding Saudi religious influence beyond the Peninsula. These arguments are illustrated with reference to the content and styles of teaching that developed in the Saudi Scholastic Institute in Mecca.
Money, Power, and Influence in Eighteenth-Century Lithuania
Authors: Teller Adam
Published: May 2017

This study demonstrates how Jewish economic activity on the magnate estates in the eighteenth-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth enriched, empowered, and reshaped Jewish—and Polish-Lithuanian—society. The analysis follows the New institutional economics (NIE) approach to detail Jews’ roles in the estates’ economic institutions—especially the markets, often overlooked in studying the feudal economy. It examines the economic roles played by Jews on the estates of the Radziwiłł magnate dynasty. This was a late feudal economy, so its study demonstrates how Jews formed part of a pre-capitalist system—a highly beneficial setting for them. Jewish businessmen formed the majority of merchants on the estates and also dominated the leasing of the monopoly on alcohol sales—a crucial way of marketing surplus grain. This economic niche became an ethnic economy, giving Jews market superiority. Their social status improved dramatically since they enjoyed Radziwiłł support and acted as their unofficial agents in various contexts. A new Jewish socioeconomic elite appeared, wielding power and authority over all groups on the estates. Based on the rich archival record, the study focuses on the Radziwiłł family’s Lithuanian holdings, the heart of its estates. It shows that the Jews’ integration into the estate economy was at the family’s invitation, in order to increase revenues. The Jews’ success in doing this allowed the Radziwiłłs, like similar magnate families, to become the most powerful force in Poland-Lithuania. Jewish economic activity, therefore, helped shape the Commonwealth’s eighteenth-century political system.
Jewish Settlement on the Estates
Authors: Teller Adam
Published: May 2017

Jewish settlement on the Radziwiłł estates in Lithuania grew rapidly from the end of the seventeenth century. The Great Northern War of 1702-1720 did not hit Jewish settlement particularly seriously and may even have encouraged its growth in the period of reconstruction. By 1764, the Jewish population on the family’s Lithuanian estates had reached some 20,000—almost 10 percent of the total Jewish population in the Grand Duchy. The dominant form of Jewish settlement was communities in the small agricultural towns, where they made up a large proportion of the population. Finally, by examining the Radziwiłłs’ legislation on the issue of Jewish settlement and comparing Radiziwiłł-run estates with others not administered by the family, it becomes evident that Jewish settlement grew and developed as a direct consequence of a conscious policy adopted by the Radziwiłłs and their administration.
Jews and Jewish Communities in the Urban Economy
Authors: Teller Adam
Published: May 2017

Towns were the main setting of Jewish life on the estates, with Jews there contributing greatly to the urban economy and bringing significant revenues to the Radziwiłł administration. The Jews’ importance in the economies of both large and small towns was felt most in their domination of trade, and in particular alcohol sales. In terms of direct taxation, individual Jews seem to have paid proportionately less than non-Jews. However, both individual Jews and communities were called on to make extensive unofficial contributions, while communities also made extra payments, such as those for rabbinic licenses. Both the community councils and the rabbis acted as unofficial agents of the administration, responsible for managing the Jewish population and its economic activity. Despite this, wealthy Jews who served the Radziwiłłs directly could exempt themselves from communal jurisdiction, creating a new socioeconomic elite.
Jews and Trade in the Estate Economy
Authors: Teller Adam
Published: May 2017

Jewish merchants were, with Radziwiłł encouragement, the dominant force in local markets. They were particularly important in allowing the estate administration to take advantage of new opportunities in the eighteenth century, which its established systems were unable to do. Trade served the estate economy in three ways: distribution, supply, and revenue generation. The arendarze boosted grain sales in the new economic conditions and Jewish merchants enabled the family to penetrate the new export market in flax and hemp. Jews were extremely important in supplying estate society. This mercantile activity also generated huge revenues in the form of indirect taxation. The importance of Jews in revenue generation is seen in the family’s expanding river trade to Königsberg starting in the 1720s. The freight payments Jewish merchants made to ship their goods on family rafts made this newly flourishing trade viable for the Radziwiłłs, giving them easy access to the international market.
Establishing Ukraine’s Fourth Republic: Reform after Revolution
Authors: D’Anieri Paul
Published: May 2017

Paul D’Anieri examines the prospects for reform in Ukraine’s fourth republic. He lays out the reasons for reform failure in the past, using the lenses of rational choice, institutional design, historical institutionalism, state-society relations, modernization theory, identity issues and democracy promotion. After examining some past successes, he addresses issues of who will be the crucial agents of reform (state, civil society, external agents) and sequencing. Ultimately, Ukraine has been more successful at overturning previous systems than building the kind of government and economy that many people think are necessary.
Democracy and Governance in Divided Societies
Authors: Way Lucan A.
Published: May 2017

Lucan Way examines regional aspects of Ukrainian identity by comparing it with similar phenomena in Bangladesh, Albania, and Kyrgyzstan. He points out that in each of these cases, regionalism makes it difficult to consolidate democratic government and carry out reforms. However, regionalism also undermines efforts by authoritarian leaders to consolidate their power because it helps opposition to mobilize. As regionalism becomes less pronounced in Ukraine following the Russian annexation of Crimea and the fighting in the Donbas, the key challenge is to promote reform without excluding groups central to Ukraine’s democratic future. One promising reform would reverse the strongest curbs on Soviet era symbolism, and some form of decentralization might also help.
Constitutional Performance after Communism: Implications for Ukraine
Authors: Hale Henry E.
Published: May 2017

Henry Hale looks at patronal presidentialism across the post-communist space, and concludes that where patronalism prevails, divided-executive constitutions are more conducive to democracy than those with strong presidencies. In this sense, Ukraine moved forward in 2004, backwards when those constitutional changes were subsequently overturned, and forward again when the 2004 constitution was restored in 2014. However, as Hale points out, constitutional provisions are not all-determining. Whether divided executives are effective at promoting other kinds of reform, such as market reforms, is unclear. Nevertheless, a divided executive is the best alternative in a bad situation.
Missing the China Exit: A World-systems Perspective on the Ukrainian State
Authors: Derluguian Georgi
Published: May 2017

Georgi Derluguian helps explain why Ukraine wound up with this oligarch problem in the first place, identifying the cause as a Ukraine’s peripheral position in the world economy and the failure of its elites to cooperate for a larger good during the critical moment of the USSR’s collapse. Here a comparison with China proves useful. Derluguian argues that China succeeded because its relatively simple state allowed its leaders to work together to orient the country toward the needs of the global economy, while the complexity of Soviet institutions (including its division into multiple federal units) made such cooperation much more challenging. After the USSR collapsed, various “violent entrepreneurs” were able to take advantage of the resulting chaos to their own advantage, becoming oligarchs or state-based predators that have vested individual interests in subverting reforms.
Lyric
Authors: Lehman Robert S.
Published: May 2017

The first chapter addresses T. S. Eliot’s struggle with history as this struggle unfolds between 1910 and 1920, between the composition of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and the publication of “Gerontion.” Challenging readings of Eliot’s project as, from its inception, conciliatory—the terminus of a certain narrative of literary modernism, the moment when modernism became reconciled to its institutional status—this chapter reveals in Eliot’s lyric practice an opposed tendency. During the 1910s, Eliot characterizes the poetic ordering of literary history not only as a synthesis of diverse works but also as a practice whose success depends on a series of divisions, divisions inscribed in the consciousness or the life of the “mature poet” and reduplicated in the poet’s literary creations.
Satire
Authors: Lehman Robert S.
Published: May 2017

The second chapter treats the formal role played by satire in the drafts of The Waste Land, focusing in particular on T. S. Eliot’s parody of Alexander Pope’s Rape of the Lock in an early version of “The Fire Sermon.” In Eliot’s hands, satire becomes a means of responding to a specifically modernist crisis in aesthetic judgment: the seeming impossibility of distinguishing, after the collapse of traditional standards of beauty, popular charlatans from individuals of real talent. By placing The Waste Land under the sign of satire, Eliot attempts to distinguish his long poem from the wasteland of literary history that it recollects. The disappearance of satire from the final version of The Waste Land following the editorial suggestions of Pound, and Eliot’s replacement of his earlier satirical method by the so-called “mythical method” reflect satire’s failure to accomplish its task.
Myth
Authors: Lehman Robert S.
Published: May 2017

The third chapter focuses on T. S. Eliot’s turn to the “mythical method” as a strategy of literary creation through division. Examining the delimitation in The Waste Land of the history of verse as it develops from Chaucer to Whitman, it shows that Eliot turns to myth not to forge connections with something temporally or spatially other but to cut his poem free from its literary-historical past. Within the realm of myth, broken off from the unending historical cycles that provide The Waste Land with its subject matter, Eliot attempts to place the poet’s creative act. The results are volatile: history remains, in the poem, the space of production, however fallen its products, while myth stands apart from history as a space where nothing—not history and certainly not literary history—happens.
Allegory
Authors: Lehman Robert S.
Published: May 2017

This chapter concerns the role of allegory in Walter Benjamin’s writings, and specifically on the challenge that allegory presents to time as the latter manifests itself by ordering human history. Benjamin develops his allegorical challenge to time in The Origin of German Tragic Drama, his studies of Baudelaire and, most profoundly, the ninth thesis “On the Concept of History.” In the last of these texts, Benjamin’s allegorical presentation of the “new angel” depicts a vision of history without time, a vision in which events occur absent any temporal continuity. In this impossible vision, the critical force of what Benjamin calls the “allegorical intention” emerges.
The Lightning Flash and the Storm of Progress
Authors: Lehman Robert S.
Published: May 2017

Impossible Modernism concludes with a short discussion of two figures: the flash of lightning that cuts across the desert scene in the last section of The Waste Land and the “storm of progress” that blows through the ninth thesis “On the Concept of History.” These images, it is maintained, in their attempt to present together tradition, on the one hand, and event, on the other, bring to the fore modernism’s paradoxical historical imagination, and the relevance of this imagination to our contemporary aesthetic and political concerns.
North China Plain
Authors: Bossen Laurel , Gates Hill
Published: May 2017

This chapter demonstrates how pervasive footbinding was among the mothers and grandmothers of women we interviewed in northern China. It begins by outlining political and economic background to the region and the development of the preindustrial cotton industry. Hebei province, surrounding Beijing, is the starting point. Heavily influenced by political changes and new developments in transportation and trade, Ding County, was the site of a landmark study of rural China in the 1920s and 1930s. Complementing the early research with new village material provides different perspectives on Ding County's decline in footbinding. Research in villages in Shandong, Henan, and Anhui Provinces provides additional information on the interplay of local environment, trade, girls’ hand labor, the pattern of footbinding and the pace of its decline.
Bound Feet Across China
Authors: Bossen Laurel , Gates Hill
Published: May 2017

The final chapter tests the general hypothesis that continued handwork by girls and women was instrumental in the persistence of footbinding. Aggregating quantitative data from our individual village sites across China and using logistic regressions, we show that when girls performed handwork for income, the likelihood that they were footbound was significantly greater than when they did not do handwork for income. Footbinding declined earlier when girls were not involved in commercial handwork. These findings are placed in the context of China’s industrialization, the spread of textile mills, and widespread displacement of girls’ hand labor in cotton textiles. The study provides solid evidence for a radically different interpretation of China’s tradition of footbinding and its deleterious, life-long effects on millions of girls and women. A major force in its eradication was the expansion of commerce and industry.
Dificultades en el factor neuropsicológico Cinestésico predicen posibles problemas en la adquisición de la escritura
Authors: Sarmiento-Bolaños Maria Jimena , Rojas Ríos Inés Adriana , Moreno Carrillo María Jeimy , Gomez-A Alexander
Published: May 2017

En este estudio, se evaluó a un grupo de niños y niñas de primero a tercer grado de educación básica primaria con problemas en la adquisición de la escritura, comparados con un grupo control. Los resultados obtenidos en la Evaluación neuropsicológica infantil “Puebla-Sevilla”, muestran diferencias significativas en los factores Cinético, Cinestésico y Percepción Espacial Global entre los sujetos control y los experimentales. Resultados similares fueron observados en las tareas de escritura contenidas en la Evaluación Neuropsicológica Infantil (ENI). Asimismo, se tipificaron cualitativamente los tipos de errores cometidos en las tareas de escritura. Análisis posteriores correlacionando la ejecución de los sujetos, mostraron que el factor Cinestésico puede considerarse predictor de una adecuada adquisición de la escritura y la tarea de dictado de la ENI es sensible para el reconocimiento de dificultades en dicho factor.
Extinción y renovación de la memoria espacial en humanos
Authors: Luna David , Manzanares-Silva Moisés , Rodríguez-González Katia , Carranza-Jasso Rodrigo
Published: May 2017

Participantes humanos fueron entrenados en un laberinto virtual de agua para localizar en dos fases sucesivas una plataforma cuya ubicación fue específica a la fase vigente. Posteriormente realizaron una prueba sin plataforma. El Grupo ABA realizó la primera fase y la prueba en un contexto A, y la segunda fase en un contexto B. El Grupo ABB realizó la primera fase en el contexto A, y la segunda fase y la prueba en el contexto B. Ambos grupos localizaron la plataforma en cada fase. Durante la prueba, la última ubicación de la plataforma fue preferida por el Grupo ABB, mientras que la primera ubicación fue preferida por el Grupo ABA. Estos resultados indican renovación de la memoria espacial en humanos.
Medida de las emociones en niños con TDAH: un ensayo experimental con la técnica de potenciales evocados
Authors: Martínez Yoana Campeño , Gázquez Linares José Jesús , Bermejo Víctor Santiuste
Published: May 2017

El trastorno por déficit de atención con hiperactividad (TDAH) es un trastorno complejo de origen neurobiológico, caracterizado tanto por sus implicaciones cognitivas como por su afectación a la base afectiva y emocional del procesamiento cognitivo. En esta investigación se han analizado las diferencias en el procesamiento cognitivo del contenido emocional, con la finalidad de evaluar las dificultades que presentan las personas con TDAH en dichas tareas, a través de la medición del contenido emocional de las palabras de una prueba de decisión léxica The attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a complex neurobiological disorder origin, characterized both its cognitive implications of their involvement as the basis of affective and cognitive emotional processing. This research has analyzed the differences in cognitive processing of emotional content, with the aim of assessing the difficulties presented by persons with ADHD in these tasks, by measuring the emotional content of the words of a test lexical decision
Reconhecimento de Emoções Faciais no Envelhecimento: Uma Revisão Sistemática
Authors: Ferreira Cyntia Diógenes , Torro-Alves Nelson
Published: May 2017

No processo de envelhecimento, alterações na percepção e na cognição podem gerar prejuízos no reconhecimento de emoções faciais. No presente trabalho, foi realizada uma revisão sistemática, de acordo com as diretrizes do PRISMA, de estudos recentes que avaliaram a percepção e o reconhecimento facial de emoções em idosos sem patologias. As bases eletrônicas de dados pesquisadas foram: MEDLINE, PsycoINFO e Web of Science, sendo selecionados 22 artigos publicados entre 2009 e 2016. De um modo geral, verificou-se que os idosos apresentaram um declínio no reconhecimento de emoções, principalmente para as emoções negativas. Tais resultados podem ser explicados tanto pela teoria estrutural, quanto pela teoria da seletividade socioemocional. Os resultados têm importantes implicações na medida em que sinalizam a relevância da avaliação cognitiva e do uso de estímulos mais ecológicos nas tarefas de reconhecimento emocional em idosos.
Rol Modulador de la Oxitocina en la Interacción Social y el Estrés Social
Authors: Florez Acevedo Stefani , Cardenas Parra Luis Fernando
Published: May 2017

La Oxitocina es un neuropéptido conocido por facilitar funciones del sistema nervioso periférico, relacionadas específicamente con el sistema reproductivo. Sin embargo, en las últimas décadas se ha reconocido la función moduladora de la Oxitocina en el comportamiento social, a través de su liberación en el sistema nervioso central. Así mismo, estudios han mencionado que la Oxitocina es un potencial ansiolítico cuando un individuo ha sido sometido a estrés social. Por lo tanto, el objetivo de esta revisión es presentar una caracterización de la Oxitocina y su relación con distintas formas de interacción social y el estrés social; a través de los resultados presentados en distintos estudios, tanto en modelos animales como en humanos. Además, se intenta mostrar la importancia de continuar con el estudio de la Oxitocina, dados los posibles vacíos teóricos y experimentales existentes, teniendo en cuenta las potenciales cualidades ansiolíticas de esta hormona.
Working memory and phonological awareness in children with rolandic epilepsy
Authors: Leôncio Daniele Caroline , Aragão Laura , Cassiano Maria Anna , Andrade Priscila , De Medeiros Thais Mayara , Rocha Thalisson Filipe , Azoni Cintia , Hazin Izabel
Published: May 2017

This study investigated how the difficulties in language in children with Rolandic Epilepsy (RE) could be related to alterations in their development of phonological awareness and/or working memory. We evaluated fourty-two children aged 6 to 13 years old. From these, twenty-one children were diagnosed with RE and formed the experimental group; and twenty-one children without RE, paired with the experimental group by sex, age, education and socioeconomic status, formed the control group. The results showed significant differences in the performances of children with RE and healthy children in the tests that evaluated working memory and phonological awareness. Also, positive and high significant correlations were found between working memory and phonological awareness in the RE clinical subgroup. Generally, the results suggest that compromises in both cognitive functions might be associated to loss of language capabilities in children with RE, and also point that the development of working memory and phonological awareness are interconnected.
Determining dominant driving forces affecting controlled protein release from polymeric nanoparticles
Authors: Smith Josh , Sprenger Kayla G. , Liao Rick , Joseph Andrea , Nance Elizabeth , Pfaendtner Jim
Published: May 2017

Enzymes play a critical role in many applications in biology and medicine as potential therapeutics. One specific area of interest is enzyme encapsulation in polymer nanostructures, which have applications in drug delivery and catalysis. A detailed understanding of the mechanisms governing protein/polymer interactions is crucial for optimizing the performance of these complex systems for different applications. Using a combined computational and experimental approach, this study aims to quantify the relative importance of molecular and mesoscale driving forces to protein release from polymeric nanoparticles. Classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been performed on bovine serum albumin (BSA) in aqueous solutions with oligomeric surrogates of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) copolymer, poly(styrene)-poly(lactic acid) copolymer, and poly(lactic acid). The simulated strength and location of polymer surrogate binding to the surface of BSA have been compared to experimental BSA release rates from nanoparticles formulated with these same polymers. Results indicate that the self-interaction tendencies of the polymer surrogates and other macroscale properties may play governing roles in protein release. Additional MD simulations of BSA in solution with poly(styrene)-acrylate copolymer reveal the possibility of enhanced control over the enzyme encapsulation process by tuning polymer self-interaction. Last, the authors find consistent protein surface binding preferences across simulations performed with polymer surrogates of varying lengths, demonstrating that protein/polymer interactions can be understood in part by studying the interactions and affinity of proteins with small polymer surrogates in solution.
Multi-frequency sparse Bayesian learning for robust matched field processing
Authors: Gemba Kay L. , Nannuru Santosh , Gerstoft Peter , Hodgkiss William S.
Published: May 2017

The multi-snapshot, multi-frequency sparse Bayesian learning (SBL) processor is derived and its performance compared to the Bartlett, minimum variance distortionless response, and white noise constraint processors for the matched field processing application. The two-source model and data scenario of interest includes realistic mismatch implemented in the form of array tilt and data snapshots not exactly corresponding to the range-depth grid of the replica vectors. Results demonstrate that SBL behaves similar to an adaptive processor when localizing a weaker source in the presence of a stronger source, is robust to mismatch, and exhibits improved localization performance when compared to the other processors. Unlike the basis or matching pursuit methods, SBL automatically determines sparsity and its solution can be interpreted as an ambiguity surface. Because of its computational efficiency and performance, SBL is practical for applications requiring adaptive and robust processing.
Mitotic chromosome assembly despite nucleosome depletion in
Xenopus
egg extracts
Authors: Shintomi Keishi , Inoue Fukashi , Watanabe Hiroshi , Ohsumi Keita , Ohsugi Miho , Hirano Tatsuya
Published: May 2017

Packaging without nucleosomes

The fundamental compaction of DNA in chromosomes is thought to start with the wrapping of DNA around nucleosomes, but is nucleosome wrapping required for the condensation of mitotic chromosomes? Shintomi
et al.
combined
Xenopus
egg extracts and mouse sperm nuclei and found that chromosome-like structures could be assembled in the near-complete absence of nucleosomes (see the Perspective by Kakui and Uhlmann). These “nucleosome-depleted” chromosomes were composed of condensin-enriched discrete axes and poorly organized chromatin loops. This finding challenges the textbook view of mitotic chromosome organization.

Science
, this issue p.
1284
; see also p.
1233
Complete Genome Sequence of Escherichia coli Phage vB_EcoM_Alf5
Authors: Alijošius Laurynas , Šimoliūnas Eugenijus , Kaliniene Laura , Meškys Rolandas , Truncaitė Lidija
Published: May 2017

Here, we announce the complete genome sequence of the
Escherichia coli
myophage vB_EcoM_Alf5 belonging to the genus
Felixo1virus
, whose members have not been comprehensively studied at the molecular level. Phage vB_EcoM_Alf5 infects
E. coli
K-12-derived laboratory strains and therefore is well suited for functional studies.
Complete Genome Sequence of an Avian Paramyxovirus Type 4 Strain Isolated from Domestic Duck at a Live Bird Market in South Korea
Authors: Tseren-Ochir Erdene-Ochir , Yuk Seong-Su , Kwon Jung-Hoon , Noh Jin-Yong , Hong Woo-Tack , Jeong Jei-Hyun , Jeong Sol , Kim Yu-Jin , Kim Kyu-Jik , Lee Ji-Ho , Kim Jun-Beom , Lee Joong-Bok , Park Seung-Yong , Choi In-Soo , Lee Sang-Won , Song Chang-Seon
Published: May 2017

We report here the first full-genome sequence of an avian paramyxovirus type 4 (APMV-4) strain isolated from a domestic mallard duck at a live bird market in South Korea. Phylogenetic analyses provide genetic information on a new genetic clade, APMV-4, isolated from a domestic duck and evidence of APMV-4 exchange between poultry and wild birds.
Draft Genome Sequences of Colistin-Resistant MCR-1-Producing Escherichia coli ST1850 and ST74 Strains Isolated from Commercial Chicken Meat
Authors: Monte Daniel F. , Fernandes Miriam R. , Cerdeira Louise , de Souza Tiago A. , Mem Andressa , Franco Bernadette D. G. M. , Landgraf Mariza , Lincopan Nilton
Published: May 2017

We present here the draft genome sequences of two colistin-resistant
mcr-1
-carrying
Escherichia coli
strains belonging to sequence type 74 (ST74) and ST1850, isolated from commercial chicken meat in Brazil. Assembly of this draft genome resulted in 5,022,083 and 4,950,681 bp, respectively, revealing the presence of the IncX4 plasmid-mediated
mcr-1
gene responsible for resistance to colistin.
Identification of a Novel Hepatitis E Virus Genotype 3 Strain Isolated from a Chronic Hepatitis E Virus Infection in a Kidney Transplant Recipient in Switzerland
Authors: Wang Bo , Harms Dominik , Hofmann Jörg , Ciardo Diana , Kneubühl Agnes , Bock C.-Thomas
Published: May 2017

Hepatitis E virus genotype 3 (HEV-3) is the causal pathogen of chronic hepatitis E. We report here the full-length genome sequence of an HEV-3 strain, isolated from a kidney transplant recipient in Switzerland (SW/16-0282). This HEV-3 strain showed less than 88% homology compared to known strains, suggesting a new HEV-3 strain.
Draft Genome Sequences of Five Brazilian Clostridium botulinum Group III Type D/C Strains
Authors: Woudstra Cédric , Brito Roseane B. , Fonseca Júnior Antônio A. , Silva Rodrigo O. S. , Lobato Francisco C. F. , Fach Patrick
Published: May 2017

Animal botulism is mainly associated with
Clostridium botulinum
group III-producing neurotoxin types C, C/D, D, and D/C. In this report, we present the draft genome sequences of the first five strains of
Clostridium botulinum
type D/C isolated in Brazil and used for vaccination purposes.
Complete Genome Sequence of Undomesticated Bacillus subtilis Strain NCIB 3610
Authors: Nye Taylor M. , Schroeder Jeremy W. , Kearns Daniel B. , Simmons Lyle A.
Published: May 2017

Bacillus subtilis
is a Gram-positive bacterium that serves as an important experimental system.
B. subtilis
NCIB 3610 is an undomesticated strain that exhibits phenotypes lost from the more common domesticated laboratory strains. Here, we announce the complete genome sequence of DK1042, a genetically competent derivative of NCIB 3610.
First Insight into the Genome Sequence of Clostridium thermobutyricum DSM 4928, a Butyrate-Producing Moderate Thermophile
Authors: Poehlein Anja , Anbalagan Abirami , Nagel Alexandra , Daniel Rolf
Published: May 2017

The moderately thermophilic and Gram-positive bacterium
Clostridium thermobutyricum
is strictly anaerobic and forms subterminally located endospores. It was isolated from horse manure compost.
C. thermobutyricum
produces butyrate as the main fermentation product. The draft genome consists of one circular chromosome (3.425 Mb) and contains 3,201 predicted protein-coding genes.
Draft Genome Sequence of a Lipolytic Yeast,
Candida aaseri
SH-14
Authors: Lee Sun Hee , Jeong Haeyoung , Ko Hyeok-Jin , Bae Jung-Hoon , Ibrahim Zool Hilmi , Sung Bong Hyun , Sohn Jung-Hoon
Published: May 2017

We report here the draft genome sequence of the lipolytic yeast
Candida aaseri
SH-14, isolated from the compost of oil palm empty fruit bunches, and the identification of eight putative lipase genes. This genome information will provide the opportunity to produce potential lipases for a variety of industrial applications.
Draft Genome Sequence of Staphylococcus epidermidis Clinical Strain GOI1153754-03-14 Isolated from an Infected Knee Prosthesis
Authors: Bottagisio Marta , Soggiu Alessio , Lovati Arianna B. , Toscano Marco , Piras Cristian , Romanò Carlo L. , Bonizzi Luigi , Roncada Paola , Drago Lorenzo
Published: May 2017

We announce the draft genome sequence of
Staphylococcus epidermidis
clinical strain GOI1153754-03-14, isolated from an infected orthopedic prosthesis. The reported genomic sequence will provide valuable information concerning the mechanisms of the biofilm formation on metallic implants.
Draft Genome Sequences of Five
Enterococcus
Species Isolated from the Gut of Patients with Suspected Clostridium difficile Infection
Authors: Castro-Nallar Eduardo , Valenzuela Sandro L. , Baquedano Sebastián , Sánchez Carolina , Fernández Fabiola , Trombert Annette N.
Published: May 2017

We present draft genome sequences of five
Enterococcus
species from patients suspected of
Clostridium difficile
infection. Genome completeness was confirmed by presence of bacterial orthologs (97%). Gene searches using Hidden-Markov models revealed that the isolates harbor between seven and 11 genes involved in antibiotic resistance to tetracyclines, beta-lactams, and vancomycin.
The Mycelium as a Network
Authors: Fricker Mark D. , Heaton Luke L. M. , Jones Nick S. , Boddy Lynne
Published: May 2017

The characteristic growth pattern of fungal mycelia as an interconnected network has a major impact on how cellular events operating on a micron scale affect colony behavior at an ecological scale. Network structure is intimately linked to flows of resources across the network that in turn modify the network architecture itself. This complex interplay shapes the incredibly plastic behavior of fungi and allows them to cope with patchy, ephemeral resources, competition, damage, and predation in a manner completely different from multicellular plants or animals. Here, we try to link network structure with impact on resource movement at different scales of organization to understand the benefits and challenges of organisms that grow as connected networks. This inevitably involves an interdisciplinary approach whereby mathematical modeling helps to provide a bridge between information gleaned by traditional cell and molecular techniques or biophysical approaches at a hyphal level, with observations of colony dynamics and behavior at an ecological level.
Sterile neutrino searches at future e−e+, pp and e−p colliders
Authors: Antusch Stefan , Cazzato Eros , Fischer Oliver
Published: May 2017

Sterile neutrinos are among the most attractive extensions of the SM to generate the light neutrino masses observed in neutrino oscillation experiments. When the sterile neutrinos are subject to a protective symmetry, they can have masses around the electroweak scale and potentially large neutrino Yukawa couplings, which makes them testable at planned future particle colliders. We systematically discuss the production and decay channels at electron–positron, proton–proton and electron–proton colliders and provide a complete list of the leading order signatures for sterile neutrino searches. Among other things, we discuss several novel search channels, and present a first look at the possible sensitivities for the active-sterile mixings and the heavy neutrino masses. We compare the performance of the different collider types and discuss their complementarity.
Can quantum black holes be (q, p)-fermions?
Authors: Dil Emre
Published: May 2017

In this study, to investigate the very nature of quantum black holes, we try to relate three independent studies: (q, p)-deformed Fermi gas model, Verlinde’s entropic gravity proposal and Strominger’s quantum black holes obeying the deformed statistics. After summarizing Strominger’s extremal quantum black holes, we represent the thermostatistics of (q, p)-fermions to reach the deformed entropy of the (q, p)-deformed Fermi gas model. Since Strominger’s proposal claims that the quantum black holes obey deformed statistics, this motivates us to describe the statistics of quantum black holes with the (q, p)-deformed fermions. We then apply the Verlinde’s entropic gravity proposal to the entropy of the (q, p)-deformed Fermi gas model which gives the two-parameter deformed Einstein equations describing the gravitational field equations of the extremal quantum black holes obeying the deformed statistics. We finally relate the obtained results with the recent study on other modification of Einstein equations obtained from entropic quantum corrections in the literature.
Propagation of electromagnetic waves in extremely dense media
Authors: Masood Samina , Saleem Iram
Published: May 2017

We study the propagation of electromagnetic (EM) waves in extremely dense exotic systems with very unique properties. These EM waves develop a longitudinal component due to interactions with the medium. Renormalization scheme of QED is used to understand the propagation of EM waves in both longitudinal and transverse directions. The propagation of EM waves in a quantum statistically treatable medium affects the properties of the medium itself. The electric permittivity and the magnetic permeability of the medium are modified and influence the related behavior of the medium. All the electromagnetic properties of a medium become a function of temperature and chemical potential of the medium. We study in detail the modifications of electric permittivity and magnetic permeability and other related properties of a medium in the superdense stellar objects.
Study on degenerate coefficient and degeneration evaluation of lithium-ion battery
Authors: Li Bei , Li Xiaopeng
Published: May 2017

Some characteristic parameters were epurated in this paper by analyzing internal and external factors of the degradation degree of lithium-ion battery. These characteristic parameters include open circuit voltage (OCV), state of charge (SOC) and ambient temperature. The degradation degree was evaluated by discrete degree of the array, which is composed of the above parameters. The epurated parameters were verified through adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) model building. The expression of degradation coefficient was finally determined. The simulation results show that the expression is reasonable and precise to describe the degradation degree.
Lump soliton, mixed lump stripe and periodic lump solutions of a (2 + 1)-dimensional asymmetrical Nizhnik–Novikov–Veselov equation
Authors: Zhao Zhonglong , Chen Yong , Han Bo
Published: May 2017

The lump soliton solutions of a (2 + 1)-dimensional asymmetrical Nizhnik–Novikov–Veselov equation are obtained by making use of its bilinear form. We discuss the conditions to guarantee the analyticity, positiveness and localization of lump solutions. The solutions of interaction between a lump and a stripe are presented. It is proved that the interaction between the two solitary waves is non-elastic. The three-wave method is employed to investigate the periodic lump solutions. Figures are presented to illustrate the dynamical features of these solutions.
Mixed H∞ and passive projective synchronization for fractional-order memristor-based neural networks with time delays via adaptive sliding mode control
Authors: Song Shuai , Song Xiaona , Balsera Ines Tejado
Published: May 2017

This paper investigates the mixed [Formula: see text] and passive projective synchronization problem for fractional-order (FO) memristor-based neural networks with time delays. Our aim is to design a controller such that, though the unavoidable phenomena of time delay and external disturbances is fully considered, the resulting closed-loop system is stable with a mixed [Formula: see text] and passive performance level. By combining sliding mode control and adaptive control methods, a novel adaptive sliding mode control strategy is designed for the synchronization of time-delayed FO dynamic networks. Via the application of FO system stability theory, the projective synchronization conditions are addressed in terms of linear matrix inequalities. Based on the conditions, a desired controller which can guarantee the stability of the closed-loop system and also ensure a mixed [Formula: see text] and passive performance level is designed. Finally, two simulation examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.