bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Steady streaming in a two-dimensional box model of a passive cochlea
Authors: Edom Elisabeth , Obrist Dominik , Kleiser Leonhard
Published: July 2014

Acoustic stimulation of the cochlea leads to a travelling wave in the cochlear fluids and on the basilar membrane (BM). It has long been suspected that this travelling wave leads to a steady streaming flow in the cochlea. Theoretical investigations suggested that the steady streaming might be of physiological relevance. Here, we present a quantitative study of the steady streaming in a computational model of a passive cochlea. The structure of the streaming flow is illustrated and the sources of streaming are closely investigated. We describe a source of streaming which has not been considered in the cochlea by previous authors. This source is also related to a steady axial displacement of the BM which leads to a local stretching of this compliant structure. We present theoretical predictions for the streaming intensity which account for these new phenomena. It is shown that these predictions compare well with our numerical results and that there may be steady streaming velocities of the order of millimetres per second. Our results indicate that steady streaming should be more relevant to low-frequency hearing because the strength of the streaming flow rapidly decreases for higher frequencies.
How Prior Military Experience Influences the Future Militarized Behavior of Leaders
Authors: Horowitz Michael C. , Stam Allan C.
Published: July 2014

Policy-makers and the electorate assume political executives' life experiences affect their policy choices once in office. Recent international relations work on leaders focuses almost entirely on how political institutions shape leaders' choices rather than on leaders' personal attributes and how they influence policy choices. This article focuses the analytic lens on leaders and their personal backgrounds. We theorize that the prior military background of a leader is an important life experience with direct relevance for how leaders evaluate the utility of using military force. We test several propositions employing a new data set, building on Archigos, that encompasses the life background characteristics of more than 2,500 heads of state from 1875 to 2004. The results show that the leaders most likely to initiate militarized disputes and wars are those with prior military service but no combat experience, as well as former rebels.
Effects of live-shearing on population parameters and movement in sedentary and migratory populations of guanacosLama guanicoe
Authors: Carmanchahi Pablo D. , Schroeder Natalia M. , Bolgeri María José , Walker R. Susan , Funes Martín , Berg Jodi , Taraborelli Paula , Ovejero Ramiro , Gregorio Pablo , Moreno Pablo , Novaro Andrés J.
Published: July 2014

Live-shearing of wild guanacosLama guanicoemay affect their reproductive success and population resilience, and therefore it is important to assess the biological sustainability of obtaining their wool. We evaluated effects of capture and shearing on survival and reproduction, population parameters, daily movements, ranging behaviour and spatial distribution in sedentary and migratory populations. We assessed population variables by radio-telemetry and line-transect surveys before and after capture. We estimated high post-shearing survival rates in both populations and similar yearling production in shorn and non-shorn females in the migratory population. We did not find significant variations in density and population structure before and after shearing in the sedentary population, whereas in the migratory population density decreased and the population structure changed significantly after assembly of the capture structure, returning to pre-assembly levels 1 month later. The mean daily distance moved by radio-collared guanacos during the first 2 days after shearing was three times longer than during the following 30 days. There was a 25% decrease in the mean home-range size of shorn guanacos between the first and second month after shearing but this decline appeared to be associated with a seasonal change in movement, because a similar reduction occurred during the same period the following year, when the guanacos were not shorn. Live-shearing modified the spatial distribution pattern in the sedentary population but did not have a significant effect on the migratory population. Management of guanacos may contribute towards developing a biologically sustainable economic activity that promotes conservation of wildlife and habitats.
Le Droit De L'Aménagement Du Territoire Et De L'Environnement.
Authors: Grandbois Maryse
Published: July 2014

En droit de l'environnement et de l'aménagement du territoire, comme dans l'ensemble du droit public, le droit apparaît comme un système de communication, mais un système univoque: un système de communication formulé en termes de normes, pour assurer la réalisation d'un mode de production et d'échanges économiques et sociaux, un système de communication qui obéit tantôt davantage à certains aux nécessités de l'échange et de la circulation, tantôt davantage à certains impératifs de la reproduction des rapports sociaux, mais qui ne change jamais desens.

Présupposé de l'échange et de la circulation, appareil de reproduction des conditions de la production, appareil idéologique et répressif d'Etat, enjeu et forme du pouvoir, le droit représente un agencement et une représentation du réel. D'une part, il justifie les rapports sociaux et, d'autre part, il tente de les rendre “naturels.” Ainsi le droit devient principe de vie en exprimant la réalité sociale à travers le prisme de l'Etat. Et, en même temps qu'il en concrétise les règles, il en travestit la forme dans un langage et un code abstrait. Une telle représentation a notamment pour objet de légitimer et de valoriser l'ordre social et spatial existant.
Chasing the Social Evil: Moral Fervour and the Evolution of Canada's Prostitution Laws, 1867-1917.
Authors: McLaren John P. S.
Published: July 2014

[T]he ordinary citizen who detests exploited prostitution has no unbalanced desire for legislation at any price. He or she is prepared to face the inescapable truth that the causes of this evil cannot be touched by law, however perfectly conceived, however perfectly administered. Those who are obsessed by a frenzy for legislative measures achieve contentment and futility. The slow way is the only way of advance here: education, a changed social outlook, a gradual reorganization of economic conditions, these may remove such causes as are within our control. And not the wisest of us can prophesy but that we shall find the primary cause will baffle us at the end. Teresa Billington-Greig

The relationship between criminal law and morality is one which has always evoked strong feelings. Moreover, the question of whether and how to use criminal law sanctions to curb sexual immorality has been particularly susceptible to both outbursts of moral fervour in the community at large and to the pressure exercised by crusaders and propagandists with moral missions.
Cocaine Use in the Era of Social Reform: The Natural History of a Social Problem in Canada, 1880–1911.
Authors: Murray Glenn F.
Published: July 2014

Current interest in the non-medical use of cocaine in Canada can be gauged by the attention this drug is getting in the various media. Not surprisingly, researchers have now entered the arena in the hope of answering some of the questions posed by this phenomenon. A similar trend occurred in regard to marijuana more than a decade ago when popular concern led to a federal commission that eventually recommended the repeal of the offence of cannabis possession. The wave of concern created considerable scholarly interest in Canada's approach to the control of narcotic drugs, including cannabis, which had been defined as narcotic for legal purposes. Much research followed on various fronts, from studies on the effects of cannabis on health to the social consequences of punishment.

Several studies have examined the origins of Canada's legislative response to narcotic drug use. A principal conclusion from these studies is that legislation became possible because of hostility toward minority groups associated with drug use, specifically, the Chinese who were known for their use of opium. In the present paper, however, we see that drug control grew as much out of a “cocaine scare” as out of concern with opium use. Moreover, cocaine attracted attention in part precisely because its use was not confined to despised minorities, but permeated society as a whole, affecting “young people as well as seniors,” “men and women,” those from “poorer classes,” those from “respectable families” and those “who should and do know better.”
Refusal of Medical Treatment: Taking Respect for the Person Seriously.
Authors: Gochnauer Myron
Published: July 2014

A patient comes to a medical facility with a life-threatening disease. The diagnosis is simple and certain. Indicated treatment is the administration of a specific drug. There is very little risk in using the drug, and no alternative therapy has any real probability of success. The patient refuses. Is it permissible to override the refusal?

If the patient is fully rational, has a well-developed, consistent set of values, acts with full knowledge and makes no mistakes, there can be no conflict between her welfare and her choice. If the physician is likewise endowed, and is committed to the welfare of the patient, a problem will not arise. In the real world, though, this ideal is not always met. From the perspective of the participant physician, there may appear to be a breach between the patient's choice and her welfare. The moral (and legal) issue is what should be done in an imperfect world.
“The Black Sheep”: The Disciplining of Territorial and Alberta Lawyers, 1885–1928.
Authors: Sibenik Peter M.
Published: July 2014

The Law Society of Alberta was given an almost exclusive jurisdiction to discipline Alberta lawyers in the 1920s. “The Black Sheep” uses the records of governments, courts and law societies in the old North-West Territories and Alberta to trace the emergence of this aspect of professional self-governance from 1885 to 1928. For most of this period, governments and then courts had disciplined lawyers. However, there was an increasing number of public complaints and criticisms directed against lawyers in the mid-1910s and especially after the Great War. By the 1920s the Alberta Government, the senior judiciary and the Law Society of Alberta decided, each for different reasons, that the best way to handle the complaints was to let the profession discipline itself. Ironically, the number of complaints increased even as the Society exacted greater discipline on lawyers.
L'Accord du lac Meech et le nouveau mode de sélection des juges de la Cour suprême du Canada: une réforme chimérique?.
Authors: Bzdera André
Published: July 2014

L'Accord du lac Meech de 1987 est présenté par ses partisans comme un compromis susceptible de permettre au gouvernement du Québec d'adhérer aux amendements constitutionnels de 1982 (et à la nouvelle Charte des droits) et de participer aux négociations constitutionnelles en cours. Pour son « adhésion » à la constitution, le Québec réclama, entre autres, le droit de participer à la sélection des juges de la Cour suprême du Canada et ceci dans le but d'atténuer le potentiel centralisateur d'une cour dont les juges sont nommés exclusivement par l'exécutif fédéral. L'expérience des fédérations étrangères nous enseigne pourtant que la participation des États fédérés à la nomination des juges d'une cour suprême sert essentiellement à fonder la légitimité politique de la cour et à faciliter la centralisation judiciaire des pouvoirs dans la fédération. L'auteur suggère que ce volet de l'Accord ressemble moins à un gain pour le Québec, comme on l'affirme souvent au Québec, qu'à une importante concession politique accordée par un gouvernement québécois apparemment ignorant de l'enjeu de cette réforme, à savoir la consolidation du pouvoir décisionnel de l'État fédéral canadien.
The Young Offenders Act and Juvenile Justice in the United States: Perspectives on Recent Reform Proposals
Authors: Manfredi Christopher P.
Published: July 2014

Recent proposals to reform the Young Offenders Act have sought to address the difficult question of the proper response to youth who commit especially serious offences. This article evaluates these proposals from the perspective or recent developments in US juvenile justice policy that have also been designed to meet serious and chronic youth criminality. The article suggests that a series of US state legislative reforms, in which individual responsibility and system accountability replace rehabilitation as the dominant objective of juvenile justice policy, offers a comprehensive, if imperfect, model for reform.
Les droits de la personne et l'éthique de la discussion
Authors: Mouelhi Noureddine
Published: July 2014

Le présent article traite de la question des fondements de la justice sociale. Il constate l' inconsistance entre les diverses théories de la justice distributive, et envisage cette inconsistance du point de vue des catégories de droits que sont susceptibles de reconnoître ou de méconnaître, de part et d'autre, les théories d'allégeance libertaire et les diverses théories de tendance égalitariste dans leur conception de la répartition des biens sociaux. Le caractère conflictuel de ces droits vient de ce qu'étant des droits «déclarés» dans des conjonctures éiconomiques, politiques et sociales particulières, ils expriment for ćement des intérêts particuliers et irréductibles les uns aux autres. À cette conception des droits qui s'accompagne d'une argumentation visant à en montrer le caractère sacré, inaliénable ou naturel, l'article oppose une conception des droits «discutés». L'articulation de cette conception se fait à partir d'un modèle d'inspiration habermassienne dans lequel les droits sont représentés comme résultant d'un consensus rationnel. Ainsi conçus, les droits peuvent jouer un rôle régulateur homo gène dans les conceptions des mécanismes de répartition des biens.
Legal Education and the Possibility of Critique: An Australian Perspective
Authors: Duncanson Ian
Published: July 2014

A social activity is characterized and understood, this paper argues, only after one has found a place to put it among one's more general understandings and a frame to put around it to render it discrete and prevent its escape into chaos. Framing and reframing are the concomitants of social struggles for and against closure and exclusion. The paper sees critique as a form of practical and scholarly struggle against disciplinary closure, doubting question posed to disciplines. Law school education in Australia, because it offers guaranteed universal knowledge about its object, law, is unsympathetic to critique.
“Our” Bodies: Property Rights in Human Tissue
Authors: Gilmour Joan M.
Published: July 2014

InMoore v. Regents of the University of California, the Supreme Court of California held that the human source of blood and tissue used by his physician and other defendants in potentially lucrative medical research without his permission could not assert a legal claim that, in doing so, the defendants had deprived him of any property right in these materials or the cell line developed from them. He was, however, permitted to proceed with his claim that there had been a failure to obtain his informed consent to the excision or removal of these materials, given that their end uses were not disclosed. The decision in Moore is but one example of the range of new legal problems created by the many and rapid advances in biotechnology, and of the attempts courts are making to respond. The judgment raises questions about whether these types of issues as between the patient and medical, research, and pharmaceutical concerns can or ought to be analyzed in terms of property rights. Are the general justifications for recognizing proprietary rights that have traditionally been influential in judicial decisions useful or helpful in this context? And what of the identity of the decision-maker? InMoore, the majority was content to effectively delegate much of the decision-making authority to the U.S. Patent Office and the Office of Technology Assessment. While there are no Canadian decisions directly on point as yet, the pace of technological advances, the potential for economic gain, and the international nature of biotechnology enterprises all set the scene for these issues' coming before our courts in the near future. This paper begins to explore the implications of adopting an analytical model based on property rights and to address the fact that the biotechnology industry already operates on the premise that such material can be owned. It concludes that the current legal regime needs to be modified to allow effective control of these new realities and suggests principles that might be adopted to address important concerns that are raised by the transformation of human tissue and cells into economic goods.
Law, Feminism and Sexuality: From Essence to Ethics?
Authors: Smart Carol
Published: July 2014

This paper explores current thinking on the meanings of sex, gender and sexuality and on the relationship between each of these concepts. It suggests that whilst feminist theory has adopted a social constructionist view of gender and, to a lesser extent, sexuality, it has left sex to the conceptual domain of biology. It has also prioritised gender over sexuality conceptually. These issues are explored in the specific area of sexuality and law where it is argued that recent theoretical developments on sex and sexuality within poststructuralist thought have, as yet, failed to influence the dominant understanding of heterosexual relations. Arguably in the field of law and sexuality, feminism has remained wedded to a notion of binary sex and identity politics. The paper then works through two specific instances, namely rape and S/M sexual practice, to identify some of the problems associated with the latter approach. Ultimately it raises questions about whether a poststructuralist politics imbued with feminist ethics might provide us with less essentialist models of masculine/male and feminine/female sexuality without either abandoning feminist political action or falling into a new sexual conservatism.
The Reputations of Human Rights Commissions in Canada
Authors: Howe R. Brian , Andrade Malcolm J.
Published: July 2014

The purpose of this paper is to report on a study of the reputations of provincial human rights commissions in Canada among interested community organizations, women's groups, and minority groups. The focus of the study was on the reputations of commissions for effectiveness, responsiveness, and fairness in handling human rights complaints and implementing programmes against discrimination. The study was designed to test for an hypothesized relation between levels of public funding of commissions and their reputations in the above areas. It was anticipated that the lower the commission's funding the poorer the commission's reputation. Results of the study show that while commissions have generally poor reputations among community organizations, their low ratings are not related to levels of funding. The suggestion made is that poor reputations may be related to other factors such as high community expectations of rights delivery in an increasingly rights-conscious political culture and the structure of human rights procedure.
The Role of Law in the Civilizing Process and the Reform of Popular Culture
Authors: Hunt Alan
Published: July 2014

This paper builds on the notion that cultural revolution has always been implicated in processes of state formation and is manifest in moral regulation, which produces the normalizing, taken-for-granted reality of deep processes of social change. Two bodies of work are examined—namely, Norbert Elias' historical sociology of the civilizing process, and Peter Burke and the English social historians' concept of the “reform of popular culture”—for the insights they can provide into the part played by law in the formation of the modern state, the modern self, and the practice of everyday life.
Judicial Scripts in the Dramaturgy of the Small Claims Court
Authors: McGuire Seana C. , Macdonald Roderick A.
Published: July 2014

The Small Claims Court is designed to improve access to justice through a number of procedures, the net effect of which is to enhance the role of the judge as manager of the adjudicative process. The essay reports the results of interviews with 14 Small Claims Court judges in Montreal. Attitudes of judges about their responsibility to ensure a fair hearing, to assist litigants in presenting their cases and to adjust the substance of rules of law and evidence are surveyed. The study also canvasses judicial perceptions and responses to Small Claims Court plaintiffs who may be from ethno-cultural minorities. It concludes that despite their discretion to depart from a strictly adversarial adjudicative posture, judges rarely do so. It also concludes that judges do not see their role as requiring them to take special account of the expectations and understandings of ethno-cultural communities. Informality of proceedings, low filing fees, and the exclusion of lawyers are thought by judges to be a sufficient concession to enhanced access. Transforming the object and processes of civil disputes is not seen as a proper endeavour for the court
Le Processus de «mise ailleurs» juridique: La Création de l'enfance dans les lois manitobaines, 1870–1924
Authors: Laberge Danielle , Théorêt Bruno
Published: July 2014

Dans cet article, les auteurs examinent le phénomène de la création de l'enfance et le rôle qu'y joue le droit, particulièrement par la «mise ailleurs» des jeunes au plan de leur statut juridique. En examinant attentivement l'évolution du droit manitobain concernant les jeunes entre 1870 et 1924, on constate le développement graduel d'un espace juridique spécifique caractérisé par la nécessité du contrôle adulte, la fixité domiciliaire, la moralisation et l'interdiction relative de la présence des jeunes dans bon nombre de lieux publics. La mise en place de cet espace juridique spécifique aux jeunes s'actualise par 1) la mise en place de nouveaux principes juridiques, 2) l'adoption de nouvelles désignations légales de situations appelant l'intervention, 3) l'implantation de structures administratives spécifiques soutenant l'application de ce nouveau droit des jeunes et 4) la mise sur pied d'une police des jeunes. L'effet de cette création est important: transformation de la représentation des jeunes, transformation des rapports juridiques entre les parents, lesjeunes et l'État et enfin, transformation globale du mode de vie des jeunes. Mais plus encore, la construction de l'enfance à travers le droit manitobain manifeste la transformation des nécessités liées au maintien d'un certain ordre social.
Human Rights Commissions in Canada: Reform or Reinvention in a Time of Restraint?
Authors: Johnson David , Howe R. Brian
Published: July 2014

This paper addresses current tensions and initiatives respecting the manner by which provincial human rights commissions are confronting the pressures of financial restraint. It also focuses attention on theoretical debates respecting the reform or reinvention of governmental bodies. As such agencies are forced to do more with less, we can witness them engaging in an important process of institutional and administrative reconfiguration. This process is significant, touching on matters ranging from case prioritisation, through adjudication, to agency responsibilities regarding public education. The process of change, however, is to be understood more in light of the literature on the reform of government rather than its reinvention. And as all these agencies confront the need to engage in the reform of their services, questions arise regarding the degree to which such reform is subject to public awareness and scrutiny.
A Legal Concept of Community
Authors: Cotterrell Roger
Published: July 2014

The concept of community has a new importance for legal theory and legal sociology. It allows an escape from traditional conceptions of the relationship between law, state and political society. It makes possible the development of a pluralistic view of law that realistically recognises powerful globalising and localising pressures shaping contemporary law. Community is best thought of initially in terms of four ideal types of collective involvement, derived from Weber's types of social action. These imply different kinds of trusting relationships and different regulatory needs. A sense of attachment and a degree of stability in relationships is also necessary to community. Actual groups combine relationships of community in many different ways. Law's contemporary task is to express and coordinate the regulatory needs surrounding structures of community within and beyond the nation state.
Globalization of the Mind: Canadian Elites and the Restructuring of Legal Fields
Authors: Arthurs H. W.
Published: July 2014

Globalization is not simply a matter of transnational trade, and of the state, non-state and supra-state legal regimes which facilitate, regulate or resist it; it also involves transnational social, cultural, intellectual and ideological forces. These forces play upon strategically located knowledge-based elites which play an important role in restructuring the legal fields by which public and public and private institutions are constituted. Canada's experience of globalization—unique because of proximity to the United States—has been both exemplified and, in part, shaped by the fate of its knowledge-based elites, including the business community (especially that part of it involved directly or indirectly with transnational corporations), academics and intellectuals, lawyers, artists and other cultural figures, and individuals involved in politics and public administration. Because of the effects of this “globalization of the mind” upon the institutions which all of these elites inhabit, state and non-state legal fields associated with them have been transformed.
Evolutionary computational synthesis of self-organizing systems
Authors: Humann James , Khani Newsha , Jin Yan
Published: July 2014

A computational approach for the design of self-organizing systems is proposed that employs a genetic algorithm to efficiently explore the vast space of possible configurations of a given system description. To generate the description of the system, a two-field based model is proposed in which agents are assigned parameterized responses to two “fields,” a task field encompassing environmental features and task objects, and a social field arising from agent interactions. The aggregate effect of these two fields, sensed by agents individually, governs the behavior of each agent, while the system-level behavior emerges from the actions of and interactions among the agents. Task requirements together with performance preferences are used to compose system fitness functions for evolving functional and efficient self-organizing mechanisms. Case studies on the evolutionary synthesis of self-organizing systems are presented and discussed. These case studies focus on achieving system-level behavior with minimal explicit coordination among agents. Agents were able to collectively display flocking, exploration, and foraging through self-organization. The proposed two-field model was able to capture important features of self-organizing systems, and the genetic algorithm was able to generate self-organizing mechanisms by which agents could form task-based structures to fulfill functional requirements.
Relational victimization, friendship, and adolescents' hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis responses to an in vivo social stressor
Authors: Calhoun Casey D. , Helms Sarah W. , Heilbron Nicole , Rudolph Karen D. , Hastings Paul D. , Prinstein Mitchell J.
Published: July 2014

Adolescents' peer experiences may have significant associations with biological stress-response systems, adding to or reducing allostatic load. This study examined relational victimization as a unique contributor to reactive hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis responses as well as friendship quality and behavior as factors that may promote HPA recovery following a stressor. A total of 62 adolescents (ages 12–16; 73% female) presenting with a wide range of life stressors and adjustment difficulties completed survey measures of peer victimization and friendship quality. Cortisol samples were collected before and after a lab-based interpersonally themed social stressor task to provide measures of HPA baseline, reactivity, and recovery. Following the stressor task, adolescents discussed their performance with a close friend; observational coding yielded measures of friends' responsiveness. Adolescents also reported positive and negative friendship qualities. Results suggested that higher levels of adolescents' relational victimization were associated with blunted cortisol reactivity, even after controlling for physical forms of victimization and other known predictors of HPA functioning (i.e., life stress or depressive symptoms). Friendship qualities (i.e., low negative qualities) and specific friendship behaviors (i.e., high levels of responsiveness) contributed to greater HPA regulation; however, consistent with theories of rumination, high friend responsiveness in the context of high levels of positive friendship quality contributed to less cortisol recovery. Findings extend prior work on the importance of relational victimization and dyadic peer relations as unique and salient correlates of adaptation in adolescence.
It gets better or does it? Peer victimization and internalizing problems in the transition to young adulthood
Authors: Leadbeater Bonnie J. , Thompson Kara , Sukhawathanakul Paweena
Published: July 2014

Consistent research shows that peer victimization predicts internalizing symptoms in childhood and adolescence, but the extent to which peer victimization and its harmful effects on mental health persists into young adulthood is unclear. The current study describes patterns of physical and relational victimization during and after high school, and examines concurrent and prospective associations between internalizing symptoms (depressive and anxious symptoms) and peer victimization (physical and relational) from adolescence to young adulthood (ages 12–27). Data were collected from the Victoria Healthy Youth Survey, a five-wave multicohort study conducted biennially between 2003 and 2011 (N = 662). Physical victimization was consistently low and stable over time. Relational victimization increased for males after high school. Both types of victimization were associated concurrently with internalizing symptoms across young adulthood for males and for females. Although sex differences were important, victimization in high school also predicted increases in internalizing problems over time.
GILZ: a new link between the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis and rheumatoid arthritis?
Authors: Eades Laura E , Thiagarajah Angeline S , Harris James , Jones Sarah A , Morand Eric F , Leech Michelle
Published: July 2014

The hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis is an important regulator of the stress response. In healthy individuals, the HPA axis maintains an equilibrium, ensuring that endogenous glucocorticoid (GC) levels remain within the normal range. However, hypofunction of the HPA axis may have a role in the development of inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Glucocorticoid‐induced leucine zipper (GILZ) is an anti‐inflammatory protein, the expression of which is upregulated by GC. Although GILZ mediates the anti‐inflammatory effects of GC, it may not be associated with the adverse effects that are frequently caused by exogenous GC administration. This has raised interest in GILZ potentiation as a therapeutic approach in diseases such as RA, which may mimic the anti‐inflammatory effects of GC without causing harmful side effects. This review will outline the involvement of the HPA axis in RA, as a prelude to highlighting emerging evidence regarding the role of GILZ in inflammation control and RA.
Centimeter-long electron transport in marine sediments via conductive minerals
Authors: Malvankar Nikhil S , King Gary M , Lovley Derek R
Published: July 2014

Centimeter-long electron conduction through marine sediments, in which electrons derived from sulfide in anoxic sediments are transported to oxygen in surficial sediments, may have an important influence on sediment geochemistry. Filamentous bacteria have been proposed to mediate the electron transport, but the filament conductivity could not be verified and other mechanisms are possible. Surprisingly, previous investigations have never actually measured the sediment conductivity or its basic physical properties. Here we report direct measurements that demonstrate centimeter-long electron flow through marine sediments, with conductivities sufficient to account for previously estimated electron fluxes. Conductivity was lost for oxidized sediments, which contrasts with the previously described increase in the conductivity of microbial biofilms upon oxidation. Adding pyrite to the sediments significantly enhanced the conductivity. These results suggest that the role of conductive minerals, which are more commonly found in sediments than centimeter-long microbial filaments, need to be considered when modeling marine sediment biogeochemistry.
Giant dielectric and magnetoelectric responses in insulating nanogranular films at room temperature
Authors: Kobayashi Nobukiyo , Masumoto Hiroshi , Takahashi Saburo , Maekawa Sadamichi
Published: July 2014

The electric and magnetic properties of matter are of great interest for materials science and their use in electronic applications. Large dielectric and magnetoelectric responses of materials at room temperature are a great advantage for electromagnetic device applications. Here we present a study of FeCo-MgF nanogranular films exhibiting giant dielectric and magnetoelectric responses at room temperature; with dielectric constant ε′=490 and magnetoelectric response Δε′/ε′0=3%. In these films, Fe-Co alloy-based nanometer-sized magnetic granules are dispersed in a Mg-fluoride-based insulator matrix. Insulating nanogranular films are a new class of multifunctional materials. The giant responses are caused by spin-dependent charge oscillation between magnetic granules via quantum-mechanical tunnelling. A possible application of such insulating nanogranular materials with giant response is in the construction of a tunable device, in which impedance components such as capacitance and inductance are tunable at room temperature.
Late Eocene to early Oligocene quantitative paleotemperature record: Evidence from continental halite fluid inclusions
Authors: Zhao Yan-jun , Zhang Hua , Liu Cheng-lin , Liu Bao-kun , Ma Li-chun , Wang Li-cheng
Published: July 2014

Climate changes within Cenozoic extreme climate events such as the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum and the First Oligocene Glacial provide good opportunities to estimate the global climate trends in our present and future life. However, quantitative paleotemperatures data for Cenozoic climatic reconstruction are still lacking, hindering a better understanding of the past and future climate conditions. In this contribution, quantitative paleotemperatures were determined by fluid inclusion homogenization temperature (Th) data from continental halite of the first member of the Shahejie Formation (SF1; probably late Eocene to early Oligocene) in Bohai Bay Basin, North China. The primary textures of the SF1 halite typified by cumulate and chevron halite suggest halite deposited in a shallow saline water and halite Th can serve as an temperature proxy. In total, one-hundred-twenty-one Thdata from primary and single-phase aqueous fluid inclusions with different depths were acquired by the cooling nucleation method. The results show that all Thrange from 17.7°C to 50.7°C,with the maximum homogenization temperatures (ThMAX) of 50.5°C at the depth of 3028.04 m and 50.7°C at 3188.61 m, respectively. Both the ThMAXpresented here are significantly higher than the highest temperature recorded in this region since 1954and agree with global temperature models for the year 2100 predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Room-temperature sensor based on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy
Authors: Yang Kuang-Hsuan , Mai Fu-Der , Yu Chung-Chin , Liu Yu-Chuan
Published: July 2014

Temperature-dependent intensity is linear with a slope ofca.430 cps per °C between 25 to 45 °C.
Analysis of the whole serum proteome using an integrated 2D LC-MS/MS system
Authors: Xiao Mingming , Chen Yajing , Yu Huan , Wei Su , Yu Kang , Zhao Huan , Chen Ruibing
Published: July 2014

Illustration of the integrated 2D LC-MS/MS system.
Development of an hydrophobic fluoro-silica surface for studying homotypic cancer cell aggregation–disaggregation as a single dynamic process in vitro
Authors: Nicklin Matthew , Rees Robert C. , Pockley A. Graham , Perry Carole C.
Published: July 2014

A fluoro-silica surface has been shown to facilitate the study of cancer cell aggregate–disaggregation as a single dynamic process.
Mammalian serum albumins as a chiral mediator library for bio-supramolecular photochirogenesis: optimizing enantiodifferentiating photocyclodimerization of 2-anthracenecarboxylate
Authors: Nishijima Masaki , Goto Masato , Fujikawa Mayu , Yang Cheng , Mori Tadashi , Wada Takehiko , Inoue Yoshihisa
Published: July 2014

A simple strategy for choosing optimal serum albumin is proposed.
A facile access to a novel NHC-stabilized silyliumylidene ion and C–H activation of phenylacetylene
Authors: Ahmad Syed Usman , Szilvási Tibor , Inoue Shigeyoshi
Published: July 2014

This work presents a facile access to a donor-stabilized monoarylsilyliumylidene ion and its unique reaction with a terminal alkyne.
Retracted Article: Graphene–SnO2 nanocomposites decorated with quantum tunneling junctions: preparation strategies, microstructures and formation mechanism
Authors: Wang Qingxiu , Wu Xianzheng , Wang Lijun , Chen Zhiwen , Wang Shilong
Published: July 2014

A facile, simple and efficient ultrasonic-assisted hydrothermal synthesis approach has been developed to prepare graphene–SnO2 nanocomposites.
Solvent-free mechanochemical synthesis of alane, AlH3: effect of pressure on the reaction pathway
Authors: Gupta S. , Kobayashi T. , Hlova I. Z. , Goldston J. F. , Pruski M. , Pecharsky V. K.
Published: July 2014

By application of reasonably low gas pressure, formation of metallic aluminum is completely suppressed during the solid-state mechanochemical synthesis of AlH3 at room temperature.
Chemo- and bioinformatics resources for in silico drug discovery from medicinal plants beyond their traditional use: a critical review
Authors: Lagunin Alexey A. , Goel Rajesh K. , Gawande Dinesh Y. , Pahwa Priynka , Gloriozova Tatyana A. , Dmitriev Alexander V. , Ivanov Sergey M. , Rudik Anastassia V. , Konova Varvara I. , Pogodin Pavel V. , Druzhilovsky Dmitry S. , Poroikov Vladimir V.
Published: July 2014

An overview of databases andin silicotools for discovery of the hidden therapeutic potential of medicinal plants.
Living syndiospecific polymerization of propylene with sterically encumbered titanium complexes activated by MMAO
Authors: Long Ying-Yun , Wang Yong-Xia , Li Bai-Xiang , Li Yan-Guo , Li Yue-Sheng
Published: July 2014

On activation with MMAO, the newly designed titanium complex with bulky substituent promotes living polymerization of propylene, affording highly syndiotactic (rrrr 98.0%) polymers with high molecular weights and narrow molecular weight distributions (Mw/Mn ≤ 1.26).
Upconversion nanophosphors for solar cell applications
Authors: Ramasamy Parthiban , Manivasakan Palanisamy , Kim Jinkwon
Published: July 2014

This review focuses on the various synthetic approaches to upconversion nanocrystals and recent developments in the photovoltaic applications of upconversion nanomaterials.
Electrospun flexible self-standing γ-alumina fibrous membranes and their potential as high-efficiency fine particulate filtration media
Authors: Wang Yan , Li Wei , Xia Yuguo , Jiao Xiuling , Chen Dairong
Published: July 2014

Flexible self-standing γ-alumina fibrous membranes with high-efficiency filtration of sub-micron aerosols have been fabricated by the electrospinning method.
Spray-deposited zinc titanate films obtained via sol–gel synthesis for application in dye-sensitized solar cells
Authors: Sarkar Kuhu , Braden Erik V. , Fröschl Thomas , Hüsing Nicola , Müller-Buschbaum Peter
Published: July 2014

Incorporation of spray-deposited zinc titanate films in the active layer of dye-sensitized solar cells showing promising device performance.
Dye adsorption and decomposition on two-dimensional titanium carbide in aqueous media
Authors: Mashtalir O. , Cook K. M. , Mochalin V. N. , Crowe M. , Barsoum M. W. , Gogotsi Y.
Published: July 2014

Herein we report on the adsorption and photocatalytic decomposition of organic molecules in aqueous environments containing two-dimensional Ti3C2Tx, a representative of the MXene family.
An epidermal alkaline rechargeable Ag–Zn printable tattoo battery for wearable electronics
Authors: Berchmans Sheela , Bandodkar Amay J. , Jia Wenzhao , Ramírez Julian , Meng Ying S. , Wang Joseph
Published: July 2014

A body-compliant epidermal rechargeable Ag–Zn printable tattoo battery is reported.
Quantum correlations and distinguishability of quantum states
Authors: Spehner Dominique
Published: July 2014

A survey of various concepts in quantum information is given, with a main emphasis on the distinguishability of quantum states and quantum correlations. Covered topics include generalized and least square measurements, state discrimination, quantum relative entropies, the Bures distance on the set of quantum states, the quantum Fisher information, the quantum Chernoff bound, bipartite entanglement, the quantum discord, and geometrical measures of quantum correlations. The article is intended both for physicists interested not only by collections of results but also by the mathematical methods justifying them, and for mathematicians looking for an up-to-date introductory course on these subjects, which are mainly developed in the physics literature.
A high-frequency electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometer for multi-dimensional, multi-frequency, and multi-phase pulsed measurements
Authors: Cho F. H. , Stepanov V. , Takahashi S.
Published: July 2014

We describe instrumentation for a high-frequency electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and pulsed electron-electron double resonance (PELDOR) spectroscopy. The instrumentation is operated in the frequency range of 107−120 GHz and 215−240 GHz and in the magnetic field range of 0−12.1 T. The spectrometer consisting of a high-frequency high-power solid-state source, a quasioptical system, a phase-sensitive detection system, a cryogenic-free superconducting magnet, and a 4He cryostat enables multi-frequency continuous-wave EPR spectroscopy as well as pulsed EPR measurements with a few hundred nanosecond pulses. Here we discuss the details of the design and the pulsed EPR sensitivity of the instrumentation. We also present performance of the instrumentation in unique experiments including PELDOR spectroscopy to probe correlations in an insulating electronic spin system and application of dynamical decoupling techniques to extend spin coherence of electron spins in an insulating solid-state system.
How to quantify structural anomalies in fluids?
Authors: Fomin Yu. D. , Ryzhov V. N. , Klumov B. A. , Tsiok E. N.
Published: July 2014

Some fluids are known to behave anomalously. The so-called structural anomaly which means that the fluid becomes less structures under isothermal compression is among the most frequently discussed ones. Several methods for quantifying the degree of structural order are described in the literature and are used for calculating the region of structural anomaly. It is generally thought that all of the structural order determinations yield qualitatively identical results. However, no explicit comparison was made. This paper presents such a comparison for the first time. The results of some definitions are shown to contradict the intuitive notion of a fluid. On the basis of this comparison, we show that the region of structural anomaly can be most reliably determined from the behavior of the excess entropy.
Molecular ferroelectric contributions to anomalous hysteresis in hybrid perovskite solar cells
Authors: Frost Jarvist M. , Butler Keith T. , Walsh Aron
Published: July 2014

We report a model describing the molecular orientation disorder in CH3NH3PbI3, solving a classical Hamiltonian parametrised with electronic structure calculations, with the nature of the motions informed by ab initio molecular dynamics. We investigate the temperature and static electric field dependence of the equilibrium ferroelectric (molecular) domain structure and resulting polarisability. A rich domain structure of twinned molecular dipoles is observed, strongly varying as a function of temperature and applied electric field. We propose that the internal electrical fields associated with microscopic polarisation domains contribute to hysteretic anomalies in the current-voltage response of hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite solar cells due to variations in electron-hole recombination in the bulk.
Detection of electron energy distribution function anisotropy in a magnetized electron cyclotron resonance plasma by using a directional Langmuir probe
Authors: Shikama T. , Kitaoka H. , Hasuo M.
Published: July 2014

Anisotropy in the electron energy distribution function (EEDF) in an electron cyclotron resonance plasma with magnetized electrons and weakly magnetized ions is experimentally investigated using a directional Langmuir probe. Under an assumption of independent EEDFs in the directions parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic field, the directional variation of the EEDF is evaluated. In the measured EEDFs, a significantly large population density of electrons with energies larger than 30 eV is found in one of the cross-field directions depending on the magnetic field direction. With the aid of an electron trajectory calculation, it is suggested that the observed anisotropic electrons originate from the EEDF anisotropy and the cross-field electron drift.
Analytical approach for collective diffusion: One-dimensional homogeneous lattice
Authors: Tarasenko Alexander
Published: July 2014

Diffusion of particles adsorbed on the homogeneous one-dimensional chain was investigated using a theoretical approach and kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. The concentration dependencies of the center-of-mass and Fickian diffusion coefficients have been calculated for some representative values of lateral interactions between adsorbed particles. The analytical dependencies have been compared with the numerical data. The perfect coincidence of the data obtained by the two quite different methods clearly demonstrates that the analytical expressions for the diffusion coefficients derived in the framework of the approach based on the non-equilibrium statistical operator exactly describe the particle migration in the lattice gas systems.
Gapped graphene nanopores with enhanced operating current and sensitivity for biological and chemical sensing applications
Authors: Qiu Wanzhi , Skafidas Efstratios
Published: July 2014

Graphene nanopores (GNPs) hold great promise as sensors for biological and chemical sensing applications because of their potential in achieving ultra-high sensitivity and sizeable operating currents. However, it remains a challenging task to realize the full potential of GNP sensors in real biological and chemical environment because of strong noise and interference. Here we propose a new GNP based sensor that consists of two conduction units. Due to the opening of additional conductive channels and enhanced transmission pathways around the nanopore, the proposed gapped-GNP structure is shown to operate with significantly improved conductivity and sensitivity over standard GNPs. The proposed device shows promise in dealing with noise and interference observed in practice.