bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Can we gauge forecasts using satellite-derived solar irradiance?
Authors: Yang Dazhi , Perez Richard
Published: April 2019

Satellite-derived irradiance data, as an alternative to ground-based measurements, offer a unique opportunity to verify gridded solar forecasts generated by a numerical weather prediction model. Previously, it has been shown that the mean square errors (MSE) evaluated against ground-based measurements and satellite-derived solar irradiance are comparable, which might warrant the use of satellite-based products for regional forecast verification. In this paper, the 24-h-ahead hourly forecasts issued by the North American Mesoscale forecast system are verified against both ground-based (Surface Radiation Budget Network, or SURFRAD) and satellite-based (National Solar Radiation Data Base, or NSRDB) measurements, at all 7 SURFRAD stations over 2015–2016. Three different MSE decomposition methods are used to characterize—e.g., through association, calibration, refinement, resolution, or likelihood—how well the two types of measurements can gauge the forecasts. However, despite their comparable MSEs, NSRDB is found suboptimal in its ability to verify forecasts as compared to SURFRAD. Nonetheless, if a new forecasting model produces significantly better forecasts than the benchmarking model, satellite-derived data are able to detect such improvements and make conclusions. This article comes with supplementary material (data and code) for reproducibility.
Tunable perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in epitaxial Y3Fe5O12 films
Authors: Li Gang , Bai He , Su Jian , Zhu Z. Z. , Zhang Ying , Cai J. W.
Published: April 2019

High quality epitaxial (111) Y3Fe5O12 (YIG) films are fabricated by annealing amorphous precursor films that are sputtering deposited on three kinds of single crystal garnet substrates with lattice constants exceeding that of YIG by a ratio from 0.76% to 1.58%. The effective perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in the YIG films is significantly altered by the epitaxial strain induced magnetoelastic anisotropy. Large PMA is demonstrated in the fully strained thin YIG films on substrates with lattice mismatch from 1.05% to 1.58% due to the overwhelming of the magnetoelastic anisotropy. Less-strained YIG films, corresponding to partial strain relaxation at larger YIG thickness or smaller substrate lattice mismatch at 0.76%, show substantial but insufficient magnetoelastic anisotropy to overcome shape anisotropy. Magnetotransport characterization on YIG/Pt bilayers shows that the surface of YIG with either in-plane or perpendicular magnetization allows efficient equilibrium and/or nonequilibrium spin interexchange across the heterostructure interface.
Density-functional theory study of the body-centered-cubic and cI16 hard-sphere crystals
Authors: Warshavsky Vadim B. , Monson Peter A. , Ford David M.
Published: April 2019

The properties of the body-centered-cubic (bcc) solid phase of hard spheres are challenging to compute because of its lack of mechanical and thermodynamic stability, yet this structure remains of interest for theoretical and practical reasons. Density-functional theory (DFT) studies of the bcc hard-sphere solid, using the most accurate functionals from fundamental measure theory, have yielded results with unphysical behaviors in structural and thermodynamic properties. We recently reported [Warshavsky et al., J. Chem. Phys. 148, 024502 (2018)] a Monte Carlo (MC) simulation study of hard spheres initiated in a bcc structure. We observed that such systems, even under constant-volume and single-occupancy-cell constraints, rapidly evolved into either a crystalline state with the cI16 structure or one of a few amorphous states. With these observations in mind, we revisited the DFT calculations of the bcc hard-sphere system by allowing for a bcc-to-cI16 structural transformation. Specifically, the free energy functional was minimized with respect to a density profile having two scalar parameters: the traditional alpha parameter characterizing the width of the Gaussian density distribution around each lattice site and a geometric parameter characterizing the bcc-to-cI16 structural transition. The numerical solutions were physically reasonable across the entire density range. At all densities above ρbσ3 = 1.0, a cI16 structure had lower free energy than the corresponding perfect bcc structure. The degree of lattice distortion from bcc to cI16 increased with density up to the close-packing limit. Finally, the predicted values of the structural and thermodynamic properties were in excellent agreement with those extracted from our previous MC simulations.
Effect of Ti-Al cathode grain size on plasma generation and thin film synthesis from a direct current vacuum arc plasma source
Authors: Zhirkov Igor , Petruhins Andrejs , Polcik Peter , Kolozsvári Szilard , Rosen Johanna
Published: April 2019

Herein, we investigate the influence of powder metallurgical manufactured Ti0.5Al0.5 cathode grain size (45-150 μm) on the properties of a DC arc discharge, for N2 pressures in the range 10-5 Torr (base pressure) up to 3x10-2 Torr. Intermetallic TiAl cathodes are also studied. The arc plasma is characterized with respect to ion composition, ion charge state, and ion energy, and is found to change with pressure, independent on choice of cathode. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy of the cathode surfaces and the concurrently deposited films are used for exploring the correlation between cathode-, plasma-, and film composition. The plasma has a dominating Al ion content at elevated pressures, while the film composition is consistent with the cathode composition, independent on cathode grain size. Cross-sections of the used cathodes are studied, and presence of a converted layer, up to 10 μm, is shown, with an improved intermixing of the elements on the cathode surface. This layer is primarily explained by condensation of cathode material from the melting and splashes accompanying the arc spot movement, as well as generated plasma ions being redeposited upon returning to the cathode. The overall lack of dependence on grain size is likely due to similar physical properties of Ti, Al and TiAl grains, as well as the formation of a converted layer. The presented findings are of importance for large scale manufacturing and usage of Ti-Al cathodes in industrial processes.
Electromechanical characteristics of piezoelectric vibration energy harvester with 2-degree-of-freedom system
Authors: Aramaki Masaaki , Yoshimura Takeshi , Murakami Shuichi , Kanda Kensuke , Fujimura Norifumi
Published: April 2019

Enhancing the output power at small input acceleration is a major concern for enabling practical application of vibration energy harvesters. In this study, a two-degree of freedom system (2-DOF) was employed to solve this issue. The numerical calculations using the lumped parameter model of the piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters (pVEHs) with 2-DOF indicate that the harvesters show two resonance peak and an increase in the output power of several ten times compared with the harvester with a single degree of freedom. Based on calculations, the prototype of pVEH with 2-DOF was fabricated using a micro-machined pVEH and a metal cantilever. The output power of the harvester is 3.4 μW at 0.1 Grms, which is 17 times higher than that of the micro-electro-mechanical system-pVEH. Moreover, the resonance frequency on the pVEH with 2-DOF is easily adjusted because of the coupled vibration of the two masses.
Systematics of the palisade trapdoor spiders (Euoplos) of south-eastern Queensland (Araneae : Mygalomorphae : Idiopidae): four new species distinguished by their burrow entrance architecture
Authors: Wilson Jeremy D. , Rix Michael G. , Raven Robert J. , Schmidt Daniel J. , Hughes Jane M.
Published: April 2019

Within the spiny trapdoor spider genus Euoplos Rainbow exists a group of species from south-eastern Queensland that create unusual ‘palisade’ burrow entrances. Despite their intriguing burrows, the group was only recently circumscribed, and all species within it were undescribed. In this study, by undertaking a molecular phylogenetic analysis of two mitochondrial markers and seven nuclear markers, we confirm that the palisade trapdoor spiders, here formally named the ‘turrificus-group’, are monophyletic. We further recognise four species based on morphological, molecular and behavioural characters: E. crenatus, sp. nov., E. goomboorian, sp. nov., E. thynnearum, sp. nov. and E. turrificus, sp. nov. Morphological taxonomic data for each species are presented alongside information on their distribution, habitat preferences and burrow architecture. A key to species within the turrificus-group is also provided. The unusual burrow entrances of these spiders, which project out from the surrounding substrate, are found to exhibit structural autapomorphies, which allow species-level identification. Consequently, we include features of burrow architecture in our key and species diagnoses. This provides a non-intrusive method for distinguishing species in the field. Finally, we conclude that all species within the turrificus-group are likely to represent short-range endemic taxa.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:F2E042DC-DA14-4751-A48B-A367ABC272D9
Male reproductive dysfunction in Solea senegalensis: new insights into an unsolved question
Authors: Riesco Marta F. , Valcarce David G. , Martínez-Vázquez Juan Manuel , Martín Ignacio , Calderón-García Andrés Ángel , Gonzalez-Nunez Verónica , Robles Vanesa
Published: April 2019

Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) is a species with a high commercial value that exhibits a reproductive dysfunction in males born and raised in captivity (F1) that hinders their sustainable culture. The present study evaluates the sperm quality and dopaminergic pathway of males born in the wild environment and of F1 males. Traditional sperm analyses were performed, finding only significant differences in curvilinear velocity (VCL) and no significant differences in viability and total motility. No differences in global sperm methylation were observed either in spermatozoa or brain between the two groups (F1 and wild-born males). However, our results point to a different sperm molecular signature between wild fish and fish born in captivity, specifically the differential expression in miR-let7-d and miR-200a-5p between these two groups. miR-let7-d has been correlated with spermatogenesis and sex preferences, whereas the miR-200 family is implied in target innervation of dopaminergic neurons in zebrafish. When we analysed the dopaminergic pathway, no differences were found in terms of different mRNA expression of dopaminergic markers. However, some differences were detected in terms of tyrosine hydroxylase protein expression by western blot analysis, thus suggesting an altered post-transcriptional regulation in F1 males. The results of this study suggest that an altered sperm miRNA signature in F1 males could be one possible mode of transmission of reproductive dysfunction to the progeny.
Biosynthesis and secretion of the microbial sulfated peptide RaxX and binding to the rice XA21 immune receptor
Authors: Luu Dee Dee , Joe Anna , Chen Yan , Parys Katarzyna , Bahar Ofir , Pruitt Rory , Chan Leanne Jade G. , Petzold Christopher J. , Long Kelsey , Adamchak Clifford , Stewart Valley , Belkhadir Youssef , Ronald Pamela C.
Published: April 2019

Significance

Despite the importance of immune receptors in the biology of plants and animals, the precise biochemical mechanisms leading to the biosynthesis and secretion of the peptide activators of these immune receptors remain unexplored. Here, we describe the biosynthesis, processing, and secretion of a peptide activator that binds a rice immune receptor. Our studies also reveal that this peptide activator is a member of an important class of peptides present in both eukaryotic and prokaryotic species. Thus, these results provide a major advance in our knowledge of the biology of peptide ligands.
Chronic psychosocial stress compromises the immune response and endochondral ossification during bone fracture healing via β-AR signaling
Authors: Haffner-Luntzer Melanie , Foertsch Sandra , Fischer Verena , Prystaz Katja , Tschaffon Miriam , Mödinger Yvonne , Bahney Chelsea S. , Marcucio Ralph S. , Miclau Theodore , Ignatius Anita , Reber Stefan O.
Published: April 2019

Significance

Our results show that one single systemic administration of the β-adrenoreceptor blocker propranolol prior to femur osteotomy in psychosocially stressed mice prevents stress-induced bone marrow mobilization of neutrophils and their immigration into the early fracture hematoma, as well as the decrease in bending stiffness and bony bridging of the fracture callus, which indicated a compromised fracture healing in stressed mice. These findings offer possibilities for clinical translation in patients suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder and fracture.
Quintet-triplet mixing determines the fate of the multiexciton state produced by singlet fission in a terrylenediimide dimer at room temperature
Authors: Chen Michelle , Krzyaniak Matthew D. , Nelson Jordan N. , Bae Youn Jue , Harvey Samantha M. , Schaller Richard D. , Young Ryan M. , Wasielewski Michael R.
Published: April 2019

Significance

Singlet fission is a process in which one of two adjacent organic molecules absorbs a single photon, resulting in rapid formation of one triplet state on each of the molecules. Theory predicts that if the two triplet states can separate and then generate two electron–hole pairs, the efficiency of a solar cell employing this material could rise from an upper limit of about 33 to 45%. Electron spin dynamics of the two triplet states can produce singlet, triplet, or quintet states having zero, two, or four unpaired electrons, respectively. We have discovered that triplet–quintet-state mixing at room temperature can open a pathway that annihilates triplet states, potentially diminishing the performance of solar cells using singlet fission.
Post-stress bacterial cell death mediated by reactive oxygen species
Authors: Hong Yuzhi , Zeng Jie , Wang Xiuhong , Drlica Karl , Zhao Xilin
Published: April 2019

Antimicrobial efficacy, which is central to many aspects of medicine, is being rapidly eroded by bacterial resistance. Since new resistance can be induced by antimicrobial action, highly lethal agents that rapidly reduce bacterial burden during infection should help restrict the emergence of resistance. To improve lethal activity, recent work has focused on toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) as part of the bactericidal activity of diverse antimicrobials. We report that when
Escherichia coli
was subjected to antimicrobial stress and the stressor was subsequently removed, both ROS accumulation and cell death continued to occur. Blocking ROS accumulation by exogenous mitigating agents slowed or inhibited poststressor death. Similar results were obtained with a temperature-sensitive mutational inhibition of DNA replication. Thus, bacteria exposed to lethal stressors may not die during treatment, as has long been thought; instead, death can occur after plating on drug-free agar due to poststress ROS-mediated toxicity. Examples are described in which (
i
) primary stress-mediated damage was insufficient to kill bacteria due to repair; (
ii
) ROS overcame repair (i.e., protection from anti-ROS agents was reduced by repair deficiencies); and (
iii
) killing was reduced by anti-oxidative stress genes acting before stress exposure. Enzymatic suppression of poststress ROS-mediated lethality by exogenous catalase supports a causal rather than a coincidental role for ROS in stress-mediated lethality, thereby countering challenges to ROS involvement in antimicrobial killing. We conclude that for a variety of stressors, lethal action derives, at least in part, from stimulation of a self-amplifying accumulation of ROS that overwhelms the repair of primary damage.
Effect of rate altered perception of deep band modulated phrase in noise from normal hearing younger and older adult groups
Authors: Shetty Hemanth Narayan , Mendhakar Akshay
Published: April 2019

Purpose:

To evaluate the effect of speaking rate on speech perception with unprocessed (UP) and envelope enhancement in noise on normal hearing younger adults (YAG) and older adults (OAG).

Method:

A purposive sampling with repeated measures research design was adopted to evaluate envelope enhancement on speech perception in adverse listening condition. Study samples: Thirty normal hearing participants were grouped into two based on age: YAG (N = 15) within age range of 18–25 years and OAG (N = 15) within the age range of 65–83 years. Phrases prepared in three speech rates (normal, 35% and 40%) at three different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) (quiet, –1 dB SNR and –5 dB SNR) were presented at participant’s comfortable level.

Results:

In each of the rate of speech at each SNR, the perception score was significantly better in deep band modulation (DBM) than UP. Further, perception score of UP from YAG was almost equal to scores of DBM from OAG, in each experimental condition.

Conclusion:

Older adults can take advantage of envelope enhancement when speech rate is altered and embedded in noise.
Active RNA polymerase II curbs chromatin movement
Authors: Hochberg-Laufer Hodaya , Shav-Tal Yaron
Published: April 2019

Chromosomes are not very mobile during interphase. In this issue, Nagashima et al. (2019. J. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201811090) propose that the overall stabilization of genome structure is achieved by loose connections between DNA regions brought about by transcriptionally active RNA polymerases.
Performance of a dual-layer scanner for hybrid SPECT/CBCT
Authors: Dietze Martijn M A , Kunnen Britt , van der Velden Sandra , Steenbergen J H Leo , Koppert Wilco J C , Viergever Max A , de Jong Hugo W A M
Published: April 2019

Fluoroscopic procedures involving radionuclides would benefit from interventional nuclear imaging by obtaining real-time feedback on the activity distribution. We have previously proposed a dual-layer detector that offers such procedural guidance by simultaneous fluoroscopic and nuclear planar imaging. Acquisition of single photon computed tomography (SPECT) and cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) could provide additional information on the activity distribution. This study investigates the feasibility and the image quality of simultaneous SPECT/CBCT, by means of phantom experiments and simulations.

Simulations were performed to study the obtained reconstruction quality for (i) clinical SPECT/CT, (ii) a dual-layer scanner configured with optimized hardware, and (iii) our (non-optimized) dual-layer prototype. Experiments on an image quality phantom and an anthropomorphic phantom (including extrahepatic depositions with volumes and activities close to the median values encountered in hepatic radioembolization) were performed with a clinical SPECT/CT scanner and with our dual-layer prototype. Nuclear images were visually and quantitatively evaluated by measuring the tumor/non-tumor (T/N) ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR).

The simulations showed that the maximum obtained CNR was 38.8  ±  0.8 for the clinical scanner, 30.2  ±  0.9 for the optimized dual-layer scanner, and 20.8  ±  0.4 for the prototype scanner. T/N ratio showed a similar decline. The phantom experiments showed that performing simultaneous SPECT/CBCT is feasible. The CNR obtained from the SPECT reconstruction of largest sphere in the image quality phantom was 43.1 for the clinical scanner and 28.6 for the developed prototype scanner. The anthropomorphic phantom showed that the extrahepatic depositions were detected with both scanners.

A dual-layer detector is able to simultaneously acquire SPECT and CBCT. Both CNR and T/N ratio are worse than that of a clinical system, but the phantom experiments showed that extrahepatic depositions with volumes and activities close to the median values encountered in hepatic radioembolization could be distinguished.
Effectiveness of self-applied topical fluorides against enamel white spot lesions from multi-bracketed fixed orthodontic treatment: a systematic review
Authors: Sardana Divesh , Manchanda Sheetal , Ekambaram Manikandan , Yang Yanqi , McGrath Colman P , Yiu Cynthia K Y
Published: April 2019

Background

The regular use of fluoride dentifrices is quite practical, widespread and linked to global decline of dental caries. However, the role of self-applied topical fluorides in prevention and reversal of Enamel White Spot Lesions (EWSLs) during multi-bracketed fixed orthodontic treatment is not yet explored.

Objective

To systematically appraise the current literature on the effectiveness of self-applied topical fluorides in the prevention and reversal of EWSLs occurring during multi-bracketed fixed orthodontic treatment.

Search methods

Four electronic databases (Cochrane Library, Embase via Ovid, Medline via Ovid, and Scopus) and gray literature were searched using the broad MeSH terms and keywords.

Selection criteria

Only randomized/quasi-randomized controlled clinical trials evaluating the effectiveness of self-applied fluorides in the prevention of EWSLs during multi-bracketed fixed orthodontic treatment or reversal of post-orthodontic EWSLs were included.

Data collection and analysis

Two reviewers independently screened for studies, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias using the Cochrane risk of bias tool 2.0. Due to substantial variations in the interventions, control groups, and the measurement of outcome among studies, quantitative synthesis could not be performed as planned.

Results

Only three studies could be included in the present review; two of them assessing prevention of EWSLs and one addressing reversal of post-orthodontic EWSLs. One of the studies was judged to be of low risk of overall bias, whereas 2 studies were adjudged to be of high risk of overall bias because of deviations from intended interventions. The certainty of evidence about the role of self-applied fluorides in prevention and reversal of EWSLs was found to be of low quality; hence, our confidence in the effect estimate is limited, and future well-conducted trials might alter the effect estimates.

Limitations

The inclusion of only English literature and inability to perform quantitative synthesis due to a limited number of studies.

Conclusions and implications

Although the review did not confirm the effectiveness of self-applied fluorides in the reversal of EWSLs, it did partially substantiate the positive role of self-applied fluorides in the prevention of EWSLs occurring during multi-bracketed fixed orthodontic treatment. The review recommends the need for well-designed randomized controlled trials evaluating the effectiveness of self-applied fluorides on the prevention and reversal of EWSLs during multi-bracketed fixed orthodontic treatment.

Registration

PROSPERO database (Registration number: CRD42018108590) and is freely available at: http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.php?ID=CRD42018108590

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Duration and life-stage of antibiotic use and risk of cardiovascular events in women
Authors: Heianza Yoriko , Zheng Yan , Ma Wenjie , Rimm Eric B , Albert Christine M , Hu Frank B , Rexrode Kathryn M , Manson JoAnn E , Qi Lu
Published: April 2019

Aims

Growing data suggest that antibiotic exposure is associated with a long-lasting alteration in gut microbiota, and may be related to subsequent cardiovascular disease (CVD). We investigated associations of life-stage and duration of antibiotic exposure during adulthood with subsequent CVD events.

Methods and results

This study included 36 429 women initially free of CVD and cancer from the Nurses’ Health Study. We estimated hazard ratios (HRs) for CVD (a composite endpoint of coronary heart disease or stroke) according to duration of antibiotic use in young (age 20–39), middle (age 40–59), and late (age 60 and older) adulthood. During an average of 7.6 years of follow-up, 1056 participants developed CVD. Women with long-term use of antibiotics (for ≥2 months) in late adulthood had a significantly increased risk of CVD (HR 1.32, 95% confidence interval 1.03–1.70) after adjustment for covariates (such as demographic factors, diet and lifestyle, reasons for antibiotic use, overweight or obesity, disease status, and other medication use), as compared to women who did not use antibiotics in this life-stage. Longer duration of antibiotic use in middle adulthood was also related to higher risk of CVD (P trend = 0.003) after controlling for these covariates. There was no significant relationship between the use in young adulthood and the risk of CVD.

Conclusion

In this study which examined the antibiotic use in different life-stages, longer duration of exposure to antibiotics in the middle and older adulthood was related to an increased risk of future CVD events among elderly women at usual risk.
Anatomy of cosmic tidal reconstruction
Authors: Karaçaylı Naim Göksel , Padmanabhan Nikhil
Published: April 2019

21-cm intensity surveys aim to map neutral hydrogen atoms in the universe through hyper-fine emission. Unfortunately, long-wavelength (low-wavenumber) radial modes are highly contaminated by smooth astrophysical foregrounds that are six orders of magnitude brighter than the cosmological signal. This contamination also leaks into higher radial and angular wavenumber modes and forms a foreground wedge. Cosmic tidal reconstruction aims to extract the large-scale signal from anisotropic features in the local small-scale power spectrum through non-linear tidal interactions; losing small-scale modes to foreground wedge will impair its performance. In this paper, we review tidal interaction theory and estimator construction, and derive the theoretical expressions for the reconstructed spectra. We show the reconstruction is robust against peculiar velocities. Removing low line-of-sight k modes, we demonstrate cross-correlation coefficient r is greater than 0.7 on large scales (k ≲ 0.1 h Mpc−1) even with a cut-off value $k^c_{\Vert }=0.1$h Mpc−1. Discarding wedge modes yields 0.3 ≲ r ≲ 0.5 and completely removes the dependency on $k^c_{\Vert }$. Our theoretical predictions agree with these numerical simulations.
Natural Philosophy
Authors: Thagard Paul
Published: April 2019

Philosophy is the attempt to answer general questions about the nature of knowledge, reality, and values. Natural philosophy draws heavily on the sciences and finds no room for supernatural entities such as souls, gods, and possible worlds. Paul Thagard develops interconnected theories of knowledge, reality, morality, justice, meaning, and the arts. He uses new theories of brain mechanisms and social interactions to forge original accounts of the traditional branches of philosophy, including epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics. Rather than reducing the humanities to the sciences, this book displays fertile interconnections that show that philosophical questions and artistic practices can be much better understood by considering how human brains operate and interact in social contexts. The sciences and the humanities are interdependent, because both the natural and social sciences cannot avoid questions about methods and values that are primarily the province of philosophy. Rather than diminish philosophy, the goal of this book is to show its importance for diverse human enterprises, including science, politics, the arts, and everyday life. Natural philosophy draws on the sciences to dramatically increase understanding of fundamental issues concerning mind, meaning, and morality. This book belongs to a trio that includes Brain–Mind: From Neurons to Consciousness and Creativity and Mind–Society: From Brains to Social Sciences and Professions. They can be read independently, but together they make up a Treatise on Mind and Society that provides a unified and comprehensive treatment of the cognitive sciences, social sciences, professions, and humanities.
Regional Scenes and Canadian Screens
Authors: Varga Darrell
Published: April 2019

This chapter situates the conditions of production, funding, and labor in Atlantic Canada along with the representations of culture and work (or the lack of work) on screen through an analysis of selected films notable either for their iconic status within the regional film scene or as vehicles through which the condition of labor and culture can be explored and illuminated. Film and television production in Atlantic Canada is a case study of what Toby Miller et al. have described as Global Hollywood (2008). Under this model, production is understood not by aesthetic design or cultural context but rather by the existence of subsidies and incentives developed in competition with other regions in Canada and throughout the world for the business of Hollywood. The films that are produced generally reflect the dominant ideological tendencies of Hollywood, though films may also express the potential for resistance—even if only partially articulated.
The Emotional Geographies of Québécois Cinema
Authors: Laforest Daniel
Published: April 2019

This text examines four Québécois movies and their impact on the affective relation of the province to key aspects of its territory: La Mort d’un bûcheron (Carle 1973), Kanehsatake 270 ans de résistance (Obomsawin 1993), Les Racquetteurs (Brault and Groulx 1958), and Le Chat dans le sac Groulx (1964). This chapter is divided in two main parts that are devoted respectively to the experience of thresholds, frontiers, and territorial conflicts as well as to the concrete effect of seasons and weather on exterior movie settings and film equipment. It uncovers a long-lasting instability in the relation between the rural spaces of Québécois cinema and the commonly associated emotions, as well as a corresponding unpredictability in the actual filmic experience tied to weather elements not directly associated with sight and sound. Ultimately, the text calls for the integration of this instability and this unpredictability as critical tools in Canadian cinema historiography.
Political Modernism, Policy Environments, and Digital Daring
Authors: Longfellow Brenda
Published: April 2019

Quebec ciné-feminism has continuously evolved since the 1970s to adapt to new policy environments and changing discourses of feminism through the evolution of new platforms of dissemination, production, and funding. Both the early films produced at the En Tant Que Femmes series at the National Film Board and the first independent features directed by women in Quebec incorporated a distinct form of political modernism. This chapter demonstrates how such modernism came to be marginalized throughout the 1980s, facilitated and accompanied by a shift in cultural policy that was increasingly oriented around the prioritization of commercial objectives. The final section of the essay analyzes various contemporary sites of feminist film practice in which the adaptability to new policy environments, the emergence of unique cross-cultural collaborations, and the appropriation of new platforms of media delivery attest to the diversity and ingenuity of Quebec ciné-feminism.
Canadian Cinema and the Intellectual Milieu
Authors: Cavell Richard
Published: April 2019

Canadian cinema has evolved precariously between the myth of its encounter with an implacable nature and the sense that it is the product of a deterministic technology. Both positions derive from the Canadian intellectual tradition, particularly as articulated by Northrop Frye and Marshall McLuhan. Frye stands behind Bruce Elder’s work on film philosophy, which, paired with Frye’s notion that movies derive from melodrama, provides a productive framework for understanding the work of both Guy Maddin and John Greyson. Similarly, McLuhan’s writings on technology inform the work of David Cronenberg and Joyce Wieland, while Atom Egoyan has taken up McLuhan’s notion of the global village. Complicating these influences has been Canada’s proximity to the most powerful film empire on earth, which has tended to push it toward documentary film—as in the work of John Grierson—and away from the commercially oriented products generated south of the border.
The Bloody Brood
Authors: Preston Scott
Published: April 2019

The horror film in Canada is a remarkable site of contradictions. On the one hand, it is almost entirely ignored by scholarship. On the other, it plays a part in the nearly two dozen books written about David Cronenberg, who built his reputation in the genre. Like Cronenberg’s early work, horror presents a challenge because of its association with the American entertainment industry—an institution Canadian cinema (like Canadian culture, broadly conceived) has always defined itself in opposition to. The very existence of a Canadian horror film blurs the boundary between “us” and “them.” Perhaps for this reason, previous scholars emphasize those horror films that most resemble Canada’s auteurist art cinema or otherwise evinced an identifiable “Canadianness.” This chapter avoids thematic analysis of individual works to instead resituate the genre as a whole to the center of the nation’s evolving conversation about its identity and its cinema.
Mutable Views
Authors: Sloan Johanne
Published: April 2019

This chapter addresses the contemporary renewal of landscape art in Canada, arising at the intersection of visual art and cinema. Artworks, installations, and experimental films are discussed according to four categories: figure/ground, spatial illusions, the historicity of landscape, and digital scenery. Landscape—as a distinct art historical genre, conventional cinematic background, and ideological ground—has historically played a key role in Canadian visual culture. The contemporary artists and filmmakers in question have remade landscape in pictorial terms by remixing legacies from the visual arts and cinema and also in political terms, by calling attention to the damaged natural world of the Anthropocene, confronting Indigenous claims to the land, and foregrounding struggles over nationhood, identity, and collective memory.
Diasporic Intimacy
Authors: Cho Lily
Published: April 2019

This essay suggests that Chinese-Canadian documentary film can be read as producing forms of diasporic intimacy. Instead of seeking to define diaspora as an object of inquiry, this chapter argues that diaspora exists as a set of relations that are grounded in intimacies that are both private and public. Through an examination of Yung Chang’s Up the Yangtze (2007), Richard Fung’s Dal Puri Diaspora (2012), and Mina Shum’s The Ninth Floor (2015), this essay reveals the complexities of the connections and conditions from which diaspora emerges. Diasporas do not exist in isolation. Rather, they come out of a poetics of relation that demands attention to histories of displacement and loss. As the films discussed in this chapter show, diaspora privileges connection over division.
Vulnerability to the Health Impacts of Drought in Canada in the Context of Climate Change
Authors: Berry Peter , Yusa Anna , Bizikova Livia
Published: April 2019

Climate change is likely to increase drought globally and regionally, including within Canada, by the end of the century. In recent years, drought has affected communities across Canada and can have significant impacts on individuals. Health risks relate to the exacerbation of food and waterborne diseases, inadequate nutrition, impacts on air quality, vector-borne diseases, illnesses related to the exposure of toxins, mental health effects, and impacts from injuries (e.g., traffic accidents, spinal cord injuries). In Canada, the impacts of drought on human health and well-being are not well understood and monitoring and surveillance of such impacts is limited. In addition, important factors that make people and communities vulnerable to health impacts of drought require more investigation. These factors may differ significantly among the populations (e.g., rural vs urban) and regions (prairies, coastal, and northern). Vulnerability to drought health impacts in Canada due to climate change may be affected by: (1) changes in exposure as droughts increase or combine with other extreme events (wildfires, heat waves) to harm health; (2) changes in adaptive capacity due to impacts on, for example, health services from increasing extreme weather events; and (3) changes in susceptibility related to demographic (e.g., aging, chronic diseases) and socioeconomic trends. Effective measures to increase the resiliency of Canadians to drought health impacts require proactive adaptation efforts that increase knowledge of factors that make people and their communities vulnerable to this hazard, information as to how droughts might increase in the future, and integration of this information into future policies and programs. This paper identifies a set of indicators that may be used to gauge vulnerability to the impacts of drought on health in the context of climate change in Canada to inform adaptation actions.
“Where Were You When You Found Out Singer Bobby Caldwell Was White?”
Authors: Eidsheim Nina Sun , Whelden Schuyler
Published: April 2019

In this chapter, we discuss the dramatic narrative arc of what we call the timbre–race equilibrium, particularly how it unfolds in discourse around the career of singer Bobby Caldwell and during the blind auditions for the televised singing competition The Voice. We outline how audience confusion about Caldwell’s racial identity has served as a reliable source of conversation and so-called clickbait. We also examine two instances in which The Voice employs this narrative arc, with the show’s judges serving as listener-protagonists. These judges model a way of listening for the home audience, enacting what Eidsheim calls “informal listening pedagogy.” In witnessing an effort to repair the rupture that occurs when race and timbre fail to align as expected, the public is entrained into normative—in this case, racialized—listening. In short, these examples model how we train ourselves, through this cyclical narrative arc, to hear timbre as racialized essence.
Hyperpolarization-Activated Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Channels
Authors: Masi Alessio , Romanelli Maria Novella , Mannaioni Guido , Cerbai Elisabetta
Published: April 2019

Hyperpolarization-activated, cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels are members of the voltage-gated K+ channels family, but with unique properties. In stark contrast to close relatives, HCN channels are permeable to both Na+ and K+, and they are activated by hyperpolarization. Activation by hyperpolarization is indeed a pretty funny feature, to the point that the physiologists who first characterized HCN current in heart muscle cells named it “funny current” or If. Since then, the funny current has also been recorded from several neuronal types in both the central and peripheral nervous systems, as well as from some non-excitable cells, becoming progressively less “funny” over the years. In fact, HCN current goes now by the more serious designation of “Ih,” for “hyperpolarization-activated.” Forty years after the first current recording, it is now established that HCN channels, by virtue of their special properties and a host of modulatory mechanisms, are profoundly involved in many critical aspects of neuronal function in physiological and pathological conditions.
Public Opinion in Israel
Authors: Hermann Tamar
Published: April 2019

In Israel, as in many other countries, the impact of public opinion on national policymaking has increased dramatically over the last few decades. In fact, public opinion has practically developed into one of the prime political inputs in Israel. This chapter argues that this increased impact, which could have contributed to improving the Israeli democracy, is in fact often undermined by the increasing overlapping of the main cleavages within Israel: between the political Right and Left, between Jews and Arabs, and between religious and secular Israelis. This extreme overlapping has severely eroded the national consensus and accelerated the emergence of deep disagreements in public opinion over strategic issues, such as the nature of the state (Jewish? Democratic?), the main challenges facing the nation (including the best way of dealing with the protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflict), and the desired collective future.
Protein Synthesis and Translational Control in Neural Stem Cell Development and Neurogenesis
Authors: Mohammad Lamees , Wiseman Joscelyn , Erickson Sarah E. , Yang Guang
Published: April 2019

Neural stem/progenitor cells (NSCs) are the origin of almost all neural cells in the mammalian brain and generate neurons throughout life. The balance of NSC maintenance and differentiation is thus critical for brain development and function. This balance is precisely controlled by sophisticated gene expression programs at multiple levels. While transcriptional regulation is vital for many aspects of neurogenesis from NSCs, recent studies highlight that protein synthesis controlled by spatiotemporal translational programs plays an equally important role in NSC lineage progression and fate decision. Alterations in coordinated translational programs underlie the pathogenesis of some human diseases. In this review, we discuss how protein synthesis changes in NSCs during neurogenesis, how it is regulated in a global or gene-specific manner by the orchestrated action of the translational machinery and RNA-binding proteins, and how deregulation of protein synthesis in NSCs contributes to neurodevelopmental disorders.
Private School Regulation
Authors: Shulman Jeffrey
Published: April 2019

This article lays out the constitutional bases for and limits of state regulation of private schools; describes the current regulatory framework; and considers how the debate over private-school oversight takes place within a broader discussion occurring in the realms of political theory and moral philosophy. Under the US Constitution, though state regulation cannot be arbitrary or unduly aggressive, so as to effectively prohibit private schooling, the Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed that reasonable regulation is beyond question constitutional. Even so, the recent trend of legislative activity at the state level has been to deregulate private schooling in the name of parental rights and religious freedom—a trend, this article argues, that poorly serves the best interests of the child and the welfare of a democratic polity.
Consumer Credit Surveillance
Authors: Guseva Alya , Rona-Tas Akos
Published: April 2019

This chapter reviews the development of consumer credit surveillance in the United States from the nineteenth century, as the original problem of information asymmetry in consumer lending gave rise to consumer data registries, a process led by merchants, not by financial institutions. Regulations in the 1970s addressing discrimination and data privacy limited consumer credit surveillance, but lately two developments reversed this trend. Aided by banking deregulation and advances in information technology, the use of credit scores expanded beyond lending, while the kind of data used to calculate scores has also widened, turning the credit score into a general measure of character. This results in a pervasive new system of consumer surveillance and control that turns the original information asymmetry upside down, favoring lenders and other corporate actors, including the state, at the expense of consumers. The European Union is trying to limit this system while a full version is currently piloted in China.
The Aesthetic Labor of Ethnographers
Authors: Gruys Kjerstin , Hutson David J.
Published: April 2019

This chapter uses a comparative case method, drawing on autoethnographic accounts to explore how ethnographers perform aesthetic labor across two research sites: a women’s plus-size clothing store and a coed retail gym. The authors find that they engaged in aesthetic labor as they adapted to the aesthetic expectations of sites by either blending in or sticking out. In their studies, the successful accomplishment of aesthetic labor relied primarily on gender and body size, highlighting how the body functions as a status characteristic that influences existing power dynamics. Such insights suggest the need to conceptualize ethnographic research through the lens of labor—a lens that makes clearer how academic work is structured by the same intersectional inequalities prevalent in most occupational fields.
The Corporation in a Globalized World
Authors: Palan Ronen
Published: April 2019

The chapter addresses the nature of the power relationships between the business world and the state as seen from the perspective of a relatively new field of study called international political economy. Theories of corporate power in a globalized economy evolved along two parallel lines. On the one hand, the globalization literature of the 1990s has tended to assume there was a marked shift of power from states to markets. Recent literature questions these assumptions, not least in light of the experience of the great recession of 2007–2008. In parallel, conceptualization of power has evolved from relatively simplistic theories of relational power to theories of structural power and, increasingly, arbitrage power. Arbitrage power is the ability to arbitrate legal systems against each other, or against themselves, for pecuniary purposes.
Markets for Knowledge
Authors: Silverman Brian S.
Published: April 2019

Markets for knowledge are increasingly important to innovation, economic growth, and international competitiveness. This chapter examines five distinct markets through which knowledge can be exchanged: the market for codified knowledge (licensing), the market for tacit knowledge (alliances), the market for encapsulated knowledge (sale/purchase of sophisticated products), the market for workers’ knowledge (labor mobility), and the market for firm-wide knowledge or capabilities (mergers and acquisitions). For each type of market, the chapter considers the implications for international economic activity and governance.
The Governance of Global Agri-food Value Chains, Standards, and Development
Authors: Swinnen Johan , Kuijpers Rob
Published: April 2019

Understanding the development implications of agri-food standards and global value chains is crucial, as they are a fundamental component of developing countries’ growth potential and could increase rural incomes and reduce poverty, but at the same time they present serious challenges and could lead to further marginalization of the poor. This chapter reviews some of the implications of the spread of stringent standards associated with global value chains for developing countries and global poverty reduction. The chapter focuses on five aspects: the interaction between standards and value chain governance; the effects on agricultural productivity and smallholder welfare; farm-level and institutional spillovers; labor market and gender effects; and the interaction between liberalization policies and value chains.
Courts, Sovereign Immunity, and Credible Commitment in Sovereign Debt Markets
Authors: Weidemaier W. Mark C.
Published: April 2019

This chapter revisits the role of legal enforcement in sovereign debt markets. The conventional view is that the law of sovereign immunity denies creditors effective legal remedies. To many observers, weak legal enforcement is problematic, for effective legal remedies would facilitate credible repayment commitments. Though substantially correct, this perspective is also flawed. The assumption that creditors lack effective remedies implicitly treats sovereign immunity as a set of mandatory rules. In fact, sovereign lenders can and do bargain for greater enforcement rights. When courts enforce these bargains, legal remedies gain potency. Yet potent remedies need not improve the functioning of debt markets. Courts can create effective remedies against sovereign debtors only by imposing significant costs on third parties. Many loan debt contracts are drafted so as to maximize these externalities. The important question—given short shrift thus far—is whether the credibility-enhancing virtues of legal enforcement justify the costs.