bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Hieroglyphics of Character
Authors: Schotter Jesse
Published: September 2018

This chapter examines how hybrid conceptions of language and media come to challenge representations of literary character and narrative in the modernist period. Understanding Virginia Woolf as a film theorist situated within the ferment of avant-garde film culture in London in the mid-1920s—a period which saw the formation of the journal Close-Up and the London Film Society—the chapter argues that Woolf’s engagement with film and its ‘hieroglyphs’ in her essay ‘The Cinema’ transforms her understanding of language and character in To the Lighthouse. Throughout the late 1920s, Woolf imagines writing as emulating the material and visual form of hieroglyphs, revealing the inscriptions graven upon the ‘sacred tablets’ of the minds and hearts of her characters.
Solving the Problem of Babel
Authors: Schotter Jesse
Published: September 2018

By situating James Joyce within a larger discourse about the problem of Babel, this chapter show how hieroglyphs were used to make arguments for the origin of linguistic differences. The journal transition—in which Joyce’s work was serialized—served as a clearinghouse for ideas about how a new linguistic unity might be forged: either through Joyce’s Wake-ese or through the philosopher C. K. Ogden’s universal language of Basic English. Fascinated by these theories of universal language and drawn to the anti-imperialist politics underlying them, Joyce in Ulysses andFinnegans Wake turns to visual and gestural languages—film, hieroglyphs, advertisements, and illuminated manuscripts—in an effort to subvert theories of ‘Aryan’ language and imagine a more inclusive origin for the world’s cultures. The commonality of writing and new media become in Joyce a political gesture: a way of insisting on the unity of all races and languages in a mythic past against Nazi claims for racial purity.
Introduction
Authors: McElvenny James
Published: September 2018

This chapter sets the scene for the case studies that follow in the rest of the book by characterising the ‘age of modernism’ and identifying problems relating to language and meaning that arose in this context. Emphasis is laid on the social and political issues that dominated the era, in particular the rapid developments in technology, which inspired both hope and fear, and the international political tensions that led to the two World Wars. The chapter also sketches the approach to historiography taken in the book, interdisciplinary history of ideas.
Public Politics and Demonstrations of the Unemployed
Authors: Petrie Malcolm
Published: September 2018

The political culture of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century placed a premium on the physical occupation of contested public spaces. Rooted in local custom, this confrontational tradition was sustained by the holding of mass rallies, demonstrations and public meetings. During the 1920s, however, the public traditions of popular politics were discredited, and increasingly identified with political extremism and especially Communism. As such, the response of the local and national authorities to such traditions changed. Concentrating on demonstrations of the unemployed, this chapter shows that the Labour Party, hoping to avoid association with the activities of the Communist Party, dissociated itself from local traditions of protest, preferring instead to stress the party’s fitness for local and national office.
Scotland in Revolution, 1685-1690
Authors: Raffe Alasdair
Published: September 2018

Scotland in Revolution, 1685–1690 is a study of the transformative reign of the Catholic King James VII and the revolution that brought his fall. Whereas previous accounts concentrate on high politics, this book draws on neglected sources to examine the relationship between central power and the Scottish localities. James was a radically experimental ruler, who granted unprecedented religious toleration and intervened systematically in urban government. The book begins with a chapter surveying the principal political developments of the period. There follow two chapters on the major religious reform of James’s reign, the granting of toleration in 1687. Arguing that James’s religious experiment should be understood in the context of European multiconfessionalism, these chapters examine the competition and controversy engendered by the toleration. Chapter four then investigates James’s attempt to reconfigure the leadership of Scotland’s urban communities, and thereby to influence in his favour the composition of a future parliament. Chapter five is a detailed narrative of the revolutionary overthrow of James and his government in Scotland. As chapter six argues, the revolution of 1688–90 saw a reaction in favour of religious uniformity and local autonomy. But the revolution was less decisive than the union settlement of 1707–12 in determining Scotland’s future development.
Multiconfessional Scotland
Authors: Raffe Alasdair
Published: September 2018

This chapter examines the nature of religious coexistence and competition in Scotland in the years 1687–90. It argues that previous studies of the period have paid too little attention to the rival confessional groups’ attempts to win worshippers in a pluralistic religious marketplace. It then examines some of the results of multiconfessionalism, in compromising the effectiveness of the registration of marriages and baptisms, poor relief and church discipline. By emphasising the ways in which James’s toleration undermined crucial social institutions, the chapter uncovers hitherto neglected results of multiconfessional coexistence.
Introduction: Contexts, Politics and Genre
Authors: Young Emma
Published: September 2018

The contemporary moment appears to be the moment for women short story writers, who have received increased critical attention and popular acclaim. Indeed, in surveying this literary field and attending to the reoccurring tropes and discourses in this body of work, it seems reasonable to argue that this is an opportune moment for considering the ways in which shifting feminist sensibilities and gendered subjectivities are revealed through women’s short story writing. A prevailing tendency in the short stories of many contemporary British women writers is a preoccupation with issues of gender and sexuality that, in turn, signals a wider engagement with feminist politics. In such narratives, the short story is used as an intentionally feminist literary vehicle in which to explore the issues and debates at the heart of feminist politics today. By framing the discussion in this way, ‘the moment’ brings together the short story and feminist politics and offers a means of conceptualising their independent status in the twenty-first century; as well as offering a new perspective on their interrelationship in the context of British women’s short story writing. The focus on the moment, then, bridges the formal features of the short story, the momentary experience of reading short fiction, and the ‘of the moment’ nature of feminist politics....
Motherhood
Authors: Young Emma
Published: September 2018

This chapter commences by contextualising the politics of motherhood in light of the feminist writings of Shulamith Firestone, Adrienne Rich and Julia Kristeva. The literary analysis focuses on the control of women’s bodies and societal expectations in the work of Roberts and how the critique of motherhood apparent in these narratives reflects a tendency of much second-wave feminist thought. The second section considers the writings of Simpson and how she invokes the narrative brevity of the short story to heighten the sense of spatial constraint the female protagonist’s, who are mothers, experience; but also the temporal constraints felt by those without a child, who are aware of their ageing bodies. ‘Maternal Loss’ explores the ambivalence at the heart of motherhood and feminism while questioning how understandings of the maternal contain broader meanings and significance across cultures and in the context of migration narratives. The concluding commentary engages with the topic of feminist generations and reflects on the ways in which motherhood has been explored and re-worked as a central feminist motif across various cultural moments since the 1980s.
Marriage and Domesticity
Authors: Young Emma
Published: September 2018

Through reading these contemporary narratives this chapter considers how marriage and domesticity signal the enduring relevance of personal politics in the contemporary era. Beginning with ‘Historical Issues’, which focuses on narratives of marriage and domesticity that invoke the past, the analysis raises questions about the momentary nature of the short story and its ability to engage with history as well as the significance of intertextuality. The subsequent discussion moves on to consider how narratives challenge the notion of ‘marital bliss’, the repercussions of unmarried status for women, and, through ‘Red Sari’, how issues of cultural difference impact on the politics of marriage. ‘Domestic Duty’ foregrounds the gendered politics of domesticity and how this is shaped by, while shaping, feminist politics, before the final section focus on ethnicity and ageing, and how the traditional domestic landscape (as conceived in Western heteropatriarchal terms) is unsettled by the presence of these discourses; thus facilitating a deliberation as to what this means for contemporary feminisms.
Conclusion
Authors: Young Emma
Published: September 2018

In the Introduction to this book I posed a series of questions which have woven throughout the chapters, with shifts in emphasis upon each of these questions at different moments in my own narrative of feminism and women’s short story writing. The first of these questions was how do first-, second- and third-wave feminism inform and influence women’s short story writing and, subsequently, how are these differing political moments represented within women’s short story narratives? An interesting avenue into reflecting on this question comes through reading Helen’s Simpson’s short story ‘The Festival of the Immortals’ (2010). Featuring the narrator, Viv Armstrong, and her school friend Phyllis Goodwin, who meet for the first time in fifty years at a book festival, the story explores generational relations and raises questions about what it means to be a woman across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Historical boundaries are diminished as the presence of Daniel Defoe, Charlotte Brontë and Virginia Woolf (all of whom are immortal in this tale) is perceived as a normal occurrence. Instead, it is the women’s personal histories that become the significant focus of the story as they reminisce about school days and their life trajectories. Notably, it is the figure of Woolf who is responsible for first bringing Phyllis and Viv together: ‘”The first time I saw you, we were in the canteen,” said Phyllis. “You were reading ...
Julia Kristeva’s Mallarmé: From Fetishism to the Theatre-Book
Authors: Boncardo Robert
Published: September 2018

This second chapter engages with Julia Kristeva’s reading of Mallarmé in her 1974 work Revolution in Poetic Language. This chapter offers the first extended analysis of this work’s long and detailed study of Mallarmé, and introduces Kristeva’s unique interpretation of such key works as Prose (Pour des Esseintes) and Un Coup de dés. It also presents the first English-language engagement of any length with the third — and longest — chapter of Revolution in Poetic Language, ‘The State and Mystery’. The chapter argues that Kristeva’s reading culminates in a critique of Mallarmé’s poetry’s content, which covers over the radicality of its form, thus leading to the suppression of the revolutionary political power contained in his work.
Alain Badiou’s Mallarmé: From the Structural Dialectic to the Poetry of the Event
Authors: Boncardo Robert
Published: September 2018

This third chapter tracks Alain Badiou’s reading of Mallarmé, beginning with his extensive treatment of the poet in his first and most politically-committed work, Theory of the Subject, where Mallarmé figures as a liminal figure: an ingenious political conservative whose insights need to be integrated yet surpassed by Badiou, the political radical. The chapter then turns to Badiou’s post-Being and Event work and offers a close reading of the latter book’s treatment of Mallarmé before investigating Mallarmé’s political significance for Badiou in this second stage of his philosophical career. Through a reading of Badiou’s polemic with Czeslaw Milosz in Handbook of Inaesthetics, the chapter argues that Mallarmé becomes an unequivocal comrade for Badiou in his post-Being and Event period: a resolute egalitarian who points the way towards the advent of a generic humanity.
Conclusion: From One Siren to Another
Authors: Boncardo Robert
Published: September 2018

This concluding chapter first presents a reading of Quentin Meillassoux’s book The Number and the Siren, which aims to overcome the limitations of Rancière’s interpretation of Mallarmé by showing how the poet succeeded in creating a secular Eucharist. The chapter argues, however, that Meillassoux’s book has the unexpected consequence of showing the gap between Mallarmé’s poetry and its alleged political ambitions. It closes with a call for renewed thinking on the link between literature and politics.
The Medieval Reformulations of Conversation
Authors: Randall David
Published: September 2018

Rhetoric as a whole fragmented during the medieval era, as did the conversational constellation in particular, not fully to cohere again until the humanist reintegration of the Renaissance. Yet the humanist recuperation did not restore an unchanged rhetoric. On the one hand, the concepts of friendship, familiarity, and conversatio had reoriented themselves around the universalizing Christian conception of community during rhetoric’s long medieval rupture, while the sermo of dialogue had begun to concern itself with that eminently Christian subject matter, the interiority of the soul. On the other hand, the ars dictaminis had shifted the medieval letter toward the public realm, and thus toward the traditional realm of oratory. Petrarch’s rediscovery of classical conversation retained these medieval innovations. The Renaissance variant of conversation that sprang from him would partly slough the theory and practice of its medieval predecessor—but the influence of Christianity and the ars dictaminis would endure.
Intimate Friendship
Authors: Randall David
Published: September 2018

Conversation in antiquity had been the speech of friends and familiarity—and insofar as friendship motivated conversation as a mode of inquiry, that friendship oriented conversation toward reason and virtue. The Renaissance witnessed a long shift in the nature of friendship, culminating in the thought of Montaigne, away from an alignment with reason and virtue and toward an alignment with passion and familiarity. This changing nature of friendship brought with it a corresponding change in the nature of conversation, which now also based itself upon passion and familiarity—including in its use as a mode of inquiry. In other words, the expressive aspects of sermo, which communicated character in an intimate manner, now became the basis of the philosophical aspect of sermo, the inquiry into truth. The communication of intimate, passionate friendship was now the prerequisite for the search for truth. Furthermore, the development of intimate friendship and the development of friendship with and among women went hand and hand in Renaissance and early modern Europe; together, they came to associate women, as women, with conversation and the inquiry into truth. This association radically differentiated conversation from both oratory and philosophical reason, which would remain, respectively, the speech of wrangling and disputatious men.
The Publicist and his Newspaper in Syria in the Era of the Young Turk Revolution, between Reformist Commitment and Political Pressures: Muhammad Kurd ‘Ali and al-Muqtabas (1908–17)
Authors: Ezzerelli Kaïs
Published: September 2018

This chapter examines the career of Muhammad Kurd ‘Ali (1876–1953) and his daily newspaper al-Muqtabas, founded in Damascus in December 1908 following the Young Turk Revolution. Close to the Syrian reformists, who comprised his readers and editorial team, Kurd ‘Ali contrived to make al-Muqtabas one of the most widely read and influential Arabic dailies in the region. During World War I Kurd ‘Ali and his newspaper faced the dilemma: either to be condemned by or to participate in Ottoman propaganda. Based on a close reading of al-Muqtabas, public archives and contemporary testimonies related to this family enterprise, this chapter focuses on the relationships between Kurd ‘Ali and his newspaper, his readers and collaborators, as well as his ties with the political powers of that time.
The Anarchist Press in Egypt before World War I
Authors: Gorman Anthony
Published: September 2018

This chapter traces the development of the radical secular press in Egypt from its first brief emergence in the 1870s until the outbreak of World War I. First active in the 1860s, the anarchist movement gradually expanded its membership and influence over subsequent decades to articulate a general social emancipation and syndicalism for all workers in the country. In the decade and a half before 1914, its press collectively propagated a critique of state power and capitalism, called for social justice and the organisation of labour, and promoted the values of science and public education in both a local context and as part of an international movement. In seeking to promote a programme at odds with both nationalism and colonial rule, it incurred the hostility of the authorities in addition to facing the practical problems of managing and financing an oppositional newspaper.
The Ethiopian War as Portrayed in the Italian Fascist and Antifascist Press in Tunisia
Authors: Houssi Leila El
Published: September 2018

This chapter interrogates the confrontation between fascist and antifascist elements within the Italian community in French Tunisia through an analysis of the attitude of the local Italian language press to the ‘Ethiopian Question’. Through the daily newspaper L’Unione and the weekly L’Alba, Italian fascist propaganda focused its efforts on downplaying the impact of the ‘notorious’ Laval–Mussolini agreements of January 1935 and cast the conquest of Ethiopia as a prelude to more important conquests. It was challenged by the antifascist front (anarchists, republicans, communists and Giustizia e Libertà) in Tunisia who, in the pages of the weekly magazine Domani and the clandestine newspaper Il Liberatore, accused the regime of being interested more in the profits of industrial capitalism than in the interests of Italian citizens resident in the country.
From a Privileged Community to a Minority Community: The Orthodox Community of Beirut through the Newspaper Al-Hadiyya
Authors: Slim Souad
Published: September 2018

This chapter examines al-Hadiyya, the newspaper relaunched in 1921 in a dramatically different political context following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the installation of the French Mandate. Earlier Orthodox newspapers published by the diocese of Beirut and its community had been primarily religious and cultural in orientation. Al-Hadiyya took on a much more ambitious approach. Through an analysis of its leading articles, the chapter explores the political questions and the sociopolitical problems of the time, examining the astonishing range of topics covered, among them the issue of minorities, the participation of emigrants in political life, population transfers, foreign influence and the shock of the Bolshevik Revolution. Vital economic subjects were also tackled, from the Lebanese state budget to issues of the world economy.
The Definition of ‘Affect’ in Ethics III
Authors: Jaquet Chantal
Published: September 2018

Once the internal evolution of Spinoza's thought has been analyzed, the objective is then to focus on the definition of affect in its psychophysical dimension. Chapter IV is entirely devoted to a detailed examination of and a commentary on the definition of affect in Part III of the Ethics. It highlights the following two main issues: - The problem of the two definitions
– The nature of the affects according to Definition III
Spinoza provides two definitions of affects, first at the beginning and then at the end of Part III of the Ethics, that seem contradictory. After showing in Definition III that affects cannot be reduced to passions, in the final general definition he equates them only with the passions of the soul. Once this apparent contradiction is resolved, it becomes possible to produce a complete analysis of the nature of affect by examining:
1)The difference between affects and affections
2) The nature of the body’s power of acting
3) The physical aspect of affects
4) The mental aspect of affects and the meaning of the adverb simul in Definition III
5) The four types of affects
Contemporary Russian nationalism in the historical struggle between ‘official nationality’ and ‘popular sovereignty’
Authors: Pain Emil
Published: September 2018

This chapter develops the theoretical framework structuring the entire volume: the tension and dynamics between state nationalism and grassroots/societal nationalism in Russia. Against a historical canvas extending from the late eighteenth century to the present, the chapter argues that Russian state authorities have always attempted to neutralise emerging civic nationalism that appeals to the principle of popular sovereignty by substituting it with the paternalistic idea of ‘official nationality’, based on anti-Western ideological stances, great-power chauvinism and xenophobia. This ‘political technology’ has repeatedly been employed by tsarist, Soviet and post-Soviet rulers – most recently during the Ukrainian crisis and in response to the growth of democracy-oriented Russian nationalists of the ‘national-democratic’ movement. The chapter concludes that at present, there are in Russia no political forces that could initiate a deconstruction of the prevailing imperial consciousness.
Kremlin’s post-2012 national policies: Encountering the merits and perils of identity-based social contract
Authors: Teper Yuri
Published: September 2018

This chapter analyses the Kremlin’s changing attitudes towards nationalism since 2012, focusing on the post-2014 period. Failing to deliver on its economic and governance output promises, the Kremlin altered its social contract with society so as to focus on collective identity as the new legitimation base for the regime. Following Putin’s return to the presidency, the authorities’ mobilisation strategy became distinctively proactive and profoundly national, with the Kremlin seizing control over the national agenda. The alternation between Russo-centric and great-power emphases in the Kremlin's official identity discourse nevertheless reveals that the regime must navigate between two potentially hazardous options. Greater emphasis on the first component would increase ethnic tensions at home and create pressures for action on behalf of ethnic Russian minorities in the ‘near abroad’, whereas excessively stressing the second would lead to further escalation of the conflict with the West.
Ideologue of neo-Nazi terror: Aleksandr Sevastianov and Russia’s ‘partisan’ insurgency
Authors: Horvath Robert
Published: September 2018

The career of Aleksandr Sevast’ianov, a nationalist intellectual who became a leading apologist of far-right violence, is in focus here. In the first phase (1992–1997) of his revolutionary project, Sevast’ianov avoided overt statements on violence while he led the campaign against the repatriation of WWII ‘trophy art’. During the second phase (1998–2003), as leader of a radical nationalist party, he repeatedly affirmed his commitment to legality but hinted that violent militants also had a role to play. During the third phase (2004–2012), which coincided with a wave of racist killings committed by neo-Nazi gangs, he glorified this carnage as the beginning of a national revolution. During the final phase (2013–2016), Sevast’ianov shifted this framework to the Russian insurgents in the Donbas, whom he extolled as the vanguard of a revolution that would ultimately transform Russia itself.
The Sociopragmatics of Attitude Datives in Levantine Arabic
Authors: Haddad Youssef A.
Published: September 2018

This book analyses the sociopragmatics of attitude datives in four Levantine Arabic varieties; these are Syrian, Lebanese, Jordanian, and Palestinian Arabic. Attitude datives are optional pronominal pragmatic markers that serve two broad functions: (i) an evaluative function to express a stance toward an issue or an object, and/or (ii) a relational function to manage (e.g., affirm, challenge) relationships between social actors. The study provides ample data from a variety of sources: soap operas, movies, plays, talk shows, social media, and so on. It is supplemented with short videos of most data on a companion website https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/haddad. The study has four goals: to document the phenomenon of attitude datives in Levantine Arabic; to analyze their meaning contribution in interaction; to examine the contextual factors that inform and are informed by their use; to account for the cognitive coordination that social actors engage in when an attitude dative is used.
Introduction
Authors: Haddad Youssef A.
Published: September 2018

This chapter provides an overview of attitude datives as optional pronominal pragmatic markers in four varieties of Levantine Arabic; these are Syrian, Lebanese, Jordanian, and Palestinian Arabic. It highlights the purpose of the study, namely, to provide a sociocognitive analysis of attitude datives and to account for the social conditions on their use. It also lists the data sources, states some of their characteristics, and discusses the motivations behind the choices.
Attitude Datives in Social Context – The Analytic Tools
Authors: Haddad Youssef A.
Published: September 2018

This chapter defines attitude datives as evaluative and relational pragmatic markers that allow the speaker to present material from a specific perspective and to invite the hearer to view the material from the same perspective. It identifies three types of context that are pertinent to the analysis of these datives. These are the sociocultural context (e.g., values, beliefs), the situational context (i.e., identities, activity types), and the co-textual context (e.g., contextualization cues). The chapter draws on Cognitive Grammar and Theory of Stance and puts forth a sociocognitive model called the stancetaking stage model. In this model, when a speaker uses an attitude dative construction, she directs her hearer’s attention to the main content of her message and instructs him to view this content through the attitude dative as a filter. In this sense, the attitude dative functions as a perspectivizer and the main content becomes a perspectivized thought.
Speaker-Oriented Attitude Datives in Social Context
Authors: Haddad Youssef A.
Published: September 2018

This chapter examines the social functions of speaker-oriented attitude datives in Levantine Arabic. It analyzes these datives as perspectivizers used by a speaker to instruct her hearer to view her as a form of authority in relation to him, to the content of her utterance, and to the activity they are both involved in. The nature of this authority depends on the sociocultural, situational, and co-textual context, including the speaker’s and hearer’s shared values and beliefs, their respective identities, and the social acts employed in interaction. The chapter analyzes specific instances of speaker-oriented attitude datives as used in different types of social acts (e.g., commands, complaints) and in different types of settings (e.g., family talk, gossip). It also examines how these datives interact with facework, politeness, and rapport management.
A Driftless Estimation of Orthogonal Magnetic Flux Linkages in Sensorless Electrical Drives
Authors: Strinić Tomislav
Published: September 2018

Estimations of magnetic flux linkages, either between the stationary windings of the stator for the direct torque control (DTC), or between the stationary windings and the rotor for the sensorless field-oriented control (FOC), are based on integration of corresponding voltages. Integration of voltages with offsets that come from improperly calibrated measurements as well as from transient states generally produces unwanted drifts in the resulting magnetic flux linkages, which when used within any type of control of sensorless electrical drives results in instability. This paper addresses that problem and proposes a simple self-contained solution based on orthogonal properties of waveforms of input voltages and resulting magnetic flux linkages in the frame of reference fixed to the geometry of the stator. The proposed solution requires only two periodic orthogonal input waveforms with a distinct common fundamental harmonic, which as such is independent of the type and parameters of the used machine. The idea of the proposed solution is presented analytically, its stability is proven by means of the quadratic Lyapunov theory, and its functionality is demonstrated by standalone simulations and experiments within the sensorless FOC of a permanent magnet synchronous machine (PMSM).
The Unexplored Potential of Edible Flowers Lipids
Authors: Fernandes Luana , Ramalhosa Elsa , Pereira José A. , Saraiva Jorge A. , Casal Susana
Published: September 2018

Edible flowers have been historically linked to traditional world cuisine and culture. They are often used as ingredients in food and beverages for medicinal or pharmaceutical purposes. However, little attention has been paid to the quality of their lipids, and therefore to their potential for oil extraction and use in the food and food supplements industries. This review summarizes the current knowledge on the lipid composition of several edible flowers, including fat content, fatty acids, vitamin E, and carotenoids profiles. Edible flower lipids were found to be rich in linoleic (C18:2) and α-linolenic (C18:3) acids, which are essential fatty acids. Furthermore, most flowers are a good source of α-tocopherol and xanthophylls, such as lutein and zeaxanthin. This review provides valuable information on the lipid profile of some edible flowers in order to better characterize them and to increase their popularization among the food industry and consumers, boosting agriculture demand for these products.
Methionine Sulfoxide Reductases of Archaea
Authors: Maupin-Furlow Julie A.
Published: September 2018

Methionine sulfoxide reductases are found in all domains of life and are important in reversing the oxidative damage of the free and protein forms of methionine, a sulfur containing amino acid particularly sensitive to reactive oxygen species (ROS). Archaea are microbes of a domain of life distinct from bacteria and eukaryotes. Archaea are well known for their ability to withstand harsh environmental conditions that range from habitats of high ROS, such as hypersaline lakes of intense ultraviolet (UV) radiation and desiccation, to hydrothermal vents of low concentrations of dissolved oxygen at high temperature. Recent evidence reveals the methionine sulfoxide reductases of archaea function not only in the reduction of methionine sulfoxide but also in the ubiquitin-like modification of protein targets during oxidative stress, an association that appears evolutionarily conserved in eukaryotes. Here is reviewed methionine sulfoxide reductases and their distribution and function in archaea.
Study on the Reliability of Sn50Pb49Sb1/Cu Solder Joints Subjected to γ-ray Irradiation
Authors: Wang Jianhao , Xue Songbai , Lv Zhaoping , Wen Li , Liu Siyi
Published: September 2018

Cosmic radiation has always been the most obvious barrier to planetary travels, especially in long-duration deep space exploration missions. Therefore, the reliability of satellite materials and the requirements of satellite miniaturization have received considerable attention. In this paper, the effect of γ-ray irradiation on the reliability of Sn50Pb49Sb1/Cu solder joints was investigated. It was found that the influence of γ-ray irradiation on the thickness and morphology of the intermetallic compound layer in Sn50Pb49Sb1/Cu was not obvious. However, the formation and growth of micro-voids and micro-cracks was observed in Pb-based solid solutions. Due to the Compton effect, the γ-ray photon could knock the electron out of its orbit, which created the energetic electron. The accumulation of dislocated atoms and lattice vacancies generated by energetic electrons could be the main factor that caused the formation of micro-voids and micro-cracks. The pull force of Sn50Pb49Sb1/Cu solder joints was reduced by 22% after being irradiated at the dose rate of 0.25 Gy(Si)/s for 960 h. Fractographic analysis showed that after irradiation, the fracture type of solder joints was still ductile but the ductility of the solder joints decreased with slightly inconspicuous dimples.
Computational Methodology for Knocking Combustion Analysis in Compression-Ignited Advanced Concepts
Authors: Serrano José Ramón , Novella Ricardo , Gomez-Soriano Josep , Martinez-Hernandiz Pablo José
Published: September 2018

In the present work, a numerical methodology based on three-dimensional (3D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was developed to predict knock in a 2-Stroke engine operating with gasoline Partially Premixed Combustion (PPC) concept. Single-cycle Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (URANS) simulations using the renormalization group (RNG) k − ε model were performed in parallel while the initial conditions are accordingly perturbed in order to imitate the variability in the in-cylinder conditions due to engine operation. Results showed a good agreement between experiment and CFD simulation with respect to cycle-averaged and deviation of the ignition timing, combustion phasing, peak pressure magnitude and location. Moreover, the numerical method was also demonstrated to be capable of predicting knock features, such as maximum pressure rise rate and knock intensity, with good accuracy. Finally, the CFD solution allowed to give more insight about in-cylinder processes that lead to the knocking combustion and its subsequent effects.
FOG De-Noising Algorithm Based on Augmented Nonlinear Differentiator and Singular Spectrum Analysis
Authors: Zhang Xiaoming , Cao Huiliang , Shao Xingling , Liu Jun , Shen Chong
Published: September 2018

A novel algorithm based on singular spectrum analysis (SSA) and augmented nonlinear differentiator (AND) for extracting the useful signal from a noisy measurement of fiber optic gyroscope (FOG) is proposed in this paper. As a novel type of tracking differentiator, augmented nonlinear differentiator (AND) has the advantages of dynamical performance and noise-attenuation ability. However, there is a contradiction in AND, i.e., selecting a larger acceleration factor may cause faster convergence but bad random noise reduction, whereas selecting a smaller acceleration factor may lead to signal delay but effective random noise reduction. To overcome the contradiction of AND, multi-scale transformation is introduced. Firstly, the noisy signal is decomposed into components by SSA, and the correlation coefficients between each component and original signal are calculated, then the component with biggest correlation coefficient is reserved and other components are filtered by AND with designed selection criterion of acceleration factor, finally the de-noising result is obtained after reconstruction process. There are mainly two prominent advantages of the proposed SSA-AND algorithm: (i) Compared to traditional tracking differentiators, better de-noising ability can be achieved without signal delay; and (ii) compared to other widely used hybrid de-noising methods based on multi-scale transformation, a parameter determination method is given based on the correlation coefficient of each decomposed component, which improves the reliability of the proposed algorithm.
Molecular Dynamics Study on the Mechanism of Nanoscale Jet Instability Reaching Supercritical Conditions
Authors: Fu Qingfei , Zhang Yunxiao , Mo Chaojie , Yang Lijun
Published: September 2018

This paper investigates the characteristics of a nitrogen jet (the thermodynamic conditions ranging from subcritical to supercritical) ejected into a supercritical nitrogen environment using the molecular dynamics (MD) simulation method. The thermodynamic properties of nitrogen obtained by molecular dynamics show good agreement with the Soave-Redlich-Kwong (SRK) equation of state (EOS). The agreement provides validation for this nitrogen molecular model. The molecular dynamics simulation of homogeneous nitrogen spray is carried out in different thermodynamic conditions from subcritical to supercritical, and a spatio-temporal evolution of the nitrogen spray is obtained. The interface of the nitrogen spray is determined at the point where the concentration of ejected fluid component reaches 50%, since the supercritical jet has no obvious vapor-liquid interface. A stability analysis of the transcritical jets shows that the disturbance growth rate of the shear layer coincides very well with the classical theoretical result at subcritical region. In the supercritical region, however, the growth rate obtained by molecular dynamics deviates from the theoretical result.
Particle-Bound Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon in the Atmosphere of Heavy Traffic Areas in Greater Cairo, Egypt: Status, Source, and Human Health Risk Assessment
Authors: Hassan Salwa Kamal
Published: September 2018

Airborne particulate samples were collected from three main squares (Ramsis, El Giza, and Sphinx) representing heavy traffic areas in Greater Cairo during the period of December 2015–February 2016, and analysed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs). The maximum concentrations of particle-bound PAHs were observed at El Giza, while the minimum levels were recorded at Sphinx. The levels of particle-bound PAHs in the square areas of Greater Cairo are higher than those found in many different locations in Egypt and around the world.The distribution of individual particle-bound PAHs as well as PAH categories, depending on the ring number in Ramsis, El Giza, and Sphinx, wasquite similar. This similarity implies similar emission sources of PAHs in the three square areas, with vehicle exhaust emissions being the dominant one. Benzo[b]fluoranthene (BbF), benzo[ghi]perylene (BGP), and indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene(IND) were the most abundant PAH compounds. Diagnostic concentration ratios of PAH compounds in the three square locations suggest that both petrogenic and pyrogenic sources emit these compounds. Moreover, they originate mainly from traffic emissions in the study areas. Based on the calculated benzo[a]pyrene equivalent (BaPeq) for the individual particle-bound PAH compounds, health risks associated with the inhalation of these compounds were assessed. Total carcinogenic activity (TCA) for all measured PAHs represented 20.03% (El Giza), 20.40% (Ramsis), and 20.60% (Sphinx) of the total PAH concentrations. Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) and dibenz[a,h]anthracene (DBA) were the highest contributors to the total health risks; these accounted for 42.72% and 38.50% (El Giza), 41.79% and 39.17% (Ramsis), and 42.92% and 37.78% (Sphinx) of the TCA of all PAH compounds, respectively. These results indicate the importance of BaP and DBA as surrogate compounds for PAHs in the atmosphere of square areas of Greater Cairo.
Improved Socio-Emotional and Behavioral Functioning in Students with Autism Following School-Based Smartglasses Intervention: Multi-Stage Feasibility and Controlled Efficacy Study
Authors: Vahabzadeh Arshya , Keshav Neha U. , Abdus-Sabur Rafiq , Huey Krystal , Liu Runpeng , Sahin Ned T.
Published: September 2018

Background: Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) commonly demonstrate prominent social communication deficits, symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and chronic irritability. These challenges hinder academic progress and frequently persist despite educational, behavioral, and medical interventions. An assistive smartglasses technology may aid these individuals, especially if the technology is efficacious in ecologically-valid school settings. This study explored the feasibility and efficacy of Empowered Brain, a computerized smartglasses intervention designed as a socio-emotional behavioral aid for students with ASD. Methods: This two-part six-week study involved four school children with ASD from a public elementary school. The study incorporated an initial three-week feasibility stage followed by a three-week controlled longitudinal efficacy stage. Both stages involved the use of a twice-daily socio-emotional intervention with the smartglasses. Educators completed pre-intervention and post-intervention Aberrant Behavioral Checklist (ABC) ratings at the start of the feasibility stage, and weekly during the efficacy stage. Primary outcome measures were improvements in the ABC subscales of irritability, hyperactivity, and social withdrawal. Results: Students in both feasibility and efficacy stages demonstrated improvements (decreases) in irritability, hyperactivity, and social withdrawal compared to a baseline period and control periods, respectively. Participants in the controlled efficacy stage demonstrated decreased ABC subscale scores of 90% for irritability, 41.6% for hyperactivity, and 45.6% for social withdrawal. An intervention exposure-response improvement in irritability and hyperactivity was found during the efficacy stage. Educators rated the technology as superior or vastly superior compared to other assistive technologies. Conclusion: A substantial number of school children with ASD demonstrate chronic and impairing cognitive and behavioral challenges. This study provides evidence that Empowered Brain, a smartglasses-based socio-emotional aid for autism, is both feasible and efficacious in improving symptoms of social withdrawal, irritability, and hyperactivity in students with autism. The improvement is demonstrated as part of a longitudinal school-based intervention. Further studies involving larger samples and incorporation of randomized controlled trial methodology are underway to further elucidate the impact of this technology.
Rotating and Neurochemical Activity of Rats Lesioned with Quinolinic Acid and Transplanted with Bone Marrow Mononuclear Cells
Authors: Serrano Sánchez Teresa , González Fraguela María Elena , Blanco Lezcano Lisette , Alberti Amador Esteban , Caballero Fernández Beatriz , Robinson Agramonte María de los Ángeles , Lorigados Pedre Lourdes , Bergado Rosado Jorge A
Published: September 2018

Huntington’s disease (HD) is an inherited, neurodegenerative disorder that results from the degeneration of striatal neurons, mainly GABAergic neurons. The study of neurochemical activity has provided reliable markers to explain motor disorders. To treat neurodegenerative diseases, stem cell transplants with bone marrow (BM) have been performed for several decades. In this work we determine the effect of mononuclear bone marrow cell (mBMC) transplantation on the rotational behavior and neurochemical activity in a model of Huntington’s disease in rats. Four experimental groups were organized: Group I: Control animals (n = 5); Group II: Lesion with quinolinic acid (QA) in the striatum (n = 5); Group III: Lesion with QA and transplant with mBMC (n = 5); Group IV: Lesion with QA and transplant with culture medium (Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) injection) (n = 5). The rotational activity induced by D-amphetamine was evaluated and the concentration of the neurotransmitter amino acids (glutamate and GABA) was studied. The striatal cell transplantation decreases the rotations induced by D-amphetamine (p < 0.04, Wilcoxon matched pairs test) and improves the changes produced in the levels of neurotransmitters studied. This work suggests that the loss of GABAergic neurons in the brain of rats lesioned with AQ produces behavioral and neurochemical alterations that can be reversed with the use of bone marrow mononuclear cell transplants.
The Unfolded Protein Response in Breast Cancer
Authors: McGrath Eoghan , Logue Susan , Mnich Katarzyna , Deegan Shane , Jäger Richard , Gorman Adrienne , Samali Afshin
Published: September 2018

In 2018, in the US alone, it is estimated that 268,670 people will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and that 41,400 will die from it. Since breast cancers often become resistant to therapies, and certain breast cancers lack therapeutic targets, new approaches are urgently required. A cell-stress response pathway, the unfolded protein response (UPR), has emerged as a promising target for the development of novel breast cancer treatments. This pathway is activated in response to a disturbance in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) homeostasis but has diverse physiological and disease-specific functions. In breast cancer, UPR signalling promotes a malignant phenotype and can confer tumours with resistance to widely used therapies. Here, we review several roles for UPR signalling in breast cancer, highlighting UPR-mediated therapy resistance and the potential for targeting the UPR alone or in combination with existing therapies.
The “Yin and Yang” of Natural Compounds in Anticancer Therapy of Triple-Negative Breast Cancers
Authors: Varghese Elizabeth , Samuel Samson , Abotaleb Mariam , Cheema Sohaila , Mamtani Ravinder , Büsselberg Dietrich
Published: September 2018

Among the different types of breast cancers, triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) are highly aggressive, do not respond to conventional hormonal/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-targeted interventions due to the lack of the respective receptor targets, have chances of early recurrence, metastasize, tend to be more invasive in nature, and develop drug resistance. The global burden of TNBCs is increasing regardless of the number of cytotoxic drugs being introduced into the market each year as they have only moderate efficacy and/or unforeseen side effects. Therefore, the demand for more efficient therapeutic interventions, with reduced side effects, for the treatment of TNBCs is rising. While some plant metabolites/derivatives actually induce the risk of cancers, many plant-derived active principles have gained attention as efficient anticancer agents against TNBCs, with fewer adverse side effects. Here we discuss the possible oncogenic molecular pathways in TNBCs and how the purified plant-derived natural compounds specifically target and modulate the genes and/or proteins involved in these aberrant pathways to exhibit their anticancer potential. We have linked the anticancer potential of plant-derived natural compounds (luteolin, chalcones, piperine, deguelin, quercetin, rutin, fisetin, curcumin, resveratrol, and others) to their ability to target multiple dysregulated signaling pathways (such as the Wnt/β-catenin, Notch, NF-κB, PI3K/Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and Hedgehog) leading to suppression of cell growth, proliferation, migration, inflammation, angiogenesis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and metastasis, and activation of apoptosis in TNBCs. Plant-derived compounds in combination with classical chemotherapeutic agents were more efficient in the treatment of TNBCs, possibly with lesser side effects.
Erratum: Zhang, Y., et al. Interface-Active Metal Organic Frameworks for Knoevenagel Condensations in Water. Catalysts 2018, 8, 315
Authors:   Catalysts Editorial Office
Published: September 2018

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