bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Study on the technology of grouting and reinforcing the foundation of a railway bridge above shallow old mine goaf
Authors: Sui Hui-Quan , Bait Chun-Yuan
Published: May 2018

The city fast track railway bridge studied in this paper is located above an old mined out area. There is a 1500m2 underground goaf in the construction site with a depth of 30.8~53.2m, the seam thickness is 2.0~2.5m and the dip angle is 50~63 degrees. Although the mine has been abandoned for many years, there are still a lot of underground cavities. Collapse pits occurred on the surface occasionally till this day, especially during the rainy season. In order to make the design safe and reliable, drilling pressure grouting technique is proposed to fill and reinforce the foundation of the site. Proposed technique is tested by several experiments in simulated underground mined out area for the foundation treatment. The technical design, construction technology, grouting and reinforcement effect of the project are studied and summarized. The results of the experiment showed a stable and safe bridge foundation has been achieved. The proposed technique was then applied to on site experiment and pasted all tests.
Assessment of traffic-induced vibrations of Ozanam Building of Adamson University
Authors: Araña, Earl Shadd D. , Bisain Leira Liz A. , Acedera Rae Cecil N. , Guillermo John Elmer C. , Griño Albert A.
Published: May 2018

Vibration is one of the main factors for fatigue in structures which can cause damages such as cracks and in critical cases could result to collapse. Long term contact to vibrations can induce the cracks to be transmitted through the structural members of the building that can compromise the structural integrity of the structure. The Ozanam Building of Adamson University is situated near the Romualdez Street, which is considered as one of the main routes of cargo trucks and other heavy vehicles from the Manila North Harbor Port. It was observed that cracks were visible on the façade of the building. For that reason, the structural integrity of Ozanam Building was evaluated against the traffic-induced vibrations using vibration meter. It was found out that the maximum peak particle velocity present in Ozanam Building is 8.60 mm/s which means that the building is safe and below the threshold value for risk in structural damage. Thus, vibration due to traffic has no significant effect that can cause structural damage to the building. In addition, preventive measures were discussed in this paper to reduce the traffic-induced vibrations to an acceptable level.
An unpublished case of focal infection on a vascular endoprosthesis graft
Authors: Buron Corentin , Boisramé Sylvie , De Moreuil Claire , Le Duc-Pennec Alexandra , Le Berre Rozenn
Published: May 2018

Observation: A patient with a prosthetic superior vena cava graft had complications of thrombosis and infection. The blood cultures were positive for Peptostreptococcus micros and Prevotella denticola. The latter are known to exist in oral cavities. Clinical and radiological examinations of the oral cavity revealed the presence of oral infectious foci. Commentary: Superior vena cava prosthetic graft infections of oral origin have not previously been described in the literature. The highlighting of oral infectious foci, their eradication, and the follow-up of patients who had been subject to a vascular graft procedures are essential elements in preventing any associated lesions.
Therapeutic uses and efficacy of botulinum toxin in orofacial medicine
Authors: Bayet Kinz , Chikhani Luc , Ejeil Anne-Laure
Published: May 2018

Introduction: Botulinum toxin, primarily known for its use in cosmetic surgery, is also used for therapeutic purposes in many medical fields. It works as a muscle relaxant and inhibits glandular secretions. In the orofacial sphere, the use of this toxin is proposed in particular for disabling myofascial pain and aberrant salivary disorders. Methodology: A critical analysis of the literature, based on PUBMED data, concerning the orofacial indications of botulinum toxin was carried out. Results: The literature is abundant regarding the therapeutic interest of this toxin for several oral pathologies, but scientific merits vary markedly from one indication to another. Discussion: The musculorelaxant and antisecretory action of this toxin appears to be demonstrated in the case of bruxism, limitation of the mouth opening and in hypersialorrhea. On the other hand, its medical benefit is still not supported by scientific evidence for masseter hypertrophy, tonicity of the levator labii superioris muscles, sialocele fistulae and Frey's syndrome. Conclusion: Additional high-level studies, unbiased, randomized controlled trials, are required to eliminate the uncertainties that persist about the clinical impact of botulinum toxin and to justify the development of recommendations for good practice valid and credible.
Inter personal violence-related facial injuries: a 10-year survey
Authors: Coulibaly Toua Antoine , Béogo Rasmané , Traoré Ibraïma , Kohoun Héra Michel , Ili Biévianda Vincent
Published: May 2018

Introduction:Interpersonal violence (IPV) has emerged as a worldwide health problem affecting predominantly the face.Patients and methods:This study reports the characteristics of violence, victims and injuries in IPV-related facial injuries patients, in a 10-year survey, in a tertiary hospital of Burkina Faso.Results:Patients’ age ranged from 11 to 75 years (mean 31 years) and 58.2% of the patients were aged between 20 and 39 years. There were 74 males and females 24 giving a male-to-female ratio of 3.1:1. The circumstances of injuries were brawls (80.6%) consisting mostly in facial blows, and hold-ups (19.4%). Fractures involving predominantly the mandible or the zygomatic complex were the most common injury, accounting for 53.2%. Soft tissues injuries accounted for 37.2% and dental trauma for 9.2%. In 27.5% of the patients, extra facial injuries were encountered, dominated by cerebral trauma and limb fractures.Conclusion:In this study, IPV-related facial injuries are mostly mandibular or zygomatic fractures in young and males adults involved in brawls. These findings command strategies for prevention of violence in this specific group.
New report preparation system for endoscopic procedures using speech recognition technology
Authors: Takao Toshitatsu , Masumura Ryo , Sakauchi Sumitaka , Ohara Yoshiko , Bilgic Elif , Umegaki Eiji , Kutsumi Hiromu , Azuma Takeshi
Published: May 2018

Background and study aims We developed a new reporting system based on structured data entry, which selectively extracts only endoscopic findings from endoscopists’ oral statements and automatically inputs them into appropriate columns in real time during endoscopic procedures.

Methods We compared the time for endoscopic procedures and report preparation (ER time) by using an esophagogastroduodenoscopy simulator in three groups: one preparing reports using a mouse after endoscopic procedures (CE group); a second group preparing reports by using voice alone during endoscopic procedures (SR group); and the final group preparing reports by operating the system with a foot switch and inputting findings using voice during endoscopic procedures (SR + FS group). For the SR and SR + FS groups, we identified the recognition rates of the speech recognition system.

Results Mean ER times for cases with three findings each were 162, 130 and 119 seconds in the CE, SR and SR + FS groups, respectively. The mean ER times for cases with six findings each were 220, 144 and 128 seconds, respectively. The times in the SR and SR + FS groups were significantly shorter than that in the CE group (P < 0.017). The recognition rate of the SR group for cases with three findings each was 98.4 %, and 97.6 % in the same group for cases with six findings each. The rates in the SR + FS group were 95.2 % and 98.4 %, respectively.

Conclusion Our reporting system was demonstrated to allow an endoscopist to efficiently complete the report in real time during endoscopic procedures.
Die Prävalenz der Aufmerksamkeitsdefizit-/Hyperaktivitätsstörung (ADHS) im Erwachsenenalter bei Patienten in der stationären Rehabilitation
Authors: Ballaschke Olaf , Langer Sebastian , Forschner Lukas
Published: May 2018

Hintergrund ADHS im Erwachsenenalter scheint ein positiver Prädiktor für zahlreiche komorbide Erkrankungen und Beeinträchtigungen in allen, insbesondere auch in beruflichen, Bereichen zu sein. Da bei Patienten in der Rehabilitation per Definitionem die Teilhabe am gesellschaftlichen und beruflichen Leben eingeschränkt bzw. gefährdet ist, sollte die Prävalenz für ADHS hier deutlich erhöht sein.

Methode Zur Bestimmung der Prävalenz von ADHS im Erwachsenenalter in der stationären Rehabilitation wurden 1010 Probanden im Alter zwischen 18 und 75 Jahren dahingehend untersucht. Zusätzlich wurden weitere Beeinträchtigungen erhoben und mit nicht von ADHS betroffenen Patienten verglichen.

Ergebnisse Es zeigte sich erwartungsgemäß eine höhere Prävalenz (10,5%) in der Rehabilitation als in der Allgemeinbevölkerung. Vor Antritt der Reha scheinen diese Patienten zudem ein erhöhtes Maß an Einschränkungen gegenüber den Patienten ohne ADHS aufzuweisen. Zum Reha-Ende sind Patienten mit ADHS deutlich häufiger in der Leistungsfähigkeit im alten Beruf, nicht aber in der für den allgemeinen Arbeitsmarkt, gemindert.

Schlussfolgerung Gerade in Reha-Kliniken sollte verstärkt auf die Möglichkeit des Vorliegens einer ADHS im Erwachsenenalter geachtet werden. Die Betroffenen sind nicht nur stärker beeinträchtigt, sondern scheinen auch häufig einen nicht ihren Besonderheiten entsprechenden Beruf auszuüben.
Ergebnisse einer Pilotstudie zur Erfassung von Qualitätsindikatoren in der ambulanten onkologischen Versorgung
Authors: Hermes-Moll Kerstin , Klein Astrid , Schmitz Stephan , Baumann Walter
Published: May 2018

Ziel der Studie Es wurden Indikatoren der Prozessqualität für die ambulante onkologische Versorgung in Deutschland mit dem Ziel entwickelt, die Qualitätsbeobachtung und -sicherung zu verbessern. In dieser Pilotstudie wurden erstmals Daten zur Bewertung dieser Qualitätsindikatoren (QI) erhoben und analysiert.

Methodik Die Daten wurden mithilfe einer Online-Datenmaske aus Patientenakten in onkologischen Schwerpunktpraxen erfasst. Die Datenerhebung erfolgte in 3 Wellen durch praxisinterne und in 7 (Welle 1), 9 (Welle 2) bzw. 7 (Welle 3) Praxen durch einen externen Dokumentar.

Ergebnisse Insgesamt wurden 5 160 Patientenakten aus 37 verschiedenen onkologischen Schwerpunktpraxen ausgewertet. Die Erfüllungsquoten der QI variieren deutlich zwischen den QI als auch zwischen den Praxen (0–100%). Zusammengefasst sind die Erfüllungsquoten bei QI der Basisdokumentation höher (81%) als bei der Therapieplanung und -durchführung (72%), der ganzheitlichen Betreuung und dem psychosozialen Wohlbefinden (71%) oder Schmerzmanagement (63%).

Schlussfolgerung Die Ranges und die hohen Standardabweichungen zeigen eine große Bandbreite der Erfüllungsgrade der QI. Es wird aber auch deutlich, dass, mit Ausnahme der Schmerzerfassung, eine 100%ige Erfüllung der Anforderungen der QI in einigen Praxen vorliegt und somit generell machbar ist. Die Datenerhebung für QI ist ressourcenintensiv (Zeit und Personal). Die Erhebung und Auswertung von Daten für QI liefert brauchbare Informationen über Bereiche mit Verbesserungspotenzial. QI können somit zur Verbesserung der Qualität der onkologischen Versorgung beitragen.
Endoscopic biodegradable stents as a rescue treatment in the management of post bariatric surgery leaks: a case series
Authors: Al Lehibi Abed , Al Balkhi Areej , Al Mtawa Abdullah , Al Otaibi Nawaf
Published: May 2018

Background and aims Postoperative leak is one of the most feared complications after bariatric surgery. Endoscopic stenting is used to manage leaks by decreasing the gastrointestinal intraluminal pressure. The main advantage of endoscopic management is providing healing while still allowing for oral nutrition. However, limited literature exists on whether biodegradable stents can be used to control leaks when conventional metallic stents fail.

Methods Our series consists of four patients who were found to have a leak as a complication of bariatric surgery. Two patients were initially managed by abdominal/chest drainage, and one required total parenteral nutrition. Conventional endoscopic exclusion techniques with short and long fully covered metallic stents were tried and failed in three of the four patients included in this series. Thus, biodegradable stents were used as a rescue option.

Results Biodegradable stents provided immediate improvement for all of the patients, and Gastrografin studies were leak-free 2 days after the procedure. All patients were started on oral feeding and discharged home within 5 – 6 days later. Minimum outpatient follow-up of 8 weeks was achieved with no issues. Follow-up endoscopy was performed 2 – 3 months later in three patients and showed completely resorbed stents. The only drawback was the mucosal reaction to the stent causing dysphagia in two patients, who eventually needed esophageal dilatation.

Conclusion Biodegradable stents have the potential to provide a reasonable rescue option to manage post bariatric surgery leaks in patients who fail conventional endoscopic exclusion methods. However, data from larger studies are needed to collect information on which theoretical advantages/disadvantages of degradable biomaterials apply to real practice.
Treatment of Zenker’s diverticulum using a novel grasping-type scissors forceps allows fast, safe, and effective endoscopic diverticulotomy
Authors: Rath Timo , Siebler Jürgen , Neurath Markus , Nägel Andreas
Published: May 2018

Background and study aims Although several endoscopic techniques have been described for Zenker’s diverticulotomy, no standardized endoscopic approach has been established in clinical routine to date. This study aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of endoscopic diverticulotomy using the Clutch Cutter.

Patients and methods Cricopharyngeal myotomy was performed in six prospectively enrolled patients with symptomatic Zenker’s diverticulum, using the Clutch Cutter. Procedural details such as duration, complications, and technical success were recorded and compared to the outcomes of 15 patients who received needle-knife-based myotomy.

Results Myotomy with the Clutch Cutter was feasible in all six patients with complete diverticulotomy in a single session in all patients. Mean procedure time of the Clutch Cutter myotomy was 19 minutes without major complications. During follow-up, one patient had diverticulum recurrence after 10 months, which was successfully re-treated. Mean procedure time with the needle-knife was 43 minutes and a mean of 2.7 myotomy sessions was required for complete diverticulotomy.

Conclusion Endoscopic diverticulotomy using the Clutch Cutter is safe, effective, and fast. Larger studies comparing myotomy using the Clutch Cutter with other endoscopic techniques are highly warranted.
Synthesis of a Chiral Auxiliary Family from Levoglucosenone and Evaluation in the Diels–Alder Reaction
Authors: Greatrex Ben , Klepp Julian , Sumby Christopher
Published: May 2018

A new family of chiral auxiliaries has been developed based on the lignocellulosic biomass pyrolysis product levoglucosenone. A promising single stereoisomer with an alcohol and π-stacking phenyl substituents was prepared in excellent yield in two steps from di­hydrolevoglucosenone without chromatography on >50 g scale. Acrylate esters prepared from the auxiliaries underwent diastereoselective Lewis acid promoted Diels–Alder reactions with cyclopentadiene (­endo/exo 98:2, endo d.r. up to 98:2), dimethylbutadiene (d.r. 93:7), and isoprene (d.r. > 98:2)
Global Health: Epilepsy
Authors: Ali Amza
Published: May 2018

Epilepsy is a frequently misunderstood and highly stigmatized condition. Major treatment gaps exist across the world, most so in areas of financial constraint. Classification permits the best approaches to treatment and to ascertaining prognosis. The International League Against Epilepsy's new classification system emphasizes clinical aspects and utilizes all available resources to determine whether it is a focal or generalized epilepsy. The most important tools are a careful history, clinical examination, electroencephalography, and appropriate neuroimaging. Inadequate, delayed, and incomplete evaluation may lead to misdiagnosis and costly mismanagement. Treatment is generally pharmacological, with approximately 20 to 30% of patients eventually proving refractory to medications and thus becoming potential surgical candidates. The type of epilepsy, age, gender, comorbidities, drug interactions, and drug cost are important factors in choosing an antiepileptic drug (AED). The teratogenic potential of some AEDs, weight gain, and menstrual hormone–related issues are important considerations in women. The impact of AEDs on bone health is critical in all age groups, particularly in the elderly. Psychiatric problems, mostly depression and anxiety, can have a great impact on seizure control and overall quality of life. Finally, effective partnerships and collaborations can bring resources, both human and financial, to regions that would otherwise find it impossible to effect change on their own.
The Impact of Medical Comorbidities on Primary Total Knee Arthroplasty Reimbursements
Authors: Sabeh Karim G. , Rosas Samuel , Buller Leonard T. , Freiberg Andrew A. , Emory Cynthia L. , Roche Martin W.
Published: May 2018

Medical comorbidities have been shown to cause an increase in peri-and postoperative complications following total knee arthroplasty (TKA). However, the increase in cost associated with these complications has yet to be determined. Factors that influence cost have been of great interest particularly after the initiation of bundled payment initiatives. In this study, we present and quantify the influence of common medical comorbidities on the cost of care in patients undergoing primary TKA. A retrospective level of evidence III study was performed using the PearlDiver supercomputer to identify patients who underwent primary TKA between 2007 and 2015. Patients were stratified by medical comorbidities and compared using analysis of variance for reimbursements for the day of surgery and over 90 days postoperatively. A cohort of 137,073 US patients was identified as having undergone primary TKA between 2007 and 2015. The mean entire episode-of-care reimbursement was $23,701 (range: $21,294–26,299; standard deviation [SD] $2,611). The highest reimbursements were seen in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (mean $26,299; SD $3,030), hepatitis C (mean $25,662; SD $2,766), morbid obesity (mean $25,450; SD $2,154), chronic kidney disease (mean $25,131, $3,361), and cirrhosis (mean $24,890; SD $2,547). Medical comorbidities significantly impact reimbursements, and therefore cost, after primary TKA. Comprehensive preoperative optimization for patients with medical comorbidities undergoing TKA is highly recommended and may reduce perioperative complications, improve patient outcome, and ultimately reduce cost.
Swallowing Dysfunction in Adult Patients with Chiari I Malformation
Authors: Andersson Mats , Andersson Olof , Skoglund Thomas , Tisell Magnus , Almotairi Fawaz
Published: May 2018

Background Swallowing difficulties have been reported in patients with Chiari I malformation (CMI) with a prevalence of 4 to 47%, but existing evidence is based only on case reports. We aimed to prospectively study swallowing function in adult patients with CMI before and 3 months after surgical decompression.

Methods We included all adult patients diagnosed with CMI from September 2015 to October 2017 who underwent a planned surgery at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Sweden. The patients were offered the opportunity to participate in and undergo an assessment consisting of the “Watson Dysphagia Scale (WDS)” and “EORTC QLQ-OG25” written questionnaires in addition to videofluoroscopic examination of swallowing (VFS) before and 3 months after surgery. Demographic data and comorbidities were recorded.

Results Eleven patients were included, nine of which underwent both pre- and postoperative evaluations. Four patients (36%) reported varying degrees of swallowing complaints (mean WDS score, 16). In two of these, there was substantial penetration of contrast material into the laryngeal vestibule on VFS, and in the other two patients, minor swallowing disturbances were observed. Borderline deviations from normal VFS findings were also found in three asymptomatic patients. Although not all VFS deviations completely disappeared after surgery, the patients reported no remaining symptoms.

Conclusion Symptoms of dysphagia and objective abnormalities on VFS are not uncommon in CMI patients. Surgery has the potential to remedy underlying causes of dysphagia, thereby relieving its symptoms.
Paroxysmal Autonomic Instability with Dystonia Syndrome in Association with Wolf–Hirschhorn Syndrome
Authors: Manalo Rachel , Contreras Marioxy , Gorla Sudheer R. , Sokoloski Mary C. , Kardon Richard E.
Published: May 2018

Paroxysmal autonomic instability with dystonia (PAID) syndrome, a distinct entity of autonomic dysfunction, is typically seen following acute brain injury. There are no reported cases of this entity in association with Wolf–Hirschhorn syndrome (WHS). Here, we report a case of WHS whose predominant neurological manifestations were consistent with PAID syndrome.
Plasma flow measurements in the Prototype-Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment (Proto-MPEX) and comparison with B2.5-Eirene modeling
Authors: Kafle N. , Owen L. W. , Caneses J. F. , Biewer T. M. , Caughman J. B. O. , Donovan D. C. , Goulding R. H. , Rapp J.
Published: May 2018

The Prototype Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment (Proto-MPEX) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a linear plasma device that combines a helicon plasma source with additional microwave and radio frequency heating to deliver high plasma heat and particle fluxes to a target. Double Langmuir probes and Thomson scattering are being used to measure local electron temperature and density at various radial and axial locations. A recently constructed Mach-double probe provides the added capability of simultaneously measuring electron temperatures (Te), electron densities (ne), and Mach numbers (M). With this diagnostic, it is possible to infer the plasma flow, particle flux, and heat flux at different locations along the plasma column in Proto-MPEX. Preliminary results show Mach numbers of 0.5 (towards the dump plate) and 1.0 (towards the target plate) downstream from the helicon source, and a stagnation point (no flow) near the source for the case where the peak magnetic field was 1.3 T. Measurements of particle flow and ne and Te profiles are discussed. The extensive coverage provided by these diagnostics permits data-constrained B2.5-Eirene modeling of the entire plasma column, and comparison with results of modeling in the high-density helicon plasmas will be presented.
Dual reactor for in situ/operando fluorescent mode XAS studies of sample containing low-concentration 3d or 5d metal elements
Authors: Nguyen Luan , Tang Yu , Li Yuting , Zhang Xiaoyan , Wang Ding , Tao Franklin (Feng)
Published: May 2018

Transition metal elements are the most important elements of heterogeneous catalysts used for chemical and energy transformations. Many of these catalysts are active at a temperature higher than 400 °C. For a catalyst containing a 3d or 5d metal element with a low concentration, typically their released fluorescence upon the K-edge or L-edge adsorption of X-rays is collected for the analysis of chemical and coordination environments of these elements. However, it is challenging to perform in situ/operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) studies of elements of low-energy absorption edges at a low concentration in a catalyst during catalysis at a temperature higher than about 450 °C. Here a unique reaction system consisting two reactors, called a dual reactor system, was designed for performing in situ or operando XAS studies of these elements of low-energy absorption edges in a catalyst at a low concentration during catalysis at a temperature higher than 450 °C in a fluorescent mode. This dual-reactor system contains a quartz reactor for preforming high-temperature catalysis up to 950 °C and a Kapton reactor remaining at a temperature up to 450 °C for collecting data in the same gas of catalysis. With this dual reactor, chemical and coordination environments of low-concentration metal elements with low-energy absorption edges such as the K-edge of 3d metals including Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, and Cu and L edge of 5d metals including W, Re, Os, Ir, Pt, and Au can be examined through first performing catalysis at a temperature higher than 450 °C in the quartz reactor and then immediately flipping the catalyst in the same gas flow to the Kapton reactor remained up to 450 °C to collect data. The capability of this dual reactor was demonstrated by tracking the Mn K-edge of the MnOx/Na2WO4 catalyst during activation in the temperature range of 300-900 °C and catalysis at 850 °C.
Photon counting statistics of superconducting single-photon detectors made of a three-layer WSi film
Authors: Florya I. N. , Korneeva Yu. P. , Mikhailov M. Yu. , Devizenko A. Yu. , Korneev A. A. , Goltsman G. N.
Published: May 2018

Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPD) are used in quantum optics when record-breaking time resolution, high speed, and exceptionally low levels of dark counts (false readings) are required. Their detection efficiency is limited, however, by the absorption coefficient of the ultrathin superconducting film for the detected radiation. One possible way of increasing the detector absorption without limiting its broadband response is to make a detector in the form of several vertically stacked layers and connect them in parallel. For the first time we have studied single-photon detection in a multilayer structure consisting of three superconducting layers of amorphous tungsten silicide (WSi) separated by thin layers of amorphous silicon. Two operating modes of the detector are illustrated: an avalanche regime and an arm-trigger regime. A shift in these modes occurs at currents of ∼0.5–0.6 times the critical current of the detector.
Geometric contribution leading to anomalous estimation of two-dimensional electron gas density in GaN based heterostructures
Authors: Upadhyay Bhanu B. , Jha Jaya , Takhar Kuldeep , Ganguly Swaroop , Saha Dipankar
Published: May 2018

We have observed that the estimation of two-dimensional electron gas density is dependent on the device geometry. The geometric contribution leads to the anomalous estimation of the GaN based heterostructure properties. The observed discrepancy is found to originate from the anomalous area dependent capacitance of GaN based Schottky diodes, which is an integral part of the high electron mobility transistors. The areal capacitance density is found to increase for smaller radii Schottky diodes, contrary to a constant as expected intuitively. The capacitance is found to follow a second order polynomial on the radius of all the bias voltages and frequencies considered here. In addition to the quadratic dependency corresponding to the areal component, the linear dependency indicates a peripheral component. It is further observed that the peripheral to areal contribution is inversely proportional to the radius confirming the periphery as the location of the additional capacitance. The peripheral component is found to be frequency dependent and tends to saturate to a lower value for measurements at a high frequency. In addition, the peripheral component is found to vanish when the surface is passivated by a combination of N2 and O2 plasma treatments. The cumulative surface state density per unit length of the perimeter of the Schottky diodes as obtained by the integrated response over the distance between the ohmic and Schottky contacts is found to be 2.75 × 1010 cm−1.
Formulation and quality control of cationic liposomes
Authors: Dass Crispin R.
Published: May 2018

Cationic liposomes are traditionally used for delivering macromolecules such as nucleic acids to mammalian and plant cells. This paper describes a novel simple and relatively inexpensive method for preparation of cationic liposomes using an ethanol injection/pressure extrusion method. The study also evaluated the utility of a colorimetric method for quantification of cationic liposomes. Binding of erythrosine dye to cationic liposomes resulted in a shift of the absorption maximum of the dye from 528nm to 549nm in a buffer at pH 4.25, allowing quantification of these vesicles. Colour development was completed in 5 to 10 minutes at room temperature, with only 10% decrease in absorbance observed in the following 2 hours. Divergent values were noted in the presence of interfering agents such as detergents and salts. The erythrosine method is sensitive down to 0.20 �g/mL of cationic lipid and is linear to 3.13 �g/mL. The erythrosine dye method for quantitation of cationic liposomes is valuable for the field of liposome technology. In addition, a relatively simple method for separation of nucleic acids complexed to cationic liposomes from unbound molecules is presented. This method utilises a Ficoll-based gradient centrifugation method. Laboratory-formulated liposomes were just as efficient in binding nucleic acids as commercially available types.
Australian magpies exhibit increased tolerance of aircraft noise on an airport, and are more responsive to take-off than to landing noises
Authors: Linley G. D. , Kostoglou K. , Jit R. , Weston M. A.
Published: May 2018

Context
On airports, birds often exhibit escape behaviour in response to aircraft. Avian escape behaviours can enable birds to effectively avoid collisions with aircraft, although some are maladaptive and may increase the risk of collision (e.g. erratic flying). Habituation and habituation-like processes among birds potentially mediate the likelihood of aircraft-bird collisions. Moreover, because managers exploit avian escape behaviour to reduce bird–aircraft collision risks, habituation may decrease the efficiency of bird-hazard management.

Aims
Our aim was to better understand avian behavioural responses to approaching aircraft, which may inform bird-hazard management.

Methods
We examined the response of Australian magpie, Cracticus tibicen, a species commonly involved in collisions with aircraft, to the noise associated with take-off and landing in three areas: airside, on airport but not airside, and off airport.

Key results
Magpies responded to aircraft noise in a nuanced way. Take-off produced more responses, and more intense responses, than did landing; both resulted in more frequent, and more intense, responses than did a ‘silent’ control. Responses were least likely, and response latencies were longer, airside, followed by on airport but not airside, and off airport. Intensity of responses was similar across these areas.

Conclusions
Magpies on the airside were least responsive, and this might influence their strike risk.

Implications
Given that most wildlife collisions occur during take-off and landing and at low altitudes, and that take-off has greatest overall strike risk, the lack of responsiveness of airside-inhabiting magpies may contribute to collision risk.
Transcription factor profiling reveals molecular choreography and key regulators of human retrotransposon expression
Authors: Sun Xiaoji , Wang Xuya , Tang Zuojian , Grivainis Mark , Kahler David , Yun Chi , Mita Paolo , Fenyö David , Boeke Jef D.
Published: May 2018

Significance

Retrotransposons replicate through RNA intermediates that are reverse transcribed and inserted at new genomic locations. LINE-1 (L1) elements constitute ∼17% of the human genome, making them the most successful retrotransposons in the human genome by mass. The activity of L1s was shown first in the germline or during early embryogenesis. More recent studies demonstrate a wider prevalence of L1 expression in somatic cells including neurons, aging cells, and different types of cancer. In this study, we developed the MapRRCon pipeline and performed a comprehensive computational analysis of L1 transcriptional regulators using ENCODE ChIP-seq datasets. We revealed the binding of various transcription factors, including Myc and CTCF, to the 5′ UTR promoter of the youngest human L1 family (L1HS) and their potential functional impact on L1HS expression.
>Gossip
Authors: Slade Diana
Published: May 2018

This paper argues that the linguistic analysis of gossip reveals not only a great deal about the social role and function of gossip in our society and is therefore important to social theory, but that an analysis of the language of gossip can provide insights into the analysis of casual conversation in English. This paper provides a generic analysis of gossip. The analysis demonstrates that gossip is a culturally determined process with a distinctive structure which can be described. It argues that, in order to describe gossip and other forms of casual conversation, two perspectives are needed: a synoptic approach which looks for complete, static, unified products or texts (generic approach) and a dynamic approach to conversational analysis which focuses on the processes by which moves succeed moves. The latter perspective then focuses on the dynamic unfolding of the interaction which occurs in a gossip text. It allows us to describe how the interactants in conversation can expand, in principle, indefinitely move by move.
Interaction in an Italian oral test
Authors: Filipi Anna
Published: May 2018

This paper presents findings based on a study of talk that occurred in a sample of 21 interactions during the 1992 Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) Italian Oral Common Assessment Task. The purpose of the study reported here is to examine the interactions between assessors and students through a study of two features of sequence organisation – namely post sequences and insertion sequences. Five recurring types are described: student initiated repair via the clarification check, confirmation request and request for rephrasing; assessor initiated repair; sequences leading to emotional reaction; word supply; and the aside.
Blurring Institutional Boundaries
Authors: Mark Alyx , Zilis Michael A.
Published: May 2018

The legislature wields multiple tools to limit judicial power, but scholars have little information about how judges interpret variant threats and which they find most concerning. To provide insight, we conduct original interviews regarding legislative threats to courts with over two dozen sitting federal judges, representing all tiers of the federal judiciary. We find that judges have a nuanced understanding of threats and tend to identify components of legislative proposals that threaten formal institutional powers as more concerning than those challenging policy set by judges. This distinction has broad implications for our understanding of judicial behavior at the federal level.
Detection of Deception
Authors: Levine Timothy R.
Published: May 2018

Much research has examined people’s ability to correctly distinguish between honest and deceptive communication. The ability to detect deception is useful, but many misconceptions about effective lie detection have been documented. Research on deception is especially informative because the findings of research often contradict common sense. For example, both folk wisdom and several social scientific theories hold that lies can be detected through the careful observation of nonverbal behaviors. Yet research shows that most of the nonverbal behaviors that are stereotypically linked with deception have less diagnostic value than presumed. The widely accepted conclusion from decades of research is that while people are statistically better than chance at detecting lies, people are poor lie detectors in an absolute sense, averaging just 54 percent accuracy. Poor accuracy findings hold across the biological sex of the sender and judge, adult age and occupation, various types of media, spontaneous and planned lies, and more and less potent motivations for lying. Research also finds that people are usually truth-biased—that is, people tend to believe other people more often than not. As a consequence of truth-bias, accuracy for honest communication is typically higher than accuracy for lies, a finding known as the veracity effect. Subsequent research has yielded promising findings suggesting various ways deception detection accuracy can be improved. Focusing on communication content, especially when understood in context, understanding the motives for deception, using evidence, and persuading senders to be honest all have been shown to improve lie detection accuracy in recent experiments.
Food Studies
Authors: Ceisel Christina
Published: May 2018

Understanding the procurement, preparation, and consumption of food as a form of communication, critical/cultural scholars approach food and food related activities as texts, asking questions about power, identity, political economy, and culture. The emergent field of critical food studies represents a growing interdisciplinary interest in taking food seriously. Approaching cultural practices as the site of resistance to and incorporation into hegemonic social structures, cultural studies orients us towards questions regarding the politics of food practices with an eye towards social justice. Framed by an awareness of the performativity of cultural practices, both food studies and critical cultural studies engage questions of subjectivity, symbolic meaning, institutional power, identity, and consumption.

Broadly speaking, critical cultural studies scholars examine foodways—the cultural, social, and economic aspects of the production and consumption of food—as (a) symbolic repertoires for the production of social identity; (b) a site of cultural performance; and (c) a metaphor for race, class, gender, and sexuality within popular culture. These areas overlap, reinforce, and problematize each other, and are not intended to provide an exhaustive account of the approaches critical cultural scholars take when integrating food studies into their research.

As symbolic repertoires, food, foodways, and cuisine are often understood as integral to articulating identity around nationhood, race and ethnicity, class, and gender. Food, foodways, and cuisine provide potent examples of how symbols construct knowledge and meaning. As a site of cultural performance, foodways are understood as part of a cultural system embedded within a matrix of rituals, values, and practices that comprise the rhythm of daily life. Paying attention to food as performance reveals the intricacies of our understandings of and negotiations between self and community; nostalgia and the present moment; home and away; family and individual. Finally, cultural studies deconstructs the metonymic functions of food as presented in media texts. Methodologically, this research provides a textual analysis of how particular foodstuffs function rhetorically within media texts. Theoretically, it provides an important addition to our understanding of the workings of hegemony within the context of food as a metaphor for race, ethnicity, and gender, particularly on cable networks, reality TV, and in film.
Jesús Martín Barbero and Communication Studies
Authors: Lagos Lira Claudia
Published: May 2018

Jesús Martín Barbero is a philosopher specializing in communication and culture, particularly focusing on Latin America as his major geographical research environment and emphasizing the social meanings and practices of cultural consumption. Although he was born in Spain and his formal academic training was developed in Belgium and France, his entire career has been conducted in Latin America and, specifically, in Colombia, where he has lived since the 1960s, with a brief interruption due to his graduate studies in the 1970s.

Along with others, Martín Barbero is considered to be one of the main theorists of the Latin American school of communication. He represents the cultural studies trend within it, and he is one of the few Latin American authors in communication and cultural studies who has been translated or published in English.

Some of Martín Barbero’s main contributions have been to resituate communication studies within the broader field of culture, emphasizing a nonmedia-centered approach, proposing a radically historical perspective, arguing that the concepts of popular and mass culture are not actually opposite, but tightly embedded within each other, and recognizing that popular and mass culture practices are indeed worthy of study. This perspective has often been dismissed or neglected by previous research in communication and cultural studies in Latin America, and the recent focus on telenovelas research is one such example.

De los medios a las mediaciones: Comunicación, Cultura y Hegemonía (1987), Martín Barbero’s most cited book, has several editions in Spanish and has been translated to Portuguese (Dos meios ‘as mediacoes, 1992) and French (Des médias aux mediations, 2002). The translation to English in 1993 includes a little twist on its title: Communication, Culture, and Hegemony: From Media to Mediations.

Although Martín Barbero’s work has been included in edited volumes or special issues in English, it has been overwhelmingly published in Spanish. Drawing on his corpus of work—his books, articles, conferences, and interviews—this article offers an overview of Jesús Martín Barbero’s main concepts, his intellectual trajectory, his major intellectual influences, and how and why he became an influential thinker in the Latin American field of communication and cultural studies. It also highlights some limitations in Martín Barbero’s work.
Communication Strategies of Environmental NGOs and Advocacy Groups
Authors: Yearley Steven
Published: May 2018

Environmental organizations have been critically important in publicizing and supplying arguments about climate change, just as with the other environmental issues facing contemporary societies. In their campaigns and activism, environmental groups need to be able to make influential and widely circulated claims about the state of the natural world or the ecological impact of human activities. To do this, they have to “manage” their relationship to science. Environmentalists (in contrast to many other campaigners) are obliged to be science communicators because the convincingness of their message depends on the underlying presumption that their claims have a basis in factual, scientific accuracy.

Facing the science and communication challenges of climate change, environmentalists have often found their role to be an unusual one. Unlike in most other ecological campaign areas, they have been committed to defending or bolstering mainstream scientific opinion about the nature and causes of climate change. Nonetheless, they have sought ways of distancing themselves from some of the policy and technological options apparently favored by leading scientific figures. And they have pioneered approaches based more on long-term investment strategies and normative values which, to some degree, allow them to sidestep difficulties associated with the adoption of a subordinate role in the science communication arena.
Communicating about Climate Change with Farmers
Authors: Morrison Mark , Hine Donald W. , D'Alessandro Steven
Published: May 2018

Communication with farmers about climate change has proven to be difficult, with relatively low acceptance of anthropogenic climate change or the idea that climate change will negatively affect agriculture. Many farmers have been impervious to climate change communications because of the nature of farming, their worldviews, and the controversies about climate change in the media. Segmentation studies from the agriculture and natural resource management literatures provide evidence of homogeneous farmer groups internationally with respect to climate change attitudes and behaviors in a farming context. Understanding these segments—including their values, beliefs, and behaviors—is important for developing tailored and targeted communications approaches. Based on understanding of commonly observed farmer segments, it is possible to tailor communication strategies to better engage with segments of concern, including which message to use, appropriate sources, as well as alternative communication techniques based on participatory approaches and use of the arts. For certain segments, discussion about human-induced climate change should be avoided given that it is contentious and not critical for how farmers should respond to climate change. Theoretical frameworks from psychology and marketing—such as the theory of planned behavior, the attitude-to-behavior process model, the motivation and opportunity and determinants (MODE) model, motivation to avoid harm, and the elaboration likelihood model—can also be used to inform the design of communication strategies for engaging with farmers. However, a careful analysis of farmer segments, their worldviews, their beliefs, and their position in the consumer decision-making process suggests that the recommendations from these theoretical models should not be implemented uniformly across farmer segments. Rather, the various theoretical models provide a number of strategies that need to be selectively applied based on knowledge of the target segment. While use of theory and understanding of segments will help to improve communications with farmers, it is apparent that changing the beliefs of farmers in some segments about the need to respond to climate change will require more than simply increasing the quantity or quality of communications. Engaging farmers in these segments requires a much richer information set and a much greater effort to show farmers how they should be responding to climate variability and change using practical demonstrations and participatory approaches.
Climate Change Communication in India
Authors: Thaker Jagadish
Published: May 2018

Climate change communication is a relatively new area of research in India—a country that ranks high in vulnerability due to poverty, yet a major emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs). This article reviews climate change communication research in the country from the 1990s to the present. First, it provides a political economy framework to explore the issue of climate change communication amid environment and development debates in India. It shows that elite discourses of climate change have been shifting from externalizing the problem and solutions to a more recent co-benefits approach to address the twin challenges of climate change and economic development. Second, the article reviews research about media coverage and finds that although Indian media portrays climate change as real and human-caused and reports its severe impacts in India, it largely externalizes the problem, with slight changes in recent coverage highlighting domestic responsibility and equity. Third, reviewing studies on public awareness and understanding, it shows that while the Indian public is largely unaware of the term climate change, public opinion surveys and qualitative research indicate that Indians report experiencing changing weather conditions in their local area—an important lesson to communicating climate change in India. Finally, it explores future opportunities for climate change communication research in India.