bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Vestiges of the Isorhythmic Tradition in Mass and Motet, ca. 1450-1475
Authors: Brothers Thomas
Published: September 2012

The article examines a small group of masses and motets by Du Fay, Busnoys, Regis, and Josquin that may date from the third quarter of the fifteenth century. Each piece reflects the composer's interest in preserving various aspects of the isorhythmic tradition. One such aspect is a compositional technique referred to as modus disposition, the control of a piece by making the total duration of a section divisible by two or three breves, depending on whether imperfect or perfect modus is in control. Another feature that is a vestige of the isorhythmic tradition is the planning of a piece so that precise ratios are created between various sectional durations within the piece; several important pieces displaying such ratios can be thought of as manifesting number disposition rather than number symbolism. On the basis of similarities in compositional technique and unusual mensural features, the argument is made that Du Fay's Missa Se la face ay pale may have inspired Busnoys' Missa L'homme armé (as well as several motets by Busnoys and Regis), and that Busnoys' mass in turn may have inspired sections of the Missa Di dadi and Missa L'ami baudichon by Josquin. Issues surrounding Josquin's Illibata Dei virgo nutrix are considered, particularly the notion that the motet transforms stylistic norms that were associated with the isorhythmic tradition, as mediated by Busnoys' In Hydraulis. The use of perfect modus in Illibata seems to be a further reference to the isorhythmic tradition. In an attempt to assess the unique stylistic properties of Illibata, relationships between it and other motets by Josquin from the 1470s are explored.
Boulez's Two Cultures: The Post-War European Synthesis and Tradition
Authors: Gable David
Published: September 2012

Pierre Boulez is typical of a post-war generation of European composers known for its apparent repudiation of tradition, although the synthesis of such composers as Boulez, Berio, and Stockhausen can be shown to be firmly rooted in tradition. Tendencies within both Franco-Russian and Austro-German traditions merged in the formation of Boulez's style. This is reflected both in Boulez's first models, Messiaen and Webern, and by his life-long engagement with both Schoenberg's expressionism and the works of Stravinsky's Russian period. Wagner, Mahler, and Schoenberg had developed a continuous dynamic inflection that Stravinsky, by the 1920s, rejected in his neoclassical works. Boulez's generation reintegrated these tendencies within the absolutely smooth continuums to be found in many of their works. In Boulez's mature works, there is a continuous system of smoothly planing dynamics. No longer expressive inflection, these dynamics exhibit the clean objective character of Stravinsky's discrete dynamic planes. This dynamic continuum was crucial in creating the continuous through-composed forms of Boulez and Stockhausen. Boulez's rhythmic structures are ultimately rooted in Stravinsky's motor rhythms and Schoenberg's prose rhythms, an opposition he has exploited in many works. Schoenberg's and Stravinsky's essentially neutral tonal space furnished the background for the post-war European harmonic language in which harmonic tensions are diffused both by spacious effects of register and by the continuously graded dynamics. The floating stasis projected in Boulez's mature works is as much a culmination of certain trends within the French harmonic tradition as a natural development within the history of atonality. With the post-war generation in Europe, the French harmonic tradition enjoyed unprecedented influence.
Outside Ravel's Tomb
Authors: Abbate Carolyn
Published: September 2012

In his 1956 study of Ravel, Vladimir Jankélévitch remarked that music machines and animated objects are pervasive motifs in the composer's oeuvre. These motifs shaped Le Tombeau de Couperin (1917) and L'Enfant et les sortilèges (1925), and are significant generally in musical modernism. To trace their historical and philosophical meanings, we begin with a peculiar visual icon: Rousseau's tomb in the Panthéon (1794), which symbolizes an Enlightenment sense of tombeau as "containing the dead" yet also "animated from within." This characterization, in an imaginative leap, could also be applied to a box that reproduces music: the musical automaton. Such automata were perfected in the eighteenth century, and musical performers were compared to them, suggesting the uncanny aspects of both; a full intellectual history of this phenomenon has yet to be written. But given this history, which assumed new forms by 1900, we understand more fully the meanings borne by symptoms of mechanism in Ravel's piano suite and his opera. They are modernist reflections on human subjectivity in music, its loss in mechanical reproduction, and the futility of seeking lost objects by breaking open a tomb.
In Praise of Convention: Formula and Experiment in Bellini's Self-Borrowings
Authors: Smart Mary Ann
Published: September 2012

In the 1880s, the realization that Bellini had extensively reused melodies from early or unfinished works in his most famous operas provoked a small aesthetic crisis in Italy. Although today such reuse of material is no longer looked upon as a scandalous breach of compositional integrity, scholars have been slow to examine Bellini's self-borrowings for clues to the evolution of his style or to his attitudes toward the relations between melody and drama. Most of Bellini's self-borrowings show the composer simplifying his melodies, reducing harmonic and melodic variety as if to distance himself from bel canto convention. At the same time, melodic convention is essential to understanding the borrowings, a fact that becomes particularly obvious in those cases where dramatic parallels between the two contexts of a melody are obscure or nonexistent. For example, the recasting of a cheerful cabaletta in Zaira as a lament in I Capuleti e i Montecchi relies on a resemblance between melodic figures conventionally used to imitate tears or laughter-but also critiques those conventions. An allusive relationship between refrains in Il pirata and I puritani similarly derives its logic more from a shared musical evocation of solitude and empty space than from any overt dramatic resemblance between the two scenes. The article argues that for Bellini self-borrowing was entangled with the looser techniques of allusion and reliance on melodic convention. For this reason, study of the self-borrowings provides a model for engaging with the musical language of early nineteenth-century Italian opera, redressing the tendency to dismiss its musical detail as "merely" conventional and thus unworthy of analysis.
Nature, Culture, Myth, and the Musician in Early Modern England
Authors: Austern Linda Phyllis
Published: September 2012

In sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England, music was often considered an aspect of natural philosophy, the general study of natural and cultural phenomena that had been inherited from classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, but was undergoing rapid metamorphosis into more modern fields of science, technology, and the arts. Against this background, many writers began to invoke machine metaphors and the triumph of cultural products over raw nature and Nature's corollaries in the form of women and animals. Older epistemologies of magic and metaphor, which had also incorporated gendered ideas of artifice, perfection, nature, and creation, informed these emerging ideas. The result on the one hand was a practice of secular musical composition that included sounds from the natural world as feminine novelties to be bounded and improved by stylistic artifice. On the other was a documentary allegorization of music that drew from chronicle history, mythology, natural science, religion, and politics to demonstrate the moral and aesthetic superiority of music and musicians that elevated natural elements into enduring musical artifice.
Schoenberg's Handel Concerto and the Ruins of Tradition
Authors: Auner Joseph H.
Published: September 2012

Arnold Schoenberg began his Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra "freely transcribed" from Handel's Concerto Grosso, Op. 6, no. 7 in May 1933 as a professor at the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin. When he completed the work in September he was an exile in Paris, recently reconverted to Judaism and preparing to travel to the United States where he would spend the rest of his life. The tensions and discontinuities manifest in the creative process and in the completed score can offer new critical windows onto Schoenberg's ideas of history and tradition, his position with respect to artistic trends in the 1920s and 1930s, and the eclecticism of his late style.
Four-Hand Piano Transcription and Geographies of Nineteenth-Century Musical Reception
Authors: Christensen Thomas
Published: September 2012

Throughout the nineteenth century, massive quantities of four-hand piano transcriptions were published of virtually every musical genre. Indeed, no other medium before the advent of the radio and phonograph was arguably so important for the dissemination and iterability of concert and chamber repertories. Yet such transcriptions proved to be anything but innocent vehicles of translation. Not only did these four-hand arrangements offer simplified facsimiles of most orchestral works blanched of their instrumental timbres (a result that was often compared to the many reproductive engravings and black-and-white lithographs of artworks that were churned out by publishers at the same time); such arrangements also destabilized traditional musical divisions between symphonic and chamber genres, professional and amateur music cultures, and even repertories gendered as masculine and feminine. By bringing music intended for the public sphere of the concert hall, opera house, and salon into the domestic space of the bourgeois home parlor, the four-hand transcription profoundly altered the generic identity and consequent reception of musical works.
"Rigoroso (♪ = 126)": "The Rite of Spring" and the Forging of a Modernist Performing Style
Authors: Fink Robert
Published: September 2012

It is only recently that we have begun to consider modernist performing style-especially its brisk, unyielding tempos and abhorrence of "expressive" rubato-as a historical phenomenon. Much of the credit (or blame) for this style has been ascribed to the composer of The Rite of Spring; Richard Taruskin argues that "all truly modern musical performance... treats the music performed as if it were composed-or at least performed-by Stravinsky." But the performing history of the Rite shows that the composer struggled mightily to get his own music played "as if composed by Stravinsky." Early interpretations of the Rite were slower and more elastic-more "romantic"-than the composer wanted. Focusing on the "Danse sacrale," this paper examines the battles over tempo and rubato evidenced by historic recordings, piano rolls, and published documents. It also considers the unpublished compositional and performing materials for the Rite: Stravinsky's autograph short and full scores, and his annotated personal copies of the 1913 piano reduction and the 1922 and 1948 full scores. The record indicates (1) that tempo and pacing of many sections of the Rite were radically rethought between sketch and 1922 printed score; (2) that someone (Pierre Monteux?) indicated rubatos and changed many of Stravinsky's metronome marks on the autograph; (3) that early performances of the "Danse sacrale" featured unwritten tempo modifications for dramatic effect; and (4) that Stravinsky had to work for decades to fix in his score the rigoroso that has become the characteristic performing tempo of our time.
A Tale of Two Symphonies: Converging Narratives of Divine Reconciliation in Beethoven's Fifth and Sixth
Authors: Knapp Raymond
Published: September 2012

Owen Jander's recent observation that the concluding birdcalls in the second movement of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony reproduce the opening motive of his Fifth provides a starting point for considering the two symphonies together. Evidence derived from analysis, sketches, and compositional-biographical circumstances is used to establish and illuminate a process of modeling in which the Sixth Symphony adopts the procedural innovations of the Fifth while inverting their affective impact. Possible rationales for this modeling include Beethoven's preoccupation with transmutational variation and his desire to make the Pastoral more symphonic. More intriguingly, the modeling underscores parallel scenarios of divine reconciliation in the two symphonies, a theme shared more generally by the other works performed on the occasion of their public premieres in December 1808. In the Fifth, the struggle against Fate often heard in the first movement is resolved through the penitential march of the scherzo, while the "theophanic" storm movement in the Sixth (Richard Will's reading is extended here to account for the enigmatic birdcalls, whose "message" is echoed more pressingly in the scherzo) reorients secular appreciations of nature and country life toward thankful devotion. In each work, the celebratory finale rectifies an established schism between humanity and God.
Cu(I)-Catalysed Oxidative Coupling of 2-Aminopyridines with β-Keto Esters: Synthesis of Imidazo[1,2-a]Pyridine-3-Carboxylates
Authors: Li Xiaoqing
Published: September 2012

A simple, economical, and environmentally friendly copper-catalysed direct oxidative C–N coupling of 2-aminopyridines with β-keto esters using air as oxidation agent for the creation of imidazo[1,2- a]pyridine-3-carboxylates is demonstrated. Imidazo[1,2- a]pyridine is the basic skeleton for a wide range of biological and pharmacological compounds.
Cu(II) Coordination Architectures with Two Positionally Isomeric Triazole–Bipyridine Ligands
Authors: Luo Wei , Li Haiye , Huang Fuping , Yu Qing , Bian Hedong
Published: September 2012

The Cu(II) coordination polymer, {[Cu( p-bdc)(4,4′-bpt)]}n shows a 2D layer structure bridged by a p-bdc anion and the polymer {[Cu(H2btc)(3,3′-bpt)2(H2O)2]·2H2O}n, whose thermal stability has been briefly investigated, shows a 1D chain structure bridged by an H2btc anion. [ p-H2bdc = 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate acid, H4btc = 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid, 4,4′-bpt = 1H-3,5-bis(4-pyridyl)-1,2,4-triazole, 3,3′-bpt = 1H-3,5-bis(3-pyridyl)-1,2,4-triazole] Both complexes have been prepared by the reaction of the relevant carboxylate acid and positional isomeric triazole–bipyridine ligand with Cu(II) salts under hydrothermal conditions. Both structures are further extended through intermolecular interaction to form 3D supramolecular frameworks.
Fluobodies against Bioactive Natural Products and their Application in Fluorescence-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Authors: Sakamoto Seiichi , Pongkitwitoon Benyakan , Nakahara Hiromichi , Shibata Osamu , Shoyama Yukihiro , Tanaka Hiroyuki , Morimoto Satoshi
Published: September 2012

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using monoclonal antibody (MAb), Fab antibody, and single-chain variable fragment (scFv) antibody has become one of the most promising analytical methods owing to its rapidity, sensitivity, and reliability. Recently, a chimera of green fluorescent protein (GFP) with a scFv antibody, named fluobody, was proposed as a probe for an alternative immunosorbent assay; i.e., fluorescence-linked immunosorbent assay (FLISA). In this FLISA, an even more sensitive, simple, and rapid immunoassay can be performed by detecting the highly sensitive fluorophore of GFP that is genetically and directly fused to the scFv antibody. In addition, the time- and cost-consuming secondary antibody reaction and the following enzyme-substrate reaction, necessary for conventional ELISA, can be avoided, making it possible to complete the assay more rapidly. Focusing on naturally occurring bioactive products, fluobody recognizing 1,4-naphthoquinone, plumbagin and triterpenoid saponin, ginsenosides were successfully expressed in Escherichia coli (E. coli) and applied to FLISA. The construction, the expression, and the potential use of fluobody in quantitative/qualitative analysis of bioactive natural products are reviewed in this article.
Virus-Heat Shock Protein Interaction and a Novel Axis for Innate Antiviral Immunity
Authors: Kim Mi Young , Oglesbee Michael
Published: September 2012

Virus infections induce heat shock proteins that in turn enhance virus gene expression, a phenomenon that is particularly well characterized for the major inducible 70 kDa heat shock protein (hsp70). However, hsp70 is also readily induced by fever, a phylogenetically conserved response to microbial infections, and when released from cells, hsp70 can stimulate innate immune responses through toll like receptors 2 and 4 (TLR2 and 4). This review examines how the virus-hsp70 relationship can lead to host protective innate antiviral immunity, and the importance of hsp70 dependent stimulation of virus gene expression in this host response. Beginning with the well-characterized measles virus-hsp70 relationship and the mouse model of neuronal infection in brain, we examine data indicating that the innate immune response is not driven by intracellular sensors of pathogen associated molecular patterns, but rather by extracellular ligands signaling through TLR2 and 4. Specifically, we address the relationship between virus gene expression, extracellular release of hsp70 (as a damage associated molecular pattern), and hsp70-mediated induction of antigen presentation and type 1 interferons in uninfected macrophages as a novel axis of antiviral immunity. New data are discussed that examines the more broad relevance of this protective mechanism using vesicular stomatitis virus, and a review of the literature is presented that supports the probable relevance to both RNA and DNA viruses and for infections both within and outside of the central nervous system.
Relationship between Invasive Plant Species and Forest Fauna in Eastern North America
Authors: Hayes Stephanie J. , Holzmueller Eric J.
Published: September 2012

Invasive plant species have long been known to cause extensive damage, both economically and ecologically, to native ecosystems. They have historically been introduced by the public, both intentional and not, for a variety of reasons. Many of the woody shrubs, such as Lonicera maackii and Rosa multiflora were introduced for wildlife cover, forage, and ornamental value. These invasives have quickly out-competed native flora, in many cases drastically impacting and changing the environment they inhabit. In this review, chosen species characteristics have been described, their pathway to invasion explained, and their impacts to native wildlife highlighted. Based on a review of the scientific literature, we determined that not all effects by invasive plants are negative. Many positive impacts can be seen throughout the literature, such as native frogs utilizing Microstegium vimineum for cover and nesting habitat. However, some important invasive plant species were not included in this review due to a lack of literature on the subject of the effects on fauna. While much is known about their economic impact and the impact on native plant species, additional work needs to be done in the field of wildlife research to determine current impacts and future implications of non-native, invasive plants on native fauna.
Semantic Web Approach to Ease Regulation Compliance Checking in Construction Industry
Authors: Bouzidi Khalil Riad , Fies Bruno , Faron-Zucker Catherine , Zarli Alain , Thanh Nhan Le
Published: September 2012

Regulations in the Building Industry are becoming increasingly complex and involve more than one technical area, covering products, components and project implementations. They also play an important role in ensuring the quality of a building, and to minimize its environmental impact. Control or conformance checking are becoming more complex every day, not only for industrials, but also for organizations charged with assessing the conformity of new products or processes. This paper will detail the approach taken by the CSTB (Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment) in order to simplify this conformance control task. The approach and the proposed solutions are based on semantic web technologies. For this purpose, we first establish a domain-ontology, which defines the main concepts involved and the relationships, including one based on OWL (Web Ontology Language) [1]. We rely on SBVR (Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Business Rules) [2] and SPARQL (SPARQL Protocol and RDF Query Language) [3] to reformulate the regulatory requirements written in natural language, respectively, in a controlled and formal language. We then structure our control process based on expert practices. Each elementary control step is defined as a SPARQL query and assembled into complex control processes “on demand”, according to the component tested and its semantic definition. Finally, we represent in RDF (Resource Description Framework) [4] the association between the SBVR rules and SPARQL queries representing the same regulatory constraints.
A Novel Collection of snRNA-Like Promoters with Tissue-Specific Transcription Properties
Authors: Garritano Sonia , Gigoni Arianna , Costa Delfina , Malatesta Paolo , Florio Tullio , Cancedda Ranieri , Pagano Aldo
Published: September 2012

We recently identified a novel dataset of snRNA-like trascriptional units in the human genome. The investigation of a subset of these elements showed that they play relevant roles in physiology and/or pathology. In this work we expand our collection of small RNAs taking advantage of a newly developed algorithm able to identify genome sequence stretches with RNA polymerase (pol) III type 3 promoter features thus constituting putative pol III binding sites. The bioinformatic analysis of a subset of these elements that map in introns of protein-coding genes in antisense configuration suggest their association with alternative splicing, similarly to other recently characterized small RNAs. Interestingly, the analysis of the transcriptional activity of these novel promoters shows that they are active in a cell-type specific manner, in accordance with the emerging body of evidence of a tissue/cell-specific activity of pol III.
Phenolic Compounds from Halimodendron halodendron (Pall.) Voss and Their Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activities
Authors: Wang Jihua , Lou Jingfeng , Luo Chao , Zhou Ligang , Wang Mingan , Wang Lan
Published: September 2012

Halimodendron halodendron has been used as forage in northwestern China for a long time. Its young leaves and flowers are edible and favored by indigenous people. In this study, eleven phenolic compounds were bioassay-guided and isolated from the aerial parts of H. halodendron for the first time. They were identified by means of physicochemical and spectrometric analysis as quercetin (1), 3,5,7,8,4'-pentahydroxy-3'-methoxy flavone (2), 3-O-methylquercetin (3), 3,3'-di-O-methylquercetin (4), 3,3'-di-O-methylquercetin-7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (5), isorhamentin-3-O-β-D-rutinoside (6), 8-O-methylretusin (7), 8-O-methylretusin-7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (8), salicylic acid (9), p-hydroxybenzoic acid (ferulic acid) (10), and 4-hydroxy-3-methoxy cinnamic acid (11). They were sorted as flavonols (1–6), soflavones (7 and 8), and phenolic acids (9–11). Among the compounds, flanools 1–4 revealed a strong antibacterial activity with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 50–150 μg/mL, and median inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of 26.8–125.1 μg/mL. The two isoflavones (7 and 8) showed moderate inhibitory activity on the test bacteria. Three phenolic acids (9, 10 and 11) showed strong antibacterial activity with IC50 values of 28.1–149.7 μg/mL. Antifungal activities of the compounds were similar to their antibacterial activities. All these phenolic compounds showed significant antimicrobial activity with a broad spectrum as well as antioxidant activity based on 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging and β-carotene-linoleic acid bleaching assays. In general, the flavonol aglycones with relatively low polarity exhibited stronger activities than the glycosides. The results suggest the potential of this plant as a source of functional food ingredients and provide support data for its utilization as forage as well.
Medium Optimization for Exopolysaccharide Production in Liquid Culture of Endophytic Fungus Berkleasmium sp. Dzf12
Authors: Li Peiqin , Xu Liang , Mou Yan , Shan Tijiang , Mao Ziling , Lu Shiqiong , Peng Youliang , Zhou Ligang
Published: September 2012

Berkleasmium sp. Dzf12, an endophytic fungus from Dioscorea zingiberensis, is a high producer of spirobisnaphthalenes with various bioactivities. The exopolysaccharide (EPS) produced by this fungus also shows excellent antioxidant activity. In this study, the experimental designs based on statistics were employed to evaluate and optimize the medium for EPS production in liquid culture of Berkleasmium sp. Dzf12. For increasing EPS yield, the concentrations of glucose, peptone, KH2PO4, MgSO4∙7H2O and FeSO4∙7H2O in medium were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). Both the fractional factorial design (FFD) and central composite design (CCD) were applied to optimize the main factors which significantly affected EPS production. The concentrations of glucose, peptone and MgSO4∙7H2O were found to be the main effective factors for EPS production by FFD experimental analysis. Based on the further CCD optimization and RSM analysis, a quadratic polynomial regression equation was derived from the EPS yield and three variables. Statistical analysis showed the polynomial regression model was in good agreement with the experimental results with the determination coefficient (adj-R2) as 0.9434. By solving the quadratic regression equation, the optimal concentrations of glucose, peptone and MgSO4∙7H2O for EPS production were determined as 63.80, 20.76 and 2.74 g/L, respectively. Under the optimum conditions, the predicted EPS yield reached the maximum (13.22 g/L). Verification experiment confirmed the validity with the actual EPS yield as 13.97 g/L, which was 6.29-fold in comparison with that (2.22 g/L) in the original basal medium. The results provide the support data for EPS production in large scale and also speed up the application of Berkleasmium sp. Dzf12.
Maternal Phylogeny of a Newly-Found Yak Population in China
Authors: Mipam Tserang Donko , Wen Yongli , Fu Changxiu , Li Shanrong , Zhao Hongwen , Ai Yi , Li Lu , Zhang Lei , Zou Deqiang
Published: September 2012

The Jinchuan yak is a new yak population identified in Sichuan, China. This population has a special anatomical characteristic: an additional pair of ribs compared with other yak breeds. The genetic structure of this population is unknown. In the present study, we investigated the maternal phylogeny of this special yak population using the mitochondrial DNA variation. A total of 23 Jinchuan yaks were sequenced for a 823-bp fragment of D-loop control region and three individuals were sequenced for the whole mtDNA genome with a length of 16,371-bp. To compare with the data from other yaks, we extracted sequence data from Genebank, including D-loop of 398 yaks (from 12 breeds) and 55 wild yaks, and whole mitochondrial genomes of 53 yaks (from 12 breeds) and 21 wild yaks. A total of 127 haplotypes were defined, based on the D-loop data. Thirteen haplotypes were defined from 23 mtDNA D-loop sequences of Jinchuan yaks, six of which were shared only by Jinchuan, and one was shared by Jinchuan and wild yaks. The Jinquan yaks were found to carry clades A and B from lineage I and clade C of lineage II, respectively. It was also suggested that the Jinchuan population has no distinct different phylogenetic relationship in maternal inheritance with other breeds of yak. The highly haplotype diversity of the Pali breed, Jinchuan population, Maiwa breed and Jiulong breed suggested that the yak was first domesticated from wild yaks in the middle Himalayan region and the northern Hengduan Mountains. The special anatomic characteristic that we found in the Jinchuan population needs further studies based on nuclear data.
Field of Genes: An Investigation of Sports-Related Genetic Testing
Authors: Wagner Jennifer K. , Royal Charmaine D.
Published: September 2012

Sports-related genetic testing is a sector of the diverse direct-to-consumer (DTC) industry that has not yet been examined thoroughly by academic scholars. A systematic search was used to identify companies in this sector and content analysis of online information was performed. More than a dozen companies were identified. Marketing practices observed generally did not target parents for child testing, and marketing images were mild compared to images used in popular media. Information was provided at a high reading level (industry-wide Flesh-Kincaid Grade Levels > 11). While ~75% of companies provide privacy policies and terms of service prior to purchase and ~40% provide scientific citations for their tests.
Minimal Cut Sets and the Use of Failure Modes in Metabolic Networks
Authors: Clark Sangaalofa T. , Verwoerd Wynand S.
Published: September 2012

A minimal cut set is a minimal set of reactions whose inactivation would guarantee a failure in a certain network function or functions. Minimal cut sets (MCSs) were initially developed from the metabolic pathway analysis method (MPA) of elementary modes (EMs); they provide a way of identifying target genes for eliminating a certain objective function from a holistic perspective that takes into account the structure of the whole metabolic network. The concept of MCSs is fairly new and still being explored and developed; the initial concept has developed into a generalized form and its similarity to other network characterizations are discussed. MCSs can be used in conjunction with other constraints-based methods to get a better understanding of the capability of metabolic networks and the interrelationship between metabolites and enzymes/genes. The concept could play an important role in systems biology by contributing to fields such as metabolic and genetic engineering where it could assist in finding ways of producing industrially relevant compounds from renewable resources, not only for economical, but also for sustainability, reasons.
What mRNA Abundances Can Tell us about Metabolism
Authors: Hoppe Andreas
Published: September 2012

Inferring decreased or increased metabolic functions from transcript profiles is at first sight a bold and speculative attempt because of the functional layers in between: proteins, enzymatic activities, and reaction fluxes. However, the growing interest in this field can easily be explained by two facts: the high quality of genome-scale metabolic network reconstructions and the highly developed technology to obtain genome-covering RNA profiles. Here, an overview of important algorithmic approaches is given by means of criteria by which published procedures can be classified. The frontiers of the methods are sketched and critical voices are being heard. Finally, an outlook for the prospects of the field is given.
Steady Impact Factor Growth for MDPI Open Access Journals
Authors: Thiesen Alexander
Published: September 2012

For the past three years MDPI has announced the newly released impact factors for its Open Access journals by the means of an annual editorial [1–3]. In 2012 we are—once again—pleased to report that the growth of the impact factors of MDPI’s Open Access journals continues. This year’s edition of the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), which is published annually by Thomson Reuters, includes 10 journals published by MDPI, including three that have received their first official Impact Factors—International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH), Materials and Nutrients. Table 1 reports the latest Impact Factors for 2011. Figure 1 graphically depicts the evolution of the Impact Factors for four MDPI open access journals that have received Impact Factors in the past. Table 2 reports the ranking of the MDPI journals within the subject categories of the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE). [...]
Novel Coumarin Derivatives Containing 1,2,4-Triazole, 4,5-Dicyanoimidazole and Purine Moieties: Synthesis and Evaluation of Their Cytostatic Activity
Authors: Benci Krešimir , Mandić Leo , Suhina Tomislav , Sedić Mirela , Klobučar Marko , Kraljević Pavelić Sandra , Pavelić Krešimir , Wittine Karlo , Mintas Mladen
Published: September 2012

We report here on the synthesis and in vitro anti-tumor effects of a series of novel 1,2,4-triazole (compounds 3–6), 4,5-dicyanoimidazole (compound 7), and purine (compounds 8–13) coumarin derivatives and their acyclic nucleoside analogues 14–18. Structures of novel compounds 3–18 were deduced from their 1H- and 13C-NMR and corresponding mass spectra. Results of anti-proliferative assays performed on a panel of selected human tumor cell lines revealed that compound 6 had moderate cytostatic activity against the HeLa cell line (IC50 = 35 µM), whereas compound 10 showed moderate activity against the HeLa (IC50 = 33 µM), HepG2 (IC50 = 25 µM) and SW620 (IC50 = 35 µM) cell lines. These compounds showed no cytotoxic effects on normal (diploid) human fibroblasts.
Correction: Chen, S. et al. The Tradeoff Analysis for Remote Sensing Image Fusion Using Expanded Spectral Angle Mapper. Sensors 2008, 8, 520-528
Authors: Chen Shaohui , Su Hongbo , Zhang Renhua , Tian Jing , Yang Lihu
Published: September 2012

There are two mistakes in this article [1]. On page 523, lines 10–11, the sentence “the value of the SAM is 1, but the value of the ESAM is less than 1” should be “the value of the SAM is 0, but the value of the ESAM is great than 0”. Line 12, “but the value of the ESAM is less than 1” should be “but the value of the ESAM is great than 0 for even n”. [...]
Towards Autonomous Agriculture: Automatic Ground Detection Using Trinocular Stereovision
Authors: Reina Giulio , Milella Annalisa
Published: September 2012

Autonomous driving is a challenging problem, particularly when the domain is unstructured, as in an outdoor agricultural setting. Thus, advanced perception systems are primarily required to sense and understand the surrounding environment recognizing artificial and natural structures, topology, vegetation and paths. In this paper, a self-learning framework is proposed to automatically train a ground classifier for scene interpretation and autonomous navigation based on multi-baseline stereovision. The use of rich 3D data is emphasized where the sensor output includes range and color information of the surrounding environment. Two distinct classifiers are presented, one based on geometric data that can detect the broad class of ground and one based on color data that can further segment ground into subclasses. The geometry-based classifier features two main stages: an adaptive training stage and a classification stage. During the training stage, the system automatically learns to associate geometric appearance of 3D stereo-generated data with class labels. Then, it makes predictions based on past observations. It serves as well to provide training labels to the color-based classifier. Once trained, the color-based classifier is able to recognize similar terrain classes in stereo imagery. The system is continuously updated online using the latest stereo readings, thus making it feasible for long range and long duration navigation, over changing environments. Experimental results, obtained with a tractor test platform operating in a rural environment, are presented to validate this approach, showing an average classification precision and recall of 91.0% and 77.3%, respectively.
CHOOSING A TRAVEL AGENCY FRANCHISE BY MEAN OF A GLOBAL COMPOSITE INDICATOR: AN APPLICATION IN SPAIN
Authors: Blancas-Peral Francisco J. , Contreras Ignacio , Ramírez-Hurtado José M.
Published: September 2012

This paper highlights the complexity of the franchise partner selection process from a franchisee's perspective. The purpose of this article is, firstly, to propose the definition of a system of indicators which include all the relevant information which the potential franchisee should take into consideration when choosing a chain secondly, to obtain a global composite indicator for the construction of a ranking of franchisors. In order to illustrate the procedure, a sample of travel agency franchisors in Spain and a suitable database to quantify the indicators are considered. The paper concludes constructing a complete order of the franchisors in the travel agency industry. In addition, the results show the most important characteristics of franchisors that potential franchisees must take into account. The value of the paper is significant as it provides a practical frame – work for potential franchisees in the selection of franchisors.
Thérapie individuelle versus thérapie familiale
Authors: Gaylin Ned L. , Odier Geneviève , Ducroux-Biass Françoise
Published: September 2012

Résumé Il y a plus de trente ans que Carl Rogers a défini six conditions « nécessaires et suffisantes » pour un changement thérapeutique de la personnalité dans la thérapie individuelle. Cet article présente et développe ces conditions en s’efforçant de démontrer leur pertinence dans la pratique de la thérapie familiale. Les similitudes et les différences des conditions à l’intérieur de ces deux contextes y sont explorées. L’intention de cette tentative est d’identifier et de définir ces éléments communs à toute psychothérapie indifféremment du contexte, afin de maximiser la compréhension et l’efficacité du processus thérapeutique dans la thérapie familiale.
Les dimensions de la gestion de la classe centrée sur la personne
Authors: Freiberg H. Jerome , Lamb Stacey M. , Stora Nicole
Published: September 2012

Résumé Depuis cinquante ans, la tendance de l’opinion publique montre que le manque de discipline continue à être une des préoccupations principales de l’Amérique en matière d’éducation publique. Cette tendance suggère qu’il existe un besoin urgent d’alternatives au modèle traditionnel. Dans ce modèle traditionnel de gestion de classe basée sur le comportementalisme encore en vigueur dans certaines parties du pays, la discipline est dictée par l’enseignant. Cinquante années de recherche démontrent que la gestion de classe prosociale, centrée sur la personne peut offrir cette alternative. Les classes centrées sur la personne permettent de meilleurs résultats, l’environnement scolaire est plus positif et les relations élève-professeur sont plus fortes que dans des classes traditionnelles ou centrées sur le professeur. Les dynamiques prosociales de l’élève que le programme de gestion de classe centrée sur la personne cherche à recréer sont au nombre de quatre : aspect socio-émotionnel, lien avec l’école, climat positif en classe et dans l’école et autodiscipline de l’élève. Cet article, qui date de 2009, montre comment la théorie et la recherche d’un environnement d’études centré sur la personne peuvent être appliquées de façon pratique à la classe.
Protection of probiotic bacteria in a synbiotic matrix following aerobic storage at 4 °C
Authors: Chaluvadi S. , Hotchkiss Jr. A.T. , Call J.E. , Luchansky J.B. , Phillips J.G. , Liu LS. , Yam K.L.
Published: September 2012

The survival of single strains of Bifidobacterium breve, Bifidobacterium longum, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Lactobacillus reuteri was investigated in synbiotics that included 10 mg/ml of fructo-oligosaccharides, inulin and pectic-oligosaccharides in an alginate matrix under refrigerated (4 °C) aerobic storage conditions. When the matrices were cross-linked with calcium (45 mM), 102-103 cfu/ml of L. acidophilus and L. reuteri, and 0-103 cfu/ml of B. breve and B. longum survived refrigerated aerobic storage for 28 days. Following refrigerated storage, acetic (3-9 mM), butyric (0-2 mM), propionic (5-16 mM) and lactic acids (1-48 mM) were produced during the growth of probiotics in BHI broth at 37 °C, suggesting their metabolic activity after storage was stressed. When calcium cross-linking was not used in synbiotics, the matrix remained more gel-like after inoculation when compared to the calcium cross-linked matrix. At least 107 cfu/ml of probiotic bacteria survived after 21 days of storage within these gel-like alginate matrices. Significantly higher levels of B. breve, L. acidophilus and L. reuteri were obtained from the synbiotic matrices supplemented with fructo-oligosaccharides, inulin and pectic-oligosaccharides compared to alginate alone. B. longum survival was the same (~7 logs) in all gel-like synbiotic matrices. These results show that synbiotics protected probiotic bacteria and extended their shelf-life under refrigerated aerobic conditions. Synbiotics represent a viable delivery vehicle for health-promoting bacteria.
Differential cytokine expression in T-cell subsets of chicken caecal tonsils co-cultured with three species of Lactobacillus
Authors: Brisbin J.T. , Parvizi P. , Sharif S.
Published: September 2012

Members of the intestinal microbiota play an important role in the development of T-cells. Little is known about responses of intestinal T-cell subsets of chickens to commensal bacteria. Therefore, we set out to characterise cytokine responses in T-cells after exposure to lactobacilli. Caecal tonsil mononuclear cells were isolated and co-cultured with Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus reuteri and Lactobacillus salivarius for 12 hours. Subsequently the CD4+ and CD8+ cells were fractionated by flow cytometry and the expression of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines as well as Toll-like receptor 21 (TLR21) was determined. The results demonstrated that chicken CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells express TLR21 and that the various isolates of lactobacilli differentially induces the expression of interleukin 10, interferon-gamma and transforming growth factor beta. Our results demonstrate that different Lactobacillus species have the capacity to regulate intestinal T-cell responses and that these responses may be important to intestinal homeostasis.
Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Lupus
Authors: Gulinello Maria , Wen Jing , Putterman Chaim
Published: September 2012

CME Educational Objectives

1.

Learn the symptoms, diagnostic procedures, and prevalence of neuropsychiatric lupus (NPSLE).

2.

Understand the current hypotheses regarding the putative mechanisms underlying NPSLE.

3.

Become familiar with some of the current strategies for treatment of NPSLE and understand their limitations.

The neuropsychiatric aspects of systemic lupus erythematosus have been less studied than the peripheral aspects of the disease, and the importance of neuropsychiatric symptoms has been underestimated. Furthermore, until recently, the diagnostic criteria were not standardized and were not sufficiently based on systematic evidence from preclinical and clinical data.
Corneal Graft Failure Following Nd:YAG Laser Membranotomy for Inadvertent Retained Descemet’s Membrane After Penetrating Keratoplasty
Authors: Kremer Israel , Dreznik Ayelet , Tessler Gili , Bahar Irit
Published: September 2012

Retained Descemet’s membrane (DM) following penetrating keratoplasty (PKP) is a rare finding that may reduce visual acuity following opacification or endanger the graft endothelium. The association between Nd:YAG laser membranotomy and corneal graft failure is reported. Five of 1,350 patients (0.37%) undergoing PKP for pseudophakic bullous keratopathy or graft failure between 1986 and 2008 presented with inadvertent retained DM located close to the graft endothelium. The membrane opacified within 3 to 4 months, reducing the patients’ vision. Nd:YAG laser membranotomy was performed using low energy and few pulses. Patients’ visual acuity improved from 6/40 to 6/90 before treatment to 6/15(−) to 6/20 at 2 weeks following membranotomy. However, the corneal graft decompensated within 6 to 8 weeks following this procedure, necessitating repeat PKP, with removal of the retained DM. Nd:YAG laser membranotomy may lead to corneal graft failure due to shockwave damage created by the laser pulses, focused near the endothelial surface.
Arctic microbial community dynamics influenced by elevated CO2 levels
Authors: Brussaard C. P. D. , Noordeloos A. A. M. , Witte H. , Collenteur M. C. J. , Schulz K. , Ludwig A. , Riebesell U.
Published: September 2012

Abstract. The Arctic Ocean ecosystem is particular vulnerable for ocean acidification (OA) related alterations due to the relatively high CO2 solubility and low carbonate saturation states of its cold surface waters. Thus far, however, there is only little known about the consequences of OA on the base of the food web. In a mesocosm CO2-enrichment experiment (overall CO2 levels ranged from ∼180 to 1100 μatm) in the Kongsfjord off Svalbard, we studied the consequences of OA on a natural pelagic microbial community. The most prominent finding of our study is the profound effect of OA on the composition and growth of the Arctic phytoplankton community, i.e. the picoeukaryotic photoautotrophs and to a lesser extent the nanophytoplankton prospered. A shift towards the smallest phytoplankton as a result of OA will have direct consequences for the structure and functioning of the pelagic food web and thus for the biogeochemical cycles. Furthermore, the dominant pico- and nanophytoplankton groups were found prone to viral lysis, thereby shunting the carbon accumulation in living organisms into the dissolved pools of organic carbon and subsequently affecting the efficiency of the biological pump in these Arctic waters.
Impacts of soil and groundwater salinization on tree crop performance in post-tsunami Aceh Barat, Indonesia
Authors: Marohn C. , Distel A. , Dercon G. ,   Wahyunto, Tomlinson R. , Noordwijk M. v. , Cadisch G.
Published: September 2012

Abstract. The Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004 had far reaching consequences for agriculture in Aceh province, Indonesia, and particularly in Aceh Barat district, 150 km from the seaquake epicentre. In this study, the spatial distribution and temporal dynamics of soil and groundwater salinity and their impact on tree crops were monitored in Aceh Barat from 2006 to 2008. On 48 sampling points along ten transects, covering 40 km of coastline, soil and groundwater salinity were measured and related to mortality and yield depression of the locally most important tree crops. Given a yearly rainfall of over 3000 mm, initial groundwater salinity declined rapidly from over 10 to less than 2 mS cm−1 within two years. On the other hand, seasonal dynamics of the groundwater table in combination with intrusion of saline water into the groundwater body led to recurring elevated salinity, sufficient to affect crops. Tree mortality and yield depression in the flooded area varied considerably between tree species. Damage to coconut (65% trees damaged) was related to tsunami run-up height, while rubber (50% trees damaged) was mainly affected by groundwater salinity. Coconut yields (−35% in average) were constrained by groundwater Ca2+ and Mg2+, while rubber yields (−65% on average) were related to groundwater chloride, pH and soil sodium. These findings have implications on planting deep-rooted tree crops as growth will be constrained by ongoing oscillations of the groundwater table and salinity.