bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Photovoltaic systems in low‐voltage networks and overvoltage correction with reactive power control
Authors: Pompodakis Evangelos E. , Drougakis Ioannis A. , Lelis Ioannis S. , Alexiadis Minas C.
Published: December 2015

This study deals with the overvoltage problems caused by the increased photovoltaic (PV) penetration in typical rural radial distribution systems, where small PV systems and household consumers are connected. For this study, the authors used an iterative algorithm to solve the power flow problem in radial grids and considered three methods for the correction of unacceptable overvoltages, which are based on different principles. The system under consideration is an almost symmetrical three phase, low‐voltage radial network, consisting of nine PV and consumer connection points. The system was simulated for a whole year with a sample time of 15 min, taking into account the variations of the solar radiation and loads. The results verified that the control of reactive power on the line can successfully manage overvoltage issues. The additional demand of reactive power and consequent line losses are used to evaluate various correction methods.
Charge-ordering induces magnetic axes rotation in organic materials (TMTTF)2X (with X = SbF6, AsF6, and PF6)
Authors: Dutoit C.-E. , Bertaina S. , Orio M. , Dressel M. , Stepanov A.
Published: December 2015

We have performed a comprehensive EPR investigation of the quasi-one-dimensional organic systems (TMTTF)2X with centrosymmetrical anions X (X = SbF6, AsF6, and PF6). We observe a strong rotation of g-factor principal axes when the temperature decreases below charge-ordering temperature TCO. The possible origin of this rotation is analyzed on the basis of quantum chemical calculations performed using density functional theory method. A good agreement between theory and experiment is found.
Stabilization of electron-scale turbulence by electron density gradient in national spherical torus experiment
Authors: Ruiz Ruiz J. , Ren Y. , Guttenfelder W. , White A. E. , Kaye S. M. , Leblanc B. P. , Mazzucato E. , Lee K. C. , Domier C. W. , Smith D. R. , Yuh H.
Published: December 2015

Theory and experiments have shown that electron temperature gradient (ETG) turbulence on the electron gyro-scale, k⊥ρe ≲ 1, can be responsible for anomalous electron thermal transport in NSTX. Electron scale (high-k) turbulence is diagnosed in NSTX with a high-k microwave scattering system [D. R. Smith et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 79, 123501 (2008)]. Here we report on stabilization effects of the electron density gradient on electron-scale density fluctuations in a set of neutral beam injection heated H-mode plasmas. We found that the absence of high-k density fluctuations from measurements is correlated with large equilibrium density gradient, which is shown to be consistent with linear stabilization of ETG modes due to the density gradient using the analytical ETG linear threshold in F. Jenko et al. [Phys. Plasmas 8, 4096 (2001)] and linear gyrokinetic simulations with GS2 [M. Kotschenreuther et al., Comput. Phys. Commun. 88, 128 (1995)]. We also found that the observed power of electron-scale turbulence (when it exists) is anti-correlated with the equilibrium density gradient, suggesting density gradient as a nonlinear stabilizing mechanism. Higher density gradients give rise to lower values of the plasma frame frequency, calculated based on the Doppler shift of the measured density fluctuations. Linear gyrokinetic simulations show that higher values of the electron density gradient reduce the value of the real frequency, in agreement with experimental observation. Nonlinear electron-scale gyrokinetic simulations show that high electron density gradient reduces electron heat flux and stiffness, and increases the ETG nonlinear threshold, consistent with experimental observations.
Self-consistent description of a system of interacting phonons
Authors: Poluektov Yu. M.
Published: December 2015

A proposal for a method of self-consistent description of phonon systems. This method generalizes the Debye model to account for phonon-phonon interaction. The idea of “self-consistent” phonons is introduced; their speed depends on the temperature and is determined by solving a non-linear equation. The Debye energy is also a function of the temperature within the framework of the proposed approach. The thermodynamics of “self-consistent” phonon gas are built. It is shown that at low temperatures the cubic law temperature dependence of specific heat acquires an additional term that is proportional to the seventh power of the temperature. This seems to explain the reason why the cubic law for specific heat is observed only at relatively low temperatures. At high temperatures, the theory predicts a linear deviation with respect to temperature from the Dulong-Petit law, which is observed experimentally. A modification to the melting criteria is considered, to account for the phonon-phonon interaction.
Wave propagation in fractal-inspired self-similar beam lattices
Authors: Lim Qi Jian , Wang Pai , Koh Soo Jin Adrian , Khoo Eng Huat , Bertoldi Katia
Published: December 2015

We combine numerical analysis and experiments to investigate the effect of hierarchy on the propagation of elastic waves in triangular beam lattices. While the response of the triangular lattice is characterized by a locally resonant band gap, both Bragg-type and locally resonant gaps are found for the hierarchical lattice. Therefore, our results demonstrate that structural hierarchy can be exploited to introduce an additional type of band gaps, providing a robust strategy for the design of lattice-based metamaterials with hybrid band gap properties (i.e., possessing band gaps that arises from both Bragg scattering and localized resonance).
Understanding the alternate bearing phenomenon: Resource budget model
Authors: Prasad Awadhesh , Sakai Kenshi
Published: December 2015

We consider here the resource budget model of plant energy resources, which characterizes the ecological alternate bearing phenomenon in fruit crops, in which high and low yields occur in alternate years. The resource budget model is a tent-type map, which we study in detail. An infinite number of chaotic bands are observed in this map, which are separated by periodic unstable fixed points. These m bands chaotic attractors become m/2 bands when the period-m unstable fixed points simultaneously collide with the chaotic bands. The distance between two sets of coexisting chaotic bands that are separated by a period-1 unstable fixed point is discussed. We explore the effects of varying a range of parameters of the model. The presented results explain the characteristic behavior of the alternate bearing estimated from the real field data. Effects of noise are also explored. The significance of these results to ecological perspectives of the alternate bearing phenomenon is highlighted.
Onsets of hierarchy truncation and self–consistent Born approximation with quantum mechanics prescriptions invariance
Authors: Zhang Hou-Dao , Yan YiJing
Published: December 2015

The issue of efficient hierarchy truncation is related to many approximate theories. In this paper, we revisit this issue from both the numerical efficiency and quantum mechanics prescription invariance aspects. The latter requires that the truncation approximation made in Schrödinger picture, such as the quantum master equations and their self–consistent–Born–approximation improvements, should be transferable to their Heisenberg–picture correspondences, without further approximations. We address this issue with the dissipaton equation of motion (DEOM), which is a unique theory for the dynamics of not only reduced systems but also hybrid bath environments. We also highlight the DEOM theory is not only about how its dynamical variables evolve in time, but also the underlying dissipaton algebra. We demonstrate this unique feature of DEOM with model systems and report some intriguing nonlinear Fano interferences characteristics that are experimentally measurable.
Ultra-wide acoustic band gaps in pillar-based phononic crystal strips
Authors: Coffy Etienne , Lavergne Thomas , Addouche Mahmoud , Euphrasie Sébastien , Vairac Pascal , Khelif Abdelkrim
Published: December 2015

An original approach for designing a one dimensional phononic crystal strip with an ultra-wide band gap is presented. The strip consists of periodic pillars erected on a tailored beam, enabling the generation of a band gap that is due to both Bragg scattering and local resonances. The optimized combination of both effects results in the lowering and the widening of the main band gap, ultimately leading to a gap-to-midgap ratio of 138%. The design method used to improve the band gap width is based on the flattening of phononic bands and relies on the study of the modal energy distribution within the unit cell. The computed transmission through a finite number of periods corroborates the dispersion diagram. The strong attenuation, in excess of 150 dB for only five periods, highlights the interest of such ultra-wide band gap phononic crystal strips.
Thermal conductance of nanoscale Langmuir-Blodgett films
Authors: Ziade Elbara , Goni Miguel , Sato Toshiyuki , Czubarow Pawel , Schmidt Aaron J.
Published: December 2015

Thermal transport across organic-inorganic interfaces is fundamental to understanding heat transfer in polymer-based composites, microelectronics, and energy conversion systems. We used the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique to deposit nanometer-thick films of poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) on silicon and gold substrates in two distinct states: Liquid condensed (Lc) and Liquid expanded (Le). We used frequency domain thermoreflectance to measure the thermal conductivity of the PVAc film and its thermal interface conductance to the substrate. We found that PVAc films prepared through the LB process have a higher thermal conductivity when compared to bulk. We measured the thermal interface conductance between PVAc and gold to be approximately 90 MW/m2 K for both the Le and Lc states, and the thermal interface conductance between PVAc and silicon to be approximately 70 MW/m2 K for both the Le and Lc states.
Millian Liberalism and Colonial Oppression
Authors: Brown D.G.
Published: December 2015

In nineteenth-century Europe …. [w]ith rare exceptions liberals approved of colonialism and provided it with a legitimizing ideology …. Liberalism became missionary, ethnocentric, and narrow, dismissing non-liberal ways of life and thought as primitive and in need of the liberal civilizing mission.

This is the judgement passed by Professor Bhikhu Parekh in his 1994 essay “Decolonizing Liberalism.” His deference to John Stuart Mill is shown in his making Mill not one of the exceptions, but rather the central object of attack. It would seem indeed that if the charges can be made good against Mill they will hold against nineteenth-century liberalism in general, and perhaps in some degree against twenty-first-century liberalism.

Simple piety moves me to offer some defence of Mill's own good judgement, particularly in relation to India. But, in dealing with a phenomenon like liberalism, we need always to maintain a distinction which tends to blur. Doctrines and assertions are one thing. Historical movements and trends in a society are another.
Justice Theory and Oppression
Authors: Harvey J.
Published: December 2015

Contending views of social justice often confront each other over claims about basic rights. In this paper I will begin with a familiar dispute of this kind, the crux of which proves to be the distribution of economic benefits and burdens. I will argue that it is is indeed illuminating to consider basic rights, and important in particular to examine an especially fundamental set of rights, namely, those that attach to the moral relationships that define the moral community. The blocking of these rights is a moral concern in itself and also often underlies more obvious social and economic inequalities. By considering this set of rights, we can uncover an unsuspected kind of justice which makes moral demands independently of a concern for distributive justice.

There is a longstanding and influential tradition of claiming that the duties of justice are solely “negative” duties. On this view the concerns of justice are concerns about “negative rights” of an especially basic kind, usually subsumed under the heading of “individual freedom.” Justice consists in our “not interfering with” these basic negative rights.
Epistemic Oppression and Epistemic Privilege
Authors: Fricker Miranda
Published: December 2015

[T]he dominated live in a world structured by others for their purposes — purposes that at the very least are not our own and that are in various degrees inimical to our development and even existence.

We are perhaps used to the idea that there are various species of oppression: political, economic, or sexual, for instance. But where there is the phenomenon that Nancy Hartsock picks out in saying that the world is “structured” by the powerful to the detriment of the powerless, there is another species of oppression at work, one that has not been registered in mainstream epistemology: epistemic oppression. The word ‘structured’ may be read materially, so as to imply that social institutions and practices favour the powerful, or ontologically, so as to imply that the powerful somehow constitute the world. But for present purposes I am interested only in an epistemological reading, which implies that the powerful have some sort of unfair advantage in “structuring” our understandings of the social world. I will try to present an account of what this initially vague idea involves. I hope thereby to explain an exact sense in which the powerful can have a kind of epistemic advantage that means the powerless are epistemically oppressed.
Freud's Metapsychology and the Culture of Philosophy
Authors: Zwicky Jan
Published: December 2015

I don't believe in any interpretation of dreams. I don't want to believe in dream interpretation. I will not touch this last freedom.

— Elias Canetti, The Secret Heart of the Clock

To begin, what I hope will be a surprise: in what follows, I will not be talking (much) about sex and its societal vicissitudes. A surprise because the linkage of Freud's name with the theme ‘civilization and oppression’ will immediately suggest to many a discussion of Freud's theories in Civilization and Its Discontents. It is there that Freud famously argues that civilization, necessary for security in the fulfilment of basic sexual instincts, is made possible only by the restriction of expression of those very same instincts. Worse, the erotic impulse that drives individuals together into community can achieve this limited (“aim-inhibited” — i.e., anti-incestuous, monandrous, monogamous, heterosexual, family-oriented) satisfaction only if the other set of basic human instincts — toward aggression — is also severely inhibited. Civilization's frustration of sexuality is experienced in individuals as neurosis, and its repression of instinctual aggression is achieved by turning the instinct inward, back on its source, in the form of guilt, anxiety, an excoriating conscience, a punishing super-ego.
Flavobacterium psychrophilum Infections in Salmonid Broodstock and Hatchery-Propagated Stocks of the Great Lakes Basin
Authors: Van Vliet Danielle , Loch Thomas P. , Faisal Mohamed
Published: December 2015

Bacterial coldwater disease (BCWD), caused by Flavobacterium psychrophilum, threatens wild and propagated salmonids worldwide and leads to substantial economic losses. In addition to being horizontally transmitted, F. psychrophilum can be passed from infected parents to their progeny, furthering the negative impacts of this pathogen. In Michigan, both feral and captive salmonid broodstocks are the gamete sources used in fishery propagation efforts. A 5-year study was initiated to follow the prevalence of systemic F. psychrophilum infections in feral broodstocks of four species (steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss [potadromous Rainbow Trout]; Coho Salmon O. kisutch; Chinook Salmon O. tshawytscha; and Atlantic Salmon Salmo salar) residing in three Great Lakes watersheds. Additionally, captive broodstocks of four species (Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout Salmo trutta, Lake Trout Salvelinus namaycush, and Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis) maintained at two facilities were assessed for the presence of F. psychrophilum. The resultant offspring from each broodstock population were sampled for F. psychrophilum infections multiple times throughout hatchery residency. Using selective flavobacterial culture and PCR confirmation, F. psychrophilum was detected in all broodstocks except the captive Lake Trout and Brook Trout. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that among the infected feral broodstocks, Chinook Salmon from the Lake Michigan watershed had the highest prevalence of systemic F. psychrophilum infection (mean = 63.2%). Among the captive broodstocks, the Gilchrist Creek strain of Brown Trout had the highest infection prevalence (mean = 5%). Collectively, the captive broodstocks were found to have significantly lower infection prevalence than the feral broodstocks. Despite the high prevalence of systemic F. psychrophilum infections in many broodstock populations, the bacterium was rarely detected in their progeny during hatchery rearing. However, heavy losses associated with clinical BCWD outbreaks did occur. Collectively, our results reinforce that BCWD continues to threaten Great Lakes basin salmonids.

Received April 6, 2015; accepted August 25, 2015
Spongiosis Hepatis in a Wild Aquarium-Maintained Red Irish Lord
Authors: Hyatt Michael W. , Rosas-Rosas Arely G. , Wolf Jeffrey C. , Frasca Salvatore
Published: December 2015

An aquarium-maintained female Red Irish Lord Hemilepidotus hemilepidotus presented with severe coelomic distension. The fish was anesthetized for ultrasonographic examination, which highlighted multiple cyst-like lesions in the liver and a distended ovary that was filled with follicles and an inspissated egg mass. Multiple exploratory celiotomies were performed for egg mass removal, liver biopsy, ovariosalpingectomy, and body wall rupture repair. Fourteen weeks after original presentation, and subsequent to 2 weeks of anorexia, the fish died. At necropsy, the liver was severely enlarged and distorted by multiple, coalescing, cyst-like spaces with no grossly normal liver parenchyma. The spleen also contained a raised cyst-like structure. Microscopically, the liver had well-demarcated foci of hepatocyte loss with retained meshworks of interconnected, perisinusoidal stellate cells. The fluid-filled spaces surrounded by stellate cells were not lined by epithelium or endothelium. The spleen had similar fluid-filled spaces formed of stellate cells. The cyst-like lesions in the liver were consistent with spongiosis hepatis; however, the concurrent development of a morphologically comparable lesion in the spleen is not typical of spongiosis hepatis cases. This case may represent the first report of spontaneously occurring spongiosis hepatis in a fish maintained in a public aquarium, as well as the first report in a fish of spongiosis hepatis-like lesions in an organ other than the liver.

Received May 19, 2015; accepted September 3, 2015
Properly Extensive Quantities
Authors: Perry Zee R.
Published: December 2015

This article introduces and motivates the notion of a “properly extensive” quantity by means of a puzzle about the reliability of certain canonical length measurements. An account of these measurements’ success, I argue, requires a modally robust connection between quantitative structure and mereology that is not mediated by the dynamics and is stronger than the constraints imposed by “mere additivity.” I outline what it means to say that length is not just extensive but properly so and then briefly sketch an application of proper extensiveness to the project of providing a reductive ground for metric quantitative structure.
Catastrophism, Uniformitarianism, and a Scientific Realism Debate That Makes a Difference
Authors: Stanford P. Kyle
Published: December 2015

Some scientific realists suggest that scientific communities have improved in their ability to discover alternative theoretical possibilities and that the problem of unconceived alternatives therefore poses a less significant threat to contemporary scientific communities than it did to their historical predecessors. I first argue that the most profound and fundamental historical transformations of the scientific enterprise have actually increased rather than decreased our vulnerability to the problem. I then argue that whether we are troubled by even the prospect of increasing theoretical conservatism in science should depend on the position we occupy in the ongoing debate concerning scientific realism itself.
Aspects of Theory-Ladenness in Data-Intensive Science
Authors: Pietsch Wolfgang
Published: December 2015

Recent claims, mainly from computer scientists, concerning a largely automated and model-free data-intensive science have been criticized by several philosophers of science. The debate suffers from lack of detail regarding the actual methods used in data-intensive science and in which ways these presuppose theoretical assumptions. I examine two widely used algorithms, classificatory trees and nonparametric regression, and argue that they are theory laden in an external sense, regarding the framing of research questions, but not in an internal sense, concerning the causal structure of the examined phenomenon. With respect to the novelty of data-intensive science, I draw an analogy to exploratory experimentation.
Likelihood and Consilience: On Forster’s Counterexamples to the Likelihood Theory of Evidence
Authors: Zhang Jiji , Zhang Kun
Published: December 2015

Forster presented some interesting examples having to do with distinguishing the direction of causal influence between two variables, which he argued are counterexamples to the likelihood theory of evidence. In this article, we refute Forster’s arguments by carefully examining one of the alleged counterexamples. We argue that the example is not convincing as it relies on dubious intuitions that likelihoodists have forcefully criticized. More important, we show that contrary to Forster’s contention, the consilience-based methodology he favored is accountable within the framework of the likelihood theory of evidence.
The Problem of Intransigently Biased Agents
Authors: Holman Bennett , Bruner Justin P.
Published: December 2015

In recent years the social nature of scientific inquiry has generated considerable interest. We examine the effect of an epistemically impure agent on a community of honest truth seekers. Extending a formal model of network epistemology pioneered by Zollman, we conclude that an intransigently biased agent prevents the community from ever converging to the truth. We explore two solutions to this problem, including a novel procedure for endogenous network formation in which agents choose whom to trust. We contend that our model nicely captures aspects of current problems in medical research and gesture at some morals for medical epistemology more generally.
Embodiment, Interaction, and Experience: Toward a Comprehensive Model in Addiction Science
Authors: Zautra Nicholas
Published: December 2015

Current theories of addiction try to explain what addiction is, who experiences it, why it occurs, and how it develops and persists. In this article, I explain why none of these theories can be accepted as a comprehensive model. I argue that current models fail to account for differences in embodiment, interaction processes, and the experience of addiction. To redress these limiting factors, I design a proposal for an enactive account of addiction that follows the enactive model of autism proposed by Hanne De Jaegher.
Psychiatric Progress and the Assumption of Diagnostic Discrimination
Authors: Tabb Kathryn
Published: December 2015

Psychiatry’s failure to validate its diagnostic constructs is often attributed to the prioritizing of reliability over validity in theDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM). I argue that a more powerful way in which theDSMhas retarded biomedical progress is by encouraging unwarranted optimism aboutdiagnostic discrimination: the assumption that our diagnostic tests group patients together in ways that allow for relevant facts about mental disorder to be discovered. I argue that the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework, a new paradigm for classifying objects of psychiatric research, solves some of the challenges brought on by this assumption.
Which Causes of Moral Beliefs Matter?
Authors: O’Neill Elizabeth
Published: December 2015

I argue that information about the distal causes of moral beliefs, such as evolution, is only relevant for assessing the epistemic status of moral beliefs in cases where we cannot determine whether the proximal processes producing these beliefs are reliable just by examining the properties of these proximal processes. Any investigation into the epistemic status of moral beliefs given their causes should start with a look at proximal causes—not at evolution. I discuss two proximal psychological influences on moral beliefs—disgust and sympathy—to demonstrate the feasibility of drawing epistemic conclusions from an examination of proximal causes alone.
The Dynamical Approach as Practical Geometry
Authors: Stevens Syman
Published: December 2015

This article introduces Harvey Brown and Oliver Pooley’s ‘dynamical approach’ to special relativity, and argues that it may be construed as a relationalist form of Einstein’s ‘practical geometry’. This construal of the dynamical approach is shown to be compatible with related chapters of Brown’s text and also with recent descriptions of the dynamical approach by Pooley and others.
Is de Broglie-Bohm Theory Specially Equipped to Recover Classical Behavior?
Authors: Rosaler Joshua
Published: December 2015

Supporters of the de Broglie-Bohm (dBB) interpretation of quantum theory argue that because the theory, like classical mechanics, concerns the motions of point particles in 3D space, it is specially suited to recover classical behavior. I offer a novel account of classicality in dBB theory, if only to show that such an account falls out almost trivially from results developed in the largely interpretation-neutral context of decoherence theory. I then argue that this undermines any special claim that dBB theory is purported to have on the unification of the quantum and classical realms.
Rethinking Boltzmannian Equilibrium
Authors: Werndl Charlotte , Frigg Roman
Published: December 2015

Boltzmannian statistical mechanics partitions the phase space of a system into macroregions, and the largest of these is identified with equilibrium. What justifies this identification? Common answers focus on Boltzmann’s combinatorial argument, the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution, and maximum entropy considerations. We argue that they fail and present a new answer. We characterize equilibrium as the macrostate in which a system spends most of its time and prove a new theorem establishing that equilibrium thus defined corresponds to the largest macroregion. Our derivation is completely general and does not rely on assumptions about the dynamics or interparticle interactions.
Opinion Polling and Election Predictions
Authors: Northcott Robert
Published: December 2015

Election prediction by means of opinion polling is a rare empirical success story for social science. I examine the details of a prominent case, drawing two lessons of more general interest: (1) Methodology over metaphysics. Traditional metaphysical criteria were not a useful guide to whether successful prediction would be possible; instead, the crucial thing was selecting an effective methodology. (2) Which methodology? Success required sophisticated use of case-specific evidence from opinion polling. The pursuit of explanations via general theory or causal mechanisms, by contrast, turned out to be precisely the wrong path—contrary to much recent philosophy of social science.
Science and Informed, Counterfactual, Democratic Consent
Authors: Keren Arnon
Published: December 2015

On many science-related policy questions, the public is unable to make informed decisions, because of its inability to make use of knowledge obtained by scientists. Philip Kitcher and James Fishkin have both suggested therefore that on certain science-related issues, public policy should not be decided on by actual democratic vote, but should instead conform to the public’s counterfactual informed democratic decision (CIDD). Indeed, this suggestion underlies Kitcher’s specification of an ideal of a well-ordered science. This article argues that this suggestion misconstrues the normative significance of CIDDs. At most, CIDDs might have epistemic significance, but no authority or legitimizing force.
Why Most Sugar Pills Are Not Placebos
Authors: Holman Bennett
Published: December 2015

The standard philosophical definition of placebos offered by Grünbaum is incompatible with Cartwright’s conception of randomized clinical trials. I offer a modified account of placebos that respects this role and clarifies why many current medical trials fail to warrant the conclusions they are typically seen as yielding. I then consider recent changes to guidelines for reporting medical trials and show that pessimism over parsing out the cause of “unblinding” is premature. Specifically, using a trial of antidepressants, I show how more sophisticated statistical analyses can parse out the source of such effects and serve as an alternative to placebo control.
What Counts as Scientific Data? A Relational Framework
Authors: Leonelli Sabina
Published: December 2015

This paper proposes an account of scientific data that makes sense of recent debates on data-driven and ‘big data’ research, while also building on the history of data production and use particularly within biology. In this view, ‘data’ is a relational category applied to research outputs that are taken, at specific moments of inquiry, to provide evidence for knowledge claims of interest to the researchers involved. They do not have truth-value in and of themselves, nor can they be seen as straightforward representations of given phenomena. Rather, they are fungible objects defined by their portability and prospective usefulness as evidence.
Modulus on graphs as a generalization of standard graph theoretic quantities
Authors: Albin Nathan , Brunner Megan , Perez Roberto , Poggi-Corradini Pietro , Wiens Natalie
Published: December 2015

This paper presents new results for the modulus of families of walks on a graph—a discrete analog of the modulus of curve families due to Beurling and Ahlfors. Particular attention is paid to the dependence of the modulus on its parameters. Modulus is shown to generalize (and interpolate among) three important quantities in graph theory: shortest path, effective resistance, and max-flow or min-cut.
An integrative somatic mutation analysis to identify pathways linked with survival outcomes across 19 cancer types
Authors: Park Sunho , Kim Seung-Jun , Yu Donghyeon , Peña-Llopis Samuel , Gao Jianjiong , Park Jin Suk , Chen Beibei , Norris Jessie , Wang Xinlei , Chen Min , Kim Minsoo , Yong Jeongsik , Wardak Zabi , Choe Kevin , Story Michael , Starr Timothy , Cheong Jae-Ho , Hwang Tae Hyun
Published: December 2015

Motivation: Identification of altered pathways that are clinically relevant across human cancers is a key challenge in cancer genomics. Precise identification and understanding of these altered pathways may provide novel insights into patient stratification, therapeutic strategies and the development of new drugs. However, a challenge remains in accurately identifying pathways altered by somatic mutations across human cancers, due to the diverse mutation spectrum. We developed an innovative approach to integrate somatic mutation data with gene networks and pathways, in order to identify pathways altered by somatic mutations across cancers.

Results: We applied our approach to The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset of somatic mutations in 4790 cancer patients with 19 different types of tumors. Our analysis identified cancer-type-specific altered pathways enriched with known cancer-relevant genes and targets of currently available drugs. To investigate the clinical significance of these altered pathways, we performed consensus clustering for patient stratification using member genes in the altered pathways coupled with gene expression datasets from 4870 patients from TCGA, and multiple independent cohorts confirmed that the altered pathways could be used to stratify patients into subgroups with significantly different clinical outcomes. Of particular significance, certain patient subpopulations with poor prognosis were identified because they had specific altered pathways for which there are available targeted therapies. These findings could be used to tailor and intensify therapy in these patients, for whom current therapy is suboptimal.

Availability and implementation: The code is available at: http://www.taehyunlab.org.

Contact:  jhcheong@yuhs.ac or taehyun.hwang@utsouthwestern.edu or taehyun.cs@gmail.com

Supplementary information:  Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
qsubsec: a lightweight template system for defining sun grid engine workflows
Authors: Droop Alastair P.
Published: December 2015

Summary: The Sun Grid Engine (SGE) high-performance computing batch queueing system is commonly used in bioinformatics analysis. Creating re-usable scripts for the SGE is a common challenge. The qsubsec template language and interpreter described here allow researchers to easily create generic template definitions that encapsulate a particular computational job, effectively separating the process logic from the specific run details. At submission time, the generic template is filled in with specific values. This system provides an intermediate level between simple scripting and complete workflow management tools.

Availability and implementation: Qsubsec is open-source and is available at https://github.com/alastair-droop/qsubsec.

Contact: a.p.droop@leeds.ac.uk

Supplementary information:  Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
rcellminer: exploring molecular profiles and drug response of the NCI-60 cell lines in R
Authors: Luna Augustin , Rajapakse Vinodh N. , Sousa Fabricio G. , Gao Jianjiong , Schultz Nikolaus , Varma Sudhir , Reinhold William , Sander Chris , Pommier Yves
Published: December 2015

Purpose: The rcellminer R package provides a wide range of functionality to help R users access and explore molecular profiling and drug response data for the NCI-60. The package enables flexible programmatic access to CellMiner’s unparalleled breadth of NCI-60 data, including gene and protein expression, copy number, whole exome mutations, as well as activity data for ∼21K compounds, with information on their structure, mechanism of action and repeat screens. Functions are available to easily visualize compound structures, activity patterns and molecular feature profiles. Additionally, embedded R Shiny applications allow interactive data exploration.

Availability and implementation: rcellminer is compatible with R 3.2 and above on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. The package, documentation, tutorials and Shiny-based applications are available through Bioconductor (http://www.bioconductor.org/packages/rcellminer); ongoing updates will occur according to the Bioconductor release schedule with new CellMiner data. The package is free and open-source (LGPL 3).

Contact:  lunaa@cbio.mskcc.org or vinodh.rajapakse@nih.gov
Real-time infrasonic monitoring of the eruption at a remote island volcano using seismoacoustic cross correlation
Authors: Nishida Kiwamu , Ichihara Mie
Published: December 2015

On 2013 November 20, a submarine eruption started close to Nishinoshima island, which lies ∼1000 km south of Tokyo. Real-time monitoring of the eruption is crucial for understanding the formation processes of the new volcano island and related disaster prevention. In situ monitoring, however, is difficult in practice because the closest inhabited island, Chichijima, is 130 km away from Nishinoshima. This study presents an infrasonic monitoring method that uses cross-correlating records at a pair of online stations on Chichijima. One is the horizontal ground velocity recorded at a permanent seismic station operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). The seismic records were corrected for atmospheric pressure using an empirical ground response to infrasound. The other is the air pressure recorded at the JMA Meteorological Observatory. For each station, we divided the whole records into 3600-s segments. To suppress outliers, each segment was normalized by the envelope function. We then calculated cross-correlation functions between the pair of stations using the fast Fourier transform. They present clear successive arrivals of infrasound coming from Nishinoshima. We also conducted an offline tripartite-array observation using three low-frequency microphones with a station spacing of ∼50 m installed in 2013 May. The array analysis supports the results obtained from the online stations. The typical root-mean-squared amplitude is on the order of 0.01 Pa, and the typical duration is several days. The amplitudes were primarily controlled by the effective sound velocity structure from Nishinoshima to Chichijima. The infrasonic observations together with the meteorological observation at Chichijima suggest that infrasonic activity was not present in the first two weeks in 2015 January. With the help of a more quantitative estimation of the meteorological effect, we could infer eruptive activity in real time. Now many online seismic stations are available worldwide. This study shows that installation of another infrasonic sensor close to the existing seismic station (∼1 km) is useful for monitoring a remote island volcano in real time.
Design simplicity influences patient portal use: the role of aesthetic evaluations for technology acceptance
Authors: Lazard Allison J , Watkins Ivan , Mackert Michael S , Xie Bo , Stephens Keri K , Shalev Heidi
Published: December 2015

Objective This study focused on patient portal use and investigated whether aesthetic evaluations of patient portals function are antecedent variables to variables in the Technology Acceptance Model.

Methods A cross-sectional survey of current patient portals users ( N  = 333) was conducted online. Participants completed the Visual Aesthetics of Website Inventory, along with items measuring perceived ease of use (PEU), perceived usefulness (PU), and behavioral intentions (BIs) to use the patient portal.

Results The hypothesized model accounted for 29% of the variance in BIs to use the portal, 46% of the variance in the PU of the portal, and 29% of the variance in the portal’s PEU. Additionally, one dimension of the aesthetic evaluations functions as a predictor in the model – simplicity evaluations had a significant positive effect on PEU.

Conclusion This study provides evidence that aesthetic evaluations – specifically regarding simplicity – function as a significant antecedent variable to patients’ use of patient portals and should influence patient portal design strategies.
Jacques Lacan
Authors: Johnston Adrian
Published: December 2015

Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (b. 13 April 1901–d. 9 September 1981) arguably is the most creative and influential figure in the history of psychoanalysis after Sigmund Freud. Lacan portrays himself as an embattled defender of Freud’s true legacy within and beyond analytic circles, the lone champion of a “return to Freud.” His teachings emphasize the crucial differences between the Freudian unconscious and speciously similar notions such as that of the id as a dark, seething cauldron of irrational, animalistic instincts. He stresses especially the centrality of language in psychoanalysis, with the unconscious subject at stake in analysis being constituted and sustained through socio-symbolic mediations (as per Lacan’s famous thesis according to which “the unconscious is structured like a language”). Dubbed “the French Freud,” Lacan significantly broadened and deepened Freudianism through putting Freud’s discoveries into conversation with a wide range of other disciplines and orientations. In particular, Lacan’s reflections draw frequently and extensively on the resources of 19th- and 20th-century Continental philosophical currents such as German idealism, structuralism, semiotics, phenomenology, and existentialism. Indeed, not only did Lacan inspire the formation of distinctly Lacanian clinical approaches—perhaps his greatest worldwide impact has been (and continues to be) in the fields of the theoretical humanities, themselves heavily indebted to the past two centuries of European philosophy. Over the course of recent decades, Lacan’s concepts/theories of, for instance, the mirror stage, subjectivity, language, desire, drive, jouissance, fantasy, and the objet petit a all have come to serve as key components in numerous scholars’ explorations of issues and instances relating to philosophy, art, literature, cinema, culture, politics, and religion, among other areas of concern. Furthermore, like Freud, Lacan remains a source of heated controversy among various commentators and critics right up through the present day.
France in the 17th Century
Authors: Dee Darryl
Published: December 2015

The 17th century occupies a pivotal place in the history of France between the turbulence of the Wars of Religion and the long calm of the Old Regime. On the one hand, it was a period of political, economic, religious, and social crises. On the other hand, it was the “Great Century” (Grand Siècle) that saw the establishment of France’s hegemony in Europe, its expansion overseas, the efflorescence of French classical culture, and the zenith of the absolute monarchy. After Henri IV (r. 1589–1610) ended the great religious civil wars, Cardinal Richelieu, prime minister to Louis XIII (r. 1610–1643), embarked on a policy of strengthening royal authority. In 1635, he committed France into the conflagration of the Thirty Years’ War and a quarter-century-long duel with Spain. France emerged from these wars as Europe’s dominant power. Yet the cost was high. The monarchy’s efforts to increase its authority and to raise the money it needed to pay its armies provoked massive resistance from all levels of French society. There were 232 popular uprisings between 1635 and 1660. Elite opposition to the crown culminated the Fronde, a near-revolution against Richelieu’s successor, Cardinal Mazarin. After assuming personal rule in 1661, Louis XIV (r. 1643–1715) determined to complete the work begun by his predecessors. He reformed the state, secured the obedience of the French elites, expanded his army to the largest in Europe, and encouraged the growth of colonies abroad. He established a glittering court at Versailles and promoted the development of the arts. The Sun King became a model other European rulers strove to emulate. After 1688, however, Louis XIV’s bellicose foreign policy led to a new round of wars that would darken the end of the century. This entry aims to introduce students and researchers to the historical scholarship on this fascinating period. It begins after the reign of Henri IV. For information on France under the first Bourbon monarch, see the entries on the Reformation and Wars of Religion in France and Henri IV.
Economic Valuation Methods for Non-market Goods or Services
Authors: Kriström Bengt , Johansson Per-Olov
Published: December 2015

Economic valuation methods for non-market goods and services comprise a range of empirical approaches to estimate a monetary value for the trade-off a person would be willing to make to increase the amount or the quality of a good or service for which there exists no market. After a period of more than fifty years of improvement, the approaches have reached a certain degree of maturity and professional acceptance; for example, they are routinely used in US court cases as a starting point for oil-spill damage assessments (which can run into several billions of US dollars). There are probably more than 10,000 papers published, covering a range of issues about economic valuation methods. While environmental and health studies dominate, an increasing number of applications appear in, inter alia, cultural economics. Since the number of things people care about is virtually without limits, the set of applications for measuring these types of trade-offs is very large; e.g., how much would students be willing to pay to reduce campus crime risk? What is the value of telecare programs that make it possible for elderly people to live independently? Is there an extra-market value of the Tour des Flandres (a cycling race)? How much would you pay to avoid the consequences of spam mail? We will divide our exposition into two parts, covering the most used stated-preference and revealed-preference methods. The stated-preference methods are based on what respondents state in interviews/questionnaires, generally targeting a person’s choices for a proposed change in a well-defined object of choice (such as one’s health status or some aspect of environmental quality). A revealed-preference method uses observed decisions for private goods related to the non-market good and theoretical assumptions to create the equivalent of surrogate markets, such as property markets, to measure values. There are two general lines of development; an increased focus on heterogeneity and an increased understanding of how to deal with the discrete/continuous type of consumer behavior that is common in the cases studied.
Mack Sennett
Authors: D'haeyere Hilde
Published: December 2015

Mack Sennett (b. 1880–d. 1960), is a Canadian-born actor, director, and producer who headed two of the most influential and prolific American slapstick studios: the Keystone Film Company (1912–1917) and Mack Sennett Comedies (1917–1933). At Keystone, Sennett acted in, directed, and produced over 540 shorts, in addition to producing the first feature-length comedy, Tillie’s Punctured Romance, in 1914. Between 1917 and 1933 he produced some 440 short comedies and seventeen feature-length films under the banner of “Mack Sennett Comedies.” These motion pictures set the pace and style that established silent slapstick as an immensely popular film genre appreciated by masses of moviegoers. A second aspect of Sennett’s key position is his association with the early movie careers of an impressive roster of performers: Charles Chaplin, Mabel Normand, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, Ben Turpin, Harry Langdon, Carole Lombard, W. C. Fields, and Bing Crosby all grew to film stardom under his tutelage. He hired apprentice crew members before they became award-winning directors, cinematographers, and editors such as Frank Capra, Mal St. Clair, Fred Jackman, Vernon Walker, and William Hornbeck. His name is associated with bizarre phenomena, such as the incompetent Keystone cops or the bevy of beautiful Sennett Bathing Girls. After a successful transition to sound and color, Sennett returned to a position behind the camera to direct talking comedies. Following a disastrous distribution deal with Paramount Publix in 1932, Mack Sennett Comedies was forced to file for bankruptcy in 1933. Until his death in 1960 Sennett attempted a comeback, reediting his comedies into compilation films. In 1938 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored Sennett with an Academy Award for his lasting contributions to screen comedy. Scholarly interest in Mack Sennett concentrates on the Keystone movies; their unpolished energy invites interpretations in many disciplines and theoretical frameworks. Sennett’s professional life coincides with the formative years of the Hollywood film industry, spurring critical literature on the relation between slapstick comedy and classical Hollywood cinema. Moreover, with his autobiography The King of Comedy, published in 1954, Sennett created a hilarious report that greatly colors our understanding of slapstick film production. Clearly, Mack Sennett not only embodied the history of slapstick comedy but also dictated the stories to remember it by. This article, then, studies Sennett’s role as legendary Hollywood figure and analyzes his comedies in theories of slapstick and comedy.