bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mass-producible 2D-MoSe2bulk modified screen-printed electrodes provide significant electrocatalytic performances towards the hydrogen evolution reaction
Authors: Rowley-Neale Samuel J. , Foster Christopher W. , Smith Graham C. , Brownson Dale A. C. , Banks Craig E.
Published: January 2017

2D-MoSe2modified screen-printed electrodes (2D-MoSe2-SPEs) are fabricated for the first time and shown to be electrocatalytic towards the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction.
A study on the structure, luminescence and thermo-stability of polycrystalline Gd2Si2O7:Ce and (Gd,La)2Si2O7:Ce
Authors: Wei Qinhua , Shi Hongsheng , Zhou Zhenzhen , Liu Guanghui , Chen Zhi , Qin Laishun , Shu Kangying , Liu Qian
Published: January 2017

The crystal structure was strongly affected by the preparation conditions and components, which show distinct scintillation properties.
Copper-mediated oxysulfonylation of alkenyl oximes with sodium sulfinates: a facile synthesis of isoxazolines featuring a sulfone substituent
Authors: Wang Li-Jing , Chen Manman , Qi Lin , Xu Zhidong , Li Wei
Published: January 2017

A novel and efficient Cu(OAc)2-mediated oxysulfonylation of alkenyl oximes with sodium sulfonates was developed. The reactions are easy to conduct, occur under mild conditions, and form a broad range of sulfone-substituted isoxazolines in good yields.
Insights into the role of nanostructure in the sensing properties of carbon nanodots for improved sensitivity to reactive oxygen species in living cells
Authors: Zhou Wenjuan , Dong Shaoqing , Lin Yanjun , Lu Chao
Published: January 2017

We focus on the role of the surface states of carbon nanodots in analytical performances for improved sensitivity towards peroxynitrite.
Correction: Advances in non-enzymatic glucose sensors based on metal oxides
Authors: Zhu Hua , Li Li , Zhou Wei , Shao Zongping , Chen Xiangjian
Published: January 2017

Correction for ‘Advances in non-enzymatic glucose sensors based on metal oxides’ by Hua Zhu et al., J. Mater. Chem. B, 2016, 4, 7333–7349.
Enhanced window increment and adaptive recovery TCP for multi‐hop wireless networks
Authors: Jude M.J.A. , Kuppuswami S.
Published: January 2017

In this Letter, a combined algorithm known as receiver‐assisted slow start (RASS) and feedback‐assisted recovery (FAR) proposed to address the joint optimisation problems of transmission control protocol (TCP) such as non‐optimal initial window (IW) size, slower window growth and spurious window deflation under multi‐hop wireless (MHW) networks. The RASS fix the sender's optimum IW size from the receiver's advertised value and replaces the conventional exponential window growth with enhanced window increment mechanism that significantly accelerates the transmission rate. The FAR uses relay router's feedback information to regulate false transmission rate reduction during packet drops. The simulation result reveals that the proposed algorithms had a substantial improvement in throughput and reduction in packet latency over the existing standard New Jersey and non‐congestion events algorithms under MHW environment.
OMP‐based translational motion estimation for a rotating target by narrowband radar
Authors: Tran Hai‐Tan , Heading Emma , Melino Rocco
Published: January 2017

Translational motion compensation (TMC) processing is an integral part of any radar imaging algorithm, especially for a non‐cooperative target where the target motion must be estimated from the received radar signal. For narrowband applications requiring wide angles of target rotation where a strong non‐rotating component is not present in the received signal, the problem has not been adequately addressed in the literature. This paper proposes an effective method for TMC, which makes use of the closed‐form solution of a rotating point scatterer and the fact that all scatterers undergo the same translational (or radial) motion of the whole target. Within a standard framework of the orthogonal matching pursuit algorithm, the method can estimate the translational velocity with a useful accuracy using angular rotations of 45° or more, and with a relatively small computational cost. The method is demonstrated with both simulated and real data from the rotating blades of a helicopter.
Komplikationen bei rheumachirurgischen Eingriffen der Schulter
Authors: Schmidt Klaus
Published: January 2017

Das Schultergelenk ist bei der rheumatoiden Arthritis häufig mitbefallen. Aufgrund seines komplexen Aufbaus führt der rheumatische Befall früh zu Funktionsstörungen, die aber subjektiv oft erst spät empfunden werden. Arthroskopische Eingriffe weisen eine geringe Komplikationsrate auf. Rotatorenmanschettenrekonstruktionen führen aufgrund der rheumatisch bedingten Veränderungen des Muskel- und Sehnengewebes häufig zu Rerupturen. Die endoprothetische Versorgung wird bei der rheumatisch stark veränderten Schulter durch die entzündlichen Gewebsveränderungen erschwert. Periprothetische Frakturen treten aufgrund der verminderten Knochenqualität auf und sind nur erschwert osteosynthetisch zu versorgen. Multipler Gelenkersatz erfordert hierbei mitunter individuelle Lösungsmöglichkeiten. Protheseninfekte an der Schulter sind schwerwiegende Komplikationen und bedürfen einer frühzeitigen Diagnosestellung und operativer Revision.
Kant and thought insertion
Authors: Golob Sacha
Published: January 2017

This article examines the phenomenon of thought insertion, one of the most extreme disruptions to the standard mechanisms for self-knowledge, in the context of Kant’s philosophy of mind. This juxtaposition is of interest for two reasons, aside from Kant’s foundational significance for any modern work on the self. First, thought insertion presents a challenge to Kant’s approach. For example, the first Critique famously held that “The ‘I think’ must be able to accompany all my representations” (Kant, KrV, B132). Yet thought insertion raises the problem of representations that are “mine” by many natural criteria, and yet which I am unwilling to self-ascribe. Ultimately, my argument will be that thought insertion simultaneously problematises, and yet to some degree also vindicates, the complex distinctions between activity and passivity that underlie Kant’s system. Second, I argue that Kant’s position contains resources that allow us to model thought insertion, and its broader implications for self-knowledge, in an interesting and distinctive manner. Kant himself held an extreme view of philosophy’s competence in the study of mental disorder: in the Anthropology, he suggests that courts must refer such cases to philosophers, rather than medics (Kant, Anth, p. 214). My aim is much more modest: to suggest that a Kantian treatment of thought insertion deserves consideration by both philosophers and clinicians. This article is published as part of a collection on self-knowledge in and outside of illness.
Swimming of a linear chain with a cargo in an incompressible viscous fluid with inertia
Authors: Felderhof B. U.
Published: January 2017

An approximation to the added mass matrix of an assembly of spheres is constructed on the basis of potential flow theory for situations where one sphere is much larger than the others. In the approximation, the flow potential near a small sphere is assumed to be dipolar, but near the large sphere it involves all higher order multipoles. The analysis is based on an exact result for the potential of a magnetic dipole in the presence of a superconducting sphere. Subsequently, the approximate added mass hydrodynamic interactions are used in a calculation of the swimming velocity and rate of dissipation of linear chain structures consisting of a number of small spheres and a single large one, with account also of frictional hydrodynamic interactions. The results derived for periodic swimming on the basis of a kinematic approach are compared with the bilinear theory, valid for small amplitude of stroke, and with the numerical solution of the approximate equations of motion. The calculations interpolate over the whole range of scale number between the friction-dominated Stokes limit and the inertia-dominated regime.
Coset construction of AdS particle dynamics
Authors: Heinze Martin , Jorjadze George , Megrelidze Luka
Published: January 2017

We analyze the dynamics of the AdSN+1 particle realized on the coset SO(2, N)/SO (1,N). Hamiltonian reduction provides the physical phase space in terms of the coadjoint orbit obtained by boosting a timelike element of 𝔰𝔬(2, N). We show equivalence of this approach to geometric quantization and to the SO(N) covariant oscillator description, for which the boost generators entail a complicated operator ordering. As an alternative scheme, we introduce dual oscillator variables and derive their algebra at the classical and the quantum levels. This simplifies the calculations of the commutators for the boost generators and leads to unitary irreducible representations of 𝔰𝔬(2, N) for all admissible values of the mass parameter. We furthermore discuss an SO(N) covariant supersymmetric extension of the oscillator quantization, with its realization for superparticles in AdS2 and AdS3 given by recent works.
Elastic-plastic deformation of molybdenum single crystals shocked along [100]
Authors: Mandal A. , Gupta Y. M.
Published: January 2017

To understand the elastic-plastic deformation response of shock-compressed molybdenum (Mo) - a body-centered cubic metal, single crystal samples were shocked along the [100] crystallographic orientation to an elastic impact stress of 12.5 GPa. Elastic-plastic wave profiles, measured at different propagation distances ranging between ∼0.23 to 2.31 mm using laser interferometry, showed a time-dependent material response. Within the experimental scatter, the measured elastic wave amplitudes were nearly constant over the propagation distances examined. These data point to a large and rapid elastic wave attenuation near the impact surface, before reaching a threshold value (elastic limit) of ∼3.6 GPa. Numerical simulations of the measured wave profiles, performed using a dislocation-based continuum model, suggested that {110}⟨111⟩ and/or {112}⟨111⟩ slip systems are operative under shock loading. In contrast to shocked metal single crystals with close-packed structures, the measured wave profiles in Mo single crystals could not be explained in terms of dislocation multiplication alone. A dislocation generation mechanism, operative for shear stresses larger than that at the elastic limit, was required to model the rapid elastic wave attenuation and to provide a good overall match to the measured wave profiles. However, the physical basis for this mechanism was not established for the high-purity single crystal samples used in this study. The numerical simulations also suggested that Mo single crystals do not work harden significantly under shock loading in contrast to the behavior observed under quasi-static loading.
High-pressure behavior of A2B2O7 pyrochlore (A=Eu, Dy; B=Ti, Zr)
Authors: Rittman Dylan R. , Turner Katlyn M. , Park Sulgiye , Fuentes Antonio F. , Yan Jinyuan , Ewing Rodney C. , Mao Wendy L.
Published: January 2017

In situ high-pressure X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy were used to determine the influence of composition on the high-pressure behavior of A2B2O7 pyrochlore (A = Eu, Dy; B = Ti, Zr) up to ∼50 GPa. Based on X-ray diffraction results, all compositions transformed to the high-pressure cotunnite structure. The B-site cation species had a larger effect on the transition pressure than the A-site cation species, with the onset of the phase transformation occurring at ∼41 GPa for B = Ti and ∼16 GPa B = Zr. However, the A-site cation affected the kinetics of the phase transformation, with the transformation for compositions with the smaller ionic radii, i.e., A = Dy, proceeding faster than those with a larger ionic radii, i.e., A = Eu. These results were consistent with previous work in which the radius-ratio of the A- and B-site cations determined the energetics of disordering, and compositions with more similarly sized A- and B-site cations had a lower defect formation energy. Raman spectra revealed differences in the degree of short-range order of the different compositions. Due to the large phase fraction of cotunnite at high pressure for B = Zr compositions, Raman modes for cotunnite could be observed, with more modes recorded for A = Eu than A = Dy. These additional modes are attributed to increased short-to-medium range ordering in the initially pyrochlore structured Eu2Zr2O7 as compared with the initially defect-fluorite structured Dy2Zr2O7.
On the domain size effect of thermal conductivities from equilibrium and nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations
Authors: Wang Zuyuan , Ruan Xiulin
Published: January 2017

Equilibrium molecular dynamics (EMD) simulations with the Green-Kubo formula and nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulations with the Fourier's Law are two widely used methods for calculating thermal conductivities of materials. It is well known that both methods suffer from domain size effects, especially for NEMD. But the underlying mechanisms and their comparison have not been much quantitatively studied before. In this paper, we investigate their domain size effects by using crystalline silicon at 1000 K, graphene at 300 K, and silicene at 300 K as model material systems. The thermal conductivity of silicon from EMD simulations increases normally with the increasing domain size and converges at a size of around 4×4×4 nm3. The converging trend agrees well with the wavelength-accumulated thermal conductivity. The thermal conductivities of graphene and silicene from EMD simulations decrease abnormally with the increasing domain size and converge at a size of around 10×10 nm2. We ascribe the anomalous size effect to the fact that as the domain size increases, the effect of more phonon scattering processes (particularly the flexural phonons) dominates over the effect of more phonon modes contributing to the thermal conductivity. The thermal conductivities of the three material systems from NEMD simulations all show normal domain size effects, although their dependences on the domain size differ. The converging trends agree with the mean free path accumulation of thermal conductivity. This study provides new insights that other than some exceptions, the domain size effects of EMD and NEMD are generally associated with wavelength and mean free path accumulations of thermal conductivity, respectively. Since phonon wavelength spans over a much narrower range than mean free path, EMD usually has less significant domain size effect than NEMD.
Viscoelastic creep and relaxation of dielectric elastomers characterized by a Kelvin-Voigt-Maxwell model
Authors: Zhang Junshi , Ru Jie , Chen Hualing , Li Dichen , Lu Jian
Published: January 2017

For dielectric elastomers (DEs), the inherent viscoelasticity leads to a time-dependent deformation during actuation. To describe such a viscoelastic behavior, a constitutive model is developed by utilizing a combined Kelvin-Voigt-Maxwell (KVM) model. The established model captures both the initial jumping deformation and the following slow creeping. Subsequently, with an employment of VHB 4910 elastomer, experiments are performed to validate the viscoelastic KVM model. The results indicate a good agreement between the simulation and experimental data. Effect of the parameters in KVM model on the viscoelastic deformation of DEs is also investigated.
Embryo induction and plant regeneration of Callerya speciosa (Fabaceae) through anther culture
Authors: Huang Bilan , Xu Li , Li Kelie , Fu Yunlu , Li Zhiying
Published: January 2017

An in vitro protocol for Callerya speciosa (Champ.) Schot regeneration through embryogenesis was developed using the anthers as the explants. The late uninucleate stage of the microspore was optimal for the anther culture of C. speciosa. Embryonic callus was induced on a MS basal medium supplemented with 4.4 µM 6-benzylaminopurine (BA) and 9.04 µM 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). Embryos were obtained on MS medium supplemented with 2.2 µM BA and 0.5 µM naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA). The highest percentage (16.7%) of embryos was achieved using the culture medium MS + 0.25 µM NAA + 1.1 µM BA. The highest percentage of embryos that developed into plants was 18.3%. However, haploid plants were not observed, which may have been due to the collection of the calli from the anther wall. The results presented here demonstrate the establishment of a highly efficient and rapid system for regenerating C. speciosa using anther cultures.
Hearing regulates
Drosophila
aggression
Authors: Versteven Marijke , Vanden Broeck Lies , Geurten Bart , Zwarts Liesbeth , Decraecker Lisse , Beelen Melissa , Göpfert Martin C. , Heinrich Ralf , Callaerts Patrick
Published: January 2017

Significance

Behavior is regulated by information originating from different sensory modalities. Aggression is a universal social behavior with an important role in obtaining food, mates, territory, and social status. In this study, we demonstrate that hearing regulates aggression in
Drosophila
males. Further, we show that courtship and aggression songs differentially affect aggression, indicating that hearing contributes to the context-dependent regulation of aggression.
Superresolution imaging reveals activity-dependent plasticity of axon morphology linked to changes in action potential conduction velocity
Authors: Chéreau Ronan , Saraceno G. Ezequiel , Angibaud Julie , Cattaert Daniel , Nägerl U. Valentin
Published: January 2017

Significance

Recent work has called into question the classic view of axons as electroanatomical cables that faithfully transmit nerve impulses in an all-or-none fashion over variable distances. Because of their small size, below the diffraction barrier of light microscopy, it has not been possible to resolve their dynamic morphology in living brain tissue. Enabled by a combination of live-cell superresolution stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy, electrophysiology, and mathematical modeling, we show here that high-frequency action potential firing induces structural enlargement of boutons and axon shafts in hippocampal brain slices, which in turn drives changes in the conduction velocity of nerve impulses (action potentials). The findings reveal a mechanism for tuning the timing of communication between nerve cells.
Mesoscale ocean fronts enhance carbon export due to gravitational sinking and subduction
Authors: Stukel Michael R. , Aluwihare Lihini I. , Barbeau Katherine A. , Chekalyuk Alexander M. , Goericke Ralf , Miller Arthur J. , Ohman Mark D. , Ruacho Angel , Song Hajoon , Stephens Brandon M. , Landry Michael R.
Published: January 2017

Significance

Transport of organic carbon from the sunlit surface ocean to deeper depths drives net oceanic uptake of CO
2
from the atmosphere. However, mechanisms that control this carbon export remain poorly constrained, limiting our ability to model and predict future changes in this globally important process. We show that the flux of sinking particles (typically considered the dominant form of downward transport of organic carbon) is twice as high at a frontal system, relative to surrounding waters or to nonfrontal conditions. Furthermore, downward transport by subduction leads to additional carbon export at the front that is similar in magnitude to the sinking flux. Such enhanced C export at episodic and mesoscale features needs to be incorporated into biogeochemical forecast models.
An experimental analysis of acquired impulse control among adult humans intolerant to alcohol
Authors: Wang Jianxin , Rao Yulei , Houser Daniel E.
Published: January 2017

Significance

We find that alcohol intolerance, which occurs randomly and leads affected people systematically to resist the impulse to consume alcohol, enables improved impulse control in another behavioral domain. Our findings show that impulse control can develop in adult populations as a result of exercising routine behaviors in naturally occurring environments. This finding is important because the ability to control tempting impulses significantly impacts the health and well-being of people at all ages. Our findings complement theory by providing rigorous empirical evidence that simple lifestyle changes may have significant personal well-being benefits. In particular, small acts of self-control, such as resisting drinking or always waking at the same time, can increase one’s overall ability to resist selfish temptations.
STV1, a ribosomal protein, binds primary microRNA transcripts to promote their interaction with the processing complex in
Arabidopsis
Authors: Li Shengjun , Liu Kan , Zhang Shuxin , Wang Xiaoyan , Rogers Kestrel , Ren Guodong , Zhang Chi , Yu Bin
Published: January 2017

Significance

SHORT VALVE 1 (STV1), a ribosomal protein, is required for the development of
Arabidopsis
. However, its functional mechanism remains to be identified. This research shows that STV1 binds the stem-loop flanked by a short 5′ arm within primary miRNAs and facilitates the recruitment of primary miRNAs to the DICER-LIKE1 complex. Consequently, this study provides insights into the mechanisms controlling miRNA production and identifies an extraribosomal function of STV1. Because STV1 is a conserved protein in eukaryotes, the results may produce a broader impact.
Immunoinhibitory checkpoint deficiency in medium and large vessel vasculitis
Authors: Zhang Hui , Watanabe Ryu , Berry Gerald J. , Vaglio Augusto , Liao Yaping Joyce , Warrington Kenneth J. , Goronzy Jörg J. , Weyand Cornelia M.
Published: January 2017

Significance

Antigen recognition by the immune system triggers rapid, specific, and protective responses, which are counterbalanced by inhibitory checkpoints to minimize potentially harmful immunity. The programmed death-1/ programmed death ligand-1 (PD-1/PD-L1) checkpoint is overreactive in cancer patients, curbing antitumor immunity. Whether a failing PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint contributes to spontaneous autoimmune disease in humans is unknown. Here, we found that in patients with the autoimmune vasculitis giant cell arteritis, antigen-presenting cells provide insufficient negative signaling; unleashing highly activated T cells to infiltrate and damage the walls of large arteries. Thus, immunoinhibitory signals protect large arteries against inflammatory attack and checkpoint activation may be a suitable strategy to treat autoimmune vasculitis.
Effect of a fish stock's demographic structure on offspring survival and sensitivity to climate
Authors: Stige Leif Christian , Yaragina Natalia A. , Langangen Øystein , Bogstad Bjarte , Stenseth Nils Chr. , Ottersen Geir
Published: January 2017

Significance

It is feared that loss of old and large spawners impairs heavily fished fish stocks’ reproductive capacity and increases their sensitivity to environmental fluctuations. The Barents Sea cod is the world’s largest cod stock and has been reported to show increased temperature–recruitment associations in periods with predominantly young and small spawners. We here investigate the possible causal basis for the link between demographic structure and recruitment by analyzing long-term egg survey data. Results support a link between demographic structure and abundance and distributional extent of eggs but not between egg distribution and recruitment. These results question whether the benefits of a wide spatiotemporal distribution of spawning are of quantitative importance for recruitment.
Low energy cost for optimal speed and control of membrane fusion
Authors: François-Martin Claire , Rothman James E. , Pincet Frederic
Published: January 2017

Significance

Membrane fusion is a key process for cell growth and intercellular communication. There are many models for fusion with widely divergent activation energies. Surprisingly, no comprehensive quantification of fusion was ever experimentally performed. Probably this is because of the difficulty of observing and quantifying rare spontaneous fusion events and equally the difficulty of establishing that such events are
bona fide
fusion events. Here, we find that the activation energy is lower by far than in most predictions. The biological importance of this low energy value is that it explains how cells can maintain traffic among distinct compartments without mixing them up, preventing spontaneous fusion but allowing specific delivery of cargo as soon as fusion-inducing proteins are in place.
The syntactic realisation of complex events and complex predicates in situations of Irish
Authors: Nolan Brian
Published: January 2017

This chapter is concerned with the nature of complex events and complex predicates in Irish. We characterise the framing of complex events within a situation. A situation is considered to be a structured entity with certain attributes that serves as a unifying device to link semantics to events through to syntax. Through the perspective of a situation, we view the set of relationships between multi-verb constructions, single and multiple clauses, and a variety of complex events. In a sentence or clause with multiple verbs, the multiple verbs are argued to represent individual discrete events characterised in some relation of significance and conceptualised as forming a cognitive unit with significant syntactic consequences for argument realisation and argument sharing. Using Irish data, within a situation we examine and characterise multiple events where the events are in a transition from e1 into e2, in sequence where e1 occurs before e2, and simultaneous events occurring together where e1 and e2 unfold at the same time. We also characterise complex predication where the multi-verb single clause realises a single event in syntax but additionally denotes the phase of the event. We find that a multi-verb single clause can encode causation or certain adverbial-like functions such as modulating manner, means, path or trajectory of the event.
Serial verb constructions and event structure representations
Authors: Riccio Anna
Published: January 2017

A survey of the relevant literature on serial verb constructions (SVCs) shows that the label ‘SVC’ is often used as an umbrella term that inappropriately encompasses various verb phrase sequences which are essentially different from traditional SVCs. The aim of this chapter is to highlight and discuss some syntactic and semantic characteristics of SVCs, which researchers have described over the years, within the syntax-semantics interface developed by the Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) framework (Van Valin & LaPolla 1997; Van Valin 2005). The resulting analysis demonstrates that RRG provides a useful theoretical perspective able to embody the peculiarities of traditional SVCs, by distinguishing them from other multi-verb constructions that in the relevant literature are often classified as members of the SVC category.1
Feelings as emotion, attitude, and viewpoints
Authors: Guerrero Lilián , Domínguez Irasema Cruz
Published: January 2017

This chapter examines the syntax and semantics of sentir ‘to feel’ in simple and complex structures. Based on data from Mexican Spanish, we corroborate the polysemy of this verb, and we point out that different complement types (and verb forms) denote particular subjective connotations (emotions, attitudes, thoughts, evaluations, viewpoints). We propose that nominal complements correlate with an unmediated physical and emotional perception of an object, while clausal complements report a thought towards a proposition. What we called predicative elements (mainly adjectives and past participles) describe the state, quality, or property of the perceived object. In the last structure, the verb form is sentirse, and both the verb and the perceived state form a complex predicate.
Nominal predication in Persian
Authors: Saeedi Zari
Published: January 2017

The present study explores the nominal complex predicates (CPs) in Persian, one of the oldest Indo-European languages with 2500 years of written history (Khanlari 1979), where a noun fuses with the impoverished form of the verb referred to as ‘light verb’ (Cattell 1984). The framework adopted is Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) theory (Van Valin & LaPolla 1997; Van Valin 2005, 2010). Following Saeedi (2009a), the paper analyzes these nominal CPs or nuclear junctures (NJs) (in RRG’s term) with regard to their argument structure. The findings indicate that the nominal constituent being of concrete, abstract, action, and process type plays an important role in determining the Aktionsart type of the juncture.
The Persian–Portuguese Encounter in Hormuz: Orientalism Reconsidered
Authors: Tazmini Ghoncheh
Published: January 2017

In 2015, the quincentennial commemoration of the Portuguese arrival on the island of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf (1515–1622) revealed the underlying presupposition among Iranians that the Portuguese presence on the island was the harbinger of a long-term pattern of western imperialism. This analysis questions the accuracy of this narrative by advancing a new interpretative framework that does not reduce the holding of Hormuz to simply another dark episode of European colonial history. Circumscribed and limited in aim and reach, Lusitanian activities on Hormuz cannot be brought under the generic rubric of “orientalism,” which is embedded in European colonial tradition, and which, by extension, buttresses Iranian nationalist sentiment about the Persian–Portuguese entanglement. This research demonstrates that Portuguese objectives diverged from the eighteenth and nineteenth century rationalist scientific traditions of the British, French and Germans professing a civilizing mission as a rationale for colonial policies. Whereas the Portuguese operated from a worldview that combined profit, dynastic pride and religious rhetoric, the Portuguese mission to Hormuz was not guided by a grand discourse of civilizing the “other.” While there was a complex interplay of commercial interests and brutal methods on this strategic entrepôt, Portuguese ambitions in Hormuz were confined and elusive, and at best a matter of tribute-taking. The present paper charters some of these complex interactions.
Fabrication and drag reduction of the superoleophobic surface on a rotational gyroscope
Authors: Yin Liang , Zhang Haifeng , Weng Rui , Wu Zhiwen , Liu Xiaowei
Published: January 2017

Surface tension and friction are dominant forces at microscale. The friction and wear of solid–solid or solid–liquid contacts affect the performance and lifetime of a microgyroscope. In this paper, we propose a novel superoleophobic liquid-bearing microgyroscope, and present a simple method to fabricate a superoleophobic surface on a 2J85 ferromagnetic alloy substrate through hydrofluoric acid etching. The superoleophobic surfaces exhibit reduced viscous drag because of the ‘slip’ associated with a layer of air trapped at the liquid/solid interface. In addition, a drag reduction ratio of approximately 10.7% was observed at a high velocity.
Early Detection of Nonnative Alleles in Fish Populations: When Sample Size Actually Matters
Authors: Della Croce Patrick , Poole Geoffrey C. , Payn Robert A. , Gresswell Robert E.
Published: January 2017

Reliable detection of nonnative alleles is crucial for the conservation of sensitive native fish populations at risk of introgression. Typically, nonnative alleles in a population are detected through the analysis of genetic markers in a sample of individuals. Here we show that common assumptions associated with such analyses yield substantial overestimates of the likelihood of detecting nonnative alleles. We present a revised equation to estimate the likelihood of detecting nonnative alleles in a population with a given level of admixture. The new equation incorporates the effects of the genotypic structure of the sampled population and shows that conventional methods overestimate the likelihood of detection, especially when nonnative or F-1 hybrid individuals are present. Under such circumstances—which are typical of early stages of introgression and therefore most important for conservation efforts—our results show that improved detection of nonnative alleles arises primarily from increasing the number of individuals sampled rather than increasing the number of genetic markers analyzed. Using the revised equation, we describe a new approach to determining the number of individuals to sample and the number of diagnostic markers to analyze when attempting to monitor the arrival of nonnative alleles in native populations.
Blogging, Microblogging, and Exposure to Health and Risk Messages
Authors: Rains Stephen A.
Published: January 2017

The widespread diffusion of social media in recent years has created a number of opportunities and challenges for health and risk communication. Blogs and microblogs are specific forms of social media that appear to be particularly important. Blogs are webpages authored by an individual or group in which entries are published in reverse chronological order; microblogs are largely similar, but limited in the total number of characters that may be published per entry. Researchers have begun exploring the use and consequences of blogs and microblogs among individuals coping with illness as well as for health promotion. Much of this work has focused on better understanding people’s motivations for blogging about illness and the content of illness blogs. Coping with the challenges of illness and connecting with others are two primary motivations for authoring an illness blog, and blogs typically address medical issues (e.g., treatment options) and the author’s thoughts and feelings about experiencing illness. Although less prevalent, there is also evidence that illness blogging can be a resource for social support and facilitate coping efforts. Researchers studying the implications of blogs and microblogs for health promotion and risk communication have tended to focus on the use of these technologies by health professionals and for medical surveillance. Medical professionals appear to compose a noteworthy proportion of all health bloggers. Moreover, blogs and microblogs have been shown to serve a range of surveillance functions. In addition to being used to follow illness outbreaks in real-time, blogs and microblogs have offered a means for understanding public perceptions of health and risk-related issues including medical controversies. Taken as whole, contemporary research on health blogs and microblogs underscores the varied and important functions of these forms of social media for health and risk communication.
New Policy Instruments
Authors: Zito Anthony R.
Published: January 2017

New policy instruments have come onto the policy agenda since the 1970s, but there is a real question about whether the ideas behind the design of such tools are actually all that “new” when you assess the role of the policy instrument in its particular institutional and policy context. Taking Hood’s 1983 categorization of instruments as tools that manipulate society to achieve public goals via nodality (information), authority, treasure (finance), or organization, we can find instances where innovations in these areas predate the 1970s. Nevertheless, the mention of these instruments in international organizations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and national institutions and debates as the means for both improving governance and protecting economic efficiency has increased in light of a number of interacting trends, including the rise of neoliberal and new management ideologies, the increasing perception of a number of wicked problems (e.g., climate change) and nested, politically sensitive problems (e.g., health and welfare policy), and a rethinking of the role of the state. A typology is offered for differentiating changes and innovation in policy instruments. Some very notable and complex policy instruments have reshaped politics and public policy in a particular policy sector; a notable example of this is emissions trading systems, which create market conditions to reduce emissions of climate change gases and other by-products. Information and financial instruments have become more prominent as tools used to achieve policy aims by the state, but equally significant is the fact that, in some cases, the societal actors themselves are organizing and supporting the management of an instrument voluntarily. However, this obscures the fact that a much more significant evolution of policy instruments has come in the area that is associated with traditional governing, namely regulation. The reality of this “command and control” instrument is that many historical situations have witnessed a more flexible relationship between the regulator and the regulated than the term suggests. Nevertheless, many OECD political systems have seen a move toward “smart” or flexible regulation. It is increasingly important that those who promote this new understanding of regulation see regulation as being supplemented and supported by and sometimes reinforcing new policy instruments. The integration of these “newer” policy instruments into the regulatory framework represents perhaps the most significant change. Nevertheless, there is some reason to question the real impact that new policy instruments have in terms of effectiveness and democratic legitimacy.
Protest and Contentious Action
Authors: Quaranta Mario
Published: January 2017

The field of protest and contentious action is massive. Numerous studies have focused on the determinants of such behavior, among which are grievances and deprivations, resources, political opportunities, and general contextual conditions. Others have examined the changes in political protest over time and across countries, or the consequences of contentious action. Moreover, research on protest politics is characterized by a multitude of methodological approaches, which are not easy to group according to the “qualitative–quantitative” divide. To navigate this literature, three units of analysis are examined: individuals; groups, organizations or social movements; and protest events. This perspective can guide researchers through the field, in particular through the main factors for protest studies cross-temporally and cross-nationally, about their effects, and through the various methodological approaches. This perspective also might suggest possible directions for future research to overcome some limitations of the current literature.
The Changing Nature of Political Party Membership
Authors: Scarrow Susan E.
Published: January 2017

Party membership has long been an important channel for political participation in many countries. Strong membership organizations have helped parties win elections and stay connected with voters between elections, and membership opportunities have helped to mobilize some citizens who might otherwise have stayed out of politics. Yet in the last quarter-century, long-established political parties in parliamentary democracies have, with a few notable exceptions, experienced sharp enrollment declines, while newer parties have developed modest memberships at best. This has led many observers to question the continued viability of membership-based political parties.

However, that is not the whole story. While some signs point to the obsolescence of party membership, there are other indications that parties are trying to reinvent the form, whether as a passport to individual political empowerment or as a pathway to digital citizenship. Most strikingly, many parties are experimenting with new procedures that give members a direct say in important party decisions. In this sense, the paradoxical story of party membership in the early 21st century is one of numerical decline accompanied by a possible increase in political relevance.
Popular Understanding of Democracy
Authors: Shin Doh Chull
Published: January 2017

How well do people around the world understand democracy? Do they support democracy with an informed understanding of what it is? To address these questions, which have largely been overlooked in the literature on democratization, the World Values Survey and three regional barometer surveys are analyzed according to a two-dimensional notion of democratic knowledge. Their analyses reveal that a vast majority of global citizenries especially in post-authoritarian and authoritarian countries are either uninformed or misinformed about the fundamental characteristics of democracy and its alternatives. These findings contradict the popular theses that democracy is emerging as a universal value and it is also becoming the universally preferred system of government. For much of the world today, democracy represents little more than an appealing political symbol that still retains authoritarian practices.
The Judicial Hierarchy
Authors: Kastellec John P.
Published: January 2017

Crucial to understanding the behavior of judges and the outputs of courts is the institutional context in which they operate. One key component of courts’ institutional structure is that the judiciary is organized as a hierarchy, which creates both problems and opportunities for judges. For instance, one problem for judges at the top of a hierarchy is how to best exercise oversight of lower court judges, whose decisions are often not reviewed by higher courts. One opportunity is that higher courts can reverse errors by lower courts; another is that, as new legal issues emerge, hierarchy provides opportunities for judges to learn from one another.

Scholars of the judicial hierarchy have pursued two broad approaches. The “team perspective” begins by assuming that all judges in a hierarchy have the same values or principles, and thus care only about achieving the correct outcome in a given case. In the team approach, the key problem in adjudication is informational. All judges agree on the correct outcome of a case, conditional on understanding the relevant facts, but may lack this understanding due to resource constraints or informational advantages enjoyed by litigants. The agency approach, by contrast assumes that judges in the hierarchy have differing preferences, and the key problem is how higher courts can ensure compliance by lower courts.

Despite these different foundational assumptions, the team and agency approaches have both been employed successfully to study core questions regarding the judicial hierarchy, including: why hierarchy exists; how higher courts can best oversee lower courts; how learning takes place both within and across the levels of the judiciary; and how collegiality influences judicial decision-making. Yet, while our understanding of the judicial hierarchy has greatly increased in recent years, many questions remain, such as how judges learn and how to measure legal doctrine.
The Medieval Uyghurs of the 8th through 14th Centuries
Authors: Brose Michael C.
Published: January 2017

The medieval Uyghurs became a political entity in the mid-8th century when they established their steppe empire as the inheritors of the ancient Türk steppe tribal confederation. They ruled their empire for a century from their capital city in the heart of the Mongol steppe. Their empire ended when rival Kirgiz tribes attacked it, and the Uyghur aristocracy fled south into the borderland areas between China and the steppe. Two groups of diaspora Uyghurs built new states in Gansu and the Tarim Basin. The Gansu Uyghurs stayed in that region but never exerted any real power as a state. The Uyghurs who migrated to the Tarim Basin were more successful, building an independent kingdom that maintained a stable rule over the mixed population of city dwellers and nomads who lived in the far-flung oases of the area. The Tarim Basin Uyghurs readily adapted to the sedentary lifestyle and built one of the most highly diverse societies of the age, where Buddhists, Nestorian Christians, Manichaeans, Zoroastrians, and nomads all lived side by side. Even after they became subjects of the Qarakhitai and then the Mongols, the Uyghurs retained some autonomy as political rulers in the Tarim Basin. That ended when Khubilai lost control of the Tarim Basin and most of the Uyghur aristocracy moved to China. The Uyghur diaspora refashioned their identity a third time in China as members of the conquest government and the cultural literati. Their existence as a distinct political entity ended with the eviction from China of the Mongols.
Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Religion in North America
Authors: Petro Anthony
Published: January 2017

The history of religion in the United States cannot be understood without attending to histories of race, gender, and sexuality. Since the 1960s, social and political movements for civil rights have ignited interest in the politics of identity, especially those tied to movements for racial justice, women’s rights, and LGBT rights. These movements have in turn informed scholarly practice, not least by prompting the formation of new academic fields, such as Women’s Studies and African American studies, and new forms of analysis, such as intersectionality, critical race theory, and feminist and queer theory. These movements have transformed how scholars of religion in colonial North America and the United States approach intersections of race, gender, and sexuality.

From the colonial period to the present, these discourses of difference have shaped religious practice and belief. Religion has likewise shaped how people understand race, gender, and sexuality. The way that most people in the United States think about identity, especially in terms of race, gender, or sexuality, has a longer history forged out of encounters among European Christians, Native Americans, and people of African descent in the colonial world. European Christians brought with them a number of assumptions about the connection between civilization and Christian ideals of gender and sexuality. Many saw their role in the Americas as one of Christianization, a process that included not only religious but also sexual and cultural conversion, as these went hand in hand. Assumptions about religion and sexuality proved central to how European colonists understood the people they encountered as “heathens” or “pagans.” Religion likewise informed how they interpreted the enslavement of Africans, which was often justified through theological readings of the Bible. Native Americans and African Americans also drew upon religion to understand and to resist the violence of European colonialism and enslavement. In the modern United States, languages of religion, race, gender, and sexuality continue to inform one another as they define the boundaries of normative “modernity,” including the role of religion in politics and the relationship between religious versus secular arguments about race, gender, and sexuality.
Blue and Red Voices: Effects of Political Ideology on Consumers’ Complaining and Disputing Behavior
Authors: Jung Kiju , Garbarino Ellen , Briley Donnel A , Wynhausen Jesse
Published: January 2017

Political ideology plays a pivotal role in shaping individuals’ attitudes, opinions, and behaviors. However, apart from a handful of studies, little is known about how consumers’ political ideology affects their marketplace behavior. The authors used three large consumer complaint databases from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and Federal Communications Commission in conjunction with a county-level indicator of political ideology (the 2012 US presidential election results) to demonstrate that conservative consumers are not only less likely than liberal consumers to report complaints but also less likely to dispute complaint resolutions. A survey also sheds light on the relationship between political ideology and complaint/dispute behavior. Due to stronger motivations to engage in “system justification,” conservative (as opposed to liberal) consumers are less likely to complain or dispute. The present research offers a useful means of identifying those consumers most and least likely to complain and dispute, given that political ideology is more observable than most psychological factors and more stable than most situational factors. Furthermore, this research and its theoretical framework open opportunities for future research examining the influence of political ideology on other marketplace behaviors.