bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
CHK1 Inhibition Synergizes with Gemcitabine Initially by Destabilizing the DNA Replication Apparatus
Authors: Koh Siang-Boon , Courtin Aurélie , Boyce Richard J. , Boyle Robert G. , Richards Frances M. , Jodrell Duncan I.
Published: July 2015

Combining cell-cycle checkpoint kinase inhibitors with the DNA-damaging chemotherapeutic agent gemcitabine offers clinical appeal, with a mechanistic rationale based chiefly on abrogation of gemcitabine-induced G2–M checkpoint activation. However, evidence supporting this mechanistic rationale from chemosensitization studies has not been consistent. Here we report a systematic definition of how pancreatic cancer cells harboring mutant p53 respond to this combination therapy, by combining mathematical models with large-scale quantitative biologic analyses of single cells and cell populations. Notably, we uncovered a dynamic range of mechanistic effects at different ratios of gemcitabine and CHK1 inhibitors. Remarkably, effective synergy was attained even where cells exhibited an apparently functional G2–M surveillance mechanism, as exemplified by a lack of both overt premature CDK1 activation and S-phase mitotic entry. Consistent with these findings, S–G2 duration was extended in treated cells, leading to a definable set of lineage-dependent catastrophic fates. At synergistic drug concentrations, global replication stress was a distinct indicator of chemosensitization as characterized molecularly by an accumulation of S-phase cells with high levels of hyperphosphorylated RPA-loaded single-stranded DNA. In a fraction of these cells, persistent genomic damage was observed, including chromosomal fragmentation with a loss of centromeric regions that prevented proper kinetochore-microtubule attachment. Together, our results suggested a “foot-in-the-door” mechanism for drug synergy where cells were destroyed not by frank G2–M phase abrogation but rather by initiating a cumulative genotoxicity that deregulated DNA synthesis. Cancer Res; 75(17); 3583–95. ©2015 AACR.
Depleting MET-Expressing Tumor Cells by ADCC Provides a Therapeutic Advantage over Inhibiting HGF/MET Signaling
Authors: Hultberg Anna , Morello Virginia , Huyghe Leander , De Jonge Natalie , Blanchetot Christophe , Hanssens Valérie , De Boeck Gitte , Silence Karen , Festjens Els , Heukers Raimond , Roux Benjamin , Lamballe Fabienne , Ginestier Christophe , Charafe-Jauffret Emmanuelle , Maina Flavio , Brouckaert Peter , Saunders Michael , Thibault Alain , Dreier Torsten , de Haard Hans , Michieli Paolo
Published: July 2015

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and its receptor MET represent validated targets for cancer therapy. However, HGF/MET inhibitors being explored as cancer therapeutics exhibit cytostatic activity rather than cytotoxic activity, which would be more desired. In this study, we engineered an antagonistic anti-MET antibody that, in addition to blocking HGF/MET signaling, also kills MET-overexpressing cancer cells by antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). As a control reagent, we engineered the same antibody in an ADCC-inactive form that is similarly capable of blocking HGF/MET activity, but in the absence of any effector function. In comparing these two antibodies in multiple mouse models of cancer, including HGF-dependent and -independent tumor xenografts, we determined that the ADCC-enhanced antibody was more efficacious than the ADCC-inactive antibody. In orthotopic mammary carcinoma models, ADCC enhancement was crucial to deplete circulating tumor cells and to suppress metastases. Prompted by these results, we optimized the ADCC-enhanced molecule for clinical development, generating an antibody (ARGX-111) with improved pharmacologic properties. ARGX-111 competed with HGF for MET binding, inhibiting ligand-dependent MET activity, downregulated cell surface expression of MET, curbing HGF-independent MET activity, and engaged natural killer cells to kill MET-expressing cancer cells, displaying MET-specific cytotoxic activity. ADCC assays confirmed the cytotoxic effects of ARGX-111 in multiple human cancer cell lines and patient-derived primary tumor specimens, including MET-expressing cancer stem-like cells. Together, our results show how ADCC provides a therapeutic advantage over conventional HGF/MET signaling blockade and generates proof-of-concept for ARGX-111 clinical testing in MET-positive oncologic malignancies. Cancer Res; 75(16); 3373–83. ©2015 AACR.
LY2606368 Causes Replication Catastrophe and Antitumor Effects through CHK1-Dependent Mechanisms
Authors: King Constance , Diaz H. Bruce , McNeely Samuel , Barnard Darlene , Dempsey Jack , Blosser Wayne , Beckmann Richard , Barda David , Marshall Mark S.
Published: July 2015

CHK1 is a multifunctional protein kinase integral to both the cellular response to DNA damage and control of the number of active replication forks. CHK1 inhibitors are currently under investigation as chemopotentiating agents due to CHK1's role in establishing DNA damage checkpoints in the cell cycle. Here, we describe the characterization of a novel CHK1 inhibitor, LY2606368, which as a single agent causes double-stranded DNA breakage while simultaneously removing the protection of the DNA damage checkpoints. The action of LY2606368 is dependent upon inhibition of CHK1 and the corresponding increase in CDC25A activation of CDK2, which increases the number of replication forks while reducing their stability. Treatment of cells with LY2606368 results in the rapid appearance of TUNEL and pH2AX-positive double-stranded DNA breaks in the S-phase cell population. Loss of the CHK1-dependent DNA damage checkpoints permits cells with damaged DNA to proceed into early mitosis and die. The majority of treated mitotic nuclei consist of extensively fragmented chromosomes. Inhibition of apoptosis by the caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK had no effect on chromosome fragmentation, indicating that LY2606368 causes replication catastrophe. Changes in the ratio of RPA2 to phosphorylated H2AX following LY2606368 treatment further support replication catastrophe as the mechanism of DNA damage. LY2606368 shows similar activity in xenograft tumor models, which results in significant tumor growth inhibition. LY2606368 is a potent representative of a novel class of drugs for the treatment of cancer that acts through replication catastrophe. Mol Cancer Ther; 14(9); 2004–13. ©2015 AACR.
Heat Shock Protein 90 Is a Potential Therapeutic Target in Cholangiocarcinoma
Authors: Shirota Tomoki , Ojima Hidenori , Hiraoka Nobuyoshi , Shimada Kazuaki , Rokutan Hirofumi , Arai Yasuhito , Kanai Yae , Miyagawa Shinichi , Shibata Tatsuhiro
Published: July 2015

Cholangiocarcinoma is an aggressive malignancy with a poor prognosis, with no effective therapy other than surgical resection. Heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) is a key component of a multichaperone complex involved in the posttranslational folding of a number of client proteins, many of which play essential roles in tumorigenesis. Here, we attempted to clarify its prognostic significance and potential utility as a therapeutic target in cholangiocarcinoma. Immunohistochemical expression of HSP90 was assessed retrospectively in 399 cholangiocarcinoma cases and 17 human cholangiocarcinoma cell lines, along with the effect of a small-molecule HSP90 inhibitor (NVP-AUY922) on cholangiocarcinoma tumor growth and angiogenesis in human cholangiocarcinoma cell lines and xenografts. The positivity of HSP90 was 44.6% in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (IHCC) and 32.8% in extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (EHCC), respectively. HSP90 expression was significantly associated with the 5-year survival rate for IHCC (P < 0.001) and EHCC (P < 0.001). HSP90 inhibition showed potent antiproliferative activity and reduced growth-associated signaling in human cholangiocarcinoma cells in vitro. Furthermore, treatment of cholangiocarcinoma xenograft-bearing mice with NVP-AUY922 significantly inhibited growth at doses far below the maximum-tolerated dose. HSP90 overexpression is a prognostic marker for cholangiocarcinoma. HSP90-targeted therapy may be an option for a subset of cholangiocarcinoma. Mol Cancer Ther; 14(9); 1985–93. ©2015 AACR.
Identification of Circadian Determinants of Cancer Chronotherapy through In Vitro Chronopharmacology and Mathematical Modeling
Authors: Dulong Sandrine , Ballesta Annabelle , Okyar Alper , Lévi Francis
Published: July 2015

Cancer chronotherapy aims at enhancing tolerability and efficacy of anticancer drugs through their delivery according to circadian clocks. However, mouse and patient data show that lifestyle, sex, genetics, drugs, and cancer can modify both host circadian clocks and metabolism pathways dynamics, and thus the optimal timing of drug administration. The mathematical modeling of chronopharmacology could indeed help moderate optimal timing according to patient-specific determinants. Here, we combine in vitro and in silico methods, in order to characterize the critical molecular pathways that drive the chronopharmacology of irinotecan, a topoisomerase I inhibitor with complex metabolism and known activity against colorectal cancer. Large transcription rhythms moderated drug bioactivation, detoxification, transport, and target in synchronized colorectal cancer cell cultures. These molecular rhythms translated into statistically significant changes in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics according to in vitro circadian drug timing. The top-up of the multiple coordinated chronopharmacology pathways resulted in a four-fold difference in irinotecan-induced apoptosis according to drug timing. Irinotecan cytotoxicity was directly linked to clock gene BMAL1 expression: The least apoptosis resulted from drug exposure near BMAL1 mRNA nadir (P < 0.001), whereas clock silencing through siBMAL1 exposure ablated all the chronopharmacology mechanisms. Mathematical modeling highlighted circadian bioactivation and detoxification as the most critical determinants of irinotecan chronopharmacology. In vitro–in silico systems chronopharmacology is a new powerful methodology for identifying the main mechanisms at work in order to optimize circadian drug delivery. Mol Cancer Ther; 14(9); 2154–64. ©2015 AACR.
Personalschriften als biographische Quelle. Ein Projekt zum personalen Gelegenheitsschrifttum in den Beständen der Forschungsbibliothek Gotha
Authors: Anders Stefan
Published: July 2015

This paper presents a joint project of the Institute for Early Modern Cultural History and the Research Library in Gotha, which is digitizing and making accessible about 8000 printed documents from the 16th to the 18th century. These documents were created on the occasion of such personal events as birth, marriage or death. During this process, numerous names of the people mentioned in these occasional documents are being identified and consolidated in a consistent format. The short biographies generated contain essential personal data, originating mostly from these documents but supplemented by information taken from reference books and other biographical resources. The huge potential of these occasional documents for the biographical reconstruction of persons of the early modern period is then demonstrated by a case study, which demonstrates the reliability of the collected data.
Theater als Medium höfischer Kommunikation
Authors: Jacobsen Roswitha
Published: July 2015

Since historical research gave up the paradigm of absolutism a new understanding of dynastic rule, as a process of communication and interaction aimed at securing acceptance, has become established. This has been accompanied by a new perspective on the institutions of courtly culture, which play a key role as important media in this process. In accordance with current media-theoretical discourse, this paper describes the contribution of specific aspects of one particular medium: the theatre. The theatre is embedded in two frames, which themselves are media: the court and the courtly festival. Thanks to its rigid techniques of selection and reduction, theatre is able to construct ‘the world’ according to contemporary knowledge systems in a straightforward manner. It can also serve as a tool for both the symbolic representation and the management of current problems. Above all, it enables the self-reflexivity of courtly society, which is itself characterized to the core by forms of theatricality.
Der Körper als Medium höfischer Kommunikation am Beispiel des Hofballets
Authors: Mourey Marie-Thérèse
Published: July 2015

Among the highly varied vehicles of communication in early modern German an European courts, the human body was both a crucial medium and symbolic form. The body of the prince was strategically used and glorified as a site of political representation, espexially in central German courts. This paper explores the performative functions of the ballets de cour as aestheticized, ritual expressions of power as well as the self-fashioning of the participating princes. Taking the representation of the prince in a ballet from 1687 as a case study, it focuses on the distinctive situation in the Court of Saxony-Gotha.
Die Wolverdiente Ehren-Seule für Herzog Ernst I. von Sachsen-Gotha und Altenburg als Medium höfischer Kommunikation
Authors: Bender Eva
Published: July 2015

The funeral sermon of a deceased prince played a particular role within the system of communication of early modern courts. The Wohlverdiente Ehrenseule, printed in honour of Ernst I von Sachsen-Gotha und Altenburg, and the Personalia which it contained, carried multiple meanings. In the first instance they served to communicate an unquestioned acceptance of the new ruler as guarantor of the existing order, in the context of the state ceremony of mourning. They acquired additional meaning as part of the ostentatious printed account of the funeral, where they worked to communicate the newly created image of Duke Ernst set up by his oldest son Friedrich in the context of the latter’s conflict with his brothers. It has become clear that such ostentatious funeral publications can only be evaluated with an understanding of both their political implications and the complete medial system of the relevant court, because the commemoration of the deceased prince was not the consequence of his qualities as a ruler but rather of the message that his successor wished to communicate.
Informalität am Rande des Hofes. Anwesenheitskommunikation unter Gothaer Gelehrten um 1700
Authors: Mulsow Martin
Published: July 2015

What was life like for scholars on the fringe of the Gotha court? This contribution argues that if we want to explore the everyday life of scholars, their contacts with each other and with their rulers, we have to consider not only the formal and literary media of courtly communication, but also the numerous “weak” media of informal communication, especially on the fringes of court life. We also need such informal communications to estimate the “communication chances” of the scholars: audiences and intellectual circles, meetings in book shops and at fairs, common laboratory life and encounters in the stagecoach played a considerable role. The “ephemeral” Gotha was more diverse than one might expect.
A new Zoropsis species from China, with notes on Zoropsis pekingensis Schenkel, 1953 (Araneae, Zoropsidae)
Authors: LI ZHIYUE , HU LANLAN , ZHANG FENG
Published: July 2015

The family Zoropsidae is currently represented by 15 genera and 87 species (World Spider Catalog 2015). Zoropsids are medium to large size spiders, with a narrow, bipartite cribellum and calamistrum; eight eyes in two rows, anterior eye row nearly straight, posterior row strongly recurved; median furrow longitudinal; toothed chelicerae; tibiae and metatarsi I, II equipped with several pairs of ventral spines; metatarsi and tarsi bearing scopulae; two tarsal claws (Bosselaers 2002). They are often collected from houses, under stones or in leaf litter in forest.
Armatophallus gen. n., a new genus of gelechiid moths (Lepidoptera, Gelechiidae) from the Afrotropical and Oriental regions
Authors: BIDZILYA OLEKSIY V.
Published: July 2015

Armatophallus, gen. n., is established for six species: A. exoenota (Meyrick, 1918), comb. n. (ex Gelechia) (= Gelechia xylophaea Meyrick, 1921, syn. n.); A. crudescens (Meyrick, 1920), comb. n. (ex Gelechia); A. kuehnei, sp. n. (Rwanda); A. akagericus, sp. n. (Rwanda); A. hackeri, sp. n. (Yemen, Ethiopia); and A. indicus, sp. n. (India). The systematic position of the new genus is briefly discussed. A key to the species is given based on external characters and the genitalia of both sexes. Adults and genitalia of all species are illustrated.
Factors That Can Undermine the Psychological Benefits of Coastal Environments
Authors: Wyles Kayleigh J. , Pahl Sabine , Thomas Katrina , Thompson Richard C.
Published: July 2015

The beneficial effects of blue environments have been well documented; however, we do not know how marine litter might modify these effects. Three studies adopted a picture-rating task to examine the influence of litter on preference, perceived restorative quality, and psychological impacts. Photographs varied the presence of marine litter (Study 1) and the type of litter (Studies 2 and 3). The influence of tide and the role of connectedness were also explored. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, it was shown that litter can undermine the psychological benefits that the coast ordinarily provides, thus demonstrating that, in addition to environmental costs of marine litter, there are also costs to people. Litter stemming from the public had the most negative impact. This research extends our understanding of the psychological benefits from natural coastal environments and the threats to these benefits from abundant and increasing marine litter.
In vitro, in carta. Progettazione e genesi dei testi di Crêuza de mä
Authors: Ivaldi Federica
Published: July 2015

Il saggio ripercorre l’immaginario viaggio nel Mediterraneo rappresentato dal disco Crêuza de mä (Ricordi, 1984). Si propone di analizzare le tappe della ricostruzione in vitro di un’idea di “sound mediterraneo” – inteso come somma di sonorità che rispecchi la varietà di culture e paesaggi del Mediterraneo – e di indagare le ragioni della scelta linguistica del genovese, che acquista il valore ideologico forte di un ritorno alle origini e all’autenticità del “popolo”. Il saggio, inoltre, prende in considerazione alcuni dei materiali preparatori per i testi dell’album conservati nell’Archivio Fabrizio De André (nelle citazioni afda) presso la biblioteca della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia dell’Università degli Studi di Siena, osservando: il ricorrere di alcuni temi particolarmente importanti per lo chansonnier; il continuo rifluire di immagini e temi da una canzone all’altra; l’oscillazione dei titoli; l’analisi di alcune varianti prima della redazione definitiva di un testo; il rapporto fra le letture di Fabrizio De André e la scrittura delle sue canzoni; il lavoro per la scelta del punto di vista, momento sempre delicato per la resa del testo e la trasmissione del messaggio che gli è affidato.
Acts of resistance: The transformation of young single mothers in Hong Kong
Authors: Lit Siu-wai
Published: July 2015

Young single mothers are positioned as bad mothers in the dominant cultural and societal idealized narratives of motherhood in Hong Kong. This article draws from qualitative interview data of 20 young single mothers in Hong Kong who decided to keep their babies for lone motherhood, explicating the transformations they experienced in such decisions, and how their being positioned (or how they positioned themselves) as ‘bad’ mothers became their acts of resistance to the prevailing dominant images of motherhood. The findings also shed light on the important role in helping professionals collaboratively construct the ‘mother’ identity in order to prevent further subjugation.
Augmentation of classical failure criteria for comprehensive applicability to interfacially deficient woven-roving composites
Authors: Elshabasy Mohamed MYB
Published: July 2015

The dominant mode of failure in the fiber-reinforced composite materials of poor fiber-matrix adhesion is the interfacial shear failure. The main objective of the current study is to modify the classical failure criteria to comprise this mode of failure as they ignore the actual failure mechanisms, which are emerging microscopic deficiencies. An interfacial shear correction factor is proposed to augment the local shear component ( σ6) in the investigated failure criteria. Thus, the shear stress concentration at fiber-matrix interface in the boundary of the deficient zone is considered. To conduct the experimental part, thin-walled cylindrical specimens are fabricated from two layers of woven-roving E-glass fabrics of [±45°] and [0°, 90°] fiber directions. The fabrics are reinforced with polyester. For each fiber orientation, the specimens are divided into four groups: the first group includes the pristine specimens and the other three groups having circular inclusions of 5, 7, or 9 mm radii, respectively. Each specimen is subjected to fully reversed bending loading using a strain-controlled testing machine. The S-N curves and the relative damage vs. number of cycles to failure (N) curves are plotted for each group. The relative damage values are used to examine the theories applicability to the studied material and to calculate the values of the proposed interfacial shear correction factor.
Implementation and Generalization of Peer Support Arrangements for Students With Severe Disabilities in Inclusive Classrooms
Authors: Brock Matthew E. , Biggs Elizabeth E. , Carter Erik W. , Cattey Gillian N. , Raley Kevin S.
Published: July 2015

Although research suggests peer support arrangements can be an effective practice for improving social outcomes for students with severe disabilities, additional efforts are needed to refine training and implementation approaches to increase the replicability and sustainability of this intervention. We tested a promising teacher-delivered training model using a multiple-probe-across-participants design. Four paraprofessionals received training to facilitate peer support arrangements for four middle school students with severe disabilities in general education classrooms. Teacher-delivered training enabled paraprofessionals to facilitate peer support arrangements that increased support from peers and interactions for students with disabilities. In addition, three of four students with disabilities demonstrated growth on individualized goals. We discuss implications for research and practice, highlighting approaches for improved implementation of peer support arrangements.
Effects of dot-type adhesive and yarn float on shear stiffness of laminated fabric with interlining
Authors: Kim KyoungOk , Takatera Masayuki
Published: July 2015

A shear model for laminated fabrics bonded with dot-type adhesive interlining was proposed. The effect of fixing two or more interlacing points by adhesive on the shear stiffness of laminated fabric was taken into account. Using the proposed model, a prediction method for shear stiffness of laminated fabrics was proposed and verified experimentally. The increasing ratio ( IR) of the shear stiffness of face fabric due to bonding interlining was defined as the ratio of difference between shear stiffness of laminated fabrics and pressed adhesive interlining, and the initial shear stiffness of face fabric. The relationships among the ratio of fixed interlacing points, IR and adhesive mass were investigated. It is clear that IR is affected by the adhesive fixing of adjacent floating yarns in addition to the fixing of interlacing points. The experimentally obtained IR for a face fabric shows a linear relation with adhesive mass. Then, a regression equation for IR was formulated as a function of the mass of the adhesive agent using a small number of interlinings. It was possible to predict shear stiffness of other laminated fabrics with the regression equation and adhesive mass. Furthermore, the shear stiffness values of laminated fabrics were predicted more precisely by dividing the regression area according to the mass of adhesive applied during interlining.
A stop too far: How does public transportation concentration influence neighbourhood median household income?
Authors: Barton Michael S , Gibbons Joseph
Published: July 2015

Research on US cities has connected the concentration of public transit with various neighbourhood outcomes, but it remains unclear whether public transit was more attractive to lower or higher income households. Some research found neighbourhoods with public transportation were more attractive to lower income households, likely because such households could not afford private transportation. Closer examination suggested that the type of transit was important, as lower income households were more likely to use buses while higher income households were more likely to use rapid transit. A key limitation of existing research on transit and neighbourhood household income was that it did not adequately control for variation over time. The current study addresses this limitation by assessing how the concentration of subway and bus stops predicted variation in median household income in New York City during the 2000s. Results of cross-sectional regressions partially confirm the findings of previous research that lower income households corresponded to areas characterised by higher concentrations of bus stops. Longitudinal results, however, indicate that the concentration of different forms of transit was uniquely associated with changes in neighbourhood median household income, independent of other neighbourhood changes.
The Pocket Psychiatrist
Authors: Bass Deanna , Brandenburg Dana , Danner Christine
Published: July 2015

Primary care is the setting where the majority of patients seek assistance for their mental health problems. To assist family medicine residents in providing effective care to patients for mental health problems during residency and after graduation, it is essential they receive training in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of common mental health conditions. While there is some limited education time with a psychiatrist in our department, residents need tools and resources that provide education during their continuity clinics even when the psychiatrist is not available. Information on two tools that were developed is provided. These tools include teaching residents a brief method for conducting a psychiatric interview as well as a means to access evidence-based information on diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions through templates available within our electronic medical record.
Sailing smoothly across the cultural divide
Authors: Myerholtz Linda , Schirmer Julie , Carling Mary Anne
Published: July 2015

Beginning behavioral science faculty, who are critical residency program contributors, face significant immediate challenges that often diminish their effectiveness and increase the time it takes to translate and reformat their expertise into relevant and meaningful educational presentations. Residency program culture and competency-based learning are quite different from the educational objectives and teaching environments found in most behavioral health training programs. The goal of this article is to provide beginning behavior science faculty, who are typically on their own and learning on the job, with a guide to the core educational perspectives and skills required as well as key resources that are available to them. Since a significant portion of behavioral science faculty’s teaching time revolves around small and large group presentations, our guide focuses on how to incorporate key strategies and resources into relevant, evidenced-based and, most importantly, effective behavioral health presentations for the program’s resident physicians. Specifically, our recommendations include selection of content, methods of content organization, techniques for actively engaging resident physicians in discussing the significance of the topics, and descriptions of numerous Internet resources for the primary mental health topics that concern family medicine trainees. Finally, it is emphasized that the relevant and effective use of these recommendations is dependent upon the behavioral science faculty educator’s first understanding and appreciating how physicians’ think, speak, and prioritize information while caring for their patients.
“The Struggle for Land and Liberty”: Segregation, Violence, and African American Resistance in Baltimore, 1898-1918
Authors: Halpin Dennis P.
Published: July 2015

Beginning in the late 1890s, battles erupted along Baltimore’s racial frontiers as African Americans moved into predominately white neighborhoods. This article analyzes the fight to impose residential segregation by focusing on events on the streets. This vantage point reveals a fuller picture of the movement to impose legalized segregation in Baltimore. Attempts to maintain racially exclusive neighborhoods in Baltimore began years before the passage of the West Segregation Ordinances in 1910. A street-level examination emphasizes the violence and racism—often elided in top-down analyses—that were central to the push for legalized segregation. It also demonstrates the significance of grassroots activists in this story. The movement to impose residential segregation was both promulgated and opposed at the grassroots.
Pushers, Victims, and the Lost Innocence of White Suburbia
Authors: Lassiter Matthew D.
Published: July 2015

This case study of Los Angeles County portrays the war on drugs during the 1950s as a racial and spatial project that combined tough mandatory-minimum sentences for urban “pushers” and Mexican American “gangsters” with discretionary loopholes for white suburban “victims” of the heroin and marijuana markets. State institutions, media scripts, and white middle-class organizations constructed illegal drug use as a suburban crisis through a racialized pusher–victim discourse that collectively criminalized minority youth while decriminalizing white teenage lawbreakers. The escalation of California’s antinarcotics crusade during the postwar decades illuminates the deep historical roots, thoroughly bipartisan policies, and grassroots suburban politics that shaped the rise of mass incarceration and the continuing racial and spatial inequalities of drug war enforcement in modern America.
An iterative algorithm to solve the generalized coupled Sylvester-transpose matrix equations
Authors: Song Caiqin , Feng Jun-e
Published: July 2015

This note presents an iterative algorithm to solve the coupled Sylvester-transpose matrix equations (including the generalized coupled Sylvester matrix equations and Lyapunov matrix equations as special cases) over generalized centro-symmetric matrices. When the considered matrix equations are consistent, for any initial generalized centro-symmetric matrix group, a generalized centro-symmetric solution group can be obtained within finite iteration steps in the absence of roundoff errors. The least Frobenius norm generalized centro-symmetric solution group of the coupled Sylvester-transpose matrix equations can be derived when a suitable initial generalized centro-symmetric matrix group is chosen. In addition, for a given generalized centro-symmetric matrix group, the optimal approximation generalized centro-symmetric solution group can be obtained by finding the least Frobenius norm generalized centro-symmetric solution group of new coupled Sylvester-transpose matrix equations. Finally, a numerical example is given to demonstrate the efficiency of the introduced iterative algorithm.
Emergent Practices of an Environmental Standard
Authors: Shaw Isabel , Ozaki Ritsuko
Published: July 2015

Recent climate change statistics attribute over a quarter of carbon emissions to residential energy use in the United Kingdom. To address this, a building standard (Code for Sustainable Homes) was introduced to aim to reduce the levels of carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption. This paper analyzes how such an environmental standard reconfigures the sociotechnological relations and practices of housing professionals that design, construct, and manage social housing. We focus on how actors engage with the standard’s recommendation for incorporating low and zero carbon technologies into new buildings. We identify diverse practices that emerge from these engagements, which, we contend, have significant consequences for the working relationships of professional actors and for renewable energy provision. By being entwined in, and generative of actors’ practices, we argue that the Code becomes part of the sociotechnological relationships and infrastructures that shape energy provision.
Validation of the Spanish version of the CAPES
Authors: Mejia Anilena , Filus Ania , Calam Rachel , Morawska Alina , Sanders Matthew R.
Published: July 2015

In the present study, we explored the factor structure as well as validity and reliability of the Spanish version of the Child Adjustment and Parent Efficacy Scale (CAPES) suitable for assessing child behavioural and emotional difficulties (Intensity Scale) and parental self-efficacy (Self-Efficacy Scale) among Spanish-speaking parents from the US, Latin America and Spain. This instrument was designed to be brief and easy to read in order to reach parents with low-literacy levels and from under-resourced backgrounds. Psychometrics for the English version of the CAPES indicates good internal consistency, as well as satisfactory construct and predictive validity of the measure (Morawska et al., 2014). A sample of 174 parents of children (91 boys and 78 girls) from Panama participated in this study. They completed the instrument alongside the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) for measuring child psychological problems and the Parenting Task Checklist (PTC) for measuring parental self-efficacy. In addition, a group of 49 parents completed the CAPES at time 1 (T1) and 2 weeks after (T2). Psychometric evaluation of the Spanish version of the CAPES revealed that it has adequate internal consistency and test–retest reliability, as well as satisfactory convergent and discriminant validity. In conclusion, this instrument shows promise as a brief outcome measure to be used in clinical settings and to assess the effects of parenting interventions among Spanish-speaking parents. More research into psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the CAPES is needed, before it can be widely applied in practice.
Email thread identification using latent Dirichlet allocation and non-negative matrix factorization based clustering techniques
Authors: Sharaff Aakanksha , Nagwani Naresh Kumar
Published: July 2015

Emails are the most popular and effective way of communicating over the internet. A number of applications are available today for computers and mobile devices for email messaging. Email messaging is constantly getting more popular and, as a result, numbers of sent and received emails are also increasing. It is very difficult for a user to remember emails and relate newer incoming emails to previous communications made on similar topics. Email threads provide a mechanism using which a user can obtain sequences of emails for a particular set of communication in a time frame and provides a number of benefits to users. In this work two email thread identification algorithms based on a nested textual clustering approach are presented. The work is planned in two stages; in the first stage two popular text clustering approaches, latent Dirichlet allocation and non-negative matrix factorization, are applied over the email messages to form the email clusters. Then in the second stage, clustering is again performed over the created email clusters to identify the email threads using threading features. Performance parameters like accuracy, precision, recall and F-measure are evaluated for the presented thread identification algorithms.
On being (not quite) dead with Derrida
Authors: Plant Bob
Published: July 2015

If mortality is the most important fact about us, then it is reasonable to think that fear of death is our most fundamental fear. Indeed, while philosophers continue to disagree about whether it is rational to fear death, they tend to assume that fear is the most common, natural response our mortality provokes. I neither want to deny the reality of this fear nor evaluate its rationality. Rather, drawing on Derrida’s remarks on ‘quasi-death’, I will argue that (1) fearful or not, death pervades everyday life; (2) imagining one’s own death, and thereby remaining semi-present as a spectral observer, is not (as some allege) inherently misleading; and (3) taking these imaginings seriously highlights another response we have toward our own mortality that is at least as significant as fear; namely, prospective, self-directed grief.
Aesthetic Preference for Polygon Shape
Authors: Friedenberg Jay , Bertamini Marco
Published: July 2015

Abstract shapes can vary in how much they are preferred by observers, but the key factors are still not well understood. In Experiment 1, observers rated the attractiveness of octagonal polygons that varied in contour length but had approximate constant area. Thus, the shapes differed in compactness. Shapes with partial symmetry were judged to be more attractive as were those with greater total contour length. In a second experiment, participants judged polygons with different numbers of concavities but with constant contour length. Shapes with more concavities were considered more attractive. The data demonstrate a preference for greater complexity—both in terms of contour length and as changes in the number of concavities.
Going with the flow? Using participatory action research in physical geography
Authors: Whitman Geoff P. , Pain Rachel , Milledge David G.
Published: July 2015

This paper critically appraises the idea and practice of ‘participation’ in scientific environmental research, arguing for the wider uptake by physical geographers of a more radical participatory approach. It proposes participatory action research (PAR), which offers an alternative mode of science, involving collaboration and co-production of research from question definition through to outcomes. We begin with a critical view of public participation in environmental research and policy-making to date. We argue that much rhetoric and practice of participation is shallow, focusing simply on including relevant publics and stakeholders, or having an underlying agenda of building trust in science or policy-making. Both orientations diverge drastically from the radical traditions in which participatory research and planning originate. In the rest of the paper, we illustrate an alternative process of knowledge co-production, reporting on a PAR project on farm slurry pollution conducted with a UK Rivers Trust. We evaluate the knowledge co-produced, the responses of participants and the scientific process. Suggesting that we reframe co-production as the circulation of expertise, we argue that PAR can enrich the learning, knowledge and skills of all those involved and lead to innovation and positive environmental outcomes. A number of structural and institutional barriers to deep participatory processes need to be addressed.
An inter-laboratory study of the calibration of optical full-field systems for measuring deformation
Authors: Hack Erwin
Published: July 2015

A calibration of optical full-field systems for measuring deformation is performed using a physical Reference Material that reproduces fields of strain and deformation. Traceability of the measurement results is established by applying a calibrated transducer at a selected point and using an analytic description of the deformation field to extend traceability to the entire gauge area. A Reference Material based on a cantilever together with a protocol for its use had been suggested for both static and dynamic calibrations in a CEN Workshop Agreement. They have been challenged in an inter-laboratory study of calibration conducted on an international scale. We report results of this inter-laboratory study of calibration which prove that the Cantilever Reference Material is sufficiently stable and reproducible to be used as a calibration artefact for displacement and strain fields in static and dynamic loading. Participants applied the Cantilever Reference Material in a range of tip deflections from 2 μm to 4.7 mm. Deformation from static bending is shown to be linear in the tip deflection up to the highest loads applied thus providing evidence that the reference values of the calibration artefact are appropriate. In dynamic loading, the first resonant bending mode has proven especially useful for the purpose of calibration. While the calibration procedure proved to be viable, the feed-back of the participants led to a number of modifications to the relevant chapter of the CEN Workshop Agreement, for example, as to the estimation of calibration uncertainty.
Post-Hiroshima reflections on extinction
Authors: Vetlesen Arne Johan
Published: July 2015

Hiroshima was the first sign of the possibility of the human-inflicted devastation of the natural as well as the human world. But the potential for destruction is greater than it was in August 1945. It is now incumbent upon philosophy and critical though to consider the contemporary destruction of the non-human species and ecology upon which continued human life depends. This paper uses Hiroshima as a point of entry into consideration of the need now to think beyond anthropocentrism and instead to think more ecologically.
Techno-economic analysis of CHP system supplied by waste forest biomass
Authors: Borsukiewicz-Gozdur A , Klonowicz P , Król D , Wiśniewski S , Zwarycz-Makles K
Published: July 2015

Poland, as for Europe, is a country with an average forest cover of approximately 30%. In these forests, more than 37M m3 of wood, mostly coniferous (over 80%), is harvested per year. In 2012, 4.2M m3 of sawn timber was produced (sawn timber without factory lumber). At the same time, in Poland there are over 8000 sawmills, whereas only about 700 of them saw over 90% of the harvested timber. So much fragmentation is a major cause of low sawmills innovation, particularly of those small ones. However, in recent years, a trend of development in this sector is noticeable, and it is through rationalisation of material and energy economy. One of the methods to increase the technical and economic effectiveness of enterprises involved in woodworking is to build in the combined heat and power system (CHP) plant with the ORC system into the existing infrastructure, which will be matched to the needs of the company. This article presents an analysis of the profitability of the investment based on the example of a medium-sized company sawing approximately 50 000 m3 of timber per year, and the economic analysis was performed for prices and costs valid in Poland. The analysis made for the 1650 kWel organic Rankine cycle (ORC) system, has resulted in a profitability index PI = 1.3, on the assumptions that the ORC system operates for 6000 h y−1, will be purchased at the price of 4500 € kWel−1 and at the price of electricity sales of 130 € MWh−1.
Developing an Understanding of Victims and Violent Offenders
Authors: Peterson Jillian K. , Silver Roxane Cohen
Published: July 2015

This study explores the consequences of fostering empathy—for both victims and perpetrators—after large-scale violent events. Participants ( N = 834) read a description of a school shooting and were randomly assigned to one of six conditions revealing varying amounts of background information about the victim and the perpetrator of violence. The impact of empathy on reactions toward the victim and perpetrator were then assessed. Empathy for the perpetrator could be fostered with increased information about his background, resulting in recommendations of increased leniency. Fostering empathy for the victim promoted positive community responses, including increased intentions to engage in helping behavior and make charitable donations. The degree to which participants could make sense of the violent event was also associated with decreases in blame and anger toward the perpetrator. Potential implications of the findings for news media and community coping strategies are explored.
The Relationship Between Violence and Psychological Distress Among Men and Women: Do Sense of Mastery and Social Support Matter?
Authors: Bebanic Vedrana , Clench-Aas Jocelyne , Raanaas Ruth Kjærsti , Bang Nes Ragnhild
Published: July 2015

The aims of this study were to examine associations between reported exposure to psychological and physical violence and psychological distress (PD) among men and women, and to explore the possible mediating or moderating roles of sense of mastery and social support. We used data from the nationally representative Norwegian Health and Level of Living Survey in 2005 and 2012 (Weighted N = 19,386). PD was measured with the Hopkins Symptom Checklist–25, using the subscales for anxiety and depression separately and in combination. Analyses were conducted using hierarchical logistic regression with complex sample adjustment. Altogether, 3.8% of men and 5.4% of women reported psychological violence during the last 12 months, while 2.3% and 1.6% reported physical violence, respectively. Both forms of violence were associated with excess risk of comorbid anxiety and depressive symptoms above clinical cut-point (CAD) in men and women alike, and CAD occurred more frequently than anxiety or depressive problems separately. Sense of mastery, but not social support, partly mediated the association between both forms of violence and CAD in men, whereas both partly mediated the association between psychological violence and CAD in women. No moderator role was indicated. Overall, the results provide evidence for excess risk of PD, particularly CAD, in men and women reporting exposure to violence. Sense of mastery and to a lesser degree social support were shown to constitute significant mediators, underscoring the importance of systems for strengthening coping strategies and social support among violence victims, such as psychological and practical support by the health services.
Global warming’s five Germanys: A typology of Germans’ views on climate change and patterns of media use and information
Authors: Metag Julia , Füchslin Tobias , Schäfer Mike S.
Published: July 2015

People’s attitudes toward climate change differ, and these differences may correspond to distinct patterns of media use and information seeking. However, studies extending analyses of attitude types and their specific media diets to countries beyond the United States are lacking. We use a secondary analysis of survey data from Germany to identify attitudes toward climate change among the German public and specify those segments of the population based on their media use and information seeking. Similar to the Global Warming’s Six Americas study, we find distinct attitudes (Global Warming’s Five Germanys) that differ in climate change–related perceptions as well as in media use and communicative behavior. These findings can help tailor communication campaigns regarding climate change to specific audiences.
Differential scanning calorimetry of superelastic Nitinol for tunable cymbal transducers
Authors: Feeney Andrew , Lucas Margaret
Published: July 2015

Recent research has shown that estimations of the transformation temperatures of superelastic Nitinol using differential scanning calorimetry can be inaccurate, in part, due to the residual stress in the material. Superelastic Nitinol is selected as the end-cap material in a tunable cymbal transducer. The differential scanning calorimetry accuracy is initially probed by comparing transformation temperature measurements of cold-worked superelastic Nitinol with the same material after an annealing heat treatment, administered to relieve stresses from fabrication. The accuracy is further investigated through a study of the vibration response of the cymbal transducer, using electrical impedance measurements and laser Doppler vibrometry to demonstrate that the change in resonant frequencies can be correlated with the transformation temperatures of the Nitinol measured using differential scanning calorimetry. The results demonstrate that differential scanning calorimetry must be used with caution for superelastic Nitinol, and that an annealing heat treatment can allow subsequent use of differential scanning calorimetry to provide accurate transformation temperature data.