bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Weak and strong convergence theorems and a nonlinear ergodic theorem for N-generalized hybrid mappings
Authors: Alizadeh Sattar , Moradlou Fridoun
Published: April 2016

In this paper, assuming an appropriate condition, we prove that [Formula: see text]-generalized hybrid mappings are demiclosed in Hilbert spaces. Using this fact, we prove a weak convergence theorem of Ishikawa type for these nonlinear mappings. Also, a strong convergence theorem of Halpern–Ishikawa type and a nonlinear ergodic theorem for [Formula: see text]-generalized hybrid mappings have been proven in Hilbert spaces.
A concurrency semantics for relaxed atomics that permits optimisation and avoids thin-air executions
Authors: Pichon-Pharabod Jean , Sewell Peter
Published: April 2016

Despite much research on concurrent programming languages, especially for Java and C/C++, we still do not have a satisfactory definition of their semantics, one that admits all common optimisations without also admitting undesired behaviour. Especially problematic are the ``thin-air'' examples involving high-performance concurrent accesses, such as C/C++11 relaxed atomics. The C/C++11 model is in a per-candidate-execution style, and previous work has identified a tension between that and the fact that compiler optimisations do not operate over single candidate executions in isolation; rather, they operate over syntactic representations that represent all executions. In this paper we propose a novel approach that circumvents this difficulty. We define a concurrency semantics for a core calculus, including relaxed-atomic and non-atomic accesses, and locks, that admits a wide range of optimisation while still forbidding the classic thin-air examples. It also addresses other problems relating to undefined behaviour. The basic idea is to use an event-structure representation of the current state of each thread, capturing all of its potential executions, and to permit interleaving of execution and transformation steps over that to reflect optimisation (possibly dynamic) of the code. These are combined with a non-multi-copy-atomic storage subsystem, to reflect common hardware behaviour. The semantics is defined in a mechanised and executable form, and designed to be implementable above current relaxed hardware and strong enough to support the programming idioms that C/C++11 does for this fragment. It offers a potential way forward for concurrent programming language semantics, beyond the current C/C++11 and Java models.
Casper: an efficient approach to call trace collection
Authors: Wu Rongxin , Xiao Xiao , Cheung Shing-Chi , Zhang Hongyu , Zhang Charles
Published: April 2016

Call traces, i.e., sequences of function calls and returns, are fundamental to a wide range of program analyses such as bug reproduction, fault diagnosis, performance analysis, and many others. The conventional approach to collect call traces that instruments each function call and return site incurs large space and time overhead. Our approach aims at reducing the recording overheads by instrumenting only a small amount of call sites while keeping the capability of recovering the full trace. We propose a call trace model and a logged call trace model based on an LL(1) grammar, which enables us to define the criteria of a feasible solution to call trace collection. Based on the two models, we prove that to collect call traces with minimal instrumentation is an NP-hard problem. We then propose an efficient approach to obtaining a suboptimal solution. We implemented our approach as a tool Casper and evaluated it using the DaCapo benchmark suite. The experiment results show that our approach causes significantly lower runtime (and space) overhead than two state-of-the-arts approaches.
From MinX to MinC: semantics-driven decompilation of recursive datatypes
Authors: Robbins Ed , King Andy , Schrijvers Tom
Published: April 2016

Reconstructing the meaning of a program from its binary executable is known as reverse engineering; it has a wide range of applications in software security, exposing piracy, legacy systems, etc. Since reversing is ultimately a search for meaning, there is much interest in inferring a type (a meaning) for the elements of a binary in a consistent way. Unfortunately existing approaches do not guarantee any semantic relevance for their reconstructed types. This paper presents a new and semantically-founded approach that provides strong guarantees for the reconstructed types. Key to our approach is the derivation of a witness program in a high-level language alongside the reconstructed types. This witness has the same semantics as the binary, is type correct by construction, and it induces a (justifiable) type assignment on the binary. Moreover, the approach effectively yields a type-directed decompiler. We formalise and implement the approach for reversing MinX, an abstraction of x86, to MinC, a type-safe dialect of C with recursive datatypes. Our evaluation compiles a range of textbook C algorithms to MinX and then recovers the original structures.
SMO: an integrated approach to intra-array and inter-array storage optimization
Authors: Bhaskaracharya Somashekaracharya G. , Bondhugula Uday , Cohen Albert
Published: April 2016

The polyhedral model provides an expressive intermediate representation that is convenient for the analysis and subsequent transformation of affine loop nests. Several heuristics exist for achieving complex program transformations in this model. However, there is also considerable scope to utilize this model to tackle the problem of automatic memory footprint optimization. In this paper, we present a new automatic storage optimization technique which can be used to achieve both intra-array as well as inter-array storage reuse with a pre-determined schedule for the computation. Our approach works by finding statement-wise storage partitioning hyperplanes that partition a unified global array space so that values with overlapping live ranges are not mapped to the same partition. Our heuristic is driven by a fourfold objective function which not only minimizes the dimensionality and storage requirements of arrays required for each high-level statement, but also maximizes inter-statement storage reuse. The storage mappings obtained using our heuristic can be asymptotically better than those obtained by any existing technique. We implement our technique and demonstrate its practical impact by evaluating its effectiveness on several benchmarks chosen from the domains of image processing, stencil computations, and high-performance computing.
Sound type-dependent syntactic language extension
Authors: Lorenzen Florian , Erdweg Sebastian
Published: April 2016

Syntactic language extensions can introduce new facilities into a programming language while requiring little implementation effort and modest changes to the compiler. It is typical to desugar language extensions in a distinguished compiler phase after parsing or type checking, not affecting any of the later compiler phases. If desugaring happens before type checking, the desugaring cannot depend on typing information and type errors are reported in terms of the generated code. If desugaring happens after type checking, the code generated by the desugaring is not type checked and may introduce vulnerabilities. Both options are undesirable. We propose a system for syntactic extensibility where desugaring happens after type checking and desugarings are guaranteed to only generate well-typed code. A major novelty of our work is that desugarings operate on typing derivations instead of plain syntax trees. This provides desugarings access to typing information and forms the basis for the soundness guarantee we provide, namely that a desugaring generates a valid typing derivation. We have implemented our system for syntactic extensibility in a language-independent fashion and instantiated it for a substantial subset of Java, including generics and inheritance. We provide a sound Java extension for Scala-like for-comprehensions.
Symbolic abstract data type inference
Authors: Emmi Michael , Enea Constantin
Published: April 2016

Formal specification is a vital ingredient to scalable verification of software systems. In the case of efficient implementations of concurrent objects like atomic registers, queues, and locks, symbolic formal representations of their abstract data types (ADTs) enable efficient modular reasoning, decoupling clients from implementations. Writing adequate formal specifications, however, is a complex task requiring rare expertise. In practice, programmers write reference implementations as informal specifications. In this work we demonstrate that effective symbolic ADT representations can be automatically generated from the executions of reference implementations. Our approach exploits two key features of naturally-occurring ADTs: violations can be decomposed into a small set of representative patterns, and these patterns manifest in executions with few operations. By identifying certain algebraic properties of naturally-occurring ADTs, and exhaustively sampling executions up to a small number of operations, we generate concise symbolic ADT representations which are complete in practice, enabling the application of efficient symbolic verification algorithms without the burden of manual specification. Furthermore, the concise ADT violation patterns we generate are human-readable, and can serve as useful, formal documentation.
Estimating types in binaries using predictive modeling
Authors: Katz Omer , El-Yaniv Ran , Yahav Eran
Published: April 2016

Reverse engineering is an important tool in mitigating vulnerabilities in binaries. As a lot of software is developed in object-oriented languages, reverse engineering of object-oriented code is of critical importance. One of the major hurdles in reverse engineering binaries compiled from object-oriented code is the use of dynamic dispatch. In the absence of debug information, any dynamic dispatch may seem to jump to many possible targets, posing a significant challenge to a reverse engineer trying to track the program flow. We present a novel technique that allows us to statically determine the likely targets of virtual function calls. Our technique uses object tracelets – statically constructed sequences of operations performed on an object – to capture potential runtime behaviors of the object. Our analysis automatically pre-labels some of the object tracelets by relying on instances where the type of an object is known. The resulting type-labeled tracelets are then used to train a statistical language model (SLM) for each type.We then use the resulting ensemble of SLMs over unlabeled tracelets to generate a ranking of their most likely types, from which we deduce the likely targets of dynamic dispatches.We have implemented our technique and evaluated it over real-world C++ binaries. Our evaluation shows that when there are multiple alternative targets, our approach can drastically reduce the number of targets that have to be considered by a reverse engineer.
Applying learning theories and instructional design models for effective instruction
Authors: Khalil Mohammed K. , Elkhider Ihsan A.
Published: April 2016

Faculty members in higher education are involved in many instructional design activities without formal training in learning theories and the science of instruction. Learning theories provide the foundation for the selection of instructional strategies and allow for reliable prediction of their effectiveness. To achieve effective learning outcomes, the science of instruction and instructional design models are used to guide the development of instructional design strategies that elicit appropriate cognitive processes. Here, the major learning theories are discussed and selected examples of instructional design models are explained. The main objective of this article is to present the science of learning and instruction as theoretical evidence for the design and delivery of instructional materials. In addition, this article provides a practical framework for implementing those theories in the classroom and laboratory.
Influence of Mental Workload on the Performance of Anesthesiologists during Induction of General Anesthesia: A Patient Simulator Study
Authors: Sato Hitoshi , Miyashita Tetsuya , Kawakami Hiromasa , Nagamine Yusuke , Takaki Shunsuke , Goto Takahisa
Published: April 2016

The aim of this study was to reveal the effect of anesthesiologist’s mental workload during induction of general anesthesia. Twenty-two participants were categorized into anesthesiology residents (RA group,n=13) and board certified anesthesiologists (CA group,n=9). Subjects participated in three simulated scenarios (scenario A: baseline, scenario B: simple addition tasks, and scenario C: combination of simple addition tasks and treatment of unexpected arrhythmia). We used simple two-digit integer additions every 5 seconds as a secondary task. Four kinds of key actions were also evaluated in each scenario. In scenario C, the correct answer rate was significantly higher in the CA versus the RA group (RA: 0.370 ± 0.050 versus CA: 0.736 ± 0.051,p<0.01, 95% CI −0.518 to −0.215) as was the score of key actions (RA: 2.7 ± 1.3 versus CA: 4.0 ± 0.00,p=0.005). In a serious clinical situation, anesthesiologists might not be able to adequately perform both the primary and secondary tasks. This tendency is more apparent in young anesthesiologists.
On the Existence and Uniqueness of the Solution of Linear Fractional Differential-Algebraic System
Authors: Feng Zaiyong , Chen Ning
Published: April 2016

The existence and uniqueness of the solution of a new kind of system—linear fractional differential-algebraic equations (LFDAE)—are investigated. Fractional derivatives involved are under the Caputo definition. By using the tool of matrix pair, the LFDAE in which coefficients matrices are both square matrices have unique solution under the condition that coefficients matrices make up a regular matrix pair. With the help of equivalent transformation and Kronecker canonical form of the coefficients matrices, the sufficient condition for existence and uniqueness of the solution of the LFDAE in which coefficients matrices are both not square matrices is proposed later. Two examples are given to justify the obtained theorems in the end.
Slip Effect on MHD Chemically Reacting Convictive Boundary Layer Flow with Heat Absorption
Authors: Ayano Mekonnen Shifferaw , Demeke Negussie Tadege
Published: April 2016

The aim of this paper is to investigate steady magneto micropolar fluid past a stretched semi-infinite vertical and permeable surface taking into account heat absorption, hall and ion-slip effect, first-order chemical reaction, and radiation effects. The system of coupled nonlinear equations is solved numerically and the effects of various parameters on the velocity, the microrotation, the temperature, and the concentration field are calculated. The following discovery was made: an increase in the hall parameter strongly enhances the fluid velocity, an increase in the heat absorption parameter increases the temperature, and an increase in the slip parameter decreases the velocity. Additionally, the local skin friction, Nusselt number, and Sherwood number are also analyzed for various parameters and presented in table form.
Epidemiology of Endometriosis in France: A Large, Nation-Wide Study Based on Hospital Discharge Data
Authors: von Theobald Peter , Cottenet Jonathan , Iacobelli Silvia , Quantin Catherine
Published: April 2016

We aimed to assess the prevalence of hospitalization for endometriosis in the general population in France and in each French region and to describe temporal trends, rehospitalization rates, and prevalence of the different types of endometriosis. The analyses were carried out on French hospital discharge data and covered the period 2008–2012 and a population of 14,239,197 women of childbearing age. In this population, the prevalence of hospitalization for endometriosis was 0.9%, ranging from 0.4% to 1.6% between regions. Endometriosis affected 1.5% of hospitalized women of childbearing age, ranging from 1.0% to 2.4% between regions. The number of patients hospitalized for endometriosis significantly increased over the study period (p<0.01). Of these, 4.2% were rehospitalized at least once at one year: ranging from 2.7% to 6.3% between regions. The cumulative rehospitalization rate at 3 years was 6.9%. The types of endometriosis according to the procedures performed were as follows: ovarian (40–50%), peritoneal (20–30%), intestinal (10–20%), and ureteral or bladder (<10%), with significant differences between regions. This is the first detailed epidemiological study of endometriosis in France. Further studies are needed to assess the reasons for the increasing prevalence of endometriosis and for the significant differences in regional prevalence of this disease.
Role of Vanadium in Cellular and Molecular Immunology: Association with Immune‐Related Inflammation and Pharmacotoxicology Mechanisms
Authors: Tsave Olga , Petanidis Savvas , Kioseoglou Efrosini , Yavropoulou Maria P. , Yovos John G. , Anestakis Doxakis , Tsepa Androniki , Salifoglou Athanasios
Published: April 2016

Over the last decade, a diverse spectrum of vanadium compounds has arisen as anti‐inflammatory therapeutic metallodrugs targeting various diseases. Recent studies have demonstrated that select well‐defined vanadium species are involved in many immune‐driven molecular mechanisms that regulate and influence immune responses. In addition, advances in cell immunotherapy have relied on the use of metallodrugs to create a “safe,” highly regulated, environment for optimal control of immune response. Emerging findings include optimal regulation of B/T cell signaling and expression of immune suppressive or anti‐inflammatory cytokines, critical for immune cell effector functions. Furthermore, in‐depth perusals have explored NF‐κB and Toll‐like receptor signaling mechanisms in order to enhance adaptive immune responses and promote recruitment or conversion of inflammatory cells to immunodeficient tissues. Consequently, well‐defined vanadium metallodrugs, poised to access and resensitize the immune microenvironment, interact with various biomolecular targets, such as B cells, T cells, interleukin markers, and transcription factors, thereby influencing and affecting immune signaling. A synthetically formulated and structure‐based (bio)chemical reactivity account of vanadoforms emerges as a plausible strategy for designing drugs characterized by selectivity and specificity, with respect to the cellular molecular targets intimately linked to immune responses, thereby giving rise to a challenging field linked to the development of immune system vanadodrugs.
Synthesis of Thinned Planar Antenna Array Using Multiobjective Normal Mutated Binary Cat Swarm Optimization
Authors: Pappula Lakshman , Ghosh Debalina
Published: April 2016

The process of thinned antenna array synthesis involves the optimization of a number of mutually conflicting parameters, such as peak sidelobe level, first null beam width, and number of active elements. This necessitates the development of a multiobjective optimization approach which will provide the best compromised solution based on the application at hand. In this paper, a novel multiobjective normal mutated binary cat swarm optimization (MO-NMBCSO) is developed and proposed for the synthesis of thinned planar antenna arrays. Through this method, a high degree of flexibility is introduced to the realm of thinned array design. A Pareto-optimal front containing all the probable designs is obtained in this process. Targeted solutions may be chosen from the Pareto front to satisfy the different requirements demonstrating the superiority of the proposed approach over multiobjective binary particle swarm optimization method (MO-BPSO). A comparative study is carried out to quantify the performance of the two algorithms using two performance metrics.
A Case of PolyarticularPasteurella multocidaSeptic Arthritis
Authors: Nitoslawski Sarah , McConnell Todd M. , Semret Makeda , Stein Michael A.
Published: April 2016

A 76-year-old man with a history of osteoarthritis presents with right leg erythema and inability to weight-bear and pain in his right shoulder. Synovial fluid cell count of the knee and shoulder showed abundant neutrophils, and cultures of the knee showed growth ofPasteurella multocida. The patient owned four cats with which he had frequent contact, but history and physical examination elicited no evidence of scratches or bites. This case highlights the invasive potential ofPasteurella multocidain an immunocompetent individual and its capacity to cause septic arthritis in the setting of frequent animal contact.
Permeability Characteristics of Tailings considering Chemical and Physical Clogging in Lixi Tailings Dam, China
Authors: Xu Zengguang , Yang Xuemin , Chai Junrui , Qin Yuan , Li Yanlong
Published: April 2016

Chemical and physical clogging frequently occur in tailings dam. The clogging seriously influences the safety of tailings dam. This paper conducts several column experiments to analyse the physical and chemical clogging of the Lixi tailings dam in China. The experiment results of chemical clogging show that average flow velocity and permeability decrease by approximately 50% to 60%. The experiment results of physical clogging show that these values decrease by approximately 50% to 70%. For physical clogging, a higher hydraulic gradient could result in a larger extent of decrease in the permeability coefficient. The permeability did not decrease when the hydraulic gradient was equal to 0.125. The results of chemical clogging column experiments show that ferrous ion solution concentration is disproportional to the permeability coefficient. This scenario can be attributed to the extremely small concentration gradients.
Limited Trabecular Bone Density Heterogeneity in the Human Skeleton
Authors: Chirchir Habiba
Published: April 2016

There is evidence for variation in trabecular bone density and volume within an individual skeleton, albeit in a few anatomical sites, which is partly dependent on mechanical loading. However, little is known regarding the basic variation in trabecular bone density throughout the skeleton in healthy human adults. This is because research on bone density has been confined to a few skeletal elements, which can be readily measured using available imaging technology particularly in clinical settings. This study comprehensively investigates the distribution of trabecular bone density within the human skeleton in nine skeletal sites (femur, proximal and distal tibia, third metatarsal, humerus, ulna, radius, third metacarpal, and axis) in a sample ofN=20individuals (11 males and 9 females). pQCT results showed that the proximal ulna (mean = 231.3 mg/cm3) and axis vertebra (mean = 234.3 mg/cm3) displayed significantly greater (p<0.01) trabecular bone density than other elements, whereas there was no significant variation among the rest of the elements (p>0.01). The homogeneity of the majority of elements suggests that these sites are potentially responsive to site-specific genetic factors. Secondly, the lack of correlation between elements (p>0.05) suggests that density measurements of one anatomical region are not necessarily accurate measures of other anatomical regions.
Sclerosing Mesenteritis: A Rare Cause of Small Bowel Obstruction
Authors: Harvin Glenn , Graham Adam
Published: April 2016

Sclerosing mesenteritis falls within a spectrum of primary idiopathic inflammatory and fibrotic processes that affect the mesentery. The exact etiology has not been determined, although the following associations have been noted: abdominal surgery, trauma, autoimmunity, paraneoplastic syndrome, ischemia and infection. Progression of sclerosing mesentritis can lead to bowel obstruction, a rare complication of this uncommon condition. We report a case of a 66-year-old female with abdominal pain who was noted to have a small bowel obstruction requiring laparotomy and a partial small bowel resection. The pathology of the resected tissue was consistent with sclerosing mesenteritis, a rare cause of a small bowel obstruction. Sclerosing mesenteritis has variable rates of progression, and there is no consensus regarding the optimal treatment. Physicians should consider sclerosing mesenteritis in the differential diagnosis of a small bowel obstruction.
A abordagem histórica na produção acadêmica brasileira sobre biblioteca escolar (2001-2012)
Authors: Pasquim Franciele Ruiz
Published: April 2016

Com o objetivo de contribuir para a produção de uma história da biblioteca escolar no Brasil, focaliza-se, neste artigo, a abordagem histórica na produção acadêmica sobre o tema. Mediante abordagem histórica, centrada em pesquisa documental e bibliográfica e desenvolvida por meio dos procedimentos de localização, recuperação, reunião, seleção e ordenação de fontes documentais, elaborou-se um instrumento de pesquisa, no qual estão reunidas referências de textos sobre biblioteca escolar. A partir da análise da produção acadêmica sobre biblioteca escolar, entre os anos de 2001 e 2012, constatou-se que, ainda são escassas as pesquisas históricas sobre esse tema, dado a sua relevância na atualidade, em especial nas políticas públicas de leitura.
Bibliotecas Escolares e as Linguagens de Indexação
Authors: Guim Vera Lucia Ribeiro , Fujita Mariângela Spotti Lopes
Published: April 2016

A discussão sobre as linguagens de indexação se apresenta como tema deste trabalho tendo como foco as bibliotecas escolares. O estudo objetiva assim fundamentar a consistência das linguagens com base nos elementos presentes na indexação. Como metodologia, foram utilizadas entrevistas e observação participante tendo como objetivo verificar as linguagens de indexação nas bibliotecas escolares. Dessa forma, destacaram-se as classificações nas bibliotecas escolares da rede pública municipal de ensino. Apesar de possuírem o mesmo intuito e o mesmo publico alvo, as escolas apresentaram visões diferentes, segundo seu público usuário. Assim, destaca-se a influência e representação das linguagens frente às instituições bem como seu propósito e importância.
Introduction. Imprints of Colonialism in Public International Law: On the Paradoxes of Transition
Authors: Kämmerer Jörn Axel
Published: April 2016

The article is an introduction to subsequent articles touching upon the relevance of colonialism to the evolution of public international law. This was the topic of a transdisciplinary research project conducted by German scholars and of an international workshop, with this issue as a yield. Imperial colonialism may be perceived as a period of transition from a parallelism of mostly unconnected ‘trans-communitarian’ systems toward today’s universal international order. A paradox is inherent in decolonisation because the price of independence consisted in non-European systems being ultimately and definitely superseded by a public international law shaped almost exclusively by European powers. This ‘birth defect’ of universality explains many persisting tensions in international legal relations. It is worthwhile to assess whether public international law could draw some inspiration from approaches in the constitutional law of selected states with a colonial heritage in view of mitigating conflicts without, however, compromising the benefits inherent in universality.
The Miracles of an Eschatological Prophet
Authors: Eve Eric
Published: April 2016

While it has not been a central aspect of his work on the historical Jesus, E.P. Sanders has contributed to the understanding of Jesus’ miracles. In Jesus and Judaism, Sanders argued that Jesus was an eschatological prophet and maintains that he certainly healed people in ways that his contemporaries regarded as miraculous, but that his miracles were not signs of the end, and cannot be used to determine what type of figure he was. The fuller treatment of miracles in the later The Historical Figure of Jesus emphasizes the exorcisms and dismisses the nature miracles as having made minimal impact, leading Sanders to conclude that Jesus’ miracles were not as spectacular as the Gospels suggest, and that they probably led his contemporaries to view Jesus as a holy man like Honi the Circle-Drawer, although Jesus himself probably understood his miracles as signs of the imminent arrival of the new age, and his disciples may have come to see them as a defeat of evil powers and as a legitimation of Jesus’ claims. After summarizing Sanders’s arguments this article goes on to suggest how some of their foundations may be secured while also suggesting that the case for associating Jesus’ miracles with his role as an eschatological prophet may be stronger than Sanders allowed. It then concludes by indicating how Sanders’s account of the role of Jesus’ miracles might be further rounded out first by exploring their possible symbolism (as Sanders does with the Temple incident) and second through various social-scientific approaches.
Critical Realism in Context
Authors: Porter Stanley E. , Pitts Andrew W.
Published: April 2016

N.T. Wright’s critical realist epistemology has become the foundation for many recent studies of Christian origins. This article argues that New Testament scholars have perhaps too quickly and uncritically adopted this method, when it is out of step with contemporary analytic epistemology. The method Wright employs—and which many have adopted—originates with an internalist epistemic account developed in the 1940s. Since then, key developments in the study of epistemology (beginning with Gettier in 1963) have made Wright’s critical realist model irrelevant in many ways. In light of these inadequacies, we tentatively outline some potential components of a more promising historical epistemology for the study of Christian origins.
A new species of the genus Jungermannia (Jungermanniales, Marchantiophyta) from the Caucasus with notes on taxa delimitation and taxonomy of Jungermannia s. str.
Authors: KONSTANTINOVA NADEZDA A. A. , VILNET ANNA A.
Published: April 2016

The new species Jungermannia calcicola Konstant. et Vilnet, is described based on a critical reinvestigation of morphological features and molecular analyses of trnL–trnF and trnG intron cpDNA sequences of forty samples of Jungermannia s. str. The new species is described and illustrated as well as noting its differentiation from allied species and distribution patterns. New data on some taxonomical ambiguities and on the taxa delimitation in the Jungermannia s. str. are discussed.
Contribution of Tropical Waves to the Formation of Supertyphoon Megi (2010)
Authors: Fang Juan , Zhang Fuqing
Published: April 2016

Through observational analysis and numerical simulations, this study examines the roles of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) and tropical waves in the three-stage formation of Supertyphoon Megi (2010) including 1) convective bursts followed by vorticity aggregation, 2) vortex rearrangement during decaying convection, and 3) convective reinvigoration and vortex intensification. The MJO was responsible for preconditioning the large-scale circulation and low-level moisture favorable for convection during all stages, while the counterpropagating Kelvin and equatorial Rossby (ER) waves brought low-level convergence and cyclonic vorticity anomalies to enhance massive convection in the western tropical Pacific in stage 1. Convection strengthened the vorticity anomalies nearby, which subsequently developed into Megi’s embryo by the end of stage 1 through merging with the positive vorticity anomaly carried by a westward-propagating mixed Rossby–gravity and tropical depression (MRG–TD)-type wave. The ER- and MRG–TD-type waves might also contribute to Megi’s formation through increasing low-level southwesterlies to the southwest of the precursor during stages 2 and 3. These tropical waves also indirectly affect Megi’s genesis through modulating surroundings near the precursor. Without the MJO, the low-level vorticity anomaly to the near west of the precursor would intensify more effectively and develop into a tropical cyclone instead of the observed Megi. Removing the Kelvin or ER wave would enhance convection to the far west of Megi’s precursor, which was less favorable for low-level convergence in the region of the precursor, and thus the formation of Megi.
Does the Summer Arctic Frontal Zone Influence Arctic Ocean Cyclone Activity?
Authors: Crawford Alex D. , Serreze Mark C.
Published: April 2016

Extratropical cyclone activity over the central Arctic Ocean reaches its peak in summer. Previous research has argued for the existence of two external source regions for cyclones contributing to this summer maximum: the Eurasian continent interior and a narrow band of strong horizontal temperature gradients along the Arctic coastline known as the Arctic frontal zone (AFZ). This study incorporates data from an atmospheric reanalysis and an advanced cyclone detection and tracking algorithm to critically evaluate the relationship between the summer AFZ and cyclone activity in the central Arctic Ocean. Analysis of both individual cyclone tracks and seasonal fields of cyclone characteristics shows that the Arctic coast (and therefore the AFZ) is not a region of cyclogenesis. Rather, the AFZ acts as an intensification area for systems forming over Eurasia. As these systems migrate toward the Arctic Ocean, they experience greater deepening in situations when the AFZ is strong at midtropospheric levels. On a broader scale, intensity of the summer AFZ at midtropospheric levels has a positive correlation with cyclone intensity in the Arctic Ocean during summer, even when controlling for variability in the northern annular mode. Taken as a whole, these findings suggest that the summer AFZ can intensify cyclones that cross the coast into the Arctic Ocean, but focused modeling studies are needed to disentangle the relative importance of the AFZ, large-scale circulation patterns, and topographic controls.
Convective Initiation near the Andes in Subtropical South America
Authors: Rasmussen K. L. , Houze R. A.
Published: April 2016

Satellite radar and radiometer data indicate that subtropical South America has some of the deepest and most extreme convective storms on Earth. This study uses the full 15-yr TRMM Precipitation Radar dataset in conjunction with high-resolution simulations from the Weather Research and Forecasting Model to better understand the physical factors that control the climatology of high-impact weather in subtropical South America. The occurrence of intense storms with an extreme horizontal dimension is generally associated with lee cyclogenesis and a strengthening South American low-level jet (SALLJ) in the La Plata basin. The orography of the Andes is critical, and model sensitivity calculations removing and/or reducing various topographic features indicate the orographic control on the initiation of convection and its upscale growth into mesoscale convective systems (MCSs). Reduced Andes experiments show more widespread convective initiation, weaker average storm intensity, and more rapid propagation of the MCS to the east (reminiscent of the MCS life cycle downstream of lower mountains such as the Rockies). With reduced Andes, lee cyclogenesis and SALLJ winds are weaker, while they are stronger in increased Andes runs. The presence of the Sierras de Córdoba (secondary mountain range east of the Andes in Argentina) focuses convective initiation and results in more intense storms in experiments with higher Andes. Average CAPE and CIN values for each terrain modification simulation show that reduced Andes runs had lower CIN and CAPE, while increased Andes runs had both stronger CAPE and CIN. From this research, a conceptual model for convective storm environments leading to convective initiation has been developed for subtropical South America.
“A Twenty-Hour-a-Day Job”
Authors: Comfort Megan
Published: April 2016

In the growing field of research on the consequences of criminal justice contact for family life, a heavy emphasis has been placed on how imprisonment influences the emotional, physical, and socioeconomic well-being of prisoners’ loved ones. In this article, I elaborate on and analyze the experiences of family members of people with frequent, low-level criminal justice involvement. I draw on ethnographic data collected in partnership with a clinical social worker over the course of a three-year study of an intensive case management intervention for HIV-positive individuals. Findings indicate that loved ones’ brief jail stays and community supervision through probation and parole pose hardships for family members that are distinct from those hardships that arise during imprisonment. These experiences are uniquely destabilizing, may confer specific risks to family members’ well-being, and merit further study to inform programs, social services, and public policy.
Paternal Incarceration and Family Functioning
Authors: Wildeman Christopher , Turney Kristin , Yi Youngmin
Published: April 2016

This article extends research on the association between paternal incarceration and family functioning by differentiating between families with fathers who have been incarcerated in local jails, state prisons, federal prisons, and unknown types of facilities. Data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCW) enable this finer grained analysis. We show that there are few observable differences between families with fathers incarcerated in a local, state, or federal facility and the 53 percent of families with fathers incarcerated in an unknown facility type. We test the association between facility type and family functioning using a series of fixed effects models, showing strong associations between facility type and only two of seven family outcomes. The evidence presented here suggests that family functioning does not markedly vary by type of facility, but this finding needs to be substantiated in future research.
Transparent computational intelligence models for pharmaceutical tableting process
Authors: Khalid Mohammad Hassan , Tuszyński Pawel Konrad , Kazemi Pezhman , Szlek Jakub , Jachowicz Renata , Mendyk Aleksander
Published: April 2016

Purpose

Pharmaceutical industry is tightly regulated owing to health concerns. Over the years, the use of computational intelligence (CI) tools has increased in pharmaceutical research and development, manufacturing, and quality control. Quality characteristics of tablets like tensile strength are important indicators of expected tablet performance. Predictive, yet transparent, CI models which can be analysed for insights into the formulation and development process.

Methods

This work uses data from a galenical tableting study and computational intelligence methods like decision trees, random forests, fuzzy systems, artificial neural networks, and symbolic regression to establish models for the outcome of tensile strength. Data was divided in training and test fold according to ten fold cross validation scheme and RMSE was used as an evaluation metric. Tree based ensembles and symbolic regression methods are presented as transparent models with extracted rules and mathematical formula, respectively, explaining the CI models in greater detail.

Results

CI models for tensile strength of tablets based on the formulation design and process parameters have been established. Best models exhibit normalized RMSE of 7 %. Rules from fuzzy systems and random forests are shown to increase transparency of CI models. A mathematical formula generated by symbolic regression is presented as a transparent model.

Conclusions

CI models explain the variation of tensile strength according to formulation and manufacturing process characteristics. CI models can be further analyzed to extract actionable knowledge making the artificial learning process more transparent and acceptable for use in pharmaceutical quality and safety domains.
SAD in the Anthropocene: Brenda Hillman's Ecopoetics of Affect
Authors: Peacock Laurel
Published: April 2016

This article focuses on three collections of poetry by California poet Brenda Hillman, Cascadia, Practical Water, and Pieces of Air in the Epic, reading for the ways in which the poems model an affective interrelation between human and environment. These three works each focus on a traditional element (earth, water, air) in order to explore its co-constitution with the human, treating the element as active, or, in Jane Bennett's term, “vibrant matter.” In the Anthropocene, it is no longer an “intentional fallacy” to attribute human emotions to the environment or its elements. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is used throughout the article as a way to conceptualise this interrelation of human with environment; SAD suggests that in this era human and environment alike are disordered. I argue that, rather than staging a lyric subject regarding a landscape, Hillman's poems create a confusion of subject/object and foreground/background relations in which the origins of affects are impossible to determine and harms circulate. Affect is vital in understanding human motivations in relation to climate change, and Hillman's ecopoetic practice is an example of how we can shift our understanding of our affective relationship to the environment. Linguistic experimentation can shift awareness toward an understanding of the link between “what it felt like to have been a subject” and “what it felt like to have been earth”1 as well as what it feels like now to be indeterminately both, intertwined and in crisis.
Unruly Edges: Mushrooms as Companion Species
Authors: Tsing Anna
Published: April 2016

Human nature is an interspecies relationship. In this essay, Haraway's concept of companion species takes us beyond familiar companions to the rich ecological diversity without which humans cannot survive. Following fungi, we forage in the last ten thousand years of human disturbance history with feminist multispecies company. Cereals domesticate humans. Plantations give us the subspecies we call race. The home cordons off inter- and intra-species love. But mushroom collecting brings us somewhere else—to the unruly edges and seams of imperial space, where we cannot ignore the interspecies interdependencies that give us life on earth. There are big stories to tell here, and they should not be left to the human triumphalists who control the field. This essay opens a door to multispecies landscapes as protagonists for histories of the world.
Ecological Community, the Sense of the World, and Senseless Extinction
Authors: Smith Mick
Published: April 2016

How might a posthumanist notion of ecological community attempt to address questions concerning extinction? Such irredeemable losses are explicated through four aspects of ecological/community relations—material manifestation (appearances), material involvement (effects), semiotic resonance (meanings) and phenomenological experiences—that together constitute a broader understanding of ecological community that does not exempt humans from ecological effects or except ecology from ethical and political concerns. This ecological approach is further developed in the light of Jacob von Uexküll's phenomenological biology and Jean-Luc Nancy's concepts of being singular plural and the sense of the world.
Climate Blues: Or How Awareness of the Human End Might Re-Instil Ethical Purpose to the Writing of History
Authors: Levene Mark
Published: April 2016

The accumulating evidence on the depth and accelerating trajectory of anthropogenic climate change poses the possibility of an early end to human existence as part of a more general biotic extinction. But if that is the case what does that mean for the latter day writing of history? Our response follows two main lines of thought. The first relates to the concept of the ‘Anthropocene’ and the possibilities that it offers historians to reconsider their subject in the light of what earth science is saying about earth history and our particularly recent role in its shaping. From this perspective, while the idea of a reconceptualised history by reference to key geological and other natural historical thresholds would certainly destabilise current academic practice, it might equally galvanise the historical discipline towards recognition of our present biospheric crisis. The second line of thought explores how history writing might contribute to an ethical response in the face of the end and an almost inevitable, accompanying violence, anomie and destruction. Apocalyptic language is eschewed by a progress-centred history. Here we argue that it is exactly the proper recovery of such discarded religiously subversive notions which could assist in the opening up of an alternative space repudiating a bankrupt political-economic system and envisioning instead a millennial social and environmental justice. The writings of Walter Benjamin, among others, offer historical pathfinders for such ideas. Combined with his presentation of an alternative, qualitative ‘Now’ time—thereby reconfiguring Judeo-Christian notions of kairos—such ideas speak both to the urgency for a purposeful, non-violent response to Endtime but also by implication, an ongoing human quest for grace.
John Clare and the Manifold Commons
Authors: Bresnihan Patrick
Published: April 2016

There are growing and justifiable concerns about the degradation of the planet—the land, sea and atmosphere on which all life depends. While these problems unfold on a global scale they are not evenly distributed, either in terms of cause or effect. This has not stopped powerful and universalizing explanations about why ‘our planet’ is being exhausted, and how ‘we’ must respond with urgent action. One of the effects of this response is that environmental problems are naturalized as empirical facts around which new forms of governance and regulation must emerge. While this technical response might be effective at managing discrete environmental problems it can obscure important questions about the ways in which we produce and reproduce social and natural life. The 18th century was also a period in which the problem of scarcity gave rise to new ways of managing and organizing social and natural life. The naturalization of scarcity was a cornerstone of liberal economics, the intellectual justification for various forms of enclosure and ‘improvement’. One person who challenged this powerful narrative was the poet John Clare (1793-1864). Where liberal economics began with the abstraction of self-interested ‘man’ and finite ‘nature’, Clare began with his own experiences of the world around him. This commitment to the here and now is not to be confused with notions of a ‘pre-modern’ union of human and nature. Rather, Clare's poetry describes and reveals the many different natures which unfold through ongoing, negotiated and changing relations between people and things. Rather than a fear of limits, the excess of possibilities inherent in this vision of the ‘manifold commons’ provides him, and us, with a different way to imagine and enact alternative forms of social and natural life.