bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Measuring Activism and Restraint: An Alternative Perspective on the Supreme Court of Canada’s Exclusion of Evidence Decisions under Section 24(2) of the Charter
Authors: Riddell Troy
Published: January 2016

In the January 2015 issue of the Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Melanie Janelle Murchison and Richard Jochelson maintain that the Supreme Court of Canada has become more restrained since 9/11 in its exclusion of evidence decisions under section 24(2) of the Charter of Rights. In making this assertion, the authors provide Likert scale scores that attempt to measure different dimensions of activism and restraint. I argue that these measures of activism and restraint are flawed, particularly if one is interested in whether the Supreme Court is giving police more latitude to investigate crime. Using measures of whether evidence was actually excluded or not to assess activism or restraint, I argue that the Supreme Court has become somewhat less prone to exclude evidence over time but that 9/11 is not a convincing explanatory factor either empirically or logically. A Charter maturation effect and sensitivity to critique from law professors would appear to be better explanations.
From Seeds to Orchards: Using Evidence-Based Policing to Address Canada’s Policing Research Needs
Authors: Huey Laura , Ricciardelli Rose
Published: January 2016

Within the context of ongoing debates concerning the economics of policing in Canada, the authors address an issue which has repeatedly plagued policy makers: the lack of quality, actionable research on policing and community safety issues in Canada. Following our colleagues in the United Kingdom, Australia, United States, and elsewhere, we propose the adoption of evidence-based policing models and conclude by offering some suggestions as to how policy-makers can facilitate that adoption.
Almost Certain: The Problem of Knowledge in The History of the Nun
Authors: Sahni Rashmi
Published: January 2016

Aphra Behn’s The History of the Nun (1689) displays a range of narrative peculiarities, related to its narrator, tone, and ending, which frequently puzzle critics and readers. I argue that the epistemological uncertainties that escalate when it is not clear whether detection of crimes requires God’s assistance, empirical observations, or adroit calculations of probability manifest as narrative oddities in Behn’s fiction. By focusing on formal features against a backdrop of theological and philosophical debates about knowledge prevalent at the end of the seventeenth century, this article provides a new explanation for the edgy and unstable narrative traits of Behn’s fiction and responds to the standard critical thinking on the author’s treatment of religion. Irrespective of Behn’s personal beliefs, the form and the plot of The History of the Nun manifest conflicts of a culture that was at once attracted to and troubled by the notion of divine Providence, especially with regard to detection and judgment of crimes.
Robinson Crusoe and the Apparitional Eighteenth-Century Novel
Authors: Johnson Daniel J.
Published: January 2016

Robinson Crusoe attempts to come to terms with his Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures (1719) and its sequels by retroactively injecting Providence into the story, but other supernatural forces exert more active narrative agency. With a subtle language of hints, impressions, and passive cogitation, Daniel Defoe implicates middling spirits as interlocutors who contact Crusoe at key moments. Unlike Providence, which Crusoe invokes to help order experience from the vantage of retrospection, a secret converse of spirits confronts characters before they make decisions, and this communication ultimately steers the plot. Crusoe, in turn, becomes apparitional as he projects an identity outside of the fictional frame without clarifying how his story is at once allegorical and historical. This double spectrality of spirits who influence realistic characters and realistic (but invented) characters who assert a kind of existence in society suggests a haunted narratology in the rise of verisimilar fiction, from the proto-novelistic Spectator papers to the sentimental novels of Samuel Richardson.
Everything is Lost in Amoranda’s Garden: Epistemology and Legitimacy in Mary Davys’s The Reform’d Coquet
Authors: Dicus Andrew
Published: January 2016

Mary Davys’s The Reform’d Coquet (1724) supplies two logics of social legitimacy. On its surface, it participates in familiar narrative conventions associated with masquerade fictions and marriage plots, subverting stable social norms and then resolving them through marriage. At a deeper level, it concerns itself with the epistemological presuppositions of legitimacy developed by political and philosophical discourses associated with the Enlightenment, especially in the social contract tradition. In this article, I argue for the centrality of Davys’s interest in the conceptual problems of legitimacy—problems that are only begged by the narrative closure of marriage and its implied restoration of gendered virtue. I demonstrate that the humanizing discourses of empiricism and rationalism are central to Davys’s construction of legitimacy, and I argue that Davys draws on such discourses in order to criticize and ironize the conventional resolution of narrative closure.
“Alas, poor YORICK!”: Sterne’s Iconography of Mourning
Authors: Williams Helen
Published: January 2016

Commemorating the death of Parson Yorick, Laurence Sterne’s black page in Tristram Shandy (1759) is often perceived as the pre-eminent symbol of his experimentation. But Sterne’s device may be less innovative than previously supposed, descending instead from two distinct traditions of depicting death in print: funeral literature and the typographic epitaph in the mid-century novel. In tracing inventive examples of memento mori iconography and identifying a profusion of novelistic epitaphs appearing during the 1740s and 1750s, this article situates the black page and Yorick’s epitaph in Sterne’s immediate literary context. In so doing, it demonstrates that his innovation in commemorating Yorick’s death lies in his deployment of a typesetting trend in the mid-century novel while simultaneously referencing a longstanding tradition of funeral publications. Through the mourning borders around Yorick’s epitaph and the black page’s double-sided covering of black ink, Sterne engages with the clichés of mourning iconography while playing on—and pushing to its limits—the novelistic epitaph’s self-conscious manipulation of the printed page.
Experimental Research on Properties of Naval Brass Castings
Authors: Türker M. , Yasar Comert Z. , Kisasoz A. , Altug Guler K.
Published: January 2016

Naval brasses consisting of the α–β duplex phases are a special kind of Cu-Zn alloys. They are known to have excellent corrosion resistance to sea water and marine conditions. The aim of this study is the investigation of properties and behaviours of naval brass parts formed by different casting processes. A medium leaded naval brass alloy with 60 % Cu, 39 % Zn and 1 % Pb approximate composition was used. Several samples were subjected to mechanical testing by means of tensile and hardness tests. Light optical microscopy with image analyser and scanning electron microscopy were used for microstructure observations. The corrosion test was applied in sea water conditions. Results reveal that besides hot forging also casting is a very suitable technique for naval brass shaping. Casting does not have a negative effect on the most important property corrosion resistance. Furthermore, the obtained mechanical properties are satisfactory.
The Influence of Sample Preparation on SEM Measurements of Anodic Oxide Layers
Authors: Korzekwa J. , Gądek-Moszczak A. , Bara M.
Published: January 2016

Coatings with high wear, corrosion resistance and sliding properties are desirable in tribological applications, especially for oil-free nodes. In order to obtain such coatings on aluminium alloy the anodizing process is one of the methods which is commonly used. In the present research two kinds of anodic oxide layer were prepared. One series of samples comprised amorphous oxide layer Al2O3 obtained on aluminium alloy EN AW 5251. The second one was the composite oxide layer Al2O3 with inorganic fullerene-like tungsten disulfide (IF-WS2). The addition of IF-WS2 to an acid bath is used to reduce the friction coefficient of the oil free friction pair. The aim of the study is the analysis of the surface and fresh cross section of the samples depending on the kind of conductive metal used for SEM examination. Gold and carbon were used in order to prevent the charging of a specimen with an electron beam in the conventional SEM mode. Significant differences in the interpretation of results were found.
Phytochemistry, pharmacological activities and traditional uses of Emblica officinalis: A review
Authors: Hasan Md. Rubaiyat , Islam Md. Nasirul , Islam Md. Rokibul
Published: January 2016

From the ancient time, plants have been playing a key role for the betterment of mankind presenting as an extraordinary source of natural medicine. The complexity in formulating chemical based drugs as well as their health related side effects and uprising cost has led worldwide researchers to focus on medicinal plant research. Bangladesh has a vast repository of diverse plant species where about five thousand plants species have been claimed as having significant medicinal values. The researched papers on medicinal plants publishing from last few decades mention the activities of different plant bioactive compounds that are used widely in the treatment of various human ailments. Emblica officinalis is reported to possess bioactive compounds like tannins, flavonoids, saponins, terpenoids, ascorbic acids and many other compounds which are confirmed to have diverse pharmacological activities like antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, radio-protective, hepatoprotective, antitissuive, immunomodulatory, hypolipedemic and many other activities. This medicinal plant is also reported to have anticancer, anti HIV-reverse transcriptase, antidiabetic, antidepressant, antiulcerogenic, wound healing activities and so forth. The current review paper summarizes the phytochemical constituents, pharmacological activities and traditional uses of the plant Emblica officinalis.Hasan et al., International Current Pharmaceutical Journal, January 2016, 5(2): 14-21
Ideological Anxiety, National Transition and the Uncanny in The Omega Factor
Authors: Cramer Steve
Published: January 2016

This article examines the BBC Scotland series The Omega Factor (1979), with a view to illustrating the ways in which the series used its supernatural genre to interrogate the ideological transitions of its era. In particular, the article will examine the ways in which Scotland's cultural landscape and history is misrecognised through the eyes of characters from the metropolitan English centre, who journey into a Kristevan uncanny in their experience of otherness in Scottish characters and landscapes. The ways in which The Omega Factor diverged from generic precedents set by contemporary English supernatural series of the time will also be illustrated, particularly with regard to ideological subtext and notions of decentred history.
‘Not a country at all’: Landscape andWuthering Heights
Authors: Thornham Sue
Published: January 2016

This article explores the issue of women's representational genealogies through an analysis of Andrea Arnold's 2011 Wuthering Heights. Beginning with 1970s feminist arguments for a specifically female literary tradition, it argues that running through both these early attempts to construct an alternative female literary tradition and later work in feminist philosophy, cultural geography and film history is a concern with questions of ‘alternative landscapes’: of how to represent, and how to encounter, space differently. Adopting Mary Jacobus' notion of intertextual ‘correspondence’ between women's texts, and taking Arnold's film as its case study, it seeks to trace some of the intertextual movements – the reframings, deframings and spatial reorderings – that link Andrea Arnold's film to Emily Brontë’s original novel. Focusing on two elements of her treatment of landscape – her use of ‘unframed’ landscape and her focus on visceral textural detail – it points to correspondences in other women's writing, photography and film-making. It argues that these intensely tactile close-up sequences which puncture an apparently realist narrative constitute an insistent presence beneath, or within, the ordered framing which is our more usual mode of viewing landscape. As the novel Wuthering Heights is unmade in Arnold's adaptation and its framings ruptured, it is through this disturbance of hierarchies of time, space and landscape that we can trace the correspondences of an alternative genealogy.
Chitooligomer-Immobilized Biointerfaces with Micropatterned Geometries for Unidirectional Alignment of Myoblast Cells
Authors: Poosala Pornthida , Kitaoka Takuya
Published: January 2016

Skeletal muscle possesses a robust capacity to regenerate functional architectures with a unidirectional orientation. In this study, we successfully arranged skeletal myoblast (C2C12) cells along micropatterned gold strips on which chitohexaose was deposited via a vectorial chain immobilization approach. Hexa-N-acetyl-d-glucosamine (GlcNAc6) was site-selectively modified at its reducing end with thiosemicarbazide, then immobilized on a gold substrate in striped micropatterns via S–Au chemisorption. Gold micropatterns ranged from 100 to 1000 µm in width. Effects of patterning geometries on C2C12 cell alignment, morphology, and gene expression were investigated. Unidirectional alignment of C2C12 cells having GlcNAc6 receptors was clearly observed along the micropatterns. Decreasing striped pattern width increased cell attachment and proliferation, suggesting that the fixed GlcNAc6 and micropatterns impacted cell function. Possibly, interactions between nonreducing end groups of fixed GlcNAc6 and cell surface receptors initiated cellular alignment. Our technique for mimicking native tissue organization should advance applications in tissue engineering.
A Longitudinal Study of Sexual Entitlement and Self-Efficacy among Young Women and Men: Gender Differences and Associations with Age and Sexual Experience
Authors: Hewitt-Stubbs Gillian , Zimmer-Gembeck Melanie , Mastro Shawna , Boislard Marie-Aude
Published: January 2016

Many scholars have called for an increased focus on positive aspects of sexual health and sexuality. Using a longitudinal design with two assessments, we investigated patterns of entitlement to sexual partner pleasure and self-efficacy to achieve sexual pleasure among 295 young men and women aged 17–25 years attending one Australian university. We also tested whether entitlement and efficacy differed by gender, and hypothesized that entitlement and efficacy would be higher in older participants and those with more sexual experience. A sense of entitlement to sexual partner pleasure increased significantly over the year of the study, whereas, on average, there was no change in self-efficacy over time. At Time 1 (T1), young women reported more entitlement than young men. Age was positively associated with T1 entitlement, and experience with a wider range of partnered sexual behaviors was concurrently associated with more entitlement and efficacy and was also associated with increased entitlement to partner pleasure and increased self-efficacy in achieving sexual pleasure at T2 relative to T1. A group with the least amount of sexual experience was particularly low in entitlement and efficacy when compared to groups with a history of coital experience. There was no evidence that any association differed between young men and young women. Limitations of the study include a sample of predominantly middle class, Caucasian students at one university and the possibility that students more interested in sex and relationships, and with more sexual experience, chose to participate.
A Review of Surface Analysis Techniques for the Investigation of the Phenomenon of Electrochemical Promotion of Catalysis with Alkaline Ionic Conductors
Authors: González-Cobos Jesús , De Lucas-Consuegra Antonio
Published: January 2016

Electrochemical Promotion of Catalysis (EPOC) with alkali ionic conductors has been widely studied in literature due to its operational advantages vs. alkali classical promotion. This phenomenon allows to electrochemically control the alkali promoter coverage on a catalyst surface in the course of the catalytic reaction. Along the study of this phenomenon, a large variety of in situ and ex situ surface analysis techniques have been used to investigate the origin and mechanism of this kind of promotion. In this review, we analyze the most important contributions made on this field which have clearly evidenced the presence of adsorbed alkali surface species on the catalyst films deposited on alkaline solid electrolyte materials during EPOC experiments. Hence, the use of different surface analysis techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning photoelectron microscopy (SPEM), or scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), led to a better understanding of the alkali promoting effect, and served to confirm the theory of electrochemical promotion on this kind of catalytic systems. Given the functional similarities between alkali electrochemical and chemical promotion, this review aims to bring closer this phenomenon to the catalysis scientific community.
Entropy of Fuzzy Partitions and Entropy of Fuzzy Dynamical Systems
Authors: Markechová Dagmar , Riečan Beloslav
Published: January 2016

In the paper we define three kinds of entropy of a fuzzy dynamical system using different entropies of fuzzy partitions. It is shown that different definitions of the entropy of fuzzy partitions lead to different notions of entropies of fuzzy dynamical systems. The relationships between these entropies are studied and connections with the classical case are mentioned as well. Finally, an analogy of the Kolmogorov–Sinai Theorem on generators is proved for fuzzy dynamical systems.
Progress of Space Charge Research on Oil-Paper Insulation Using Pulsed Electroacoustic Techniques
Authors: Tang Chao , Huang Bo , Hao Miao , Xu Zhiqiang , Hao Jian , Chen George
Published: January 2016

This paper focuses on the space charge behavior in oil-paper insulation systems used in power transformers. It begins with the importance of understanding the space charge behavior in oil-paper insulation systems, followed by the introduction of the pulsed electrostatic technique (PEA). After that, the research progress on the space charge behavior of oil-paper insulation during the recent twenty years is critically reviewed. Some important aspects such as the environmental conditions and the acoustic wave recovery need to be addressed to acquire more accurate space charge measurement results. Some breakthroughs on the space charge behavior of oil-paper insulation materials by the research team at the University of Southampton are presented. Finally, future work on space charge measurement of oil-paper insulation materials is proposed.
Excess Medical Care Costs Associated with Physical Inactivity among Korean Adults: Retrospective Cohort Study
Authors: Min Jin-Young , Min Kyoung-Bok
Published: January 2016

Physical inactivity is a major risk factor for chronic diseases and premature death. The increased health risks associated with physical inactivity may also generate a heavier economic burden to society. We estimated the direct medical costs attributable to physical inactivity among adultsusing data from the 2002–2010 Korean National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort. A total of 68,556 adults whose reported physical activity status did not change during the study period was included for this study. Propensity scores for inactive adults were used to match 23,645 inactive groups with 23,645 active groups who had similar propensity scores. We compared medical expenditures between the two groups using generalized linear models with a gamma distribution and a log link. Direct medical costs were based on the reimbursement records of all medical facilities from 2005 to 2010. The average total medical costs for inactive individuals were $1110.5, which was estimated to be 11.7% higher than the costs for physically active individuals. With respect to specific diseases, the medical costs of inactive people were significantly higher than those of active people, accounting for approximately 8.7% to 25.3% of the excess burden. Physical inactivity is associated with considerable medical care expenditures per capita among Korean adults.
Using a Household Food Inventory to Assess the Availability of Traditional Vegetables among Resettled African Refugees
Authors: Gichunge Catherine , Somerset Shawn , Harris Neil
Published: January 2016

A cross-sectional sequential explanatory mixed methods study was conducted among household food preparers to examine the association between home availability and consumption of traditional vegetables among resettled African refugees living in Queensland, Australia. Home availability of traditional African vegetables was associated with age, having a vegetable garden, employment status, and having a supermarket in the local neighborhood. Food preparers from homes with low vegetable availability were less likely to consume the recommended number of vegetable servings. Barriers faced in the food environment included language, lack of availability of traditional vegetables and lack of transport. All of these aspects contributed to the study findings that both individual and food environment characteristics may play a role in access to and availability of food and vegetable consumption of resettled refugees. Consumption of traditional foods among the resettled refugees continues post resettlement.
Temporal Analysis on Contribution Inequality in OpenStreetMap: A Comparative Study for Four Countries
Authors: Yang Anran , Fan Hongchao , Jing Ning , Sun Yeran , Zipf Alexander
Published: January 2016

Contribution inequality widely exists in OpenStreetMap (OSM), which means that most data come from a minority of the contributors, while the majority only accounts for a small percentage of data. This phenomenon is of great importance to understanding from where the data come and how the project evolves. The investigation in this paper is dedicated to answering the following questions: How does contribution inequality change over time in OSM? Which group of contributors plays a more important role in influencing trends in contribution inequality: the “vocal minority” or the “silent majority”? To answer the first question, we provide overall measurements for contribution inequality using the Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient. To answer the second question, we use quantile-based classifying strategy to analyze structural changes in the community, and use the Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test to analyze productivity changes. Our case study shows that in countries without significant imports, contributions become more unequal over time. This trend is consistent with the rapid expansion of the silent majority, even though other classes of contributors also grow at a slower pace. On the other hand, contribution inequality fluctuates a lot in countries with huge imports, and agrees well with the productivity changes in the vocal minority.
Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART) of an Organothiophosphate at Ultrahigh Resolution by Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry and Tandem Mass Spectrometry
Authors: Prokai Laszlo , Stevens Stanley
Published: January 2016

Direct analysis in real time (DART) is a recently developed ambient ionization technique for mass spectrometry to enable rapid and sensitive analyses with little or no sample preparation. After swab-based field sampling, the organothiophosphate malathion was analyzed using DART-Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometry (MS) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). Mass resolution was documented to be over 800,000 in full-scan MS mode and over 1,000,000 for an MS/MS product ion produced by collision-induced dissociation of the protonated analyte. Mass measurement accuracy below 1 ppm was obtained for all DART-generated ions that belonged to the test compound in the mass spectra acquired using only external mass calibration. This high mass measurement accuracy, achievable at present only through FTMS, was required for unequivocal identification of the corresponding molecular formulae.
Ultra-Fast Glyco-Coating of Non-Biological Surfaces
Authors: Williams Eleanor , Barr Katie , Korchagina Elena , Tuzikov Alexander , Henry Stephen , Bovin Nicolai
Published: January 2016

The ability to glycosylate surfaces has medical and diagnostic applications, but there is no technology currently recognized as being able to coat any surface without the need for prior chemical modification of the surface. Recently, a family of constructs called function-spacer-lipids (FSL) has been used to glycosylate cells. Because it is known that lipid-based material can adsorb onto surfaces, we explored the potential and performance of cell-labelling FSL constructs to “glycosylate” non-biological surfaces. Using blood group A antigen as an indicator, the performance of a several variations of FSL constructs to modify a large variety of non-biological surfaces was evaluated. It was found the FSL constructs when optimised could in a few seconds glycosylate almost any non-biological surface including metals, glass, plastics, rubbers and other polymers. Although the FSL glycan coating was non-covalent, and therefore temporary, it was sufficiently robust with appropriate selection of spacer and surface that it could capture anti-glycan antibodies, immobilize cells (via antibody), and withstand incubation in serum and extensive buffer washing, making it suitable for diagnostic and research applications.
Alternative Splicing in Adhesion- and Motility-Related Genes in Breast Cancer
Authors: Aversa Rosanna , Sorrentino Anna , Esposito Roberta , Ambrosio Maria , Amato Angela , Zambelli Alberto , Ciccodicola Alfredo , D’Apice Luciana , Costa Valerio
Published: January 2016

Breast cancer is the most common tumor and the second leading cause of cancer death among woman, mainly caused by the metastatic spread. Tumor invasiveness is due to an altered expression of adhesion molecules. Among them, semaphorins are of peculiar interest. Cancer cells can manipulate alternative splicing patterns to modulate the expression of adhesion- and motility-related molecules, also at the isoform level. In this study, combining RNA-Sequencing on MCF-7 to targeted experimental validations—in human breast cell lines and breast tumor biopsies—we identified 12 new alternative splicing transcripts in genes encoding adhesion- and motility-related molecules, including semaphorins, their receptors and co-receptors. Among them, a new SEMA3F transcript is expressed in all breast cell lines and breast cancer biopsies, and is translated into a new semaphorin 3F isoform. In silico analysis predicted that most of the new putative proteins lack functional domains, potentially missing some functions and acquiring new ones. Our findings better describe the extent of alternative splicing in breast cancer and highlight the need to further investigate adhesion- and motility-related molecules to gain insights into breast cancer progression.
Thermo-Mechanical Compatibility of Viscoelastic Mortars for Stone Repair
Authors: Demoulin Thibault , Scherer George , Girardet Fred , Flatt Robert
Published: January 2016

The magnitude of the thermal stresses that originate in an acrylic-based repair material used for the reprofiling of natural sandstone is analyzed. This kind of artificial stone was developed in the late 1970s for its peculiar property of reversibility in an organic solvent. However, it displays a high thermal expansion coefficient, which can be a matter of concern for the durability either of the repair or of the underlying original stone. To evaluate this risk we propose an analytical solution that considers the viscoelasticity of the repair layer. The temperature profile used in the numerical evaluation has been measured in a church where artificial stone has been used in a recent restoration campaign. The viscoelasticity of the artificial stone has been characterized by stress relaxation experiments. The numerical analysis shows that the relaxation time of the repair mortar, originating from a low T g , allows relief of most of the thermal stresses. It explains the good durability of this particular repair material, as observed by the practitioners, and provides a solid scientific basis for considering that the problem of thermal expansion mismatch is not an issue for this type of stone under any possible conditions of natural exposure.
A Graphene Oxide-Based Fluorescent Platform for Probing of Phosphatase Activity
Authors: Sun Ting , Xia Ning , Liu Lin
Published: January 2016

We presented a strategy for fabricating graphene oxide (GO)-based fluorescent biosensors to monitor the change of phosphorylation state and detect phosphatase activity. By regulating the interaction between the negatively charged phosphate group and the positively charged amino residue, we found that GO showed different quenching efficiency toward the phosphorylated and dephosphorylated dye-labeled peptides. To demonstrate the application of our method, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) was tested as a model enzyme with phosphorylated fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labeled short peptide FITC–Gly–Gly–Gly–Tyr(PO32−)–Arg as the probe. When the negatively charged phosphate group in the Tyr residue was removed from the peptide substrate by enzymatic hydrolysis, the resulting FITC–Gly–Gly–Gly–Tyr–Arg was readily adsorbed onto the GO surface through electrostatic interaction. As a result, fluorescence quenching was observed. Furthermore, the method was applied for the screening of phosphatase inhibitors.
Investigation of MnO2 and Ordered Mesoporous Carbon Composites as Electrocatalysts for Li-O2 Battery Applications
Authors: Chin Chih-Chun , Yang Hong-Kai , Chen Jenn-Shing
Published: January 2016

The electrocatalytic activities of the MnO2/C composites are examined in Li-O2 cells as the cathode catalysts. Hierarchically mesoporous carbon-supported manganese oxide (MnO2/C) composites are prepared using a combination of soft template and hydrothermal methods. The composites are characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, small angle X-ray scattering, The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) measurements, galvanostatic charge-discharge methods, and rotating ring-disk electrode (RRDE) measurements. The electrochemical tests indicate that the MnO2/C composites have excellent catalytic activity towards oxygen reduction reactions (ORRs) due to the larger surface area of ordered mesoporous carbon and higher catalytic activity of MnO2. The O2 solubility, diffusion rates of O2 and O2•− coefficients (DO2 and DO−2), the rate constant (kf) for producing O2•−, and the propylene carbonate (PC)-electrolyte decomposition rate constant (k) of the MnO2/C material were measured by RRDE experiments in the 0.1 M TBAPF6/PC electrolyte. The values of kf and k for MnO2/C are 4.29 × 10−2 cm·s−1 and 2.6 s−1, respectively. The results indicate that the MnO2/C cathode catalyst has higher electrocatalytic activity for the first step of ORR to produce O2•− and achieves a faster PC-electrolyte decomposition rate.
Cancer Prevention and Health Benefices of Traditionally Consumed Borago officinalis Plants
Authors: Lozano-Baena María-Dolores , Tasset Inmaculada , Muñoz-Serrano Andrés , Alonso-Moraga Ángeles , De Haro-Bailón Antonio
Published: January 2016

Nowadays, healthy eating is increasing the demand of functional foods by societies as sources of bioactive products with healthy qualities. For this reason, we tested the safety of the consumption of Borago officinalis L. and its main phenolic components as well as the possibility of its use as a nutraceutical plant to help in cancer prevention. The in vivo Drosophila Somatic Mutation and Recombination Test (SMART) and in vitro HL-60 human cell systems were performed, as well-recognized methods for testing genotoxicity/cytotoxicity of bioactive compounds and plant products. B. officinalis and the tested compounds possess antigenotoxic activity. Moreover, B. officinalis wild type cultivar exerts the most antigenotoxic values. Cytotoxic effect was probed for both cultivars with IC50 values of 0.49 and 0.28 mg·mL−1 for wild type and cultivated plants respectively, as well as their constituent rosmarinic acid and the assayed phenolic mixture (IC50 = 0.07 and 0.04 mM respectively). B. officinalis exerts DNA protection and anticarcinogenic effects as do its component rosmarinic acid and the mixture of the main phenolics presented in the plant. In conclusion, the results showed that B. officinalis may represent a high value plant for pleiotropic uses and support its consumption as a nutraceutical plant.
3D Printing of Scaffold for Cells Delivery: Advances in Skin Tissue Engineering
Authors: Singh Deepti , Singh Dolly , Han Sung
Published: January 2016

Injury or damage to tissue and organs is a major health problem, resulting in about half of the world’s annual healthcare expenditure every year. Advances in the fields of stem cells (SCs) and biomaterials processing have provided a tremendous leap for researchers to manipulate the dynamics between these two, and obtain a skin substitute that can completely heal the wounded areas. Although wound healing needs a coordinated interplay between cells, extracellular proteins and growth factors, the most important players in this process are the endogenous SCs, which activate the repair cascade by recruiting cells from different sites. Extra cellular matrix (ECM) proteins are activated by these SCs, which in turn aid in cellular migrations and finally secretion of growth factors that can seal and heal the wounds. The interaction between ECM proteins and SCs helps the skin to sustain the rigors of everyday activity, and in an attempt to attain this level of functionality in artificial three-dimensional (3D) constructs, tissue engineered biomaterials are fabricated using more advanced techniques such as bioprinting and laser assisted printing of the organs. This review provides a concise summary of the most recent advances that have been made in the area of polymer bio-fabrication using 3D bio printing used for encapsulating stem cells for skin regeneration. The focus of this review is to describe, in detail, the role of 3D architecture and arrangement of cells within this system that can heal wounds and aid in skin regeneration.
Biomedical Applications of Biodegradable Polyesters
Authors: Manavitehrani Iman , Fathi Ali , Badr Hesham , Daly Sean , Negahi Shirazi Ali , Dehghani Fariba
Published: January 2016

The focus in the field of biomedical engineering has shifted in recent years to biodegradable polymers and, in particular, polyesters. Dozens of polyester-based medical devices are commercially available, and every year more are introduced to the market. The mechanical performance and wide range of biodegradation properties of this class of polymers allow for high degrees of selectivity for targeted clinical applications. Recent research endeavors to expand the application of polymers have been driven by a need to target the general hydrophobic nature of polyesters and their limited cell motif sites. This review provides a comprehensive investigation into advanced strategies to modify polyesters and their clinical potential for future biomedical applications.
Deep Convolutional and LSTM Recurrent Neural Networks for Multimodal Wearable Activity Recognition
Authors: Ordóñez Francisco , Roggen Daniel
Published: January 2016

Human activity recognition (HAR) tasks have traditionally been solved using engineered features obtained by heuristic processes. Current research suggests that deep convolutional neural networks are suited to automate feature extraction from raw sensor inputs. However, human activities are made of complex sequences of motor movements, and capturing this temporal dynamics is fundamental for successful HAR. Based on the recent success of recurrent neural networks for time series domains, we propose a generic deep framework for activity recognition based on convolutional and LSTM recurrent units, which: (i) is suitable for multimodal wearable sensors; (ii) can perform sensor fusion naturally; (iii) does not require expert knowledge in designing features; and (iv) explicitly models the temporal dynamics of feature activations. We evaluate our framework on two datasets, one of which has been used in a public activity recognition challenge. Our results show that our framework outperforms competing deep non-recurrent networks on the challenge dataset by 4% on average; outperforming some of the previous reported results by up to 9%. Our results show that the framework can be applied to homogeneous sensor modalities, but can also fuse multimodal sensors to improve performance. We characterise key architectural hyperparameters’ influence on performance to provide insights about their optimisation.
Quantitative Evaluation System of Soft Neurological Signs for Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Authors: Kaneko Miki , Yamashita Yushiro , Iramina Keiji
Published: January 2016

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Soft neurological signs (SNS) are minor neurological abnormalities in motor performance, and are used as one evaluation method for neurodevelopmental delays in children with ADHD. Our aim is to establish a quantitative evaluation system for children with ADHD. We focused on the arm movement called pronation and supination, which is one such soft neurological sign. Thirty three children with ADHD aged 7–11 years (27 males, six females) and twenty five adults participants aged 21–29 years old (19 males, six females) participated in our experiments. Our results suggested that the pronation and supination function in children with ADHD has a tendency to lag behind that of typically developing children by several years. From these results, our system has a possibility to objectively evaluate the neurodevelopmental delay of children with ADHD.
Environmental Capabilities of Suppliers for Green Supply Chain Management in Construction Projects: A Case Study in Korea
Authors: Kim Moon , Woo Chungwon , Rho Jae , Chung Yanghon
Published: January 2016

Green supply chain management (GSCM) enhances a firm’s competitiveness for sustainable growth. GSCM is especially important in the construction industry, a project-based business that often results in heavy environmental pollution. For the successful implementation of GSCM in the construction industry to occur, contractors should make the best use of suppliers’ environmental capabilities based on shared understanding of the capabilities. This paper examines the shared understanding of suppliers’ environmental management capabilities between the contractor and suppliers by assessing the consistency between the contractor’s and suppliers’ evaluations of the capabilities. This explorative case study investigates a supply chain comprised of a major construction firm and 106 suppliers in Korea. The results of the case analysis show that the suppliers’ self-evaluation scores of environmental capability are higher than the contractor’s evaluation scores. Furthermore, from both evaluators, suppliers received the lowest scores in the evaluation item rating the relationship with second-tier suppliers and the highest in the evaluation item rating the relationship with the contractor. The consistency between the suppliers’ and contractor’s evaluation is related to several characteristics of suppliers, such as industry type, firm size and partnership duration with the contractor. This study contributes to the literature of GSCM and strategic alignment amongst supply chain partners for the construction industry.
Hybrid Arrangements as a Form of Ecological Modernization: The Case of the US Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grants
Authors: Galli Anya , Fisher Dana
Published: January 2016

How are environmental policy goals implemented and sustained in the context of political stagnation surrounding national climate policies in the United States? In this paper, we discuss Ecological Modernization Theory as a tool for understanding the complexity of climate governance at the sub-national level. In particular, we explore the emergence of hybrid governance arrangements during the local implementation of federal energy efficiency programs in US cities. We analyze the formation and advancement of programs associated with one effort to establish a sub-national low carbon energy policy: the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program administered by the US Department of Energy. Our findings highlight the diverse range of partnerships between state, private, and civil society actors that emerged through this program and point to some of the challenges associated with collaborative climate governance initiatives at the city level. Although some programs reflected ecologically modern outcomes, other cities were constrained in their ability to move beyond the status quo due to the demands of state bureaucracies and the challenges associated with inconsistent funding. We find that these programs cultivated hybrid arrangements in an effort to sustain the projects following the termination of federal grant funding. Overall, hybrid governance plays an important role in the implementation and long-term sustainability of climate-related policies.
Understanding the Osteosarcoma Pathobiology: A Comparative Oncology Approach
Authors: Varshney Jyotika , Scott Milcah , Largaespada David , Subramanian Subbaya
Published: January 2016

Osteosarcoma is an aggressive primary bone tumor in humans and is among the most common cancer afflicting dogs. Despite surgical advancements and intensification of chemo- and targeted therapies, the survival outcome for osteosarcoma patients is, as of yet, suboptimal. The presence of metastatic disease at diagnosis or its recurrence after initial therapy is a major factor for the poor outcomes. It is thought that most human and canine patients have at least microscopic metastatic lesions at diagnosis. Osteosarcoma in dogs occurs naturally with greater frequency and shares many biological and clinical similarities with osteosarcoma in humans. From a genetic perspective, osteosarcoma in both humans and dogs is characterized by complex karyotypes with highly variable structural and numerical chromosomal aberrations. Similar molecular abnormalities have been observed in human and canine osteosarcoma. For instance, loss of TP53 and RB regulated pathways are common. While there are several oncogenes that are commonly amplified in both humans and dogs, such as MYC and RAS, no commonly activated proto-oncogene has been identified that could form the basis for targeted therapies. It remains possible that recurrent aberrant gene expression changes due to gene amplification or epigenetic alterations could be uncovered and these could be used for developing new, targeted therapies. However, the remarkably high genomic complexity of osteosarcoma has precluded their definitive identification. Several advantageous murine models of osteosarcoma have been generated. These include spontaneous and genetically engineered mouse models, including a model based on forward genetics and transposon mutagenesis allowing new genes and genetic pathways to be implicated in osteosarcoma development. The proposition of this review is that careful comparative genomic studies between human, canine and mouse models of osteosarcoma may help identify commonly affected and targetable pathways for alternative therapies for osteosarcoma patients. Translational research may be found through a path that begins in mouse models, and then moves through canine patients, and then human patients.
The scholiasts have done harm enough. Ronald Syme contre Jérôme Carcopino à propos de la IVe Églogue
Authors: Rey Sarah
Published: January 2016

Dans une lettre à Paul Veyne datée de 1964, Ronald Syme reproche à Jérôme Carcopino d’avoir contourné un passage du commentaire de Servius (ad. Egl. IV, 1) au moment-clé de son

Virgile et le mystère de la IVe Églogue (1930). En effet, Carcopino a passé sous silence un élément de datation livré par le texte servien : dans le cursus d’Asinius Pollion, dédicataire du poème, il y aurait eu, au dire du scholiaste, un épisode dalmate antérieur au consulat de 40 av. J.-C. Or Carcopino veut croire que le fameux Iam redit et Virgo, lié – d’après lui – au retour de la constellation de la Vierge, fournit le repère chronologique primordial, dans cette Églogue qu’il juge tout imprégnée de pythagorisme. Il fixe avec assurance la date de la paix de Brindes et du départ de Pollion pour Salone. Contre cette thèse, Syme fait état de ses critiques à plusieurs reprises dès 1937 : à ses yeux, la prudence doit être de mise dans l’interprétation des vers de Virgile, où demeurent de nombreuses ambiguïtés, et il est certainement trop aventureux d’essayer de reconstituer le calendrier exact de l’an 40 au jour près.
Notes d’épigraphie 11-12
Authors: Christol Michel
Published: January 2016

La révision d’une inscription peu connue de Saint-Gilles (cité de Nîmes) permet de mettre en évidence le texte d’une inscription qu’il faut rattacher à l’épigraphie gallo-latine (HGL, XV, 1388). Le réexamen d’une inscription incomplète de Narbonne qui n’est connue que par des copies manuscrites (CIL, XII, 4528 et add. = HGL, XV, 490) élimine le fantôme appelé Fadius Vocer. Le personnage, sévir augustal dans la cité d’Aix-en-Provence, entre dans un groupe familial qui conduit jusqu’à Sex. Fadius Secundus Musa, bien connu à Narbonne au milieu du

iie siècle apr. J.-C.
Corrections, restitutions et suggestions onomastiques dans quelques diplômes militaires
Authors: Dana Dan
Published: January 2016

The study of the name formulary of about 40 military diplomas recently published allows to suggest more corrections of reading and other restitutions, and also to comment the onomastics of soldiers and their families – we can find mainly Thracian and Dacian names, but also Illyrian ones and some of other origin. In addition to the precious data about the administration and the military history of the Roman Empire, the military diplomas inform us also about the onomastics and the geographic and/ or ethnic origin of simple peregrines or citizens who received and kept these privileges on bronze.
Au pays des Bétyles : l’excursion du philosophe Damascius à Émèse et à Héliopolis du Liban
Authors: Aliquot Julien
Published: January 2016

During their journey in the Near East, Damascius and his dialectics teacher Isidorus of Alexandria went through Emesa and Heliopolis. The account of their expedition can be found in the Life of Isidorus, also called the Philosophical History. Michel Tardieu has emphasized the importance of this report in a book entitled Les paysages reliques, but he focused on the passages dealing with Bostra and the Styx water, in southern Syria. Since he published his work in 1990, the fragments which concern Emesa and Heliopolis do not seem to have been commented on as much as they deserve. The present paper aims at investigating further in this direction. When Damascius visited the two cities, in 489-490 A D, paganism was only surviving on the fringe of society. However, the testimony of the philosopher keeps the memory of pagan cults actually practised in the area under the Roman Empire, especially that of Jupiter Heliopolitanus’ oracle.