bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Simplified Method to Measure Glomerular Filtration Rate by Iohexol Plasma Clearance in Conscious Rats
Authors: Carrara Fabiola , Azzollini Nadia , Nattino Giovanni , Corna Daniela , Villa Sebastian , Cerullo Domenico , Zoja Carlamaria , Abrante Beatriz , Luis-Lima Sergio , Porrini Esteban , Cannata Antonio , Ferrari Silvia , Fois Matteo , Stucchi Nadia , Gaspari Flavio
Published: May 2016

Background/Aims: Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is the best index for evaluating renal function. We aimed to develop a simplified iohexol plasma clearance procedure for GFR measurement in rats without urine collection, animal catheterization or anesthesia, with limited sampling and requiring blood instead of plasma, to further reduce the sample volume and improve animal welfare. Methods: After iohexol injection (129.4 mg), samples were drawn according to 2-compartment kinetics and analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography. Healthy male Lewis rats were used to find a correction factor (CF) to obtain the ‘reference clearance' from the simplified 1-comparment model. This approach was validated using male or female (Lewis, Sprague-Dawley) rats and animals with renal mass reduction (RMR). In additional rats, different simplified approaches were evaluated. Results: Iohexol concentrations in blood and plasma strongly correlated (r = 0.9784, p < 0.0001). A CF of 0.90 enabled the calculation of the reference GFR. Validation results in male Lewis rats were 0.99 ± 0.27 for the reference GFR and 1.03 ± 0.29 ml/min/100 g for the simplified approach. Results in female Sprague-Dawley rats confirmed the suitability of the proposed method. In RMR rats, GFR was 0.14 ± 0.05 and 0.14 ± 0.04 ml/min/100 g for the reference and simplified model, respectively. Conclusion: The procedure we set up to measure GFR in conscious rats was proven to be reliable, required a small volume of blood at only 4 selected time points, without the need to collect urine or catheterize the animals, was applicable to rats from different strains and sexes, both healthy and with renal function impairment. Moreover, the procedure enables the monitoring of GFR changes over time in the same animal, thereby reducing the number of animals to be used.
Isolated Oligohydramnios at Term as an Indication for Labor Induction: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Shrem Guy , Nagawkar Sima S. , Hallak Mordechai , Walfisch Asnat
Published: May 2016

Objective: To investigate whether isolated oligohydramnios at term is associated with increased rates of perinatal morbidity and mortality and whether induction of labor in term pregnancies with isolated oligohydramnios is superior to conservative management in reducing perinatal morbidity and mortality. Study Design: We searched databases from inception to May 2015. We included studies that evaluated isolated oligohydramnios at term and perinatal outcome. Each outcome was analyzed separately, performing a comparative analysis between the study and control groups. Results: Twelve studies were included with 35,999 women: 2,414 (6.7%) with isolated oligohydramnios and 33,585 (93.29%) with normal amniotic fluid index. Patients with isolated oligohydramnios had significantly higher rates of labor induction [odds ratio (OR) 7.56, confidence interval (CI) 4.58-12.48] and Cesarean sections (OR 2.07, CI 1.77-2.41). There were higher rates of an Apgar score <7 at 1 and 5 min (OR 1.53, CI 1.03-2.26, and OR 2.01, CI 1.3-3.09, respectively) and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (OR 1.47, CI 1.17-1.84). There were no significant differences in cord pH <7.1 and meconium-stained amniotic fluid. In the single randomized trial comparing induction of labor with expectant management, no differences were found in any significant maternal or neonatal outcomes. Conclusion: Isolated oligohydramnios at term is associated with significantly higher rates of labor induction, Cesarean sections, and short-term neonatal morbidity.
Parental Smoking and Smoking Cognitions among Youth: A Systematic Review of the Literature
Authors: Lochbuehler Kirsten , Schuck Kathrin , Otten Roy , Ringlever Linda , Hiemstra Marieke
Published: May 2016

Aims: We summarized and discussed the empirical evidence for an association between parental smoking and smoking-related cognitions among youth and for the mediating role of smoking-related cognitions in the relation between parental and youth smoking behaviour. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of articles published between 1980 and February 2015 using the databases PsychInfo and PubMed. Results: The systematic search resulted in 41 eligible studies. Only 4 studies investigated smoking-related cognitions as putative mediators in the association between parental and youth smoking. The synthesis of evidence showed a mix of significant and non-significant associations between parental smoking and smoking-related cognitions among youth. A majority of results reported positive associations even when non-significant findings were found. However, studies that report an effect suggest that the effect may be quite modest. Conclusion: Empirical evidence does not confirm the commonly applied assertions of social learning theories that parental smoking increases the risk of youth smoking through the development of favourable smoking-related cognitions. Methodological and theoretical aspects that might explain the lack of consistent findings are discussed.
Meatal Occlusive Disease in Adult Males: Are There Any Clinical Variations?
Authors: Dalela Divakar , Gupta Piyush , Dalela Disha , Bansal Ankur , Govil Tuhina , Goel Apul , Sankhwar Satya Narayan
Published: May 2016

Objective: The study aimed to document the types of meatal occlusive disease (MOD) in adult males in terms of its clinical presentation, management and prognosis. Material and Methods: Eighty-six adult males with MOD were assessed during the study period. The patients were divided into Group 1, having meatal opening that was occluded by flimsy adhesions (meatal synechia/adhesive type MOD), and Group 2 that included patients who had circumferential constriction of the meatus (meatal stenosis/constrictive type MOD). All patients underwent meatal dilatation up to 18 Fr followed by self-dilatation for 3 months with topical clobetasol for 4 weeks. Degree of discomfort during self-dilation, improvement in flow rate, International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS score) and recurrences were recorded at pre-determined intervals. Results: Twenty-eight patients had meatal synechia (Group 1) and 48 had meatal stenosis (Group 2). Discomfort during self-dilatation in Group 1 patients was significantly less; there was improvement in IPSS and peak flow rate (mean follow-up 26.8 months) as compared to Group 2. With dilation alone, no recurrence was noted in Group 1; however, Group 2 showed 62.8% recurrence indicating poor outcome in this subset of patients. Conclusion: MOD in adult males consists of 2 separate clinical entities with different therapeutic outcomes.
Changes in Dyspnea Status During Hospitalization and Postdischarge Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients Hospitalized for Heart Failure: Findings From the EVEREST Trial
Authors: Ambrosy Andrew P. , Khan Hassan , Udelson James E. , Mentz Robert J. , Chioncel Ovidiu , Greene Stephen J. , Vaduganathan Muthiah , Subacuis Haris P. , Konstam Marvin A. , Swedberg Karl , Zannad Faiez , Maggioni Aldo P. , Gheorghiade Mihai , Butler Javed
Published: May 2016

Background—

Dyspnea is the most common symptom among hospitalized patients with heart failure and represents a therapeutic target. However, the association between short-term dyspnea relief and postdischarge clinical outcomes and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) remains uncertain.

Methods and Results—

A post hoc analysis was performed of the Efficacy of Vasopressin Antagonism in Heart Failure: Outcome Study with Tolvaptan (EVEREST) trial, which enrolled 4133 patients within 48 hours of admission for heart failure with an ejection fraction ≤40%. Physician-assessed dyspnea was recorded on a daily basis from baseline until discharge or day 7 as none, seldom, frequent, or continuous. Patient-reported dyspnea was measured using a 7-point Likert scale, and patients experiencing moderate or marked dyspnea improvement on day 1 were classified as early responders. The Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire summary score, which ranges from 0 to 100, was collected postdischarge at week 1. The primary outcome was unfavorable HRQOL, defined a priori as a Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire score <45. Secondary outcomes included 30-day all-cause mortality, and all-cause and cause-specific hospitalizations. The final analytic cohort included 1567 patients discharged alive with complete HRQOL data. Patients were 66.0±12.7 years old and had a mean ejection fraction of 25±8%. Physician-assessed dyspnea was rated as frequent or continuous in 1399 patients (90%) at baseline, which decreased to 250 patients (16%) by discharge, whereas patient-reported early dyspnea relief was reported by 610 patients (40%). The median Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire score at week 1 was 50 (35, 65). All-cause mortality was 3.0%, and all-cause hospitalization was 20.5% within 30 days of discharge. Physician-assessed and patient-reported dyspnea was not independently associated with HRQOL, all-cause mortality, or all-cause or cause-specific hospitalization.

Conclusions—

In-hospital physician-assessed, and patient-reported dyspnea was not independently associated with postdischarge HRQOL, survival, or readmissions. Although dyspnea relief remains a goal of therapy for hospitalized patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, this measure may not be a reliable surrogate for long-term patient-centered or hard clinical outcomes.

Clinical Trial Registration—

URL:
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov
. Unique identifier: NCT00071331.
Impact of Angiotensin Type 1A Receptors in Principal Cells of the Collecting Duct on Blood Pressure and Hypertension
Authors: Chen Daian , Stegbauer Johannes , Sparks Matthew A. , Kohan Donald , Griffiths Robert , Herrera Marcela , Gurley Susan B. , Coffman Thomas M.
Published: May 2016

The main actions of the renin–angiotensin system to control blood pressure (BP) are mediated by the angiotensin type 1 receptors (AT
1
Rs). The major murine AT
1
R isoform, AT
1A
R, is expressed throughout the nephron, including the collecting duct in both principal and intercalated cells. Principal cells play the major role in sodium and water reabsorption. Although aldosterone is considered to be the dominant regulator of sodium reabsorption by principal cells, recent studies suggest a role for direct actions of AT
1
R. To specifically examine the contributions of AT
1A
R in principal cells to BP regulation and the development of hypertension in vivo, we generated inbred 129/SvEv mice with deletion of AT
1A
R from principal cells (PCKO). At baseline, we found that BPs measured by radiotelemetry were similar between PCKOs and controls. During 1-week of low-salt diet (<0.02% NaCl), BPs fell significantly (
P
<0.05) and to a similar extent in both groups. On a high-salt (6% NaCl) diet, BP increased but was not different between groups. During the initial phase of angiotensin II–dependent hypertension, there was a modest but significant attenuation of hypertension in PCKOs (163±6 mm Hg) compared with controls (178±2 mm Hg;
P
<0.05) that was associated with enhanced natriuresis and decreased alpha epithelial sodium channel activation in the medulla of PCKOs. However, from day 9 onward, BPs were indistinguishable between groups. Although effects of AT
1A
R on baseline BP and adaptation to changes in dietary salt are negligible, our studies suggest that direct actions of AT
1A
R contribute to the initiation of hypertension and epithelial sodium channel activation.
Noninvasive Central Systolic Blood Pressure Is More Strongly Related to Kidney Function Decline Than Peripheral Systolic Blood Pressure in a Chinese Community–Based Population
Authors: Fan Fangfang , Qi Litong , Jia Jia , Xu Xin , Liu Yan , Yang Yang , Qin Xianhui , Li Jianping , Li Haixia , Zhang Yan , Huo Yong
Published: May 2016

This study aimed to investigate the association of noninvasive central aortic blood pressure with kidney function decline in a Chinese community–based population with normal kidney function at baseline. A total of 3153 Chinese participants from an atherosclerosis cohort were included in our analysis. The primary outcome was renal function decline defined as a drop in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) category accompanied by a ≥25% drop in eGFR from baseline; or a sustained decline in eGFR of >5 mL/min per 1.73 m
2
/y. The secondary outcomes were rapid eGFR decline (a decline in eGFR of >3 mL/min per 1.73 m
2
/y) and new incidence of chronic kidney disease. Participants were 56.6±8.5 years old, 36.0% were males, and 48.8% had hypertension. Mean (SD) baseline eGFR was 101.2±10.6 mL/min per 1.73 m
2
. After a mean 2.35-year follow-up, the incidence of renal function decline, rapid eGFR decline and chronic kidney disease were 7.3%, 19.7%, and 0.7%, respectively. In multivariate logistic-regression analyses, central and peripheral systolic blood pressure (SBP) were both independently associated with all outcomes after adjustment for various confounders. When peripheral SBP was forced into the model with central SBP simultaneously, its significant association with the 3 outcomes all disappeared; however, central SBP was still significantly related with all outcomes even after further adjusting peripheral SBP. In conclusion, central SBP is a stronger predictor compared with peripheral SBP for early kidney function decline in a Chinese community–based population with normal kidney function at baseline.
Ethnic Differences in and Childhood Influences on Early Adult Pulse Wave Velocity
Authors: Cruickshank J. Kennedy , Silva Maria J. , Molaodi Oarabile R. , Enayat Zinat E. , Cassidy Aidan , Karamanos Alexis , Read Ursula M. , Faconti Luca , Dall Philippa , Stansfield Ben , Harding Seeromanie
Published: May 2016

Early determinants of aortic stiffness as pulse wave velocity are poorly understood. We tested how factors measured twice previously in childhood in a multiethnic cohort study, particularly body mass, blood pressure, and objectively assessed physical activity affected aortic stiffness in young adults. Of 6643 London children, aged 11 to 13 years, from 51 schools in samples stratified by 6 ethnic groups with different cardiovascular risk, 4785 (72%) were seen again at aged 14 to 16 years. In 2013, 666 (97% of invited) took part in a young adult (21–23 years) pilot follow-up. With psychosocial and anthropometric measures, aortic stiffness and blood pressure were recorded via an upper arm calibrated Arteriograph device. In a subsample (n=334), physical activity was measured >5 days via the ActivPal. Unadjusted pulse wave velocities in black Caribbean and white UK young men were similar (mean±SD 7.9±0.3 versus 7.6±0.4 m/s) and lower in other groups at similar systolic pressures (120 mm Hg) and body mass (24.6 kg/m
2
). In fully adjusted regression models, independent of pressure effects, black Caribbean (higher body mass/waists), black African, and Indian young women had lower stiffness (by 0.5–0.8; 95% confidence interval, 0.1–1.1 m/s) than did white British women (6.9±0.2 m/s). Values were separately increased by age, pressure, powerful impacts from waist/height, time spent sedentary, and a reported racism effect (+0.3 m/s). Time walking at >100 steps/min was associated with reduced stiffness (
P
<0.01). Effects of childhood waist/hip were detected. By young adulthood, increased waist/height ratios, lower physical activity, blood pressure, and psychosocial variables (eg, perceived racism) independently increase arterial stiffness, effects likely to increase with age.
Direct Density Derivative Estimation
Authors: Sasaki Hiroaki , Noh Yung-Kyun , Niu Gang , Sugiyama Masashi
Published: May 2016

Estimating the derivatives of probability density functions is an essential step in statistical data analysis. A naive approach to estimate the derivatives is to first perform density estimation and then compute its derivatives. However, this approach can be unreliable because a good density estimator does not necessarily mean a good density derivative estimator. To cope with this problem, in this letter, we propose a novel method that directly estimates density derivatives without going through density estimation. The proposed method provides computationally efficient estimation for the derivatives of any order on multidimensional data with a hyperparameter tuning method and achieves the optimal parametric convergence rate. We further discuss an extension of the proposed method by applying regularized multitask learning and a general framework for density derivative estimation based on Bregman divergences. Applications of the proposed method to nonparametric Kullback-Leibler divergence approximation and bandwidth matrix selection in kernel density estimation are also explored.
Efficient Nonnegative Matrix Factorization by DC Programming and DCA
Authors: Le Thi Hoai An , Vo Xuan Thanh , Dinh Tao Pham
Published: May 2016

In this letter, we consider the nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) problem and several NMF variants. Two approaches based on DC (difference of convex functions) programming and DCA (DC algorithm) are developed. The first approach follows the alternating framework that requires solving, at each iteration, two nonnegativity-constrained least squares subproblems for which DCA-based schemes are investigated. The convergence property of the proposed algorithm is carefully studied. We show that with suitable DC decompositions, our algorithm generates most of the standard methods for the NMF problem. The second approach directly applies DCA on the whole NMF problem. Two algorithms—one computing all variables and one deploying a variable selection strategy—are proposed. The proposed methods are then adapted to solve various NMF variants, including the nonnegative factorization, the smooth regularization NMF, the sparse regularization NMF, the multilayer NMF, the convex/convex-hull NMF, and the symmetric NMF. We also show that our algorithms include several existing methods for these NMF variants as special versions. The efficiency of the proposed approaches is empirically demonstrated on both real-world and synthetic data sets. It turns out that our algorithms compete favorably with five state-of-the-art alternating nonnegative least squares algorithms.
Maintaining Consistency of Spatial Information in the Hippocampal Network: A Combinatorial Geometry Model
Authors: Dabaghian Y.
Published: May 2016

Place cells in the rat hippocampus play a key role in creating the animal’s internal representation of the world. During active navigation, these cells spike only in discrete locations, together encoding a map of the environment. Electrophysiological recordings have shown that the animal can revisit this map mentally during both sleep and awake states, reactivating the place cells that fired during its exploration in the same sequence in which they were originally activated. Although consistency of place cell activity during active navigation is arguably enforced by sensory and proprioceptive inputs, it remains unclear how a consistent representation of space can be maintained during spontaneous replay. We propose a model that can account for this phenomenon and suggest that a spatially consistent replay requires a number of constraints on the hippocampal network that affect its synaptic architecture and the statistics of synaptic connection strengths.
Reading Nature Religiously
Authors: Menning Nancy
Published: May 2016

Our ability to live well depends not only on what we do, but also on who we are. With respect to human-land relationships, we need to become more virtuous. And virtue is cultivated through practice. This paper transforms classical spiritual reading practices into a means of cultivating environmental virtue. Lectio divina is a longstanding practice for reading scripture religiously, motivated by a desire to come to a deeper understanding of and richer relationship with the sacred dimensions of experience. I describe an adaptation of lectio divina suitable for reading nature religiously and offer two illustrations. By reading nature religiously, we may develop environmental virtues, becoming more attentive, more thoughtful, more committed, more reverent, and more humble as we encounter the natural world. This model of a practice for cultivating environmental virtue enriches an essential aspect of environmental ethics, enhancing our prospects for attaining human and ecological flourishing.
Ethical Dimensions of Third-World Approaches to International Law (twail): A Critical Review
Authors: Appiagyei-Atua Kwadwo
Published: May 2016

Third-World Approaches to International Law (twail) represents an intellectual movement devoted to exposing the injustices, imbalances and contradictions inherent in international law that work against the interests of the Third World, especially Africa. As a deconstructive tool, it seeks to question the assumptions and claims of neutrality, fairness and orderliness that law is supposed to embody and thereby decentre the garb of coloniality, hegemony, eurocentricity and universality that defines and dictates the discourse and praxis of international law, especially international economic law. As a reconstructive tool, twail has the underlying commitment of developing and embedding the democratic ethos and norms that should regulate relations within and between the so-called developing and developed worlds and thus provide a new way of understanding and practising international law. TWAILism therefore represents an attempt to promote and inject an ethical dimension into international law that will ensure a fair playing field for all actors. However, placing the discourse of TWAILism within a global ethics context for analysis has not been the direct concern and focus of TWAILers. The contribution of this article, therefore, is to immerse the discourse of TWAILism into a global ethics matrix with the goal of measuring the extent to which its substantive elements, goals and ambitions match up to a well-founded standards of global ethics; and to fill in the gaps by proposing a theory. The theory of community emancipation seeks to support the need for a global distributive justice approach to addressing the inequities and injustices plaguing the international order.
The Social Networks of Chinese Students Studying in France (中国留学生在法国的社会关系)
Authors: Carnine Julia
Published: May 2016

Today close to one third of the world’s internationally mobile student population is from China, and as the trend for Chinese to study abroad grows exponentially, newer destination countries are added, some of them non-Anglophone, such as France. Regardless of where they study, Chinese students have a reputation for sticking together when abroad and for not mixing with locals. Yet what types of relationship actually come into being now that Chinese are going abroad in such unprecedented numbers? This paper is based on a broader empirical study conducted in 2011-12 from fieldwork in France, the United States, and China (N = 180) and again in 2015 in France (N = 10). The study uses a mixed-method approach based on quantitative Social Network Analysis (sna) and 25 qualitative interviews to analyze the composition of students’ social networks. The paper focuses on Chinese studying in France (N = 55). By examining different types of relationships, how they are initiated, and how resources are shared, the paper discusses how internationally mobile Chinese students interact socially, on the one hand with non-Chinese (French nationals or other international persons) and, on the other, with local Chinese immigrants. The results show that students form strong co-national relationships among themselves but not with established ethnic and migrant Chinese communities in France. As for transnational relationships, individual will and the institutional frameworks for studying abroad that underpin language and accommodation choices are found to play crucial roles in fostering local contacts with non-Chinese.

今天跨国流动的学生总人数中有三分之一来自中国。然而，中国留学生有自我封闭，不同所在国当地人交往的名声。由此提出了在庞大的海外中国留学生群体中，他们的社会关系类型的问题。基于社会网络分析 (sna) 方法，我们于 2011-12 年在法国，美国和中国，2015 年在法国进行的实证研究，运用混合方法来分析中国留学生的社会网络构成。本文侧重分析中国留学生样本 (N = 55) 在法国的情况，讨论中国留学生内部，他们与其他国际学生，他们并与当地华人移民的社会交往互动。结果表明中国留学生内部之间频繁的合作关系起着关键作用，但它并不属于传统上意义上的海外华人网络。中国留学生跨国关系的形成有赖于他们的个人意愿和留学制度框架，并对他们同当地非华人的接触交往起到了至关重要的促进作用。

This article is in Chinese Language
Chinese Student Migrants and American Religious Organizations (中国留学生移民与美国宗教信仰团体)
Authors: Liu Lisong
Published: May 2016

China has been among the top nations sending international students to the United States, and there many American religious organizations have served Chinese student migrants on and off campus. This article examines these organizations’ missions and strategies for recruiting Chinese students and the students’ varying responses. It also discusses the role of these organizations in Chinese migrant communities, especially concerning migrants’ ethnic identity, community building, and local integration. The analysis is based on extensive interviews with both student migrants and the leaders of religious organizations in a Midwestern American city, as well as on participant observation in various programs of these organizations. Highlighting the historical context of the four waves of Chinese student migration since 1978, this article argues that there is no single pattern of students’ relations with religion (particularly Christianity, in the case of this study), and their experience is not necessarily a story of one-way religious conversion but part of broader cultural engagement and transformation for both student migrants and American religious organizations. This cultural interaction has important implications, given the current surge of Chinese travelling and migrating to the United States and the opportunities and challenges forus-China relations in this new era of China’s rise.

中国是在美外国留学生最大的输出国之一，在美国校园内外也有很多宗教信仰团体服务这些中国留学生。本文考察这些团体招收和接触中国学生的宗旨和策略，学生们对此不同的回应，以及这些团体在中国移民社区中的作用，特别是在社区建设，身份认同和当地融入方面的影响。分析主要基于在美国中西部一个城市的调查，包括对学生移民和宗教信仰团体领导者的采访和对相关活动的参与式观察。本文突出1978年后四次中国留学生移民浪潮的历史环境，揭示学生们与宗教间（基督教是本文主要考察对象）的关系没有一个单一的模式。她们的经历也不一定是一种单向的宗教皈依； 更好的办法是将其看成一种更广泛意义上的对学生移民和美国宗教信仰团体同样适用和有效的文化对话和转化。这种文化互动在当下中国人到美国旅游和移民数量的剧增，及在中国崛起新形势下中美关系所面对的机遇和挑战的背景下更是意义深远。
Russia’s Public Diplomacy in Central Asia and the Caucasus: The Role of the Universities
Authors: Fominykh Alexey
Published: May 2016

The article discusses the outreach practices of Russian universities in former Soviet republics in Central Asia and the Caucasus as a part of Russia’s public diplomacy effort. Perceiving the competitive environment of international education in the Commonwealth of Independent States in terms of geopolitical rivalry, the Russian government encourages state-owned universities to recruit more students and establish partnerships in this strategic region. As a result, focusing on Central Asia and the Caucasus for international student recruitment, Russian higher educational institutions not only pursue higher reputation and tuition revenues, but also perform as public diplomacy actors, supplementing and sometimes substituting the activities of official institutions.
Freud in the Bakhtin Circle: Concepts of Textual Subjectivity
Authors: Bókay Antal
Published: May 2016

Publications of the Bakhtin Circle in the mid-twenties showed major interest in psychoanalysis. Voloshinov, the central figure of this interest, published book-length critical analyses and detailed presentations of this contemporary psychology in 1927. It seems, however, that other and later works of the Bakhtin Circle show no direct connection with psychoanalysis. Using Voloshinov’s 1926 long paper, “Discourse in Life and Discourse in Art”, I try to show that indirect connections and parallel ideas are still lurking in the background of his thinking. I use in my comparison a parallel work, Freud’s book-length Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious. Beside general correspondences between the two works, I consider three important concepts of Voloshinov: the enthymeme, intonation and thirdness. These concepts, in different wording, appeared in Freud’s work too.
Narratological Bakhtin
Authors: Tiupa Valerij I.
Published: May 2016

Although Bakhtin did not use special narratological terms, he was interested in narratological issues. The significance of Bakhtin’s thought is especially felt in three fields of narratology: the correlation between the author and narrator figure (according to Bakhtin between the “primary” and “secondary” authors); the problem of eventfulness; and, finally, the metalinguistic view on the nature of narrative expression. This paper explores the correspondences between the three domains of narratology and Bakhtin’s phenomenology of speech genres and authorship.
On Early Russian Reception of Mikhail Bakhtin’s Work
Authors: Dolgorukova Natalia M.
Published: May 2016

“The whole history of Russian thought during the Soviet period was a history with missing chapters”.1 One of such missing chapters is a history of the Soviet reception of the corpus of work created by Mikhail M. Bakhtin, Soviet thinker and literary critic (1895—1975).

The history of the Soviet reception of Bakhtin’s ideas has not been written yet and there are no works on the subject. There is Zbinden’s book,2 which deals with research about some particular cases of Bakhtin studies in Canada and in French translations. Despite the fact that in the 1960–1980s the «theory of carnival» became, in the words of S.S. Averintsev, a «regular classic» and the subject of citation for any specialists in the humanities, the reception of Bakhtin’s ideas in the Soviet Union was not successful: all of his contemporaries and conversation partners could not come into proper contact with the Soviet thinker. The present working paper is an attempt to reconstruct one case from the history of the Soviet reception of Bakhtin’s heritage, using the works of Vladimir N. Turbin (1927—1993) as an example. The study examines Turbin’s books A Short While Before Aquarius: A Farewell to Epos and his articles from different years (including those published posthumously), relating to Bakhtin, his life, theories, ideas and books. All these works will answer the question why the Soviet reception of Bakhtinʼs heritage in the 1960–1970 did not take place, and why the book, which Turbin wanted to write about his teacher, has not been written.
A new species of cardinalfish (Gymnapogon, Gymnapogonini, Apogonidae, Percomorpha) from the Philippines
Authors: FRASER THOMAS H.
Published: May 2016

The new species is consistent with Gymnapogon, a distinct genus having one to three spines on the preopercle edge, fused hypurals (parhypural+1+2 and 3+4+terminal central), a free fifth hypural, two epurals, no supraneurals, scaleless head and body, a single rod-like postcleithrum and complex lines of free neuromasts on the head, body and caudal fin. The new species is distinguished by having a combination of a rounded caudal with 15 branched principal caudal-fin rays, 2 unbranched principal caudal-fin rays, 10 soft dorsal rays with the anterior two rays unbranched, 9 or 10 anal rays with the first ray unbranched and 14 pectoral rays the lower three and upper two unbranched. Nominal species Gymnapogon          annona, G. foraminosus, G. japonicus, G. urospilotus and G. vanderbilti have 9 or 10 soft dorsal, 9 or 10 anal rays and 12 to 14 pectoral rays, the lower two and upper two unbranched. Gymnapogon africanus, G. melanogaster and G. philippinus have 9 soft dorsal rays, the first ray unbranched and 8 soft anal rays, the first ray branched. Gymnapogon japonicus has a rounded caudal fin with 13, 14 or 15 branched principal caudal rays. Gymnapogon africanus, G. annona, G. melanogaster, G. philippinus, G. urospilotus and G. vanderbilti have a forked caudal fin with 13 branched principal caudal rays and 2 unbranched upper and lower principal caudal rays. A single preopercle spine distinguishes the new species from the single bifid-like preopercle spine shared by Gymnapogon annona, G. melanogaster and undescribed forms. The wide-spread B-marked species complex made up of Gymnapogon urospilotus, G. vanderbilti and undescribed forms have at least one small upper preopercle spine in addition to the larger single spine near the angle of the preopercle.
Phlugis ocraceovittata and its ultrasonic calling song (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae, Phlugidini)
Authors: CHAMORRO-RENGIFO JULIANA , BRAUN HOLGER
Published: May 2016

Some observations on the small predatory katydid Phlugis ocraceovittata Piza 1960 from southern Brazil are presented. A male was calling both day and night, producing long uniformly structured sequences with maximum energy between 40 and 60 kHz. According to anecdotal and indirect evidence the species is not exclusively predacious and can live partly also on vegetable food.
First description of the male Hoedillus sexpunctatus Simon, 1898; a redescription of the female, and transfer of Hoedillus to Zoropsidae Bertkau, 1882 (Araneae)
Authors: LEISTER MATTHEW , MILLER KELLY B.
Published: May 2016

Hoedillus sexpunctatus Simon, 1898 was described from a single female specimen collected in Guatemala and is the type species of the monotypic genus Hoedillus Simon, 1898. This genus was originally placed in the family Sparassidae Bertkau, 1872, subfamily Heteropodinae Thorell, 1873. In a review of this subfamily, Jäger (2002) determined that Hoedillus was misplaced in Sparassidae due to the lack of metatarsal trilobate membranes. Hoedillus was transferred to the family Zoridae Pickard-Cambridge, 1893 by Jäger (2002), now a junior synonym of Miturgidae Simon, 1886 (Ramírez 2014). Ramírez (2014), suggested Hoedillus may be a member of the Xenoctenus group, but provisionally listed it as a Miturgidae, awaiting further investigation.
A remarkable new species of the magnus species-group of Cryptocellus (Arachnida, Ricinulei) from Ecuador, with observations on the taxonomy of the New World genera
Authors: BOTERO-TRUJILLO RICARDO , VALDEZ-MONDRAGÓN ALEJANDRO
Published: May 2016

A new ricinuleid species, Cryptocellus chimaera sp. nov., is described based on a male specimen from Northwest Ecuador (Esmeraldas, Reserva Ecológica Mache-Chindul, Estación Biológica Bilsa). This species is unique among all Cryptocellus in having very large longitudinal carapacial translucent areas together with a markedly incrassate femur of leg II. Representing only the second species of the order described from Ecuador, C. chimaera sp. nov. is assigned to the magnus species-group of Cryptocellus Westwood, 1874. Cryptocellus chimaera sp. nov. is remarkable, for its morphology resembles that of Cryptocellus magnus Ewing, 1929, especially with regard to the male copulatory apparatus, although both resemble Pseudocellus Platnick, 1980, due to the presence of diffuse longitudinal carapacial translucent areas. Along with the new species description, a comparative diagnosis and supplementary images are provided for C. magnus. Based on direct observations of some species belonging to the five species-groups of Cryptocellus, we discuss on the occurrence of different morphologies of carapacial translucent areas within the genus. We deem it important to continue the survey of morphological characters, especially within Cryptocellus, in order to increase our understanding of the species-groups and to unravel their relationships.
Recognizing Panulirus meripurpuratus sp. nov. (Decapoda: Palinuridae) in Brazil—Systematic and biogeographic overview of Panulirus species in the Atlantic Ocean
Authors: GIRALDES BRUNO WELTER , SMYTH DAVID MARK
Published: May 2016

Genetic analysis divides Panulirus argus into two different species, physically separated by the Amazon-Orinoco plume since the Last Glacial Maximum. Panulirus argus sensu stricto is distributed north of this biogeographic barrier and the second species to the south, occurring in Brazil. The Panulirus species in the Atlantic Ocean are being overfished and the standing stocks are unknown and still not considered endangered or threatened due to a deficiency of precise abundance data. The lack of data makes it impossible to undertake an effective conservation and management policy. In order to assist in the future management and conservation of the Spiny Lobster in the Atlantic Ocean and particularly for the indigenous species from Brazilian waters, this study formally recognizes and describes a new species, Panulirus meripurpuratus sp. nov., for what was previously known as P. argus in Brazilian waters, and differentiates it from Panulirus argus from North American waters and the Caribbean Sea. The work also presents an overview of the biogeographic distribution of the species and presents two identification keys to Atlantic species, one based on morphology and the other on live colouration.
Studies of Peruvian Ptiliidae (Coleoptera) 4: Peruvium a new subgenus of Ptenidium with seven new species
Authors: DARBY MICHAEL
Published: May 2016

Peruvium a new subgenus of Ptenidium Erichson with seven new species: P. brevissimum sp. n.; P. carinatum sp. n.; P. capillatum sp. n.; P. contractum sp. n.; P. gibbosum sp. n.; P. inornatum sp. n. and P. grande sp. n. is described and figured. The insects were collected by Dr Caroline Chaboo and her students at the University of Kansas as part of a programme to compile an inventory of leaf beetles in Peru and are the first records of Ptenidium from the country. A key is provided.
A redescription of Culicoides griseidorsum Kieffer, 1918, with comments on subgeneric position of some European taxa (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)
Authors: SZADZIEWSKI RYSZARD , FILATOV SERHII , DOMINIAK PATRYCJA
Published: May 2016

Culicoides griseidorsum Kieffer, 1918 is formally redescribed, and the male described and illustrated for the first time. The species is placed within Sensiculicoides Shevchenko, 1977 the subgenus restored from the synonymy with Oecacta Poey, 1853. A checklist of European species placed in subgenera Sensiculicoides and Oecacta is provided.
Daytime Cirrus Cloud Top-of-the-Atmosphere Radiative Forcing Properties at a Midlatitude Site and Their Global Consequences
Authors: Campbell James R. , Lolli Simone , Lewis Jasper R. , Gu Yu , Welton Ellsworth J.
Published: May 2016

One year of continuous ground-based lidar observations (2012) is analyzed for single-layer cirrus clouds at the NASA Micro Pulse Lidar Network site at the Goddard Space Flight Center to investigate top-of-the-atmosphere (TOA) annual net daytime radiative forcing properties. A slight positive net daytime forcing is estimated (i.e., warming): 0.07–0.67 W m−2 in sample-relative terms, which reduces to 0.03–0.27 W m−2 in absolute terms after normalizing to unity based on a 40% midlatitude occurrence frequency rate estimated from satellite data. Results are based on bookend solutions for lidar extinction-to-backscatter (20 and 30 sr) and corresponding retrievals of the 532-nm cloud extinction coefficient. Uncertainties due to cloud undersampling, attenuation effects, sample selection, and lidar multiple scattering are described. A net daytime cooling effect is found from the very thinnest clouds (cloud optical depth ≤ 0.01), which is attributed to relatively high solar zenith angles. A relationship involving positive/negative daytime cloud forcing is demonstrated as a function of solar zenith angle and cloud-top temperature. These properties, combined with the influence of varying surface albedos, are used to conceptualize how daytime cloud forcing likely varies with latitude and season, with cirrus clouds exerting less positive forcing and potentially net TOA cooling approaching the summer poles (not ice and snow covered) versus greater warming at the equator. The existence of such a gradient would lead cirrus to induce varying daytime TOA forcing annually and seasonally, making it a far greater challenge than presently believed to constrain the daytime and diurnal cirrus contributions to global radiation budgets.
Stationary Sea Surface Height Anomalies in Cyclonic Boundary Currents: Conservation of Potential Vorticity and Deviations from Strict Topographic Steering
Authors: Broomé Sara , Nilsson Johan
Published: May 2016

In high-latitude subpolar seas, such as the Nordic seas and the Labrador Sea, time-mean geostrophic currents mediate the bulk of the meridional oceanic heat transport. These currents are primarily encountered along the continental slopes as intense cyclonic boundary currents, which, because of the relatively weak stratification, should be strongly steered by the bottom topography. However, analyses of hydrographic and satellite altimetric data along depth contours in Nordic seas boundary currents reveal some remarkable, stationary, along-stream variations in the depth-integrated buoyancy and bottom pressure. A closer examination shows that these variations are linked to changes in steepness and curvature of the continental slope. To examine the underlying dynamics, a steady-state model of a cyclonic stratified boundary current over a topographic slope is developed in the limit of small Rossby numbers. Based on potential vorticity conservation, equations for the zeroth- and first-order pressure and buoyancy fields are derived. To the lowest order, the flow is completely aligned with the bottom topography. However, the first-order results show that where the lowest-order flow increases (decreases) its relative vorticity along a depth contour, the first-order pressure and depth-integrated buoyancy increase (decrease). This response is associated with cross-isobath flows, which induce stretching/compression of fluid elements that compensates for the changes in relative vorticity. The model-predicted along-isobath variations in pressure and depth-integrated buoyancy are comparable in magnitude to the ones found in the observational data from the Nordics Seas.
The Importance of Race in Juvenile Commitment in the New Jersey Family Court
Authors: Holleran David , Stout Bruce D.
Published: May 2016

In this study, we examine how important juvenile race and other factors are in juvenile commitment classification in the New Jersey Family Court. Data from the Family Court in New Jersey for the year 2010 comprise the population. Given the class imbalance in the dependent variable, we employ balanced random forest (RF). Variable importance plots and an information gain summary are used to assess the role of the juvenile’s race and other variables for classes of the dependent variable. The results from balanced RF indicate that the juvenile’s delinquency history and the offense seriousness make the most important contributions to commitment to juvenile state incarceration. The juvenile’s race makes a very weak contribution to commitment; in fact, when the balanced RF was rerun with the juvenile’s race omitted, the estimated misclassification error slightly dropped for commitments. Balanced RF is an attractive procedure for handling dependent variables with highly imbalanced classes. The juvenile’s adjudication history and offense seriousness emerged as the most important variables to state incarceration. The race of the juvenile was not an important variable with respect to commitment.
Effect of alkali treatment on the thermal properties of wheat straw fiber reinforced epoxy composites
Authors: Mittal Varun , Sinha Shishir
Published: May 2016

This paper focuses on the study of the effect of fiber content and alkali treatment on the thermal properties of wheat straw epoxy composite. Four levels of fiber loading (10, 20, 30, and 40 wt%) of wheat straw and three levels of alkali treatment (1, 3, and 5%) were considered and merged into epoxy composites. The composites were prepared by hand layup technique. The thermal stability of the components was studied by thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry, as well as by the differential thermogravimetric. The experimental results show that the thermal stability of the composites prepared from 3% alkali-treated fibers is superior as compared to the untreated and another level of alkali-treated fiber composite. This is mainly due to the efficient fiber–matrix adhesion in the alkali-treated wheat straw epoxy composites. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) studies were carried out to evaluate the microstructure and composition of wheat straw fiber/epoxy composites, respectively.
Recent advances in modeling and experiments of Kevlar ballistic fibrils, fibers, yarns and flexible woven textile fabrics – a review
Authors: Sockalingam Subramani , Chowdhury Sanjib C , Gillespie John W , Keefe Michael
Published: May 2016

Ballistic impact onto flexible woven textile fabrics is a complicated multi-scale problem given the structural hierarchy of the materials, anisotropic material behavior, projectile geometry–fabric interactions, impact velocity and boundary conditions. Although this subject has been an active area of research for decades, the fundamental mechanisms, such as material failure, dynamic response and multi-axial loading occurring at the lower length scales during impact, are not well understood. This paper reviews the recent advances in modeling and experiments of Kevlar ballistic fibrils, fibers, yarns and flexible woven textile fabrics pertinent to the deformation modes occurring during impact and serves to identify topics worthy of further investigation that will advance the basic understanding of the phenomena governing transverse impact. This review also explores aspects such as homogeneous versus heterogeneous behavior of yarns consisting of individual fibers and the inelastic transverse behavior of the fiber, which is not considered in the previous review papers on this topic.
Effects of Work Environment Variables on Job Satisfaction Among Community Correctional Staff in China
Authors: Jiang Shanhe , Lambert Eric G. , Zhang Dawei , Jin Xiaohong , Shi Mengfei , Xiang Deping
Published: May 2016

Job satisfaction is an important predictor of organizational efficiency and effectiveness; it can also predict attitudes and behaviors of staff. The field of organizational studies contains an ever-expanding quantity of empirical research on satisfaction, including research specifically focused on community corrections; however, no published research in the English language on satisfaction regarding community corrections in China currently exists. Using data from 225 community correctional officers from 15 counties (or equivalents) in Hubei, China in 2013, this study examined community correctional staff’s satisfaction and its predictors. The majority of Chinese community correctional officers were satisfied with their jobs. Role clarity, formalization, and perceived promotional opportunities were significant predictors of the satisfaction. Although distributive justice and procedural justice have often been found to be predictors of job satisfaction in the United States, particularly procedural justice, they were not predictors of job satisfaction among this group of Chinese community correctional staff.
Non-Specialization of Criminal Careers Among Intimate Partner Violence Offenders
Authors: Hilton N. Zoe , Eke Angela Wyatt
Published: May 2016

Many men arrested for intimate partner violence (IPV) commit other types of criminal offenses as well. We examined 93 IPV offenders’ general offending and tested the ability of criminal career trajectory and an IPV-specific risk assessment (Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment [ODARA]) to predict post-index recidivism 7.5 years later. Most (71%) had pre-index criminal charges, and most (62%) had post-index criminal recidivism, although fewer (24%) committed post-index IPV. Pre-index criminal career (defined as none, non-violent, violent, IPV) did not predict post-index IPV, whereas the ODARA predicted post-index IPV, area under the curve (AUC = .67), as well as other offenses with a moderate or large effect size, including stalking (AUC = .78), sexual assault (AUC = .67), and non-violent offenses (AUC = .74). In line with prior research findings, we conclude that many men arrested for IPV do not specialize in their criminal careers and that risk assessment in these cases could include risk of both IPV and other offenses. Furthermore, the ODARA holds promise for assessing general risk of recidivism among IPV offenders.