bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Manganese concentration mapping in the rat brain with MRI, PET, and autoradiography
Authors: Topping Geoffrey J. , Yung Andrew , Schaffer Paul , Hoehr Cornelia , Kornelsen Rick , Kozlowski Piotr , Sossi Vesna 
Published: April 2017

PurposeMn2+ is used as a contrast agent and marker for neuronal activity with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in rats and mice, but its accumulation is generally not assessed quantitatively. In this work, nonradioactive Mn and 52Mn are injected simultaneously in rats, and imaged with MRI, positron emission tomography (PET) and autoradiography (AR). Mn distributions are compared between modalities, to assess the potential and limitations on quantification of Mn with MRI, and to investigate the potential of multimodal measurement of Mn accumulation.MethodsMRI (in vivo), PET (in vivo and post mortem), and AR (ex vivo) were acquired of rat brains, for which animals received simultaneous intraperitoneal (IP) or intracerebrovertricular (ICV)‐targeted injections containing the positron‐emitting radionuclide 52Mn and additional nonradioactive MnCl2, which acts as an MRI contrast agent. Pre and postinjection MR images were fit for the longitudinal relaxation rate (R1), coregistered, and subtracted to generate R1 difference maps, which are expected to be proportional to change in Mn concentration in tissue. AR and PET images were coregistered to smoothed R1 difference maps.ResultsSimilar spatial distributions were seen across modalities, with Mn accumulation in the colliculus, near the injection site, and in the 4th ventricle. There was no 52Mn accumulation measurable with PET in the brain after IP injection. In areas of very highly localized and concentrated 52Mn accumulation in PET or AR, consistent increases of R1 were not seen with MRI. Scatter plots of corresponding voxel R1 difference and PET or AR signal intensity were generated and fit with least squares linear models within anatomical regions. Linear correlations were observed, particularly in regions away from very highly localized and concentrated Mn accumulation at the injection site and the 4th ventricle. Accounting for radioactive decay of 52Mn, the MnCl2 longitudinal relaxivity was between 4.0 and 5.1 s−1/mM, which is within 22% of the in vitro relaxivity.ConclusionsThis proof‐of‐concept study demonstrates that MR has strong potential for quantitative assessment of Mn accumulation in the brain, although local discrepancies from linear correlation suggest limitations to this use of MR in areas of inflammation or very high concentrations of Mn. These discrepancies also suggest that a combination of modalities may have additional utility for discriminating between different pools of Mn accumulation in tissue.
Assessment of the synergic effect of immunomodulation on nerve repair using multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging
Authors: Zheng Chu‐Shan , Zhang Xiang , Chen Yue‐Yao , Zhang Fang , Duan Xiao‐Hui , Chen Mei‐Wei , Lu Lie‐Jing , Shen Jun 
Published: April 2017

ABSTRACTIntroductionThe immune system plays a pivotal role in nerve injury. The aim of this study was to determine the role of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in evaluation of the synergic effect of immunomodulation on nerve regeneration in neurotmesis.MethodsRats with sciatic nerve neurotmesis and surgical repair underwent serial multiparametric MR examinations over an 8‐week period after subepineurial microinjection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and subsequent subcutaneous injection of FK506 or subepineurial microinjection of LPS or phosphate‐buffered saline (PBS) alone.ResultsNerves treated with immunomodulation showed more prominent regeneration than those treated with LPS or PBS alone and more rapid restoration toward normal T2, fractional anisotropy (FA), and radial diffusivity (RD) values than nerves injected with LPS or PBS.DiscussionNerves treated with immunomodulation exert synergic beneficial effects on nerve regeneration that can be predicted by T2 measurements and FA and RD values. Muscle Nerve 57: E38–E45, 2018
The variation of electrical transport properties with thickness for ultrathin indium oxide films
Authors: Jiang Qing‐Kun , Yang Yang , Zhang Yu‐Jie , Liu Xin‐Dian , Li Zhi‐Qing 
Published: April 2017

AbstractWe have systematically investigated the electrical transport properties of a series of InO films (with thickness t ranging from 4 to 45 nm) grown on yttrium stabilized ZrO single crystal substrates. Those nm films reveal metallic characteristics in electrical transport properties, and electron–electron interaction effects govern the low temperature behaviors of the resistivity. For the 6.3 and 3.7 nm thick films, the resistivities variation with temperature [] curves show insulator behaviors in the whole measured temperature range (2–300K). In addition, the two‐dimensional (2D) Mott type variable‐range‐hopping (VRH) dominates the temperature behavior of resistivity in the temperature range , and a crossover to the 2D Efros–Shklovskii (ES) VRH occurs below . Our results are quantitatively consistent with the theoretical predications of the 2D Mott‐VRH and 2D ES‐VRH theories in the corresponding temperature regions.
Theoretical investigation of the weak interactions of rare gas atoms with silver clusters by resonance Raman spectroscopy modeling
Authors: Yasrebi Sara , Jamshidi Zahra 
Published: April 2017

AbstractThe interactions of rare gas atoms (Rg = Ar, Kr, and Xe) with small neutral and cationic silver clusters have been investigated by density functional methods and the effect of these weak interactions on the resonance Raman spectra of the complexes has been evaluated. The resonance Raman technique that depends on the properties of ground and excited state, seems deeply sensitive to the weak rare gas–metal cluster interactions, and the use of inert gases has been proven to be an excellent approach to recognize the ability of this technique to detect extremely weak interactions. In this work, for
, and
complexes the IR, normal and resonance Raman spectra have been calculated and the effect of rare gas–cluster stretching vibration (
) on the pattern and the relative intensities of different spectra have been investigated. The resonance Raman spectra for the weakly interacted complexes (with the interaction energies less than −2.0 kcal/mol) exhibit the
vibration with the detectable intensity that its intensity increases by going from Ag6–Ar to Ag6–Xe complex. Moreover, the resonance Raman spectra (based on the excited state gradient approximation) for high intensity nearly degenerate excited states, proved the effect of accumulation of the excited state charge density on the relative intensity of
vibration.
LMA: A generic and efficient implementation of the Levenberg–Marquardt Algorithm
Authors: Ramadasan Datta , Chevaldonné Marc , Chateau Thierry 
Published: April 2017

SummaryThis paper presents an open‐source, generic and efficient implementation of a very popular nonlinear optimization method: the Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm (LMA). This minimization algorithm is well known and hundreds of implementations have already been released. However, none of them offer at the same time a high level of genericity, a friendly syntax and a high computational performance. In this paper, we propose a solution to gather all those advantages in one library named LMA. The main challenge is to implement an efficient solver for every encounter problem. To overcome this difficulty, LMA uses compile time algorithms to design a code specific to the given optimization problem. The features of LMA are presented and the performances are compared with the state‐of‐the‐art best alternatives through extensive benchmarks on different kind of problems. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A robust reconfiguration protocol for the dynamic update of component‐based software systems
Authors: Boyer Fabienne , Gruber Olivier , Pous Damien 
Published: April 2017

SummaryThis paper focuses on the dynamic reconfiguration of component‐based software systems. From a structural point of view, such systems are made of components linked together through their provided and required services, the code of components being defined by modules (e.g., jar files). Today, the ability to reconfigure component‐based systems at runtime faces limitations. Some component frameworks allow to dynamically reconfigure components – starting or stopping them, or changing how they are wired together for instance – but forbid any dynamic evolution of the modules defining their code. Other frameworks allow to dynamically update modules but at the cost of loosing control on component wires, preventing software architects or tools alike to decide how components are wired together. In this paper, we propose a component framework that addresses these limitations through a unified approach for the management of components and modules. Our approach uniquely enables to reconfigure both components and modules at runtime, without restrictions. We prototyped the proposed framework in Java and exercised various dynamic reconfigurations of component‐based systems. Furthermore, we formalized this framework and proved the correctness of its reconfiguration protocol with the Coq proof assistant. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Historical Study of Women
Authors: Capern Amanda 
Published: April 2017

The Historical Study of Women: England 1500-1700 provides a richly detailed survey of the history and historiography of early-modern women in England during the Reformation and Civil War. Covering a wide variety of key topics, the book explores the history of ideas, women's rights, law and criminality, witchcraft, queenship, courtship and marriage, family and the household, childrearing and the world of property-ownership and work. It also provides valuable insights into the development of women's writing and political participation in the period.
Capern treats women's history as inherently political and offers a new interpretative framework for understanding the history of femininity in early-modern England. Clear and comprehensive, this is significant reading for anyone interested in early-modern English history.
Predictive Indices for Functional Improvement and Deterioration, Institutionalization, and Death Among Elderly Medicare Beneficiaries
Authors: Kurichi Jibby E. , Kwong Pui L. , Xie Dawei , Bogner Hillary R. 
Published: April 2017

AbstractBackgroundPrediction models can help clinicians provide the best and most appropriate care to their patients and can help policy makers design services for groups at highest risk for poor outcomes.ObjectiveTo develop prediction models identifying both risk factors and protective factors for functional deterioration, institutionalization, and death.DesignCohort study using data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS).SettingCommunity survey.ParticipantsThis study included 21,264 Medicare beneficiaries 65 years of age and older who participated in the MCBS from the 2001‐2008 entry panels and were followed up for 2 years.MethodsThe index was derived in 60% and validated in the remaining 40%. β Coefficients from a multinomial logistic regression model were used to derive points, which were added together to create scores associated with the outcome.Main Outcome MeasureThe outcome was activity of daily living (ADL) stage transitions over 2 years following entry into the MCBS. Beneficiaries were categorized into 1 of 4 outcome categories: stable or improved function, functional deterioration, institutionalization, or death.ResultsOur model identified 16 factors for functional deterioration (age, gender, education, living arrangement, dual eligibility, proxy use, Alzheimer disease/dementia, angina pectoris/coronary heart disease, diabetes, emphysema/asthma/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, mental/psychiatric disorder, Parkinson disease, stroke/brain hemorrhage, hearing impairment, vision impairment, and baseline ADL stage) after backward selection (P < .05). Compared to stable or improved function, the risk of functional deterioration ranged from ≤1 to ≥6, ≤4 to ≥22 for the risk of institutionalization, and ≤3 to ≥16 for the risk of death.ConclusionPredictive indices, or point and scoring systems used to predict outcomes, can identify elderly Medicare beneficiaries at risk for functional deterioration, institutionalization, and death and can aid policy makers, clinicians, and family members in improving care for older adults and supporting successful aging in the community.Level of EvidenceIII
A writer’s guide to education scholarship: Quantitative methodologies for medical education research (part 1)
Authors: Thoma Brent , Camorlinga Paola , Chan Teresa M. , Hall Andrew Koch , Murnaghan Aleisha , Sherbino Jonathan 
Published: April 2017

AbstractBackgroundQuantitative research is one of the many research methods used to help educators advance their understanding of questions in medical education. However, little research has been done on how to succeed in publishing in this area.ObjectiveWe conducted a scoping review to identify key recommendations and reporting guidelines for quantitative educational research and scholarship.MethodsMedline, ERIC, and Google Scholar were searched for English-language articles published between 2006 and January 2016 using the search terms, “research design,” “quantitative,” “quantitative methods,” and “medical education.” A hand search was completed for additional references during the full-text review. Titles/abstracts were reviewed by two authors (BT, PC) and included if they focused on quantitative research in medical education and outlined reporting guidelines, or provided recommendations on conducting quantitative research. One hundred articles were reviewed in parallel with the first 30 used for calibration and the subsequent 70 to calculate Cohen’s kappa coefficient. Two reviewers (BT, PC) conducted a full text review and extracted recommendations and reporting guidelines. A simple thematic analysis summarized the extracted recommendations.ResultsSixty-one articles were reviewed in full, and 157 recommendations were extracted. The thematic analysis identified 86 items, 14 categories, and 3 themes. Fourteen quality evaluation tools and reporting guidelines were found.DiscussionThis paper provides guidance for junior researchers in the form of key quality markers and reporting guidelines. We hope that quantitative researchers in medical education will be informed by the results and that further work will be done to refine the list of recommendations.
IRB Process Improvements: A Machine Learning Analysis
Authors: Shoenbill Kimberly , Song Yiqiang , Cobb Nichelle L. , Drezner Marc K. , Mendonca Eneida A. 
Published: April 2017

ObjectiveClinical research involving humans is critically important, but it is a lengthy and expensive process. Most studies require institutional review board (IRB) approval. Our objective is to identify predictors of delays or accelerations in the IRB review process and apply this knowledge to inform process change in an effort to improve IRB efficiency, transparency, consistency and communication.MethodsWe analyzed timelines of protocol submissions to determine protocol or IRB characteristics associated with different processing times. Our evaluation included single variable analysis to identify significant predictors of IRB processing time and machine learning methods to predict processing times through the IRB review system. Based on initial identified predictors, changes to IRB workflow and staffing procedures were instituted and we repeated our analysis.ResultsOur analysis identified several predictors of delays in the IRB review process including type of IRB review to be conducted, whether a protocol falls under Veteran’s Administration purview and specific staff in charge of a protocol's review.ConclusionsWe have identified several predictors of delays in IRB protocol review processing times using statistical and machine learning methods. Application of this knowledge to process improvement efforts in two IRBs has led to increased efficiency in protocol review. The workflow and system enhancements that are being made support our four-part goal of improving IRB efficiency, consistency, transparency, and communication.
FEDERALISM, SUBSIDIARITY, AND VOTING RIGHTS: CRITIQUING THESHELBY COUNTYDECISION THROUGH JOHANNES ALTHUSIUS AND CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING
Authors: Rothchild Jonathan 
Published: April 2017

AbstractThis article develops a legal and theological critique of theShelby County, Alabama v. Holderdecision that dismantled portions of the Voting Rights Act. Defending the Voting Rights Act in light of four basic features of voting rights—access, participation, empowerment, and expression of conscience—I refute theShelbydecision in terms of its oversimplified notions of discrimination and its overly narrow construal of federalism as state sovereignty and equality. I draw upon Catholic social teaching's subsidiarity and Johannes Althusius's federalism to defend the individual and communal dimensions of voting rights. I examine post-Shelbydevelopments, including voter-identification laws, and I argue that such laws are unfounded and have deleterious effects. I conclude by offering modest recommendations for a post-Shelbyworld, including continued roles for Congress and the Department of Justice, the use of intermediary organizations, and the rescinding of felon disenfranchisement laws.
A reappraisal of the Eocene priacanthid fishPristigenys substriata(Blainville, 1818) from Monte Bolca, Italy
Authors: Carnevale Giorgio , Johnson G. David , Marramà Giuseppe , Bannikov Alexandre F. 
Published: April 2017

AbstractPriacanthids are a small family of percomorph fishes comprising fewer than 20 extant species currently assigned to four genera. One of these,Pristigenys, was established by Louis Agassiz (1835) to include the Eocene speciesPristigenys substriatafrom Monte Bolca, and is usually regarded as a subjective senior synonym ofPseudopriacanthus. Consequently,Pristigenyscurrently comprises five extant species plus the fossilPristigenys substriata. The osteology of the type species of this genus, however, is poorly known, and this makes it difficult to provide an adequate comprehensive definition of the taxonomy of the whole family.Pristigenys substriatais redescribed in detail based on five well-preserved articulated skeletons.Pristigenys substriatacan be easily distinguished from other priacanthids based on its unique combination of characters. Morphological analysis of the fossil specimens reveals that there is substantial evidence to justify recognition of bothPristigenysandPseudopriacanthusas valid genera, with extant species previously assigned toPristigenysnow referred toPseudopriacanthus. Within the Priacanthidae,PristigenysandPseudopriacanthusform sister taxa and this pair can be considered as the sister-group to all remaining extant priacanthid genera (Cookeolus+ [Heteropriacanthus+Priacanthus]).
Probiotics to prevent necrotising enterocolitis and nosocomial infection in very low birth weight preterm infants
Authors: Uberos J. , Aguilera-Rodríguez E. , Jerez-Calero A. , Molina-Oya M. , Molina-Carballo A. , Narbona-López E. 
Published: April 2017

AbstractThe aim of the study was to determine whether routine probiotic supplementation (RPS) with Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) or Lactobacillus acidophilus +Lactobacillus bifidum is associated with reduced risk of necrotising enterocolitis (NEC)≥Stage II in preterm neonates born at ≤32 weeks’ gestation. We conducted a retrospective cohort study on the effect of probiotic supplementation in very low birth weight infants in our neonatal unit by comparing two periods: before and after supplementation. The incidence of NEC≥Stage II, late-onset sepsis and all-cause mortality was compared for an equal period ‘before’ (Period I) and ‘after’ (Period II) RPS with LGG or L. acidophillus+L. bifidum. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to adjust for relevant confounders. The study population was composed of 261 neonates (Period I v. II: 134 v. 127) with comparable gestation duration and birth weights. In <32 weeks, we observed a significant reduction in NEC≥Stage II (11·3 v. 4·8 %), late-onset sepsis (16 v. 10·5 %) and mortality (19·4 v. 2·3 %). The benefits in neonates aged ≤27 weeks did not reach statistical significance. RPS with LGG or L. acidophillus+L. bifidum is associated with a reduced risk of NEC≥Stage II, late-onset sepsis and mortality in preterm neonates born at ≤32 weeks’ gestation.
The multiple roles of the task design mediator in telecollaboration
Authors: Fuchs Carolin , Snyder Bill , Tung Bruce , Jung Han Yu 
Published: April 2017

AbstractThis case study explores how a Chinese-American novice teacher acted as mediator in a telecollaboration with student teacher (ST) peers in the USA who designed tasks for his English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in China. The novice teacher was instrumental in mediating the student teachers’ task design process by providing feedback regarding technological and institutional constraints, and the nuances of his target student population. He appropriated and adapted the tasks to make them relevant for his EFL learners. Against the backdrop of the three dimensions of professional capital – human, social, and decisional – the research questions explored how the novice teacher used the different types of knowledge of context (pedagogical, institutional, technical) in relation to task design, and his perception of his role as mediator. Within a sociocultural framework for telecollaboration studies, this exploratory case study shares characteristics of ethnography, action research, and narrative inquiry. Data triangulation included text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC) data (Google Groups, emails), a narrative written by the novice teacher, and a semi-structured, reflective Skype interview with him. The findings indicate that he demonstrated high commitment, thorough preparation, continuous reflection, and development while navigating between his different roles of mediator, assessor, implementer, and field observer.
NEW DIRECTIONS IN LEGAL EXPRESSIVISM
Authors: Etchemendy Matthew X. 
Published: April 2017

ABSTRACTNumerous legal scholars have adopted the view that H. L. A. Hart offered an expressivist (or at least proto-expressivist) account of legal discourse. But philosophers of law have given comparatively little attention to the prospect of developing newer forms of legal expressivism informed by contemporary metaethics. One notable exception is Kevin Toh, who has recently addressed this constructive project. This article critically evaluates Toh's contributions to the project of legal expressivism. Despite the value of Toh's work in reviving legal expressivism as an explanatory strategy in jurisprudence, neither he nor anyone else has paid sufficient attention to the most important question now facing legal expressivists. I call this the “question of content”: to wit, what distinguishes the mental states expressed by legal statements from the mental states expressed in other forms of normative discourse? I argue that theorists interested in legal expressivism must prioritize this question.