bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Crown Ether/Carbon Nanotubes Based Biperiden Disposable Potentiometric Sensor
Authors: Khaled Elmorsy , Hassan Hassan N.A. , Ahmed Mona A. , El‐Attar Rehab O. 
Published: December 2016

AbstractSensitive disposable sensors have been constructed for potentiometric determination of Biperiden hydrochloride (BPHCl) based on multi‐walled carbon nanotubes–polyvinylchloride (MWNTs–PVC) composite in presence of dibenzo 24‐crown‐8‐ ether as a molecular receptor. Electrode matrix composition was optimized on the basis of the nature of the electroactive material, ionic sites, membrane plasticizer, and nanomaterial. The fabricated sensors showed improved selectivity and sensitivity towards biperiden hydrochloride with Nernstian cationic compliance of 59.8±1.1 mV decade−1 in the concentration range from 10−6 to 10−2 mol L−1. Modification with carbon nanotubes promote electron‐transfer processes and enhanced the stability of potential reading, response time and shelf lifetime of sensors. The proposed method was applied for potentiometric assay of BPHCl in dosage formulation and biological fluids under batch and flow injection analysis (FIA) with average recoveries agreeable with the reported official methods.
Validation of the Parental Facilitation of Mastery Scale–II
Authors: Zalta Alyson K. , Allred Kelly M. , Jayawickreme Eranda , Blackie Laura E. R. , Chambless Dianne L. 
Published: December 2016

ObjectiveTo develop a more reliable and comprehensive version of the Parental Facilitation of Mastery Scale (PFMS)MethodIn Study 1, 387 undergraduates completed an expanded PFMS (PFMS‐II) and measures of parenting, perceived control, responses to early life challenges, and psychopathology. In Study 2, 182 trauma‐exposed community participants completed the PFMS‐II and measures of perceived control, psychopathology, and well‐beingResultsIn Study 1, exploratory factor analysis of the PFMS‐II revealed two factors. These factors replicated in Study 2; one item was removed to achieve measurement invariance across race. The final PFMS‐II comprised a 10‐item overprotection scale and a 7‐item challenge scale. In both samples, this measure demonstrated good convergent and discriminant validity and was more reliable than the original PFMS. Parental challenge was a unique predictor of perceived control in both samplesConclusionThe PFMS‐II is a valid measure of important parenting behaviors not fully captured in other measures.
Analysis of long‐term dry and wet conditions over Nigeria
Authors: Oguntunde Philip G. , Lischeid Gunnar , Abiodun Babatunde J. , Dietrich Ottfried 
Published: December 2016

ABSTRACTInformation on trends and changes in moisture conditions over a region can help policymakers to develop strategies for water resources and disaster risk management. In this study, the spatiotemporal variation of moisture indices and their annual trends in Nigeria were investigated. Thornthwaite moisture index (MI), the standardized precipitation index (SPI) and the standardized precipitation‐evapotranspiration index (SPEI) were computed for 1951–2014 period. Mann–Kendall trend and Sen's slope tests were used to examine the existence of temporal and spatial changes in these indices. MI decreased with increasing latitude and values ranged from −86 in the extreme north to +62 in the eastern part of the Niger Delta. A total of 73.4% of the landscape is under conditions where water supply is generally below the evaporative demand and only 26.6% of the area falls within wet sub‐humid and humid regimes. Significant downward trends were observed for all the moisture indices in most of the zones. In general, negative trends were observed in 98.2% of the landscape for MI, 96.7% for SPI and 98.2% for SPEI, showing drying tendencies over Nigeria. Between 40 and 50% of the land area is manifesting persistent shift towards aridity. Observed trends in MI is strongly correlated with that of SPI (r = 0.805) and SPEI (r = 0.715) and correlation of 0.886 was found between changes in SPI and SPEI. Rainfall generally showed higher and significant correlations with MI and slopes of all moisture indices. This information could help policymakers to develop appropriate coping and mitigation strategies for the most vulnerable areas.
Carboplatin‐Complexed and cRGD‐Conjugated Unimolecular Nanoparticles for Targeted Ovarian Cancer Therapy
Authors: Wang Yuyuan , Wang Liwei , Chen Guojun , Gong Shaoqin 
Published: December 2016

Platinum‐based chemotherapy has been widely used to treat cancers including ovarian cancer; however, it suffers from dose‐limiting toxicity. Judiciously designed drug nanocarriers can enhance the anticancer efficacy of platinum‐based chemotherapy while reducing its systemic toxicity. Herein the authors report a stable and water‐soluble unimolecular nanoparticle constructed from a hydrophilic multi‐arm star block copolymer poly(amidoamine)‐b‐poly(aspartic acid)‐b‐poly(ethylene glycol) (PAMAM‐PAsp‐PEG) conjugated with both cRGD (cyclo(Arg‐Gly‐Asp‐D‐Phe‐Cys) peptide and cyanine5 (Cy5) fluorescent dye as a platinum‐based drug nanocarrier for targeted ovarian cancer therapy. Carboplatin is complexed to the poly(aspartic acid) inner shell via pH‐responsive ion–dipole interactions between carboplatin and the carboxylate groups of poly(aspartic acid). Based on flow cytometry and confocal laser scanning microscopy analyses, cRGD‐conjugated unimolecular nanoparticles exhibit much higher cellular uptake by ovarian cancer cells overexpressing αvβ3 integrin than nontargeted (i.e., cRGD‐lacking) ones. Carboplatin‐complexed cRGD‐conjugated nanoparticles also exhibit higher cytotoxicity than nontargeted nanoparticles as well as free carboplatin, while empty unimolecular nanoparticles show no cytotoxicity. These results indicate that stable unimolecular nanoparticles made of individual hydrophilic multi‐arm star block copolymer molecules conjugate with tumor‐targeting ligands and dyes (i.e., PAMAM‐PAsp‐PEG‐cRGD/Cy5) are promising nanocarriers for platinum‐based anticancer drugs for targeted cancer therapy.
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Thermohydrogel Containing Melanin for Photothermal Cancer Therapy
Authors: Kim Miri , Kim Hyun Soo , Kim Min Ah , Ryu Hyanghwa , Jeong Hwan‐Jeong , Lee Chang‐Moon 
Published: December 2016

Melanin is an effective absorber of light and can extend to near infrared (NIR) regions. In this study, a natural melanin is presented as a photothermal therapeutic agent (PTA) because it provides a good photothermal conversion efficiency, shows biodegradability, and does not induce long‐term toxicity during retention in vivo. Poloxamer solution containing melanin (Pol–Mel) does not show any precipitation and shows sol–gel transition at body temperature. After irradiation from 808 nm NIR laser at 1.5 W cm−2 for 3 min, the photothermal conversion efficiency of Pol–Mel is enough to kill cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. The tumor growth of mice bearing CT26 tumors treated with Pol–Mel injection and laser irradiation is suppressed completely without recurrence postirradiation. All these results indicate that Pol–Mel can become an attractive PTA for photothermal cancer therapy.
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Minimal LST representations of MAP(n)s: Moment fittings and queueing approximations
Authors: Kim Sunkyo 
Published: December 2016

AbstractA Markovian arrival process of order n, MAP(n), is typically described by two n × n transition rate matrices in terms of
rate parameters. While it is straightforward and intuitive, the Markovian representation is redundant since the minimal number of parameters is n2 for non‐redundant MAP(n). It is well known that the redundancy complicates exact moment fittings. In this article, we present a minimal and unique Laplace‐Stieltjes transform (LST) representations for MAP(n)s. Even though the LST coefficients vector itself is not a minimal representation, we show that the joint LST of stationary intervals can be represented with the minimum number of parameters. We also propose another minimal representation for MAP(3)s based on coefficients of the characteristic polynomial equations of the two transition rate matrices. An exact moment fitting procedure is presented for MAP(3)s based on two proposed minimal representations. We also discuss how MAP(3)/G/1 departure process can be approximated as a MAP(3). A simple tandem queueing network example is presented to show that the MAP(3) performs better than the MAP(2) in queueing approximations especially under moderate traffic intensities. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 63: 549–561, 2016
Experimental investigation on dynamic characterization and seismic control performance of a TLPD system
Authors: Dai Kaoshan , Wang Jianze , Mao Rifeng , Lu Zheng , Chen Shen‐En 
Published: December 2016

SummaryThe tuned liquid damper (TLD) and particle damper (PD) have been used as effective passive vibration absorbers to suppress undesirable structural vibrations induced by dynamic loads such as earthquake and strong winds. In this paper, through an integrated use of the TLD and PD, a new damper system named the tuned liquid particle damper (TLPD) was developed. The dynamic characteristics of TLPD in terms of tuning conditions and transfer functions were investigated through a series of shaking table tests. Nonlinear behaviors of TLPD in the frequency domain were discussed, and a preliminary framework was applied in the design of a five‐story steel frame building model using shaking table tests. Testing results confirmed the workability of the preliminary design framework as the primary structure is subjected to earthquake loadings. Performances of different TLPD‐structure systems were summarized from these testing programs. One of observations is that the TLPD system worked as a modified TLD in this study. The testing programs provide proof‐of‐concept results for this proposed vibration absorber.
Seismic analysis for tall and irregular temple buildings: A case study of strong nonlinear viscoelastic dampers
Authors: Gong Shunming , Zhou Ying , Ge Pinglan 
Published: December 2016

SummaryViscoelastic (VE) dampers, composed of VE layers sandwiched between relative rigid steel plates, have been widely used as dissipation devices to improve performance of structures under dynamic loads. Corresponding analytical and experimental investigations have been carried out by many scholars. However, most of VE dampers studied before are typically traditional dampers applied in regular structures. This paper introduces a new type of VE damper with strong nonlinearity used in the complex and irregular structure of Nanjing Dabaoen Temple. The new VE dampers show obvious nonlinear behavior, improved capacity of dissipation, and larger additional stiffness compared to the traditional ones. Nanjing Dabaoen Temple is a high‐rise steel structure by use of 112 new VE dampers. To investigate dissipation characteristics and control effect of the VE dampers in the complex structure, we established a suitable finite element model using SAP2000 software in which the VE dampers were simulated by Maxwell and Wen models connected in parallel, and then nonlinear time history analysis is executed using seven ground motions of moderate earthquakes and three of major earthquakes. Analytical results indicate that control effect of the VE dampers on structural displacement is preferable to that on structural acceleration and shear force due to dampers' additional stiffness. In addition, owing to incremental deformation of VE dampers under major earthquakes, damping effect of the VE dampers on all structural responses under major earthquakes is more obvious than that under moderate earthquakes. Analytical methods and conclusions in this paper will provide significant reference for analysis, design, and application of complex high‐rise structures added with VE dampers.
Using our hands to change our minds
Authors: Goldin‐Meadow Susan 
Published: December 2016

Jean Piaget was a master at observing the routine behaviors children produce as they go from knowing less to knowing more about at a task, and making inferences not only about how children understand the task at each point, but also about how they progress from one point to the next. This article examines a routine behavior that Piaget overlooked—the spontaneous gestures speakers produce as they explain their solutions to a problem. These gestures are not mere hand waving. They reflect ideas that the speaker has about the problem, often ideas that are not found in that speaker's talk. Gesture can do more than reflect ideas—it can also change them. Observing the gestures that others produce can change a learner's ideas, as can producing one's own gestures. In this sense, gesture behaves like any other action. But gesture differs from many other actions in that it also promotes generalization of new ideas. Gesture represents the world rather than directly manipulating the world (gesture does not move objects around) and is thus a special kind of action. As a result, the mechanisms by which gesture and action promote learning may differ. Because it is both an action and a representation, gesture can serve as a bridge between the two and thus be a powerful tool for learning abstract ideas. WIREs Cogn Sci 2017, 8:e1368. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1368This article is categorized under:

Psychology > Language
Psychology > Learning
What Determines the Establishment of Chinese Multinational Enterprises’ Asian Regional Headquarters?
Authors: Ma Xufei , Wang Pengji , Li Donghong 
Published: December 2016

ABSTRACTThis study addresses why multinational enterprises (MNEs) in emerging economies establish regional headquarters outside their home countries but within their home regions – an important question that previous studies have largely ignored. We extend Rugman and Verbeke's firm-specific assets (FSAs) framework in contemporary internalization theory and differentiate two firm-specific regional strategies (i.e., foreign direct investment (FDI) and export regionalization) to examine their effects on MNEs’ establishment of regional headquarters in the context of emerging economies. Using survey data from 226 Chinese MNEs, we find that intraregional FDI and interregional exports encourage MNEs to build Asian regional headquarters (ARHQ). Furthermore, we find that home-city regional integration moderates the relationship between interregional exports and ARHQ establishment and that MNEs’ international management capability moderates the relationship between intraregional FDI and ARHQ establishment. This study contributes to the regional strategy literature by clarifying the regional strategies, structures, and management of latecomer Chinese MNEs.
Not Just How Much You Know: Interactional Effect of Cultural Knowledge and Metacognition on Creativity in a Global Context
Authors: Chua Roy Y. J. , Ng Kok Yee 
Published: December 2016

ABSTRACTThe ability to think and solve problems creatively in a multicultural environment is critical for success in the 21stcentury. Integrating research on creative cognition and cultural intelligence, we examine the interactional effects of two cognitive capabilities – cultural knowledge and cultural metacognition – on individuals’ creativity in multicultural teams. We propose that although cultural knowledge is useful for creativity, too much knowledge can be detrimental because of cognitive overload and entrenchment. This inverted U-shaped relationship however, is moderated by cultural metacognition. Results of our study support our hypothesis of an inverted U-shape relationship between cultural knowledge and creativity. As expected, we found that the curvilinear effect of cultural knowledge occurs only for individuals with low metacognition. For high cultural metacognition individuals, cultural knowledge has no effect on creativity. These findings offer new insights and practical implications for creativity in today's global environment.
Tributary Labour Relations in China During the Ming-Qing Transition (Seventeenth to Eighteenth Centuries)
Authors: Moll-Murata Christine 
Published: December 2016

AbstractThis study analyses the shifts in labour relations due to state intervention, first during the conquest of the Ming empire between 1600 and 1644 by its Manchurian contenders, and thereafter until about 1780, as the Manchurian Qing dynasty established itself and drove the Chinese empire to its greatest expansion. The main focus lies on the socio-military formation of the Eight Banners, the institution that, for about 200 years, epitomized the domination of the Chinese empire by a small elite group of about two per cent of the population. These findings will be contextualized in the larger setting of labour relations of the early and mid-Qing, when state intervention occurred in the form of arbitration in labour conflicts, but also, in a much more aggressive manner, in the decimation of the Qing rulers’ Dzungharian rivals. In the framework of Charles Tilly’s paradigm of capital versus coercion, while both are present in the Chinese case, the capital-oriented path seems more distinct.
Colonial Organization of Mine Labour in Charcas (Present-Day Bolivia) and Its Consequences (Sixteenth to the Seventeenth Centuries)
Authors: Montero Raquel Gil , Zagalsky Paula C. 
Published: December 2016

AbstractThis article analyses the changes in the organization of labour during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in colonial Charcas, present-day Bolivia, focusing on the role that different colonial authorities played in this process and its consequences. The Spanish took advantage of the pre-Hispanic organization of labour from the beginning of their conquest. However, in a colonial context, labour relations changed significantly, and the architect of those alterations was Viceroy Francisco de Toledo. We examine the transformations in mine labour carried out by the Spanish colonial polity; these had a significant effect not only on mining, but also on all labour relations in the southern colonial Andes.
Political Changes and Shifts in Labour Relations in Mozambique, 1820s–1920s
Authors: Ribeiro da Silva Filipa 
Published: December 2016

AbstractThis article examines the main changes in the policies of the Portuguese state in relation to Mozambique and its labour force during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, stemming from political changes within the Portuguese Empire (i.e. the independence of Brazil in 1821), the European political scene (i.e. the Berlin Conference, 1884–1885), and the Southern African context (i.e. the growing British, French, and German presence). By becoming a principle mobilizer and employer of labour power in the territory, an allocator of labour to neighbouring colonial states, and by granting private companies authority to play identical roles, the Portuguese state brought about important shifts in labour relations in Mozambique. Slave and tributary labour were replaced by new forms of indentured labour (initially termedserviçaisand lattercontratados) and forced labour (compelidos). The period also saw an increase in commodified labour in the form of wage labour (voluntários), self-employment among peasant and settler farmers, and migrant labour to neighbouring colonies.
Working for the State in the Urban Economies of Ankara, Bursa, and Salonica: From Empire to Nation State, 1840s–1940s
Authors: Kabadayi M. Erdem 
Published: December 2016

AbstractIn most cases, and particularly in the cases of Greece and Turkey, political transformation from multinational empire to nation state has been experienced to a great extent in urban centres. In Ankara, Bursa, and Salonica, the cities selected for this article, the consequences of state-making were drastic for all their inhabitants; Ankara and Bursa had strong Greek communities, while in the 1840s Salonica was the Jewish metropolis of the eastern Mediterranean, with a lively Muslim community. However, by the 1940s, Ankara and Bursa had lost almost all their non-Muslim inhabitants and Salonica had lost almost all its Muslims. This article analyses the occupational structures of those three cities in the mid-nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth, tracing the role of the state as an employer and the effects of radical political change on the city-level historical dynamics of labour relations.
Learning to predict characteristics for engineering service projects
Authors: Shi Lei , Newnes Linda , Culley Steve , Allen Bruce 
Published: December 2016

AbstractAn engineering service project can be highly interactive, collaborative, and distributed. The implementation of such projects needs to generate, utilize, and share large amounts of data and heterogeneous digital objects. The information overload prevents the effective reuse of project data and knowledge, and makes the understanding of project characteristics difficult. Toward solving these issues, this paper emphasized the using of data mining and machine learning techniques to improve the project characteristic understanding process. The work presented in this paper proposed an automatic model and some analytical approaches for learning and predicting the characteristics of engineering service projects. To evaluate the model and demonstrate its functionalities, an industrial data set from the aerospace sector is considered as a the case study. This work shows that the proposed model could enable the project members to gain comprehensive understanding of project characteristics from a multidimensional perspective, and it has the potential to support them in implementing evidence-based design and decision making.
Skin in the game: comparing the private and public regulation of isotretinoin
Authors: MARCH RAYMOND J. 
Published: December 2016

AbstractThis paper engages in a comparative-institutional analysis of the private and public risk-management programs of the drug isotretinoin, which are designed to prevent the undesired effects isotretinoin has on fetal development. This case study sheds light on the comparative effectiveness of private and public regulation in the pharmaceutical and healthcare markets. A range of evidence indicates that the private risk management program successful in reducing pregnancies and educating patients about the harmful effects isotretinoin can have on a fetus. These findings challenge a consensus found in the medical literature that the private program needed to be supplanted and contain implications for future risk-management policy in healthcare.