bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Mechanical recoverability and damage process of ionic‐covalent PAAm‐alginate hybrid hydrogels
Authors: Xin Hai , Brown Hugh R. , Naficy Sina , Spinks Geoffrey M. 
Published: September 2015

ABSTRACTHydrogels consisting of interpenetrating networks of ionically and covalently crosslinked polymers showed high toughness and mechanical recoverability as a result of the dissociation and re‐formation of ionic crosslinks. The present investigation aimed to provide a quantitative study on the mechanical recoverability and damage process of an example hybrid gel of calcium crosslinked alginate and covalently crosslinked polyacrylamide. Three series of load/unload tests were performed sequentially with the mechanical properties of the gel fully retrieved between the 2nd and 3rd load/unload series while only the partial recovery of mechanical properties was evident from the 1st to 2nd series. The load/unload curves in the three series were modeled by existing mechanical models, and the fitted model parameters clearly demonstrate a damage process for the hybrid gel. When a hybrid gel was deformed above its historic maximum strain, the shortest alginate chains were fully‐stretched, pulling apart the weak ionic crosslinks and dissipating fracture energy. Consequently, the strand density of the intact gel network was reduced and the contour length of the remaining next‐shortest load‐bearing alginate chains became longer. A log‐normal distribution was used to describe the probability distribution for the strand fracture and also to describe the strand length distribution of the ionic network. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2016, 54, 53–63
Modeling of ribonucleic acid–ligand interactions
Authors: Stefaniak Filip , Chudyk Ewa I. , Bodkin Michael , Dawson Wayne K. , Bujnicki Janusz M. 
Published: September 2015

Computational methods play a pivotal role in the early stages of small molecule drug discovery and are widely applied in virtual screening, structure optimization, and compound activity profiling. Over the past half century in medicinal chemistry, almost all the attention has been directed to protein–ligand binding and computational tools were created with such targets in mind. However, with growing discoveries of functional RNAs and their possible applications, RNA macromolecules have gained considerable attention as possible drug targets. This flow of discovery was followed by adapting existing computational tools for RNA applications as well as active development of new RNA‐tailored methods. However, due to the different nature of RNA, especially its tendency to use morphological plasticity (conformational change in ligand binding) this remains a challenging task. The evolution of ‘protein‐based’ drug discovery and related computational methods offers some clues on possible future directions and developments in modeling RNA interactions with small molecule ligands. WIREs Comput Mol Sci 2015, 5:425–439. doi: 10.1002/wcms.1226This article is categorized under:

Structure and Mechanism > Computational Biochemistry and Biophysics
Computer and Information Science > Chemoinformatics
Molecular and Statistical Mechanics > Molecular Interactions
A Study on Dispersion and Antibacterial Activity of Functionalizing Multi‐walled Carbon Nanotubes with Mixed Surfactant
Authors: Bai Yu , Wang Cunyang , Gao Jingjun , Su Juan , Ma Wen 
Published: September 2015

AbstractThe dispersibility in aqueous phase and antibacterial activity of multi‐walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) with mixed surfactant functionalization has been studied. The ratio of 3:7 between hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide and octylphenol ethoxylate (TX100) showed the highest dispersing power for MWNT. The use of mixed surfactants formed stable MWNT dispersions at lower total surfactant concentration compared to their concentrations when used alone. UV–Vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were employed to characterize the dispersion of MWNT in the aqueous phase. The result indicated that the surfactant molecules had been successfully adsorbed onto the surface of the MWNT. Bacterial toxicity assay showed that the mixed surfactant‐functionalized MWNT had a strong antibacterial activity and concentration dependence to Staphylococcus aureus. Based on the consideration of the cost and environmental impact, the use of mixed surfactant (CTAB‐TX100) should be more favorable for the stable dispersion of MWNT and the improvement of antibacterial activity than that of an individual surfactant. These observations suggested that the mixed surfactant‐functionalized MWNT might be a promising antibacterial agent for removal and inactivation of biological contaminants in water treatment applications.
A New Potential Formula Applicable to Flattened Systems
Authors: Ninković S. 
Published: September 2015

AbstractA new formula for the gravitational potential of flattened systems is proposed. It is a modification of the Miyamoto–Nagai potential and should be applied to very flattened systems, exponential discs as a typical example. The resulting rotation curve agrees sufficiently well with that obtained by using special functions and the total masses remain the same. The functions contained in the new term can improve the agreement for the rotation curve and also reduce the effect of negative density values which appear off the midplane.
Trends and Determinants of Work-Retirement Transitions under Changing Institutional Conditions: Germany, England and Japan compared
Authors: HOFÄCKER DIRK , SCHRÖDER HEIKE , LI YUXIN , FLYNN MATTHEW 
Published: September 2015

AbstractMany governments world-wide are promoting longer working life due to the social and economic repercussions of demographic change. However, not all workers are equally able to extend their employment careers. Thus, while national policies raise the overall level of labour market participation, they might create new social and labour market inequalities. This paper explores how institutional differences in the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan affect individual retirement decisions on the aggregate level, and variations in individuals’ degree of choice within and across countries. We investigate which groups of workers are disproportionately at risk of being ‘pushed’ out of employment, and how such inequalities have changed over time. We use comparable national longitudinal survey datasets focusing on the older population in England, Germany and Japan. Results point to cross-national differences in retirement transitions. Retirement transitions in Germany have occurred at an earlier age than in England and Japan. In Japan, the incidence of involuntary retirement is the lowest, reflecting an institutional context prescribing that employers provide employment until pension age, while Germany and England display substantial proportions of involuntary exits triggered by organisational-level redundancies, persistent early retirement plans or individual ill-health.
L'archéologue et le topographe sur la colline du Pincio: à propos du grand plan de Rome du Jubilé 2000
Authors: Jolivet Vincent , Broise Henri 
Published: September 2015

But the city, in its corruption, refused to submit to the dominion of the cartographers, changing shape ai will and without warning…S. Rushdie, The Satanic versesLes plans et les vues cavalières ou panoramiques de Rome, à partir de celle de Paolino da Venezia, de peu postérieure à 1320, et jusqu'à la naissance de la cartographie moderne, considérée comme définitivement acquise avec le plan de Nolli de 1748, sont utilisés comme une source primordiale d'informations pour la topographie de la ville. Par rapport au prodigieux corpus de dessins laissés par les antiquaires de la Renaissance, ces documents présentent l'avantage de figurer l'insertion des différents monuments, même mineurs, dans le tissu urbain, mais souvent l'inconvénient, compte tenu l'échelle des cartes, de les représenter de manière moins détaillée, voire même purement symbolique. De plus, ils répondent à un certain nombre d'exigences, idéologiques ou pratiques, qui déterminent leur degré de fidélité par rapport au réel: le souci de mettre en évidence certains monuments (par exemple le long des itinéraires de pèlerinage), l'impact de la politique d'urbanisme d'un pontife, ou le système défensif de la ville, ont souvent porté à privilégier certains monuments, ou entraîné des changements de proportions entre les édifices figurés, parfois la suppression de quartiers d'habitations entiers; par ailleurs, le souci de rendre plus lisible le réseau viaire, et de dessiner les façades, a porté à l'élargissement des rues, et donc à des distorsions dans la représentation des bâtiments. Surtout, l'attitude de l'auteur de la carte par rapport à son objet à joué, à l'évidence, un rôle déterminant: pour un Bufalini, un Falda ou un Nolli, conscients de la nouveauté et de l'importance de leur projet, et qui y ont consacré de longues années de travail, combien de cartographes pressés, indifférents à la ville, simples compilateurs de leurs prédécesseurs?
Response to R. Tybout “Roman wall-painting and social significance”
Authors: Hallett C. H. 
Published: September 2015

In his article in this issue, R. Tybout has some harsh words (38-39) for an article by S. Yerkes published in JRA 13. T.'s reaction seems to involve not so much a scholarly disagreement as a major misunderstanding of Yerkes' paper. I would like to offer a brief corrective to his comments.T. seems under the impression that the identification of Vitruvius' monstra is the main — or only — point of Yerkes' essay. This is probably because of the title. The paper is a radically reduced presentation of the argument of the author's master's thesis which was entitled “Neo-Attic motifs in Roman painting”. And the identification of some of the sources for the monstra — as motifs in much earlier Roman marble furnishings — is actually the main thrust of her argument. Her original title for the article also included a reference to “neo-Attic motifs” but that was omitted by the editor after it was submitted to JRA. T. is dismayed that Yerkes fails to cite the chapter on Vitruvius 7.5.3 ff. in W. Ehrhardt's monograph Stilgeschichtliche Untersuchungen (T. 1, n.l). Now, Yerkes is well aware of this work and cites it in her thesis, together with another paper Ehrhardt published on “Vitruv und die zeitgenössische Wandmalerei” in KJb 1991. So she could — and perhaps should — have included Ehrhardt's work in her notes, as T. suggests; perhaps including fuller references to other past scholarship too. But T. goes on to make the extraordinary claim (38 n.30) that Ehrhardt's chapter renders Yerkes' observations “largely superfluous”. I cannot follow T. here, for Ehrhardt's essay actually has a quite different aim and focus; and the differences are worth underlining.
Patterns of frontier development: a dynamic model of resource extraction in the Brazilian Amazon
Authors: Melstrom Richard T. , Jones Luke R. , Caviglia-Harris Jill 
Published: September 2015

AbstractDeveloping countries are known to exploit their resource frontier to achieve growth objectives and reduce poverty. This can lead to long-term positive outcomes or – if resource exploitation is unsustainable – lose–lose outcomes that leave populations and ecosystems worse off. This paper introduces a dynamic model of resource exploitation to explain how regions may succumb to, avoid or escape this negative outcome. The theoretical model characterizes a frontier community that uses soil as an input into agricultural production. The model shows that there may be a critical point in the soil stock that determines whether agricultural activities lead to sustainable development or a collapse in local income. This suggests that, in the event of a resource collapse, temporary adjustments to the system may permanently rehabilitate the resource base and change a community's development pattern. Calibration of the model to several frontier states of the Brazilian Amazon points toward an overall outcome of steady development.
Gaussian private quantum channel with squeezed coherent states
Authors: Jeong Kabgyun , Kim Jaewan , Lee Su-Yong 
Published: September 2015

AbstractWhile the objective of conventional quantum key distribution (QKD) is to secretly generate and share the classical bits concealed in the form of maximally mixed quantum states, that of private quantum channel (PQC) is to secretly transmit individual quantum states concealed in the form of maximally mixed states using shared one-time pad and it is called Gaussian private quantum channel (GPQC) when the scheme is in the regime of continuous variables. We propose a GPQC enhanced with squeezed coherent states (GPQCwSC), which is a generalization of GPQC with coherent states only (GPQCo) [Phys. Rev. A 72, 042313 (2005)]. We show that GPQCwSC beats the GPQCo for the upper bound on accessible information. As a subsidiary example, it is shown that the squeezed states take an advantage over the coherent states against a beam splitting attack in a continuous variable QKD. It is also shown that a squeezing operation can be approximated as a superposition of two different displacement operations in the small squeezing regime.
Work ability, age and intention to leave aged care work
Authors: Austen Siobhan , Jefferson Therese , Lewin Gill , Ong Rachel , Sharp Rhonda 
Published: September 2015

AimTo describe the work ability of mature age women workers in Australia's aged care sector, and to explore the relationship between ageing, work ability and intention to leave.MethodLogistic regression techniques were applied to a sample of 2721 responses to a survey of mature age women workers in the aged care sector.ResultsMature age women working in the Australian aged care sector have relatively high levels of work ability by international standards. Furthermore, their work ability remains high in their 50s and 60s, in contrast to some prevailing stereotypes. However, work ability is a key determinant of intention to leave in key occupational groups.ConclusionOur findings challenge some prevailing stereotypes about the work ability of mature age workers. However, they lend support for the development of retention strategies, which incorporate programs that target low work ability.
The effect of exercise mode on the acute response of satellite cells in old men
Authors: Nederveen J. P. , Joanisse S. , Séguin C. M. L. , Bell K. E. , Baker S. K. , Phillips S. M. , Parise G. 
Published: September 2015

AbstractAimA dysregulation of satellite cells may contribute to the progressive loss of muscle mass that occurs with age; however, older adults retain the ability to activate and expand their satellite cell pool in response to exercise. The modality of exercise capable of inducing the greatest acute response is unknown. We sought to characterize the acute satellite cell response following different modes of exercise in older adults.MethodsSedentary older men (n = 22; 67 ± 4 years; 27 ± 2.6 kg*m−2) were randomly assigned to complete an acute bout of either resistance exercise, high‐intensity interval exercise on a cycle ergometer or moderate‐intensity aerobic exercise. Muscle biopsies were obtained before, 24 and 48 h following each exercise bout. The satellite cell response was analysed using immunofluorescent microscopy of muscle cross sections.ResultsSatellite cell expansion associated with type I fibres was observed 24 and 48 h following resistance exercise only (P ˂ 0.05), while no expansion of typeII‐associated satellite cells was observed in any group. There was a greater number of activated satellite cells 24 h following resistance exercise (pre: 1.3 ± 0.1, 24 h: 4.8 ± 0.5 Pax7 + /MyoD+cells/100 fibres) and high‐intensity interval exercise (pre: 0.7 ± 0.3, 24 h: 3.1 ± 0.3 Pax7 + /MyoD+cells/100 fibres) (P ˂ 0.05). The percentage of type I‐associatedSCco‐expressingMSTNwas reduced only in theREgroup 24 h following exercise (pre: 87 ± 4, 24 h: 57 ± 5%MSTN+ type ISC) (P < 0.001).ConclusionAlthough resistance exercise is the most potent exercise type to induce satellite cell pool expansion, high‐intensity interval exercise was also more potent than moderate‐intensity aerobic exercise in inducing satellite cell activity.
Overview of antimicrobial options for Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia: focus on macrolide resistance
Authors: Cao Bin , Qu Jiu‐Xin , Yin Yu‐Dong , Eldere Johan Van 
Published: September 2015

AbstractBackground and AimsCommunity‐acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a common infectious disease affecting children and adults of any age. Mycoplasma pneumoniae has emerged as leading causative agent of CAP in some region, and the abrupt increasing resistance to macrolide that widely used for management of M. pneumoniae has reached to the level that it often leads to treatment failures.ObjectiveWe aim to discuss the drivers for development of macrolide‐resistant M. pneumoniae, antimicrobial stewardship and also the potential treatment options for patients infected with macrolide‐resistant M. pneumonia.MethodsThe articles in English and Chinese published in Pubmed and in Asian medical journals were selected for the review.ResultsM. pneumoniae can develop macrolide resistance by point mutations in the 23S rRNA gene. Inappropriate and overuse of macrolides for respiratory tract infections may induce the resistance rapidly. A number of countries have introduced the stewardship program for restricting the use of macrolide. Tetracyclines and fluoroquinolones are highly effective for macrolide‐resistant strains, which may be the substitute in the region of high prevalence of macrolide‐resistant M. pneumoniae.ConclusionThe problem of macrolide resistant M. pneumonia is emerging. Antibiotic stewardship is needed to inhibit the inappropriate use of macrolide and new antibiotics with a more acceptable safety profile for all ages need to be explored.
Designing optimal and practical volume discounting contracts for the dominant retailer with information asymmetry
Authors: Wang Yao‐Yu , Tao Feng , Wang Jian‐Cai 
Published: September 2015

AbstractWith the increasing prevalence of huge international retail chains and the subcontracting of manufacturing to developing countries by owners of major international brands, the dominant‐retailer‐oriented incentive contracts become increasingly more relevant. The literature suggests that most of the contract formats known as channel‐coordinating for the dominant supplier become quite or totally ineffective when the retailer is the dominant player in the supply chain. A menu of contracts is shown to be theoretically most effective for the dominant retailer; however, it is too complex to be implemented in the real world. This paper first proves that the menu of contracts is actually a nonlinear volume discounting contract. Based on this characteristic, we propose two contract formats, namely, volume discounting on markup and volume discounting on slotting fee. Our results show that these two new proposed schemes perform substantially better than the currently most‐used contract formats (e.g., markup contract formats), and they can also be perceived as performing nearly as well as the menu of contracts.
An integrated energy plan for activated neurons
Authors: Leloup Corinne 
Published: September 2015

Abstract
image
This Editorial highlights an ingenious study by Li and Freeman published in this issue of J. Neurochem. Accurately knowing the brain extracellular levels of the two main substrates, that is, glucose and lactate, while a well‐controlled and graded‐stimulus is applied, might be extremely useful to finely understand how these substrates are produced and used. To that end, the authors have designed a new approach that consists to record at the same time (100 ms resolution) extracellular glucose and lactate concentrations using electrochemical sensing microelectrodes equally distant from a microelectrode that registers the multicellular activity in response to light‐dependent stimuli (contrast levels from 10% to 80%). While this approach does, however, not evaluate the metabolic coupling between astrocytes and neurons, it proposes a new design which combined with molecular strategies specifically toward the glial or neuronal compartments will certainly help to demonstrate new distinctive features of this interesting question.
Early metabolic responses to lithium/pilocarpine‐induced status epilepticus in rat brain
Authors: Imran Imran , Hillert Markus H. , Klein Jochen 
Published: September 2015

AbstractThe lithium–pilocarpine model of status epilepticus is a well‐known animal model of temporal lobe epilepsy. We combined this model with in vivo microdialysis to investigate energy metabolites and acute cellular membrane damage during seizure development. Rats were implanted with dialysis probes and pretreated with lithium chloride (127 mg/kg i.p.). Twenty‐four hours later, they received pilocarpine (30 mg/kg s.c.) which initiated seizures within 30 min. In the dialysate from rat hippocampus, we observed a transient increase in glucose and a prominent, five‐fold increase in lactate during seizures. Lactate release was because of neuronal activation as it was strongly reduced by infusion of tetrodotoxin, administration of atropine or when seizures were terminated by diazepam or ketamine. In ex vivo assays, mitochondrial function as measured by respirometry was not affected by 90 min of seizures. Extracellular levels of choline, however, increased two‐fold and glycerol levels 10‐fold, which indicate cellular phospholipid breakdown during seizures. Within 60 min of pilocarpine administration, hydroxylation of salicylate increased two‐fold and formation of isoprostanes 20‐fold, revealing significant oxidative stress in hippocampal tissue. Increases in lactate, glycerol and isoprostanes were abrogated, and increases in choline were completely prevented, when hippocampal probes were perfused with calcium‐free solution. Similarly, administration of pregabalin (100 mg/kg i.p.), a calcium channel ligand, 15 min prior to pilocarpine strongly attenuated parameters of membrane damage and oxidative stress. We conclude that seizure development in a rat model of status epilepticus is accompanied by increases in extracellular lactate, choline and glycerol, and by oxidative stress, while mitochondrial function remains intact for at least 90 min. Membrane damage depends on calcium influx and can be prevented by treatment with pregabalin.
imageStatus epilepticus (SE) was induced in rats by lithium–pilocarpine (‘Pilo’) administration, and extracellular metabolites were measured by microdialysis. Seizures caused several‐fold increases in lactate levels which were attenuated by diazepam (‘Diaz’), ketamine, atropine and tetrodotoxin (TTX). Indicators of oxidative stress and membrane damage were also increased during seizures. Omission of calcium and pregabalin, a calcium channel blocker, reduced cellular damage induced by SE.