bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
DLC‐coated pure bioplastic foil
Authors: Rohrbeck Magdalena , Fischer Christian , Wehner Stefan , Meier Jutta , Manz Werner 
Published: April 2014

AbstractPolymers made of renewable resources increasingly replace conventional plastic materials made of petroleum. Socalled bioplastics can be found e. g. in food industry, for agricultural usage or in the medical field. The range of applications can be further expanded with specialized coating of their surface. Especially in case of food packaging and the usage within medical devices as well as the storage of these composite materials, sterilization or at least the partial reduction of microbial growth is an important issue which needs to be addressed early in the production process. In this work, a commercially available polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) pure bioplastic foil of 50 μm thickness was coated with 100 nm of diamond‐like carbon (DLC) and afterwards treated by four different standard methods of sterilization and / or disinfection, namely deep‐freezing, ultraviolet irradiation, autoclaving and immersion in ethanol. The surface morphology of treated DLC‐coated and uncoated samples was investigated and compared to the untreated DLC‐coated and uncoated samples using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Measurements exhibited damage of the composite for autoclaved and in ethanol immersed samples, whereas deep‐frozen and ultraviolet irradiated samples showed no structural changes. These findings clearly demonstrate deep‐freezing and ultraviolet irradiation to be appropriate methods for the disinfection and sterilization, respectively, of the DLC‐coated pure bioplastic foil.
Prognostic Significance of Preoperative Peripheral Blood Monocyte Ratio in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Authors: Lee Seung Duk , Kim Seong Hoon , Kim Young‐Kyu , Lee Soon‐Ae , Park Sang‐Jae 
Published: April 2014

AbstractBackground
Leukocyte subsets in peripheral blood, which include neutrophils, lymphocytes, and monocytes, have not been well established as prognostic factors in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).MethodsConsecutive patients who underwent curative hepatic resection for HCC at the National Cancer Center, Republic of Korea, from 2001 to 2008 were enrolled in this retrospective study. Clinicopathologic factors, cancer‐specific survival (CSS), and disease‐free survival (DFS) were analyzed with respect to preoperative lymphocyte subsets, especially monocyte ratio.ResultsThe 603 patients had a median follow‐up of 40.0 months and a 5‐year overall survival rate of 67.7 %. In univariate analysis of survivals, preoperative lymphocyte ratio ≤35 % and monocyte ratio >7 % were significantly poor prognostic factors. In multivariate analysis, preoperative monocyte ratio >7 %, satellite nodule, and microvascular invasion were independent risk factors for CSS and DFS (hazard ratio of monocyte ratio >7 % = 1.77, p = 0.02 and 1.57, p = 0.006, respectively). Considering monocyte ratio with preoperative α‐fetoprotein level, patients with both abnormal α‐fetoprotein levels (>12 ng/mL) and monocyte ratio >7 % showed significantly worse CSS and DFS than other groups (p < 0.001). Cirrhotic patients with monocyte ratio >7 % showed significantly poor CSS and DFS compared with non‐cirrhotic patients (p = 0.033 and <0.001, respectively).ConclusionsA preoperative monocyte ratio >7 % of peripheral blood is an independent risk factor for CSS and DFS after hepatic resection for HCC. Preoperative monocyte ratio might be considered as a novel biomarker for HCC.
Solution NMR assignment of LpoB, an outer-membrane anchored Penicillin-Binding Protein activator from Escherichia coli
Authors: Jean Nicolas L. , Bougault Catherine M. , Egan Alexander J. F. , Vollmer Waldemar , Simorre Jean-Pierre 
Published: April 2014

Abstract
Bacteria surround their cytoplasmic membrane with the essential heteropolymer peptidoglycan (PG), which is made of glycan chains cross-linked by short peptides, to maintain osmotic stability and cell shape. PG is assembled from lipid II precursor by glycosyltransferase and transpeptidase reactions catalyzed by PG synthases, which are anchored to the cytoplasmic membrane and are controlled from inside the cell by cytoskeletal elements. Recently, two lipoproteins, LpoA and LpoB, were shown to be required in Escherichia coli for activating the main peptidoglycan synthases, Penicillin-Binding Proteins 1A and 1B, from the outer membrane. Here we present the backbone and side-chain assignment of the 1H, 13C and 15N resonances of LpoB from E. coli. We also provide evidence for a two-domain organization of LpoB and a largely disordered, 64 amino acid-long N-terminal domain.
Deaths in the United States among persons with Alzheimer's disease (2010–2050)
Authors: Weuve Jennifer , Hebert Liesi E. , Scherr Paul A. , Evans Denis A. 
Published: April 2014

AbstractBackgroundAlzheimer's disease (AD) profoundly affects the end‐of‐life experience. Yet, counts of deaths attributable to AD understate this burden of AD in the population. Therefore, we estimated the annual number of deaths in the United States among older adults with AD from 2010 to 2050.MethodsWe calculated probabilities of AD incidence and mortality from a longitudinal population‐based study of 10,802 participants. From this population, 1913 previously disease‐free individuals, selected via stratified random sampling, underwent 2577 detailed clinical evaluations. Over the course of follow‐up, 990 participants died. We computed age‐, sex‐, race‐, and education‐specific AD incidences and education‐adjusted AD mortality proportions specific to age, sex, and race group. We then combined these probabilities with US‐wide census, education, and mortality data.ResultsIn 2010, approximately 600,000 deaths occurred among individuals aged 65 years or older with AD, comprising 32% of all older adult deaths. By 2050, this number is projected to be 1.6 million, 43% of all older adult deaths.ConclusionIndividuals with AD comprise a substantial number of older adult deaths in the United States, a number expected to rise considerably in coming decades.
Microdosing of scopolamine as a “cognitive stress test”: Rationale and test of a very low dose in an at‐risk cohort of older adults
Authors: Snyder Peter J. , Lim Yen Ying , Schindler Rachel , Ott Brian R. , Salloway Stephen , Daiello Lori , Getter Christine , Gordon Catherine M. , Maruff Paul 
Published: April 2014

AbstractBackgroundAbnormal β‐amyloid (Aβ) is associated with deleterious changes in central acetylcholinergic tone in the very early stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD), which may be unmasked by a cholinergic antagonist. We aimed to establish an optimal “microdose” of scopolamine for the development of a “cognitive stress test.”MethodsHealthy older adults (n = 26, aged 55–75 years) with two risk factors for AD, but with low cortical Aβ burden, completed the Groton Maze Learning Test (GMLT) at baseline and then received scopolamine (0.20 mg subcutaneously). Participants were reassessed at 1, 3, 5, 7, and 8 hours postinjection.ResultsThere were significant differences, of a moderate magnitude, in performance between baseline and 3 hours postinjection for total errors, rule break errors, and the GMLT composite (d ≈ 0.50) that were all unrelated to body mass.ConclusionsA very low dose of scopolamine leads to reliable cognitive impairment at 3 hours postdose (Tmax) and full cognitive recovery within 5 hours, supporting its use as a prognostic test paradigm to identify individuals with potential preclinical AD. This paradigm is being implemented in a larger cohort of healthy adults, with high or low Aβ, to identify pharmacodynamic differences between groups.
Anal melanoma: a rare, but catastrophic tumor
Authors: Veloso Andréa da Costa , Magno Jaime Coelho Carlos , Silva José Antonio Dias da Cunha e 
Published: April 2014

AbstractIntroduction Malignant melanoma of the anal canal is a rare and aggressive disease, which early diagnosis is difficult. Its presentation with no specific symptoms leads to a late diagnosis at an advanced stage. The prognosis of anorectal malignant melanoma is poor and frequently related to distant metastasis and absence of response of chemoradiotherapy. Surgery remains the mainstay of therapy; otherwise, the best approach is controversial. Considering no survival benefits for APR, wide local excision should be considered as the treatment of choice.Methods This report collects nine cases of anorectal melanoma treated at our division from 1977 to 2006, as well as a review of the literature.Results There were eight females and one male, of medium age 69 years (range: 41-85 years). Most frequent presentation was bleeding. Wide Local Excision (WLE) was performed in seven of them. Mean survival was 24 months, and six of them died on account of metastatic disease.Conclusion Anorectal melanoma remains challenging. Efforts should be taken to early diagnosis, and wide local excision with negative margins is the preferred treatment. Abdominoperineal resection (APR) is a reasonable option for bulky tumors or when the sphincter is invaded.
On the damped oscillations of an elastic quasi-circular membrane in a two-dimensional incompressible fluid
Authors: Martins Afonso Marco , Mendez Simon , Nicoud Franck 
Published: April 2014

AbstractWe propose a procedure – partly analytical and partly numerical – to find the frequency and the damping rate of the small-amplitude oscillations of a massless elastic capsule immersed in a two-dimensional viscous incompressible fluid. The unsteady Stokes equations for the stream function are decomposed into normal modes for the angular and temporal variables, leading to a fourth-order linear ordinary differential equation in the radial variable. The forcing terms are dictated by the properties of the membrane and result in jump conditions at the interface between the internal and external media. The equation can be solved numerically, and excellent agreement is found with a fully computational approach that we have developed in parallel. Comparisons are also shown with results available in the scientific literature for drops, and a model based on the concept of entrained fluid is presented, which allows for a good representation of the present results and a consistent interpretation of the underlying physics.
Investigation of Cyg OB2 #11(O5 Ifc) by Modelling its Atmosphere
Authors: Maryeva Olga , Zhuchkov Roman , Malogolovets Eugene 
Published: April 2014

AbstractWe continue the study of O-supergiants belonging to the association Cyg OB2 using moderate-resolution spectra. In this paper we present results of the modelling of the stellar atmosphere of Cyg OB2 #11. This object belongs to the spectral class Ofc, which was recently introduced and is yet small in numbers. Ofc class consists of stars with normal spectra with CIII λλ4647, 4650, 4652 emission lines of comparable intensity to those of the Of-defining lines NIII λλ4634, 4640, 4642. We combined new spectral data obtained by the 1.5-m Russian–Turkish telescope with spectra from MAST and CASU archives and determined physical parameters of the wind and chemical composition of the stellar atmosphere using cmfgen code. The estimated nitrogen abundance is lower than one in atmospheres of ‘normal’ O-supergiants (i.e. O4-6 supergiants without additional spectral index ‘n’ or ‘c’) and carbon abundance is solar. Also we find an excess in silicon. We present an illustrative comparison of our modelling results with current Geneva evolutionary models for rotating massive stars. The position on the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram corresponds to the star mass of about 50 M⊙ and age about 4.5 Myr. Moreover, we carried out the high angular resolution (~ 0.02arcsec) observations on the Russian 6-m telescope aiming to find weaker companions of this star, which did not reveal any.
GIVING A NAME TO ISLAM SOUTH OF THE SAHARA: AN ADVENTURE IN TAXONOMY
Authors: Triaud Jean-Louis 
Published: April 2014

AbstractThis article revisits the concept ofislam noir(black Islam) crafted in the context of French rule of sub-Saharan Muslims. For the French colonial administration,islam noirconnoted the idea of a degraded Islam tainted by animist practices and therefore different from the pure Islam practiced in Arab countries. This differentiation was a way to separate it from ‘Arab Islam’, which was considered a subversive model. This distinction was not entirely new for it had already a long history behind it. Arabic sources had often shown a high distrust of sub-Saharan Africans who converted to Islam; they never really enjoyed a status equal to that of Arab Muslims. After the end of colonial rule, the story still continues. The theme of a specific sub-Saharan Islam (African Islam) remained a convenient category that was used by scholars, regardless of old prejudices. In the latest period, some African intellectuals have also embraced this concept, conjoining it with the pride of blackness, as a kind of Islamde la négritude, while praising its orthodoxy. It is this long epistemological and taxonomical adventure ofislam noirthat is examined here.
UNRULY AGENTS: POLICE REFORM, BUREAUCRATIZATION, AND POLICEMEN'S AGENCY IN INTERWAR TOGO
Authors: Glasman Joel 
Published: April 2014

AbstractIn the last few years, our understanding of police forces in Africa has increased significantly. Whilst in previous literature the police tended to be presented as a mere instrument in the hands of state elites, recent studies have shown the ability of policemen to defend their group interests. This article analyses a pivotal moment in the history of French West Africa, namely the creation of theService de Sûretéin the early 1930s. Drawing on archival evidence from Togo, it takes a close look at the shift from military to urban policing, arguing that the bureaucratization of security modified the agency of African policemen. Whereas previously their forms of protest were very much connected with the specific setting of military camps (indiscipline, desertion, rebellion), these now increasingly included written protests within the administration.
ORDER, OPENNESS, AND ECONOMIC CHANGE IN PRECOLONIAL SOUTHERN AFRICA: A PERSPECTIVE FROM THE BOKONI TERRACES
Authors: Delius Peter , Schirmer Stefan 
Published: April 2014

AbstractThe Bokoni settlement in Mpumalanga, South Africa is the largest known terraced site in Africa. The settlement consisted of intensively farmed terraced fields spanning 150 kilometres along the eastern escarpment. It flourished from around 1500 until the 1820s, after which it all but disappeared. This article first sets out to interpret the growing body of primarily archaeological Bokoni evidence from the perspective of economic history. Another, although secondary, goal of the article is to contribute to debates about the precolonial roots of African poverty. Accordingly, we outline the factors that may have facilitated the emergence of this region as a major food-producing area. We argue that Bokoni formed part of a decentralised social order that was built around the logic of production and was conducive to dynamic forms of accumulation. This decentralised, cooperative regional order was replaced in the early nineteenth century by a new order built around the logic of extraction and war. This new order militated against the development of decentralised intensive farming and emphasised instead the accumulation of military technology – most notably guns and the construction of military strongholds. As a result, the population of Bokoni plummeted and terraced farming fell into disuse in the region. These insights, we argue, call into question recent attempts to find the roots of African poverty in specific types of precolonial social arrangements.
Morphometric and molecular analyses of Tylodelphys sp. metacercariae (Digenea: Diplostomidae) from the vitreous humour of four fish species from Lake Naivasha, Kenya
Authors: Otachi E.O. , Locke S.A. , Jirsa F. , Fellner-Frank C. , Marcogliese D.J. 
Published: April 2014

AbstractEven in the relatively well-characterized faunas of the developed world, it is difficult to discriminate species of metacercariae in the Diplostomidae using morphology, infection site or host use. The taxonomy, diversity and ecology of diplostomids infecting freshwater fishes in the African continent are particularly poorly known, but recent morphometric and genetic studies have revealed four species of diplostomids in the eyes and brains of siluriform fishes. In the present study, diplostomid metacercariae were collected from the eyes of 288 fish comprising two species within the Cyprinidae (Cyprinus carpio, n= 145, and Barbus paludinosus, n= 67), two Cichlidae (Oreochromis leucostictus, n= 56, and Tilapia zillii, n= 18) and one Centrarchidae (Micropterus salmoides, n= 2) caught in Lake Naivasha, Kenya. Morphometric (14 characters and 8 indices in 111 specimens) and molecular (sequences from the barcode region of the cytochrome c oxidase 1 gene in 11 specimens) data were used to discriminate species. All fish species except B. paludinosus were infected with Tylodelphys metacercariae that were initially separated into two types differing mainly in body length. However, this morphological distinction received only intermediate support in quantitative morphological analysis and molecular data indicated that both morphotypes were conspecific. All the specimens therefore are inferred to belong to a single unidentified species of Tylodelphys, which is not conspecific with any other diplostomid for which comparable molecular data are available, including four diplostomid species known from siluriform fish in Nigeria and Tanzania.
Tissue transfer to post-chemoradiation salvage laryngectomy defects to prevent pharyngocutaneous fistula: single-centre experience
Authors: Powell J , Ullal U R , Ahmed O , Ragbir M , Paleri V 
Published: April 2014

AbstractBackground:In recent practice, we have used tissue transfer (pedicled or free flap) to augment the pharyngeal circumference of the neopharynx following salvage total laryngectomy, even in patients who have sufficient pharyngeal mucosa for primary closure. In this study, the rates of pharyngocutaneous fistula were compared in soft tissue flap reconstructed patients versus patients who underwent primary closure.Method:A retrospective assessment was carried out of all patients who had undergone a salvage total laryngectomy between 2000 and 2010. The presence or absence of a pharyngocutaneous fistula was compared in those who received reconstruction closure versus those who received primary closure.Results:The reconstruction closure group (n = 7) had no incidence of pharyngocutaneous fistula, whereas the primary closure group (n = 38) had 10 fistulas, giving pharyngocutaneous fistula rates of 0 per cent versus 26 per cent, respectively.Conclusion:The findings revealed a lower rate of pharyngocutaneous fistula with tissue transfer compared with primary closure of the neopharynx.
The limits of hybridity and the crisis of liberal peace
Authors: NADARAJAH SUTHAHARAN , RAMPTON DAVID 
Published: April 2014

AbstractHybridity has emerged recently as a key response in International Relations and peace studies to the crisis of liberal peace. Attributing the failures of liberal peacebuilding to a lack of legitimacy deriving from uncompromising efforts to impose a rigid market democratic state model on diverse populations emerging from conflict, the hybrid peace approach locates the possibility of a ‘radical’, post-liberal, and emancipatory peace in the agency of the local and the everyday and ‘hybrid’ formations of international/liberal and local/non-liberal institutions, practices, and values. However, this article argues, hybrid peace, emerging as an attempt to resolve a problem of difference and alterity specific to the context in which the crisis of liberal peacebuilding manifests, is a problem-solving tool for the encompassment and folding into globalising liberal order of cultural, political, and social orders perceived as radically different and obstructionist to its expansion. Deployed at the very point this expansion is beset by resistance and crisis, hybrid peace reproduces the liberal peace's logics of inclusion and exclusion, and through a reconfiguration of the international interface with resistant ‘local’ orders, intensifies the governmental and biopolitical reach of liberal peace for their containment, transformation, and assimilation.
Dynamic model and input shaping control of a flexible link parallel manipulator considering the exact boundary conditions
Authors: Zhang Quan , Mills James K. , Cleghorn William L. , Jin Jiamei , Sun Zhijun 
Published: April 2014

SUMMARYIn this paper, a rigid–flexible planar parallel manipulator (PPM) actuated by three linear ultrasonic motors for high-accuracy positioning is proposed. Based on the extended Hamilton's principle, a rigid–flexible dynamic model of the proposed PPM is developed utilizing exact boundary conditions. To derive an appropriate low-order dynamic model for the design of the controller, the assumed modes method is employed to discretize elastic motion. Then to investigate the interaction between the rigid and elastic motions, a proportional derivative feedback controller combined with a feed-forward-computed torque controller is developed to achieve motion tracking while attenuating the residual vibration. Then the controller is extended to incorporate an input shaper for the further suppression of residual vibration of flexible linkages. Computer simulations are presented as well as experimental results to verify the proposed dynamic model and controller. The input shaping method is verified to be effective in attenuating residual vibration in a highly coupled rigid–flexible PPM. The procedure employed for dynamic modeling and control analysis provides a valuable contribution into the vibration suppression of such a PPM.
Coupling effect analysis between the central nervous system and the CPG network with proprioception
Authors: He Bin , Lu Qiang , Wang Zhipeng 
Published: April 2014

SUMMARYHuman rhythmic movement is generated by central pattern generators (CPGs), and their application to robot control has attracted interest of many scientists. But the coupling relationship between the central nervous system and the CPG network with external inputs is still not unveiled. According to biological experiment results, the CPG network is controlled by the neural system; in other words, the interaction between the central nervous system and the CPG network can control human movement effectively. This paper offers a complex human locomotion model, which illustrates the coupling relationship between the central nervous system and the CPG network with proprioception. Based on Matsuoka's CPG model (K. Matsuoka, Biol. Cybern. 52(6), 367–376 (1985)), the stability and robustness of the CPG network are analyzed with external inputs. In order to simulate the coupling relationship, the Radial Basis Function (RBF) neural network is used to simulate the cerebral cortex, and the Credit-Assignment Cerebellar Model Articulation Controller algorithm is employed to realize the locomotion mode conversion. A seven-link biped robot is chosen to simulate the walking gait. The main discoveries include: (1) the output of a new CPG network, which is stable and robust, can be treated as proprioception. Proprioception provides the central nervous system with the information about all joint angles; (2) analysis on a new locomotion model reveals that the cerebral cortex can modulate CPG parameters, leading to adjustment in walking gait.