Big Body Research Articles

Quantitative Spatiotemporal Oil Body Ultrastructure Helps to Verify the Distinct Lipid Deposition Patterns in Benzoin Endosperm and Embryo Cells

Seed oil content is an important characteristic for the potential biofuel feedstock benzoin (Styrax tonkinensis). With the aim of further understanding benzoin lipid biosynthesis, the endosperm and embryo cell ultrastructures were acquired through transmission electron microscopy (TEM); the relative oil body area per cell (ROA) and oil body diameter (OBD) were then calculated by analyzing TEM images via computer software. The endosperm ROA peaked at 99 days after flowering (DAF) (79.04%), and the embryo ROA dynamic fitted the “S” curve. Significant linear relations (p < 0.01) were only observed between endosperm ROAs and the contents of whole-kernel crude lipid and fatty acids. The endosperm OBD (1.18–2.43 μm) was larger than that of embryo OBD (0.38–0.77 μm). M-shaped dynamics of acetyl coenzyme carboxylase (ACC) and diglyceride acyltransferase (DGAT) activities resembled the dynamic of endosperm OBD, as two peaks were observed at 78 and 113 DAF; the big oil body (≥1.8 μm) fraction in endosperm increased as kernel ACC and DGAT activities also increased, and vice-versa. Embryo OBD gradually increased, with the big oil body (≥0.5 μm) proportion increasing and the small oil body (<0.5 μm) proportion decreasing in general. Our results collectively suggested the distinct lipid accumulation patterns in the two benzoin kernel tissues, and revealed that the endosperm may determine the whole kernel oil biosynthetic process.

Reasons behind Spousal Aggression in A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

The theme of the study was in-depth study of reasons behind spousal (in this study husband-to-wife) aggression from the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. In this study, reasons behind Rasheed's aggression were taken as the central attention, and illustrated different theories related to aggression. The study applied psychological approach to assess reasons behind husband-to-wife aggression in the novel. The researcher applied the ethological theory, social learning theory and drive theory to assess reasons behind the kinds of aggression that Rasheed commits on his wives. The findings of the study indicate that Rasheed is a man with a big body and possesses a gun, which provides more chances for him to commit aggression over his wives. The drive theory addressed in this matter provides an understanding that aggression is produced by frustration. In other words, frustration-aggression hypothesis is the reason proposed by drive theory. Herein Rasheed’s aggression analysis, this theory helps to yield two findings that Rasheed’s sources of frustration are first, his encounter with his old-painful experience of losing a son, and the second is his sad condition over losing all his jobs and lacking foods to eat. The last but not least is the social learning theory, which proposes a help to see the surrounding of aggression as also the consideration for its initiation. The conclusion of this view is male domination-especially in the marriage system – in Afghanistan provide more spaces for man to aggress against woman as a wife. The story implies that it has been common in Afghanistan to find polygamous husband living under one roof. The second conclusion is that Taliban’s ruling is a possible role model for the male Afghans to commit harassment towards woman, as Taliban tends to force women into corner by enacting many banning and restriction upon them. Without termination on that, this group sets a deadly punishment to a-find-guilty woman by stoning them to death on a football field surrounded by large of people (men) who favour to Taliban.

Privacy and security in the big data paradigm

ABSTRACTPrivacy and security in the big data age have drawn significant attention in the academia and industry. This article examines privacy and security in the big data paradigm through proposing a model for privacy and security in the big data age and a classification of big data-driven privacy and security. It extends the big data body of knowledge, highlights important research topics, and identifies critical gaps through statistical analysis of big data and its impacts on privacy and security based on literature data published from 1916 to 2016. It also presents the state-of-the-art privacy and security based on the analysis of SCOPUS data from 2012 to 2016. The result shows that privacy and security face new challenges and require new policies, technologies, and tools for protecting privacy in the big data paradigm. The proposed approach might facilitate the research and development of privacy and security, and big data-driven privacy and security in terms of technology, governance, and policy development.

Comparative Analysis of the Concept of Corporate Governance in Nigeria and the United States of America (USA)

Corporate Governance is a recent global development that has attracted the attention of corporate investors, researchers, and governments. It arose out of the need to address sudden collapses and failures of big businesses and corporate bodies in every angle of today’s world. In the last decade, there has been increased focus worldwide on corporate governance in terms of structure, processes, systems, and practices which drive the conduct of business. This is in recognition of the critical role of corporate governance in the success or otherwise of companies. The need for renewed corporate governance in Nigeria arose out of the realization that corporate governance has not been given adequate attention it deserves in most developing countries. For instance, it is on record that many of the thirty-four Nigerian banks that had their operating license revoked between the late ‘80s and early ‘90s suffered from poor corporate governance. The United States of America (USA) is arguably the biggest economy of the world. It is argued that it produces twenty-one percent (21%) of the total world output through millions of business firms operating in its territory. It is generally assumed that US human capital is more productive and business firms are more efficient. Thus, the US firms have been obtaining efficiency gains vis-a-vis their European and Asian competitors. This is often attributed to good corporate governance. This study seeks to examine the level of corporate governance in Nigeria and the United States of America. The work will compare both systems in order to identify areas of difference and similarities and establish how they can be of benefit to stakeholders in both countries with a view to identifying factors that led to the collapse of businesses and corporations on account of the inapplicable methodology of Corporate Governance. Different scholars and researchers have used both qualitative and quantitative methods in analyzing corporate governance in Nigeria. Quantitative methods are usually used in assessing the effectiveness of corporate governance on different variables such as productivity and profitability. Qualitative methods on the other hand are used to assess the effectiveness of corporate governance in preventing future collapses by analyzing previous collapses. This study shall thus make use of the Qualitative Method. This study will be evaluating the corporate governance codes and its effectiveness in preventing future corporate collapses and scandals in Nigeria. It would compare the Nigerian corporate governance code to that of the United States as a measure of its standard and effectiveness.

Anomalous Geomagnetic Field Modeling for Crustal Structure of a Graben in West Siberia

An intensive magnetic anomaly within the limits of West Siberia Danilov graben-rift indicates magnetic rocks while numerous wells encountered only weakly magnetized Triassic basalts and liparites in the basement covered by thick loose Jurassic and younger sediments. The wells penetrated only the first tens meters of the basement and could not tell us about the liparites structure at depth where supposedly they may form a big single body and magnetic rocks may be situated deeper. Geological ideas on a graben-rift structure may be proved (or rejected) by a computer modeling of its magnetic properties. For the anomalous geomagnetic field interpretation, a method of volume integral equations taking into account demagnetization effect was employed. To fit a model a trial-and-error procedure was utilized. The results show that 1) at the depth some rocks are magnetized in opposite direction to the present field; 2) highly magnetized rocks (magnetic susceptibility 0.06 - 0.1SI) coming up continuously from the bottom of the model and situated under the graben; 3) the studied structure is not a graben but the rift because the continental light crust is absent.

Mixed convection of Al2O3-water nanofluid in a double lid-driven square cavity with a solid inner insert using Buongiorno’s two-phase model

The present paper investigates steady conjugate mixed convection in a double lid-driven square cavity including a solid inner body. The annulus is filled with water-Al2O3 nanofluid based on Buongiorno’s two-phase model. The top horizontal wall is maintained at a constant low temperature and moves to the right while the bottom horizontal wall is maintained at a constant high temperature and moves to the left. The governing equations are solved numerically using the finite element method. The governing parameters are the inner solid location (case 1-case 4), the nanoparticles volume fraction (0⩽ϕ⩽0.04), Reynolds number (1⩽Re⩽500), Richardson number (0.01⩽Ri⩽100), the size of the inner solid (0.1⩽D⩽0.7) and thermal conductivity of the inner solid (kw=0.01, 0.045, 0.1, 0.76 and 1.95 W/m °C). The other parameters; Prandtl number, Lewis number, Schmidt number, ratio of Brownian to thermophoretic diffusivity and the normalized temperature parameter are fixed at Pr=4.623,Le=3.5×105,Sc=3.55×104,NBT=1.1 and δ=155, respectively. The results show that the nanofluid strategy in such a cavity has a noticeable augmentation of heat transfer. However, at low Reynolds number, the addition of nanoparticles has an adverse effect on the Nusselt number when the Richardson number is very high. It is also found that a big size solid body can augment heat transfer in the case of high values of both the Reynolds and the Richardson numbers.

Evolution of the regions of the 3 D $D$ particle motion in the regular polygon problem of ( N + 1 $N+1$ ) bodies with a quasi-homogeneous potential

The regular polygon problem of (\(N+1\)) bodies deals with the dynamics of a small body, natural or artificial, in the force field of \(N\) big bodies, the \(\nu=N-1\) of which have equal masses and form an imaginary regular \(\nu \)-gon, while the \(N\)th body with a different mass is located at the center of mass of the system. In this work, instead of considering Newtonian potentials and forces, we assume that the big bodies create quasi-homogeneous potentials, in the sense that we insert to the inverse square Newtonian law of gravitation an inverse cube corrective term, aiming to approximate various phenomena due to their shape or to the radiation emitting from the primaries. Based on this new consideration, we apply a general methodology in order to investigate by means of the zero-velocity surfaces, the regions where 3\(D\) motions of the small body are allowed, their evolutions and parametric variations, their topological bifurcations, as well as the existing trapping domains of the particle. Here we note that this process is definitely a fundamental step of great importance in the study of many dynamical systems characterized by a Jacobian-type integral of motion in the long way of searching for solutions of any kind.

The Dispersion of Nanometer SiC on Electroless Ni-P-nano SiC Composite Plating

In recent years, along with the development of nanometer material and technology, it is raising the upsurge of researching the craft of electroless composite plating with nanometer particles in domestic and foreign. However the nanometer material because its big relative surface proportion, the increase of superficial atomicity, insufficient of atomic coordinate, and the high surface energy, make these superficial atoms to have the higher activeness, they are extremely unstable and very easy to reunite with each other and become the big reunion body with some connection interfaces. Therefore, in order to make the nanometer particles suspend evenly in the bath to obtain the composite coating of symmetrical distribution of nanometer particles, the question of dispersion of nanometer particles appears important especially. The orthogonal test method has been used to study the effects of the concentration of SiC, the speed of mixing, the temperature and the surfactants on depositing rate and micro-hardness, and obtained the optimized technological scheme and fine Ni-P-SiC composite coating. The results showed that using citric acid-acetic acid as complexing agents can obtain high speed of depositing and homogeneous coating with SiC well-distributed. Among the technological parameters, the effects of temperature on depositing rate is biggest, and the surfactants is next; the effects of the concentration of SiC particles on micro-hardness is biggest, and the surfactants is next. Give consideration to depositing rate and stability of the liquid, the temperature should be controlled at 82±2℃, the concentration of SiC particles and surfactants should be controlled in 4g/L and 60mg/L. The influence to micro-hardness value of coating with ultrasonic disperser craft also has been studied.

Jean Tirole: The political economy of corporate finance <i>(On the book by J. Tirole “The theory of corporate finance”)</i>

The present article undertakes a critical review of the new book of Jean Tirole, the winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Economics, “The theory of cor- porate finance”, which has recently been published in Russian. The book makes a real contribution to the profession by summarizing the whole field of corporate finance and bringing together a big body of research developed over the last thirty years. By simplifying modeling, using unified analytical apparatus, undertaking reinterpretation of many previously received results, and structuring the material in original way Tirole achieves a necessary unity and simplicity in exposition of extremely heterogeneous theoretical and empirical material. The book integrates the new institutional economic theory into classical corporate finance theory and by doing so contributes to making a new type of textbook, which is quite on time and is likely to become essential reading for all graduate students in corporate finance and microeconomics and for everyone interested in these disciplines.

Effects of amphiphiles on the association state of the asphaltene and the viscosity of heavy oil

ABSTRACTThe effects of two types of amphiphiles on the association state of the asphaltene and the viscosity of heavy oil are systematically studied by testing the characteristics of viscosity and temperature, the centrifugal stability, and the conductivity. Experimental results show dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid (DDBSA) can enhance the stability of centrifugation of the asphaltene, increase the viscosity of the heavy oil, and improve the conductivity of the systems of heavy oil, amphiphile, and n-heptane. But the results obtained by the addition of dodecylamine (DA) are opposite to those of DDBSA. Due to the loose structure of the association body of the asphaltene, DDBSA causes a big association body to split into large number of small association bodies which influence more light weight compounds and increase the viscosity of the heavy oil; DA can compress the solvation layer and weaken the effect of solvation to decrease the viscosity of the heavy oil. The conclusions can provide certain guidance for the development of a new type of viscosity reducer with high efficiency.

Understanding the gendered nature of weight loss surgery: insights from an Australian qualitative study

ABSTRACTInternationally, weight loss surgery is primarily undertaken by women (75%). This difference has been attributed to the appearance concerns of women which is a simplistic and unsatisfactory explanation. The study aims to explore the way gender influences the processes leading up to surgery and life after surgery providing important new insights into the differences in uptake of weight loss surgery between men and women. Ten single-gender focus groups were conducted in Australia in 2014 (Women = 32, Men = 17). Aspects of particular importance for understanding the gendered nature of weight loss surgery include different understandings of the mechanisms that contribute to weight gain, the relationship with food, experiences of having a big body and approaches to disclosure of surgery. To maximise outcomes following surgery, health services and supports need to give greater consideration to the way gender influences experiences for men and women pre and post-surgery.

Big Data Paradigm: What is the Status of Privacy and Security?

We extended the big data body of knowledge by analyzing the longitudinal literature to highlight important research topics and identify critical gaps. We initially collected 79,012 articles from 1900 to 2016 related to big data. We refined our sample to 13,029 articles allowing us to determine that the big data paradigm commenced in late 2011 and the research production exponentially rose starting in 2012, which approximated a Weibull distribution that captured 82% of the variance ( $$p<.01$$ ). We developed a dominant topic list for the big data body of knowledge that contained 49 keywords resulting in an inter-rater reliability of 93% ( $$\hbox {r}^{2}=0.89$$ ). We found there were 13 dominant topics that captured 49% of the big data production in journals during 2011–2016 but privacy and security related topics accounted for only 2% of those outcomes. We analyzed the content of 970 journal manuscripts produced during the first of 2016 to determine the current status of big data research. The results revealed a vastly different current trend with too many literature reviews and conceptual papers that accounted for 41% of the current big data knowledge production. Interestingly, we observed new big data topics emerging from the healthcare and physical sciences disciplines.

Combined Effects of Radiation and Oblateness on the Existence and Stability of Equilibrium Points in the Perturbed Restricted Four-Body Problem

We study numerically the perturbed problem of four bodies, where an infinitesimal body is moving under the Newtonian gravitational attraction of three much bigger bodies (called the primaries). The three bodies are moving in circles around their centre of mass fixed at the origin of the coordinate system, according to the solution of Lagrange where they are always at the apices of an equilateral triangle. The fourth body does not affect the motion of the primaries. The problem is perturbed in the sense that the dominant primary body m1 is a radiation source while the second smaller primary m2 is an oblate spheroid, with masses of the two small primaries m2 and m3 taken to be equal. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of radiation and oblateness parameters on the existence and location of equilibrium points and their linear stability. It is observed that under the perturbative effect of oblateness, collinear equilibrium points do not exist (numerically and of course analytically) whereas the positions of the noncollinear equilibrium points are affected by the radiation and oblateness parameters. The stability of each equilibrium points ( Li,i = 1,...,6) is examined and we found that points Li,i = 1,...,6 are unstable while L7 and L8 are stable.

Лесові кар'єри ХХ ст. у Хмельницькому: сучасна морфологія та морфодинаміка

In contrast to the scrutiny to loess as deposits on one side and to open mines of minerals in rocks on the other side, loess quarries as landforms and as arena of contemporary human caused geomophologic processes became the object of study just recently. The article discusses features of 17 loess quarries in the Khmelnytskyi city area. They developed brick-tile raw materials in the twentieth century. Ten quarries locate on the banks of the Samets River and on its tributaries. Seven of them locate on the left bank of the Southern Bug River and on the banks and tributaries of Ploska River. The general morphological analysis, the revising of the XXth century topographic maps and the city plans, the geotechnical data analysis are the main methods, presented in research. Khmelnytskyi city territory is a set of Podolian Upland in east part, shaped in two bedrock layers of Upper Cretaceous (limestone) and Lower Neogene (clay), covered by Quaternary deposits and sediments, including loess-soils-series. The thickness of last reaches up to 30 m. Analysis of the geotechnical engineering data within highthickness loess-soil-series areas shows that the groundwater level location is from 3,5 to 20 m and deeper, most often is 7–11 m. These geological and hydrogeological features became the reason to the placement of loess open pits here. The depth of excavation in the mid-twentieth century was 2,5–21,5 m, area of 0,2–3,0 hectares. Subsequently, the area of three largest quarries increased to 10–30 hectares. In 2016 the highest height of ledges of former quarries is only 12 m. The dominant forms of initial stage contour were partially closed circular or oval; diameter (as well as the length of big axis or ledge) was 70–250 m. Except one working quarry at Pivnichnyi district the remaining 16 are closed since 1990 at the latest. The field research of ten quarries in April–June 2016 results in a leveling of morphological features, especially into low-rise buildings areas (seven out of ten). Terraces and benches or retaining walls are typical slope modification in four quarries (partly), flattering and slope stabilization using vegetation (trees) occur in nine quarries (also partly). Only those that use the territory for outdoor sports facilities and to a lesser extent – industrial zones have clearly expressed but still changed ledges. But less modified quarries have the landslides on the slopes of the height of 5 m and more, mainly south-faced. The types of landslides include earthflow, rotational and transitional landslides, spreads (rare) and one case of the anthropogenic debris flow in 1997 (caused by leakage and seepage of water from the water tower on the ridge of former quarry scarp, accompanied by other landslides types). In five quarries relatively old (20–40 years) and recent (up to week) landslides are detected, the biggest body has length of about 100 m. Slow earthflow was indicated by curved tree trunks in six quarries. The results of study of loess quarries of the twentieth century are similar to the earlier made findings about the morphology of loess quarries of the nineteenth century in Khmelnytskyi and geomorphological processes occurred on them. Key words: loess quarry, artificial terrain, terrain morphology, landslides, geomorphological processes, Khmelnytskyi City.

Langmuir probe measurements aboard the International Space Station

In the current work we describe the Langmuir Probe (LP) and its operation on board the International Space Station. This instrument is a part of the scientific complex “Ostonovka”. The main goal of the complex is to establish, on one hand how such big body as the International Space Station affects the ambient plasma and on the other how Space Weather factors influence the Station. The LP was designed and developed at BAS–SRTI. With this instrument we measure the thermal plasma parameters–electron temperature Te, electron and ion concentration, respectively Ne and Ni, and also the potential at the Station’s surface. The instrument is positioned at around 1.5 meters from the surface of the Station, at the Russian module “Zvezda”, located at the farthermost point of the Space Station, considering the velocity vector. The Multi- Purpose Laboratory (MLM) module is providing additional shielding for our instrument, from the oncoming plasma flow (with respect to the velocity vector). Measurements show that in this area, the plasma concentration is two orders of magnitude lower, in comparison with the unperturbed areas. The surface potential fluctuates between–3 and–25 volts with respect to the ambient plasma. Fast upsurges in the surface potential are detected when passing over the twilight zone and the Equatorial anomaly.

Asymptomatic inhaled foreign body

It is very rare to have a big foreign body in the lungs without any complications or symptoms for 2 years. A 14-year-old male with episodes of minor hemoptysis for 4 weeks had a history of inhalation of a bullet 2 years earlier. He had asymptomatic for lung complications for 2 years. The bullet was removed by right thoracotomy and non-anatomical wedge stapled resection, and he followed an uneventful recovery. An aspirated foreign body although big can remain asymptomatic for a long time, especially if it has migrated to the periphery.

Universal vs. language-specific aspects in human vocal attractiveness: An investigation towards Japanese native listeners’ perceptual pattern

Studies on Western societies show that male voices with acoustic parameters encoding a big body size (low F0, narrow formant dispersion, and F0 range) were considered to be attractive, while the opposite was true for female voices (e.g., [Xu et al., 2013, PLoS ONE, 8(4), e62397]). The present work investigates whether Japanese native listeners are guided by the same principles in assessing the voices of the opposite sex. We replicated the design in Xu et al. (2013) with the added parameter of creaky voice, which is prevalent in North America nowadays and hotly debated in terms of attractiveness. Thirty-four heterosexual participants (16 female) rated the attractiveness of synthetic stimuli controlling for F0 height, formant distribution, F0 range and voice quality. Results indicate that their preferences for voice quality are similar with studies on Western societies (breathy > modal >creaky >pressed/tensed). Additionally, low-pitched male voice with narrow formant dispersion and high-pitched female voice...

The lived experience of Pacific Island women with a “big body” size

This phenomenological study explored the lived experience with big size of Pacific Island women who migrated to Hawaii. Giorgi’s descriptive phenomenological approach was utilized in this study. A purposive sample included six Pacific Island women. Five of the six women had migrated to Hawaii from the island nations of Micronesia. The sixth participant was a Native Hawaiian who had lived in Micronesia and had returned to Hawaii. The collection and transcription of data were done by the first author. Data were categorized into themes independently by the three authors and bracketing was maintained throughout the study. The women identified the dichotomy of big versus small and the connotation of each body size in how they viewed the world around them. They shared their lifestyle and transitional changes in trying to adapt and ‘fit’ into the new lifestyle in Hawaii. These changes impacted their eating habits and work schedule, level of activity, and financial security. The women identified biopsychosocial concerns in their lives and the need to re-evaluate their big size in relation to their health and physical and psychosocial changes. Implications for future research are to include a diverse representation of women from island countries within the Pacific Basin. The results of this study provided valuable information related to cultural relevance and sensitivity in working with Pacific Island women in managing their health.

Does the Unilateral Divorce Laws Cause Child Weight Gain?

This paper studies the impact of unilateral divorce laws on child weight gain. I use difference-in-differences approach exploiting time and state variation in the adoption of the unilateral divorce law. I analyze a comprehensive nationwide health examination survey (NHANES I) during 1971-1974. The results show that exposure to unilateral divorce law leads to bigger Body Mass Index (BMI) for children between 2 and 18 years. However, according to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this weight gain is still under the normality patterns. Results indicate that for the specific age group of children between 7 and 18 years the exposure to unilateral divorce law leads to bigger BMI and bigger probability to be overweight. I also investigate the possibles transmission mechanisms for the increase in BMI.

The cerebral cavernous malformation proteins CCM2L and CCM2 prevent the activation of the MAP kinase MEKK3

Three genes, CCM1, CCM2, and CCM3, interact genetically and biochemically and are mutated in cerebral cavernous malformations (CCM). A recently described member of this CCM family of proteins, CCM2-like (CCM2L), has high homology to CCM2. Here we show that its relative expression in different tissues differs from that of CCM2 and, unlike CCM2, the expression of CCM2L in endothelial cells is regulated by density, flow, and statins. In vitro, both CCM2L and CCM2 bind MEKK3 in a complex with CCM1. Both CCM2L and CCM2 interfere with MEKK3 activation and its ability to phosphorylate MEK5, a downstream target. The in vivo relevance of this regulation was investigated in zebrafish. A knockdown of ccm2l and ccm2 in zebrafish leads to a more severe "big heart" and circulation defects compared with loss of function of ccm2 alone, and also leads to substantial body axis abnormalities. Silencing of mekk3 rescues the big heart and body axis phenotype, suggesting cross-talk between the CCM proteins and MEKK3 in vivo. In endothelial cells, CCM2 deletion leads to activation of ERK5 and a transcriptional program that are downstream of MEKK3. These findings suggest that CCM2L and CCM2 cooperate to regulate the activity of MEKK3.