bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
COMBINING METHODS OF PEST CONTROL: COMPLEMENTARITY OF METHODS AND A GUIDING PRINCIPLE
Authors: Barclay Hugh J.
Published: June 2017

Four sets of models are examined which represent various pairwise combinations of several methods of pest control. These methods involve the release of sterile male pests, the inundative release of parasitoids, insecticide application, pheromone trapping and food‐baited trapping with either insecticides or sterilants.

It was observed that two pest control methods will combine synergistically, and thus be complimentary, if their optimal action is at different pest densities and varies differently with pest density. The synergism thus generated by differing dependence on density, can however, be obscured if the two control methods interfere with each other in some other way, as occurs for example with the use of both insecticides and inundative release of parasitoids.
NONLINEAR MATRIX MODELS AND POPULATION DYNAMICS
Authors: Cushing J.M.
Published: June 2017

Nonlinear matrix difference equations are studied as models for the discrete time dynamics of a population whose individual members have been categorized into a finite number of classes. The equations are treated with sufficient generality so as to include virtually any type of structuring of the population (the sole constraint is that all newborns lie in the same class) and any types of nonlinearities which arise from the density dependence of fertility rates, survival rates and transition probabilities between classes. The existence and stability of equilibrium class distribution vectors are studied by means of bifurcation theory techniques using a single composite, biologically meaningful quantity as a bifurcation parameter, namely the inherent net reproductive rate r. It is shown that, just as in the case of linear matrix equations, a global continuum of positive equilibria exists which bifurcates as a function of r from the zero equilibrium state at and only at r = 1. Furthermore the zero equilibrium loses stability as r is increased through 1. Unlike the linear case however, for which the bifurcation is “vertical” (i.e., equilibria exist only for r = 1), the nonlinear equation in general has positive equilibria for an interval of r values. Methods for studying the geometry of the continuum based upon the density dependence of the net reproductive rate at equilibrium are developed. With regard to stability, it is shown that in general the positive equilibria near the bifurcation point are stable if the bifurcation is to the right and unstable if it is to the left. Some further results and conjectures concerning stability are also given. The methods are illustrated by several examples involving nonlinear models of various types taken from the literature.
THE REGIONAL ECONOMIC THRESHOLD FOR INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT
Authors: Hall Darwin C.
Published: June 2017

The Regional Economic Threshold concept is introduced. A model of pest control decisionmaking is generalized to permit choice of materials, timing, number of applications, and dosage rates. Constraints on the maximum dose alter the model and solutions. An experiment is performed to generate data for estimating both the efficacy of insecticides and the damage prevented. Simulating nonlinear systems, a computer program calculates optimal solutions and the sensitivity of the solutions to various relative prices. Losses from legal maximum dosage constraints are calculated, as well as potential benefits to growers' profits from applying the results of this research.
STABILITY PROPERTIES IN A MODEL OF FORAGE‐UNGULATE‐PREDATOR INTERACTIONS
Authors: Metzgar Lee H. , Boyd Ernest
Published: June 2017

This paper explores stability in a three differential equation model of ungulates, their forage and their predators. Stability most depends on the feeding efficiency of exploiters relative to the growth potential of those exploited. Stable, natural systems probably require relatively inefficient exploitation, refuges for the exploited population or prey switching by generalist exploiters. Increased exploitation of ungulates enhances ungulate‐forage stability but, lacking prey refugia, eventually overexploits the ungulates. Multiple, stable equilibria representing sustained ungulate yield and ungulate extinction probably characterize big game. Under traditional management, game populations will approach the zone of attraction of the second of these equilibria.
BOOK REVIEW
Authors: Lamberson Roland H.
Published: June 2017

BUILDING MODELS FOR CONSERVATION AND WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT, A.M. Starfield A.L. Bleloch, MacMillan Publishing Co. New York, 1986, 253 pp.
BOOK REVIEW
Authors: McKee Mac
Published: June 2017

SYSTEMS ANALYSIS APPLIED TO WATER AND RELATED LAND RESOURCES, L. Valadares Tavares J. Evaristo da Silva (eds.), Pergamon Press, 1986
BOOK REVIEW
Authors: Botsford Louis W.
Published: June 2017

POSITIVE FEEDBACK IN NATURAL SYSTEMS, D.L. DeAngelis W.M. Post C.C. Travis, Springer Verlag, 1986, pp. 290
NONMALLEABLE CAPITAL AND EFFICIENT ALLOCATION OF A NONRENEWABLE RESOURCE
Authors: Rowse John , Yeung David
Published: June 2017

Using a discrete‐time model with nonmallable and durable capital embodied in a two‐period recovery profile, we determine the efficient allocation of a nonrenewable resource and compare it with the corresponding Hotelling allocation for which capital is malleable. Depending on the recovery profile, efficient prices can rise strictly monotonically over time, rise in a stairwise fashion or rise in a sawtooth fashion around a rising price trend. Except for the sawtooth rise, this price behavior requires faster exhaustion than when capital is malleable, implying that the nonmalleability and durability of capital should not be ignored in nonrenewable resource models.
EXPLORING THE PROPERTIES OF QUASI‐OPTION VALUE IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBAL WARMING
Authors: Cochrane Hal
Published: June 2017

This paper demonstrates the principles of sequential choice. A numerical simulation model based on the theoretical framework is utilized to illustrate the economics of climate change. The model is used to relate the value of information and quasi‐option value in situations where protective measures are nonbinary.
CONTROLLED POLLUTION BUFFER ZONE – AN APPROACH TO WASTE MANAGEMENT
Authors: Kahn Peter B. , Zarmi Yair
Published: June 2017

We consider pollution that arises from the leakage of a container into a contiguous water region. It is shown that if one considers this to be an “effective diffusion” process, the creation of a “Controlled Pollution Buffer Zone” significantly decreases the degradation of the water quality in the adjacent region.
BOOK REVIEW
Authors: Caraco Thomas , Newman Jonathan A.
Published: June 2017

DYNAMIC MODELING IN BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY, Marc Mangel and Colin W. Clark
BOOK REVIEW
Authors: Horn Carole L.
Published: June 2017

MATHEMATICAL METHODS AND MODELS IN THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES: I. LINEAR AND ONE‐DIMENSIONAL THEORY; II. NONLINEAR AND MULTIDIMENSIONAL THEORY. Martin Eisen
“STRAGEDY” OF THE COMMONS
Authors: Negri Donald H.
Published: June 2017

This paper computes open loop and subgame perfect Nash equilibria for an infinite horizon, common property resource model with congestion and stock externalities. The model permits the comparison of the game‐theoretic approach and the traditional commons literature, which preceded the widespread recognition of the games, because the underlying assumptions are equivalent. With access to the commons restricted, the subgame perfect equilibrium captures the inefficiency associated with the strategic scramble to capture the resource reserves the open loop does not. Under sole ownership, the two equilibrium concepts coincide with the surplus maximizing extraction policy. In free access, the extraction strategies under both equilibrium concepts coincide with complete rent dissipation.
A MODEL FOR SUCCESSIONAL CHANGE IN A GRASSLAND ECOSYSTEM
Authors: Boyd Ernest
Published: June 2017

This paper presents a model for the successional change of a grassland due to competition between native grasses and alien annual grasses driven by selective grazing of herbivores. The model is a four‐dimensional system of ordinary differential equations. The analysis demonstrates that there is a threshold level for the condition of the rangeland above which the rangeland can be restored to excellent condition by proper range management and below which the devastation of the rangeland cannot be reversed by normal successional changes.
MODELING REGIONAL IRRIGATION DECISIONS AND DRAINAGE POLLUTION CONTROL
Authors: Dinar Ariel , Hatchett Stephen A. , Loehman Edna T.
Published: June 2017

A regional model is proposed for evaluating policies aimed at controlling the quantity and quality of drainage from agricultural lands. The model includes both physical and economic components. The physical component incorporates a crop‐water production function which computes the physical soil‐water‐crop relationships. The multi‐farm economic model is a regional income maximization model. The model includes also physical and institutional constraints for each farm and the region. Policies evaluated in this context are varying taxes and constraints on drainage discharge and surface water use. The model was applied to a region in California. Results for alternative control policies are compared on the basis of resource use, regional income, drainage quality and quantity, and the resulting pollution load.
BOOK REVIEW
Authors: Cushing J.M.
Published: June 2017

MATRIX POPULATION MODELS, Hal Caswell, Sinauer Associates, Inc. Publishers, Sunderland, Massachusetts, 1989
A PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATION MODEL OF OPTIMAL FOREST HARVESTING
Authors: Quinn John
Published: June 2017

A control theoretic model of Davidson and Hellsten is described, in which the state is the continuous age density function of a forest. Optimal harvesting strategies are determined and extensions given to allow for amenity values and the dependence of price on harvesting rate.
LONG‐RUN TIMBER SUPPLY: PRICE ELASTICITY, INVENTORY ELASTICITY, AND THE USE OF CAPITAL IN TIMBER PRODUCTION
Authors: Binkley Clark S.
Published: June 2017

Timber production requires substantially more capital per unit output than does virtually any other economic enterprise. The quantity of capital deployed depends primarily on the rotation length and the output price for timber. In a long‐run timber supply model this gives rise to a “backward bending” supply curve. This paper summarizes a long‐run model of timber supply, and computes the associated price and inventory elasticities. The role of capital in timber production is explored through a continuous‐time formulation of the usual Faustmann point‐input/point‐output model. The theoretical results are illustrated through an example based on loblolly pine yields for the U.S. South.
INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER CONTROL IN CHINESE CITIES: DETERMINANTS OF SUCCESS IN ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
Authors: Rozelle Scott , Ma Xiaoying , Ortolano Leonard
Published: June 2017

The research reported in this paper has three objectives: (1) to examine trends in Chinese industrial wastewater pollution and to describe policies developed to control this pollution; (2) to analyze relationships between the degree of industrial wastewater pollution control and the economic, demographic, and organizational characteristics of major Chinese cities; and (3) to identify factors that determine the success of the government's efforts to control industrial wastewater pollution. The study specifies and econometrically estimates a system of pollution control equations based on a unique data set for 82 Chinese cities from 1985 to 1990. Results demonstrate that the structure of enterprise ownership and investment in environmental management capacity are associated with increases in the effectiveness of wastewater pollution control. The Discharge Permit System, one of China's main strategies for urban environmental protection, appears to have been moderately successful in increasing wastewater treatment, but it has not encouraged enterprise managers to adopt less‐polluting production technology.
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE FOREST DISTURBANCE REGIMES IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS
Authors: Wear David N. , Flamm Richard
Published: June 2017

The choice to harvest timber depends on, among other things, the accessibility and location of the forest. This paper examines observed harvest choices derived from satellite imagery and tests for relationships between harvest probability and location, quality, and ownership attributes of the site. Results indicate that the overall probability of harvesting for public lands is significantly lower than for private lands. Substantially different disturbance patterns relative to location attributes are also established for these groups. Results suggest a way to include spatially explicit information regarding private land management in public land management plans. An example demonstrates how alternative uses of public lands might be considered in the broader context of a multiple ownership landscape.
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES IN NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Authors: Ludwig Donald
Published: June 2017

After 20 years of effort, technical approaches to natural resource management have not been effective in preventing overuse and destruction of resources. The resource modeling community can help to change our present course toward destruction by (1) recognizing and publicizing the ineffectiveness of scientific, technical and magical approaches to resource management, (2) pointing out that the resolution of environmental problems is impossible unless the social problems of excessive human population sizes and excessive consumption are effectively addressed, (3) making clear the irrationality and imprudence of current environmental decisionmaking under uncertainty, and (4) pointing out the impossibility of achieving conservation goals by management that attempts to achieve economic optima.
MODELING THE DISTRIBUTION OF FISH SCHOOLS IN THE BERING SEA: MORPHOLOGICAL SCHOOL IDENTIFICATION
Authors: Swartzman Gordon , Stuetzle Werner , Kulman Kristin , Wen Nuan
Published: June 2017

In this paper we demonstrate how fish schools can be automatically identified from acoustic backscatter data using a simple morphological and threshold algorithm. The algorithm includes: 1) seabed identification and removal; 2) bubble layer removal; 3) choosing a threshold for fish backscatter and setting all pixels below it to 0; and 4) identifying the school boundaries and smoothing the images by using morphological operations. We compared the school sizes and boundaries found by using our algorithms with those found by experts to evaluate our choice of threshold, structuring element and morphological operations. Results showed two classes of images. The algorithm performed well for images having distinct, well defined fish schools. Images having more amorphous aggregations showed significant disparity between the algorithm and experts' choice. Differences appear to involve separating higher intensity aggregations from surrounding lower intensity aggregations. In these cases, the algorithm provides a more consistent and arguably more accurate estimate than the experts. The shoal image data is translated, via a connected‐surface‐identifier algorithm into a table of information about shoal size, shape and location that allows further analysis of the shoal information with a much smaller data set than the original acoustic images. Such analysis can lead to observing patterns in fish shoal distribution and its relationship to environmental factors and to point‐process tests for randomness at different spatial scales which, in turn, allows stochastic modeling of the schooling process. These topics will be presented in subsequent papers.
OPTIMAL DEPLETION WHEN DEVELOPMENT MAKES AN UNUSED RESOURCE STOCK MORE VALUABLE
Authors: Clarke Harry
Published: June 2017

Some developing countries are rapidly exploiting their natural resource bases to increase incomes and achieve development goals. When increased incomes eventuate, stocks of certain resources currently being depleted (e.g. rainforest, city parkland) may attain enhanced future values. This is so if demands for the utilization of amenity services based on these stocks increase with development—if amenities are a luxury good. This paper analyzes the tradeoff between development and conservation goals in a model determining optimal savings and depletion time paths.
SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT FOR OPTIMIZING MULTISPECIES WILDLIFE HABITAT: A COASTAL DOUGLAS‐FIR EXAMPLE
Authors: Bevers Michael , Hof John , Kent Brian , Raphael Martin G.
Published: June 2017

Wildlife species viability optimization models are developed to convert a given set of initial forest conditions, through a combination of natural growth and management treatments, to a forest system which addresses the joint habitat needs of multispecies populations over time. A linear model of forest cover and wildlife populations is used to form a system of forest management control variables for wildlife habitat modification. The paper examines two objective functions coupled to this system for optimizing sustainable joint species viability. The first maximizes the product of periodic joint viabilities over all time periods, focusing management resources on long‐term equilibria, with less emphasis on conversion strategy. The second iteratively maximizes the minimum periodic joint viability over all time periods. This focuses management resources on the most limiting time periods, typically the conversion phase periods. Both objective functions resulted in either point or cyclic equilibria, with cycle lengths equal to minimum forest treatment ages. A third objective, based on maximizing the minimum individual species periodic viability is used to examine single species emphasis. Examples are developed through a case study of 92 vertebrate species found in coastal Douglas‐fir stands of northwestern California.
A TUTORIAL ON EVALUATING EXPECTED RETURNS FROM RESEARCH FOR FISHERY MANAGEMENT USING BAYES' THEOREM
Authors: McDonald A. David , Smith Anthony D.M.
Published: June 2017

Traditional methods for evaluating potential or actual returns from research and development include scoring methods, cost‐benefit analysis and production‐function approaches. The research reported in the present paper complements these traditional methods with the use of statistical decision analysis and Bayesian methods to account explicitly for risk and uncertainty and to capture some of the effects of information evolution. Measurement of the expected returns from research for fishery management is detailed. Both ex post and ex ante evaluation of expected returns are illustrated by deliberately simplified example.
STABILITY AND BIFURCATIONS IN AN ENVIRONMENTAL RECOVERY MODEL OF ECONOMIC AGRICULTURE‐INDUSTRY INTERACTIONS
Authors: Solomonovich M. , Freedman H.I. , Apedaile L.P. , Schilizzi S.G.M. , Belostotski L.
Published: June 2017

A recovery model for the environment in agriculture‐industry interactions is proposed, a special case of which is negative recovery (degradation). The model is analyzed as to its stability and bifurcation properties, as well as persistence or extinction of the environment and economic wealth. Numerical analyses and examples are given.
APPLICATION OF LANCHESTER COMBAT MODEL IN THE ARDENNES CAMPAIGN
Authors: Tam Judy Hong
Published: June 2017

Since the appearance of F.W. Lanchester's pioneering development of combat models (Lanchester [1916]) during the first World War, his work has been extensively modified to represent a variety of competitions, ranging from isolated battles to entire wars. A great deal of attention has been devoted to applying such models to actual battle situations (Engel [1954], Hueter [1978], Bracken [1995]). The consideration is to focus on the validity of various Lanchesterian models, i.e., to show that there exist models which do indeed fit the data of actual confrontations (Coleman [1983]). The objective of the present paper is to use the “classical” Lanchester combat model for two reinforced armies having homogeneous, linear nonbattle loss rates, with specific application to the Ardennes campaign of World War II (December 15, 1944–January 16, 1945). We observe that the fit is remarkably good. Moreover, using data from the early phases of the encounter, we also found that there is certain agreement between the predicted and actual force strengths of the latter stages of the battle.
NUMERICAL STUDY OF THE TWO‐DIMENSIONAL SPRUCE BUDWORM REACTION‐DIFFUSION EQUATION WITH DENSITY DEPENDENT DIFFUSION
Authors: Singh Manmohan , Easton Alan , Cui Gurong , Kozlova Irina
Published: June 2017

The spruce budworm model is one of the interesting single species reaction‐diffusion problems describing insect dispersal behavior. In this paper, we investigate a two‐dimensional model with linear diffusion dependence and a convective wind.

This system has been successfully solved using an operator splitting method for various domains and initial conditions. The numerical results show that populations can grow and diffuse in such a way as to produce steady state outbreak populations or steady state inhomogeneous spatial patterns in which they aggregate with low population densities.
LONG‐RUN EQUILIBRIA IN AN ECONOMY WITH A GREENHOUSE EFFECT
Authors: Schimmelpfennig David
Published: June 2017

This paper examines perfect foresight inter‐generational macroeconomic tradeoffs associated with climate change. Consumption of perfectly competitive agents is associated with exacerbation of the climate change problem. Saving and investment reduce exposure to a negative production externality caused by the greenhouse effect, through a non‐probabilistic catastrophic threshold. In this overlapping generations economy, saving and investment provide benefits to future generations that current individuals are unable to capture. Two kinds of equilibria are shown to exist. The gas stock may remain at a constant or declining level so the threshold does not matter in steady‐state equilibrium even with population growth, where consumption, investment and production are all constant in per capita terms. When the threshold does matter because the gas stock is growing in steady state, agents flirt with catastrophe, make strategic economic decisions based on what other agents are doing, and optimize by walking a knife‐edge of disaster at the threshold. Like the private provision of a public good, price‐taking agents internalize the public bad. This is the focal point symmetric Nash equilibrium, but the potential for a coordination failure is also shown to exist where agents with perfect foresight would find it optimal not to end the economy, but are unable to avoid doing so.
OPTIMAL RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND IRREVERSIBILITIES: COOPERATIVE AND NONCOOPERATIVE SOLUTIONS
Authors: Xepapadeas Anastasios
Published: June 2017

This paper derives and compares free boundaries for the problem of irreversible development of an environmental resource under uncertainty, by explicitly taking into account the facts that: (i) there might be more than one private profit‐maximizer decision‐maker that acquires profits by developing the resource involved in the problem; (ii) there might be interactions among these decision‐makers, in the sense that the development undertaken by a certain developer might affect the cost of the rest; and (iii) the undeveloped resource has an environmental value which is not taken into account by the individual developers but might be accounted for in the context of an optimal development problem faced by a social planner or environmental regulator. By comparing the three resulting free boundaries, it is shown that the noncooperative solution implies the fastest development as compared to cooperative outcomes. Policy schemes in the form of development fees and development limits which can secure the cooperative outcome are determined.
TOWARD CONTROLLING NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION OF GROUNDWATER: A HIERARCHICAL POLICY FORMULATION GAME
Authors: Bhat Mahadev G. , Alexander Robert R. , English Burton C.
Published: June 2017

An integrative approach to formulating agricultural policy instrument levels is suggested for controlling groundwater quality deterioration from agricultural chemical‐use, while reconciling the conflicting goals of primary interest groups in the farm policy process. The paper develops a Stackelberg game‐theoretic model of public policy formation that simultaneously determines endogenous price supports and nitrogen‐use quota, as well as the optimal permissible water contamination. The analysis distinguishes between the private and social opportunity costs of producing agricultural crops and using groundwater as a repository for nitrate leachate from agricultural sources. It is recognized that the social benefit of using nitrogen in agriculture is less than the private benefit to producers. Private and social benefits, as well as optimal production and pollution solutions, will vary as the relative weights which policymakers attach to different social constituents change. The method developed in this paper may be applicable to any policy process in which policymakers exercise indirect influence over industrial production decisions through economic instruments.
Efficacy of ipragliflozin as monotherapy or as add‐on therapy with other oral antidiabetic medications for treating type 2 diabetes in Japanese patients with inadequate glycemic control: A subgroup analysis based on patient characteristics
Authors: Osonoi Takeshi , Nakamoto Shinya , Saito Miyoko , Tamasawa Atsuko , Ishida Hidenori , Osonoi Yusuke
Published: June 2017

Aims/Introduction

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ipragliflozin in treating Japanese type 2 diabetes patients with inadequate glycemic control by investigating diurnal variations of blood glucose and body composition.

Materials and Methods

This was an investigator‐initiated, multicenter, prospective study with a 6‐month treatment period. The primary outcome investigated was change in hemoglobin A1c levels from baseline. Secondary outcomes included changes in fasting plasma glucose, insulin resistance, variations in 24‐h glucose levels detected by continuous glucose monitoring, bodyweight, body composition, waist circumference and serum lipids. Adverse events were evaluated throughout the study.

Results

A total of 98 patients completed the study. Over the 6‐month period, ipragliflozin‐treated patients showed reduction in hemoglobin A1c levels by 0.3%, fasting plasma glucose levels by 13.0 mg/dL, bodyweight by 2.1 kg, body fat mass by 1.5 kg and extracellular water by 0.3 kg, as well as a decrease in systolic/diastolic blood pressures. Significant reductions from baseline in mean amplitude of glucose excursions and standard deviation, and the reduced frequency of hyperglycemia were confirmed. High‐density lipoprotein cholesterol was also significantly improved. Notably, the subgroup analysis of hemoglobin A1c levels, bodyweight, waist circumference, and body composition based on age, sex and body mass index showed similar reductions within each subgroup. The incidences of adverse events and adverse drug reactions were 20.0% and 1.0%, respectively, over the 6‐month period.

Conclusions

Ipragliflozin is a useful oral antidiabetic medication for patients with a wide range of background characteristics.
The Holocaust: Commemorated but not remembered? Post‐colonial and post‐traumatic perspectives on the reception of the Holocaust memory discourse in Poland
Authors: Kapralski Slawomir
Published: June 2017

The argument focuses on the reception of the globalized narrative of the Holocaust in the regional memories of East‐Central Europe, in particular Poland. It is argued that this narrative has not been successfully integrated into the regional memory, partly because of the narrative's own deficiencies and partly due to the specific nature of the way in which regional memories have been produced. Instead, it has contributed to the split of collective and social memories in the region as well as to further fragmentation of each of these two kinds of memory. In result we may say that in post‐communist Poland the Holocaust has been commemorated on the level of official institutions, rituals of memory, and elitist discourses, but not necessarily remembered on the level of social memory. It is claimed that to understand this phenomenon we should put the remembrance and commemoration of the Holocaust in the context of the post‐communist transformation, in which the memory of the Holocaust has been constructed rather than retrieved in the process of re‐composition of identities that faced existential insecurity. The non‐Jewish Poles, who in the 1990s experienced the structural trauma of transformation, turned to the past not to learn the truth but to strengthen the group's sense of continuity in time. In this process many of them perceived the cosmopolitan Holocaust narrative as an instrument of the economic/cultural colonization of Eastern Europe in which the historical suffering of the non‐Jewish East Europeans is not properly recognized. Thus the elitist efforts to reconnect with the European discourse and to critically examine one's own identity has clashed with the mainstream's politics of mnemonic security as part of the strategy of collective immortalization that contributed to the development of antagonistic memories and deepened social cleavage.
Therapeutic targeting of the mitochondrial reactive oxygen species engine prevents portal hypertension and hepatic fibrogenesis
Authors: Weiskirchen Ralf
Published: June 2017

See Article on Page 1002
Ecophenotypic responses of benthic foraminifera to oxygen availability along an oxygen gradient in the California Borderland
Authors: Keating‐Bitonti Caitlin R. , Payne Jonathan L.
Published: June 2017

Spatial variation in environmental conditions can elicit predictable size and morphological responses in marine organisms through influences on physiology. Thus, spatial and temporal variation in marine organism size and shape are often used to infer paleoenvironmental conditions, such as dissolved oxygen concentrations. Benthic foraminifera commonly serve as a tool for reconstructing past ocean oxygen levels. For example, benthic foraminiferal species assemblages, within‐ and among‐species patterns of test morphology, and geochemical analyses of carbonate tests are often employed to reconstruct past marine conditions. In this study, we measured the sizes and shapes of modern foraminifera representing four species that inhabit a steep oxygen gradient in the Santa Monica Basin on the Southern California Borderland with the aim of quantifying the influence of oxygen availability on foraminiferal morphology, both within and among species. Most foraminifera rely on aerobic respiration, but the four benthic foraminifera from the Santa Monica Basin do not show the predicted size and morphological responses to variations in dissolved oxygen concentrations based on first principles of cell physiology: Bolivina spissa shows no volume or volume‐to‐surface area response, Uvigerina peregrina increases in both test volume and volume‐to‐surface area ratio with decreasing dissolved oxygen concentrations, and both Bolivina argentea and Loxostomum pseudobeyrichi decrease in test volume, but only L. pseudobeyrichi shows a decrease in test volume‐to‐surface area ratio with decreasing oxygen concentrations as expected from physiological predictions. These findings imply that the morphological responses of individual foraminiferal species are not necessarily representative of the responses of other foraminiferal species within the community. Our findings further suggest that these species use physiological strategies such as depressed metabolic rates and alternative energy metabolisms to persist in low oxygen environments and, therefore, cannot be used in any simple way as paleo‐oxygen indicators. Should Proterozoic (1,000–542 million years ago) protists have possessed metabolic strategies similar to foraminifera, the sizes and shapes of protists in the fossil record may not usefully constrain ambient oxygen conditions during the appearance and initial taxonomic radiation of heterotrophic eukaryotes.
A cCPE‐based xenon biosensor for magnetic resonance imaging of claudin‐expressing cells
Authors: Piontek Anna , Witte Christopher , May Rose Honor , Eichner Miriam , Protze Jonas , Krause Gerd , Piontek Jörg , Schröder Leif
Published: June 2017

The majority of malignant tumors originate from epithelial cells, and many of them are characterized by an overexpression of claudins (Cldns) and their mislocalization out of tight junctions. We utilized the C‐terminal claudin‐binding domain of Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin (cCPE), with its high affinity to specific members of the claudin family, as the targeting unit for a claudin‐sensitive cancer biosensor. To overcome the poor sensitivity of conventional relaxivity‐based magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents, we utilized the superior sensitivity of xenon Hyper‐CEST biosensors. We labeled cCPE for both xenon MRI and fluorescence detection. As one readout module, we employed a cryptophane (CrA) monoacid and, as the second, a fluorescein molecule. Both were conjugated separately to a biotin molecule via a polyethyleneglycol chemical spacer and later via avidin linked to GST–cCPE. Nontransfected HEK293 cells and HEK293 cells stably expressing Cldn4–FLAG were incubated with the cCPE‐based biosensor. Fluorescence‐based flow cytometry and xenon MRI demonstrated binding of the biosensor specifically to Cldn4‐expressing cells. This study provides proof of concept for the use of cCPE as a carrier for diagnostic contrast agents, a novel approach for potential detection of Cldn3/‐4–overexpressing tumors for noninvasive early cancer detection.
Mechanobehaviour in dolichofacial and brachyfacial adolescents
Authors: Nickel J. C. , Weber A. L. , Covington Riddle P. , Liu Y. , Liu H. , Iwasaki L. R.
Published: June 2017

Structured Abstract

Objectives

To test whether mechanobehaviour (temporomandibular joint (TMJ) loads, jaw muscle use) was different between facial types and correlated with ramus height (Condylion‐Gonion, mm).

Setting and Sample Population

University of Missouri‐Kansas City (UMKC) Orthodontic Clinic. Ten dolichofacial and ten brachyfacial adolescents (Sella‐Nasion–Gonion‐Gnathion (SN‐GoGn) angles ≥37° and ≤27°, respectively) consented to participate.

Materials and Methods

Numerical models calculated TMJ loads for a range of static biting based on subjects’ three‐dimensional anatomy. Subjects were trained to record jaw muscle electromyography (EMG) over 2 days and 2 nights in their natural environments. Laboratory EMG/bite‐force calibrations determined subject‐specific EMG for 20 N bite‐force (T20Nave). Jaw muscle use via duty factors (DF=muscle activity duration/total recording time, %) was determined from day and night recordings for muscle‐specific thresholds from ≥5% to ≥80%T20Nave. ANOVA and Tukey's HSD post hoc tests assessed for group differences in mechanobehaviour (TMJ loads, DFs). Regression modelling correlated subjects’ normalized TMJ loads, DFs and ramus height.

Results

Dolichofacial compared to brachyfacial subjects produced significantly higher (P<.05) TMJ loads, where ipsilateral loads were ≥20% larger for some biting angles, but had significantly less (all P<.05) masseter (day, night) and temporalis (night) DFs. Regression analysis showed a significant relationship amongst normalized TMJ loads, masseter DF and ramus height (R2=.49).

Conclusions

Mechanobehaviour showed significant differences between facial types and was correlated with ramus height.
Effects of cocoa‐enriched diet on orofacial pain in a murine model
Authors: Bowden L. N. , Rohrs E. L. , Omoto K. , Durham P. L. , Holliday L. S. , Morris A. D. , Allen K. D. , Caudle R. M. , Neubert J. K.
Published: June 2017

Structured Abstract

Objectives

To investigate and discuss the effects of cocoa on orofacial pain.

Setting and Sample Population

The Department of Orthodontics at the University of Florida (UF). Male and female hairless rats (N=20/group) were tested.

Materials and Methods

Rats were tested using the Orofacial Pain Assessment Device (OPAD) before and after changing their food from the standard chow to a cocoa‐enriched or control‐equivalent diet.

Results

Male rats fed the cocoa diet had a significantly higher operant pain index when tested at 37°C as compared to control diet‐fed animals. Female rats on the cocoa diet had a significantly higher pain index when tested at 18°C and 44°C, as compared to animals fed the control diet. Capsaicin‐induced pain was inhibited, with cocoa‐diet male rats having a significantly higher pain index than control‐diet male rats and cocoa‐diet female rats at both 37°C and 44°C. Cocoa‐diet female rats had a significantly higher pain index at 44°C than control‐diet females. Mechanical sensitivity was affected following capsaicin cream, with a significantly decreased tolerated bottle distance in both cocoa‐ and control‐diet animals, but there was no difference between cocoa‐ and control‐diet groups.

Conclusion

Using the OPAD operant system, we demonstrated that a diet rich in cocoa was effective in inhibiting neurogenic inflammatory pain in rats. This has implications for the use of novel alternative therapies such as diet modification for pain control.
Childhood exposure to constricted living space: a possible environmental threat for myopia development
Authors: Choi Kai Yip , Yu Wing Yan , Lam Christie Hang I , Li Zhe Chuang , Chin Man Pan , Lakshmanan Yamunadevi , Wong Francisca Siu Yin , Do Chi Wai , Lee Paul Hong , Chan Henry Ho Lung
Published: June 2017

Purpose

People in Hong Kong generally live in a densely populated area and their homes are smaller compared with most other cities worldwide. Interestingly, East Asian cities with high population densities seem to have higher myopia prevalence, but the association between them has not been established. This study investigated whether the crowded habitat in Hong Kong is associated with refractive error among children.

Methods

In total, 1075 subjects [Mean age (S.D.): 9.95 years (0.97), 586 boys] were recruited. Information such as demographics, living environment, parental education and ocular status were collected using parental questionnaires. The ocular axial length and refractive status of all subjects were measured by qualified personnel.

Results

Ocular axial length was found to be significantly longer among those living in districts with a higher population density (F2,1072 = 6.15, p = 0.002) and those living in a smaller home (F2,1072 = 3.16, p = 0.04). Axial lengths were the same among different types of housing (F3,1071 = 1.24, p = 0.29). Non‐cycloplegic autorefraction suggested a more negative refractive error in those living in districts with a higher population density (F2,1072 = 7.88, p < 0.001) and those living in a smaller home (F2,1072 = 4.25, p = 0.02). After adjustment for other confounding covariates, the population density and home size also significantly predicted axial length and non‐cycloplegic refractive error in the multiple linear regression model, while axial length and refractive error had no relationship with types of housing.

Conclusions

Axial length in children and childhood refractive error were associated with high population density and small home size. A constricted living space may be an environmental threat for myopia development in children.
Biological control of Pythium, Rhizoctonia and Sclerotinia in lettuce: association of the plant protective activity of the bacterium Paenibacillus alvei K165 with the induction of systemic resistance
Authors: Fatouros G. , Gkizi D. , Fragkogeorgi G. A. , Paplomatas E. J. , Tjamos S. E.
Published: June 2017

The soilborne fungi Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Rhizoctonia solani and the oomycete Pythium ultimum are among the most destructive pathogens for lettuce production. The application of the biocontrol agent Paenibacillus alvei K165 to the transplant soil plug of lettuce resulted in reduced S. sclerotiorum, R. solani and P. ultimum foliar symptoms and incidence compared to untreated controls, despite the suppressive effect of the pathogens on the rhizosphere population of K165. In vitro, K165 inhibited the growth of S. sclerotiorum and R. solani but not P. ultimum. Furthermore, the expression of the pathogenesis‐related (PR) gene PR1, a marker gene of salicylic acid (SA)‐dependent plant defence, and of the Lipoxygenase (LOX) and Ethylene response factor 1 (ERF1) genes, markers of ethylene/jasmonate (ET/JA)‐dependent plant defence was recorded. K165‐treated plants challenged with P. ultimum showed up‐regulation of PR1, whereas challenge with R. solani resulted in up‐regulation of LOX and ERF1, and challenge with S. sclerotiorum resulted in up‐regulation of PR1, LOX and ERF1. This suggests that K165 triggers the SA‐ and the ET/JA‐mediated induced systemic resistance against P. ultimum and R. solani, respectively, while the simultaneous activation of the SA and ET/JA signalling pathways is proposed for S. sclerotiorum.
Meaningfulness as Contribution
Authors: Martela Frank
Published: June 2017

This article aims to offer a refined way of understanding what we mean by the concepts of meaningfulness and meaning in life. The first step is to separate worthwhileness, as the broadest evaluation of life taking all types of values into account, from meaningfulness, which is seen as one type of intrinsic value along with, for example, well‐being, moral praiseworthiness, and authenticity, which I argue are also separate types of intrinsic value. After discussing why we should not settle with the currently popular fitting attitudes analysis of meaningfulness, I argue that the meaningfulness of a life should be seen to be about the positive contribution beyond itself that this particular life is able to make. I show how this analysis is different from previous similar accounts and how it is able to avoid a number of challenges that have troubled these previous accounts, such as the pleasure machine challenge, the results machine challenge, and the doing good unintentionally challenge. I also demonstrate how it is able to account for prototypical examples of meaningful and meaningless lives and how it is compatible with subjectivism, supernaturalism, and objective naturalism, which is seen as a merit. Finally, I conclude with some notes about what could make life meaningful, given the current analysis of meaningfulness itself.
Ahistorical Teleosemantics: An Alternative to Nanay
Authors: Bauer Mark
Published: June 2017

The dominant view in teleosemantics is that semantic functions are historically determined. That reliance on history has been subject to repeated criticism. To sidestep such criticisms, Nanay has recently offered an ahistorical alternative that swaps out historical properties for modal properties. Nanay's ahistorical modal alternative suffers, I think, serious problems of its own. I suggest here another ahistorical alternative for teleosemantics. The motivation for both the historical view and Nanay's is to provide a naturalistic basis to characterize some item as possessing a function independent of its actual performance and, thereby, provide a grip on intentional inexistence and misrepresentation. I suggest that attending to the logic of mechanistic explanation suffices to provide the sought for naturalistic basis. The key advantage to the approach offered here is its relative parsimony: unlike its alternatives, it requires no substantive existential commitments, for example, commitments to natural selection, copying relations, or fitness‐enhancing modal properties, to naturalize semantic content.
Production of New Creative Knowledge in a Local Developing Economy: The Case of Puerto Vallarta
Authors: Valdivia Marcos , Macip Ricardo
Published: June 2017

This paper proposes an agent‐based model (ABM) that combines ethnographic and economic methods to analyse how the social interaction between creative actors generates new creative knowledge. The chosen case of study is Puerto Vallarta, a sun and beach international destination in Mexico. Puerto Vallarta contains, potentially, many of the key elements that are discussed in the literature on creative economy. Our methodological strategy identifies ethnographically types of knowledge that are associated with a standard typology of creative industries in a city. The model is evaluated by simulations of agents engaged in producing ideas based on these types of knowledge either collectively or individually. Among the main findings are the presence of ‘elevated common knowledge’ between creative agents (which can be an important constraint for rising creativity) and that mixed behaviour of knowledge production (collective and individual) can boost better the production of ideas in Puerto Vallarta. Finally, we claim that the proposed methodology can be extended to and implemented in other similar contexts.
Textese and Singlish in multiparty chats
Authors: ONG KENNETH KENG WEE
Published: June 2017

Prior research has shown that orthographic Singlish often occurs with textese features in asynchronous Internet registers. This article presents findings from multiparty chats among Singapore youths, which suggest that a principle of decipherability governs the textisms based on standardized Singapore English and Singlish. Most textisms were contractive due to the pressure to abbreviate messages to keep up with the rapidity of multiparty chats, although orthographic Singlish was largely not abbreviated. The results indicate that the preponderance of abbreviation in standardized Singapore English and the relative dearth of abbreviation may be explained by the effects of ‘abbreviation asymmetry’ as an enregistered variable distinguishing the two Englishes.