bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effect of plasma material on intense laser-driven beam electrons in solid foils
Authors: Zhou C.T. , Cai T.X. , Zhang W.Y. , He X.T.
Published: January 2012

The electromagnetic field structures and transport properties of laser produced relativistic beam electrons propagating through Au+25, Cu+20, Al+10, and C+5 plasma foils are investigated. Simulations show that high plasma resistivity as well as high collision rate of the beam electrons with gold and copper plasmas can hinder the forward motion of the beam electrons inside the targets. However, the beam electrons can propagate for a relatively long distance in aluminum and carbon plasma targets. They are well collimated by the strong self-generated resistive magnetic field, resulting in higher sheath electric fields behind the target. The use of low-Z target material is therefore more efficient for collimating beam electrons as well as generating higher-energy ions.
Liberalism: Political and Economic
Authors: Hardin Russell
Published: January 2012

Political liberalism began in the eighteenth century with the effort to establish a secular state in which religious differences would be tolerated. If religious views include universal principles to apply to all by force if necessary, diverse religions must conflict, perhaps fatally. In a sense, then, political liberalism was an invention to resolve a then current, awful problem. Its proponents were articulate and finally persuasive. There have been many comparable social inventions, many of which have failed, as Communism, egalitarianism, and perhaps socialism have all failed to date. The extraordinary thing about political liberalism is that it seems to have succeeded in its authors' initial hope for it. It may have helped end the turmoil occasioned by religious differences. Political liberalism has since expanded in various ways under other influences, and, if it were not for Islamic fundamentalism with its seemingly coercive theocratic program, we might no longer today associate religious conflict with the core of liberalism in its actual practice.
Positional velar fronting: An updated articulatory account
Authors: MCALLISTER BYUN TARA
Published: January 2012

This study develops the hypothesis that the child-specific phenomenon of positional velar fronting can be modeled as the product of phonologically encoded articulatory limitations unique to immature speakers. Children have difficulty executing discrete tongue movements, preferring to move the tongue and jaw as a single unit. This predisposes the child to produce undifferentiated linguopalatal contact, neutralizing the coronal–velar contrast. Adopting a phonetically sensitive model of phonology, I propose that children's difficulty with discrete tongue movement can be encoded in a violable constraint, Move.as-Unit. The positional nature of fronting reflects the fact that discrete lingual movement is penalized more heavily in the motorically challenging context of a larger gesture. This analysis is supported with a longitudinal study of one child (3 ; 9 to 4 ; 4) whose fronting was conditioned by both segmental and prosodic factors. Adopting Move.as-Unitin a Harmonic Grammar framework makes it possible to reframe disparate-seeming conditioning factors as a unified grammatical system.
Learning foreign labels from a foreign speaker: the role of (limited) exposure to a second language
Authors: AKHTAR NAMEERA , MENJIVAR JENNIFER , HOICKA ELENA , SABBAGH MARK A.
Published: January 2012

Three- and four-year-olds (N = 144) were introduced to novel labels by an English speaker and a foreign speaker (of Nordish, a made-up language), and were asked to endorse one of the speaker's labels. Monolingual English-speaking children were compared to bilingual children and English-speaking children who were regularly exposed to a language other than English. All children tended to endorse the English speaker's labels when asked ‘What do you call this?’, but when asked ‘What do you call this in Nordish?’, children with exposure to a second language were more likely to endorse the foreign label than monolingual and bilingual children. The findings suggest that, at this age, exposure to, but not necessarily immersion in, more than one language may promote the ability to learn foreign words from a foreign speaker.
The Political Economy of Social Organization Registration in China
Authors: Hildebrandt Timothy
Published: January 2012

The Chinese government uses legal registration to manage and control the rise of social organizations. To avoid negative government attention, organizations might be expected to actively pursue such registration. However, in-depth field research of Chinese NGOs in three issue areas (environmental protection, HIV/AIDS prevention, and gay and lesbian rights) reveals that this is not always the case. There are many conflicting political and economic incentives for both NGOs and government, complicating understandings of social organization registration in China. By shedding light on the process of registration, this article reveals the complexities of state–society relations and demonstrates the difficulties for social organizations to avoid significant government interference.
Rethinking Aggression as a Crime and Formulating Its Elements: The Final Work-Product of the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court
Authors: Clark Roger S.
Published: January 2012

The crime of aggression will be included within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court once agreement is reached on its definition and the conditions for exercising jurisdiction. The author discusses the ultimately unsuccessful efforts of the now concluded Preparatory Commission for the Court to complete the drafting. He suggests how the mental and material elements of the offense might be structured consistently with other offenses in the Statute of the Court. Probably the biggest intellectual hurdle is that of “conditions.” A number of states, notably the Permanent Members of the Security Council, insist that there must be a predetermination of an act of aggression by a state made by the Security Council. Others believe that the predetermination can be made by the General Assembly or the International Court of Justice. Yet others claim that all decisions must be made by the International Criminal Court. The political choice between these positions has still to be made.
Q fever: baseline monitoring of a sheep and a goat flock associated with human infections
Authors: EIBACH R. , BOTHE F. , RUNGE M. , FISCHER S. F. , PHILIPP W. , GANTER M.
Published: January 2012

Animal losses due to abortion and weak offspring during a lambing period amounted up to 25% in a goat flock and up to 18% in a sheep flock kept at an experimental station on the Swabian Alb, Germany. Fifteen out of 23 employees and residents on the farm tested positive forCoxiella burnetiiantibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and indirect immunofluorescence assay. Ninety-four per cent of the goats and 47% of the sheep were seropositive forC. burnetiiby ELISA. Blood samples of 8% of goats and 3% of sheep were PCR positive.C. burnetiiwas shed by all tested animals through vaginal mucus, by 97% of the goats and 78% of the sheep through milk, and by all investigated sheep through faeces (PCR testing). In this outbreak human and animal infection were temporally related suggesting that one was caused by the other.
The Significance of the declaration of assent
Authors: Forster Peter
Published: January 2012

The Bishop of Chester chaired the working party which produced the report Clergy Discipline (Doctrine). The report's recommendation that a draft Measure be introduced into General Synod, based upon the working party's proposals, was narrowly defeated in the House of Clergy in the General Synod in July 2004. The House of Bishops has subsequently resolved to return in due course to the matter, with a view to introducing revised proposals. At the heart of any process will be the interpretation of the current Declaration of Assent. The Bishop's address on this subject delivered at the 2004 Ecclesiastical Law Society Day Conference (before the Synod's rejection of the immediate proposals) is here reproduced, with minor modifications. The paper explores the primacy of Holy Scripture in the determination of the doctrine of the Church, as expressed in the Declaration of Assent and the Church of England (Worship and Doctrine) Measure 1974. Possible recourse to formal doctrinal discipline is considered in this context, in relation both to the current Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963 and any proposed revision. The nature of the judgment which a court or tribunal would need to make in relation to an issue of doctrine is then assessed. This leads to the conclusion that while an up-to-date procedure for such cases is required, they are likely to continue to be at least infrequent, and quite possibly, as in the twentieth century, non-existent.
Church and State In the New Member Countries of the European Union
Authors: Schanda Balázs
Published: January 2012

In May 2004 eight former communist Central and Eastern European countries joined the European Union. Written constitutions in the region now contain guarantees on freedom of religion together with fundamental statements on Church-State relations. Since the fall of communism a net of bilateral agreements has been negotiated with the Holy See. Of the established members of the EU only Austria, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain had concordats whilst France and Luxembourg were partly bound by such treaties. Amongst the new member states only the predominantly Orthodox Cyorus has no contractual relationship with the Vatican. A pragmatic reason for this may be that the new members went through a very rapid leagal transition marked by considerable uncertainties after the fall of communism. The Catholic Church did not seek privileges with the agrements, but rather legal certainty. The stadards of religious with the agreements, but rather legal certainty. The standards of religious freedom in the new member states are generally good compared with the resrt of Europe. None of the new member states adopted a state church model, and none of them followed a rigid separation model either. Most new member states to be particularly valued by those who experienced forced secularism during communist rule.
Continence aids in the management of urinary incontinence
Authors: Browning J , Zaheer Z , Orzechowska A , Mistri A
Published: January 2012

Urinary incontinence is a common problem, more so in older people and those in residential or nursing homes. Guidelines promote a structure to the management of incontinence, recommending non-pharmacological measures (including continence aids) as first-line options. Anticholinergic medications are used widely for urge incontinence, and surgical measures employed in selective cases.

Whilst other treatments are being tried, or where incontinence is refractory to treatment (about 30% of cases), it is important to promote continence or contain incontinence with continence aids in order to minimize psychological complications. What can be a bewildering array of aids is available and choosing the right type of aid requires knowledge of these. Here, we suggest a classification of continence aids, describing individual characteristics and appropriate situations for use.
What's in it for me? The utility of psychiatric treatments from the perspective of the person in recovery
Authors: Davidson Larry , Miller Rebecca , Flanagan Elizabeth
Published: January 2012

The aim of this contribution is to explore how different treatments are experienced from the perspective of individu-als with mental illnesses. We used data drawn from qualitative, narrative interviews. When asked to discuss their lives, people rarely discuss their psychiatric treatment. When asked about treatment, they describe hospitalization and medication but not out-patient care. What is described as most helpful are relationships with others, especially in 24-hour centers, clubhouses, and user-run organizations; places where they report feeling that they are accepted, understood, and cared about. Also important are experiences of “giving back” to others and employment as ways of increasing participants’ sense of self-worth and value. Participants also indicated the importance of med-ication, but described protracted processes of having to find the right prescriber, the right medication, at the right dosage, and taking the medication long enough to derive its benefits. For others, symptoms were described as being an integral part of who they were and not something they wanted to eliminate. Traditional treatments (e.g., medication), if given by a practitioner who understands the person and is willing to try to find the right medication and dosage, may serve as a foundation for instrumental experiences of being accepted, understood, valued, and being able to give back to others.
A simple approach to manage dosages in drug-epidemiology research
Authors: Nosè Michela , Barbui Corrado
Published: January 2012

In the study of the beneficial and adverse effects of psychotropic drugs, in addition to experimental studies (Barbui et al., 2007), epidemiological studies may provide interesting insights. A key methodological aspect in drug utilization studies is how drug consumption should be measured. Specifically, the need is to end up with a single variable that may be reliably used to indicate the overall consumption, for each patient included in a certain survey, of one specific drug (for example one antipsychotic, say haloperidol) or a specific drug class (for example second-generation antipsychotics) or a group of drugs (for example psychotropic drugs, including antipsychotics plus antidepressants plus benzodiazepines). Not only such a variable has to accommodate the problem that actual doses cannot be directly compared, but also that many patients often receive more than one drug, belonging to different or to the same pharmacological class. A methodology is therefore needed to convert each medication dosage into a standardised measure that allows to calculate, for each patient, a cumulative index of drug consumption. Standardised measures of drug consumption are also beneficial for national and international comparisons, for the evaluation of time trends in drug use, and for assessing the public health impact of specific events (for example a change in reimbursement status).
Genetic opportunities for psychiatric epidemiology: on life stress and depression
Authors: Danese Andrea
Published: January 2012

Aims– Genetics can offer new resources to epidemiology. This review will consider recent findings regarding the link between stress and depression as an example to illustrate the added value of employing genetics in epidemiological studies.Methods– Systematic review of medical and psychological databases.Results– Genetic and environmental factors may correlate. This suggests the potential for genetic mediation of the exposure to the environment. Gene-environment correlations can help epidemiologists to better understand causal pathways and suggest effective therapeutic strategies. Genetic and environmental factors may also interact. This suggests the potential for genetic modification of environmental effects on disease risk. Gene-environment interactions can help epidemiologists to identify vulnerable individuals and strata-specific environmental effects.Conclusions– New models of disease based on the interplay between genes and environments are providing epidemiology with a new set of testable hypotheses that will advance our understanding of mental health and illness.

Declaration of Interest:Dr. Danese is holder of the Wellcome Trust Research Training Fellowship in Clinical Science.
Understanding antipsychotic non-classical prescriptions: a quantitative and qualitative approach
Authors: Veronese Antonio , Vivenza Valerio , Nosè Michela , Cipriani Andrea , Tansella Michele , Barbui Corrado
Published: January 2012

Aims– To date only a few studies investigated the clinical reasons supporting and explaining non-classical antipsychotic prescriptions. The present study was carried out to develop concepts which help understand this phenomenon in a natural setting, giving emphasis to views of clinicians according to quali – quantitative research methodologies.Subjects– From the South-Verona Psychiatric Case Register all antipsychotic prescriptions issued during 2005 were extracted. Concurrent prescribing of two or more antipsychotics, prescribing antipsychotic drugs outside the licensed indications, and outside the licensed ranges of doses reported in the Italian National Formulary, were considered non-classical prescriptions. Reasons for non-classical prescriptions were collected by means of brainstorming sessions with clinicians. Non-classical prescriptions and the corresponding reasons were grouped according to whether they were “clinically sound” or “clinically not sound”.Results– During 2005 a total of 259 patients received 376 non-classical prescriptions. The most frequently reported reasons for non-classical prescribing were that prescriptions were inherited from another clinician with or without benefit, and that prescriptions were motivated by the need of reducing psychotic symptoms. More than 60% of these non-classical prescriptions were categorised as “clinically sound”. Clinically not sound prescriptions were related with negative clinicians’ views and opinions about the patient/clinician relationship.Conclusion– Clinically not sound prescriptions appeared just a reflection of a problematic doctor/patient relationship, where no individual treatment plan existed and psychiatric visits had the only goal of monitoring ongoing prescriptions.

Declaration of Interest: This study received no funding. We have no conflicts of interest.
A public health genetic approach for schizophrenia
Authors: Danese Andrea
Published: January 2012

Background– Schizophrenia is a complex disease resulting from the interplay of genetic and environmental factors. However, psychiatric genetics and epidemiology have often worked as independent research fields.Aims– To review the evidence about the gene-environment interplay involved in the development of schizophrenia.Methods– Systematic review of medical and psychological databases.Results– On one hand, quantitative and molecular genetics showed high heritability for schizophrenia and identified genes likely to be involved in its pathophysiology. The strength of the association between candidate genes and schizophrenia is however modest, and the need for a more appropriate conceptualization of the genetic risk has been claimed. On the other hand, psychiatric epidemiology described several environmental factors liked with the onset or the course of schizophrenia. The observational nature of epidemiology, however, may hamper inference on causation. Gene-environment correlations and interactions influence the exposure and the vulnerability to the environment, respectively. Current findings suggest that gene-environment correlations and interactions may be common phenomena in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. The consideration of gene-environment interplay may help to overcome many limitations of genetic and epidemiological studies in psychiatry and suggest innovative preventive and therapeutic strategies.Conclusions– Taking into account the complexity of schizophrenia pathophysiology, mental health genetics may provide a comprehensive and heuristic model of disease.

Declaration of Interest: none.
Mental health system and services in Albania
Authors: Keste Dévora , Lazer Ledia , Demi Neli , Severoni Santino , Lora Antonio , Saxena Shekhar
Published: January 2012

Aims — To describe the mental health system in Albania. Methods — Data were gathered in 2003 and in 2004 using a new WHO instrument, World Health Organization Assessment Instrument for Mental health Systems (WHO-AIMS), designed for collecting essential information on the mental health system of low and middle income countries. It consists of 6 domains, 28 facets and 156 items. Results — The information collected through WHO AIMS covered the key aspects of mental health system in Albania: the mental health policy and the legislative framework, the network of mental health services and the characteristics of the users, the role of the primary health care, the human resources, the public education and the links with other governmental sectors, monitoring and research. Conclusions — The data collection through WHO AIMS represented a needed step for a better in-depth knowledge of the system and for implementing actions to strengthen the system. Examples of planned actions were the improvement of the mental health component in primary care, a clear shift of resources from mental hospitals to community facilities, an increase of the outpatient care and an expansion of the mental health information system.

Declaration of Interest: none.
Lessons learned from a family-focused weight management intervention for obese and overweight children
Authors: Twiddy Maureen , Wilson Inga , Bryant Maria , Rudolf Mary
Published: January 2012

Objective

Treatment for childhood obesity is characterised by high attrition rates and failure to achieve weight maintenance. It is therefore important to develop more effective programmes. The aim of the present qualitative study was to explore the views of parents, children and health trainers to identify issues which can inform the development of more effective programmes.

Design

A qualitative study combining in-depth interviews and focus groups. Participants were selected purposively from current and past attendees.

Setting

WATCH-IT, a UK-based community child weight management programme.

Subjects

Twenty-three families who had previously attended (or were currently attending) WATCH-IT were interviewed. Focus groups with ten trainers explored their views of the intervention.

Results

Parents and children had different goals for involvement, with parents focusing on psychological benefits, while children concentrated on goals relating to weight loss and physical fitness. Parents were found to struggle to provide consistent support to their children and this was exacerbated by family dynamics. The child's commitment to lose weight, support from their family and a good relationship between the child and their trainer were viewed as important keys to successful weight management.

Conclusions

The study will guide the design of existing and future programmes by providing insights into issues that challenge successful engagement. It highlights the possible value of exploring the therapeutic relationship between trainers and participants.
Development of the Northern European Ribes core collection based on a microsatellite (SSR) marker diversity analysis
Authors: Antonius Kristiina , Karhu S. , Kaldmäe H. , Lacis G. , Rugenius R. , Baniulis D. , Sasnauskas A. , Schulte E. , Kuras A. , Korbin M. , Gunnarsson Å. , Werlemark G. , Ryliskis D. , Todam-Andersen T. , Kokk L. , Järve K.
Published: January 2012

The purpose of the study was to support the selection process of the most valuable currant and gooseberry accessions cultivated in Northern Europe, in order to establish a decentralized core collection and, following the selection, to ensure sufficient genetic diversity in the selected collection. Molecular analyses of the material from nine project partners were run at seven different laboratories. The results were first analysed for each partner separately, and then combined to ensure sufficient genetic diversity in the core collection.
Introduction and Comments
Authors: Johnson James
Published: January 2012

We devote the bulk of this issue to papers in the field of International Relations. We start, however, as we do each March, with the Address delivered by the immediate past president of the APSA at the immediately prior Annual Meetings. This year our author is Dianne Pinderhughes who, tacking back and forth between personal reflection and academic observation, advances a forceful argument in which she identifies our failure to adequately address and understand racial politics in the United States and challenges us to remedy that failure. I am honored to publish her address. I urge you not simply to read it, but to engage the intellectual agenda Dianne Pinderhughes lays before us.
Regime Shifting in the International Intellectual Property System
Authors: Helfer Laurence R.
Published: January 2012

The international intellectual property system provides an important illustration of how regime complexity shapes domestic and international strategies of states and non-state actors. This article describes and graphically illustrates the multifaceted nature of the international intellectual property system. It then analyzes the consequences of regime complexity for international and domestic politics, emphasizing the strategy of regime shifting and its consequences for chessboard politics and the domestic implementation of international rules.
The More the Merrier? The Effects of Having Multiple International Election Monitoring Organizations
Authors: Kelley Judith
Published: January 2012

As the pressure to invite international election monitors rose at the end of the Cold War, states refused to grant the United Nations a dominant role. Thus, today multiple intergovernmental, regional, and international non-governmental organizations often monitor the same elections with equal authority. This article examines the costs and benefits of this complex regime to highlight some possible broader implications of regime complexity. It argues that the availability of many different organizations facilitates action that might otherwise have been blocked for political reasons. Furthermore, when different international election monitoring agencies agree, their consensus can bolster their individual legitimacy as well as the legitimacy of the international norms they stress, and thus magnify their influence on domestic politics. Unfortunately the election monitoring example also suggests that complex regimes can engender damaging inter-organizational politics and that the different biases, capabilities, and standards of organizations sometime can lead organizations to outright contradict each other or work at cross-purposes.
Ruling Oneself Out: A Theory of Collective Abdications. By Ivan Ermakoff. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2008. 440p. $99.95 cloth, $27.95 paper.
Authors: Evrigenis Ioannis D.
Published: January 2012

“Why would a group legitimize its own subservience and, in doing so, abdicate its capacity for self-preservation?” is the question asked at the start of Ruling Oneself Out (p. xi). Focusing on the Center Party's vote for the enabling act of March 1933, which gave Hitler the right to amend the Weimar constitution, and on the Vichy parliament's vote to grant full powers to Marshal Philippe Pétain in 1940, Ivan Ermakoff studies how these decisions looked to the actors themselves, and finds that the pervasive uncertainty that characterized the situation leading up to each vote, and the actors' tendency to look to their peers for guidance, complicate monocausal accounts of groups marching to their death. Many prevalent attempts to explain these seemingly inexplicable collective actions tend to emphasize coercion, miscalculation, and collusion. Each of these explanations has its merits, and some are more persuasive than others. Yet each has its problems. Coercion, for example, which is the most compelling explanation of the lot, might lead one to expect those threatened to submit, yet fear just as often causes consolidation and vigorous collective resistance to the challenger.
Response to Ivan Ermakoff's review of Fear of Enemies and Collective Action
Authors: Evrigenis Ioannis D.
Published: January 2012

I would like to thank Ivan Ermakoff for his comments and Jeff Isaac for inviting us to participate in this critical exchange about our work. As Ermakoff points out, the continuity of negative association in the history of political thought is striking, and this continuity is an important part of my argument about the role of negative association in collective action and the lessons that ought to be drawn from this. The precise nature, extent, and limits of this continuity, however, are indispensable parts of my story, ones that Ermakoff leaves out. As I note in Fear of Enemies and Collective Action, when one looks more closely, one realizes that the genealogy of negative association consists of episodes of action and reaction. The thinkers I study agree about much, but they also disagree quite strongly. Taken together, the continuity and disagreement show that it is a mistake to consider the discourse, as Ermakoff does, to be simply atemporal and represented by any single thinker.
Using comparative anatomy in the axotomy model to identify distinct roles for microglia and astrocytes in synaptic stripping
Authors: Jinno Shozo , Yamada Jun
Published: January 2012

The synaptic terminals' withdrawal from the somata and proximal dendrites of injured motoneuron by the processes of glial cells following facial nerve axotomy has been the subject of research for many years. This phenomenon is referred to as synaptic stripping, which is assumed to help survival and regeneration of neurons via reduction of synaptic inputs. Because there is no disruption of the blood–brain barrier or infiltration of macrophages, the axotomy paradigm has the advantage of being able to selectively investigate the roles of resident glial cells in the brain. Although there have been numerous studies of synaptic stripping, the detailed mechanisms are still under debate. Here we suggest that the species and strain differences that are often present in previous work might be related to the current controversies of axotomy studies. For instance, the survival ratios of axotomized neurons were generally found to be higher in rats than in mice. However, some studies have used the axotomy paradigm to follow the glial reactions and did not assess variations in neuronal viability. In the first part of this article, we summarize and discuss the current knowledge on species and strain differences in neuronal survival, glial augmentation and synaptic stripping. In the second part, we focus on our recent findings, which show the differential involvement of microglia and astrocytes in synaptic stripping and neuronal survival. This article suggests that the comparative study of the axotomy paradigm across various species and strains may provide many important and unexpected discoveries on the multifaceted roles of microglia and astrocytes in injury and repair.
A comparative study of multiple approaches to soil hydraulic parameter scaling applied at the hillslope scale
Authors: Jana Raghavendra B. , Mohanty Binayak P.
Published: January 2012

Soil hydraulic parameters were upscaled from a 30 m resolution to a 1 km resolution using four different aggregation schemes across the Little Washita watershed in Oklahoma. A topography‐based aggregation scheme, a simple homogenization method, a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC)‐based stochastic technique, and a Bayesian neural network (BNN) approach to the upscaling problem were analyzed in this study. The equivalence of the upscaled parameters was tested by simulating water flow for the watershed pixels in HYDRUS‐3‐D, and comparing the resultant soil moisture states with data from the electronically scanned thin array radiometer (ESTAR) airborne sensor during the SGP97 hydrology experiment. The watershed was divided into pixels of 1 km resolution and the effective soil hydraulic parameters obtained for each pixel. The domains were then simulated using the physics‐based HYDRUS‐3‐D platform. Simulated soil moisture states were compared across scales, and the coarse scale values compared against the ESTAR soil moisture data products during the SGP97 hydrology experiment period. Results show considerable correlations between simulated and observed soil moisture states across time, topographic variations, location, elevation, and land cover for techniques that incorporate topographic information in their routines. Results show that the inclusion of topography in the hydraulic parameter scaling algorithm accounts for much of the variability. The topography‐based scaling algorithm, followed by the BNN technique, were able to capture much of the variation in soil hydraulic parameters required to generate equivalent soil moisture states in a coarsened domain. The homogenization and MCMC methods, which did not account for topographic variations, performed poorly in providing effective soil hydraulic parameters at the coarse scale.
Rupture directivity of the 2011, Mw 5.2 Lorca earthquake (Spain)
Authors: López‐Comino José‐Ángel , Mancilla Flor de Lis , Morales Jose , Stich Daniel
Published: January 2012

On May 11th 2011, a rather small earthquake caused nine fatalities in the city of Lorca, SE‐Spain. We analyze seismograms from a dense network to characterize the source of this earthquake. We estimate an oblique reverse faulting mechanism, moment magnitude of 5.2 and a shallow hypocenter (4.6 km), at only 5.5 km epicentral distance from the city center. Double difference relocations yield a ∼5 km long, NE‐SW trending distribution of aftershocks SW of the mainshock, suggesting a SW propagating rupture along the Alhama de Murcia fault. We use the Mw 4.6 foreshock and an Mw 3.9 aftershock as empirical Greens functions to estimate apparent source time functions, observing a clear directivity effect. We model apparent durations with a unilateral and asymmetric bilateral rupture, in both cases obtaining rupture directivity of ∼N220°E, towards Lorca. In addition to the near epicenter and shallow depth, directivity may have contributed to the significant impact.
SeaWiFS Ocean Aerosol Retrieval (SOAR): Algorithm, validation, and comparison with other data sets
Authors: Sayer A. M. , Hsu N. C. , Bettenhausen C. , Ahmad Z. , Holben B. N. , Smirnov A. , Thomas G. E. , Zhang J.
Published: January 2012

The Sea‐viewing Wide Field‐of‐view Sensor (SeaWiFS) provides a well‐calibrated 13‐year (1997–2010) record of top‐of‐atmosphere radiance, suitable for use in retrieval of atmospheric aerosol optical depth (AOD). This paper presents and validates a SeaWiFS Ocean Aerosol Retrieval (SOAR) algorithm, which retrieves the AOD at 550 nm and the partition of aerosol particle volume between fine and coarse modes. The algorithm has been applied over water to the whole SeaWiFS record. The data set includes quality flags to identify those retrievals suitable for quantitative use. SOAR has been validated against Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) and Maritime Aerosol Network (MAN) data and found to compare well (correlation 0.86 at 550 nm and 0.88 at 870 nm for AERONET, and 0.87 at 550 nm and 0.85 at 870 nm for MAN, using recommended quality control settings). These comparisons are used to identify the typical level of uncertainty on the AOD, estimated as 0.03 + 15% at 550 nm and 0.03 + 10% at 870 nm. The data set also includes the Ångström exponent, although as expected this is noisy for low aerosol loadings (correlation 0.50; 0.78 for points where the AOD at 550 nm is 0.3 or more). Retrieved AOD is compared with colocated observations from other satellite sensors; regional and seasonal patterns are found to be common between all data sets, and differences generally linked to factors such as cloud screening and retrieval assumptions.
Influence of spatial resolution on regional climate model derived wind climates
Authors: Pryor S. C. , Nikulin G. , Jones C.
Published: January 2012

Wind speeds for a nominal height of 10 m and from the lowest model level (∼70 m above ground level) from the Rossby Center regional climate model (RCM) (RCA3) run at four resolutions between approximately 50 × 50 km and 6 × 6 km are analyzed to assess the effect of model resolution on wind climates. The influence of model resolution in this topographically simple subdomain of northern Europe is more profound in the wind extremes than in the central tendency. The domain‐averaged mean wind speed at 10 m increases by 5% as the resolution increases from 50 to 6.25 km, while the 50 year return period wind speed and wind gust at this height increase by over 10% and 24%, respectively. Larger changes are observed in these wind speed metrics at the lowest model level as model resolution increases (∼+10% in the mean and ∼+20% in the 50 year return period wind speed). These differences are of similar magnitude to the climate change signal in extreme wind events derived in prior research and may have implications for climate change risk and vulnerability analyses. Output from the lowest model level indicates some evidence for increased variability at synoptic and meso‐α time scales with increased model resolution, but the effect is nonlinear. Furthermore, analysis of power spectra of grid cell average and tile fraction wind speeds at 10 m does not support the assertion that increased model resolution increases model skill at synoptic and meso‐α time scales relative to in situ observations.
Using satellites to investigate the sensitivity of longwave downward radiation to water vapor at high elevations
Authors: Naud Catherine M. , Miller James R. , Landry Chris
Published: January 2012

Many studies suggest that high‐elevation regions may be among the most sensitive to future climate change. However, in situ observations in these often remote locations are too sparse to determine the feedbacks responsible for enhanced warming rates. One of these feedbacks is associated with the sensitivity of longwave downward radiation (LDR) to changes in water vapor, with the sensitivity being particularly large in many high‐elevation regions where the average water vapor is often low. We show that satellite retrievals from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) can be used to expand the current ground‐based observational database and that the monthly averaged clear‐sky satellite estimates of humidity and LDR are in good agreement with the well‐instrumented Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies ground‐based site in the southwestern Colorado Rocky Mountains. The relationship between MODIS‐retrieved precipitable water vapor and surface specific humidity across the contiguous United States was found to be similar to that previously found for the Alps. More important, we show that satellites capture the nonlinear relationship between LDR and water vapor and confirm that LDR is especially sensitive to changes in water vapor at high elevations in several midlatitude mountain ranges. Because the global population depends on adequate fresh water, much of which has its source in high mountains, it is critically important to understand how climate will change there. We demonstrate that satellites can be used to investigate these feedbacks in high‐elevation regions where the coverage of surface‐based observations is insufficient to do so.
Factors controlling nitrate fluxes in groundwater in agricultural areas
Authors: Liao Lixia , Green Christopher T. , Bekins Barbara A. , Böhlke J. K.
Published: January 2012

The impact of agricultural chemicals on groundwater quality depends on the interactions of biogeochemical and hydrologic factors. To identify key processes affecting distribution of agricultural nitrate in groundwater, a parsimonious transport model was applied at 14 sites across the U.S. Simulated vertical profiles of NO3−, N2 from denitrification, O2, Cl−, and environmental tracers of groundwater age were matched to observations by adjusting the parameters for recharge rate, unsaturated zone travel time, fractions of N and Cl− inputs leached to groundwater, O2 reduction rate, O2 threshold for denitrification, and denitrification rate. Model results revealed important interactions among biogeochemical and physical factors. Chloride fluxes decreased between the land surface and water table possibly because of Cl− exports in harvested crops (averaging 22% of land‐surface Cl− inputs). Modeled zero‐order rates of O2 reduction and denitrification were correlated. Denitrification rates at depth commonly exceeded overlying O2 reduction rates, likely because shallow geologic sources of reactive electron donors had been depleted. Projections indicated continued downward migration of NO3− fronts at sites with denitrification rates <0.25 mg‐N L−1 yr−1. The steady state depth of NO3− depended to a similar degree on application rate, leaching fraction, recharge, and NO3− and O2 reaction rates. Steady state total mass in each aquifer depended primarily on the N application rate. In addition to managing application rates at land surface, efficient water use may reduce the depth and mass of N in groundwater because lower recharge was associated with lower N fraction leached. Management actions to reduce N leaching could be targeted over aquifers with high‐recharge and low‐denitrification rates.
Synthetic biology's flywheel
Authors: Danchin Antoine
Published: January 2012

Producing drugs and chemicals efficiently from cells remains a major challenge. Synthetic biologists need to invent the equivalents of the crank and flywheel to improve productivity.
HDACs and their inhibitors in immunology: teaching anticancer drugs new tricks
Authors: Fairlie David P , Sweet Matthew J
Published: January 2012

Histone deacetylases (HDAC) have been strongly associated with epigenetics and cancer development and several inhibitors are used in the treatment of certain types of cancers. The January 2012 issue will bring together a series of review articles focussing on the roles of specific histone deacetylases (HDAC) and their inhibitors in immunology and immune‐related diseases. Further background information about these enzymes is available through the accompanying web focus which links to related articles across the Nature Publishing Group.
Combination effect of PectaSol and Doxorubicin on viability, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in DU‐145 and LNCaP prostate cancer cell lines
Authors: Tehranian Najmeh , Sepehri Houri , Mehdipour Parvin , Biramijamal Firouzeh , Hossein‐Nezhad Arash , Sarrafnejad Abdolfattah , Hajizadeh Ebrahim
Published: January 2012

The effect of PectaSol on Dox (Doxorubicin) cytotoxicity in terms of apoptosis and cell cycle changes in PCa (prostate cancer) cell lines (DU‐145 and LNCaP) has been investigated. Combination of PectaSol and Dox resulted in a viability of 29.4 and 32.6% (P<0.001) in DU‐145 and LNCaP cells. The IC50 values decreased 1.5‐fold and 1.3‐fold in the DU‐145 and LNCaP cells respectively. In the DU‐145 cells, combination of PectaSol and Dox resulted in a reduction in p27 gene and protein expression (P<0.001). In LNCaP cells, this combination increased p53, p27 and Bcl‐2 expression. Treatment with both drugs in DU‐145 cells led to an increase in sub‐G1 arrest (54.6% compared with 12.2% in Dox). In LNCaP cells, combination of the drugs led to an increased in G2/M arrest (61.7% compared with 53.6% in Dox). Based on these findings, progressive cytotoxicity effect of Dox and PectaSol together rapidly induce cell death in DU‐145 through apoptosis and in LNCaP cells through cell cycle arrest (G2/M arrest).
Talker Differences in Clear and Conversational Speech: Vowel Intelligibility for Older Adults With Hearing Loss
Authors: Ferguson Sarah Hargus
Published: January 2012

Purpose

To establish the range of talker variability for vowel intelligibility in clear versus conversational speech for older adults with hearing loss and to determine whether talkers who produced a clear speech benefit for young listeners with normal hearing also did so for older adults with hearing loss.

Method

Clear and conversational vowels in /bVd/ context produced by 41 talkers were presented in noise for identification by 40 older (ages 65–87 years) adults with sloping sensorineural hearing loss.

Results

Vowel intelligibility within each speaking style and the size of the clear speech benefit varied widely among talkers. The clear speech benefit was equivalent to that enjoyed by young listeners with normal hearing in an earlier study. Most talkers who had produced a clear speech benefit for young listeners with normal hearing also did so for the older listeners with hearing loss in the present study. However, effects of talker gender differed between listeners with normal hearing and listeners with hearing loss.

Conclusion

The clear speech vowel intelligibility benefit generated for listeners with hearing loss varied considerably among talkers. Most talkers who produced a clear speech benefit for normal-hearing listeners also produced a benefit for listeners with hearing loss.
Identification of the atomic scale structures of the gold-thiol interfaces of molecular nanowires by inelastic tunneling spectroscopy
Authors: Demir Firuz , Kirczenow George
Published: January 2012

We examine theoretically the effects of the bonding geometries at the gold-thiol interfaces on the inelastic tunneling spectra of propanedithiolate (PDT) molecules bridging gold electrodes and show that inelastic tunneling spectroscopy combined with theory can be used to determine these bonding geometries experimentally. With the help of density functional theory, we calculate the relaxed geometries and vibrational modes of extended molecules each consisting of one or two PDT molecules connecting two gold nanoclusters. We formulate a perturbative theory of inelastic tunneling through molecules bridging metal contacts in terms of elastic transmission amplitudes, and use this theory to calculate the inelastic tunneling spectra of the gold-PDT-gold extended molecules. We consider PDT molecules with both trans and gauche conformations bound to the gold clusters at top, bridge, and hollow bonding sites. Comparing our results with the experimental data of Hihath et al. [Nano Lett. 8, 1673 (2008)]10.1021/nl080580e, we identify the most frequently realized conformation in the experiment as that of trans molecules top-site bonded to both electrodes. We find the switching from the 42 meV vibrational mode to the 46 meV mode observed in the experiment to be due to the transition of trans molecules from mixed top-bridge to pure top-site bonding geometries. Our results also indicate that gauche molecular conformations and hollow site bonding did not contribute significantly to the experimental inelastic tunneling spectra. For pairs of PDT molecules connecting the gold electrodes in parallel we find total elastic conductances close to twice those of single molecules bridging the contacts with similar bonding conformations and small splittings of the vibrational mode energies for the modes that are the most sensitive to the molecule-electrode bonding geometries.
Photodissociation pathways and lifetimes of protonated peptides and their dimers
Authors: Aravind G. , Klærke B. , Rajput J. , Toker Y. , Andersen L. H. , Bochenkova A. V. , Antoine R. , Lemoine J. , Racaud A. , Dugourd P.
Published: January 2012

Photodissociation lifetimes and fragment channels of gas-phase, protonated YAn (n = 1,2) peptides and their dimers were measured with 266 nm photons. The protonated monomers were found to have a fast dissociation channel with an exponential lifetime of ∼200 ns while the protonated dimers show an additional slow dissociation component with a lifetime of ∼2 μs. Laser power dependence measurements enabled us to ascribe the fast channel in the monomer and the slow channel in the dimer to a one-photon process, whereas the fast dimer channel is from a two-photon process. The slow (1 photon) dissociation channel in the dimer was found to result in cleavage of the H-bonds after energy transfer through these H-bonds. In general, the dissociation of these protonated peptides is non-prompt and the decay time was found to increase with the size of the peptides. Quantum RRKM calculations of the microcanonical rate constants also confirmed a statistical nature of the photodissociation processes in the dipeptide monomers and dimers. The classical RRKM expression gives a rate constant as an analytical function of the number of active vibrational modes in the system, estimated separately on the basis of the equipartition theorem. It demonstrates encouraging results in predicting fragmentation lifetimes of protonated peptides. Finally, we present the first experimental evidence for a photo-induced conversion of tyrosine-containing peptides into monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbon along with a formamide molecule both found in space.