bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Fungicide Efficacy Against Calonectria pseudonaviculata, Causal Agent of Boxwood Blight
Authors: LaMondia J. A.
Published: August 2013

Calonectria pseudonaviculata causes leaf spot and stem lesions resulting in defoliation and dieback of boxwood. Fungicides representing 20 different active ingredients from 13 different Fungicide Resistance Action Committee groups were evaluated for their effects on conidial germination and mycelial growth using in vitro assays, and the concentration that suppressed fungal growth to 15% of that on unamended media (EC85) values were determined. A number of fungicides strongly inhibited mycelial growth of C. pseudonaviculata. Four demethylation inhibitor fungicides had EC85 values of 1.2 μg a.i./ml or less. Thiophanate-methyl, fludioxonil, pyraclostrobin, trifloxystrobin, kresoxim-methyl, mancozeb, and chlorothalonil also had activity against mycelial growth. Fludioxonil + cyprodinil had a lower EC85 than the same rate of fludioxonil alone, suggesting that cyprodinil had activity against mycelial growth. Fungicides that inhibited C. pseudonaviculata conidial germination include pyraclostrobin, trifloxystrobin, and kresoxim-methyl as well as fludioxonil, mancozeb, chlorothalonil, and boscalid. Quinoxyfen, etridiazole, fenhexamid, hymexazol, famoxadone, and cymoxanil did not inhibit either C. pseudonaviculata conidial germination or mycelial growth. In comparison with values found in the literature, EC50 values for kresoxim-methyl were up to 10 times higher than reported previously, suggesting that fungicide insensitivity may have developed. Protectant fungicides with activity against conidial germination and systemic fungicides with activity against mycelial growth, such as those identified here, may be complementary to achieve the high levels of pathogen management required for control of this disease. In addition, multiple fungicide active ingredients from different mode-of-action groups used in mixtures or over time may also act to slow selection for fungicide insensitivity.
Bear‐Down Maneuver Is a Useful Adjunct in the Evaluation of Children With Chronic Constipation
Authors: Belkind‐Gerson Jaime , Surjanhata Brian , Kuo Braden , Goldstein Allan M.
Published: August 2013

Background and Objectives:

Chronic constipation is a common problem in pediatrics and often the result of obstructed defecation. The aim of this study was to determine the use of the bear‐down maneuver (BDM) in the evaluation of children with chronic constipation and to establish optimal conditions for its performance.

Methods:

This retrospective study compares BDM with balloon expulsion testing (BET) during anorectal manometry in 38 children with chronic constipation. BDM was performed with 0‐, 20‐, 40‐, and 60‐mL balloon inflation. BET, performed with a 60‐mL balloon, was considered normal if the balloon was expelled within 1 minute.

Results:

Rectal pressure during BDM was 48% higher in patients able to expel the balloon during BET compared with those who could not (P < 0.05). Anal canal pressure was 46% lower in patients able to expel the balloon (P < 0.05). A rectoanal pressure differential greater than zero during BDM was 90% predictive that the subject would be able to expel the balloon. The optimal balloon inflation volume was 60 mL.

Conclusions:

BDM using an inflated balloon provides valuable mechanistic information in the evaluation of children with dyssynergic defecation. We found that patients often had either an insufficient rectal pressure during bear‐down or an abnormally high anal canal pressure. This information may be useful in planning further treatment for these children.
Proposed reclassification of

Pasteurella lymphangitidis

Sneath & Stevens 1990 as

Yersinia pseudotuberculosis
Authors: Gaillot Olivier , Lemenand Olivier , Marceau Michaël , Simonet Michel
Published: August 2013

The 16S rRNA gene sequences of

Pasteurella lymphangitidis

,

Yersinia pseudotuberculosis

and

Yersinia pestis

were found to be identical and multilocus sequence analysis could not discriminate between the three species. The susceptibility to a

Y. pseudotuberculosis

phage and the presence of the

Y. pseudotuberculosis

-specific invasin gene in

P. lymphangitidis

indicate that the latter should be reclassified as

Y. pseudotuberculosis

.
On the (non-)existence of Tutton salts with formula types [M(H2O)6](ClO4)2(H2O)2and Na2M(SO4)2(H2O)6(Mis a first-row transition metal)
Authors: Weil Matthias
Published: August 2013

Two structures of the Tutton salt family, originally reported with composition [Cu(H2O)6](ClO4)2(H2O)2and Na2Cu(SO4)2(H2O)6, have been redetermined based on the original intensity data. With respect to the original [Cu(H2O)6](ClO4)2(H2O)2model, the perchlorate anion and the noncoordinating water molecule are replaced by a sulfate anion and an ammonium cation. With respect to the original Na2Cu(SO4)2(H2O)6model, the sodium site is replaced by a mixed-occupancy potassium/ammonium site. The resulting revised formulae are (NH4)2Cu(SO4)2(H2O)6[diammonium hexaaquacopper(II) disulfate] and [(NH4)1.176K0.824]Cu(SO4)2(H2O)6, respectively. In both cases, the redetermination led to chemically more sensible structure models, accompanied by lower reliability factors. Three other reported structures with formula types [M(H2O)6](ClO4)2(H2O)2or Na2M(SO4)2(H2O)6(Mis a first row transition metal) have also been re-examined. From crystal–chemical considerations, their existence is likewise questioned. It is shown that the deposition of structure factors is beneficial for detailed re-examinations of problematic structure models.
Risk for congenital malformations in offspring of women who have undergone bariatric surgery. A national cohort
Authors: Josefsson A , Bladh M , Wiréhn A‐B , Sydsjö G
Published: August 2013

Objective

To study the risk for congenital anomalies in the first child of women after bariatric surgery compared with all other women giving birth to their first child and divided by maternal body mass index (BMI) groups.

Design

Prospective, population‐based register study.

Setting

Sweden.

Sample

All firstborn children to women born 1973–83 were studied to determine if they had a congenital anomaly and a mother who had undergone bariatric surgery before pregnancy.

Methods

A total of 270 805 firstborns; of which 341 had mothers who had had bariatric surgery before delivery. We retrieved information on the women's marital or cohabitation status, smoking, BMI, diabetes and hypertension during pregnancy.

Main outcome measures

Congenital malformations.

Results

Of the firstborn children to mothers who had had bariatric surgery before pregnancy, 4.1% (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 2.2–6.0) were malformed compared with 3.4% (95% CI 3.3–3.5) of those whose mothers had not undergone bariatric surgery. The risk for congenital malformation in firstborn children increased with increasing maternal BMI. The adjusted odds ratio (OR) for congenital malformation among children whose mothers' BMI ranged between 25 and 29 kg/m2 was 1.09 (95% CI 1.03–1.15), whose mothers' BMI ranged between 30 and 34 kg/m2 was 1.14 (1.05–1.24) and whose mothers' BMI was ≥35 kg/m2 was 1.30 (95% CI 1.16–1.45) compared with those whose mothers had a normal BMI. Bariatric surgery before pregnancy did not have any effect on the odds ratio for having congenital malformation (OR = 1.09, 95% CI 0.63–1.91).

Conclusions

Preconception bariatric surgery does not seem to affect the risk for congenital malformations but a high to very high BMI does appear to increase the risk.
A stochastic rate‐calibrated method for time‐scaling phylogenies of fossil taxa
Authors: Bapst David W.
Published: August 2013

Applying phylogeny‐based analyses of trait evolution and diversification in the fossil record generally involves transforming an unscaled cladogram into a phylogeny scaled to geologic time. Current methods produce single time‐scaled phylogenies with no indication of the uncertainty in the temporal relationships and, under some methods, artificial zero‐length branches.

Here, I present a stochastic algorithm for time‐scaling phylogenies of fossil taxa by randomly sampling node ages from a constrained distribution, with the ultimate goal of producing large samples of time‐scaled phylogenies for a given data set as the basis for phylogeny‐based analyses. I describe how this stochastic approach can be extended to consider potential ancestral relationships and resolve polytomies.

The stochastic selection of node ages in this algorithm is weighted by the probability density of the total inferable unobserved evolutionary history at single divergence events in a tree, a distribution dependent on rates of branching, extinction and sampling in the fossil record.

The combined time‐scaling method must be calibrated with explicit estimates of three rates: branching, extinction and sampling, and thus is named the cal3 time‐scaling method, included in the r library paleotree. I test the time‐scaling capabilities of the cal3 and older time‐scaling methods in simulations. cal3 produces samples of time‐scaled trees that better bracket the uncertainty in the true node ages than existing time‐scaling methods. This is true even in simulations under a ‘terminal‐taxon’ model of differentiation that violates many of the assumptions of the cal3 method.

The cal3 method provides a new approach for time‐scaling palaeontological cladograms, calibrated to estimated sampling and diversification rates, allowing for better estimates of uncertainty in the phylogenetic time‐scaling. The cal3 method is robust to relaxation of at least some model assumptions. Additional work is needed to analyse the impact of time‐scaling approaches on macroevolutionary analyses and to integrate time‐scaling with phylogenetic inference.
Inclusion of a near‐complete fossil record reveals speciation‐related molecular evolution
Authors: Ezard Thomas H. G. , Thomas Gavin H. , Purvis Andy
Published: August 2013

The rate of genetic evolution is often too variable among lineages to be explained by a strict molecular clock, prompting alternative ecological and evolutionary hypotheses to explain this rate heterogeneity.

One controversial hypothesis is that speciation provokes a burst of rapid genetic change, giving molecular evolution a punctuational component. The amount of root‐to‐tip genetic change therefore tends to increase with the number of identified speciation events (nodes) along the root‐to‐tip path in molecular phylogenies. The controversy arises because nodes on molecular phylogenies can typically only be counted if both descendants are extant.

Here, using stratigraphic, phylogenetic and ecological data from the exceptional fossil record ofCenozoic macroperforate planktonic foraminifera, we test whether among‐lineage rate heterogeneity is explained by ecological factors (abundance, life history and environment) and by the numbers of speciation events according to fossil lineage, fossil morphospecies and molecular species concepts.

The number of nodes between root and tips on the fossil lineage phylogeny was a statistically significant correlate of the rate of molecular evolution over the same root‐to‐tip path. The speciation counts from other species concepts and hypothesized ecological drivers had considerably less support.

Our results showcase how the fossil record contains signals of biological processes that drive genetic evolution, justifying calls to further marry fossil and molecular data when studying macroevolution over geological time‐scales.
The judicialization of biopolitics: Claiming the right to pharmaceuticals in Brazilian courts
Authors: BIEHL JOÃO
Published: August 2013

In Brazil, low‐ and middle‐income patients are not waiting for new medical technologies to trickle down. They are using free legal assistance and a responsive judiciary to access health care, now understood as access to pharmaceuticals. The pharmaceuticalization and judicialization of health reveal an experiential‐political‐economic field beyond the biopolitics of populations. At stake in this field are the ways in which government (qua drug regulator, purchaser, and distributor) facilitates a more direct relationship, in the form of technology access, between atomized and ambiguous political subjects of rights and the biomedical market. Not fully governed by either state or market, these subjects negotiate the constraints and possibilities of a technological society using jurisprudence. They work through available legal mechanisms and instantiate new social fields to engage and adjudicate their demands, concretizing abstract human rights. In the process, the judiciary is consolidated as a critical site of politics—and of political economy.
The social aesthetics of eligibility: NGO aid and indeterminacy in the Greek asylum process
Authors: CABOT HEATH
Published: August 2013

On the porous EU border of Greece, where both fiscal and migration management are said to be in a state of crisis, NGOs figure crucially in the provision of legal and social aid to asylum applicants. I explore the dialogical engagements underpinning the determination of client eligibility at one such NGO in Athens. As workers and aid candidates coproduce “pictures” of lives eligible for protection, profound uncertainties and indeterminacies emerge. I argue that this indeterminacy gives testament to an often overlooked form of agency: how aid candidates and service providers alike reshape and even refuse dominant images of deservingness, victimhood, and vulnerability from within systems of aid distribution.
Recovering debts: Microfinance loan officers and the work of “proxy‐creditors” in India
Authors: KAR SOHINI
Published: August 2013

Microfinance loan officers play a critical, if underexamined, role in incorporating the poor into financial networks at the global peripheries. As “proxy‐creditors,” loan officers in Kolkata, India, must produce and alienate debt relationships to create loan products. I argue that the process of financialization is articulated through local idioms of moneylending, care, and respect. Moreover, at the heart of this labor is the unresolved tension between capitalist expansion and ethical concerns for the everyday relationships that are used to extend credit to the financially excluded.
Clean fake: Authenticating documents and persons in migrant Moscow
Authors: REEVES MADELEINE
Published: August 2013

What does it mean for Kyrgyzstani migrant workers in contemporary Russia to be legally legible to the state when informal agencies market fictive residency documents and “clean fake” work permits? Examining the uncertainty around being authentically documented provides insight into a mode of governance in urban Russia that thrives less on rendering subjects legible than on working the space of ambiguity between life and law. This dynamic has significant social consequences for the way certain bodies come to be scrutinized as particularly untrustworthy, particularly liable to fakery, and, thus, particularly legitimate targets for document checks, fines, and threats of deportation. The ambiguity with which migrants are forced to live highlights the need to explore how documentary regimes, structures of feeling, and racializing practices coincide.
Reckoning with press freedom: Community media, liberalism, and the processual state in Caracas, Venezuela
Authors: SCHILLER NAOMI
Published: August 2013

Community media producers who are aligned with and supported by the Venezuelan state must reckon with the notion of “press freedom.” I argue that rather than embrace dominant liberal norms, which hold that a “free press” requires autonomy from the state, community media producers in Caracas approach the state as a potentially liberatory process of collective engagement. This approach demands that they reexamine liberal norms for freedom and autonomy. They do so in a context in which social actors inside and outside official state institutions struggle with the limits and future of liberalism in Venezuela. The dilemmas of community media producers in this context offer an opportunity to develop a critical anthropology of press freedom.
‘We are All in This Together’? The Hidden Costs of Poverty, Recession and Austerity Policies on Britain's Poorest Children
Authors: Ridge Tess
Published: August 2013

In 2010, in the UK a new Coalition government inherited an ailing economy at a time of economic uncertainty and recession. Their response was to institute a fundamental revision and retrenchment of government spending accompanied by unprecedented cuts in welfare services and social security provision. This article explores the nature and meaning of these changes from a child‐centred perspective, to understand how and in what ways policy change and welfare retrenchment may uniquely impinge on low‐income children's lives. It reveals that recent cuts and welfare changes have threatened to overlook their needs and exacerbate their deepest concerns.
Comparison of Bayley‐2 and Bayley‐3 scores at 18 months in term infants following neonatal encephalopathy and therapeutic hypothermia
Authors: Jary Sally , Whitelaw Andrew , Walløe Lars , Thoresen Marianne
Published: August 2013

Aim

Neuroprotection trials for neonatal encephalopathy use moderate or severe disability as an outcome, with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Second Edition (Bayley‐2) Index scores of <70 as part of the criteria. The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler, 3rd Development, Third Edition (Bayley‐3) have superseded Bayley‐2 and yield higher than expected scores in typically developing and high‐risk infants. The aim of this study, therefore, was to compare Bayley‐2 scores and Bayley‐3 scores in term‐born infants surviving neonatal encephalopathy treated with hypothermia.

Method

Sixty‐one term‐born infants (37 males, 24 females; median gestational age at birth 40wks, range 36–42wks; median birthweight 3280g, range 2295–5050) following neonatal encephalopathy and hypothermia had contemporaneous assessment at 18 months using the Bayley‐2 and Bayley‐3.

Results

The median Bayley‐3 Cognitive Composite score was 7 points higher than the median Bayley‐2 Mental Developmental Index (MDI) score and the median Bayley‐3 Motor Composite score was 18 points higher than the median Bayley‐2 Psychomotor Developmental Index (PDI) score. Ten children had a Bayley‐2 MDI of <70; only three children had Bayley‐3 combined Cognitive/Language scores of <70. Eleven children had Bayley‐2 PDI scores of <70 and four had modified Bayley‐3 Motor Composite scores of <70. Applying regression equations to Bayley‐3 scores adjusted rates of severe delay to similar proportions found using Bayley‐2 scores.

Interpretation

Fewer children were classified with severe delay using the Bayley‐3 than the Bayley‐2, which prohibits direct comparison of scores. Increased Bayley‐3 cut‐off thresholds for classifying severe disability are recommended when comparing studies in this clinical group using Bayley‐2 scores.
Wiki as a tool for Microbiology teaching, learning and assessment
Authors: Sampaio‐Maia B. , Maia J. S. , Leitão S. , Amaral M. , Vieira‐Marques P.
Published: August 2013

Introduction

Evidence suggests that cooperative learning and peer‐assessment fosters students' ability to work with others and may lead to better cognitive outcomes and higher achievement. This work aimed to assess the use of an online collaborative tool for the teaching/learning and assessment of Microbiology.

Materials and methods

A total of 144 students were grouped and assigned to create wiki entries as well as to peer review wikis created by colleagues (peer‐assessment process) using the Wiki module from Moodle Virtual Learning Environment (MVLE). MVLE actions log was used for tracking students' activity.

Results

The number of student's actions within wiki did not present a strong correlation with wiki scores, so it should not be used as a heavy evaluation parameter. The amount of work developed between members of the same group differed significantly, suggesting that final scores should be attributed individually. When peer‐assessment process was implemented, the number of editing actions increased, suggesting that the peer‐assessment strategy encourages the development of a better work. The vast majority of students execute the work in the last 10% of the period assigned for task development, which can be counter‐productive for a truly collaborative work.

Conclusions

Wiki revealed to be a useful tool for Microbiology teaching/learning and assessment, promoting collaborative work, promoting virtual mobility and facilitating the real‐time monitoring of the students' work. This pedagogical project promoted also the involvement of students in their assessment process, encouraging their critical sense and quest for Excellency.
Economic costs and quality of life in chronic inflammatory neuropathies in southeast England
Authors: Mahdi‐Rogers M. , McCrone P. , Hughes R. A. C.
Published: August 2013

Background and purpose

Cost‐of‐illness studies and health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) measurements are needed to assess the effects of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP), multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN) and paraproteinaemic demyelinating neuropathy (PDN) on society.

Methods

This study was conducted in 2008 in a southeast England population of 3 557 352 people. Data on service use and treatment were collected with a client service receipt inventory and service costs were calculated by combining these data with national unit costs. The EuroQol was used to calculate utility scores, a measurement of HRQoL.

Results

The total annual cost‐of‐illness per patient was £22 085 for CIDP, £22 812 for MMN and £7566 for PDN. The annual total cost per patient was £49 430 for individuals on intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) and £9046 for those not on IVIg (P < 0.01). The mean (SD) utility scores were 0.62 (0.23) for CIDP, 0.63 (0.22) for PDN and 0.72 (0.14) for MMN (P = 0.52). The mean (SD) utility score for those on IVIg was 0.65 (0.16) and those not on IVIg 0.63 (0.23) (P = 0.77).

Conclusion

The use of IVIg was the most important determinant of cost in all three diseases and the higher frequency of its use in CIDP and MMN accounted for the much greater average cost per patient in these diseases. There was no significant difference in HRQoL amongst the three diseases or between those receiving or not receiving IVIg.
Conservation implications of past and present nesting habitat selection of the endangered Osprey Pandion haliaetus population of the Canary Islands
Authors: Rodríguez Beneharo , Rodríguez Airam , Siverio Manuel , Siverio Felipe
Published: August 2013

We studied nesting habitat selection of the endangered non‐migratory Osprey Pandion haliaetus population of the Canary Islands and evaluated the effect of human expansion in recent decades. Compared with randomly selected potential nest‐sites, Osprey nests were more frequently found on taller, southwest‐facing cliffs, characterized by lower human pressure and closer to Yellow‐legged Gull Larus michahellis colonies and Barbary Falcon Falco pelegrinoides breeding sites. Furthermore, changes in some breeding habitat features have been detected in recent decades. According to our predictive models, large areas of suitable habitat are available but unoccupied in the Canaries, and human activities are probably limiting the settlement and dispersion of new pairs.
Flexural Strength and Open Porosity of Two Different Veneering Ceramics for Zirconia Framework
Authors: Peng Jing Yuan , Luo Xiao Ping , Zhang Lei
Published: August 2013

The studies were designed to compare the biaxial flexural test (BFT) and 3‐point bending test (3PBT) of two kinds of veneering ceramics for zirconia framework, and then to measure the open porosity of the veneering ceramics by Archimedes method and to characterize their micro‐structures using secondary electron imaging under scan electric microscope (SEM). Flexural strength of IPS Zirpress veneering ceramic was significantly higher than IPS e.max Ceram (IPSC), no significant difference was found between BFT and 3PBT when used to investigate the same type of veneering ceramic. SEM indicated that the open porosity of IPS e.max Ceram is higher than IPS Zirpress.
Racial/Ethnic Differences in Midlife Women's Attitudes Toward Physical Activity
Authors: Im Eun‐Ok , Ko Young , Hwang Hyenam , Chee Wonshik , Stuifbergen Alexa , Walker Lorraine , Brown Adama
Published: August 2013

Introduction

Women's racial/ethnic‐specific attitudes toward physical activity have been pointed out as a plausible reason for their low participation rates in physical activity. However, very little is actually known about racial/ethnic commonalities and differences in midlife women's attitudes toward physical activity. The purpose of this study was to explore commonalities and differences in midlife women's attitudes toward physical activity among 4 major racial/ethnic groups in the United States (whites, Hispanics, African Americans, and Asians).

Methods

This was a secondary analysis of the qualitative data from a larger study that explored midlife women's attitudes toward physical activity. Qualitative data from 4 racial/ethnic‐specific online forums among 90 midlife women were used for this study. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis, and themes reflecting commonalties and differences in the women's attitudes toward physical activity across the racial/ethnic groups were extracted.

Results

The themes reflecting the commonalities were: 1) physical activity is good for health, 2) not as active as I could be, 3) physical activity was not encouraged, 4) inherited diseases motivated participation in physical activity, and 5) lack of accessibility to physical activity. The themes reflecting the differences were: 1) physical activity as necessity or luxury, 2) organized versus natural physical activity, 3) individual versus family‐oriented physical activity, and 4) beauty ideal or culturally accepted physical appearance.

Discussion

Developing an intervention that could change the social influences and environmental factors and address the women's racial/ethnic‐specific attitudes would be a priority in increasing physical activity of racial/ethnic minority midlife women.
Increasing Certified Nurse‐Midwives’ Confidence in Managing the Obstetric Care of Women with Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting
Authors: Jacoby Susan D. , Smith Amy
Published: August 2013

Introduction

In response to an increase in the number of women who immigrate to the United States from countries that practice female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C; infibulation), US clinicians can expand their knowledge and increase confidence in caring for women who have experienced infibulation. This article describes a comprehensive education program on FGM/C and the results of a pilot study that examined its effect on midwives’ confidence in caring for women with infibulation.

Methods

An education program was developed that included didactic information, case studies, a cultural roundtable, and a hands‐on skills laboratory of deinfibulation and repair. Eleven certified nurse‐midwives (CNMs) participated in this pilot study. Participants completed a measure‐of‐confidence survey tool before and after the education intervention.

Results

Participants reported increased confidence in their ability to provide culturally competent care to immigrant women with infibulation when comparisons of preeducation and posteducation survey confidence logs were completed.

Discussion

Following the education program and the knowledge gained from it, these midwives were more confident about their ability to perform anterior episiotomy and to deliver necessary care to women with FGM/C in a culturally competent context. This education program should be expanded as more women who have experienced infibulation immigrate to the United States.
Radiation Damage of LaMgAl11O19 and CeMgAl11O19 Magnetoplumbite
Authors: Men Danju , Patel Maulik K. , Usov Igor O. , Pivin J. C. , Porter John R. , Mecartney Martha L.
Published: August 2013

Studies of radiation damage in magnetoplumbite‐type LaMgAl11O19 and CeMgAl11O19 are reported. Ion irradiation was conducted on ceramic composites containing a LaMgAl11O19 phase at 500°C with 10 MeV Au+ ions and on ceramic composites containing CeMgAl11O19 phase at 800°C with 92 MeV Xe+ ions. The radiation response of these similar LnMgAl11O19 (Ln = La and Ce) hexaaluminate magnetoplumbite phases was evaluated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X‐ray diffraction (XRD). LaMgAl11O19 was amorphized by 10 MeV Au ions with swelling of the structure within an approximate 2 μm radiation depth from the irradiation surface. CeMgAl11O19 did not amorphize after 92 MeV Xe‐ion irradiation, but ion track damage contrast is seen in approximately 5 μm of the irradiated depth. SRIM Monte‐Carlo simulations of nuclear displacements correlate with the experimental results.
A Novel Approach to the Preparation of a Highly Crystallized BaTiO3 Layer on Ni Nanoparticles
Authors: Hao Yanan , Wang Xiaohui , Zhang Hui , Zhang Yichi , Li Longtu
Published: August 2013

A novel chemical approach is proposed to facilitate the crystallization of the BaTiO3 coating layer on Ni nanoparticles for multilayer ceramic capacitors. Based on the chemical equilibrium principle, the polycrystalline coating layer can be obtained at atmospheric pressure and at a relatively low temperature by a one‐step reaction. The details of the coating process of the Ni nanoparticles are clearly discussed. The coating is uniform, dense, and well crystallized, and can protect the Ni from oxidation and also shift the starting point of Ni densification to a higher temperature, reducing differential shrinkage issues in the co‐firing.
Pogge on Poverty: Contribution or Exploitation?
Authors: Øverland Gerhard
Published: August 2013

Thomas Pogge argues that affluent people in the developing world have contribution‐based duties to help protect the poor. And it follows from Pogge's most general thesis that affluent people are contributing to most, if not all, instances of global poverty. In this article I explore two problems with Pogge's general thesis. First, I investigate a typical way in which affluent people would be contributing to global poverty according to Pogge: that affluent countries use their superior bargaining power to get poor countries to accept trading schemes that are unduly favourable to the affluent. I suggest that this type of relation is best understood as exploitation, and that Pogge's general thesis is better understood as a thesis about how affluent people exploit poor people rather than about how they contribute to poverty. Second, I argue that the exploitation does not have the normative content of doing harm. Although exploiting people is often morally wrong, it is not at all clear how demanding exploitation‐based duties are.
Two‐colour chewing gum mixing ability: digitalisation and spatial heterogeneity analysis
Authors: Weijenberg R. A. F. , Scherder E. J. A. , Visscher C. M. , Gorissen T. , Yoshida E. , Lobbezoo F.
Published: August 2013

Many techniques are available to assess masticatory performance, but not all are appropriate for every population. A proxy suitable for elderly persons suffering from dementia was lacking, and a two‐colour chewing gum mixing ability test was investigated for this purpose. A fully automated digital analysis algorithm was applied to a mixing ability test using two‐coloured gum samples in a stepwise increased number of chewing cycles protocol (Experiment 1: n = 14; seven men, 19–63 years), a test–retest assessment (Experiment 2: n = 10; four men, 20–49 years) and compared to an established wax cubes mixing ability test (Experiment 3: n = 13; 0 men, 21–31 years). Data were analysed with repeated measures anova (Experiment 1), the calculation of the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC; Experiment 2) and Spearman's rho correlation coefficient (Experiment 3). The method was sensitive to increasing numbers of chewing cycles (F5,65 = 57·270, P = 0·000) and reliable in the test–retest (ICC value of 0·714, P = 0·004). There was no significant correlation between the two‐coloured gum test and the wax cubes test. The two‐coloured gum mixing ability test was able to adequately assess masticatory function and is recommended for use in a population of elderly persons with dementia.
What do egg size distributions in marine invertebrates tell us about validity of fecundity‐time models?
Authors: Kupriyanova Elena K.
Published: August 2013

An early mathematical model of egg size evolution in marine invertebrates (American Naturalist, 1973a, 107, 353) traded fecundity against development time and resulted in a U‐shaped optimality curve suggesting that only extremes of egg sizes should be evolutionary stable. It was later suggested that the model predicts a bimodal distribution of egg sizes and therefore can be tested by examining histograms of egg sizes. More recent fecundity‐time models (American Naturalist, 1997, 150, 48; American Naturalist, 2000, 156, 175) came up with predictions of intermediate optimal egg sizes; however, comparisons of optimality curves with histograms of egg sizes remained central to model testing. Here the question whether the bimodality assumption has any basis has been addressed theoretically. Simulation modeling and analysis show that egg size distributions generally do not match the optimality curves produced by fecundity‐time models and that the shape of predicted frequency distributions depends on both the optimality curve and other model parameters. Therefore, egg size frequency distributions alone cannot be used for model testing.
Influence of tidal regime, diurnal phase, habitat and season on feeding of an intertidal crab
Authors: Bas Claudia , Lancia Juan P. , Luppi Tomás , Méndez‐Casariego Agustina , Kittlein Marcelo , Spivak Eduardo
Published: August 2013

The relationship between diet and feeding activity of intertidal crabs, and environmental cycles (tidal, daily and seasonal), habitat and level of the intertidal zone (high/low) was studied using Neohelice granulata (Brachyura, Varunidae) as a model. This is a semi‐terrestrial burrowing crab occupying different habitats in the Southwestern Atlantic coasts and estuaries from bare low intertidal mudflats to high intertidal salt marshes, and from fine, organic matter rich sediment to very coarse sediment with low content of organic matter. The study was carried out in two contrasting habitats of three sites with diverse sets of physical and biological conditions. Diet and feeding of adult N. granulata were indirectly studied through the proportion of food items and the presence/absence of food in crab stomachs, respectively. This species has a dual mode of feeding: predominantly herbivorous (live plants or plant litter in salt marshes) or deposit feeder (superficial sediment and detritus in mudflats), but the quantity and quality of ingested food varies among habitats and sites. A trend to omnivory (including algae and conspecifics) was detected in relation to low quality of resources. Feeding activity modulated by a complex interaction of factors varied according to spatial and/or temporal changes in some natural cycles. Males and non‐ovigerous females fed preferably after dark and during submersion periods, but also after emersion periods if mudflat sediment remained wet; salt marsh crab feeding is somewhat independent of light and tidal cycles. Ovigerous females almost never fed. Both diet and feeding activity of this crab seem to be flexible traits adapted to different combinations of physical and biological factors.
Compositional variability on the surface of 4 Vesta revealed through GRaND measurements of high‐energy gamma rays
Authors: Peplowski Patrick N. , Lawrence David J. , Prettyman Thomas H. , Yamashita Naoyuki , Bazell Dave , Feldman William C. , Le Corre Lucille , McCoy Timothy J. , Reddy Vishnu , Reedy Robert C. , Russell Chris T. , Toplis Michael J.
Published: August 2013

Measurements of the high‐energy gamma‐ray flux emanating from asteroid 4 Vesta by the Dawn Gamma‐Ray and Neutron Detector (GRaND) have revealed variability in the near‐surface elemental composition of the Vestan surface. These observations are consistent with the presence of large (≥8 × 104 km2) regions with distinct, HED‐like elemental compositions. The results agree broadly with other global measurements, such as the macroscopic neutron absorption cross section and spectral reflectance‐derived mineralogic maps. Two distinct regions with eucrite‐like elemental compositions have been identified, the first located primarily within the Lucaria and Marcia quadrangles and the second within Oppia quadrangle. The former region is collocated with some of the oldest, most heavily cratered terrain on Vesta. The interior of the 500 km diameter Rheasilvia impact basin is found to have a composition that is consistent with diogenite‐like material. Taken together, these observations support the hypothesis that Vesta's original crust was composed of basaltic outflows in the form of eucritic‐like material and that the Rheasilvia‐basin‐forming impact exposed lower‐crustal, diogenite‐like material. These measurements also constrain the maximum amount of mesosiderite‐like material to <10% for each 15 × 15° surface element.
Phylogeography of Sophora davidii (Leguminosae) across the ‘Tanaka‐Kaiyong Line’, an important phytogeographic boundary in Southwest China
Authors: Fan Deng Mei , Yue Ji Pei , Nie Ze Long , Li Zhi Min , Comes Hans Peter , Sun Hang
Published: August 2013

The ‘Tanaka‐Kaiyong Line’ (TKL) is a major phytogeographic boundary in Southwest China, separating East Asia's Sino‐Himalayan and Sino‐Japanese Floras. However, little is known about the importance of this boundary in promoting intraspecific phylogeographic subdivision and divergence. Using chloroplast (cpDNA) and nuclear‐intron (nDNA) sequence data, we reconstructed the population history of Sophora davidii, a drought‐tolerant riparian shrub widely distributed on either side of the TKL. Specifically, we aimed at testing two long‐standing explanations for possible vicariant events across the TKL: (i) Late Pliocene (c. 3 Ma) geological uplift of the eastern Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau (QTP) or (ii) a sharp environmental gradient associated with the establishment of different monsoon regimes on either side of the TKL during the (Late) Pleistocene. Our genealogical analyses detected a major west–east split in cpDNA, geographically largely consistent with the TKL, and dated to c. 1.28 Ma (95% HPD: 0.21–2.96 Ma), hence postdating the latest phase of eastern QTP uplift. Furthermore, integrating cpDNA phylogeographic patterns with mismatch analyses, we found multiple refugial isolation and long‐term demographic stability of populations in the west (Hengduan Mountain Range) compared with extensive range expansions in the east, possibly during the last glacial period(s) and followed by differentiation into regional sublineages (southeast: Yunnan‐Guizhou Plateau vs. northeast: Qinling Mts./Loess Plateau). Although nuclear differentiation was less marked, the geographical pattern of nDNA haplotypes provided some further indication of the species' eastward expansion, possibly from source populations located just east of the TKL (lower Jinshajiang region). Overall, the present data reject the geological (tectonic) explanation for the TKL and, instead, provide supportive evidence for its role as a climatically driven barrier to present‐day plant dispersal. In addition, our study highlights changing temperatures and vegetation types during the last glacial period(s), along with aspects of regional topography, to be important determinants of the glacial eastward expansion of S. davidii. In consequence, our study lends support to a ‘glacial out‐of‐Hengduan Mts’. hypothesis for the xerophytic‐riparian flora of Southwest China, which in turn is inconsistent with the traditional view of the TKL as a ‘classical’ vicariant‐biogeographic boundary.
Evidence for selective sweeps by Wolbachia infections: phylogeny of Altica leaf beetles and their reproductive parasites
Authors: Jäckel Regina , Mora Diana , Dobler Susanne
Published: August 2013

Infections with maternally inherited Wolbachia bacteria may have dramatic influences on reproductive traits and speciation patterns of their hosts. We here show that in the beetle genus Altica, infection has influenced phylogenetic patterns of the host's mtDNA and different strains led to repeated selective sweeps. By comparing a COI/II‐based phylogeny of the hosts with a phylogeny of the bacteria based on ftsZ, we show that cospeciation is rare and restricted to few recently diverged species. While in general each species apparently harbours a single Wolbachia strain, Altica lythri presents a strikingly different pattern: in the polyphyletic species, three highly divergent mtDNA haplotypes (2.1–4.6% p‐distance) are coupled with three different Wolbachia strains (wLytA1, wLytA2 and wLytB). These haplotypes and Wolbachia strains are widely distributed and mostly found in sympatry. A phylogeny based on microsatellite data supports the monophyly of A. lythri. The discrepancy between mtDNA and nuclear phylogeny may best be explained by interspecific hybridization that led to introgression of mtDNA coupled with a different Wolbachia strain. Selective sweeps apparently drove the introgressed haplotypes to widespread distribution. As for effects of Wolbachia on reproduction, infection with wLytA1 appears to be correlated with a substantial sex ratio distortion, which was most prominent in A. lythri.
Late‐glacial recolonization and phylogeography of European red deer (Cervus elaphus L.)
Authors: Meiri Meirav , Lister Adrian M. , Higham Thomas F. G. , Stewart John R. , Straus Lawrence G. , Obermaier Henriette , González Morales Manuel R. , Marín‐Arroyo Ana B. , Barnes Ian
Published: August 2013

The Pleistocene was an epoch of extreme climatic and environmental changes. How individual species responded to the repeated cycles of warm and cold stages is a major topic of debate. For the European fauna and flora, an expansion–contraction model has been suggested, whereby temperate species were restricted to southern refugia during glacial times and expanded northwards during interglacials, including the present interglacial (Holocene). Here, we test this model on the red deer (Cervus elaphus) a large and highly mobile herbivore, using both modern and ancient mitochondrial DNA from the entire European range of the species over the last c. 40 000 years. Our results indicate that this species was sensitive to the effects of climate change. Prior to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) haplogroups restricted today to South‐East Europe and Western Asia reached as far west as the UK. During the LGM, red deer was mainly restricted to southern refugia, in Iberia, the Balkans and possibly in Italy and South‐Western Asia. At the end of the LGM, red deer expanded from the Iberian refugium, to Central and Northern Europe, including the UK, Belgium, Scandinavia, Germany, Poland and Belarus. Ancient DNA data cannot rule out refugial survival of red deer in North‐West Europe through the LGM. Had such deer survived, though, they were replaced by deer migrating from Iberia at the end of the glacial. The Balkans served as a separate LGM refugium and were probably connected to Western Asia with genetic exchange between the two areas.
Host‐associated genomic differentiation in congeneric butterflies: now you see it, now you do not
Authors: Mikheyev Alexander S. , McBride Carolyn S. , Mueller Ulrich G. , Parmesan Camille , Smee Melanie R. , Stefanescu Constanti , Wee Brian , Singer Michael C.
Published: August 2013

Ecotypic variation among populations may become associated with widespread genomic differentiation, but theory predicts that this should happen only under particular conditions of gene flow, selection and population size. In closely related species, we might expect the strength of host‐associated genomic differentiation (HAD) to be correlated with the degree of phenotypic differentiation in host‐adaptive traits. Using microsatellite andAmplifiedFragmentLengthPolymorphism (AFLP) markers, and controlling for isolation by distance between populations, we soughtHADin two congeneric species of butterflies with different degrees of host plant specialization. Prior work onEuphydryas edithahad shown strong interpopulation differentiation in host‐adapted traits, resulting in incipient reproductive isolation among host‐associated ecotypes. We show here thatEuphydryas auriniahad much weaker host‐associated phenotypic differentiation. Contrary to our expectations, we detectedHADinEuphydryas aurinia, but not inE. editha. Even within anE. auriniapopulation that fed on both hosts, we found weak but significant sympatricHADthat persisted in samples taken 9 years apart. The finding of significantly strongerHADin the system with less phenotypic differentiation may seem paradoxical. Our findings can be explained by multiple factors, ranging from differences in dispersal or effective population size, to spatial variation in genomic or phenotypic traits and to structure induced by past histories of host‐adapted populations. Other infrequently measured factors, such as differences in recombination rates, may also play a role. Our result adds to recent work as a further caution against assumptions of simple relationships between genomic and adaptive phenotypic differentiation.
Disease defence through generations: leaf‐cutter ants and their symbiotic bacteria
Authors: Woodhams Douglas C. , Brucker Robert M.
Published: August 2013

Microbial ecology of animals is taking on significance in the modern dialogue for the biology of species. Similar to a nuclear genome, the entire bacterial assemblage maintains an ancestral signal of the host's evolution leading to cophylogeny between the host and the microbes they harbour (Brucker & Bordenstein 2012b). The stability of such associations is of great interest as they provide a means for species to acquire new traits and genetic diversity that their own genomes lack (McFall‐Ngai et al. 2013). The role of gut microbiota, for example, in host health and nutrition is widely recognized and a shared characteristic among animals. The role of bacteria colonizing the outside surfaces of animals is less well understood, but rather than random colonization, these microbes on skin, cuticles, scales and feathers in many cases provide benefits to the host. The symbiosis of leaf‐cutter ants, their fungus gardens and their microbiota is a fascinating and complex system. Whether culture‐independent bacterial diversity on the cuticle of leaf‐cutter ants is high or highly constrained by subcuticular gland secretions is one prominent question. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Andersen et al. (2013) show that leaf‐cutting ants, Acromyrmex echinatior, maintain a dominant and colony‐specific bacterium called Pseudonocardia on their cuticles (the laterocervical plates in particular). This bacterium is involved in protecting the ants and their fungal gardens from disease. Other fungus‐gardening attine species as well as soil and vegetation can harbour Pseudonocardia. However, it was previously unknown how stable the bacterial strain–ant colony association was through the lifetime of the colony.