bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A genetic mutation that reduces calcium oxalate content increases calcium availability in Medicago truncatula
Authors: Nakata Paul A. , McConn Michele M.
Published: July 2006

Oxalate is considered an antinutrient that renders calcium unavailable for nutritional absorption by humans. Efforts have been made to generate and identify edible plants with decreased levels of this antinutrient. The extent to which a food can be nutritionally improved through genetic alterations in calcium oxalate content, however, has not been determined. The recent identification of near isogenic lines of the forage legume, Medicago truncatula Gaertn. (cv. Jemalong genotype A17), that differ in calcium oxalate content aids in filling this gap in our knowledge. In this study, we use an in vitro dialysis system to show that the decrease in calcium oxalate results in an enhancement in calcium availability. By comparing virtually identical plants a more direct assignment of the calcium availability to the presence or absence of oxalate was made. In addition, this study shows, for the first time, the feasibility of improving plant foods through the genetic manipulation of its oxalate content.
A comment on scaling methane emissions from vegetation and grazing ruminants in New Zealand
Authors: Kelliher Francis M. , Clark Harry , Li Zheng , Newton Paul C. D. , Parsons Anthony J. , Rys Gerald
Published: July 2006

Keppler et al. (2006, Nature 439, 187–191) showed that plants produce methane (CH4) in aerobic environments, leading Lowe (2006, Nature 439, 148–149) to postulate that in countries such as New Zealand, where grazed pastures have replaced forests, the forests could have produced as much CH4 as the ruminants currently grazing these areas. Estimating CH4 emissions from up to 85 million ruminants in New Zealand is challenging and, for completeness, the capacity of forest and pastoral soils to oxidise CH4 should be included. On average, the CH4 emission rate of grazing ruminants is estimated to be 9.6 ± 2.6 g m–2 year–1 (±standard deviation), six times the corresponding estimate for an indigenous forest canopy (1.6 ± 1.1 g m–2 year–1). The forest’s soil is estimated to oxidise 0.9 ± 0.2 g m–2 year–1 more CH4 than representative soils beneath grazed pasture. Taking into account plant and animal sources and the soil’s oxidative capacity, the net CH4 emission rates of forest and grazed ecosystems are 0.6 ± 1.1 and 9.8 ± 2.6 g m–2 year–1, respectively.
A unique preovulatory expression pattern plays a key role in the physiological functions of BMP-15 in the mouse
Authors: Yoshino Osamu , McMahon Heather E. , Sharma Shweta , Shimasaki Shunichi
Published: July 2006

Mutations in the bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP-15) gene cause female infertility in the monoovulatory human and sheep; however, in the polyovulatory mouse, loss-of-function of BMP-15 results only in reduced ovulation rate. To elucidate the cause of these species-specific differences, we investigated the functional role of BMP-15 in the mouse ovary. Here, we found that the functional mature form of BMP-15 is barely detectable in the mouse oocytes until just before ovulation, when it is markedly increased. Further, we found that BMP-15 induces cumulus expansion in mouse cumulus–oocyte complexes. The oocyte culture medium from immature mice primed with pregnant mare serum gonadotropin followed by human chorionic gonadotropin also stimulated cumulus expansion, and this activity was attenuated by BMP-15 antibody. Interestingly, the oocyte culture medium from mice treated with pregnant mare serum gonadotropin alone had no effect. Moreover, BMP-15 stimulated the expression of EGF-like growth factors in cumulus cells as well as a series of molecules downstream of EGF-like growth factor signaling, including cyclooxygenase 2, hyaluronan synthase 2, tumor necrosis factor-stimulated gene 6, and pentraxin 3, all of which are necessary for normal cumulus expansion. An antagonist of the EGF receptor completely abolished the effect of BMP-15 in inducing cumulus expansion. These results are consistent with the phenotype of BMP-15-null mice, which exhibit normal folliculogenesis but have defects in the ovulation process. The species-specific differences in the phenotypes caused by BMP-15 mutations may thus be attributed to the temporal variations in the production of the mature form of BMP-15.
Computational prediction of methylation status in human genomic sequences
Authors: Das Rajdeep , Dimitrova Nevenka , Xuan Zhenyu , Rollins Robert A. , Haghighi Fatemah , Edwards John R. , Ju Jingyue , Bestor Timothy H. , Zhang Michael Q.
Published: July 2006

Epigenetic effects in mammals depend largely on heritable genomic methylation patterns. We describe a computational pattern recognition method that is used to predict the methylation landscape of human brain DNA. This method can be applied both to CpG islands and to non-CpG island regions. It computes the methylation propensity for an 800-bp region centered on a CpG dinucleotide based on specific sequence features within the region. We tested several classifiers for classification performance, including K means clustering, linear discriminant analysis, logistic regression, and support vector machine. The best performing classifier used the support vector machine approach. Our program (called
hdfinder
) presently has a prediction accuracy of 86%, as validated with CpG regions for which methylation status has been experimentally determined. Using
hdfinder
, we have depicted the entire genomic methylation patterns for all 22 human autosomes.
Conserved SOL-1 proteins regulate ionotropic glutamate receptor desensitization
Authors: Walker Craig S. , Francis Michael M. , Brockie Penelope J. , Madsen David M. , Zheng Yi , Maricq Andres V.
Published: July 2006

The neurotransmitter glutamate mediates excitatory synaptic transmission by activating ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs). InCaenorhabditis elegans, the GLR-1 receptor subunit is required for glutamate-gated current in a subset of interneurons that control avoidance behaviors. Current mediated by GLR-1-containing iGluRs depends on SOL-1, a transmembrane CUB-domain protein that immunoprecipitates with GLR-1. We have found that reconstitution of glutamate-gated current in heterologous cells depends on three proteins, STG-1 (aC. elegansstargazin-like protein), SOL-1, and GLR-1. Here, we use genetic and pharmacological perturbations along with rapid perfusion electrophysiological techniques to demonstrate that SOL-1 functions to slow the rate and limit the extent of receptor desensitization as well as to enhance the recovery from desensitization. We have also identified a SOL-1 homologue fromDrosophilaand show thatDroSOL1 has a conserved function in promotingC. elegansglutamate-gated currents. SOL-1 homologues may play critical roles in regulating glutamatergic neurotransmission in more complex nervous systems.
Igβ tyrosine residues contribute to the control of B cell receptor signaling by regulating receptor internalization
Authors: Gazumyan Anna , Reichlin Amy , Nussenzweig Michel C.
Published: July 2006

Immunoglobulin (Ig)α and Igβ initiate B cell receptor (BCR) signaling through immune receptor tyrosine activation motifs (ITAMs) that are targets of SH2 domain–containing kinases. To examine the function of Igβ ITAM tyrosine resides in mature B cells in vivo, we exchanged these residues for alanine by gene targeting (IgβAA). Mutant mice showed normal development of all B cell subtypes with the exception of B1 cells that were reduced by fivefold. However, primary B cells purified from IgβAA mice showed significantly decreased steady-state and ligand-mediated BCR internalization and higher levels of cell surface IgM and IgD. BCR cross-linking resulted in decreased Src and Syk activation but paradoxically enhanced and prolonged BCR signaling, as measured by cellular tyrosine phosphorylation, Ca++ flux, AKT, and ERK activation. In addition, B cells with the ITAM mutant receptor showed an enhanced response to a T-independent antigen. Thus, Igβ ITAM tyrosines help set BCR signaling threshold by regulating receptor internalization.
The Proximal Convoluted Tubule is a Target for the Uroguanylin‐regulated Natriuretic Response
Authors: Elitsur Noeet , Lorenz John N. , Hawkins Jennifer A. , Rudolph Jeffrey A. , Witte David , Yang Li E. , McDonough Alicia A. , Cohen Mitchell B.
Published: July 2006

Objectives and Methods:

Guanylin and uroguanylin are peptides synthesized in the intestine and kidney that are postulated to have both paracrine and endocrine functions, forming a potential enteric‐renal link to coordinate salt ingestion with natriuresis. To explore the in vivo role of guanylin and uroguanylin in the regulation of sodium excretion, we used gene‐targeted mice in which the uroguanylin, guanylin or the peptide receptor guanylate cyclase C gene expression had been ablated.

Results:

Metabolic balance studies demonstrated that there was impaired excretion of a sodium load in uroguanylin (but not in guanylin or guanylate cyclase C) knockout mice. Uroguanylin‐dependent natriuresis occurred without an increase in circulating prouroguanylin. A distinct morphological phenotype was present in the proximal convoluted tubules of uroguanylin knockout animals after an enteral salt loading. Marked vacuolization of the proximal convoluted tubule epithelial cells was observed by using light and electron microscopy. There was also a change in the distribution of the sodium hydrogen exchanger 3 (NHE3) after an enteral salt loading. In wild‐type animals, there was a partial redistribution of NHE3 from the villus fraction to the less accessible submicrovillus membrane compartment, but this effect was less apparent in uroguanylin knockout animals, presumably resulting in greater Na+/H+ exchange.

Conclusions:

Together, these findings further establish a role for uroguanylin in fluid homeostasis and support a role for uroguanylin as an integral component of a signaling mechanism that mediates changes in Na+ excretion in response to an enteral salt loading. Proximal tubular NHE3 activity is a possible target for uroguanylin‐mediated changes in Na+ excretion.
The RhoGAP crossveinless-c links trachealess and EGFR signaling to cell shape remodeling in Drosophila tracheal invagination
Authors: Brodu Véronique , Casanova Jordi
Published: July 2006

A major issue in morphogenesis is to understand how the activity of genes specifying cell fate affects cytoskeletal components that modify cell shape and induce cell movements. Here, we approach this question by investigating how a group of cells from an epithelial sheet initiate invagination to ultimately form the Drosophila tracheal tubes. We describe tracheal cell behavior at invagination and show that it is associated with, and requires, a distinct recruitment of Myosin II to the apical surface of cells at the invaginating edge. We show that this process is achieved by the activity of crossveinless-c, a gene coding for a RhoGAP and whose specific transcriptional activation in the tracheal cells is triggered by both the trachealess patterning gene and the EGF Receptor (EGFR) signaling pathway. Our results identify a developmental pathway linking cell fate genes and cell signaling pathways to intracellular modifications during tracheal cell invagination.
Aberrant maspin expression in human endometrial cancer
Authors: Murai Shinya , Maesawa Chihaya , Masuda Tomoyuki , Sugiyama Toru
Published: July 2006

Maspin, a mammary serine protease inhibitor, was originally reported as a tumor suppressor gene in breast cancer. The purpose of the present study was to examine maspin expression and evaluate its clinicopathological significance in endometrial cancer. We examined maspin expression immunohistochemically in 41 cases with endometrioid adenocarcinoma. DNA methylation status at the maspin promoter region was determined by the methylation‐specific polymerase chain reaction method. Aberrant maspin expression was observed in 27 (66%) of 41 endometrioid adenocarcinomas but not in normal endometrial glands. Maspin immunoreactivity of the tumor cells varied in incidence and density among tumors. Positive staining was correlated significantly with the presence of squamous differentiation (presence vs absence = 11/11 [100%] vs 16/30 [53%], P < 0.05), and nuclear subcellular localization of maspin protein was also significantly associated with squamous differentiation (nuclear positive vs nuclear negative = 6/11 [54%] vs 2/30 [6.7%], P < 0.05). An inverse correlation between their immunoreactivity and methylation status was observed (P < 0.01). Three of the four cell lines established from endometrioid adenocarcinomas overexpressed maspin mRNA and its protein product. In a maspin‐negative cell line, maspin expression was induced by treatment with 5‐aza‐2′‐deoxycytidine, a DNA demethylating agent. There was no significant correlation between maspin expression and any clinicopathlogical data. These findings suggest that maspin induced by DNA demethylation at the promoter region may contribute to squamous differentiation of tumor cells in endometrioid adenocarcinomas. (Cancer Sci 2006; 97: 883–888)
Interaction of enrofloxacin with breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP/ABCG2): influence of flavonoids and role in milk secretion in sheep
Authors: PULIDO MIVIS M. , MOLINA ANTONIO J. , MERINO GRACIA , MENDOZA GRACIA , PRIETO JULIO G. , ALVAREZ ANA I.
Published: July 2006

The ATP‐binding cassette (ABC) transporter breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP)/ABCG2 is a high‐capacity efflux transporter with wide substrate specificity located in apical membranes of epithelia, which is involved in drug availability. BCRP is responsible for the active secretion of clinically and toxicologically important substrates to milk. The present study shows BCRP expression in sheep and cow by immunoblotting with MAb (BXP‐53). Vanadate‐sensitive ATPase activity with specific BCRP substrates and inhibitors was measured in bovine mammary gland homogenates. To assess the role of BCRP in ruminant mammary gland we tested the fluoroquinolone enrofloxacin (ENRO). In polarized cell lines, ENRO was transported by Bcrp1/BCRP with secretory/absorptive ratios of 6.5 and 2 respectively. The efflux was blocked by the BCRP inhibitor Ko143. ENRO pharmacokinetics in plasma and milk was studied in sheep after co‐administration of drug (2.5 mg/kg, i.v.) and genistein (0.8 mg/kg, i.m.) or albendazole sulfoxide (2 mg/kg, i.v) as BCRP inhibitors. Concomitant administration of BCRP inhibitors with ENRO had no significant effect on the plasma disposition kinetics of ENRO but decreased ENRO concentrations in milk.
A highly conserved Sinorhizobium meliloti operon is induced microaerobically via the FixLJ system and by nitric oxide (NO) via NnrR
Authors: De Bruijn Frans J. , Rossbach Silvia , Bruand Claude , Parrish Jodi R.
Published: July 2006

Summary A previously generated collection of 11 Tn5‐luxAB insertion mutants of Sinorhizobium meliloti harbouring lux reporter gene fusions induced under microaerobic (1% O2) conditions was further characterized and mapped on the sequenced S. meliloti genome. One highly induced gene fusion from this collection (loe‐7) was found to be located in the intergenic region between sma1292, encoding a putative protease/collagenase, and a gene of unknown function (sma1294). The loe‐7 fusion had been shown previously to be partially controlled by the oxygen sensor/regulator FixLJ system, but significant (∼40%) Lux activity remained in a fixLJ mutant background. Therefore, a secondary Tn1721 mutagenesis of the loe‐7 strain was carried out. Nine Tn1721 (‘dark’) insertions completely abolishing the Lux activity of the loe‐7 fusion under microaerobic conditions were isolated. Surprisingly, five dark insertions mapped in denitrification genes [napA, napC, nirK– two insertions – and sma1245 encoding a NnrR‐like transcriptional regulator controlling denitrification in response to nitric oxide (NO)]; Tn1721 insertions in the respiration genes fixG and fixP resulted in a reduced expression of the loe‐7–lux fusion, and insertions in the regulatory genes fixJ and fixK1 resulted in low, but still detectable Lux activity. On the contrary, insertions in the norD or norQ genes resulted in constitutive Lux activity. In these mutant strains, NO would be expected to accumulate under microaerobic conditions. NO was found to be able to strongly induce the loe‐7–luxAB fusion under microaerobic and aerobic conditions, but only in the presence of the functional nnrR‐like gene (sma1245). These results suggest that NO, via the NnrR regulator, can serve as a signal molecule to induce the loe‐7–luxAB fusion in concert with the FixLJ system.
A Fiscal Price Tag for International Reserves*
Authors: Hauner David
Published: July 2006

This paper examines the (quasi‐)fiscal impact of the (opportunity) cost of international reserves. It proposes a conceptual framework, with particular emphasis on two hitherto somewhat neglected aspects: a more appropriate measure of gross opportunity cost, and potential savings from lower external debt spreads that countries ‘buy’ by holding reserves. The framework is then applied to 100 countries over 1990–2004. The results suggest that a turning point has been reached in recent years: while most countries made money on their reserves during 1990–2001, most have been losing money during 2002–04.
Plant Closings and the Community
Authors: Sheehan Michael F.
Published: July 2006

Abstract. Over the last 10 years, 10 million jobs have been lost and millions of dollars in capital rendered unproductive from plant closings in New England and the Upper Midwest. Some were weeded out by the discipline of the market but most were moving to cut labor costs and claim subsidies from governments seeking to expand local job opportunities. And some were using the threat of closing to exact concessions from labor and government. In some cases it is possible for municipal governments to buy or condemn the plant and operate it as a public enterprise; municipal operation is often more efficient and productive. Municipally owned and operated public enterprise should command serious consideration, as an option like cooperative ownership.
Challenges to the Ideal Property Tax
Authors: Reeb Donald J. , Tomson Louis R.
Published: July 2006

Abstract. In the 19th century state‐appointed tax revision commissions began to influence the reform of the property tax. By 1893, some 28 commissions had been appointed. Their remarkably similar calls for reform set the parameters for much of the academic research in the 20th century when this tax instrument was transformed from a local tax to a federal‐state‐local exaction. As now administered, the property tax is no longer a unified tax. Separate assessment criteria make it a tax on mines, utilities, business property, household personalty and on housing. The latter is modified in different ways by homestead exemption(41 states), circuit breakers (50 sates) and use of classified schedules (17 states). Along with unprofessional and inaccurate assessments as well as politicized assessment practices, this has changed the tax to a general title for disparate fiscal activities in the 68,000 jurisdictions that use the property tax.
‘Stagflation’: A Condition Created by Accelerated Demand Pull Inflation (Comment)
Authors: Martin Leonard W.
Published: July 2006

Abstract. F. B. MacFarland's unorthodox model of oligopolistic‐price leadership‐pricing as a trigger of inflationary recession and so stagflation is disputed. His claim is challenged that auto companies respond to a leftwardshifting demand curve by raising price as a maximizing application of markup pricing notwithstanding the numerous theorists' writings presumably combined in “a partial explanation of stagflation,”Chrysler left the General Motors' umbrella in 1973 and individual auto models were obviously priced consistently with the Robinsonian algorithm in 1974, Oligopoly as a source of cost‐push inflation or stagflation is acceptable only if oligopoly is growing; but between 1958 and 1980 effective competition grew in the U.S. economy. Stagflation results from repeated accelerations of demand‐pull inflation to reduce unemployment below its natural rate as the Phillips curve shifts rightward.
The Economy and Suicide:
Authors: Yang Bijou
Published: July 2006

Abstract. The suicide rate for the U.S.A. for the period of 1940–84 was posited to be the consequence of the interplay of economic and social variables. The single equation regression was applied to the suicide rates for the total population and for the four sex by race social groups. The results indicated that: (1) suicide rates did not increase during the economic booms and busts as predicted by Durkheim, and the change depended upon the social groups involved; (2) the unemployment rate had significant detrimental impact only on the white male suicide rate; (3) the female labor force participation rate had beneficial impact on both the white and non‐white female suicide rates; (4) the divorce rate was the only variable that had a consistent impact for all social groups; and (5) membership in the Catholic Church had a positive association with the suicide rates.
Seeking Institutionalist Signposts in The Work of Henry George
Authors: Horner James H.
Published: July 2006

Abstract. When one seeks institutionalist signposts in works published before the time of Thorstein Veblen, Henry George is often overlooked. This oversight on the part of institutionalists is understandable given George's emphasis on “natural laws,” individualism, religious teachings and his defense of the market system. Orthodox economists have also ignored these signposts as a result of their rejection of institutionalism. They have rejected George's work in general because of his attack on the economics profession and his challenge to the status quo. While George is usually not classified an institutionalist, there are, however, definite institutionalist signposts to be found in his work. George recognized the ceremonial and pecuniary nature of the economics profession and analyzed the institutional foundation of property. Furthermore, George was a social reformer and understood the discretionary and normative nature of the economy.
Work without Wages; the Motivation for Valunteer Firefighters
Authors: Thompson Alexander M. , Bono Barbara A.
Published: July 2006

Abstract. This is a theoretical and empirical exploration into the motivation of volunteer firefighters. After a brief discussion of methodology, the activities in which these volunteers engage are described and a theoretical model of volunteer motivation is presented. The central hypothesis is that individuals engage in voluntary activities to struggle against the pervasive alienating nature of productive activity in capitalist economies in an effort to achieve a greater degree of self actualization. This theoretical model is illustrated using data from a survey administered to 354 volunteer firefighters in Ulster County, New York. Lastly, the relationships between volunteer firefighting, alienation, and self‐actualization are empirically explored, focusing upon comparisons between individuals’ firefighting and career endeavors.
Mobility and Gender in a Segmented Labor Market: A Closer Look
Authors: Waddoups Jeffrey , Assane Djeto
Published: July 2006

Abstract. Male and female workers’ labor segment location and intersegment mobility processes are compared to assess the existence and nature of inequalities in the structure of labor market opportunity. Findings indicate significant differences in segment location, upward occupational mobility and opportunity structures across gender groups.
Unemployment and Property Crime: Not a Simple Relationship
Authors: Young Thomas J.
Published: July 2006

Abstract. While previous studies on the unemployment‐crime hypothesis have yielded equivocal results, here nonsignificant Pearson correlation coefficients were found for theft rates and the percentage of unemployed men and unemployed women for 20 nations. This raises additional cross‐cultural questions about the validity both of strain theories that predict positive correlations, and competing theories that predict negative correlations. Implications for research on the unemployment‐crime hypothesis are discussed.
A Biased Valuation: The Treatment of a Professional Degree in Divorce Actions
Authors: Raymond Richard
Published: July 2006

Abstract Over the past two decades, courts have unsuccessfully attempted to develop a consistent approach to the treatments of a professional degree in divorce actions. After reviewing the conceptual issues involved, a measurement method is suggested which would provide the fact finder with both an upper and a lower bound for the value of a degree. Hypothetical future income streams for average lawyers and physicians, and their spouses, are used to examine the impact of basing property settlements upon each of these bounds. It is argued that both equityand conceptual considerations support the conclusion that past decisions have very often inappropriately failed to consider the upper bound in valuing a degree in divorce settlements.
Single Mothers in Various Living Arrangements:
Authors: Folk Karen Fox
Published: July 2006

Abstract.

The economic status of single mothers with dependent children has recently been shown to vary greatly according to their living arrangements, a finding with implications for poverty policy and welfare reform. The economic and time resources of single mothers in various living arrangements were compared using the 1987 National Survey of Families and Households, Cohabitation is significantly related to increased income adequacy and lesser receipt of public assistance for white mothers, but not for black mothers. Living in the parent's home is significantly related to a reduced likelihood of receipt of public assistance for both white and black single mothers, but living with parents is related to lesser time demands in household work for only white single mothers. Differences in resource levels may be related to the finding that, among those living in the parental household, a large majority of white mothers live with two parents, while a majority of black mothers live with one parent.
Conflict Resolution Approaches
Authors: Abu‐Nimer Mohammed
Published: July 2006

Abstract.Conflict resolutionprocesses exist in every society. However, a comparison between Western and Middle Eastern procedures of dispute resolution processes reveals different assumptions underline each approach. The comparison is based on the analysis of two case studies, the firstcase studyis a description of dispute settlement process betweenChristiansandDruzein anArabvillage inIsrael(mediated byMuslims). The second case study describes a collaborative problem solving process implemented inCleveland, Ohio in a community racial conflict. Distinctive cultural and professional assumptions that underlie both intervention processes are identified. Also, it is noted that the third party roles and the main outcomes which were achieved in both cases were different. Two sets of principles and concepts, which can be applied interchangeably in both Middle Eastern and Western settings, and those which are unique to each context, are explored.
Economists’ Perceptions of Their Own Research
Authors: Davis William L.
Published: July 2006

Abstract This paper presents the results of a recently conducted survey of 1500 professional economists living in the United States and Canada. The study was undertaken in an attempt to ascertain professional economists’views of the worth and usefulness of their own scientific research. The response rate of the survey was 49 percent (734 respondents) yielding statistical results which suggest that economists do believe their research has some social value. Economists in this survey believe, however, that the spillover benefits from that research are not substantial and are probably limited to certain groups.
Dualism in the German Labor Market?A Nonparametric Analysis with Panel Data
Authors: Beck Matthias P.
Published: July 2006

Abstract.Orthodoxy in economics gives pride of place to the hypothesis of compensating differentials. Applied to job quality criteria, such as wage levels, job stability, and wage growth, the compensating differentials hypothesis implies that negative or positive job quality characteristics should—ceteris paribus—rarely coincide. Originating in the late 1960s from studies of American inner‐city labor markets, dualist labor market theory has raised doubts about this assumption. At its core, dualist analysis proposes that a dualism exists between a primary' labor market where “jobs possess several of the following traits: high wages, good working conditions, employment stability and job security, equity and due process in the administration of work, and chances for advancement” and a secondary market where jobs “tend to involve low wages, poor working conditions, considerable variability in employment, and little opportunity to advance” (Doeringer and Piore 1971). In the 1980s, there were several attempts to apply dual or segmented labor market theory to European economies, including the German labor market. The mixed findings of these analyses have cast doubt upon the transferability of dualist theory to these contexts.
Menger, Jevons, and Walras Un‐homogenized, De‐homogenized, and Homogenized: A Comment on Peart
Authors: Fontaine Philippe
Published: July 2006

Abstract. Response to Sandra J, Peart, “Jevons and Menger Re‐homogenized?: Jaffé After 20 Years,” 1998. The American Journal of Economics and Sociology 57(July): 307‐325.
More on the Cost of Being Other Than White and Male:
Authors: Durden Garey C. , Gaynor Patricia E.
Published: July 2006

ABSTRACT This article analyzes the estimated yearly earnings of white, black, and Hispanic males and white, black, and Hispanic females in order to determine two things: Whether white male earnings continue to exceed those of reference groups, and how the cost of being female (the gender effect) compares with the cost of being nonwhite (black or Hispanic). We find that white males earnings are still greater than those of other groups, but when earnings are adjusted for market related differences, most of the differentials for black and Hispanic (Mexican‐American, Puerto‐Rican) males disappear. Even after adjustment, however, a considerable portion of females earnings differentials remain unexplained. Gender effects are considerably larger than race or ethnic effects.
The Dialectics of White‐Collar Crime
Authors: Glasberg Davita Silfen , Skidmore Dan
Published: July 2006

AbstractTWO perspectives prevail in analyses of the savings and loan industry's crisis of the 1980s and early 1990s: on one hand are claims of individual fraud and greed; on the other are arguments focusing on organizational factors, particularly the deregulated environment in which lax or nonexistant oversight encouraged “collective embezzelment.” Both approaches rely on a narrow conceptualization of the concept of white‐collar crime that focuses on identification of the static dimensions that differentiate white‐collar crime from other crimes. We apply Schlegel and Weis‐burd's (1993) notion of white‐collar crime as more of an interactive process than a set of unique defining factors by combining a theoretical focus on the state's policy‐making process with an analysis of organizational and occupational crime to analyze the role the state may play in creating the structural environment facilitating those behaviors. We analyze the case of Silverado Banking, Savings and Loan Association to examine the behavioral effects of implementing a state policy of deregulation. The case suggests that state policy may not only regulate and restrict behavior, but actually contain defeating incentives that create corporate behaviors contradicting the policy's intention. This points to the limitation of state theory in its focus on de jure policy creation as opposed to de facto policy implementation and its behavioral and structural consequences. Finally, we suggest that organizational crimes may result not only from circumventing or violating laws that must be enforced; they may also derive from contradictions contained in the policies of state projects themselves. As such, organizational crimes and deviant behavior may be better understood as unintended consequences of the dialectics of state projects.
Efficient Markets, Fundamentals, and Crashes
Authors: Spotton Brenda , Rowley Robin
Published: July 2006

Abstract.Economists have struggled to characterize and model the dynamic evolution of economic phenomena throughout this century. For at least eight decades, American economists have faced the persistent choice between structural or formal models of evolving dynamics and those alternative portrayals that focused on historical narratives or qualitative features. In this article we compare the models and methods used by representative authors who have sought to address the swings in stock prices. Our rather terse comparison between the orthodox theorists and those we label heterodox demonstrates the wide divergence between the foci of approaches adopted. Their methods, conclusions, and implications differ markedly. Where the orthodox approaches focus all but exclusively on statistical issues, the heterodox group stresses the importance of incomplete information and markets in an institutional and historical context. Such fundamental differences prohibit any meaningful dialogue between proponents of the two basic approaches. Moreover, substantial deficiencies–technical and otherwise–of contributions within the two groups limit ability to discriminate between rival views within each group. The clearer identification of transparent roles for credit, technology, and institutions in the heterodox approaches, however, makes the awkward translation from theoretical model to social commentary much easier.
Real Estate as Institutional Fact: Towards A Philosophy of Everyday Objects
Authors: Zaibert L. A.
Published: July 2006

Abstract. Rigorous tools which are well known to philosophers can be put to use in the analyses of many concepts pertaining to social reality. This paper attempts to apply the distinction between brute and institutional facts advanced by John Searle to the analysis of property rights over land. It might be commonplace to suggest that all rights are entities whose existence is an institutional fact, i.e., it is the result of human conventions. In the case of property rights, it is not merely at this level that institutional reality confronts us. The object over which the property right falls, a land parcel, is itself an entity whose existence is an institutional fact. This doubly institutional character of property rights makes it easier to see that property rights over land have many important differences with other sorts of property rights. Of course, some of these differences have been pointed out before, say, by appealing to the seminal distinction between movables and immovables, but never with the rigor or the justification that I attempt here. As a result of taking seriously the nature of the object over which the right falls, we can see that property rights over land have more in common with other sorts of relationships, such as political conceptions of sovereignty, than with other forms of property rights. Real estate is just one of a myriad of social objects that we encounter every day. The ontology developed here is but one example of how philosophical analysis of everyday objects enriches our understanding of the social world, and offers us tools for clearer, practical treatment of these objects.
State and Local Electric Utility Taxes:
Authors: Howe Edward T. , Reeb Donald J.
Published: July 2006

ABSTRACT Competitive forces emerging nationally across the electric utility sector as a result of actual and anticipated deregulatory activity have forced the industry, various governmental units, and the general public to consider a number of important issues. One major concern is the extent to which state and local taxes imposed on the major investor‐owned firms, traditionally embedded in regulated rates, will affect their competitive position relative to challenges from nonregulated competitors offering intrastate or interstate electricity sales. The most likely trend is tax revenue reduction accompanied by some efforts at revenue neutrality, as investor‐owned firms lose their monopoly status in a more market‐oriented environment and compete with smaller finns with relatively lower cost structures. The trend will also include customer‐based taxation shifting the burden from the providers of electricity to the customers, with the providers remaining as tax collectors.
Social Networks and Prestige Attainment
Authors: Davern Michael
Published: July 2006

AbstractSeveral hypotheses are derived that relate social networks to the occupational prestige attainment process. These hypotheses are evaluated using theoretically derived indicators and ordinary least squares regression. Most of the hypotheses considered in this paper do not receive support, and the one hypothesis that does lacks a consistent theoretical explanation. From this analysis, I draw two important conclusions: First, the relationship between the prestige of a social network contact and prestige attainment may be empirically strong, but the theoretical explanation linking them lacks consistency. Secondly, empirical work performed to test social network theories should no longer focus on dyadic‐data alone. The broader implications of these conclusions for future research are considered.
The Consumption of Music and the Expression of VALUES
Authors: Dolfsma Wilfred
Published: July 2006

AbstractBy consuming pop music, people want to express who they are, to which group they belong, what their identity is, People's identity, however and contrary to what many believe, is not strictly individual. Instead, people's identity is highly social and draws on the socio‐cultural values (what I here propose to call VALUES) in society ‐ VALUES that become‘objectified’or institutionalized and may thus be communicated to others. If such institutionalized socio‐cultural values are not conceptualized, and if one is not able to understand how institutions work in signaling people's identity, one is not able to explain a phenomenon such as the advent of pop music. In this paper, I apply and develop ideas taken from institutional and social economics, to understand the consumption of a symbolic good such as pop music.
Islamic Law and Society Post-9/11
Authors: Hirsch Susan F.
Published: July 2006

▪ Abstract  After the events of September 11, 2001, scholars rushed to contribute to the growing public debate about religion and political violence, including to counter stereotypic depictions of Islamic law and to raise questions about its role in the social and political life of Muslim and non-Muslim nations. The same period also witnessed the publication of much scholarship on Muslim personal or family law. This review focuses on these works and highlights their sophisticated theoretical treatments of social theory in critical areas, such as the interaction of normative orders, constructions and intersections of identity, human agency in the legal process, law reform and social movements, state uses of law, and the challenges facing globalizing societies. These theories provide grounding for scholars, activists, and policymakers in addressing the pressing issues emerging after 9/11.
PHA-680632, a Novel Aurora Kinase Inhibitor with Potent Antitumoral Activity
Authors: Soncini Chiara , Carpinelli Patrizia , Gianellini Laura , Fancelli Daniele , Vianello Paola , Rusconi Luisa , Storici Paola , Zugnoni Paola , Pesenti Enrico , Croci Valter , Ceruti Roberta , Giorgini Maria Laura , Cappella Paolo , Ballinari Dario , Sola Francesco , Varasi Mario , Bravo Rodrigo , Moll Jürgen
Published: July 2006

Purpose: Aurora kinases play critical roles during mitosis in chromosome segregation and cell division. The aim of this study was to determine the preclinical profile of a novel, highly selective Aurora kinase inhibitor, PHA-680632, as a candidate for anticancer therapy.

Experimental Design: The activity of PHA-680632 was assayed in a biochemical ATP competitive kinase assay. A wide panel of cell lines was evaluated for antiproliferative activity. Cell cycle analysis. Immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, and Array Scan were used to follow mechanism of action and biomarker modulation. Specific knockdown of the targets by small interfering RNA was followed to validate the observed phenotypes. Efficacy was determined in different xenograft models and in a transgenic animal model of breast cancer.

Results: PHA-680632 is active on a wide range of cancer cell lines and shows significant tumor growth inhibition in different animal tumor models at well-tolerated doses. The mechanism of action of PHA-680632 is in agreement with inhibition of Aurora kinases. Histone H3 phosphorylation in Ser10 is mediated by Aurora B kinase, and our kinetic studies on its inhibition by PHA-680632 in vitro and in vivo show that phosphorylation of histone H3 is a good biomarker to follow activity of PHA-680632.

Conclusions: PHA-680632 is the first representative of a new class of Aurora inhibitors with a high potential for further development as an anticancer therapeutic. On treatment, different cell lines respond differentially, suggesting the absence of critical cell cycle checkpoints that could be the basis for a favorable therapeutic window.
Modification of Summertime Arctic Cloud Characteristics between a Coastal and Inland Site
Authors: Doran J. C. , Barnard J. C. , Shaw W. J.
Published: July 2006

Cloud characteristics at two sites on the North Slope of Alaska separated by ∼100 km have been examined for the warmer months of 2001–03 using data collected from microwave radiometers, ceilometers, rotating shadowband radiometers, and pyranometers. Clouds at the inland site, Atqasuk, were found to have approximately 26% greater optical depths than those at the coastal site, Barrow, and the ratio of measured irradiance to clear-sky irradiance was nearly 20% larger at Barrow under cloudy conditions. It is hypothesized that a significant factor contributing to these differences is the upward fluxes of heat and water vapor over the wet tundra and lakes. Support for this hypothesis is found from the behavior of the liquid water paths for low clouds, which tend to be higher at Atqasuk than at Barrow for onshore winds but not for offshore ones, from differences in sensible heat fluxes, which are small but significant over the tundra but are nearly zero over the ocean adjacent to Barrow, and from the mixing ratios, which are significantly higher at Atqasuk than at Barrow. Results from a simple model further indicate that latent heat fluxes over the tundra and lakes can account for a significant fraction of the differences in the estimated boundary layer water content between Barrow and Atqasuk.
Does Model Sensitivity to Changes in CO2 Provide a Measure of Sensitivity to Other Forcings?
Authors: Sokolov Andrei P.
Published: July 2006

Simulation of both the climate of the twentieth century and a future climate change requires taking into account numerous forcings, while climate sensitivities of general circulation models are defined as the equilibrium surface warming due to a doubling of atmospheric CO2 concentration. A number of simulations with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) climate model of intermediate complexity with different forcings have been carried out to study to what extent sensitivity to changes in CO2 concentration (SCO2) represent sensitivities to other forcings.

The MIT model, similar to other models, shows a strong dependency of the simulated surface warming on the vertical structure of the imposed forcing. This dependency is a result of “semidirect” effects in the simulations with localized tropospheric heating. A method for estimating semidirect effects associated with different feedback mechanisms is presented. It is shown that forcing that includes these effects is a better measure of expected surface warming than a forcing that accounts for stratospheric adjustment only.

Simulations with the versions of the MIT model with different strengths of cloud feedback show that, for the range of sensitivities produced by existing GCMs, SCO2 provides a good measure of the model sensitivity to other forcings. In the case of strong cloud feedback, sensitivity to the increase in CO2 concentration overestimates model sensitivity to both negative forcings, leading to the cooling of the surface and “black carbon”–like forcings with elevated heating. This is explained by the cloud feedback being less efficient in the case of increasing sea ice extent and snow cover or by the above-mentioned semidirect effects, which are absent in the CO2 simulations, respectively.
Trinuclear Complexes Containing Incomplete Cubane CoIII3O4 Cores. Structures of the Isomers of the N-(2-Pyridylmethyl)glycinato Complex
Authors: Ama Tomoharu , Yonemura Toshiaki , Yamaguchi Masayoshi
Published: July 2006

Two isomers of N-(2-pyridylmethyl)glycinatocobalt(III) complexes containing incomplete cubane Co3O4 cores, [Co3(pg)3(μ3-O)(μ-OH)3]+, were isolated and their structures were determined by the X-ray diffraction method. While the trinuclear structure of one of the two isomers was stabilized by three inter-ligand N–H···O hydrogen bonds, that of the other was stabilized by two N–H···O hydrogen bonds and one inter-ligand pyridyl–pyridyl stacking interaction.
Profit, Supply, and Factor Demand Functions
Authors: Lau Lawrence J. , Yotopoulos Pan A.
Published: July 2006

The concept of the profit function provides an alternative approach to the analysis of production. First, a brief exposition of the theory of profit function is presented. Then the profit function and the factor demand functions are formulated within the Cobb‐Douglas framework. A statiscal test is devised for testing the hypothesis of constant returns to scale in all factors on the profit function. As an application, both the profit and the factor demand function are estimated jointly, using data from Indian agriculture.
Present Status of Quantitative Techniques in Undergraduate Agricultural Economics Programs
Authors: Jones Lonnie L. , Lard Curtis F. , Manderscheid Lester V.
Published: July 2006

Undergraduate training in quantitative analysis has undergone considerable change in recent years. Attempts have been made to raise the level of mathematical and statistical sophistication of agricultural economics undergraduate majors. However, in most undergraduate programs computer technology and econometric modeling are still relatively underutilized teaching and learning devices.
Undergraduate Program Revision at Kansas State University
Authors: Sjo John , Orazem Frank , Biere Arlo
Published: July 2006

This article reports the Kansas State experience in extensive revision of its undergraduate educational program. Revision was based on student, faculty, alumni, and employer participation. The new curriculum gives new emphasis to behavioral sciences and analytical techniques which better prepare students for agribusiness jobs.
Cost‐Benefit Analysis of Irrigation Projects in Northeastern Brazil
Authors: Cline William R.
Published: July 2006

Cost‐benefit analysis using empirical estimation of labor's shadow price and linear programming for crop selection is applied to major proposed irrigation projects for Brazil's Northeast. Over half the project area is approved. However, these capital intensive projects should rank below investments with similar rates of return but larger employment effects.
An Economic Evaluation of Nitrogen Fertilization of Grasses When Carry‐over is Significant
Authors: Stauber M. S. , Burt Oscar R. , Linse Fred
Published: July 2006

An economic model is developed to determine optimal nitrogen fertilization policies for seeded grasses in semiarid regions where nitrogen carry‐over is significant. The problem is cast in the framework of stochastic dynamic programming and an application of the model is made at two sites in the Nothern Great Plains. A new statistical method was used to estimate carry‐over nitrogen and the forage yield‐response function simultaneously. Nitrogen carry‐over was estimated implicitly through yield response without direct measurements of nitrogen.