bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Well, Does Leviathan…?
Authors: Robertson David
Published: January 2009

In the October 1973 issue of this Journal, John Orbell and Brent Rutherford published an article which sought to test the central thesis of Hobbes’ Leviathan. Although I shall try to show that as a piece of research it was fatally flawed, the authors deserve acclaim for their boldness, and for showing the way back to serious comparative government research in the Aristotelian manner. To test the basic principles of constitutions against the claims made for them is so obviously worthwhile that it is inexplicable and sad that their article stands virtually alone. In part its rarity reflects the unspoken assumption in modern political science that, after the behavioural revolution, anyone taking constitutions seriously was bound to be returning to the discredited legalism of the past. This overreaction has had its worst excess in political theory, for we seem all to have forgotten that political theory used to be an attempt to devise constitutional frameworks within which human nature would be led to produce the good life. As a theorist I hope we will return to that, and as an empirical researcher I hope we take up Orbell and Rutherford's lead and start to test such general constitutional claims. There are plenty of examples to go on with, starting perhaps with the claim that the United States Constitution is apt to ‘establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty’.
Continuity and Change in the Irish Political Elite: A Comment on the 1973 Elections
Authors: Cohan A. S.
Published: January 2009

In a recent article in this Journal several conclusions concerning career patterns in the Irish political elite were drawn A.S. Cohan, ‘Career Patterns in the Irish Political Elite’, II (1972), 213–28. First, the revolutionary generation was shown to have effectively passed from the political scene. This was bound to happen with the passage of so many years since the war for independence. Second, the local orientation of the members of the Dail was shown to be very important even if TDs were members of the political elite, i.e., the Government. Third, with regard to a point discussed elsewhere but relevant to the above, the family connections of members of the elite were shown to be particularly important to their careers. The results of the parliamentary election of 28 February 1973 and of the presidential election of 31 May 1973 have in no way altered these conclusions.
The Scientific Status of Political Science: A Note on the Oedipus Effect
Authors: Sorzano J. S.
Published: January 2009

Ian Budge 'A Comment on Self-fulfilling and Self-defeating Predictions’, in this Journal, III (1973), 249–50 attempted to show that, despite objections to the contrary, enduring generalizations about political behaviour can be made even while acknowledging the existence of what Sir Karl Popper has called the ‘Oedipus effect’. Interestingly, Budge proceeds, not by questioning whether change in the level of information leads to change in patterns of behaviour, but by showing that under present conditions the amount of information possessed by the vast majority of the population is sufficiently low to preclude marked alterations of behaviour. A critic, however, might point out that Budge's line of argument leaves open the possibility that future changes in the level and accuracy of the information held by the population will lead them to alter their behaviour and that, consequently, the objection has not really been met. The imaginary critic's response highlights the difficulty of dealing with the so-called Oedipus effect when we proceed from the prevailing approach to the study of politics. I wish to indicate why this may be so, and to suggest a possible solution.
The Child's Conception of the Queen and the Prime Minister
Authors: Greenstein Fred I. , Herman Valentine , Stradling Robert N. , Zureik Elia
Published: January 2009

What difference does it make that Britain has a monarch? ‘Some political scientists,’ as Edward Shils and Michael Young remarked at the time of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, ‘tend to speak as if Britain is now an odd kind of republic which happens to have as its chief functionary a Queen instead of a President’.2 Shils and Young felt that the intensity of public interest in the coronation quite clearly belied such a commonsense and demystified interpretation of British politics. Two decades later, signs of lively interest in the monarch still abound, as do the many royal activities that sustain that interest: the investiture of the Prince of Wales, the BBC film of the Royal Family, the London walkabout of the Royal Family, the engagement and wedding of Princess Anne. Even controversies over such matters as the size of the Civil List appear to enhance interest in the monarchy. Yet in this era of empirical political studies there has been little systematic analysis of the impact of the monarchy on Britain. The evidence is especially weak about the impact of what Bagehot considered to be the monarchy's most important function — not the occasional and subtle royal initiatives at
Review Article: The Fiery Chariot: British Prime Ministers and the Search for Love
Authors: Berrington Hugh
Published: January 2009

'Life is all opposites, and a child born with a silver spoon may have to swallow many spoonfuls of bitterness.’ (The childhood nurse of Sir Henry Page Croft MP, quoted in My Life of Strife by Sir Henry Page Croft — later Lord Croft.)
The Constraining of the President: the Presidency After Watergate
Authors: Neustadt Richard E.
Published: January 2009

The White House was once – and will be again – a great place for a young man to work. I did it myself and have never been sorry. Fate was kind and my age was right: it was Harry Truman's White House and I worked for Charlie Murphy – Charles S. Murphy, to give him his due. He was the President's Special Counsel, successor to Clark Clifford in that post and one of Truman's senior aides. Working for Murphy and with him for the President was a fine experience, as unlike Egil Krogh's or Gordon Strachan's as day from night. What made it so is illustrated by a story. And this story is a starting point for looking at the presidency now, by light of Watergate.
Strategic Hypocrisy: The British Imperial Scripting of Tibet's Geopolitical Identity
Authors: Anand Dibyesh
Published: January 2009

The protests in and around Tibet in 2008 show that Tibet's status within China remains unsettled. The West is not an outsider to the Tibet question, which is defined primarily in terms of the debate over the status of Tibet vis-à-vis China. Tibet's modern geopolitical identity has been scripted by British imperialism. The changing dynamics of British imperial interests in India affected the emergence of Tibet as a (non)modern geopolitical entity. The most significant aspect of the British imperialist policy practiced in the first half of the twentieth century was the formula of “Chinese suzerainty/Tibetan autonomy.” This strategic hypocrisy, while nurturing an ambiguity in Tibet's status, culminated in the victory of a Western idea of sovereignty. It was China, not Tibet, that found the sovereignty talk most useful. The paper emphasizes the world-constructing role of contesting representations and challenges the divide between the political and the cultural, the imperial and the imaginative.
Mimicry, Masculinity, and the Mystique of Indian English: Western India, 1870–1900
Authors: Chandra Shefali
Published: January 2009

This article describes the manner in which the English language took root in modern India. It does so by using gender as the unit of analysis. Building a feminist analysis on the symbolic role of culture, the author traces the history of English education in Bombay and Poona. The rise of English as the language of power in the nineteenth century was actively enabled—and further legitimated—by the patriarchal interests of Indian class and caste formation. The author analyzes English- and Marathi-language memoirs, school reports, debates in the “native” press on the content of the English education curriculum, and other cultural productions by men and women detailing their experiences and opinions of English education. Based on those sources, the author demonstrates that upper-caste masculine authority came to be yoked to the charisma of colonial English and, with that, subtly coded the English language as masculine. Consequently, the power of Indian English emerged from its ability to evade charges of cultural mimicry for certain classes, to organize native gender difference, and to express and orient (hetero)sexual desire.
Life as Form: How Biomimesis Encountered Buddhism in Lu Xun
Authors: Liu Lydia H.
Published: January 2009

The fraught encounters between biological sciences and religions such as Buddhism have raised philosophical issues for many. This essay will focus on one of them: Can form ground the truth of life? The author suggests that, along with the introduction of evolutionary biology from Europe, literary realism in China has emerged as a technology of biomimesis, among other such technologies, to grapple with the problem of “life as form.” Focusing on Lu Xun's early interest in Ernst Haeckel and science fiction, especially his translation of “Technique for Creating Humans” and his narrative fiction “Prayers for Blessing,” which drew extensively on a Buddhist avadāna, the essay seeks to throw some new light on the familiar as well as unfamiliar sources relating to Lu Xun's life and works and to develop a new understanding of how the debates on science and metaphysics have developed in modern China.
The Chimera of Privacy: Reading Self-Discipline in Japanese Diaries from the Second World War (1937–1945)
Authors: Moore Aaron William
Published: January 2009

This article has two main goals for its examination of wartime diaries: (1) to argue against the idea that a diary's reliability is directly related to the degree of privacy that its author enjoyed, and (2) to suggest an alternate use for these texts by scholars—namely, the construction of the author's concept of self through acts of “self-discipline.” The article briefly outlines military diary writing and reportage in modern Japan, showing how “fact” and “truth” came to be understood in diaries. Through an examination of published and manuscript diaries, the article addresses theoretical premises such as “intended audience,” “private language,” and the nature of “privacy” itself. Finally, the article provides an alternative reading of diaries: The texts represent the author's attempt to construct a compelling and coherent subject position. Because diarists are involved in the construction of their identities, the article suggests that scholars use diaries to move beyond examinations of subjectivity solely reliant on disciplinary institutions.
Differential frontal–striatal and paralimbic activity during reversal learning in major depressive disorder and obsessive–compulsive disorder
Authors: Remijnse P. L. , Nielen M. M. A. , van Balkom A. J. L. M. , Hendriks G.-J. , Hoogendijk W. J. , Uylings H. B. M. , Veltman D. J.
Published: January 2009

Background

Several lines of research suggest a disturbance of reversal learning (reward and punishment processing, and affective switching) in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is also characterized by abnormal reversal learning, and is often co-morbid with MDD. However, neurobiological distinctions between the disorders are unclear. Functional neuroimaging (activation) studies comparing MDD and OCD directly are lacking.

Method

Twenty non-medicated OCD-free patients with MDD, 20 non-medicated MDD-free patients with OCD, and 27 healthy controls performed a self-paced reversal learning task in an event-related design during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Results

Compared with healthy controls, both MDD and OCD patients displayed prolonged mean reaction times (RTs) but normal accuracy. In MDD subjects, mean RTs were correlated with disease severity. Imaging results showed MDD-specific hyperactivity in the anterior insula during punishment processing and in the putamen during reward processing. Moreover, blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) responses in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the anterior PFC during affective switching showed a linear decrease across controls, MDD and OCD. Finally, the OCD group showed blunted responsiveness of the orbitofrontal (OFC)–striatal loop during reward, and in the OFC and anterior insula during affective switching.

Conclusions

This study shows frontal–striatal and (para)limbic functional abnormalities during reversal learning in MDD, in the context of generic psychomotor slowing. These data converge with currently influential models on the neuropathophysiology of MDD. Moreover, this study reports differential neural patterns in frontal–striatal and paralimbic structures on this task between MDD and OCD, confirming previous findings regarding the neural correlates of deficient reversal learning in OCD.
Effects of induced anger in patients with antisocial personality disorder
Authors: Lobbestael J. , Arntz A. , Cima M. , Chakhssi F.
Published: January 2009

Background

Anger is the main deregulated emotion in patients with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). The aim of this study was to examine emotional, cognitive and physiological correlates of anger and compare these between ASPD patients with varying degree of psychopathy (PP) and control groups.

Method

Assessment of the effect of anger induction on self-reported emotions and schema modes, psychophysiology and implicit reaction-time tasks measuring self-anger and aggressor–swearword associations. Participants (n=147) were patients with DSM-IV antisocial (n=21), borderline (n=45) and cluster C personality disorder (n=46) and non-patient controls (n=35).

Results

Groups did not differ in self-reported anger. ASPD patients displayed a decrease in heart rate and systolic blood pressure (SBP) and stronger implicit self-anger associations. ASPD patients scoring low on affective PP reported less negative emotions and displayed a greater decrease in diastolic blood pressure (DBP).

Conclusions

ASPD patients did not display a deviant self-reported anger but physiological hyporesponsivity and cognitive hyper-responsivity. This ASPD anger response might reflect a controlled predatory-like fight preparation.
Two sequential outbreaks in two villages illustrate the various modes of transmission of cholera
Authors: DAS A. , MANICKAM P. , HUTIN Y. , PATTANAIK B. , PAL B. B. , CHHOTRAY G. P. , KAR S. K. , GUPTE M. D.
Published: January 2009

We investigated two sequential outbreaks of severe diarrhoea in two neighbouring villages of Orissa, in 2005. We conducted descriptive and matched case-control studies. The attack rates were 5·6% (n=62) and 5·2% (n=51), respectively, in the first and second villages. One death was reported in the second village (case fatality 2%). We identified that consumption of milk products prepared in the household of the index case [matched odds ratio (mOR) 5·7, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1·7–30] in the first village, and drinking well water in the second village were associated with the illness (mOR 4·7, 95% CI 1·6–19). We isolated Vibrio cholerae El Tor O1 Ogawa from stool samples from both the villages. Mishandling of milk products led to a cholera outbreak in the first village, which led to sewerage contamination of a well and another outbreak in the second village. Environmental contamination should be expected and prevented during cholera outbreaks.
Variable payout annuities and dynamic portfolio choice in retirement
Authors: HORNEFF WOLFRAM J. , MAURER RAIMOND H. , MITCHELL OLIVIA S. , STAMOS MICHAEL Z.
Published: January 2009

Many retirees hope to continue earning capital market rewards on their saving while avoiding outliving their funds during retirement. We model a dynamic utility maximizing investor who seeks to benefit from holding both equity and longevity insurance. She is free to adjust her portfolio allocation of her financial wealth as well as of the annuity over time, and she can purchase variable payout annuities any time and incrementally. In this setting, we show that the retiree will not fully annuitize even without bequests; rather, she will combine variable annuities with withdrawals from her liquid financial wealth so as to match her desired consumption profile. Optimal stock exposures decrease over time, both within the variable annuity and the withdrawal plan. Welfare gains from this strategy can amount to 40% of financial wealth, depending on risk parameters and other resources; additionally, many retirees will do almost as well as the fully optimized outcome if they hold variable annuities invested 60/40 in stocks/bonds.
The repeal of the retirement earnings test and the labor supply of older men
Authors: ENGELHARDT GARY V. , KUMAR ANIL
Published: January 2009

This paper examines the impact of the Senior Citizens Freedom to Work Act of 2000, which abolished the Social Security retirement earnings test for those aged 65–69, on the labor supply of older men using data from the 1996–2004 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). We use the fine structure of the 2000 Act to develop a new measure of exposure to the earnings test that varies across calendar years both by month and year of birth. We find that much, if not all, of the labor-supply response occurred for sub-groups of men who, either because of high mortality risk, high rates of pure time preference, or liquidity constraints, may have found the actuarial adjustment built into the earnings test relatively disadvantageous, particularly the lesser educated.
Public pension systems and distortions of intra-EU mobility: the Lodge Test
Authors: FENGE ROBERT , VON WEIZSÄCKER JAKOB
Published: January 2009

In this paper, we analyse how national public pension systems can distort intra-EU movements of workers despite the existing totalization/proratization agreement. As a benchmark test, we propose the ‘Lodge Test’ of mobility neutrality: Two identical individuals who swap countries and jobs should receive the same pension claims in either of the two pension systems compared to a situation where each would have stayed at home. Using the Lodge Test, we identify those features of national pension formulae that are systematically mobility distorting and discuss possible remedies.
The impact of private participation and countervailing information on disability costs: evidence from Chile
Authors: JAMES ESTELLE , EDWARDS ALEJANDRA COX , IGLESIAS AUGUSTO
Published: January 2009

Many social security systems face high and escalating disability costs. In Chile's new system, the disability assessment procedure includes participation by private pension funds (AFPs) and insurance companies, who finance the benefit, have a direct pecuniary interest in controlling costs and are able to pursue this objective by helping to set criteria and providing countervailing information. We hypothesize that these procedures and incentives will keep costs low, by cutting the incidence of successful claims. Using the Cox proportional hazard model and a retrospective sample of new and old-system affiliates (EPS, 2002), we find that disability hazard rates are only 20–35% as high in the new system as in the old traditional system. Analysis of mortality rates suggests that the new system has accurately targeted individuals with more severe medical problems.
Compassion Campaigns and Antigay Politics: What Would Arendt Do?
Authors: Burack Cynthia
Published: January 2009

Compassionate conservatism is usually dismissed on the American political left as an empty slogan intended to mystify the real roots and aspirations of conservative politics. However, conservative Christian organizations and churches now conduct well-coordinated compassion campaigns on contested social issues such as sexual and reproductive rights. Through compassion campaigns, the Christian right also disseminates particular forms of political pedagogy regarding sexuality and compassion for followers who are subject to the movement's influence. Here, I turn to Hannah Arendt to analyze the politics of compassion at work in the ex-gay movement and in antiabortion projects such as Silent No More. This article presents evidence for a turn to compassionate pedagogies on the Christian right, analyzes these projects, and suggests ways that Arendt's political thought can inform our readings of conservative Christian compassionate discourse and political practices.
Change point method for detecting regime shifts in paleoclimatic time series: Application to δ18O time series of the Plio‐Pleistocene
Authors: Ruggieri Eric , Herbert Tim , Lawrence Kira T. , Lawrence Charles E.
Published: January 2009

Although different paleoenvironmental time series resolve past climatic change at different time scales, nearly all share one characteristic: they are nonstationary over the length of the record sampled. We describe a recursive dynamic programming change point algorithm that is well suited to identify shifts in the Earth system's variability, as it represents a nonstationary time series as a series of regimes, each of which is homogeneous. The algorithm fits the data by minimizing squared errors not only over the parameters of the models for each subsequence but also over an arbitrary number of boundary points without restrictions on the lengths of regimes. The versatility of the algorithm is illustrated by an application to 5 Ma of Plio‐Pleisotcene δ18O variations. We seek to identify either the single dominant “Milankovitch” frequency or linear combinations of frequencies and consistently identify changes ∼780 ka and ∼2.7 Ma, among others, in each analysis done. Our applications also provide support to the recent hypothesis that obliquity‐based Milankovitch terms can account for the circa 100 ka cycle that empirically dominates the most recent 1 million years.
Effect of mantle compressibility on the thermal and flow structures of the subduction zones
Authors: Lee Changyeol , King Scott D.
Published: January 2009

The heat generated by viscous dissipation is consistently evaluated using a 2‐D compressible subduction model with variations of mantle rheology (constant as well as pressure and temperature dependent viscosity), dip, age, and velocity of the subducting slab. For comparison, we also conduct 2‐D incompressible subduction calculations with the same conditions and parameters used in the compressible formulation. The effect of compressibility on the thermal and flow structures of the subduction zones is relatively small and concentrated along the base of the mantle wedge, with temperature differences <100°C and differences in kinematic energy of the mantle wedge <1% between compressible and incompressible models. Mantle rheology has a stronger effect on thermal and flow structures than mantle compressibility as well as the variations of dip, age, and velocity of the subducting slab. The heat from viscous dissipation in the compressible model increases the slab temperatures over the incompressible model (<70°C), as a result of additional conduction across the slab surface (constant viscosity) and thinning of the thermal boundary layer caused by viscosity reduction (pressure‐ and temperature‐dependent viscosity).
Wintertime observations of Subtropical Mode Water formation within the Gulf Stream
Authors: Joyce Terrence M. , Thomas Leif N. , Bahr Frank
Published: January 2009

We study the structure of Subtropical Mode Water (STMW) within the eastward‐flowing Gulf Stream as it forms during strong winter cooling. Shipboard observations using SeaSoar and ADCP reveal that while active mixing by gravitational instabilities is common, large vertical and lateral shears of the Gulf Stream play a central role in determination of the modes of active mixing. Evidence is presented that low static stability and large vertical shear can combine to cause slantwise convection/symmetric instabilities, while the large anticyclonic shears to the south of the Gulf Stream core can cause low absolute vorticity and precondition the Ertel potential vorticity to be small and more susceptible to instabilities. The area of active mixing driven by surface forcing in the presences of shear occupies a swath 50–90 km wide immediately south of the Gulf Stream core at the northern edge of the Sargasso Sea.
Effects of sulfuric acid and ammonium sulfate coatings on the ice nucleation properties of kaolinite particles
Authors: Eastwood Michael L. , Cremel Sebastien , Wheeler Michael , Murray Benjamin J. , Girard Eric , Bertram Allan K.
Published: January 2009

The onset conditions for ice nucleation on H2SO4 coated, (NH4)2SO4 coated, and uncoated kaolinite particles at temperatures ranging from 233 to 246 K were studied. We define the onset conditions as the relative humidity and temperature at which the first ice nucleation event was observed. Uncoated particles were excellent ice nuclei; the onset relative humidity with respect to ice (RHi) was below 110% at all temperatures studied, consistent with previous measurements. H2SO4 coatings, however, drastically altered the ice nucleating ability of kaolinite particles, increasing the RHi required for ice nucleation by approximately 30%, similar to the recent measurements by Möhler et al. [2008b]. (NH4)2SO4 coated particles were poor ice nuclei at 245 K, but effective ice nuclei at 236 K. The differences between H2SO4 and (NH4)2SO4 coatings may be explained by the deliquescence and efflorescence properties of (NH4)2SO4. These results support the idea that emissions of SO2 and NH3 may influence the ice nucleating properties of mineral dust particles.
Assessing the regional variability of GCM simulations
Authors: Cai Ximing , Wang Dingbao , Zhu Tingju , Ringler Claudia
Published: January 2009

While General Circulation Models (GCM) generally converge well at the global level, results for individual regions usually show a wide range of variation. This study assesses the performance of seventeen GCMs regarding their simulation of temperature and precipitation based on hindcasts for the periods of 1961–1990 and 1931–1960. Skill scores are plotted on a 2° × 2° grid to present “zones” of GCM performance. An overlay of these skill score maps with global climate zones, land cover, and elevation maps shows correlations between GCM performance and the distribution of these geographic variables. No GCM is superior in predicting temperature or precipitation for the whole world, although some GCMs score better in particular regions. For researchers working with GCM results and policymakers who need to make decisions based on GCM projections, the skill score maps may provide useful guidance; while for GCM developers, the skill score maps may open areas for further study to improve their models.
Water‐induced convection in the Earth's mantle transition zone
Authors: Richard Guillaume C. , Bercovici David
Published: January 2009

Water enters the Earth's mantle by subduction of oceanic lithosphere. Most of this water immediately returns to the atmosphere through arc volcanism, but a part of it is expected as deep as the mantle transition zone (410–660 km depth). There, slabs can be deflected and linger before sinking into the lower mantle. Because it lowers the density and viscosity of the transition zone minerals (i.e., wadsleyite and ringwoodite), water is likely to affect the dynamics of the transition zone mantle overlying stagnant slabs. The consequences of water exchange between a floating slab and the transition zone are investigated. In particular, we focus on the possible onset of small‐scale convection despite the adverse thermal gradient (i.e., mantle is cooled from below by the slab). The competition between thermal and hydrous effects on the density and thus on the convective stability of the top layer of the slab is examined numerically, including water‐dependent density and viscosity and temperature‐dependent water solubility. For plausible initial water content in a slab (≥0.5 wt %), an episode of convection is likely to occur after a relatively short time delay (5–20 Ma) after the slab enters the transition zone. However, water induced rheological weakening is seen to be a controlling parameter for the onset time of convection. Moreover, small‐scale convection above a stagnant slab greatly enhances the rate of slab dehydration. Small‐scale convection also facilitates heating of the slab, which in itself may prolong the residence time of the slab in the transition zone.
Impact of latitudinal variations in vertical diffusivity on climate simulations
Authors: Jochum M.
Published: January 2009

The currently available theoretical and observational evidence for a latitudinal structure of thermocline vertical diffusivity is synthesized and included in a state of the art coupled climate model. Compared to the standard background value of 0.1 cm2 s−1, the simulations with the latitudinal structure show only little change in the meridional overturning circulation or northward heat transport. However, two regions are identified which are sensitive to the value of vertical diffusivity: the equatorial band, where only small changes in sea surface temperature lead to precipitation responses with basin‐wide teleconnections, and the North Atlantic, where diffusivity affects the spiciness of Labrador Sea water and subsequently the Gulf Stream path.
Distribution of hydrated minerals in the north polar region of Mars
Authors: Horgan B. H. , Bell J. F. , Noe Dobrea E. Z. , Cloutis E. A. , Bailey D. T. , Craig M. A. , Roach L. H. , Mustard J. F.
Published: January 2009

The previous discovery of extensive deposits of hydrated minerals in Olympia Planum in the north polar region of Mars by the Mars Express OMEGA instrument raises important questions about the origin and subsequent redistribution of these hydrated minerals. Here we present a new map of the distribution of hydrated minerals within the north polar region of Mars by applying both standard and new spectral analysis techniques to near‐infrared spectral data from OMEGA. Our results are in agreement with the previous OMEGA observations but also show more extensive detections of hydrated minerals throughout the circumpolar plains, as well as new detections of hydrated minerals on the surface of Planum Boreum and within the polar troughs. We find that while the circumpolar plains hydration signatures appear to be correlated with the dark dunes of the north polar erg, hydration signatures in Planum Boreum instead appear to be correlated with the north polar veneers and their sources within the polar layered deposits. By applying laboratory‐derived empirical models of the dependence of gypsum spectra on grain size and abundance, we provide approximate abundance estimates for the hydrated minerals we have identified in Observatoire pour la Minéralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces et l'Activité (OMEGA) and Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer (CRISM) data. We find that the presence of hydrated minerals throughout the north polar region suggests (1) a complex cycle of sediment exchange between the Olympia Planum dunes and the other polar units; (2) an earlier origin for the hydrated minerals than originally postulated; and (3) the occurrence of significant water activity in this region during the Amazonian.
Thermal contraction crack polygons on Mars: Classification, distribution, and climate implications from HiRISE observations
Authors: Levy Joseph , Head James , Marchant David
Published: January 2009

Documenting the morphology and distribution of polygonally patterned ground on Mars is critical for understanding the age and origin of the Martian latitude‐dependent mantle. Polygonally patterned ground on Mars is analyzed using High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment image data in order to document the variation of polygon morphology within latitude bands 30–80° in both northern and southern hemispheres. Small‐scale (<∼25 m diameter) polygons are classified on the basis of morphological characteristics into seven groups, which are present in both northern and southern hemispheres. Polygon morphology is shown to be consistent with thermal contraction cracking of an ice‐rich mantling unit, consistent with observations of sediment wedge thermal contraction crack polygons forming in ice‐cemented sediment at the Phoenix landing site. Polygon groups are distributed symmetrically in both northern and southern hemispheres, suggesting strong climate controls on polygon morphology. Northern hemisphere polygonally patterned surfaces are found to decrease in age from low to high latitude, spanning surface ages from ∼1 to <0.1 Ma, suggesting more recent deposition of ice‐rich material at high latitudes than at low latitudes. Six of the seven classes of polygons are interpreted to be capable of forming because of the combined effects of thermal contraction cracking and differential sublimation, suggesting that sublimation and sand wedge polygons dominate Martian high latitudes. Gully polygon systems present at midlatitudes suggest that small amounts of liquid water may have been involved in thermal contraction crack polygon processes, producing composite wedge polygons. No evidence is found for the presence of pervasive small‐scale ice wedge polygons.
Environmental temperature sensing using Raman spectra DTS fiber‐optic methods
Authors: Tyler Scott W. , Selker John S. , Hausner Mark B. , Hatch Christine E. , Torgersen Thomas , Thodal Carl E. , Schladow S. Geoffrey
Published: January 2009

Raman spectra distributed temperature sensing (DTS) by fiber‐optic cables has recently shown considerable promise for the measuring and monitoring of surface and near‐surface hydrologic processes such as groundwater–surface water interaction, borehole circulation, snow hydrology, soil moisture studies, and land surface energy exchanges. DTS systems uniquely provide the opportunity to monitor water, air, and media temperatures in a variety of systems at much higher spatial and temporal frequencies than any previous measurement method. As these instruments were originally designed for fire and pipeline monitoring, their extension to the typical conditions encountered by hydrologists requires a working knowledge of the theory of operation, limitations, and system accuracies, as well as the practical aspects of designing either short‐ or long‐term experiments in remote or challenging terrain. This work focuses on providing the hydrologic user with sufficient knowledge and specifications to allow sound decisions on the application and deployment of DTS systems.
Using histone deacetylase inhibitors to enhance Foxp3+ regulatory T‐cell function and induce allograft tolerance
Authors: Wang Liqing , Tao Ran , Hancock Wayne W
Published: January 2009

The histone/protein deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi), trichostatin A (TsA), increases the production and suppressive function of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs), at least in part, by promoting the acetylation of Foxp3 protein itself. Acetylation of Foxp3 is required for effective binding of Foxp3 to the promoter of the interleukin‐2 (IL‐2) gene and the suppression of IL‐2 expression. We have sought to identify agents that had similar effects on Tregs, but without the associated toxicity of TsA. This review summarizes the contrasting effects of various HDACis on Treg functions in vitro and in vivo. Agents that block primarily class I HDAC had minimal or no effect on Treg suppression, whereas multiple inhibitors of both class I and class II HDAC enhanced Treg suppression in vitro and in vivo. These data indicate tools for further analysis of Treg functions, and point to a critical role of class II HDAC in the regulation of Tregs. Such knowledge has direct implications for the development of in vivo approaches to treat autoimmune and other inflammatory diseases.
A memoryless, stochastic mechanism of timing of phases of behavior by a neural network controller
Authors: Contractor Saaniya , Kozlova Nataliya , Brezina Vladimir
Published: January 2009

For a sensorimotor network to generate adaptive behavior in the environment, the phases of the behavior must be appropriately timed. When the behavior is driven simply by the sensory stimuli from the environment, these can supply the timing. But when the behavior is driven by an internal "goal" that ignores and perhaps even opposes the immediate sensory stimuli, the timing must be generated internally by the network. We have modeled a realistic behavioral scenario that requires such internal timing.When the sea slug Aplysia feeds, it incrementally ingests long strips of seaweed, driven by ingestive stimuli emanating from the seaweed. But if, having ingested a strip, the animal fails to break the strip off the substrate, it must incrementally egest the entire strip again. To do this, it must ignore the inherent ingestiveness of the seaweed and generate the opposite, egestive behavior, driven by an internal egestive goal, for a length of time that is appropriate for the length of the strip to be egested.In previous work, we found that a differential-equation model of the Aplysia feeding network, with dynamics like those experimentally observed, performed this task extremely well. In this model, the goal-driven egestion was appropriately timed by a slowly decaying dynamical transient that "remembered" the time elapsed since the beginning of the egestion.We have now used genetic algorithms to evolve very simple artificial neural network controllers that perform the task equally well. But these networks time the egestion by a completely different mechanism. Their dynamics are characterized by discrete ingestive and egestive attractors, to which they switch in response to ingestive and egestive stimuli. However, the switch in behavior follows the switch in stimulus only with a considerable delay, during which the network continues to generate the old behavior. Existing always near an attractor, the network has no long-term memory. Instead, the switch in behavior finally occurs when a sufficiently high local stimulus density appears in the stochastic stimulus input stream. This complex event occurs rarely. To perform the task, the evolution of the network tunes its connection weights so that the switch requires a density that occurs, on average, about as often as the time that is required to egest the typical length of seaweed strip with which the network is evolved. Thus a simple memoryless network, aware of only the local stimulus, is nevertheless able to organize behavior over arbitrarily long time scales.
Lipid rafts enriched in phosphatidylglucoside direct astroglial differentiation by regulating tyrosine kinase activity of epidermal growth factor receptors
Authors: Kinoshita Masami O. , Furuya Shigeki , Ito Shinya , Shinoda Yoko , Yamazaki Yasuhiro , Greimel Peter , Ito Yukishige , Hashikawa Tsutomu , Machida Takeo , Nagatsuka Yasuko , Hirabayashi Yoshio
Published: January 2009

Membrane lipid rafts provide a specialized microenvironment enriched with sphingolipids and phospholipids containing saturated fatty acids and serve as a platform for various intracellular signalling pathways. PtdGlc (phosphatidylglucoside) is a type of glycophospholipid localized in the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane. Owing to PtdGlc's unique fatty acid composition, exclusively composed of C18:0 at sn-1 and C20:0 at sn-2 of the glycerol backbone, it tends to form PGLRs (PtdGlc-enriched lipid rafts). Previously, we demonstrated that PGLRs reside on the cell surface of astroglial cells from fetal rat brain [Nagatsuka, Horibata, Yamazaki, Kinoshita, Shinoda, Hashikawa, Koshino, Nakamura and Hirabayashi (2006) Biochemistry 45, 8742–8750]. In the present study, we observed PGLRs in astroglial lineage cells at mid-embryonic to early-postnatal stages of developing mouse cortex. This suggests that PGLRs are developmentally correlated with astroglial differentiation during fetal cortical development. Our cell culture studies with multipotent neural progenitor cells prepared from fetal mouse telencephalon demonstrated that treatment with EGF (epidermal growth factor) or anti-PtdGlc antibody caused recruitment of EGFRs (EGF receptors) into lipid raft compartments, leading to activation of EGFRs. Moreover, the activation of EGFRs by antibody triggered downstream tyrosine kinase signalling and induced marked GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein) expression via the JAK (Janus kinase)/STAT (signal transducer and activator of transcription) signalling pathway. These findings strongly suggest that PGLRs are physiologically coupled to activated EGFRs on neural progenitor cells during fetal cortical development, and thereby play a distinct role in mediating astrogliogenesis.
Molecular analysis of heparan sulfate biosynthetic enzyme machinery and characterization of heparan sulfate structure in Nematostella vectensis
Authors: Feta Almir , Do Anh-Tri , Rentzsch Fabian , Technau Ulrich , Kusche-Gullberg Marion
Published: January 2009

HS (heparan sulfate) proteoglycans are key regulators of vital processes in the body. HS chains with distinct sequences bind to various protein ligands, such as growth factors and morphogens, and thereby function as important regulators of protein gradient formation and signal transduction. HS is synthesized through the concerted action of many different ER (endoplasmic reticulum) and Golgi-resident enzymes. In higher organisms, many of these enzymes occur in multiple isoforms that differ in substrate specificity and spatial and temporal expression. In order to investigate how the structural complexity of HS has evolved, in the present study we focused on the starlet sea anemone (Nematostella vectensis), which belongs to the Anthozoa, which are considered to have retained many ancestral features. Members of all of the enzyme families involved in the generation and modification of HS were identified in Nematostella. Our results show that the enzymes are highly conserved throughout evolution, but the number of isoforms varies. Furthermore, the HS polymerases [Ext (exostosin) enzymes Ext1, Ext2 and Ext-like3] represent distinct subgroups, indicating that these three genes have already been present in the last common ancestor of Cnidaria and Bilateria. In situ hybridization showed up-regulation of certain enzymes in specific areas of the embryo at different developmental stages. The specific mRNA expression pattern of particular HS enzymes implies that they may play a specific role in HS modifications during larval development. Finally, biochemical analysis of Nematostella HS demonstrates that the sea anemone synthesizes a polysaccharide with a unique structure.
N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide complements the GRACE risk score in predicting early and late mortality following acute coronary syndrome
Authors: Khan Sohail Q. , Narayan Hafid , Ng Kelvin H. , Dhillon Onkar S. , Kelly Dominic , Quinn Paulene , Squire Iain B. , Davies Joan E. , Ng Leong L.
Published: January 2009

The GRACE (Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events) risk score has been shown to offer predictive power with regard to death and AMI (acute myocardial infarction) in patients with ACS (acute coronary syndromes). NT-proBNP (N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide) has also been found to be useful in predicting mortality following ACS. In the present study, we sought to investigate the use of the GRACE score and NT-proBNP levels at predicting risk of early and late deaths following ACS. We studied 1033 patients (740 men, mean age 66.5±12.7 years) with AMI. Blood was drawn once within 24 h following the onset of chest pain. The plasma concentration of NT-proBNP was determined using an in-house non-competitive immunoassay. Patients were GRACE risk scored. The 30-day mortality was 3.7% and the 6-month mortality was 7.8%, and all were related to higher GRACE risk scores (P=0.001 for trend). Higher NT-proBNP levels were also related to increased mortality (P<0.0001). In a Cox proportional hazards model, independent predictors of 30-day and 6-month mortality included NT-proBNP levels and the GRACE risk score. The receiver-operating curve for the GRACE risk score was complemented by NT-proBNP levels for prediction of 30-day mortality [AUC (area under the curve), 0.85] and 6-month mortality (AUC, 0.81). NT-proBNP gives complementary information to the GRACE risk score for predicting early and late mortality. The inclusion of the NT-proBNP blood test is useful in risk-stratifying patients after ACS.
Circulating CD34+/KDR+ endothelial progenitor cells are reduced in chronic heart failure patients as a function of Type D personality
Authors: Van Craenenbroeck Emeline M. , Denollet Johan , Paelinck Bernard P. , Beckers Paul , Possemiers Nadine , Hoymans Vicky Y. , Vrints Christiaan J. , Conraads Viviane M.
Published: January 2009

The aim of the present study was to assess whether EPC (endothelial progenitor cell) number/function might be an explanatory factor for the observed relationship between Type D personality (a joint tendency towards negative affectivity and social inhibition) and poor cardiovascular prognosis. We also assessed whether the effect of a single exercise bout on EPC number/function was affected by Type D personality. A total of 35 sedentary men with CHF (chronic heart failure; left ventricular ejection fraction ≤45%) underwent CPET (cardiopulmonary exercise testing) and personality assessment with the 14-item Type D scale. CD34+/KDR (kinase insert domain-containing receptor)+ cells were quantified by flow cytometry before and immediately after CPET. Migration of early EPC towards VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) and SDF-1α (stromal-cell-derived factor-1α) was investigated. Type D (n=10) and non-Type D (n=25) patients were comparable with regards to demographics, disease severity and Framingham risk factor score. Circulating EPC numbers were reduced by 54% in Type D compared with non-Type D patients (0.084±0.055 and 0.183±0.029% of lymphocytes respectively; P=0.006). Exercise led to a 60% increase in EPC in Type D patients, whereas the EPC number remained unchanged in the non-Type D group (P=0.049). Baseline migratory capacity was related to disease severity, but was not different between Type D and non-Type D patients. Exercise induced a highly significant enhancement of migratory capacity in both groups. In conclusion, reduced EPC numbers might explain the impaired cardiovascular outcome in Type D patients. The larger increase in circulating EPCs observed in these patients suggests that acute exercise elicits a more pronounced stimulus for endothelial repair.
Phase separation of two-dimensional Coulombic crystals of mesoscale dipolar particles from mesoscale polarizable “solvent”
Authors: Kaufman George K. , Reches Meital , Thomas Samuel W. , Feng Ji , Shaw Bryan F. , Whitesides George M.
Published: January 2009

This letter describes the formation of two-dimensional (2D) crystals of dipolar particles (TN) made of electrostatically charged, joined, millimeter-scale Teflon (T) and nylon-6,6 (N) spheres, and the separation of these crystals, as a distinct phase, from a mixture of TN and similar, capacitively charged particles that were coated with gold (Au2). The extent of separation increased with increasing amplitude of agitation, and with decreasing density of particles. Above a threshold in the amplitude of agitation, the crystals broke apart and the particles remixed. This system is a 2D model of the nucleation of crystals of polar molecules in a polarizable liquid.