bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Prevalence and diversity of plant parasitic nematodes in Northern Ireland grassland and cereals, and the influence of soils and rainfall
Authors: Fleming T. R. , McGowan N. E. , Maule A. G. , Fleming C. C.
Published: March 2016

The prevalence and diversity of plant parasitic nematodes in Northern Ireland cereal and grassland was determined from 191 agricultural fields. A total of 18 nematode genera were detected, including economically important pests, Meloidogyne spp., Heterodera spp. and Pratylenchus spp., each of which were above economic damage thresholds in a significant proportion of the sites (92.4%, 70% and 28.6%, respectively). The detection of the root knot nematode, Meloidogyne minor (6% prevalence), was significant given its recent emergence across the turf grass sector and the prospect of M. minor becoming a common agricultural pest. Analyses of nematode prevalence and abundance highlighted significant associations with grass and cereals, soil types, soil grade (proxy for soil quality) and rainfall levels. Specifically, nematode populations varied between the two major soils (brown earths and gleys), while significant trends for increased nematode diversity and greater prevalence of both Meloidogyne and Pratylenchus with increasing rainfall were also observed. Multivariate analyses were performed to determine interactive effects and the relative importance of the factors affecting nematode populations. Notably, rainfall, in combination with either crop type or soil grade, had a significant effect on nematode abundance and diversity. The findings suggest significant changes in nematode populations have occurred over the last several decades and the possibility that these are linked to changing climate and cropping practices are discussed, as well as future concerns for plant parasitic nematode management.
Foliar phosphite application has minor phytotoxic impacts across a diverse range of conifers and woody angiosperms
Authors: Scott Peter , Bader Martin Karl‐Friedrich , Williams Nari Michelle
Published: March 2016

Phytophthora plant pathogens cause tremendous damage in planted and natural systems worldwide. Phosphite is one of the only effective chemicals to control broad‐scale Phytophthora disease. Little work has been done on the phytotoxic effects of phosphite application on plant communities especially in combination with plant physiological impacts. Here, we tested the phytotoxic impact of phosphite applied as foliar spray at 0, 12, 24 and 48 kg a.i. ha−1. Eighteen‐month‐old saplings of 13 conifer and angiosperm species native to New Zealand, and two exotic coniferous species were treated and the development of necrotic tissue and chlorophyll‐a‐fluorescence parameters (optimal quantum yield, Fv/Fm; effective quantum yield of photosystem II, ΦPSII) were assessed. In addition, stomatal conductance (gs) was measured on a subset of six species. Significant necrosis assessed by digital image analysis occurred in only three species: in the lauraceous canopy tree Beilschmiedia tawa (8–14%) and the understory shrub Dodonaea viscosa (5–7%) across phosphite concentrations and solely at the highest concentration in the myrtaceous pioneer shrub Leptospermum scoparium (66%). In non‐necrotic tissue, Fv/Fm, ΦPSII and gs remained unaffected by the phosphite treatment. Overall, our findings suggest minor phytotoxic effects resulting from foliar phosphite application across diverse taxa and regardless of concentration. This study supports the large‐scale use of phosphite as a management tool to control plant diseases caused by Phytophthora pathogens in plantations and natural ecosystems. Long‐term studies are required to ascertain potential ecological impacts of repeated phosphite applications.
HAWAIIAN SKIRT regulates the quiescent center‐independent meristem activity in Arabidopsis roots
Authors: Kim Eun‐Sol , Choe Goh , Sebastian Jose , Ryu Kook Hui , Mao Linyong , Fei Zhangjun , Lee Ji‐Young
Published: March 2016

Root apical meristem (RAM) drives post‐embryonic root growth by constantly supplying cells through mitosis. It is composed of stem cells and their derivatives, the transit‐amplifying (TA) cells. Stem cell organization and its maintenance in the RAM are well characterized, however, their relationships with TA cells remain unclear. SHORTROOT (SHR) is critical for root development. It patterns cell types and promotes the post‐embryonic root growth. Defective root growth in the shr has been ascribed to the lack of quiescent center (QC), which maintains the surrounding stem cells. However, our recent investigation indicated that SHR maintains TA cells independently of QC by modulating PHABULOSA (PHB) through miRNA165/6. PHB controls TA cell activity by modulating cytokinin levels and type B Arabidopsis Response Regulator activity, in a dosage‐dependent manner. To further understand TA cell regulation, we conducted a shr suppressor screen. With an extensive mutagenesis screen followed by genome sequencing of a pooled F2 population, we discovered two suppressor alleles with mutations in HAWAIIAN SKIRT (HWS). HWS, encoding an F‐box protein with kelch domain, is expressed, partly depending on SHR, in the root cap and in the pericycle of the differentiation zone. Interestingly, root growth in the shr hws was more active than the wild‐type roots for the first 7 days after germination, without recovering QC. Contrary to shr phb, shr hws did not show a recovery of cytokinin signaling. These indicate that HWS affects QC‐independent TA cell activities through a pathway distinctive from PHB.
Cardiorespiratory interactions: Noncontact assessment using laser Doppler vibrometry
Authors: Sirevaag Erik J. , Casaccia Sara , Richter Edward A. , O'Sullivan Joseph A. , Scalise Lorenzo , Rohrbaugh John W.
Published: March 2016

The application of a noncontact physiological recording technique, based on the method of laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV), is described. The effectiveness of the LDV method as a physiological recording modality lies in the ability to detect very small movements of the skin, associated with internal mechanophysiological activities. The method is validated for a range of cardiovascular variables, extracted from the contour of the carotid pulse waveform as a function of phase of the respiration cycle. Data were obtained from 32 young healthy participants, while resting and breathing spontaneously. Individual beats were assigned to four segments, corresponding with inspiration and expiration peaks and transitional periods. Measures relating to cardiac and vascular dynamics are shown to agree with the pattern of effects seen in the substantial body of literature based on human and animal experiments, and with selected signals recorded simultaneously with conventional sensors. These effects include changes in heart rate, systolic time intervals, and stroke volume. There was also some evidence for vascular adjustments over the respiration cycle. The effectiveness of custom algorithmic approaches for extracting the key signal features was confirmed. The advantages of the LDV method are discussed in terms of the metrological properties and utility in psychophysiological research. Although used here within a suite of conventional sensors and electrodes, the LDV method can be used on a stand‐alone, noncontact basis, with no requirement for skin preparation, and can be used in harsh environments including the MR scanner.
Eosinophilic airway inflammation is common in subacute cough following acute upper respiratory tract infection
Authors: Lai Kefang , Lin Ling , Liu Baojuan , Chen Ruchong , Tang Yan , Luo Wei , Chen Qiaoli
Published: March 2016

Background and objective

Patients presenting with refractory postinfectious cough may respond to glucocorticosteroids but it is unclear whether airway eosinophilic inflammation exists in those patients. We aimed to determine the airway inflammation and causes of subacute cough following acute upper respiratory tract infection (AURTI).

Methods

One hundred and sixteen patients with persistent cough lasting 3–8 weeks after upper respiratory tract infection were evaluated with differential cell count in induced sputum, spirometry and methacholine bronchial challenge testing.

Results

In patients with subacute cough, sputum eosinophilia (median 8.5%,3.0–73.0%) was identified in 35 (33.6%) patients, 22 (18.5%) without bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) were diagnosed as non‐asthmatic eosinophilic bronchitis (NAEB), 13 (14.3%) of whom with BHR were diagnosed as cough variant asthma (CVA). Cough in patients with sputum eosinophilia improved after treatment with corticosteroids. Compared with postinfectious cough (PIC) and NAEB, CVA had significantly higher median eosinophil count in induced sputum (0.5% vs 7.5% vs 20.0%, P < 0.01). MMEF in CVA was significantly lower than PIC and NAEB (P < 0.05). The common causes of subacute cough following acute upper respiratory tract infection (AURTI) were PIC (37.8%), NAEB (18.5%), CVA (14.3%) and upper airway cough syndrome (UACS) (10.1%). Atopic cough (AC) (5.2%) and gastroesophageal reflux‐related cough (GERC) (3.4%) were less common in subacute cough following AURTI, while 9 (7.8%) patients had unexplained cough.

Conclusion

Subacute cough following AURTI can be attributed to different entities, eosinophilic airway inflammation is common. Induced sputum should be considered when evaluating patients with subacute cough following acute upper respiratory tract infection.
Mother's smoking and complex lung function of offspring in middle age: A cohort study from childhood
Authors: Perret Jennifer L. , Walters Haydn , Johns David , Gurrin Lyle , Burgess John , Lowe Adrian , Thompson Bruce , Markos James , Morrison Stephen , Thomas Paul , McDonald Christine , Wood‐Baker Richard , Hopper John , Svanes Cecilie , Giles Graham , Abramson Michael , Matheson Melanie , Dharmage Shyamali
Published: March 2016

Background and objective

Existing evidence that supports maternal smoking to be a potential risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for adult offspring has barely been mentioned in major guideline documents, suggesting a need for more robust and consistent data. We aimed to examine whether such early life exposure can predispose to COPD in middle age, possibly through its interaction with personal smoking.

Methods

The fifth‐decade follow‐up of the Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study cohort, which was first studied in 1968 (n = 8583), included a 2004 postal survey (n = 5729 responses) and subsequent laboratory attendance (n = 1389) for comprehensive lung function testing between 2006 and 2008. Multivariable linear and logistic regression models included sampling weights.

Results

Post‐bronchodilator airflow obstruction (less than fifth percentile) was detected for 9.3% (n = 123) of middle‐aged offspring. Its association with heavy maternal smoking (>20 cigarettes/day) during childhood was 2.7‐fold higher than for those without exposure (95% confidence interval [1.3, 5.7] P = 0.009). Maternal smoking per se approximately doubled the adverse effect of personal smoking on gas transfer factor (z‐score −0.46 [−0.6 to −0.3] vs −0.25 [−0.4 to −0.1], P[interaction] = 0.048) and was paradoxically associated with reduced residual volumes for non‐smokers.

Conclusions

Heavy maternal smoking during childhood appears to predispose to spirometrically defined COPD. The interplay between maternal and personal smoking on gas transfer factor suggests that early life exposure increases an individual's susceptibility to adult smoking exposure. These findings provide further evidence to suggest that maternal smoking might be a risk factor for COPD and reinforce the public health message advocating smoking abstinence.
Serum activin‐A as a predictive and prognostic marker in critically ill patients with sepsis
Authors: Lee Jung‐Kyu , Choi Sun Mi , Lee Jinwoo , Park Young Sik , Lee Chang Hoon , Yim Jae‐Joon , Yoo Chul‐Gyu , Kim Young Whan , Han Sung Koo , Lee Sang‐Min
Published: March 2016

Background and objective

There are limited data regarding serum activin‐A as a biomarker for sepsis. We examined whether serum activin‐A concentration could predict sepsis severity and prognosis in the management of critically ill patients with sepsis.

Methods

The subjects were adult patients suspected of having sepsis and admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) from January 2013 to March 2014. Serum activin‐A concentration was measured in blood sampled within 48 h after ICU admission. The primary and secondary outcomes were the diagnostic value of serum activin‐A concentration as a biomarker of sepsis and the prognostic value for predicting the clinical outcomes of sepsis, respectively.

Results

One hundred and thirty patients who had clinically suspected sepsis were included. Most (66.2%) were male; their median age was 65 years, and their Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score was 22.3. Serum activin‐A concentration tended to increase with sepsis severity and differed significantly between those with non‐sepsis and severe sepsis and between those with severe sepsis and septic shock. The risks of sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock were significantly higher in patients with a serum activin‐A concentration of 251, 319 and 432 pg/mL or greater, respectively. Serum activin‐A concentration was significantly associated with the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score, Charlson comorbidity index and ICU mortality.

Conclusion

Serum activin‐A was a predictor of sepsis severity and a prognostic marker in critically ill patients with sepsis. Serum activin‐A concentration in the early phase of sepsis was associated with prognostic indexes on ICU admission and with ICU mortality.
Flood Catastrophe Model for Designing Optimal Flood Insurance Program: Estimating Location‐Specific Premiums in the Netherlands
Authors: Ermolieva T. , Filatova T. , Ermoliev Y. , Obersteiner M. , de Bruijn K. M. , Jeuken A.
Published: March 2016

As flood risks grow worldwide, a well‐designed insurance program engaging various stakeholders becomes a vital instrument in flood risk management. The main challenge concerns the applicability of standard approaches for calculating insurance premiums of rare catastrophic losses. This article focuses on the design of a flood‐loss‐sharing program involving private insurance based on location‐specific exposures. The analysis is guided by a developed integrated catastrophe risk management (ICRM) model consisting of a GIS‐based flood model and a stochastic optimization procedure with respect to location‐specific risk exposures. To achieve the stability and robustness of the program towards floods with various recurrences, the ICRM uses stochastic optimization procedure, which relies on quantile‐related risk functions of a systemic insolvency involving overpayments and underpayments of the stakeholders. Two alternative ways of calculating insurance premiums are compared: the robust derived with the ICRM and the traditional average annual loss approach. The applicability of the proposed model is illustrated in a case study of a Rotterdam area outside the main flood protection system in the Netherlands. Our numerical experiments demonstrate essential advantages of the robust premiums, namely, that they: (1) guarantee the program's solvency under all relevant flood scenarios rather than one average event; (2) establish a tradeoff between the security of the program and the welfare of locations; and (3) decrease the need for other risk transfer and risk reduction measures.
Gender Roles and the Expression of Driving Anger Among Ukrainian Drivers
Authors: Sullman M. J. M. , Stephens A. N. , Hill T.
Published: March 2016

The current study investigated the validity of the revised (25‐item) version of the driving anger expression inventory (DAX) on a novel sample of 385 drivers from Ukraine. The roles of sex and gender in relation to self‐reported aggressive tendencies were also examined. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the four‐factor structure of the DAX (adaptive/constructive expression; use of the vehicle to express anger; verbal aggressive expression; and personal physical aggressive expression), and the three aggressive factors were found to have positive relationships with trait anger and driving anger, while adaptive/constructive expression was negatively related to trait and driving anger. Drivers who reported recent near‐misses or loss of concentration scored higher on verbal aggressive expression. Those who had recently received a traffic ticket also reported higher levels of all three types of aggressive anger expression. Further, the presence of feminine traits, but not sex, predicted more adaptive/constructive behaviors and lower scores for verbal aggressive expression, personal physical aggressive expression, and total aggressive expression. However, masculine traits did not predict any of these factors. This research concludes that the revised DAX is a valid tool to measure the expression of driving anger and that the endorsement of feminine traits is related to less aggressive expression of driving anger.
An Adaptive Simulation Framework for the Exploration of Extreme and Unexpected Events in Dynamic Engineered Systems
Authors: Turati Pietro , Pedroni Nicola , Zio Enrico
Published: March 2016

The end states reached by an engineered system during an accident scenario depend not only on the sequences of the events composing the scenario, but also on their timing and magnitudes. Including these additional features within an overarching framework can render the analysis infeasible in practical cases, due to the high dimension of the system state‐space and the computational effort correspondingly needed to explore the possible system evolutions in search of the interesting (and very rare) ones of failure. To tackle this hurdle, in this article we introduce a framework for efficiently probing the space of event sequences of a dynamic system by means of a guided Monte Carlo simulation. Such framework is semi‐automatic and allows embedding the analyst's prior knowledge about the system and his/her objectives of analysis. Specifically, the framework allows adaptively and intelligently allocating the simulation efforts preferably on those sequences leading to outcomes of interest for the objectives of the analysis, e.g., typically those that are more safety‐critical (and/or rare). The emerging diversification in the filling of the state‐space by the preference‐guided exploration allows also the retrieval of critical system features, which can be useful to analysts and designers for taking appropriate means of prevention and mitigation of dangerous and/or unexpected consequences. A dynamic system for gas transmission is considered as a case study to demonstrate the application of the method.
Assessing Risk in Graphically Presented Financial Series
Authors: Sobolev Daphne , Harvey Nigel
Published: March 2016

It has been argued that traders use their natural sensitivity to the fractal properties of price graphs to assess risk and that they are better able to do this when given price change as well as price level information. This approach implies that risk assessments should be higher when the Hurst exponents are lower, that this relationship should be stronger in the presence of price change information and that risk assessment should depend more strongly on the Hurst exponent than on the standard deviation of the series.

Participants in Experiment 1 decided which of two assets was riskier by inspecting graphs of their price series. Graphs with lower Hurst exponents were selected only by those who were less emotionally stable and hence more sensitive to risk. However, when both price series and price change series were presented, the assets with lower Hurst exponents were selected by all participants.

In a second experiment, participants were given both price level and price change series for a number of assets and rated the risk of trading in each one. Ratings depended more strongly on Hurst exponents than on other measures of volatility. They also depended on indicators of potential loss.

Human risk assessment deviates from the way that risk is measured in modern finance theory: it requires integration of information relevant to both uncertainty and loss aversion, thereby imposing high attentional demands on traders. These demands may impair risk assessment but they can be eased by adding displays of price change information.
Costs of Health Damage from Atmospheric Emissions of Toxic Metals: Part 1—Methods and Results
Authors: Nedellec Vincent , Rabl Ari
Published: March 2016

Significant quantities of toxic metals are emitted to the air by the incineration of waste, as well as by the combustion of coal and oil. To optimize the regulations for their emissions one needs to know the cost of their damage. That requires an impact pathway analysis, with realistic dispersion models, exposure‐response functions, and monetary values. In this article we explain the method and assumptions and present results for arsenic, cadmium, mercury, and lead, the most important toxic metals in terms of damage cost. We also estimate their contribution to the damage cost of waste incineration and electric power from coal for typical situations in Europe. The damage costs of As, Cd, and Pb are much higher than previous estimates because of a large number of new epidemiological studies, implying more and more serious health effects than what had been known before. New cost‐benefit studies for the abatement of toxic metal emissions are advisable. The discussion of the epidemiological studies and the derivation of exposure‐response functions are presented in two companion articles, one for As and Cd, the other for Hg and Pb.
Assessment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Upon the Department of Energy Weatherization Assistance Program
Authors: Tonn Bruce , Hawkins Beth , Rose Erin
Published: March 2016

The Department of Energy (DOE) administers the national low‐income Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). Under this program, DOE provides grants to states (grantees), which then provide grants to local weatherization agencies (subgrantees), to weatherize income‐eligible homes for free. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 allocated $5 billion in funding to WAP, a very significant increase from an annual appropriation that ranged in the $200–250 million range for many years. As part of a major evaluation of WAP, states and local weatherization agencies were surveyed, in part, to assess their experiences during the ARRA period. The substantial funding increase created a number of issues for the national weatherization network: the political visibility of their programs increased significantly, organizational responsibilities were shifted, new laws and regulations were passed that impacted their programs, media attention of their programs increased, federal oversight of their programs increased; and programmatic costs increased because of the increased oversight and because ARRA required WAP to operate under the provisions of the Davis‐Bacon Act of 1931. There was some concern within the national weatherization network that the influx of ARRA funds would permanently damage nonfederal funding leveraging relationships. However, two‐thirds of grantees and over 40% of subgrantees stated that they believe that the long‐term impacts of ARRA on leveraging relationships will be positive.
Walking in the Shadow of Pressman and Wildavsky: Expanding Fiscal Federalism and Goal Congruence Theories to Single‐Shot Games
Authors: Terman Jessica N. , Kassekert Anthony , Feiock Richard C. , Yang Kaifeng
Published: March 2016

We advance and test a theory of grant compliance in single‐shot games by combining the insights on grant management from Pressman and Wildavsky's classic work with the role that goal congruence and local political institutions play in the intergovernmental grant process. One‐time grants, such as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, require unique grant management techniques on the part of the federal government and local political institutions to foster credible commitments between federal and local authorities. Based on administrative records from the U.S. Department of Energy and a national survey of local government recipients of DOE grants, we predict delay in expending grant funds given that the goal of the federal government is to rapidly stimulate the economy and produce gains in energy efficiency. We employ survival modeling to estimate the time from receipt of a stimulus grant until the funds are expended. We find compelling evidence that effective grant management and local government institutions and policies are salient for limiting delays.
Energy Programs of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Authors: Carley Sanya
Published: March 2016

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act injected approximately $840 billion into the U.S. economy to provide both short‐term economic stimulus and longer term technological advancement and infrastructure development. One of the primary recipients of stimulus funds in the United States and elsewhere around the world was the energy sector. This analysis reviews states’ experiences with Recovery Act energy programs, and highlights the perceived challenges and accomplishments that state officials encountered with these programs. Based on semi‐structured interviews conducted with state officials involved in Recovery Act implementation, the analysis focuses on the following main themes: compliance difficulties, spending preparedness, degree and quality of federal guidance, timing, efficiency, and perceptions of success and lasting benefits.
Adaptive and Responsive Survey Designs: A Review and Assessment
Authors: Tourangeau Roger , Michael Brick J. , Lohr Sharon , Li Jane
Published: March 2016

The paper reviews the growing literature on responsive and adaptive designs for surveys. These designs encompass various methods for managing data collection, including front loading potentially difficult cases, tailoring data collection strategies to different subgroups, prioritizing effort according to estimated response propensities, imposing stop rules for ending data collection, monitoring key survey estimates throughout the field period, using two-phase or multiphase sampling for following up non-respondents and calculating indicators of non-response bias (such as the R-indicator) other than response rates to monitor and guide fieldwork. We give particular attention to efforts to evaluate these strategies experimentally or via simulations. Although the field seems to have embraced these new tools, most of the evaluation studies suggest they produce marginal reductions in cost and non-response bias. It is clearly difficult to lower survey costs without reducing some aspect of survey quality. Other issues limiting the effectiveness of these designs include weakly predictive auxiliary variables, ineffective interventions and slippage in the implementation of interventions in the field. These problems are not, however, unique to responsive or adaptive design. We give recommendations for improving such designs and for improving the management of data collection efforts in the current difficult environment for surveys.
Combining Labour Force Survey Data to Estimate Migration Flows: The Case of Migration from Poland to The UK
Authors: Wiśniowski Arkadiusz
Published: March 2016

In May 2004, Poland and seven other countries from central and eastern Europe joined the European Union. This led to a massive emigration from Poland, especially to the UK. However, relatively little is known about the magnitude of migration flows after the 2004 enlargement of the European Union. In the paper Labour Force Survey data from the sending and receiving countries are utilized in a Bayesian model to estimate migration flows. The estimates are further combined with the output of the ‘Integrated modelling of European migration’ model. The combined results with accompanying measures of uncertainty can be used to validate other reported estimates of migration flows from Poland to the UK.
Unpacking the Determinants of Life Satisfaction: A Survey Experiment
Authors: Angelini Viola , Bertoni Marco , Corazzini Luca
Published: March 2016

We present results of a survey experiment aimed at assessing context effects on reporting life satisfaction, exerted by raising awareness of fundamental life domains before eliciting overall life satisfaction, through questionnaire manipulations. Psychologists refer to similar context effects, generated by providing more details about the object of a subsequent evaluation, as ‘unpacking effects’. The longitudinal structure of our experimental design allows us to assess the effects of the questionnaire manipulation both between and within subject. In our sample of university students, asking subjects to report satisfaction with life domains before reporting overall satisfaction with life generates a robust unpacking effect, as it shifts upwards the subsequent mean overall life satisfaction evaluations. In addition, raising awareness about life domains significantly increases reliability and validity of self-reported life satisfaction, by reducing the dispersion of responses and increasing the association between life satisfaction and life domain evaluations. We also detect heterogeneous effects across subgroups of our sample—such as people with children or in bad health—and discuss implications of these findings for research on life satisfaction.
Multilevel Structural Equation Models For Longitudinal Data Where Predictors Are Measured More Frequently Than Outcomes: An Application to the Effects of Stress on the Cognitive Function of Nurses
Authors: Steele Fiona , Clarke Paul , Leckie George , Allan Julia , Johnston Derek
Published: March 2016

Ecological momentary assessment is used to measure subjects' mood and behaviour repeatedly over time, leading to intensive longitudinal data. Variability in ecological momentary assessment schedules creates an analytical challenge because predictors are measured more frequently than responses. We consider this problem in a study of the effect of stress on the cognitive function of telephone helpline nurses, where stress is measured for each call and cognitive outcomes are measured at the end of a shift. We propose a flexible structural equation model which can handle multiple levels of clustering, measurement error, time trends and mixed variable types.
Physical Activity, Exercise Motivations, Depression, and Nonsuicidal Self‐Injury in Youth
Authors: Boone Shannon D. , Brausch Amy M.
Published: March 2016

This study explored the relationship between physical activity, depression, and nonsuicidal self‐injury (NSSI) in 167 high school and undergraduate students (mean age = 17.37, range 14–25). Results indicated that NSSI frequency had a significant negative relationship with physical activity, and physical activity moderated the relationship between depressive symptoms and self‐harm. Specifically, high levels of depressive symptoms and low levels of physical activity had the greatest frequency of NSSI. Lastly, appearance‐based exercise motivations were significantly related to increased frequencies of NSSI. Overall, physical activity may possess a protective nature against NSSI, especially in individuals with depressive symptoms.
Income Security During Sickness Absence. What Do British Middle‐classes Do?
Authors: Clasen Jochen
Published: March 2016

Income maintenance during sickness absence is an under‐researched field within social policy analysis, and yet it is conducive to exploring the interplay between statutory, corporate and private forms of income protection. Drawing on original qualitative interview data, the article shows that British middle‐class couples largely ignore or dismiss public provision, which is due to a relatively low level of sickness benefits, but also based on misconceptions about social rights and the role of employers as mandatory (and voluntary) sick pay providers. Despite a considerable degree of mistrust, mortgage‐related private sickness insurance mattered to some extent, although this does not necessarily reflect policyholders’ strategic choices vis à vis current household needs for income security. Other potential sources of income replacement, such as savings, are relied on much less. In general, the analysis shows a heavy middle‐class reliance on, and strong confidence in, employer‐based sickness pay. This finding may be contrasted with questions about the sustainability of voluntary corporate provision, as well as its capacity to provide income security for the workforce as a whole.
The Tyranny of Fit: Yet another Barrier to Mainstream Employment for Disabled People in Sheltered Employment
Authors: Hemphill Elizabeth , Kulik Carol T.
Published: March 2016

Policies that encourage the aspirations of disabled people for mainstream employment might be an effective way to increase their workforce participation rate. This study aims to determine which people in sheltered employment aspire to a job beyond their current sheltered employment job. We asked 64 people with sheltered employment jobs about their workplace and job fit, their intentions to stay in their current job and their future job aspirations. The key finding is that perceptions of fit indirectly and adversely affect aspirations via intention to stay. Participants who felt they fitted planned to keep working at their sheltered workplace, but a stronger intention to stay made it less likely that they could identify an alternative to sheltered employment. These results were not influenced by age or the time spent in sheltered employment. Policy should therefore support people in sheltered employment to develop realistic job aspirations. Helping disabled people to identify opportunities beyond sheltered employment can avoid complacency and free up sheltered job opportunities for other disabled people. But policy changes are required to leverage sheltered employment as a first step for disabled people to develop mainstream job aspirations and facilitate transitioning beyond sheltered employment job options.
Lobbygruppen im politischen Wettbewerb: Die Auswirkungen des Konkurrenzkampfes unter Interessengruppen auf deren Lobbyverhalten
Authors: Weiler Florian
Published: March 2016

Deutsche Zusammenfassung

Lobbygruppen stehen in einem politischen Wettbewerb miteinander, wobei in manchen Themenfeldern ein sehr starker Konkurrenzkampf herrscht, während die Rivalität in anderen Bereichen eher gering ist. Dieser Artikel geht der Frage nach, wie sich diese unterschiedliche Intensität des Wettkampfs auf das Lobbyverhalten von Interessenorganisationen auswirkt. Basierend auf Daten einer Umfrage unter Deutschen und Schweizer Interessengruppen konnte festgestellt werden, dass sowohl direktes Lobbying bei Politikern (Insider Lobbying) als auch indirekte Einflussnahme über die Medien und die Öffentlichkeit (Outsider Lobbying) mit der Intensität des Konkurrenzdruckes zunimmt. Allerdings zeigt sich auch, dass Insider Lobbying stärker von dieser Zunahme betroffen ist, dass also Organisationen bei erhöhtem Wettbewerb insbesondere den direkten Zugang zu Entscheidungsträgern suchen.
Linked Fate and Latino Attitudes Regarding Health‐Care Reform Policy*
Authors: Sanchez Gabriel R. , Medeiros Jillian
Published: March 2016

Objective

Despite the Latino electorate's increased political importance and their prominence among the uninsured population, there has been relatively little research focused on Latinos’ political attitudes, particularly in the substantively important area of health policy. We examine the foundations of Latino registered voters support for universal healthcare with a particular focus on the relationship between linked fate (a form of group identity) and support for expansion of health coverage to a wider segment of the population. We theorize that the obstacles to healthcare and health coverage the Latino community faces makes health policy a Latino‐salient policy area where group identity becomes relevant.

Methods

We use the Latino Decisions “100 Days” 2009 survey of Latino registered voters for our analysis, an ideal data set that provides a measure of linked fate, support for universal healthcare, and several key control variables.

Results

Our findings show that linked fate is a significant predictor of Latino registered voters' support for expansion of health‐care coverage, suggesting that healthcare is a salient policy for the Latino community.

Conclusions

Despite being a tremendously diverse population, our results suggest that Latino policy preferences can be influenced by an underlying sense of group identity when the policy area cues ethnic identity.
Immigration Status and the Healthcare Access and Health of Children of Immigrants*
Authors: Gelatt Julia
Published: March 2016

Objective

In this article, I examine how children's and parents’ immigration status (U.S. born, legal immigrant, or undocumented) is associated with children's access to insurance and healthcare and with children's physical health.

Methods

I use the first wave of the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey, which is representative of Los Angeles County in 2000–2001, to analyze data on parents' and children's immigration status, children's health insurance coverage, children's healthcare utilization, and children's health, using logistic and ordered logistic regression models.

Results

I find that undocumented immigrant children face severely constrained access to health insurance and a usual source of healthcare, while children with foreign‐born parents have lower global health status than children with U.S.‐born parents. Children with undocumented parents may have less access to a doctor diagnosis for common childhood ailments.

Conclusion

These results show that without being eligible for public insurance, many undocumented children lack health insurance and a usual healthcare provider, even in a part of the country with substantial experience serving immigrant families.
Genetic Attributions, Immutability, and Stereotypical Judgments: An Analysis of Homosexuality*
Authors: Joslyn Mark R. , Haider‐Markel Donald P.
Published: March 2016

Objectives

Individuals employ causal reasoning to explain the world around them, including political events, group behavior, and conditions in society. People may attribute causes of behavior to controllable components, such as individual choices, or uncontrollable elements, such as broader forces in the environment. To this, we add biological or genetic attributions that have received increasing attention. Broadly, we argue that people's understanding about genetics as a cause for group behavior influences perceptions of immutability and stereotypical judgments about groups.

Methods

Making use of individual‐level data from three national surveys of American adults, we examine causal beliefs about the origins of homosexuality. Specifically, we assess the impact of genetic attributions on judgments about whether a gay or lesbian person's sexual orientation can or cannot be changed. We also examine the association between genetic attributions and several stereotypic judgments about gays and lesbians.

Results

We find that genetic attributions strongly shape perceptions of immutability as well as stereotypic judgments about gays and lesbians.

Conclusions

Implications of our findings for attribution theory and the attitudinal changes that follow from the public's understanding of genetics and its impact on sexual orientation are discussed.
Damage Investigation in Composite Materials by Means of New Thermal Data Processing Procedures
Authors: Palumbo D. , Galietti U.
Published: March 2016

Stimulated thermography is a non‐destructive technique capable of detecting and quantifying defects in composite material thanks to the varying thermal behaviour they display if subjected to a thermal stimulation. Although in literature valid and consolidated thermographic techniques (lock‐in and pulsed/stepped thermography) are available, the use of stimulated thermography in industry is still not widespread in the case of application of large structures, mainly because of the overall lengthy time required for testing owing to the necessary scanning approach.

In this work, the influence of the main set‐up parameters of stimulated thermography is assessed, analysing simulated defects on a sample specimen made of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer. In particular, the attention was focused on the optimisation of testing parameters for the improvement of signal quality and to reduce testing time. In this regard, a new procedure is proposed based on a least‐square fitting algorithm capable of providing various synergic thermal analyses with a modulated heat excitation and within a single test.
Jural relations of middle‐class marriage and women as legal subjects in the imaginary of ‘new India’
Authors: Grover Shalini
Published: March 2016

In India's capital New Delhi, four Family Courts were set up between 2009 and 2012, and 12 mediation institutions known as Crime Against Women Cells (CAWcells) were established during the same period. The Indian state has also endorsed gender‐equalising family legislation, mutual‐consent divorce and introduced new language of and for mediation. Together with India's projection of a rising global economy, these recent legal changes have engendered perceptions of a dramatic upturn in formal divorce and of women as liberal legal subjects. In the anthropology of Asia, marital practices have crucially informed our comprehension of modernisation, family formations and moral panics. This article explores the impact of new forms of legal availability on marriage, family and kinship among the metropolitan middle classes. It ethnographically engages with important structural shifts reflected in the intimate lives of Hindu couples, but also foregrounds a cautious narrative of newly imagined jural relations.
HLA‐B*40:326, a novel variant of HLA‐B*40, discovered in a Taiwanese blood donor
Authors: Yang K. L. , Hung J. H. , Lin P. Y.
Published: March 2016

One nucleotide substitution at residue 476 of HLA‐B*40:01:01 results in a new allele, HLA‐B*40:326.
Conflicting HLA assignment by three different typing methods due to the apparent loss of heterozygosity in the MHC region
Authors: Linjama T. , Impola U. , Niittyvuopio R. , Kuittinen O. , Kaare A. , Rimpiläinen J. , Volin L. , Peräsaari J. , Jaatinen T. , Lauronen J. , Saarinen T. , Juvonen E. , Partanen J. , Koskela S.
Published: March 2016

Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) has been reported to cause false human leukocyte antigen (HLA) homozygous typing results in pre‐transplant patients suffering from haematological malignancies, who in fact are HLA heterozygous. This poses a challenge for histocompatibility testing, as a stem cell graft from a genuinely HLA homozygous donor to a mistyped patient may lead to acute life‐threatening graft‐vs‐host disease. LOH in the HLA region on chromosome 6 is known to be quite common in solid tumours, helping malignant cells to escape T‐cell surveillance, but the incidence in haematological malignancies is less well known and the estimates vary. Here we report LOH in the HLA region of five patients with haematological malignancy. We found considerable differences in sensitivity between the three different HLA typing methods used in our laboratory: SSP was clearly the most sensitive method for detecting the lost haplotype, followed by rSSO, while SBT was the least sensitive technique. A subsequent, retrospective genotyping of 65 HLA homozygous haematological patients by SSP method showed no mistyped LOH cases in our laboratory in the past 10 years. The frequency of HLA homozygosity was found to be similar between haematological patients and control groups. It is important for an HLA laboratory to be aware of the differences in various HLA typing techniques' sensitivity for detecting an under‐represented haplotype between HLA typing techniques when genotyping patients with haematological diseases. It is advisable for HLA laboratories to have at least two different methods with different sensitivities in their repertoire to be able to retype samples when a false homozygous result is suspected.
Identification of a novel HLA‐DRB1*14 allele, HLA‐DRB1*14:150, in a Chinese individual
Authors: Pei Y. F. , Huang H. N. , Li H. C. , Shen W. D.
Published: March 2016

HLA‐DRB1*14:150 shows one nucleotide difference when compared with DRB1*14:54:01 at codon 49 (A > P).
Identification of a novel allele, HLA‐A*24:02:50, by sequence‐based typing
Authors: Li J.‐P. , Li X.‐F. , Zhang X. , Lin F.‐Q. , Zhang K.‐L.
Published: March 2016

HLA‐A*24:02:50 has one synonymous nucleotide change from HLA‐A*24:02:01:01 at nucleotide 429 (codon 119 aspartic acid).
Towards an Automated Comparison of OpenStreetMap with Authoritative Road Datasets
Authors: Brovelli Maria Antonia , Minghini Marco , Molinari Monia , Mooney Peter
Published: March 2016

OpenStreetMap (OSM) is an extraordinarily large and diverse spatial database of the world. Road networks are amongst the most frequently occurring spatial content within the OSM database. These road network representations are usable in many applications. However the quality of these representations can vary between locations. Comparing OSM road networks with authoritative road datasets for a given area or region is an important task in assessing OSM's fitness for use for applications like routing and navigation. Such comparisons can be technically challenging and no software implementation exists which facilitates them easily and automatically. In this article we develop and propose a flexible methodology for comparing the geometry of OSM road network data with other road datasets. Quantitative measures for the completeness and spatial accuracy of OSM are computed, including the compatibility of OSM road data with other map databases. Our methodology provides users with significant flexibility in how they can adjust the parameterization to suit their needs. This software implementation is exclusively built on open source software and a significant degree of automation is provided for these comparisons. This software can subsequently be extended and adapted for comparison between OSM and other external road datasets.
High Resolution Köppen‐Geiger Classifications of Paleoclimate Simulations
Authors: Willmes Christian , Becker Daniel , Brocks Sebastian , Hütt Christoph , Bareth Georg
Published: March 2016

The development and application of an algorithm to compute Köppen‐Geiger climate classifications from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) and Paleo Model Intercomparison Project (PMIP) climate model simulation data is described in this study. The classification algorithm was applied to data from the PMIP III paleoclimate experiments for the Last Glacial Maximum, 21k years before present (yBP), Mid‐Holocene (6k yBP) and the Pre‐Industrial (0k yBP, control run) time slices. To infer detailed classification maps, the simulation datasets were interpolated to a higher resolution. The classification method presented is based on the application of Open Source Software, and the implementation is described with attention to detail. The source code and the exact input data sets as well as the resulting data sets are provided to enable the application of the presented approach.