bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Female mate preference explains countergradient variation in the sexual coloration of guppies (
Poecilia reticulata
)
Authors: Deere Kerry A. , Grether Gregory F. , Sun Aida , Sinsheimer Janet S.
Published: November 2011

We tested the hypothesis that mate choice is responsible for countergradient variation in the sexual coloration of Trinidadian guppies (
Poecilia reticulata
). The nature of the countergradient pattern is that geographical variation in the carotenoid content of the orange spots of males is counterbalanced by genetic variation in drosopterin production, resulting in a relatively uniform pigment ratio. A female hue preference could produce this pattern, because hue is the axis of colour variation most directly affected by the pigment ratio. To test this hypothesis, we crossed two populations differing in drosopterin production and produced an F
2
generation with variable drosopterin levels. When the carotenoid content of the orange spots was held constant, female guppies preferred males with intermediate drosopterin levels. This shows that females do not simply prefer males with greater orange spot pigment content; instead, the ratio of the pigments also affects male attractiveness. To our knowledge, this is the first direct evidence for a hypothesized agent of countergradient sexual selection.
T regulatory cells in B‐cell malignancy – tumour support or kiss of death?
Authors: Lindqvist Camilla A. , Loskog Angelica S. I.
Published: November 2011

It is well established that T regulatory (Treg) cells counteract tumour immunity. However, conflicting results describing the role of Treg cells in haematological tumours warrant further investigations to clarify the interactions between Treg cells and the tumour. B‐cell malignancy derives from different stages of B‐cell development and differentiation in which T cells play a profound role. The transformed B cell may still be in need of T‐cell help to thrive but simultaneously they may be recognized and destroyed by cytotoxic lymphocytes. Recent reports demonstrate that Treg cells can suppress and even kill B cells as part of their normal function to rescue the body from autoimmunity. An emerging body of evidence points out that Treg cells not only inhibit tumour‐specific T cells but may also have a role in suppressing the progression of the B‐cell tumour. In this review, we discuss the origin and function of Treg cells and their role in patients with B‐cell tumours.
Influence of salt concentration on properties of marinated meat from fresh and frozen herring (Clupea harengus L.)
Authors: Szymczak Mariusz , Kołakowski Edward , Felisiak Katarzyna
Published: November 2011

Salt concentrations of brine above 10% are still commonly used in fish marinating process. The study has showed an increasing salt concentrations affect to adversely all the properties of marinated herring meat. Increase in salt concentration from 5% to 15% resulted in significantly (P < 0.05) decrease content of water, non‐protein nitrogen and products of protein hydrolysis. Consequently, weight yield of marinated fresh herring decreased from 83% to 74%. The most palatable marinades contained 2–3% NaCl in meat only. The higher salt concentrations applied significantly (P < 0.05) worsened the taste, texture and colour of marinated herring. Texture profile analyses (TPA), free hydroxyproline content and colour analyses (L*a*b) confirmed the negative influence of high salt concentration on the marinades quality. Frozen and thawed herring tissue showed greater sensitivity to salt. Namely, marinades from frozen fish contained by 0.3 more salt (P < 0.05), and the weight yield was by 2.3–10.3 percent point lower than from the fresh herring. Meat from frozen herring when matured has significantly (P < 0.05) lower sensory value, lower content of protein hydrolysis products, free hydroxyproline and higher parameter b* value of than the fresh one.
Warming effects on consumption and intraspecific interference competition depend on predator metabolism
Authors: Lang Birgit , Rall Björn C. , Brose Ulrich
Published: November 2011

1. Model analyses show that the stability of population dynamics and food web persistence increase with the strength of interference competition. Despite this critical importance for community stability, little is known about how external factors such as the environmental temperature affect intraspecific interference competition.

2. We aimed to fill this void by studying the functional responses of two ground beetle species of different body size, Pterostichus melanarius and Poecilus versicolor. These functional response experiments were replicated across four predator densities and two temperatures to address the impact of temperature on intraspecific interference competition.

3. We generally expected that warming should increase the speed of movement, encounter rates and in consequence interference among predator individuals. In our experiment, this expectation was supported by the results obtained for the larger predator, P. melanarius, whereas the opposite pattern characterized the interference behaviour of the smaller predator P. versicolor.

4. These results suggest potentially nontrivial implications for the effects of environmental temperature on intraspecific interference competition, for which we propose an explanation based on the different sensitivity to warming of metabolic rates of both species. As expected, increasing temperature led to stronger interference competition of the larger species, P. melanarius, which exhibited a weaker increase in metabolic rate with increasing temperature. The stronger increase in the metabolic rate of the smaller predator, P. versicolor, had to be compensated by increasing searching activity for prey, which did not leave time for increasing interference.

5. Together, these results suggest that any generalization how interference competition responds to warming should also take the species’ metabolic response to temperature increases into account.
Validation of reflex indicators for measuring vitality and predicting the delayed mortality of wild coho salmon bycatch released from fishing gears
Authors: Raby Graham D. , Donaldson Michael R. , Hinch Scott G. , Patterson David A. , Lotto Andrew G. , Robichaud David , English Karl K. , Willmore William G. , Farrell Anthony P. , Davis Michael W. , Cooke Steven J.
Published: November 2011

1. Effective management of fish and wildlife populations benefits from an understanding of the effects of stressors on individual physiology. While physiological knowledge can provide a mechanistic understanding of organismal responses, its applied utility is limited because it cannot easily be used by stakeholders.

2. Reflex action mortality predictors (RAMP) is a method that involves checking for the presence or absence of natural animal reflexes to generate a condition (RAMP) score in response to stressors and to predict fate. The method has previously been validated with fishes in artificial laboratory‐ and field‐based holding studies as a responsive measure of fisheries capture stress and a predictor of delayed mortality, but has not been evaluated in the wild.

3. We used radio telemetry to monitor migration success of 50 endangered coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch following incidental capture in an aboriginal beach seine fishery in the lower Fraser River (Canada). RAMP was used to measure the condition of fish at release and to predict migration success following capture. Biopsy of an additional 43 coho profiled physiological condition at time of release.

4. Individuals with greater reflex impairment (higher RAMP scores) at release experienced significantly higher rates of migration failure. RAMP scores were also significantly correlated with fishery handling time. Plasma variables showed that captured coho had experienced physiological stress characteristic of exhaustive exercise and hypoxia, with significantly elevated cortisol and lactate values for fish entangled longer in fishing gear.

5. Synthesis and applications. This is the first validation of RAMP in a wild setting. Based on our findings, fishers could use the method and make adjustments in fishing behaviour in real‐time to improve fish condition and reduce the mortality of bycatch, and conservation practitioners could monitor animal condition and identify problems that deserve management attention. RAMP is an easy, rapid and inexpensive approach to predicting mortality and measuring vitality and performed better than traditional physiological tools that cannot easily be used by stakeholders.
Combined transcriptome, genetic diversity and metabolite profiling in tomato fruit reveals that the ethylene response factor SlERF6 plays an important role in ripening and carotenoid accumulation
Authors: Lee Je Min , Joung Je‐Gun , McQuinn Ryan , Chung Mi‐Young , Fei Zhangjun , Tieman Denise , Klee Harry , Giovannoni James
Published: November 2011

Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) and its wild relatives harbor genetic diversity that yields heritable variation in fruit chemistry that could be exploited to identify genes regulating their synthesis and accumulation. Carotenoids, for example, are essential in plant and animal nutrition, and are the visual indicators of ripening for many fruits, including tomato. Whereas carotenoid synthesis is well characterized, factors regulating flux through the pathway are poorly understood at the molecular level. To exploit the impact of tomato genetic diversity on carotenoids, Solanum pennellii introgression lines were used as a source of defined natural variation and as a resource for the identification of candidate regulatory genes. Ripe fruits were analyzed for numerous fruit metabolites and transcriptome profiles generated using a 12 000 unigene oligoarray. Correlation analysis between carotenoid content and gene expression profiles revealed 953 carotenoid‐correlated genes. To narrow the pool, subnetwork analysis of carotenoid‐correlated transcription revealed 38 candidates. One candidate for impact on trans‐lycopene and β‐carotene accumulation was functionally charaterized, SlERF6, revealing that it indeed influences carotenoid biosynthesis and additional ripening phenotypes. Reduced expression of SlERF6 by RNAi enhanced both carotenoid and ethylene levels during fruit ripening, demonstrating an important role for SlERF6 in ripening, integrating the ethylene and carotenoid synthesis pathways.
Developmental instability as phenodeviance in a secondary sexual trait increases sharply with thermal stress
Authors: POLAK M. , TOMKINS J. L.
Published: November 2011

AbstractWe test for effects of thermal stress applied to pupal flies from Noumea (New Caledonia) and Taipei (Taiwan) on developmental instability (DI) in the male sex comb ofDrosophila bipectinata, as well as on pre‐adult survivorship and adult body size. The temperature treatments were Low (25 °C), High (29 °C) and Variable (18 h at 29 °C, 6 h at 34 °C). Although the Variable treatment reduced survivorship and body size, absolute comb size and fluctuating asymmetry generally were invariant across treatments. In contrast, comb phenodeviance increased with stress in both populations. Phenodeviance in one comb segment (C2) increased sharply with stress, whereas phenodeviance in a second major segment (C1) also increased with stress but only in Noumea flies. A major conclusion is that phenodeviations induced in a secondary sexual trait reflect the developmental environment that also damages fitness components, a foundation stone of the hypothesis that expressions of DI reveal phenotypic quality in sexual selection.
Student Teachers' Perceptions of the Effectiveness of their Initial Preparation
Authors: Giannakaki Marina‐Stefania , Hobson Andrew J. , Malderez Angi
Published: November 2011

What influences how well‐prepared student teachers feel towards working in schools upon completion of their initial teacher preparation (ITP)? In order to investigate this question, we used a path analysis using data from a longitudinal study investigating the experiences of trainee and early career phase teachers in England. The data were generated via self‐complete questionnaires and follow‐up telephone interviews with 1,322 trainees. Those on undergraduate or school‐based programmes felt better prepared to work as teachers than one‐year postgraduate trainees, perhaps because the former give higher ratings of the quality of assessment of, and feedback received on, teaching practice, and because of the clarity of theory‐practice links in programmes. Across different kinds of ITP programme, good relationships with school‐based mentors significantly boosted trainees' confidence that their ITP had effectively prepared them for teaching. Trainees' motives for entering the profession and their initial concerns about and expectations of ITP also affected their perceptions of its effectiveness, by shaping the way they experienced aspects of their courses. Implications of these findings for policy and practice in teacher preparation are discussed.
Does Competition Affect Schools' Performance? Evidence from Italy through OECD‐PISA Data
Authors: Agasisti Tommaso
Published: November 2011

This article evaluates the impact of competition on the performance of Italian schools. The study is based on policy experiments developed in 2000 by the Lombardy Regional government which introduced a voucher plan to encourage families to enrol their children in private schools. After this intervention, many other Regions launched similar policies. Despite the high political attention to this theme in Italy, there is almost no economic research on the possible role of such policies in fostering competition, and on the effects of competition on schools’ outputs.

As there are not data collected by the Italian authorities for the purpose, the article uses the OECD‐PISA 2006 dataset with some additional administrative information.

The empirical analysis shows that while some indicators of school competition have been found significant in – positively – affecting schools’ performances (in terms of student achievement), there is not strong evidence that voucher policies implemented in the Lombardy Region did improve school competition.
Engaging with Higher Education Academic Support: a first year student teacher transition model
Authors: Penn‐Edwards Sorrel , Donnison Sharn
Published: November 2011

The need for a redefinition of first year experience in higher education is advocated with the aid of two models, which, although focused on a sample of Australian pre‐service teaching students, is proposed as generalisable across the first year. Introduction to the mores of higher education is generally supported by teaching institutions during Orientation days and into the first few weeks of study on the assumption that students are then prepared for academic study. Institutions have invested significantly in providing a range of resources and services to support this process but their effectiveness relies on their timely and appropriate use by students. It is proposed that first year students' transition be identified as the FYST, a unique and important experience and the first of a series of transitions that occur throughout tertiary study. It is also argued that student engagement should be explicitly linked to critical points in the academic programme. Student teacher focus group feedback suggests that Timely, Individualised, and Prioritised Survival [TIPS] support may be key to aiding students' transition to higher education and valuable to student retention.
Employing Gramsci in Support of Laski on the Problems of British Idealism
Authors: Lamb Peter
Published: November 2011

In the early to mid-20th century Laski was a prominent critic of British Idealist political philosophy. Laski's political thought helps reveal weaknesses in the Idealism of Green and Bosanquet, who did not pay sufficient attention to divisions within society. Social unity, state sovereignty and the general will are among the concepts upon which Laski focused. The strength of Laski's criticism can be enhanced by drawing upon Gramsci's influential political thought. Laski and Gramsci were concerned with similar processes in the politics of capitalist countries. A Gramscian method justifies drawing the concept of hegemony from Gramsci's work and using that concept in support of Laski's arguments.
THE NEXT LEADERSHIP AGENDA
Authors: Gratton Lynda
Published: November 2011

Take a leading thinker, a practitioner from a major corporation and a big idea, and the result is a productive conversation. In the first of a new series, Lynda Gratton talks leadership with Robert Kovach, Cisco's Practice Leader for Executive Assessment and Development and Director of the Cisco Center for Collaborative Leadership.
WHAT A DAY LOOKS LIKE SPECIAL REPORT
Authors: Peters Georgina , Birkinshaw Julian
Published: November 2011

Executives throughout the world have never felt more time pressured. Deadlines, expectations and loyalties pull them in a profusion of different directions. So, how should they best use their time? In this Special Report we examine what a day looks like, and what it should look like, for the world's business leaders.
CHANGING FAST
Authors: Crainer Stuart
Published: November 2011

Torek Robbiati is Group Managing Director for Telstra International Group. Based in Hong Kong, he talked to Stuart Crainer about his career, values and life in the world's fastest‐growing markets.
PROFILE: COSTAS MARKIDES
Authors: Markides Costas
Published: November 2011

A leading thinker's thoughts helpfully distilled to their essence. Costas Markides undergoes the distillation process.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: INVOLVING CONSUMERS IN NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Authors: Hoyer Wayne D , Chandy Rajesh , Dorotic Matilda , Krafft Manfred , Singh Siddharth S
Published: November 2011

Wayne D Hoyer, Rajesh Chandy, Matilda Dorotic, Manfred Krafft and Siddharth S Singh, ‘Consumer cocreation in new product development’, Journal of Service Research 13, no. 3, 2010.
VOICES: FIVE MISTAKEN BELIEFS BUSINESS LEADERS HAVE ABOUT INNOVATION
Authors: Vermeulen Freek
Published: November 2011

Innovation has been looked at from every conceivable angle, but we still repeat the same mistakes, laments Freek Vermeulen.
Evaluation of the quality of an online geocoding resource in the context of a large Brazilian city
Authors: Davis Jr. Clodoveu A. , de Alencar Rafael Odon
Published: November 2011

Geocoding urban addresses usually requires the use of an underlying address database. Under the influence of the format defined for TIGER files decades ago, most address databases and street geocoding algorithms are organized around street centerlines, associating numbering ranges to thoroughfare segments between two street crossings. While this method has been successfully employed in the USA for a long time, its transposition to other countries may lead to increased errors. This article presents an evaluation of the centerline‐geocoding resources provided by Google Maps, as compared to the point‐geocoding method used in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, which we took as a baseline. We generated a textual address for each point object found in the city's point‐based address database, and submitted it to the Google Maps geocoding API. We then compared the resulting coordinates with the ones recorded in Belo Horizonte's GIS. We demonstrate that the centerline segment interpolation method, employed by the online resources following the American practice, has problems that can considerably influence the quality of the geocoding outcome. Completeness and accuracy have been found to be irregular, especially within lower income areas. Such errors in online services can have a significant impact on geocoding efforts related to social applications, such as public health and education, since the online service can be faulty and error‐prone in the most socially demanding areas of the city. In the conclusion, we point out that a volunteered geographic information (VGI) approach can help with the enrichment and enhancement of current geocoding resources, and can possibly lead to their transformation into more reliable point‐based geocoding services.
Inferring the Location of Twitter Messages Based on User Relationships
Authors: Davis Jr. Clodoveu A. , Pappa Gisele L. , de Oliveira Diogo Rennó Rocha , de L. Arcanjo Filipe
Published: November 2011

User interaction in social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook, is increasingly becoming a source of useful information on daily events. The online monitoring of short messages posted in such networks often provides insight on the repercussions of events of several different natures, such as (in the recent past) the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the royal wedding in Britain and the death of Osama bin Laden. Studying the origins and the propagation of messages regarding such topics helps social scientists in their quest for improving the current understanding of human relationships and interactions. However, the actual location associated to a tweet or to a Facebook message can be rather uncertain. Some tweets are posted with an automatically determined location (from an IP address), or with a user‐informed location, both in text form, usually the name of a city. We observe that most Twitter users opt not to publish their location, and many do so in a cryptic way, mentioning non‐existing places or providing less specific place names (such as “Brazil”). In this article, we focus on the problem of enriching the location of tweets using alternative data, particularly the social relationships between Twitter users. Our strategy involves recursively expanding the network of locatable users using following‐follower relationships. Verification is achieved using cross‐validation techniques, in which the location of a fraction of the users with known locations is used to determine the location of the others, thus allowing us to compare the actual location to the inferred one and verify the quality of the estimation. With an estimate of the precision of the method, it can then be applied to locationless tweets. Our intention is to infer the location of as many users as possible, in order to increase the number of tweets that can be used in spatial analyses of social phenomena. The article demonstrates the feasibility of our approach using a dataset comprising tweets that mention keywords related to dengue fever, increasing by 45% the number of locatable tweets.
Participation, characteristics and retention rates of HIV‐positive immigrants in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study*
Authors: Thierfelder C , Weber R , Elzi L , Furrer H , Cavassini M , Calmy A , Bernasconi E , Gutmann C , Ledergerber B ,   the Swiss HIV Cohort Study Group
Published: November 2011

Objective

Data from observational cohorts may be influenced by population structure and loss to follow‐up (LTFU). Quality of care may be associated with participation in cohort networks. We aimed to study the participation, characteristics and retention rates of immigrants in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study (SHCS).

Methods

We compared enrolment over time (1996–1999, 2000–2003 and 2004–2008) and LTFU between individuals from different geographical regions. In 2008, we performed a cross‐sectional survey to investigate the proportion of individuals not participating in the SHCS but who were in care at SHCS institutions. Predictors for LTFU were analysed using Cox proportional hazard models, and those for nonparticipation using logistic regression.

Results

A total of 7840 individuals entered the SHCS during the observation period. The proportion of immigrants increased over time, especially the proportion of women from sub‐Saharan Africa, which increased from 21 to 48% during the observation period. Overall LTFU was 3.76 [95% confidence interval (CI) 3.58–3.95]/100, with the highest hazard ratio in men from sub‐Saharan Africa (2.82/100 patient‐years; 95% CI 2.30–3.46/100), compared with men from northwestern countries. Other predictors for LTFU were age <30 years, lower education, injecting drug use, and higher baseline CD4 cell counts. Participants taking antiretroviral therapy had reduced LTFU. The survey showed that 84% of HIV‐infected patients in care at SHCS institutions were enrolled in the cohort. Nonparticipation was more likely among men from non‐European regions (odds ratio 2.73; 95% CI 2.29–3.24), women from sub‐Saharan Africa (odds ratio 3.01; 95% CI 2.40–3.77) and women from Latin America/Caribbean (odds ratio 2.10; 95% CI 1.30–3.39).

Conclusions

Numbers of HIV‐infected immigrants are increasing but they are underrepresented in the SHCS, and immigrants are more likely to be lost to follow‐up.
Artistic Urbanization: Creative Industries and Creative Control in Beijing
Authors: REN XUEFEI , SUN MENG
Published: November 2011

The discourse of creative industries arrived in China in the early 2000s via the epistemic network of international scholars and consultants. It has since garnered enthusiastic support on the domestic policy circuit, where it is viewed as the key to making the transition from ‘Made in China’ to ‘Created in China’. This article situates China's creative industry development in its urban context, examining the state spatial strategies of reconstituting control over cultural production by turning the formerly organic artist villages into official art districts. Drawing upon fieldwork on the visual and performing arts sectors in Beijing, we find that the local state has extended its creative control over artists by using interlocking directorates — a practice of appointing the same government officials to serve across the executive boards of multiple governing organizations in art districts. The districtification of artist villages has led to ‘artistic urbanization’, a process whereby rural villages quickly urbanize in the midst of art‐led development endorsed and monitored by the local state. Artistic urbanization is a spatial strategy by the state to reconstitute its control over cultural production and to profit from real estate development, and it has led to renewed censorship of artists and widespread property speculation.

Le discours des industries créatives a été amené en Chine au début des années 2000 par le réseau épistémique des chercheurs et des consultants internationaux. Depuis, il a gagné un appui enthousiaste dans les circuits de politique intérieure où on le considère comme la clé de la transition du ‘Fabriqué’ au ‘Créé’ en Chine. Cet article replace l’essor de l’industrie créative chinoise dans son contexte urbain, en s’attachant aux stratégies spatiales de l’État, lequel cherche à recontrôler la production culturelle en transformant d’anciens villages d’artistes organiques en quartiers d’art officiels. À partir d’un travail de terrain sur les arts visuels et du spectacle à Beijing, il apparaît que l’État local a étendu son contrôle de la créativité artistique en ‘croisant’ les conseils d’administration, par la nomination des mêmes représentants gouvernementaux comme administrateurs dans de nombreux organismes régissant les quartiers artistiques. La redéfinition des villages d’artistes en quartiers a entraîné une ‘urbanisation artistique’ rapide de villages ruraux dans le cadre d’un aménagement autour des arts, validé et piloté par l’État local. L’urbanisation artistique est une stratégie spatiale pour que l’État récupère son contrôle de la production culturelle et tire parti de l’essor immobilier. Elle a conduit à un regain de censure artistique et à une vaste spéculation foncière.
Electrophoretic Impregnation/Deposition Complemented with Polymeric Templating for the Fabrication of Functionalized‐Porosity Layered‐Ceramics: A Solid‐Oxide‐Fuel‐Cells Approach
Authors: Mayén‐Mondragón Rodrigo , Falk Guido , Clasen Rolf
Published: November 2011

A simple, economical, and environmentally compatible methodology for the fabrication of layered ceramics is presented herein. Water‐based electrophoretic techniques and polymeric templating were combined to fabricate graded‐porosity ceramic foams with controlled pore size, pore geometry, and excellent pore connectivity. Dense ceramic films can be laid either on top of the porous ceramic or in a sandwich‐style configuration. A single fabrication step suffices when working a single material (or material composition). Else, two or more fabrication steps are required. The two‐step manufacture of a half solid‐oxide‐fuel‐cell is presented. The yttria‐stabilized zirconia (8YSZ) solid electrolyte layer was deposited on top of the templated graded‐porosity nickel‐oxide/8YSZ electrode. The present methodology promises alternatives to current fabrication processes.
Knowledge of nurses working at schools in Bialystok, Poland, of tooth avulsion and its management
Authors: Baginska Joanna , Wilczynska‐Borawska Magdalena
Published: November 2011

Abstract –  Aim:  The purpose of this study was to evaluate the knowledge of first aid in tooth avulsion among nurses working at schools in Bialystok, Poland. A part of this population attended a lecture on the management of dental trauma 2 years before.

Methods:  The survey was conducted in September 2010 and covered 50 (96.15%) school nurses from Bialystok. Thirty‐eight of them attended the dental trauma lecture conducted 2 years before the survey. They were asked to fill in an anonymous questionnaire consisting of 20 closed questions referring to demographic data, previous dental trauma experience, and training. Seven questions referred directly to the knowledge of management of dental avulsion and on that basis, the level of nurses’ knowledge was evaluated. The data were analyzed statistically using the Mann–Withney U‐test with P < 0.05 to find factors influencing the level of knowledge.

Results:  The study showed that nurses’ knowledge about tooth avulsion was at an appropriate level. 86% of the participants chose the correct definition of the term of replantation, 92% understood that the time is crucial for the result of a replantation, 94% knew that an avulsed tooth should be held by the crown, and 96% pointed the proper transport medium. A half of the surveyed nurses declared that they would provide tooth replantation and another 16% would consult the procedures by calling a dentist. One statistically significant correlation between the level of knowledge and previous dental trauma training was revealed (P < 0.01).

Conclusions:  The lay knowledge of tooth avulsion in the population of nurses working at schools in Bialystok, Poland, was at an appropriate level. There was a strong correlation between this level and the participation in the lecture on the management of dental trauma conducted 2 years before.
Beyond post‐feminism
Authors: McRobbie Angela
Published: November 2011

Outlining the terms of a ‘new sexual contract’, Angela McRobbie traces the trajectory of feminism and ‘sophisticated anti‐feminism’ across the last two decades of political and cultural change.
Magical Thinking in Trademark Law
Authors: Assaf Katya
Published: November 2011

People in all societies have a tendency toward magical thinking. This human inclination is extensively exploited by modern advertising, which routinely suggests that consuming goods will make us successful, happy, and fulfilled. In this article, I suggest that such advertising creates a system of beliefs resembling a totemic religion. In this religion, brands perform the role of sacred objects.

Trademark law initially aims at preventing consumer confusion. Yet, today, famous trademarks are extensively protected against nonconfusing associations. I argue in this article that this broad protection is based on magical thinking. Pointing out the parallels between the laws of magic and trademark doctrines, such as the doctrine of dilution, I suggest that famous marks are legally treated as magical, sacred objects. This legal approach amounts to endorsing the commercial religion of brands.
Influence of donor age, post‐mortem time and cold storage on metabolic profile of human cornea
Authors: Kryczka Tomasz , Szaflik Jacek P. , Szaflik Jerzy , Midelfart Anna
Published: November 2011

Purpose:  Limited knowledge exists about the influence of donor age and death‐to‐preservation interval (DPI) on the metabolic properties of the cornea. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between both factors and metabolite content of the cornea.

Methods:  Corneas from 15 human donors (age: 41–78 years) were obtained within 16 hrs post‐mortem and kept in cold storage for 8 days. The metabolic profiles of the samples were investigated using high‐resolution, magic angle spinning 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy before and after 8 days of preservation.

Results:  Twenty‐two metabolites were detected and assigned in the corneal spectra. The significant metabolic differences before and after hypothermic storage were revealed between younger and older donors. DPI‐related significant differences revealed before preservation of the corneas were not displayed after 8 days of cold storage.

Conclusions:  Age of donor as well as post‐mortem time influences the biochemical properties of the cornea. Cold storage decreases the metabolite differences between the tissues collected at different post‐mortem time.
A Novel Approach to Evaluation of Vibration Source Separation Based on Spatial Distribution of Sensors and Fourier Transforms
Authors: Mahvash Ali , Lakis Aouni A.
Published: November 2011

An obstacle in diagnosis of multicomponent machinery using multiple sensors to acquire vibration data is firstly found in the data acquisition itself. This is due to the fact that vibration signals collected by each sensor are a mixture of vibration produced by different components and noise; it is not evident what signals are produced by each component. A number of research studies have been carried out in which this problem was considered a blind source separation (BSS) problem and different mathematical methods were used to separate the signals. One complexity with applying such mathematical methods to separate vibration sources is that no metric or standard measure exists to evaluate the quality of the separation. In this study, a method based on statistical energy analysis (SEA) is proposed using Fourier transforms and the spatial distance between sensors and components. The principle of this method is based on the fact that each sensor, with respect to its location in the system, collects a different version of the vibration produced in the system. By applying a short time Fourier transform to the signals collected by multiple sensors and making use of a priori knowledge of the spatial distribution of sensor locations with respect to the components, the source of the peaks on the frequency spectra of the signals can be identified and attributed to the components. The performance of the method was verified using a series of experimental tests on synthetic signals and real laboratory signals collected from different bearings and the results confirmed the efficacy of the method.
Anisotropic filling phenomenon of cavities in UV nanoimprint lithography
Authors: Wang Qing , Hiroshima Hiroshi
Published: November 2011

The authors investigated a resist-filling process using a capacity-equalized mold with complementary cavities added to line trenches. By tracking the bubble shrinking process in real time using a video monitoring system, we observed a filling phenomenon that differs from the well-reported isotropic filling. In this newly observed anisotropic filling, a bubble shrinks at different rates along its length and width directions of the rectangular complementary cavities, with a higher shrinkage rate along its length direction. The authors found that the resist-filling process had two phases. The first phase of the resist-filling process is anisotropic, and the second phase of the process is isotropic. Total complete filling time thus depends on the cavity dimensions, and the portion of filling time devoted to anisotropic filling depends linearly on the cavity length. Our findings suggest that the resist-filling process should exhibit similar two-phase behavior for other complex 3D patterns also.
Ultrafast and scalable cone‐beam CT reconstruction using MapReduce in a cloud computing environment
Authors: Meng Bowen , Pratx Guillem , Xing Lei
Published: November 2011

Purpose:

Four‐dimensional CT (4DCT) and cone beam CT (CBCT) are widely used in radiation therapy for accurate tumor target definition and localization. However, high‐resolution and dynamic image reconstruction is computationally demanding because of the large amount of data processed. Efficient use of these imaging techniques in the clinic requires high‐performance computing. The purpose of this work is to develop a novel ultrafast, scalable and reliable image reconstruction technique for 4D CBCT/CT using a parallel computing framework called MapReduce. We show the utility of MapReduce for solving large‐scale medical physics problems in a cloud computing environment.

Methods:

In this work, we accelerated the Feldcamp–Davis–Kress (FDK) algorithm by porting it to Hadoop, an open‐source MapReduce implementation. Gated phases from a 4DCT scans were reconstructed independently. Following the MapReduce formalism, Map functions were used to filter and backproject subsets of projections, and Reduce function to aggregate those partial backprojection into the whole volume. MapReduce automatically parallelized the reconstruction process on a large cluster of computer nodes. As a validation, reconstruction of a digital phantom and an acquired CatPhan 600 phantom was performed on a commercial cloud computing environment using the proposed 4D CBCT/CT reconstruction algorithm.

Results:

Speedup of reconstruction time is found to be roughly linear with the number of nodes employed. For instance, greater than 10 times speedup was achieved using 200 nodes for all cases, compared to the same code executed on a single machine. Without modifying the code, faster reconstruction is readily achievable by allocating more nodes in the cloud computing environment. Root mean square error between the images obtained using MapReduce and a single‐threaded reference implementation was on the order of 10−7. Our study also proved that cloud computing with MapReduce is fault tolerant: the reconstruction completed successfully with identical results even when half of the nodes were manually terminated in the middle of the process.

Conclusions:

An ultrafast, reliable and scalable 4D CBCT/CT reconstruction method was developed using the MapReduce framework. Unlike other parallel computing approaches, the parallelization and speedup required little modification of the original reconstruction code. MapReduce provides an efficient and fault tolerant means of solving large‐scale computing problems in a cloud computing environment.
Correlations of group velocity, phase velocity, and dispersion with bone density in bovine trabecular bone
Authors: Lee Kang Il
Published: November 2011

The present study investigated the correlations of the group velocity, the phase velocity, and the velocity dispersion with the apparent bone density in bovine trabecular bone in vitro. The phase velocity exhibited the negative dispersion, consistent with the behavior in human trabecular bone. The group and the phase velocities were found to increase with increasing apparent bone density, respectively, exhibiting similar high correlations of r = 0.94 and 0.96. The negative dispersion rate exhibited a decreasing dependence on the apparent bone density, with a significant correlation of r = −0.86.
Agonist-Driven Maturation and Plasma Membrane Insertion of Calcium-Sensing Receptors Dynamically Control Signal Amplitude
Authors: Grant Michael P. , Stepanchick Ann , Cavanaugh Alice , Breitwieser Gerda E.
Published: November 2011

Activation of a G protein–coupled receptor increases its own surface abundance to enhance its signaling.
Rapid Cancer Detection by Topically Spraying a γ-Glutamyltranspeptidase–Activated Fluorescent Probe
Authors: Urano Yasuteru , Sakabe Masayo , Kosaka Nobuyuki , Ogawa Mikako , Mitsunaga Makoto , Asanuma Daisuke , Kamiya Mako , Young Matthew R. , Nagano Tetsuo , Choyke Peter L. , Kobayashi Hisataka
Published: November 2011

A spirocyclic-caged, small-molecule imaging probe fluoresces upon cleavage by a cancer-specific enzyme and can be used during surgical or endoscopic tumor removal procedures.
Does more cycling also reduce the risk of single-bicycle crashes?
Authors: Schepers Paul
Published: November 2011

Objective

This paper examines the relationship between the amount of bicycle use and the number of single-bicycle crashes (ie, only one cyclist involved) in Dutch municipalities. Previous research has focused on crashes between bicycles and motor vehicles; however, most cyclists admitted to hospital are victims of single-bicycle crashes.

Methods

This correlational study used three data sets which included data relating to single-bicycle crashes and kilometres travelled by bicycle. Negative binomial regression was used to compare the amount of bicycling with the number of injuries incurred in single-bicycle crashes in Dutch municipalities.

Results

The likelihood of single-bicycle crashes varied inversely with the level of bicycle use. The exponent for the change in the number of single-bicycle crashes in response to changes in bicycle volumes was <1 in all analyses (ie, the increase in the number of single-bicycle crashes in a given municipality is proportionally less than the increase in the number of bicycle kilometres travelled by its inhabitants). The value was reduced in analyses of single-bicycle crashes with more severe injuries.

Conclusions

Cyclists are less likely to be involved in a severe single-bicycle crash in municipalities with a high amount of cycling. Given the large numbers of patients admitted to hospital as a result of single-bicycle crashes, it is important to include the risks of these in road safety and health effect evaluations, and to take into account the non-linearity of the relationship between single-bicycle crashes and bicycle use if road safety measures are to affect the level of bicycle use.
Proximal analysis and toxicity of extracts from young and mature leaves of the boldo tree (Peumus boldus) on elm leaf beetle (Xanthogaleruca luteola)
Authors: Chiffelle Italo , Huerta Amanda , Jiménez Rodrigo , Araya Jaime E.
Published: November 2011

A series of pests have been detected in plantations and urban trees, affecting directly the economy and recreational areas. The elm leaf beetle, Xanthogaleruca luteola Müller (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is an insect pest that skeletonises the leaves of Ulmus spp., trees with a great ornamental value, which can become completely defoliated. The boldo tree (Peumus boldus Molina) is an evergreen plant endemic in Chile that contains secondary metabolites. Proximal analysis and insecticidal effects of extracts obtained from young and mature leaves with water and ethanol from P. boldus were evaluated at various concentrations on X. luteola under laboratory conditions in a completely randomized experiment considering two leaf maturity stages and solvents. Dry weight, water content, ash, and crude fiber leaf flour were significantly different between maturity stages, but the percentage of lipids and proteins were similar. Also, the 50% lethal concentration (LC50) was determined for each extract. The extracts obtained with both solvents were effective in controlling X. luteola adults in the laboratory, reaching over 50% average mortality at concentrations greater than 3.6% (w/v) in the young leaf extract and 4.0% (w/v) in the mature leaf extract. The lowest LC50 was 1.2% (w/v), obtained from the young leaf extract with ethanol after 48 h. This bioinsecticide from the leaves of P. boldus suggests an interesting opportunity for use in integrated pest management of X. luteola.
Assessing model performance in forecasting long-term individual tree diameter versus basal area increment for the primary Acadian tree species
Authors: Russell Matthew B. , Weiskittel Aaron R. , Kershaw John A.
Published: November 2011

Tree basal area (ba) or diameter at breast height (dbh) are universally used to represent tree secondary growth in individual tree based growth models. However, the long-term implications of using either ba or dbh for predictions are rarely fully assessed. In this analysis, Δba and Δdbh increment equations were fit to identical datasets gathered from six conifer and four hardwood species grown in central Maine. The performance of Δba and Δdbh predictions from nonlinear mixed-effects models were then compared with observed growth measurements of up to 29 years via a Monte Carlo simulation. Two evaluation statistics indicated substantial improvement in forecasting dbh using Δdbh rather than Δba. Root mean squared error (RMSE) and percentage mean absolute deviation (MAD%) were reduced by 14% and 15% on average, respectively, across all projection length intervals (5–29 years) when Δdbh was used over Δba. Differences were especially noted as projection lengths increased. RMSE and MAD% were reduced by 24% when Δdbh was employed over Δba at longer projection lengths (up to 29 years). Simulations found that simulating random effects rather than using local estimates for random effects performed as well or better at longer interval lengths. These results highlight the implications that selecting a growth model dependent variable can have and the importance of incorporating model uncertainty into the growth projections of individual tree based models.
A comparison of the effects of different shelterwood harvest methods on the survival and growth of acorn-origin oak seedlings
Authors: Brose Patrick H.
Published: November 2011

Timely development of newly germinated oak (Quercus spp.) seedlings into competitive-sized regeneration is an essential part of the oak regeneration process. The amount of sunlight reaching the forest floor partly governs this development, and foresters often use the shelterwood system to expose oak seedlings to varying degrees of insolation. To further understand the seedling development–sunlight–shelterwood relationships, I conducted a multiyear study at five locations in Pennsylvania. Each location had four stands either uncut or recently treated with one of three shelterwood harvest methods (preparatory cut, first removal cut, or final removal cut) resulting in four different levels of sunlight reaching the forest floor. In each stand, four 32 m2 plots were prepared, and each was planted with 400 acorns of black (Quercus velutina Lam.), chestnut (Quercus montana Willd.), northern red (Quercus rubra L.), or white oak (Quercus alba L.) and protected from wildlife. Germination success was universally high and for the next 8 years, I monitored seedling survival and measured seedling growth. The final and first removal cut treatments had higher seedling survival than the preparatory cut and uncut treatments. Oak seedling growth was positively related to sunlight availability; seedlings in the final removal cut grew the most, followed in descending order by those in the first removal cut, preparatory cut, and uncut treatments. These findings provide insight into the subtleties of regenerating oak forests with the shelterwood system.