bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ecophysiology of Eucalyptus marginata and Corymbia calophylla in decline in an urban parkland
Authors: GRIGG ALASDAIR , CLOSE DUGALD C. , LAMBERS HANS , RUTHROF KATINKA X. , DIXON KINGSLEY W.
Published: May 2009

Eucalypt trees are in decline throughout urban landscapes of south western Australia. This study investigated the cause of decline in Eucalyptus marginata and Corymbia calophylla trees in parkland and compared water and nutrient relations with healthy trees in adjacent bushland in Perth, Western Australia. It was hypothesized that: (i) trees were drought stressed through competition for soil water by the vigorous turf; (ii) excessive uptake of nitrogen, because of fertilizer application to turf, caused toxicity; and/or (iii) micronutrient (Cu, Fe, Mn and/or Zn) deficit was induced by high‐pH irrigation water applied to turf around parkland trees. Leaf water potential showed aseasonal variation in the irrigated parkland trees and foliar δ13C indicated that parkland trees generally had low water‐use efficiency and were not drought stressed relative to bushland trees. Foliar N levels were not significantly different between parkland and bushland trees indicating that excess N uptake was not a factor in the decline. Foliar total Fe, ‘metabolically active’ Fe, Cu and Zn concentrations were not significantly different between parkland and bushland trees. Foliar manganese concentrations were indicative of deficiency and significantly lower in parkland trees (5–14 µg g−1) relative to bushland trees (22–35 µg g−1). It is concluded that application of alkaline irrigation water to the parkland site reduced the plant‐availability of Mn; however, our study of only one parkland site does not allow us to generalize the results across other parklands.
Do trails affect relative abundance estimates of rainforest frogs and lizards?
Authors: Von MAY RUDOLF , DONNELLY MAUREEN A.
Published: May 2009

The selection of a sampling protocol is critical to study amphibian and reptile communities and in many instances researchers have combined the use of visual encounter surveys (VES) conducted on trails and off trails. The effect of human‐made trails on relative abundance estimates of amphibians and reptiles has been assessed in a few temperate locations, but data are lacking for tropical sites. Our study was designed to address this issue by comparing abundance estimates of frogs and lizards on and off trails in a lowland rainforest in south‐eastern Perú. We used nocturnal VES to sample frogs and lizards along transects established on trails and off trails in two different forest types. We found that the observed relative abundance estimates of frogs and lizards were affected by the location of transects (on trail vs. off trail) and the type of forest (floodplain forest vs. terra firme forest). We also found an interaction between the two main effects, indicating that the effect of transect location with respect to trails varies as a function of habitat. Observed frog abundances were higher on trails than off trails, indicating that studies that include VES on trails will bias relative abundance estimates in contrast to studies that include only VES off trails. We suggest that transects should be established only off trails, especially for monitoring studies because trail use by humans can have a strong influence on observed animal abundance.
Do virus‐resistant plants pose a threat to non‐target ecosystems? II. Risk assessment of an Australian pathosystem using multi‐scale field experiments
Authors: GODFREE ROBERT C. , WOODS MATTHEW J. , YOUNG ANDREW G.
Published: May 2009

It has been widely argued that the acquisition of novel disease resistance genes by wild host populations following the release of novel pathogen‐resistant plants into agricultural systems could pose a significant threat to non‐target plant communities. However, predicting the magnitude of ecological release in wild plant populations following the removal of disease remains a major challenge. In this paper we report on the second phase of a tiered risk assessment designed to investigate the role of disease on host growth, survival, fecundity and fitness in a model pathosystem (the pasture species Trifolium repens infected with Clover yellow vein virus, ClYVV) and to assess the level of risk posed to at‐risk native plant communities in southeast Australia by newly developed genetically modified and conventionally bred virus‐resistant T. repens genotypes. Multi‐year field experiments conducted in woodland and grassland environments using host‐pathogen arrays derived from 14 ClYVV isolates and 21 T. repens genotypes indicate that viral infection reduces fecundity, growth and survival of wild T. repens plants but that the severity of these effects depends on host tolerance to infection, isolate aggressiveness and specific spatial and temporal environmental conditions. Demographic modelling showed that by reducing host survival and growth, ClYVV also limits the intrinsic population growth rate and niche size of wild T. repens populations. Given the significant fitness cost associated with viral infection we conclude that virus‐resistant T. repens genotypes may pose a threat to some high conservation‐value non‐target ecosystems in SE Australia. We also argue that long‐term, multi‐tiered experiments conducted in a range of controlled and non‐controlled environments are necessary to detect and accurately quantify risks associated with the release of disease‐resistant plants in general.
Prevalence and correlates of functional disability in Chinese older adults
Authors: Liu Jufen , Chi Iris , Chen Gong , Song Xinming , Zheng Xiaoying
Published: May 2009

Aim:  This article examines the prevalence of functional disability as well as sociodemographic correlations among Chinese older adults based on the most recent China National Sample Survey on Disability in 2006.

Methods:  Functional disability was defined as lost motor function or limited movements and activities according to the International Classification of Function, Disability and Health, and physicians made the diagnosis of disability. Utilizing stratified, multiphase and cluster probability sampling design, a nationally representative sample of the non‐institutionalized elderly Chinese population was studied. Factors associated with functional disability were determined using a logistic regression model.

Results:  The prevalence of functional disability was 8.1%. Major causes were vascular disease, osteoarthritis and accidents. In the non‐institutionalized elders, increased age, rural residence, less education, lower income, unemployment, being unmarried, living in simple housing, and living with others or non‐homeowners emerged as factors associated with functional disability in men and women.

Conclusion:  To face the challenge of the rising prevalence of functional disability, prevention strategies should focus on reducing the incidences of chronic disease and improving socioeconomic status of older adults.
Genome sequences of two novel phages infecting marine roseobacters
Authors: Zhao Yanlin , Wang Kui , Jiao Nianzhi , Chen Feng
Published: May 2009

Two bacteriophages, DSS3Φ2 and EE36Φ1, which infect marine roseobacters Silicibacter pomeroyi DSS‐3 and Sulfitobacter sp. EE‐36, respectively, were isolated from Baltimore Inner Harbor water. These two roseophages resemble bacteriophage N4, a large, short‐tailed phage infecting Escherichia coli K12, in terms of their morphology and genomic structure. The full genome sequences of DSS3Φ2 and EE36Φ1 reveal that their genome sizes are 74.6 and 73.3 kb, respectively, and they both contain a highly conserved N4‐like DNA replication and transcription system. Both roseophages contain a large virion‐encapsidated RNA polymerase gene (> 10 kb), which was first discovered in N4. DSS3Φ2 and EE36Φ1 also possess several genes (i.e. ribonucleotide reductase and thioredoxin) that are most similar to the genes in roseobacters. Overall, the two roseophages are highly closely related, and share 80–94% nucleotide sequence identity over 85% of their ORFs. This is the first report of N4‐like phages infecting marine bacteria and the second report of N4‐like phage since the discovery of phage N4 40 years ago. The finding of these two N4‐like roseophages will allow us to further explore the specific phage–host interaction and evolution for this unique group of bacteriophages.
Better living through microbial action: the benefits of the mammalian gastrointestinal microbiota on the host
Authors: Leser Thomas D. , Mølbak Lars
Published: May 2009

Mammals live in a homeostatic symbiosis with their gastrointestinal microbiota. The mammalian host provides the microbiota with nutrients and a stable environment; whereas the microbiota helps shaping the host's gut mucosa and provides nutritional contributions. Microorganisms start colonizing the gut immediately after birth followed by a succession of populations until a stable, adult microbiota has been established. However, physiological conditions differ substantially among locations in the gut and determine bacterial density and diversity. While Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes dominate the gut microbiota in all mammals, the bacterial genera and species diversity is huge and reflects mammalian phylogeny. The main function of the gastrointestinal epithelium is to absorb nutrients and to retain water and electrolytes, yet at the same time it is an efficient barrier against harmful compounds and microorganisms, and is able to neutralize antagonists coincidentally breaching the barrier. These processes are influenced by the microbiota, which modify epithelial expression of genes involved in nutrient uptake and metabolism, mucosal barrier function, xenobiotic metabolism, enteric nervous system and motility, hormonal and maturational responses, angiogenesis, cytoskeleton and extracellular matrix, signal transduction, and general cellular functions. Whereas such effects are local at the gut epithelium they may eventually have systemic consequences, e.g. on body weight and composition.
Improved treatment satisfaction and weight‐related quality of life with exenatide once weekly or twice daily1
Authors: Best J. H. , Boye K. S. , Rubin R. R. , Cao D. , Kim T. H. , Peyrot M.
Published: May 2009

Aims  To assess treatment satisfaction and weight‐related quality of life (QOL) in subjects with Type 2 diabetes treated with exenatide once weekly (QW) or twice daily (BID).

Methods  In this 52‐week randomized, multi‐centre, open‐label study, 295 subjects managed with diet and exercise and/or oral glucose‐lowering medications received either exenatide QW or BID during weeks 1–30; thereafter, subjects receiving exenatide BID were switched to exenatide QW, with 258 total subjects receiving exenatide QW during weeks 30–52. Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire—status (DTSQ‐s) and Impact of Weight on Quality of Life—Lite (IWQOL‐Lite) were assessed at baseline and weeks 30 and 52. Mean group changes from baseline to week 30 were estimated by ancova; changes from week 30 to week 52 were assessed by Student’s t‐test.

Results  Statistically significant improvements from baseline to week 30 were observed in both treatment groups for DTSQ‐s and IWQOL‐Lite measures, with significantly greater reduction in perceived frequency of hyperglycaemia and greater satisfaction with continuing treatment in the QW group compared with the BID group. Effect sizes for change in DTSQ‐s total scores were 0.84 QW, 0.64 BID; for IWQOL‐Lite: 0.96 QW, 0.82 BID. Treatment satisfaction and QOL improved significantly between weeks 30 and 52 for those switching from BID to QW. Occurrence of adverse events did not affect patients’ improvements in treatment satisfaction and QOL.

Conclusions  Patients treated with exenatide QW or BID experienced significant and clinically meaningful improvements in treatment satisfaction and QOL. Patients who switched from exenatide BID to exenatide QW administration reported further significant improvements.
Plants intertwine fluvial landform dynamics with ecological succession and natural selection: a niche construction perspective for riparian systems
Authors: Corenblit Dov , Steiger Johannes , Gurnell Angela M. , Naiman Robert J.
Published: May 2009

Aim To contribute to the development of a macroevolutionary framework for riparian systems, reinforcing conceptual linkages between earth surface processes and biological and ecological processes.

Location Riparian systems.

Methods Literature review leading to an original proposition for perceiving the functioning of riparian systems in a new and different way.

Results Riparian systems provide diverse landforms, habitats and resources for animals and plants. Certain organisms, defined as ‘ecosystem engineers’, significantly create and modify the physical components of riparian systems. Many studies have highlighted such engineering effects by animals on riparian systems, but the identification and understanding of the effects and responses of plants within fluvial corridors have emerged only recently. The modulation of matter, resources and energy flows by engineering plants helps establish characteristic sequences of fluvial landform creation and maintenance associated with synergetic ecological successions. We relate this process to the concept of niche construction, developed mainly by evolutionary biologists. Feedbacks between adaptive responses of riparian plants to flow regime and adjusting effects on biostabilization and bioconstruction are discussed in the context of niche construction at the scale of ecological succession and the evolution of organisms.

Main conclusions Our conceptualization forges an integrated approach for understanding vegetated fluvial systems from a macroevolutionary perspective, for elucidating riparian ecosystem dynamics and potentially for establishing long‐term stream conservation and restoration strategies.
Macroecology meets macroevolution: evolutionary niche dynamics in the seaweed Halimeda
Authors: Verbruggen Heroen , Tyberghein Lennert , Pauly Klaas , Vlaeminck Caroline , Nieuwenhuyze Katrien Van , Kooistra Wiebe H.C.F. , Leliaert Frederik , Clerck Olivier De
Published: May 2009

Aim  Because of their broad distribution in geographical and ecological dimensions, seaweeds (marine macroalgae) offer great potential as models for marine biogeographical inquiry and exploration of the interface between macroecology and macroevolution. This study aims to characterize evolutionary niche dynamics in the common green seaweed genus Halimeda, use the observed insights to gain understanding of the biogeographical history of the genus and predict habitats that can be targeted for the discovery of species of special biogeographical interest.

Location  Tropical and subtropical coastal waters.

Methods  The evolutionary history of the genus is characterized using molecular phylogenetics and relaxed molecular clock analysis. Niche modelling is carried out with maximum entropy techniques and uses macroecological data derived from global satellite imagery. Evolutionary niche dynamics are inferred through application of ancestral character state estimation.

Results  A nearly comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the genus was inferred from a six‐locus dataset. Macroecological niche models showed that species distribution ranges are considerably smaller than their potential ranges. We show strong phylogenetic signal in various macroecological niche features.

Main conclusions  The evolution of Halimeda is characterized by conservatism for tropical, nutrient‐depleted habitats, yet one section of the genus managed to invade colder habitats multiple times independently. Niche models indicate that the restricted geographical ranges of Halimeda species are not due to habitat unsuitability, strengthening the case for dispersal limitation. Niche models identified hotspots of habitat suitability of Caribbean species in the eastern Pacific Ocean. We propose that these hotspots be targeted for discovery of new species separated from their Caribbean siblings since the Pliocene rise of the Central American Isthmus.
Insurgency, militias and DDR as part of security sector reconstruction in Iraq: how not to do it
Authors: Özerdem Alpaslan
Published: May 2009

One of the most demanding challenges since the occupation of Iraq in 2003 has been the establishment of security and stability. The continuation of violence by myriad armed groups is yet to be tackled as part of a comprehensive security sector reform initiative in which effective disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) of former combatants will constitute a litmus test of success or failure. In Iraq, much insurgent and militia activity is shadowy and difficult to trace. However, those involved can be divided into two main categories: insurgent groups; and Shi'a militias. In a highly complex and insecure environment such as this, resulting from the presence of many armed groups with varying agendas and objectives, the conduct of a DDR process will be an extremely sensitive and testing task both for Iraq and the international community. Appropriate preparation for such a process is clearly an imperative for the generation of peace in the country.
Success in Kashmir: a positive trend in civil–military integration during humanitarian assistance operations
Authors: Thompson Wiley C.
Published: May 2009

The modern cast of disaster relief actors includes host nations, non‐governmental organisations, private volunteer organisations, military organisations and others. Each group, civilian or military, has valuable skills and experiences critical to disaster relief work. The goal of this paper is to supplement the study of civil–military relief efforts with contemporary anecdotal experience. The paper examines the interaction between US military forces and other disaster relief actors during the 2005 Kashmir earthquake relief effort. The author uses direct observations made while working in Pakistan to contrast the relationships and activities from that effort with other accounts in prevailing scholarly disaster literature and military doctrine. Finally, this paper suggests that the Kashmir model of integration, coordination and transparency of intent creates a framework in which future humanitarian assistance operations could be successfully executed. Recommendations to improve civil–military interaction in future relief efforts will also be addressed.
Race Bias Tracks Conception Risk Across the Menstrual Cycle
Authors: Navarrete Carlos David , Fessler Daniel M.T. , Fleischman Diana Santos , Geyer Joshua
Published: May 2009

Although a considerable body of research explores alterations in women's mating-relevant preferences across the menstrual cycle, investigators have yet to examine the potential for the menstrual cycle to influence intergroup attitudes. We examined the effects of changes in conception risk across the menstrual cycle on intergroup bias and found that increased conception risk was positively associated with several measures of race bias. This association was particularly strong when perceived vulnerability to sexual coercion was high. Our findings highlight the potential for hypotheses informed by an evolutionary perspective to generate new knowledge about current social problems—an avenue that may lead to new predictions in the study of intergroup relations.
The Symbolic Power of Money
Authors: Zhou Xinyue , Vohs Kathleen D. , Baumeister Roy F.
Published: May 2009

People often get what they want from the social system, and that process is aided by social popularity or by having money. Money can thus possibly substitute for social acceptance in conferring the ability to obtain benefits from the social system. Moreover, past work has suggested that responses to physical pain and social distress share common underlying mechanisms. Six studies tested relationships among reminders of money, social exclusion, and physical pain. Interpersonal rejection and physical pain caused desire for money to increase. Handling money (compared with handling paper) reduced distress over social exclusion and diminished the physical pain of immersion in hot water. Being reminded of having spent money, however, intensified both social distress and physical pain.
Emotion Improves and Impairs Early Vision
Authors: Bocanegra Bruno R. , Zeelenberg René
Published: May 2009

Recent studies indicate that emotion enhances early vision, but the generality of this finding remains unknown. Do the benefits of emotion extend to all basic aspects of vision, or are they limited in scope? Our results show that the brief presentation of a fearful face, compared with a neutral face, enhances sensitivity for the orientation of subsequently presented low-spatial-frequency stimuli, but diminishes orientation sensitivity for high-spatial-frequency stimuli. This is the first demonstration that emotion not only improves but also impairs low-level vision. The selective low-spatial-frequency benefits are consistent with the idea that emotion enhances magnocellular processing. Additionally, we suggest that the high-spatial-frequency deficits are due to inhibitory interactions between magnocellular and parvocellular pathways. Our results suggest an emotion-induced trade-off in visual processing, rather than a general improvement. This trade-off may benefit perceptual dimensions that are relevant for survival at the expense of those that are less relevant.
Serotonin Augmentation Reduces Response to Attack in Aggressive Individuals
Authors: Berman Mitchell E. , McCloskey Michael S. , Fanning Jennifer R. , Schumacher Julie A. , Coccaro Emil F.
Published: May 2009

We tested the theory that central serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, or 5-HT) activity regulates aggression by modulating response to provocation. Eighty men and women (40 with and 40 without a history of aggression) were randomly assigned to receive either 40 mg of paroxetine (to acutely augment serotonergic activity) or a placebo, administered using double-blind procedures. Aggression was assessed during a competitive reaction time game with a fictitious opponent. Shocks were selected by the participant and opponent before each trial, with the loser on each trial receiving the shock set by the other player. Provocation was manipulated by having the opponent select increasingly intense shocks for the participant and eventually an ostensibly severe shock toward the end of the trials. Aggression was measured by the number of severe shocks set by the participant for the opponent. As predicted, aggressive responding after provocation was attenuated by augmentation of serotonin in individuals with a pronounced history of aggression.
Social Anxiety and Anger Identification
Authors: Langner Oliver , Becker Eni S. , Rinck Mike
Published: May 2009

We investigated the facial information that socially anxious and nonanxious individuals utilize to judge emotions. Using a reversed-correlation technique, we presented participants with face images that were masked with random bubble patterns. These patterns determined which parts of the face were visible in specific spatial-frequency bands. This masking allowed us to establish which locations and spatial frequencies were helping participants to successfully discriminate angry faces from neutral ones. Although socially anxious individuals performed as well as nonanxious individuals on the emotion-discrimination task, they did not utilize the same facial information for the task. The fine details (high spatial frequencies) around the eyes were discriminative for both groups, but only socially anxious participants additionally processed rough configural information (low spatial frequencies).
Learning to Attend and to Ignore Is a Matter of Gains and Losses
Authors: Della Libera Chiara , Chelazzi Leonardo
Published: May 2009

Efficient goal-directed behavior in a crowded world is crucially mediated by visual selective attention (VSA), which regulates deployment of cognitive resources toward selected, behaviorally relevant visual objects. Acting as a filter on perceptual representations, VSA allows preferential processing of relevant objects and concurrently inhibits traces of irrelevant items, thus preventing harmful distraction. Recent evidence showed that monetary rewards for performance on VSA tasks strongly affect immediately subsequent deployment of attention; a typical aftereffect of VSA (negative priming) was found only following highly rewarded selections. Here we report a much more striking demonstration that the controlled delivery of monetary rewards also affects attentional processing several days later. Thus, the propensity to select or to ignore specific visual objects appears to be strongly biased by the more or less rewarding consequences of past attentional encounters with the same objects.
Toward a Unified Stratification Theory: Structure, Genome, and Status across Human Societies
Authors: Adkins Daniel E. , Vaisey Stephen
Published: May 2009

While social scientists and geneticists have a shared interest in the personal characteristics instrumental to status attainment, little has been done to integrate these disparate perspectives. This is unfortunate, as the perspectives offer complementary insights, which, if properly combined, stand to substantially improve understanding of the stratification process. This article synthesizes research from the social sciences and genetics to develop a multistage theory of how social structure moderates the influence of the genome on status outcomes. Its thesis is that the strength of the genome's influence on status is primarily moderated by two properties of social structure—levels of resource inequality and social mobility. Thus, it is theorized that under conditions of low inequality and high social mobility, the influence of the genome on status will be high relative to conditions of high inequality and low social mobility. The essential logic is (1) as inequality increases, the characteristics and abilities intrinsically useful in status attainment are increasingly influenced by individuals' social backgrounds and decreasingly determined by their genomes; and (2) as social closure and inequality increase, the utility of these characteristics and abilities to status attainment is diminished. In sum, a model of status attainment is developed proposing that while both genome and social background influence the status attainment process, the relative importance of these factors is determined by the surrounding structure of the society.
Critical Human Ecology: Historical Materialism and Natural Laws
Authors: York Richard , Mancus Philip
Published: May 2009

We lay the foundations for a critical human ecology (CHE) that combines the strengths of the biophysical human ecology tradition in environmental sociology with those of historical materialism. We show the strengths of a critically informed human ecology by addressing four key meta-theoretical issues: materialist versus idealist approaches in the social sciences, dialectical versus reductionist analyses, the respective importance of historical and ahistorical causal explanations, and the difference between structural and functional interpretations of phenomena. CHE breaks with the idealism of Western Marxism, which dominated academic neo-Marxist thought in the latter half of the 20th century, and advocates instead the pursuit of a materialist, scientific methodology in dialectical perspective for the explanation of social and ecological change. In turn, this project also involves a critique of the ahistorical and functionalist tendencies of traditional human ecology, while sharing human ecology's basic starting point: the ecological embeddedness of human societies.
Bourdieu's Gift to Gift Theory: An Unacknowledged Trajectory
Authors: Silber Ilana F.
Published: May 2009

This article offers to unravel lines of both continuity and change in Bourdieu's repeated return to the topic of the gift throughout his intellectual career. While this periodical revisiting of the gift may seem at first like mere repetition, a closer reading reveals three successive and cumulative phases in his gift theory, each adding a new layer of analytical and normative inflections. Emerging from these three phases is a trajectory marked by systematic theoretical consolidation but also growing dilemmas and inner tensions, even to the point of self-contradiction: starting from a critical debunking of the disinterested gift as sincere but obfuscating fiction, it culminates with a positive, prescriptive valorization of disinterestedness as something which needs be cultivated in our very own times. Challenging his vision, as it were, “from within,” these inner tensions and developments amount to an intriguing, inverted case of Bourdieu's own idea of “double truth,” all the more significant since it pertains to a topic that he defined as playing a paradigmatic function in his general theoretical approach.
A Retrospective Evaluation of European Financial Management (1995–2008)
Authors: Chan Kam C. , Chang Chih‐Hsiang , Lo Y. Ling
Published: May 2009

We provide a retrospective evaluation of European Financial Management (EFM) from 1995 to 2008. In 14 years, EFM has published a total of 333 articles, with 564 authors from 299 academic and non‐academic institutions. The authors and institutions represent 26 different countries. Two interesting results emerge from this analysis. First, although EFM is a young finance journal, it has achieved a highly respectable status among all finance journals. In fact, EFM has surpassed a number of well‐established finance journals in its research impact. Second, consistent with its mission, EFM has published articles whose authors have European affiliations and research content. Nonetheless, we find that EFM is the publication outlet of authors outside the European region as well. The rising readership and variety of articles published suggest that EFM is a general finance journal that has done very well in serving the interests of the finance profession for the last 14 years.
The Performance of the European Market for Corporate Control: Evidence from the Fifth Takeover Wave
Authors: Martynova Marina , Renneboog Luc
Published: May 2009

This paper presents an in‐depth analysis of the performance of large, medium‐sized, and small corporate takeovers involving Continental European and UK firms during the fifth takeover wave. We find that takeovers are expected to create takeover synergies as their announcements trigger statistically significant abnormal returns of 9.13% for the target and of 0.53% for bidding firms. The characteristics of the target and bidding firms and of the bid itself are able to explain a significant part of these returns: (i) deal hostility increases the target's but decreases bidder's returns; (ii) the private status of the target is associated with higher bidder's returns; and (iii) an equity payment leads to a decrease in both bidder's and target's returns. The takeover wealth effect is however not limited to the bid announcement day but is also visible prior and subsequent to the bid. The analysis of pre‐announcement returns reveals that hostile takeovers are largely anticipated and associated with a significant increase in the bidder's and target's share prices. Bidders that accumulate a toehold stake in the target experience higher post‐announcement returns. A comparison of the UK and Continental European M&A markets reveals that: (i) the takeover returns of UK targets substantially exceed those of Continental European firms. (ii) The presence of a large shareholder in the bidding firm has a significantly positive effect on takeover returns in the UK and a negative one in Continental Europe. (iii) Weak investor protection and low disclosure in Continental Europe allow bidding firms to adopt takeover strategies enabling them to act opportunistically towards the target's incumbent shareholders.
Is CEO Pay Really Inefficient? A Survey of New Optimal Contracting Theories
Authors: Edmans Alex , Gabaix Xavier
Published: May 2009

Bebchuk and Fried (2004) argue that executive compensation is set by CEOs themselves rather than boards on behalf of shareholders, since many features of observed pay packages may appear inconsistent with standard optimal contracting theories. However, it may be that simple models do not capture several complexities of real‐life settings. This article surveys recent theories that extend traditional frameworks to incorporate these dimensions, and show that the above features can be fully consistent with efficiency. For example, optimal contracting theories can explain the recent rapid increase in pay, the low level of incentives and their negative scaling with firm size, pay‐for‐luck, the widespread use of options (as opposed to stock), severance pay and debt compensation, and the insensitivity of incentives to risk.
Why Do European Firms Go Public?
Authors: Bancel Franck , Mittoo Usha R.
Published: May 2009

We survey chief financial officers (CFOs) from 12 European countries regarding the determinants of going public and exchange listing decisions. Most CFOs identify enhanced visibility and financing for growth as the most important benefits of an IPO, but other motivations for IPOs differ significantly across firms, countries, and legal systems. We find strong support for the IPO theories that emphasise financial and strategic considerations, such as enhanced reputation and credibility, and financial flexibility as a major advantage of an IPO. At the same time, we find moderate support for theories that focus on exit strategy, balance of power with creditors, external monitoring, and merger and acquisition motivations. European CFOs' views on the major benefits of an IPO are generally similar to those of US managers as reported in

Brau and Fawcett (2006)

, but differ significantly on outside monitoring; outside monitoring is considered a major benefit by European CFOs but a major cost by US CFOs. Our evidence suggests that the decision to go public is a complex one, and cannot be explained by one single theory because firms seek multiple benefits in going public. These motivations are influenced by the firm's ownership structure, size and age as well as by the home country's institutional and regulatory environment.
ALL THIS HAPPENED, MORE OR LESS: WHAT A NOVELIST MADE OF THE BOMBING OF DRESDEN1
Authors: RIGNEY ANN
Published: May 2009

Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse‐Five (1969) was a popular and critical success when it first appeared, and has had a notable impact on popular perceptions of “the bombing of Dresden,” although it has been criticized by historians because of its inaccuracy. This article analyzes the novel's quirky, comic style and its generic mixture of science fiction and testimony, showing how Vonnegut consistently used ingenuous understatement as a way of imaginatively engaging his readers with the horrors of war. The article argues that the text's aesthetics are closer to those of graphic novels than of realist narratives and that, accordingly, we can understand its cultural impact only by approaching it as a highly artificial linguistic performance with present‐day appeal and contemporary relevance, and not merely by measuring the degree to which it gives a full and accurate mimesis of past events.

The article uses the case of Vonnegut to advance a more general argument that builds on recent work in cultural memory studies: in order to understand the role that literature plays in shaping our understanding of history, it needs to be analyzed in its own terms and not as a mere derivative of historiography according to a “one model fits all” approach. Furthermore, we need to shift the emphasis from products to processes by considering both artistic and historiographical practices as agents in the ongoing circulation across different cultural domains of stories about the past. Theoretical reflection should account for the fact that historiography and the various arts play distinct roles in this cultural dynamics, and while they compete with one another, they also converge, bounce off one another, influence one another, and continuously beg to be different.
PHOTOGRAPHS, SYMBOLIC IMAGES, AND THE HOLOCAUST: ON THE (IM)POSSIBILITY OF DEPICTING HISTORICAL TRUTH
Authors: KEILBACH JUDITH
Published: May 2009

Photography has often been scrutinized regarding its relationship to reality or historical truth. This includes not only the indexicality of photography, but also the question of how structures and processes that comprise history and historical events can be depicted. In this context, the Holocaust provides a particular challenge to photography. As has been discussed in numerous publications, this historic event marks the “limits of representation.” Nevertheless there are many photographs “showing” the Holocaust that have been produced in different contexts that bespeak the photographers' gaze and the circumstances of the photographs' production. Some of the pictures have become very well known due to their frequent reproduction, even though they often do not show the annihilation itself, but situations different from that; their interpretation as Holocaust pictures results rather from a metonymic deferral. When these pictures are frequently reproduced they are transformed into symbolic images, that is, images that can be removed from their specific context, and in this way they come to signify abstract concepts such as “evil.” Despite being removed from their specific context these images can, as this essay argues, refer to historical truth. First, I explore the arguments of some key theorists of photography (Benjamin, Kracauer, Sontag, Barthes) to investigate the relationship between photography and reality in general, looking at their different concepts of reality, history, and historical truth, as well as the question of the meaning of images. Second, I describe the individual circumstances in which some famous Holocaust pictures were taken in order to analyze, by means of three examples, the question what makes these specific pictures so particularly suitable to becoming symbolic images and why they may—despite their abstract meaning—be able to depict historical truth.
BALANCED TRUTH: STEVEN SPIELBERG'S SCHINDLER'S LIST AMONG HISTORY, MEMORY, AND POPULAR CULTURE1
Authors: CLASSEN CHRISTOPH
Published: May 2009

Looking at the public reaction to it, one might say that Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List is undoubtedly the most successful film about the Holocaust. The film's success in the U.S. and other Western countries can be traced back mainly to the fact that it creates the impression of telling a true, apparently authentic, story.

This essay investigates how this impression of historical truth and authenticity emerges in a fiction film. For this purpose the essay reverts to a concept developed by Jörn Rüsen, which distinguishes among three dimensions of historical culture, namely political, aesthetic, and cognitive. In addition to the historical context that serves as a specific precondition for the film's success, the essay primarily investigates the strategies of authentication Spielberg applied at both the visual and narrative levels.

The investigation concludes that the impression of evidence produced by the movie is significantly a result of the sophisticated balancing of the three dimensions mentioned above. The film utilizes artifacts of an existing and increasingly transnational (visual) memory for the benefit of a closed, archetypical narrative. It follows the aesthetic and artistic rules of popular narrative cinema, and largely recurs to conventions of representation that were common in film and television programs of the 1990s. Although these forms condense the historical course of events, the film manages to stay close to insights gained by historiography.

The hybrid amalgamation of history and memory, and of the imaginary and the real, as well as the combination of dramaturgies of popular culture with an instinct for what can (not) be shown—all of these factors have helped Schindler's List to render a representation of the founding Holocaust myth in Western societies that can be sensually experienced while being emotionally impressive at the same time.
THE SYNTAX OF OBJECTS AND THE REPRESENTATION OF HISTORY: SPEAKING OF SLAVERY IN NEW YORK
Authors: CARBONELL BETTINA M.
Published: May 2009

The representation of history continues to evolve in the domain of museum exhibitions. This evolution is informed in part by the creation of new display methods—many of which depart from the traditional conventions used to achieve the “museum effect”—in part by an increased attention to the museum‐visitor relationship. In this context the ethical force of bearing witness, at times a crucial aspect of the museum experience, has emerged as a particularly compelling issue. In seeking to represent and address atrocity, injustice, and the abrogation of human rights, museums have the potential to become “sites of conscience” and to encourage “historical consciousness.” Through a series of three exhibitions devoted to slavery, the New‐York Historical Society demonstrated how such sites can be constructed and how objects can be deployed to represent extreme or “limit cases.” In this review/essay I investigate and interrogate these exhibitions, looking closely at the use of objects as a source of “indirect testimony” (Marc Bloch) and at the “dialogical situation” (Paul Ricoeur) that might arise in an encounter among objects, exhibit narratives, and visitors. Thinking in terms of point of view, I look at the variety of rhetorical platforms from which objects speak in these exhibitions; thinking in terms of syntax, I look at the effects of ordering and of the radical juxtaposition of objects; thinking in terms of irony, I look at the provocations of double‐voiced narratives and at how objects are used to support those historical sentences.
Knowledge and Identity: A Review
Authors: Gao YingFei , Riley Michael
Published: May 2009

This paper reviews the literature in a number of areas that converge upon the theme of the role of knowledge within professional identity. Within knowledge transfer literature the individual perspective is underdeveloped, and this paper seeks to contribute by exploring the function of knowledge within an individual's professional identity, thus unfolding a theoretical connection between the literatures of knowledge and identity. Its central argument concurs with Szulanski's notion of ‘internal stickiness’ as a barrier to knowledge transfer but extends this hypothesis into the psychological ownership of knowledge and to the idea of ‘possessiveness’. The paper argues that the value of self‐categorized knowledge places the latter within the individual's cognitive structure of their identity. It offers up the idea of valued knowledge to the knowledge transfer domain and suggests that feelings of possessiveness towards knowledge may intervene in the willingness of an individual to disclose knowledge in a knowledge transfer process.
Does sphenopalatine endoscopic ganglion block have an effect in paroxysmal hemicrania? A case report
Authors: Morelli N , Mancuso M , Felisati G , Lozza P , Maccari A , Cafforio G , Gori S , Murri L , Guidetti D
Published: May 2009

The authors report the case of a 69-year-old woman suffering from paroxysmal hemicrania (PH), intolerant to indomethacin and resistant to multiple therapies, in which sphenopalatine endoscopic ganglion block (SPG) dramatically modified the clinical outcome. SPG blockade could be considered a reasonable alternative in drug-resistant PH cases where indomethacin is contraindicated.
A new method for facial epidermoid cyst removal with minimal incision
Authors: Yang H‐J , Yang K‐C
Published: May 2009

Background  Facial epidermoid cyst is a common benign epithelial tumour frequently seen in young or middle‐aged people and may cause aesthetic disability. Surgical excision is the most frequently used method but may result in obvious scar.

Objective  To improve cosmetic result of removing facial epidermoid cyst through minimal incision surgery.

Methods  Twenty‐two cases of facial epidermoid cysts ranging from 0.5  to 1.4 cm in diameter were treated. The skin above the epidermoid cysts was infiltrated with local 0.1‐cc 1% xylocaine anaesthetic by using a 26‐gauge needle first, then 3‐mm incisions were made with a No.11 surgical blade. The cystic contents and its capsule were then squeezed out through the small incision and the underlying connective tissue was chemically cauterized by 20% trichloroacetic acid. The incision wounds were left unsutured.

Result  Minimal incision method successfully treated 16 out of the 22 epidermoid cyst cases that ranged from 0.5 to 1 cm in diameter. And only one out of six was successfully treated for diameters greater than 1.1 cm.

Conclusion  The proposed method can minimize the scar when treating facial epidermal inclusion cysts that are less than 1 cm and obtained better cosmetic results.

Conflicts of interest

None declared.
Sustained improvement in joint pain and nail symptoms with etanercept therapy in patients with moderate‐to‐severe psoriasis
Authors: Luger TA , Barker J , Lambert J , Yang S , Robertson D , Foehl J , Molta CT , Boggs R
Published: May 2009

Background  To determine the prevalence of joint and nail symptoms, impact of these symptoms on health‐related quality of life (HR‐QoL), and the effects of etanercept on them in patients with moderate‐to‐severe plaque psoriasis.

Methods  In CRYSTEL, patients with psoriasis received etanercept continuously (n = 357) or as paused therapy (n = 363) for 54 weeks. In post hoc analyses, baseline characteristics and after‐treatment changes were evaluated in patients with baseline joint pain or nail psoriasis, pooling across treatment groups. Assessments of symptom severity and HR‐QoL included the Subject Global Assessment question on joint pain, NAPSI, DLQI and EQ‐5D.

Results  Of 711 patients, 64% reported joint pain and 79% nail psoriasis at baseline. Patients with baseline joint pain or nail psoriasis had significantly worse HR‐QoL than unaffected patients. Mean baseline differences between patients with and without joint pain in DLQI (3.3), EQ‐5D utility (0.2), and EQ‐5D VAS (7.3) were clinically meaningful. In patients with nail psoriasis, a clinically meaningful difference in EQ‐5D VAS (5.0) was seen. Etanercept significantly improved symptom severity and HR‐QoL. Patients with joint pain had improvements of 47%, 61%, 29%, and 23% in mean joint pain score, DLQI, EQ‐5D utility, and EQ‐5D VAS, respectively, at Week 54. Patients with nail psoriasis had improvements of 51%, 63%, and 24% in NAPSI, DLQI, and EQ‐5D VAS.

Conclusion  In this study of moderate‐to‐severe plaque psoriasis, joint and nail symptoms were prevalent and patients with these symptoms had significantly greater HR‐QoL impairment at baseline than unaffected patients. Etanercept provided significant improvement in symptom severity and HR‐QoL.

Conflict of Interest

T. Luger has acted as a paid consultant to and speaker for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. J. Barker has acted as a paid consultant to and speaker for, and has received unrestricted research or education support from Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. J. Lambert has acted as a paid consultant to and speaker for Wyeth. S. Yang, D. Robertson, J. Foehl, C. Molta, and R. Boggs are employed by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, which supported this study financially.
The European Investment Bank: The EU's Neglected Institution*
Authors: ROBINSON NICK
Published: May 2009

The European Investment Bank is the largest multilateral lender in the world, facilitating total spending which is equivalent to the total of the EU budget. Its activity thus has a potentially huge effect on EU policy‐making, yet research to date has failed to recognize this. This article addresses this, offering detailed empirical analysis and re‐evaluating debates on multi‐level governance.
Introduction to the special issue on numerical modeling of hydrothermal fluids
Authors: APPOLD M. S. , NABELEK P. I.
Published: May 2009

This special issue on the numerical modeling of hydrothermal fluids is an outgrowth of a thematic session convened at the 2007 Geological Society of America meeting in Denver. Here we briefly review some of the previous research into numerical modeling of hydrothermal fluids and summarize the contributions in this special issue. We find that despite decades of progress, there is still great untapped potential for providing insights into the behavior of hydrothermal fluids by numerical modeling.