bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Thucydides on Faction (3.82–83)
Authors: Macleod C.W.
Published: April 2013

Thucydides' account of faction in the Peloponnesian War (3.82–83) is perhaps more often admired than appreciated; and indeed its structure and wording have not always satisfied commentators. Two kinds of question raised by the passage may be identified:

(1) What does it say and what is it about? We need to examine it as a coherent train of thought, and at the same time – for it is plainly not a mere digression or show-piece – as an essential part of Thucydides' whole work. Both the historian's practice and his programme suggest that the reader should do this. For in putting his thoughts in so highly generalized a form, he invites us to apply them widely. Even when they occur in speeches, where a fallible or even dishonest orator is trying to persuade an audience, general statements may be thus widely applicable; how much more when they come directly from the historian. We should also be ready to consider whether what are presented as remarks onstasismay not apply beyond situations ofstasis. For war and faction as twin causes of violent death are closely connected in the proem to Thucydides' whole work (1.23.2); and 3.82.1–2, which echo the proem (1.22.4), bring out that the growth ofstasiswas a natural consequence of war and that instasis, as in war, human nature is revealed.
On Catullus 61. 116–19
Authors: Mayer Roland
Published: April 2013

quae tuo ueniunt ero,quanta gaudia, quae uaganocte, quae medio diegaudeat! sed abit dies.

In PCPS n.s.24 (1978), 99 Professor Nisbet emended medio to emerito, and offered a new interpretation of the lines in which the time of day specified will now be, as he admits, roughly the same in each quae clause. Two points may be worth making about this proposal.

First, the fundamental necessity for change has not been demonstrated. As to the sense of the lines as they appear in the MS. tradition, Professor Nisbet says that mention of love-making between husband and wife in the afternoon ‘has no place in an epithalamium, a serious celebration of married love’. How do we know this? We have only one complete epithalamium in republican Latin poetry, and this is it. It is not therefore possible to say with any confidence what the genre does or does not allow at this stage of its development, except in so far as this poem casts light on the matter. And in this poem we read, not many lines after these, of Torquatus's concubinus. We are told that the concubinus attends Torquatus on his visits to his country estates (136f. ‘sordent tibi uilicae’), and furthermore that Torquatus had quite a developed taste in pueri delicati (141–3 ‘diceris male te’).
The ‘Aulularia’ of Plautus and its Greek original
Authors: Hunter R. L.
Published: April 2013

TheAululariahas always been one of the most popular and most studied of Plautus' plays, both because of its intrinsic interest and quality and also because of its later influence in the European dramatic tradition. In the large amount of scholarly work which has been devoted to this play the identity of the author of Plautus' Greek model and the alterations which Plautus may have made in this model have been much discussed. Research on these questions was, however, placed on a quite new footing in 1958 by the publication of Menander'sDyscolus: the striking similarities between these plays have now produced a loose consensus of scholarly opinion, although the dissenting voice can still be heard. The two conclusions upon which most scholars who have written recently on this subject seem to agree are that the Plautine changes to the Greek model were relatively minor, consisting in the omission of one or two scenes and the expansion of a couple of others, and that Menander was the author of the Greek original. Although it will become clear that I am very sceptical of the former of these propositions and have at least an open mind on the latter, the aim of this present paper is simply to re-open discussion of the relationship between theAululariaand its Greek original by pointing to some problems which have been neglected and to others which have not yet been satisfactorily answered. In Part I I discuss the division of the Greek original into five acts and the conclusions to be drawn from difficulties in this division and in Part II I examine a further problem in theAululariawhich might have some bearing on the question of the authorship of the Greek original.
The meaning of faenus in Juvenal's ninth Satire
Authors: Saller Richard
Published: April 2013

At the end of Juvenal's Ninth Satire the pathetic debased Naevolus describes what he hopes for in order to live as a ‘pauper’ (147).

viginti milia faenuspignoribus positis, argenti vascula puri,sed quae Fabricius censor notet, et duo fortesde grege Moesorum, qui me cervice locatasecurum iubeant clamoso insistere circo;sit mihi praeterea curvus caelator, et alterqui multas facies pingit cito. (140–46)

The first item on the list, viginti milia faenus pignoribus positis, has been understood by commentators to mean 20,000 sesterces in annual interest and has been connected with Martial, Epigram 3.10 in discussions of the significance of the capital sum implied. I wish to argue that there is no warrant for understanding faenus as annual interest and to suggest on various grounds that in this context it is more likely to mean capital out in interest-bearing loans.
Love in the Margin: Ovid, Amores 1.11.22
Authors: Mckie David
Published: April 2013

nec mora, perlectis rescribat multa iubeto:odi, cum late splendida cera uacat. 20comprimat ordinibus uersus, oculosque moreturmargine in extremo littera rasa meos.

The context is Ovid's instruction to Corinna's maid, Nape, to see that Corinna receives his message (written that morning on wax tablets) and that she writes back to him at length – unused wax on a tablet is a hateful thing to see. The problem is the word rasa in line 22. There are two ways in which it is commonly taken, one of them possible, though difficult, the other less difficult but less possible. The word means ‘erased’ (as in rasis tabellis at A.A.I, 437 etc.), which gives the sense ‘Tell her to cram the lines together in their rows, and may a letter she has erased at the edge of the margin delay my eyes.’ Thus Ovid wishes to draw out his reading of Corinna's reply by attempting to decipher a mistake she has made in an area of the tablet not normally covered – ‘some blotted letter’, in Marlowe's version, ‘On the last edge to stay mine eyes the better’. And so – where translations or commentaries allow us to see their mind – the word appears to have been taken by some early as well as a few modern editors of Ovid.
Euripides' Ion 1132–1165: the tent
Authors: Goff Barbara
Published: April 2013

Thirty-three lines in the Ion are devoted to describing the tent in which Ion celebrates his new-found status as heir to Xouthos and the royal line of Athens. The passage may properly be called an ἔκφρασις, a description in language of an artistic object constructed in another medium. An ἔκφρασις in drama differs from those occurring in narrative because material objects in drama retain the potential to be made material, i.e. to appear on the stage, thus dramatically closing the gap between word and world that the ἔκφρασις so patently opens. While this gap remains, the ἔκφρασις makes especially complex demands on the audience's imagination, and in the Ion on their patience too – for the ἔκφρασις must be the antithesis of the action and drama, the progression of the play, a version of which the audience presumably wants and expects from the panting messenger.
Vergil on Kingship: the first simile of the Aeneid
Authors: Harrison Stephen
Published: April 2013

At Aeneid 1.148–56 Neptune's stilling of the storm roused against Aeneas and the Trojans by Juno is compared with the calming of a mob by a great statesman:

ac ueluti magno in populo cum saepe coorta est

seditio saeuitque animis ignobile uulgus

iamque faces et saxa uolant, furor arma ministrat.

tum pietate grauem ac meritis si forte uirum quem

conspexere silent arrectisque auribus astant;

ille regit dictis animos et pectora mulcet:

sic cunctus pelagi cecidit fragor, aequora postquam

prospiciens genitor caeloque inuectus aperto

flectit equos curruque uolans dat lora secundo.

As has been often remarked, this simile, prominently placed as the first in the poem, is evidently programmatic for the value system of the Aeneid. The ‘pietate grauem ac meritis…uirum’ standing up to and defeating the violence of the mob gives a highly Roman rôle-model (not always successfully followed) for Aeneas, the destined hero overcoming the forces of irrationality, something confirmed by the details of the poem as well as the events of its plot; Aeneas is similarly proclaimed by the Sybil in the Underworld as ‘pietate insignis et armis’ (6.402), while the soothing words of the statesman to the mob (153 ‘ille regit dictis animos et pectora mulcet’) are clearly echoed in the soothing words Aeneas addresses to his storm-shaken sailors in the very next scene of the poem (197 ‘dictis maerentia pectora mulcet’).
Innatism and the Stoa
Authors: Scott Dominic
Published: April 2013

Our disagreements concern points of some importance. There is the question whether the soul in itself is blank like a writing tablet on which nothing has as yet been written – a tabula rasa – as Aristotle and the author of the Essay maintain, and whether everything which is inscribed there comes solely from the senses and experience; or whether the soul inherently contains the sources of various notions and doctrines which external objects merely rouse up on suitable occasions, as I believe and as do Plato and even the Schoolmen, and those who understand in this sense the passage in Saint Paul where he says that God's law is written in our hearts (Rom. 2:15). The Stoics call these sources Prolepses, that is fundamental assumptions or things taken for granted in advance.
Satire writes ‘woman’: Gendersong
Authors: Henderson John
Published: April 2013

Satire is not ‘about’ women (or even ‘Woman’). But it is tied into social discourse on gender. If you ask me, feminism has it knocked into a cocked hat.

1. Roman, Human, Man:

The important thing is to have said I AM I, or even I AM AN I THAT IS IN WITH THE CROWD THAT LIKES TO SAY I AM LIKE THIS

It is not, I suppose, difficult to state the principle that no text can simply report, image, reflect or document the ‘position’ of women in culture. Nor would it be difficult to show that all writings, ancient or modern, are implicated in this truth. I feel it as I write, feel it as you read this.

In the first place, texts always do both more and less than ‘report’ – about anything. There could not be a text recognisable as a text which just offered information indifferently as to its recipients, impersonally so far as its authorship is concerned, neutrally in terms of its role within the social, political, cultural discourses which empower it to speak.
Conceptions
Authors: Reeve M. D.
Published: April 2013

As the sun rises over the heights, a band of pirates cross a ridge near the mouth of the Nile and look out to sea. No prospect of booty meets their gaze, which travels to the shore. A merchantman is moored there, laden but unattended. The shore itself is strewn with bodies, some dead, others still writhing, in the aftermath of a feast that turned into a pitched battle. The pirates approach but are struck by a sight yet stranger. A girl sits on a rock, a girl whose beauty suggests a goddess. On her head is a wreath, over her shoulder a quiver; a bow supports her left arm; her right elbow rests on her thigh, and her chin on her right hand, as she stares at a youth who lies wounded and gasping at her feet. Only because he still draws breath, she tells him, has she not used on herself the sword that lies across her knee. So saying, up she springs, and the pirates take cover from her tall figure, made more awesome by the rattle of her quiver and the sunlight reflected from her golden raiment. Who can she be? Perhaps Artemis, Isis, or a mad priestess on a murderous rampage.
Laertes revisited
Authors: West Stephanie
Published: April 2013

Reunited after nearly twenty years' separation, Odysseus and Penelope retire at last to bed, οἱ μὲν ἔπειτα | ἀσπάσιοι λέκτροιο παλαιοῦ θεσμὸν ἵκοντο (Od.23.295–6). This, we are told in the scholia, was for the two greatest Homeric scholars of antiquity theτέλος; of theOdyssey: τοῦτο τέλος τῆς Όδυσσείας φησὶν Άρίσταρχος καὶ Άρισιοφάνης (H, M, Q), Άρισιοφάνης δὲ καὶ Άρίσταρχος πέρας τῆς Όδυσσείας τοῦτο ποιοῦνται (M, V, Vind. 133). The interpretation of this testimony poses one of the most important problems of Homeric scholarship; Bethe did not exaggerate its significance when he wrote ‘Es hängt von der Auffassung dieses Scholions die Beurteilung unserer Homerüberlieferung überhaupt ab und mit ihr die Frage, was der Kritik gegenüber der Ilias und Odyssee erlaubt ist’. (‘The interpretation of this scholium is of vital significance for our view of the transmission of the Homeric text as a whole, and for the question of the proper limits of criticism where theIliadandOdysseyare concerned’.) Here, as all too often, we are frustrated by the abbreviated condition of theOdyssey-scholia which, as the poem draws to a close, reflect in their increasing concision the diminishing energies of those to whom we owe our knowledge of ancient Homeric scholarship,Prima facie, the note tells us that Aristophanes and Aristarchus took 23.296 as the limit of theOdyssey; this is commonly understood to mean that they judged the Epilogue to be unhomeric, but this interpretation is not free from difficulty, and some have maintained that the note represents aesthetic criticism.
Mysteries of identity and designs of the self in Euripides'Ion
Authors: Zeitlin Froma I.
Published: April 2013

TheIonis one of Euripides' most dazzling and puzzling plays. Poised on the boundary between the sacred and the sceptical, the mysterious and the mundane, the mythic and the realistic, and, as so many have noted, between the tragic and the comic, the drama dips and twists and turns and turns and turns again in a continuing series of theatricaltours de force. The birds who swoop down in the opening scene and intervene again in the most important moment of the plot at Ion's banquet might well exemplify these paradoxes of which I speak.

Defilers of the sacred temple dedications with unwanted offerings of their own (106–7, 176) and nesting in the eaves of the roof, crudely ‘making offspring’, no doubt, as Ion suspects them of doing (172–5), they are at the same time bearers of sacred messages (phēmas) to mortals from the gods (180–1), oracular portents (oiōnoi) both generic and particular (1191, 1333, 377) which will prove their worth when, later at the banquet, one of the birds drinks the poisoned wine meant for Ion and by its own lifeless form reveals the lethal plot to its interpreter (1196–211).
An Unpublished Funeral Oration on Anna Comnena
Authors: Browning R.
Published: April 2013

The Byzantinist has one advantage over the student of classical antiquity—unless the latter happens to be a papyrologist. With a little diligence and a minimum of good luck he can easily unearth unpublished texts and find himself producing an editio princeps. And however often one has turned over the leaves of a manuscript and laboriously read words which have remained unread for perhaps five centuries or more, it never loses its thrill. Yet one must admit that the advantage is less than it seems. The classical scholar's texts are usually worth reading from some point of view, while what the Byzantinist finds is so often empty rhetorical verbiage. Byzantine funeral orations are notorious for their lack of information on the life of the deceased. Yet they never tell us absolutely nothing if we read them alertly, and they are sometimes remarkably informative on the ideas and values of the times. When the subject is a major figure of medieval Greek literature about the details of whose life we are very much in the dark, even the most trifling addition to our knowledge is welcome. It is this thought which encourages me to present a hitherto unknown Byzantine writer of the middle of the twelfth century—George Tornikes, Metropolitan of Ephesus—and to dwell in particular on his funeral oration on Anna Comnena.
Globalising German Anthropology: Erhard Eylmann in Australia
Authors: Monteath Peter
Published: April 2013

The German presence in nineteenth-century South Australia is associated primarily with the immigration of Prussian Lutherans escaping religious persecution in their homeland. Their settlement in the fledgling British colony aided its early, stuttering development; in the longer term it also fitted neatly South Australia's perception of itself as a “paradise of dissent.” These Germans took their religion seriously, none more so than the Lutheran missionaries who committed themselves to bringing the Gospel to the indigenous people of the Adelaide plains and, eventually, much further afield as well. In reality, however, the story of the German contribution to the history of this British colony extended far beyond these pious Lutherans. Among those who followed in their wake, whether as settlers or travellers, were Germans of many different backgrounds, who made their way to the Antipodes for a multitude of reasons. In South Australia as much as anywhere, globalising Germany was a multi-facetted project.

The intellectual gamut of Germans in South Australia is nowhere more evident than in the realm of anthropology. The missionaries were not alone in displaying a keen interest in the Australian Aborigines. Anthropologists steeped in the empirical tradition that came to dominate the nascent discipline at the end of the nineteenth century also turned their attention to Australia. Indeed, in Germany and elsewhere, Australia occupied a special position in international discourse. The American anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan had observed in 1880 that Australian aboriginal societies “now represent the condition of mankind in savagery better than it is elsewhere represented on the earth—a condition now rapidly passing away.”
What Is the Use of Diagrams in Theoretical Modeling?
Authors: Barberousse Anouk
Published: April 2013

Argument

The use of diagrams is pervasive in theoretical physics. Together with mathematical formulae and natural language, diagrams play a major role in theoretical modeling. They enrich the expressive power of physicists and help them to explore new theoretical ideas. Diagrams are not only heuristic or pedagogical tools, but they are also tools that enable developing the content of models into novel implications.
Mapping developmental trajectories of attention and working memory in fragile X syndrome: Developmental freeze or developmental change?
Authors: Cornish Kim , Cole Victoria , Longhi Elena , Karmiloff-Smith Annette , Scerif Gaia
Published: April 2013

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) has a characteristic cognitive “signature” that by late childhood includes core weaknesses in attention and working memory (WM), but their earlier developmental trajectories remain uncharted. Using a combined cross-sectional and prospective longitudinal design, we tested whether early profiles of attention and WM impairment in FXS indicate developmental freeze or developmental change. In Study 1, 26 young boys with FXS and 55 typically developing (TD) boys completed two experimental paradigms designed to assess cognitive aspects of attention and WM, in addition to behavioral indices of inattention and hyperactivity. Study 2 mapped longitudinal changes in 21 children with FXS and 21 TD children. In Study 1, significant weaknesses emerged for boys with FXS, with no substantial improvement over chronological age. Mapping performance against mental age level revealed delay, but it also yielded a similar attention and WM profile to TD boys. In Study 2, longitudinal improvements for boys with FXS paralleled those in TD children. In conclusion, cognitive attention and WM, although delayed in FXS, reveal developmental change, rather than “arrest.” Our findings underscore the need for going beyond cross-sectional group comparisons and gross behavioral indices to map cognitive changes longitudinally in developmental disorders.
French Literature in the Perspective of Literary Historiography
Authors: Houppermans Sjef
Published: April 2013

Literary History has changed its objectives during the last few decades. In theory as well as in literary analysis strictly demarcated approaches have given way to a worldwide perspective. The openness to the world and the ongoing dialogue with the ‘other’ resonates in recent French Literature. Academic critique can accompany and guide these evolutions. This article focuses on three central concepts:transculturalité,colinguismeandtransmédialité. Special attention will be given to the 18th century French-English author William Beckford and the final word is spoken by Edouard Glissant.
Historical Periods as Problematics: Socio-linguistic Situations, Sociolects and Discourses
Authors: Zima Peter V.
Published: April 2013

The author attempts a redefinition of literary epochs or periods as problematics, i.e. as constellations of problems to which individuals and groups react in many different ways. In this respect he differs from those who construct literary periods as world visions, ideologies, aesthetics or stylistics. He defines problematics from a sociosemiotic point of view: as socio-linguistic situations in which competing collective languages (sociolects) and discourses react critically and polemically to one another.
The drowned and the saved: shipwrecks and thecursusof Latin love elegy
Authors: Houghton L. B. T.
Published: April 2013

Throughout the corpus of Latin love elegy, the imaginary tombs envisaged by the elegists for their ownpersonaeand for other inhabitants of their poetic world display a striking tendency to take on the characteristic attributes and personalities of those interred within. The final resting-place of Propertius, for instance, that self-proclaimed acolyte of Callimachean miniaturism and exclusivity, is to be sequestered from the degrading attentions of the passing populace (Prop. 3.16.25–30) and crowned with the poet's laurel (2.13.33–4). What remains of his meagre form will rest in a ‘tiny little urn’ (paruula testa, 2.13.32) beneath a monument declaring the lover's slavery to a single passion (2.13.35–6), and the grave is to be attended, or so he hopes, by the object of that passion herself (3.16.23–4), or occasionally (though he is not so confident of this) by his patron Maecenas (2.1.71–8). Likewise the memorial designed by Ovid for Corinna's pet parrot - animitatrix alesendowed with the most distinctive foibles of the elegiac tradition - inAmores2.6, comprising a burial moundpro corpore magnus(2.6.59) topped with a tombstone described asexiguus(‘tiny’, 2.6.60; cf. Prop. 2.1.72, 2.13.33), exhibits an elegiac emphasis worthy of the parrot's human counterparts among Ovid's poetic predecessors.
Athenian bribery reconsidered: some legal aspects
Authors: Hashiba Yuzuru
Published: April 2013

In hisPanathenaicus, which was issued in 339 BC, Isocrates condemns Athenians for their rampant bribery:

[Formerly] those who had been elected to office were expected to neglect their own property, and also to abstain no less from those perquisites (λημμάτων) which nowadays the officials have become accustomed to gain than from the sacred treasures; who under the current circumstances would have such sense of self-restraint? (Isoc. 12.145)

There are many references suggesting that the Athenians not only deplored but also had strict attitudes towards bribery, which they considered to be a distinct crime. What should not be overlooked, however, is that the Greeks had their traditional values concerning gifts and reciprocity, according to which they were expected to give in return when given something. In so-called Homeric society gift-giving was one of the most fundamental principles of social relationships, as is notably pointed out by M. I. Finley. That the Greek worddôra, which is most commonly used to mean bribery, originally refers to gifts in general epitomises the ambivalence of Greek values concerning bribery.
Three notes on Virgil,Aeneid2
Authors: Gasti Helen
Published: April 2013

Aeneas begins his narrative with the story of the Trojan Horse. The Greeks, after constructing a huge wooden horse, within which they hide a great many armed soldiers, flee the land. The Trojans rejoice, thinking that they have driven off their opponents. Lines 27–8 express the joy of the Trojans as they visit the Greek camp:

iuuat ire et Dorica castra

desertosqueuidere locos litusquerelictum

It is disputed whetherdesertosandrelictumare used with an attributive or predicative function. The repeateddesertus(24huc se prouecti deserto in litore condunt, i.e. the Greeks) directs the reader's attention to its earlier use in an attributive function (‘they hid on thevacant shoreof Tenedos’). The image of the deserted shore of Tenedos is clearly meant to suggest the potential destructiveness of the Doric camp and shore deserted now. Such an interpretation seems to be further supported by the predicative use ofdesertosandrelictum, since we see the Greek camp through the eyes both of Aeneas and of his countrymen.
Morning Dew on the web in Australia: 1992–1995
Authors: Clarke Roger
Published: April 2013

The World Wide Web arrived just as connections to the Internet were broadening from academe to the public generally. The Web was designed to support user-performed publishing and access to documents in both textual and graphical forms. That capability was quickly supplemented by means to discover content. The web browser was the ‘killer app’ associated with the explosion of the Internet into the wider world during the mid- 1990s. The technology was developed in 1990 by an Englishman, supported by a Belgian, working in Switzerland, but with the locus soon migrating to Illinois and then to Massachusetts in 1994. Australians were not significant contributors to the original technology, but were among the pioneers in its application. This paper traces the story of the Web in Australia from its beginnings in 1992, up to 1995, identifying key players and what they did, set within the broader context, and reflecting the insights of the theories of innovation and innovation diffusion.
An essential role for γ-herpesvirus latency-associated nuclear antigen homolog in an acute lymphoproliferative disease of cattle
Authors: Palmeira Leonor , Sorel Océane , Van Campe Willem , Boudry Christel , Roels Stefan , Myster Françoise , Reschner Anca , Coulie Pierre G. , Kerkhofs Pierre , Vanderplasschen Alain , Dewals Benjamin G.
Published: April 2013

Wildebeests carry asymptomatically
alcelaphine herpesvirus 1
(AlHV-1), a γ-herpesvirus inducing malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) to several ruminant species (including cattle). This acute and lethal lymphoproliferative disease occurs after a prolonged asymptomatic incubation period after transmission. Our recent findings with the rabbit model indicated that AlHV-1 infection is not productive during MCF. Here, we investigated whether latency establishment could explain this apparent absence of productive infection and sought to determine its role in MCF pathogenesis. First, whole-genome cellular and viral gene expression analyses were performed in lymph nodes of MCF-developing calves. Whereas a severe disruption in cellular genes was observed, only 10% of the entire AlHV-1 genome was expressed, contrasting with the 45% observed during productive infection in vitro. In vivo, the expressed viral genes included the latency-associated nuclear antigen homolog ORF73 but none of the regions known to be essential for productive infection. Next, genomic conformation analyses revealed that AlHV-1 was essentially episomal, further suggesting that MCF might be the consequence of a latent infection rather than abortive lytic infection. This hypothesis was further supported by the high frequencies of infected CD8
+
T cells during MCF using immunodetection of ORF73 protein and single-cell RT-PCR approaches. Finally, the role of latency-associated ORF73 was addressed. A lack of ORF73 did not impair initial virus replication in vivo, but it rendered AlHV-1 unable to induce MCF and persist in vivo and conferred protection against a lethal challenge with a WT virus. Together, these findings suggest that a latent infection is essential for MCF induction.
Used planet: A global history
Authors: Ellis Erle C. , Kaplan Jed O. , Fuller Dorian Q. , Vavrus Steve , Klein Goldewijk Kees , Verburg Peter H.
Published: April 2013

Human use of land has transformed ecosystem pattern and process across most of the terrestrial biosphere, a global change often described as historically recent and potentially catastrophic for both humanity and the biosphere. Interdisciplinary paleoecological, archaeological, and historical studies challenge this view, indicating that land use has been extensive and sustained for millennia in some regions and that recent trends may represent as much a recovery as an acceleration. Here we synthesize recent scientific evidence and theory on the emergence, history, and future of land use as a process transforming the Earth System and use this to explain why relatively small human populations likely caused widespread and profound ecological changes more than 3,000 y ago, whereas the largest and wealthiest human populations in history are using less arable land per person every decade. Contrasting two spatially explicit global reconstructions of land-use history shows that reconstructions incorporating adaptive changes in land-use systems over time, including land-use intensification, offer a more spatially detailed and plausible assessment of our planet's history, with a biosphere and perhaps even climate long ago affected by humans. Although land-use processes are now shifting rapidly from historical patterns in both type and scale, integrative global land-use models that incorporate dynamic adaptations in human–environment relationships help to advance our understanding of both past and future land-use changes, including their sustainability and potential global effects.
Childhood maltreatment is associated with distinct genomic and epigenetic profiles in posttraumatic stress disorder
Authors: Mehta Divya , Klengel Torsten , Conneely Karen N. , Smith Alicia K. , Altmann André , Pace Thaddeus W. , Rex-Haffner Monika , Loeschner Anne , Gonik Mariya , Mercer Kristina B. , Bradley Bekh , Müller-Myhsok Bertram , Ressler Kerry J. , Binder Elisabeth B.
Published: April 2013

Childhood maltreatment is likely to influence fundamental biological processes and engrave long-lasting epigenetic marks, leading to adverse health outcomes in adulthood. We aimed to elucidate the impact of different early environment on disease-related genome-wide gene expression and DNA methylation in peripheral blood cells in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Compared with the same trauma-exposed controls (n= 108), gene-expression profiles of PTSD patients with similar clinical symptoms and matched adult trauma exposure but different childhood adverse events (n= 32 and 29) were almost completely nonoverlapping (98%). These differences on the level of individual transcripts were paralleled by the enrichment of several distinct biological networks between the groups. Moreover, these gene-expression changes were accompanied and likely mediated by changes in DNA methylation in the same loci to a much larger proportion in the childhood abuse (69%) vs. the non-child abuse-only group (34%). This study is unique in providing genome-wide evidence of distinct biological modifications in PTSD in the presence or absence of exposure to childhood abuse. The findings that nonoverlapping biological pathways seem to be affected in the two PTSD groups and that changes in DNA methylation appear to have a much greater impact in the childhood-abuse group might reflect differences in the pathophysiology of PTSD, in dependence of exposure to childhood maltreatment. These results contribute to a better understanding of the extent of influence of differences in trauma exposure on pathophysiological processes in stress-related psychiatric disorders and may have implications for personalized medicine.
Intermediate intrinsic diversity enhances neural population coding
Authors: Tripathy Shreejoy J. , Padmanabhan Krishnan , Gerkin Richard C. , Urban Nathaniel N.
Published: April 2013

Cell-to-cell variability in molecular, genetic, and physiological features is increasingly recognized as a critical feature of complex biological systems, including the brain. Although such variability has potential advantages in robustness and reliability, how and why biological circuits assemble heterogeneous cells into functional groups is poorly understood. Here, we develop analytic approaches toward answering how neuron-level variation in intrinsic biophysical properties of olfactory bulb mitral cells influences population coding of fluctuating stimuli. We capture the intrinsic diversity of recorded populations of neurons through a statistical approach based on generalized linear models. These models are flexible enough to predict the diverse responses of individual neurons yet provide a common reference frame for comparing one neuron to the next. We then use Bayesian stimulus decoding to ask how effectively different populations of mitral cells, varying in their diversity, encode a common stimulus. We show that a key advantage provided by physiological levels of intrinsic diversity is more efficient and more robust encoding of stimuli by the population as a whole. However, we find that the populations that best encode stimulus features are not simply the most heterogeneous, but those that balance diversity with the benefits of neural similarity.
Gene silencing in adipose tissue macrophages regulates whole-body metabolism in obese mice
Authors: Aouadi Myriam , Tencerova Michaela , Vangala Pranitha , Yawe Joseph C. , Nicoloro Sarah M. , Amano Shinya U. , Cohen Jessica L. , Czech Michael P.
Published: April 2013

Adipose tissue (AT) inflammation and infiltration by macrophages is associated with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes in obese humans, offering a potential target for therapeutics. However, whether AT macrophages (ATMs) directly contribute to systemic glucose intolerance has not been determined. The reason is the lack of methods to ablate inflammatory genes expressed in macrophages specifically localized within AT depots, leaving macrophages in other tissues unaffected. Here we report that i.p. administration of siRNA encapsulated by glucan shells in obese mice selectively silences genes in epididymal ATMs, whereas macrophages within lung, spleen, kidney, heart, skeletal muscle, subcutaneous (SubQ) adipose, and liver are not targeted. Such administration of GeRPs to silence the inflammatory cytokines TNF-α or osteopontin in epididymal ATMs of obese mice caused significant improvement in glucose tolerance. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that cytokines produced by ATMs can exacerbate whole-body glucose intolerance.
Escalation of polymerization in a thermal gradient
Authors: Mast Christof B. , Schink Severin , Gerland Ulrich , Braun Dieter
Published: April 2013

For the emergence of early life, the formation of biopolymers such as RNA is essential. However, the addition of nucleotide monomers to existing oligonucleotides requires millimolar concentrations. Even in such optimistic settings, no polymerization of RNA longer than about 20 bases could be demonstrated. How then could self-replicating ribozymes appear, for which recent experiments suggest a minimal length of 200 nt? Here, we demonstrate a mechanism to bridge this gap: the escalated polymerization of nucleotides by a spatially confined thermal gradient. The gradient accumulates monomers by thermophoresis and convection while retaining longer polymers exponentially better. Polymerization and accumulation become mutually self-enhancing and result in a hyperexponential escalation of polymer length. We describe this escalation theoretically under the conservative assumption of reversible polymerization. Taking into account the separately measured thermophoretic properties of RNA, we extrapolate the results for primordial RNA polymerization inside a temperature gradient in pores or fissures of rocks. With a dilute, nanomolar concentration of monomers the model predicts that a pore length of 5 cm and a temperature difference of 10 K suffice to polymerize 200-mers of RNA in micromolar concentrations. The probability to generate these long RNAs is raised by a factor of >10
600
compared with polymerization in a physical equilibrium. We experimentally validate the theory with the reversible polymerization of DNA blocks in a laser-driven thermal trap. The results confirm that a thermal gradient can significantly enlarge the available sequence space for the emergence of catalytically active polymers.
Lipid phosphatases identified by screening a mouse phosphatase shRNA library regulate T-cell differentiation and Protein kinase B AKT signaling
Authors: Guo Liying , Martens Craig , Bruno Daniel , Porcella Stephen F. , Yamane Hidehiro , Caucheteux Stephane M. , Zhu Jinfang , Paul William E.
Published: April 2013

Significance

We identified a series of lipid phosphatases that regulate differentiation of naïve CD4 T cells to their major phenotypic states, T-helper (Th)1/Th2/Th17. Previously, phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) was the only lipid phosphatase shown to function in this process. To identify these phosphatases, we used a unique “phosphatase-wide” screening procedure. Our results demonstrate that myotubularin-related protein (MTMR) 9 and MTMR7 play critical roles in Th differentiation. Knocking down MTMR9 enhances Th1 priming, and such Th1 cells show increased protein kinase B (PKB)/AKT phosphorylation. Knocking down MTMR7 increases Th2 and Th17 priming; these cells show enhanced AKT phosphorylation.
BioBlend: automating pipeline analyses within Galaxy and CloudMan
Authors: Sloggett Clare , Goonasekera Nuwan , Afgan Enis
Published: April 2013

Summary: We present BioBlend, a unified API in a high-level language (python) that wraps the functionality of Galaxy and CloudMan APIs. BioBlend makes it easy for bioinformaticians to automate end-to-end large data analysis, from scratch, in a way that is highly accessible to collaborators, by allowing them to both provide the required infrastructure and automate complex analyses over large datasets within the familiar Galaxy environment.

Availability and implementation: http://bioblend.readthedocs.org/. Automated installation of BioBlend is available via PyPI (e.g. pip install bioblend). Alternatively, the source code is available from the GitHub repository (https://github.com/afgane/bioblend) under the MIT open source license. The library has been tested and is working on Linux, Macintosh and Windows-based systems.

Contact: enis.afgan@unimelb.edu.au
A complete sample of long bright
Swift
gamma ray bursts
Authors: Tagliaferri Gianpiero , Salvaterra Ruben , Campana Sergio , Covino Stefano , D’Avanzo Paolo , Fugazza Dino , Ghirlanda Giancarlo , Ghisellini Gabriele , Melandri Andrea , Nava Lara , Sbarufatti Boris , Vergani Susanna
Published: April 2013

Complete samples are the basis of any population study. To this end, we selected a complete subsample of
Swift
long bright gamma ray bursts (GRBs). The sample, made up of 58 bursts, was selected by considering bursts with favourable observing conditions for ground-based follow-up observations and with the 15–150 keV 1 s peak flux above a flux threshold of 2.6 photons cm
−2
 s
−1
. This sample has a redshift completeness level higher than 90 per cent. Using this complete sample, we investigate the properties of long GRBs and their evolution with cosmic time, focusing in particular on the GRB luminosity function, the prompt emission spectral-energy correlations and the nature of dark bursts.
Gamma-ray burst progenitors and the population of rotating Wolf–Rayet stars
Authors: Vink Jorick S.
Published: April 2013

In our quest for gamma-ray burst (GRB) progenitors, it is relevant to consider the progenitor evolution of normal supernovae (SNe). This is largely dominated by mass loss. We discuss the mass-loss rate

for very massive stars up to 300
M
⊙
. These objects are in close proximity to the Eddington
Γ
limit. We describe the new concept of the
transitional
mass-loss rate, enabling us to calibrate wind mass loss. This allows us to consider the occurrence of pair-instability SNe in the local Universe. We also discuss luminous blue variables and their link to luminous SNe. Finally, we address the polarization properties of Wolf–Rayet (WR) stars, measuring their wind asphericities. We argue to have found a group of rotating WR stars that fulfil the required criteria to make long-duration GRBs.
Optimization of the X-ray incidence angle in photoelectron spectrometers
Authors: Strocov Vladimir N.
Published: April 2013

The interplay between the angle-dependent X-ray reflectivity, X-ray absorption and the photoelectron attenuation length in the photoelectron emission process determines the optimal X-ray incidence angle that maximizes the photoelectron signal. Calculations in the wide VUV to the hard X-ray energy range show that the optimal angle becomes more grazing with increasing energy, from a few tens of degrees at 50 eV to about one degree at 3.5 keV. This is accompanied by an intensity gain of a few tens of times, as long as the X-ray footprint on the sample stays within the analyzer field of view. This trend is fairly material-independent. The obtained results bear immediate implications for the design of (synchrotron-based) photoelectron spectrometers.
X-ray microtomographic visualization ofEscherichia coliby metalloprotein overexpression
Authors: Mizutani Ryuta , Taguchi Keisuke , Ohtsuka Masato , Kimura Minoru , Takeuchi Akihisa , Uesugi Kentaro , Suzuki Yoshio
Published: April 2013

This paper reports X-ray microtomographic visualization of the microorganismEscherichia colioverexpressing a metalloprotein ferritin. The three-dimensional distribution of linear absorption coefficients determined using a synchrotron radiation microtomograph with a simple projection geometry revealed that the X-ray absorption was homogeneously distributed, suggesting that everyE. colicell was labeled with the ferritin. The ferritin-expressingE. coliexhibited linear absorption coefficients comparable with those of phosphotungstic acid stained cells. The submicrometer structure of the ferritin-expressingE. colicells was visualized by Zernike phase contrast using an imaging microtomograph equipped with a Fresnel zone plate. The obtained images revealed curved columnar or bunching oval structures corresponding to theE. colicells. These results indicate that the metalloprotein overexpression facilitates X-ray visualization of three-dimensional cellular structures of biological objects.
Re‐inventing the library
Authors: Wade Martyn
Published: April 2013

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to explore the impact of strategic planning, marketing and external relations, and shared services on library development.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses the National Library of Scotland as a case study.

Findings

The introduction and development of strategic planning has provided a clear basis though which NLS has defined and achieved a new role within and beyond Scotland. Longer term planning is being informed by Thriving and Surviving – a future library project which has identified the transition to digital, the need for an outward focus and the development of an agile library as fundamental to a successful future for NLS. Strategic planning also supported the successful development of new legislation for NLS which was passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2012. Marketing and external relations have been vital in promoting the library's role, and widening the use made of its collections and services. The development of “shared services” is changing the way back office services are provided, achieving some savings and adding operational resilience.

Originality/value

The paper will be of interest and relevance to library managers seeking to address the issues facing libraries in the 21st century who are seeking management tools and techniques that will help them with the challenges they face.
A margin requirement based return calculation for portfolios of short option positions
Authors: Murray Scott
Published: April 2013

Purpose

Short option positions carry significant risk of losses well in excess of 100 per cent of the initial option price. Margin requirements associated with such positions are therefore considerable. The purpose of this paper is to develop a methodology for calculating margin requirement‐based option portfolio returns that realistically represent the returns realized by investors, and to demonstrate the effects of this methodology on analyses of option returns.

Design/methodology/approach

A methodology is developed for calculating margin requirement‐based short option portfolio returns.

Findings

Accounting for margin requirements reduces the returns of simple short option strategies by up to 92 per cent compared to the price return. In long/short portfolio analyses, use of margin requirement returns necessitates additional methodological adjustments to ensure that unwanted volatility risk is properly hedged.

Originality/value

The result is a portfolio return that more accurately represents the return realized by investors, and increased power to detect cross‐sectional patterns in option returns.
An examination of the long‐term performance of reacquired carve‐outs
Authors: Thompson Thomas H.
Published: April 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive initial evaluation of divestiture gains for reacquired carve‐out parent and subsidiary second event and three‐year returns for the period 1980‐2010.

Design/methodology/approach

Using several variables, we contrast reacquired carve‐out parent and subsidiary second event returns with those for acquired carve‐outs. Similarly, we contrast carve‐out parent three‐year returns.

Findings

We observe several differences between reacquired (RACO) and acquired (AQCO) carve‐outs. Indicating less competition for RACO prices, RACOs have lower market capitalization on the day before reacquisition. Supporting a certification effect for Thermo Electron, parent three‐year post reacquisition returns are positive versus negative returns for other RACO parents. Our multiple regression variables explain 27.53 percent of the subsidiary reacquisition announcement returns of 11.63 percent and explain 19.84 percent of the variation of parent three‐year returns.

Originality/value

This study makes several contributions to the literature. It is the first study to contrast the long‐term results of reacquired carve‐outs and their parents with those of acquired carve‐outs and their parents. Also, Gleason et al.’s study of reacquired carve‐outs has been extended in several ways. First, parent company three‐year returns after the reacquisition was examined. Next, returns for reacquired carve‐outs were contrasted with acquired carve‐outs. Updating Allen's study, it is reported that, except for one subsidiary acquired by a third party, all subsidiaries were reacquired by Thermo Electron.