bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Observation of water and solute movement in a saline, bare soil, groundwater seepage area, Western Australia. Part 2. Annual water and solute balances
Authors: Shimojima Eiichi , Tamagawa Ichiro , Horiuchi Masato , Woodbury Robert J. , Turner Jeffrey V.
Published: December 2015

Intensive hydrological and meteorological observations were used over 2 years at a small, salinised, bare soil, groundwater seepage area in Western Australia to determine annual water and solute balances and the processes mobilising and discharging saline groundwater. The study area of 40 m by 40 m comprised a two-layered (duplex) soil, with an upper permeable layer 0.3–0.4 m thick and a less permeable underlying layer. During the wet winter season, groundwater discharge from the study area corresponded to ~45% of the rainfall amount. The annual salt discharge from the area via groundwater flow was calculated to be ~2.1 kg/m2 as NaCl, which was almost the same as the salt mass stored in the upper layer in summer. A salt-discharge model was developed and showed that even though the bare soil, groundwater seepage area occupies only a few per cent of the total catchment area, the salt discharge from it was a large component of that from the total area. During the dry summer season, lateral groundwater flow did not occur. Rainfall that recharged and became stored water in the previous winter became the source of evaporation in the following summer, with 60–70% of the evaporated water in summer derived from stored water of the previous winter.
Optimising parameters for galvanostatic polyaniline coating on nanostructured bainitic steel
Authors: Kazum O. , Kannan M. Bobby
Published: December 2015

In this study, polyaniline was coated on a nanostructured bainitic steel to improve the corrosion resistance of the steel. A galvanostatic method with current density varied from 1–20 mA cm−2 was used for synthesising and coating polyaniline on the nanostructured bainitic steel. The electrochemical experiments showed that the polyaniline coating formed using 5 mA cm−2 exhibited the highest protection as compared to that formed at other current densities, which can be attributed to the low porosity in 5 mA cm−2 coating.
Landlocked Fall Chinook Salmon Kidney Bacteria in Relation to Egg Survival
Authors: Nero Patrick A , Barnes Michael , Bergmann David
Published: December 2015

A survey of kidney bacteria from female landlocked fall Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha broodstock from Lake Oahe, South Dakota, was conducted to investigate possible links to subsequent egg survival. Bacteria were isolated from 22 spent females. The kidneys of two females contained no bacteria, and no eggs survived from the spawn of these two fish. All kidneys sampled appeared normal with no gross abnormalities. Twelve bacteria genera were isolated and identified to the genus level: Acinetobacter, Aeromonas, Brevundimonas, Chryseobacterium, Flavobacterium, Acidovorax, Arthrobacter, Deinococcus, Enterococcus, Leucobacter, Micrococcus, and Oerskovia. Screening for Renibacterium salmoninarum was not conducted. Colony forming units (CFU) per gram ranged from 0 to 10,542. There were no significant correlations between egg survival and CFU from samples incubated on agar containing either R2A or Coomassie Brilliant Blue. In addition, no relationship was observed between any of the bacterial species isolated and egg survival to the eyed stage. Bacteria present in the kidneys of this specific population of Chinook Salmon do not appear to have any effect on female condition or subsequent egg survival, although several potentially pathogenic bacteria genera were isolated.
Using Qualitative Methods in a Quantitative Survey Research Agenda
Authors: Gimbel Kinsey , Newsome Jocelyn
Published: December 2015

This article suggests how qualitative methods can be useful in a quantitative survey research agenda and highlights the boundaries that must be considered to make such methods meet scientific standards. It first explains what qualitative research is and how it differs from quantitative research, then discusses four phases of the survey research process in which qualitative methods can be used with traditional survey research methods to both improve a survey’s design or methodology and better understand and illustrate survey findings. It also reviews three primary qualitative methodologies for structuring and implementing qualitative research: focus groups, in-depth interviews, and cognitive interviews. The article concludes with specific guidance on best practices for conducting qualitative research, from developing a comprehensive research plan to reporting the results of the survey, as well as ethical issues that should be considered.
Montaigne’s Education
Authors: Hoffmann George
Published: December 2015

In spite of Montaigne’s dismissal of his schooling as a “failure,” significant features of his thought can be traced to his humanist education. Not only did he acquire literacy in French at school, but also he picked up a comic outlook from the plays of Terence in which he acted. Further, George Buchanan exposed the young Montaigne to Reformation ideas. Later, Marc-Antoine Muret’s Julius Caesar would school Montaigne in displaying confidence in the face of fortune’s vicissitudes, an attitude that he would incorporate into the “heroic” skepticism of the Essays. More generally, he adopted images, language, and postures from the stage as a way of understanding the life as a comédie humaine. Montaigne, however, preferred to award a determining influence for his adult character to the infancy he spent in a rural village.
Corporate Short-Termism
Authors: Roe Mark J.
Published: December 2015

In this chapter I examine whether short-termism in stock markets justifies using corporate law to further shield managers and boards from shareholder influence, to allow boards and managers to pursue their view of sensible long-term strategies in their investment and management policies even more freely. First, the evidence that on stock market short-termism is mixed and inconclusive, with managerial mechanisms under-rated sources of short-term distortions, including managerial compensation packages whose duration often is shorter than that of institutional stockholding; further insulating boards from markets would exacerbate these managerial short-term-favoring mechanisms. Nor are courts well positioned to make this kind of basic economic policy, which if serious is better addressed with policy tools unavailable to courts.
Interpreting Indian Philosophy
Authors: Kapstein Matthew
Published: December 2015

This chapter explores some of the challenges of interpreting Indian philosophy by examining three exemplary puzzles: the manner in which philosophical authors employed the idea of the Cārvāka system, a school of thought said to be at once skeptical, hedonistic, and materialist; the meaning of “freedom” in classical India; and the limits of reason as suggested in the work of the notable Vedānta philosopher Śaṅkara. The essay seeks to demonstrate that even in areas such as these, which are assumed to be relatively well known, matters may be not quite so clear as people are wont to believe. The field remains open to, and in need of, revised and improved interpretation of the familiar no less than of topics that seem more obscure.
Self-Regulated Learning
Authors: Kornell Nate , Finn Bridgid
Published: December 2015

Effective self-regulated studying can influence students’ learning in school and beyond. This chapter reviews research on two key decisions: when to study and how to study. It first reviews the decisions people make about when to start and stop studying—that is, when to study—and the metacognitive judgments that underlie those decisions. It distinguishes between small-scale and large-scale decisions, such as which problem to work on next and whether to study today at all, respectively. It then discusses decisions about how to study, for example, whether or not to take notes, underline, test oneself, or reread. It then discusses key areas for future research, with an emphasis on student-centric research and research in digital learning environments. It offers practical recommendations for studiers about how to avoid overconfidence and procrastination and how to choose study strategies that increase short-term difficulty and long term success.
The Neurobiology of Suicide and Implications for Treatment and Prevention
Authors: Arango Victoria , Underwood Mark
Published: December 2015

Suicide has a biological component. It is the result not only of the necessary biological vulnerability, but also of multiple factors that must converge to elicit the behavior. These factors are discussed in this chapter and include genetic and epigenetic mechanisms, as well as psychopathologic, environmental, and stressful considerations, such as exposure to early adversity. We present a mathematical model with suicide as the outcome. The equation is based on a conventional stress-diathesis model, but it underscores the complexity of suicide behavior. In addition to discussing the contributors to suicidal behavior, we incorporate in the model protective factors that can reduce the risk of suicide. Because of the anatomical abnormalities in the serotonergic system in the brain of people who have died by suicide, a combination of pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy may be most effective in preventing the behavior.
Endocrine Disorders Associated with Psychological/Behavioral Problems
Authors: Lauriat Tara L. , Samson Jacqueline A.
Published: December 2015

Common endocrine disorders often present with psychiatric symptoms and may be mistaken for primary psychiatric disorders. Dysregulation of the following endocrine systems commonly affects behavior: the adrenocorticoid system, the thyroid system, the parathyroid system, the pancreas and regulation of glucose, and the reproductive system. Symptoms of depression and anxiety are common across the spectrum of endocrine disorders and more severe cases may include psychotic features. Clinicians are often faced with the challenge of identifying an underlying endocrine etiology for behavioral changes based on relatively nonspecific symptoms. A general understanding of the signs and symptoms associated with elevated or decreased hormone levels can assist in the differential diagnosis and ultimately increase the likelihood that a patient receives appropriate treatment. Accurate diagnosis can be especially critical in acute behavioral emergencies.
Targeted Violence in Schools
Authors: Borum Randy
Published: December 2015

Though targeted attacks at schools are rare events, educators and behavioral health professionals working in those settings must evaluate threats and threatening situations when they occur. Schools across the world have experimented with different methods over time, but the threat assessment approach—particularly executed by an interdisciplinary team—has emerged as abest practice. This chapter describes the results of the Safe School Initiative, an in-depth case analysis of 37 targeted school attacks involving 41 attackers over a 25-year period, and their implications for understanding the attackers, the situations, the settings, and the targets. It addresses the continuum of threats that schools may encounter and offers some heuristics for decision making, including recent research on key indicators of intent. It concludes by emphasizing the need for schools to have incident and post-incident response plans to mitigate harm if an attack does occur.
Multiculturalism and Liberalism
Authors: Hooker Juliet
Published: December 2015

This chapter examines the debate about multiculturalism in political theory. It traces the emergence of a philosophical literature to justify policies enacted by contemporary liberal democratic states that seek to fairly accommodate cultural diversity and remedy racial injustice. It traces the origins of the contemporary philosophical debate about multiculturalism (particularly in the United States and Canada) to the communitarian critique of theories of liberal neutrality that emphasized individual freedom and autonomy at the expense of collective membership. The liberal–communitarian debate culminated in liberal defenses of minority group rights that emphasize the centrality of culture and group membership to individual autonomy. The essay goes on to consider three remaining sources of tension in liberal multiculturalism: the question of how to reconcile commitments to gender equality and multiculturalism, the issue of how to deal with illiberal minority cultures (particularly religious groups), and the failure to adequately conceive racial justice.
Modality and Mood in Sinitic
Authors: Chappell Hilary , Peyraube Alain
Published: December 2015

After defining auxiliary verbs as a grammatical category in Sinitic languages, this chapter sets out to analyze the notion of modality as expressed primarily by the Chinese modal verbs. Beginning with a brief sketch of their diachronic evolution, we proceed to treat this category in each of three major Sinitic languages, namely, Standard Mandarin, Hong Kong Cantonese, and Taiwanese Southern Min (Hokkien). It is shown that the main modal verbs possess different sets of polysemy in each of the three languages. Potential verb compounds are also considered, as well as clause-final modal particles coding speaker stance, both being characteristic of East and Southeast Asian languages in general. Although Sinitic languages do not mark mood inflectionally, an important discussion regarding this category is dedicated to sentence types and the role of negation, intimately connected with the expression of the irrealis, the interrogative and the imperative in Sinitic languages.
Modality and Mood in American Sign Language
Authors: Shaffer Barbara , Janzen Terry
Published: December 2015

This chapter surveys the expression of modality and mood in American Sign Language (ASL), with a focus on modality and, specifically, modal verbs. Beyond sentence types, mood has not been explored extensively for ASL to date, although recent work on irrealis moods has been fruitful. For a signed language such as ASL, articulation with the hands is accompanied by distinctive facial gestures and body/head postures, which become increasingly important as epistemic readings of modals are obtained. Here we give a detailed discussion of modals in ASL that range from agent-oriented to epistemic, looking at both form and function, including some negative modals. We trace the grammaticalization of a number of modal categories and show how at least some of these categories have grammaticalized from earlier gestural sources. Regarding mood, we include some discussion of conditionals, hypotheticals, and counterfactuals.
Freelisting as a Tool for Assessing Cognitive Realities of Landscape Transformation
Authors: Balée William , Nolan Justin M.
Published: December 2015

Cognitive reality of landscape transformation in Amazonia refers to the traditional knowledge local people share in a common culture concerning past and sometimes lasting human impacts on substrates and biotic compositions of specific areas. A method for determining cognitive reality of any semantic domain is freelisting. Freelists of terms for flora and landscapes in the indigenous languages of Greater Amazonia indicate extensive shared vocabularies and accurate knowledge of large inventories of biota and their respective habitats. In these languages, and the small-scale societies associated with them, effects of anthropogenic activities in the landscape over time can be inferred from contemporary freelists. In this chapter, we apply a cluster measure to semantic categories in freelist data concerning cultural (or anthropogenic) forests, some of which was previously published and some not, collected among the Ka’apor people of the eastern Amazon of Brazil.
Main Trends of Islamic Theological Thought from the Late Nineteenth Century to Present Times
Authors: Wielandt Rotraud
Published: December 2015

This chapter examines the main trends of Islamic theological thought from the late nineteenth century to the present times, tracing developments in various Arab countries, in Turkey, Iran and India, Central Asia and Indonesia. It begins by tackling the question of the relation between indigenous roots and modern Western stimuli, tradition and innovation in Islamic theology during this period. Subsequently the author discussed the innovative trends. An overview of the theological ideas of the pioneers of Islamic modernism, the Indian Sayyid Ahmad Khan and the Egyptian Muḥammad ʿAbduh, is given, followed by an analysis of the views of modernist theological thinkers of the early twentieth century. Next the theology of the Indian philosopher and poet Muhammad Iqbal, an eminent example of theological modernism between the two world wars, is addressed. Another section deals with new hermeneutical and epistemological approaches to the Qurʾānic revelation. Finally the development of the interest in a new kind of philosophy-basedkalāmis delineated from their beginnings with Sayyid Ahmad Khan up to their present-day Iranian, Turkish and Arab protagonists.
The Muʿtazilite Movement (III)
Authors: Schmidtke Sabine
Published: December 2015

This chapter provides a historical overview of the so-called scholastic phase of the Muʿtazilite movement., when two principal school traditions evolved, the ‘School of Basra’ and the ‘School of Baghdad’. The beginning of this period coincides with the lives of Abū ʿAlī al-Jubbāʾī (d. 303/915–16), leader of the School of Basra and Abū l-Qāsim al-Kaʿbī al-Balkhī (d. 319/931), head of the School of Baghdad. The chapter begins with an overview of the early generation of Muʿtazilites, led by Abū ʿAlī Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Jubbāʾī, and proceeds with a discussion of the teachings of the Bahshamiyya. It then considers the doctrines of the later Bahshamiyya, paying special attention to the most renowned students of Abū Hāshim such as Abū ʿAlī Muḥammad b. Khallād and Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm b. ʿAyyāsh al-Baṣrī. It also takes a look at Abū l-Ḥusayn al-Baṣrī, one of the disciples of ʿAbd al-Jabbār al-Hamadānī, and the school he established.
The Color Line and the State
Authors: Johnson Kimberley S.
Published: December 2015

This article examines the ways in which scholars of American political development (APD) have encountered the color line through their research, and the strides they have made in bringing race back into the field of political science in general and the study of the state in particular. Three core questions about race and APD are considered: How is race defined? When does race matter? In what direction does race matter? Two approaches relating to race and American politics are discussed: the race relations approach and the racial politics (or minority politics) approach. It then explores five challenges that must be addressed in order to overcome the persistent connections between APD and the discipline’s racial anomalism. It also analyzes the role of race in the establishment of the early American welfare state and concludes by reflecting on the persistence of racial inequality and prospects for APD in the twenty-first century.
Pragmatics and Prosody
Authors: Hirschberg Julia
Published: December 2015

Variation in prosody can influence the interpretation of linguistic phenomena in many languages. Type and location of prosodic prominence and prosodic phrase boundaries, differences in overall fundamental frequency (f0) contours, and changes in intensity, duration, and speaking rate can serve to inform hearers about syntactic attachment, disambiguate scope of modifiers and negation, signal information status, indicate type of speech act or propositional attitude, and contribute to the licensing of implicatures and to reference resolution. This chapter discusses aspects of prosodic variation and pragmatic meaning which have been explored in linguistics, computational linguistics, and psycholinguistics. It begins by describing some commonly used frameworks for representing prosody, including the ToBI framework, which is used to identify prosodic variation throughout. The pragmatic influence of prosody on the interpretation of syntactic, semantic, and discourse phenomena is then examined. It concludes by suggesting new avenues for research in the relationship between prosody and pragmatic interpretation.
Dancecapes of Dionysus
Authors: Papakostas Christos
Published: December 2015

This paper aims to study dance and its relation to the construction and the negotiation of cultural identity of the ethnic group of locals (dopioi) in the community of Kali Vrysi in the Prefecture of Drama, in Eastern Macedonia (Greece). The linguistic otherness (the villagers spoke a local Slav idiom) of Kalivrysians (Kalivrysiotes) in the past cast doubt on their Greekness. This resulted in social, ethnic, and cultural stigmatization of the community. The dancing ritual of babougera, characterized as distant echo of Dionysian cult, has a central role in the community’s identity formation. A recent example of the appearance of the babougera ritual, the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games in Athens (2004). In this dancescape of modernity, Kalivrysiotes negotiate their identity and appear as “super-Greeks.”
The Social Psychology of Leadership
Authors: Platow Michael J. , Haslam S. Alexander , Reicher Stephen D.
Published: December 2015

Leadership is the process of influencing others in a manner that enhances their contribution to the realization of group goals. We demonstrate how social influence emerges from psychological in-group members, particularly highly in-group prototypical ones. Through leader fairness, respect, and other rhetorical behaviors, leaders become entrepreneurs of identity, creating a shared sense of “us.” Personality research reveals contextual variability in correlations with leadership outcomes, suggesting that situational parameters exert their own influence over the influence of would-be leaders. Successful transactional leadership is predicated upon a shared social identity, and transformational leadership can help create that identity. Group members have shared beliefs about what makes a leader, with these beliefs themselves fluctuating with changes in the group and intergroup context. Approaching the analysis of leadership from a psychological group perspective allows us to understand leadership literature as an integrated oeuvre that provides insight into leadership’s foundation.
Electroencephalography
Authors: Gaetz Michael B. , Jantzen Kelly J.
Published: December 2015

Axonal injury is currently considered to be the structural substrate behind most concussion-related neurological dysfunction. Because the principal generators of EEG fields are graded excitatory and inhibitory synaptic potentials of pyramidal neurons, the EEG is well suited for characterizing large-scale functional disruptions associated with concussion induced metabolic and neurochemical changes, and for connecting those disruptions to deficits in behavior and cognition. This essay provides an overview of the use of EEG and newly developed analytical procedures for the measurement of functional impairment related to sport concussion. Elevations in delta and theta activity can be expected in a percentage of athletes and change in asymmetry and coherence may also be present. Newer techniques are likely to be of critical importance for understanding the anatomical and physiological basis of cognitive deficits and may provide additional insight into susceptibility to future injury. Computational modeling may advance our understanding of concussion.
Truth and Goodness
Authors: McShane Katie
Published: December 2015

Although some environmental ethicists have taken up metaethical questions in their work, the relevance of metaethics to environmental ethics has been a point of controversy in the field. This chapter reviews the environmental ethics literature on metaethics, considering what legitimate interest environmental ethics might have in metaethical issues. It reviews the main positions in contemporary metaethics, as well as the claims that environmental ethicists have looked to metaethics to vindicate. Ultimately it argues that metaethics is not entirely irrelevant to environmental ethics, as some critics have claimed. However, contemporary metaethics is able to address the concerns of environmental ethicists from a number of different theoretical perspectives.
Corticosteroid Dosing in Pediatric Acute Severe Ulcerative Colitis
Authors: Choshen Sapir , Finnamore Helen , Auth Marcus K.H. , Bdolah‐Abram Tali , Shteyer Eyal , Mack David , Hyams Jeffrey , Leleiko Neal , Griffiths Anne , Turner Dan
Published: December 2015

Objectives:

We aimed to explore the optimal dosing of intravenous‐corticosteroids (IVCS) using a robust statistical method on the largest pediatric cohort of acute severe colitis to date.

Methods:

Two hundred eighty‐three children treated with IVCS for ulcerative colitis were included and studied for 1 year (46% boys, age 12.1 ± 3.9 years, disease duration 2 (interquartile range [IQR] 0–14) months, baseline Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis Activity Index 69 ± 13 points). Confounding by indication was addressed by matching high‐ and low‐IVCS dose patients according to the propensity score method, using 3 cutoffs (1 mg · kg−1 · methylprednisolone to 40 mg · day−1, 1.25 mg · kg−1 to 50 mg · day−1 and 2 mg · kg−1 to 80 mg · day−1).

Results:

The median IVCS dose in the entire cohort was 1.0 mg · kg−1 · day−1 (IQR 0.8–1.4) and 44 mg · kg−1 · day−1 (32–60). Ninety‐four of 283 children were matched in the low‐dose cutoff (1 mg · kg−1 · day−1), 218 of 283 were matched in the middle cutoff (1.25 mg · kg−1 · day−1), and 86/283 in the high dose cutoff (2 mg · kg−1 · day−1). No differences were found in 25 pretreatment baseline variables in the three cutoffs, implying successful matching. There were no statistical differences in the outcomes of the two lower cutoffs (including need for salvage therapy during admission and by 1 years, admission duration, and day‐5 Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis Activity Index<35 points; all P > 0.05). In the high cutoff, the higher doses were somewhat better but this benefit reversed in a sensitivity analysis excluding one center. High doses were not associated with better outcome also in a propensity score‐weighted regression model on the entire cohort.

Conclusions:

Our data support present guidelines that doses of IVCS >1 to 1.5 mg · kg−1 · day−1 (maximum 40–60 mg · kg−1 · day−1) are not justified in acute severe colitis.
Microbial contributions to subterranean methane sinks
Authors: Lennon J. T. , Nguyễn-Thùy D. , Phạm Đú’c N. , Drobniak A. , Tạ Hòa P. , Pham T.M. , Streil T. , Webster K.D. , Schimmelmann A.
Published: December 2015

Understanding the sources and sinks of methane (CH4) is critical for predicting and managing global biogeochemical cycles. Recent studies have reported that CH4concentrations in cave ecosystems are depleted and that these subterranean environments may act as a daily sinks for atmospheric CH4. It has been hypothesized that this CH4depletion may be caused by radiolysis, an abiotic process whereby CH4is oxidized via interactions with ionizing radiation derived from radon decay. Alternatively, the depletion of CH4concentrations could be due to biological processes, specifically oxidation by methanotrophic bacteria. We theoretically explored the radiolysis hypothesis and conclude that it is a kinetically constrained process that is unlikely to lead to the rapid loss of CH4in subterranean environments. We present experimental results to support this claim. We tested the microbial oxidation hypothesis in a set of mesocosm experiments that were conducted in Vietnamese caves. Our results reveal that methanotrophic bacteria associated with cave rocks consume CH4at a rate of 1.33 - 2.70 mg CH4· m-2· d-1. These CH4oxidation rates equal or exceed what has been reported in other habitats, including agricultural systems, grasslands, deciduous forests, and Arctic tundra. As such, microbial methanotrophy has the potential to significantly oxidize CH4in caves, but also smaller-size open subterranean spaces, such as cracks, fissures, and other pores that are connected to and rapidly exchange with the atmosphere. Future studies are needed to understand how subterranean CH4oxidation scales up to affect regional and global CH4cycling.
Purifying selection and drift, not life history or RNAi, determine transposable element evolution
Authors: Szitenberg Amir , Cha Soyeon , Opperman Charles H. , Bird David M. , Blaxter Mark , Lunt David H.
Published: December 2015

Transposable elements (TEs) are a major source of genome variation across the branches of life. Although TEs may occasionally play an adaptive role in their host’s genome, they are much more often deleterious, and purifying selection is thus an important factor controlling genomic TE loads. In contrast, life history and genomic characteristics such as mating system, parasitism, GC content, and RNAi pathways, have been suggested to account for the startling disparity of TE loads in different species. Previous studies of fungal, plant, and animal genomes have reported conflicting results regarding the direction in which these genomic features drive TE evolution. Many of these studies have had limited power because they studied taxonomically narrow systems, comparing only a limited number of phylogenetically independent contrasts, and did not address long term effects on TE evolution. Here we explicitly test the long term determinants of TE evolution by comparing 42 nematode genomes that span over 500 million years of diversification, and include numerous transitions between life history states and RNAi pathways. We have analysed the reconstructed TE loads of ancestors through the Nematoda phylogeny to account for correlation with GC content and transitions in TE evolutionary models. We also analysed the effect of transitions in life history characteristics and RNAi using ANOVA of phylogenetically independent contrasts. We show that purifying selection against TEs is the dominant force throughout the evolutionary history of Nematoda, as indicated by reconstructed ancestral TE loads, and that strong stochastic Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes are the underlying models which best explain TE diversification among extant species. In contrast we found no evidence that life history or RNAi variations have a significant influence upon genomic TE load across extended periods of evolutionary history. We suggest that these are largely inconsequential to the large differences in TE content observed between genomes and only by these large-scale comparisons can we distinguish long term and persistent effects from transient effects or misleading random changes.
Estimation of the lag time in a subsequent monomer addition model for fibril elongation
Authors: Shoffner Suzanne K. , Schnell Santiago
Published: December 2015

Fibrillogenesis, the production or development of protein fibers, has been linked to protein folding diseases. The progress curve of fibrils or aggregates typically takes on a sigmoidal shape witha lag phase, a rapid growth phase, and a final plateau regime. The study of the lag phase and the estimation of its critical timescale provide insight into the factors regulating the fibrillation process. However, methods to estimate a quantitative expression for the lag time rely on empirical expressions, which cannot connect the lag time to kinetic parameters associated with the reaction mechanisms of protein fibrillation. Here we introduce an approach for the estimation of the lag time using the governing rate equations of the elementary reactions of a subsequent monomer addition model for protein fibrillation as a case study. We show that the lag time is given by the sum of the critical timescales for each fibril intermediate in the subsequent monomer addition mechanism and therefore reveals causal connectivity between intermediate species. Furthermore, we find that single-molecule assays of protein fibrillation can exhibit a lag phase without a nucleation process, while dyes and extrinsic fluorescent probe bulk assays of protein fibrillation do not exhibit an observable lag time phase during template-dependent elongation. Our approach could be valuable for investigating the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic factors to the protein fibrillation reaction mechanism and provides physicochemical insights into parameters regulating the lag phase.
Genomic Bayesian Prediction Model for Count Data with Genotype × Environment Interaction
Authors: Montesinos-López Abelardo , Montesinos-López Osval A. , Crossa José , Burgueño Juan , Eskridge Kent M. , Falconi-Castillo Esteban , He Xingyao , Singh Pawan , Cichy Karen
Published: December 2015

Genomic tools allow the study of the whole genome and are facilitating the study of genotype-environment combinations and their relationship with the phenotype. However, most genomic prediction models developed so far are appropriate for Gaussian phenotypes. For this reason, appropriate genomic prediction models are needed for count data, since the conventional regression models used on count data with a large sample size (n) and a small number of parameters (p) cannot be used for genomic-enabled prediction where the number of parameters (p) is larger than the sample size (n). Here we propose a Bayesian mixed negative binomial (BMNB) genomic regression model for counts that takes into account genotype by environment (G×E) interaction. We also provide all the full conditional distributions to implement a Gibbs sampler. We evaluated the proposed model using a simulated data set and a real wheat data set from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and collaborators. Results indicate that our BMNB model is a viable alternative for analyzing count data.
MeSH-informed enrichment analysis and MeSH-guided semantic similarity among functional terms and gene products in chicken
Authors: Morota Gota , Beissinger Timothy M , Peñagaricano Francisco
Published: December 2015

Biomedical vocabularies and ontologies aid in recapitulating biological knowledge. The annotation of gene products is mainly accelerated by Gene Ontology (GO) and more recently by Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). Here we report a suite of MeSH packages for chicken in Bioconductor and illustrate some features of different MeSH-based analyses, including MeSH-informed enrichment analysis and MeSH-guided semantic similarity among terms and gene products, using two lists of chicken genes available in public repositories. The two published datasets that were employed represent (i) differentially expressed genes and (ii) candidate genes under selective sweep or epistatic selection. The comparison of MeSH with GO overrepresentation analyses suggested not only that MeSH supports the findings obtained from GO analysis but also that MeSH is able to further enrich the representation of biological knowledge and often provide more interpretable results. Based on the hierarchical structures of MeSH and GO, we computed semantic similarities among vocabularies as well as semantic similarities among selected genes. These yielded the similarity levels between significant functional terms, and the annotation of each gene yielded the measures of gene similarity. Our findings show the benefits of using MeSH as an alternative choice of annotation in order to draw biological inferences from a list of genes of interest. We argue that the use of MeSH in conjunction with GO will be instrumental in facilitating the understanding of the genetic basis of complex traits.
Planarity of benzoyldithiocarbazate tuberculostatics. II. Diesters of benzoyldithiocarbazic acid
Authors: Szczesio Małgorzata , Olczak Andrzej , Gobis Katarzyna , Mazerant Ida , Kałużyńska Sylwia , Foks Henryk , Główka Marek L.
Published: December 2015

The emergence of drug-resistant strains ofMycobacterium tuberculosishas intensified efforts to identify new lead tuberculostatics. Our earlier studies concluded that the planarity of a molecule correlates well with its tuberculostatic activity. According to our hypothesis, only derivatives whose molecules are capable of adopting a planar conformation may show tuberculostatic activity. The structures of three new potentially tuberculostatic compounds, namelyN′-[bis(methylsulfanyl)methylidene]-N-methyl-4-nitrobenzohydrazide (denotedG1), C11H13N3O3S2,N′-[bis(benzylsulfanyl)methylidene]-N-methyl-4-nitrobenzohydrazide (denotedG2), C23H21N3O3S2, andN′-[(benzylsulfanyl)(methylsulfanyl)methylidene]-4-nitrobenzohydrazide (denotedG3), C16H15N3O3S2, were determined by X-ray diffraction. The significant distortion from planarity caused by the methyl substituent at the N atom of the hydrazide group or the NO2substituent in the aromatic ring leads to the loss of tuberculostatic activity forG1,G2 andG4 {systematic name:N′-[bis(methylsulfanyl)methylidene]-2-nitrobenzohydrazide}. A similar effect is observed when there are large substituents at the S atoms (G2 andG3).
Market orientation, distributor relationship, and return on assets
Authors: Guo Chiquan , Wang Yong
Published: December 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore how market orientation is related to relationship building outcomes in the downstream distribution process. The authors examine the role of distributor satisfaction in mediating the association between market orientation in distribution and return on assets.

Design/methodology/approach

– Market orientation in distribution was measured by distributor orientation, competitor orientation, and interfunctional coordination.

Findings

– Results showed that the positive relationship between market orientation in distribution and distributor satisfaction was strongly supported. While distributor orientation and competitor orientation were both positively related to distributor satisfaction and return on assets, interfunctional coordination was not related to either distributor satisfaction or return on assets. However, interfunctional coordination lessened the positive relationship between distributor orientation and distributor satisfaction.

Originality/value

– This study fills research void in downstream relationship building in the distribution process in a business-to-business context.
Guerrilla marketing’s effects on Gen Y’s word-of-mouth intention – a mediation of credibility
Authors: Dinh Tam Duc , Mai Khuong Ngoc
Published: December 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to integrate guerrilla marketing characteristics into advertising model through which the perceived effects of guerrilla marketing on Gen Y are identified, and to examine such effects on word of mouth (WOM) activity with the mediation of message credibility.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study obtains its exploratory purpose through quantitative method by asking Gen Y participants about their perceptions of 20 guerrilla advertisements in the questionnaires. Those advertisements and the advertising scales are selectively chosen from previous literature so that the results truthfully reflect the effects of guerrilla marketing under consumer perspective.

Findings

– The results show that, creativity, as a combination of novelty and relevance, has the strongest direct and indirect effect on WOM intention. Similarly, surprise factor, the claimed root philosophy of guerrilla marketing, is confirmed when it also impacts directly and indirectly consumer behaviour. Message credibility plays a meaningful mediation role, and through this, message clarity manifests its indirect influence on WOM.

Originality/value

– The study supports the belief that guerrilla marketing is suitable for any business because of its effectiveness and efficiency. More significantly, the awareness of Gen Y consumers of the advertisements, with or without knowing that these ads belong to guerrilla advertising, strengthens the expectation that guerrilla marketing in general and guerrilla advertising in particular are recommended choices when they reflect what common marketing and advertising should be.
The temporal properties of e-learning: an exploratory study of academics ' conceptions
Authors: Martins Jorge , Nunes Miguel Baptista
Published: December 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to present the results of an exploratory study that investigates Portuguese academics’ conceptions concerning the temporal properties of e-learning, in the context of traditional Higher Education Institutions.

Design/methodology/approach

– Grounded Theory methodology was used to systematically analyse data collected in semi-structured interviews with 62 academics. Data analysis followed the constant comparative method and its three-staged coding approach: open, axial and selective coding. Data collection and analysis developed until theoretical saturation was reached.

Findings

– Emergent academics’ conceptions concerning the temporal properties of e-learning indicate the existence of unregulated and unaccounted for dynamics, which are a direct consequence of transitioning from campus-based lecturing to teaching online using the affordances of virtual learning environments. This transition produces disruptions to established workload metrics and work patterns, as well as conflicts with dominant modes of instructional delivery that are not synchronised with the demands of online interaction and immediacy.

Originality/value

– This paper is valuable to e-learning strategists and administrators. An understanding of the temporal properties of e-learning as perceived by academics provides actionable knowledge that is directly applicable to the design of suitable work arrangements, normative frameworks and e-learning practices that address perceived time-related barriers. To mitigate the time-related conflicts and disruptions identified in the study the authors suggest the establishment of university-wide norms of virtual presence and the implementation of temporal protocols to sustain the productive engagement between instructors and learners.
Re-examining students’ perception of e-learning: an Australian perspective
Authors: Loh Claire , Wong David H , Quazi Ali , Kingshott Russel Philip
Published: December 2015

Purpose

– Australian tertiary institutions are increasingly incorporating technologies, such as social media and Web 2.0 tools into teaching in response to changing student needs. The purpose of this paper is to revisit a fundamental question, frequently asked in marketing, “what do our ‘customers’ [students] think now?” This will help determine the effectiveness of application of these technologies in courses and teaching programs in a changing competitive educational environment.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using a mixed method approach, data were collected through 31 qualitative interviews and a survey of 231 university marketing students. Quantitative techniques included summary statistics, factor analysis and t-test.

Findings

– Results indicate while students’ perceived flexibility and better learning outcomes as positive aspects of e-learning, they have concerns about flexibility for self-paced learning, self-motivational issues, lack of human interaction and fostering teamwork.

Research limitations/implications

– The study is limited to one Australian university operating in domestic and international markets. However, the study needs to be replicated for better generalizability across the sector.

Practical implications

– The findings question the effectiveness of e-learning as an alternative approach to face-to-face learning pedagogy. However, regular review of current e-learning tools is needed to help match student and tertiary institution expectations.

Originality/value

– This study re-investigates students’ perception in relation to the benefits that e-learning is expected to yield. It is one of the few studies questioning whether these promised benefits are valued by the tertiary student fraternity.
The economic consequences of crime in Italy
Authors: Carboni Oliviero A. , Detotto Claudio
Published: December 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to employ provincial data to study the relationship between several crime typologies, namely murder, robbery, extortion and fraud and economic output in Italy.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors propose a spatial econometric approach where the spatial proximity is defined by a measure of physical distance between locations, in order to take into account possible spill-over effects.

Findings

– The results of the spatial estimation suggest that criminal activities, namely murder and robbery, exhibit a negative impact on Italian gross domestic product while fraud and total crime do not affect economic output and that there are beneficial spill-overs from neighbouring provinces.

Originality/value

– The study empirically shows that only violent crimes have a crowding-out effect on economic output.
Debate on Global Urbanisms and the Nature of Urban Theory
Authors: Robinson Jennifer , Roy Ananya
Published: December 2015

Urban studies is undergoing a phase of rich experimentation, with a proliferation of paradigms and exploration or invention of various methodologies inspired by the diversity and shifting geographies of global urbanization. In particular, there has been an effort to rethink the Euro–American legacy of urban studies and consider the relational multiplicities, diverse histories and dynamic connectivities of global urbanisms. Such a task is especially important at a time when significant urban transformations are underway in the global South. From the remaking of the developmental state at the urban scale to fierce struggles over land, housing and urban services to ambitious visions of the world‐class city, these urban processes cannot be understood as simply a postscript to the urban transformations of the North Atlantic.
Optimal Drug Control under Risk of Drug Resistance – The Case of African Animal Trypanosomosis
Authors: Liebenehm Sabine , Bett Bernard , Verdugo Cristobal , Said Mohamed
Published: December 2015

We examine two widely used treatment strategies for African animal trypanosomosis in West Africa: preventive drug control ex‐ante trypanosomosis infection and curative drug control ex‐post trypanosomosis infection. We investigate which combination of these alternative strategies is economically optimal for cattle farmers. We apply a dynamic optimisation framework to consider both the negative externality of drug resistance development and human behaviour. We develop a bio‐economic model to simulate the economic consequences of treatment strategies in a dynamic scenario that takes into account the interactions among the vector, host and livestock farmers. This model allows for the evolution of drug‐resistant trypanosomes through trypanocide misuse and simulates the observed behaviours of cattle farmers based on the elicited risk and time preferences of a sample of 202 cattle farmers in Mali and Burkina Faso. The results show that the private optimal mix of treatment strategies for a risk averse and patient farmer involves preventive treatment for susceptible cattle, supported by a small number of curative treatments for infected cattle. Compared with the treatment strategies observed in the field, this optimal mix of treatment strategies would save approximately 5% of the annual income of a livestock farmer in the study area and would reduce the prevalence of trypanosomosis. In addition, we demonstrate that a reduction in a farmer's risk aversion is associated with higher treatment rates that can avoid additional losses. By contrast, a decrease in a farmer's patience is related to lower treatment rates that thwart additional benefits. Our results suggest that individual risk and time preferences need to be considered in the development process of disease control interventions.
Genomic Resources Notes Accepted 1 August 2015 – 31 September 2015
Authors:   Genomic Resources Development Consortium, Kohler Annegret , Kremer Antoine , Le Provost Grégoire , Lesur Isabelle , Lin Gonhua , Martin Francis , Plomion Christophe , Wu Aiguo , Zhao Fang
Published: December 2015

This article documents the public availability of transcriptomic resources for (i) the Hazelnut tree (Corylus avellana L.) and (ii) the oriental rat flea and primary plague vector, Xenopsylla cheopis.