bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Process‐evaluation of tropospheric humidity simulated by general circulation models using water vapor isotopic observations: 2. Using isotopic diagnostics to understand the mid and upper tropospheric moist bias in the tropics and subtropics
Authors: Risi Camille , Noone David , Worden John , Frankenberg Christian , Stiller Gabriele , Kiefer Michael , Funke Bernd , Walker Kaley , Bernath Peter , Schneider Matthias , Bony Sandrine , Lee Jeonghoon , Brown Derek , Sturm Christophe
Published: January 2012

Evaluating the representation of processes controlling tropical and subtropical tropospheric relative humidity (RH) in atmospheric general circulation models (GCMs) is crucial to assess the credibility of predicted climate changes. GCMs have long exhibited a moist bias in the tropical and subtropical mid and upper troposphere, which could be due to the mis‐representation of cloud processes or of the large‐scale circulation, or to excessive diffusion during water vapor transport. The goal of this study is to use observations of the water vapor isotopic ratio to understand the cause of this bias. We compare the three‐dimensional distribution of the water vapor isotopic ratio measured from space and ground to that simulated by several versions of the isotopic GCM LMDZ. We show that the combined evaluation of RH and of the water vapor isotopic composition makes it possible to discriminate the most likely cause of RH biases. Models characterized either by an excessive vertical diffusion, an excessive convective detrainment or an underestimated in situ cloud condensation will all produce a moist bias in the free troposphere. However, only an excessive vertical diffusion can lead to a reversed seasonality of the free tropospheric isotopic composition in the subtropics compared to observations. Comparing seven isotopic GCMs suggests that the moist bias found in many GCMs in the mid and upper troposphere most frequently results from an excessive diffusion during vertical water vapor transport. This study demonstrates the added value of water vapor isotopic measurements for interpreting shortcomings in the simulation of RH by climate models.
Seasonal variations of Antarctic clouds observed by CloudSat and CALIPSO satellites
Authors: Adhikari Loknath , Wang Zhien , Deng Min
Published: January 2012

The multiyear lidar and radar measurements obtained from the Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) and CloudSat between June 2006 and May 2010 were used to investigate the seasonal and interannual variabilities of the vertical and horizontal cloud distributions, cloud top height above ground (Htop) thickness (CTH), effective radius (re), and ice water content (IWC) over the southern high latitudes poleward of 60°S. The collocated lidar and radar data were used to derive the cloud mask, which was used to classify the clouds into four classes according to the cloud base height above ground (Hbase) and CTH. The Amundsen/Bellingshausen Sea region showed the highest cloud occurrence (>80%) and Antarctic Plateau had lowest cloud occurrence (<30%). The low‐level clouds accounted for more than 60% of the total cloudiness, and their occurrence was greater during summer than during winter, but deep and high‐level cloud occurrence, CTH, and Htop were greater during winter than during summer. CTH and Htopof deep and high‐level clouds were greater over ocean than over land, but both CTH and Htopof low‐level clouds were greater over land than over ocean. The mean IWCs for high‐level clouds over land and ocean were 0.85 (2.0) and 1.3 (3.1) mg/kg, respectively, and the mean re over land and ocean were 18.0 (22.1) and 21.5 (26.4) μm, respectively, for winter (summer). The study provides a high‐quality data set of cloud properties over the Antarctic region to improve our understanding and model simulations of Antarctic clouds.
Contaminant discharge and uncertainty estimates from passive flux meter measurements
Authors: Klammler Harald , Hatfield Kirk , Guimarães da Luz Joana Angélica , Annable Michael D. , Newman Mark , Cho Jaehyun , Peacock Aaron , Stucker Valerie , Ranville James , Cabaniss Steven A. , Rao P. S. C.
Published: January 2012

The passive flux meter (PFM) measures local cumulative water and contaminant fluxes at an observation well. Conditional stochastic simulation accounting for both spatial correlation and data skewness is introduced to interpret passive flux meter observations in terms of probability distributions of discharges across control planes (transects) of wells. An estimator of the effective number of independent data is defined and applied in the development of two significantly simpler approximate methods for estimating discharge distributions. One method uses a transformation of thetstatistic to account for data skewness and the other method is closely related to the classic bootstrap. The approaches are demonstrated with passive flux meter data from two field sites (a trichloroethylene [TCE] plume at Ft. Lewis, WA, and a uranium plume at Rifle, CO). All methods require that the flux heterogeneity is sufficiently represented by the data and maximum differences in discharge quantile estimates between methods are ∼7%.
Assessing Screening Policies for Childhood Obesity
Authors: Wein Lawrence M. , Yang Yan , Goldhaber‐Fiebert Jeremy D.
Published: January 2012

To address growing concerns over childhood obesity, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recently recommended that children undergo obesity screening beginning at age 6. An Expert Committee recommends starting at age 2. Analysis is needed to assess these recommendations and investigate whether there are better alternatives. We model the age‐ and sex‐specific population‐wide distribution of BMI through age 18 using National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) data. The impact of treatment on BMI is estimated using the targeted systematic review performed to aid the USPSTF. The prevalence of hypertension and diabetes at age 40 are estimated from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). We fix the screening interval at 2 years, and derive the age‐ and sex‐dependent BMI thresholds that minimize adult disease prevalence, subject to referring a specified percentage of children for treatment yearly. We compare this optimal biennial policy to biennial versions of the USPSTF and Expert Committee recommendations. Compared to the USPSTF recommendation, the optimal policy reduces adult disease prevalence by 3% in relative terms (the absolute reductions are <1%) at the same treatment referral rate, or achieves the same disease prevalence at a 28% reduction in treatment referral rate. If compared to the Expert Committee recommendation, the reductions change to 6 and 40%, respectively. The optimal policy treats mostly 16‐year olds and few children under age 14. Our results suggest that adult disease is minimized by focusing childhood obesity screening and treatment on older adolescents.
A critical tyrosine residue determines the uncoupling protein-like activity of the yeast mitochondrial oxaloacetate carrier
Authors: Luévano-Martínez Luis A. , Barba-Ostria Carlos , Araiza-Olivera Daniela , Chiquete-Félix Natalia , Guerrero-Castillo Sergio , Rial Eduardo , Georgellis Dimitris , Uribe-Carvajal Salvador
Published: January 2012

The mitochondrial Oac (oxaloacetate carrier) found in some fungi and plants catalyses the uptake of oxaloacetate, malonate and sulfate. Despite their sequence similarity, transport specificity varies considerably between Oacs. Indeed, whereas ScOac (Saccharomyces cerevisiae Oac) is a specific anion–proton symporter, the YlOac (Yarrowia lipolytica Oac) has the added ability to transport protons, behaving as a UCP (uncoupling protein). Significantly, we identified two amino acid changes at the matrix gate of YlOac and ScOac, tyrosine to phenylalanine and methionine to leucine. We studied the role of these amino acids by expressing both wild-type and specifically mutated Oacs in an Oac-null S. cerevisiae strain. No phenotype could be associated with the methionine to leucine substitution, whereas UCP-like activity was dependent on the presence of the tyrosine residue normally expressed in the YlOac, i.e. Tyr-ScOac mediated proton transport, whereas Phe-YlOac lost its protonophoric activity. These findings indicate that the UCP-like activity of YlOac is determined by the tyrosine residue at position 146.
Classification of protein functional surfaces using structural characteristics
Authors: Tseng Yan Yuan , Li Wen-Hsiung
Published: January 2012

Protein structure and function are closely related, especially in functional surfaces, which are local spatial regions that perform the biological functions. Also, protein structures tend to evolve more slowly than amino acid sequences. We have therefore developed a method to classify proteins using the structures of functional surfaces; we call it protein surface classification (PSC). PSC may reflect functional relationships among proteins and may detect evolutionary relationships among highly divergent sequences. We focused on the surfaces of ligand-bound regions because they represent well-defined structures. Specifically, we used structural attributes to measure similarities between binding surfaces and constructed a PSC library of ∼2,000 binding surface types from the bound forms. Using flavin mononucleotide-binding proteins and glycosidases as examples, we show how the evolutionary position of an uncharacterized protein can be defined and its function inferred from the characterized members of the same surface subtype. We found that proteins with the same enzyme nomenclature may be divided into subtypes and that two proteins in the same CATH (Class, Architecture, Topology, Homologous superfamily) fold may belong to two different surface types. In conclusion, our approach complements the sequence-based and fold–domain classifications and has the advantage of associating the shape of a protein with its biological function. As an expandable library, PSC provides a resource of spatial patterns for studying the evolution of protein structure and function.
Synthetic in vivo validation of gene network circuitry
Authors: Damle Sagar S. , Davidson Eric H.
Published: January 2012

Embryonic development is controlled by networks of interacting regulatory genes. The individual linkages of gene regulatory networks (GRNs) are customarily validated by functional
cis
-regulatory analysis, but an additional approach to validation is to rewire GRN circuitry to test experimentally predictions derived from network structure. Here we use this synthetic method to challenge specific predictions of the sea urchin embryo endomesoderm GRN. Expression vectors generated by in vitro recombination of exogenous sequences into BACs were used to cause elements of a nonskeletogenic mesoderm GRN to be deployed in skeletogenic cells and to detect their effects. The result of reengineering the regulatory circuitry in this way was to divert the developmental program of these cells from skeletogenesis to pigment cell formation, confirming a direct prediction of the GRN. In addition, the experiment revealed previously undetected cryptic repression functions.
Investigation of the factor structure of spirituality and religiosity in Iranian Shiite university students
Authors: Joshanloo Mohsen
Published: January 2012

One of the important challenges facing psychologists of religion pertains to the definition of religiosity and spirituality. One way of understanding the connection between these two concepts is to suppose that one of them is a subset of the other. Another useful and sensitive way, however, is to view spirituality and religiosity as overlapping constructs, sharing some characteristics but also retaining nonshared features. Empirical studies examining the factor structure of spirituality and religiosity are scant and almost all of them come from Western culture. These factor analytic studies generally confirm that religiosity and spirituality can best be described in terms of two distinct yet correlated factors. To date, no study has investigated the relationship between these two constructs in Islamic cultures. To redress this imbalance, confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the factor structure of religiosity and spirituality in two Iranian Shiite samples using an extensive set of scales (including Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith, Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale – Revised, Spiritual Meaning Scale, and Spiritual Transcendence Scale). Two hypothetical models were tested: a model that viewed spirituality and religiosity as correlated but separate constructs and a model that combined the indicators of religiosity and spirituality into a single construct. In keeping with the results obtained in Western cultures, results of confirmatory factor analyses, conducted in Study 1 (N = 225) and Study 2 (N = 288), revealed that a two‐factor model fitted the data better than a single‐factor model. Implications of the results are discussed, as are study limitations and directions for further research.
Advanced ceramic matrix composites for high energy x-ray generation
Authors: Khan Amir Azam , Labbe Jean Claude
Published: January 2012

High energy x-ray targets are the anodes used in high performance tubes, designed to work for long operating times and at high power. Such tubes are used in computed tomography (CT) scan machines. Usually the tubes used in CT scanners have to continuously work at high temperatures and for longer scan durations in order to get maximum information during a single scan. These anodes are composed of a refractory substrate which supports a refractory metallic coating. The present work is a review of the development of a ceramic metal composite based on aluminium nitride (AlN) and molybdenum for potential application as the substrate. This composite is surface engineered by coating with tungsten, the most popular material for high energy x-ray targets. To spray metallic coatings on the surface of ceramic matrix composites dc blown arc plasma is employed. The objective is to increase the performance and the life of an x-ray tube. Aluminium nitride-molybdenum ceramic matrix composites were produced by uniaxial hotpressing mixtures of AlN and Mo powders. These composites were characterized for their mechanical, thermal, electrical and micro-structural properties. An optimized composition was selected which contained 25 vol.% of metallic phase dispersed in the AlN matrix. These composites were produced in the actual size of an anode and coated with tungsten through dc blown arc plasma spraying. The results have shown that sintering of large size anodes is possible through uniaxial pressing, using a modified sintering cycle.
Dissection of the NUP107 nuclear pore subcomplex reveals a novel interaction with spindle assembly checkpoint protein MAD1 inCaenorhabditis elegans
Authors: Ródenas Eduardo , González-Aguilera Cristina , Ayuso Cristina , Askjaer Peter
Published: January 2012

Nuclear pore complexes consist of several subcomplexes. The NUP107 complex is important for nucleocytoplasmic transport, nuclear envelope assembly, and kinetochore function. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms and the roles of individual complex members remain elusive. We report the first description of a genetic disruption of NUP107 in a metazoan. Caenorhabditis elegans NUP107/npp-5 mutants display temperature-dependent lethality. Surprisingly, NPP-5 is dispensable for incorporation of most nucleoporins into nuclear pores and for nuclear protein import. In contrast, NPP-5 is essential for proper kinetochore localization of NUP133/NPP-15, another NUP107 complex member, whereas recruitment of NUP96/NPP-10C and ELYS/MEL-28 is NPP-5 independent. We found that kinetochore protein NUF2/HIM-10 and Aurora B/AIR-2 kinase are less abundant on mitotic chromatin upon NPP-5 depletion. npp-5 mutants are hypersensitive to anoxia, suggesting that the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) is compromised. Indeed, NPP-5 interacts genetically and physically with SAC protein MAD1/MDF-1, whose nuclear envelope accumulation requires NPP-5. Thus our results strengthen the emerging connection between nuclear pore proteins and chromosome segregation.
IMID: integrated molecular interaction database
Authors: Balaji Sentil , Mcclendon Charles , Chowdhary Rajesh , Liu Jun S. , Zhang Jinfeng
Published: January 2012

Motivation: Molecular interaction information, such as protein–protein interactions and protein–small molecule interactions, is indispensable for understanding the mechanism of biological processes and discovering treatments for diseases. Many databases have been built by manual annotation of literature to organize such information into structured form. However, most databases focus on only one type of interactions, which are often not well annotated and integrated with related functional information.

Results: In this study, we integrate molecular interaction information from literature by automatic information extraction and from manually annotated databases. We further integrate the relationships between protein/gene and other bio-entity terms including gene ontology terms, pathways, species and diseases to build an integrated molecular interaction database (IMID). Interactions can be selected by their associated probabilities. IMID allows complex and versatile queries for context-specific molecular interactions, which are not available currently in other molecular interaction databases.

Availability: The database is located at www.integrativebiology.org.

Contact:  jinfeng@stat.fsu.edu
BESC knowledgebase public portal
Authors: Syed Mustafa H. , Karpinets Tatiana V. , Parang Morey , Leuze Michael R. , Park Byung H. , Hyatt Doug , Brown Steven D. , Moulton Steve , Galloway Michael D. , Uberbacher Edward C.
Published: January 2012

The BioEnergy Science Center (BESC) is undertaking large experimental campaigns to understand the biosynthesis and biodegradation of biomass and to develop biofuel solutions. BESC is generating large volumes of diverse data, including genome sequences, omics data and assay results. The purpose of the BESC Knowledgebase is to serve as a centralized repository for experimentally generated data and to provide an integrated, interactive and user-friendly analysis framework. The Portal makes available tools for visualization, integration and analysis of data either produced by BESC or obtained from external resources.

Availability:  http://besckb.ornl.gov

Contact:  syedmh@ornl.gov
Introduction
Authors: Fulkerson Mary McClintock , Briggs Sheila
Published: January 2012

This introductory chapter begins with a brief description of the origins of the feminist theology movement, and then explains the notion of globalization from the perspective of feminist theology. The discussion then turns to global poverty and women, new challenges faced by feminist theology, and the status of feminist theology as theology.
Feminist Theology and the Jewish Tradition
Authors: Raphael Melissa
Published: January 2012

Building on the foundations of First Wave Jewish and Christian women's activism, Jewish feminist theology has made a decisive contribution to the post-Holocaust renewal of Jewish thought. Its vision of Israel as an assembly of gendered persons whose ethical relationships with the world and with one another are witness to the love and justice of God has introduced inclusive language into the liturgy, and has expanded the linguistic and imaginal range of Jewish evocations of God. In doing so, Jewish feminist theology has established the theological terms on which to affirm the full humanity of Jewish women as subjects and agents of their own Jewish experience. This chapter begins by outlining the denominational and postdenominational contexts of Jewish feminist theology and assessing its standing in the primarily Anglophone Jewish community in which it has established itself since the second half of the 1970s. It then moves on to examine the ideas and approaches of a number of Jewish feminist theology's key practitioners, and some of the challenges it is likely to face over the coming years.
What is Feminist Theology?
Authors: Briggs Sheila
Published: January 2012

This chapter attempts to renew and develop under the present conditions of globalization the position that theological insight can be gained from the materiality of human lives, in which physical processes and cultural representations are inextricably bound together. To this end, it explores two areas in which little feminist theological work is currently being done, and which are crucial to the operations of globalization and our understanding of them: science and technology, and popular culture.
Transethnic Feminist Theology of Asia: Globalization, Identities, and Solidarities
Authors: Kang Namsoon
Published: January 2012

This chapter proposes a transethnic feminist theology of Asia, where one's ethnicity can be an entry point but where one moves beyond geographic, cultural, or ethnic boundaries and interests. This transethnic perspective requires a radical ecumenical spirit which adopts a very dialectical approach to race, ethnicity, and culture, and a fundamental awareness that the local, the particular, or the ethnic has always been shaped by the global and the global by the local. This transethnic perspective ought to produce not a blind universalism but a relational and dialectical universalism that promotes “shared sensibilities” across the boundaries of class, gender, race, ethnicity, ability, or orientation without sacrificing the particular situatedness of one's geopolitical and discursive location. This transethnic positionality further establishes a firm ground for the “recognition of common commitments” and will “serve as a base for solidarity and coalition” amongst those who work for the betterment of our society.
Globalization, Women, and Religion in the Middle East
Authors: Karam Azza M.
Published: January 2012

This chapter begins with a discussion of the legacies of colonialism in the Middle East, and then turns to women and religion in the Middle East, feminisms in the Middle East, and Islamism in the Middle East. It argues that while religious discourse will always have an important role in the Middle East, it is seriously myopic to assume that the Muslim Brotherhood—and all other Islamists—are “anti-women” and “anti-democratic,” as previous nuancing holds. Even within the one organization itself, there are diverse perspectives on women's rights. There are extremely active, very well-educated, cultured, and articulate women members of the Brotherhood, for example, just as there will always be those who are uncomfortable with women's public roles. What must be appreciated is that, in tandem with regime change (and calls for it), are revolutions occurring within almost every group, party, and institution in the Middle East today.
Theological Perspective on Mutual Solidarity in the Context of Globalization: The Circle's Experience
Authors: Amoah Elizabeth
Published: January 2012

Given the complexity of the West African sub-region and the fact that there are several theologies by African women, some of whom do not identify themselves as feminists, a contribution to the exploration of feminist theology from a West African perspective is not an easy and simple task. In order to deal with such a problem, this chapter focuses on the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians (Circle). From an initial membership of about seventy women, the Circle's membership has increased to about four hundred women. A particular view of feminist theology from a West African perspective is presented. Basically, it is a theological reflection on the urgent need to seek ways of networking and working together as people of faith and hope. It is a search through our faith traditions for viable ways of working together for the common good as women from diverse religious, social, and ideological contexts in a world that has been affected by globalization. The underlying assumption here is that if we carefully search through such traditions, we realize that, depending on how we re-read and interpret information, there are still some good resources which we can tap for our search for viable networking, despite our inevitable commonalities and differences. This has been one of the goals of the Circle set in pluralistic contexts.
Woman Lost in the Global Maze: Women and Religion in East Africa Under Globalization
Authors: Mwaura Philomena Njeri
Published: January 2012

This chapter interrogates the interplay between globalization, religion, and women in the East African context, and seeks to respond to the following questions: What aspects of globalization affect the spaces where women operate? How has globalization affected gender and family relations? How can justice-seeking feminist theological discourse respond to the challenges of globalization? The chapter begins by defining East Africa; analysing the religio-cultural context that has been shaped by the indigenous African worldview, Western Christianity, colonialism, and the current globalizing forces; and examining how women and religion have been impacted by these complexities and changes. Thereafter, the experiences of women under globalization are discussed with reference to selected issues such as poverty, economy, employment, environment, health, and education; issues chosen because they are critical to women's well-being. As major victims of globalization, women struggle daily to surmount the challenges it poses. In conclusion, ways of responding to globalization from an African women's theological perspective are discussed.
Feminism, Inc.: Globalization and North American Feminist Theologies
Authors: Thandeka
Published: January 2012

Today, 58% of women executives voluntarily choose flexible work options or a variety of other nontraditional career paths that take them far afield from the traditional, male, linear ascent to corporate power and success, and 37% of these highly qualified women voluntarily leave their careers for some period of time. They leave to have babies, to take care of aging parents, or for other such gender-based roles, and one-fourth do not return to their previous jobs. The collective impact of these individual, gender-based decisions made by women has created a near panic among US corporations. The price tag for refilling a job slot is typically 150% of the former employee's salary, and for high-level executives, is almost three times the job's annual salary. Accordingly, as women executives leave the corporate world, their individual actions create a collective, leaderless social movement that looks, statistically and financially, like a contemporary women's revolt against big-time corporate American enterprise. To stop the disruptions to business interests brought about by this leaderless women's movement, global corporations have turned for advice to Women's Studies scholars and other advocates for women's gender-based interests and rights. As a result, corporate America now hires these advocates to develop gender-based company policies and procedures to keep women executives in the corporate fold. This new effort is referred to as Feminism, Inc., which is the for-profit hiring of women's advocates to facilitate a business process designed to economically exploit the women the advocates help. This chapter is organized as follows. Part I delineates the problem and shows how Women's Studies scholarship and professional advocacy for women's rights transformed into an antifeminist, market-driven, business agenda for corporate America; Part II proffers solutions.
Beyond Theology of Religions: The Epistemological and Ethical Challenges of Inter-religious Engagement
Authors: Welch Sharon D.
Published: January 2012

For the past one hundred years, the primary form of scholarly inter-religious encounter has been inter-religious dialogue. While fruitful, such an approach is also severely limited, reflecting as it does Western assumptions about the nature of religious knowledge itself, about the bearer of religious knowledge, and about the nature of the self. The problem now being examined in the postcolonial comparative study of religion is quite straightforward: the categories for defining religion were taken from Western traditions and then applied to other traditions, a process in which the other traditions were often found wanting, or, even if seen as complex and worthy of appreciation, were still misunderstood by Western scholars. This chapter considers the following question: In a postcolonial world, how do we see and value differences, those that are forced, those that are self-generated, and those that are an ambiguous combination of both coercion and creativity? The impetus to postcolonial comparative work and postcolonial critique of religious traditions has been initiated by those who have borne the costs of colonization and domination, who criticize its legacy, and who call for new forms of critique and interaction. The impetus for new forms of interaction and fundamental critique is not primarily the West's deconstruction of its own forms of domination, but is a response to the work of those, who albeit colonized, resisted colonization from its beginning, and have continuously asserted their subjectivity and agency.
The Challenges of Globalization for Muslim Women
Authors: Kassam Zayn
Published: January 2012

Globalization has brought with it many benefits “from above” with respect to opening up employment and trade opportunities on a massive scale, and has facilitated, in some cases, a generation of wealth that has trickled down to ordinary citizens, thereby enabling greater freedom of choice with respect to raising the standard of living. However, by and large, such small gains have come at a tremendous cost to those who do not constitute the elite, especially in developing countries (often termed countries at the periphery). At the same time, globalization has facilitated, “from below,” nativist resistance movements, often couched and presented in religious terms, which turn to identity politics and greater control over women's morality, comportment, and role in society, ostensibly to address broader social inequities, but which concomitantly exercise a restrictive effect on the attainment of gender justice. This chapter presents a brief discussion of Muslim hermeneutics on gender in order to understand how nativist resistance movements have been able to draw upon women's comportment and dress as symbols for the authenticity and integrity of the Islamic tradition in an attempt to withstand what they perceive as Western hegemonic practices. It then discusses Muslim feminist hermeneutics, economic privation and gender violence, and capitalist practices and women's bodies.
Globalization and Narrative
Authors: Kirk-Duggan Cheryl A.
Published: January 2012

This chapter explores from a Womanist perspective the complexities of how commingled systems, texts, and violence shape lives, stories, and experiences of the sacred across the globe, beginning by presenting a methodology and exploring concepts of narrative, theology, and globalization. It then analyzes an assortment of texts, noting points of ambiguity, especially in the intersections between story, belief, and worldview. The selected texts represent a variety of narratives or modes of expression that convey tensions between inclusion and exclusion, and which pertain to community development, yet are not often used together in feminist or Womanist analysis. These texts include: (1) The Tower of Babel (Gen 11:1–9); (2) selected chapters from the 1948 United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights (which focus on what happens to human bodies—living bio-texts or embodied narratives in and of themselves); (3) the song, “We are the World” (1985); and (4) human bio-texts, such as bodies of victims of sex trafficking, sexual assault, and rape as an act of war.
Feminist Ritual Practice
Authors: Berger Teresa
Published: January 2012

This chapter discusses women and ritual practice in the Christian tradition, women's ritual practices in the twentieth century, the development of feminist rituals, the globalization of feminist rituals, international networks of Christian women, and feminist activism in the Church. It argues that women creating and celebrating feminist rituals are here to stay. At the same time, of the roughly one billion Christian women around the globe, those who participate in feminist ritual practices are a distinct minority. A multitude of Christian women, however, do practice their faith in symbol, ritual, celebration, and song, and they do so—whether self-consciously or not, in an established group or alone—in gender-specific ways. Whatever the future of distinctly feminist rituals might hold, this gender-specific meaning-making of the rituals of faith will remain, at least until gender loses its defining force as a marker of difference in our world.
The Tractatus and The Limits of Sense
Authors: Diamond Cora
Published: January 2012

So long as we have the idea that what we want goes beyond the limit, resignation is in place. If, instead, we were to recognise that the idea that we were trying to ask something, that there was something we wanted to find out, or wanted to say, was confused, and that there was nothing that we were asking or wanting to say, there would no longer be anything to be resigned about. Thus ‘complete satisfaction’ would be possible. This article looks at Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and demonstrates the connection between Wittgenstein's ideas about marking out the limits ‘from inside’ and his ideas about philosophical method, as well as the connection between those ideas about method and the contrast between the two ways of understanding the limits of language. It also discusses Wittgenstein's conception of philosophy and what he thought it could accomplish. It is a mistake to argue that, of the various forms of philosophical solipsism, Wittgenstein is concerned only with solipsism of some particular type.
Wittgenstein on The Experience of Meaning and Secondary Use
Authors: Hark Michel ter
Published: January 2012

Ludwig Wittgenstein returned to the experience of meaning time and time again in his later writings on the philosophy of psychology. In Part II of Philosophical Investigations, experiencing the meaning of a word, or as it is also called, ‘meaning-experience’, is introduced in the article, and it is dominated by the discussion of seeing aspects. The general moral of Wittgenstein's discussions in the first part of Investigations is that meaning and understanding do not refer to any simple item of experience at the moment of speaking. This article discusses the philosophical push to hypostasising experiences. A crucial role is played by Wittgenstein's discussion of ‘meaning-blindness’. The most important similarity between experiences of meaning and the seeing of aspects is that in both cases, a secondary use of language is involved. This article explains what secondary use is by relating it to the concepts of inclination and primitive reaction.
Wittgenstein and Moore
Authors: Baldwin Thomas
Published: January 2012

Ludwig Wittgenstein first encountered G. E. Moore when he came to Cambridge in autumn 1911. Despite the fact that Moore was considerably older than Wittgenstein, they became friends and their relationship soon became one in which Wittgenstein was the teacher and Moore the pupil. But while they met regularly for philosophical discussion and Wittgenstein greatly valued Moore's presence at his lectures, he did not engage much with Moore's philosophical position, presumably because he still judged Moore's general approach to philosophy to be unprofitable. He did, however, think that Moore had had some important insights whose value he (Moore) had not been able to exploit properly, and On Certainty shows Wittgenstein separating out Moore's mistakes from his insights concerning knowledge and certainty and then developing the latter. It is Moore's proof and Moore's defence which provide the initial dialectical context for Wittgenstein's accounts of knowledge and certainty. It is worth mentioning some of the main themes of Moore's position, and then bringing in his debates with Norman Malcolm, before concentrating on Wittgenstein's discussion.
Wittgenstein and Ethics
Authors: Christensen Anne‐Marie S.
Published: January 2012

Ludwig Wittgenstein is very critical of philosophers' attempts at discussing ethics, especially all attempts at developing forms of ethical theory. In his critique of moral philosophy, Wittgenstein does not express reservations about the possibility of reflecting on ordinary ethical discussions or of elucidating ethically significant uses of words. In Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Wittgenstein's remarks on ethics are made in the very last part of the book, following sections on logic, mathematics, and natural science. Wittgenstein describes ethics in a way that is very similar to his description of logic. In addition, he thinks that ethics shows up as a condition of the world tied to the life of the subject, but does not provide us with any concrete description of the form of ethical normativity. The investigations of the Philosophical Investigations and On Certainty provide us with a context in which to place Wittgenstein's specific descriptions of ethical language use, but they do not help us elucidate the defining characteristic of ethics in Wittgenstein's view.
Inbreeding affects sexual signalling in males but not females of
Tenebrio molitor
Authors: Pölkki Mari , Krams Indrikis , Kangassalo Katariina , Rantala Markus J.
Published: January 2012

In many species of animals, individuals advertise their quality with sexual signals to obtain mates. Chemical signals such as volatile pheromones are species specific, and their primary purpose is to influence mate choice by carrying information about the phenotypic and genetic quality of the sender. The deleterious effects of consanguineous mating on individual quality are generally known, whereas the effect of inbreeding on sexual signalling is poorly understood. Here, we tested whether inbreeding reduces the attractiveness of sexual signalling in the mealworm beetle,
Tenebrio molitor
, by testing the preferences for odours of inbred and outbred (control) individuals of the opposite sex. Females were more attracted to the odours produced by outbred males than the odours produced by inbred males, suggesting that inbreeding reduces the attractiveness of male sexual signalling. However, we did not find any difference between the attractiveness of inbred and outbred female odours, which may indicate that the quality of females is either irrelevant for
T. molitor
males or quality is not revealed through female odours.
Convergence and divergence in Diana monkey vocalizations
Authors: Candiotti Agnès , Zuberbühler Klaus , Lemasson Alban
Published: January 2012

Individually distinct vocalizations are widespread among social animals, presumably caused by variation in vocal tract anatomy. A less-explored source of individual variation is due to learned movement patterns of the vocal tract, which can lead to vocal convergence or divergence in social groups. We studied patterns of acoustic similarity in a social call produced by 14 female Diana monkeys (Cercopithecus diana) in two free-ranging groups. Calls showed variability in fundamental frequency contours owing to individual identity and external context. Vocal divergence increased significantly between females during poor visibility and tended to increase in the presence of neighbours. In contrast, vocal convergence increased significantly between females during vocal interactions, because females matched the frequency contour of their own call with another female's preceding call. Our findings demonstrate that these primates have some control over the acoustic fine structure of their most important social vocalization. Vocal convergence and divergence are two opposing processes that enable callers to ensure spatial proximity and social cohesion with other group members.
Context-dependent symbioses and their potential roles in wildlife diseases
Authors: Daskin Joshua H. , Alford Ross A.
Published: January 2012

It is well known in ecology, evolution and medicine that both the nature (commensal, parasitic and mutualistic) and outcome (symbiont fitness, survival) of symbiotic interactions are often context-dependent. Less is known about the importance of context-dependence in symbioses involved in wildlife disease. We review variable symbioses, and use the amphibian disease chytridiomycosis to demonstrate how understanding context-dependence can improve the understanding and management of wildlife diseases. In chytridiomycosis, the host–pathogen interaction is context-dependent; it is strongly affected by environmental temperature. Skin bacteria can also modify the interaction; some bacteria reduce amphibians' susceptibility to chytridiomycosis. Augmentation of protective microbes is being considered as a possible management tool, but informed application of bioaugmentation requires understanding of how the interactions between host, beneficial bacteria and pathogen depend upon environmental context. The community-level response of the amphibian skin microbiota to environmental conditions may explain the relatively narrow range of environmental conditions in which past declines have occurred. Environmental context affects virulence and the protection provided by mutualists in other host–pathogen systems, including threatened bats and corals. Increased focus on context-dependence in interactions between wildlife and their symbionts is likely to be crucial to the future investigation and management of emerging diseases of wildlife.
Adaptive evolution of facial colour patterns in Neotropical primates
Authors: Santana Sharlene E. , Lynch Alfaro Jessica , Alfaro Michael E.
Published: January 2012

The rich diversity of primate faces has interested naturalists for over a century. Researchers have long proposed that social behaviours have shaped the evolution of primate facial diversity. However, the primate face constitutes a unique structure where the diverse and potentially competing functions of communication, ecology and physiology intersect, and the major determinants of facial diversity remain poorly understood. Here, we provide the first evidence for an adaptive role of facial colour patterns and pigmentation within Neotropical primates. Consistent with the hypothesis that facial patterns function in communication and species recognition, we find that species living in smaller groups and in sympatry with a higher number of congener species have evolved more complex patterns of facial colour. The evolution of facial pigmentation and hair length is linked to ecological factors, and ecogeographical rules related to UV radiation and thermoregulation are met by some facial regions. Our results demonstrate the interaction of behavioural and ecological factors in shaping one of the most outstanding facial diversities of any mammalian lineage.
Optimal foraging for specific nutrients in predatory beetles
Authors: Jensen Kim , Mayntz David , Toft Søren , Clissold Fiona J. , Hunt John , Raubenheimer David , Simpson Stephen J.
Published: January 2012

Evolutionary theory predicts that animals should forage to maximize their fitness, which in predators is traditionally assumed equivalent to maximizing energy intake rather than balancing the intake of specific nutrients. We restricted female predatory ground beetles (
Anchomenus dorsalis
) to one of a range of diets varying in lipid and protein content, and showed that total egg production peaked at a target intake of both nutrients. Other beetles given a choice to feed from two diets differing only in protein and lipid composition selectively ingested nutrient combinations at this target intake. When restricted to nutritionally imbalanced diets, beetles balanced the over- and under-ingestion of lipid and protein around a nutrient composition that maximized egg production under those constrained circumstances. Selective foraging for specific nutrients in this predator thus maximizes its reproductive performance. Our findings have implications for predator foraging behaviour and in the structuring of ecological communities.
Universal scaling rules predict evolutionary patterns of myogenesis in species with indeterminate growth
Authors: Johnston Ian A. , Kristjánsson Bjarni K. , Paxton Charles G. P. , Vieira Vera L. A. , Macqueen Daniel J. , Bell Michael A.
Published: January 2012

Intraspecific phenotypic variation is ubiquitous and often associated with resource exploitation in emerging habitats. For example, reduced body size has evolved repeatedly in Arctic charr (
Salvelinus alpinus
L.) and threespine stickleback (
Gasterosteus aculeatus
L.) across post-glacial habitats of the Northern Hemisphere. Exploiting these models, we examined how body size and myogenesis evolve with respect to the ‘optimum fibre size hypothesis’, which predicts that selection acts to minimize energetic costs associated with ionic homeostasis by optimizing muscle fibre production during development. In eight dwarf Icelandic Arctic charr populations, the ultimate production of fast-twitch muscle fibres (FN
max
) was only 39.5 and 15.5 per cent of that in large-bodied natural and aquaculture populations, respectively. Consequently, average fibre diameter (FD) scaled with a mass exponent of 0.19, paralleling the relaxation of diffusional constraints associated with mass-specific metabolic rate scaling. Similar reductions in FN
max
were observed for stickleback, including a small-bodied Alaskan population derived from a larger-bodied oceanic stock over a decadal timescale. The results suggest that in species showing indeterminate growth, body size evolution is accompanied by strong selection for fibre size optimization, theoretically allowing resources saved from ionic homeostasis to be allocated to other traits affecting fitness, including reproduction. Gene flow between small- and large-bodied populations residing in sympatry may counteract the evolution of this trait.
Cyclophilin A is required for efficient human cytomegalovirus DNA replication and reactivation
Authors: Keyes Lisa R. , Bego Mariana G. , Soland Melisa , St Jeor Stephen
Published: January 2012

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a large DNA virus belonging to the subfamilyBetaherpesvirinae. Haematopoietic cells of the myeloid lineage have been shown to harbour latent HCMV. However, following terminal differentiation of these cells, virus is reactivated, and in an immunocompromised host acute infection can occur. It is currently unknown which viral and cellular factors are involved in regulating the switch between lytic and latent infections. Cyclophilin A (CyPA) is a cellular protein that acts as a major factor in virus replication and/or virion maturation for a number of different viruses, including human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis C virus, murine cytomegalovirus, influenza A virus and vaccinia virus. This study investigated the role of CyPA during HCMV infection. CyPA expression was silenced in human foreskin fibroblast (HF) and THP-1 cells using small interfering RNA (siRNA) technology, or the cells were treated with cyclosporin A (CsA) to inhibit CyPA activity. Silencing CyPA in HF cells with siRNA resulted in an overall reduction in virus production characterized by delayed expression of immediate-early (IE) proteins, decreased viral DNA loads and reduced titres. Furthermore, silencing of CyPA in THP-1 cells pre- and post-differentiation prevented IE protein expression and virus reactivation from a non-productive state. Interestingly, it was observed that treatment of THP-1 cells with CsA prevented the cells from establishing a fully latent infection. In summary, these results demonstrate that CyPA expression is an important factor in HCMV IE protein expression and virus production in lytically infected HF cells, and is a major component in virus reactivation from infected THP-1 cells.