bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Morphological analysis in learning to read pseudowords in Hebrew
Authors: BAR-ON AMALIA , RAVID DORIT
Published: June 2011

This paper examines the role of morphology in gradeschool children's learning to read nonpointed Hebrew. It presents two experiments testing the reading of morphologically based nonpointed pseudowords. One hundred seventy-one Hebrew-speaking children and adolescents in seven age/schooling groups (beginning and end of 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, and 11th grade) and a group of adults participated in the study. Participants were administered two tasks of reading aloud nonpointed pseudowords with morphological composition: words in isolation and words in sentential context. Results pinpoint the developmental milestones on the way to efficient nonpointed word recognition in Hebrew: learning to use morphological pattern cues to fill in missing phonological information, where second grade is an important “watershed” period; and overcoming homography by learning to detect morphosyntactic cues, an ability that develops more gradually and over a longer period than pattern recognition.
Morphological sensitivity in deaf readers of Dutch
Authors: VAN HOOGMOED ANNE H. , VERHOEVEN LUDO , SCHREUDER ROBERT , KNOORS HARRY
Published: June 2011

Deaf children experience difficulties with reading comprehension. These difficulties are not completely explained by their difficulties with the reading of single short words. Whether deaf children and adults lag behind in the morphological processing of longer words is therefore examined in two experiments in which the processing of prefixes by deaf versus hearing children and deaf versus hearing adults is compared. The results show that the deaf children use morphological processing but to a lesser extent than hearing children. No differences appeared between the deaf and hearing adults. Differences between deaf children with and without a cochlear implant were examined, but no firm conclusions could be drawn. The implications of the results for the reading instruction of deaf children are discussed.
Turning Rurality into Modernity:SuzhiEducation in a Suburban Public School of Migrant Children in Xiamen
Authors: Lin Yi
Published: June 2011

Drawing upon fieldwork conducted in a public school of largely migrant children in suburban Xiamen, south-east China, this article first looks into the formation of class lines between people with different backgrounds – migrant, urban or rural – against thesuzhi jiaoyuprogramme of the school. This programme particularly targets the rural populace with a carefully and specifically selected curriculum and quantifiable techniques, in order to turn them into the self-individuated and homogenized subjects of China's modernization project. However, this article also argues that the coercive concept ofsuzhihas revealed internal contradictions that render any attempt at consensus on what plural qualities constitute capital Q Quality self-contradictory and ultimately less productive. Lastly, it suggests thatsuzhimay be better understood as an ever-ongoing project of meaning making that aims to form a body of knowledge in China's exploration of new paradigms of governance.
What can God Explain?
Authors: Hughes Gerard J.
Published: June 2011

In this paper, I shall be arguing for what I hope is a modern version of a very traditional view, which is that God can explain two very basic phenomena: the first is the existence of the universe as we know it: the second is the particular way in which the universe is organised. I shall also, though briefly, try to counter the view that the totally unwelcome features of our universe make it impossible to reconcile the universe as it is with anything like traditional theistic belief. This project, however, is quite a daunting one. So I would wish to make it clear right at the start that, while I would claim that my views are reasonable, and indeed more reasonable than belief in the denial of these views would be, I still do not hold that it is unreasonable for someone to reject each of the conclusions for which I shall argue. For plainly anyone, whether myself or any opponent, can be both reasonable and mistaken.
Christianity and the Errors of Our Time: Simone Weil on Atheism and Idolatry
Authors: von der Ruhr Mario
Published: June 2011

In his 1985 book on philosophy and atheism, the Canadian thinker Kai Nielsen, a prolific writer on the subject, wonders why the philosophy of religion is ‘so boring’, and concludes that it must be ‘because the case for atheism is so strong that it is difficult to work up much enthusiasm for the topic.’ Indeed, Nielsen even regards most of the contemporary arguments for atheism as little more than ‘mopping up operations after the Enlightenment’ which, on the whole, add little to the socio-anthropological and socio-psychological accounts of religion provided by thinkers like Feuerbach, Marx and Freud, as any ‘reasonable person informed by modernity’ will readily acknowledge. On this view, the answer to Kant's question – ‘What may we hope?’ – does not gesture towards a resurrection and personal immortality, but instead to the death of religious discourse itself:

I think, and indeed hope, that God-talk, and religious discourse more generally, is, or at least should be, dying out in the West, or more generally in a world that has felt the force of a Weberian disenchantment of the world. This sense that religious convictions are no longer a live option is something which people who think of themselves as either modernists or post-modernists very often tend to have.
Pluripotent Stem Cells and Reprogrammed Cells in Farm Animals
Authors: Nowak-Imialek Monika , Kues Wilfried , Carnwath Joseph W. , Niemann Heiner
Published: June 2011

Pluripotent cells are unique because of their ability to differentiate into the cell lineages forming the entire organism. True pluripotent stem cells with germ line contribution have been reported for mice and rats. Human pluripotent cells share numerous features of pluripotentiality, but confirmation of theirin vivocapacity for germ line contribution is impossible due to ethical and legal restrictions. Progress toward derivation of embryonic stem cells from domestic species has been made, but the derived cells were not able to produce germ line chimeras and thus are termed embryonic stem-like cells. However, domestic animals, in particular the domestic pig (Sus scrofa), are excellent large animals models, in which the clinical potential of stem cell therapies can be studied. Reprogramming technologies for somatic cells, including somatic cell nuclear transfer, cell fusion,in vitroculture in the presence of cell extracts,in vitroconversion of adult unipotent spermatogonial stem cells into germ line derived pluripotent stem cells, and transduction with reprogramming factors have been developed with the goal of obtaining pluripotent, germ line competent stem cells from domestic animals. This review summarizes the present state of the art in the derivation and maintenance of pluripotent stem cells in domestic animals.
Carbonate rocks in the Mojave Desert as an analogue for Martian carbonates
Authors: Bishop Janice L. , Schelble Rachel T. , McKay Christopher P. , Brown Adrian J. , Perry Kaysea A.
Published: June 2011

Carbonate rocks in the Mojave Desert are presented as potential analogues for the carbonates on Mars. Rocks collected from the Little Red Hill site contain iron oxide-bearing coatings that greatly suppress the spectral features due to carbonate of the underlying material and impart a spectral slope. The Mojave Desert was formerly a lush pedogenic soil environment that, over time, transformed into the current arid climate with abundant rock varnish. One niche for microbes in the current desolate environment is inside and underneath the rocks where the microbes profit from solar protection by the iron oxide rock coatings. Carbonates were long predicted to be present on Mars and have recently been detected by instruments on Phoenix and MER and using hyperspectral orbiters such as the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS) and the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES). We describe here the results of a study of carbonate rocks from the Little Red Hill site of the Mojave Desert that includes X-ray diffraction (XRD), chemistry and visible-infrared reflectance spectroscopy. Coatings on the carbonate rocks greatly reduced the strength of the carbonate bands and caused changes in the shape of some bands. We compare these data with a carbonate outcrop at Nili Fossae, Mars. If microbes once inhabited Mars, similar carbonate rocks with iron oxide coatings could have provided a UV-protected niche there as well. Thus, analysis of carbonate-bearing regions on Mars by future landers would be useful sites to search for biosignatures.
Nonrigid Illusory Motion in Depth Induced by Translational Motion of Static Images
Authors: Kim Sung-Ho , Papathomas Thomas V
Published: June 2011

A new nonrigid motion illusion is presented based on patterns of aligned nonparallel line segments undergoing apparent motion. The illusory effect can be explained by the mismatch in local orientation segments that signals local rotational motion contradictory to the global translational motion.
Determinants of spatial variation in fire return period in a semiarid African savanna
Authors: O'Connor T. G. , Mulqueeny C. M. , Goodman P. S.
Published: June 2011

Fire pattern is predicted to vary across an African savanna in accordance with spatial variation in rainfall through its effects on fuel production, vegetation type (on account of differences in fuel load and in flammability), and distribution of herbivores (because of their effects on fuel load). These predictions were examined for the 23 651-ha Mkuzi Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, based on a 37-year data set. Fire return period varied from no occurrence to a fire every 1.76 years. Approximately 75% of the reserve experienced a fire approximately every 5 years, 25% every 4.1–2.2 years and less than 1% every 2 years on average. Fire return period decreased in relation to an increase in mean annual rainfall. For terrestrial vegetation types, median fire return periods decreased with increasing herbaceous biomass, from forest that did not burn to grasslands that burnt every 2.64 years. Fire was absent from some permanent wetlands but seasonal wetlands burnt every 5.29 years. Grazer biomass above 0.5 animal units ha–1 had a limiting influence on the maximum fire frequency of fire-prone vegetation types. The primary determinant of long-term spatial fire patterns is thus fuel load as determined by mean rainfall, vegetation type, and the effects of grazing herbivores.
Abiotic and biotic influences on Bromus tectorum invasion and Artemisia tridentata recovery after fire
Authors: Condon Lea , Weisberg Peter J. , Chambers Jeanne C.
Published: June 2011

Native sagebrush ecosystems in the Great Basin (western USA) are often invaded following fire by exotic Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass), a highly flammable annual grass. Once B. tectorum is established, higher fire frequencies can lead to local extirpation of Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana (mountain big sagebrush) and have cascading effects on sagebrush ecosystems and the species that depend on them. We conducted a landscape-scale observational study to examine the distribution and cover of B. tectorum and A. tridentata 6 years after a large wildland fire. We used structural equation models to quantify the interacting influences of pre-fire tree canopy cover, perennial species cover, distance from potential seed source, and site environment on post-fire cover of B. tectorum and A. tridentata. Results confirmed a hypothesised negative effect of pre-fire tree canopy cover on post-fire cover of A. tridentata. Site- and landscape-level abiotic factors influenced pre-fire tree canopy cover, which, in turn, influenced the probability of rapid recovery to A. tridentata. However, B. tectorum cover was primarily influenced by a positive effect of incident solar radiation and a negative effect of perennial herbaceous species cover. Restoration efforts to reduce tree canopy cover should be limited to productive sites with sufficient cover of perennial herbaceous species to facilitate site recovery.
Spatially explicit forecasts of large wildland fire probability and suppression costs for California
Authors: Preisler Haiganoush K. , Westerling Anthony L. , Gebert Krista M. , Munoz-Arriola Francisco , Holmes Thomas P.
Published: June 2011

In the last decade, increases in fire activity and suppression expenditures have caused budgetary problems for federal land management agencies. Spatial forecasts of upcoming fire activity and costs have the potential to help reduce expenditures, and increase the efficiency of suppression efforts, by enabling them to focus resources where they have the greatest effect. In this paper, we present statistical models for estimating 1–6 months ahead spatially explicit forecasts of expected numbers, locations and costs of large fires on a 0.125° grid with vegetation, topography and hydroclimate data used as predictors. As an example, forecasts for California Federal and State protection responsibility are produced for historic dates and compared with recorded fire occurrence and cost data. The results seem promising in that the spatially explicit forecasts of large fire probabilities seem to match the actual occurrence of large fires, with the exception of years with widespread lightning events, which remain elusive. Forecasts of suppression expenditures did seem to differentiate between low- and high-cost fire years. Maps of forecast levels of expenditures provide managers with a spatial representation of where costly fires are most likely to occur. Additionally, the statistical models provide scientists with a tool for evaluating the skill of spatially explicit fire risk products.
Effect of repeated fires on land-cover change on peatland in southern Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, from 1973 to 2005
Authors: Hoscilo Agata , Page Susan E. , Tansey Kevin J. , Rieley John O.
Published: June 2011

Fire plays an increasingly important role in deforestation and degradation of carbon-dense tropical peatlands in South-east Asia. In this study, analysis of a time-series of satellite images for the period 1973–2005 showed that repeated, extensive fires, following drainage and selective logging, played an important role in land-cover dynamics and forest loss in the peatlands of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. A study of peatlands in the former Mega Rice Project area revealed a rising trend in the rate of deforestation and identified fire as the principal factor influencing subsequent vegetation succession. A step change in fire regime was identified, with an increase in burned area and fire frequency following peatland drainage. During the 23-year pre-Mega Rice Project period (1973–1996), peat swamp forest was the most extensive land-cover class and fires were of relatively limited extent, with very few repeated fires. During the 9-year post-Mega Rice Project period (1997–2005), there was a 72% fire-related loss in area of peat swamp forest, with most converted to non-woody vegetation, dominated by ferns or mosaics of trees and non-woody vegetation, rather than cultivated land.
Influences of moisture content, mineral content and bulk density on smouldering combustion of ponderosa pine duff mounds
Authors: Garlough Emily C. , Keyes Christopher R.
Published: June 2011

When applying prescribed fire to long-unburned but fire-adapted ecosystems, fuels managers require better decision-support models to determine appropriate conditions for achieving desired effects. Prolonged combustion in duff accumulations at the base of large conifers may lead to fine root mortality, cambial injury, enhanced susceptibility to bark beetle attack, and possibly tree death. A laboratory experiment was conducted to investigate how moisture content, mineral content, and bulk density affect smouldering combustion in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa C. Lawson) duff mound fuels of the south-eastern Klamath Mountains, California, USA. Samples were divided between upper and lower duff for a total of 100 burn tests. Moisture content was adjusted to observe the transition through the ignition and spread limit. Bulk density, mineral content and percentage consumption were recorded for each burn. The moisture content threshold for smouldering combustion was 57 and 102% respectively for upper and lower duff. Percentage consumption was inversely related to moisture content for both layers of duff, and partially dependent on mineral content for lower duff. Bulk density was a non-significant factor in either ignition or percentage combustion for the conditions examined here. Results from this study identify important attributes of duff that control the burning process in order to inform prescribed burning decisions.
Regional signatures of future fire weather over eastern Australia from global climate models
Authors: Clarke Hamish G. , Smith Peter L. , Pitman Andrew J.
Published: June 2011

Skill-selected global climate models were used to explore the effect of future climate change on regional bushfire weather in eastern Australia. Daily Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI) was calculated in four regions of differing rainfall seasonality for the 20th century, 2050 and 2100 using the A2 scenario from the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios. Projected changes in FFDI vary along a latitudinal gradient. In summer rainfall-dominated tropical north-east Australia, mean and extreme FFDI are projected to decrease or remain close to 20th century levels. In the uniform and winter rainfall regions, which occupy south-east continental Australia, FFDI is projected to increase strongly by 2100. Projections fall between these two extremes for the summer rainfall region, which lies between the uniform and summer tropical rainfall zones. Based on these changes in fire weather, the fire season is projected to start earlier in the uniform and winter rainfall regions, potentially leading to a longer overall fire season.
On the role(s) of modelling in cognitive science
Authors: Morse Anthony F. , Ziemke Tom
Published: June 2011

Although work on computational and robotic modelling of cognition is highly diverse, as an empirical method it can be roughly divided into at least two clearly different, though non-exclusive branches, motivated to evaluate the sufficiency or the necessity of theories when it comes to accounting for data and/or other observations. With the rising profile of theories of situated/embodied cognition, a third non-exclusive avenue for investigation has also gained in popularity, the investigation of agent-environment embedding or more generally, exploration. Still in its infancy, and often confused with sufficiency testing, this relatively new kind of modelling, which is theory- rather than data-driven, investigates the role of the environment in shaping the ontogenetic and/or phylogenetic development of situated agency. Each of these three approaches presents many issues that modellers must be sensitive to, both in the design of experiments, and in the conclusions that can be drawn from them. This paper highlights some of these issues, provides examples, and addresses the contribution of computational/robotic modelling to cognitive science, as well as some of its limitations.
Anglo English and Singapore English tags
Authors: Wong Jock
Published: June 2011

This study investigates a few Anglo English and Singapore English tags. The focus is on their meaning and the ways of thinking they reflect, rather than their forms and functions. The study contrasts the so-called Anglo English tag questions and the Singapore English tag is it? and tries to show that their semantic and pragmatic differences relate to differences in ways of thinking in the two cultures. For the purposes of this research, meaning is articulated in a paraphrase couched in natural semantic metalanguage (NSM), which comprises a set of empirically established semantic primes and a universal grammar.
Attention management for dynamic and adaptive scaffolding
Authors: Molenaar Inge , Roda Claudia
Published: June 2011

Many pedagogues have argued that learners should shape their own learning experience whilst tutors should facilitate this process of knowledge construction. Digital environments have been often used in an attempt to scaffold learning in these innovative learning settings. However the results obtained have been mixed both in terms of learning achievements and learners’ satisfaction. We argue that this is due to the fact that scaffolds are often implemented in a too static and generic manner, and attention-related, fine-grained aspects of timeliness and fitness are normally disregarded. We propose that dynamic and adaptive scaffolds can be provided by observing and responding-to learners’ attentional processes. We present a system that implements such attention-based scaffolding. We indicate how learners’ attentional states may be detected and how several categories of interventions with the learners may scaffold learning in a timely and appropriate manner. Finally, we report the results obtained in system tests which show an improvement in performance and motivation for students working with attention based scaffolding.
On foundations of technological support for addressing challenges facing design-based science learning
Authors: Vattam Swaroop S. , Kolodner Janet L.
Published: June 2011

Design experiences can provide valuable opportunities for learners to improve their understanding of both science content and scientific practices. However, the implementation of design-based science learning (DBSL) in classrooms presents a number of significant challenges. In this article we present two significant challenges, bridging the design-science gap and overcoming time and material constraints, and a strategy for addressing them through software design in which explanation-construction scaffolding integrates with modeling and simulation. We present two software systems (SIMCARS and SHADE) developed based on our strategy and guidelines for integrating them into DBSL practices. We present a pilot study (involving SIMCARS), the findings of which support the potential of our technology for responding to the identified challenges. A follow up study (involving SHADE) is presented which shows the affordances of our technology for improving the quality of classroom discourse, suggesting the potential of our strategy to enhance collaborative understanding and social construction of knowledge in DBSL environments.
From predictions to promises
Authors: Kissine Mikhail
Published: June 2011

This paper attempts to identify general, cross-cultural cognitive factors that trigger the default commissive interpretation of assertions about one’s future action. It is argued that the solution cannot be found at the level of the semantics of the English will, or any other future tense marker, but should be sought in the structure of rational intentions, as combined with the pragmatics of felicitous predictions and with parameters linked to the evolutionary advantage of cooperative behaviour. Some supporting evidence from language development studies is briefly presented.
Fostering general transfer with specific simulations
Authors: Son Ji Y. , Goldstone Robert L.
Published: June 2011

Science education faces the difficult task of helping students understand and appropriately generalize scientific principles across a variety of superficially dissimilar specific phenomena. Can cognitive technologies be adapted to benefit both learning specific domains and generalizable transfer? This issue is examined by teaching students complex adaptive systems with computer-based simulations. With a particular emphasis on fostering understanding that transfers to dissimilar phenomena, the studies reported here examine the influence of different descriptions and perceptual instantiations of the scientific principle of competitive specialization. Experiment 1 examines the role of intuitive descriptions to concrete ones, finding that intuitive descriptions leads to enhanced domain-specific learning but also deters transfer. Experiment 2 successfully alleviated these difficulties by combining intuitive descriptions with idealized graphical elements. Experiment 3 demonstrates that idealized graphics are more effective than concrete graphics even when unintuitive descriptions are applied to them. When graphics are concrete, learning and transfer largely depend on the particular description. However, when graphics are idealized, a wider variety of descriptions results in levels of learning and transfer similar to the best combination involving concrete graphics. Although computer-based simulations can be effective for learning that transfers, designing effective simulations requires an understanding of concreteness and idealization in both the graphical interface and its description.
Reading between the lines
Authors: Marmolejo-Ramos Fernando , Juan María Rosa Elosúa de , Gygax Pascal , Madden Carol J. , Roa Santiago Mosquera
Published: June 2011

This paper presents an overview of the activation of background knowledge during text comprehension. We first review the cognitive processes involved in the activation of inferences during text comprehension, stressing the interaction between text and reader in the construction of situation models. Second, we review evidence for embodied theories of cognition and discuss how this new framework can inform our understanding of the nature and role of background knowledge. We then review the neuropsychological data on the activation of background knowledge during text comprehension. Finally, the paper presents existing and future challenges in researching the role of background knowledge both at a conceptual and a methodological level.
Dimensions of evaluation
Authors: Bednarek Monika
Published: June 2011

In the past two decades or so, a number of researchers from various fields within linguistics have turned their attention to interpersonal phenomena, such as the linguistic expression of speaker opinion or evaluation (also called stance or appraisal), or the encoding of subjectivity in language and its diachronic development (subjectification/subjectivization). Many linguists have offered categorizations of evaluative meaning, based on authentic discourse data, but no connection has been made with cognitive approaches to appraisal processes. This paper offers a first meta-theoretical exploration of such issues. It compares dimensions of evaluation that have been identified in linguistic and cognitive studies, and also examines how psychological research into basic emotions can be related to linguistic research on affect. On the basis of these comparisons a proposal for a new classification of evaluative meanings is made. The focus of this paper is on only one aspect of the highly complex phenomenon of evaluation, namely potential evaluative dimensions, although other relevant issues will also be touched upon, including the pragmatics of evaluation (evaluation and context).
Perry, Wittgenstein’s builders, and metasemantics
Authors: Stainton Robert J.
Published: June 2011

The paper discusses in detail John Perry’s important article “Davidson’s Sentences and Wittgenstein’s Builders”. Perry argues, on the basis of Wittgenstein’s famous block/slab language, that words make direct metasemantic contact with the world. The present paper urges that, while Perry’s conclusions are correct and important, the arguments provided for them, in his 1994 article, ignore essential features of genuine words in natural language. A more empirically-oriented alternative tactic for supporting the same philosophical conclusions is then provided, and its advantages and disadvantages are weighed.
Semiotic cognition and the logic of culture
Authors: Heusden Barend van
Published: June 2011

In this paper I argue that semiotic cognition is a distinctive form of cognition, which must have evolved out of earlier forms of non-semiotic cognition. Semiotic cognition depends on the use of signs. Signs are understood in terms of a specific organization, or structure, of the cognitive process. Semiotic cognition is a unique form of cognition. Once this form of cognition was available to humans, the semiotic provided the ground structure for an evolutionary development that was no longer strictly Darwinian, but followed its own — semiotic — logic. In the increasingly abstract ways in which the ubiquitous difference is dealt with, we discover this logic of cultural evolution, which determines the course of long term cultural change.
Ecological pragmatics
Authors: Hodges Bert
Published: June 2011

This paper explores the hypothesis that first-order linguistic activities are better understood in terms of ecological, values-realizing dynamics rather than in terms of rule-governed processes. Conversing, like other perception-action skills (e.g., driving) is constrained by multiple values, heterarchically organized. This hypothesis is explored in terms of three broad approaches that contrast with models of language which view it as a cognitive system: (1) conversing as a perceptual system for exploring dialogical arrays (Hodges 2007a); (2) conversing as an action system for integrating diverse space-time scales (Van Orden 2007); and (3) conversing as a caring system for embodying the context-sensitivity and interdependency necessary to realize values (Hodges 2007b). Approaching language as a caring action-perception system leads to a reconsideration of cognitive dimensions of linguistic activities, including consciousness, pragmatics, suffering, and hope.
Symbols as constraints
Authors: Raczaszek-Leonardi Joanna
Published: June 2011

The paper draws a parallel between natural language symbols and the symbolic mode in living systems. The inextricability of symbols and the dynamics with which they are functionally related shows that much of their structuring is due to dynamics and self-organization. It is also stressed that important factors that determine the shape of language structure lie outside individual mind/brains and they draw on time-scales quite different from those of phenomenological experience. Analysis of language into units and subsystems is thus not straightforward, since they show functionality on many levels and many time-scales. Finally it is recognized that, as a specific and specialized system of inter-individual coordination, natural language is many hierarchical levels away form simpler forms of information transmission in biological systems.
Language, languaging, and the Extended Mind Hypothesis
Authors: Steffensen Sune Vork
Published: June 2011

After a brief summary of Andy Clark’s book, Supersizing the Mind (2008) I address Clark’s approach to language which I argue to be inadequate. Clark is criticized for reifying language, thus neglecting that it is an interpersonal activity, not a stable system of symbols. With a starting point in language as a social phenomenon, I suggest an ecological approach to the extended mind hypothesis, arguing against Clark’s assumption that the extended mind is necessarily brain-centered.
Slamming of ships: where are we now?
Authors: Kapsenberg G. K.
Published: June 2011

Literature published on the problem of ship slamming in waves is reviewed from the point of view of someone working at a ship research institute. Such an institute is confronted with rather practical questions regarding the acceptability of certain design parameters such as the acceptable amount of bow flare angle for use at sea. The importance of these questions is illustrated by noting that actual slamming or the presumed danger of slamming is the main reason for ship operators to reduce speed or to change heading. The review shows that such questions cannot yet be answered. The problem of the local effect of the impact is very complicated owing to the importance of air inclusions, bubbles in the water, compressibility of water and cavitation effects. Only a computational method properly including all these effects will give an accurate answer; also model tests will not be capable of doing this, if only because the methods to extrapolate the results of models to full scale are not yet developed. The problem of the global response of the ship to a wave impact is closer to being solved. A two-stage approach is proposed, consisting of a computational fluid dynamics method for individual impacts and an approximate method to be included in long-term simulations. However, to arrive at a realistic long-term distribution, one has to account for the seamanship of the captain; avoiding the worst conditions or adapting the ship speed and course has a large effect on the actual extremes. Research on this topic has hardly begun.
Neural mechanisms underlying the evolvability of behaviour
Authors: Katz Paul S.
Published: June 2011

The complexity of nervous systems alters the evolvability of behaviour. Complex nervous systems are phylogenetically constrained; nevertheless particular species-specific behaviours have repeatedly evolved, suggesting a predisposition towards those behaviours. Independently evolved behaviours in animals that share a common neural architecture are generally produced by homologous neural structures, homologous neural pathways and even in the case of some invertebrates, homologous identified neurons. Such parallel evolution has been documented in the chromatic sensitivity of visual systems, motor behaviours and complex social behaviours such as pair-bonding. The appearance of homoplasious behaviours produced by homologous neural substrates suggests that there might be features of these nervous systems that favoured the repeated evolution of particular behaviours. Neuromodulation may be one such feature because it allows anatomically defined neural circuitry to be re-purposed. The developmental, genetic and physiological mechanisms that contribute to nervous system complexity may also bias the evolution of behaviour, thereby affecting the evolvability of species-specific behaviour.
Social molecular pathways and the evolution of bee societies
Authors: Bloch Guy , Grozinger Christina M.
Published: June 2011

Bees provide an excellent model with which to study the neuronal and molecular modifications associated with the evolution of sociality because relatively closely related species differ profoundly in social behaviour, from solitary to highly social. The recent development of powerful genomic tools and resources has set the stage for studying the social behaviour of bees in molecular terms. We review ‘ground plan’ and ‘genetic toolkit’ models which hypothesize that discrete pathways or sets of genes that regulate fundamental behavioural and physiological processes in solitary species have been co-opted to regulate complex social behaviours in social species. We further develop these models and propose that these conserved pathways and genes may be incorporated into ‘social pathways’, which consist of relatively independent modules involved in social signal detection, integration and processing within the nervous and endocrine systems, and subsequent behavioural outputs. Modifications within modules or in their connections result in the evolution of novel behavioural patterns. We describe how the evolution of pheromonal regulation of social pathways may lead to the expression of behaviour under new social contexts, and review plasticity in circadian rhythms as an example for a social pathway with a modular structure.
Modifying prescribing behaviour of angiotensin receptor blockers by selectively rescinding managerial prior authorization requirements for losartan
Authors: Kahan Natan R. , Chinitz David P. , Blackman Shimon , Waitman Dan‐Andrei , Vardy Daniel A.
Published: June 2011

WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS SUBJECT

• The utility of a prior authorization (PA) requirement for curtailing the prescription of expensive drugs and improving quality of care has been well substantiated. Although studies have evaluated changes in prescribing behaviour after revocation of a PA requirement, the effectiveness of selective revocation for the first drug within a class to go off patent as an incentive to reduce prescription of the more expensive drugs has not been studied.

WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS

• Rescinding the PA requirement for a generic drug alone within a pharmacological category upon its introduction into the market is a successful managerial strategy for reduction of prescription of the more expensive drugs still on patent in that class. The observed duration of effect was approximately 1 year.

AIMS To evaluate whether rescinding the prior authorization (PA) requirement (managerial pre‐approval) for losartan in an health maintenance organization (HMO) could reduce prescribing of the more expensive angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs).

METHODS HMO physicians were notified that losartan would no longer require PA, and appropriate changes were made to the electronic prescribing computer program. The monthly distribution by drug of the number of prescriptions for ARBs dispensed for new patients was calculated before and after the policy change from data captured from electronic records. The proportion of patients (percentage and 95% confidence interval) treated with losartan who met the criteria for treatment with ARBs (hypertension or cardiac insufficiency in patients who have developed adverse effects in response to angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitors or macroproteinuria) during the first month after the PA requirement was rescinded was calculated.

RESULTS The total number of PA requests for ARBs declined by 48.6% from 961 in December 2008, the month before the policy change, to 494 the following January, rising again to 651 during January 2010. Prescription incidence changed from 121 to 255 patients treated per month (114% increase) for losartan, from 15 to 16 (6.7% increase) for candesartan, and from 89 to 71 (20.2% decrease) for valsartan. The duration of effect for decrease in ARB requests for the more expensive drugs was approximately 1 year. Only 23.3% (95% confidence interval 18.1–28.4) of patients receiving losartan met the criteria for receiving ARBs.

CONCLUSIONS Rescinding the PA requirement for this drug alone was an effective limited‐duration strategy for reduction of prescription of relatively expensive drugs.
Nestedness patterns and the dual nature of community reassembly in California streams: a multivariate permutation‐based approach
Authors: Novak Mark , Moore Jonathan W. , Leidy Robert A.
Published: June 2011

Many factors contribute to the nonrandom processes of extinctions and invasions that are changing the structure of ecological communities worldwide. These factors include the attributes of the species, their abiotic environment, and the interactions and feedbacks between them. The relative importance of these factors has been difficult to quantify. We used nested subset theory and a novel permutation‐based extension of gradient analysis to disentangle the direct and indirect pathways by which these factors affect the metacommunity structure of freshwater fishes inhabiting the streams tributary to the San Francisco Bay. Our analyses provide quantitative measures of how species and stream attributes may influence extinction vulnerability and invasion risk, highlight the need for considering the multiple interacting drivers of community change concurrently, and indicate that the ongoing disassembly and assembly of Bay Area freshwater fish communities are not fully symmetric processes. Fish communities are being taken apart and put back together in only partially analogous trajectories of extinction and invasion for which no single explanatory hypothesis is sufficient. Our study thereby contributes to the forecasting of continued community change and its effects on the functioning of freshwater ecosystems.
Pharmacokinetics and ex vivo whole blood clot formation of a new recombinant FVIII (N8) in haemophilia A dogs
Authors: KARPF D. M. , KJALKE M. , THIM L. , AGERSØ H. , MERRICKS E. P. , DEFRIESS N. , NICHOLS T. C. , EZBAN M.
Published: June 2011

Summary.  N8, a new recombinant factor VIII (rFVIII) compound developed for the treatment of haemophilia A, is produced in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells and formulated without human‐ or animal‐derived materials. The aim of the present study was to compare the pharmacokinetics (PK) and the procoagulant effect, measured by ex vivo whole blood clot formation, of N8 and a commercial rFVIII in a cross‐over study in haemophilia A dogs. N8 and Advate® (100 IU kg−1) were administered intravenously to three haemophilia A dogs. Blood was sampled between 0 and 120 h postdose and FVIII:C analysed. PK parameters maximum plasma concentration, area under the curve, half‐life (t½), clearance, mean residence time (MRT) and volume of distribution and incremental recovery were calculated. Whole blood clotting time (WBCT) and thromboelastography (TEG®) were used to determine the haemostatic potential. No adverse reactions were observed with N8 or Advate®. N8 and Advate® exhibited similar PK parameters, with t½ 7.7–11 h and MRT 11–14 h. Both rFVIII compounds corrected the prolonged WBCT (>48 min) to the range of normal dogs (8–12 min), i.e. N8 to 7.5–10.5 min and Advate® to 7.5–11.5 min. N8 and Advate® also normalized the whole blood clot formation according to TEG®. The native whole blood clotting assays (WBCT, TEG®) appeared to be more sensitive to low concentrations of FVIII than assays in citrated plasma samples. In conclusion, comparison of N8 and Advate® in haemophilia A dogs revealed similar safety, similar PK and similar effects in whole blood clot formation assays.
Evaluation of the host response to endotoxemia of FVIII and FIX deficient mice
Authors: VANCINE S. M. C. , PICOLI‐QUAINO S. K. , COSTA D. S. P. , MONTALVAO S. A. L. , OZELO M. C. , ANNICHINO‐BIZZACCHI J. M. , DE PAULA E. V.
Published: June 2011

Summary.  For several years, coagulation has been implicated in the pathogenesis of sepsis. However, results from clinical trials with natural anticoagulants, as well as studies with knock‐out mice for specific coagulation factors yielded conflicting results on the role of coagulation in the pathogenesis of sepsis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of severe The factor VIII:C (FVIII:C) and factor IX:C (FIX:C) deficiency on a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐induced murine model of sepsis. FVIII:C and FIX:C deficient mice, and their haemostatic normal littermate controls were challenged with LPS, and several parameters of the host response were evaluated: seven‐day survival experiments were performed using two dose levels of LPS; biochemical and histological markers of tissue damage, coagulation parameters, and pro‐inflammatory cytokines were evaluated at baseline and after 3 h and 6 h after an injection of LPS. Severe FVIII and FIX deficiency were compatible with normal survival in experimental sepsis. In addition, LPS‐induced tissue damage and coagulation activation were similar in FVIII or FIX deficient mice compared to their respective controls. A lower release of pro‐inflammatory cytokines was observed in FIX but not in FVIII deficient mice. Severe FIX or FVIII deficiency does not protect mice from mortality or from tissue damage in the endotoxemia model, supporting the hypothesis that FVIII and FIX are not critical to the pathogenesis of experimental sepsis.
An analysis of factors affecting the incidence of inhibitor formation in patients with congenital haemophilia in Japan
Authors: SHIRAHATA A. , FUKUTAKE K. , HIGASA S. , MIMAYA J. , OKA T. , SHIMA M. , TAKAMATSU J. , TAKI M. , TANEICHI M. , YOSHIOKA A. ,   STUDY GROUP ON FACTORS INVOLVED IN FORMATION OF INHIBITORS TO FACTOR VIII AND IX PREPARATIONS
Published: June 2011

Summary.  Studies conducted in European and North American countries have demonstrated that various factors including races affect the frequency of inhibitor formation in haemophilia patients. The present study was undertaken to analyse factors affecting the incidence of inhibitor formation in Japanese haemophilia A and B patients. Analytical data were retrospectively collected from haemophilia A and B patients born after 1988, the year when monoclonal antibody‐purified factor VIII products were first marketed in Japan. Various data were collected from 184 patients (153 cases of haemophilia A; 31 cases of haemophilia B). The sample size of haemophilia B cases was too small to reveal any significant differences between the inhibitor formation group and the inhibitor‐free group in any of background variables. For patients with haemophilia A, on the other hand, univariate analysis identified the severity of haemophilia and a positive family history of inhibitor development as risk factors for the formation of inhibitors. In analyses of the clotting factor products used, the incidence of inhibitor formation did not differ significantly between the group treated with plasma‐derived products (29.7%) and the group treated with recombinant products (25.0%). When background variables were compared, age was higher in the group treated with plasma‐derived products but none of the other background variables differed between the two groups. These results suggest that in Japanese haemophilia patients, the type of clotting factor preparations used for therapy has not influenced the incidence of inhibitor formation.
Fecundity, fertility and reproductive recovery of irradiated Queensland fruit fly Bactrocera tryoni
Authors: COLLINS SAMUEL R. , TAYLOR PHILLIP W.
Published: June 2011

Pupae of the Queensland fruit fly or Q‐fly Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) are irradiated routinely to induce reproductive sterility in adults for use in sterile insect technique programmes. Previous studies suggest that adult sexual performance and survival under nutritional and crowding stress are compromised by the current target dose of radiation for sterilization (70–75 Gy), and that improved mating propensity and survival under stress by irradiated males may be achieved by reducing the target sterilization dose without reducing the level of induced sterility. This raises the question of the amount by which the irradiation dose can be reduced before residual fertility becomes unacceptable. The present study measures the levels of residual fertility in male and female irradiated Q‐flies at different irradiation doses (20, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 Gy), and investigates the possibility that fecundity and fertility increase between 10–15 and 30–35 days post emergence. Male flies require a higher dose than females to induce sterility, with no residual fertility found in females irradiated at doses of 50 Gy or above, and no residual fertility found in males irradiated at doses of 60 Gy or above. Irradiated females are more fecund at 30–35 days post emergence than at 10–15 days. However, fertility does not increase between 10 and 15 days post emergence and 30–35 days, even at doses below 50 Gy. The present study shows that there is scope to reduce the target sterilization dose for Q‐flies below that of the current dose range (70–75 Gy) at the same time as retaining an adequate safety margin above radiation doses at which residual fertility can be expected.