bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A new genus and new species of Paguridae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura) from shallow subtidal waters in Okinawa Island, the Ryukyu Islands, Japan
Authors: KOMAI TOMOYUKI
Published: February 2015

During a survey on decapod crustacean fauna of shallow coral reefs and nearby environments in Okinawa Island, Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan, four specimens of a small but distinctive undescribed species of pagurid hermit crab, which could not be referred to any known genus, were collected. The new taxon, Eutrichopagurus shirakawai n. gen., n. sp., is described and illustrated herein. The new genus is characterized by the possession of 11 pairs of deeply quadriserial phyllobranchiate gills, the third maxilliped with well-developed crista dentata and one or two accessory teeth on the ischium, the presence of unpaired left gonopore in the female, the absence of paired first pleopods in the female, and the telson with prominent tuft of setae on the lateral margin of the posterior lobes; the male is unknown at present. It appears close to Trichopagurus de Saint Laurent, 1968, but the deeply quadriserial gills immediately distinguish Eutrichopagurus from Trichopagurus. The new genus is also compared with other genera characterized by the possession of 11 pairs of quadriserial phyllobranchiate gills and the lack of paired first pleopods in females.
Two closely related Homidia species (Entomobryidae, Collembola) revealed by morphological and molecular evidence
Authors: PAN ZHI-XIANG
Published: February 2015

Two closely related Homidia species, H. fascia Wang & Chen, 2001 and H. pseudofascia sp. nov., are recognized by both morphological and molecular approaches. Both species have minor morphological differences except distinct colour patterns on thorax. Genetic distances (18%) of COI barcodes between them greatly exceed commonly employed threshold (3%), also indicating two independent species. The use of colour pattern in taxonomy of Homidia is also discussed.
First record of the genus Anaxiphomorpha Gorochov (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) from China, with description of four new species
Authors: LIU HAO-YU , SHI FU-MING
Published: February 2015

The genus Anaxiphomorpha Gorochov, 1987 is recorded to China for the first time. We provide supplementary characters of female for generic diagnosis. Four new species from China are described and illustrated, Anaxiphomorpha serratiprotuberus sp. nov. A. brevisparamerus sp. nov. A. biserratus sp. nov. and A. longiserratus sp. nov. A key and a distribution map of all species in the world are presented.
Improving Flash Flood Forecasts: The HMT-WPC Flash Flood and Intense Rainfall Experiment
Authors: Barthold Faye E. , Workoff Thomas E. , Cosgrove Brian A. , Gourley Jonathan J. , Novak David R. , Mahoney Kelly M.
Published: February 2015

Despite advancements in numerical modeling and the increasing prevalence of convection-allowing guidance, flash flood forecasting remains a substantial challenge. Accurate flash flood forecasts depend not only on accurate quantitative precipitation forecasts (QPFs), but also on an understanding of the corresponding hydrologic response. To advance forecast skill, innovative guidance products that blend meteorology and hydrology are needed, as well as a comprehensive verification dataset to identify areas in need of improvement.

To address these challenges, in 2013 the Hydrometeorological Testbed at the Weather Prediction Center (HMT-WPC), partnering with the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) and the Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL), developed and hosted the inaugural Flash Flood and Intense Rainfall (FFaIR) Experiment. In its first two years, the experiment has focused on ways to combine meteorological guidance with available hydrologic information. One example of this is the creation of neighborhood flash flood guidance (FFG) exceedance probabilities, which combine QPF information from convection-allowing ensembles with flash flood guidance; these were found to provide valuable information about the flash flood threat across the contiguous United States.

Additionally, WPC has begun to address the challenge of flash flood verification by developing a verification database that incorporates observations from a variety of disparate sources in an attempt to build a comprehensive picture of flash flooding across the nation. While the development of this database represents an important step forward in the verification of flash flood forecasts, many of the other challenges identified during the experiment will require a long-term community effort in order to make notable advancements.
Climate Model Errors over the South Indian Ocean Thermocline Dome and Their Effect on the Basin Mode of Interannual Variability
Authors: Li Gen , Xie Shang-Ping , Du Yan
Published: February 2015

An open-ocean thermocline dome south of the equator is a striking feature of the Indian Ocean (IO) as a result of equatorial westerly winds. Over the thermocline dome, the El Niño–forced Rossby waves help sustain the IO basin (IOB) mode and offer climate predictability for the IO and surrounding countries. This study shows that a common equatorial easterly wind bias, by forcing a westward-propagating downwelling Rossby wave in the southern IO, induces too deep a thermocline dome over the southwestern IO (SWIO) in state-of-the-art climate models. Such a deep SWIO thermocline weakens the influence of subsurface variability on sea surface temperature (SST), reducing the IOB amplitude and possibly limiting the models’ skill of regional climate prediction. To the extent that the equatorial easterly wind bias originates from errors of the South Asian summer monsoon, improving the monsoon simulation can lead to substantial improvements in simulating and predicting interannual variability in the IO.
Influence of Beam Broadening on the Accuracy of Radar Polarimetric Rainfall Estimation
Authors: Gorgucci Eugenio , Baldini Luca
Published: February 2015

The quantitative estimation of rain rates using meteorological radar has been a major theme in radar meteorology and radar hydrology. The increase of interest in polarimetric radar is in part because polarization diversity can reduce the effect on radar precipitation estimates caused by raindrop size variability, which has allowed progress on radar rainfall estimation and on hydrometeorological applications. From an operational point of view, the promises regarding the improvement of radar rainfall accuracy have not yet been completely proven. The main reason behind these limits is the geometry of radar measurements combined with the variability of the spatial structure of the precipitation systems. To overcome these difficulties, a methodology has been developed to transform the estimated drop size distribution (DSD) provided by a vertically pointing micro rain radar to a profile given by a ground-based polarimetric radar. As a result, the rainfall rate at the ground is fixed at all ranges, whereas the broadening beam encompasses a large variability of DSDs. The resulting DSD profile is used to simulate the corresponding profile of radar measurements at C band. Rainfall algorithms based on polarimetric radar measurements were taken into account to estimate the rainfall into the radar beam. Finally, merit factors were used to achieve a quantitative analysis of the performance of the rainfall algorithm in comparison with the corresponding measurements at the ground obtained from a 2D video disdrometer (2DVD) that was positioned beside the micro rain radar. In this method, the behavior change of the merit factors in the range is directly attributable to the DSD variability inside the radar measurement volume, thus providing an assessment of the effects due to beam broadening.
Lightning in the North American Monsoon: An Exploratory Climatology
Authors: Holle Ronald L. , Murphy Martin J.
Published: February 2015

Temporal and spatial distributions of the North American monsoon have been studied previously with rainfall and satellite data. In the current study, the monsoon is examined with lightning data from Vaisala’s Global Lightning Dataset (GLD360). GLD360 has been operating for over three years and provides sufficient data to develop an exploratory climatology with minimal spatial variation in detection efficiency and location accuracy across the North American monsoon region. About 80% of strokes detected by GLD360 are cloud to ground. This paper focuses on seasonal, monthly, and diurnal features of lightning occurrence during the monsoon season from Mazatlán north-northwest to northern Arizona and New Mexico. The goal is to describe thunderstorm frequency with a dataset that provides uniform spatial coverage at a resolution of 2–5 km and uniform temporal coverage with individual lightning events resolved to the millisecond, compared with prior studies that used hourly point rainfall or satellite data with a resolution of several kilometers. The monthly lightning stroke density over northwestern Mexico increases between May and June, as thunderstorms begin over the high terrain east of the Gulf of California. The monthly lightning stroke density over the entire region increases dramatically to a maximum in July and August. The highest stroke densities observed in Mexico approach those observed by GLD360 in subtropical and tropical regions in Africa, Central and South America, and Southeast Asia. The diurnal cycle of lightning exhibits a maximum over the highest terrain near noon, associated with daytime solar heating, a maximum near midnight along the southern coast of the Gulf, and a gradual decay toward sunrise.
A Genome-wide Association Study of Periodontitis in a Japanese Population
Authors: Shimizu S. , Momozawa Y. , Takahashi A. , Nagasawa T. , Ashikawa K. , Terada Y. , Izumi Y. , Kobayashi H. , Tsuji M. , Kubo M. , Furuichi Y.
Published: February 2015

Periodontitis is a multifactorial disease in which bacterial, lifestyle, and genetic factors are involved. Although previous genetic association studies identified several susceptibility genes for periodontitis in European populations, there is little information for Asian populations. Here, we conducted a genome-wide association study and a replication study consisting of 2,760 Japanese periodontitis patients and 15,158 Japanese controls. Although single-nucleotide polymorphisms that surpassed a stringent genome-wide significance threshold ( P < 5 × 10−8) were not identified, we found 2 suggestive loci for periodontitis: KCNQ5 on chromosome 6q13 (rs9446777, P = 4.83 × 10−6, odds ratio = 0.82) and GPR141-NME8 at chromosome 7p14.1 (rs2392510, P = 4.17 × 10−6, odds ratio = 0.87). A stratified analysis indicated that the GPR141-NME8 locus had a strong genetic effect on the susceptibility to generalized periodontitis in Japanese individuals with a history of smoking. In conclusion, this study identified 2 suggestive loci for periodontitis in a Japanese population. This study should contribute to a further understanding of genetic factors for enhanced susceptibility to periodontitis.
A spatial analysis of the impact of West German television on protest mobilization during the East German revolution
Authors: Crabtree Charles , Darmofal David , Kern Holger L
Published: February 2015

Formal models of revolutionary collective action suggest that ‘informational cascades’ play a crucial role in overcoming collective action problems. These models highlight how information about the aggregate level of participation in collective action conveys information about others’ political preferences, and how such informational cues allow potential participants to update their beliefs about the value of participating in antiregime collective action. In authoritarian regimes, foreign mass media are often the only credible source of information about antiregime protests. However, limited robust evidence exists on whether foreign media can indeed serve as a coordination device for collective action. This article makes use of a detailed dataset on protest events during the 1989 East German revolution and exploits the fact that West German television broadcasts could be received in most but not all parts of East Germany. Across a wide range of Cox proportional hazards models and conditional on a rich set of observables, it finds that the availability of West German television did not affect the probability of protest events occurring. The evidence presented here does not support the widely accepted ‘fact’ that West German television served as a coordination device for antiregime protests during the East German revolution. More broadly, it also calls into question strong claims about the effects of communication technology on revolutionary collective action.
Etomidate anaesthesia by immersion in oriental fire-bellied toads (Bombina orientalis)
Authors: d'Ovidio D , Spadavecchia C , Angeli G , Adami C
Published: February 2015

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy and the safety of etomidate anaesthesia by immersion technique in Bombina orientalis. The study comprised two phases. The first phase was carried out to identify the etomidate concentration capable of producing anaesthetic induction, as well as surgical anaesthesia, in the toads. The second phase was aimed at testing that concentration in eight additional animals. Etomidate administered via immersion at a concentration of 37.5 mg/L produced effective anaesthesia in oriental fire-bellied toads. The average duration of surgical anaesthesia was 20 min. All the toads enrolled in the study survived the anaesthesia and long-term complications did not occur. However, undesired side-effects, namely itching, myoclonus and prolonged recovery, were noticed during the perianaesthetic period. The authors concluded that etomidate anaesthesia by immersion, at a concentration of 37.5 mg/L, is suitable in oriental fire-bellied toads and produces anaesthesia of a depth and duration that is sufficient to allow the completion of various experimental procedures, without resulting in lethal complications. However, the occurrence of undesired side-effects opens a debate on the safety of this anaesthetic technique, and imposes the need for further investigation prior to proposing the latter for routine laboratory practice.
Discourse Ecology and Knowledge Niches
Authors: Riedlinger Michelle , Rea Jaclyn
Published: February 2015

In this article, we investigate Internet discourses that capture Canadians’ perceptions of the risk of radiation from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear incident. We consider these online discourses of radiation risk in the context of recent Internet-based theories that explore ecological models of communication, and we take a discourse approach to our analysis of the online texts about Fukushima radiation risk. Our analysis reveals that, while government and scientific discourses about radiation risk are framed in terms of public concern and certainty, public discourses are framed in terms of uncertainty and gaps in public knowledge. Members of the public engaged in knowledge-seeking activities conducted their own nuclear risk assessments and disseminated the results to the interested public in street science activities. These public meaning-making activities, we argue, were generated by a desire to fill knowledge niches and attract public attention. They result in a discourse ecology characterized by epistemological rather than affective stances.
Paget-Schroetter syndrome: A review and Algorithm (WASPS-IR)
Authors: Naeem M , Soares G , Ahn S , Murphy TP
Published: February 2015

Venous compression syndromes are rare and occur due to the entrapment of vein(s) in confined anatomical spaces bounded by osseous and non-osseous structures. Here we present a review of Paget-Schroetter Syndrome, an important cause of upper extremity of deep vein thrombosis, its associated clinical and radiological findings as well as treatment options.
Producing high-strength liquor from mesophilic batch acidification of chicken manure
Authors: Abendroth Christian , Wünsche Erik , Luschnig Olaf , Bürger Christoph , Günther Thomas
Published: February 2015

This report describes the results from anaerobic batch acidification of chicken manure as a mono-substrate studied under mesophilic conditions. The manure was diluted with tap water to prevent methane formation during acidification and to improve mixing conditions by reducing fluid viscosity; no anaerobic digester sludge has been added as an inoculum. Highest acidification rates were measured at concentrations of 10 gVS L−1 and 20 gVS L−1; the pH value remained high (pH 6.9–7.9) throughout the test duration and unexpected fast methane formation was observed in every single batch. At substrate concentrations of 10 gVS L−1 there was a remarkable methane formation representing a value of 82% of the respective biochemical methane potential of chicken manure. Increasing substrate concentrations did not supress methane formation but impaired acid production. Consequently, the liquor cannot be stored over longer periods but should immediately be used in a digestion process.
In vitro and in vivo biocompatibility evaluation of a novobiocin stimulus-responsive poly(ethylene glycol)-based hydrogel designed for soft tissue regeneration
Authors: Laird Dougal , El-Baba Marie Daoud , Charpin-El Hamri Ghislaine , Eberwein Philipp , Nelson Katja , Tomakidi Pascal , Steinberg Thorsten
Published: February 2015

In vitro and in vivo biocompatibility evaluation of medical devices designed for soft tissue healing and regeneration is mandatory for new biomaterials targeted toward human application. To this end, a novel stimulus-responsive eight-arm poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based hydrogel for soft tissue regeneration was subjected to preclinical safety evaluation. While in vitro safety testing included determination of half-maximal inhibitory concentrations by cell index impedance measurements, an in vivo pilot rat study focused on detectable signs of oral mucosal inflammation. In a hydrogel with a total volume of 40 µL, the following concentrations of the constituents were released upon hydrogel dissolution in 1 mL body fluid: PEG, 19 µM; gyrase B, 152 µM; and coumermycin, 76 µM, while the dissolving agent novobiocin was effective in a range from 50 to 100 µM. Concerning the components’ biological effects, half-maximal inhibitory concentrations of 806 and 95 µM for human oral mucosal gingival fibroblasts and gingival keratinocytes were calculated for novobiocin, proving gingival keratinocytes more susceptible to substance effects. Furthermore, with respect to coumermycin concentrations, half-maximal inhibitory concentrations of 10 and 3 µM for gingival fibroblasts and gingival keratinocytes, respectively, were obtained, and thereby revealed coumermycin to be toxic in vitro. In vivo, submucosal hard palatal implantation of standard hydrogels showed no evidence of inflammation at any time point under study, which was supported by immunohistochemistry analysis. In order to realize the potential of such a promising stimulus-responsive hydrogel biomaterial concept for soft tissue wound healing and/or regenerative applications, the crosslinker coumermycin and its competitor novobiocin should be replaced by more innocuous alternative protein–ligand pairs.
Emotional Eating, Nonpurge Binge Eating, and Self-Efficacy in Healthy Perimenopausal Women
Authors: Barbee Kristen G. , Timmerman Gayle M.
Published: February 2015

Purpose: To examine the relationships among nonpurge binge eating, emotional eating, and diet-related self-efficacy in perimenopausal women, a population at risk for weight gain. Design of Study: Descriptive correlational study. Method: Secondary analysis of baseline data for a weight gain prevention intervention, Mindful Restaurant Eating, with a sample of healthy perimenopausal women ( n = 43). Findings: Controlling for age and body mass index, the binge eating severity was associated with emotional eating (partial r = .71; p ≤ .01) and was negatively associated with diet-related self-efficacy (partial r = −.49; p ≤ .05). There was a significant difference ( p < .01) in emotional eating scores between women with moderate to high binge eating severity scores and those with low binge eating severity scores. Participants with higher binge eating severity also had less diet-related self-efficacy, especially with regard to resisting relapse and reducing calorie intake. Conclusions: Perhaps perceived loss of control, a central component to binge eating, negatively affects one’s ability to consistently attain dietary goals, thus affecting self-efficacy. Interventions increasing diet-related self-efficacy may prove useful in decreasing the amount of excess calories consumed because of emotional eating and/or binge eating behavior.
Broken Heart Syndrome
Authors: Therkleson Tessa , Stronach Shona
Published: February 2015

This case describes a combination external treatment for “Broken Heart Syndrome” that includes a lavender footbath, massage using moor extract, and oxalis ointment to the abdomen applied by an Anthroposophic nurse for a specific personality type. Lavender footbaths have been used since ancient times for relaxation and calming, while moor extract has been used medicinally in Europe since the middle ages for warmth and environmental protection. Rhythmical massage using moor extract and oxalis ointment poultice to the abdomen are part of the tradition of Anthroposophic nursing when managing stress induced by emotional and physical trauma. An elderly lady with specific characteristics diagnosed as Broken Heart Syndrome received one treatment a week for 4 weeks given by an Anthroposophic nurse at an integrative medical center. Between treatments, education was given to enable self-treatment in the home. The nursing treatments, each using lavender footbaths, moor extract massage, and oxalis ointment poultice to the abdomen, proved very effect, and no negative effects were reported. External applications need to be considered by nurses caring for specific personality types with Broken Heart Syndrome.
Measuring decreased serum IgG sialylation: a novel clinical biomarker of lupus
Authors: Chen X-X , Chen Y-Q , Ye S
Published: February 2015

Introduction

The aim of this work was to develop a simple assay to distinguish between patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) by measuring the serum sialylated IgG (SAIgG).

Methods

Using a newly established SNA-based ELISA method, we compared the sialylation of immunoglobulin G (IgG) from a healthy control group ( n = 41), RA patients ( n = 30), SLE patients ( n = 45), patients with neuropsychiatric SLE (NPSLE) ( n = 30) and patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) ( n = 32).

Results

The average SAIgG level in healthy control individuals, RA patients, JIA patients, SLE patients and NPSLE patients was 0.64 ± 0.17, 0.82 ± 0.33, 0.69 ± 0.23, 0.12 ± 0.02 and 0.03 ± 0.01 mg/ml, respectively. The ratio of sialylated IgG to total IgG was significantly decreased in the SLE group (1.88 ± 0.32%) compared with the healthy population (4.64 ± 0.90%).

Conclusion

In summary, while the mean serum SAIgG level of RA and JIA patients was similar to that of the healthy population, there was a significant decrease in the serum SAIgG of both SLE groups tested, whereby the level of the NPSLE population group was the lowest.
Fractional-order nonsingular terminal sliding mode control of hydraulic manipulators using time delay estimation
Authors: Wang Yaoyao , Luo Gaosheng , Gu Linyi , Li Xiaodong
Published: February 2015

For the trajectory tracking control problem of rigid hydraulic manipulators under heavy uncertainties and nonlinearities, a novel fractional-order nonsingular terminal sliding mode (FO-NTSM) control method based on time-delay estimation (TDE) is proposed. The proposed control scheme mainly contains two parts: a TDE term and a FO-NTSM term. The TDE term is applied to approximately cancel the complex system dynamics using the intentionally time-delayed information leading to an attractive model-free nature. Meanwhile, the FO-NTSM term, based on a novel fractional-order terminal sliding surface, is designed to stabilize the tracking error to zero in finite time. Stability of the closed-loop control system is analyzed based on the Lyapunov stability theory. Finally, comparative degrees of freedom (2-DOF) practical experiments are performed and the results show that the new proposed method can ensure faster convergence rate and higher tracking precision under heavy lumped uncertainties and nonlinearities compared with its integer-order counterpart.
Characteristics of Older Adults With Serious Mental Illness Enrolled in a Publicly Funded In-Home Mental Health Treatment Program
Authors: Penkunas Michael J. , Friedman Anne , Hahn-Smith Stephen
Published: February 2015

In-home mental health services for older adults will likely become increasingly utilized as the population ages. Little is known about older adults with serious mental illness who receive in-home services through the public mental health system. This study examined the demographic and clinical characteristics of this population. A total of 148 clients were included. Mood disorders were present in 75.7% and schizophrenia spectrum disorders were present in 23.6%. A history of problematic substance use was documented in 47.3% of clients and 31.8% reported suicidal ideation prior to enrollment. A total of 25% of clients utilized psychiatric emergency services during the year prior to enrollment and 15.5% of clients were hospitalized for psychiatric treatment. Older adults who receive in-home mental health services are vulnerable and have complex treatment needs.
Religious Priming
Authors: Shariff Azim F. , Willard Aiyana K. , Andersen Teresa , Norenzayan Ara
Published: February 2015

Priming has emerged as a valuable tool within the psychological study of religion, allowing for tests of religion’s causal effect on a number of psychological outcomes, such as prosocial behavior. As the literature has grown, questions about the reliability and boundary conditions of religious priming have arisen. We use a combination of traditional effect-size analyses, p-curve analyses, and adjustments for publication bias to evaluate the robustness of four types of religious priming (Analyses 1-3), review the empirical evidence for religion’s effect specifically on prosocial behavior (Analyses 4-5), and test whether religious-priming effects generalize to individuals who report little or no religiosity (Analyses 6-7). Results across 93 studies and 11,653 participants show that religious priming has robust effects across a variety of outcome measures—prosocial measures included. Religious priming does not, however, reliably affect non-religious participants—suggesting that priming depends on the cognitive activation of culturally transmitted religious beliefs.
Consequences of late bilingualism for novel word learning: Evidence from Tamil–English bilingual speakers
Authors: Nair Vishnu KK , Biedermann Britta , Nickels Lyndsey
Published: February 2015

Aims and objectives:

Recent studies that have investigated novel word learning have demonstrated an advantage for bilinguals compared to monolinguals. The study reported here sought to explore whether a word learning advantage is revealed only for early bilinguals with comparable proficiency in both their languages, or whether such advantages are also observed in individuals with relatively late experience of, and less proficiency in, a second language.

Methodology:

We tested the acquisition of novel words in an unknown language using identification and naming tasks in three groups of 20 participants: monolingual Tamil speakers; early Tamil–English bilingual speakers; and late Tamil–English bilingual speakers.

Data and analysis:

The data was analysed using a non-parametric Kruskal–Wallis test followed by linear regressions.

Findings:

The results showed a bilingual advantage for word learning as evidenced by superior performance in both the naming and identification tasks and, critically, late bilinguals outperformed monolinguals.

Originality:

The results of the present study revealed, for the first time, a bilingual advantage in word learning even when individuals acquire their second language later in life.

Significance:

The results suggest that the positive effects of bilingualism may generalise beyond non-linguistic tasks, perhaps affecting a general language learning mechanism. Moreover, this seems to occur even in late bilingualism. This is in contrast to the reported effects on cognitive control mechanisms that show only weaker advantages for individuals who learned a second language later in life.
Subject-specific Bradley–Terry–Luce models with implicit variable selection
Authors: Casalicchio Giuseppe , Tutz Gerhard , Schauberger Gunther
Published: February 2015

The Bradley–Terry–Luce (BTL) model for paired comparison data is able to obtain a ranking of the objects that are compared pairwise by subjects. The task of each subject is to make preference decisions in favour of one of the objects. This decision is binary when subjects prefer either the first object or the second object, but can also be ordinal when subjects make their decisions on more than two preference categories. Since subject-specific covariates, which reflect characteristics of the subject, may affect the preference decision, it is essential to incorporate subject-specific covariates into the model. However, the inclusion of subject-specific covariates yields a model that contains many parameters and thus estimation becomes challenging. To overcome this problem, we propose a procedure that is able to select and estimate only relevant variables.
Working as a European, Working as an EERA member
Authors: Lawn Martin
Published: February 2015

The formation of the EERA has taken place over the last twenty years and it has accumulated practices and organizational procedures. The core principles of the Association were about inclusivity, represented through membership of national associations in the Council, and European identity, safeguarded by ECER regulations and the EERJ. The founding question of the Association, and a constant and useful heuristic device was ‘what does it mean to be a European educational research association?’ and a related question, ‘who are its members?’ The paper suggests that these questions should be used to review the work of the EERA again as they are in danger of becoming lost.
Daylighting in older people's housing: Barriers to compliance with current UK guidance
Authors: Lewis A
Published: February 2015

This work identifies barriers to compliance with current UK guidance on daylighting in the design of extra-care housing which provides older occupants with self-contained dwellings and access to communal facilities and care. Secondary analysis was made of data from a survey of 165 dwellings in 23 extra-care housing schemes in England. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 people involved in the design of extra-care housing. Findings suggest that financial constraints limit the feasibility of providing dual aspect dwellings and windows for every room. Architects' reluctance to undertake daylight factor calculations, and the need to reduce window size to prevent solar gain, meet planning requirements and minimise construction costs, could explain why some surveyed schemes did not comply with daylight factor recommendations.
Beyond “Autopsy Data”
Authors: Sterrett William , Irizarry Eric
Published: February 2015

Teacher working conditions surveys provide biennial, comprehensive data regarding school leadership. This case describes how a Title I middle school principal proactively addresses end-of-year data to address identified needs and growth areas in a collaborative manner in her middle school. The principal works in a concerted manner with an assistant principal, district liaison, and teacher leaders to make a collaborative correction in her school to foster time in collaboration, increased teacher leadership, and enhanced professional development.
“Who Has Time for This?” Negotiating Roles in Instructional Supervision and Evaluation
Authors: Willis Chris , Ingle W. Kyle
Published: February 2015

This case examines how school leaders manage the increased demands of a new state-mandated teacher evaluation process. Subject to negotiations, districts and their local teacher unions can allow for teachers to be credentialed and serve as evaluators within their own schools. The challenge is examined through both the opportunity costs of this new evaluation system and the cultural capacities of the administrators and teachers to foster trust and professionalism in a unionized educational environment.
“You don’t know half the story”: deepening the dialogue with young mothers in Australia
Authors: Brand Gabrielle , Morrison Paul , Down Barry
Published: February 2015

Pregnant and young mothers’ stories often go untold or are poorly represented within dominant health and social care discourses. Consequently, narratives of young mothers are largely absent from social and health care literature, especially in relation to how young women make sense, understand, and experience young motherhood. Drawing on 7 months of participant observation fieldwork at a community service, and 11 in-depth interviews, we discuss six metaphorical themes which capture the experiences of young mothers using a narrative approach. These include: Picking up the Pieces; Walking a Narrow and Familiar Path; Jumping over Puddles; Riding the Rapids to Motherhood; Living with Dirty Looks; and Asking for Directions. Contrary to the wider community’s deficit view and stereotypes of young mothers, what emerged from the narratives was quite a different story. Becoming a young mother meant taking a stand against stigma from the wider community; recognising motherhood as a significant and transformational turning point in their lives, one that opened doors to alternative storylines of hope, autonomy and agency, especially given a supportive context. These findings enhance our understandings by widening the lens to diverse realities that exist in young mothers’ lives and present a strong case for using a narrative approach to research and practice when working with young mothers.
Human Emotions: An Evolutionary Psychological Perspective
Authors: Al-Shawaf Laith , Conroy-Beam Daniel , Asao Kelly , Buss David M.
Published: February 2015

Evolutionary approaches to the emotions have traditionally focused on a subset of emotions that are shared with other species, characterized by distinct signals, and designed to solve a few key adaptive problems. By contrast, an evolutionary psychological approach (a) broadens the range of adaptive problems emotions have evolved to solve, (b) includes emotions that lack distinctive signals and are unique to humans, and (c) synthesizes an evolutionary approach with an information-processing perspective. On this view, emotions are superordinate mechanisms that evolved to coordinate the activity of other programs in the solution of adaptive problems. We illustrate the heuristic value of this approach by furnishing novel hypotheses for disgust and sexual arousal and highlighting unexplored areas of research.
Clinician Recommendations and Perceptions of Factors Associated With Ankle Brace Use
Authors: Denton Jason M. , Waldhelm Andrew , Hacke Jonathon D. , Gross Michael T.
Published: February 2015

Background:

Little information is available regarding the ankle braces orthopaedic sports medicine clinicians recommend or clinicians’ concerns that may influence their decisions to recommend use of an ankle brace.

Hypotheses:

(1) Clinicians most frequently recommend lace-up braces with straps. (2) Clinicians who are concerned about potential adverse side effects from ankle brace use are less likely to recommend an ankle brace to prevent ankle sprain injuries.

Study Design:

Descriptive survey study.

Level of Evidence:

Level 3.

Methods:

Surveys were sent via e-mail to 1000 randomly selected members of the Orthopaedic Section of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) and 1000 randomly selected members of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA). A total of 377 individuals responded to the survey.

Results:

Lace-up braces, specifically lace-up braces with straps, were the most frequently recommended type of ankle brace. Regression analyses indicated that the only perceived adverse side effect significantly related to frequency of ankle brace recommendation was a potential negative influence on ankle strength.

Conclusion:

Based on our sample, clinicians recommend lace-up ankle braces with straps most frequently to prevent ankle sprain injuries. Clinicians who are concerned about weakness of ankle musculature may be less likely to recommend use of an ankle brace.

Clinical Relevance:

Clinicians may effectively reduce the number of ankle sprain injuries by recommending an ankle brace use after an initial ankle sprain injury.
Free Primary Education and Implementation in Kenya
Authors: Abuya Benta A. , Admassu Kassahun , Ngware Moses , Onsomu Elijah O. , Oketch Moses
Published: February 2015

Free primary education policy has substantially increased school enrollment rates in Sub-Saharan African countries. The success and sustainability depend on teachers’ perception, motivation, and proper implementation of the policy in the classroom. Few studies focus on teachers’ experiences and challenges in the process of implementing the policy. The current study presents theoretical reviews using the “bottom-up,” “top-down,” and incremental policy frameworks. The study used a desk review of the documents from the Ministry of Education and other published materials from an Education Research Program in Kenya. Findings suggest that there is no adequate empirical study to support the views and assertions concerning teachers’ experiences and motivation toward the implementation of free universal primary education policy in Kenya. There is a need for empirical research and programs to understand teachers’ experiences and challenges in translating education policy into practices.
Confessions of Academic Ghost Authors
Authors: Shahghasemi Ehsan , Akhavan Manijeh
Published: February 2015

Academic plagiarism exists in all academic spheres, but contextual factors determine the level, intensity, and forms of it. Over the last few years, the phenomenon of “Ghost Authorship” has become widespread in Iran, and concerns have been expressed regarding this issue, not only by academicians but also by officials. In this study, 143 students participated in a two-step interview study in which they spoke about their experiences on either seeing a ghost author doing the research of someone else in exchange of money or they themselves being a ghost author. In all, 29 students said that they had done it once or so. The in-depth interviews with these 29 students showed how the plagiarism industry works in Iran, who the customers are, how they find each other, and so on.
Serotonin Promoter Polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) Predicts Biased Attention for Emotion Stimuli
Authors: Pearson Rahel , McGeary John E. , Maddox W. Todd , Beevers Christopher G.
Published: February 2015

A number of studies have found an association between attentional bias for negative stimuli and variation in the serotonin transporter promoter region polymorphism (5-HTTLPR). The current project examined whether a positive social environment mitigates this association. More specifically, we examined the relationship among attentional bias on the dot-probe task, variation in the 5-HTTLPR, and current social support among a community sample of adults ( N = 216). Consistent with prior research, the S/LG homozygotes were more likely than the other genotype groups to have a negative attention bias. However, social support moderated the association between 5-HTTLPR variation and attentional bias. The S/LG homozygote group was particularly likely to exhibit greater attentional bias toward negative stimuli at low levels of social support. However, as social support improved, negative attention bias decreased. Findings suggest that supportive environments may attenuate genetic associations with negative attention bias.
miRs-138 and -424 control palmitoylation-dependent CD95-mediated cell death by targeting acyl protein thioesterases 1 and 2 in CLL
Authors: Berg Valeska , Rusch Marion , Vartak Nachiket , Jüngst Christian , Schauss Astrid , Waldmann Herbert , Hedberg Christian , Pallasch Christian P. , Bastiaens Philippe I. H. , Hallek Michael , Wendtner Clemens-Martin , Frenzel Lukas P.
Published: February 2015

Key Points

APTs as miRNA targets provide a novel molecular mechanism for how primary CLL cells escape from CD95-mediated apoptosis. Palmitoylation as a novel posttranslational modification in CLL might also impact on survival signaling, proliferation, and migration.
PhyloWGS: Reconstructing subclonal composition and evolution from whole-genome sequencing of tumors
Authors: Deshwar Amit G , Vembu Shankar , Yung Christina K , Jang Gun Ho , Stein Lincoln , Morris Quaid
Published: February 2015

Tumors often contain multiple subpopulations of cancerous cells defined by distinct somatic mutations. We describe a new method, PhyloWGS, which can be applied to whole-genome sequencing data from one or more tumor samples to reconstruct complete genotypes of these subpopulations based on variant allele frequencies (VAFs) of point mutations and population frequencies of structural variations. We introduce a principled phylogenic correction for VAFs in loci affected by copy number alterations and we show that this correction greatly improves subclonal reconstruction compared to existing methods. PhyloWGS is free, open-source software, available at https://github.com/morrislab/phylowgs.
SIFT-based local spectrogram image descriptor: a novel feature for robust music identification
Authors: Zhang Xiu , Zhu Bilei , Li Linwei , Li Wei , Li Xiaoqiang , Wang Wei , Lu Peizhong , Zhang Wenqiang
Published: February 2015

Music identification via audio fingerprinting has been an active research field in recent years. In the real-world environment, music queries are often deformed by various interferences which typically include signal distortions and time-frequency misalignments caused by time stretching, pitch shifting, etc. Therefore, robustness plays a crucial role in music identification technique. In this paper, we propose to use scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) local descriptors computed from a spectrogram image as sub-fingerprints for music identification. Experiments show that these sub-fingerprints exhibit strong robustness against serious time stretching and pitch shifting simultaneously. In addition, a locality sensitive hashing (LSH)-based nearest sub-fingerprint retrieval method and a matching determination mechanism are applied for robust sub-fingerprint matching, which makes the identification efficient and precise. Finally, as an auxiliary function, we demonstrate that by comparing the time-frequency locations of corresponding SIFT keypoints, the factor of time stretching and pitch shifting that music queries might have experienced can be accurately estimated.
Characteristics of meteorological disasters and their impacts on the agricultural ecosystems in the northwest of China: a case study in Xinjiang
Authors: Wu Meihua , Chen Yaning , Wang Huaijun , Sun Guili
Published: February 2015

Background

In recent years, the meteorological extreme events have caused the direct economic losses and human mortality increased significantly. While there has been a paucity of information regarding trends in meteorological disasters in Xinjiang. Based on two extreme climate measurements, i.e., the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) and the agricultural disaster area, the influence of meteorological disasters on agriculture were analyzed during the period 1960-2010.

Results

(1) Temperature extremes exhibited patterns consistent with warming, with a large proportion of stations having statistically significant trends. The warming trends in the indices derived using daily minimum temperatures were greater than those obtained using maximum temperatures. Most of the precipitation indices exhibited increasing trends across the region, and the increased precipitation was due to the increase in both precipitation frequency and intensity. (2) The drought indices increased significantly in most regions of Xinjiang, and the seasonal PDSI exhibited significant correlations with the annual PDSI. For the entire geographical study area, two contrasting periods were evident in the PDSI between 1961 and 2010. Wet conditions dominated from 1987 to 2010, whereas persistent drought conditions occurred from 1960 to 1986. (3) Increased climate extremes resulted in increased agricultural disaster area. During warm summers, the droughts intensified; the corresponding snowmelt flood also became stronger. In addition, the sharply reduced effective irrigation area exacerbated the increased agricultural disaster area.

Conclusions

Climate change has affected the local agricultural oasis ecosystem and the yield and quality of crops in Xinjiang, leading to increased instability in agricultural production.
Human T cell activation induces synaptic translocation and alters expression of the serine protease inhibitor neuroserpin and its target protease
Authors: Lorenz Natalie , Loef Evert Jan , Verdon Daniel J , Chen Chun-Jen J , Mansell Claudia J , Angel Catherine E , Brooks Anna E S , Dunbar P Rod , Birch Nigel P
Published: February 2015

Contact between T cells and APCs and activation of an effective immune response trigger cellular polarization and the formation of a structured interface known as the immunological synapse. Interactions across the synapse and secretion of T cell and APC-derived factors into the perisynaptic compartment regulate synapse formation and activation of T cells. We report that the serine protease inhibitor neuroserpin, an axonally secreted protein thought to play roles in the formation of the neuronal synapse and refinement of synaptic activity, is expressed in human nai¨ve effector memory and central memory subsets of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, as well as monocytes, B cells, and NK cells. Neuroserpin partially colocalized with a TGN38/LFA-1-positive vesicle population in T cells and translocates to the immunological synapse upon activation with TCR antibodies or antigen-pulsed APCs. Activation of T cells triggered neuroserpin secretion, a rapid, 8.4-fold up-regulation of the serine protease tissue plasminogen activator, the protease target for neuroserpin, and a delayed, 6.25-fold down-regulation of neuroserpin expression. Evidence of polarization and regulated neuroserpin expression was also seen in ex vivo analyses of human lymph nodes and blood-derived T cells. Increased neuroserpin expression was seen in clusters of T cells in the paracortex of human lymph nodes, with some showing polarization to areas of cell:cell interaction. Our results support a role for neuroserpin and tissue plasminogen activator in activation-controlled proteolytic cleavage of proteins in the synaptic or perisynaptic space to modulate immune cell function.