bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Framework for traits-based assessment in ecotoxicology
Authors: Rubach Mascha N , Ashauer Roman , Buchwalter David B , De Lange HJ , Hamer Mick , Preuss Thomas G , Töpke Katrien , Maund Stephen J
Published: July 2010

A key challenge in ecotoxicology is to assess the potential risks of chemicals to the wide range of species in the environment on the basis of laboratory toxicity data derived from a limited number of species. These species are then assumed to be suitable surrogates for a wider class of related taxa. For example, Daphnia spp. are used as the indicator species for freshwater aquatic invertebrates. Extrapolation from these datasets to natural communities poses a challenge because the extent to which test species are representative of their various taxonomic groups is often largely unknown, and different taxonomic groups and chemicals are variously represented in the available datasets. Moreover, it has been recognized that physiological and ecological factors can each be powerful determinants of vulnerability to chemical stress, thus differentially influencing toxicant effects at the population and community level. Recently it was proposed that detailed study of species traits might eventually permit better understanding, and thus prediction, of the potential for adverse effects of chemicals to a wider range of organisms than those amenable for study in the laboratory. This line of inquiry stems in part from the ecology literature, in which species traits are being used for improved understanding of how communities are constructed, as well as how communities might respond to, and recover from, disturbance (see other articles in this issue). In the present work, we develop a framework for the application of traits-based assessment. The framework is based on the population vulnerability conceptual model of Van Straalen in which vulnerability is determined by traits that can be grouped into 3 major categories, i.e., external exposure, intrinsic sensitivity, and population sustainability. Within each of these major categories, we evaluate specific traits as well as how they could contribute to the assessment of the potential effects of a toxicant on an organism. We then develop an example considering bioavailability to explore how traits could be used mechanistically to estimate vulnerability. A preliminary inventory of traits for use in ecotoxicology is included; this also identifies the availability of data to quantify those traits, in addition to an indication of the strength of linkage between the trait and the affected process. Finally, we propose a way forward for the further development of traits-based approaches in ecotoxicology. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2011;7:172–186. © 2011 SETAC
Utility of tissue residues for predicting effects of metals on aquatic organisms
Authors: Adams William J , Blust Ronny , Borgmann Uwe , Brix Kevin V , DeForest David K , Green Andrew S , Meyer Joseph S , McGeer James C , Paquin Paul R , Rainbow Philip S , Wood Chris M
Published: July 2010

As part of a SETAC Pellston Workshop, we evaluated the potential use of metal tissue residues for predicting effects in aquatic organisms. This evaluation included consideration of different conceptual models and then development of several case studies on how tissue residues might be applied for metals, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of these different approaches. We further developed a new conceptual model in which metal tissue concentrations from metal-accumulating organisms (principally invertebrates) that are relatively insensitive to metal toxicity could be used as predictors of effects in metal-sensitive taxa that typically do not accumulate metals to a significant degree. Overall, we conclude that the use of tissue residue assessment for metals other than organometals has not led to the development of a generalized approach as in the case of organic substances. Species-specific and site-specific approaches have been developed for one or more metals (e.g., Ni). The use of gill tissue residues within the biotic ligand model is another successful application. Aquatic organisms contain a diverse array of homeostatic mechanisms that are both metal- and species-specific. As a result, use of whole-body measurements (and often specific organs) for metals does not lead to a defensible position regarding risk to the organism. Rather, we suggest that in the short term, with sufficient validation, species- and site-specific approaches for metals can be developed. In the longer term it may be possible to use metal-accumulating species to predict toxicity to metal-sensitive species with appropriate field validation. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2011;7:75–98. © 2010 SETAC
Traits-based approaches in bioassessment and ecological risk assessment: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
Authors: Van den Brink Paul J , Alexander Alexa C , Desrosiers Mélanie , Goedkoop Willem , Goethals Peter LM , Liess Matthias , Dyer Scott D
Published: July 2010

We discuss the application of traits-based bioassessment approaches in retrospective bioassessment as well as in prospective ecological risk assessments in regulatory frameworks. Both approaches address the interaction between species and stressors and their consequences at different levels of biological organization, but the fact that a specific species may be less abundant in a potentially impacted site compared with a reference site is, regrettably, insufficient to provide diagnostic information. Species traits may, however, overcome the problems associated with taxonomy-based bioassessment. Trait-based approaches could provide signals regarding what environmental factors may be responsible for the impairment and, thereby, provide causal insight into the interaction between species and stressors. For development of traits-based (TBA), traits should correspond to specific types of stressors or suites of stressors. In this paper, a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis of TBA in both applications was used to identify challenges and potentials. This paper is part of a series describing the output of the TERA (Traits-based ecological risk assessment: Realising the potential of ecoinformatics approaches in ecotoxicology) Workshop held between 7 and 11 September, 2009, in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. The recognized strengths were that traits are transferrable across geographies, add mechanistic and diagnostic knowledge, require no new sampling methodology, have an old tradition, and can supplement taxonomic analysis. Weaknesses include autocorrelation, redundancy, and inability to protect biodiversity directly. Automated image analysis, combined with genetic and biotechnology tools and improved data analysis to solve autocorrelation problems were identified as opportunities, whereas low availability of trait data, their transferability, their quantitative interpretation, the risk of developing nonrelevant traits, low quality of historic databases, and their standardization were listed as threats. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2011;7:198–208. © 2011 SETAC
Content‐based video retrieval: Three example systems from TRECVid
Authors: Smeaton Alan F. , Wilkins Peter , Worring Marcel , de Rooij Ork , Chua Tat‐Seng , Luan Huanbo
Published: July 2010

The growth in available online video material over the Internet is generally combined with user‐assigned tags or content description, which is the mechanism by which we then access such video. However, user‐assigned tags have limitations for retrieval and often we want access where the content of the video itself is directly matched against a user's query rather than against some manually assigned surrogate tag. Content‐based video retrieval techniques are not yet scalable enough to allow interactive searching on Internet‐scale, but the techniques are proving robust and effective for smaller collections. In this article, we show three exemplar systems which demonstrate the state of the art in interactive, content‐based retrieval of video shots, and these three are just three of the more than 20 systems developed for the 2007 iteration of the annual TRECVid benchmarking activity. The contribution of our article is to show that retrieving from video using content‐based methods is now viable, that it works, and that there are many systems which now do this, such as the three outlined herein. These systems, and others can provide effective search on hundreds of hours of video content and are samples of the kind of content‐based search functionality we can expect to see on larger video archives when issues of scale are addressed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 18, 195–201, 2008
Speeding up active relevance feedback with approximatekNN retrieval for hyperplane queries
Authors: Crucianu Michel , Estevez Daniel , Oria Vincent , Tarel Jean‐Philippe
Published: July 2010

In content‐based image retrieval, relevance feedback (RF) is a prominent method for reducing the “semantic gap” between the low‐level features describing the content and the usually higher‐level meaning of user's target. Recent RF methods are able to identify complex target classes after relatively few feedback iterations. However, because the computational complexity of such methods is linear in the size of the database, retrieval can be quite slow on very large databases. To address this scalability issue for active learning‐based RF, we put forward a method that consists in the construction of an index in the feature space associated to a kernel function and in performing approximatekNNhyperplanequeries with this feature space index. The experimental evaluation performed on two image databases show that a significant speedup can be achieved at the expense of a limited increase in the number of feedback rounds. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 18, 150–159, 2008
Does compression affect image retrieval performance?
Authors: Schaefer Gerald
Published: July 2010

Image retrieval and image compression are both fields of intensive research. As lossy image compression degrades the visual quality of images and hence changes the actual pixel values of an image, low level image retrieval descriptors which are based on statistical properties of pixel values will change, too. In this article we investigate how image compression affects the performance of low‐level colour descriptors. Several image retrieval algorithms are evaluated on a speciated image database compressed at different image quality levels. Extensive experiments reveal that while distribution‐based colour descriptors are fairly stable with respect to image compression a drop in retrieval performance can nevertheless be observed for JPEG compressed images. On the other hand, after application of JPEG2000 compression only a negligible performance drop is observed even at high compression ratios. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 18, 101–112, 2008
Effective and efficient browsing of image databases
Authors: Schaefer Gerald , Ruszala Simon
Published: July 2010

Following advances in imaging technology as well as decreasing costs of related products and devices, information is becoming more and more visually oriented. Consequently, the management and retrieval of visual information such as images and image collections is receiving enormous interest. While for image databases the query‐by‐example concept is at the moment the most commonly adopted retrieval method it is only of limited practical use. Techniques which allow human‐centred navigation and visualisation of complete image collections therefore provide an interesting alternative. In this article we introduce an effective and efficient approach for user‐centred navigation of large image databases. Image thumbnails are projected onto either a plane or a spherical surface so that images that are visually similar are located close to each other in the visualisation space. To avoid overlapping and occlusion effects images are placed on a regular grid structure while large databases are handled through a clustering technique paired with a hierarchical tree structure which allows for an intuitive real‐time browsing experience. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 18, 137–145, 2008
Efficient video retrieval using index structure
Authors: Zhang Jing
Published: July 2010

Video retrieval remains a challenging problem since most of traditional query algorithms are ineffectual and time‐consuming. In this article, we proposed a new video retrieval method, which segments the video stream by visual similarity between neighboring frames, and adopt the high‐dimensional index structure to organize segments. Furthermore, a new similarity measure is brought forward to improve the query accuracy by synthetically taking into account the visual similarity and temporal order among video segments. Based on the similarity measure, we propose a novel video clip retrieval algorithm which achieves high query efficiency by using restricted sliding window to construct candidate video clips. Experimental results show that the proposed video retrieval method is efficient and effective. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 18, 113–123, 2008
Using editing operations to improve searching by color in multimedia database systems
Authors: Brown Leonard , Gruenwald Le
Published: July 2010

Since multimedia database management systems determine similarity by comparing sets of image features, relevant images in the database can be missed if their features do not match those extracted from the query image. Many failed matches can be avoided if modified versions of the missed relevant images are also stored in the underlying database. To minimize the storage cost associated with adding extra images to the database, the modified versions can be stored as sequences of editing operations instead of as large, binary objects. This article presents a technique for processing color‐based queries in this environment that accesses the sequences of editing operations directly. It also presents a methodology that can be used to speed up the query processing just as ordered indices speed up the processing of traditional queries. In addition, this article provides a performance illustrating the technique's strengths and weaknesses when compared with the traditional approach to processing color‐based queries. The results indicate that with low similarity thresholds, the proposed technique processes similarity searches more accurately than the traditional approach while using less database storage space since the modified versions are kept as editing operation sequences. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 18, 182–194, 2008
A projection‐based image quality measure
Authors: Pang Jianxin , Zhang Rong , Lu Lu , Tang Jinhui , Liu Zhengkai
Published: July 2010

Objective image quality measure, evaluating the image quality consistently with human perception automatically, could be employed in image and video retrieval. And the measure with high efficiency and low computational complexity plays an important role in numerous image and video processing applications. On the assumption that any image's distortion could be modeled as the difference between the projection‐based values (PV) of reference image and the counterpart of distorted image, we propose a new objective quality assessment method based on signal projection for full reference model. The proposed metric is developed by simple parameters to achieve high efficiency and low computational complexity. Experimental results show that the proposed method is well consistent with the subjective quality score. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 18, 94–100, 2008
Image retrieval in multipoint queries
Authors: Vu Khanh , Cheng Hao , Hua Kien A.
Published: July 2010

Traditional content‐based image retrieval (CBIR) systems find relevant images close to an example image. This single‐point model has been shown inadequate for complex queries built on high‐level concepts. Recent CBIR systems allow users to use multiple examples to compose their queries. The multipoint model provides extended flexibility in identifying relevant sets of arbitrary shape that the previous approach is unable to formulate. However, the continuing use of conventional measures (e.g., Lp norms) to evaluate these queries undermines the advantages of the new system. From the results of recent studies, we show that two important inferences can be made. Specifically, they are the continuity of image representation and the nonhomogeneity of the feature space. These characteristics enable the precise identification of points that satisfy the constraints established in multipoint queries and for any orthogonal feature representations. Generally, the sets are convex hulls and can be described by a linear system of equations with constraints. We discuss how to solve the system and propose an indexing procedure to efficiently determine the exact sets. We evaluated the performance of the proposed technique against state‐of‐the‐art methods on large sets of images. The results indicate that the new measure captures semantic image classes very well, and the superiority of our approach over the recent techniques is evident in simulated and realistic environments. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 18, 170–181, 2008
Defining a new feature set for content‐based image analysis using histogram refinement
Authors: Park Jongan , An Youngan , Kang Gwangwon , Rasheed Waqas , Park Seungjin , Kwon Goorak
Published: July 2010

The proposed method is based on color histogram. A new set of features are proposed for content‐based image retrieval (CBIR) in this article. The selection of the features is based on histogram analysis. Standard histograms, because of their efficiency and insensitivity to small changes, are widely used for CBIR. But the main disadvantage of histograms is that many images of different appearances can have similar histograms because histograms provide coarse characterization of an image. We define an algorithm that utilizes the concept of Histogram Refinement (Pass and Zabih, IEEE Workshop on Applications of Computer Vision (1996), 96–102) and we call it color refinement method. Color refinement method splits the pixels in a given bucket into several classes just like histogram refinement method. The classes are all related to colors and are based on color coherence vectors. After the calculation of clusters using color refinement method, inherent features of each of the cluster is calculated. These inherent features include size, mean, variance, major axis length, minor axis length, and angle between x‐axis and major axis of ellipse for various clusters. These inherent features are finally used for image retrieval using Euclidean distance. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 18, 86–93, 2008
Motherhood constellation and representational change in pregnancy
Authors: Innamorati Marco , Sarracino Diego , Dazzi Nino
Published: July 2010

The main aim of this study was to explore the prevalence and development of the motherhood constellation in pregnant women. The participants of the study were 162 pregnant women who were divided into three subgroups according to their gestation period (<6 months, 6–7 months, >7 months). The women were assessed using the Breakfast Interview, a microanalytic method devised by D.N. Stern (1995, 2004a). Two judges coded the transcripts of the interviews for the presence of the motherhood constellation themes using three‐level rating scales. Results showed that the Life/Growth theme was the most frequent theme during pregnancy, and supported the hypothesis of a “peak” of the motherhood constellation themes around Month 6 to Month 7.
Mothers' facial expressions of pain and fear and infants' pain response during immunization
Authors: Horton Rachel E. , Pillai Riddell Rebecca R.
Published: July 2010

The goal of the current study was to examine the relationship between mothers' spontaneous facial expressions of pain and fear immediately preceding their infants' immunizations and infants' facial expressions of pain immediately following immunizations. Infants' observations of mothers' faces prior to immunization also were examined to explore whether these observations moderated the effect of mothers' facial expressions on infant pain. The final sample included 58 mothers and their infants. Video data were used to code maternal facial expressions, infants' observations, and infants' expressions of pain. Infants who observed their mothers' faces had mothers who expressed significantly more fear pre‐needle. Furthermore, mothers' facial expressions of mild fear pre‐needle were associated with lower levels of infants' pain expression post‐needle. A regression analysis confirmed maternal facial expressions of mild fear pre‐needle as the strongest predictor of infant pain post‐needle after controlling for infants' observations of mothers' faces. Mothers' subtle facial expressions of fear may indicate a relationship history of empathic caregiving that functions to support infants' abilities to regulate distress following painful procedures. Interventions aimed at improving caregiver sensitivity to infants' emotional cues may prove beneficial to infants in pain. Future directions in research are discussed.
Understanding the “ghosts in the nursery” of pregnant women experiencing domestic violence: Prenatal maternal representations and histories of childhood maltreatment
Authors: Malone Johanna C. , Levendosky Alytia A. , Dayton Carolyn Joy , Bogat G. Anne
Published: July 2010

Selma Fraiberg and colleagues (1975) conceptualized the “ghosts in the nursery” as experiences from a mother's past that influenced her ability to form a warm and attuned relationship with her child. Contemporary infant mental health interventions often ask the mother to reflect on her own history of attachment relationships to gain insight into as well as to strengthen her developing relationship with her child. This study investigated the association between a mother's history of childhood maltreatment (CM) and her subsequent prenatal maternal representation during the third trimester of pregnancy. Controlling for domestic violence (DV), distorted prenatal representations were associated with higher rates of self‐reported childhood physical neglect. In addition, DV moderated the relationship between representations and CM, such that women who were exposed to DV during pregnancy and had distorted prenatal representations were least likely to report childhood physical and sexual abuse. Implications are discussed in relation to infant mental health interventions which rely on a parent's ability to psychologically access and reflect on childhood histories to more sensitively parent her own child.
Sustainable groundwater management in Pakistan: challenges and opportunities
Authors: Qureshi Asad Sarwar , Gill Mushtaq A. , Sarwar Asrar
Published: July 2010

In Pakistan, accessibility to groundwater is a dividing line between poverty and welfare. Access to groundwater allows poor people to not only increase their production and incomes, but also reduce their vulnerability against external shocks. However, the present uncontrolled and unregulated use of groundwater is replete with serious consequences. Rapidly falling groundwater tables and increasing salt content in the pumped groundwater are threatening the sustainability of irrigated agriculture. This paper reviews the challenges faced by Pakistan due to unsustainable use of groundwater and identifies opportunities for improving its management. The paper suggests that there is a need for a more refined understanding of the peculiarities and socio‐ecology of groundwater before identifying management solutions. In addition to institutional reforms, supply and demand management approaches also need to be followed. For demand management, farmers should adopt improved irrigation and agronomic practices. Current land use patterns should be reviewed to replace water‐intensive crops with water‐efficient crops. For supply management, use of waste water and saline drainage effluent for agriculture should be promoted. In rain‐fed areas, more efforts should be focused on rainwater harvesting. Effective coordination between organizations responsible for the management of groundwater resources also needs to be enhanced. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Development of tidal areas: some principles and issues towards sustainability
Authors: Hyun Park Sang , Simm Jonathan , Ritzema Henk
Published: July 2010

The coastal zone comprises only 3% of the earth's surface, but contains a disproportionately high amount of its assets. Tidal areas include all those coastal areas where the tidal processes are capable of affecting man's activity or of being influenced by man. Tidal areas differ greatly depending on their location, geophysical conditions, climate, tidal range and cultural differences. Throughout the world, tidal areas have been and are being developed. These developments will continue as food production will need to be doubled in the next 25 years. To address questions related to a sustainable development of tidal areas, the International Commission of Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) established the Working Group on Sustainable Development of Tidal Areas in 2001. The working group has studied these questions and formulated principles and issues for sustainable development of tidal areas based on the relevant international conventions. The aim of this paper is to represent the official position of ICID and to support the preparation of the ICID HandbookTowards Sustainable Development of Tidal Area: Some Principles and Experiences. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
From central control to service delivery? reflections on irrigation management and expertise
Authors: Ertsen Maurits W.
Published: July 2010

The demand upon irrigated agriculture to modernize to improve productivity is increasing. This paper defines some of the key challenges the irrigation experts face in responding to this societal demand on irrigation, with a focus on water delivery. Histories of management and design in irrigation engineering still influence current perceptions of irrigation, although new ideas from research have influenced the ways irrigation management has developed in the last 30 years. Currently, modernization of irrigation is understood as transforming irrigation management to enable it to serve the demands of farmers. The position of irrigation experts changed from being the main person responsible for an entire production system to being a service‐oriented manager. Taking into account farmer demand and responses to water deliveries is still a challenge for many agencies. The paper argues that, even though farmer interventions are not always appropriate, farmer interventions are to be taken as standard in irrigation. Engineers should ensure that systems deliver what is asked for, through selecting physical components within a clearly defined operational strategy. Such a service‐oriented approach demands irrigation experts with high technical qualifications in hydraulics and hydrology. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Modernization of large‐scale irrigation systems: is it an achievable objective or a lost cause
Authors: Plusquellec Hervé
Published: July 2010

Despite the probability of a new food crisis, which was partly delayed by the explosive use of groundwater, not much attention has been given to improving performance of large‐scale irrigation systems during the last two decades. Technologies exist and training materials are available. In most cases, the causes of poor performance and the solutions to improving performance are technical, managerial and policy reforms. This paper discusses the diversity of large schemes in developing countries and their historical background, the conditions favourable to the modernization in developed and emerging countries and the constraints to modernization in developing countries. The paper identifies the models of large‐scale development which could be technically improved, those which have less potential or would mainly benefit from institutional reforms. The paper concludes with recommendations on how to remove the constraints to modernization of large schemes in developing countries. Otherwise, irrigation modernization may not take place at the pace required to meet food requirements in the future. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Water and society: New problems faced, new skills needed
Authors: Molle François
Published: July 2010

In the last two decades water has clearly moved from the purview of experts and engineers to a wider forum where stakeholders articulate different claims, values and interests around water management issues. This article takes the example of current debates on water resource development in the Mekong basin and reflects on what are the current challenges, the visions of the future that are in conflict and the skills available. It reflects on the extent to which new practices have been incorporated in water‐related decision‐making and reviews the implications in terms of skills needed for tomorrow's water management. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Debating the water professional of tomorrow
Authors: van Vuren Gerrit , Liebrand Janwillem , Vincent Linden
Published: July 2010

Today's water problems seem both more urgent and complex than those of the past, and meeting tomorrow's food, fibre and biofuel demands with less water while conserving natural environments and also adapting to the effects of climate change, calls for new modes of operation. Centralistic and technocratic approaches to solving water problems are giving way to approaches that acknowledge the inherently political character of water management, the plurality of its actors, institutions, discourses and knowledge systems, triggering a debate about what the knowledge and skill requirements are for the water professional of tomorrow, and who these professionals will be. The papers in this special journal edition suggest there is no blueprint for facing the new challenges in the water sector. Instead, the perspectives on the profession clearly reflect the opposite, namely the complexity of water management, i.e. the perspectives presented addressed many different issues, were wide of range and manifold. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Will future water professionals sink under received wisdom, or swim to a new Paradigm?
Authors: Merrey Douglas J.
Published: July 2010

This paper challenges water professionals to ask fundamental questions about public actions for water resources development and currently accepted knowledge and skills used to pursue these actions. It critically examines three common assumptions underlying the current water resources development paradigm: that “water security” is a necessary condition for economic growth and lack of it is preventing development of poor countries; that achieving water security requires massive public infrastructure development; and “stakeholder consultation” is sufficient to minimize potential social and environmental damage while maximizing equitable benefit sharing. Using examples from Africa, the paper raises questions about these assumptions and suggests there are alternative agricultural water interventions that cost less and have higher benefits. The lack of sufficient attention to alternatives to large‐scale infrastructure reflects the failure of water professionals to recognize the political nature of water development. The conclusion poses five sets of research questions and encourages students to pursue these while questioning the normal water resources development paradigm. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Water management in the Netherlands in transition
Authors: Kielen Neeltje
Published: July 2010

The Dutch have been intervening in the water environment to suit their needs and requirements from the early Middle Ages onwards. Technological development has always kept pace with these requirements. However, as a result of these requirements the functions in the occupation layer have become more and more out of balance with the natural underground layer, undermining the sustainability of the system. In the 1990s there came a turning point in water management. The near floods of 1993 and 1995, the droughts of 2003 and 2005 and the imminence of climate change made the water sector realise that the current water management system is approaching its physical, technical and economic boundaries. The current changes in water management have all the characteristics of a transition. Problems like climate change are complex, the future is highly uncertain and water management has become strongly intertwined with other social and economic domains. A robust, sustainable and climate‐proof layout of the Netherlands is not the responsibility of one actor alone; it has become the responsibility of all citizens. This has far‐reaching consequences for the role of the water expert. The water expert needs to become part of the transition arena and use his/her expertise to give direction and content to the transition. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The virtues of new water knowledge
Authors: Zwarteveen Margreet
Published: July 2010

This paper explores some of the implications of post‐positivism for water knowledge by answering the question: what is good water knowledge? I use Plato's four cardinal virtues, i.e. Fortitude, Temperance, Prudence and Justice, to answer the question. Fortitude means acknowledging that there are many different ways of making sense of water realities. Dominance of one view of reality over others may be related as much to the fact that it is the view of those in power, as to the accuracy with which it represents reality. Temperance refers to modesty about what is knowable. In water, it refers to the acceptance that there is much in water that we do not and cannot predict or know. Prudence refers to the wisdom to choose what is right (true) or wrong (false). It implies that producers of knowledge should be held accountable for the implications of their truth claims. And finally, Justice refers to the acknowledgement that the final test of water knowledge is not Truth, but a better world. The implication is that ideas, beliefs and visions about what a better world is should become an intrinsic part of water knowledge. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Decline of groundwater tables in the upper Yamuna basin: Causes and management strategies
Authors: Kumar Krishan , Gupta S. K.
Published: July 2010

Amongst the three drainage basins in Haryana (India), the upper Yamuna and upper Ghaggar basins are experiencing groundwater table declines in good quality aquifers. Rice–wheat crop rotation widely adopted in this region is blamed for this situation. A number of groundwater regime maps were prepared to assess long‐term groundwater table behaviour in these basins. The water levels during the past three decades (1974–2004) registered an annual decline varying from 30 to 60 cm. The analysis revealed that a saving of 15 cm of water in rice–wheat cropping would be able to halt the declining groundwater table. The rainfall data of Kurukshetra district for the period (1974–2004) revealed that most surface drainage surplus could be used as additional surface storage in rice fields and for groundwater recharge. Evapotranspiration calculated using the FAO CROPWAT model revealed that the evapotranspiration (ET) of the short duration crop is about 88% of the normal rice crop (transplanted on 20 June), although its duration from transplanting to maturity is almost half of the normal rice crop. Similarly, the ET of the crop transplanted one month in advance of the normal rice crop is 25–30% more. It is believed that these two aberrations aggravated the groundwater table situation more than the rice–wheat cropping itself. The review through a desk study identified a number of management strategies that could help to save 15 cm or even more water in the rice–wheat system. It is concluded that it should be possible to sustain groundwater irrigation even with rice–wheat cropping (without aberrations) at the current level in these parts of the basins. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Effects of sulpiride on mRNA levels of steroid 5α‐reductase isozymes in prostate of adult rats
Authors: Sánchez Pilar , Torres Jesús M. , Vílchez Pablo , del Moral Raimundo G. , Ortega Esperanza
Published: July 2010

Prolactin (PRL) is implicated in prostate growth and in the development and regulation of benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) and prostate cancer (PCa). PRL may exert its effects on prostate in synergism with androgens. The most active androgen in the prostate is the 5α‐dihydrotestosterone (DHT) obtained from testosterone by the 5α‐reductase (5α‐R) enzyme, which is expressed in the prostate as two isozymes, 5α‐R1 and 5α‐R2. In this study, sulpiride, a prolactin‐secretion inductor, was administered to male rats. mRNA levels of 5α‐R1 and 5α‐R2 were measured in prostate of controls and sulpiride‐treated rats, using one‐step quantitative RT‐PCR coupled with laser‐induced fluorescence capillary electrophoresis (LIF‐CE). Results demonstrated that sulpiride‐induced hyperprolactinemia is associated with an increase in mRNA levels of both 5α‐R1 and 5α‐R2 in prostate of adult rats. Although a direct effect of sulpiride on prostate gland cannot be ruled out, hyperprolactinemia may be a factor to be considered in aging males, in whom prostatic diseases such as BPH and PCa are more frequent. © 2007 IUBMB IUBMB Life, 60(1): 68–72, 2008
First evidence for an LDL‐ and HDL‐associated nitratase activity that denitrates albumin‐bound nitrotyrosine—Physiological consequences
Authors: Léger Claude L. , Torres‐Rasgado Enrique , Fouret Gilles , Carbonneau Marie‐Annette
Published: July 2010

In the systemic circulation, LDL occurs in the form of a weakly nitrated LDL‐albumin complex (LAC). The question here is whether LAC (or HDL) is able to denitrate the albumin‐bound 3‐NO2‐tyrosine (3NT). Nitrated albumin was incubated in the presence of lipoprotein fraction (LPF) to be tested, with or without Ca2+. After precipitation and centrifugation, supernatants (SNs) and protein pellets (PP) were collected. HCl proteolysis was carried out with deuterated 3NT as an internal standard, and amino acids were derivatized for GC‐MS analysis, whereas SNs were used for NO2−/NO3−‐fluorimetric assays. A loss of 3NT, higher with albumin‐low LDL than with albumin‐rich LDL or HDL, was found in PP only in the presence of Ca2+. γ‐Tocopherol loading of LPF inhibited 3NT loss. 3NT loss was found for the first time to be stoichiometrically equivalent to NO3−, proving that the 3NT loss must be ascribed to a 3NT‐denitrating nitratase activity. 3NT loss and NO3− production that clearly cannot be attributed to PON‐1 were impaired by D‐penicillamine and phenylacetate, inhibitor, and substrate of PON‐1, respectively, leading to speculate on the active site. Finally, nitratase activity and albumin contribute to beneficially convert peroxynitrite (ONOO−) into nonbioactive NO3−. But, in inflammatory conditions, xanthine oxidoreductase is expressed leading to detrimentally reduce O2 and NO3− into O2•− and NO• that may interact, reconstituting the ONOO− pool. The real consequence of nitratase activity and the physiological significance of nitration/denitration processes remain to be explored. © 2007 IUBMB IUBMB Life, 60(1): 73–78, 2008
Mechanism of light‐induced translocation of arrestin and transducin in photoreceptors: Interaction‐restricted diffusion
Authors: Slepak Vladlen Z. , Hurley James B.
Published: July 2010

Many signaling proteins change their location within cells in response to external stimuli. In photoreceptors, this phenomenon is remarkably robust. The G protein of rod photoreceptors and rod transducin concentrates in the outer segments (OS) of these neurons in darkness. Within ∼30 minutes after illumination, rod transducin redistributes throughout all of the outer and inner compartments of the cell. Visual arrestin concurrently relocalises from the inner compartments to become sequestered primarily within the OS. In the past several years, the question of whether these proteins are actively moved by molecular motors or whether they are redistributed by simple diffusion has been extensively debated. This review focuses on the most essential works in the area and concludes that the basic principle driving this protein movement is diffusion. The directionality and light dependence of this movement is achieved by the interactions of arrestin and transducin with their spatially restricted binding partners. © 2007 IUBMB IUBMB Life, 60(1): 2–9, 2008
Chaperones as integrators of cellular networks: Changes of cellular integrity in stress and diseases
Authors: Palotai Robin , Szalay Máté S. , Csermely Péter
Published: July 2010

The complex integrity of the cells and its sudden, but often predictable changes can be described and understood by the topology and dynamism of cellular networks. All these networks undergo both local and global rearrangements during stress and development of diseases. Here, we illustrate this by showing the stress‐induced structural rearrangement of the yeast protein–protein interaction network (interactome). In an unstressed state, the yeast interactome is highly compact, and the centrally organized modules have a large overlap. During stress, several original modules became more separated, and a number of novel modules also appear. A few basic functions such as theproteasome preserve their central position; however, several functions with high energy demand, such the cell‐cycle regulation loose their original centrality during stress. A number of key stress‐dependent protein complexes, such as the disaggregation‐specific chaperone, Hsp104 gain centrality in the stressed yeast interactome. Molecular chaperones, heat shock, or stress proteins became established as key elements in our molecular understanding of the cellular stress response. Chaperones form complex interaction networks (the chaperome) with each other and their partners. Here, we show that the human chaperome recovers the segregation of protein synthesis‐coupled and stress‐related chaperones observed in yeast recently. Examination of yeast and human interactomes shows that chaperones 1) are intermodular integrators of protein–protein interaction networks, which 2) often bridge hubs and 3) are favorite candidates for extensive phosphorylation. Moreover, chaperones 4) become more central in the organization of the isolated modules of the stressed yeast protein–protein interaction network, which highlights their importance in the decoupling and recoupling of network modules during and after stress. Chaperone‐mediated evolvability of cellular networks may play a key role in cellular adaptation during stress and various polygenic and chronic diseases, such as cancer, diabetes or neurodegeneration. © 2007 IUBMB IUBMB Life, 60(1): 10–18, 2008
Flavohemoglobin: Structure and reactivity
Authors: Bonamore Alessandra , Boffi Alberto
Published: July 2010

Flavohemoglobins (flavoHbs) are made of a globin domain fused with a ferredoxin reductaselike FAD‐ and NAD‐binding modules. These proteins are widely represented among bacteria and yeasts and represent a most challenging research subject in view of their high reactivity both as reductases and as oxidases. The functional annotations of flavoHbs are still controversial, and different physiological roles that are linked to cell responses to oxidative and/or nitrosative stress have been proposed. The flavoHb from Escherichia coli (HMP) has been the object of a large number of investigations to unveil its physiological role in the framework of bacterial resistance to nitrosative stress. HMP expression has been demonstrated to respond to the presence of NO in the culture medium, and an explicit mechanism has been proposed that involves NO scavenging and its reduction to N2O under anaerobic conditions. In contrast to (or together with) the anaerobic NO‐reductase activity, HMP has also been shown to be able to catalyze the oxidation of NO to NO3− (NO‐dioxygenase activity) both in vivo and in vitro in the presence of O2 and NADH. HMP has also been shown to be capable of catalyzing the reduction of several alkylhydroperoxide substrates into their corresponding alcohols using NADH as an electron donor. The alkylhydroperoxide reductase activity taken together with the unique lipid‐binding properties of HMP suggests that this flavoHb may be involved in the repair of the lipid membrane oxidative damage generated during oxidative/nitrosative stress. © 2007 IUBMB IUBMB Life, 60(1): 19–28, 2008
Ifosfamide metabolite chloroacetaldehyde inhibits cell proliferation and glucose metabolism without decreasing cellular ATP content in human breast cancer cells MCF‐7
Authors: Knouzy Burhan , Dubourg Laurence , Baverel Gabriel , Michoudet Christian
Published: July 2010

Chloroacetaldehyde (CAA), a product of hepatic metabolism of the widely used anticancer drug ifosfamide (IFO), has been reported to decrease cancer cell proliferation. The basis of this effect is not completely known but has been attributed to a drop of cellular ATP content. Given the importance of glucose metabolism and of the ‘Warburg effect’ in cancer cells, we examined in the present study the ability of CAA to inhibit cancer cell proliferation by altering the glycolytic pathway. Cell proliferation, ATP content, glucose transport and metabolism as well as the activities of the main enzymes of glycolysis were determined in human breast cancer cells MCF‐7 in the presence of various CAA concentrations (5–50 μm). Our results show that low CAA concentrations inhibited cell proliferation in a concentration‐dependent manner. This inhibition was explained by a decrease in glucose utilization. Cellular ATP content was not reduced but even increased with 25 μmCAA. The inhibition of glucose metabolism was mainly explained by the decrease in glucose transport and hexokinase activity. The activity of glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase, but not that of phosphofructokinase, was also inhibited. Glycolysis inhibition by CAA was effective in decreasing the proliferation of MCF‐7 cells. Interestingly, this decrease was not due to ATP depletion; rather, it was linked to a drop of biosynthetic precursors from glycolytic intermediates. This CAA‐induced inhibition of cell proliferation suggests that it might play a role in the antitumor activity of IFO. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Complete enumeration of pure‐level and mixed‐level orthogonal arrays
Authors: Schoen Eric D. , Eendebak Pieter T. , Nguyen Man V. M.
Published: July 2010

We specify an algorithm to enumerate a minimum complete set of combinatorially non‐isomorphic orthogonal arrays of given strengtht, run‐sizeN, and level‐numbers of the factors. The algorithm is the first one handling general mixed‐level and pure‐level cases. Using an implementation in C, we generate most non‐trivial series fort=2,N≤28,t=3,N≤64, andt=4,N≤168. The exceptions define limiting run‐sizes for which the algorithm returns complete sets in a reasonable amount of time. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 18: 123–140, 2010
Cognitive and psychodynamic mechanisms of change in treated and untreated depression
Authors: Coleman Daniel , Cole Diane , Wuest Leslie
Published: July 2010

Two patient‐level mechanisms of change, defenses, and cognition were tested over 3 time points in 65 depressed adults, approximately half receiving treatment. Early changes in automatic thoughts and immature defenses were associated with symptom change from time‐one to time‐three. The directionality of early automatic thought change predicting symptom change was partially supported, but immature defense change occurs simultaneously with, or after, symptom change. Given the convergent evidence of cognitive change as a mediator of depression reduction, all depression therapies should consider how they address depressive cognition. To build a more complete understanding of how to ameliorate depression, future studies should continue to include constructs from multiple theories and have measures of therapy process in addition to patient level mechanisms. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 66: 215–228, 2010.