bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Corrupção, instabilidade política e o efeito da capacidade de produção e refino de petróleo no bem-estar social: uma análise cross-country
Authors: Garcia Wilnalia Souza , Oliveira Edvan Soares de
Published: October 2024

O estudo teve como objetivo verificar se a corrupção afeta a maneira como a capacidade de produção e refino de petróleo interferem no bem-estar social. Ainda foi avaliado como o efeito da corrupção sobre tal relação pode se tornar maior diante da instabilidade política. Foram estimados modelos de regressão múltipla por estimador de MQO, controlados por efeito fixo. Os resultados sugerem que a capacidade de produção e de refino de petróleo afeta menos o IDH quanto maior a percepção de corrupção. Isso sugere que os recursos gerados por estas capacidades podem estar sendo desviados para fins que não contribuem para a promoção de investimentos em áreas essenciais. Além disso, a redução de efeito causada pela corrupção é ainda mais evidente quando se trata de um país de alta instabilidade política. As informações permitem orientar, os governos quanto os esforços no combate à corrupção e melhoria do ambiente político, antes de direcionar atenções à arrecadação, uma vez que, a ausência desse esforço pode resultar na ineficácia da conversão da arrecadação em bem-estar social.
IMAGENS DA VIOLÊNCIA PRESENTES EM MINEIRINHO, DE CLARICE LISPECTOR
Authors: Rodrigues Walace , Sousa Abrão de , Vale Marcia Sepúlvida do , Leal Maria
Published: October 2024

Este artigo busca discutir as interfaces da violência presentes no texto “Mineirinho”, de Clarice Lispector. Na discussão, destaca-se a importância da literatura como um direito humano essencial na vida do indivíduo. A literatura humaniza e enriquece a personalidade e o grupo, porque favorece o exercício da reflexão, a aquisição do saber, a boa disposição para com o próximo, o afinamento das emoções, a capacidade de penetrar nos problemas da vida, o senso da beleza, a percepção da complexidade do mundo e dos seres, o cultivo do humor. Nesse sentido, Clarice Lispector é clara na ponderação sobre o sofrimento de Mineirinho, que morreu de forma brutal com treze tiros. A autora, que é a personagem da crônica de mesmo nome, coloca-se no lugar dele, em forma de discurso, ressaltando que a falta de cuidado do homem com o seu semelhante causa a morte da coletividade. Não evitar que um indivíduo morra, por falta de apoio social, é contribuir para uma sociedade de injustiça, como ocorreu com o personagem Mineirinho, que não teve acesso a bens sociais, e provavelmente por essa razão se envolveu no mundo da criminalidade. O trabalho envolve, inicialmente, conhecer o personagem Mireirinho, através de pesquisa bibliográfica, seguido de reflexões acerca do etnocentrismo, do papel social da literatura e das desigualdades sociais expostas na obra. Como aporte teórico, embasamo-nos nos estudos de Almeida, (2013), Freire (1989), Oliveira (2018), Candido (2017) e Spivak (2010).
Pengaruh Kualitas, Kuantitas, Kredibilitas pada Kegunaan Informasi dan Minat Beli Follower Tiktok
Authors: Pranata Josephine Dhienny , Hadiwidjaya Laura Olivia , Jokom Regina
Published: October 2024

TikTok, sebagai platform sosial media yang sedang populer, menjadi fokus penelitian ini. Kajian difokuskan pada BitterSweet by Najla, merek FnB yang sukses dalam memanfaatkan TikTok. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mempelajari pengaruh kualitas, kuantitas, kredibilitas informasi terhadap kegunaan informasi dan minat beli followers akun TikTok @Bittersweetbynajla serta mengetahui apakah kegunaan informasi dapat dijadikan sebagai mediator yang memperkuat hubungan antara kualitas, kuantitas, dan kredibilitas informasi dengan minat beli. Data diperoleh melalui survei kepada 129 responden yang merupakan followers akun TikTok @bittersweetbynajla dan dianalisis menggunakan PLS-SEM. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kuantitas informasi dan kredibilitas informasi memiliki pengaruh yang positif dan signifikan terhadap kegunaan informasi dan minat beli serta terdapat hubungan yang positif dan signifikan antara kegunaan informasi dan minat beli. Namun, kualitas informasi tidak menunjukkan hubungan yang signifikan dengan kegunaan informasi dan minat beli serta kegunaan informasi tidak dapat dijadikan sebagai mediator yang memperkuat hubungan antara ketiganya dengan minat beli. Penelitian ini memberikan kontribusi bagi pelaku usaha yang bergerak di bidang FnB dan memasarkan produknya melalui media sosial untuk meningkatkan minat beli konsumen.
Substantial soil organic carbon retention along floodplains of mountain streams
Authors: Sutfin Nicholas A. , Wohl Ellen
Published: June 2017

Small, snowmelt‐dominated mountain streams have the potential to store substantial organic carbon in floodplain sediment because of high inputs of particulate organic matter, relatively lower temperatures compared with lowland regions, and potential for increased moisture conditions. This work (i) quantifies mean soil organic carbon (OC) content along 24 study reaches in the Colorado Rocky Mountains using 660 soil samples, (ii) identifies potential controls of OC content based on soil properties and spatial position with respect to the channel, and (iii) and examines soil properties and OC across various floodplain geomorphic features in the study area. Stepwise multiple linear regression (adjustedr2 = 0.48,p < 0.001) indicates that percentage of silt and clay, sample depth, percent sand, distance from the channel, and relative elevation from the channel are significant predictors of OC content in the study area. Principle component analysis indicates limited separation between geomorphic floodplain features based on predictors of OC content. A lack of significant differences among floodplain features suggests that the systematic random sampling employed in this study can capture the variability of OC across floodplains in the study area. Mean floodplain OC (6.3 ± 0.3%) is more variable but on average greater than values in uplands (1.5 ± 0.08% to 2.2 ± 0.14%) of the Colorado Front Range and higher than published values from floodplains in other regions, particularly those of larger rivers.
Interplanetary coronal mass ejection observed at STEREO‐A, Mars, comet 67P/Churyumov‐Gerasimenko, Saturn, and New Horizons en route to Pluto: Comparison of its Forbush decreases at 1.4, 3.1, and 9.9 AU
Authors: Witasse O. , Sánchez‐Cano B. , Mays M. L. , Kajdič P. , Opgenoorth H. , Elliott H. A. , Richardson I. G. , Zouganelis I. , Zender J. , Wimmer‐Schweingruber R. F. , Turc L. , Taylor M. G. G. T. , Roussos E. , Rouillard A. , Richter I. , Richardson J. D. , Ramstad R. , Provan G. , Posner A. , Plaut J. J. , Odstrcil D. , Nilsson H. , Niemenen P. , Milan S. E. , Mandt K. , Lohf H. , Lester M. , Lebreton J.‐P. , Kuulkers E. , Krupp N. , Koenders C. , James M. K. , Intzekara D. , Holmstrom M. , Hassler D. M. , Hall B. E. S. , Guo J. , Goldstein R. , Goetz C. , Glassmeier K. H. , Génot V. , Evans H. , Espley J. , Edberg N. J. T. , Dougherty M. , Cowley S. W. H. , Burch J. , Behar E. , Barabash S. , Andrews D. J. , Altobelli N.
Published: June 2017

We discuss observations of the journey throughout the Solar System of a large interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) that was ejected at the Sun on 14 October 2014. The ICME hit Mars on 17 October, as observed by the Mars Express, Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN Mission (MAVEN), Mars Odyssey, and Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) missions, 44 h before the encounter of the planet with the Siding‐Spring comet, for which the space weather context is provided. It reached comet 67P/Churyumov‐Gerasimenko, which was perfectly aligned with the Sun and Mars at 3.1 AU, as observed by Rosetta on 22 October. The ICME was also detected by STEREO‐A on 16 October at 1 AU, and by Cassini in the solar wind around Saturn on the 12 November at 9.9 AU. Fortuitously, the New Horizons spacecraft was also aligned with the direction of the ICME at 31.6 AU. We investigate whether this ICME has a nonambiguous signature at New Horizons. A potential detection of this ICME by Voyager 2 at 110–111 AU is also discussed. The multispacecraft observations allow the derivation of certain properties of the ICME, such as its large angular extension of at least 116°, its speed as a function of distance, and its magnetic field structure at four locations from 1 to 10 AU. Observations of the speed data allow two different solar wind propagation models to be validated. Finally, we compare the Forbush decreases (transient decreases followed by gradual recoveries in the galactic cosmic ray intensity) due to the passage of this ICME at Mars, comet 67P, and Saturn.
Extreme plasma convection and frictional heating of the ionosphere: ISR observations
Authors: Akbari H. , Goodwin L. V. , Swoboda J. , St.‐Maurice J.‐P. , Semeter J. L.
Published: June 2017

Extremely elevated ion temperatures observed with the Poker Flat and Resolute Bay incoherent scatter radars in the E and F regions of the polar ionosphere are discussed. Our observations include one‐dimensional, line‐of‐sight ion temperatures (Ti,1d) that at times can rise to up to ∼8000°K. While examining the accuracy of the derived temperatures is difficult due to the several potential sources of error and uncertainty, we find that at altitudes of ∼130–250 km the line‐of‐sight ion temperatures obtained at relatively small aspect angles (for instance, at 22.5° away from the magnetic field direction) are below the expected values for the average or three‐dimensional ion temperatures (Ti). We find that this difference matches well with the theoretical expectation from anisotropic ion velocity distributions that emerge from polarization elastic scattering collisions between NO+ and N2. These results are therefore the clearest detection of anisotropic ion velocity distributions with the Poker Flat Incoherent Scatter Radar and Resolute Bay Incoherent Scatter Radar facilities. Moreover, at higher altitudes (>∼300 km), where the resonant charge exchange collisions prevail, and for a very high ion temperature event (Ti∼8000°K), we observe that the incoherent scatter radar (ISR) spectra obtained at large aspect angles (e.g., 55°) look like those expected from non‐Maxwellian plasma. At similar altitudes, the measured one‐dimensional temperatures at an aspect angle of 22.5° are found to exceed the expected values from the frictional heating and resonant charge exchange collisions by about 1000°K. A portion of this offset is thought to reflect the role of Coulomb collisions.
Effects of solar irradiance on the upper ionosphere and oxygen ion escape at Mars: MAVEN observations
Authors: Dubinin E. , Fraenz M. , Pätzold M. , McFadden J. , Mahaffy P. R. , Eparvier F. , Halekas J. S. , Connerney J. E. P. , Brain D. , Jakosky B. M. , Vaisberg O. , Zelenyi L.
Published: June 2017

We present multi‐instrument observations of the effects of solar irradiance on the upper Martian ionosphere and escape fluxes based on the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) data from November 2014 to February 2016. It is shown that fluxes of oxygen ions with E > 30 eV both inside and outside of the Martian magnetosphere are nonsensitive to EUV variations. In contrast, the fluxes of ions with lower energies extracted from the upper ionosphere increase with solar irradiance. Such an enhancement is nonlinear with the EUV variations and exhibits a growth by almost 1 order of magnitude when the EUV (0.1–50 nm) radiation increases to ≥0.1 W/m2 implying an enhancement of total ion losses of the low‐energy component to ∼1.8·1025 s−1. The flow of cold ions in the near‐Mars tail occurs very asymmetrical shifting in the direction opposite to the direction of the solar wind motional electric field. Fluxes of the low‐energy (E≤30 eV) ion component are also nonsensitive to the variations in solar wind dynamic pressure.
In situ study at high pressure and temperature of the environment of water in hydrous Na and Ca aluminosilicate melts and coexisting aqueous fluids
Authors: Le Losq Charles , Dalou Célia , Mysen Bjorn O.
Published: June 2017

The bonding and speciation of water dissolved in Na silicate and Na and Ca aluminosilicate melts were inferred from in situ Raman spectroscopy of the samples, in hydrothermal diamond anvil cells, while at crustal temperature and pressure conditions. Raman data were also acquired on Na silicate and Na and Ca aluminosilicate glasses, quenched from hydrous melts equilibrated at high temperature and pressure in a piston cylinder apparatus. In the hydrous melts, temperature strongly influences O‐H stretching ν(O‐H) signals, reflecting its control on the bonding of protons between different molecular complexes. Pressure and melt composition effects are much smaller and difficult to discriminate with the present data. However, the chemical composition of the melt + fluid system influences the differences between the ν(O‐H) signals from the melts and the fluids and, hence, between their hydrogen partition functions. Quenching modifies the O‐H stretching signals: strong hydrogen bonds form in the glasses below the glass transition temperature Tg, and this phenomenon depends on glass composition. Therefore, glasses do not necessarily record the O‐H stretching signal shape in melts near Tg. The melt hydrogen partition function thus cannot be assessed with certainty using O‐H stretching vibration data from glasses. From the present results, the ratio of the hydrogen partition functions of hydrous silicate melts and aqueous fluids mostly depends on temperature and the bulk melt + fluid system chemical composition. This implies that the fractionation of hydrogen isotopes between magmas and aqueous fluids in water‐saturated magmatic systems with differences in temperature and bulk chemical composition will be different.
Immune Defence: Role of Reactive Nitrogen Intermediates
Authors: Molon Barbara , Agnellini Andrielly HR , Wink David A , Citrin Deborah , Vitek Michael P , Colton Carol , Pacelli Roberto , Ogawa Rygeio , Thomas Douglas D , Miranda Katrina M , Espey Michael G
Published: June 2017

Nitric oxide (NO) represents a ubiquitous intercellular messenger regulating a plethora of physiological processes such as vasculature homeostasis and neurotransmission. In addition, NO plays a fundamental role in immune responses, acting as either an immune‐stimulatory or immunosuppressive mediator. NO‐mediated effects have been traditionally classified into direct and indirect responses. Indeed, in physiopathological conditions, NO can directly interact with the biological targets or instead it can form reactive intermediates by reacting with either O2molecule or O2−superoxide anion. Both direct and indirect NO‐mediated effects play a pivotal role in immune responses against pathogens and in cancer. The chemistry of NO/RNOS (reactive nitrogen oxide species) in host immunity so far represents an attractive field to be investigated. In this article, we propose to discuss earlier and recent evidences that shed light on this issue.

Key Concepts

Nitric oxide and reactive nitrogen species participate in numerous biological processes, both in physiological and pathological conditions.

Nitric oxide and reactive nitrogen species mediate either direct or indirect biological effects in immune responses.

Nitric oxide and reactive nitrogen species play a key role in bacterial, viral and parasite infections.

Different stages of carcinogenesis are influenced by nitric oxide and reactive nitrogen species.

The understanding of nitric oxide dynamics in neoplastic tissues will be instrumental for the definition of novel therapies.
Virus Diseases of Cereals
Authors: Rakotondrafara Aurélie M , Byamukama Emmanuel , Plumb Roger T
Published: June 2017

A serious constraint to agricultural productivity and a constant pressure to global food security and hunger are infections of plants with viruses. Of particular concern is the impact of viruses and their vectors on cereals, wheat, maize (corn in the USA), rice, barley, sorghum, oats, millet and rye, which provide much of the world's food and drink. Because viral populations evolve quickly, the emergence of new variants of classic viruses with stronger virulence, the occurrence of viruses switching host from the wild species to the cultivated crops, or recombinants between different families, pose a serious challenge in the control of viruses and to the durability of widely deployed resistance against viruses. As there are essentially no chemical options to prevent viral infections, genetic resistance remains the most sustainable strategy for combating these major agricultural pests.

Key Concepts

Cereals are the most important component of the world's food supply.

Intensification of crop production and introduction of vectors play key roles in the widespread of viruses in cereals.

Most viruses of cereals are transmitted by hoppers, fungi like or aphids. Beetles and mites are responsible for the transmission of newly emerging viruses of cereals.

With no chemical options to prevent viral infections, genetic resistance remains the most sustainable strategy.

Recent threats in global food security are due to newly emerging viral diseases.
E
pstein–
B
arr Virus
Authors: Morris Mhairi A
Published: June 2017

Epstein–Barr virus
(EBV) is a ubiquitous gamma herpesvirus aetiologically linked to different lymphoid and epithelial malignancies and a number of systemic autoimmune diseases. The virus has a unique ability to transform resting B lymphocytes
in vitro
by expressing a set of latent genes, subsets of which are present in EBV‐associated tumours. EBV exploits the physiology of normal B‐cell differentiation to persist within the memory B‐cell pool of the immunocompetent host with strong T‐cell responses important for controlling EBV infection. Immunosuppressed transplant recipients and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)‐infected individuals are at increased risk of developing EBV‐transformed B‐cell proliferations which often present as monoclonal non‐Hodgkin lymphomas. The major EBV‐associated tumours (Burkitt lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma) show restricted forms of latent viral gene expression reflecting a more complex pathogenesis involving additional cofactors. A number of pharmacological and immunotherapeutic approaches are being developed to treat or prevent these EBV‐associated tumours.

Key Concepts

Epstein–Barr virus
(EBV) infection is implicated in the aetiology of several different lymphoid and epithelial malignancies, as well as a number of systemic autoimmune diseases.

EBV exploits the physiology of normal B‐cell differentiation to persist within the memory B‐cell pool of the immunocompetent host.

EBV‐encoded latent genes induce B‐cell transformation
in vitro
by altering cellular gene transcription and constitutively activating key cell signalling pathways.

Immunosuppressed transplant patients are at risk of developing EBV‐transformed B‐cell proliferations presenting as B‐cell lymphomas.

Other EBV‐associated tumours display more restricted forms of latent gene expression, reflecting more complex pathogenesis involving additional cofactors.

EBV sequence variation may reflect disease risk.

Pharmacological and immunotherapeutic approaches are being developed to treat or prevent EBV‐associated tumours.

More direct vaccine approaches are being examined for the treatment and prevention of EBV‐associated diseases.
Immunohistochemical Detection of Tissue and Cellular Antigens
Authors: Vyberg Mogens , Nielsen Søren
Published: June 2017

Antibodies are excellent tools for detecting specific molecules in cells and tissues. Techniques have been developed utilising antibodies to visualise otherwise invisible, and indistinguishable, cells, subcellular structures and molecules. Collectively, these techniques are termed immunohistochemistry, which is used extensively in many fields from research to clinical pathology. A plethora of antibodies and visualisation systems, generally of increasing quality, has been launched on the market allowing for an ever‐increasing technical sensitivity and specificity. This development, however, also challenges the users owing to varying or even incompatible results reported in the literature. In the era of personalised medicine, correct identification of protein markers for targeted treatment in many types of cancer requires meticulous laboratory handling and standardised reading. Internal quality control and external quality assessment have become increasingly important.

Key Concepts

Immunohistochemistry is technically complex, and no aspect of this complexity can be ignored, from the moment of collecting the specimen to issuance of the final report.

Preanalytical steps include proper sampling, fixation and processing of tissues and cells.

Analytical steps include selection of specific and avid antibodies and a carefully calibrated protocol.

The large majority of epitopes in formalin fixed tissue can only be sufficiently detected by heat‐induced epitope retrieval in an alkaline buffer.

Selection and on‐slide mounting of appropriate control tissues are mandatory.

Postanalytical steps include identification of a good signal‐to‐noise ratio and correct subcellular localisation of the chromogene.

Assessment of the staining reaction and interpretation of the staining result must be performed in a proper context, for example, with the literature and the clinical setting.
Iron–Sulfur Proteins: Structure, Function and Biogenesis
Authors: Barras Frédéric
Published: June 2017

Iron–sulfur clusters rank among the most versatile protein cofactors. Proteins using Fe–S clusters intervene in many cellular processes in both bacteria and eukaryotes. Fe–S cluster biogenesis has been a research area of intensive investigations in the past decade. The success of Fe–S cluster‐based biology during evolution is indicated by the myriad of processes that depend on Fe–S cluster‐containing proteins. These include basic metabolic, bioenergetics and genetic information‐related processes. Conserved multiprotein systems, called
ISC
and
SUF
, have been identified in most living organisms, from bacteria to plant and mammals. They catalyse assembly of clusters and their delivery to the many apoproteins, the activity of which depends on the acquisition of clusters. Recently, their role in bacterial pathogenicity and bacterial resistance to antibiotics was brought to light.

Key Concepts

Fe–S clusters are versatile and ubiquitous cofactors.

Fe–S cluster biogenesis is catalysed by multiprotein systems.

ISC and SUF Fe–S biogenesis systems are conserved in bacterias and eukaryotes.

The IscR regulator controls Fe–S cluster homeostasis.

The IscR regulator allows bacteria to adapt to various environmental conditions and hosts.

Iron external levels modify aminoglycoside resistance of
E. coli
via its influence on Fe–S biogenesis.
Neutrophil Functional Disorders
Authors: van de Geer Annemarie , Gazendam Roel P , Kuijpers Taco W , Roos Dirk
Published: June 2017

Neutrophils are phagocytes and constitute the most numerous and important effector cells of the innate immune system, especially in the defence against bacteria and fungi. They are rapidly recruited to inflamed tissue in response to inflammatory signals. Egression from the bone marrow and blood stream, adhesion, migration, activation, phagocytosis and killing of pathogens describe the basic mechanisms associated with neutrophils. Neutrophil shortage and functional disorders arise from different rare genetic mutations and can lead to a profound immunodeficiency, often presenting early in life with severe, recurrent and persistent or opportunistic bacterial and fungal infections. An increasing number of such diseases have been identified, especially as whole‐exome sequencing is getting more accessible. This results in better insights in genotypic–phenotypic correlations, susceptibility to specific pathogens and the use of different treatment modalities.

Key Concepts

In healthy adults, 10
11
neutrophils are generated daily. In steady state, their life span is approximately 1–2 days, which increases up to 3–4 days after neutrophil activation.

Certain infections, such as
Burkholderia cepacia, Nocardia, Aspergillus nidulans
or nontuberculous mycobacteria, should always prompt an inquiry to the possibility of an underlying immune defect.

Specific infection locations, such as omphalitis, gingivitis or osteomyelitis, should raise the suspicion of phagocytic cell abnormalities.

Abnormal aspects of host response, such as lack of fever, local inflammation or pus, should immediately alert the clinician to the possibility of a neutrophil defect.

It is better to perform the right test once than the entire battery of immune defect tests several times. Careful consideration of the clinical and microbiologic presentation usually indicates the right path to pursue.

There is no substitute for the right drug, and that requires knowing the pathogen. Because the spectrum of infection in these diseases may range over several microbiologic kingdoms, empiric therapy is to be discouraged in favour of firm diagnoses.

A molecular diagnosis should be sought whenever possible. The expanding knowledge of genotype–phenotype relationships suggests that not all defects, even those within the same gene, induce similar clinical symptoms.

BCG vaccination should be avoided in individuals with CGD as well as in their newborn close relatives until the defect is ruled out. In general, attenuated viral vaccines are not contraindicated in individuals with primary neutrophil disorders, as antiviral cell‐mediated immunity is intact.
Genetic Disability and Legal Action: Wrongful Birth, Wrongful Life
Authors: Bickenbach Jerome
Published: June 2017

Parents of children born with impairments, birth defects or health condition can sue health professionals for the tort of wrongful birth; the tort of wrongful life is based on the same events but is brought by the child. Wrongful birth actions are often successful, if the parents can show negligence and they have suffered compensable harm. Wrongful life actions, however, are almost always unsuccessful or blocked by legislation, primarily because courts are reluctant to allow that nonexistence is preferable to existence with impairments or find it impossible to calculate what these damages would be. Both actions are objectionable because they force parents, and courts, to devalue the lives of persons with impairments. Some scholars argue that tort law is inappropriate for such actions and that breach of warranty in contracts is more appropriate, as the damage is the unanticipated extra costs resulting from impairments or birth defects.

Key Concepts

If, because of the negligence of a health professional, a child is born with impairments or birth defects, parents can sue for the tort of wrongful birth and the child can sue for wrongful life.

Wrongful birth cases are often successful, if negligence and actual harm are proved; but wrongful life cases are almost always unsuccessful or banned by legislation.

Wrongful birth cases, when successful, usually rely on the argument that the negligent health professional breached the duty of professional care owed to the parents, and this led to unexpected additional costs of raising a child.

Courts are often reluctant to determine, as is required by wrongful birth and life cases, that a life of a child born with a birth defect or impairment is worse than nonexistence.

Wrongful life and birth cases are objectionable on the policy grounds that they force parents and courts to devalue the life of children born with impairments.

Scholars argue that wrongful birth and life cases would be better conceived as breach of warranty cases in contracts rather than as torts.
Biochemistry of
RNA
Silencing
Authors: Alagia Adele , Eritja Ramon
Published: June 2017

RNA interference is an inhibitory mechanism able to downregulate the expression of mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) in a very specific manner. This posttranscriptional gene regulation pathway relies on the action of a small noncoding RNA (miRNA). MiRNA is an imperfectly matched double‐stranded molecule deriving from large primary transcript (pri‐miRNA). The action of Drosha and DGCR8 proteins initiates the miRNA maturation producing shorter pre‐miRNA molecule. Following Exportin‐5:RanGTP‐driven nuclear export pre‐miRNA is subjected to Dicer processing, resulting in mature miRNA molecule. In addition to this canonical pathway, alternative miRNA biogenesis routes have been described. The understanding of canonical and noncanonical miRNA biogenesis is important to define the roles of miRNAs in cellular homeostasis processes and human diseases as well as to develop potential miRNA‐based treatments.

Key Concepts

The canonical maturation of pri‐miRNA involves processing of RNA polymerase II transcripts by Drosha and Dicer proteins.

Within the Microprocessor complex, DGCR8 is needed to orientate pri‐miRNA substrate and permit efficient Drosha‐mediated processing.

Other proteins such as Rbfox3, GSk3b, BRCA1 and HP1BP3 indirectly regulate the expression levels of pri‐miRNAs.

Drosha cleavage product, named pre‐miRNA, is translocated from the nucleus to the cytosol by the formation of a complex with Exportin‐5 and RanGTP.

TRBP and PACT are cofactor partners of Dicer protein and help the pre‐miRNA loading and processing.

Mature miRNA can also be produced by splicing mechanisms without the involvement of Drosha through mirtrons intermediates.

Processing of intronic‐derived miRNAs by Drosha generates simtrons with special characteristics.

Duplex RNA sequences adjacent to pre‐miRNA can also be processed to form miRNA‐offset RNAs (moRNAs).

In some cases, miRNA maturation is directed by Argonaute2 without the intervention of Dicer.

2 nt 3′‐overhang feature is important for miRNA biogenesis.
Age‐Related Changes in Tree Growth and Physiology
Authors: Groover Andrew
Published: June 2017

Trees pass through specific developmental phases as they age, including juvenile to adult, and vegetative to reproductive phases. The timing of these transitions is regulated genetically but is also highly influenced by the environment. Tree species have evolved different strategies and life histories that affect how they age – for example some pioneer species are fast growing and become sexually mature at younger ages but have shorter life spans. Trees do not have a strictly programmed senescence, and their life span is influenced by factors including challenges associated with increasing size, and ability to cope with environmental stress such as water availability, rot fungi, insects and disease pressure. Some long‐lived tree species escape threats in exceptionally dry environments, while others use clonal reproduction through sprouts from stumps or roots to enable the same genotype to persist for thousands of years. On longer timescales, tree species migrate across landscapes to suitable environments.

Key Concepts

Forest tree species display a range of strategies and life histories that affect their life span and ageing and can be described in terms of forest succession concepts.

Trees undergo juvenile to adult transitions that can be reflected in distinct differences in morphology of leaves, changes in physiology or changes in the anatomy and biochemical makeup of wood.

Trees also undergo a period of vegetative growth before becoming sexually mature and competent to make reproductive structures (flowers in angiosperm trees or strobili in gymnosperm trees).

Trees do not have a genetically programmed life span or senescence. Life span is affected by limitations imposed by size and abiotic and biotic factors.

In some species, while the original tree stem may die, clonal sprouts can form, allowing the same genotype to live for thousands of years.

Over long timescales, tree species migrate to accommodate changes in climate over time.
Visual Pigment Evolution in Reptiles
Authors: Simões Bruno F , Gower David J
Published: June 2017

The long history and great ecological and morphological diversity of reptiles (all amniotes except mammals and birds) is matched by their visual system diversity. Although less known than in other amniotes, visual pigments have been studied in all extant reptile orders except Sphenodontia. There have been no additions to the five visual pigments present in the ancestral vertebrate, although there have been multiple independent losses. Crocodylians retain three visual pigments, many lizards as well as Testudines four or five and snakes one to three. Adaptive pigment evolution includes tuning site amino acid substitutions and switches between chromophore types that together generate ultraviolet to infrared spectral sensitivity. Reptiles present some of the best evidences of evolutionary rod–cone and cone–rod transmutation with, for example typically cone visual pigments expressed in rod‐like photoreceptors. Reptile visual pigments show evidence of substantial adaptive evolution, at least some of which is associated with major ecological shifts.

Key Concepts

Reptiles have no more than five visual pigments, as few as one and typically at least three.

Up to four of the ancestral vertebrate visual pigments have been lost independently in different reptile lineages, and no visual opsin gene duplications have been identified so far.

Testudines have between four and five visual pigments and a wide range of photoreceptor oil droplets, representing one of the most complex visual pigment systems in tetrapod vertebrates.

Despite many of them being nocturnal, no rhodopsin 1 has been detected in geckos.

Nosws1orrh2opsin genes can be detected in genomic sequence data for crocodylians.

Among squamates, some lizards have a mixture of A1and A2chromophores incorporated in their visual pigments, allowing a wide colour sensitivity, including infrared vision.

In the green anole (Anolis carolinensis), only cone opsins have been reported (SWS1, SWS2, RH2 and LWS) in studies of the eye. However, a 515‐nm tunedrh1rhodopsin gene occurs in the genome of this species.

Extant snakes have lost two visual pigments (SWS2 and RH2), likely as an adaptation to a low light environment inhabited by a snake ancestor.

Extreme burrowing in scolecophidians (blind, worm and thread snakes) is correlated with the loss of the SWS1 and LWS visual pigments and cones, rendering these snakes rod (RH1) monochromats.

The expression of RH1, SWS1 and LWS pigments in snake lineages with seemingly all‐cone and all‐rod retinae suggests multiple transmutations from cone to rod andvice versain snakes. Similar transmutations likely occurred in some lizards and perhaps crocodylians.

Visual pigment spectral sensitivity in reptiles has been found to correlate with the light transmission properties of the ocular media (e.g. snakes) and photoreceptor oil droplets (e.g. testudines), that is the pigments are not sensitive to wavelengths of light filtered out by these structures.
Adultery
Authors: Creasy Matthew
Published: June 2017

Although the public standards of Victorian morality seemed to prohibit the representation of adultery in the nineteenth century, it formed a topic of discussion and debate across a complex nexus of artistic forms and genres throughout the century from legal discourse, to periodicals, the visual arts, novels, and the stage.
Annual and gift book
Authors: Rappoport Jill
Published: June 2017

The nineteenth‐century gift book, valued for its decorative material form as well as for its content, was a transatlantic publishing phenomenon marketed primarily, though not exclusively, for the winter‐holiday market. Literary annuals (gift book titles marketed yearly from 1822 through mid‐century) and illustrated poetic gift books from the 1840s to the 1870s integrated new print technologies and offered authors, engravers, and illustrators an important outlet for circulating a wide range of poetry, prose, and visual art. Widely consumed by readers, and often favorably reviewed in leading journals of the period, annuals and gift books have been noted for the high quality of some of their contributions, as well as for the important roles they played in the history of publishing and material culture and in nineteenth‐century politics of gender and race.
Arnold, Matthew, poetry
Authors: Harrison Antony H.
Published: June 2017

In his own era, and through the 1970s, Matthew Arnold was regarded as one of the major poets of Victorian England, though his reputation as a poet has declined in the past forty years. (His reputation as a hugely influential social and cultural critic has, however, remained strong.) His body of verse is relatively small but continues to be admired for its resistance to crucial aspects of the “modern” era in which he lived, including hollow religious pieties, materialism, anti‐intellectualism, and the headlong race toward democracy. His often elegiac poetry repeatedly expresses a profound sense of loss but also a quest for stoical resignation.
Australia
Authors: Dingley Robert
Published: June 2017

For much of the nineteenth century, Australia was viewed by British writers as a place of exile. Although that perception was partly shaped by the colony's origin as a penal settlement, even after the end of the transportation‐system and with the development of an extensive pastoral economy and the discovery of huge gold deposits, fictional migrants still yearn for “home” and generally return there when their fortunes have been made. Australian experience thus tends to figure in novels and plays as an interlude of adventure and romance in narratives whose central focus remains firmly British. By the final quarter of the century, however, these attitudes are increasingly challenged by a growing cultural self‐confidence, and Australian‐born writers begin consciously to substitute a distinctively nationalist ideology for earlier colonial stereotypes.
Blessington, Lady (Marguerite Gardiner)
Authors: Wilson Cheryl A.
Published: June 2017

Novelist, poet, editor, travel writer, and society hostess, the Countess of Blessington was an influential and fashionable member of the early nineteenth‐century literary world. She had extensive connections and influence and published in a range of popular genres, although she was never fully able to escape the financial pressures that frequently pursued her.
Blind readers and blind writers
Authors: Warne Vanessa
Published: June 2017

The advent of books for blind readers changed, albeit gradually, both the experience of blindness and ideas about blindness. In the decades following James Gall's publication of Britain's first raised‐print book in 1827, many visually disabled Victorians gained access to instruction in finger‐reading skills and they used these skills to read, and also to create, an increasingly varied body of raised‐print material. The development of a print culture for and by blind people transformed the lived experience of visual disability: a growing segment of Britain's blind population were no longer dependent on sighted readers for access to text and institutions that served blind students extended their offerings beyond vocational skills, such as basket making, to include academic study. While the entry into literacy changed the lives of many people with visual disabilities, the proliferation of finger reading also shaped mainstream ideas about visual disability, prompting Victorians to rethink blindness and to reconsider the intellectual potential and sensory experiences of visually disabled people. Major figures in the British history of blind reading include: James Gall, John Alston, and W.H. Levy. Blind authors of note from the period include: Frances Browne, Alice King, James Holman, and W. W. Fenn.
Cambridge Apostles
Authors: Shaw Marion
Published: June 2017

The Cambridge Apostles were an undergraduate debating society formed in the 1820s at Trinity College Cambridge. The Society has endured to the present day and now admits women. The society's aim has been to encourage free debate on a wide range of social, religious, literary, and political topics. Friendships formed by Apostles were highly valued and usually maintained throughout life. Interest in the society is often directed to the period of Tennyson's brief membership in 1829 and the prominent position held by Arthur Hallam, the subject of Tennyson's
In Memoriam
.
Chartist literature
Authors: Rosenman Ellen
Published: June 2017

Literature played a central role in the Chartist movement, helping to politicize and mobilize the working classes. Closely imbricated with nonfictional political works, it was not considered a frill or an escape but a potent form of ideological address. Embodying abstract concepts and values, it promoted a class‐specific history with its readers at the center, thus creating a sense of solidarity and challenging liberal narratives of progress. Chartist literature ranged from short, slogan‐like poems to allegories and epics that drew explicitly on canonical models, especially those of romanticism.
Clough, Arthur Hugh
Authors: Phelan Joseph
Published: June 2017

Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–61) seemed to many of his friends and contemporaries to have lived a life of unfulfilled promise, but his major poems –
The Bothie
(1848),
Amours de Voyage
(1858), and the posthumously published
Dipsychus and The Spirit
– represent a unique combination of formal experiment and sensitivity to the moral and intellectual dilemmas of the period. His poetry bears the impress of the great political and intellectual movements of his age, especially those associated with the rise of Socialism, and anticipates, in its skeptical and self‐conscious outlook, some of the characteristic attitudes of literary Modernism.
Cognitive Studies
Authors: Auyoung Elaine
Published: June 2017

This entry surveys the wide range of questions and methods that fall under the category of cognitive literary studies, a cross‐disciplinary approach that draws upon ideas from the mind sciences to account for how mental processes mediate between literary texts and their authors, audiences, and historical contexts.
Colonial and postcolonial literature
Authors: Banerjee Sukanya
Published: June 2017

This entry highlights the relation between colonialism, the British Empire, and Victorian literature. In so doing, it refers to postcolonial frames of analysis that enable us to discern aspects of Victorian literature that can be termed “colonial” inasmuch as they helped forge, register, and sustain an imperial worldview. The term “postcolonial” therefore serves as a critical term of inquiry that interrogates colonial formations and legacies; it also serves as a temporal marker to describe what comes after colonialism. With reference to the latter, the entry illustrates how texts, themes, and conventions relevant to Victorian literature are received and reinscribed by writers from, or located in, the formerly colonized spaces of the British Empire.
Darwin, Charles
Authors: Ortiz‐Robles Mario
Published: June 2017

Charles Darwin (1809–82), the most important naturalist of the nineteenth century, had a profound effect on the literature of his day. His theory of evolution by natural selection offered writers a novel way of comprehending the interconnectedness of the natural world and of reassessing the role of the human against a vastly expanded scale of life on earth. His writing made use of the considerably sophisticated rhetorical resources of his age to formulate his theory and to transmit the significance of his findings to a skeptical public. Literary criticism increasingly makes use of Darwinian ideas to conceptualize literary history.[/abs]
Detective fiction
Authors: Tromp Marlene
Published: June 2017

Detective fiction is a critically rich and compelling genre that emerged from the ground of genres like the Newgate novel and sensation fiction, as well as shifts in science and policing. Critics have disagreed about the cultural work of detective fiction, arguing that it provides comfort by resolving tensions in the cultures or that it creates further disruptions. A case can be made that it reveals the violence in the Victorian family, a violence irresolvable by even the most brilliant detective.
Dickens, Charles, journalism
Authors: Winter Sarah
Published: June 2017

While best known as a novelist, Charles Dickens (1812–70) began his writing career as a reporter and remained deeply involved in writing for and editing London‐based newspapers and periodicals throughout his life. Starting out as a freelance parliamentary and court reporter, Dickens quickly gained experience as a subeditor, staff reporter, and writer of short fictional sketches until his breakthrough years of 1836–37, when he became famous as the author of
Sketches by Boz
and
The Pickwick Papers
. Moving away from political reporting, Dickens continued publishing serialized novels appearing in monthly parts or in weekly journals which he edited from the 1840s through the 1860s, including
Household Words
(1850–59) and
All the Year Round
(1859–70). Dickens's own journalism encompassed a wide variety of different types of writing: editorials, satirical and humorous pieces, political and legal reporting, leading articles on issues of the day, letters to the editor, short fictionalized sketches of London life, reviews, travel writing, and investigative reporting.
Domesticity
Authors: Schaffer Talia
Published: June 2017

“Domesticity” was supposed to be the gloriously innate trait of a truly feminine woman and the quality that ennobled the Victorian home with maternal feeling and meaningful souvenirs. However, maintaining domestic space required backbreaking labor by underpaid working‐class servants, and the home itself achieved its attractions through the colonial consumer imports. Domestic ideology was originally a feminist innovation, designed to assign women more importance, but during the nineteenth century, the expectation that all women should devote themselves to household management began to feel constraining rather than empowering. Mid‐Victorian heroines (Maggie Tulliver, Jane Eyre) struggle with domestic expectations, trying to prove both their mastery of domestic skills and their right to move beyond the home. By the 1890s, rebellious New Women found they could escape household management through new labor‐saving devices, but domestic expectations and assumptions remain powerful even today.
Dramatic monologue
Authors: LaPorte Charles
Published: June 2017

The dramatic monologue presents a refinement of the Romantic lyric that sets its first‐person pronoun, the lyric “I,” into a specific cultural context, thereby raising philosophical questions about identity and also about the nature of lyric. Its emergence in the Victorian period drives readers, poets, and critics increasingly to consider poetry from the angles of persona and speaker, of context and psychology, and of narrative and situation more generally. Historically, the genre term “dramatic monologue” develops in response to Robert Browning's poetry, in particular, with which it has always been strongly identified.
Eastern Europe
Authors: Gephardt Katarina
Published: June 2017

Responses to Eastern Europe in Victorian literature combine differentiation and identification. While Enlightenment thought and colonial discourse constructed Eastern Europe as Britain's backward “Other,” Britons also recognized Eastern Europeans as fellow Christians partaking of European civilization. The image of the region in Victorian poetry continues the legacies of Romantic orientalism and preoccupation with revolutionary heroism, typically in response to current political events. Characters in mid‐Victorian fiction are inspired by contact with exiles fleeing persecution for revolutionary activities in the Russian and Habsburg empires. Late nineteenth‐century development of railway networks, tourism, and the press coverage associated with the Eastern Question inspire more substantial Eastern European characters and settings, most notably in Bram Stoker'sDracula. Informed by fin‐de‐siècle racialism, national movements, and modernization, the literary image of the region, which draws on travel writing, becomes more sinister but also paradoxically more familiar, laying the foundations for the polarized twentieth‐century ideas of Europe.