bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Methodology of Feminist Legal Research
Authors: Bhat P. Ishwara
Published: January 2020

Feminist legal research involves an integrated method of research focusing on the problems of women in relation to law and legal system. It brings to the surface the subjugated knowledge about women’s experience, asks the woman question, raises consciousness for social transformation and initiates remedial action. The goal of feminist legal research is serving the interests of women by using inductive reasoning. It has historical background which became intensive since 1970s. A sound understanding of feminist perspective supports this kind of research. Various steps include asking the woman question, feminist practical reasoning, consciousness-raising action, and building of feminist knowledge. The latter in turn entails methods of rational empirical position, standpoint feminism, and post modernism. Since truth is a matter of one’s position and differs from person to person, various viewpoints should be considered. Reading between the lines, interdisciplinary approach and use of multi-method help this kind of research.
Enforcing Rights against the State in India
Authors: Matthey-Prakash Florian
Published: January 2020

Chapter 4 deals with the issue of lack of access to justice and attempts to find reasons for the inaccessibility of the higher judiciary. While it appears to be clear to observers that the Supreme Court and high courts are not accessible enough, surprisingly, there are actually no empirical studies that examine why this is the case. Some factors can, however, be deduced from a study dealing with the inaccessibility of district courts, that is, the lower judiciary.The fourth chapter also shows that the institution of Public Interest Litigation, for various reasons, cannot compensate for lack of access to justice, and that the state is not properly implementing (or not at all exploring) many other possible alternative mechanisms.
Grievance Redress and the Judiciary
Authors: Matthey-Prakash Florian
Published: January 2020

Chapter 6 explains why the judiciary, when assessing the State’s measures for furthering access to justice, should focus on the RTE grievance redress system, and should order that it be improved in order to compensate for the current lack of access to justice. Strategic PIL litigation may play an important role. The chapter shows what alterations are necessary in order for the system to provide adequate and effective means of enforcement. It shall be concluded that a system of ‘micromanagement’ through grievance redress at the ‘bottom’, with right-bearers approaching the redress bodies themselves, and ‘macromanagement’ of systemic deficiencies through adjudication in the higher judiciary at the ‘top’, with advocacy groups raising issues at that level, might actually be superior to the system that was originally conceived by the Constitution.
Social Self and Identity
Authors: Guru Gopal , Sarukkai Sundar
Published: January 2020

In this chapter, it is argued that the idea of a social self is at the origin of much of the everyday understanding of the actions of the social, including that of identity within groups. We begin with the idea of social action and argue for the essential sociality of every individual. How is it, that individuals invoke concepts like ‘We’ to describe certain kinds of processes and experiences? Is the use of ‘We’ similar to the use of ‘I’ when describing experiences? Is the idea of the social to be discovered in the ways by which the we-consciousness arises and is sustained? In this sense, the ‘individual’ itself is a social construction. Experiences are unified through the notion of the individual self. Similarly, we can see how the idea of a social self is formed in talk about collective experiences and the formation of we-consciousness. We conclude this chapter with a discussion on the social self of caste.
Authority of the Social
Authors: Guru Gopal , Sarukkai Sundar
Published: January 2020

In many of the uses of the idea of the social in everyday life, social is used as a term of authority. Authority may need individual agents to enforce it but the notion of authority itself is independent of enforcement. The chapter discusses the inherent problem within the idea of this notion of authority. To exhibit how the idea of authority becomes so important, we discuss how nature gets authority within the natural sciences. We show that there is a strong parallel between the authority of the natural and the authority of the social. These are forms of what we call as non-agential authority and show how tradition also functions in this manner. We conclude with a discussion on the relation between the natural and social.
Cognitive Science
Authors: Srinivasan Narayanan
Published: January 2020

Recent years have witnessed a rapid expansion of research in the field of cognitive science. It is fuelled by conceptual advances encompassing several disciplines. This chapter discusses the different approaches to understanding cognitive processes and presents an account of research from India following these approaches. The computational view of mind is presented in detail and the efforts undertaken to identity the neural mechanisms underlying cognition are highlighted. This is followed by discussions on the approaches that have gained steam either as alternatives or complementing the main stream approaches that include embodied and situated cognition approaches to study cognition. The chapter concludes by emphasizing the need for interdisciplinarity in research and discussing the recent efforts to utilize Indian philosophical concepts to study cognition and the need to promote more applied cognitive science.
Applied Cognition
Authors: Sondhi Vanita , Mishra Ramesh Chandra
Published: January 2020

The chapter focuses on the applications of cognition in the real world encompassing both applied as well as applicable works, that is, the work that could be potentially applied someday to solve real world problems. Applied cognitive psychology emphasizes the applications of cognitive psychology in everyday life. Cognitive processes such as attention, perception, memory, cognitive styles, reasoning, and decision making are deployed in many settings. The research related to applied cognition in social systems has focussed on the complexities of humans working in various domains such as social functioning, education (especially neo-literacy), organizational behaviour, health, consumer behaviour and marketing, clinical setting, life span development, and environment. Cognitive theory is also being applied to the development of technologies which augment various cognitive processes such as memory, problem solving and attention. Finally, the major problems faced by researchers in this field are indicated.
Burnout, Organizational Cynicism, and Alienation
Authors: Vohra Neharika , Nair Nisha , Sheel Rahul
Published: January 2020

Focussing on the negative aspect of work life, this chapter deliberates on burnout, organizational cynicism, and alienation. In past research, organizational productivity has been shown to be causally linked to employee appraisal, experience of the workplace, and employee affect and attitude. Past studies have shown the link between productive employees and positive attitudes. However, organizations are also a source of negative influence on health and attitudes, which often outweigh the benefits resulting from positive experiences. Such negative outcomes not only harm the individual but also the organization. The chapter explores the negative behaviours, attitudes, beliefs, and cognitions that employees are likely to develop towards their organizations. Specifically, the research on burnout, organizational cynicism, and alienation is examined. For each of the constructs, research is reviewed around its definition, antecedents, consequences, and measurement. The need for more research in this area in the current economic and social context is highlighted.
Suicide in India
Authors: Vijaykumar Lakshmi , Vindhya U.
Published: January 2020

Although self-induced deaths in some form or another have probably occurred almost as long as human beings have been in existence, the current research and policy interest in suicides can be said to be generated by not only the rapidly rising suicide rates worldwide and in India, but can perhaps also be located in the contemporary context of processes of social change as causal agents of suicidal behaviour. This chapter maps the recent literature on the prevalence of suicide in India; the current rates and trends of suicide, both global and Indian and the magnitude of the problem; the determinants of suicidal behaviour, including biological and psychological factors, the distinctive socio-cultural factors in India; and suicide prevention intervention strategies.
A Zookeeper’s Ecology
Authors: Lekan Thomas M.
Published: January 2020

This chapter examines the early career of Bernhard Grzimek, who became the director of the Frankfurt Zoo in 1945 after serving as a veterinarian and agricultural minister for the Third Reich. Grzimek became famous for transforming the zoo from a bombed-out shell into one of Europe’s most successful zoological gardens by combining insights from ethology and ecology to help the animals thrive in captivity. Behind his carefully crafted public image as savior of animals, however, Grzimek revealed in memoirs and writings about animal behavior a much darker self, haunted by fears of extinction, eugenic decline, and wartime displacement that signaled an inability to come to terms with his and his country’s Nazi experience. Grzimek’s concern about the spread of Western “degeneracy” to Africa explains the urgency of his quest to save animals and their habitats there—and the indifference he often displayed toward local and indigenous peoples who stood in the way of his pursuit.
Serengeti Shall Not Die
Authors: Lekan Thomas M.
Published: January 2020

This chapter explores the politics of scientific knowledge and visual representation of savanna environments in Bernhard and Michael Grzimek’s bestselling book and Academy Award–winning documentary film, Serengeti Shall Not Die (1959). It shows how the Grzimeks used their iconic airplane, nicknamed the “Flying Zebra,” to conduct ecological reconnaissance and employ aerial filmography. They depicted the Serengeti as an untouched ecosystem and a global heritage of mankind, despite its history of pastoralist land use and as a battleground between contending German and British imperial forces. Following international conventions established in London in 1933, the Grzimeks insisted that the Serengeti should encompass the entire habitat of migrating wildebeest—and not, as some officials in the Tanganyika Territory insisted, be divided to accommodate the local Maasai people’s customary cattle grazing. The Grzimeks failed to stop the redrawing of the park’s boundaries, partly because the airborne camera never expunged the Serengeti’s “ghosts of land use past.”
Origins
Authors: Aronson Amy
Published: January 2020

Crystal Eastman was the only daughter of two ordained Congregationalist ministers—both feminists. Her father, Samuel, though prone to bouts of mental distress, was a pillar of strength when it came to supporting his daughter’s ambitions and opportunities. Still, it was her mother, Annis Ford Eastman, who loomed largest in the family. She became regionally renowned as a woman preacher and followed Thomas Beecher as pastor of the famed Park Church in Elmira, New York, leading a flock that included Mark Twain’s family. She had a magnetic personality—original, energetic, thrilling—but was also “a stormy troubled soul, capable of black cruelty and then again of the deepest generosities,” as Eastman revealed late in her own life. Eastman worshipped her mother, the economic and emotional engine of the family, and maintained an intense attachment to her that shaped her expectations and mindset in her life, work, and relationships.
Cognitive Perspectives of Working Memory Training
Authors: Hicks Kenny , Engle Randall W.
Published: January 2020

Working memory training is an emergent field aimed at improving general cognitive abilities through targeted brain exercises. The prospect of improving cognitive abilities, such as attention control, comprehension, and reasoning, has piqued the interest of the scientific community and the general public alike. If cognitive abilities like working memory capacity can be improved, it is assumed that this improvement will result in benefits to a broad range of real-world abilities associated with working memory capacity, including reading comprehension, math performance, and attention control. Thus, the goal of working memory training is to demonstrate broad transfer to tasks that involve the same components of working memory that were targeted during training. Therefore, improvements should be observed on a broad range of tasks that tap the ability being trained. This is measured by observing the difference between pre- and posttest performance on cognitive tasks that subjects have not practiced. The aim of this chapter is to summarize the extant literature on working memory training and then to pose a series of questions to researchers investigating the efficacy of working memory training.
Cognitive Training
Authors: Walhovd Kristine B. , Fjell Anders M. , Nyberg Lars
Published: January 2020

This chapter first emphasizes the need to acknowledge that there are multiple component processes of working memory. The authors also argue that the field needs a better account of what a training effect actually means. They discuss how to design training studies to allow for measurement of specificity and temporal aspects of effects. There is a need to delineate standard criteria for change, because they can be calculated in multiple ways, as the chapter discusses. Further, the authors stress that, in addition to being a vehicle for studying change, training effects can yield unique information about the state of the individual nervous system.
Review of the Evidence on, and Fundamental Questions About, Efforts to Improve Executive Functions, Including Working Memory
Authors: Diamond Adele , Ling Daphne S.
Published: January 2020

This systematic review of executive function (EF) interventions is the largest such review thus far, including 179 studies from all over the world, reported in 193 papers. It covers all the ways that have been tried to improve EFs, including computerized and noncomputerized cognitive training, neurofeedback, school programs, physical activities, mindfulness practices, and miscellaneous approaches (e.g., drama and Experience Corps), at all ages. A little studied approach—mindfulness practices involving movement (such as taekwondo and t’ai chi)—shows the best results for improving EFs. Promising school programs are second. Both approaches show better results than any cognitive training. Third best at improving EFs is noncomputerized cognitive training. Perhaps these three approaches show better results than computerized training because they involve more in-person trainer-trainee interaction. The best-performing computerized cognitive-training method for improving EFs is Cogmed®. Support was lacking for claims that N-back training improves fluid intelligence. Resistance training and “plain” aerobic-exercise interventions (e.g., running or walking) show the least evidence of benefit to EFs of all methods. Results for aerobic exercise with more cognitive or motor-skill challenges are only slightly better. This probably reflects how physical-activity interventions have been structured, rather than that physical activity does not benefit EFs. For any intervention, trainers’ ability to make the training activity enjoyable and to communicate their unwavering faith in participants and the program plus the activity being personally meaningful and relevant, inspiring commitment and emotional investment in participants to the activity and to one another is probably what is most important.
Fundamental Questions Surrounding Efforts to Improve Cognitive Function Through Video Game Training
Authors: Eichenbaum Adam , Bavelier Daphne , Green C. Shawn
Published: January 2020

Neural plasticity, or the ability of the brain to reorganize its structure and activity, is of critical importance. For nearly 50 years, the dominant framework in the field of learning and neural plasticity held that the brain was capable of truly large-scale changes only early in life. However, emerging evidence suggests that plasticity that had assumed to be “lost” due to age, injury, or disease may be at least partially re-established via genetic, pharmacological, and/or behavioral means. Yet, while it is true that humans retain a significant capacity to learn throughout the life span, a second roadblock frequently stands in the way of translating learning gains into practical real-world benefits. This obstacle is the “curse of specificity.” While it is true that, given appropriate training, humans will tend to improve on almost any task, the improvements that are observed are often confined to the exact training task, with little to no benefits of the training being observed for even seemingly very similar tasks. This chapter discusses the trend toward task-specific training on one working memory task, as well as the finding that action video game training does appear to lead to more generalizable improvements in cognitive performance.
The meaning and enactment of openness in Personalised and Precision Medicine
Authors: Prainsack Barbara
Published: January 2020

Along with the proliferation of digital technologies and the datafication of wider areas of people’s bodies and lives, the meaning of Personalised Medicine has shifted. In contemporary Personalised and ‘Precision’ Medicine, openness typically features in terms of calls for data sharing to ensure the availability of the very data sets required for the personalisation of diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. But there are other, more fundamental ways of considering openness in the context of Personalised and Precision Medicine that set different goals for public policy: (1) in an ontological sense, pertaining to the openness of the category of the ‘person’ in Personalised and Precision Medicine; (2) in a pluralistic sense, regarding the plurality of personal and societal perspectives and values in healthcare; and (3) in an emancipatory sense, counteracting concentrations of power around corporate actors—including consumer tech companies—in the health domain. The enhancement of public benefit and social justice and the protection of privacy are key goals for public policy in this context.
Racial Valuation: Cultural Gatekeepers, Race, Risk, and Institutional Expectations of Success and Failure
Authors: Erigha Maryann
Published: January 2020

Racial inequality persists in culture industries, despite increases in representation. Focusing on the Hollywood film industry, this research analyzes written correspondence to understand how, in their discourses, cultural workers as intermediaries or gatekeepers construct ideas about race to make predictions about economic value, success, and failure of cultural products. Findings demonstrate that cultural workers make racial valuations, or race-based judgments about the economic worth of cultural products—in this case by associating white actors with low economic risk, increased chances of profitability, and the expectation of success and linking black actors to high economic risk, decreased chances of profitability, and the expectation of failure. This practice of racial valuation disrupts conventional logics that emphasize the financial ambiguity of cultural markets to advance white institutional logics that invoke raced-based projections about a cultural product’s expected performance. Ultimately, these racially biased assessments affect people, products, and processes along the film production, distribution, and consumption spectrum, especially privileging white workers and limiting Black workers in foreign markets, thereby creating and reinforcing unequal racial outcomes within culture industries.
Estate planning for the family business
Authors: Kaplan Alon , Liberman Meytal
Published: January 2020

This article provides an overview of the factors to be considered in order to structure and grow a family business in Israel.
Genetic Diversity and Identification of Wilt and Root Rot Pathogens of Tomato in China
Authors: Ye Qingjing , Wang Rongqing , Ruan Meiying , Yao Zhuping , Cheng Yuan , Wan Hongjian , Li Zhimiao , Yang Yuejian , Zhou Guozhi
Published: January 2020

Fungal wilt and root rot diseases affecting tomato have become prevalent in China in recent years and have caused considerable damage. In 2016 to 2018, symptoms of putative wilt and root rot diseases were observed in several locations in tomato cultivars with resistance to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici races 1 and 2. The objective of this study was to identify the causative agents of wilt and root rot of tomato in China and provide a basis for disease prevention and resistance breeding programs. Based on DNA sequence analyses of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, 91 isolates from the roots of tomato plants showing symptoms of wilt and root rot were identified, including F. oxysporum (64 isolates), Fusarium solani (11 isolates), Fusarium proliferatum (2 isolates), Fusarium graminearum (2 isolates), Fusarium equiseti (1 isolate), Pythium aphanidermatum (6 isolates), Ascomycota sp. (2 isolates), and Plectosphaerella cucumerina (3 isolates). F. oxysporum accounted for 70.33% of the isolates obtained. In this case, using PCR-based methods for differentiation of F. oxysporum, we identified several formae speciales and races of F. oxysporum: 7 isolates were identified as F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici race 1, 2 isolates as F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici race 2, 35 isolates as F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici race 3, and 13 isolates as F. oxysporum f. sp. radicis-lycopersici. Pathogenicity tests revealed 55 isolates of tomato wilt and root rot pathogens to be virulent. This study demonstrated that F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici race 3 was the most widespread and highly virulent race among these tomato pathogens in China, followed by F. oxysporum f. sp. radicis-lycopersici. Therefore, the development of resistant varieties of tomato against F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici race 3 and F. oxysporum f. sp. radicis-lycopersici would aid efforts to develop effective disease management strategies.
Association Analysis Identifies New Loci for Resistance to Chinese Yr26-Virulent Races of the Stripe Rust Pathogen in a Diverse Panel of Wheat Germplasm
Authors: Wu Jianhui , Wang Xiaoting , Chen Nan , Yu Rui , Yu Shizhou , Wang Qilin , Huang Shuo , Wang Haiying , Singh Ravi P. , Bhavani Sridhar , Kang Zhensheng , Han Dejun , Zeng Qingdong
Published: January 2020

Stripe rust caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst) is one of the most destructive fungal diseases of wheat worldwide. The expanding Yr26-virulent Pst race (V26) group overcomes almost all currently deployed resistance genes in China and has continued to accumulate new virulence. Investigating the genetic architecture of stripe rust resistance in common wheat is an important basis for a successful utilization of resistance in breeding programs. A panel of 410 exotic wheat germplasms was used for characterizing new stripe rust resistance loci. This panel was genotyped using high-density wheat 660K single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array, and phenotypic evaluation of seedlings for stripe rust resistance was performed using multiple Pst races. Thirty-five loci conferring resistance were identified through genome-wide association mapping, and explained phenotypic variances ranged from 53 to 75%. Of these, 14 were colocated in the proximity of the known loci, including cataloged Yr genes Yr9, Yr10, Yr26, Yr33, Yr47, Yr56, Yr57, Yr64, Yr67, Yr72, and Yr81 and three temporarily designated as YrCen, YrNP63, and YrRC detected in our quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping studies. Seven of them (Yr9, Yr10, Yr24/26, Yr81, YrCEN, YrNP63, and YrRC) were confirmed by molecular detection or genetic analysis. New loci that were identified to be different from reported Yr genes need further confirmation. Nine QTL with significantly large phenotypic effect on resistance to all tested races were considered as major loci for effective resistance. The identified loci enrich our stripe rust resistance gene pool, and the linked SNPs should be useful for marker-assisted selection in breeding programs.
The seepage flow characteristics of hydrophobically associated polymers with different aggregation behaviours in porous media
Authors: Shi Leiting , Zhu Shijie , Ye Zhongbin , Zhang Jian , Xue Xinsheng , Zhao Wensen
Published: January 2020

The polymer solution for oil displacement is subjected to strong shear action in practical application, and this action will affect its percolation characteristics in porous media. The effects of mechanical shearing on the solution properties and seepage characteristics of modified hydrophobically associated polymers and dendrimers with two different aggregation behaviours were studied. The results showed that mechanical shearing did not affect hydrophobic microzones. Polymers can re-associate to restore part of the network structure, thereby improving shear resistance (dendritic hydrophobically associating polymers > hydrophobically modified partially hydrolysed polyacrylamide). Polymers with ‘cluster’ aggregation behaviour enhanced solution performance, enabling them to establish higher resistance coefficient (RF) and residual resistance factor (RRF) in porous media but also bringing about injection difficulties. Increasing the injection rate would increase the injection pressure, but the established RF and RRF showed a downward trend. Mechanical shear pretreatment effectively improved the injectability of the polymer. To achieve polymer injection and flow control, pre-shearing polymer solution and low-speed injection can be used in field applications.
Field assessment of behavioural responses of southern stingrays (
Hypanus americanus
) to acoustic stimuli
Authors: Mickle Megan F. , Pieniazek Rachel H. , Higgs Dennis M.
Published: January 2020

The ability of elasmobranchs to detect and use sound cues has been heavily debated in previous research and has only recently received revived attention. To properly understand the importance of sound to elasmobranchs, assessing their responses to acoustic stimuli in a field setting is vital. Here, we establish a behavioural audiogram of free-swimming male and female southern stingrays (
Hypanus americanus
) exposed to low-frequency tones. We demonstrate that female stingrays exposed to tones (50–500 Hz) exhibit significant changes in swimming behaviours (increased time spent swimming, decreased rest time, increased surface breaches and increased side swimming with pectoral flapping) at 140 dB re 1 µPa (−2.08 to −2.40 dB re 1 m s
−2
) while males exposed to the same tones did not exhibit a change in these behaviours until 160 dB re 1 µPa (−1.13 to −1.21 dB re 1 m s
−2
). Our results are the first demonstration of field responses to sound in the Batoidea and show a distinct sensitivity to low-frequency acoustic inputs.
The effect of precursor speciation on the growth of scorodite in an atmospheric scorodite synthesis
Authors: Rong Zhihao , Tang Xincun , Wu Liping , Chen Xi , Dang Wei , Li Xing , Huang Liuchun , Wang Yang
Published: January 2020

In this study, we propose a growth pathway of scorodite in an atmospheric scorodite synthesis. Scorodite is a non-direct product, which is derived from the transformation of its precursor. Different precursor speciation leads to different crystallinity and morphology of synthesized scorodite. At 10 and 20 g l
−1
initial arsenic concentration, the precursor of scorodite is identified as ferrihydrite. At 10 g l
−1
initial arsenic concentration, low arsenic concentration is unfavourable to the complex between arsenate and ferrihydrite, inhibiting the transformation of ferrihydrite into scorodite. The synthesized scorodite is 1–3 µm in size. At 20 g l
−1
initial arsenic concentration, higher arsenic concentration favours the complex between arsenate and ferrihydrite. The transformation process is accessible. Large scorodite in the particle size of 5–20 µm with excellent crystallinity is obtained. However, the increasing initial arsenic concentration is not always a positive force for the growth of scorodite. When initial arsenic concentration increases to 30 g l
−1
, Fe(O,OH)
6
octahedron preferentially connects to As(O,OH)
4
tetrahedron to form

Fe

H
2

As

O
4

2
+

or

FeHAs

O
4

+

ion. Fe–As complex ions accumulate in solution. Once the supersaturation exceeds the critical value, the Fe–As complex ions deprotonate and form poorly crystalline ferric arsenate. Even poorly crystalline ferric arsenate can also transform to crystalline scorodite, its transformation process is much slower than ferrihydrite. Therefore, incomplete developed scorodite with poor crystallinity is obtained.
Advances in smart roads for future smart cities
Authors: Toh Chai K. , Sanguesa Julio A. , Cano Juan C. , Martinez Francisco J.
Published: January 2020

Various countries throughout the world have started their efforts in designing and implementing smart cities. China alone has over 300 smart city projects, with strong participation by industries and government offices. India too have allocated trillions in budget to build over 100 smart cities. An essential part of a smart city is transport. In this paper, we will discuss the current state, developments, and some of the emerging advances in transportation technologies and how these advances in smart roads will prepare the society towards the realization of future smart cities.
Waves and vibrations in a finitely deformed electroelastic circular cylindrical tube
Authors: Dorfmann Luis , Ogden Ray W.
Published: January 2020

In two recent papers, conditions for which axisymmetric incremental bifurcation could arise for a circular cylindrical tube subject to axial extension and radial inflation in the presence of an axial load, internal pressure and a radial electric field were examined, the latter being effected by a potential difference between compliant electrodes on the inner and outer radial surfaces of the tube. The present paper takes this work further by considering the incremental deformations to be time-dependent. In particular, both the axisymmetric vibration of a tube of finite length with appropriate end conditions and the propagation of axisymmetric waves in a tube are investigated. General equations and boundary conditions governing the axisymmetric incremental motions are obtained and then, for purposes of numerical evaluation, specialized for a Gent electroelastic model. The resulting system of equations is solved numerically and the results highlight the dependence of the frequency of vibration and wave speed on the tube geometry, applied deformation and electrostatic potential. In particular, the bifurcation results obtained previously are recovered as a special case when the frequency vanishes. Specification of an incremental potential difference in the present work ensures that there is no incremental electric field exterior to the tube. Results are also illustrated for a neo-Hookean electroelastic model and compared with those previously obtained for the case in which no incremental potential difference (or charge) is specified and an external field is required.
Striking centennial-scale changes in the population size of a threatened seabird
Authors: Duda Matthew P. , Robertson Gregory J. , Lim Joeline E. , Kissinger Jennifer A. , Eickmeyer David C. , Grooms Christopher , Kimpe Linda E. , Montevecchi William A. , Michelutti Neal , Blais Jules M. , Smol John P.
Published: January 2020

Many animal populations are under stress and declining. For numerous marine bird species, only recent or sparse monitoring data are available, lacking the appropriate temporal perspective needed to consider natural, long-term population dynamics when developing conservation strategies. Here, we use a combination of established palaeoenvironmental approaches to examine the centennial-scale dynamics of the world's largest colony (representing approx. 50% of the global population) of the declining and vulnerable Leach's Storm-petrel (Hydrobates leucorhous). By reconstructing the last approximately 1700 years of the colony's population trends, we corroborate recent surveys indicating rapid declines since the 1980s. More surprisingly, however, was that the colony size was smaller and has changed strikingly in the past, even prior to the introduction of human stressors. Our results challenge notions that very large colonies are generally stable in the absence of anthropogenic pressures and speak to an increasingly pressing need to better understand inter-colony movement and recruitment when inferring range- and species-wide trends. While the recently documented decline in storm-petrels clearly warrants conservation concern, we show that colony size was consistently much lower in the past and changed markedly in the absence of major anthropogenic activity. In response, we emphasize the need for enlarged protected area networks to maintain natural population cycles, coupled with continued research to identify the driver(s) of the current global seabird decline.
The mere physical presence of another person reduces human autonomic responses to aversive sounds
Authors: Qi Yanyan , Herrmann Martin J. , Bell Luisa , Fackler Anna , Han Shihui , Deckert Jürgen , Hein Grit
Published: January 2020

Social animals show reduced physiological responses to aversive events if a conspecific is physically present. Although humans are innately social, it is unclear whether the mere physical presence of another person is sufficient to reduce human autonomic responses to aversive events. In our study, participants experienced aversive and neutral sounds alone (alone treatment) or with an unknown person that was physically present without providing active support. The present person was a member of the participants' ethnical group (ingroup treatment) or a different ethnical group (outgroup treatment), inspired by studies that have found an impact of similarity on social modulation effects. We measured skin conductance responses (SCRs) and collected subjective similarity and affect ratings. The mere presence of an ingroup or outgroup person significantly reduced SCRs to the aversive sounds compared with the alone condition, in particular in participants with high situational anxiety. Moreover, the effect was stronger if participants perceived the ingroup or outgroup person as dissimilar to themselves. Our results indicate that the mere presence of another person was sufficient to diminish autonomic responses to aversive events in humans, and thus verify the translational validity of basic social modulation effects across different species.
Altitudinal upwards shifts in fungal fruiting in the Alps
Authors: Diez Jeffrey , Kauserud Håvard , Andrew Carrie , Heegaard Einar , Krisai-Greilhuber Irmgard , Senn-Irlet Beatrice , Høiland Klaus , Egli Simon , Büntgen Ulf
Published: January 2020

Many plant and animal species are changing their latitudinal and/or altitudinal distributions in response to climate change, but whether fungi show similar changes is largely unknown. Here, we use historical fungal fruit body records from the European Alps to assess altitudinal changes in fungal fruiting between 1960 and 2010. We observe that many fungal species are fruiting at significantly higher elevations in 2010 compared to 1960, and especially so among soil-dwelling fungi. Wood-decay fungi, being dependent on the presence of one or a few host trees, show a slower response. Species growing at higher elevations changed their altitudinal fruiting patterns significantly more than lowland species. Environmental changes in high altitudes may lead to proportionally stronger responses, since high-altitude species live closer to their physiological limit. These aboveground changes in fruiting patterns probably mirror corresponding shifts in belowground fungal communities, suggesting parallel shifts in important ecosystem functions.
Phylogenomics and biogeography of the world's thrushes (Aves,Turdus): new evidence for a more parsimonious evolutionary history
Authors: Batista Romina , Olsson Urban , Andermann Tobias , Aleixo Alexandre , Ribas Camila Cherem , Antonelli Alexandre
Published: January 2020

To elucidate the relationships and spatial range evolution across the world of the bird genusTurdus(Aves), we produced a large genomic dataset comprisingca2 million nucleotides forca100 samples representing 53 species, including over 2000 loci. We estimated time-calibrated maximum-likelihood and multispecies coalescent phylogenies and carried out biogeographic analyses. Our results indicate that there have been considerably fewer trans-oceanic dispersals within the genusTurdusthan previously suggested, such that the Palaearctic clade did not originate in America and the African clade was not involved in the colonization of the Americas. Instead, our findings suggest that dispersal from the Western Palaearctic via the Antilles to the Neotropics might have occurred in a single event, giving rise to the rich Neotropical diversity ofTurdusobserved today, with no reverse dispersals to the Palaearctic or Africa. Our large multilocus dataset, combined with dense species-level sampling and analysed under probabilistic methods, brings important insights into historical biogeography and systematics, even in a scenario of fast and spatially complex diversification.
Financial opportunity costs and deaths among close kin are independently associated with reproductive timing in a contemporary high-income society
Authors: Berg V. , Lawson D. W. , Rotkirch A.
Published: January 2020

Evolutionary demography predicts that variation in reproductive timing stems from socio-ecologically contingent trade-offs between current and future reproduction. In contemporary high-income societies, the costs and benefits of current reproduction are likely to vary by socioeconomic status (SES). Two influential hypotheses, focusing on the parenthood ‘wage penalty’, and responses to local mortality have separately been proposed to influence the timing of parenthood. Economic costs of reproduction (i.e. income loss) are hypothesized to delay fertility, especially among high childhood SES individuals who experience greater opportunities to build capital through advantageous education and career opportunities. On the other hand, relatively low childhood SES individuals experience higher mortality risk, which may favour earlier reproduction. Here, we examine both hypotheses with a representative register-based, multigenerational dataset from contemporary Finland (N= 47 678). Consistent with each hypothesis, the predicted financial cost of early parenthood was smaller, and mortality among close kin was higher for individuals with lower childhood SES. Within the same dataset, lower predicted adulthood income and more kin deaths were also independently associated with earlier parenthood. Our results provide a robust demonstration of how economic costs and mortality relate to reproductive timing. We discuss the implications of our findings for demographic theory and public policy.
Extinction pulse at Eocene–Oligocene boundary drives diversification dynamics of two Australian temperate floras
Authors: Nge Francis J. , Biffin Ed , Thiele Kevin R. , Waycott Michelle
Published: January 2020

The diversification dynamics of the Australian temperate flora remains poorly understood. Here, we investigate whether differences in plant richness in the southwest Australian (SWA) biodiversity hotspot and southeast Australian (SEA) regions of the Australian continent can be attributed to higher net diversification, more time for species accumulation, or both. We assembled dated molecular phylogenies for the 21 most species-rich flowering plant families found across mesic temperate Australia, encompassing both SWA and SEA regions, and applied a series of diversification models to investigate responses across different groups and timescales. We show that the high richness in SWA can be attributed to a higher net rate of lineage diversification and more time for species accumulation. Different pulses of diversification were retrieved in each region. A decrease in diversification rate across major flowering plant lineages at the Eocene–Oligocene boundary (ca34 Ma) was witnessed in SEA but not in SWA. Our study demonstrates the importance of historical diversification pulses and differential responses to global events as drivers of present-day diversity. More broadly, we show that diversity within the SWA biodiversity hotspot is not only the result of recent radiations, but also reflects older events over the history of this planet.
A newly identified trigeminal brain pathway in a night-migratory bird could be dedicated to transmitting magnetic map information
Authors: Kobylkov Dmitry , Schwarze Susanne , Michalik Bianca , Winklhofer Michael , Mouritsen Henrik , Heyers Dominik
Published: January 2020

Night-migratory songbirds can use geomagnetic information to navigate over thousands of kilometres with great precision. A crucial part of the magnetic ‘map’ information used by night-migratory songbirds is conveyed via the ophthalmic branches of the trigeminal nerves to the trigeminal brainstem complex, where magnetic-driven neuronal activation has been observed. However, it is not known how this information reaches the forebrain for further processing. Here, we show that the magnetically activated region in the trigeminal brainstem of migratory Eurasian blackcaps (
Sylvia atricapilla
) represents a morphologically distinctive neuronal population with an exclusive and previously undescribed projection to the telencephalic frontal nidopallium. This projection is clearly different from the known trigeminal somatosensory pathway that we also confirmed both by neuronal tracing and by a thorough morphometric analysis of projecting neurons. The new pathway we identified here represents part of a brain circuit that—based on the known nidopallial connectivities in birds—could potentially transmit magnetic ‘map’ information to key multisensory integration centres in the brain known to be critically involved in spatial memory formation, cognition and/or controlling executive behaviour, such as navigation, in birds.
No support for the adaptive hypothesis of lagging-strand encoding in bacterial genomes
Authors: Liu Haoxuan , Zhang Jianzhi
Published: January 2020

Genes are preferentially encoded on the leading instead of the lagging strand of DNA replication in most bacterial genomes1. This bias likely results from selection against lagging-strand encoding, which can cause head-on collisions between DNA polymerases and RNA polymerases that induce transcriptional abortion, replication delay, and possibly mutagenesis1. But there are still genes encoded on the lagging strand, an observation that has been explained by a balance between deleterious mutations bringing genes from the leading to the lagging strand and purifying selection purging such mutations2. This mutation-selection balance hypothesis predicts that the probability that a gene is encoded on the lagging strand decreases with the detriment of its lagging-strand encoding relative to leading-strand encoding, explaining why highly expressed genes and essential genes are underrepresented on the lagging strand3,4. In a recent study, Merrikh and Merrikh proposed that the observed lagging-strand encoding is adaptive instead of detrimental, due to beneficial mutations brought by the potentially increased mutagenesis resulting from head-on collisions5. They reported empirical observations from comparative genomics that were purported to support their hypothesis5. Here we point out methodological flaws and errors in their analyses and logical problems of their interpretation. Our reanalysis of their data finds no evidence for the adaptive hypothesis.
Tumor Mutational Burden Predicts Survival In Patients With Low Grade Gliomas Expressing Mutated IDH1
Authors: Alghamri Mahmoud S , Thalla Rohit , Avvari Ruthvik , Dabaja Ali , Taher Ayman , Zhao Lili , Castro Maria G , Lowenstein Pedro R
Published: January 2020

Gliomas are the most common primary brain tumors. High Grade Gliomas have a median survival of 18 months, while Low Grade Gliomas (LGG) have a median survival of ∼7.3 years. Seventy-six percent of patients with LGG express mutated isocitrate dehydrogenase (mIDH1) enzyme (IDH1R132H). Survival of these patients ranges from 1-15 years, and tumor mutational burden ranges from 8 to 447 total somatic mutations per tumor. We tested the hypothesis that the tumor mutational burden would predict survival of patients with tumors bearing mIDH1R132H. We analyzed the effect of tumor mutational burden on patients’ survival using clinical and genomic data of 1199 glioma patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas and validated our results using the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas. High tumor mutational burden negatively correlates with survival of patients with LGG harboring IDH1R132H (p<0.0001). This effect was significant for both Oligodendroglioma and Astrocytoma LGG-mIDH1 patients. In the TCGA data, median survival of the high mutational burden group was 76 months, while in the low mutational burden group it was 136 months; p<0.0001. There was no differential representation of frequently mutated genes (e.g., TP53, ATRX, CIC, FUBP) in either group. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed an enrichment in Gene Ontologies related to Cell cycle, DNA damage response in high vs low tumor mutational burden. Finally, we identified a 19 gene signature that predicts survival for patients from both databases. In summary, we demonstrate that tumor mutational burden is a powerful, robust, and clinically relevant prognostic factor of median survival in mIDH1 patients.
Head Movements Control the Activity of Primary Visual Cortex in a Luminance Dependent Manner
Authors: Bouvier Guy , Senzai Yuta , Scanziani Massimo
Published: January 2020

The vestibular system broadcasts head-movement related signals to sensory areas throughout the brain, including visual cortex. These signals are crucial for the brain’s ability to assess whether motion of the visual scene results from the animal’s head-movements. How head-movements impact visual cortical circuits remains, however, poorly understood. Here, we discover that ambient luminance profoundly transforms how mouse primary visual cortex (V1) processes head-movements. While in darkness, head movements result in an overall suppression of neuronal activity, in ambient light the same head movements trigger excitation across all cortical layers. This light-dependent switch in how V1 processes head-movements is controlled by somatostatin expressing (SOM) inhibitory neurons, which are excited by head movements in dark but not in light. This study thus reveals a light-dependent switch in the response of V1 to head-movements and identifies a circuit in which SOM cells are key integrators of vestibular and luminance signals.