bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Gender and professional identity in three institutional settings in Brazil
Authors: Ostermann Ana Cristina , Costa Caroline Comunello da
Published: February 2015

The current study looks at the construction of professional identity and its relations with gender, by analyzing the discursive practices of a unique set of contrasting groups, i.e. three parallel institutions created to address violence against women in Brazil: An all female police station and two crisis intervention centers – one run by feminists professionals and the other run by lay women from a working class community. In particular, the study investigates how the professionals in each setting respond to self and other assessments made by the female victims of violence.
“…because I’m just a stupid woman from an ngo”: Interviews and the interplay between constructions of gender and professional identity
Authors: Miglbauer Marlene
Published: February 2015

Over the last decade, using interviews to analyse identity construction has been gaining in popularity (de Fina 2003; Johnson 2006; Baynham 2011) and, given this interest, analysing identities has become a much debated issue that is being approached from various angles. Regarding interviews as interaction between the interviewee and interviewer, and stories in the interviews as emerging from interactional dynamics (de Fina 2009), this paper draws attention to the emergence of identity at different levels. First, identities emerge at the level of the interview narrative, which is ongoing talk as it evolves in real time and consists of reporting facts, giving opinions on, and explaining aspects of, various topics to the interviewer. Second, identities emerge in stories which are included in the ongoing talk. Stories refer to actions in the past, usually told in chronological order. In contrast to interview narratives which are initiated by the interviewer, stories in interviews are primarily instigated by the interviewees to further support their identity co-construction in the interview setting. The interview setting is thus the third level of identity construction in interviews.

By applying the framework of identities occurring at different levels in interviews and Positioning Theory (Harré and van Langenhove 1999), this paper analyses the construction of professional gender identities in the workplace, the interplay between these identities, and the dependence of these constructions on the ‘interview as context’. The stories themselves reveal how, in the workplace, there may be a conflict between professional and gender identities. More specifically such stories make visible the way in which interviewees construct their professional identities in order to resist gender identities that are projected onto them.
Smoothing the rough edges
Authors: Abdi Reza
Published: February 2015

Disclaimers are generally defined as devices employed to ward off and defeat doubts and negative typifications which may result from intended conduct (Hewitt & Stokes 1975). In academic prose, writers also take advantage of disclaimers to remove any probable infelicities that could occur as a result of their research or language choices in an attempt to promote the precision and persuasive power of their text. In order to develop a clearer understanding of disclaiming in research articles (RAs), a sample of 120 RAs was selected to identify and discuss different types of disclaimers. The qualitative analysis of the corpus led to introduce six disjunctive types of disclaimers employed by writers of RAs: overt vs. covert, excluder vs. includer, internal vs. external, antecedent vs. subsequent, warning vs. clarification, and local vs. global. Each has been discussed with reference to authentic examples from various journals. Furthermore, a list of formal varieties is developed along with an opinion of what they typically target and where they tend to occur. The paper concludes with a definition of disclaimers in RAs.
Compliment strategies and regional variation in French
Authors: Farenkia Bernard Mulo
Published: February 2015

The present study examines differences and similarities in the realization of compliments (on skills) in Cameroon and Canadian French. The data were collected by means of discourse completion tasks (DCT) administered to 55 participants in Yaoundé (Cameroon) and 39 respondents in Montréal (Canada). The 277 compliments obtained were analyzed according to the following three aspects: a) head act strategies (direct and indirect compliments), b) lexico-semantic and syntactic features of complimentary utterances, and c) external modification. With regard to head act strategies, the results show a preference for double head acts by the Cameroonian participants, while the Canadians more frequently employed single head acts. It was also found that indirect realizations of head acts occurred only in the Cameroonian data. Positive evaluation markers (e.g. adjectives, adverbs, verbs) and syntactic devices appearing in the compliments varied in type and frequency in the two varieties of French under investigation. The analysis of external modifications reveals that participants of both groups used many speech acts to externally modify their compliments. Overall, interjections, address forms, greetings, self-introductions and apologies were used as pre-compliments, with some speech acts, namely greetings and self-introductions, occurring only in the Cameroonian data.
Ethnicity and codeswitching
Authors: Stell Gerald
Published: February 2015

This article aims to compare three distinct grammatical and conversational patterns of code-switching, which it tentatively links to three different South African ethnoracial labels: White, Coloured and Black. It forms a continuation of a previous article in which correlations were established between Afrikaans-English code-switching patterns and White and Coloured ethnicities. The typological framework used is derived from Muysken, and the hypotheses are based on his predictions as to which type of grammatical CS (i.e. insertional, alternational, congruent lexicalisation) will dominate in which linguistic and sociolinguistic settings. Apart from strengthening the idea of a correlation between patterns of language variation and ethnicity in general, the article explores the theoretical possibility of specific social factors overriding linguistic constraints in determining the grammatical form of CS patterns. In this regard, it will be shown that – on account of specific social factors underlying ethnicity – CS between two typologically unrelated languages, namely Sesotho and English, can exhibit more marks of congruent lexicalization than CS between two typologically related languages, namely Afrikaans and English, while – from the point of view of linguistic constraints – insertional/alternational CS would be expected in the former language pair and congruent lexicalization in the latter. That finding will be placed against the background of different pragmatic norms regulating the conversational use of CS within the Black Sesotho-speaking community (which we will describe as ‘language mixing’ in Auer’s sense) and within the Afrikaans speech community (which in the case of Whites we will describe as tending more towards ‘language alternation’ in Auer’s sense, and in the case of Coloureds as occupying an intermediate position between language alternation and language mixing). The summary of findings on grammatical and conversational CS patterns across ethnic samples will finally be placed against the background of ethnicity and its specific definition in the South African context.
Performing bilingualism in Wales
Authors: Musk Nigel
Published: February 2015

This article examines Welsh young people’s “performance” and construction of their bilingualism with the help of empirically grounded conversation analysis (CA) and performativity theory grounded in poststructuralism. Some of the incompatibilities, particularly conversation analysts’ narrow conception of context are resolved with reference to dialogical theory. It is argued with the help of video-recorded empirical data that a fine-grained analysis using CA is able to trace the emergence of varying bilingual identities as well as the negotiation of meaning in situ. To take the analysis beyond single situated actions, however, it is argued that we need recourse to the broader situation-transcending constructs offered, for example, by dialogical and performativity theory.
Operators managing callers’ sense of urgency in calls to the medical emergency number
Authors: Paoletti Isabella
Published: February 2015

Communication in emergency calls is often agitated and callers almost always speak with a sense of urgency. Call operators often have to struggle in order to get the callers’ cooperation. The questioning sequence is often perceived by callers as inappropriate and a way of delaying assistance, frequently producing annoyance and anger in the caller. Interrupted calls are not uncommon in communications with the call centre, nor are cursing, rudeness and face attacks. The focus of previous studies on emotional work in emergency calls has mainly been devoted to communication problems and the consequences these had on the provision of assistance. This paper aims to focus specifically on how operators manage callers’ anxiety and sense of urgency and the emotions tied to this, such as anger. Transcripts of actual emergency calls are examined through a detailed discourse analysis in order to show operators’ interactional work in maintaining emotional contact with callers. The ability of the operators to control their own emotions and manage those of the caller is an important professional skills in this job. Describing how emotional contact with callers is maintained in actual calls can be useful for training and in-service courses.
Strategic use of nouns and pronouns in public discourse
Authors: Ho Victor
Published: February 2015

This paper discusses how the first person pronouns ‘I’ and ‘We’ and the two proper nouns ‘the Education Bureau [EDB]’ and ‘the Government’ were used strategically by government officials in an attempt to delineate the level of involvement and commitment of the officials themselves, the EDB and the Hong Kong Government in the course of implementing and fine-tuning the medium-of-instruction policy in Hong Kong’s secondary schools. The data comprises the speeches delivered at various formal educational occasions and the documents issued and distributed to various stakeholders of the secondary education in Hong Kong. The clauses having these pronouns and proper nouns as either the Agent or Beneficiary were identified and examined in order to find out: (1) the level of commitment of the officials/administrative entities with reference to the process types used; (2) the level of commitment of these officials/administrative entities with reference to the modality level chosen; (3) the power status of the officials/administrative entities; and (4) the specific role, if any, played by the officials/administrative entities. Systemic functional grammar was the framework being drawn upon in undertaking the analysis.
Connection and emotion
Authors: Suzuki Satoko
Published: February 2015

This paper looks at the phenomenon of extensive clause combining in written Japanese discourse. Extensive clause combining, in which multiple clauses are combined to make an extremely long sentence, is usually associated with spoken discourse. However, some contemporary writers use it in their writing along with other features of spoken language. By examining novels targeting young adult readers, I observe that writers are using sentences with extensively combined clauses to describe a lengthy process in which each step is closely connected to another. Interconnectedness is expressed iconically with chained clauses. Writers may also use sentences with extensively combined clauses to convey heightened emotion. Successive chaining of clauses is appropriate for presenting continuous thoughts/emotions appearing in an unorganized manner.
The strategic value of pronominal choice
Authors: Vertommen Bram
Published: February 2015

This study explores the use of the first person plural pronoun “we/wij” by government and opposition party members in panel debates from the Flemish talk show De Zevende Dag. Both groups of politicians enter this arena with divergent communicative goals, which has clear implications (i) for the type of propositions in which subclasses of “we/wij”-pronouns are generally involved and (ii) for the politicians’ assessment of the status of these propositions. Patterns with regard to these three implications are analyzed by means of a systemic functional approach supported with quantitative data. It is claimed that government and opposition party discussants either employ distinct patterns in accordance with their different aims, or that they use similar ones, albeit with divergent discourse functions. The former scenario turns out to be true in the case of exclusive uses of “we/wij” and the latter in the case of inclusive meanings. In that way, the paper sheds light on subtle differences in how government and opposition party discussants argue and deal with the invisible presence of an overhearing broadcast audience.
Imperatives and commitments in Romanian academic meeting interactions
Authors: Velea Adina Ioana
Published: February 2015

Romanian imperatives may include different constructions that do not necessarily entail an imperative verb, such as the subjunctive and the indicative mood, interjections or elliptical formats. This study focuses on the ‘bare’ imperative turns-at-talk by applying the methodology of conversation analysis on a corpus consisting of naturally occurring academic meeting interactions. It shows how the imperative expresses actions that display no contingency or difficulty in managing them due to the existence of mainly prior explicit commitments (suggestions, proposals, agreements, previous allocated tasks) that entitle the speakers to use the imperative form in order to direct their recipients. Moreover, it shows how the turn including an imperative verb may also represent a simultaneous commitment, more explicitly an offer that accounts for the lack of contingencies and makes relevant the use of the imperative form within the context of Romanian academic meeting interactions.
Su(m)imasen and gomen nasai
Authors: Sandu Roxana
Published: February 2015

Previous research on Japanese apologies has presented us with a somewhat static approach, connecting one linguistic form to one aspect of the social context. However, interaction itself is a dynamic and spontaneous process; consequently, apology expressions’ meanings are situated and negotiated in the place of interaction. Therefore, in this study, shifts from gomen to su(m)imasen and gomen nasai, and from su(m)imasen to gomen nasai, were analyzed in order to demonstrate that Japanese apologies function as indexical signs of emotional expression. To this end, data was collected from Japanese television dramas, where the ongoing development of the relationships protagonists were involved in was chronologically observed. Using as analytical concepts, (1) the social context of an interaction, (2) the selves participants impersonate, and (3) the speech styles the interactions occur in, to explain situated variation in the use of apology expressions, the current study revealed new meanings an apology carries in a situated context and also reinforced some of the previous research findings.
Text and contextual information retrieval
Authors: Kolaiti Patricia
Published: February 2015

This paper argues for a pragmatically based reconsideration of cohesion-based approaches to information retrieval during comprehension, suggesting that a Relevance-based approach is preferable on both descriptive and explanatory grounds. It outlines a number of descriptive and explanatory problems dating back to Halliday and Hasan’s (1976, 1985; Hasan 1984) early view of cohesion, which seem to call for pragmatic solutions, and argues thatinterpretively usedandechoicutterances raise serious questions as to the text-constitutive potential of cohesion. It goes on to discuss a number of cases that seem to pose problems for purely cohesion-based approaches but are straightforwardly explained by the Relevance-Theoretic account.
The alternation ofdesu/-masuwith plain form speech and the constitution of social class in Japanese high school English lessons
Authors: Meacham Sarah S.
Published: February 2015

This article explores the alternation of honorific language (desu/-masu) and plain form language within English language lessons in Japanese high schools. It argues that, within such educational contexts, alternation of these different ways of speaking are perspective-shifting routines, to which their indexical meanings are related. I suggest that in a liberal arts high school, the alternation of forms amounts to an analytical practice within whichdesu/-masuhighlights abstract knowledge and plain form frames participants’ involvement in imaginary event situations within which the contingent use of English can be theorized. In contrast, in a technical high school, the alternation of forms amounts to an identity problematizing practice, in whichdesu/-masuindexes a speaker’s intrapersonal distance from typical “school-like” roles and activities, and plain form indexes an authentic, Japanese insider identity in the face of learning English. These different perspective-taking routines socialize very different relationships between self and school, and, in particular, between self and resources such as second language proficiency, and are thus an arena for the reproduction of social class distinctions.
The role of pragmatic function in the grammaticalization of English general extenders
Authors: Overstreet Maryann
Published: February 2015

In a number of recent studies, developments in the structure of English general extenders (e.g. and stuff (like that), or something (like that)) have been investigated from the perspective of grammaticalization. These developments have mostly been described in terms of formal changes as a result of processes identified as morphosyntactic reanalysis, phonological attrition and decategorialization. In this study, I first describe the impact of these changes on the structure of general extenders, confirming the usefulness of the basic grammaticalization framework as a way of accounting for developments in linguistic expressions (such as discourse markers or pragmatic markers) that are not considered to be grammatical markers in the traditional sense. I then use a more recent version of the grammaticalization framework to investigate the extent to which general extenders have developed meanings that can be described as subjective (speaker-oriented) and intersubjective (addressee-oriented). In this development, general extenders have come to be used as hedges on expectations of informativeness and accuracy, primarily involving subjective meanings, and as indicators of positive and negative politeness strategies, which carry intersubjective meanings. In this analysis, pragmatic functions are shown to have a significant role in the linguistic changes associated with grammaticalization.
Grammar and context in Functional Discourse Grammar
Authors: Hengeveld Kees , Mackenzie J. Lachlan
Published: February 2015

This article presents a proposal for the organization of the Contextual Component in Functional Discourse Grammar. A guiding principle in this proposal is that, given the fact that Functional Discourse Grammar is a theory of grammar, the Contextual Component should provide the information that is necessary for a proper functioning of the grammar rather than aim at an exhaustive specification of all the information that plays a role in interpreting linguistic expressions. The Contextual Component contains situational and discursive information and is organized in different strata that correspond to the interpersonal, representational, morphosyntactic, and phonological levels of representation within the grammar. The contextual representations make use of the same formalizations as the corresponding linguistic representations, thus allowing for direct exchange of information between the Grammatical and the Contextual Components. Thus exchange of information is handled by an interface called thecontextualizer. The article illustrates the functioning of this model by analyzing the role of contextual information with respect to three grammatical phenomena in three different languages: Unexpressed arguments in Turkish, Englishtoo, and answers to yes/no questions in European Portuguese.
The Contextual Component within a dynamic implementation of the FDG model
Authors: Connolly John H.
Published: February 2015

The central issue addressed in this paper concerns the design of an appropriate contextual framework to support a dynamic implementation of FDG. The first part of the paper is concerned with the internal structure of the contextual framework. A particular hierarchical structure for the analysis and description of context, articulated in Connolly (2007a) and termed the Extended Model of Context (EMC), is presented as the starting-point. Alternative frameworks are considered, but all are found to have shortcomings. However, the original version of the EMC has also received some criticism. Consequently, a revised model of the EMC is proposed, in which the treatment of context is enhanced, and which is appropriate to a dynamic implementation of FDG. The application of the revised EMC not only to the grammatical model, but also to a broader discourse model, is also discussed. The next part of the paper is concerned with the interaction between the EMC and the FDG Grammatical and Conceptual Components. It is contended that all of the main types of context recognised within the EMC have a significant effect upon grammar. However, the only way in which contextual factors may directly influence the production and interpretation of discourse is through their presence in the minds of the discourse-participants. Consequently, the Conceptual Component plays a vital, mediating role in the handling of interactions between the EMC and the Grammatical Component. This point is particularly salient when considering a dynamic implementation, in which the flow of information around the model is of crucial importance. It is contended that this flow is essentially cyclic in nature.
Searching for motivations for grammatical patternings
Authors: Helasvuo Marja-Liisa
Published: February 2015

In this article I analyze subject expression in conversational Finnish, identifying the home environments for zero and pronominal subjects in the 1st and 2nd person singular. Based on a syntactically coded database, I show that there is a clear preference, in both 1st and 2nd person, for pronominal subjects over zeros; in other words, double-marking is preferred over single-marking. This clearly contravenes the general preference for minimization or economy in person reference in conversation, as suggested by Sacks and Schegloff (1979) and Levinson (2007; see also Hacohen and Schegloff 2006). The home environments for zero and pronominal subjects are analyzed in terms of the micro-level social actions performed by participants, in order to find motivations for the choice of the form of subject. The analysis of the Finnish data shows that the choice between zero vs. pronominal subject is sensitive to features in the sequential context. It affects turn projection. The article shows that a systematic analysis of the data can provide important insights regarding global patterns. The deeper motivations that lie behind these patternings, however, cannot be understood without close microanalysis of the local contexts of subject expression.
A multimodal analysis of compliment sequences in everyday English interactions
Authors: Keisanen Tiina , Kärkkäinen Elise
Published: February 2015

This study offers a multimodal analysis of turns in everyday English interactions that are used for making compliments, i.e. for positively evaluating the appearance, personal qualities or actions of (a) co-present participant(s) in the present situation. We first identify the most frequent linguistic formats recurrently occurring in compliments in our data. We then focus on the sequential interactional analysis of compliment sequences, i.e. the production of the compliment and the response it receives. While a range of bodily-visual displays and prosodic features can be identified as co-constructing compliment activity, we argue that gaze direction has a specific role in the production of both compliments and their responses. The data come from a database of approximately 8 hours of video–recorded casual face-to-face conversations in English. The study employs the methodology of conversation analysis, maintaining that social interaction in face-to-face conversations is a multimodal achievement, where participants’ use of language, embodied actions and material objects are variously combined to build coherent courses of action (Goodwin 2000). The aim of the study is to provide a description of how embodied actions enter into the design of social action formats for compliments.
You didn’t build that. a relevance-theoretic approach to President Obama’s campaign flub
Authors: Zakowski Samuely
Published: February 2015

During the 2012 U.S. Presidential campaign, President Obama turned some heads by stating “If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that”. His opponents argued that this was an attack on private enterprise (with “that” referring to business), while his supporters and fact-checking organizations maintained that “that” referred to what Obama was talking about previously (U.S. infrastructure) and represented his political-economic plan of an increased interlacing of private business with government investment. I argue, from a relevance-theoretic perspective, that both interpretations follow from differing contextual assumptions on the part of the audience. In this sense, the role of contextual assumptions in utterance interpretation is highlighted – different contextual assumptions lead to different cognitive effects if the utterance leaves room for more than one interpretation. Combined with a highly polarized U.S. political arena, where participants pounce on their opponent’s every possible miscue, all the ingredients for misunderstanding are present.
Register and the redemption of relevance theory
Authors: Goatly Andrew
Published: February 2015

The argument I wish to advance in this paper is that Gricean theory (Grice 1968, 1969, 1975, 1978, 1981) and, in particular, the potentially useful relevance theory which developed from it (Sperber & Wilson 1986), are flawed through their failure to consider cultural and social context; but that attempts to relate linguistic pragmatics to more socially-conscious models of language use, such as register/genre theory (Ure and Ellis 1977; Halliday 1978; Gregory and Carroll 1978; Ghadessy 1988, 1993; Swales 1988; Martin 1985, 1992 etc.) may produce interesting cross-fertilization and be beneficial to both.

This essay falls into three sections. The first is a brief introductory critique of Grice's theory as an asocial idealized construct. The second section brings relevance theory and genre/register theory face to face and under the spotlight, hoping to reveal the weaknesses of each and show how, theoretically, they could compensate for and complement each other. In the third section I consider the case of metaphor, arguing that and demonstrating how the account of metaphor provided in Relevance: Communication and Cognition can be supplemented in practice by considering the kinds of register/genre in which metaphors find expression.
Cohesion strategies and genre in expository prose: An analysis of the writing of children of ethnolinguistic cultural groups
Authors: Abadiano Helen R.
Published: February 2015

In most societies the ability to write has become a significant criterion in judging one's "success or "failure" in becoming literate. This paper focuses on the classroom literacy practice called "writing," inasmuch as learning to write in a specific kind of way is part and parcel of children's literacy learning expectations. It is based on a study which examined cohesion patterns found in expository writing samples of sixth grade urban African American, urban Appalachian, and mainstream culture children attending a middle school in a large midwestern urban school system in the United States. This paper challenges the prevailing notion that ethnicity, social class and language variation influence the quality of writing these children produce.
Grammatical Pragmatics
Authors: Obeng Samuel Gyasi
Published: February 2015

This paper explores some pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic aspects of the Akan (Ghana, West Africa) native court judicial discourse. It is argued that court officials and litigants use specific content and functional words, idioms and other implicit expressions, as well as phonetic resources like mezzoforte and pianissimo loudness to express power, politeness and a range of attitudes and relationships such as distancing, anger, closeness, and politeness phenomena. Finally, the paper demonstrates that some judicial communication strategies employed by the interactional participants to indicate power in the native courts, may also be found in ordinary Akan conversation.
PKCι interacts with Rab14 and modulates epithelial barrier function through regulation of claudin-2 levels
Authors: Lu Ruifeng , Dalgalan Dogukan , Mandell Edward K. , Parker Sara S. , Ghosh Sourav , Wilson Jean M.
Published: February 2015

PKCι is essential for the establishment of epithelial polarity and the normal assembly of tight junctions. We find that PKCι knockdown does not compromise the steady-state distribution of most tight junction proteins but results in increased transepithelial resistance (TER) and decreased paracellular permeability. Analysis of the levels of tight junction components demonstrates that claudin-2 protein levels are decreased. However, other tight junction proteins, such as claudin-1, ZO-1, and occludin, are unchanged. Incubation with an aPKC pseudosubstrate recapitulates the phenotype of PKCι knockdown, including increased TER and decreased levels of claudin-2. In addition, overexpression of PKCι results in increased claudin-2 levels. ELISA and coimmunoprecipitation show that the TGN/endosomal small GTPase Rab14 and PKCι interact directly. Immunolabeling shows that PKCι and Rab14 colocalize in both intracellular puncta and at the plasma membrane and that Rab14 expression is required for normal PKCι distribution in cysts in 3D culture. We showed previously that knockdown of Rab14 results in increased TER and decreased claudin-2. Our results suggest that Rab14 and aPKC interact to regulate trafficking of claudin-2 out of the lysosome-directed pathway.
Aryl hydantoin Ro 13-3978, a broad-spectrum antischistosomal
Authors: Keiser Jennifer , Panic Gordana , Vargas Mireille , Wang Chunkai , Dong Yuxiang , Gautam Nagsen , Vennerstrom Jonathan L.
Published: February 2015

Objectives

Praziquantel is the only drug available for the treatment of schistosomiasis and the state of the exhausted drug discovery pipeline is alarming. We restarted investigations on the abandoned antischistosomal Ro 13-3978, an aryl hydantoin discovered in the early 1980s by Hoffmann La-Roche.

Methods

Newly transformed schistosomula and adult Schistosoma mansoni were studied in the presence of Ro 13-3978 in vitro. The metabolic stability of Ro 13-3978 was determined in vitro using human and mouse liver S9 fractions. Dose–response relationship, stage specificity, hepatic shift and scanning electron microscopy studies were carried out in S. mansoni-infected mice. In addition, efficacy experiments were conducted in rodents infected with Echinostoma caproni and Fasciola hepatica as well as in S. mansoni-infected immunocompromised nude (Foxn1nu) mice.

Results

Ro 13-3978 showed minor in vitro activity and no damage to the tegument was found. No cytotoxicity was detected for Ro 13-3978. Ro 13-3978 was metabolically stable. ED50 values of 138.9 and 14.6 mg/kg were calculated for the treatment of juvenile and adult S. mansoni infections, respectively, with a single oral dose of Ro 13-3978. SEM studies revealed severe damage to the worms 48 h post-treatment of infected mice. A single oral dose of Ro 13-3978 (100 mg/kg) administered to S. mansoni-infected (Foxn1nu) mice reduced the worm burden by 88%. Ro 13-3978 was not active against E. caproni and F. hepatica in vivo.

Conclusions

Ro 13-3978 has excellent antischistosomal properties in vivo. Structure–activity relationship studies with the aryl hydantoins have been launched in order to elucidate active pharmacophores, further investigate the mechanism of action and to identify a derivative with minimal antiandrogenic effects.
The revival of a so-called rotten fish: the ontogeny of the Devonian acanthodian
Triazeugacanthus
Authors: Chevrinais Marion , Cloutier Richard , Sire Jean-Yves
Published: February 2015

Since its original description as a chordate, the Late Devonian
Scaumenella mesacanthi
has been interpreted alternately as a prochordate, a larval ostracoderm and an immature acanthodian. For the past 30 years, these minute specimens were generally considered as decayed acanthodians, most of them belonging to
Triazeugacanthus affinis.
Among the abundant material of ‘
Scaumenella
’, we identified a size series of 188 specimens of
Triazeugacanthus
based on otolith characteristics. Despite taphonomic alteration, we describe proportional growth and progressive appearance of skeletal elements through size increase. Three ontogenetic stages are identified based on squamation extent, ossification completion and allometric growth. We demonstrate that what has been interpreted previously as various degrees of decomposition corresponds to ontogenetic changes.
Heat kernel asymptotic expansions for the Heisenberg sub-Laplacian and the Grushin operator
Authors: Chang Der-Chen , Li Yutian
Published: February 2015

The sub-Laplacian on the Heisenberg group and the Grushin operator are typical examples of sub-elliptic operators. Their heat kernels are both given in the form of Laplace-type integrals. By using Laplace's method, the method of stationary phase and the method of steepest descent, we derive the small-time asymptotic expansions for these heat kernels, which are related to the geodesic structure of the induced geometries.
Climate and fishing steer ecosystem regeneration to uncertain economic futures
Authors: Blenckner Thorsten , Llope Marcos , Möllmann Christian , Voss Rudi , Quaas Martin F. , Casini Michele , Lindegren Martin , Folke Carl , Chr. Stenseth Nils
Published: February 2015

Overfishing of large predatory fish populations has resulted in lasting restructurings of entire marine food webs worldwide, with serious socio-economic consequences. Fortunately, some degraded ecosystems show signs of recovery. A key challenge for ecosystem management is to anticipate the degree to which recovery is possible. By applying a statistical food-web model, using the Baltic Sea as a case study, we show that under current temperature and salinity conditions, complete recovery of this heavily altered ecosystem will be impossible. Instead, the ecosystem regenerates towards a new ecological baseline. This new baseline is characterized by lower and more variable biomass of cod, the commercially most important fish stock in the Baltic Sea, even under very low exploitation pressure. Furthermore, a socio-economic assessment shows that this signal is amplified at the level of societal costs, owing to increased uncertainty in biomass and reduced consumer surplus. Specifically, the combined economic losses amount to approximately 120 million € per year, which equals half of today's maximum economic yield for the Baltic cod fishery. Our analyses suggest that shifts in ecological and economic baselines can lead to higher economic uncertainty and costs for exploited ecosystems, in particular, under climate change.
Side-by-side secretion of Late Palaeozoic diverged courtship pheromones in an aquatic salamander
Authors: Van Bocxlaer Ines , Treer Dag , Maex Margo , Vandebergh Wim , Janssenswillen Sunita , Stegen Gwij , Kok Philippe , Willaert Bert , Matthijs Severine , Martens Erik , Mortier Anneleen , de Greve Henri , Proost Paul , Bossuyt Franky
Published: February 2015

Males of the advanced salamanders (Salamandroidea) attain internal fertilization without a copulatory organ by depositing a spermatophore on the substrate in the environment, which females subsequently take up with their cloaca. The aquatically reproducing modern Eurasian newts (Salamandridae) have taken this to extremes, because most species do not display close physical contact during courtship, but instead largely rely on females following the male track at spermatophore deposition. Although pheromones have been widely assumed to represent an important aspect of male courtship, molecules able to induce the female following behaviour that is the prelude for successful insemination have not yet been identified. Here, we show that uncleaved sodefrin precursor-like factor (SPF) protein pheromones are sufficient to elicit such behaviour in female palmate newts (
Lissotriton helveticus
). Combined transcriptomic and proteomic evidence shows that males simultaneously tail-fan multiple
ca
20 kDa glycosylated SPF proteins during courtship. Notably, molecular dating estimates show that the diversification of these proteins already started in the late Palaeozoic, about 300 million years ago. Our study thus not only extends the use of uncleaved SPF proteins outside terrestrially reproducing plethodontid salamanders, but also reveals one of the oldest vertebrate pheromone systems.
Dynamics of pre- and post-choice behaviour: rats approximate optimal strategy in a discrete-trial decision task
Authors: Fam Justine , Westbrook Fred , Arabzadeh Ehsan
Published: February 2015

We simulate two types of environments to investigate how closely rats approximate optimal foraging. Rats initiated a trial where they chose between two spouts for sucrose, which was delivered at distinct probabilities. The discrete trial procedure used allowed us to observe the relationship between choice proportions, response latencies and obtained rewards. Our results show that rats approximate the optimal strategy across a range of environments that differ in the average probability of reward as well as the dynamics of the depletion-renewal cycle. We found that the constituent components of a single choice differentially reflect environmental contingencies. Post-choice behaviour, measured as the duration of time rats spent licking at the spouts on unrewarded trials, was the most sensitive index of environmental variables, adjusting most rapidly to changes in the environment. These findings have implications for the role of confidence in choice outcomes for guiding future choices.
Natural Variants ofELF3Affect Thermomorphogenesis by Transcriptionally ModulatingPIF4-Dependent Auxin Response Genes
Authors: Raschke Anja , Ibañez Carla , Ullrich Kristian Karsten , Anwer Muhammad Usman , Becker Sebastian , Glöckner Annemarie , Trenner Jana , Denk Kathrin , Saal Bernhard , Sun Xiaodong , Ni Min , Davis Seth Jon , Delker Carolin , Quint Marcel
Published: February 2015

Perception and transduction of temperature changes result in altered growth enabling plants to adapt to increased ambient temperature. While PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR4 (PIF4) has been identified as a major ambient temperature signaling hub, its upstream regulation seems complex and is poorly understood. Here, we exploited natural variation for thermo-responsive growth inArabidopsis thalianausing quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis. We identifiedGIRAFFE2.1, a major QTL explaining ~18% of the phenotypic variation for temperature-induced hypocotyl elongation in the Bay-0 x Sha recombinant inbred line population. Transgenic complementation demonstrated that allelic variation in the circadian clock regulatorEARLY FLOWERING3(ELF3) is underlying this QTL. The source of variation could be allocated to a single nucleotide polymorphism in theELF3coding region, resulting in differential expression ofPIF4and its target genes, likely causing the observed natural variation in thermo-responsive growth. In combination with other recent studies, this work establishes the role of ELF3 in the ambient temperature signaling network. Natural variation of ELF3-mediated gating ofPIF4expression during nightly growing periods seems to be affected by a coding sequence quantitative trait nucleotide that confers a selective advantage in certain environments. In addition, natural ELF3 alleles seem to differentially integrate temperature and photoperiod cues to induce architectural changes. Thus, ELF3 emerges as an essential coordinator of growth and development in response to diverse environmental cues and implicates ELF3 as an important target of adaptation.
The fallacy of the multi-API culture
Authors: Verborgh Ruben , van Hooland Seth , Cope Aaron Straup , Chan Sebastian , Mannens Erik , Van de Walle Rik
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to revisit a decade after its conception the Representational State Transfer (REST) architectural style and analyzes its relevance to address current challenges from the Library and Information Science (LIS) discipline.

Design/methodology/approach

– Conceptual aspects of REST are reviewed and a generic architecture to support REST is presented. The relevance of the architecture is demonstrated with the help of a case study based on the collection registration database of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.

Findings

– The authors argue that the “resources and representations” model of REST is a sustainable way for the management of web resources in a context of constant technological evolutions.

Practical implications

– When making information resources available on the web, a resource-oriented publishing model can avoid the costs associated with the creation of multiple interfaces.

Originality/value

– This paper re-examines the conceptual merits of REST and translates the architecture into actionable recommendations for institutions that publish resources.
A new proposal to improve the description of astronomical resources
Authors: Alonso Lifante Mª Pilar , Chaín Navarro Celia , González González Francisco José
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to show that some important astronomical information is still not taken into account in the documental description of historical star catalogues.

Design/methodology/approach

– A sample of 28 historical star catalogues (eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries) from the Royal Institute and Observatory of the Spanish Navy was selected in order to analyse their structure and to identify information patterns.

Findings

– The analysis shows that there are a number of technical parameters which are not present in the cataloguing standards and which should be taken into account in the bibliographic descriptions of these specialised documents since they are of great interest to astronomers and astrophysicists. On the other hand, star catalogues provide some cartographic information which can be described by these standards but whose corresponding fields are not widely used by cataloguers.

Originality/value

– A proposal of new technical parameters is given in order to try to improve the bibliographic records of these astronomical resources. Some directions are also given in order to identify the sections of the catalogues where these parameters may be found, making the task of locating them easier.
Blossom colour change after pollination provides carbon for developing seeds
Authors: Pélabon Christophe , Hennet Lauriane , Strimbeck Richard , Johnson Hansen , Armbruster W. Scott
Published: February 2015

We tested the hypothesis that greening of the floral (involucral) bracts of Dalechampia scandens blossoms after pollination (when bracts are white) increases carbon assimilation and provides photosynthate to developing seeds.

We investigated the importance of the involucral bracts for the process of seed development in two ways. First, we removed or shaded bracts of hand‐pollinated blossoms to prevent their photosynthesis and tested the effects of these manipulations on seed development. Secondly, we measured the photosynthetic rate of blossoms with white vs. green bracts and compared these rates with those of leaves.

After four weeks of development, seeds from blossoms with bracts removed or shaded were lighter than those produced by unmanipulated blossoms. Furthermore, although the area‐based photosynthetic rate of green bracts was much lower than that of leaves, it was much greater than that of white bracts. Estimates of the daily carbon budget based on these measurements indicate that photosynthesis in green bracts is sufficient to meet the respiratory demand of the whole blossom, but not so in white bracts.

Our results support the hypothesis that colour change in D. scandens bracts allows carbon assimilation that contributes to the carbon demand of nearby developing seeds.
Evaluating noninvasive genetic sampling techniques to estimate large carnivore abundance
Authors: Mumma Matthew A. , Zieminski Chris , Fuller Todd K. , Mahoney Shane P. , Waits Lisette P.
Published: February 2015

Monitoring large carnivores is difficult because of intrinsically low densities and can be dangerous if physical capture is required. Noninvasive genetic sampling (NGS) is a safe and cost‐effective alternative to physical capture. We evaluated the utility of two NGS methods (scat detection dogs and hair sampling) to obtain genetic samples for abundance estimation of coyotes, black bears and Canada lynx in three areas of Newfoundland, Canada. We calculated abundance estimates using program capwire, compared sampling costs, and the cost/sample for each method relative to species and study site, and performed simulations to determine the sampling intensity necessary to achieve abundance estimates with coefficients of variation (CV) of <10%. Scat sampling was effective for both coyotes and bears and hair snags effectively sampled bears in two of three study sites. Rub pads were ineffective in sampling coyotes and lynx. The precision of abundance estimates was dependent upon the number of captures/individual. Our simulations suggested that ~3.4 captures/individual will result in a < 10% CV for abundance estimates when populations are small (23–39), but fewer captures/individual may be sufficient for larger populations. We found scat sampling was more cost‐effective for sampling multiple species, but suggest that hair sampling may be less expensive at study sites with limited road access for bears. Given the dependence of sampling scheme on species and study site, the optimal sampling scheme is likely to be study‐specific warranting pilot studies in most circumstances.