bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Prise en charge de l’infécondité dans les troubles de l’éjaculation: avis conjoints de l’andrologue, du biologiste et du gynécologue
Authors: Marcelli F. , Leroy M. , Robin G. , Saint-Pol P. , Rigot J.-M. , Mitchell V.
Published: November 2009

Quatre-vingts pour cent des hommes qui présentent des troubles de l’éjaculation sont en âge de procréer, mais seul 5 à 10 % en sont spontanément capables. Du sperme antérograde et/ou rétrograde peut être recueilli par éjaculation assistée en association à des traitements pharmacologiques (chlorhydrate de minodrine-vibroéjaculation). En cas d’échecs de recueil de sperme et d’azoospermie, l’extraction chirurgicale des spermatozoïdes épididymaires ou testiculaires permet d’obtenir des spermatozoïdes, en quantité généralement moins importante que les techniques d’éjaculation assistée, mais non infectés et dépourvus de plasma séminal (souvent délétère dans les troubles de l’éjaculation). Même en cas d’éjaculation antérograde, il est impératif de recueillir les urines systématiquement à la recherche d’une éjaculation rétrograde, fréquente dans les troubles de l’éjaculation. Au laboratoire, l’analyse du sperme et de l’urine s’effectue par les méthodes de routine standardisées. La plupart des hommes présentant des troubles de l’éjaculation ont un sperme de mauvaise qualité (asthénospermie, nécrospermie, leucospermie). Les étiologies de la dégradation des paramètres du sperme sont multifactorielles, d’origine centrale et périphérique (testiculaire et extratesticulaire). Optimiser la qualité du sperme et des spermatozoïdes reste un challenge d’actualité dans les troubles de l’éjaculation. Si la cryopréservation doit être systématique, l’utilisation du sperme frais optimisé a généralement la préférence. Réussir à obtenir du sperme offre au couple une chance de grossesse naturelle (rarement) grâce à une éjaculation coïtale, par auto-insémination, par insémination intra-utérine, par fécondation in vitro conventionnelle (FIVc) ou injection intracytoplasmique de spermatozoïdes (ICSI) dans l’ovocyte. Dans les troubles de l’éjaculation, la prise en charge de la fécondité de l’homme doit être la plus rapide possible. Elle s’effectue conjointement à celle de la femme par une équipe coordonnant l’andrologue, le biologiste et le gynécologue.
Marqueurs épigénétiques du spermatozoïde: leur rôle dans la fertilité et dans le développement précoce de l’embryon
Authors: Grandjean V.
Published: November 2009

De par son haut degré de compaction, le génome du spermatozoïde a longtemps été considéré comme une entité inerte apportant certes l’information génétique indispensable au développement normal de l’embryon, mais n’ayant pas de rôle majeur dans la régulation de l’expression des gènes impliqués dans le développement précoce de l’embryon et dans la transmission de l’information épigénétique. Les deux études abordées dans cette veille scientifique suggèrent fortement que des marques épigénétiques, comme la structure chromatinienne du sperme et les profils spécifiques des ARNs du sperme, pourraient contribuer au développement normal de l’embryon précoce. Cela ouvre de nouvelles voies de recherche aussi bien dans le domaine de l’infertilité masculine que dans celui de la régulation des premiers stades embryonnaires et relance l’intérêt des études visant à identifier de nouveaux biomarqueurs de la fertilité.
Some new results in competing systems with many species
Authors: Wang Kelei , Zhang Zhitao
Published: November 2009

In this paper, we prove some uniqueness and convergence results for a competing system and its singular limit, and an interior measure estimate of the free boundary for the singular limit.
Extension d'une classe d'unicité pour les équations de Navier–Stokes
Authors: May Ramzi
Published: November 2009

Recently, Q. Chen, C. Miao and Z. Zhang (2009) [4] have proved that weak Leray solutions of the Navier–Stokes are unique in the class

L^{\frac{2}{1 + r}}([0,T],B_{\infty }^{r,\infty }(\mathbb{R}^{3}))

with

r \in ]−\frac{1}{2},1]

. In this paper, we establish that this criterion remains true for

r \in ]−1,−\frac{1}{2}]

.

Récemment, Q. Chen, C. Miao et Z. Zhang (2009) [4] ont montré l'unicité des solutions faibles de Leray dans l'espace

L^{\frac{2}{1 + r}}([0,T],B_{\infty }^{r,\infty }(\mathbb{R}^{3}))

avec

r \in ]−\frac{1}{2},1]

. Nous proposons dans le présent travail d'étendre ce critère d'unicité au cas

r \in ]−1,−\frac{1}{2}]

.
PSA Testing of Men in the Haematuria Clinic, a Useful Additional Test or Unnecessary Investigation
Authors: Chandrasekharan Shankar , Shafik Adel A. , Eaton Jonathan D.
Published: November 2009

Objective:

To determine prostate cancer detection rates in a haematuria clinic and provide an insight into the usefulness of PSA testing in the haematuria clinic.

Patients and methods:

The records of all male patients ( n = 749) seen in the haematuria clinic over a 2-year period were analysed.

Results:

Of the 749 men, 511 (68%) had a PSA measured. In total, 28 cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed (3.7% of total). In the 50–69 age group, 263 out of 350 men (75%) had a PSA test. 11 cancers were diagnosed in this group (which was 3.1% of all patients or 4.2% of those screened in this age group).

Conclusion:

Our screening rates were slightly lower than those in the ProtecT, ERSPC and PLCO studies. Our overall cancer detection rate of 3.1% (for the 50–69 year olds) is comparable to those from ERSPC (8.2%), ProtecT (2.2%) and PLCO (1.4%). The data would suggest that there is not an excess of prostate cancer in patients with haematuria. PSA testing should be accompanied by a full and frank discussion about the benefits and risks of PSA screening which is not always practical in the haematuria clinic.
Factors affecting – And relationships between – Different modes of endogenous pain modulation in healthy volunteers
Authors: Treister Roi , Eisenberg Elon , Gershon Edith , Haddad May , Pud Dorit
Published: November 2009

Endogenous analgesia (EA) can be reflected by diffuse noxious inhibitory control (DNIC), non‐noxious inhibitory control (NNIC) and habituation to repeated painful stimuli. However, the coexistence of these phenomena in a given individual and the degree to which various factors predict their magnitudes have not been fully investigated. Using experimental paradigms of DNIC, NNIC and habituation, the present study explored the relationships between – and the contribution factors to – the magnitude of EA exhibited by healthy volunteers (n = 191; 104 F, 87 M) exposed to these three experimental paradigms. Each subject was assigned to all three paradigms (DNIC‐tested by co‐administering repeated short painful heat stimuli and a conditioning tonic cold pain stimulation; NNIC – tested similarly with the exception of using a painless conditioning stimulation; habituation – tested by applying repeated painful heat stimuli only) in a random order. Pain intensities decreased from baseline in all three paradigms. However, DNIC produced significantly more pain reduction than the other two modes (RM‐ANOVA). The magnitude of pain reduction of DNIC was found to be highly correlated with that of NNIC and habituation (r = 0.56, p < 0.001 for both correlations). A hierarchical regression analysis showed that baseline (p < 0.001) and conditioning pain scores (p = 0.043) predicted the magnitude of DNIC. A gender split analysis showed that conditioning pain scores served as a predictive factor for men only. Conclusions: Under these experimental conditions, different EA conditions seem to be related to each other. High initial pain intensities predict ‘effective’ DNIC and habituation, whereas intensity of the conditioning stimulus determines the magnitude of DNIC in men only.
The pedestrian watchmaker: Genetic clocks from engineered oscillators
Authors: Cookson Natalie A. , Tsimring Lev S. , Hasty Jeff
Published: November 2009

The crucial role of time‐keeping has required organisms to develop sophisticated regulatory networks to ensure the reliable propagation of periodic behavior. These biological clocks have long been a focus of research; however, a clear understanding of how they maintain oscillations in the face of unpredictable environments and the inherent noise of biological systems remains elusive. Here, we review the current understanding of circadian oscillations using Drosophila melanogaster as a typical example and discuss the utility of an alternative synthetic biology approach to studying these highly intricate systems.
Involvement of Src tyrosine kinase in Escherichia coli invasion of human brain microvascular endothelial cells
Authors: Liu Wei , Zhao Wei-Dong , Yan Jin-Chun , Ren Zhi-Yuan , Fang Wen-Gang , Zhu Li , Shang De-Shu , Chen Yu-Hua
Published: November 2009

MINT‐7296149: F‐actin (uniprotkb:P60709) and Src‐DN (uniprotkb:P12931) colocalize (MI:0403) by fluorescence microscopy (MI:0416)
Changeability of individual domains of an aminoacyl‐tRNA in polymerization by the ribosome
Authors: Gao Rong , Forster Anthony C.
Published: November 2009

The changeabilities of individual modules of aminoacyl‐tRNAs are poorly understood, despite the relevance for evolution, translational accuracy and incorporation of unnatural amino acids (AAs). Here, we dissect the effect of successive changes in four domains of on translation in a purified system. Incorporating five AAs, not one, was necessary to reveal major effects on yields of peptide products. Omitting tRNA modifications had little affect, but anticodon mutations were very inhibitory. Surprisingly, changing the terminal CCA to CdCA was sometimes inhibitory and non‐cognate AAs were sometimes compensatory. Results have implications for translational fidelity and engineering.
Pentagalloylglucose down‐regulates mast cell surface FcεRI expression in vitro and in vivo
Authors: Kageyama-Yahara Natsuko , Suehiro Yoko , Maeda Futoshi , Kageyama Shun-ichiro , Fukuoka Junya , Katagiri Tatsuo , Yamamoto Takeshi , Kadowaki Makoto
Published: November 2009

Mast cell activation by immunoglobulin E (IgE)‐mediated stimuli is a central event in the pathogenesis of allergic disorders. The present report shows that treatment with pentagalloylglucose (PGG) resulted in a down‐regulation of FcεRI surface expression on mucosal‐type murine bone marrow‐derived mast cells (mBMMCs), which correlated with a reduction in IgE‐mediated activation of mBMMCs. Furthermore, PGG prevented development of allergic diarrhea in a food‐allergy mouse model and suppressed the up‐regulated FcεRI surface expression on mast cells derived from the food‐allergy mouse colon. These findings on PGG suggest its therapeutic potential for allergic diseases through suppressing the FcεRI surface expression.
Mechanical requirements for membrane fission: Common facts from various examples
Authors: Lenz Martin , Morlot Sandrine , Roux Aurélien
Published: November 2009

Membrane fission is the last step of membrane carrier formation. As fusion, it is a very common process in eukaryotic cells, and participates in the integrity and specificity of organelles. Although many proteins have been isolated to participate in the various membrane fission reactions, we are far from understanding how membrane fission is mechanically triggered. Here we aim at reviewing the well‐described examples of dynamin and lipid phase separation, and try to extract the essential requirements for fission. Then, we survey the recent knowledge obtained on other fission reactions, analyzing the similarities and differences with previous examples.
Adenosine‐5′‐phosphosulfate kinase is essential for Arabidopsis viability
Authors: Mugford Sarah G. , Matthewman Colette A. , Hill Lionel , Kopriva Stanislav
Published: November 2009

In Arabidopsis thaliana, adenosine‐5′‐phosphosulfate kinase (APK) provides activated sulfate for sulfation of secondary metabolites, including the glucosinolates. We have successfully isolated three of the four possible triple homozygous mutant combinations of this family. The APK1 isoform alone was sufficient to maintain WT levels of growth and development. Analysis of apk1 apk2 apk3 and apk1 apk3 apk4 mutants suggests that APK3 and APK4 are functionally redundant, despite being located in cytosol and plastids, respectively. We were, however, unable to isolate apk1 apk3 apk4 mutants, most probably because the apk1 apk3 apk4 triple mutant combination is pollen lethal. Therefore, we conclude that APS kinase is essential for plant reproduction and viability.
Altered sphingolipid metabolism induced by tumor hypoxia – New vistas in glycolipid tumor markers
Authors: Yin Jun , Miyazaki Keiko , Shaner Rebecca L. , Merrill Alfred H. , Kannagi Reiji
Published: November 2009

Uncontrolled growth of malignant cells produces hypoxic regions in locally advanced tumors. Recently we showed that tumor hypoxia‐induced transcription of multiple genes involved in glycan synthesis, leading to expression of useful glycolipid tumor markers, such as gangliosides having N‐glycolyl sialic acid. Our subsequent studies indicated that the ceramide portion of glycolipids, as well as their glycan moiety, was also significantly affected by hypoxia. Tumor hypoxia‐induced marked accumulation of sphinganine (dihydrosphingosine) long‐chain base, and significant reduction of unsaturated very long‐chain fatty acids in the ceramide moiety. Mass‐spectrometry, which yields information on both glycan‐ and ceramide moieties, is expected to be clinically useful in detecting such distinct molecular species of cancer‐associated glycolipids having combined alteration in both glycan‐ and ceramide moieties.
Magnesium sulfate treatment alters fetal cerebellar gene expression responses to hypoxia
Authors: Haramati Ofir , Mane Revital , Molczadzki Gabriela , Perez‐Polo J. Regino , Chalifa‐Caspi Vered , Golan Hava M.
Published: November 2009

Prenatal perturbation of brain circulation and oxygenation is a leading cause of perinatal brain damage affecting about 0.3–0.9% of births. Hypoxia‐ischemia (HI) in preterm human infants at gestational week 23–32 results in neurodevelopmental abnormalities in childhood, presenting as learning disability, seizure activity, motor impairment and in the most severe cases, death. Here, we examined the potential of MgSO4 treatment, prior to foetal hypoxia, to attenuate hypoxia induced damage in a murine model of maternal hypoxia. We studied the time course of maternal hypoxia and MgSO4 pre‐treatment effects on cerebellar tissue by means of DNA microarray analyses. Mild hypoxia induced minor expression changes in most genes. However, there were 5 gene sets which were down‐regulated by maternal hypoxia. MgSO4 pre‐treatment abrogated these decreases in gene. A cell cycle gene set which responded immediately (2 h) to hypoxia, showed a delayed response (24 h) when MgSO4 pre‐treatment was given. Similar proportions of cell death were observed in all groups before P7, where combined hypoxia and MgSO4 treatment increased cell death in the internal granule layer. There were a higher number of BrdU positive cells at the end of hypoxic episodes and a down‐regulation of Reelin signaling, compared to control. MgSO4 pre‐treatment prevented the enhancement of cell proliferation due to hypoxia and increased Reelin levels.

Altogether, MgSO4 pre‐treatment both reduced the number of genes differentially affected by hypoxia and delayed the responses to hypoxia. In addition, MgSO4 pre‐treatment modified the nature of the transcriptional response; while hypoxia induced down‐regulation of gene sets, MgSO4 pre‐treatment mostly up‐regulated them. The dual reaction to the MgSO4 treatment may be the source of the ambiguity in observations reported for affected newborns.
Services cultural alignment in offshoring: The impact of cultural dimensions on offshoring location choices
Authors: Hahn Eugene D. , Bunyaratavej Kraiwinee
Published: November 2009

Empirical research on the growing wave of services offshoring has examined the impact of several key factors such as wages and personnel quality on firm choices of offshore locations. However, examinations of culture in services offshoring to date have largely been confined to the relatively coarse concept of aggregate cultural differences between the home and host countries. We propose that specific cultural attributes are more closely aligned with successful service provision. We empirically examine our theoretical development of service cultural alignment and investigate the impact of cultural dimensions on the location of service offshoring projects. In addition, we examine whether Western and Asian firms have different cultural preferences in terms of the location of services offshoring projects. We find that host countries with lower levels of Hofstede's uncertainty avoidance as well as higher levels of individualism and power distance are able to attract greater numbers of service offshoring projects, even after controlling for macroeconomic, linguistic, and risk‐related factors. We did not find that Western and Asian firms have different cultural preferences in this regard. We discuss implications of the findings with respect to theory, managerial practice, and governmental policy.
Learning trajectory in offshore OEM cooperation: Transaction value for local suppliers in the emerging economies
Authors: Li Yuan , Li Peter Ping , Liu Yi , Yang Dong
Published: November 2009

We focus on the unique role of offshore OEM cooperation as a learning opportunity for local suppliers in the emerging economies. In particular, we conceptually argue and empirically confirm the links between learning intent, capability enhancement, governance mode, and overall innovativeness from the perspective of local suppliers in offshore OEM cooperation in China as well as the influence of local business culture within these links. We address two issues: (1) offshore OEM cooperation can be a unique opportunity for local suppliers with strong intent to learn from foreign buyers for capability enhancement and (2) the moderating effects of trust and contact as two distinctive governance modes. Addressing the two issues, we make two specific contributions to the research on inter‐firm cooperation, both of which derive from the often‐neglected theoretical lens of transaction value. Our general contribution lies in the extension of the transaction value perspective by specifying its dual tenets of inter‐firm co‐specialization and shared‐trust as the central theme of inter‐firm cooperation to complement the transaction cost economics and also contextualize the research on inter‐firm cooperation in terms of different partners’ perspectives as well as different governance modes.
Why Resource-poor Dictators Allow Freer Media: A Theory and Evidence from Panel Data
Authors: EGOROV GEORGY , GURIEV SERGEI , SONIN KONSTANTIN
Published: November 2009

Every dictator dislikes free media. Yet, many nondemocratic countries have partially free or almost free media. In this article, we develop a theory of media freedom in dictatorships and provide systematic statistical evidence in support of this theory. In our model, free media allow a dictator to provide incentives to bureaucrats and therefore to improve the quality of government. The importance of this benefit varies with the natural resource endowment. In resource-rich countries, bureaucratic incentives are less important for the dictator; hence, media freedom is less likely to emerge. Using panel data, we show that controlling for country fixed effects, media are less free in oil-rich economies, with the effect especially pronounced in nondemocratic regimes. These results are robust to model specification and the inclusion of various controls, including the level of economic development, democracy, country size, size of government, and others.
Association of milk yield and infection status at dry-off with intramammary infections at subsequent calving
Authors: Newman Kari A , Rajala-Schultz Päivi J , DeGraves Fred J , Lakritz Jeffrey
Published: November 2009

The dry period plays an important role in maintenance of udder health. Cows are most susceptible to intramammary infections (IMI) after dry-off and near parturition and drying-off procedures may affect the likelihood of IMI at calving. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association of milk yield and infection status at dry-off with the likelihood of IMI at calving by examining different drying-off methods. Cows (n=112) at the Ohio State University Waterman Dairy Teaching and Research Herd were randomly assigned to either an intermittent or a standard, twice-daily milking group 1 week prior to dry-off. All quarters of all cows in the herd were treated with an antibiotic dry-cow product after the last milking. Milk samples were collected 1 week prior to dry-off (pre-dry), on the day of dry-off, and within 3 d of parturition to determine infection status of the quarters. Association between IMI at calving and cumulative milk yield for the final week of lactation and drying-off method was examined using generalized estimation equations with logic link, accounting for potential confounders, such as pre-dry and dry-off infection status, and for the correlated data structure due to quarters clustered within cows. Intermittent milking significantly reduced milk yield at the end of lactation. Increasing cumulative milk yield during the last week of lactation was significantly associated with a greater probability of IMI at calving for quarters that were uninfected prior to dry-off: uninfected quarters of cows producing more than 115 kg during the last week of lactation were 7·1-times more likely to be infected at calving (P=0·0081) than uninfected quarters of cows producing less than 75 kg. Even though the overall cure rate over the dry period was relatively high at 84%, the odds of a quarter being infected at calving was 7·6- and 3·3-times higher if it was infected at dry-off with major pathogens (P<0·0001) or minor pathogens (P=0·028), respectively, compared with an uninfected quarter at dry-off. The results suggest that decreasing milk yield prior to dry-off may serve as an effective means to maintain good udder health in a herd.
The Peace and Security Council of the African Union: evaluating an embryonic international institution
Authors: Williams Paul D.
Published: November 2009

How has the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union helped promote peace, security and stability on the African continent? This article assesses the PSC's activities in light of insights generated by the literature on international security institutions. After providing an overview of the immediate origins of the PSC, it discusses five elements of the Council's institutional design. It then evaluates the PSC's activities during its first five years (2004–9), by examining the Council's political relevance, its efficiency and productivity, and whether it is the institution best placed to deal with the continent's security problems. It concludes that the PSC's future will hinge on whether more of the African Union's members can be persuaded to devote more serious levels of resources (human and financial) to it.
‘Does the truth pass across the fire without burning?’ Locating the short circuit in Rwanda's Gacaca courts
Authors: Ingelaere Bert
Published: November 2009

The modernised tradition of the Gacaca courts has become the key mechanism for dealing with the past in Rwanda. The process needs to establish accountability for all acts of genocide and to foster reconciliation. Nevertheless, popular narratives and survey results reveal that a widespread ‘crisis’ accompanied the initial stages of the Gacaca process. We argue that a problematic quest for the truth is short-circuiting reconciliation in post-genocide Rwanda. Truth-telling is the cornerstone of the transitional justice framework due to the design of the Gacaca tribunals. On the basis of twenty months of fieldwork in Rwandan villages, we locate tensions at different levels. The Gacaca system is a distinctively modern phenomenon despite its traditional appearance. The state-sanctioned speaking of the truth according to a prosecutorial logic runs counter to the core values of the customary institution and established societal practices. This friction is further enhanced by the underlying Judeo-Christian model of truth-telling introduced with the Gacaca system in a socio-political environment mediated by a culture of deceit and dominated by a war victor. In such a socio-cultural context, communication serves the interests of the power holders (national and local), and not necessarily the interest of truth-telling and justice.
Against the Asian tide: the Sudan divestment campaign
Authors: Patey Luke A.
Published: November 2009

The efforts of American activists to pressure Asian corporations in Sudan have to date resembled a struggle to find the light switch in the dark, or swimming against a strong current. While the impact of the divestment campaign in the United States has been increasingly evident, its effectiveness in producing actual results in Sudan remains suspect. Thanks to China and a trio of Asian national oil companies, oil still flows in Sudan. The campaign's activities have failed to incorporate Sudan's wider international political and economic relations into its strategy. It has rather paradoxically sought to pressure state-owned corporations through financial market divestment. The nature of its Asian targets, reluctant Western investors and a distracted American government have obstructed the campaign from having a resounding impact in Sudan.
The acoustic character of fricated /t/ in Australian English: A comparison with /s/ and /ʃ/
Authors: Jones Mark J. , McDougall Kirsty
Published: November 2009

Australian English /t/ has a fricative realisation in some contexts. The presence of an additional surface fricative in the language raises questions about potential merger and the maintenance of contrasts. An orthographic representation of fricated /t/ as 〈sh〉 suggests a similarity to the existing fricative /ʃ/. This paper compares the acoustic characteristics of fricated realisations of /t/ in Australian English with those of /ʃ/ and /s/, the fricatives judged most likely to be acoustically similar. The findings suggest a great degree of similarity to /ʃ/ in terms of spectral measures, with duration being the most likely perceptual means of distinguishing fricated /t/ from /ʃ/.
Estonian
Authors: Asu Eva Liina , Teras Pire
Published: November 2009

Estonian belongs to the Finnic branch of the Finno-Ugric language family and is closely related to Finnish. It has about one million native speakers in Estonia and about 150,000 elsewhere in the world. In phonetics, Estonian is probably best known for its three degrees of contrastive quantity: short (Q1), long (Q2) and overlong (Q3).
Palula
Authors: Liljegren Henrik , Haider Naseem
Published: November 2009

Palula is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by approximately 10,000 people in the southern part of Chitral District in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province. It belongs to a group of speech varieties subsumed under the heading Shina (Morgenstierne 1941; Strand 2000–2001). The speech described here is that of Ashret Valley, one of two main dialects of Palula. The transcription is based on a recording of the speech of the second author, Naseem Haider, himself a native speaker of Palula, born in 1978; his speech is typical of Ashreti, or southern, Palula.
BRITAIN AND GLOBALISATION SINCE 1850: IV THE CREATION OF THE WASHINGTON CONSENSUS
Authors: Daunton Martin
Published: November 2009

In August 1971, President Nixon ended the convertibility of the dollar into gold, so precipitating a crisis in the Bretton Woods system which was not successfully resolved by the Smithsonian agreement in December 1971. The pound was soon free to float and the role of sterling as a reserve currency was seriously weakened. The members of the European Economic Community attempted to create stability between their own currencies, which left the British government in a dilemma about whether to join the European monetary experiment to complement membership of the Community. The address considers the tensions and difficulties facing the Conservative and Labour governments of the 1970s, and the response of the Thatcher government after 1979. The trade-off in the ‘trilemma’ between the three variables of exchange rates, capital movements and domestic monetary policy changed in a major way.
CULTURES OF EXCHANGE: ATLANTIC AFRICA IN THE ERA OF THE SLAVE TRADE
Authors: Richardson David
Published: November 2009

Cultural factors have often been invoked to explain parliament's decision in 1807 to outlaw slave carrying by British subjects but they have only infrequently been cited in efforts to explain why the Atlantic slave trade itself became so large in the three centuries preceding 1807. This paper seeks to redress this imbalance by looking at ways in which inter-cultural dialogue between Africans and Europeans and related adjustments in social values and adaptations of African institutional arrangements may contribute to improving our understanding of the huge growth in market transactions in enslaved people in Atlantic Africa before 1807. In exploring such issues, the paper draws on important theoretical insights from new institutional economics, notably the work of Douglass North. It also attempts to show how institutionally and culturally based developments in transatlantic slave trafficking, the largest arena of cross-cultural exchange in the Atlantic world before 1850, may themselves help to promote understanding of the much broader historical processes that underpin economic change and the creation of the modern world.
SLAVES OUT OF CONTEXT: DOMESTIC SLAVERY AND THE ANGLO-INDIAN FAMILY,c. 1780–1830
Authors: Finn Margot
Published: November 2009

This paper explores the place of domestic slaves in British families resident in India,c. 1780–1830, and the ways in which the presence of slaves within these Anglo-Indian households challenged British understandings of slavery as a practice. Drawing upon probate data, private correspondence and the Parliamentary Papers, it suggests that the history of slavery in the British empire must be situated within wider histories of family, household and kin. Located within the family and often conflated with servants, domestic slaves in Anglo-India came to be seen as dependent female subordinates whose gender and status placed them outside the emerging politics of emancipation.
Ownership and Justice for Animals
Authors: COCHRANE ALASDAIR
Published: November 2009

This article argues that it is not necessary to abolish all incidents of animal ownership in order to achieve justice for them. It claims that ownership does not grant owners a right to absolute control of their property. Rather, it argues that ownership is a much more qualified concept, conveying different rights in different contexts. With this understanding of ownership in mind, the article argues that it is possible for humans to own animals and at the same time to treat them justly: to recognize that they possess moral status; to assign them meaningful rights; and to consider their interests equally.
A Paradox for Weak Deontology
Authors: HUEMER MICHAEL
Published: November 2009

Deontological ethicists generally agree that there is a way of harming others such that it is wrong to harm others in that way for the sake of producing a comparable but greater benefit for others. Given plausible assumptions, this principle leads to the possibility of paradoxical cases in which each of two actions is wrong, yet the combination of both actions is permissible. Consequentialism provides the most natural solution of the puzzle.
Some Difficult Intuitions for the Principle of Universality
Authors: KERSHNAR STEPHEN
Published: November 2009

The Principle of Universality asserts that a part retains its intrinsic value regardless of the whole in which it is a part or even whether it is part of a whole. The idea underlying this principle is that the intrinsic value of a thing supervenes on its intrinsic properties. Since the intrinsic properties remain unchanged so does the thing's intrinsic value. In this article, I argue that, properly understood, the Principle of Universality can handle seemingly troublesome intuitions about the relative intrinsic value of a vicious person having pain and his having pleasure. I specifically argue that the intuition that the former state is better is explained by the nature of the basic intrinsic-value states, which involve a person having a level of well-being and desert at a time. One implication of this is that given the nature of such basic intrinsic-value states, pleasure and pain are not value-bearing parts of virtuous and vicious attitudes.
Rawls and Cohen on Facts and Principles
Authors: KURTULMUS A. FAIK
Published: November 2009

G. A. Cohen has recently argued for a thesis about the relationship between facts and principles. He claims that Rawls denies this thesis, and the truth of this thesis vitiates Rawls's constructivist procedure. I argue against both claims by developing an account of Rawls's justificatory strategy and the role of facts in this strategy, which I claim is similar to the role of facts in some defences of utilitarianism.
Shock waves and compactons for fifth-order non-linear dispersion equations
Authors: GALAKTIONOV VICTOR A.
Published: November 2009

The followingfirst problemis posed:is a correct ‘entropy solution’ of the Cauchy problem for the fifth-order degenerate non-linear dispersion equations (NDEs), same as for the classic Euler oneut+uux= 0,These two quasi-linear degenerate partial differential equations (PDEs) are chosen as typical representatives; so other (2m+ 1)th-order NDEs of non-divergent form admit such shocks waves. As a relatedsecond problem, the opposite initial shockS+(x) = −S−(x) = signxis shown to be a non-entropy solution creating ararefaction wave, which becomesC∞for anyt> 0. Formation of shocks leads to non-uniqueness of any ‘entropy solutions’. Similar phenomena are studied for afifth-order in timeNDEuttttt= (uux)xxxxinnormal form.

On the other hand, related NDEs, such asare shown to admit smoothcompactons, as oscillatorytravelling wavesolutions with compact support. The well-known non-negative compactons, which appeared in various applications (first examples by Dey, 1998,Phys. Rev.E, vol. 57, pp. 4733–4738, and Rosenau and Levy, 1999,Phys. Lett.A, vol. 252, pp. 297–306), are non-existent in general and are not robust relative to small perturbations of parameters of the PDE.
Le passé surcomposé et la valeur de parfait existentiel
Authors: APOTHÉLOZ DENIS
Published: November 2009

L'objectif de cet article est d’établir que dans l'un de ses emplois, traditionnellement qualifié de ‘régional’, le passé surcomposé est une forme verbale qui grammaticalise la valeur habituellement appelée ‘parfait existentiel’. Dans une première partie, on dresse un panorama des principales propriétés du parfait existentiel, tel que l'exprime en français le passé composé, en distinguant propriétés sémantiques et propriétés discursives. On montre en particulier que cette valeur implique un prédicat existentiel lié à un intervalle de validation. Dans une seconde partie, on développe un certain nombre d'arguments établissant que le passé surcomposé grammaticalise cette valeur. On présente un tableau général des principaux emplois du surcomposé, et on analyse plusieurs exemples pour mettre au jour les points communs et les différences entre le passé composé et le passé surcomposé existentiels, notamment dans leur rapport avec les adverbiaux temporels quantifieurs de fréquence. On montre que le passé surcomposé existentiel est fréquemment utilisé pour établir un contraste entre le passé et le présent.
Agency
Authors: Cairns Stephen
Published: November 2009

‘Agency’ is a beguiling word. It has the immediacy of a call-to-arms and the remoteness and anonymity of a bureaucratic function. Agency, as action in the world, underpins revolutionary social change, and the representation of someone else's interests – usually at a distance – in a governmental or business context. It is implicated in both the agitprop of the Reclaim the Streets network, or Brazil's Homeless Workers Movement, and in state bureaucracies such as the UK Border Agency, or commercial franchises such as the Western Union. The term encapsulates two quite distinctive forms of action: one individuated, collective and immediate; and the other systemic, anonymised and bureaucratic. It is no accident, then, that in academic literature ‘agency’ is often paired with ‘structure’, and in the binarised form, structure/agency, is used to refer to the tension between the creative actions of individuals and the social, political and economic structures that supposedly constrain them. The fact that architects are expected to exercise agency in both of these senses – as creative actors and as representatives of their clients' interests – gives the theme further significance.
Agency: alternative practices and alternative worlds
Authors: Petrescu Doina , Chiles Prue , ‘The Agency’
Published: November 2009

This edition of arq assembles a selection of papers presented at the Conference ‘Agency’ organised by the research group called ‘The Agency’ initiated in 2007 in the School of Architecture at the University of Sheffield. We offered to host the 5th AHRA International Conference, giving it the theme of ‘Agency’ and hoping that the submissions would energise the relationships between the humanities, the architectural profession, and society.
Au revoir, Ulster Museum
Authors: Hackett Mark
Published: November 2009

The Ulster Museum is destined to remain a building that stands somewhat outside time and remote from its society. The building is in two parts that are merged into one: the first Classical, designed by James Wyness and built only in part by 1929, and the second, a transformative concrete extension designed by Francis Pym for a 1963 competition judged by Leslie Martin and opened in 1972 to the most violent year of the conflict in Northern Ireland. The extension is, as Paul Clarke, of the University of Ulster has written, ‘an icon to a period when architecture addressed at the very centre of its responsibility, the optimism of modern life, culture and public space’. Now, after decades of inept alterations and unimaginative curation, its doors are closed for a refurbishment that will disassemble its central ideas together with all the optimism that Clarke alludes to – and this at a time when Northern Ireland has the chance to build the open civil society that it never had and that the museum competition project symbolised in that brief period of opportunity for change forty-six years ago.
35 Years of EDS Software
Authors: Schamber Frederick H.
Published: November 2009

The computerized multichannel analyzer running software specifically designed for X-ray analysis appeared very early in the commercialization of the energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS) and, like the solid-state X-ray detector itself, was built on a technology foundation originally developed for nuclear spectroscopy. However, software techniques employed for gamma-ray spectra could not accommodate the continuum component of EDS spectra, and a new approach was required. Least-squares fitting with “top-hat” filtered spectra proved to be an effective solution that is still widely used today. Though modern computer technology has subsequently contributed greatly to the speed and convenience of present-day EDS software, it seems that the achievable accuracy and precision of spectrum analysis has not fundamentally improved, and most of the early challenges are still quite relevant, although they may appear in new guises. The availability of the high speed silicon drift detector, however, may provide both the incentive and the data precision to drive future advances. This article traces the formative years of EDS software from the personalized perspective of a participant. Factors that shaped the development of the industry are identified, and future directions are speculated.
Fetal microchimerism: the cellular and immunological legacy of pregnancy
Authors: Lissauer David M. , Piper Karen P. , Moss Paul A.H. , Kilby Mark D.
Published: November 2009

During pregnancy there is transplacental traffic of fetal cells into the maternal circulation. Remarkably, cells of fetal origin can then persist for decades in the mother and are detectable in the circulation and in a wide range of tissues. Maternal CD8 T cell responses directed against fetal antigens can also be detected following pregnancy. However, the impact that the persistence of allogenic cells of fetal origin and the maternal immune response towards them has on the mother's health remains unclear and is the subject of considerable investigation. The potentially harmful effects of fetal microchimerism include an association with autoimmune disease and recurrent miscarriage. Beneficial effects that have been explored include the contribution of persistent fetal cells to maternal tissue repair. A link between fetal microchimerism and cancer has also been proposed, with some results supporting a protective role and others, conversely, suggesting a role in tumour development. The phenomenon of fetal microchimerism thus provokes many questions and promises to offer further insights not only into the biology of pregnancy but fields such as autoimmunity, transplantation biology and oncology.
Large CO2 disequilibria in tropical lakes
Authors: Marotta Humberto , Duarte Carlos M. , Sobek Sebastian , Enrich‐Prast Alex
Published: November 2009

On the basis of a broad compilation of data on pCO2 in surface waters, we show tropical lakes to be, on average, far more supersaturated and variable in CO2 (geometric mean ± SE pCO2 = 1804 ± 35 μatm) than temperate lakes (1070 ± 6 μatm). There was a significant negative relationship between pCO2 and latitude, resulting in an average decrease of pCO2 by 2.8 ± 0.5% per degree latitude. In addition, we found a general positive relationship between pCO2 and water temperature across lakes involving an average increase (±SE) in 6.7 ± 0.8% per °C. A conservative annual efflux from global lakes to the atmosphere was reestimated to 0.44 Gt C. Our results show tropical lakes maintain large CO2 disequilibria with the atmosphere, playing a disproportionate and variable role in the flux of CO2 between lakes and the atmosphere, thereby being a significant component of the global C cycle.
Melt generation, crystallization, and extraction beneath segmented oceanic transform faults
Authors: Gregg P. M. , Behn M. D. , Lin J. , Grove T. L.
Published: November 2009

We examine mantle melting, fractional crystallization, and melt extraction beneath fast slipping, segmented oceanic transform fault systems. Three‐dimensional mantle flow and thermal structures are calculated using a temperature‐dependent rheology that incorporates a viscoplastic approximation for brittle deformation in the lithosphere. Thermal solutions are combined with the near‐fractional, polybaric melting model of Kinzler and Grove (1992a, 1992b, 1993) to determine extents of melting, the shape of the melting regime, and major element melt composition. We investigate the mantle source region of intratransform spreading centers (ITSCs) using the melt migration approach of Sparks and Parmentier (1991) for two end‐member pooling models: (1) a wide pooling region that incorporates all of the melt focused to the ITSC and (2) a narrow pooling region that assumes melt will not migrate across a transform fault or fracture zone. Assuming wide melt pooling, our model predictions can explain both the systematic crustal thickness excesses observed at intermediate and fast slipping transform faults as well as the deeper and lower extents of melting observed in the vicinity of several transform systems. Applying these techniques to the Siqueiros transform on the East Pacific Rise we find that both the viscoplastic rheology and wide melt pooling are required to explain the observed variations in gravity inferred crustal thickness. Finally, we show that mantle potential temperature Tp = 1350°C and fractional crystallization at depths of 9–15.5 km fit the majority of the major element geochemical data from the Siqueiros transform fault system.
Simulations of global evapotranspiration using semiempirical and mechanistic schemes of plant hydrology
Authors: Alton Paul , Fisher Rosie , Los Sietse , Williams Mathew
Published: November 2009

Some of the plant hydrology schemes implemented in global land surface models (LSMs) are relatively simple. This is despite evidence that simulated carbon, water, and energy fluxes are sensitive to both the availability of soil moisture and the formulation of plant hydrology. The current study introduces a mechanistic scheme of plant hydrology (soil‐plant‐atmosphere (SPA)) into a global LSM (Joint U.K. Land Environmental Simulator (JULES)) in order to compare with a traditional, semiempirical plant hydrology scheme (SiB) based on the Ball‐Berry stomatal relation. The SPA scheme simulates explicitly the physical processes which change leaf water potential and account for the flow of water through the soil‐plant‐atmosphere media. Using both plant hydrology schemes, the annually averaged global evaporation‐to‐precipitation ratio is 0.58±0.9. The annually averaged global transpiration‐to‐precipitation ratio is 0.22±0.09 and 0.28±0.08 using the SPA and SiB plant hydrology schemes, respectively. The output from the two plant hydrology schemes typically differs less than the systematic errors associated with the different observational data sets (eddy covariance fluxes, continental runoff, etc.) employed to calibrate and validate the LSM. However, SPA is more conservative with respect to plant water use efficiency compared to SiB. This is partly due to the exhaustion of stored leaf water (not accounted for with the SiB scheme) which acts to limit afternoon transpiration when diurnal vapor pressure deficit is greatest. The trend in global runoff simulated with both plant hydrology schemes for the latter half of the 20th century (−1% per 50 years) agrees well with recent observational estimates that sample 80% of the global runoff network.
Microbial‐induced heterogeneity in the acoustic properties of porous media
Authors: Davis Caroline A. , Pyrak‐Nolte Laura J. , Atekwana Estella A. , Werkema D. Dale , Haugen Marisa E.
Published: November 2009

It is not known how biofilms affect seismic wave propagation in porous media. Such knowledge is critical for assessing the utility of seismic techniques for imaging biofilm development and their effects in field settings. Acoustic wave data were acquired over a two‐dimensional region of a microbial‐stimulated sand column and an unstimulated sand column. The acoustic signals from the unstimulated column were relatively uniform over the 2D scan region. The data from the microbial‐stimulated column exhibited a high degree of spatial heterogeneity in the acoustic wave amplitude, with some regions exhibiting significant increases in attenuation while others exhibited decreases. Environmental scanning electron microscopy showed differences in the structure of the biofilm between regions of increased and decreased acoustic wave amplitude. We conclude from these observations that variations in microbial growth and biofilm structure cause heterogeneity in the elastic properties of porous media with implications for the validation of bioclogging models.