bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Tissue‐specific mechanisms of alternative polyadenylation: Testis, brain, and beyond (2018 update)
Authors: MacDonald Clinton C.
Published: February 2019

Alternative polyadenylation (APA) is how genes choose different sites for 3′ end formation for mRNAs during transcription. APA often occurs in a tissue‐ or developmental stage‐specific manner that can significantly affect gene activity by changing the protein product generated, the stability of the transcript, its localization within the cell, or its translatability. Despite the important regulatory effects that APA has on tissue‐specific gene expression, only a few examples have been characterized mechanistically. In this 2018 update to our 2010 review, we examine mechanisms for the control of APA and update our understanding of the older mechanisms since 2010. We once postulated the existence of tissue‐specific factors in APA. However, while a few tissue‐specific polyadenylation factors are known, the emerging conclusion is that the majority of APA is accomplished by altering levels of core polyadenylation proteins. Examples of those core proteins include CSTF2, CPSF1, and subunits of mammalian cleavage factor I. But despite support for these mechanisms, no one has yet documented any of these proteins changing in either a tissue‐specific or developmental manner. Given the profound effect that APA can have on gene expression and human health, improved understanding of tissue‐specific APA could lead to numerous advances in gene activity control.

This article is categorized under:

RNA Processing > 3′ End Processing

RNA in Disease and Development > RNA in Development
On the Paleo-climatic/Environmental Impacts and Socio-Cultural System Resilience along the Historical Silk Road
Authors: Yang Liang Emlyn , Bork Hans-Rudolf , Fang Xiuqi , Mischke Steffen , Weinelt Mara , Wiesehöfer Josef
Published: February 2019

This chapter introduces, by literature reviews, the issue of the links and processes behind climate change, environmental change, and socio-culture change in the past at the ancient Silk Road region. Analyses of the changes of the socio-environment system in this area enhance our understanding on the regular patterns of coupled natural and social evolution, and is thus of important theoretical and practical significance. We argue that the cross-cutting theme has been to reach beyond simple explanations of environmental or human determinism, but social resilience under environmental impacts. Studies indicate both that climate conditions significantly influence human socio-cultural systems and that the socio-culture systems are certainly resilient to climate impacts. This chapter also summarizes the scope of all chapters in this book by illustrating the specific topics, research areas, focused periods and their inner relationships. The conclusion further summarizes the recent research states on past socio-environmental dynamics and the findings achieved in this book, as well as some outlooks.
Social Impacts of Climate Change in Historical China
Authors: Fang Xiuqi , Su Yun , Wei Zhudeng , Yin Jun
Published: February 2019

The social impact of past climate change is one of the key areas of study relating to global climate change, particularly its ability to provide valuable lessons for dealing with ongoing challenges of global climate change. Drawing on the abundant historical literature, many recent studies have examined the social impacts of climate change in China during the past 2000 years. This paper reviews the main progress of these studies in three parts. First, a concept model based on the food security in relation to global climate change has been constructed, which can then be used to interpret impact-response processes of climate change in the history of China. Second, we derive a methodology for quantifying the impact of historical climate change, drawing on a series of 4 key social and economic sequences at a 10-year resolution. These have been reconstructed based on the semantic differential method over the past 2000 years in China. Third, using a variety of statistical analyses, we update the understanding of climate impacts throughout the history of China. The overall impacts of climate were negative in the cold periods and positive in the warm periods, at decadal to centennial scales during Chinese history. However, the impacts seemed a mixed blessing both in the cold or warm periods. The social-economic development and population growth in warm periods would intensify the natural resource shortage and disequilibria in the human-environment system, especially when encountering abrupt climate changes. Adaptation to adverse climate change could not only help people to avoid hardship whilst maximizing profits, but also expanded the capabilities for the continual development of Chinese civilization.
Climate Change and the Rise of the Central Asian Silk Roads
Authors: Hill Daniel J.
Published: February 2019

The final centuries BCE (Before Common Era) saw the main focus of trade between the Far East and Europe switch from the so called Northern Route across the Asian steppes to the classical silk roads. The cities across central Asia flourished and grew in size and importance. While clearly there were political, economic and cultural drivers for these changes, there may also have been a role for changes in climate in this relatively arid region of Asia. Analysis of a new ensemble of snapshot global climate model simulations, run every 250 years over the last 6000 years, allows us to assess the long term climatological changes seen across the central Asian arid region through which the classical Silk Roads run. While the climate is comparatively stable through the Holocene, the fluctuations seen in these simulations match significant cultural developments in the region. From 1500 BCE the deterioration of climate from a transient precipitation peak, along with technological development and the immigration of Aryan nomads, drove a shift towards urbanization and probably irrigation, culminating in the founding of the major cities of Bukhara and Samarkand around 700–500 BCE. Between 1000 and 250 BCE the modelled precipitation in the central Asian arid region undergoes a transition towards wetter climates. The changes in the Western Disturbances, which is the key weather system for central Asian precipitation, provides 10% more precipitation and the increased hydrological resources may provide the climatological foundation for the golden era of Silk Road trade.
The Coming of the Barbarians: Can Climate Explain the Saljūqs’ Advance?
Authors: Frenkel Yehoshua
Published: February 2019

The present study reviews recent interpretations of Central Asia’s and Northern Iran’s environmental and political history during the first half of the eleventh century. Namely, to cast light on the deficiencies in recent interpretations of Turkic Volkswanderung, and to advocate searching for political-social agents that would explain the Eurasian Steppe’s history. In opposite to climatological reading of those years regional history, it aims at advancing a call for a more nuanced paradigm of the coming of the Saljūqs.
Climatic and Environmental Limiting Factors in the Mongol Empire’s Westward Expansion: Exploring Causes for the Mongol Withdrawal from Hungary in 1242
Authors: Pow Stephen
Published: February 2019

From its formation in the early years of the thirteenth century, the Mongol Empire expanded rapidly along the steppe belt and trade routes comprising the Silk Road, forming partnerships with merchants and encouraging commerce, while also subjugating the resident nomadic and sedentary societies. In 1241–1242, the Mongols invaded and occupied Hungary for a year before mysteriously withdrawing eastward into the steppes. Many theories have been offered for this event and why Hungary’s border ended up marking the westernmost terminus of the Mongol Empire, including most recently Büntgen and Di Cosmo’s “environmental hypothesis” that short-term climatic fluctuation and environmental factors played a decisive role. This paper employs a comparative historical methodology to discuss three broad topics: the suitability of the Kingdom of Hungary for long-term occupation by the Mongols; the role that the climatic events of 1242 played in the famine that ravaged the kingdom after the withdrawal; and the role that environmental factors could have played in Mongol military setbacks and problems during the invasion. By doing so, this paper also aims to address additional points newly raised by Büntgen and Di Cosmo in a reply they made to an earlier article which questioned the enviromental hypothesis.
Steppe and Sown: Eurasianism, Soil and the Mapping of Bukhara in the Light of Soviet Ethnographic Accounts
Authors: Marten-Finnis Susanne
Published: February 2019

This chapter reveals how ecological zones and their division into steppe and sown, nomadic and sedentary people, helped Russian ethnographers to understand the heritage and urban neighbourhood principles of Bukhara. It charts the launch and significance of ethnographic enquiry into this former oasis city within the context of Eurasianism, and illuminates the notion of soil in Russian thought, together with the central role it played in the study of the interrelationship between environmental factors and socio-cultural changes. The evidence will be used to present ethnographic accounts as a way of transferring knowledge between Asia and Europe, and argue in favour of a flexible approach negotiating between nature and culture, and as a process of hybridization, whereby cultures come together and, by learning from each other, create a pathway towards Eurasian integration and global intellectual interaction.
Reconsidering Archaeological and Environmental Proxies for Long Term Human-Environment Interactions in the Valley of Kashmir
Authors: Spate Michael
Published: February 2019

As response to climate change becomes an ever present issue, considerations of human-environment interactions in the past have moved beyond deterministic notions of climatically driven cycles of social expansion and collapse to more complex examinations of anthropogenic effects upon environments, as well as the transformative effects environmental change has upon human societies. The entanglement between these processes may be explored through a number of theoretical frameworks, including Niche Construction Theory (NCT) and other notions of human resilience. The Valley of Kashmir in the northernmost region of South Asia presents an opportunity for examining a number of these processes. This paper aims to synthesise past archaeological and Holocene palaeoclimate data, as well as review past interpretations of human responses to climate factors in Kashmir. Arguments are raised for new theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding human-environment interactions in the valley, based on recent studies from Kashmir and adjacent regions. These approaches aim to address gaps in understanding arising from poorly resolved environmental records or uncritical integration of archaeological and palaeoclimate data. Some early conclusions may be drawn as to ways in which differentiated land use patterns across the valley and adjacent mountain zones would have allowed for long term patterns of adjustment and reorganisation as a response to climate pressures. New preliminary data that has the potential for exploring some of these processes in the valley is also presented.
Natural Disasters in the History of the Eastern Turk Empire
Authors: Ganiev Rustam Talgatovich , Kukarskih Vladimir Vladimirovich
Published: February 2019

This article analyzes the effect of climate extremes on the historical processes that took place (AD 536, 581, 601, 626 and 679) in the Eastern Turk Empire (AD 534–745) in Inner Asia. Climate extremes are sharp, strong and sometimes protracted periods of cooling and drought caused by volcanic eruptions that in this case resulted in a negative effect on the economy of a nomadic society and were often accompanied by famine and illness. In fact, many of these natural catastrophes coincided with the Black Death pandemics among the Eastern Turks and the Chinese living in the north of China. The Turk Empire can be split into several chronological periods during which significant events that led to changes in the course of history of the nomadic state took place: AD 534–545—the rise of the Turk Empire; AD 581–583—the division of the Turk Empire into the Western and the Eastern Empires; AD 601–603—the rise of Qimin Qaghan; AD 627–630—the Eastern Turks are conquered by China; AD 679–687—the second rise of the Eastern Turk Empire. The research shows that there is clearly-discernable interplay between important historical events and climate extremes in the history of the Turk Empire. This interplay has led us to the conclusion that the climatic factor did have an impact on the historical processes that took place in the eastern part of Inner Asia, especially on the territories with a nomadic economy.
Towards a Reflective Approach to Research Project Management
Authors: Prost Lorène , Chizallet Marie , Taverne Marie , Barcellini Flore
Published: February 2019

This chapter describes how we supported the project leaders of TATA-BOX in their task of designing a management system for the project. We did so by fuelling their reflectivity: rather than making suggestions on how to manage the project – in a normative approach –, we analysed the on-going project management and mirrored what had been done after a year. The TATA-BOX project leaders would thus be able to decide how to adjust their management and to carry on – in a reflective approach. We report on this process in this chapter: after giving some theoretical background on the concept of reflectivity and its role in helping the project leaders to manage TATA-BOX, we describe: (1) how we worked with them over 6 months, 1 year after the project began, and (2) the different methods we used to meet the project leaders’ expectations. We then discuss the efficiency of these methods, their effects on the management of the project, and some lessons learned for the management of such research projects generally.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the Agroecological Transition
Authors: Leveau Lola , Bénel Aurélien , Cahier Jean-Pierre , Pinet François , Salembier Pascal , Soulignac Vincent , Bergez Jacques-Eric
Published: February 2019

The development of information and communication technologies (ICT) has to meet the needs of farmers and sustainably support the competitiveness of agriculture in a rapidly changing digital world. Under certain conditions of use, digital tools could facilitate the application to agriculture of the historical, methodological and socio-economic principles defining agroecology. This chapter is composed of four sections. In the first section we define a framework to study agricultural IC tools. The second section considers how ICT should be used during the design phase of the territorial agroecological transition – an example of which is the TATA-BOX project –, before its actual implementation. The third section sets out the four types of IC tools that can usefully be applied during this transition, and provides several examples. Finally, the last section shows the various barriers that ICT specialists will have to overcome in order to provide effective support to food systems. It also discusses the contradiction that can exist between high energy-consuming technologies and an agroecological production paradigm in which a drastic reduction of the reliance on fossil energy is essential.
Opening the TATA-BOX to Raise New Questions on Agroecological Transition
Authors: Touzard Jean-Marc , Barbier Jean-Marc , Hossard Laure
Published: February 2019

This chapter is written by researchers at UMR Innovation (Montpellier) who propose an external critical analysis of the TATA-BOX project. Firstly, we highlight the main contributions of both the project and the book, which cover different stages of a participatory research project, by crossing several disciplinary viewpoints. We note multiple outputs that can strengthen the capacities of farmers and researchers. We then develop three questions that echo our own works on innovations and agroecological transition: (i) How to associate agroecological issues with the diversity of practices and projects in a given area which is not necessary in a transition towards “strong ecological modernization”?; (ii) What are the conditions for disseminating/outscaling the TATA-BOX approach? In particular, can the project be replicated without the support of researchers? (iii) How to best integrate the political dimensions of ecological transition at different scales? We conclude that TATA-BOX could become a “political object” that promotes agroecological transition to local authorities, national policy makers and media, and international networks.
Holographic complexity equals which action?
Authors: Goto Kanato , Marrochio Hugo , Myers Robert C. , Queimada Leonel , Yoshida Beni
Published: February 2019

Abstract

We revisit the complexity = action proposal for charged black holes. We investigate the complexity for a dyonic black hole, and we find the surprising feature that the late-time growth is sensitive to the ratio between electric and magnetic charges. In particular, the late-time growth rate vanishes when the black hole carries only a magnetic charge. If the dyonic black hole is perturbed by a light shock wave, a similar feature appears for the switchback effect, e.g. it is absent for purely magnetic black holes. We then show how the inclusion of a surface term to the action can put the electric and magnetic charges on an equal footing, or more generally change the value of the late-time growt rate. Next, we investigate how the causal structure influences the late-time growth with and without the surface term for charged black holes in a family of Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton theories. Finally, we connect the previous discussion to the complexity=action proposal for the two-dimensional Jackiw-Teitelboim theory. Since the two-dimensional theory is obtained by a dimensional reduction from Einstein-Maxwell theory in higher dimensions in a near-extremal and near-horizon limit, the choices of parent action and parent background solution determine the behaviour of holographic complexity in two dimensions.
Exotic sterile neutrinos and pseudo-Goldstone phenomenology
Authors: Shakya Bibhushan , Wells James D.
Published: February 2019

Abstract

We study the phenomenology of a light (GeV scale) sterile neutrino sector and the pseudo-Goldstone boson (not the majoron) associated with a global symmetry in this sector that is broken at a high scale. Such scenarios can be motivated from considerations of singlet fermions from a hidden sector coupling to active neutrinos via heavy right-handed seesaw neutrinos, effectively giving rise to a secondary, low-energy seesaw framework. This framework involves rich phenomenology with observable implications for cosmology, dark matter, and direct searches, involving novel sterile neutrino dark matter production mechanisms from the pseudo-Goldstone-mediated scattering or decay, modifications of BBN bounds on sterile neutrinos, suppression of canonical sterile neutrino decay channels at direct search experiments, late injection of an additional population of neutrinos in the Universe after neutrino decoupling, and measurable dark radiation.
Form factor recursion relations at loop level
Authors: Bianchi Lorenzo , Brandhuber Andreas , Panerai Rodolfo , Travaglini Gabriele
Published: February 2019

Abstract

We introduce a prescription to define form factor integrands at loop level in planar

$$ \mathcal{N}=4 $$

N
=
4

supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. This relies on a periodic kinematic configuration that has been instrumental to describe form factors at strong coupling in terms of periodic Wilson loops. With this prescription, we are able to formulate loop-level recursion relations for planar form factor integrands, using a two-line (BCFW) and an all-line shift. We also point out important differences with the known recursion relations of integrands of planar loop amplitudes. We present a number of concrete one-loop examples to illustrate and validate our prescription for form factor integrands.
Two-loop evolution equations for flavor-singlet light-ray operators
Authors: Braun V. M. , Manashov A. N. , Moch S. , Strohmaier M.
Published: February 2019

Abstract

QCD in non-integer d = 4 − 2ϵ space-time dimensions enjoys conformal invariance at the special fine-tuned value of the coupling. Counterterms for composite operators in minimal subtraction schemes do not depend on ϵ by construction, and therefore the renormalization group equations for composite operators in physical (integer) dimensions inherit conformal symmetry. This observation can be used to restore the complete evolution kernels that take into account mixing with the operators containing total derivatives from their eigenvalues (anomalous dimensions). Using this approach we calculate the two-loop (NLO) evolution kernels for the leading twist flavor-singlet operators in the position space (light-ray operator) representation. As the main result of phenomenological relevance, in this way we are able to confirm the evolution equations of flavor-singlet generalized hadron parton distributions derived earlier by Belitsky and Müller using a different approach.
Overweight or Obesity is an Unfavorable Long‐Term Prognostic Factor for Patients who Underwent Gastrectomy for Stage II/III Gastric Cancer
Authors: Kambara Yuichi , Yuasa Norihiro , Takeuchi Eiji , Miyake Hideo , Nagai Hidemasa , Yoshioka Yuichiro , Okuno Masataka , Miyata Kanji
Published: February 2019

Background

Obesity has been reported to be a prognostic factor for many diseases in epidemiological studies; however, the results of studies examining the relationship between obesity and gastric cancer (GC) prognosis are inconsistent.

Methods

A total of 460 patients with Stage II and III GC who underwent open R0 gastrectomy were included. Age, sex, body mass index (BMI classified into < 18.5, 18.5–25, and ≥ 25 kg/m2), stage, and postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy were analyzed to investigate the correlation with relapse‐free survival (RFS).

Results

Five‐year RFS was 51% for the study patients. Five‐year RFS values were 47.6%, 54.3%, and 40.1% for patients with BMI < 18.5, 18.5–25, and ≥ 25 kg/m2, respectively. The forest plot for relapse risk according to BMI showed a U shape. Multivariate analysis for RFS showed significant differences in stage and BMI; the hazard ratio for recurrence in patients with BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 was 1.42 (95% confidence interval: 1.01–2.02, p = 0.0423) with reference to patients with BMI < 25 kg/m2. BMI ≥ 25.0 was associated with longer operation times, more blood loss, fewer lymph nodes dissected, more frequent postoperative surgical site infection, and intra‐abdominal abscesses.

Conclusions

BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 is an unfavorable prognostic factor for patients who underwent gastrectomy for Stage II and III GC.
Predicting the Microstructural Evolution of Electron Beam Melting of Alloy 718 with Phase-Field Modeling
Authors: Kumara Chamara , Deng Dunyong , Hanning Fabian , Raanes Morten , Moverare Johan , Nylén Per
Published: February 2019

Electron beam melting (EBM) is a powder bed additive manufacturing process where a powder material is melted selectively in a layer-by-layer approach using an electron beam. EBM has some unique features during the manufacture of components with high-performance superalloys that are commonly used in gas turbines such as Alloy 718. EBM has a high deposition rate due to its high beam energy and speed, comparatively low residual stresses, and limited problems with oxidation. However, due to the layer-by-layer melting approach and high powder bed temperature, the as-built EBM Alloy 718 exhibits a microstructural gradient starting from the top of the sample. In this study, we conducted modeling to obtain a deeper understanding of microstructural development during EBM and the homogenization that occurs during manufacturing with Alloy 718. A multicomponent phase-field modeling approach was combined with transformation kinetic modeling to predict the microstructural gradient and the results were compared with experimental observations. In particular, we investigated the segregation of elements during solidification and the subsequent “in situ” homogenization heat treatment at the elevated powder bed temperature. The predicted elemental composition was then used for thermodynamic modeling to predict the changes in the continuous cooling transformation and time–temperature transformation diagrams for Alloy 718, which helped to explain the observed phase evolution within the microstructure. The results indicate that the proposed approach can be employed as a valuable tool for understanding processes and for process development, including post-heat treatments.
Housing Sulfur in Polymer Composite Frameworks for Li–S Batteries
Authors: Hencz Luke , Chen Hao , Ling Han Yeu , Wang Yazhou , Lai Chao , Zhao Huijun , Zhang Shanqing
Published: February 2019

Extensive efforts have been devoted to the design of micro-, nano-, and/or molecular structures of sulfur hosts to address the challenges of lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries, yet comparatively little research has been carried out on the binders in Li–S batteries. Herein, we systematically review the polymer composite frameworks that confine the sulfur within the sulfur electrode, taking the roles of sulfur hosts and functions of binders into consideration. In particular, we investigate the binding mechanism between the binder and sulfur host (such as mechanical interlocking and interfacial interactions), the chemical interactions between the polymer binder and sulfur (such as covalent bonding, electrostatic bonding, etc.), as well as the beneficial functions that polymer binders can impart on Li–S cathodes, such as conductive binders, electrolyte intake, adhesion strength etc. This work could provide a more comprehensive strategy in designing sulfur electrodes for long-life, large-capacity and high-rate Li–S battery.
Stability of the Prandtl model for katabatic slope flows
Authors: Xiao Cheng-Nian , Senocak Inanc
Published: February 2019

We investigate the stability of the Prandtl model for katabatic slope flows using both linear stability theory and direct numerical simulations. Starting from Prandtl’s analytical solution for uniformly cooled laminar slope flows, we use linear stability theory to identify the onset of instability and features of the most unstable modes. Our results show that the Prandtl model for parallel katabatic slope flows is prone to transverse and longitudinal modes of instability. The transverse mode of instability manifests itself as stationary vortical flow structures aligned in the along-slope direction, whereas the longitudinal mode of instability emerges as waves propagating in the base-flow direction. Beyond the stability limits, these two modes of instability coexist and form a complex flow structure crisscrossing the plane of flow. The emergence of a particular form of these instabilities depends strongly on three dimensionless parameters, which are the slope angle, the Prandtl number and a newly introduced stratification perturbation parameter, which is proportional to the relative importance of the disturbance to the background stratification due to the imposed surface buoyancy flux. We demonstrate that when this parameter is sufficiently large, then the stabilising effect of the background stratification can be overcome. For shallow slopes, the transverse mode of instability emerges despite meeting the Miles–Howard stability criterion of $Ri>0.25$. At steep slope angles, slope flow can remain linearly stable despite attaining Richardson numbers as low as $3\times 10^{-3}$.
Were bivalves ecologically dominant over brachiopods in the late Paleozoic? A test using exceptionally preserved fossil assemblages
Authors: Hsieh Shannon , Bush Andrew M. , Bennington J Bret
Published: February 2019

Interpreting changes in ecosystem structure from the fossil record can be challenging. In a prominent example, the traditional view that brachiopods were ecologically dominant over bivalves in the Paleozoic has been disputed on both taphonomic and metabolic grounds. Aragonitic bivalves may be underrepresented in many fossil assemblages due to preferential dissolution. Abundance counts may further understate the ecological importance of bivalves, which tend to have more biomass and higher metabolic rates than brachiopods. We evaluate the relative importance of the two clades in exceptionally preserved, bulk-sampled fossil assemblages from the Pennsylvanian Breathitt Formation of Kentucky, where aragonitic bivalves are preserved as shells, not molds. At the regional scale, brachiopods were twice as abundant as bivalves and were collectively equivalent in biomass and energy use. Analyses of samples from the Paleobiology Database that contain abundance counts are consistent with these results and show no clear trend in the relative ecological importance of bivalves during the middle and late Paleozoic. Bivalves were probably more important in Paleozoic ecosystems than is apparent in many fossil assemblages, but they were not clearly dominant over brachiopods until after the Permian–Triassic extinction, which caused the shelly benthos to shift from bivalve and brachiopod dominated to merely bivalve dominated.
Normalized difference vegetation index, and K+ in stem sap of potato plants (Group Andigenum) as affected by fertilization
Authors: Gómez Manuel Iván , Barragán Andrea , Magnitskiy Stanislav , Rodríguez Luis Ernesto
Published: February 2019

Remote sensors permit forecasting the nutrient status and yields in crops of economic importance in Colombia. The objective of this study was to determine the relationships between normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and yield as well as concentrations of ${\rm {N - NO}}_3^ - $ and K+ in stem sap of potato cultivars Diacol Capiro and Pastusa Suprema (Solanum tuberosum L., Group Andigenum) in relation to different fertilizer rates. Increasing doses (0, 1450, 1900 and 2375 kg ha–1) of macro- and micronutrient fertilizers were applied to determine NDVI behavior at 55, 75, 100, 125 and 150 days after planting. For Capiro, significant differences in NDVI readings (0.84–0.88) were found between phenological stages. In both cultivars, NDVI correlated positively with yield and K+ concentrations in stem sap during tuber filling and maturation, while in Capiro no correlation was established between NDVI values and ${\rm {N - NO}}_3^ - $ concentrations in stem sap. The NDVI readings could be used to forecast productivity and K status in potato Group Andigenum.
Stakeholder collaboration: evaluating community-based conservancies in Kenya
Authors: Maynard Lily , Jacobson Susan K. , Kamanga John
Published: February 2019

To evaluate and improve the involvement of stakeholders in community-based natural resource management, we developed a stakeholder collaboration index. We compared the stakeholders of five Kenyan conservancies by conducting 10 focus group meetings with conservancy management committees and wildlife game scouts. We used the nominal group technique to identify and rank perceptions of the conservancies’ strengths, weaknesses and opportunities, and any threats. The resulting 455 responses were categorized into ecological, institutional or socio-economic themes of ecosystem management. Collaboration index scores ranged from low (0.33) to high (0.95) collaboration, on a scale of 0–1, with a mean of 0.61. Managers and game scouts had varying perceptions of the conservancies but they agreed about major strengths and threats to conservation. The index highlighted shared perspectives between managers and scouts, which could be used as opportunities for increased stakeholder involvement in collaborative management. The stakeholder collaboration index is a potentially useful tool for improving management of environmental conservation programmes.
SEMIPARAMETRIC ESTIMATION OF CENSORED SPATIAL AUTOREGRESSIVE MODELS
Authors: Hoshino Tadao
Published: February 2019

This study considers the estimation of spatial autoregressive models with censored dependent variables, where the spatial autocorrelation exists within the uncensored latent dependent variables. The estimator proposed in this paper is semiparametric, in the sense that the error distribution is not parametrically specified and can be heteroskedastic. Under a median restriction, we show that the proposed estimator is consistent and asymptotically normally distributed. As an empirical illustration, we investigate the determinants of the risk of assault and other violent crimes including injury in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
Between show-trials and Utopia: A study of the tu quoque defence
Authors: Borrelli Katerina
Published: February 2019

Tu quoque, meaning in Latin ‘you too’, is a fallacy of relevance which targets the hypocrisy of the arguer rather than the truth of the advanced argument.

In international criminal tribunals, defendants who advance the defence choose not to argue for their innocence, but rather seek to shift the spotlight on the crimes committed by the prosecuting authority or by the opposing side to the conflict, so as to delegitimize the entire prosecution as a form of ‘victor’s justice’. According to legal doxa, the argument has never been accepted in court. As a consequence, it has also been completely neglected within academia. Yet, the tu quoque defence is extremely powerful, as not only proven by its recurrent use over time, but also by its ability to turn trials into ‘show-trials’. This delegitimization of international prosecutions not only does impact the memory and reconciliation of war-torn communities, but also weakens the edifice of international criminal law.

‘The Tu Quoque Argument as a Defence to International Crimes, Prosecution or Punishment,’ written by Sienho Yee in 2004 is the only existing in-depth treatment of the defence. Departing from a critique of Yee’s theorization, this article attempts to fill the scholarly lacuna that exists around tu quoque. It departs from a critique of Yee’s theorization and questions whether the defence can be legally legitimate. The article concludes that the defence is legally void, but international criminal tribunals and academia must not disregard its underlying argument because of its political pertinence.
More than bricks and mortar: female property ownership as economic strategy in mid-nineteenth-century urban England
Authors: ASTON JENNIFER , CAPERN AMANDA , MCDONAGH BRIONY
Published: February 2019

This article uses a quantitative and qualitative methodology to examine the role that women played as property owners in three mid-nineteenth-century English towns. Using data from the previously under-utilized rate books, we argue that women were actively engaged in urban property ownership as part of a complex financial strategy to generate income and invest speculatively. We show that female engagement in the urban land and property markets was widespread, significant and reflective of local economic structures. Crucially, it also was more complex in form than the historiography has previously acknowledged. The article delivers a final piece in the jigsaw puzzle of women's investment activity, demonstrating that women were active investors in the urban land market as well as the managers of landed estates, business owners and shareholders, thereby opening up new questions about how gender intersected with economic change and growth in the rapidly changing world of nineteenth-century England.
Enhancing Element Identification by Expectation–Maximization Method in Atom Probe Tomography
Authors: Vurpillot Francois , Hatzoglou Constantinos , Radiguet Bertrand , Da Costa Gerald , Delaroche Fabien , Danoix Frederic
Published: February 2019

This paper describes an alternative way to assign elemental identity to atoms collected by atom probe tomography (APT). This method is based on Bayesian assignation of label through the expectation–maximization method (well known in data analysis). Assuming the correct shape of mass over charge peaks in mass spectra, the probability of each atom to be labeled as a given element is determined, and is used to enhance data visualization and composition mapping in APT analyses. The method is particularly efficient for small count experiments with a low signal to noise ratio, and can be used on small subsets of analyzed volumes, and is complementary to single-ion decomposition methods. Based on the selected model and experimental examples, it is shown that the method enhances our ability to observe and extract information from the raw dataset. The experimental case of the superimposition of the Si peak and N peak in a steel is presented.
Exploring Particular Facets of Cognitive Emotion Regulation and Their Relationships With Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Among Adolescents
Authors: Madjar Nir , Segal Nicole , Eger Gilad , Shoval Gal
Published: February 2019

Abstract. Background: Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) has been found to be associated with poor emotion regulation. Aims: The goal of this study was to examine the association of multidimensional cognitive emotion regulation strategies with NSSI among adolescents and compare the different patterns of NSSI. Method: A sample of 594 high-school students (54.4% boys; mean age = 14.96 years), from five regional schools across Israel, were assessed for five facets of cognitive emotion regulation strategies (acceptance, refocus on planning, positive refocusing, putting into perspective, and positive reappraisal) and NSSI behaviors using validated scales. Participants were allocated into three groups: repetitive NSSI (more than six occasions of NSSI; 7.1%), occasional NSSI (at least one incident but less than six; 8.3%), and no NSSI (84.6%). Results: Analysis of covariance, controlling for gender and depression symptoms, revealed that students with NSSI reported higher levels of acceptance, but lower levels of refocus on planning and putting into perspective. Limitations: The study used a cross-sectional design, which was a limitation. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that particular cognitive emotion regulation strategies differ substantially in their relationship with NSSI. Adolescents who focus on planning and putting stressful situations into perspective may have increased resilience, whereas adolescents who are accepting of negative events that have happened may be more prone to maladaptive coping behaviors.
Caught Between Expectations and the Practice Field
Authors: Vattø Ingvild Engh , Lien Lars , DeMarinis Valerie , Kjørven Haug Sigrid Helene , Danbolt Lars Johan
Published: February 2019

Abstract. Background: Volunteer crisis line responders are a valuable resource for suicide prevention crisis lines worldwide. Aim: The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of how volunteers operating a diaconal crisis line in Norway experienced challenges and how these challenges were met. Method: A qualitative, explorative study was conducted. A total of 27 volunteers were interviewed through four focus groups. The material was analyzed using systematic text condensation. Results: The greatest challenge to the volunteers was the perception of a gap between their expectations and the practice field. The experience of many volunteers was that the crisis line primarily served a broad ongoing support function for loneliness or mental illness concerns, rather than a suicide prevention crisis intervention function. Limitations: The focus group design may have made the participants more reluctant to share experiences representing alternative perspectives or personally sensitive information. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that a uniform response to callers using crisis lines as a source of ongoing support is warranted and should be implemented in volunteer training programs.
Some Compliments (and Insults) Are More Heartfelt
Authors: Benau Erik M. , Atchley Ruth Ann
Published: February 2019

Abstract. Previous research suggests that individuals with increased awareness of internal bodily states (i.e., high interoceptive awareness) are more sensitive to emotional stimuli, particularly stimuli that are negative or threatening. Concurrently, there is increasing evidence that words that are more body-referent (e.g., bonehead) are processed faster, perceived more accurately, and generate larger neuroelectrical signals than those that are less body-referent (e.g., idiot). The present study examined individual differences in interoceptive awareness (IA) to these more embodied words. While electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded, participants passively viewed insults, compliments, and neutral stimuli, half of which were more embodied (e.g., bonehead, beautiful) and half of which were less embodied (e.g., idiot, friendly). Results showed that the high perceivers generated a larger P2 to embodied compliments than less embodied compliments while average perceivers generated a larger P2 to embodied insults than to less embodied insults. The results provide preliminary evidence that good cardiac awareness is not only associated with increased sensitivity to negative stimuli, but to stimuli pertaining to the body itself.
Numerical Study of Alternate Bars in Alluvial Channels With Nonuniform Sediment
Authors: Cordier F. , Tassi P. , Claude N. , Crosato A. , Rodrigues S. , Pham Van Bang D.
Published: February 2019

Rivers typically present heterogeneous bed material, but the effects of sediment nonuniformity on river bar characteristics are still unclear. This work investigates the impact of sediment size heterogeneity on alternate bars with a morphodynamic numerical model. The model is first used to reproduce a laboratory experiment showing alternate bar formation with nonuniform bed material. Subsequently, the influence of sediment size heterogeneity on alternate bars is investigated distinguishing hybrid from free bars, definition based on the presence/absence of morphodynamic forcing, considering the results of nine scenarios. In four of them, a transverse obstacle is used to generate forcing. The computations are carried out with the Telemac‐Mascaret system solving the two‐dimensional shallow‐water equations with a finite element approach, accounting for horizontal and vertical sediment sorting processes. The results show that sediment heterogeneity affects free migrating and hybrid bars in a different way. The difference lies in the presence/absence of a migration front, so that distinct relations between bed topography, bed shear stress, and sediment sorting are obtained. Sediment sorting and associated planform redistribution of bed roughness only slightly modify free migrating bar morphodynamics, whereas hybrid bars are greatly impacted, with decreased amplitude and increased wavelength. Increased sediment size heterogeneity increases the degree of sediment sorting, while the sorting pattern remains the same for both free and hybrid bars. Moreover, it produces averagely higher, longer, and faster free bars, while in the case of hybrid bars their wavelength is increased but no general trend can be determined for their amplitude.
A Geodesy‐ and Seismicity‐Based Local Earthquake Likelihood Model for Central Los Angeles
Authors: Rollins Chris , Avouac Jean‐Philippe
Published: February 2019

We estimate time‐independent earthquake likelihoods in central Los Angeles using a model of interseismic strain accumulation and the 1932–2017 seismic catalog. We assume that on the long‐term average, earthquakes and aseismic deformation collectively release seismic moment at a rate balancing interseismic loading, mainshocks obey the Gutenberg‐Richter law (a log linear magnitude‐frequency distribution [MFD]) up to a maximum magnitude and a Poisson process, and aftershock sequences obey the Gutenberg‐Richter and “Båth” laws. We model a comprehensive suite of these long‐term systems, assess how likely each system would be to have produced the MFD of the instrumental catalog, and use these likelihoods to probabilistically estimate the long‐term MFD. We estimateMmax = 6.8 + 1.05/−0.4 (every ~300 years) orMmax = 7.05 + 0.95/−0.4 assuming a truncated or tapered Gutenberg‐Richter MFD, respectively. Our results imply that, for example, the (median) likelihood of one or moreMw ≥ 6.5 mainshocks is 0.2% in 1 year, 2% in 10 years, and 18–21% in 100 years.
Active Convergence of the India‐Burma‐Sunda Plates Revealed by a New Continuous GPS Network
Authors: Mallick Rishav , Lindsey Eric O. , Feng Lujia , Hubbard Judith , Banerjee Paramesh , Hill Emma M.
Published: February 2019

The Rakhine (Arakan)‐Bangladesh megathrust, along which the Indian and Burma plates collide, is assumed by some to be inactive/aseismic due to the lack of notable interplate earthquakes in the modern instrumental catalog. However, geological and historical evidence of the great 1762 Arakan earthquake suggest the megathrust can produce M~8 events that could adversely affect the lives of millions of people in the region. To investigate the seismogenic potential and determine the slip budget of the megathrust, we first need to solve for India‐Burma‐Sunda relative plate motions. We present a new set of 24 GPS velocities (2011–2017) from the Myanmar‐India‐Bangladesh‐Bhutan continuous GPS network. We use the new velocities and those from previously published studies to explore the geometries and slip rates of three major faults (Rakhine‐Bangladesh megathrust, Churachandpur‐Mao Fault, and Sagaing Fault) that accommodate the India‐Burma‐Sunda plate motion. Our results suggest that the three major faults we studied are likely fully coupled; the modern shortening rate across the Burma plate is 12–24 mm/year, while the total dextral shear rate is 25–32 mm/year. The possibly fully coupled shallow megathrust, and splay faults that may sole into it, are geodetically invisible while they are not slipping. However, we can identify the transition from coupling to steady creep on the deeper extension of the megathrust; we use this to show active oblique India‐Burma convergence and to map along‐strike and along‐dip variations in dip‐slip and strike‐slip motion. This implies that the megathrust is currently accumulating strain which will eventually be released in earthquakes.
Lightning Initiation Processes Imaged With Very High Frequency Broadband Interferometry
Authors: Lyu Fanchao , Cummer Steven A. , Qin Zilong , Chen Mingli
Published: February 2019

Recent measurements of narrow bipolar lightning events (NBEs) by very high frequency (VHF) radio interferometer have resolved the dynamic development of this special lightning process with submicrosecond time resolution, and showed that the fast positive breakdown (FPB) process is responsible for initiating at least some lightning flashes. In this study, with a newly built and deployed VHF interferometer system, we analyzed 31 intracloud lightning flash initiation events during three thunderstorms at short range from the interferometer. These events separate into two distinct classes that can be identified based on the time scale and the occurrence contexts of the first detectable VHF emissions from the flash. One class has features completely consistent with previously reported FPB events and is associated with continuous VHF emissions of 10–20 μs duration. Downward motion of the FPB region centroid merged continuously into the development of the subsequent upward negative leaders. But the majority of the lightning flashes analyzed began with ultrashort, submicrosecond duration, isolated pulses of VHF emission with no identifiable FPB signatures between these pulses and the leader development. These short VHF pulses begin typically a few hundred microseconds before the upward leader developes and are located at the same position where the leader eventually begins. We suggest that the FPB process is responsible for initiating some but not all lightning flashes, and the extremely short pulse‐like VHF emissions play a role in initiating those flashes without any FPB process.