bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Trophic niche width increases with bill‐size variation in a generalist passerine: a test of niche variation hypothesis
Authors: Hsu Yu‐Cheng , Shaner Pei‐Jen , Chang Chun‐I , Ke Linhua , Kao Shuh‐Ji
Published: October 2013

The niche variation hypothesis (NVH) predicts that populations with wider niches are phenotypically more variable than populations with narrower niches, which is frequently used to explain diversifying processes such as ecological release. However, not all empirical evidence supports the NVH. Furthermore, a relationship between population phenotypic variation and niche width can be caused by sexual selection or environmental gradients, which should be carefully considered along with competition in explaining niche variation.

In this study, we used eight populations of a generalist passerine species, Paradoxornis webbianus (vinous‐throated parrotbill), to test the NVH. We assessed evidence of ecological sexual dimorphism and environmental gradients in bill morphology of P. webbianus. A total of 170 P. webbianus from eight sites ranging 24–2668 m in altitude were included in this study. We used two principal components to quantify bill morphology: one describes bill size and the other describes bill slenderness. We used stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values of bird feathers to quantify trophic positions, and we estimated population trophic niche width using Bayesian standardized ellipse area.

Paradoxornis webbianus with larger and more slender bills fed at higher trophic levels and population trophic niche width tended to increase with bill‐size variation, supporting the NVH. The males had larger bills and marginally higher nitrogen isotope values than the females, suggesting ecological sexual dimorphism. Despite a positive correlation between bill size and wing length indicating sexual selection for larger male size, only three of the eight populations showed both male‐biased bill size and male‐biased wing length. Sexual dimorphism explained 13%–64% of bill‐size variation across sites, suggesting its role in niche variation could vary greatly among populations. The variation in bill slenderness in P. webbianus increased with elevation. However, neither bill‐size variation nor trophic niche width changed with elevation. Therefore, environmental gradients that could be reflected in the elevation are not likely to drive the observed morphological and niche variation.

This study provides an empirical case for the NVH and highlights the importance of investigating sexual dimorphism and environmental gradients in studies of niche dynamics.
Dispersal in a patchy landscape reveals contrasting determinants of infection in a wild avian malaria system
Authors: Knowles Sarah C. L. , Wood Matthew J. , Alves Ricardo , Sheldon Ben C.
Published: October 2013

Understanding exactly when, where and how hosts become infected with parasites is critical to understanding host–parasite co‐evolution in natural populations. However, for host–parasite systems in which hosts or parasites are mobile, for example in vector‐borne diseases, the spatial location of infection and the relative importance of parasite exposure at successive host life‐history stages are often uncertain.

Here, using a 6‐year longitudinal data set from a spatially referenced population of blue tits, we test the extent to which infection by avian malaria parasites is determined by conditions experienced at natal or breeding sites, as well as by postnatal dispersal between the two.

We show that the location and timing of infection differs markedly between two sympatric malaria parasite species. For one species (Plasmodium circumflexum), our analyses indicate that infection occurs after birds have settled on breeding territories, and because the distribution of this parasite is temporally stable across years, hosts born in malarious areas could in principle alter their exposure and potentially avoid infection through postnatal dispersal. Conversely, the spatial distribution of another parasite species (Plasmodium relictum) is unpredictable and infection probability is positively associated with postnatal dispersal distance, potentially indicating that infection occurs during this major dispersal event.

These findings suggest that hosts in this population may be subject to divergent selection pressures from these two parasites, potentially acting at different life‐history stages. Because this implies parasite species‐specific predictions for many coevolutionary processes, they also illustrate the complexity of predicting such processes in multi‐parasite systems.
Effects of plant phylogenetic diversity on herbivory depend on herbivore specialization
Authors: Castagneyrol Bastien , Jactel Hervé , Vacher Corinne , Brockerhoff Eckehard G. , Koricheva Julia
Published: October 2013

Pest regulation is an important ecosystem service provided by biodiversity, as plants growing in species‐rich communities often experience associational resistance to herbivores. However, little is known about the respective influence of the quantity and identity of associated species on herbivory in focal plants.

Using a meta‐analysis to compare insect herbivory in pure and mixed forests, we specifically tested the effects of the relative abundance of focal tree species and of phylogenetic distance between focal and associated tree species on the magnitude of associational resistance.

Overall, insect herbivory was significantly lower in mixed forests, but the outcome varied greatly depending on the phylogenetic relatedness among tree species and the degree of herbivore feeding specialization.

Specialist herbivore damage or abundance was positively related to relative abundance of their host trees, regardless of the phylogenetic distance between host and associated tree species.

By contrast, tree diversity triggered associational resistance to generalist herbivores only when tree mixtures included tree species phylogenetically distant to the focal species.

Synthesis and applications. Our study demonstrates that the establishment of mixed forests per se is not sufficient to convey associational resistance to herbivores if the identity of tree species associated in mixtures is not taken into account. As a general rule, mixing phylogenetically more distinct tree species, such as mixtures of conifers and broadleaved trees, results in more effective reduction in herbivore damage.
Facilitative or competitive effects of woody plants on understorey vegetation depend on N‐fixation, canopy shape and rainfall
Authors: Blaser Wilma J. , Sitters Judith , Hart Simon P. , Edwards Peter J. , Olde Venterink Harry
Published: October 2013

A recent meta‐analysis suggested that differences in rainfall are a cause of variation in tree–grass interactions in savannas, with trees facilitating growth of understorey grasses in low‐rainfall areas, but competing with them under higher rainfall. We hypothesized that this effect of rainfall upon understorey productivity is modified by differences in the growth form of the woody plants (i.e. the height of the lower canopy) or by their capacity to fix nitrogen.

We performed a meta‐analysis of the effects of woody plants on understorey productivity, incorporating canopy height and N‐fixation, and their interaction with rainfall.

N‐fixing woody plants enhanced understorey productivity, whereas non‐fixers had a neutral or negative effect, depending on high or low canopy, respectively. We found a strong negative correlation between rainfall and the degree to which trees enhanced understorey productivity, but only for trees with a high canopy.

Synthesis. The effect of woody plants on understorey productivity depends not only on rainfall, but also on their growth form and their capacity to fix N. Facilitation occurs mostly when woody plants ameliorate both water and nitrogen conditions. However, a low canopy suppresses understorey vegetation by competing for light, regardless of water and nutrient relations.
Decomposing recruitment limitation for an avian‐dispersed rain forest tree in an anciently fragmented landscape
Authors: Núñez‐Ávila Mariela C. , Uriarte María , Marquet Pablo A. , Armesto Juan J.
Published: October 2013

Forest fragmentation may intensify recruitment limitation through impacts on seed production, dissemination and seedling establishment processes. In an ancient mosaic of fog‐dependent rain forest patches on coastal hilltops of semi‐aridChile (30 °S), we investigated how aridity‐driven habitat fragmentation affected the recruitment of the fleshy‐fruited, dioecious treeAextoxicon punctatum(Aextoxicaceae) and the role of birds in seed dispersal across patches.

We hypothesized that reduced fragment size enhanced recruitment limitation due to constraints on tree fecundity, avian disperser activity and seedling recruitment, caused primarily by strong edge effects in small fragments.

We mapped adultAextoxicontrees and placed 686 seed traps distributed in 3 small (<0.3 ha) and 3 large patches ( > 0.9 ha) in the forest patch mosaic. To identify seed sources, endocarps of 282 dispersed seeds from seed traps were genotyped and compared with 155 genotyped females using nine microsatellite markers. Seed dispersal curves for different forest patches were constructed using maximum likelihood methods. Further, seed addition experiments were conducted in the six fragments to assess recruitment probabilities.

Lower density and basal areas of reproductive female trees, in addition to shorter fruiting periods and lower seed yields, led to strong source limitation in small patches. Three bird species accounted for the bulk of visits to fruiting trees, but were less active in smaller patches. Dispersal curves were strongly leptokurtic with maximum dispersal distances related to the shape of patches. Important proportions (5–40%) of genotyped seeds in all patches were immigrants. However, seeds arrived mainly at patch edges or below reproductive trees where germination and survival are reduced. Fewer seedlings originated from experimentally added seeds in small patches subjected to greater edge effects.

Synthesis. In summary, we provide evidence for source, dispersal and establishment limitation of this dioecious tree in an aridity‐driven fragmented landscape. Small fragment size and edge effects had negative impacts on fecundity and seedling establishment. Although bird‐mediated seed dispersal favoured immigration between patches, recruitment from such seeds will be unlikely because of low quality of deposition sites.
Waiting for Gajah: an elephant mutualist's contingency plan for an endangered megafaunal disperser
Authors: Sekar Nitin , Sukumar Raman
Published: October 2013

Large animals are disproportionately likely to go extinct, and the effects of this on ecosystem processes are unclear. Megaherbivores (weighing over 1000 kg) are thought to be particularly effective seed dispersers, yet only a few plant species solely or predominantly adapted for dispersal by megaherbivores have been identified.

The reasons for this paradox may be elucidated by examining the ecology of so‐called megafaunal fruiting species in Asia, where large‐fruited species have been only sparsely researched. We conducted focal tree watches, camera trapping, fruit ageing trials, dung seed counts and germination trials to understand the ecology of Dillenia indica, a large‐fruited species thought to be elephant‐dispersed, in a tropical moist forest (Buxa Tiger Reserve, India).

We find that the initial hardness of the fruit of D. indica ensures that its small (˜6 mm) seeds will primarily be consumed and dispersed by elephants and perhaps other megaherbivores. Elephants removed 63.3% of camera trap‐monitored fruits taken by frugivores.

If the fruit of D. indica is not removed by a large animal, the seeds of D. indica become available to successively smaller frugivores as its fruits soften.

Seeds from both hard and soft fruits are able to germinate, meaning these smaller frugivores may provide a mechanism for dispersal without megaherbivores.

Synthesis. Dillenia indica's strategy for dispersal allows it to realize the benefits of dispersal by megaherbivores without becoming fully reliant on these less abundant species. This risk‐spreading dispersal behaviour suggests D. indica will be able to persist even if its megafaunal disperser becomes extinct.
Biological Flora of the British Isles: Robinia pseudoacacia
Authors: Cierjacks Arne , Kowarik Ingo , Joshi Jasmin , Hempel Stefan , Ristow Michael , von der Lippe Moritz , Weber Ewald
Published: October 2013

This account presents information on all aspects of the biology of Robinia pseudoacacia L. that are relevant to understanding its ecological characteristics and behaviour. The main topics are presented within the standard framework of the Biological Flora of the British Isles: distribution, habitat, communities, responses to biotic factors, responses to environment, structure and physiology, phenology, floral and seed characters, herbivores and disease, and history and conservation.

Robinia pseudoacacia, false acacia or black locust, is a deciduous, broad‐leaved tree native to North America. The medium‐sized, fast‐growing tree is armed with spines, and extensively suckering. It has become naturalized in grassland, semi‐natural woodlands and urban habitats. The tree is common in the south of the British Isles and in many other regions of Europe.

Robinia pseudoacacia is a light‐demanding pioneer species, which occurs primarily in disturbed sites on fertile to poor soils. The tree does not tolerate wet or compacted soils. In contrast to its native range, where it rapidly colonizes forest gaps and is replaced after 15–30 years by more competitive tree species, populations in the secondary range can persist for a longer time, probably due to release from natural enemies.

Robinia pseudoacacia reproduces sexually, and asexually by underground runners. Disturbance favours clonal growth and leads to an increase in the number of ramets. Mechanical stem damage and fires also lead to increased clonal recruitment.

The tree benefits from di‐nitrogen fixation associated with symbiotic rhizobia in root nodules. Estimated symbiotic nitrogen fixation rates range widely from 23 to 300 kg ha−1 year−1. The nitrogen becomes available to other plants mainly by the rapid decay of nitrogen‐rich leaves.

Robinia pseudoacacia is host to a wide range of fungi both in the native and introduced ranges. Megaherbivores are of minor significance in Europe but browsing by ungulates occurs in the native range. Among insects, the North American black locust gall midge (Obolodiplosis robiniae) is specific to Robinia and is spreading rapidly throughout Europe.

In parts of Europe, Robinia pseudoacacia is considered an invasive non‐indigenous plant and the tree is controlled. Negative impacts include shading and changes of soil conditions as a result of nitrogen fixation.
Intraspecific functional differentiation suggests local adaptation to long‐term climate change in a calcareous grassland
Authors: Ravenscroft Catherine H. , Fridley Jason D. , Grime J. Philip
Published: October 2013

Populations of the common perennial herb Plantago lanceolata L. have been exposed to nearly two decades of summer drought at the Buxton Climate Change Experiment (BCCIL), a controlled manipulation of climate factors in a species‐rich limestone grassland in northern England.

We used a common garden approach to test for evidence of selection for different suites of functional traits in P. lanceolata populations exposed to chronic summer drought and across a soil depth gradient.

The main axis of functional variation reflected a trade‐off between reproductive and vegetative allocation, consistent with drought avoidance and competitive strategies, respectively. Avoidance strategies were more prominent in droughted populations, whereas competitive strategies were more prominent in populations from control treatments. Treatment differences were more pronounced in shallower soils. Deeper soils in both control and drought treatments promoted functional differentiation associated with competitive strategies, suggesting that selective pressures imposed by different climate treatments are modified by fine‐scale edaphic heterogeneity.

Synthesis. Results suggest that population‐level shifts can be a mechanism of resistance to local climate‐induced extinction. Trait differentiation with respect to fine‐scale variation in soil depth suggests that edaphic heterogeneity fosters high local genetic diversity, which provides a range of local phenotypes upon which drought‐based selection may act.
Occupational therapy services for people with autism spectrum disorders: Current state of play, use of evidence and future learning priorities
Authors: Ashburner Jill , Rodger Sylvia , Ziviani Jenny , Jones Judy
Published: October 2013

Background

A dramatic increase in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders and increased funding to support children with autism spectrum disorders have added to the demand for occupational therapy services. This study explored current practices and future learning priorities of Queensland occupational therapists who work in this field.

Method

A survey in relation to occupational therapy services for people with autism spectrum disorders was distributed to all registered Queensland occupational therapists (N = 2547). The development of the survey was informed by a series of focus groups comprising occupational therapy clinicians, supervisors and academics. The survey covered demographics, caseload composition, collaboration, context/setting, service‐delivery models, information gathering, goal setting, interventions, perceived challenges and confidence, use of evidence, and experience of professional development and support, and future learning priorities.

Results

Of 818 surveys returned, 235 respondents provided services to clients with autism spectrum disorders, with young children being more likely to receive a service than adolescents or adults. A pervasive focus on sensory processing was apparent in relation to assessment, intervention, and key areas of knowledge. Around half the respondents indicated that they lacked confidence at least some of the time. Autism spectrum disorders‐specific experience was a significant predictor of confidence. Many therapists reported challenges in finding useful information in the literature and reliance on conferences or workshops as their main source of evidence. Commonly identified learning priorities included new developments in the field, early intervention, school support, sensory processing and clinical reasoning.

Conclusion

This research highlights the need for comprehensive autism spectrum disorders‐specific, face‐to‐face training focusing on evidence‐based and occupation‐centred practices.
Amoeba host‐Legionella synchronization of amino acid auxotrophy and its role in bacterial adaptation and pathogenic evolution
Authors: Price Christopher T. D. , Richards Ashley M. , Von Dwingelo Juanita E. , Samara Hala A. , Abu Kwaik Yousef
Published: October 2013

Legionella pneumophila, the causative agent of Legionnaires' disease, invades and proliferates within a diverse range of free‐living amoeba in the environment, but upon transmission to humans, the bacteria hijack alveolar macrophages. Intracellular proliferation of L. pneumophila in two evolutionarily distant hosts is facilitated by bacterial exploitation of conserved host processes that are targeted by bacterial protein effectors injected into the host cell. A key aspect of microbe–host interaction is microbial extraction of nutrients from the host, but understanding of this is still limited. AnkB functions as a nutritional virulence factor and promotes host proteasomal degradation of polyubiquitinated proteins generating gratuitous levels of limiting host cellular amino acids. Legionella pneumophila is auxotrophic for several amino acids including cysteine, which is a metabolically preferred source of carbon and energy during intracellular proliferation, but is limiting in both amoebae and humans. We propose that synchronization of bacterial amino acids auxotrophy with the host is a driving force in pathogenic evolution and nutritional adaptation of L. pneumophila and other intracellular bacteria to life within the host cell. Understanding microbial strategies of nutrient generation and acquisition in the host will provide novel antimicrobial strategies to disrupt pathogen access to essential sources of carbon and energy.
Diet alters probiotic Lactobacillus persistence and function in the intestine
Authors: Tachon Sybille , Lee Bokyung , Marco Maria L.
Published: October 2013

We investigated the effects of host diet on the intestinal persistence and gene expression of Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1 in healthy and health‐compromised, 2,4,6‐trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)‐treated mice. Mice fed either a low‐fat chow diet (CD) or high fat and sucrose Western diet (WD) received 109 L. plantarum WCFS1 cells for five consecutive days. Lactobacillus plantarum persistence was 10‐ to 100‐fold greater in the intestines of WD‐fed compared with CD‐fed mice. TNBS, an intestinal irritant that induces the development of inflammatory bowel disease‐like symptoms, resulted in up to a 104‐fold increase in L. plantarum survival in the digestive tract relative to healthy animals. Expression levels of 12 metabolic and gut‐inducible L. plantarum genes were differentially affected by diet and TNBS administration. Pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA transcripts from the indigenous intestinal microbiota showed that WD resulted in significant reductions in proportions of metabolically active indigenous Lactobacillus species and increases in the Desulfovibrionaceae family. Feeding L. plantarum WCFS1 resulted in lower levels of colitis and higher concentrations of colonic IL‐10 and IL‐12 in WD and not CD‐fed mice. Interactions between probiotics, nutritional components and the intestinal bacteria should be considered when examining for probiotic‐mediated effects and elucidating mechanisms of probiotic function in the mammalian gut.
Genomic signatures of obligate host dependence in the luminous bacterial symbiont of a vertebrate
Authors: Hendry Tory A. , de Wet Jeffrey R. , Dunlap Paul V.
Published: October 2013

The majority of bacteria engaged in bioluminescent symbiosis are environmentally acquired and facultatively symbiotic. A few enigmatic bioluminescent symbionts have not been successfully cultured, which has led to speculation that they may be obligately dependent on their hosts. Here, we report the draft genome of the uncultured luminous symbiont of an anomalopid flashlight fish, ‘Candidatus Photodesmus katoptron’. The genome of the anomalopid symbiont is reduced by 80% compared with close relatives and lacks almost all genes necessary for amino acid synthesis and for metabolism of energy sources other than glucose, supporting obligate dependence on the host for growth. ‘Candidatus Photodesmus katoptron’ is the first described obligate mutualistic symbiont of a vertebrate. Unlike most other obligate mutualists, the anomalopid symbiont genome has retained complete pathways for chemotaxis and motility as well as most genes involved in cell wall production, consistent with the hypothesis that these bacteria may be transmitted environmentally during an extra‐host phase.
TheCrcprotein inhibits the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates inPseudomonas putidaunder balanced carbon/nitrogen growth conditions
Authors: La Rosa Ruggero , de la Peña Fernando , Prieto María Axiliadora , Rojo Fernando
Published: October 2013

Pseudomonas putidasynthesizes polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) as storage compounds.PHAsynthesis is more active when the carbon source is in excess and the nitrogen source is limiting, but can also occur at a lower rate under balanced carbon/nitrogen ratios. This work shows thatPHAsynthesis is controlled by theCrcglobal regulator, a protein that optimizes carbon metabolism by inhibiting the expression of genes involved in the use of non‐preferred carbon sources.Crcacts post‐transcriptionally. ThemRNAsof target genes contain characteristic catabolite activity (CA) motifs near the ribosome binding site. Sequences resemblingCAmotifs can be predicted for thephaC1gene, which codes for aPHApolymerase, and forphaIandphaF, which encode proteins associated toPHAgranules. Our results show thatCrcinhibits the translation ofphaC1mRNA, but not that ofphaIorphaF, reducing the amount ofPHAaccumulated in the cell.CrcinhibitedPHAsynthesis during exponential growth in media containing a balanced carbon/nitrogen ratio. No inhibition was seen when the carbon/nitrogen ratio was imbalanced. This extends the role ofCrcbeyond that of controlling the hierarchical utilization of carbon sources and provides a link betweenPHAsynthesis and the global regulatory networks controlling carbon flow.
Learning the Game: Explaining Party System Convergence in European Democracies
Authors: Rashkova Ekaterina R.
Published: October 2013

While many works have empirically studied the number of parties, little has been done to investigate the difference between theoretical predictions and empirical reality. Furthermore, the bulk of the analyses on party system development are carried out with national data, as opposed to studying electoral competition at the level where it occurs — the constituency. This article offers a comparative study of the determinants of party system convergence of twenty European democracies, explaining why party systems in new democracies are much further away from the theoretically predicted equilibrium than those in more established states. The main argument is that learning the effect of institutions is integral to understanding the number of competing parties and it takes time for political elites in new democracies to learn. Using a hierarchical model, the study shows the effect of age of democracy on party system convergence and illustrates that it is more pronounced in new democracies. The analysis demonstrates further that pre-electoral constraints such as signature and deposit requirements have a significant positive effect on party system convergence, while public funding, contrary to previous speculations, is found to be insignificant.
Sartori Reconsidered: Toward a New Predominant Party System
Authors: Nwokora Zim , Pelizzo Riccardo
Published: October 2013

Despite the success of his party systems theory, Giovanni Sartori's predominant party system is a type that is consistently avoided by party systems scholars, yet the reasons for this have been unclear. This article exposes the flaws in Sartori's predominant party system, but we also argue that it remains a useful concept and, consequently, that the literature's rejection of predominance and retreat to the cruder dominance notion is unnecessary. Instead, we amend predominance to ensure its coherence within Sartori's typology and consistency with his party systems theory. We show that our amendments improve the value of predominance as a category for empirical analysis of the effects of party systems.
Thresholds of State Change: Changing British State Institutions and Practices in Northern Ireland after Direct Rule
Authors: Todd Jennifer
Published: October 2013

A long process of state-institutional change underlay an eventual swift restructuring of Northern Ireland on a more equal basis in the 2000s. This article shows how change occurred and explains its phasing, arguing that it took a threshold form. It gives a distinctive characterisation of the ‘recognition’, ‘agenda‘ and ‘implementation’ thresholds, and the different politics that followed each. This model of state change is of interest in three ways: in providing a distinctive characterisation and explanation of the process; in addressing the comparative literature on ‘exclusion’, conflict and settlement by sketching a threshold model of change from ‘exclusion’ to ‘inclusion’ and in speaking to a pressing moral concern – if settlement was possible at all, why was it not possible sooner? The article makes use of new evidence in the form of over 70 elite interviews with senior British and Irish politicians and officials who made, influenced and closely observed the process.
Negative Campaigning in Western Europe: Similar or Different?
Authors: Walter Annemarie S.
Published: October 2013

This article describes how political parties in parliamentary election campaigns in Western Europe make use of negative campaigning and examines whether their behaviour differs from that of candidates competing in US presidential election campaigns. Furthermore, it theorises how the differences and similarities between negative campaigning in these countries can be explained. First of all, this comparative study adds to the development of a more general theory on negative campaigning. Second, the study presents interesting new data measuring the use of negative campaigning by 31 political parties in 23 parliamentary election campaigns in Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands between 1980 and 2006. Results show that there are no signs of an increase in negative campaigning and that the majority of attacks are issue attacks. However, there are systematic differences in the overall level of negative campaigning between these countries and we suspect that the type of party system could be the main explanatory factor.
The Politics of Internet Filtering: The United Kingdom and Germany in a Comparative Perspective
Authors: Wagner Ben
Published: October 2013

Debates around appropriate regulation of Internet content have become increasingly common in liberal democracies, despite the fact that relatively little is known about the actual processes of Internet content regulation. The following article studies the institutional development of content regulatory institutions in the United Kingdom and Germany to explore this phenomenon. It will be argued that the divergent paths of Internet filtering in both countries can be understood by looking at the development of the relevant regulatory institutions. As most Internet filtering and content regulation is implemented through private actors, the article will explore the relationship between public and private actors in both countries in the evolving regulatory debate. In this context it can be argued that the ability of the UK and Germany to enforce their own policy goals depends primarily on the ability of the state to make credible regulatory and legislative threats towards private actors. In conclusion it is suggested that the coercion of private sector actors is a key regulatory practice not just in online content regulation but in the wider field of Internet governance.
Olfactive Frames of Remembering: Theorizing Self, Senses and Society
Authors: Low Kelvin E. Y.
Published: October 2013

By analysing sensorial aspects of social memory and emotions, this paper theorizes the social significance of olfaction and other senses towards reconfigurations of self and social interactions through embodied identity work. The research question that this paper addresses is: how is the self perceived through memories that are mediated by smells? Olfactive frames of remembering are employed in order to explicate sensory meta-narratives including sensory relations (pertaining to familial and other ties), sensory memory, time and space, and sensoryscapes. This article also elucidates upon the various moral, cultural and aesthetic codes that may be discerned in biographical narrations of social actors drawn from narrative interviews. Furthermore, it highlights a need to consider sensorial-bodily experiences in qualitative inquiry and thereby conceptualize how actors articulate their sense of self, and how they reformulate their experiences and relationships with others vis-à-vis emotional discourses of happiness, sadness and nostalgia in the maintenance and continuity of selfhood. The paper therefore contributes to sensuous scholarship by explicating how smells and memories operate in conjunction toward shaping self-identity and social relations.
Where have all the brides gone? Son preference and marriage in India over the twentieth century
Authors: Gupta Bishnupriya
Published: October 2013

Marriage is universal for women in India, but the marriage rate for men varies across regions, where the region is a proxy for shared cultural norms. A preference for sons results in a biased sex ratio towards men and creates a shortage of brides in the marriage market. Using the Indian census of 1931, the article finds that son preference was a regional phenomenon and led to a low marriage rate for men. Using caste‐level information, the article finds no evidence that men from the upper castes enjoyed an advantage in the marriage market as the theoretical literature predicts. The regional differences in gender bias and marriage market outcomes have persisted over the twentieth century and indicate the persistence of cultural values. The long‐run changes show that the marriage squeeze has reduced the surplus of men in all regions; however, the regional differences in son preference and marriage outcomes were still the same in 2001.
Gendered Nature and Urban Culture: The Dialectics of Gated Developments in Izmir, Turkey
Authors: Datta Ayona
Published: October 2013

This article adds to recent debates on the emergence of new forms of private gated developments in Turkey that specifically target the upper middle classes. In particular, it focuses on the rise of residential gated developments along the Izmir‐Ceşme expressway to highlight how the dialectics between gender, nature and culture are reinforced in these places. The article, based on a case study of three gated developments in this region, suggests that their production is made possible through a series of dualisms between nature and culture, mobility and fixity, urban public life and gendered domesticity, urban modernity and rural parochialism, polluted city and healthy town. Based on interviews with architects, developers and residents, as well as local‐authority officials in Urla town who sanction these developments, this article argues that contradictions between different sets of dualisms form a central aspect of the processes through which these developments were designed, produced, marketed and inhabited. Taken collectively, these contradictions point broadly to the limits of gated communities in creating stable, adaptable and sustainable patterns of development in Turkey and the global South.
Risky Businesses? Young People in Informal Self‐Employment in Sofia
Authors: Chavdarova Tanya
Published: October 2013

This article studies how perceptions of the risks associated with informal self‐employment depend on the interplay between the institutional, structural (network) and cultural embeddedness of economic action. Informal self‐employment should create at least three types of risk. The first concerns the possible legal and social sanctions that stem from the illegal character of the entrepreneurial action. The second is related to the complete lack of social security protection among those for whom informal self‐employment is their sole employment. The third is connected with the lack of guarantees concerning contract enforcement, which may increase the probability of opportunistic behaviour by business partners and clients. On the basis of a qualitative study of young, highly educated, informally self‐employed workers in Bulgaria's capital Sofia, I argue that these risks are compensated by the specific network and cultural embeddedness of the economic action. This compensation takes the form of various types of insurance against risks. Its core is the replacement of the vacuum of institutional‐system trust with interpersonal trust. Thus, the specific constellation of institutional, network and cultural embeddedness is able to solve the problem of opportunism, as well as to create the perception that the informally self‐employed are faced with not much greater risks than registered self‐employed workers.
How Do Squatters Deal with the State? Legalization and Anomalous Institutionalization in Madrid
Authors: A. Martínez Miguel
Published: October 2013

Radical and autonomous urban movements like the European squatters' movement tend to resist integration into the institutions of the state, although particular legal and political conditions in each country or city may significantly alter this tendency. In this article, I examine the controversial issue of ‘institutionalization’ among squatters, focusing on the few cases of legalized squats (social centres) in the city of Madrid. Negotiations with the state authorities and processes of legalization are the major forms of institutionalization involving squatters. However, an anomalous kind of institutionalization also emerges once squats, whether legalized or not, become consolidated and socially accepted. For squatting to have a successful impact, then, depends on both the type of autonomy achieved by squatters and the different outcomes of the processes of institutionalization. The case of Madrid provides empirical evidence that: (1) negotiations with state authorities were very frequent among squatters, but most were defensive; (2) the few cases of legalization were due to specific conditions such as the urban centrality of the squats, single‐issue identities, social network solidarity, favourable media coverage, formal organizations working as facilitators and the squatters' leadership of the process. Furthermore, legalized squats in Madrid preserved a high degree of autonomy, self‐management and ties to other radical social movements. In conclusion, both the legalized squats and the squatters' movement in Madrid as a whole, avoided ‘terminal institutionalization’ and, instead, gave shape to a ‘flexible’ one.
Remaking Equality: Community Governance and the Politics of Exclusion in Bogota's Public Spaces
Authors: Galvis Juan Pablo
Published: October 2013

Bogota's public space policy is often credited with promoting inclusionary principles. In this article, I explore critically the content of Bogota's articulation of equality in public space policy. In so doing, I present a critical view of the work Bogota's insistence on equality does to mediate class relations in the city, relying on deeply held conceptions of both social extremes. This results in the construction of a version of social harmony in public space that at once depoliticizes the claims to public space of subjects such as street vendors and the homeless and claims a new role for the middle class in the city. The analysis focuses on two examples of community governance schemes, documenting the logics and methods used by communities to implement official visions of equality and justify the exclusion of street vendors and homeless people from the area. By looking at the articulation of these exclusions in local class politics through seemingly inclusionary rhetoric, the article accounts for ‘post‐revanchist’ turns in contemporary urban policy, while anchoring its production in local processes of community governance.
Utilisation of a cell‐free extract of lactic acid bacteria entrapped in yeast to enhance flavour development in Cheddar cheese
Authors: Yarlagadda Anil B , Wilkinson Martin G , Ryan Siobhan P , Doolan Imelda A , O'sullivan Maurice G , Kilcawley Kieran N
Published: October 2013

A lactococcal cell‐free extract (CFE) was successfully entrapped in freeze‐dried attenuated yeast. The entrapment process involved passive diffusion of enzymes from the CFE into the yeast during hydration. The entrapped CFE was subsequently added during Cheddar cheese production and its impact on a range of ripening parameters compared to added attenuated yeast or CFE alone. Statistically significant differences were evident for secondary proteolysis, sensory attributes and volatiles, which were related to enhanced enzymatic and metabolic activity from the attenuated yeast and entrapped CFE. This study highlights the potential of attenuated yeast as a vector to augment flavour development in Cheddar cheese.
Anterior colporrhaphy compared with collagen‐coated transvaginal mesh for anterior vaginal wall prolapse: a randomised controlled trial
Authors: Rudnicki M , Laurikainen E , Pogosean R , Kinne I , Jakobsson U , Teleman P
Published: October 2013

Objective

To investigate the anatomical cure rate and complications related to collagen‐coated mesh for cystocele, compared with a conventional anterior colporrhaphy.

Design

A randomised controlled study.

Setting

Six departments of obstetrics and gynaecology in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark.

Population

Women aged 55 years or older, referred for surgery with a prolapse of the anterior vaginal wall of stage 2 or higher.

Methods

Women scheduled for primary cystocoele surgery were randomised to either anterior colporrhaphy or a collagen‐coated Prolene mesh. Power analysis indicated that 130 patients had to be randomised. All patients were evaluated using the Pelvic Organ Prolapse‐Quantification (POP‐Q) measurement. Quality of life, symptoms, and sexual function were evaluated using the Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire, the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory, and the Pelvic Organ Prolapse/Urinary Incontinence Sexual Questionnaire.

Main outcome measures

The primary outcome was objective cure, defined as prolapse below POP‐Q stage 2 at the 12‐months follow‐up. Secondary outcomes were quality of life, symptoms, and presence (or not) of complications.

Results

In total, 161 women were randomised to either anterior colporrhaphy or mesh (participant ages 64.9 ± 6.4 years versus 64.7 ± 6.6 years, respectively; mean ± SD). The objective cure rate was 39.8% (95% CI 28.6–50.9%) in the anterior colporrhaphy group, compared with 88.1% (95% CI 80.7–95.6%) in the mesh group (P < 0.001). Vaginal mesh exposure occurred in ten women (13.3%) and dyspareunia occurred in two women (2.7%, not significant) in the mesh group at the 12‐months follow‐up. Questionnaires revealed no difference between the groups.

Conclusions

Our study demonstrates a significantly improved objective cure rate associated with a high exposure rate among women with mesh surgery as opposed to conventional surgery.
Re‐evaluating the relationship between electoral rules and ideological congruence
Authors: Golder Matt , Lloyd Gabriella
Published: October 2013

Two new studies challenge the prevailing consensus that proportional representation (PR) systems produce greater ideological congruence between governments and their citizens than majoritarian ones. This has led to what has become known as the ‘ideological congruence controversy’. G. Bingham Powell claims to resolve this controversy in favour ofPRsystems. Specifically, he argues that the results from the two new studies are based on an anomalous decade and thatPRsystems generally do produce greater government congruence. In addition, he also asserts thatPRsystems exhibit less variability in government congruence. In this article, the empirical evidence for these two claims is re‐evaluated using exactly the same data as employed by Powell. The analysis indicates that althoughPRsystems produce better and more consistent representation in the legislature, they do not hold an advantage when it comes to representation at the governmental level.
Going green: Explaining issue competition on the environment
Authors: Spoon Jae‐Jae , Hobolt Sara B. , de Vries Catherine E.
Published: October 2013

This study addresses the dynamics of the issue space in multiparty systems by examining to what extent, and under what conditions, parties respond to the issue ownership of other parties on the green issue. To understand why some issues become part and parcel of the political agenda in multiparty systems, it is crucial not only to examine the strategies of issue entrepreneurs, but also the responses of other parties. It is argued that the extent to which other parties respond to, rather than ignore, the issue mobilisation of green parties depends on two factors: how much of an electoral threat the green party poses to a specific party; and the extent to which the political and economic context makes the green issue a potential vote winner. To analyse the evolution of the green issue, a time‐series cross‐section analysis is conducted using data from theComparativeManifestosProject for 19WestEuropean countries from 1980–2010. The findings have important implications for understanding issue evolution in multiparty systems and how and why the dynamics of party competition on the green issue vary across time and space.
Volume Determination of Fresh and Dried Bloodstains by Means of Optical Coherence Tomography
Authors: Laan Nick , Bremmer Rolf H. , Aalders Maurice C.G. , de Bruin Karla G.
Published: October 2013

The volume of bloodstains found on crime scenes may help forensic investigators reconstruct the location and kinematics of bloodletting events, as stain size, volume, and impact velocity are related. Optical coherence tomography was used as a method to determine the volume and volume ratio of dried and fresh bloodstains on both glass and irregular surfaces or deposited with an impact velocity. The volume of blood drops deposited on smooth glass surfaces was measured within a deviation of 2%. This deviation increased for droplets on irregular surfaces or deposited with an impact velocity. The volume ratio of dried and fresh bloodstains was equal to 19–28% depending on the individual donor and on the use of an anticoagulant. Optical coherence tomography is a good method to determine the volume of fresh and dried bloodstains in laboratory conditions and allows accurate determination of the dry/fresh ratio.
A Rare Case of Sudden Death Due to Hypotension during Cesarean Section in a Woman Suffering from Pheochromocytoma and Neurofibromatosis
Authors: Cecchi Rossana , Frati Paola , Capri Oriana , Cipolloni Luigi
Published: October 2013

Sudden death following acute hypotension due to an undiagnosed pheochromocytoma (PHEO) is a rare event. Moreover, histopathology of the myocardium in such cases is rarely reported. We present a case of a woman who died during delivery. A 37‐year‐old parturient, who was 38 weeks pregnant, suffering from neurofibromatosis underwent a cesarean section following peridural anesthesia. Acute hypotension, acute intra‐operative pulmonary edema and supraventricular paroxysmal tachyarrhythmia occurred during delivery, followed by death. The autopsy revealed the presence of a PHEO, confirmed immunohistochemically with chromogranin‐A (CgA), CD20 antibody (L26), anti‐Keratocan antibody (KER‐1) and neuron‐specific enolase (NSE), and a PHEO‐induced cardiomyopathy. The physiopathology of both stress‐induced cardiomyopathy and PHEO‐induced cardiomyopathy, as well as the role of anesthesia in provoking the death, are discussed. The association of an undiagnosed PHEO with neurofibromatosis as the cause of sudden death in pregnancy is an obstetric urgency that raises forensic pathology issues.
Photogrammetric Documentation of Regions of Interest at Autopsy—A Pilot Study
Authors: Slot Liselott , Larsen Peter K. , Lynnerup Niels
Published: October 2013

In this pilot study, the authors tested whether photogrammetry can replace or supplement physical measurements made during autopsies and, based on such measurements, whether virtual computer models may be applicable in forensic reconstructions. Photogrammetric and physical measurements of markers denoting wounds on five volunteers were compared. Virtual models of the volunteers were made, and the precision of the markers' locations on the models was tested. Twelve of 13 mean differences between photogrammetric and physical measurements were below 1 cm, which indicates that the photogrammetric method has a high accuracy. The precision of the markers' location on the models was somewhat less, although the method is still promising and potentially superior to the current procedures used for reconstructions. The possibility to measure any distance on a body, even after the autopsy is concluded and the corpse is no longer available, is one of the biggest benefits of photogrammetry.