bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Kantian Respect and Particular Persons
Authors: Noggle Robert
Published: June 2016

A person enters the moral realm when she affirms that other persons matter in the same way that she does. This, of course, is just the beginning, for she must then determine what follows from this affirmation. One way in which we treat other persons as mattering is by respecting them. And one way in which we respect persons is by respecting their wishes, desires, decisions, choices, ends, and goals. I will call all of these things ‘aims.’ Sometimes we respect another person's aims simply byrefrainingfrom doing certain things, such as treating her in ways that thwart her aims, or interfering with her attempt to pursue them. Other times we respect a person's aims by taking positive action to help her pursue them.

But how exactly does respect forpersonstranslate into respect for theiraims?And which aims merit respect? One answer comes from Kant.
Reductionist Contractualism: Moral Motivation and the Expanding Self
Authors: Shoemaker David W.
Published: June 2016

According to a popular contemporary contractualist account of moral motivation, the most plausible explanation for why those who are concerned with morality take moral reasons seriously — why these reasons strike those who are moved by them with a particular inescapability — is that they stem from, and are grounded by, a desire to be able to justify one's actions to others on grounds they could not reasonably reject. My belief that an action is immoral, on this account, triggers this desire, this source of my moral motivation, and consequently I am moved to refrain from such an action by the fundamental desire that my actions be adequately justifiable. Furthermore, it is this desire to which contractualism appeals in its account of the wrong-making feature of certain actions: an action is wrong if it would violate a set of rules which no one could reasonably reject.

There seem, however, to be two general worries about this picture: one, that the range of its application is too extensive; the other, that the range of its application is too limited.
Naturalized Epistemology, Morality, and the Real World
Authors: Antony Louise M.
Published: June 2016

“Our impartiality is kept for abstract merit and demerit, which none of us ever saw.” -George Eliot, Middlemarch,book 4, chap. 40, 1871.

Naturalized epistemology, as I understand it, is the practice of treating knowledge – human or otherwise – as a natural phenomenon, susceptible of investigation by the methods of empirical science. A naturalized approach to the study of knowledge differs saliently from more traditional forms of epistemology in taking the existence of knowledge for granted. Naturalized epistemologists do not concern themselves with skeptical challenges. Nor are naturalized epistemologists much concerned with questions about what counts as “knowledge,” properly speaking. They do not worry if a bird’s natively specified program for star-based navigation is “justified” for the bird, nor if the sub-personal data structures and algorithms posited by cognitive psychologists can be properly counted as “beliefs.” The naturalized epistemologist is interested in the explanation of anything that even appears to be a cognitive achievement, whether or not it passes muster as “knowledge” in some preferred sense.
Pleasure, Displeasure, and Representation
Authors: Schroeder Timothy
Published: June 2016

Pleasure and displeasure have been suffering from intellectual neglect in the philosophy of mind. In contemporary work, the mode of experience which effectively dominates discussion is vision—David Marr's work on visual representation and L. Weiskrantz's work on blindsight are familiar to many philosophers of mind, as are the philosophical uses of such work, and no one seems to tire of working out what the frog's eye tells the frog's brain. Who, though, can name a leading theorist of pain? As a source of examples and intuitions, pain is a perennial favorite in ethics and the philosophy of mind, but in both disciplines pain is taken for granted far more often than it is the object of analysis. Equally significantly, forms of displeasure other than pains are very largely neglected. Pleasure, for its part, has been the nigh-exclusive province of moral theorists; few other than Strawson seem to have taken a special interest in it in the philosophy of mind. The object of the present work is to rectify this neglect, and to give an account of pleasure and displeasure which reveals a striking degree of unity and theoretical tractability underlying the diverse phenomena: arepresentationalistaccount.
Forgery
Authors: Wreen Michael
Published: June 2016

Forgery is one of those topics that philosophers find fascinating but, with a few notable exceptions, don't pursue with anything like vigor, or at least anything like the vigor with which they pursue other topics. That's one reason why I suspect that their interest in forgery isn't due so much to their being philosophers as it is to their being human beings. In other words, I suspect that they, like everybody else, enjoy a virtuoso flim-flam job — provided they aren't the victims. Countless short stories, novels, movies, and situations in real life in which normally decent people cheer for the bad guy to get away with it, to pull the wool over everyone's eyes and make off with the cash, the girl, status, or whatever, are all evidence that the con artist warms the cockles of our hearts at least a few degrees.
Sumner On Desires and Well-Being
Authors: Bykvist Krister
Published: June 2016

A person's welfare or well-being concerns what is good for him, what makes his life worth living. It therefore depends crucially on facts about the person and his life. As William James once remarked, whether a life is worth living depends on the liver. How this dependency should be spelled out is a controversial question. Desire theorists, or as I shall call them well-being preferentialists, claim that a person's well-being depends on his desires and preferences.
Virtue and the Oppression of Women
Authors: Snow Nancy E.
Published: June 2016

Men do not want solely the obedience of women; they want their sentiments. All men, except the most brutish, desire to have, in the woman most nearly connected with them, not a forced slave but a willing one, not a slave merely, but a favourite. They have therefore put everything in practice to enslave their minds. The masters of all other slaves rely, for maintaining obedience, on fear; either fear of themselves, or religious fears. The masters of women wanted more than simple obedience, and they turned the whole force of education to effect their purpose. All women are brought up from the very earliest years in the belief that their ideal of character is the very opposite to that of men; not self-will, and government by self-control, but submission, and yielding to the control of others. All the moralities tell them that it is the duty of women, and all the current sentimentalities that it is their nature, to live for others; to make complete abnegation of themselves, and to have no life but in their affections.—John Stuart Mill, The Subjection of Women.
The Importance of Ontology for Feminist Policy-making in the Realm of Reproductive Technology
Authors: Sherwin Susan
Published: June 2016

In the face of rapid technological developments and growing economic pressures, governments around the world are being called upon to regulate activities in the realm of biotechnology. My aim in this paper is to argue that core conceptual insights of feminist ethics are essential to ethically adequate policy-making in this area. Specifically, I shall argue that development of ethical biotechnology require that policy-makers undergo an ontological shift from the currently widespread assumptions of the dominant political framework of liberal individualism to an explicitly feminist understanding of subjects as relational beings. To ground my discussion, I shall explore the field of reproductive technologies, especially as they are (or may soon be) used for genetic “improvements.” I shall pay particular attention to the use ofin vitrofertilization (IVF) in conjunction with pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and related variations.

Briefly, IVF, the core technology of so-called new reproductive technologies, is a platform technology that facilitates many other practices through affording access to oocytes (eggs) and embryos.
Attention and Blindness: Objectivity and Contingency in Moral Perception
Authors: Kukla Rebecca
Published: June 2016

Moral perception, as the term is used in moral theory, is the perception of normatively contoured objects and states of affairs, where that perception enables us to engage in practical reason and judgment concerning these particulars. The idea that our capacity for moral perception is a crucial component of our capacity for moral reasoning and agency finds its most explicit origin in Aristotle, for whom virtue begins with the quality of perception. The focus on moral perception within moral theory has made a comeback in the last few decades, especially in the hands of self-proclaimed neo-Aristotelians such as John McDowell, Martha Nussbaum, and Nancy Sherman. For these writers, our perceptual capacities are not static, and the laborious honing of our perceptual skills is a crucial moral task. On this picture, as Nancy Sherman puts it, “How to see becomes as much a matter of inquiry as what to do.”

Moral particularists—including but not restricted to the neo-Aristotelians—have emphasized the centrality of moral perception to moral agency and judgment, as a corrective to moral theories that treat deliberation in terms of universal principles as the privileged keystone of moral agency.
Locke's Finely Spun Liberty
Authors: Davidson Jack D.
Published: June 2016

Near the end of the long and often convoluted discussion of freedom in the chapter ‘Of Power’ in An Essay concerning Human Understanding, Locke states that in ‘The care of ourselves, that we mistake not imaginary for real happiness, is the necessary foundation of our liberty’ (E 266). He goes on to explain that ‘we are by the necessity of preferring and pursuing true happiness as our greatest good, obliged to suspend the satisfaction of our desire in particular cases’ (E 266). Locke then adds that the ability to suspend our desires in particular cases is ‘the hinge on which turns the liberty of intellectual Beings’ (E 266).
Functionalism, Computationalism, and Mental Contents
Authors: Piccinini Gualtiero
Published: June 2016

Almost no one cites Sellars, while reinventing his wheels with gratifying regularity. (Dennett 1987, 349)

In philosophy of mind, there is functionalism about mental states and functionalism about mental contents. The former — mental State functionalism — says that mentalstatesare individuated by their functional relations with mental inputs, Outputs, and other mental states. The latter — usually called functional or conceptual or inferential role semantics — says that mentalcontentsare constituted by their functional relations with mental inputs, Outputs, and other mental contents (and in some versions of the theory, with things in the environment). If we add to mental State functionalism the popular view that mental states have their content essentially, then mental state functionalism may be seen as a form of functional role semantics and a solution to theproblem of mental content,namely, the problem of giving a naturalistic explanation of mental content. According to this solution, the functional relations that constitute contents are physically realized — in a metaphysically unmysterious way — by the functional relations between mental inputs, outputs, and the mental states bearing those contents.
A Tall Tale: In Defense of Semantic Minimalism and Speech Act Pluralism
Authors: Cappelen Herman , Lepore Ernest
Published: June 2016

In Insensitive Semantics (2005), we argue for two theses: Semantic Minimalism and Speech Act Pluralism. In this paper, we outline our defense against two objections often raised against Semantic Minimalism. We begin with five stage-setting sections. These lead to the first objection, viz., that it might follow from our view that comparative adjectives are context insensitive. We defend our view against that objection (not, as you might expect, by denying that implication, but by endorsing it). Having done so, we address a second objection, viz., that Semantic Minimalism makes it difficult to see what role semantic content plays in communicative exchanges. We respond and end with a reversal, i.e., we argue that even though the second objection fails against us, it works against those who raise the objection. In particular, we show that our critics, in particular, Carston (2002) and Recanati (2004), end up with a notion of communicated content that fails various tests for psychological reality.
What Computations (Still, Still) Can't Do: Jerry Fodor on Computation and Modularity
Authors: Wilson Robert A.
Published: June 2016

Jerry Fodor's The Mind Doesn't Work That Way (2000; hereafter Mind) purports to do a number of things. To name three: First, it aims to show what is problematic about recent evolutionary psychology, especially as popularized in Steven Pinker's How the Mind Works (1997). Fodor's particular target here is the rose-coloured view of evolutionary psychology as offering a “new synthesis” in integrating computational psychology with evolutionary theory. Second, Fodor's book poses a series of related, in-principle problems for any cognitive theory that revolve around the putative tension between the local nature of computational processing and the global nature of at least some cognitive processing. And third, it reiterates Fodor's earlier argument, in The Modularity of Mind, for the hopelessness of trying to extend the notion of modularity from “input systems” to “central systems.“
Compatibilist Alternatives
Authors: Campbell Joseph Keim
Published: June 2016

This paper is a defense of traditional compatibilism. Traditional compatibilism is, roughly, the view that (a) free will is essential to moral responsibility, (b) free will requires alternative possibilities of action, or alternatives for short, and (c) moral responsibility is compatible with determinism. Traditional compatibilism is a version of the traditional theory of free will. According to the traditional theory, a person S performed an actionafreely only if S could have done otherwise, that is, only if S had alternatives. The traditional theory is often contrasted with the source theory: S performedafreely only if S was the source ofa(McKenna 2001; Pereboom 2003). One may adopt a combined view of free will that sanctions both the traditional and source theories (Kane 1996, 72-3; van Inwagen 1983). As I use the terms ‘source theorist’ and ‘traditional theorist,’ the former refers to folks who accept the source theory and reject the traditional theory; the latter refers to folks who accept the traditional theory whether or not they accept the source theory.
Rawls on Global Distributive Justice: A Defence
Authors: Heath Joseph
Published: June 2016

Critical response to John Rawls's The Law of Peopleshas been surprisingly harsh) Most of the complaints centre on Rawls's claim that there are no obligations of distributive justice among nations. Many of Rawls's critics evidently had been hoping for a global application of the difference principle, so that wealthier nations would be bound to assign lexical priority to the development of the poorest nations, or perhaps the primary goods endowment of the poorest citizens of any nation. Their subsequent disappointment reveals that, while the reception of Rawls's political philosophy has been very broad, it has not been especially deep. Rawls has very good reason for denying that there are obligations of distributive justice in an international context.
The Basic Structure as Object: Institutions and Humanitarian Concern
Authors: Wenar Leif
Published: June 2016

One third of the human species is infested with worms. The World Health Organization estimates that worms account for 40 per cent of the global disease burden from tropical diseases excluding malaria. Worms cause a lot of misery.

In this article I will focus on one particular type of infestation, which is hookworm. Approximately 740 million people suffer from hookworm infection in areas of rural poverty: more than one human in ten, a total greater than twenty-three times the population of Canada or twice the population of the United States. The greatest numbers of cases occur in China, Southeast Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa- that is, mostly in the places in the world where poverty is most severe.

Hookworm larvae pierce the skin, enter the bloodstream, work their way into the heart and then into the lungs, where they climb the bronchial tree into the throat and are swallowed.
Obligation and Advantage in Hobbes' Leviathan
Authors: Peacock Mark
Published: June 2016

In this essay, I examine two claims Hobbes makes about obligation in Leviathan:

1) that obligation and ‘prudence’ (or advantage) are conceptually separate;

2) that fulfilling one's obligations is to one's advantage.

My thesis is that Hobbes seeks to reconcile these apparently conflicting claims by arguing that obligation and advantage are empirically identical. He does so, I hold (in contrast to many of his interpreters), without ‘reducing’ obligation to advantage. That is, he does not hold that people should only keep covenants if doing so is in their self-interest.

In section I, I analyse the temporal structure of covenants and distinguish the decision to enter (or not to enter) a covenant from the decision to break or keep a covenant one has already entered. In section II, I examine Hobbes’ fool. Hobbes tries to refute the fool by putting him right about that which conduces to his ‘conservation, and contentment.’
The conclusion of practical reasoning: the shadow between idea and act
Authors: Paul Sarah K.
Published: June 2016

There is a puzzle about how to understand the conclusion of a successful instance of practical reasoning. Do the considerations adduced in reasoning rationalize the particular doing of an action, as Aristotle is sometimes interpreted as claiming? Or does reasoning conclude in the formation of an attitude – an intention, say – that has an action-type as its content? This paper attempts to clarify what is at stake in that debate and defends the latter view against some of its critics.
A classification of finite antiflag-transitive generalized quadrangles
Authors: Bamberg John , Li Cai Heng , Swartz Eric
Published: June 2016

A generalized quadrangle is a point-line incidence geometry

Q

\mathcal {Q}

such that: (i) any two points lie on at most one line, and (ii) given a line

ℓ
\ell

and a point

P
P

not incident with

ℓ
\ell

, there is a unique point of

ℓ
\ell

collinear with

P
P

. The finite Moufang generalized quadrangles were classified by Fong and Seitz [Invent. Math. 21 (1973), 1–57; Invent. Math. 24 (1974), 191–239], and we study a larger class of generalized quadrangles: the antiflag-transitive quadrangles. An antiflag of a generalized quadrangle is a nonincident point-line pair

(
P
,
ℓ
)

(P, \ell )

, and we say that the generalized quadrangle

Q

\mathcal {Q}

is antiflag-transitive if the group of collineations is transitive on the set of all antiflags. We prove that if a finite thick generalized quadrangle

Q

\mathcal {Q}

is antiflag-transitive, then

Q

\mathcal {Q}

is either a classical generalized quadrangle or is the unique generalized quadrangle of order

(
3
,
5
)

(3,5)

or its dual. Our approach uses the theory of locally

s
s

-arc-transitive graphs developed by Giudici, Li, and Praeger [Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 356 (2004), 291–317] to characterize antiflag-transitive generalized quadrangles and then the work of Alavi and Burness [J. Algebra 421 (2015), 187–233] on “large” subgroups of simple groups of Lie type to fully classify them.
Association Between Markers of Inflammation and Total Stroke by Hypertensive Status Among Women
Authors: Jiménez Monik C. , Rexrode Kathryn M. , Kotler Gregory , Everett Brendan M. , Glynn Robert J. , Lee I-Min , Buring Julie E. , Ridker Paul M. , Sesso Howard D.
Published: May 2016

BACKGROUND

Markers of systemic inflammation (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein [hsCRP], soluble intercellular adhesion molecule 1 [sICAM-1], and fibrinogen) have been associated with a greater risk of total and ischemic stroke, in addition to elevated blood pressure. However, the role of these inflammatory markers on stroke pathophysiology by hypertension status is uncertain.

METHODS

Blood samples were collected and assayed for hsCRP, sICAM-1, and fibrinogen among 27,330 initially healthy women from the Women’s Health Study, and women were followed up from 1992 to 2013. Prior to randomization, the baseline questionnaire collected self-reported hypertension status, cardiovascular risk factors, and lifestyle factors. New cases of total, ischemic, and hemorrhagic stroke were updated annually through questionnaires and confirmed by medical records according to the National Survey of Stroke criteria. Multivariable Cox models estimated overall associations between each inflammatory marker and stroke and separately stratified by hypertension status.

RESULTS

We observed 629 incident total strokes over 477,278 person-years. In adjusted analyses, extreme quartiles of hsCRP and sICAM-1 were each associated with a significantly greater risk of total stroke (hsCRP: hazard ratios [HR] = 1.77, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.39–2.26; sICAM-1: HR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.00–1.63). Fibrinogen was not associated with a significantly greater stroke risk. In analyses stratified by hypertension status, elevated hsCRP was associated with a nonstatistically significant greater risk of total stroke among prehypertensive and hypertensive women.

CONCLUSIONS

These data indicate that hsCRP and sICAM-1 are associated with hypertension status and stroke risk among women. Further work should examine the role of inflammatory markers on ischemic stroke subtypes and clarify mechanisms.
The present status and future prospects of peptide-based cancer vaccines
Authors: Hirayama Masatoshi , Nishimura Yasuharu
Published: May 2016

Tumor cells commonly express several antigens, such as tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) or mutation-derived antigens (neoantigens), that can be regarded as foreign antigens and elicit anti-tumor immune responses in cancer patients. Various TAAs or neoantigens expressed in cancer cells have been identified and utilized as targets for cancer vaccines. One approach to elicit tumor-specific immune responses is termed peptide-based cancer vaccination; it involves administrating TAAs or neoantigen-derived peptide for treatment of cancers. There have been several forms of peptide-based cancer vaccines depending on which effector cells, such as CTLs or CD4+ T-helper cells, are targeted to be activated. Many phase I and II clinical trials of peptide-based cancer vaccines using TAA-derived CTL epitopes, T-helper cell epitopes or dendritic cells loaded with TAA-derived peptides for various malignant tumors have been conducted and provide clinical benefits in a small fraction of patients. Nowadays, to improve the efficiency of peptide-based cancer vaccines, combination immunotherapy of peptide-based cancer vaccines with the immune-checkpoint blockade therapies using mAbs specific for CTLA-4, programmed cell death 1 (PD-1), or PD-1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) have been developed for clinical application. Furthermore, along with the recent technological progress in genetic and bioinformatic analysis, it has become easier to identify neoantigens from individual cancer patients. It is expected that peptide-based cancer vaccines targeting neoantigens as a personalized cancer immunotherapy will be developed.
Evaluation of Rotational Biopesticide Programs for Disease Management in Organic Cucurbit Production
Authors: Marine Sasha C. , Newark Mason J. , Korir Robert C. , Everts Kathryne L.
Published: June 2016

Downy mildew (Pseudoperonospora cubensis) and powdery mildew (Podosphaera xanthii) are two of the most economically important and widespread cucurbit diseases. Disease management relies primarily on fungicide use, but frequent fungicide applications can lead to the development of resistant pathogen populations. In addition, more vegetables are being produced with organic practices, which prohibit the use of many fungicides. Incorporating biorational products into a disease management program may help mitigate the risk of fungicide resistance development while being compatible with organic production. Field trials were conducted for two years on organically managed land in Maryland with cucumber, muskmelon, pumpkin, and butternut squash to evaluate the efficacy of four biorational products (i.e., Actinovate AG, OxiDate, Regalia, and Serenade Soil) when applied in a rotational program with copper against foliar cucurbit diseases. Generally, all biorational treatments resulted in significantly lower downy and powdery mildew severity compared with the nontreated plants, but the level of disease management was not significantly different than that provided by copper alone. However, Actinovate AG, OxiDate, and Serenade Soil each improved disease management on at least one crop, as compared with copper alone. Rotational programs with biopesticides are a viable disease management option for organic production of field-grown cucurbits in Maryland.
Characterization of Citrus tristeza virus Single-Variant Sources in Grapefruit in Greenhouse and Field Trials
Authors: Cook Glynnis , van Vuuren Stephanus P. , Breytenbach Johannes H. J. , Steyn Chanel , Burger Johan T. , Maree Hans J.
Published: June 2016

Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) is endemic to southern Africa and the stem pitting syndrome that it causes was a limiting factor in grapefruit production prior to the introduction of cross-protection in the Citrus Improvement Scheme. This disease mitigation strategy, using various field-derived CTV sources, has significantly extended the productive lifespan of grapefruit orchards in South Africa. CTV commonly occurs as a population of various strains, masking the phenotypic effect of individual strains. Likewise, current South African CTV cross-protection sources are strain mixtures, obscuring an understanding of which strains are influencing cross-protection. The severity of various CTV strains has mostly been assessed on sensitive indicator hosts, but their effect on commercial varieties has seldom been investigated. Single-variant CTV isolates were used to investigate the phenotypic expression of CTV strains in commercial grapefruit varieties as well as CTV indicator hosts. They were biologically characterized for their ability to cause stem pitting and their rate of translocation and titer in the different hosts, monitored by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Complete genome sequences for three CTV strain variants were generated. Isolates of CTV strains VT, T68, RB, and HA16-5 did not induce severe stem pitting in four grapefruit hosts in a glasshouse trial. Viral titers of the strains differed in the grapefruit hosts, but the RB isolate reached a higher titer in the grapefruit hosts compared with the VT, T68, and HA16-5 isolates. Additionally, horticultural assessment of two grapefruit varieties inoculated with the RB isolate in two field trials demonstrated that mild stem pitting did not negatively influence the horticultural performance of the grapefruit trees over an eight-year assessment period. ‘Star Ruby’ trees containing the CTV source GFMS35 showed less stem pitting than trees inoculated with the RB isolate, but had smaller canopy volumes and lower yields than trees containing the RB isolate. This suggests that the influence of CTV sources on tree performance is not limited to the effect of stem pitting.
A Review of Organ Transplantation
Authors: Scheuher Cynthia
Published: June 2016

Heart, lung, kidney, liver, and simultaneous liver-kidney transplants share many features. They all follow the same 7-step process, the same 3 immunosuppressant medications, and the same reason for organ transplantation. Organs are transplanted because of organ failure. The similarities end there. Each organ has its unique causes for failure. Each organ also has its own set of criteria that must be met prior to transplantation. Simultaneous liver-kidney transplant criteria vary per transplant center but are similar in nature. Both the criteria required and the 7-step process are described by the United Network of Organ Sharing, which is a private, nonprofit organization, under contract with the US Department of Health and Human Services. Its function is to increase the number of transplants, improve survival rates after transplantation, promote safe transplant practices, and endorse efficiency. The purpose of this article is to review the reasons transplant is needed, specifically heart, lung, kidney, liver, and simultaneous liver-kidney, and a brief overview of the transplant process including criteria used, contraindications, and medications prescribed.
A Holistic Approach to Improve Nursing Retention During the First Year of Employment
Authors: Bonczek Mary Ellen , Quinlan-Colwell Ann , Tran Stephanie , Wines Kathy
Published: June 2016

The national nursing shortage, coupled with our country's financial challenges, provides a platform for creative nursing retention practices by health care organizations. It was from that platform that this research study was undertaken to determine if nurses who receive a high level of personal interest, education, and support through self-care workshops and one-on-one communication would continue their employment at the organization. The research question was “Will providing holistic self-care workshops during the first year of employment impact the nursing retention rates?” A total of 89 newly hired nurses were enrolled in the study, in which they participated in a 90-minute interactive workshop held weekly for 4 consecutive weeks. In the workshops, the nurses were guided to an understanding of the importance of self-care activities. The responses of the nurses who participated were positive. As a result of this study, the self-care workshops have continued with modification in length and the time when they were provided.
Sensory feedback and coordinating asymmetrical landing in toads
Authors: Cox S. M. , Gillis Gary B.
Published: June 2016

Coordinated landing requires anticipating the timing and magnitude of impact, which in turn requires sensory input. To better understand how cane toads, well known for coordinated landing, prioritize visual versus vestibular feedback during hopping, we recorded forelimb joint angle patterns and electromyographic data from five animals hopping under two conditions that were designed to force animals to land with one forelimb well before the other. In one condition, landing asymmetry was due to mid-air rolling, created by an unstable takeoff surface. In this condition, visual, vestibular and proprioceptive information could be used to predict asymmetric landing. In the other, animals took off normally, but landed asymmetrically because of a sloped landing surface. In this condition, sensory feedback provided conflicting information, and only visual feedback could appropriately predict the asymmetrical landing. During the roll treatment, when all sensory feedback could be used to predict an asymmetrical landing, pre-landing forelimb muscle activity and movement began earlier in the limb that landed first. However, no such asymmetries in forelimb preparation were apparent during hops onto sloped landings when only visual information could be used to predict landing asymmetry. These data suggest that toads prioritize vestibular or proprioceptive information over visual feedback to coordinate landing.
Identification of zinc finger protein Bcl6 as a novel regulator of early adipose commitment
Authors: Hu Xiaoming , Zhou Yuanfei , Yang Yang , Peng Jie , Song Tongxing , Xu Tao , Wei Hongkui , Jiang Siwen , Peng Jian
Published: June 2016

Adipose tissue is a key determinant of whole-body metabolism and energy homeostasis. Unravelling the transcriptional regulatory process during adipogenesis is therefore highly relevant from a biomedical perspective. In these studies, zinc finger protein B-cell lymphoma 6 (Bcl6) was demonstrated to have a role in early adipogenesis of mesenchymal stem cells. Bcl6 is enriched in preadipose versus non-preadipose fibroblasts and shows upregulated expression in the early stage of adipogenesis. Gain- and loss-of-function studies revealed that Bcl6 acts as a key regulator of adipose commitment and differentiation both
in vitro
and
ex vivo
. RNAi-mediated knockdown of
Bcl6
in C3H10T1/2 cells greatly inhibited adipogenic potential, whereas
Bcl6
overexpression enhanced adipogenic differentiation. This transcription factor also directly or indirectly targets and controls the expression of some early and late adipogenic regulators (i.e. Zfp423, Zfp467, KLF15, C/EBPδ, C/EBPα and PPARγ). We further identified that Bcl6 transactivated the signal transducers and activators of transcription 1 (
STAT1
), which was determined as a required factor for adipogenesis. Moreover, overexpression of
STAT1
rescued the impairment of adipogenic commitment and differentiation induced by
Bcl6
knockdown in C3H10T1/2 cells, thereby confirming that
STAT1
is a downstream direct target of Bcl6. This study identifies Bcl6 as a positive transcriptional regulator of early adipose commitment.
Specificity Principles in RNA-Guided Targeting
Authors: Bisaria Namita , Jarmoskaite Inga , Herschlag Daniel
Published: May 2016

RNA-guided nucleases (RGNs) provide sequence-specific gene regulation through base-pairing interactions between a small RNA guide and target RNA or DNA. RGN systems, which include CRISPR-Cas9 and RNA interference (RNAi), hold tremendous promise as programmable tools for engineering and therapeutic purposes. However, pervasive targeting of sequences that closely resemble the intended target has remained a major challenge, limiting the reliability and interpretation of RGN activity and the range of possible applications. Efforts to reduce off-target activity and enhance RGN specificity have led to a collection of empirically derived rules, which often paradoxically includedecreasedbinding affinity of the RNA-guided nuclease to its target. Here we demonstrate that simple kinetic considerations of the targeting reaction can explain these and other literature observations. The kinetic models described provide a foundation for understanding RGN systems and a necessary physical and functional framework for their rational engineering.
Prediction of allosteric sites and mediating interactions through bond-to-bond propensities
Authors: Amor B.R.C. , Schaub M.T. , Yaliraki S.N. , Barahona M.
Published: June 2016

Allosteric regulation is central to many biochemical processes. Allosteric sites provide a target to fine-tune protein activity, yet we lack computational methods to predict them. Here, we present an efficient graph-theoretical approach for identifying allosteric sites and the mediating interactions that connect them to the active site. Using an atomistic graph with edges weighted by covalent and non-covalent bond energies, we obtain a bond-to-bond propensity that quantifies the effect of instantaneous bond fluctuations propagating through the protein. We use this propensity to detect the sites and communication pathways most strongly linked to the active site, assessing their significance through quantile regression and comparison against a reference set of 100 generic proteins. We exemplify our method in detail with three well-studied allosteric proteins: caspase-1, CheY, and h-Ras, correctly predicting the location of the allosteric site and identifying key allosteric interactions. Consistent prediction of allosteric sites is then attained in a further set of 17 proteins known to exhibit allostery. Because our propensity measure runs in almost linear time, it offers a scalable approach to high-throughput searches for candidate allosteric sites.
Transplanting as a means to enhance crop security of fodder beet
Authors: Khaembah EN , Nelson WR
Published: June 2016

Fodder beet has become a popular winter feed for all stock classes in New Zealand. However, poor crop establishment frequently leads to either significant loss in yield, through below-target plant populations, weed competition, or crop failure. This study demonstrates that establishing the crop from transplants, common in the vegetable industry, is one way to achieve a uniform plant population and reduce weed competition through early establishment of canopy cover. The most significant effect of transplant establishment is that the target plant population is readily achieved.
Venus flytrap carnivorous lifestyle builds on herbivore defense strategies
Authors: Bemm Felix , Becker Dirk , Larisch Christina , Kreuzer Ines , Escalante-Perez Maria , Schulze Waltraud X. , Ankenbrand Markus , Van de Weyer Anna-Lena , Krol Elzbieta , Al-Rasheid Khaled A. , Mithöfer Axel , Weber Andreas P. , Schultz Jörg , Hedrich Rainer
Published: June 2016

Although the concept of botanical carnivory has been known since Darwin's time, the molecular mechanisms that allow animal feeding remain unknown, primarily due to a complete lack of genomic information. Here, we show that the transcriptomic landscape of the Dionaea trap is dramatically shifted toward signal transduction and nutrient transport upon insect feeding, with touch hormone signaling and protein secretion prevailing. At the same time, a massive induction of general defense responses is accompanied by the repression of cell death–related genes/processes. We hypothesize that the carnivory syndrome of Dionaea evolved by exaptation of ancient defense pathways, replacing cell death with nutrient acquisition.
Studying Lysosomal Membrane Permeabilization by Analyzing the Release of Preloaded BSA–Gold Particles into the Cytosol
Authors: Repnik Urška , Česen Maruša Hafner , Turk Boris
Published: June 2016

In addition to techniques involving assaying the release of endogenous lysosomal molecules into the cytosol, the endocytic system can be preloaded with exogenous fluorescent or electron-dense tracers. These tracers will translocate into the cytosol upon lysosomal membrane permeabilization and have the advantage of being detectable directly without additional labeling. Another benefit is that the tracers can be made more abundant than most endogenous lysosomal molecules, which facilitates their detection. Tracers that can be analyzed with fluorescence microscopy include low-molecular-mass molecules such as sulforhodamine B and also fluorescent polymers of dextran that are available in a wide range of molecular masses. This protocol shows how, for electron-microscopic analysis, cells can be fed with colloidal gold or ferrofluid particles complexed to bovine serum albumin. Although electron microscopy entails a high-resolution analysis, which can be advantageous, we caution how it is important to note that particulate tracers are larger than many endogenous lysosomal molecules and might be released only upon extensive membrane permeabilization.
Chromatin and Cell Wall Staining of Schizosaccharomyces pombe
Authors: Hagan Iain M.
Published: June 2016

Fission yeasts grow by tip extension, maintaining a constant width until they reach a critical size threshold and divide. Division by medial fission—which gives these yeast their name—generates a new end that arises from the site of cytokinesis. The old end, which was produced during the previous cell cycle, initiates progression of the new cell cycle, and in G2, the new end is activated in a process termed new-end takeoff (NETO). In this protocol, the fluorescent stains calcofluor and 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) are used to give a rapid and informative assessment of morphogenesis and cell-cycle progression in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Calcofluor reveals the timing of NETO because it stains the birth scars that are generated at new ends by cytokinesis less efficiently than the rest of the cell wall. Intense calcofluor staining of the septum and measurement of cell length are also widely used to identify dividing cells and to gauge the timing of mitotic commitment. Staining nuclei with DAPI identifies mono- and binucleated cells and complements the calcofluor staining procedure to evaluate the stages of the cell cycle and identify mitotic errors. Equally simple DAPI staining procedures reveal chromatin structure in higher resolution, facilitating more accurate staging of mitotic progression and characterization of mitotic errors.
Retrieval efficiency of select search engines vis-à-vis diverse open courseware formats
Authors: Wani Zahid Ashraf , Ahmad Sofi Adil
Published: June 2016

Purpose

This paper aims to gauge the visibility of open content available in different formats of select open courseware (OCW) repositories through prominent search engines.

Design/methodology/approach

Open content in three formats (pdf, audio and video) from four OCW repositories listed in the OCW consortium under the science and technology subject heading were searched through seven select search engines.

Findings

None of the selected OCW repositories are fully visible on the selected search engines. Visibility of OCW content varied from one search engine to the other and was affected by the format in which it is available. Google is the best search engine for retrieving OCW content, whereas OCWfinder – a specialized search engine for retrieving OCW – has performed dismally.

Research limitations/implications

The study demonstrates the need for enhancing the visibility of open content through using search engine optimization techniques.

Originality/value

The study intends to supply findings that could be used by stakeholders to improve the visibility of OCW repositories. It is an attempt to draw a comparison between search engines for their ability to index different formats of OCW in the selected repositories. Findings can be used by information professionals to brush their information hunting skills.
Innovative tools and techniques to manage your stress to ensure work-life balance
Authors: Rao M.S.
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to outline various aspects of stress including its causes, effects and remedies to ensure work-life balance to achieve organizational excellence and effectiveness.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper explains types of stress and differentiates between stress and burnout. It outlines innovative tools and techniques to manage stress.

Findings

– It enlightens that there are three symptoms to good health – sound sleep, exercise and good appetite. As long as you enjoy these you enjoy good health and you can keep stress at a bay and lead a happy and great life.

Practical implications

– The tools and techniques to ensure work-life balance can be applied in any industry and in any size of organization.

Social implications

– The social implications of this research suggests that leaders can provide meaning to their lives by balancing their personal, professional and social life.

Originality/value

– It elaborates stress management from the perspective of parallel careers with Peter Drucker’s example. It adds value to tackle computer vision syndrome.
Critical success factors for employee suggestion schemes: a literature review
Authors: Lasrado Flevy , Arif Mohammed , Rizvi Aftab , Urdzik Chris
Published: June 2016

Purpose

Employee suggestion scheme (ESS) have existed for many years and many articles have been published over the past decades. They have been studied from many perspectives to illustrate their objectives, nature, content, process, significance and the benefits. Arguments have also been made with respect to success and failures of the suggestion schemes. Although the corporations widely use the suggestion schemes to elicit the creative ideas of their employees, sustaining a suggestion scheme is still a challenge. The purpose of this paper is to extract the critical success factors and critical success criteria to the suggestion scheme and to discuss the importance of these factors on sustainability of suggestion system. This is a literature review paper.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a literature review paper. The research used the university library to search for the relevant material. The university has an access for 25,000 journals. As the university had the subscription to main databases such as EBASCO, SCIENCE DIRECT, EMERALD, Google Scholar and WILEY, a search was performed on these databases using the key terms. The keywords used in the searches included: Suggestion System, Suggestion Scheme, Employee Participation, Employee Involvement, Innovation, Employee Creativity and Ideas Management. The Google Scholar citation tab was also searched further to identify any related articles. The citations of resulting articles were scrutinized further for further clues.

Findings

This paper identifies 23 critical success factors and 9 critical success criteria for suggestion schemes. It also discusses the interconnection between the critical success factors and the critical success criteria. Further, the frequency of each of the factors is also presented. It recognizes the lack of work on the assessment framework for sustainability of a suggestion scheme.

Practical implications

This paper should be of value to practitioners of suggestion schemes and to academics who are interested in knowing how this program has evolved and where it is today and what future it holds. It offers practical help to an individual starting out on research on the sustainability of suggestion schemes.

Originality/value

The paper attempts to put together many factors discussed in the literature and proposed a definition to define the sustainability of the suggestion system and categorized them as critical success factors and critical success criteria.
Prolonged latency of preterm prelabour rupture of membranes and neurodevelopmental outcomes: a secondary analysis
Authors: Drassinower D , Friedman AM , Običan SG , Levin H , Gyamfi‐Bannerman C
Published: June 2016

Objective

To determine whether prolonged latency after preterm prelabour rupture of membranes (PPROM) is associated with an increased risk for adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Design

This is a secondary analysis of the randomised controlled trial of magnesium sulphate for the prevention of cerebral palsy.

Setting

Multicentre trial.

Population

A total of 1305 women with PPROM were analysed, 1056 of whom had an interval of <3 weeks between diagnosis and delivery and 249 of whom had an interval of ≥3 weeks between diagnosis and delivery.

Methods

We evaluated whether the time interval between diagnosis of PPROM and delivery was associated with an increased risk for adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. Latency was analysed as a continuous variable and categorised by weeks of latency.

Main outcome measures

The primary outcome was motor and mental Bayley scores of <70 at 2 years of age. Secondary outcomes included motor and mental Bayley scores <85 and mean Bayley scores. Logistic regression was used to control for confounding factors.

Results

In the univariate analysis, motor and mental Bayley scores of <70 were similar in the <3 weeks (16.8 and 14.4%) and ≥3 weeks (15.3 and 14.1%) groups. In the regression analysis adjusting for confounding factors, PPROM for ≥3 weeks was an independent risk factor for motor (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 2.12; 95% confidence interval, 95% CI 1.29–3.49) and mental (aOR 1.83, 95% CI 1.13–3.00) Bayley scores of <70. Neonatal sepsis, gestational age at delivery, maternal education, and race were significantly associated with neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Conclusions

Whereas delivery at later gestational age is associated with improved prognosis for many outcomes, prolonged exposure to an intrauterine environment of PPROM is an independent risk factor for adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Tweetable abstract

Prolonged PPROM was associated with motor and mental Bayley scores of <70.