bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Editorial
Authors: Holt Gary D. , Akintoye Akin , Davis Peadar T.
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to analyse the characteristics of papers published in the Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction (JFMPC) for the period 2010-2015 (Volumes 15.1-20.1 inclusive), to consider characteristics and recent trends among said publications and to discuss possible future directions in the subject field.

Design/methodology/approach

– Descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis via word count frequencies.

Findings

– Eighty papers were published by a combined group of 216 authors. Lead authors were from a total of 50 academic and five private organisations. Sixty-seven papers were multi-authored, 10 of which were multi-national. Eighty-six papers were classified as research papers, 5 per cent were conceptual, 4 per cent general review, 2.5 per cent technical, 1.3 per cent case study and 1.3 per cent viewpoint. There were 46,251 downloads of these papers, which when time-adjusted, represented an average of 64 downloads per paper, per issue of availability on the Web. Most popular keywords were “construction”, “industry”, “project” and “private”. Among all keywords, the most popular themes were countries, organisations, miscellaneous and business.

Research limitations/implications

– Analysis highlights previous trends and possible future research themes.

Originality/value

– The findings are unique to JFMPC and therefore novel/new.
Construction contracts with conversion capability: a way forward
Authors: Carmichael David G. , Karantonis John P.
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the role and viability of changing contract terms as a project progresses and to offer an original analysis in this respect. Commonly, projects start out with broadly defined information, and this gets refined as the project progresses. This suggests that a prudent approach would be to tailor the contract between the project owner and the project contractor to the project stage, with conversions along the way. Information asymmetry between owner and contractor also suggests the need to tailor a contract to a project
'
s situation.

Design/methodology/approach

– An original method of analysis of the conversion of contract terms within projects is given, along with discussion on the risk transfer between owner and contractor, the common law issues associated with implementing such conversions, any compensation that the owner might need to pay, the timing of the conversion and associated practical implementation issues. The paper, for definiteness, concentrates on construction contracts with conversion between payment types, but the paper’s approach applies to all contracts and all terms within contracts.

Findings

– The paper provides a readily usable method for analysing the value of having a convertible contract, couched within acceptable common law practice.

Practical implications

– The paper offers a novel method and framework usable by practitioners for establishing the value of convertibility within a contract. Having convertibility within a contract can be shown to offer benefits to both contracting parties.

Originality/value

– The idea of having flexible contracts is not new, but, hitherto, a rational method of analysing their value has been missing. This paper gives an original analysis of contracts with conversion capabilities. Current literature does not deal directly with the matter addressed in the paper.
Broadband, digital literacy and public libraries: the Mill Park story
Authors: Rolan Greg , Denison Tom , Mackenzie Christine
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– The paper aims to present the results of a research project designed to explore the impact of the establishment and operation of a broadband enabled digital training facility at the Mill Park public library, focusing on the role of public libraries in both engaging and educating local communities and exploring issues related to the provision of training through public libraries, benefits or problems in doing so and the relationship to new and existing services.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper takes a case study approach, following the development of the training program and changes implemented throughout the first two years of operation.

Findings

– The Mill Park Library has successfully met, if not exceeded, the goals of promoting broadband services, up-skilling the community and promoting digital readiness within it local community. Both directly and through partnerships with other organisations and schools, it has not only addressed the needs of community members but also engaged them more fully with the library’s other services.

Practical implications

– The paper offers insight into the value of strong community-based networks in supporting the successful design and implementation of information and communication technology (ICT)-related training programs.

Originality/value

– The paper offers insight into the value of strong community-based networks in supporting the successful design and implementation of ICT-related training programs.
Personal Digital Archiving Conference, New York University, April 24-26, 2015
Authors: Gasparotto Melissa
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of presentations and discussions held at the sixth Personal Digital Archiving Conference held at New York University, April 24-26, 2015.

Design/methodology/approach

– A narrative approach is used to describe the event.

Findings

– As individuals lead increasingly online lives and digital objects become correspondingly important to the archive, a whole host of issues from the technical to the ethical arises. Conference presentations ran the gamut, touching on all of these complicated areas and fleshing out the scope of the challenges that lie ahead for individuals grappling with their own data as well as archivists working to be responsible stewards of that data into the future.

Practical implications

– This review touches on key practical, technical and ethical issues in the field of personal digital archiving, a new and increasingly important area for libraries and archives.

Originality/value

– The conference explores current challenges and practices in personal digital archiving.
CSR disclosures in the banking industry. Empirical evidence from Poland
Authors: Krasodomska Joanna
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the concepts of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in banks and integrated reporting, a review of the literature on the subject and the author’s own research results. The author’s research was designed to identify information on CSR included in the management commentaries of selected banks operating in Poland and to evaluate the disclosures with regard to their quality, diversity and the ways they change over time.

Design/methodology/approach

– The author formulates three hypotheses relating to the social and environmental disclosures and verifies them using a disclosure index approach based on the analysis of 84 management commentaries of 12 banks operating in Poland in 2005-2011.

Findings

– Banks tend to include CSR disclosures in the management commentary. They present CSR information in a diverse manner, focusing mainly on community involvement. The quality of CSR disclosures in 2011 was higher as compared with 2005. None of the banks in the sample produced integrated reports.

Research limitations/implications

– The study concentrates on CSR disclosures only in management commentaries and relies on the review of information presented by a limited number of banks.

Originality/value

– The study contributes to the scarce literature on social responsibility disclosures by financial institutions in Central and Eastern Europe; it also discusses a new integrated reporting model.
Corporate ownership and company performance: a study of Malaysian listed companies
Authors: Fauzi Hasan , Musallam Sami R.M.
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– This study aims to examine the effects of corporate ownership (government-linked investment companies, GLICs), linearity of GLICs, board ownership and linearity of board ownership on company performance.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using panel data from companies that are listed on the Malaysian Stock Exchange during the period of 2000 to 2009, this study uses weighted least square models.

Findings

– The results show that GLICs ownership is positively and significantly related to company performance, while board ownership is negatively and significantly related to company performance. These findings suggest that GLICs ownership improves company performance, while board ownership destroys company performance. The results also show that while GLICs ownership has an inverted U-shaped relationship with company performance, board ownership has a U-shaped relationship with company performance.

Research limitations/implications

– The theoretical implication of this study is that agency problem decreases in companies with low and high levels of board ownership concentration, while it increases in companies with middle level of board ownership concentration. Furthermore, agency cost decreases in companies with a certain level of GLICs ownership concentration as the government’s New Economic Model (NEM) expects. However, agency cost increases in companies after a certain level of GLICs ownership concentration.

Practical implications

– In practical perspectives, this study provides evidence to policy makers that the government’s proposal to reduce GLICs’ investments in Malaysia and diversify them aboard as mentioned in NEM is supported because the decrease in GLICs stakes in certain level may increase company performance. On the other hand, if the policy of the government is to increase GLICs stakes, the company performance may decrease after a certain level of ownership concentration. This study also provides evidence that investors can invest in companies with low and high board ownership concentration. Furthermore, the NEM policy gives investors an opportunity to invest in the companies with GLICs. Reducing GLICs stakes in the Malaysian market and putting them in the international markets, as mentioned in the Malaysian Government’s NEM policy, will create more opportunities for international investors to invest their fund in the Malaysian market. Thus, the emerging markets exist. In addition, the NEM policy also encourages institutional ownerships like domestic and foreign to increase their stakes instead of GLICs in the Malaysian market.

Originality/value

– So far, most of the previous studies on GLICs and board ownerships in the Malaysian setting focused on the relationship of the ownership structure with company performance. However, no study has been done to examine the linearity effects of GLICs and board ownerships on company performance. The study is very important to perform to provide the policy makers and investors with clear guidance before their decisions.
Water-related mutual funds: investment performance and social role
Authors: Alvarez Marta , Rodríguez Javier
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the performance and diversification value of water-related funds. As pollution, climate change and accelerated population growth threaten water resources worldwide, such resources have become a sought-after asset. For most investors, it is impractical to physically hold water as part of a portfolio; therefore, an open question is how to better gain exposure to this asset. The authors propose a look at water-related mutual funds, an issue not found addressed in the literature. In addition to the investment potential of these funds, investors might be drawn to them as part of a more comprehensive socially responsible agenda.

Design/methodology/approach

– In the present study, the authors identify and measure the risk-adjusted performance and diversification value of open-end funds dedicated to investments in water-related securities. Jensen’s alpha is used to measure risk-adjusted performance, whereas diversification value is examined by implementing a methodology widely used in the mutual fund literature.

Findings

– Consistent with previous studies on the performance of ethical or socially responsible mutual funds, the authors found that their sample of water-related mutual funds neither outperform nor underperform two benchmarks. However, the authors also found that they offer potential diversification gains for international mutual funds’ portfolios.

Research limitations/implications

– Open-end water-related mutual funds have only been recently created, and currently, very few funds are available to investors. These facts limit the sample size and the length of the return series examined.

Originality/value

– The authors have not found a paper that examines the performance and diversification value of water-related mutual funds. These funds present themselves as a practical way for individual investors to gain exposure to the commodity of water.
Leveraging big-data for business process analytics
Authors: Vera-Baquero Alejandro , Colomo Palacios Ricardo , Stantchev Vladimir , Molloy Owen
Published: July 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to present a solution that enables organizations to monitor and analyse the performance of their business processes by means of Big Data technology. Business process improvement can drastically influence in the profit of corporations and helps them to remain viable. However, the use of traditional Business Intelligence systems is not sufficient to meet today
'
s business needs. They normally are business domain-specific and have not been sufficiently process-aware to support the needs of process improvement-type activities, especially on large and complex supply chains, where it entails integrating, monitoring and analysing a vast amount of dispersed event logs, with no structure, and produced on a variety of heterogeneous environments. This paper tackles this variability by devising different Big-Data-based approaches that aim to gain visibility into process performance.

Design/methodology/approach

– Authors present a cloud-based solution that leverages (BD) technology to provide essential insights into business process improvement. The proposed solution is aimed at measuring and improving overall business performance, especially in very large and complex cross-organisational business processes, where this type of visibility is hard to achieve across heterogeneous systems.

Findings

– Three different (BD) approaches have been undertaken based on Hadoop and HBase. We introduced first, a map-reduce approach that it is suitable for batch processing and presents a very high scalability. Secondly, we have described an alternative solution by integrating the proposed system with Impala. This approach has significant improvements in respect with map reduce as it is focused on performing real-time queries over HBase. Finally, the use of secondary indexes has been also proposed with the aim of enabling immediate access to event instances for correlation in detriment of high duplication storage and synchronization issues. This approach has produced remarkable results in two real functional environments presented in the paper.

Originality/value

– The value of the contribution relies on the comparison and integration of software packages towards an integrated solution that is aimed to be adopted by industry. Apart from that, in this paper, authors illustrate the deployment of the architecture in two different settings.
Live fast, die old: no evidence of reproductive senescence or costs of mating in a damselfly (Odonata: Zygoptera)
Authors: Hassall Christopher , Sherratt Thomas N. , Watts Phillip C. , Thompson David J.
Published: July 2015

Recent examples of actuarial senescence in wild insect populations have challenged the long‐held assumption that the brevity of wild insect life spans precludes senescence.

We investigate age‐related patterns in mating behaviour in adults of a short‐lived damselfly, Coenagrion puella and the implications of this mating. Using capture histories for 1033 individuals over two field seasons, we conduct both pooled and stratified analyses of variations in breeding activity.

Pooled analyses suggest that there is strong age‐related variation in the probability of being present at the mating rendezvous. However, no age‐related variation was observed in the probability of mating. Stratified approaches confirmed a general pattern of age‐related declines in survival probability, but provided only equivocal evidence of an effect of age on transition between temporary breeding states. Mating males and females showed greater survival than non‐mating individuals, possibly as a consequence of higher body condition. Older males that were not currently breeding were less likely to commence breeding on the next day, but showed no patterns in breeding cessation. Overall, transitions between both breeding states declined with age, suggesting that males that breed tend to continue breeding while those that do not breed continue to be unsuccessful. Female mating rates were consistently high across all ages with no age‐related decline apparent.

While previous research has demonstrated actuarial senescence in this population, as does this study, we find little evidence of either age‐related declines in reproductive behaviour or breeding‐related declines in survival, which might indicate functional senescence or costs of mating, respectively. Indeed, the greater survival in mating individuals of both sexes suggests that variations in individual quality may mediate both reproductive success and longevity.

Contrary to recent studies, we found no compelling evidence for reproductive senescence or a cost of mating in an important and well‐studied model odonate. The possible link between condition and ageing suggests that individual quality needs to be taken into account when studying senescence. We recommend the use of multistrata models for the future investigation of these phenomena.
Endogeneity: How Failure to Correct for it can Cause Wrong Inferences and Some Remedies
Authors: Abdallah Wissam , Goergen Marc , O'Sullivan Noel
Published: July 2015

Although researchers in business and management are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of endogeneity affecting regression analysis, they frequently do not have the right methodological toolkit to adjust for this issue. In this paper we discuss such a toolkit. There are also areas in business and management research which to date seem to be mostly oblivious about the endogeneity issue. We highlight such an area, which studies the question of whether firms that are cross‐listed on a foreign stock exchange are charged premium fees by their auditors. When the same methodology (pooled ordinary least squares) as in the existing literature is used, the existence of an audit fee premium for cross‐listed firms seems to be confirmed. However, once methodologies are used which adjust for the various types of endogeneity (i.e. omitted variable bias, simultaneous and dynamic endogeneity) there is no longer support for the existence of such a generalized premium. Hence, not only do we illustrate that failure to adjust for endogeneity has severe consequences such as drawing the wrong inferences, but we also review various ways to control for the different types of endogeneity.
Grudge Spending: The Interplay between Markets and Culture in the Purchase of Security
Authors: Loader Ian , Goold Benjamin , Thumala Angélica
Published: July 2015

In the paper, we use data from an English study of security consumption, and recent work in the cultural sociology of markets, to illustrate the way in which moral and social commitments shape and often constrain decisions about how, or indeed whether, individuals and organizations enter markets for protection. Three main claims are proffered. We suggest, firstly, that the purchase of security commodities is a mundane, non-conspicuous mode of consumption that typically exists outside of the paraphernalia of consumer culture – a form of grudge spending. Secondly, we demonstrate that security consumption is weighed against other commitments that individuals and organizations have and is often kept in check by these competing considerations. We find, thirdly, that the prospect of consuming security prompts people to consider the relations that obtain between security objects and other things that they morally or aesthetically value, and to reflect on what the buying and selling of security signals about the condition and likely futures of their society. These points are illustrated using the examples of organizational consumption and gated communities. In respect of each case, we tease out the evaluative judgements that condition and constrain the purchase of security among organizations and individuals and argue that they open up some important but neglected questions to do with the moral economy of security.
Pelvic nerve injury negatively impacts female genital blood flow and induces vaginal fibrosis—implications for human nerve‐sparing radical hysterectomy
Authors: Castiglione F , Bergamini A , Albersen M , Hannan JL , Bivalacqua TJ , Bettiga A , Benigni F , Salonia A , Montorsi F , Hedlund P
Published: July 2015

Objective

This study sought to develop a novel animal model to study the impact of nerve‐sparing radical hysterectomy (NSRH) on female genital blood flow.

Design

In vivo animal study.

Population

Thirty Sprague‐Dawley female rats.

Materials and methods

Female rats underwent either unilateral pelvic nerve (PN) crush (PNC; n = 9), or crush of both the PNs and all efferent nerves in the pelvic plexus (‘clock‐nerve crush’, CNC; n = 9). Under anaesthesia, we electrically stimulated the crushed PN at 3 and 10 days after crush while monitoring blood pressure and recording clitoral and vaginal blood flows by laser Doppler. Uninjured PNs were stimulated as an internal control. Twelve additional rats were assigned either to bilateral PNC or sham surgery, and genital tissues were processed 10 days after injury for in vitro analysis.

Main outcome measures

Genital blood flow, nNOS, eNOS, collagen I‐III.

Results

Stimulation of the crushed PN in both groups subjected to PNC and CNC induced significantly lower peak genital blood flow at 3 and 10 days (P < 0.05) compared to stimulation of the non‐crushed control PN. The immunofluorescence and Western blot analyses revealed that all injured rats exhibited more vaginal collagen III and collagen I than rats did that ad undergone sham surgeries (P < 0.05). PCN reduced nNOS expression in both clitoral and vaginal tissue.

Conclusions

Based on our study it may be hypothesised that NSRH might cause reductions of genital blood flow and vaginal fibrosis due to neurapraxia of the pelvic nerve and reductions of nNOS nerve fibres in clitoral and distal vaginal tissue.

Tweetable Abstract

Pelvic nerve neurapraxia during nerve‐sparing radical hysterectomy could lead to sexual arousal dysfunction.
Disrupted white matter structural connectivity in heroin abusers
Authors: Sun Yan , Wang Gui‐Bin , Lin Qi‐Xiang , Lu Lin , Shu Ni , Meng Shi‐Qiu , Wang Jun , Han Hong‐Bin , He Yong , Shi Jie
Published: July 2015

Neurocognitive impairment is one of the factors that put heroin abusers at greater risk for relapse, and deficits in related functional brain connections have been found. However, the alterations in structural brain connections that may underlie these functional and neurocognitive impairments remain largely unknown. In the present study, we investigated topological organization alterations in the structural network of white matter in heroin abusers and examined the relationships between the network changes and clinical measures. We acquired diffusion tensor imaging datasets from 76 heroin abusers and 78 healthy controls. Network‐based statistic was applied to identify alterations in interregional white matter connectivity, and graph theory methods were used to analyze the properties of global networks. The participants also completed a battery of neurocognitive measures. One increased subnetwork characterizing widespread abnormalities in structural connectivity was present in heroin users, which mainly composed of default‐mode, attentional and visual systems. The connection strength was positively correlated with increases in fractional anisotropy in heroin abusers. Intriguingly, the changes in within‐frontal and within‐temporal connections in heroin abusers were significantly correlated with daily heroin dosage and impulsivity scores, respectively. These findings suggest that heroin abusers have extensive abnormal white matter connectivity, which may mediate the relationship between heroin dependence and clinical measures. The increase in white matter connectivity may be attributable to the inefficient microstructure integrity of white matter. The present findings extend our understanding of cerebral structural disruptions that underlie neurocognitive and functional deficits in heroin addiction and provide circuit‐level markers for this chronic disorder.
Changing the protocol for gestational diabetes mellitus screening
Authors: Ng Dora , Beckmann Michael , Mcintyre Harold David , Wilkinson Shelley A
Published: July 2015

Background

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) affects 5–8% of pregnant women in Australia and is linked to adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes. Earlier diagnosis and treatment has been suggested to improve these outcomes.

Aim

To describe the experience of a change in GDM screening policy at a large tertiary hospital.

Materials and Methods

A 6‐month audit was performed following a policy change involving introduction of screening for all women early in pregnancy (by either random blood glucose level (BGL) or oral glucose tolerance testing (OGTT), depending on their perceived risk of developing GDM), followed by universal OGTT at 26–28 weeks' gestation. The prevalence of GDM (including changes expected from new Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society (ADIPS) criteria), maternal and neonatal outcomes and adherence to new screening policy are reported.

Results

The prevalence of GDM was 7.9% (1.6% early, 6.3% later diagnoses). More women with early diagnoses required insulin. Early testing with random BGL for low‐risk women only identified 1.7% of those with GDM. Early OGTT for high‐risk women identified 24.9% of GDM diagnoses. Adherence to the new screening protocol was generally poor, with 26% adherence at booking, 64% at 26 weeks' gestation and 27% with unknown GDM status.

Conclusions

While early testing with OGTT for high‐risk women may be helpful, the value of early testing with random BGL for low‐risk women is questionable. The new ADIPS criteria are likely to increase the number of women diagnosed with GDM (with an emphasis on earlier diagnosis), but the absolute increase remains small.
Interventions to improve breastfeeding outcomes: a systematic review and meta‐analysis
Authors: Sinha Bireshwar , Chowdhury Ranadip , Sankar M Jeeva , Martines Jose , Taneja Sunita , Mazumder Sarmila , Rollins Nigel , Bahl Rajiv , Bhandari Nita
Published: July 2015

Aim

To provide comprehensive evidence of the effect of interventions on early initiation, exclusive, continued and any breastfeeding rates when delivered in five settings: (i) Health systems and services (ii) Home and family environment (iii) Community environment (iv) Work environment (v) Policy environment or a combination of any of above.

Methods

Of 23977 titles identified through a systematic literature search in PUBMED, Cochrane and CABI, 195 articles relevant to our objective, were included. We reported the pooled relative risk and corresponding 95% confidence intervals as our outcome estimate. In cases of high heterogeneity, we explored its causes by subgroup analysis and meta‐regression and applied random effects model.

Results

Intervention delivery in combination of settings seemed to have higher improvements in breastfeeding rates. Greatest improvements in early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding and continued breastfeeding rates, were seen when counselling or education were provided concurrently in home and community, health systems and community, health systems and home settings, respectively. Baby friendly hospital support at health system was the most effective intervention to improve rates of any breastfeeding.

Conclusion

To promote breastfeeding, interventions should be delivered in a combination of settings by involving health systems, home and family and the community environment concurrently.
Interferon‐free regimens for chronic hepatitis C overcome the effects of portal hypertension on virological responses
Authors: Mandorfer M. , Kozbial K. , Freissmuth C. , Schwabl P. , Stättermayer A. F. , Reiberger T. , Beinhardt S. , Schwarzer R. , Trauner M. , Ferlitsch A. , Hofer H. , Peck‐Radosavljevic M. , Ferenci P.
Published: July 2015

Background

Portal hypertension is the strongest predictor of virological response to pegylated interferon (IFN)/ribavirin in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC)‐related cirrhosis.

Aim

To investigate the effects of portal pressure assessed by hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) measurement on virological responses in patients treated with IFN‐free regimens outside of clinical trials.

Methods

Fifty‐six patients with CHC and cirrhosis who underwent HVPG measurement before starting an IFN‐free therapy were retrospectively studied. Patients were treated with sofosbuvir in combination with daclatasvir (n = 32), ribavirin (n = 12) or simeprevir (n = 11), or the combination of simeprevir/daclatasvir (n = 1), for 12–24 weeks.

Results

Hepatic venous pressure gradient values ≥10 mmHg and ≥16 mmHg were observed in 41 (73%) and 31 (55%) patients respectively. The distributions of treatment regimens and durations were comparable between patients with or without portal hypertension. Patients with portal hypertension had lower platelet counts and albumin levels, while bilirubin levels, INR, MELD and Child–Pugh scores were higher than in patients without portal hypertension. Importantly, rates of on‐treatment virological response and viral kinetics, as well as the rates of sustained virological response 12 weeks after the end of therapy [96% (54/56)] were not affected by portal hypertension. Anti‐viral therapy improved liver stiffness, platelet count, serum albumin and bilirubin levels, as well as prothrombin time.

Conclusions

This is the first study to demonstrate that IFN‐free regimens overcome the negative effect of portal hypertension on virological responses and viral kinetics. Improvements in liver stiffness and platelet count might reflect an anti‐portal hypertensive effect of IFN‐free treatments.
FGF‐1/‐3/FGFR4 signaling in cancer‐associated fibroblasts promotes tumor progression in colon cancer through Erk and MMP‐7
Authors: Bai Yu‐Pan , Shang Kun , Chen Huan , Ding Fei , Wang Zhen , Liang Chen , Xu Ye , Sun Meng‐Hong , LI Ying‐Yi
Published: July 2015

Cancer‐associated fibroblasts (CAFs), as the activated fibroblasts in the tumor stroma, are important modifiers of tumour progression. In the present study, we observed that azoxymethane and dextran sodium sulfate treatments induced increasingly severe colorectal mucosal inflammation and the intratumoural accumulation of CAFs. Fibroblast growth factor (FGF)‐1 and FGF‐3 were detected in infiltrating cells, and FGFR4, the specific receptor for FGF‐1 and FGF‐3, was detected in colon cancer tissues. The phosphorylation of FGFR4 enhanced the production of metalloproteinase (MMP)‐7 and mitogen‐activated protein kinase kinase (Mek)/extracellular signal‐regulated kinase (Erk), which was accompanied by excessive vessel generation and cell proliferation. Moreover, we separated CAFs, pericarcinoma fibroblasts (PFs), and normal fibroblasts (NFs) from human colon tissue specimens to characterize the function of CAFs. We observed that CAFs secrete more FGF‐1/‐3 than NFs and PFs and promote cancer cell growth and angiogenesis through the activation of FGFR4, which is followed by the activation of Mek/Erk and the modulation of MMP‐7 expression. The administration of FGF‐1/‐3‐neutralizing antibodies or the treatment of cells with FGFR4 siRNA or the FGFR4 inhibitor PD173074 markedly suppressed colon cancer cell proliferation and neovascularization. These observations suggest a crucial role for CAFs and FGF signaling in the initiation and progression of colorectal cancer. The inhibition of the FGF signaling pathway may be a useful strategy for the treatment of colon cancer.
Critique, Rediscovery and Revival in Development Studies
Authors: Arsel Murat , Dasgupta Anirban
Published: July 2015

This article acts as the Introduction to the Debate that follows. It contends that the so‐called impasse in development has been a constant feature of the field and is an indicator of its self‐critical outlook rather than any deep‐seated existential crisis. It unpacks the various dimensions of ongoing debate regarding the future of development studies, probing its policy relevance and legitimacy, interdisciplinarity, geographic focus and relationship with post‐structuralist and Marxist thought. In order to revive and reorient the field in line with the contemporary world, the article proposes to return to an explicit Marxist/Marxian political economy framework to analyse the dynamics of capitalism in its local, national and global dimensions. Such a move would entail turning away from the increasingly dominant approach of critique for the sake of critique. Instead, the article argues that development studies can only fulfil its mission if scholars keep the goal of emancipatory development and change in mind when they engage with contemporary capitalist processes.
Ants impact the energy reserves of natural enemies through the shared honeydew exploitation
Authors: CALABUIG ALTEA , TENA ALEJANDRO , WÄCKERS FELIX L. , FERNÁNDEZ‐ARROJO LUCIA , PLOU FRANCISCO J. , GARCIA‐MARÍ FERRAN , PEKAS APOSTOLOS
Published: July 2015

1. Ants, as well as many species of parasitoids and predators, rely on sugar‐rich foods such as honeydew to fulfill their energetic needs. Thus, ants and natural enemies may interact through the shared honeydew exploitation.

2. Ant‐exclusion experiments were performed in a citrus orchard to test the hypothesis that ants may impact the energy reserves of predators and parasitoids through the competition for honeydew. Through the use of high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) the level of ant activity with the energy reserves and feeding history of individual specimens collected in the field during representative days of spring, summer, and autumn were related.

3. Out of 145 Aphytis chrysomphali Mercet parasitoids captured in the field, 65% were classified as sugar‐fed and 24.7% as honeydew‐fed. In summer, when ant activity peaked, there was a significant negative correlation between the level of ant activity and the total sugar content and honeydew feeding incidence by A. chrysomphali. Out of 47 individuals of the predator Chrysoperla carnea sensu lato (Stephens), captured in the field, 55.3% were classified as sugar‐fed. We found a significant negative effect of the level of ant activity on the sugar‐feeding incidence by C. carnea in spring.

4. The present study provides evidence that ants can interfere with the energy reserves of natural enemies. This interaction may be widespread in various ecosystems with important consequences for the arthropod community composition and with practical implications for biological control given that absence of sugar feeding is detrimental for the fitness of many species of predators and parasitoids.
Wise flies: a pre‐dispersal seed predator prefers hermaphrodites over females in the gynodioecious Polemonium foliosissimum
Authors: CLARKE GRETEL L. , BRODY ALISON K.
Published: July 2015

1. Oviposition choices can profoundly affect offspring performance. Oviposition decisions of the dipteran pre‐dispersal seed predator, Hylemya sp. (Diptera: Anthomyiidae), when choosing among sex morphs of their host‐plant—Polemonium foliosissimum Hook—were evaluated. Polemonium foliosissimum is gynodioecious, with female and hermaphrodite sex morphs that differ in flower size.

2. It was asked: Do female flies preferentially oviposit on hermaphrodite plants and, if so, are oviposition choices correlated with flower size? Is larval survivorship higher on hermaphrodite plants and, if so, is larval success correlated with flower size? Can the differences in oviposition and/or larval success be explained by slight differences in flowering phenology between the sexes?

3. Hermaphrodite flowers received 45% more Hylemya eggs than females. Although hermaphrodites had larger petals and sepals than females, egg loads were not correlated with petal or sepal size. Larval survival was 30% greater on hermaphrodites than females and higher on plants with larger sepals. However, the difference in sepal area between genders did not fully explain larval survival differences. Egg numbers declined over weeks, but differences in egg loads between the sex morphs were not attributable to a slight phenological delay of females. Larval survival declined over the season; however, larval survival differences between sex morphs were consistent.

4. Hylemya preferentially oviposited on hermaphrodites where their larvae had a significantly greater survival rate compared with females. The present results add to the knowledge that intra‐specific choices have consequences for phytophagous insects and that the relationship between antagonists and their gynodioecious host plants is complex.
Wedding trousseaus and cloth consumption in Catalonia around 1300
Authors: To Figueras Lluís
Published: July 2015

Between 1230 and 1315 a large amount of Flemish and northern French cloth reached the market of Vic, a medium‐sized Catalan town to the north of Barcelona. Descriptions of cloth from a sample of over 1,000 wedding trousseaus reveal that common people were quite familiar with a wide selection of fabrics from manufacturing centres such as Bruges, Saint‐Omer, Arras, and Châlons, and by the end of the thirteenth century Saint‐Denis, Paris, Ypres, and Narbonne. Northern cloth had travelled over 1,000 kilometres before it reached the market stalls of Vic, reflecting the efficiency of commercial networks in bringing commodities across Europe at a reasonable transportation cost. Marriage contracts from this period specify the identity of the most frequent purchasers of these fabrics, and the identity of the women that would wear them, tailored as capes or tunics. Northern cloth was purchased by all social groups, not just the wealthy elite: even peasant households used such fabrics for their daughters' dresses. All in all, wedding trousseaus provide exceptional evidence of how commercialized both the urban and rural populations had become by the end of the thirteenth century in a society eager to buy imported commodities.
The Role of Western Religious Values in Peacemaking for Divorcing Families
Authors: Marx Jeffrey A.
Published: July 2015

Peace (wholeness and integrity) is to be sought as the highest goal in the divorce process, affecting not only the divorcing couple but their family and community as well. The value of “community” found in the three major Western religious traditions suggests that more than just the immediate family should be involved in crafting divorce settlements and that the involvement of clergy may aid in the divorce process, especially in providing rich religious metaphors and exempla to promote peaceful negotiations. Other religious values such as “humanity in the divine image,” “love,” and “the fullness of time” can be useful in working with the divorcing couple to allow their stories to be told, provide time to sort out their complex emotions, and help reduce the impulse to see the other solely as an enemy to be eliminated in battle. “Sin and atonement” can serve an important role in restorative justice, while “the delayed arrival of the divine kingdom” provides a reasonable way to assess what determines success, both for the divorcing couple and for divorce professionals.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:

Religious values found in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam can be consciously utilized to help divorcing couples separate more peacefully.

Providing opportunities for each spouse to be fully heard and seen is a crucial component in helping to bring more peace into the divorce process.
Designing Heart‐Based Systems to Encourage Forgiveness and Reconciliation in Divorcing Families
Authors: Cloke Kenneth
Published: July 2015

Conflicts in intimate relationships are often accidental, occasional, and unique; yet they are also systemic, repetitive, and alike. For this reason, they are amenable to systemic analysis and resolution by altering them at their chronic sources and applying the preventative methodology of conflict resolution systems design. The central difficulties with using traditional forms of conflict resolution systems design in marriages, couples, and families are that they do not effectively address the emotional meaning or significance of the conflict within the relationship; are not grounded in the heart; and do not address the intimate, relational aspects of intimate, affective conflicts. Marriages and families are deeply sensitive, highly complex emotional relationships that require systems design methodologies that are profoundly informed by the heart. This article proposes a heart‐based systems design approach that includes forgiveness and reconciliation for use in marriages and families, including those that end in divorce.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:

Conflicts in intimate relationships are accidental, occasional, and unique; yet they are also systemic, repetitive, and alike.

Marriages and families are deeply sensitive, highly complex emotional relationships that require systems design methodologies that are profoundly informed by the heart.

It is possible to create a heart-based systems design approach to marital, family and divorce conflicts that includes forgiveness and reconciliation.
Parental Involvement in Juvenile Sex Offender Treatment: Requiring a Role as Informed Supervisor
Authors: Prisco Robert
Published: July 2015

Sex offenses, particularly those against children, have always been viewed negatively in society. A large portion of these offenses are committed by children against children. Most state legislatures focus on punitive measures when dealing with juvenile sex offenses, yet few place treatment on equal ground. Treatment has been shown to be effective in reducing the rate of recidivism of juvenile sex offenders. Juvenile sex offenders that participate in treatment have shown lower recidivism rates than adult offenders or untreated juvenile sex offenders. This Note advocates that states adopt legislation based on a successful statute in Colorado that creates a sex offender management board consisting of a multidisciplinary treatment team for juvenile sex offenders' treatment while requiring parental involvement in treatment as “informed supervisors” when the team deems it appropriate.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:

Sex offender treatment on juveniles has been successful in reducing recidivism, as juveniles are more receptive to treatment than adults.

Supervision and treatment of juvenile sex offenders would be more effective if parents or guardians are involved in the juvenile's sex offender treatment.

States should adopt legislation based on the Colorado model that creates a sex offender management board and multidisciplinary team to supervise the treatment of juvenile sex offenders and requires appropriate parental involvement in the treatment as “informed supervisors”.
Eco‐genomic analysis of the poleward range expansion of the wasp spider Argiope bruennichi shows rapid adaptation and genomic admixture
Authors: Krehenwinkel Henrik , Rödder Dennis , Tautz Diethard
Published: July 2015

Poleward range expansions are commonly attributed to global change, but could alternatively be driven by rapid evolutionary adaptation. A well‐documented example of a range expansion during the past decades is provided by the European wasp spider Argiope bruennichi. Using ecological niche modeling, thermal tolerance experiments and a genome‐wide analysis of gene expression divergence, we show that invasive populations have adapted to novel climatic conditions in the course of their expansion. Their climatic niche shift is mirrored in an increased cold tolerance and a population‐specific and functionally differentiated gene expression response. We generated an Argiope reference genome sequence and used population genome resequencing to assess genomic changes associated with the new climatic adaptations. We find clear genetic differentiation and a significant admixture with alleles from East Asian populations in the invasive Northern European populations. Population genetic modeling suggests that at least some of these introgressing alleles have contributed to the new adaptations during the expansion. Our results thus confirm the notion that range expansions are not a simple consequence of climate change, but are accompanied by fast genetic changes and adaptations that may be fuelled through admixture between long separated lineages.
Sensitivity of regional evapotranspiration partitioning to variation in woody plant cover: insights from experimental dryland tree mosaics
Authors: Villegas Juan Camilo , Dominguez Francina , Barron‐Gafford Greg A. , Adams Henry D. , Guardiola‐Claramonte Maite , Sommer Evan D. , Selvey Ashley Wiede , Espeleta Javier F. , Zou Chris B. , Breshears David D. , Huxman Travis E.
Published: July 2015

Aim

Movement of water from the land surface to the atmosphere (evapotranspiration, ET) is the dominant output flux in the global terrestrial surface water budget. The partitioning of ET between soil evaporation (E) and plant transpiration (T) couples important ecological, hydrological and atmospheric processes. ET partitioning has been hypothesized to vary as a function of woody plant cover, yet a relationship between ET partitioning and woody cover has not been quantified empirically. Land surface models assume unit increase in T per unit increase in vegetation cover (woody cover), following a proportional linear relationship. Recent assessments have questioned the validity of this assumption for heterogeneous canopies, but we lack experimental data across an explicitly defined gradient of woody cover to characterize this relationship.

Location

North American monsoon region.

Methods

In a controlled dryland environment experimental facility, we manipulated woody cover and documented the response of ET and its component fluxes. We incorporated the resulting functions into a widely used coupled land–atmosphere model (WRF‐Noah) to document the implications of modifying specific model parameters that assume (1:1) proportionality.

Results

As total ET increased with woody cover, T/ET deviated below 1:1 proportionality. Using our experimentally determined relationship for ET partitioning and woody cover in the model, we observed reductions in ET of as much as 40% during the monsoon season and annual increases of almost 200% in regional E.

Main conclusions

Our results highlight a limitation of modelled ET that affects regional to global patterns of water flux, with implications for a number of earth surface processes. A better understanding of how changing woody cover influences patch‐scale ecohydrological processes is needed, particularly under current changes in woody cover associated with deforestation, afforestation and drought‐induced mortality. More specifically, improved representation of E and T fluxes will improve understanding and modelling of large‐scale ecological, hydrological and atmospheric processes.