bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Lectures on natural philosophy in London, 1750–1765: S. C. T. Demainbray (1710–1782) and the ‘Inattention’ of his countrymen
Authors: Morton A. Q.
Published: January 2009

Over the last forty years several historians have drawn attention to aspects of the activities of lecturers on natural philosophy in Britain in the eighteenth century. Hans and others looked at the part these lecturers played in the development of education, particularly adult education. Musson and Robinson considered the possible connection between the work of the lecturers and the growth of industry, and Inkster and others have explored the relationship between lecturers and the institutions set up to support science, especially around 1800.4 More recently, Schaffer has pointed to the parallels between the performances of the lecturers on natural philosophy and other contemporary cultural activities. As a consequence of these studies we know much more about the work of the lecturers, its significance, and, to a lesser extent, their relationship to their audience.
The tales of Benjamin Abbott: a source for the early life of Michael Faraday
Authors: James Frank A. J. L.
Published: January 2009

In his recent study of the Sandemanian religious beliefs of Michael Faraday (1791–1867), Geoffrey Cantor points out that relatively little is known of Faraday's early life. Yet Cantor, like many biographers and authors, believes that the early life of an individual is important and needs to be studied carefully to develop a full and rounded account of the subject. The problem with Faraday is that not much was noted down at the time since his father came from the artisan class, being a Sandemanian blacksmith from north-west England who had moved to London in early 1791. When a person dies at a great age there is always a problem about finding out about their early life, views and friendships. This is especially difficult if their social background is particularly humble or if they do not write an autobiography. Furthermore those who knew them when they were young are either dead, or at an advanced age where their memory may have become faulty. This circumstance can lead to anecdotal stories, without much basis, becoming enshrined uncritically in the literature. The life of Faraday provides many examples of this.
The NIMBY syndrome: its significance in the history of the nuclear debate in Britain
Authors: Welsh Ian
Published: January 2009

The labelling of public opposition to nuclear developments in Britain as a ‘not in my back yard’ (NIMBY) response gained widespread credibility in the 1980s. In particular the term gained wide usage to describe the public's response to the search for suitable nuclear waste disposal sites. This paper will briefly consider the events leading up to the emergence of the term NIMBY assessing key avenues through which it found its way into the realm of public discourse. The significance of various models of the public understanding of science, subsumed within official thinking on NIMBY, will be explored. Within the context of the nuclear debate it will be argued that these existing models do not adequately deal with a number of issues. These include the significance of dominant symbolic representations of nuclear science and also the relationship between opposition and locality.
A heretical look at the Benzolfest
Authors: Schiemenz Günter P.
Published: January 2009

The Benzolfest of 1890 in honour of August Kekulé fell into that economically prosperous, politically peaceful period of European imperialism which is characterized by the splendour of the courts of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India; Emperor Franz Josef of Austria, King of Hungary; and the German Emperor Wilhelm II, King of Prussia. Whoever could afford it (and even some of those who could not) tried to imitate these models and to participate at least to a modest extent in the glamour of the imperial courts. Merits were honoured by the bestowal of titles, orders and medals, and many an effort to the benefit of the common weal in deeds and money was induced by the prospect of becoming a Privy Councillor (Geheimrat) or a Councillor of Commerce (Kommerzienrat), of being awarded the Order of the Red Eagle [of Prussia] (the fourth class being almost automatically given to a major of the Prussian army who in this peaceful time had never had a chance to distinguish himself, and not so automatically to a distinguished professor on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday), or even of being raised to hereditary nobility, the epithet von added to the name being the permanently visible sign of particular excellence.
Aurora, Nemesis and Clio
Authors: Christie J. R. R.
Published: January 2009

This essay offers some preliminary and general considerations of big picture historiography of science, attempting an introductory specification of the topic by means of narratological analysis. It takes no strong, substantive position eitherpro or contrabig pictures themselves, preferring an approach which is more diagnostic and heuristic in nature. After considering what may be meant by a term such as ‘big picture’ and its cognates, it interrogates the kind of desire which could lie behind the wish expressed by the conference title ‘Getting the Big Picture’: namely, that a big picture may be worth getting. It proceeds by way of a limited enquiry into what seems to be felt as a relative absence of big picture works in contemporary historiography, criticizing one very general historicocultural thesis which accounts for such an absence, advancing instead evolving features of the professional history of science community over the last thirty years as reasons for this relative absence. Concludingly, it turns the issues raised thus far on their head, in some measure at least. In trying for a more precise specification of the contemporary historiographical formation, we will discover eventually a situation not so much of relative absence of big pictures, rather one where there exists both frame and title for the picture, together with some distinguished painters' names; but where the canvas is only minimally marked, a partial and shadowy sketch, stylistically disjoined. Although this sounds paradoxical, a concrete paradox is not intended. The existence of frame and title enclosing mainly empty canvas indicates only the limitations of the pictorial metaphor for describing complex and developing sets of historiographical practice. What is instanced concludingly is less a theoretical paradox than an intelligible sequence and form of development which issues in a potential problem of practice.
Making a meal of the big dish: the construction of the Jodrell Bank Mark 1 radio telescope as a stable edifice, 1946–57
Authors: Agar Jon
Published: January 2009

From a distance the Mark 1 radio telescope at Jodrell Bank is an edifying sight. It is a steel structure of over 1000 tons, holding aloft a fully steerable dish of wire mesh which focuses incoming radio waves from astronomical objects. It is set in gently rolling Cheshire countryside. Its striking appearance can easily be recruited as a powerful symbol of progress and of science as the pursuit of pioneering spirits.
Bringing the human actors back on stage: the personal context of the Einstein–Bohr debate
Authors: Kaiser David
Published: January 2009

In concluding his ‘Autobiographical notes’, Albert Einstein explained that the purpose of his exposition was to ‘show the reader how the efforts of a life hang together and why they have led to expectations of a definite form’. Einstein's remarks tell of a coherence between personal ‘strivings and searchings’ and scientific activity, which has all but vanished in the midst of the current trend of social constructivism in history of science. As Nancy Nersessian recently pointed out, in the process of illuminating complex relationships between scientific activity and its social context, ‘socio-historical analysis has “black-boxed” the individual scientist’. Has the pendulum swung too far? In reaction to the preceding great-man hagiographie approach to the history of science, the social constructivists have largely ‘thrown the baby out with the bathwater’; consideration of individual scientists' personal approaches to science was unnecessarily expunged with the removal of ‘genius’ as an explanatory tool.
Corresponding interests: artisans and gentlemen in nineteenth-century natural history
Authors: Secord Anne
Published: January 2009

Early nineteenth-century natural history books reveal that British naturalists depended heavily on correspondence as a means for gathering information and specimens. Edward Newman commented in hisHistory of British Ferns: ‘Were I to make out a list ofallthe correspondents who have assisted me it would be wearisome from its length.’ Works such as William Withering'sBotanical Arrangementshow that artisans numbered among his correspondents. However, the literary products of scientific practice reveal little of the workings or such correspondences and how or why they were sustained. An exchange or letters is maintained if the interests of both recipient and writer are satisfied. Withering's book tells us only that his interests were served by his correspondents; it allows us to say nothing with certainty about the interests of those who wrote to him. Published texts effectively hide the means by which the author determined the veracity of distant correspondents and also the way these informants demonstrated their credibility.
Performance practice: music, medicine and natural philosophy in Interregnum Oxford
Authors: Gouk Penelope
Published: January 2009

A generation or so ago, scholarly discussion about the creation of new scientific knowledge in seventeenth-century England was often framed in terms of the respective contributions of scholars and practitioners, the effects of their training and background, the relative importance of the universities compared with London, and of the role of external and internal factors, and so forth. These discourses have now largely been put aside in favour of those emphasizing spatial metaphors and models, which are recognized as powerful conceptual tools for representing the dynamics of complex systems. The role that geographies play in the fostering of creativity and innovation in human systems at both the social and cognitive levels is a subject that is attracting widespread interest.
The origin of modern astronomical theories of tides: Chrisogono, de Dominis and their sources
Authors: Bonelli Federico , Russo Lucio
Published: January 2009

From the Renaissance to the seventeenth century the phenomenon of tidal motion constituted one of the principal arguments of scientific debate. Understanding the times for high and low water was of course often essential for navigation, but local variations (which nowadays are attributed to currents, coastal configurations, prevailing winds, seabed shaping and other geographic characteristics) made an inductive approach impractical and precluded the possibility of constructing a universally valid model for predicting these times. Notwithstanding the complexity of the phenomenon and its practical import, however, the early-modern theory of tidal ebb and flow, as clearly emerges from Duhem's analysis, appears to be neither the result of the interpretation of empirical data, nor aimed to their prediction. Rather, the interest in tides was of a theoretical nature and was aroused particularly by their double nature, being at the same time variable and regular, terrestrial and astronomical.
Social mobility and scientific change: Stephen Gray's contribution to electrical research
Authors: Ben-Chaim Michael
Published: January 2009

The concept of electrical conductivity, or, as initially coined by Stephen Gray (1666–1736), ‘electrical communication’, has always been assigned an important role in the history of electrical research. Some thirty-five years after Gray's ‘electrical communication’ acquired wide attention, Priestley employed the concept of conductivity to define physical reality, thus giving a privileged position to the science he himself endeavoured to cultivate. As he argued in the introduction toThe History and Present State of Electricity(1767), ‘the electrical fluid is no local, or occasional agent in the theatre of the world. Late discoveries show that its presence and effects are every where … It is not, like magnetism, confined to one kind of bodies, butevery thing we knowis a conductor or nonconductor of electricity’. Contemporary historians, for example, Heilbron, Home and Hackmann, link the concept of conductivity to a radical transformation of electrical research which pertained to its mode of organization and the definition of its subject-matter, and which culminated in its emergence as a distinctive branch of eighteenth-century ‘experimental philosophy’.
History of Science in Spain: A preliminary survey
Authors: Elena Alberto , Ordóñez Javier
Published: January 2009

It can certainly be said that history of science has experienced a large growth in recent decades in Spain. This has occurred despite the generic term ‘history of science’ covering activities of a very varied nature and lacking an intimate relation between each other, in research as well as instruction. At present the number of publications which could fit into the frame of this branch of learning has increased remarkably and commercial publishing houses have opened their editorial lists to the publication of classics as well as to monographs on the history of science. Moreover, new specialized journals on these subjects have become popular and have joined the small number of journals which already had a certain tradition. The number of participants in the periodical congresses of the Sociedad Española de Historia de las Ciencias y de las Técnicas [SEHCYT] has risen and the number of congresses and symposia that have been held in Spain and have assembled Spanish as well as foreign historians has also increased. As another recent promising detail, we could quote the presence of history of science in the curricula of Spanish university programmes, a presence that tends to increase progressively.
The British chemical industry and the indigo trade
Authors: Travis Anthony S. , Hornix Willem J. , Bud Robert , Reed Peter
Published: January 2009

Even before the success of William Perkin's mauve at the end of the 1850s, there were attempts to synthesize artificial dyes that were identical with those found in nature. Alizarin, the dye derived from the madder root, was the first to be investigated, and it was Perkin who was to file for a patent in June 1869 just one day before the German chemists Heinrich Caro, Carl Graebe and Carl Liebermann. Rivalry between the parties soon turned to negotiations and collaboration. Perkin's company retained the British trade, while the Germans, in the form of the Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik (BASF) controlled the continental European and United States markets. This and similar agreements extinguished the madder trade, and subsequently artificial alizarin passed almost completely to the Germans. They achieved a monopoly by dictating the level and prices of supplies, which did much to diminish the strength of the dye-making industry in Britain. The formation in 1882–83 of the British Alizarine Company did little to redress the overall balance. This taught British dye firms a tough lesson. The same, they hoped, would not be allowed to happen again, even when the attention of the German research chemists turned to indigo.
Vorurteilsforschung und Sozialstruktur
Authors: Strauss Herbert A.
Published: January 2009

Obwohl die Studie von Alphons Silbermann im Hinblick auf ihre Methode kritisiert wurde, läßt sich als eines ihrer Ergebnisse festhalten, daß die Abwesenheit einer rechtlichen und sozialen Diskriminierung der jüdischen Bevölkerung in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland durchaus noch kein Verschwinden negativer Vorurteile gegen Juden und Judentum bedeutet. Silbermanns Erhebungen deuten auf einen beträchtlichen,, latenten Antisemitismus” hin, nämlich das Fortleben einschlägiger Stereotypen, Fehlinformationen, biologischer Klischees. Ähnliches hat eine Analyse von Meinungsfragen für Österreich ergeben.
Die Anfänge des Antisemitismus im Königreich Polen in der zweiten Hälfte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts
Authors: Cala Alina , Rojahn Von J.
Published: January 2009

Seit der großen Wanderungsbewegung im späten Mittelalter konzentrierte sich die Masse der aschkenasischen Juden auf dem Gebiet der alten polnischen Republik. Mit den Teilungen gelangten sie unter die Herrschaft dreier verschiedener Mächte, die weitaus meisten unter die Rußlands, das 1815 gemäß den Beschlüssen des Wiener Kongresses aus Teilen der annektierten Gebiete ein autonomes Königreich Polen (fortan kurz: Königreich) schuf. Für das gesamte russische Reich wurde das Niederlassungsrecht der Juden auf den sog. Ansiedlungsrayon beschränkt, der im wesentlichen die ehemals polnischen Gebiete, einschließlich des Köningreichs, umfaßte. 1865 lebten im Königreich über 700000 Anhänger des judaischen Glaubens; bis 1885 war diese Zahl auf beinah 1, 1 Millionen gestiegen, wobei nach den offiziellen Angaben das Tempo des Wachstums der jüdischen das des Wachstums der christlichen Bevölkerung übertraf. U.a. war das auf den Zustrom aus den östlichen Teilen des Ansiedlungsrayons ins Königreich, wo den Juden 1862 die formale Gleichberechtigung gewährt worden war, zurückzuführen. Seit den achziger Jahren nahm der Zustrom durch die neuerliche Einengung des Ansiedlungsrayons noch zu.
Formen des modernen Antisemitismus und Probleme seiner Abwehr
Authors: Strauss Herbert A.
Published: January 2009

Der moderne Antisemitismus beginnt nach einer Konvention der Historiker im Deutschen Kaiserreich um die Mitte der siebziger Jahre des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Als Anhaltspunkt für diese Datierung dient u.a. eine Serie von Artikeln in der deutschen Familienzeitschrift Die Gartenlaube: ihr Autor, Otto Glagau, beschuldigte die Juden, durch unehrliche Spekulationen den Sturz der Aktienpreise von 1873, der für ihn ein Börsenschwindel war, herbeigeführt zu haben.
Prevalence of intramammary infection in Dutch dairy herds
Authors: Sampimon Otlis , Barkema Herman W , Berends Inge , Sol Jan , Lam Theo
Published: January 2009

A survey was carried out in 2003 in 49 dairy herds to determine the overall and pathogen-specific prevalence of intramammary infection (IMI) in Dutch dairy herds, and to compare the distribution with four studies performed from 1973 to 1985 in The Netherlands. Herds were randomly selected stratified over the 12 Dutch provinces, had at least 40 lactating cows and participated in the Dutch milk recording system. Quarter milk samples were collected from all 408 cows with a somatic cell count (SCC) ⩾250 000 cells/ml and 145 heifers with SCC ⩾150 000 cells/ml at the last milk test before the farm visit. Additionally, samples were collected from 519 (approximately 25%) of the remaining low-SCC cows and heifers with a SCC at the last milk test before the farm visit of <250 000 and <150 000 cells/ml, respectively. Bacterial growth occurred in 37·3% of milk samples of high-SCC cows and in 21·1% of low-SCC cows. Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) were the most frequently isolated group of bacteria (10·8% of quarters) and were found in all herds. Prevalence ofStaphylococcus aureusIMI was lower in 2003 than in 1973, respectively 1·8% and 6·2% of quarters. Prevalence ofStreptococcus uberisandStr. dysgalactiaeIMI was almost the same in the five samplings during the 30-year period, at 1·1–1·7 and 0·9–1·5%, respectively.Str. agalactiaewas not found in this study. Prevalence of CNS IMI was higher in lactating heifers, while prevalence ofStr. uberis,Str. dysgalactiaeand penicillin-resistantStaph. aureusIMI was higher in older cows. Because distribution of pathogens changes over time, herd-level samples for bacteriological culturing must be taken regularly to monitor udder health. Additionally, national mastitis prevalence studies give important information through monitoring the national udder health status.
Urban and rural sign language in India
Authors: Jepson Jill
Published: January 2009

A comparison is presented of Indian urban and rural sign languages of the deaf. The structures of both languages are designed for efficient communication but have developed differently in response to different sociolinguistic environments. The urban form transmits information primarily by means of appeal to a shared linguistic code; the rural form mainly by appeal to communal nonlinguistic knowledge. Both languages employ effective and appropriate means given their environments. The relationship between language usage and structure is explored. (Sign language, deafness, India)
The “depreciation” and “appreciation” of some address terms in China
Authors: Zhucheng Ju
Published: January 2009

The address terms in China are largely based on the two-class distinction (the two classes being the proletariat and the bourgeoisie). The rules governing the use of address terms in China were strictly followed before the Cultural Revolution and are still followed to a certain extent now The Cultural Revolution has brought about the “depreciation” of certain address terms, and the new situation that has appeared since China opened its doors has changed some people's mental outlook and has caused some other address terms to “go up in value.” The author shows that the use of address terms and cultural values are closely interrelated. (Sociolinguistics, address terms, cultural values)
The Possible Influence of Early Eighteenth Century Scientific Literature on Jonathan Hulls, a Pioneer of Steam Navigation
Authors: Hulls Leonard G.
Published: January 2009

The story of Jonathan Hulls and his scientific work is, for various reasons, of peculiar interest. Although mention of him is to be found in many works dealing with the steam-engine and, in some instances, he is referred to as the inventor of the steam-boat, it is a fact that very little is known concerning the man and his work. From time to time articles dealing with his invention appear in newspapers and journals, sometimes accompanied by drawings which are intended to represent the steam-boat. The authors of these articles usually appear to have given free rein to their imagination, with the result that readers are misinformed. Errors of this sort are not confined to non-scientific literature, and various conflicting statements are to be found spread throughout the body of engineering text-books. The object of this paper is to set out briefly such facts as are known concerning Hulls; to consider the scientific literature to which he had access, and to show how this may have influenced him.
A Conspectus of Science, 1851–1951: Festival of Britain Lecture
Authors: Taylor F. Sherwood
Published: January 2009

So great has been the achievement of science during the past century, that, were I to do no more than to recite the titles of its major discoveries, my allotted hour would scarce suffice. Indeed my hearers are well enough acquainted with the outline and general course of scientific discovery during the last hundred years: to epitomise it would be superfluous as well as arduous.
Spatial and temporal variability of biogenic gases during the Southern Ocean spring bloom
Authors: Tortell Philippe D. , Long Matthew C.
Published: January 2009

The Southern Ocean exerts a strong influence on global biogeochemical cycles and air‐sea gas fluxes. Significant progress has been made towards understanding the general patterns of circulation and biological productivity in this region, but the small‐scale dynamics of surface water gases remain poorly resolved. Here we present new data documenting unprecedented spatial and temporal variability of Southern Ocean biogenic gases during the spring phytoplankton bloom. Using real‐time underway mass spectrometry, we observed significant changes in surface water O2/Ar, pCO2, and dimethylsulfide (DMS) concentrations over time scales of days to weeks and sub‐km spatial scales. Our results demonstrate a tight coupling between physical and biological processes controlling Southern Ocean gas distributions, and highlight the distinct biogeochemical dynamics governing gas cycling in open water and ice‐covered regions.
A Study on American Meeting Planners' Attitudes toward and Adoption of Technology in the Workplace
Authors: Kim Dae-Young , Park Ounjoung
Published: January 2009

The past decade has witnessed considerable changes to the meetings and convention industry, owing to the adoption and diffusion of information technology applications. Both the supply and intermediary side (for example, meeting planners) increasingly need to adopt innovative methods to enhance their competitiveness. On the basis of these recognitions, this study aimed to identify the patterns of meeting planners' attitudes toward and adoption of technology considering their types of organisations, online and work experience. A mailed survey was sent to a sample of members of Meeting Professionals International and 616 completed questionnaires were received. It was observed that meeting planners' technology adoption varied depending on the type of meeting planners. The results also revealed that meeting planners' online experience acts as an interaction variable for the effect of work experience on the dependent variables such as the usage of online contracts, the usage of online requests for proposal and attitudes toward arranging virtual meetings.
Charge-coupled devices would be cheap, compact
Authors: Lubkin Gloria B.
Published: January 2009

A new concept for a semiconductor device—charge coupling—shows promise for use as a shift register, delay line, memory and optical pick-up device. Because the devices transfer charge without the use of leads connecting discrete elements, they are inherently simpler than integrated circuits, and would, presumably be cheaper to make and more compact for some applications. The concept, proposed by Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith of Bell Labs, essentially consists of storing charge carriers in potential wells created at the surface of a semiconductor and moving the charge across the surface by moving the potential minima. The easiest way to produce the minima is to apply fields across a thin oxide formed on the surface of the semiconductor.
Brookhaven's Emperors survey nuclear realm
Authors: Lubkin Gloria B.
Published: January 2009

At Brookhaven a pair of Emperors is now producing 30-MeV protons with an energy resolution of better than 2 keV. The two High Voltage Engineering Corp. Model MP tandem Van de Graaff accelerators can be operated separately to produce 20 MeV or jointly to produce 30. The pair has already yielded 3 microamps at 30.5 MeV. Elsewhere, six other MP's are operating, but Brookhaven is the only lab with two such accelerators in line and the only one with an internal ion source in the first Van de Graaff, which is used for the 30-MeV mode.
How Josephson discovered his effect
Authors: Anderson Philip W.
Published: January 2009

The discovery of what we have ever since called the “Josephson effect” took place while I was visiting Cambridge, England, for a sabbatical year in 1961–62. Recently, when I travelled to Kyoto to accept the London Prize on Brian Josephson's behalf, I put together some reminiscences of that period, which may be more interesting than a mere recapitulation of the bare scientific facts. Lest I appear too central to this account, I should make it clear that at least two other people could have told a similar story from their own points of view. They are Brian Pippard, Josephson's thesis advisor while the work was being done, and David Shoenberg, director at that time of the Mond Laboratory in which Josephson was a research student in experimental physics and where I served as nominal head of the solid-state theory group.
Puzzle of two-pion production: Is the pion a point charge?
Authors: Lubkin Gloria B.
Published: January 2009

The pion is acting more like a point charge than most particle physicists had expected. The behavior shows up in electron–positron collision experiments performed during the first six or seven months of operation of the Adone storage ring in Frascati, Italy.
Physics and antiphysics
Authors: Baker Adolph
Published: January 2009

MANY OF us, unfortunately, still think a liberal-arts student is a sort of dumb physics major, someone who just couldn't make it in science and mathematics. We therefore try to teach him physicist's physics, but in slow motion as befits his mental ability. And we insist on addressing him in our mathematical idiom although mathematics is for him a foreign language. The humanists, symmetrically, believe that anyone who chooses an “exact” science like physics or mathematics is likely to be an unimaginative and not very literate clod, whose grasp of things is confined to linear thinking.
SIN to Begin Accelerating Before the End of 1973
Authors: Levi Barbara G.
Published: January 2009

SIN (Schweizerisches Institut für Nuclearforschung, or the Swiss Institute for Nuclear Research) has begun to prepare the site for its meson factory at Villigen near Zurich. The design of this machine was recently discussed by hen;Pierre Blaser. A variable energy cyclotron will accelerate protons to 70 MeV and a second cyclotron will complete acceleration to 500 MeV with an expected current of 100 microamperes. The facility can be used for experiments with the low-energy beams of the injector cyclotron or for intermediate-energy physics with both accelerator stages.
Genetic diversity in the U.S. hard red winter wheat cultivars as revealed by microsatellite markers
Authors: Prasad B. , Babar M. A. , Xu X. Y. , Bai G. H. , Klatt A. R.
Published: January 2009

Knowledge of the genetic diversity existing in previously released hard red winter wheat (HRWW, Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars in the Great Plains region, United States, is essential for effective utilisation of these genetic resources in the various HRWW breeding programs. To ascertain a measure of the genetic diversity of the existing US HRWW, 60 cultivars were analysed with 62 microsatellite markers distributed throughout the wheat genome. Marker data were subjected to distance-based analysis and analysis of molecular variances. In total, 341 polymorphic alleles were scored with a range of 2–12 alleles per locus. Genetic diversity gradually increased in cultivars released after the 1970s. Cultivars released in the 1990s had the highest allelic richness (4.79), gene diversity (0.60), and polymorphic information content (0.56). Levels of genetic diversity were similar between the major HRWW breeding programs. Cluster analysis resulted in eight clusters. Cluster grouping gave close matches with pedigrees and with regional distribution of the cultivars. Using decadal information, cultivars released from 1900–1969 were grouped into one cluster, cultivars from 1990–2005 were grouped into a separate cluster, whereas cultivars from the 1980s did not group with any other decades. Analysis of molecular variance revealed a significant variation among the clusters, signifying that a true genetic variation existed among the clusters. The higher proportion of genetic variation explained by cultivars within clusters compared with among clusters indicates greater genetic diversity among cultivars within clusters. Our results indicate that genetic diversity of Great Plains HRWW cultivars has increased in the past century, and the trend is continuing.
The influence of NaCl salinity and hypoxia on aspects of growth in Trifolium species
Authors: Rogers M. E. , Colmer T. D. , Frost K. , Henry D. , Cornwall D. , Hulm E. , Hughes S. , Snowball R. , Nichols P. G. H. , Craig A. D.
Published: January 2009

The effects of salinity and hypoxia on growth, nutritive value, and ion relations were evaluated in 38 species of Trifolium and 3 check legume species (Trifolium fragiferum, Trifolium michelianum, and Medicago sativa) under glasshouse conditions, with the aim of identifying species that may be suitable for saline and/or waterlogged conditions. In the first set of experiments, plants were grown hydroponically at four NaCl concentrations (0, 40, 80, and 160 mm NaCl) and harvested after exposure to these treatments for 4 weeks. NaCl concentrations up to 160 mm reduced dry matter production in most species; however, there were differences in salt tolerance among species, with T. argutum, T. diffusum, T. hybridum, and T. ornithopodioides performing well under the saline conditions (dry matter production was reduced by less than 20%). Concentrations of Na+ and Cl− in the shoots increased with increasing salinity levels, and species again differed in their capacity to limit the uptake of these ions. Dry matter digestibility at 0 mm ranged from 49.8% (T. palaestinum) to 74.0% (T. vesiculosum) and decreased with increasing NaCl concentrations. A second set of experiments evaluated the tolerance of Trifolium species to hypoxic conditions in the glasshouse. Shoot growth, and to a lesser extent root growth, were reduced in all Trifolium species when plants were exposed to stagnant, non-aerated conditions for 28 days, but T. michelianum, T. resupinatum, T. squamosum, T. nigrescens, T. ornithopodioides, T. salmoneum, and T. fragiferum were the least affected species. All species acclimated to the oxygen-depleted conditions by increasing the gas-filled porosity in the roots. This study has provided information that will assist in the identification of forage species for saline and/or waterlogged areas.
Composite trait selection to improve reproduction and ewe productivity: a review
Authors: Snowder G. D. , Fogarty N. M.
Published: January 2009

Reproduction and ewe productivity are complex composite traits that are influenced by several component traits. Genetic improvement by selection for an individual component trait may not always be advantageous because adverse or neutral genetic relationships can exist among the component traits. Selection for an overall composite trait of ewe productivity, defined as litter weight weaned per ewe joined, can result in a balanced biological composite trait with favourable responses in component traits including fertility, number of lambs born, lamb survival, lactation and lamb growth. Selection for litter weight weaned may also overcome adverse genetic relationships among reproductive component traits. This review examines the genetic responses of selecting directly for litter weight weaned, compared with selection responses for one or more of its component traits. It is concluded that selection to improve reproductive efficiency and ewe productivity, under most production and environmental systems, would benefit from selection for a composite trait such as litter weight weaned, rather than for a single component trait.
The Sea Lamprey Petromyzon marinus: A Model for Evolutionary and Developmental Biology
Authors: Nikitina Natalya , Bronner-Fraser Marianne , Sauka-Spengler Tatjana
Published: January 2009

INTRODUCTION

Sea lampreys (Petromyzon marinus) are cyclostomes, the most basal extant group of vertebrates, and are thought to have existed largely unchanged for more than 500 million years. They are aquatic, eel-shaped animals that spend a major part of their life as filter-feeding larvae called ammocoetes, inhabiting many freshwater bodies in the northern hemisphere. After metamorphosis, sea lampreys migrate to the ocean (or to the Great Lakes), where they feed on the blood and bodily fluids of salmonid fish and ultimately return to freshwater streams and rivers to spawn and die. The unique evolutionary position of lampreys and the relative ease of obtaining mature adults and embryos make this animal an ideal model for investigations into early vertebrate evolution. Studies of features shared between lampreys and jawed vertebrates, but distinct from those in nonvertebrate chordates, have provided information on the origin and evolution of hallmark vertebrate characteristics such as the neural crest, ectodermal placodes, and jaw. In addition, studies of features that are unique to lampreys (e.g., the variable lymphocyte receptor-mediated immune system) provide insights into mechanisms of parallel evolution (e.g., the adaptive immune system). With the establishment of techniques for the extended maintenance and spawning of lampreys in the laboratory, the sequencing of the lamprey genome, and the adaptation and optimization of many established molecular biology and histochemistry techniques for use in this species, P. marinus is poised to become an evolutionary developmental model of choice.
Injection of Parhyale hawaiensis Blastomeres with Fluorescently Labeled Tracers
Authors: Rehm E. Jay , Hannibal Roberta L. , Chaw R. Crystal , Vargas-Vila Mario A. , Patel Nipam H.
Published: January 2009

INTRODUCTION

The great diversity of arthropod body plans, together with our detailed understanding of fruit fly development, makes arthropods a premier taxon for examining the evolutionary diversification of developmental patterns and hence the diversity of extant life. Crustaceans, in particular, show a remarkable range of morphologies and provide a useful outgroup to the insects. The amphipod crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis is becoming established as a model organism for developmental studies within the arthropods. This protocol describes the injection of P. hawaiensis blastomeres with fluorescently labeled tracers for the purpose of cell-lineage analysis. The total (holoblastic) cleavages that characterize early embryogenesis in P. hawaiensis generate an eight-cell embryo with a stereotypical arrangement of blastomeres, each of which already possesses an invariant cell fate. Fluorochrome-conjugated dextran solutions, mRNAs encoding fluorescent proteins, and biotin-dextran have all proven to be useful lineage markers. The relative merits of various tracers are considered.
Microinjection of Plasmids into Meiotically Incompetent Mouse Oocytes: Figure 1.
Authors: Stein Paula
Published: January 2009

INTRODUCTION

RNA interference (RNAi) is a suitable method for sequence-specific post-transcriptional gene silencing in a number of model systems. The following protocol describes delivery of a mammalian double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) expression vector into meiotically incompetent mouse oocytes by microinjection. During mouse oocyte growth, there is a progressive decline in transcriptional activity, such that the fully-grown oocyte is transcriptionally quiescent. For this reason, the microinjection of plasmids should be performed in growing oocytes, obtained from 12- to 13-d-old females. Microinjected oocytes can be cultured for up to 2 d. The efficiency of knockdown by RNAi can be assayed by quantitative reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR (qPCR).
RNAi Experiments in Mouse Oocytes and Early Embryos
Authors: Svoboda Petr , Stein Paula
Published: January 2009

INTRODUCTION

The discovery of RNA interference (RNAi) in 1998 ushered in a new era in biology. RNAi currently serves as a favorite approach for inhibition of gene function in many areas of research. This article provides a brief review of RNAi and discussion of the benefits and drawbacks of using long double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) in mammalian oocytes and early embryos. We also provide an introduction to protocols for RNAi experiments in mouse, including preparation and microinjection of dsRNA into mouse oocytes and early embryos, and preparation and testing of constructs for transgenic RNAi based on long hairpin RNA expression.
Subaqueous density flow processes and deposits of an island volcano landslide (Stromboli Island, Italy)
Authors: MARANI MICHAEL P. , GAMBERI FABIANO , ROSI MAURO , BERTAGNINI ANTONELLA , DI ROBERTO ALESSIO
Published: January 2009

Stromboli is a 3000 m high island volcano, rising to 900 m above sea‐level. It is the most active volcano of the Aeolian Archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea (Italy). Major, large volume (1 km3) sector collapses, four occurring in the last 13 kyr, have played an important role in shaping the north‐western flank (Sciara del Fuoco) of the volcano, potentially generating a high‐risk tsunami hazard for the Aeolian Islands and the Italian coast. However, smaller volume, partial collapses of the Sciara del Fuoco have been shown to be more frequent tsunami‐generating events. One such event occurred on 30 December 2002, when a partial collapse of the north‐western flank of the island took place. The resulting landslide generated 10 m high tsunami waves that impacted the island. Multibeam bathymetry, side‐scan sonar imaging and visual observations reveal that the landslide deposited 25 to 30 × 106 m3 of sediment on the submerged slope offshore from the Sciara del Fuoco. Two contiguous main deposit facies are recognized: (i) a chaotic, coarse‐grained (metre‐sized to centimetre‐sized clasts) deposit; and (ii) a sand deposit containing a lower, cross‐bedded sand layer and an upper structureless pebbly sand bed capped by sea floor ripple bedforms. The sand facies develops adjacent to and partially overlying the coarse deposits. Characteristics of the deposits suggest that they were derived from cohesionless, sandy matrix density flows. Flow rheology and dynamics led to the segregation of the density flow into sand‐rich and clast‐rich regions. A range of density flow transitions, both in space and in time, caused principally by particle concentration and grain‐size partitioning within cohesionless parent flows was identified in the deposits of this relatively small‐scale submarine landslide event.
A novel limb in the osmoregulatory network of Methanosarcina mazei Gö1: Nε‐acetyl‐β‐lysine can be substituted by glutamate and alanine
Authors: Saum Regina , Mingote Ana , Santos Helena , Müller Volker
Published: January 2009

Nε‐acetyl‐β‐lysine is a unique compatible solute found in methanogenic archaea grown at high salinities. Deletion of the genes that encode the lysine‐2,3‐aminomutase (ablA) and the β‐lysine acetyltransferase (ablB) abolished the production of Nε‐acetyl‐β‐lysine in Methanosarcina mazei Gö1. The mutant grew well at low and intermediate salinities. Interestingly, growth at high salt (800 mM NaCl) was only slowed down but not impaired demonstrating that in M. mazei Gö1 Nε‐acetyl‐β‐lysine is not essential for growth at high salinities. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis revealed an increased glutamate pool in the mutant. In addition to α‐glutamate, a novel solute, alanine, was produced. The intracellular alanine concentration was as high as 0.36 ± 0.05 μmol (mg protein)−1 representing up to 18% of the total solute pool at 800 mM NaCl. The cellular alanine concentration increased with the salinity of the medium and decreased in the presence of glycine betaine in the medium, indicating that alanine is used as compatible solute by M. mazei Gö1.
If It's Difficult to Pronounce, It Must Be Risky
Authors: Song Hyunjin , Schwarz Norbert
Published: January 2009

Low processing fluency fosters the impression that a stimulus is unfamiliar, which in turn results in perceptions of higher risk, independent of whether the risk is desirable or undesirable. In Studies 1 and 2, ostensible food additives were rated as more harmful when their names were difficult to pronounce than when their names were easy to pronounce; mediation analyses indicated that this effect was mediated by the perceived novelty of the substance. In Study 3, amusement-park rides were rated as more likely to make one sick (an undesirable risk) and also as more exciting and adventurous (a desirable risk) when their names were difficult to pronounce than when their names were easy to pronounce.
Mothers' Emotions and Behavioral Support During Interactions with Toddlers: The Role of Child Temperament
Authors: Bryan Amy E. , Dix Theodore
Published: January 2009

This article examines mothers' support for children's interests and, specifically, emotional processes in mothers that may explain why they display different levels of support with children of different temperaments. We observed 114 mothers and their 14–27 month‐old children during a laboratory interaction. Mothers rated children on three dimensions of temperament: activity, anger proneness, and social fearfulness. As expected, activity predicted mothers' anger, disappointment, and low support for children's interests. Social fearfulness predicted mothers' worry, low anger, low disappointment, and high support for children's interests. Mediational tests verified that (1) mothers' emotions often mediated the relation of child temperament to mothers' supportive behavior, and (2) children's compliance often mediated the relation of child temperament to mothers' emotions. Mothers tended to report negative emotion and to display relatively unsupportive behavior with children whose temperaments corresponded to attributes considered relatively undesirable for their sex.
Dispersive Nonlinear Shallow‐Water Equations
Authors: Antuono M. , Liapidevskii V. , Brocchini M.
Published: January 2009

A set of dispersive and hyperbolic depth‐averaged equations is obtained using a hyperbolic approximation of a chosen set of fully nonlinear and weakly dispersive Boussinesq‐type equations. These equations provide, at a reasonably reduced cost, both a physically sound description of the nearshore dynamics and a complete representation of dispersive and nonlinear wave phenomena. A detailed description of the conditioning of the dispersive terms and a physical interpretation of the hyperbolic approximation is provided. The dispersive and hyperbolic structure of the new set of equations is analyzed in depth and an analytical solitary‐wave solution is found.
The development of the resource‐based view of the firm: A critical appraisal
Authors: Lockett Andy , Thompson Steve , Morgenstern Uta
Published: January 2009

Over the last 20 years, the resource‐based view (RBV) has reached a pre‐eminent position among theories in the field of strategy, but debate continues as to its precise nature. This paper contributes to the debate by critically reviewing the development of the RBV to date. The critical appraisal examines the development of the RBV in terms of theory, method, empirical evidence and practical insights. It is contended that the permeable and eclectic nature of the RBV stems from its being a theory about what firms are and how they function, and that its popularity is due to an absence of limiting behavioural assumptions. Finally, the authors provide their own subjective views on where they think RBV scholars should focus their efforts in the future.
Social work and parent support in reaction to children's antisocial behaviour: constructions and effects
Authors: De Mey Wim , Coussée Filip , Vandenbroeck Michel , Bouverne‐De Bie Maria
Published: January 2009

This article focuses on STOP4‐7, an ecological early intervention programme for children with serious behavioural problems in Belgium, which includes social skills training for children, management training for parents and classroom management training for teachers. We argue how this type of social work benefits from empirical research on its effects on children and parents. Yet social work research that addresses these questions needs to extend its focus to overt and covert inclusion and exclusion mechanisms that operate through social work. Finally, we argue that, in the case of STOP4‐7, social work is embedded in the process of social and political framing of the problems it is supposed to solve. By extending the focus of social work research to the very construction of social problems, we show how social workers may perform their agency as reflective practitioners, rather than being objects of interventions.