bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Elk herbivory alters small mammal assemblages in high‐elevation drainages
Authors: Parsons Elliott W. R. , Maron John L. , Martin Thomas E.
Published: November 2012

Heavy herbivory by ungulates can substantially alter habitat, but the indirect consequences of habitat modification for animal assemblages that rely on that habitat are not well studied. This is a particularly important topic given that climate change can alter plant–herbivore interactions.

We explored short‐term responses of small mammal communities to recent exclusion of Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus) in high‐elevation riparian drainages in northern Arizona, where elk impacts on vegetation have increased over the past quarter century associated with climate change. We used 10‐ha elk exclosures paired with unfenced control drainages to examine how browsing influenced the habitat use, relative abundance, richness and diversity of a small mammal assemblage.

We found that the small mammal assemblage changed significantly after 5 years of elk exclusion. Relative abundance of voles (Microtus mexicanus) increased in exclosure drainages, likely due to an increase in habitat quality. The relative abundances of woodrats (Neotoma neomexicana) and two species of mice (Peromyscus maniculatus and P. boylii) decreased in the controls, while remaining stable in exclosures. The decline of mice in control drainages was likely due to the decline in shrub cover that they use. Thus, elk exclusion may have maintained or improved habitat for mice inside the exclosures while habitat quality and mouse abundance both declined outside the fences. Finally, small mammal species richness increased in the exclosures relative to the controls while species diversity showed no significant trends.

Together, our results show that relaxation of heavy herbivore pressure by a widespread native ungulate can lead to rapid changes in small mammal assemblages. Moreover, exclusion of large herbivores can yield rapid responses by vegetation that may enhance or maintain habitat quality for small mammal populations.
Therapeutic use of self as defined by Swedish occupational therapists working with clients with cognitive impairments following acquired brain injury: A Delphi study
Authors: Holmqvist Kajsa , Holmefur Marie , Ivarsson Ann‐Britt
Published: November 2012

Background/aim

The concept therapeutic use of self has mainly been described theoretically. Empirical descriptions are few and empirical validation is needed to make the concept more useful for informing practice and explaining what occupational therapists do in the interaction with their clients to facilitate successful outcomes. The aim of this study was to empirically define the aspects that occupational therapists working with clients with cognitive impairments following acquired brain injury find are consistent with the concept of therapeutic use of self.

Method

Thirteen expert occupational therapists participated. Reactive Delphi technique in three rounds was used where each round built on the results of the previous one. A questionnaire based on current literature was developed for the first round.

Results

Twenty of 33 statements reached a consensus level of 75% or more. These statements reflected the therapists' consciousness, self‐awareness and use of personal characteristics. The statements also concerned the intentions of therapeutic use of self, including client group‐specific intentions such as enhancing self‐awareness. The results indicate that the content of the concept may be defined differently depending on the client group.

Conclusions

The empirical descriptions generated from this study may help occupational therapists working with clients with cognitive impairments following acquired brain injury to describe how and with what intention they use themselves therapeutically in the rehabilitation process. In occupational therapy education, the results may be used to highlight how the concept may be understood in practice and to discuss it in relation to different client groups.
Impact of an occupation‐based self‐management programme on chronic disease management
Authors: Toole Lynn O' , Connolly Deirdre , Smith Susan
Published: November 2012

Introduction

There is a need for the development and evaluation of occupational therapy interventions enabling participation and contributing to self‐management for individuals with multiple chronic conditions. This pilot study aimed to assess the feasibility and potential impact of an occupation‐based self‐management programme for community living individuals with multiple chronic conditions.

Methods

Sixteen participants completed a six‐week programme. Assessments were conducted at baseline, immediately post‐intervention and at eight‐week follow‐up. Sixteen participants provided immediate follow‐up data and 15 participants provided eight‐week follow‐up data. Outcome measures included participation in occupations; perceptions of occupational performance and satisfaction; self‐efficacy; depression, anxiety and quality of life. Focus groups explored participants' perceptions of the programme.

Results

The findings are promising and indicate that the programme delivery was feasible. Significant differences were found immediately post‐intervention in frequency of activity participation (P = 0.008), including domestic (P = 0.040) and work/leisure activities (P = 0.015), self‐perceptions of occupational performance (P = 0.017) and satisfaction with same (P = 0.023). At eight‐week follow‐up, significant differences continued to be found in frequency of activity participation (P = 0.018), including work/leisure activities (P = 0.038), perceptions of occupational performance (P = 0.010) and satisfaction (P = 0.008) and self‐efficacy (P = 0.050). No differences were found in anxiety, depression or quality of life at follow‐up periods. Focus group data supported the programme's impact on activity participation and self‐efficacy.

Conclusion

Despite the small sample in this pilot study there were significant improvements in occupational performance and the findings provide support for the programme. However, there is a need to test the intervention rigorously with a definitive randomised trial in a primary care setting.
Examining contemporary motor control theories from the perspective of degrees of freedom
Authors: Li Kuan‐Yi
Published: November 2012

Background/aim

Occupational therapy aims to restore independent living skills and to improve social participation for clients; therefore, optimising motor ability can be a major goal during intervention in clinical practice. Choosing the adequate approach for each client is critical to achieve treatment goals. As frame of reference is based on contemporary theories related to human behaviours, it is crucial to synthesise current theories of motor control for clinical application. In this review, four motor control theories were examined by the Bernstein's classical question: redundant degrees of freedom. By addressing the central issue in motor control theories, the strengths and weaknesses for each theory were discussed in detail.

Methods

Classical literatures were selected for each theory and related references were reviewed as evidence to support the potential biological plausibility.

Results

The research of motor control theories have been developed for over centuries, researchers still strive to discover how human beings execute movements. To date, motor control theories were mainly proposed by three disciplines: biology, psychology and engineering. Each discipline has unique perspective to develop solutions for understanding the processes behind the execution of movement.

Conclusion

For occupational therapists in clinics, it is imperative to integrate current knowledge and motor control theories into practice and to explore new approaches to treat clients with motor disability.
Deficits in social perception in opioid maintenance patients, abstinent opioid users and non‐opioid users
Authors: McDonald Skye , Darke Shane , Kaye Sharlene , Torok Michelle
Published: November 2012

Aims

This study aimed to compare emotion perception and social inference in opioid maintenance patients with abstinent ex‐users and non‐heroin‐using controls, and determine whether any deficits in could be accounted for by cognitive deficits and/or risk factors for brain damage.

Design

Case–control.

Setting

Sydney, Australia.

Participants

A total of 125 maintenance patients (MAIN), 50 abstinent opiate users (ABST) and 50 matched controls (CON).

Measurements

The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT) was used to measure emotion perception and social inference. Measures were also taken of executive function, working memory, information processing speed, verbal/non‐verbal learning and psychological distress.

Findings

After adjusting for age, sex, pre‐morbid IQ and psychological distress, the MAIN group was impaired relative to CON (β = −0.19, P < 0.05) and ABST (β = −0.19, P < 0.05) on emotion perception and relative to CON (β = −0.25, P < 0.001) and ABST (β = −0.24, P < 0.01) on social inference. In neither case did the CON and ABST groups differ. For both emotion perception (P < 0.001) and social inference (P < 0.001), pre‐morbid IQ was a significant independent predictor. Cognitive function was a major predictor of poor emotion perception (β = −0.44, P < 0.001) and social inference (β = −0.48, P < 0.001). Poor emotion recognition was also predicted by number of heroin overdoses (β = −0.14, P < 0.05). Neither time in treatment or type of maintenance medication (methadone or buprenorphine) were related to performance.

Conclusions

People in opioid maintenance treatment may have an impaired capacity for emotion perception and ability to make inferences about social situations.
Secular trends in weight, height and BMI in young Swedes: The ‘Grow up Gothenburg’ Studies
Authors: Lissner L , Mehlig K , Sjöberg A , Chaplin J , Niklasson A , Albertsson‐Wikland K
Published: November 2012

Aim

This study aims to document secular differences in anthropometry (level and variability of weight, height, BMI) in two cohorts born around 1990 and 1974 and examined as young adults.

Methods

Descriptive results are presented for the complete cohorts. The final analysis age‐matched the cohorts (mean, 18.8 years) and employed CDC z‐scores to compare means and distributions of weight, height and BMI.

Results

Z‐scores for weight, height and BMI were higher in later‐born (1990) boys, while in girls weight and height increased over this period without resulting in increased BMI. At the same time, in boys the BMI variances increased, confirming a simultaneous emergence of more overweight and more underweight. In girls, the BMI variance did not increase significantly. Sensitivity analyses, excluding subjects not born in Sweden, confirmed increasing BMI trends in boys.

Conclusion

This study documents that gender differences in the recent childhood obesity epidemic can also be observed in young Swedes as they enter adulthood. Comparing two cohorts of high school students born around 1974 or 1990, less favourable trends in weight status were seen in boys than in girls. Finally, secular increases in height, already observed earlier in the 20th century, continued in these more contemporary cohorts.
Coping styles of individuals at clinical high risk for developing psychosis
Authors: Jalbrzikowski Maria , Sugar Catherine A. , Zinberg Jamie , Bachman Peter , Cannon Tyrone D. , Bearden Carrie E.
Published: November 2012

Aim

There is a wealth of evidence suggesting that patients with schizophrenia tend to respond to life stressors using less effective coping skills, which are in turn related to poor outcome. However, the contribution of coping strategies to outcome in youth at clinical high risk (CHR) for developing psychosis has not been investigated.

Methods

This longitudinal study followed CHR youth over a 12‐month period, using the Brief COPE questionnaire. CHR subjects (n = 88) were compared at baseline with a healthy control sample (n = 53), and then mixed models were used to explore the relationship of coping strategies to clinical and psychosocial outcomes in CHR subjects over time (n = 102).

Results

Cross‐sectional analyses revealed that, in comparison with healthy controls, CHR youth reported using more maladaptive coping strategies (P < 0.001) and fewer adaptive coping strategies (P < 0.01). Longitudinal analyses within the CHR group showed significant decreases in maladaptive coping and symptom severity over time, with corresponding improvements in social and role functioning. Adaptive coping was associated with better concurrent social functioning and less severe symptomatology (both P < 0.001). Over time, more maladaptive coping was associated with more severe positive and negative symptoms (both P < 0.005).

Conclusions

Youth at risk for psychosis report using fewer adaptive and more maladaptive coping strategies relative to healthy controls. Over 1‐year follow‐up, more adaptive coping styles are associated with less severe clinical symptomatology and better social functioning. These findings suggest that teaching adaptive coping styles may be an important target for intervention in youth at high risk for psychosis.
A Nordic Perspective on Early Childhood Education and Care Policy
Authors: Karila Kirsti
Published: November 2012

The national policies and historical roots of early childhood education (ECE) vary from society to society. In the Nordic countries, early childhood education and care (ECEC) policies have been built in the context of the welfare state. As such, they are closely connected to other welfare policy areas such as social policy, family policy and education policy, in addition to which a close relationship with labour policy is also evident. This article sheds light on the historical roots of Nordic ECEC policies by describing the commonalities and differences between the Nordic countries. The ‘Nordic model’ is commonly described as integrated. Education, teaching and caring form an integrated unit and the term early childhood education and care is therefore typically used when describing the ‘Nordic model’. It is also said to be based on a child‐centred, holistic approach with an emphasis on participation, democracy, autonomy and freedom, while its track record of high quality ECE services is considered to be due in part to the use of a well‐trained workforce.

The Nordic countries are, however, developing and redefining their ECEC policies in the global economic and cultural context, in which governments have to choose their priorities. Pressure to standardize ECE services is also apparent, and signs of erosion of the key elements of the Nordic model have been seen in recent policy debates. This paper discusses the current direction of Nordic ECE policy making and the future of the Nordic model.
The role of river flow in the migration of adult Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, through estuaries and rivers
Authors: MILNER N. J. , SOLOMON D. J. , SMITH G. W.
Published: November 2012

An assumption of Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., management is that river flow influences their upstream migration; but the quantitative relationships between flow and movements are variable and inconsistent. A consensus has emerged that standard rules on salmon flow needs for water management across all rivers are unattainable. However, this does not preclude an underlying conceptual framework that should guide a consistent scientific basis to flow management for protecting salmon. This article examines the potential for a conceptual framework from a British Isles perspective, assuming that upstream migration is an emergent property from selection to optimise lifetime fitness. The template for this adaptation is the diversity of river types and hydro‐morphology in British rivers coupled with life‐history and migration adaptations that may be influenced by flow‐related factors. Models of adult salmon migration through estuaries and rivers are outlined that may provide a basis for developing generic guidance.
Photosynthetic acclimation and resource use by the C3 and C4 subspecies of Alloteropsis semialata in low CO2 atmospheres
Authors: Ripley Brad S. , Cunniff Jennifer , Osborne Colin P.
Published: November 2012

During the past 25 Myr, partial pressures of atmospheric CO2 (Ca) imposed a greater limitation on C3 than C4 photosynthesis. This could have important downstream consequences for plant nitrogen economy and biomass allocation. Here, we report the first phylogenetically controlled comparison of the integrated effects of subambient Ca on photosynthesis, growth and nitrogen allocation patterns, comparing the C3 and C4 subspecies of Alloteropsis semialata. Plant size decreased more in the C3 than C4 subspecies at low Ca, but nitrogen pool sizes were unchanged, and nitrogen concentrations increased across all plant partitions. The C3, but not C4 subspecies, preferentially allocated biomass to leaves and increased specific leaf area at low Ca. In the C3 subspecies, increased leaf nitrogen was linked to photosynthetic acclimation at the interglacial Ca, mediated via higher photosynthetic capacity combined with greater stomatal conductance. Glacial Ca further increased the biochemical acclimation and nitrogen concentrations in the C3 subspecies, but these were insufficient to maintain photosynthetic rates. In contrast, the C4 subspecies maintained photosynthetic rates, nitrogen‐ and water‐use efficiencies and plant biomass at interglacial and glacial Ca with minimal physiological adjustment. At low Ca, the C4 carbon‐concentrating mechanism therefore offered a significant advantage over the C3 type for carbon acquisition at the whole‐plant scale, apparently mediated via nitrogen economy and water loss. A limiting nutrient supply damped the biomass responses to Ca and increased the C4 advantage across all Ca treatments. Findings highlight the importance of considering leaf responses in the context of the whole plant, and show that carbon limitation may be offset at the expense of greater plant demand for soil resources such as nitrogen and water. Results show that the combined effects of low CO2 and resource limitation benefit C4 plants over C3 plants in glacial–interglacial environments, but that this advantage is lessened under anthropogenic conditions.
Effects of simulated heat waves on an experimental plant–herbivore–predator food chain
Authors: Sentis Arnaud , Hemptinne Jean‐Louis , Brodeur Jacques
Published: November 2012

Greater climatic variability and extreme climatic events are currently emerging as two of the most important facets of climate change. Predicting the effects of extreme climatic events, such as heat waves, is a major challenge because they may affect both organisms and trophic interactions, leading to complex responses at the community level. In this study, we set up a simple three‐level food chain composed of a sweet pepper plant, Capsicum annuum; an aphid, Myzus persicae; and a ladybeetle, Coleomegilla maculata, to explore the consequences of simulated heat waves on organism performance, trophic interactions, and population dynamics. We found that (1) heat waves do not affect plant biomass, significantly reduce the abundance and fecundity of aphids, and slightly affect ladybeetle developmental time and biomass, (2) heat waves decrease the impact of ladybeetles on aphid populations but do not modify the effect of aphids on plant biomass, and (3) food chains including predatory ladybeetles are more resistant to heat waves than a simple plant–aphid association, with aphid abundance being less influenced by heat waves in the presence of C. maculata. Our results suggest that more biodiverse ecosystems with predators exerting a strong biotic control are likely to be less influenced by abiotic factors and then more resistant to extreme climatic events than impoverished ecosystems lacking predators. Our study emphasizes the importance of assessing the effects of climatic change on each trophic level as well as on trophic interactions to further our understanding of the stability, resilience, and resistance of ecological communities under climatic forcing.
Effect of extent and rate of wilting on nitrogen components of grass silage
Authors: Edmunds B. , Spiekers H. , Südekum K.‐H. , Nussbaum H. , Schwarz F. J. , Bennett R.
Published: November 2012

Wilting grass prior to ensiling generally increases the dry matter (DM) intake but the effect of wilting on animal performance is still poorly understood. There is a need to improve understanding of the effects of wilting on the nutritional components and chemical composition of grass silage. This study focused on the effects of the extent and rate of wilting on N components of grass silage. Meadow grass was wilted to four DM contents (200, 350, 500, 650 g kg−1) at two different rates (fast, slow), creating a total of eight silages. Crude protein (CP) fractions were measured using the Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System. Utilizable CP at the duodenum (uCP), a measure of feed protein value, was estimated using the modified Hohenheim gas test. Ruminally insoluble, undegraded feed CP (RUP) was measured using an in situ technique. Amino acid (AA) composition prior to and after rumen incubation was also investigated. Utilizable CP at the duodenum, RUP and true protein fractions B2 and B3 were increased by rapid wilting and high DM content (DM > 500 g kg−1), although the increase with DM was only mild for uCP, probably due to lower ME content in the DM‐650 silages. Non‐protein‐N decreased with increasing DM and rapid wilting. The higher RUP content from both DM‐650 silages leads to a higher total AA content after rumen incubation. Treatment also influenced the AA composition of the ensiled material, but the AA composition after rumen incubation was similar across treatments. Rapid and extensive wilting (DM > 500 g kg−1) improved protein value and reduced CP degradability. Increased uCP may result in higher milk protein yield, while reduced degradability may reduce N lost from urinary excretion. The primary effect of wilting on post‐ruminal AA supply from RUP appeared to be quantitative, rather than qualitative.
Leukaemias into the 21st century: part 1: the acute leukaemias
Authors: Brown C. M. S. , Larsen S. R. , Iland H. J. , Joshua D. E. , Gibson J.
Published: November 2012

The leukaemias are a biologically and clinically heterogeneous group of malignancies, which manifest as clonal expansions of a single cell at different stages of lympho‐haemopoietic development. The transformed cell acquires an unrestrained capacity for self‐renewal and, in the case of the acute leukaemias, also fails to differentiate into functional mature cells. Historically leukaemias were classified using a combination of clinical and (presumed) cell lineage criteria. Thus, the four major subgroups of acute and chronic myeloid leukaemia and acute and chronic lymphoid leukaemia were recognised. Up until the last 10–15 years, patients within each major subgroup were treated along broadly similar lines. Genetic abnormalities have been recognised in certain leukaemias for over 50 years; however, the recent explosion in our understanding of the frequency and complexity of molecular abnormalities in the leukaemias has ‘opened the door’ for the design of more targeted therapies with the expectation that their incorporation into therapeutic regimens will be associated with greater efficacy and less off‐target toxicity.
Nutritional status of long‐term patients in the acute care setting
Authors: Bauer J. D. , Hiscocks K. , Fichera R. , Horsley P. , Martineau J. , Denmeade S. , Bannister M. , de Groot E. , Lee S. , Waterhouse M.
Published: November 2012

The nutritional status of 926 patients (51.4% female) at an acute tertiary private hospital with a length of stay ≥14 days was assessed using Subjective Global Assessment. The prevalence of malnutrition was 42.5% (37.2% length of stay of 14–27 days, 51.6% ≥28 days). From logistic regression analysis, length of stay and age were independent predictors of malnutrition. It is important that the nutritional status of longer stay patients is monitored and appropriate nutrition support is commenced.
Tort Law Culture: Image and Reality
Authors: Lewis Richard , Morris Annette
Published: November 2012

This article highlights two contrasting images of tort. The first reflects the traditional portrayal of justice, depicting tort as an independent ‘natural’ system of rules of universal application forming the foundation of a just society. The second is more recent and relates to the perceived development of a damaging compensation culture. Focusing on personal injury litigation, we show how these portrayals differ from the reality of tort. In practice it is heavily influenced by institutional arrangements: the importance of both welfare provision and liability insurance is highlighted, and the effects of a ‘no‐win no‐fee’ claims market are examined. The operation of tort is very much affected by commercial interests and the economic demands of the institutions which surround it. Overall we conclude that the images of tort fail to reflect how the personal injury compensation system actually operates.
The Governmentalities of Neoliberalism: Panopticism, Post-Panopticism and beyond
Authors: Gane Nicholas
Published: November 2012

This paper draws on the writings of Michel Foucault, in particular his lectures on biopolitics at the Collège de France from 1978–79, to examine liberalism and neoliberalism as governmental forms that operate through different models of surveillance. First, this paper re-reads Foucault's Discipline and Punish in the light of his analysis of the art of liberal government that is advanced through the course of these lectures. It is argued that the Panopticon is not just an architecture of power centred on discipline and normalization, as is commonly understood, but a normative model of the relation of the state to the market which, for Foucault, is ‘the very formula of liberal government’. Second, the limits of panopticism, and by extension liberal governance, are explored through analysis of Gilles Deleuze's account of the shift from disciplinary to ‘control’ societies, and Zygmunt Bauman's writings on individualization and the ‘Synopticon’. In response to Deleuze and Bauman, the final section of this paper returns to Foucault's lectures on biopolitics to argue that contemporary capitalist society is characterized not simply by the decline of state powers (the control society) or the passing down of responsibilities from the state to the individual (the individualization thesis), but by the neoliberal marketization of the state and its institutions; a development which is underpinned by a specific form of governmentality. In conclusion, a four-fold typology of surveillance is advanced: surveillance as discipline, as control, as interactivity, and as a mechanism for promoting competition. It is argued that while these types of surveillance are not mutually exclusive, they are underpinned by different governmentalities that can be used to address different aspects of the relationship between the state and the market, and with this the social and cultural logics of contemporary forms of market capitalism more broadly.
Privileging Work Not Sex: Flexibility and Employment in the Sexual Services Industry
Authors: Maher JaneMaree , Pickering Sharon , Gerard Alison
Published: November 2012

We present findings from a study of sex workers recruited in indoor licensed premises in Victoria. While the study addressed regulation, enforcement and working conditions, we focus on the value of flexible well-paid work for two particular groups of female workers (parents and students). We link this issue of flexibility to broader gendered employment conditions in Australia, arguing the lack of comparable employment is crucial to understanding worker decisions about sex work. Debates and regulation focus on gendered inequalities related to heterosexuality much more than they recognize gendered inequalities related to labour market conditions. The focus on criminalization, harm, exploitation and stigma obscures the centrality of work flexibility and conditions to women's decision-making. A more direct focus on the broader employment context may produce better recognition of why women do sex work.
On Turbulence: Entanglements of Disorder and Order on a Devon Beach
Authors: Cresswell Tim , Martin Craig
Published: November 2012

This paper considers the importance of the notion of turbulence for the theorisation of mobility. Turbulence, as disordered and unpredictable mobilities, can be contrasted with smooth ‘laminar’ flow – where everything is moving ‘correctly’. This paper borrows from the philosophies of Michel Serres and Manuel DeLanda to think about turbulence as a process which makes visible the always‐contingent orderings of infrastructural mobilities. The paper is illustrated with examples from container shipping and, particularly, the grounding of the MSC Napoli container ship off the coast of Southern England. Turbulent mobilities are contrasted with the smooth operation of infrastructural mobilities that are supposed to remain silent and invisible. The dramatic and very visible instances of turbulence, that no system can ever predict or make disappear, provide an entry point into the ordering of a mobile world.
Agency Problems in Public Firms: Evidence from Corporate Jets in Leveraged Buyouts
Authors: EDGERTON JESSE
Published: November 2012

This paper uses novel data to examine the fleets of corporate jets operated by both publicly traded and privately held firms. In the cross‐section, firms owned by private equity funds average 40% smaller fleets than observably similar public firms. Similar fleet reductions are observed within firms that undergo leveraged buyouts. Quantile regressions indicate that these results are driven by firms in the upper 30% of the conditional jet distribution. The results thus suggest that executives in a substantial minority of public firms enjoy excessive perquisite and compensation packages.
Does Reputation Limit Opportunistic Behavior in the VC Industry? Evidence from Litigation against VCs
Authors: ATANASOV VLADIMIR , IVANOV VLADIMIR , LITVAK KATE
Published: November 2012

We examine the role of reputation in limiting opportunistic behavior by venture capitalists towards four types of counterparties: entrepreneurs, investors, other VCs, and buyers of VC‐backed startups. Using a hand‐collected database of lawsuits, we document that more reputable VCs (i.e., VCs that are older, have more deals and funds under management, and syndicate with larger networks of VCs) are less likely to be litigated. We also find that litigated VCs suffer declines in future business relative to matched peers. These declines are larger for more reputable VCs, and for VCs that are defendants to multiple lawsuits or sued by entrepreneurs.
Private Equity Performance and Liquidity Risk
Authors: FRANZONI FRANCESCO , NOWAK ERIC , PHALIPPOU LUDOVIC
Published: November 2012

Private equity has traditionally been thought to provide diversification benefits. However, these benefits may be lower than anticipated as we find that private equity suffers from significant exposure to the same liquidity risk factor as public equity and other alternative asset classes. The unconditional liquidity risk premium is about 3% annually and, in a four‐factor model, the inclusion of this liquidity risk premium reduces alpha to zero. In addition, we provide evidence that the link between private equity returns and overall market liquidity occurs via a funding liquidity channel.
Unity and Disunity in the FMLN
Authors: Allison Michael E. , Alvarez Alberto Martín
Published: November 2012

Problems of unity can affect an armed opposition group at many stages of its existence—during the war, in peace negotiations, and in its transition to political party. This article assesses how internal divisions affected the performance of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) in El Salvador. It finds that while the FMLN suffered significant internal divisions in the early years of the war, it remained remarkably unified from 1983 on. Significant divisions began to appear during the later war years but were not exacerbated until after the war's conclusion, when repeated fracturing occurred. The FMLN began to present itself as a programmatically coherent party only in 2005, and this ideological homogeneity allowed it to establish a series of partnerships with moderate, non-revolutionary sectors of Salvadoran society and to achieve victory in the 2009 presidential elections.
Azygous Anterior Cerebral Artery and Associated Aneurysms: Detection and Identification Using 3‐Dimensional Time‐of‐Flight Magnetic Resonance Angiography
Authors: Wan‐Yin Shi , Ming‐Hua Li , Bin‐Xian Gu , Yong‐Dong Li , Hua‐Qiao Tan
Published: November 2012

AIM

The azygous anterior cerebral artery (Az) is a rarely observed anomaly of the anterior cerebral artery, and its associated aneurysm is even rarer. Our aim was to evaluate 3‐dimensional time‐of‐flight magnetic resonance angiography (3‐D‐TOF MRA) in the diagnosis of Az and associated aneurysms.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Three thousand five hundred seventy‐two consecutive patients underwent 3‐D‐TOF MRA at 3.0 T. Postprocessing techniques, including volume rendering (VR) and single artery highlighting, were performed by a 3‐D specialist. All MRA data and clinical information were recorded and stored in a database for further analysis.

RESULTS

Fourteen patients (.39%) were identified as having an Az. Among these cases, 3 males (21.43%) had an aneurysm located at the distal bifurcation of the Az, with a mean size of 9.43 ± 3.33 mm. In MRA, the common trunk of the Az was slightly larger in diameter than the A1 segment (2.62 ± .35 mm vs. 2.54 ± .35 mm; P = .008).

CONCLUSIONS

With the VR technique, 3‐D‐TOF MRA is feasible and valuable in detecting an Az and associated aneurysm. Our MRA‐based study has proved that the Az is a rare anomaly but has a relatively high incidence of associated aneurysms.
Exploring the role of physiology and biotic interactions in determining elevational ranges of tropical animals
Authors: Jankowski Jill E. , Londoño Gustavo A. , Robinson Scott K. , Chappell Mark A.
Published: November 2012

Tropical mountains contain some of the world’s richest animal communities as a result of high turnover of species along elevational gradients. We describe an approach to study the roles of biotic and abiotic factors in establishing elevational ranges, and to improve our ability to predict the effects of climate change on these communities. As a framework we use Hutchinson’s concept of the fundamental niche (determined by the match between the physical environment and the organism’s physiological and biophysical characteristics) and realized niche (the subset of the fundamental niche determined by biotic interactions). Using tropical birds as an example, we propose a method for estimating fundamental niches and discuss five biotic interactions that we expect to influence distributions of tropical montane animals: predation, competition, parasites and pathogens, mutualisms, and habitat associations. The effects of biotic factors on elevational ranges have been studied to some extent, but there is little information on physiological responses of tropical montane animals. It will be necessary to understand all of these ecological constraints in concert to predict current and future elevational ranges and potential threats to montane species. Given the importance of tropical mountains as global biodiversity hotspots, we argue that this area of research requires urgent attention.
Afterword: Literature and Philosophy 1850–1910: The View from New England
Authors: Greenham David
Published: November 2012

In this afterword I look at the period 1850–1910 from a Transatlantic perspective, focusing on key New England writers whose work spans the disciplines of philosophy and literature: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, Herman Melville and William James. I begin with Stanley Cavell’s claim that America first expressed itself philosophically in the ‘metaphysical riot’ of its literature, which, he argues, pre‐existed the disciplinary divides which were extant in Britain of the period. I then go onto suggest that this is a myth congruent with America’s perennial claims to begin things over again. Rather, I contend, literature is a space where disciplinary boundaries can always be overlooked or repressed, whether in Britain or America. I then examine several of the essays in the collection to show how this works. Finally I move onto Darwin’s influence on America in the philosophy of William James, who develops an evolutionary idea of ‘truth.’ I conclude that his pragmatist conception of truth as what works and therefore survives is appropriate to the truths of literature, which survive often more successfully than the truths of science and at least as well as the truths of philosophy.
Moving Worlds: Fictionality and Illusion after Coleridge
Authors: Garratt Peter
Published: November 2012

This article examines Victorian philosophical responses to fictional worlds. It revisits Coleridge’s coinage of the ‘willing suspension of disbelief’, a phrase still taken to be an explanation of the mind’s inner experience of fictionality, before focusing on volition and illusion in John Stuart Mill, G. H. Lewes and James Sully. It ends by positioning these aspects of nineteenth‐century intellectual culture in relation to a recent revival of interest in reading practices and ‘cognitive’ literary criticism.
Existential Scrooge: A Kierkegaardian Reading of A Christmas Carol
Authors: Preston Shale
Published: November 2012

This article examines Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol (1843) through the lens of Søren Kierkegaard’s philosophical concept of anxiety. Owing to its enduring popularity, A Christmas Carol rarely elicits rigorous explication, much less philosophical exegesis. This critical blind spot, however, should not prevent those interested in establishing a nexus between literature and philosophy from examining it as a serious and important artefact within the history of ideas. A Christmas Carol is indeed historically important, so much so that it may have influenced or even inspired Søren Kierkegaard’s The Concept of Anxiety (1844). This work, published on 17 June 1844, put forward the nature of anxiety and explored the ways in which it became manifest. For Kierkegaard, anxiety must precede the qualitative leap of faith which is freedom. Indeed, it is only through anxiety that the self can come to understand its relation between the finite and the infinite, the temporal and the eternal. A seminal existential text, it influenced a range of thinkers including Heidegger, Sartre, Jaspers and Tillich. It is timely, however, to propose that one of the key concepts of anxiety that Kierkegaard expounds in this extraordinary work, that of ‘the demonic’ or neurotic individual, was actually anticipated 6 months earlier, in the fictional form of Ebenezer Scrooge, in Charles Dickens’s widely published and translated popular masterpiece, A Christmas Carol.
The Influences of Buddhism and Comparative Religion on Matthew Arnold
Authors: Franklin J. Jeffrey
Published: November 2012

The life of Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) encompassed the period of the Western ‘discovery’ of Buddhism, the emergence of the comparative religious study of Eastern religions, and the spread of the appearance in British popular and literary works of such concepts as karma, reincarnation, and nirvana. This essay first provides a summary of the European encounter with Buddhism in the nineteenth century and the emergence of the field of comparative religion, which took Buddhism as a primary object. It then surveys Arnold’s exposure to Buddhism and to comparative religion, in particular his study of Eugene Burnouf’s Introduction to the History of Indian Buddhism. Finally, I analyze, as no previous scholar has, Arnold’s incorporation of Buddhist and comparative religious elements into his own religious criticism, focusing on Literature and Dogma (1873), a book about how to read the Bible that surprisingly draws upon certain aspects of Buddhist thought while rejecting others. Though writing as a devoted Christian, Arnold gained the conviction to challenge the central Protestant tenet of salvation by faith, as well as the traditional reliance on revelation through miracles, in part from the ethical focus and historicism that he learned from Buddhism and, even more so, from the methodology of comparative religion.
Development of an Automated Method for Folin‐Ciocalteu Total Phenolic Assay in Artichoke Extracts
Authors: Yoo Kil Sun , Lee Eun Jin , Leskovar Daniel , Patil Bhimanagouda S.
Published: November 2012

Abstract:  We developed a system to run the Folin‐Ciocalteu (F‐C) total phenolic assay, in artichoke extract samples, which is fully automatic, consistent, and fast. The system uses 2 high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) pumps, an autosampler, a column heater, a UV/Vis detector, and a data collection system. To test the system, a pump delivered 10‐fold diluted F‐C reagent solution at a rate of 0.7 mL/min, and 0.4 g/mL sodium carbonate at a rate of 2.1 mL/min. The autosampler injected 10 μL per 1.2 min, which was mixed with the F‐C reagent and heated to 65 °C while it passed through the column heater. The heated reactant was mixed with sodium carbonate and color intensity was measured by the detector at 600 nm. The data collection system recorded the color intensity, and peak area of each sample was calculated as the concentration of the total phenolic content, expressed in μg/mL as either chlorogenic acid or gallic acid. This new method had superb repeatability (0.7% CV) and a high correlation with both the manual method (r2= 0.93) and the HPLC method (r2= 0.78). Ascorbic acid and quercetin showed variable antioxidant activity, but sugars did not. This method can be efficiently applied to research that needs to test many numbers of antioxidant capacity samples with speed and accuracy.
‘God’s Truth’: Kant, Mill and Moral Epistemology in Oliver Twist
Authors: Mangham Andrew
Published: November 2012

This essay aims to demonstrate how Dickens’s search for ‘truth’ (and his understanding of what that abstraction consists of) entered into and emerged from one of the key philosophical discussions of the early‐nineteenth century: namely whether moral knowledge is the sum of one’s experiences or whether there are such things as a priori or ‘natural’ principles of ethics that transcend human practice.
The relationship between cerebral amyloid angiopathy and cortical microinfarcts in brain ageing and Alzheimer's disease
Authors: Kövari E. , Herrmann F. R. , Hof P. R. , Bouras C.
Published: November 2012

Aims

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) represents the deposition of amyloid β protein (Aβ) in the meningeal and intracerebral vessels. It is often observed as an accompanying lesion of Alzheimer's disease (AD) or in the brain of elderly individuals even in the absence of dementia. CAA is largely age‐dependent. In subjects with severe CAA a higher frequency of vascular lesions has been reported. The goal of our study was to define the frequency and distribution of CAA in a 1‐year autopsy population (91 cases) from the Department of Internal Medicine, Rehabilitation, and Geriatrics, Geneva.

Materials and methods

Five brain regions were examined, including the hippocampus, and the inferior temporal, frontal, parietal and occipital cortex, using an antibody against Aβ, and simultaneously assessing the severity of AD‐type pathology with Braak stages for neurofibrillary tangles identified with an anti‐tau antibody. In parallel, the relationships of CAA with vascular brain lesions were established.

Results

CAA was present in 53.8% of the studied population, even in cases without AD (50.6%). The strongest correlation was seen between CAA and age, followed by the severity of amyloid plaques deposition. Microinfarcts were more frequent in cases with CAA; however, our results did not confirm a correlation between these parameters.

Conclusion

The present data show that CAA plays a role in the development of microvascular lesions in the ageing brain, but cannot be considered as the most important factor in this vascular pathology, suggesting that other mechanisms also contribute importantly to the pathogenesis of microvascular changes.
Improving panicle exsertion of rice cytoplasmic male sterile line by combination of artificial microRNA and artificial target mimic
Authors: Chen Hao , Jiang Shan , Zheng Jie , Lin Yongjun
Published: November 2012

The adoption of hybrid rice caused the second leap in rice yield after the ‘green revolution’ and contributes substantially to food security of China and the world. However, almost all cytoplasmic male sterile lines (A lines) as females of hybrid rice have a natural deficiency of ‘panicle enclosure’, which blocks pollination between the A line and the fertility restorer line as the male (R line) of hybrid rice and decreases seed yield. In hybrid rice seed production, exogenous ‘920’ (the active ingredient is gibberellin A3) must be applied to eliminate or alleviate panicle enclosure of the A line; however, this not only increases production cost and pollutes the environment, it also decreases seed quality. In this study, we designed a transgenic approach to improve plant height and panicle exsertion of the A line to facilitate hybrid rice production and maintain the semi‐dwarf plant type of the hybrid. This approach comprising two components—artificial microRNA (amiRNA) and artificial target mimicry—can manipulate the differential expression of the endogenous Eui1 gene that is associated with rice internode elongation in the A line and the hybrid. amiRNA is a recently developed gene silencing method with high specificity, while target mimicry is a natural mechanism inhibiting the miRNA function that was also recently characterized. This approach provides a paradigm to tune the expression of endogenous genes to achieve the desired phenotype by combining amiRNA and artificial target mimicry technologies.
Newborn screening for cystic fibrosis in Serbia: A pilot study
Authors: Radivojevic Danijela , Sovtic Aleksandar , Minic Predrag , Grkovic Sanja , Guc‐Scekic Marija , Lalic Tanja , Miskovic Marijana
Published: November 2012

Background

We performed a pilot study of neonatal screening for cystic fibrosis (CF) in order to introduce it to the national screening program in Serbia.

Methods

Immunoreactive trypsinogen (IRT) concentrations were analyzed in dried blood spot samples. Patients were recalled for repeated measurements in case of high IRT levels. Persisting high IRT levels resulted in DNA testing for the 29 most common mutations in the CF transmembrane regulator (CFTR) gene (IRT/IRT/DNA method). Sweat chloride measurements and clinical assessment were further performed for newly diagnosed patients.

Results

Of 1000 samples, three were initially positive and were further analyzed for the presence of the most common CFTR mutations in the Serbian population. DNA analysis revealed two patients being homozygous for F508del mutation. One sample was false positive, as the genetic test proved to be negative and associated with normal sweat chloride concentration and unremarkable clinical presentation.

Conclusions

The results of our pilot study justified the expanding of the routine neonatal screening program in Serbia with CF. Data could be used in future in order to obtain accurate incidence of CF and carrier prevalence in our country.