bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mapping Species Distributions
Authors: Franklin Janet
Published: August 2012

Maps of species' distributions or habitat suitability are required for many aspects of environmental research, resource management and conservation planning. These include biodiversity assessment, reserve design, habitat management and restoration, species and habitat conservation plans and predicting the effects of environmental change on species and ecosystems. The proliferation of methods and uncertainty regarding their effectiveness can be daunting to researchers, resource managers and conservation planners alike. Franklin summarises the methods used in species distribution modeling (also called niche modeling) and presents a framework for spatial prediction of species distributions based on the attributes (space, time, scale) of the data and questions being asked. The framework links theoretical ecological models of species distributions to spatial data on species and environment, and statistical models used for spatial prediction. Providing practical guidelines to students, researchers and practitioners in a broad range of environmental sciences including ecology, geography, conservation biology, and natural resources management.
Others in Mind
Authors: Rochat Philippe
Published: August 2012

In this book, Philippe Rochat explores self-consciousness, how it originates and how it shapes our lives, arguably the most important and revealing of all psychological problems. Why are we so prone to guilt and embarrassment? Why do we care so much about how others see us, about our reputation? What are the origins of such afflictions? Rochat argues that it is because we are members of a species that evolved the unique propensity to reflect upon themselves as an object of thoughts; an object of thoughts that is potentially evaluated by others. Based on empirical observations, this is a book of ideas, tapping into both developmental and anthropological phenomena and guided by strong existential intuitions regarding the human condition. At the core of these intuitions, there is the idea that human psychic life is predominantly determined by what we imagine others perceive of us.
The Politics of Italy
Authors: Newell James L.
Published: August 2012

This innovative text offers a completely fresh approach to Italian politics by placing it in its historical, institutional, social and international contexts. Students will get to grips with the theories and concepts of comparative politics and how they apply specifically to Italy, while gaining real insight into more controversial topics such as the Mafia, corruption and the striking success of Berlusconi. The textbook uses clear and simple language to critically analyze Italy's institutions, its political culture, parties and interest groups, public policy, and its place in the international system. Often regarded as an anomaly, Italy is frequently described in terms of 'crisis', 'instability' and 'alienation'. Sceptical of these conventional accounts, Newell argues that, if understood in its own terms, the Italian political system is just as effective as other established democracies. With features including text boxes and further reading suggestions, this is an unbeatable introduction to the politics of Italy.
Experimental Human-Computer Interaction
Authors: Purchase Helen C.
Published: August 2012

Experiments that require the use of human participants are time consuming and costly: it is important to get the process right the first time. Planning and preparation are key to success. This practical book takes the human-computer interaction researcher through the complete experimental process, from identifying a research question to designing and conducting an experiment, and then to analysing and reporting the results. The advice offered in this book draws on the author's twenty years of experience running experiments. In describing general concepts of experimental design and analysis she refers to numerous worked examples that address the very real practicalities and problems of conducting an experiment, such as managing participants, getting ethical approval, pre-empting criticism, choosing a statistical method and dealing with unexpected events.
The Conduct of Hostilities under the Law of International Armed Conflict
Authors: Dinstein Yoram
Published: August 2012

This is the seminal textbook on the law of international armed conflict, written by a leading commentator on the subject. The second edition has been thoroughly revised and updated, taking into account new developments in combat, numerous recent judicial cases (especially decisions rendered by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia), as well as topical studies and instruments. The text clarifies complex issues, offering solutions to practical combat dilemmas that have emerged in present-day battlefield situations. Several current (and controversial) subjects are examined in depth, including direct participation in hostilities, human shields, and air and missile warfare. Useful definitions and explanations have been added, making intricate problems easier to comprehend. The book is designed not only for students of international law, but also as a tool for the instruction of military officers.
Writing about Archaeology
Authors: Connah Graham
Published: August 2012

In this book, Graham Connah offers an overview of archaeological authorship: its diversity, its challenges, and its methodology. Based on his own experiences, he presents his personal views about the task of writing about archaeology. The book is not intended to be a technical manual. Instead, Connah aims to encourage archaeologists who write about their subject to think about the process of writing. He writes with the beginning author in mind, but the book will be of interest to all archaeologists who plan to publish their work. Connah's overall premise is that those who write about archaeology need to be less concerned with content and more concerned with how they present it. It is not enough to be a good archaeologist. One must also become a good writer and be able to communicate effectively. Archaeology, he argues, is above all a literary discipline.
Relativistic Astrophysics of the Transient Universe
Authors: Van Putten Maurice H. P. M. , Levinson Amir , t'Hooft Gerard
Published: August 2012

In this decade, the transient universe will be mapped out in great detail by the emerging wide-field multiwavelength surveys, and neutrino and gravitational-wave detectors, promising to probe the astronomical and physical origin of the most extreme relativistic sources. This volume introduces the physical processes relevant to the source modeling of the transient universe. Ideal for graduate students and researchers in astrophysics, this book gives a unified treatment of relativistic flows associated with compact objects, their dissipation and emission in electromagnetic, hadronic and gravitational radiation. After introducing the source classes, the authors set out various mechanisms for creating magnetohydodynamic outflows in winds, jets and blast waves and their radiation properties. They then go on to discuss properties of accretion flows around rotating black holes and their gravitational wave emission from wave instabilites with implications for the emerging gravitational wave experiments. Graduate students and researchers can gain an understanding of data analysis for gravitational-wave data.
Modern Computer Arithmetic
Authors: Brent Richard P. , Zimmermann Paul
Published: August 2012

Modern Computer Arithmetic focuses on arbitrary-precision algorithms for efficiently performing arithmetic operations such as addition, multiplication and division, and their connections to topics such as modular arithmetic, greatest common divisors, the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), and the computation of elementary and special functions. Brent and Zimmermann present algorithms that are ready to implement in your favourite language, while keeping a high-level description and avoiding too low-level or machine-dependent details. The book is intended for anyone interested in the design and implementation of efficient high-precision algorithms for computer arithmetic, and more generally efficient multiple-precision numerical algorithms. It may also be used in a graduate course in mathematics or computer science, for which exercises are included. These vary considerably in difficulty, from easy to small research projects, and expand on topics discussed in the text. Solutions to selected exercises are available from the authors.
Phase Transitions in Machine Learning
Authors: Saitta Lorenza , Giordana Attilio , Cornuéjols Antoine
Published: August 2012

Phase transitions typically occur in combinatorial computational problems and have important consequences, especially with the current spread of statistical relational learning as well as sequence learning methodologies. In Phase Transitions in Machine Learning the authors begin by describing in detail this phenomenon, and the extensive experimental investigation that supports its presence. They then turn their attention to the possible implications and explore appropriate methods for tackling them. Weaving together fundamental aspects of computer science, statistical physics and machine learning, the book provides sufficient mathematics and physics background to make the subject intelligible to researchers in AI and other computer science communities. Open research issues are also discussed, suggesting promising directions for future research.
Parasites in Ecological Communities
Authors: Hatcher Melanie J. , Dunn Alison M.
Published: August 2012

Interactions between competitors, predators and their prey have traditionally been viewed as the foundation of community structure. Parasites – long ignored in community ecology – are now recognized as playing an important part in influencing species interactions and consequently affecting ecosystem function. Parasitism can interact with other ecological drivers, resulting in both detrimental and beneficial effects on biodiversity and ecosystem health. Species interactions involving parasites are also key to understanding many biological invasions and emerging infectious diseases. This book bridges the gap between community ecology and epidemiology to create a wide-ranging examination of how parasites and pathogens affect all aspects of ecological communities, enabling the new generation of ecologists to include parasites as a key consideration in their studies. This comprehensive guide to a newly emerging field is of relevance to academics, practitioners and graduates in biodiversity, conservation and population management, and animal and human health.
Ellipsoidal Harmonics
Authors: Dassios George
Published: August 2012

The sphere is what might be called a perfect shape. Unfortunately nature is imperfect and many bodies are better represented by an ellipsoid. The theory of ellipsoidal harmonics, originated in the nineteenth century, could only be seriously applied with the kind of computational power available in recent years. This, therefore, is the first book devoted to ellipsoidal harmonics. Topics are drawn from geometry, physics, biosciences and inverse problems. It contains classical results as well as new material, including ellipsoidal bi-harmonic functions, the theory of images in ellipsoidal geometry and vector surface ellipsoidal harmonics, which exhibit an interesting analytical structure. Extended appendices provide everything one needs to solve formally boundary value problems. End-of-chapter problems complement the theory and test the reader's understanding. The book serves as a comprehensive reference for applied mathematicians, physicists, engineers and for anyone who needs to know the current state of the art in this fascinating subject.
The Nature-Nurture Debates
Authors: Goldhaber Dale
Published: August 2012

How is it possible that in more than one hundred years, the nature-nurture debate has not come to a satisfactory resolution? The problem, Dale Goldhaber argues, lies not with the proposed answers, but with the question itself. In The Nature-Nurture Debate, Goldhaber reviews the four major perspectives on the issue - behavior genetics, environment, evolutionary psychology and developmental systems theory - and shows that the classic, reductionist strategies (behavior genetics and environmental approaches) are incapable of resolving the issue because they each offer a false perspective on the process of human development. It is only through a synthesis of the two holistic perspectives of evolutionary psychology and developmental systems theory that we will be able to understand the nature of human behavior.
The Unwieldy American State
Authors: Grisinger Joanna L.
Published: August 2012

The Unwieldy American State offers a political and legal history of the administrative state from the 1940s through the early 1960s. After Progressive Era reforms and New Deal policies shifted a substantial amount of power to administrators, the federal government's new size and shape made one question that much more important: how should agencies and commissions exercise their enormous authority? In examining procedural reforms of the administrative process in light of postwar political developments, Grisinger shows how administrative law was shaped outside the courts. Using the language of administrative law, parties debated substantive questions about administrative discretion, effective governance and national policy, and designed reforms accordingly. In doing so, they legitimated the administrative process as a valid form of government.
The Cambridge Introduction to George Orwell
Authors: Rodden John , Rossi John
Published: August 2012

Arguably the most influential political writer of the twentieth century, George Orwell remains a crucial voice for our times. Known world-wide for his two best-selling masterpieces Nineteen Eighty-Four, a gripping portrait of a dystopian future, and Animal Farm, a brilliant satire on the Russian Revolution, Orwell has been revered as an essayist, journalist and literary-political intellectual, and his works have exerted a powerful international impact on the post-World War Two era. This Introduction examines Orwell's life, work and legacy, addressing his towering achievement and his ongoing appeal. Combining important biographical detail with close analysis of his writings, the book considers the various genres in which Orwell wrote: the realistic novel, the essay, journalism and the anti-utopia. Ideally suited for readers approaching Orwell's work for the first time, the book concludes with an extended reflection on why George Orwell has enjoyed a literary afterlife unprecedented among modern authors in any language.
Managing Change
Authors: Beech Nic , MacIntosh Robert
Published: August 2012

The ability to manage change successfully is an essential part of business. It is a skill that is much valued by employers, and it is therefore one of the most commonly delivered courses. This book helps you to understand three key activities for managing change: diagnosing, explaining and enacting. Both practical and action-oriented, it gives students and managers the tools they need to deal with the messy reality of change. It combines theory and diagnostic tools with practical examples that focus on actions and outcomes. It also includes short vignettes and longer cases, from a range of international contexts, for classroom study or for use on distance learning courses. Managing Change is written for advanced undergraduates and graduate students taking modules on change management, strategy and organizations. Its class-tested approach has been successfully delivered in a wide variety of settings, including over fifty executive short courses with FTSE-listed businesses.
Plagiarism in Latin Literature
Authors: McGill Scott
Published: August 2012

In response to critics who charged him with plagiarism, Virgil is said to have responded that it was easier to steal Hercules' club than a line from Homer. This was to deny the allegations by implying that Virgil was no plagiarist at all, but an author who had done the hard work of making Homer's material his own. Several other texts and passages in Latin literature provide further evidence for accusations and denials of plagiarism. Plagiarism in Latin Literature explores important questions such as, how do Roman writers and speakers define the practice? And how do the accusations and denials function? Scott McGill moves between varied sources, including Terence, Martial, Seneca the Elder and Macrobius' Virgil criticism to explore these questions. In the process, he offers new insights into the history of plagiarism and related issues, including Roman notions of literary property, authorship and textual reuse.
Modernism, Imperialism and the Historical Sense
Authors: Stasi Paul
Published: August 2012

Modernist art and literature sought to engage with the ideas of different cultures without eradicating the differences between them. In Modernism, Imperialism and the Historical Sense, Paul Stasi explores the relationship between high modernist aesthetic forms and structures of empire in the twentieth century. Stasi's text offers new readings of James Joyce, Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf by situating their work within an early moment of globalization. By combining the insights of Marxist historiography, aesthetic theory and postcolonial criticism, Stasi's careful analysis reveals how these authors' aesthetic forms responded to, and helped shape, their unique historical moment. Written with a wide readership in mind, this book will appeal especially to scholars of British and American literature as well as students of literary criticism and postcolonial studies.
Global Public Interest in International Investment Law
Authors: Kulick Andreas
Published: August 2012

The strengths of international investment law - above all, a strong focus on investor interests and an effective adjudication and enforcement system - also entail its weaknesses: it runs the danger of impeding or even sanctioning the host states' legitimate regulatory interests and ignoring other fields of public international law. How does it cope with public interest concerns such as human rights, the environment or the fight against corruption? At the heart of this book lies a fresh approach towards a general theory of such global public interest considerations in the investment realm. Delineating how and why those considerations matter, and why the current system does not accommodate them properly, Andreas Kulick fleshes out general principles and customary international law as defences the host state may raise against alleged investor rights infringements and promotes proportionality as the appropriate balancing mechanism.
The Defortification of the German City, 1689–1866
Authors: Mintzker Yair
Published: August 2012

In the early modern period, all German cities were fortified places. Because contemporary jurists have defined 'city' as a coherent social body in a protected place, the urban environment had to be physically separate from the surrounding countryside. This separation was crucial to guaranteeing the city's commercial, political and legal privileges. Fortifications were therefore essential for any settlement to be termed a city. This book tells the story of German cities' metamorphoses from walled to de-fortified places between 1689 and 1866. Using a wealth of original sources, The Defortification of the German City, 1689–1866 discusses one of the most significant moments in the emergence of the modern city: the dramatic and often traumatic demolition of the city's centuries-old fortifications and the creation of the open city.
With Malice toward Some
Authors: Marcus George E. , Sullivan John L. , Theiss-Morse Elizabeth , Wood Sandra L.
Published: August 2012

With Malice toward Some: How People Make Civil Liberties Judgments addresses an issue integral to democratic societies: how people faced with a complex variety of considerations decide whether or not to tolerate extremist groups. Relying on several survey-experiments, Marcus, Sullivan, Theiss-Morse, and Wood identify and compare the impact on decision making of contemporary information, long-standing predispositions, and enduring values and beliefs. Citizens react most strongly to information about a group's violations of behavioral norms and information about the implications for democracy of the group's actions. The authors conclude that democratic citizens should have a strong baseline of tolerance yet be attentive to and thoughtful about current information.
Literacies
Authors: Kalantzis Mary , Cope Bill
Published: August 2012

With the rise of new technologies and media, the way we communicate is rapidly changing. Literacies provides a comprehensive introduction to literacy pedagogy within today's new media environment. It focuses not only on reading and writing, but also on other modes of communication, including oral, visual, audio, gestural and spatial. This focus is designed to supplement, not replace, the enduringly important role of alphabetical literacy. Using real-world examples and illustrations, Literacies features the experiences of both teachers and students. It maps a range of methods that teachers can use to help their students develop their capacities to read, write and communicate. It also explores the wide range of literacies and the diversity of socio-cultural settings in today's workplace, public and community settings. With an emphasis on the 'how-to' practicalities of designing literacy learning experiences and assessing learner outcomes, this book is a contemporary and in-depth resource for literacy students.
Democratic Decline and Democratic Renewal
Authors: Marsh Ian , Miller Raymond
Published: August 2012

The story of liberal democracy over the last half century has been a triumphant one in many ways, with the number of democracies increasing from a minority of states to a significant majority. Yet substantial problems afflict democratic states, and while the number of democratic countries has expanded, democratic practice has contracted. This book introduces a novel framework for evaluating the rise and decline of democratic governance. Examining three mature democratic countries – Britain, Australia and New Zealand – the authors discuss patterns of governance from the emergence of mass democracy at the outset of the twentieth century through to its present condition. The shared political cultures and institutional arrangements of the three countries allow the authors to investigate comparatively the dynamics of political evolution and the possibilities for systemic developments and institutional change.
Ideology and Spatial Voting in American Elections
Authors: Jessee Stephen A.
Published: August 2012

Ideology and Spatial Voting in American Elections addresses two core issues related to the foundations of democratic governance: how the political views of Americans are structured and how citizens' voting decisions relate to their ideological proximity to the candidates. Focusing on testing the assumptions and implications of spatial voting, this book connects the theory with empirical analysis of voter preferences and behavior, showing Americans cast their ballots largely in accordance with spatial voting theory. Stephen A. Jessee's research shows voters possess meaningful ideologies that structure their policy beliefs, moderated by partisanship and differing levels of political information. Jessee finds that while voters with lower levels of political information are more influenced by partisanship, independents and better informed partisans are able to form reasonably accurate perceptions of candidates' ideologies. His findings should reaffirm citizens' faith in the broad functioning of democratic elections.
THE START OF PERFORMANCE, OR, DOES COLLABORATION MATTER?
Authors: Hooper Michael
Published: August 2012

This article presents a view of the first meetings between the oboe virtuoso Christopher Redgate and the composers Dorothy Ker and Fabrice Fitch. The article details some aspects of these meetings to highlight the processes that are at play in the earliest stages of collaboration. These processes are both practical (in which information about how the oboe works is uncovered and shared) and philosophical (in which the oboe itself becomes a significant source of new possibilities). The article traces a period during which Redgate was developing a new oboe, working with composers to create new repertoire for the new instrument. Arguing for closer attention to the ‘everyday’ aspects of composers and performers working together, the article explores some of the ways in which Redgate pulls apart his experience of performing to develop new technique and to opening up new possibilities for future composition. I also argue that the oboe, as much as the composer and performer, plays a part in shaping musical outcomes.
MEDIUM/FORM RELATIONS IN BRIAN FERNEYHOUGH'S FOURTH STRING QUARTET
Authors: Lippe Klaus
Published: August 2012

The aim of this paper is to re-describe Brian Ferneyhough's compositional practice as an arrangement of medium/form relations in the sense of system theorist Niklas Luhmann. The production process of an artwork is understood as a procedure by which ‘a form is changed for another’, or rather: by which a form becomes a medium for further form distinctions, such that the contingency of the beginning is transformed into the necessity of the final work of art. Based on the preliminary ‘large-scale form’, the fundamental steps in the composition of the first movement of the Fourth String Quartet are observed as recursive operations in a self-referentially closed process of gaining form. Despite its formal closure, the final score's potentiality becomes a medium for further performative and perceptive actualizations. The artwork establishes itself on the level of second order observations, as a difference between the possible and the actual: between medium and form.
HOW DID HOLST CONDUCT ‘THE PLANETS’?
Authors: Gibbs Alan
Published: August 2012

Any would-be conductor of The Planets needs first to consult Holst's own recordings of 1923 and 1926; then Imogen Holst's The Music of Gustav Holst (3rd edition, in particular Chapter XXVI), and her and Colin Matthews's contributions to the Collected Facsimile Edition, Volume III. Opinions vary as to how far the constraints of the early recording studio affected the composer's interpretation, so the recent discovery of a miniature score with Sir Henry Wood's annotations on the 1931 Prom performance, where Holst had no such inhibitions, is of unusual interest. Its positive attributes, side by side with Wood's merciless exposing of the difficulties encountered by the composer, are all there. Durations of three movements have been added in Holst's writing, and Wood's own timings shed further light although, sadly, muddied by errors and inconsistencies. But there is new food for thought regarding such aspects as the speed of Saturn and a reminder where the central melody of Jupiter is concerned.
Event-related potentials reveal anomalous morphosyntactic processing in developmental dyslexia
Authors: CANTIANI CHIARA , LORUSSO MARIA LUISA , PEREGO PAOLO , MOLTENI MASSIMO , GUASTI MARIA TERESA
Published: August 2012

In the light of the literature describing oral language difficulties in developmental dyslexia (DD), event-related potentials were used in order to compare morphosyntactic processing in 16 adults with DD (aged 20–28 years) and unimpaired controls. Sentences including subject–verb agreement violations were presented auditorily, with grammaticality and subject number as main factors. Electrophysiological data revealed differences between groups concerning both the latency of the P600 component and the additional presence in the DD group of a negativity broadly diffused all over the scalp. Moreover, these electrophysiological anomalies increased when plural sentences were processed. On the whole, the results support the hypothesis of a linguistic deficit and of different language processing modalities in DD participants.
The impact of instruction on second-language implicit knowledge: Evidence against encapsulation
Authors: TOTH PAUL D. , GUIJARRO-FUENTES PEDRO
Published: August 2012

This paper compares explicit instruction in second-language Spanish with a control treatment on a written picture description task and a timed auditory grammaticality judgment task. Participants came from two intact, third-year US high school classes, with one experiencing a week of communicative lessons on the Spanish cliticse(n= 15) and the other exposed toseonly incidentally (n =20). Explicit instruction consisted of grammar rules with sentence-level examples, followed by communicative tasks. Three test versions were administered within a split-bloc design as a pretest, immediate posttest, and delayed posttest 6 weeks after instruction. The instructed group increased targetlike uses ofseon both tasks and sustained gains through the delayed posttest, although first-language transfer errors persisted. Meanwhile, overgeneralization errors centered on semantic and syntactic contexts similar to the instructional object, aligning with the unergative–unaccusative distinction among intransitive verbs. It is argued that the data provide evidence for the permeability of second-language implicit knowledge to explicit instruction and against total encapsulation as a model of the mind.
The acquisition of passives in Serbian
Authors: PEROVIC ALEXANDRA , VUKSANOVIĆ JASMINA , PETROVIĆ BOBAN , AVRAMOVIĆ-ILIĆ IRENA
Published: August 2012

This study examined the comprehension of actional and psychological verbs in both their active and passive (short and long) forms by 99 Serbian-speaking children. The children, whose age ranged between 3 years, 6 months (3;6) and 7 years, 6 months (7;6), were divided into three groups: 3;6–5 (M = 4.3), 5;1–6;1 (M = 5.6), and 6;2–7;6 (M = 7.0). All groups reached ceiling performance on actives of both actional and psychological verbs. They showed a good performance on passives of actional verbs, both short and long, but an exceptionally low performance on passives of psychological verbs: only the oldest group, 7-year-olds, reached 80% correct performance on psychological passives. There were no differences in the children's performance on short versus long passives of either type of the verb. These results are in line with studies reporting delayed passive comprehension in children younger than 5 in a number of languages, suggesting a delay in the comprehension of this structure cross-linguistically. The discrepancy observed in the comprehension of psychological passives, as opposed to actional actives, fits neatly into Borer and Wexler's account, which relates children's difficulties in this area to their underlying knowledge of argument chains created by movement of sentential elements.
GENDER AND THE POLITICS OF MUSIC IN THE EARLY ISLAMIC COURTS
Authors: Nielson Lisa
Published: August 2012

Until the ninth century, the role of the professional musician in pre-Islamic Arabia and Mesopotamia was primarily fulfilled by women. Men were socially prohibited from working as musicians, though some transgressed gender and social boundaries by adopting feminine dress and playing ‘women's’ instruments. With the advent of Islam, patronage of qiyān (singing girls), mukhannathūn (effeminates) and later, male musicians, did not substantially change. During the early Abbasid era (750–950 ce), however, their collective visibility in court entertainments was among several factors leading to debates regarding the legal position of music in Islam. The arguments for and against took place in the realm of politics and interpretation of religious law yet the influence of traditional expectations for gendered musical performance that had existed on the cultural landscape for millennia also contributed to the formation of a musical semiotics used by both sides.

In this article, I examine the representation of musicians in the early Islamic court in Baghdad from the perspective of select ninth-century Arabic texts. First, I begin with a summary of the gender roles and performance expectations for pre-Islamic court musicians and point to their continuation into the early Islamic courts. Then, I suggest how the figure of the musician became a key referent in the development of a musical semiotics used in medieval Islamic music discourse.
MUSIC, PESTILENCE AND TWO SETTINGS OF O BEATE SEBASTIANE
Authors: Chiu Remi
Published: August 2012

This essay examines the role of music in the late-medieval and Renaissance response to plague. According to doctors, the mere thought of plague could bring on the disease; they therefore prescribed joyful music to distract the mind from insidious imaginings and to counteract the harmful effects of fear. The prescription for music, however, was not unequivocal. Some spiritual authorities looked suspiciously upon music's role as anti-pestilential remedy. These competing discourses inform a reading of Johannes Martini's and Gaspar van Weerbeke's settings of O beate Sebastiane, motets that petition St Sebastian, the premier plague saint of the Renaissance, for divine intervention against pestilence.
AMAZONS FROM MADRID TO VIENNA, BY WAY OF ITALY: THE CIRCULATION OF A SPANISH TEXT AND THE DEFINITION OF AN IMAGINARY
Authors: Garavaglia Andrea , Kamal Katherine
Published: August 2012

The fascinating phenomenon of the migration of theatrical subjects between literary genres, languages and countries is enriched through a new example discussed in this article. A handwritten libretto compiled in Rome for the court of Vienna, La simpatia nell'odio, overo Le amazoni amanti by Giovanni Pietro Monesio (1664), was discovered to be a faithful translation of the Spanish play Las Amazonas by Antonio de Solís (1657), hitherto known as the basis of a much later libretto, Caduta del regno delle Amazzoni, by Domenico De Totis (1690), set by Bernardo Pasquini. Monesio's libretto not only allows us to reconstruct the manner and time of the European circulation of a Spanish subject (from Madrid to Rome, to Vienna and Naples), but also to shed light on wider cultural aspects. First of all, it increases the number of librettos closely based on Spanish plays, of which so far only a few examples by Giulio Rospigliosi were known. Secondly, it provides further proof of the hypotheticised Spanish influence on the fortune of the Amazons in Italian opera and confirmation that its first appearance was beyond the Alps rather than in Italy. Finally, in the context of the the Habsburg Viennese court, the success of the Amazons seems to be linked to the political need to create a strong symbolic association between the ‘discourse’ on the virago and the legitimation of female power.
The role of number of meals, coffee intake, salt and type of cookware on colorectal cancer development in the context of the Mediterranean diet
Authors: Kontou Niki , Psaltopoulou Theodora , Soupos Nick , Polychronopoulos Evangelos , Linos Athena , Xinopoulos Dimitrios , Panagiotakos Demosthenes B
Published: August 2012

Objective

To investigate the association between dietary behaviours and colorectal cancer (CRC) in the context of the Mediterranean diet.

Design

Case–control study.

Setting

All patients (cases) were recruited from Saint Savvas Cancer Hospital and Alexandra General Hospital in Athens, Greece. Controls were voluntarily selected from the general population and matched to cases by age group (±10 years) and sex.

Subjects

Two hundred and fifty cases with newly diagnosed CRC (mean age 63 (sd 12) years, 59·6 % males) and 250 controls matched on age and sex were studied. A standardized questionnaire assessing sociodemographic, clinical, lifestyle, dietary characteristics and nutritional behaviours was applied. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the aforementioned factors in addition to the MedDietScore (an index that evaluates adherence to the Mediterranean diet) on CRC development.

Results

The higher the daily number of meals, the lower the likelihood of having CRC (OR = 0·74, 95 % CI 0·61, 0·89); coffee drinking was associated with higher likelihood of having CRC (OR = 3·27, 95 % CI 1·09, 9·8); the use of non-stick cookware was positively associated with CRC (OR = 1·57, 95 % CI 1·02, 2·4). However, these associations slightly lost their significance when adherence to the Mediterranean diet was taken into account. Moreover, a 1/75 increase in the modified-MedDietScore plus the aforementioned nutritional behaviours was associated with 13 % lower odds (95 % CI 0·83, 0·91, P < 0·001) of having CRC.

Conclusions

Nutritional behaviours in addition to dietary habits should be taken into account in detecting individuals prone to the development of CRC.
Food photographs in portion size estimation among adolescent Mozambican girls
Authors: Korkalo Liisa , Erkkola Maijaliisa , Fidalgo Lourdes , Nevalainen Jaakko , Mutanen Marja
Published: August 2012

Objective

To assess the validity of food photographs in portion size estimation among adolescent girls in Mozambique. The study was carried out in preparation for the larger ZANE study, which used the 24 h dietary recall method.

Design

Life-sized photographs of three portion sizes of two staple foods and three sauces were produced. Participants ate weighed portions of one staple food and one sauce. After the meal, they were asked to estimate the amount of food with the aid of the food photographs.

Setting

Zambezia Province, Mozambique.

Subjects

Ninety-nine girls aged 13–18 years.

Results

The mean differences between estimated and actual portion sizes relative to the actual portion size ranged from −19 % to 8 % for different foods. The respective mean difference for all foods combined was −5 % (95 % CI −12, 2 %). Especially larger portions of the staple foods were often underestimated. For the staple foods, between 62 % and 64 % of the participants were classified into the same thirds of the distribution of estimated and actual food consumption and for sauces, the percentages ranged from 38 % to 63 %. Bland–Altman plots showed wide limits of agreement.

Conclusions

Using life-sized food photographs among adolescent Mozambican girls resulted in a rather large variation in the accuracy of individuals’ estimates. The ability to rank individuals according to their consumption was, however, satisfactory for most foods. There seems to be a need to further develop and test food photographs used in different populations in Sub-Saharan Africa to improve the accuracy of portion size estimates.
High‐resolution ground‐penetrating radar monitoring of soil moisture dynamics: Field results, interpretation, and comparison with unsaturated flow model
Authors: Steelman Colby M. , Endres Anthony L. , Jones Jon P.
Published: August 2012

Surface ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) techniques have been used by a number of previous researchers to characterize soil moisture content in the vadose zone. However, limited temporal sampling and low resolution near the surface in these studies greatly impedes the quantitative analysis of vertical soil moisture distribution and its associated dynamics within the shallow subsurface. To further examine the capacity of surface GPR, we have undertaken an extensive 26 month field study using concurrent high‐frequency (i.e., 900 MHz) reflection profiling and common‐midpoint (CMP) soundings to quantitatively monitor soil moisture distribution and dynamics within the shallow vadose zone. This unprecedented data set allowed us to assess the concurrent use of these techniques over two contrasting annual cycles of soil conditions. Reflection profiles provided high‐resolution traveltime data between four stratigraphic reflection events while cumulative results of the CMP sounding data set produced precise depth estimates for those reflecting interfaces, which were used to convert interval‐traveltime data into soil moisture. The downward propagation of major infiltration episodes associated with seasonal and transient events are well resolved by the GPR data. The use of CMP soundings permitted the determination of direct ground wave velocities, which provided high‐resolution information along the air‐soil interface. This improved resolution enabled better characterization of short‐duration wetting/drying and freezing/thawing processes, and permitted better evaluation of the nature of the coupling between shallow and deep moisture conditions. The nature of transient infiltration pulses, evapotranspiration episodes, and deep drainage patterns observed in the GPR data series were further examined by comparing them with a vertical soil moisture flow simulation based on the variably saturated model, HYDRUS‐1D. Using laboratory‐derived soil hydraulic property information from soil samples and a number of simplifying assumptions about the upper and lower‐boundary condition, we were able to achieve very good agreement between measured and simulated soil moisture profiles without model calibration; this is a strong indication of the overall quality of the GPR‐derived soil moisture estimates. The only notable difference between simulated values and GPR water content estimates occurred during extended dry soil conditions near the surface.
A direct method of parameter estimation for steady state flow in heterogeneous aquifers with unknown boundary conditions
Authors: Irsa J. , Zhang Y.
Published: August 2012

We propose a novel direct method for estimating steady state hydrogeological model parameters and model state variables in an aquifer where boundary conditions are unknown. The method is adapted from a recently developed potential theory technique for solving general inverse/reconstruction problems. Unlike many inverse techniques used for groundwater model calibration, the new method is not based on fitting and optimizing an objective function, which usually requires forward simulation and iterative parameter updates. Instead, it directly incorporates noisy observed data (hydraulic heads and flow rates) at the measurement points in a single step, without solving a boundary value problem. The new method is computationally efficient and is robust to the presence of observation errors. It has been tested on two‐dimensional groundwater flow problems with regular and irregular geometries, different heterogeneity patterns, variances of heterogeneity, and error magnitudes. In all cases, parameters (hydraulic conductivities) converge to the correct or expected values and are thus unique, based on which heads and flow fields are constructed directly via a set of analytical expressions. Accurate boundary conditions are then inferred from these fields. The accuracy of the direct method also improves with increasing amount of observed data, lower measurement errors, and grid refinement. Under natural flow (i.e., no pumping), the direct method yields an equivalent conductivity of the aquifer, suggesting that the method can be used as an inexpensive characterization tool with which both aquifer parameters and aquifer boundary conditions can be inferred.
Significant light induced ozone loss on biomass burning aerosol: Evidence from chemistry‐transport modeling based on new laboratory studies
Authors: Konovalov I. B. , Beekmann M. , D'Anna B. , George C.
Published: August 2012

Recent laboratory studies indicated that a photo‐induced heterogeneous reaction of ozone on the surface of aerosol containing humic like substances (HULIS) has the potential to affect the ozone budget in biomass burning plumes. To evaluate atmospheric significance of such heterogeneous light induced ozone loss, this process has been taken into account in the simulation of the extreme air pollution episode in the Moscow region during the 2010 mega fire event in western Russia. Results of the numerical experiments performed with the CHIMERE chemistry transport model indicate that photo induced removal of ozone could lead to significant (reaching several tens of percent) episodic decrease of the ozone concentration. The simulations also show that while wildfires provide reactive surface for the considered reaction, they strongly inhibit the photo‐induced heterogeneous ozone loss by attenuating actinic fluxes through the “shielding” aerosol effect. The present results are calling for additional experimental and modelling studies.
On the gas‐particle partitioning of soluble organic aerosol in two urban atmospheres with contrasting emissions: 1. Bulk water‐soluble organic carbon
Authors: Zhang Xiaolu , Liu Jiumeng , Parker Eric T. , Hayes Patrick L. , Jimenez Jose L. , de Gouw Joost A. , Flynn James H. , Grossberg Nicole , Lefer Barry L. , Weber Rodney J.
Published: August 2012

The partitioning of semi‐volatile compounds between the gas and particle phase influences the mass, size and chemical composition of the secondary organic aerosols (SOA) formed. Here we investigate the partitioning of water‐soluble organic carbon (WSOC) and the formation of SOA in Los Angeles (LA), California and Atlanta, Georgia; urban regions where anthropogenic volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions are dominated by vehicles, but are contrasted by an additional large source of biogenic VOCs exclusive to Atlanta. In Atlanta, evidence for WSOC partitioning to aerosol water is observed throughout the day, but is most prevalent in the morning. During drier periods (RH < 70%), the WSOC partitioning coefficient (Fp) was in proportion to the organic mass, suggesting that both particle water and organic aerosol (OA) can serve as an absorbing phase. In contrast, despite the higher average RH, in LA the aerosol water was not an important absorbing phase, instead, Fp was correlated with OA mass. Particle water concentrations from thermodynamic predictions based on measured inorganic aerosol components do not indicate significant differences in aerosol hygroscopicity. The observed different WSOC partitioning behaviors may be attributed to the contrasting VOC mixture between the two cities. In addition, different OA composition may also play a role, as Atlanta OA is expected to have a substantially more aged regional character. These results are consistent with our companion studies that find similar partitioning differences for formic acid and additional contrasts in SOA optical properties. The findings provide direct evidence for SOA formation through an equilibrium partitioning process.
The Locus Coeruleus-Norepinephrine Network Optimizes Coupling of Cerebral Blood Volume with Oxygen Demand
Authors: Bekar Lane K , Wei Helen S , Nedergaard Maiken
Published: August 2012

Given the brain's uniquely high cell density and tissue oxygen levels bordering on hypoxia, the ability to rapidly and precisely match blood flow to constantly changing patterns in neural activity is an essential feature of cerebrovascular regulation. Locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) projections innervate the cerebral vasculature and can mediate vasoconstriction. However, function of the LC-mediated constriction in blood-flow regulation has never been addressed. Here, using intrinsic optical imaging coupled with an anesthesia regimen that only minimally interferes with LC activity, we show that NE enhances spatial and temporal aspects of functional hyperemia in the mouse somatosensory cortex. Increasing NE levels in the cortex using an α2-adrenergic receptor antagonist paradoxically reduces the extent of functional hyperemia while enhancing the surround blood-flow reduction. However, the NE-mediated vasoconstriction optimizes spatial and temporal focusing of the hyperemic response resulting in a sixfold decrease in the disparity between blood volume and oxygen demand. In addition, NE-mediated vasoconstriction accelerated redistribution to subsequently active regions, enhancing temporal synchronization of blood delivery. These observations show an important role for NE in optimizing neurovascular coupling. As LC neuron loss is prominent in Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases, the diminished ability to couple blood volume to oxygen demand may contribute to their pathogenesis.