bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Litigation as Ethnography in Sixteenth-Century Peru: Polo de Ondegardo and the Mitimaes
Authors: Mumford Jeremy Ravi
Published: February 2008

Scholars of colonialism have drawn attention to the link between litigation and ethnography. In nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Asia and Africa, European colonizers frequently tried to adjudicate local disputes according to conquered people’s own laws, which they therefore investigated and codified (creating much invented tradition in the process). This paper explores that link in sixteenth-century Spanish Peru, where, to a remarkable extent, recently conquered Andean people took their disputes to colonial courts. Spanish judges were supposed to decide intra-Andean disputes according to existing laws and customs but seldom actually tried to find out what those customs were. However, in cases where colonial elites were already interested in understanding specific indigenous institutions, litigation between rival Andean groups provided the context in which Spanish officials explored those institutions most profoundly.

As a case study, this paper examines the Spanish official Polo de Ondegardo and the Andean social category of mitmaqkuna or mitimaes, which were settlement enclaves created by the pre-Hispanic Inca state. Mitima networks undermined colonial policies of spatial clarity and social control but were legitimized by the prestige that the Incas’ memory carried in Andean society. They also appeared to be a basis for community prosperity in the bleak Andean highlands, a subject in which the Spanish conquerors, who depended on tribute from Andean communities, had a material stake. Through a series of lawsuits between indigenous parties, Spanish jurists—especially Ondegardo—developed explanations for this apparently alien social institution and integrated it into the colonial state.
Indigenous or Criollo: The Myth of White Argentina in Tucumán’s Calchaquí Valley
Authors: Chamosa Oscar
Published: February 2008

In contrast to its South American neighbors, Argentina holds a reputation as a “white” country, a presumption reflected in the discourse of national elites, scholars, and tour guides alike. This article explores the idea that this purported whiteness was the product of an ideological process that denied the existence of Argentines of non-European background. The case in point is the Calchaquí valley in the northwestern part of the country. The population of this valley was considered indigenous during the colonial period, but in the mid-twentieth century folklorists who surveyed the valley defined the population as criollo, that is, non-indigenous. The article demonstrates that, even though a certain creolization process did take place among the Calchaquí people during the nineteenth century, labeling them as criollos was a discursive operation manipulated by academic and local economic elites who had vested interests in defining the rural population of the northwest in general as non-indigenous.
Opening the Cultural Mind: Translation and the Modern Chinese Literary Canon
Authors: Yifeng Sun
Published: February 2008

Translation has played a critical role in forming the modern Chinese literary canon and continues to stimulate its change and expansion. It is instrumental to the exchange and synthesis of foreign narrative modes and aesthetic paradigms. There are obvious political, cultural, and literary reasons for the formation of a literary canon, and to a degree literary production is inseparable from cross-cultural (re)production. The literary canon appropriates and is also appropriated by translations. Many modern Chinese literary concepts derive from translations, especially of Western literary and theoretical writings. By investigating the assimilation of translations into the Chinese literary canon, this essay focuses on a hybridized political and cultural discourse that marks a radical shift in aesthetic and cultural sensibilities in modern Chinese literature. The call for reshaping the literary canon responds to changing modes of discourse in foreign literatures. The effects of canon formation reveal the patterns of the canon's manipulation and expansion in the modern Chinese political, cultural, and literary context.
Women and the Search for Modernity: Rethinking Modern Chinese Drama
Authors: He Chengzhou
Published: February 2008

Because the theories of Chinese modernity are mainly organized around a masculine norm and pay insufficient attention to the specificity of women's lives and experiences, it is of great significance to carry out research on women's complex and changing relationships to the political, philosophical, and cultural legacies of Chinese modernity. This essay explores the relationship of women to Chinese modernity through a close reading of canonical texts from modern Chinese drama. The transformations of women in Chinese spoken plays during the first half of the twentieth century reflect the complex experiences of Chinese women in their search for modernity. The Nora figures in Chinese problem plays are symbols of individualism and subjectivism. The women in Cao Yu's plays, whose education is informed by feminist ideas, become subjects of their desires for consumption and love. The female fighters in revolutionary drama further deconstruct the patriarchy of gender, and their stories influenced the new development of gender politics in modern China. In general, the discourses of women's liberation were refashioned on the different stages of modern Chinese drama in parallel with the development of modern Chinese society. The essay suggests that women were actually heroines of Chinese modernity.
Cosmopolitanism and Its Discontents: The Dialectic between the Global and the Local in Lao She's Fiction
Authors: Huang Alexander C. Y.
Published: February 2008

Modern Chinese fiction dealing with cultural others can be taken as a lens through which to reread the cosmopolitan theory. At stake in the debate between communitarianism and liberalism are the viability of single cultural membership and its validity. Lao She's Self-Sacrifice (1934) and Dr. Wen (1936–37) question the viability of global cultural membership. For Lao She, cultural hotchpotch—as suggested by Salman Rushdie—is not an option. These novellas dramatize the dialectic between the global and the local at a crossroads of Chinese nationalism and Western imperialism. Lao She's representation of Dr. Mao and Dr. Wen also pose challenging questions for his contemporaries and for twenty-first-century readers alike: Can one ever refuse to be defined by the local, either by birth or by acculturation? What are the implications and consequences if one so chooses?
Chinese Postmodernist Fiction
Authors: Fokkema Douwe
Published: February 2008

The title of this essay implies that there is a Chinese postmodernism that differs from American or European postmodernism. But the different postmodernisms also have a common basis, which can be found at the level of unstable signification. First the author briefly sketches how the concept of postmodernism traveled from the United States to western Europe and Russia, with key roles for American critics such as John Barth, Leslie Fiedler, Ihab Hassan, and Matei Calinescu and, in Europe, writers such as Umberto Eco and the reception of Jorge Luis Borges and Vladimir Nabokov. To the author, Chinese postmodernism differs from other variants of postmodernism because of its different cultural-historical and literary-historical background. With few exceptions, modernism was a late discovery in China. After 1978 Wang Meng, Zhang Jie, Wang Anyi, and others wrote fiction in a modernist style. The simultaneity of modernism and postmodernism is a clue to the interpretation of Chinese fiction of the 1980s and 1990s. Postmodernist exuberant fabulation, partly inspired by Gabriel García Márquez and partly by traditional Chinese fiction, can be found in fiction by Mo Yan, Yu Hua, and Han Shaogong. Please Don't Call Me Human (Qianwan bie ba wo dang ren, 1989), by Wang Shuo, who was recently honored with a Chinese compilation of “research material concerning Wang Shuo” (Tianjin, 2005), is also discussed.
Introduction: The View from Judgment Day
Authors: Eagleton Terry
Published: February 2008

This essay introduces a cluster of articles titled “Devalued Currency: An Elegiac Symposium on Paradigm Shifts.” Eagleton's piece addresses, from a perspective indebted to Walter Benjamin, the notion of Thomas Kuhn that “shifts” in the controlling paradigms of disciplines and practices are entirely transformative not only of their futures but also of their pasts. Benjamin argued that a work of art is a set of potentials that may or may not be realized in the vicissitudes of its afterlife. The true significance of works might be said, therefore, to emerge only after some as-yet-unexpected event or upheaval makes their significance apparent. In this sense, we might argue that historical events make full sense only in the light of “judgment day”; until then, history remains an incoherent chronicle. But the totality that will one day be revealed cannot be anticipated. The past is open-ended because the present is, and meanwhile, the meaning of history is in our hands to change. Since we have that power, Eagleton suggests that we recycle figures of the past as characters in a comedy rather than tragedy. Still, it is never possible to say which figures of the past and which works are ultimately important and which are not, because we cannot say which mutations will result in major developments to come. No work or person is important or peripheral in itself or himself; it is the critic and historian who render them so.
The Pig Is Dead
Authors: Holland Glenn
Published: February 2008

Speaking freely is considered an essential component of academic freedom and freedom of inquiry. Unfortunately, historically as well as currently, the right to speak freely has often resulted in polemics and disputes between scholars. But the entire purpose of frankness in speech, whether in the academic or the political realm, is to persuade the person or people addressed to adopt a particular course of action. The concept of frank speaking, or parrhesia, first appeared among the Greeks as a political virtue, one exercised among free men in the public assembly for the common good. But parrhesia also was prized in the more private arena of the philosophical schools, where it was associated with the art of moral guidance. The philosophers were united in regarding frank criticism as the mark of true friendship. The consensus among them appears to have been that frank criticism was best employed with sensitivity to the situation, privately in the context of the philosophical community, and with due attention to the abilities, vulnerabilities, and needs of the person being corrected, so that he or she might heed the advice given. Modern academics likewise should strive to express their frank opinions in a way that will commend their ideas to others, speaking freely in the explicit service of persuasion for the common good. When frankness is teamed with persuasion, academic freedom finds its true purpose, and this article recommends the long-forgotten concept of parrhesia as a means to these ends.
AnArabidopsisF-box protein acts as a transcriptional co-factor to regulate floral development
Authors: Chae Eunyoung , Tan Queenie K.-G. , Hill Theresa A. , Irish Vivian F.
Published: February 2008

Plants flower in response to both environmental and endogenous signals. The Arabidopsis LEAFY (LFY) transcription factor is crucial in integrating these signals, and acts in part by activating the expression of multiple floral homeotic genes. LFY-dependent activation of the homeotic APETALA3 (AP3) gene requires the activity of UNUSUAL FLORAL ORGANS (UFO), an F-box component of an SCF ubiquitin ligase, yet how this regulation is effected has remained unclear. Here, we show that UFO physically interacts with LFY both in vitro and in vivo, and this interaction is necessary to recruit UFO to the AP3 promoter. Furthermore, a transcriptional repressor domain fused to UFO reduces endogenous LFY activity in plants, supporting the idea that UFO acts as part of a transcriptional complex at the AP3 promoter. Moreover, chemical or genetic disruption of proteasome activity compromises LFY-dependent AP3 activation,indicating that protein degradation is required to promote LFY activity. These results define an unexpected role for an F-box protein in functioning as a DNA-associated transcriptional co-factor in regulating floral homeotic gene expression. These results suggest a novel mechanism for promoting flower development via protein degradation and concomitant activation of the LFY transcription factor. This mechanism may be widely conserved, as homologs of UFO and LFY have been identified in a wide array of plant species.
Mesenchyme-dependent BMP signaling directs the timing of mandibular osteogenesis
Authors: Merrill Amy E. , Eames B. Frank , Weston Scott J. , Heath Thayer , Schneider Richard A.
Published: February 2008

To identify molecular and cellular mechanisms that determine when bone forms, and to elucidate the role played by osteogenic mesenchyme, we employed an avian chimeric system that draws upon the divergent embryonic maturation rates of quail and duck. Pre-migratory neural crest mesenchyme destined to form bone in the mandible was transplanted from quail to duck. In resulting chimeras, quail donor mesenchyme established significantly faster molecular and histological programs for osteogenesis within the relatively slower-progressing duck host environment. To understand this phenotype, we assayed for changes in the timing of epithelial-mesenchymal interactions required for bone formation and found that such interactions were accelerated in chimeras. In situ hybridization analyses uncovered donor-dependent changes in the spatiotemporal expression of genes, including the osteo-inductive growth factor Bmp4. Mesenchymal expression of Bmp4correlated with an ability of quail donor cells to form bone precociously without duck host epithelium, and also relied upon epithelial interactions until mesenchyme could form bone independently. Treating control mandibles with exogenous BMP4 recapitulated the capacity of chimeras to express molecular mediators of osteogenesis prematurely and led to the early differentiation of bone. Inhibiting BMP signaling delayed bone formation in a stage-dependent manner that was accelerated in chimeras. Thus, mandibular mesenchyme dictates when bone forms by temporally regulating its interactions with epithelium and its own expression of Bmp4. Our findings offer a developmental mechanism to explain how neural crest-derived mesenchyme and BMP signaling underlie the evolution of species-specific skeletal morphology.
Silencing ofSmed-βcatenin1generates radial-like hypercephalized planarians
Authors: Iglesias Marta , Gomez-Skarmeta Jose Luis , Saló Emili , Adell Teresa
Published: February 2008

Little is known about the molecular mechanisms responsible for axis establishment during non-embryonic processes such as regeneration and homeostasis. To address this issue, we set out to analyze the role of the canonical Wnt pathway in planarians, flatworms renowned for their extraordinary morphological plasticity. Canonical Wnt signalling is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism to confer polarity during embryonic development, specifying the anteroposterior (AP) axis in most bilaterians and the dorsoventral (DV) axis in early vertebrate embryos. β-Catenin is a key element in this pathway, although it is a bifunctional protein that is also involved in cell-cell adhesion. Here, we report the characterization of two β-catenin homologs from Schmidtea mediterranea(Smed-βcatenin1/2). Loss of function of Smed-βcatenin1, but not Smed-βcatenin2, in both regenerating and intact planarians, generates radial-like hypercephalized planarians in which the AP axis disappears but the DV axis remains unaffected, representing a unique example of a striking body symmetry transformation. The radial-like hypercephalized phenotype demonstrates the requirement for Smed-βcatenin1 in AP axis re-establishment and maintenance, and supports a conserved role for canonical Wnt signalling in AP axis specification, whereas the role of β-catenin in DV axis establishment would be a vertebrate innovation. When considered alongside the protein domains present in each S. mediterranea β-catenin and the results of functional assays in Xenopus embryos demonstrating nuclear accumulation and axis induction with Smed-βcatenin1, but not Smed-βcatenin2, these data suggest that S. mediterraneaβ-catenins could be functionally specialized and that only Smed-βcatenin1 is involved in Wnt signalling.
The Dual Role of Modularity: Innovation and Imitation
Authors: Ethiraj Sendil K. , Levinthal Daniel , Roy Rishi R.
Published: February 2008

Modularity has been heralded as an organizational and technical architecture that enhances incremental and modular innovation. Less attention has been paid to the possible implications of modular architectures for imitation. To understand the implications of modular designs for competitive advantage, one must consider the dual impact of modularity on innovation and imitation jointly. In an attempt to do so, we set up three alternative structures that vary in the extent of modularity and hence in the extent of design complexity: nonmodular, modular, and nearly modular designs. In each structure, we examine the trade-offs between innovation benefits and imitation deterrence. The results of our computational experiments indicate that modularization enables performance gains through innovation but, at the same time, sets the stage for those gains to be eroded through imitation. In contrast, performance differences between the leaders and imitators persist in the nearly modular and the nonmodular structures. Overall, we find that design complexity poses a significant trade-off between innovation benefits (i.e., generating superior strategies that create performance differences) and imitation deterrence (i.e., preserving the performance differences). We also examine the robustness of our results to variations in imitation accuracy. In addition to documenting the overall robustness of our principal finding, the ancillary analyses provide a more nuanced rendering of the relationship between the architecture of complexity and imitation efforts.
Appropriability and Commercialization: Evidence from MIT Inventions
Authors: Dechenaux Emmanuel , Goldfarb Brent , Shane Scott , Thursby Marie
Published: February 2008

The effects of appropriability on invention have been well studied, but there has been little analysis of the effect of appropriability on the commercialization of existing inventions. Exploiting a database of 805 attempts by private firms to commercialize inventions licensed from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) between 1980 and 1996, we explore the influence of several appropriability mechanisms on the commercialization and termination of projects to develop products based on university inventions. Our central hypothesis is that the relationship between a licensee's decision to either terminate or commercialize the invention is driven by the current market value of the invention, as well as the option value of delaying its commercialization. We use a competing risks framework that allows for nonparametric heterogeneity and correlated risks. We find that better appropriability in the sense of more effective patent strength and secrecy has a strong negative effect on the hazard of license termination. The effectiveness of learning has a strong positive effect on the hazard of technology commercialization, while lead time has a negative effect.
(s, S) Optimality in Joint Inventory-Pricing Control: An Alternate Approach
Authors: Huh Woonghee Tim , Janakiraman Ganesh
Published: February 2008

We study a stationary, single-stage inventory system, under periodic review, with fixed ordering costs and multiple sales levers (such as pricing, advertising, etc.). We show the optimality of (s, S)-type policies in these settings under both the backordering and lost-sales assumptions. Our analysis is constructive and is based on a condition that we identify as being key to proving the (s, S) structure. This condition is entirely based on the single-period profit function and the demand model. Our optimality results complement the existing results in this area.
Vitamin D Deficiency and Primary Hyperparathyroidism
Authors: Silverberg Shonni J
Published: February 2008

Temporally associated with the improvement in vitamin D nutrition in many Western countries in the mid-20th century, there was a change in many characteristics of primary hyperparathyroidism. Osteitis fibrosa cystica became a rare manifestation of what is now frequently an asymptomatic disease. At the same time, in patients with the disease, levels of PTH and parathyroid adenoma weights have fallen dramatically. In view of these observations and others, an association between vitamin D deficiency and severity of primary hyperparathyroidism has been proposed. Data support an association on two distinct levels. First, regardless of the clinical severity of primary hyperparathyroidism, the disease seems to be more severe in those with concomitant vitamin D deficiency. Second, vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency seem to be more prevalent in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism than in geographically matched populations. The association between vitamin D deficiency and primary hyperparathyroidism has clear implications. Co-existing vitamin D deficiency may cause the serum calcium level to fall into the normal range, which can lead to diagnostic uncertainty. With regard to management, preliminary data on vitamin D repletion in patients with mild primary hyperparathyroidism suggest that, in some cases, correction of vitamin D deficiency may be accomplished without worsening the underlying hypercalcemia. Vitamin D–deficient patients undergoing parathyroidectomy are also at increased risk of postoperative hypocalcemia and “hungry bone syndrome,” which underscores the importance of preoperative assessment of vitamin D status in all patients with primary hyperparathyroidism.
Vitamin D Endocrine Physiology
Authors: Heaney Robert P
Published: February 2008

Quantitative aspects of vitamin D3 endocrine physiology are briefly reviewed, together with the supporting evidence. Net calcium absorption of at least 200 mg/d is required to offset typical obligatory losses and thereby to protect the skeleton. The ability of the body to regulate intestinal calcium absorption is optimal at serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 concentrations >80 nM. Vitamin D3 inputs from all sources required to sustain such a level amount to 3600–4200 IU/d. Daily oral intakes as high as 10,000 IU are safe.
Epidemiological Evidence for Vitamin D and Colorectal Cancer
Authors: Giovannucci Edward
Published: February 2008

Since Garland and Garland formulated the hypothesis that vitamin D may protect against colorectal cancer in 1980, various epidemiological approaches have been undertaken to evaluate this hypothesis. These approaches include studies based on regional solar UVB radiation, plasma- or serum-based studies, dietary studies, and those examining multiple factors that influence vitamin D status. Studies over the past several decades have tended to support that higher levels of vitamin D may decrease risk of colorectal cancer. An important implication is that current recommended dietary intakes such as 200–400 IU/d may be too low to exert appreciable benefits. To substantially reduce risk, higher levels of vitamin D associated with sunshine exposure or considerably higher intakes may be required. Recent studies also suggest a potential benefit of vitamin D on other digestive system cancers. One study suggested that a better vitamin D status at the time of diagnosis and treatment, as indicated by season of diagnosis, may improve survival from colorectal cancer. Darker-skinned individuals who tend to make less vitamin D may be at particularly high risk for digestive system cancer. The strong biological evidence for a protective role of vitamin D supports the epidemiological data. More study is needed to determine the optimal levels and intakes of this vitamin to optimally reduce colorectal cancer risk.
Vitamin D Insufficiency/Deficiency in Gastrointestinal Disorders
Authors: Bikle Daniel D
Published: February 2008

Vitamin D and calcium are critical for skeletal health. Their absorption from the intestine is negatively impacted by a number of gastrointestinal diseases and surgical procedures, leading to osteoporosis and/or osteomalacia. Diseases of the liver can impact the metabolism of vitamin D to its circulating form, 25(OH)D, as well as the production of carrier proteins, albumin and vitamin D–binding protein, that may alter the delivery of 25(OH)D and its active metabolite 1,25(OH)2D to target tissues, including the skeleton, again leading to bone disease. The clinician evaluating a patient with apparent osteoporosis and vitamin D deficiency/ insufficiency needs to consider a gastrointestinal etiology. Similarly, the clinician evaluating a patient with a gastrointestinal disorder needs to evaluate that patient for vitamin D deficiency and bone disease. Treatment involves adequate vitamin D and calcium supplementation to achieve normal serum 25(OH)D, PTH, and serum and urine calcium levels.
Vitamin D Receptor Agonists in the Treatment of Autoimmune Diseases: Selective Targeting of Myeloid but Not Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells
Authors: Penna Giuseppe , Amuchastegui Susana , Laverny Gilles , Adorini Luciano
Published: February 2008

Vitamin D receptor (VDR) agonists are well known for their capacity to control calcium and bone metabolism and to regulate growth and differentiation of many cell types. More recently, it has become clear that VDR agonists possess immunoregulatory properties and, in particular, pronounced protolerogenic activities. These agents have been shown to be effective in several models of autoimmune diseases and are the most used topical agents in the treatment of psoriasis, a Th1 and Th17 cell-mediated autoimmune disease of the skin, indicating their potential applicability in the treatment of a variety of autoimmune diseases. VDR agonists can act directly on T cells, but dendritic cells (DCs) seem to be their primary targets. A potentially very important activity of VDR agonists is their capacity to induce in vitro and in vivo tolerogenic DCs able to enhance CD4+CD25+ suppressor T cells that, in turn, inhibit effector T-cell responses. Novel data now show that VDR agonists selectively modulate tolerogenic properties in blood myeloid but not plasmacytoid DCs, shedding new light on the multifaceted immunoregulatory properties of these agents.
Vitamin D Economy in Blacks
Authors: Cosman Felicia , Nieves Jeri , Dempster David , Lindsay Robert
Published: February 2008

The fact that fracture risk is lower and BMD is higher in blacks compared with whites is surprising in light of what is known about vitamin D status in blacks. Mean 25(OH)D levels are lower in blacks than whites at all stages of life, and a greater proportion of blacks meet criteria for vitamin D deficiency. The racial difference in serum 25(OH)D level is primarily caused by increased pigmentation reducing vitamin D production in the skin. In response to lower 25(OH)D levels and lower average calcium intake, blacks have higher average PTH levels and a higher prevalence of secondary hyperparathyroidism (twice the prevalence compared with whites for both sexes). This is associated with higher average levels of 1,25(OH)2D and lower urinary calcium excretion but not higher biochemical indices of bone turnover. In fact, in general, biochemical indices of bone formation (particularly osteocalcin levels) are lower in blacks. Bone formation rates assessed histomorphometrically are also lower, although wall thickness is maintained. During a 24-h PTH infusion, increments in levels of three different bone resorption markers are significantly lower in blacks than in whites, providing direct confirmation of the thesis that the black skeleton is resistant to the bone-resorbing effects of PTH, whereas renal sensitivity to PTH is maintained or perhaps even enhanced. Vitamin D supplementation studies in black women have shown inconsistent benefits to BMD. Skeletal and renal adaptations to vitamin D deficiency in blacks might be so effective that vitamin D supplementation might not confer any further benefit to the black skeleton. Benefits of vitamin D supplements in blacks may still play a role, however, in the prevention of other chronic diseases.
Code switching and the globalisation of popular music: The case of North African rai and rap
Authors: Davies Eirlys E , Bentahila Abdelali
Published: February 2008

Present trends towards the globalisation and hybridisation of popular music genres are illustrated through an examination of two types of music currently popular in North Africa: rai, a genre originating in Algeria and now becoming better known in the West, and rap, a product of the West which has now been appropriated by Algerian and Moroccan performers. Parallels are drawn between the paths followed by these two genres. The study focuses on the use made of code switching between Arabic and French in both genres. Different patterns of switching are identified and their funtions explored. It is argued that in both genres switching may be used both as a localising device, through the use of a highly specific in-group variety, and as a device which opens up the lyrics to a wider range of audiences.
Unpacking “The Theta System”
Authors: Alsina Alex
Published: February 2008

When we consider a new theory and we wish to uncover its merits and shortcomings, it is necessary to take into account the data that support both the theory as a whole and each individual assumption that makes up the theory and to compare it with alternative theories and assumptions that have similar descriptive and explanatory goals. This is what I will do in the following pages with Reinhart's “The Theta System”.
Rules that govern the cooccurences of theta-clusters in the ‘Theta-System’
Authors: Marelj Marijana
Published: February 2008

0. Introduction

In order to be legible to the CS, thematic roles in the ‘Theta-System’ (Reinhart, this volume) are formally coded in terms of two binary features: +/−c (cause change) and +/−m (mental state).
Active Lexicon
Authors: Siloni Tal
Published: February 2008

The theta system, which Reinhart (this volume) views as the central part of the systems of concepts, includes (i) lexical entries, which are coded concepts; (ii) derivational operations, which are operations that apply to concepts to derive related entries; (iii) mapping principles, which instruct the computational system (syntax) with regard to the order of merging of arguments. The central part of the systems of concepts is, in fact, the component traditionally labeled (mental) lexicon. Reinhart assumes that the lexicon is an operative component of grammar; the theta system is a theoretical model for the lexical component.
Local conjunction and comparative markedness
Authors: Łubowicz Ania
Published: February 2008

1. Introduction

In classic Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993), markedness constraints evaluate output well-formedness, whereas faithfulness constraints evaluate input-output disparity. Thus, markedness constraints have access only to the output while faithfulness constraints view both the input and the output.
Looking through opacity
Authors: Mielke Jeff , Armstrong Mike , Hume Elizabeth
Published: February 2008

1. Introduction

Comparative Markedness deals with alternations which are problematic for classical Optimality Theory such as counterfeeding opacity. In Sea Dayak, for example, the distribution of nasal and oral vowels is generally predictable: after a nasal consonant, a vowel is typically nasal and after an oral consonant, the vowel is oral. However, an oral vowel also occurs after a nasal consonant just in case the consonant is optionally followed by an oral stop, as in [rambo?] ∼ [ramo?] ‘a kind of flowering plant’. The orality of the postnasal vowel in such cases is thus opaque (Scott 1957, 1964). Representative forms are shown in (1).
Some real and not-so real consequences of comparative markedness
Authors: Yip Moira
Published: February 2008

In this stimulating paper McCarthy returns to the fundamental conceptual foundations of OT: the output-orientation of markedness effects. The paper has made me think in a new way about several areas of my recent research on the variable behaviour of laterals (Yip 2003), and my ongoing work on tone. The remarks below summarize some of that thinking.
Comparative markedness and identity effects in reduplication
Authors: Crowhurst Megan
Published: February 2008

In “Comparative Markedness” (henceforth CM), McCarthy (this volume) proposes that the markedness family of constraints should be divided into parallel sets of constraints distinguishing ‘old’ and ‘new’ violations. Whether a markedness violation is ‘old’ or ‘new’ is determined by comparing the candidate under evaluation with a ‘fully faithful candidate’ (FFC), defined in reference to a relation of correspondence. (In the case of input-output, or IO correspondence, the FFC is the candidate that is fully faithful to all properties of the input governed by IO faithfulness constraints, and that optimally satisfies markedness constraints that compel no faithfulness violations.) An ‘old’ markedness violation is shared by the candidate under evaluation and the FFC, and thus, is inherited from the input. A ‘new’ markedness violation is not shared with the FFC, and therefore results from a faithfulness violation at the same locus. CM proposes a significant revision of OT doctrine, as the model increases the access of markedness constraints to inputs albeit indirectly, through the FFC. In this first pass through CM, McCarthy shows that a number of knotty problems that have until now resisted straightforward solutions in optimality theory can be analysed employing the new approach.
Potential Phase Unwrapping Errors Associated with SASW Measurements at Soft-Over-Stiff Sites
Authors: Rosenblad Brent L. , Bertel Jeffrey D.
Published: February 2008

Results from simulations of spectral-analysis-of-surface-waves (SASW) measurements are presented for the common geotechnical condition of soft surficial soils overlying a stiffer half-space. Several recent experimental and numerical studies have demonstrated the dominance of higher-mode surface wave propagation at low frequencies for profile conditions where strong, shallow contrasts in elastic properties exist. This transition to higher-mode propagation has proven problematic for methods utilizing a fundamental-mode forward model in the inversion procedure, resulting in overprediction of the shear wave velocity (VS) profile. The objective of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the SASW methodology, which uses an effective-velocity forward model, in dealing with the soft-over-stiff profile condition. Specifically, this study focuses on the phase unwrapping procedure used in the SASW method. Nine VS profiles were simulated in this study, representing different conditions of VS contrast and depth to the stiffer layer. The results show that in some cases the phase unwrapping procedure produces an experimental dispersion curve that is inconsistent with both the fundamental mode and the true effective-velocity dispersion curve for the profile. The resulting VS profile is substantially under-predicted. Experimental results from measurements at a soft-over-stiff site are presented that support the findings from the simulated measurements.
A Novel Approach to Characterize Entrained Air Content in Pervious Concrete
Authors: Kevern J. T. , Wang K. , Schaefer V. R.
Published: February 2008

The current pervious concrete placed in cold climates generally contains air entrainment but, unlike traditional concrete, the evaluation of entrained air is not performed. This paper presents results from a study that characterized the entrained air voids in pervious concrete using a RapidAir system. The RapidAir system is an automatic device that determines the air void properties of hardened concrete according to ASTM C457, “Standard Test Method for Microscopical Determination of Parameters of the Air-Void System in Hardened Concrete.” Two types of aggregates, i.e., crushed limestone and rounded river gravel (pea gravel), and two types of air entraining agents, i.e., natural and synthetic, were used. The air entrainment dosage rates varied from zero to double the manufacturer’s recommended dosage. Compressive strength, tensile strength, and freeze-thaw durability (ASTM C666A) of the pervious concrete were tested. The results show that use of air entrainment improves workability of pervious concrete, thus reducing the overall porosity and increasing unit weight of the pervious concrete. The strength and freeze-thaw durability also increases with the level of entrained air in pervious concrete.
Analysis of Endotoxin Residues on Cleaned Implant Materials
Authors: Luginbuehl Reto , Fluri Alexandra
Published: February 2008

In this study we have investigated the effect of bacteria-containing metal working fluids on the biological residues, which may be found on orthopedic implants. Thus, test coupons and unfinished implants made from commercial pure titanium and titanium aluminum niob were immersed in metal-working fluids containing Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes bacteria. Subsequently, these samples were cleaned by means of a multi-tank industrial cleaning scheme, which is commonly used in the medical device industry. The samples were then analyzed with a rapid screening test for bacteria, a Ps. pseudoalcaligenes, specifically, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocol for DNA detection and the Limulus Amebocyte Lysate gel clot test for endotoxins. None of the test pieces showed any biological residues after the cleaning process. There is no increased risk regarding biological residues for metallic implants that were in contact with bacteria containing metal-working fluids if the devices are properly cleaned. A higher risk for biological contamination would more likely arise from any processes after the final cleaning, i.e., from handling, environmental factors, or packaging of the materials.
TGFβ-Smad2 Signaling Regulates the Cdh1-APC/SnoN Pathway of Axonal Morphogenesis
Authors: Stegmüller Judith , Huynh Mai Anh , Yuan Zengqiang , Konishi Yoshiyuki , Bonni Azad
Published: February 2008

Axon growth is critical to the establishment of neuronal connectivity. The E3 ubiquitin ligase Cdh1-anaphase-promoting complex (Cdh1-APC) and its substrate the transcriptional modulator SnoN form a cell-intrinsic pathway that orchestrates axonal morphogenesis in the mammalian brain. How the Cdh1-APC/SnoN pathway is controlled in the nervous system remained unknown. Here, we report that the TGFβ-regulated signaling protein Smad2 plays a key role in regulating the Cdh1-APC/SnoN pathway in neurons. We find that Smad2 is expressed in primary granule neurons of the developing rat cerebellar cortex. The Smad signaling pathway is basally activated in neurons. Endogenous Smad2 is phosphorylated, localized in the nucleus, and forms a physical complex with endogenous SnoN in granule neurons. Inhibition of Smad signaling by several distinct approaches, including genetic knock-down of Smad2, stimulates axonal growth. Biochemical evidence and genetic epistasis analyses reveal that Smad2 acts upstream of SnoN in a shared pathway with Cdh1-APC in the control of axonal growth. Remarkably, Smad2 knock-down also overrides the ability of adult rat myelin to inhibit axonal growth. Collectively, our findings define a novel function for Smad2 in regulation of the Cdh1-APC/SnoN cell-intrinsic pathway of axonal morphogenesis, and suggest that inhibition of Smad signaling may hold therapeutic potential in stimulating axonal growth after injury in the CNS.
Nonlinearities and Contextual Influences in Auditory Cortical Responses Modeled with Multilinear Spectrotemporal Methods
Authors: Ahrens Misha B. , Linden Jennifer F. , Sahani Maneesh
Published: February 2008

The relationship between a sound and its neural representation in the auditory cortex remains elusive. Simple measures such as the frequency response area or frequency tuning curve provide little insight into the function of the auditory cortex in complex sound environments. Spectrotemporal receptive field (STRF) models, despite their descriptive potential, perform poorly when used to predict auditory cortical responses, showing that nonlinear features of cortical response functions, which are not captured by STRFs, are functionally important. We introduce a new approach to the description of auditory cortical responses, using multilinear modeling methods. These descriptions simultaneously account for several nonlinearities in the stimulus–response functions of auditory cortical neurons, including adaptation, spectral interactions, and nonlinear sensitivity to sound level. The models reveal multiple inseparabilities in cortical processing of time lag, frequency, and sound level, and suggest functional mechanisms by which auditory cortical neurons are sensitive to stimulus context. By explicitly modeling these contextual influences, the models are able to predict auditory cortical responses more accurately than are STRF models. In addition, they can explain some forms of stimulus dependence in STRFs that were previously poorly understood.
cAMP Response Element-Binding Protein 1 Feedback Loop Is Necessary for Consolidation of Long-Term Synaptic Facilitation inAplysia
Authors: Liu Rong-Yu , Fioravante Diasinou , Shah Shreyansh , Byrne John H.
Published: February 2008

The transcription factor cAMP response element (CRE)-binding protein (CREB) plays an essential role in the induction of many forms of long-term synaptic plasticity. Levels of CREB1, theAplysiahomolog of CREB, show sustained elevations for several hours after the induction of long-term synaptic facilitation (LTF). Furthermore, CREB1 binds to the promoter of its own gene. These results suggest the existence of a CREB1-positive feedback loop that contributes to the consolidation of LTF. In the present study, we provide a detailed, quantitative characterization of the dynamics of CREB1 mRNA and protein as well as CREB1 phosphorylation after LTF induction. Injections of CRE oligonucleotides prevented the increase in CREB1 in response to 5-HT, corroborating the existence of the CREB1 feedback loop. This loop probably sustains CRE-dependent gene transcription, which remains elevated for at least 12 h after LTF induction. LTF is blocked by injection of CREB1 antibody after the induction phase, suggesting that the CREB1-positive feedback is required for consolidation of LTF.
Recurrent Synaptic Input and the Timing of Gamma-Frequency-Modulated Firing of Pyramidal Cells during Neocortical “UP” States
Authors: Morita Kenji , Kalra Rita , Aihara Kazuyuki , Robinson Hugh P. C.
Published: February 2008

Gamma (γ) oscillation, a hallmark of cortical activity during sensory processing and cognition, occurs during persistent, self-sustained activity or “UP” states, which are thought to be maintained by recurrent synaptic inputs to pyramidal cells. During neocortical “UP” states, excitatory regular spiking (RS) (pyramidal) cells and inhibitory fast spiking (FS) (basket) cells fire with distinct phase distributions relative to the γ oscillation in the local field potential. Evidence suggests that γ-modulated RS → FS input serves to synchronize the interneurons and hence to generate γ-modulated FS → RS drive. How RS → RS recurrent input shapes both self-sustained activity and γ-modulated phasic firing, although, is unclear. Here, we investigate this by reconstructing γ-modulated synaptic input to RS cells using the conductance injection (dynamic clamp) technique in cortical slices. We find that, to show lifelike γ-modulated firing, RS cells require strongly γ-modulated, low-latency inhibitory inputs from FS cells but little or no γ-modulation from recurrent RS → RS connections. We suggest that this demodulation of recurrent excitation, compared with inhibition, reflects several possible effects, including distributed propagation delays and integration of excitation over wider areas of cortex, and maximizes the capacity for representing information by the timing of recurrent excitation.
Release of the Styryl Dyes from Single Synaptic Vesicles in Hippocampal Neurons
Authors: Chen Xi , Barg Sebastian , Almers Wolfhard
Published: February 2008

In small presynaptic boutons in brain, synaptic vesicles are thought not to merge with the plasma membrane when they release transmitter, but instead to close their fusion pores and survive intact for future use (kiss-and-run exocytosis). The strongest evidence for this idea is the slow and incomplete release of the fluorescent membrane marker, FM1-43 [N-(3-triethylammoniumpropyl)-4-(4-(dibutylamino)styryl) pyridinium dibromide], from single vesicles. We investigated the release of FM1-43 from sparse cultures of hippocampal neurons grown on coverslips with no glia. This allowed presynaptic boutons to be imaged at favorable signal-to-noise ratio. Sparingly stained boutons were imaged at high time resolution, while high-frequency electrical stimulation caused exocytosis. The release of FM1-43 was quantal and occurred in abrupt steps, each representing a single fusion event. The fluorescence of vesicle clusters traveling along axons had a distribution with the same quantal size, indicating that a vesicle releases all the dye it contains. In most fusion events, the time constant of dye release was <100 ms, and slower release was rarely observed. After exocytosis, no FM1-43 could be detected in the axon to either side of a bouton, indicating that dye was released before it could spread. Our results are consistent with synaptic vesicles fusing fully with the plasma membrane during high-frequency stimulation.
Noradrenergic Modulation of Electrical Coupling in GABAergic Networks of the Hippocampus
Authors: Zsiros Veronika , Maccaferri Gianmaria
Published: February 2008

Noradrenergic modulation of cortical circuits is involved in information processing, regulation of higher functions, and prevention of epileptic activity. Here, we studied the effects of noradrenaline on the functional connectivity of GABAergic networks of the hippocampus and show that electrical synapses between interneurons are a novel target of noradrenergic modulationin vitro. Application of noradrenaline or of the selective β-adrenergic agonist isoproterenol decreased gap junction-based coupling in paired recordings from stratum lacunosum-moleculare interneurons by ∼40%. Similar results were obtained after pharmacological stimulation of the adenylyl cyclase with forskolin. In contrast, the adenylyl cyclase antagonist MDL12330A [cis-N-(2-phenylcyclopentyl)azacyclotridec-1-en-2-amine] or the specific protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitor H89 (N-[2-(p-bromocinnamyl-amino)ethyl]-5-isoquinolinesulfonamide dihydrochloride) enhanced the basal strength of coupling by ∼30%. In addition, PKA-mediated phosphorylation was critical for both isoproterenol- and forskolin-dependent regulation of coupling, because inclusion of the PKA antagonist KT5720 [(9S,10R,12R)-2,3,9,10,11,12-hexahydro-10-hydroxy-9-methyl-1-oxo-9,12-epoxy-1H-diindolo[1,2,3-fg:3′,2′,1′-kl]pyrrolo[3,4-i][1,6]benzodiazocine-10-carboxylicacid hexyl ester] in the recording pipettes prevented modulation.

Lastly, we studied the effects of β-adrenergic modulation on mixed polysynaptic transmission within the GABAergic network. Isoproterenol depressed propagation of GABAAreceptor-mediated synaptic currents, but did not change significantly direct GABAergic input, indicating that regulation of electrical coupling adds flexibility to the information flow generated by chemical synapses.

In conclusion, activation of β-adrenergic receptors in stratum lacunosum-moleculare GABAergic networks reduces electrical synaptic transmission via a cAMP/PKA signaling cascade, and affects the degree of synaptic divergence within the circuit. We propose that this dynamic modulation and interplay between electrical and chemical synaptic transmission in GABAergic networks contributes to the tuning of memory processesin vivo, and prevents hypersynchronous activity.