bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Substance P induces plasticity and synaptic tagging/capture in rat hippocampal area CA2
Authors: Dasgupta Ananya , Baby Nimmi , Krishna Kumar , Hakim Muhammad , Wong Yuk Peng , Behnisch Thomas , Soong Tuck Wah , Sajikumar Sreedharan
Published: October 2017

Significance

The hippocampal area
Cornu Ammonis
(CA) CA2 is a small region interposed between CA1 and CA3. For a long time, there has been a lack of information on the CA2 area’s role in memory formation. This area is innervated by supramammillary axonal fibers that are rich with Substance P (SP), which acts as a neurotransmitter and neuromodulator. We show that SP induces an NMDA receptor- and protein synthesis-dependent potentiation of CA2 synapses that requires kinases such as CaMKIV and PKMζ. The SP-induced effects on Schaffer collateral-CA2 synapses transform entorhinal cortical-CA2 short-term potentiation into long-term potentiation, thereby expressing synaptic tagging and capture, an associative property of neuronal populations that engage in consolidation.
Extracellular vesicles from human pancreatic islets suppress human islet amyloid polypeptide amyloid formation
Authors: Ribeiro Diana , Horvath Istvan , Heath Nikki , Hicks Ryan , Forslöw Anna , Wittung-Stafshede Pernilla
Published: October 2017

Significance

Protein assembly into amyloid fibers underlies such neurodegenerative disorders as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) also involves amyloid formation, although in the pancreas. Because there are no cures for amyloid diseases and T2D is on the rise due to an increasing prevalence of obesity, identifying involved mechanisms and control processes is of utmost importance. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) can mediate physiological and pathological communication both locally and at a distance. Here, we demonstrate that EVs secreted from healthy, but not from T2D, pancreatic cells slow amyloid formation of the major peptide found in amyloid deposits in T2D. We propose an EV-mediated process that tempers amyloid formation in the pancreas at normal conditions, which breaks down in T2D due to altered EV protein–lipid composition.
Local synaptic integration enables ON-OFF asymmetric and layer-specific visual information processing in vGluT3 amacrine cell dendrites
Authors: Chen Minggang , Lee Seunghoon , Zhou Z. Jimmy
Published: October 2017

Significance

Retinal vGluT3 amacrine cells (GACs) release glutamate and glycine to enhance and suppress contrast/motion sensitivity, respectively. GACs' relatively compact size and diffuse ramification pattern suggest global dendritic processing of visual signals across ON and OFF sublayers of the inner plexiform layer. Surprisingly, we find that signal spread in GAC dendrites is limited in both vertical and lateral dimensions. Vertical restriction preserves the fundamental ON-OFF segregation scheme, while lateral restriction enables high-resolution visual processing within a sublayer. Both types of local processing are achieved mainly by synaptic inhibition, though facilitated by intrinsic electrotonic decay. The ability to encode visual signals locally in dendritic segments allows GACs to function in a multiplexed circuit, where the outputs are fine-tuned for diverse, circuit-specific targets.
Structural basis underlying complex assembly and conformational transition of the type I R-M system
Authors: Liu Yan-Ping , Tang Qun , Zhang Jie-Zhong , Tian Li-Fei , Gao Pu , Yan Xiao-Xue
Published: October 2017

Significance

Type I restriction-modification (R-M) enzymes are large molecular machines found in the majority of bacterial species. They can add methylation modifications to the self-DNA and degrade the invading unmodified DNA. The lack of high-resolution structures of type I R-M complexes impairs our understanding of the mechanism of subunit assembly and conformational transition. Here we report the first high-resolution structure of the type I MTase complex in its “open” conformation, including one DNA-recognition subunit, two DNA-modification subunits, one bound DNA, and two S-adenosyl methionine cofactors. We propose an updated model for the complex assembly and conformational transition. The structural and biochemical characterization of the type I R-M system reported in this study provides guidelines for future applications in molecular biology.
Elliptical orbits of microspheres in an evanescent field
Authors: Liu Lulu , Kheifets Simon , Ginis Vincent , Di Donato Andrea , Capasso Federico
Published: October 2017

Significance

Using a highly sensitive particle-tracking scheme, we report an observation of elliptical motion of microparticles driven by a single evanescent field. We show that this behavior is highly tunable and predictable using a theoretical model that accounts for Mie scattering and hydrodynamic drag. The significance is twofold. First, our work represents an important step in understanding the detailed dynamics of microparticles in a fluidic environment—especially near a surface—a prerequisite for effective application of optically driven microparticles as functional elements in optofluidic devices. Second, our method could complement current structured-light approaches for inducing orbital motion in microparticles, with readily tunable parameters of motion including orbital frequency, radius, and ellipticity.
The making of a bestseller-in-translation
Authors: Senstad Idun Heir
Published: October 2017

The Cuban-American author Cecilia Samartin’s books became huge bestsellers, although exclusively in Norway and in translation into Norwegian. This chapter explores the agency surrounding this unusual case of a so-called bestseller-in-translation, with particular attention to the popular-fiction novels
Drømmehjerte (2008b, orig.
Ghost Heart, 2004) and
Doña Maria (2012a). Both novels tell Cuban stories, although imbued with perspectives from the anti-Castro discourse of the Cuban diaspora. I suggest that a fortunate combination of thematic timing, unconventional publishing strategies, and the author’s physical presence and active communication with readers in Norway helps explain Samartin’s popularity among this readership. The activities of a few agents – particularly the publisher – were crucial for Samartin’s success. I argue that the publisher’s agency conditioned how Samartin, an American of Cuban background, became a Cuban voice in Norway.
Silenced in translation
Authors: Vandaele Jeroen
Published: October 2017

Originally marketed for children, Elvira Lindo’s Manolito series has established itself in Spain as a classic work of comic fiction that transcends age barriers. The comically risqué and colloquial narratives were soon translated into French for Gallimard’s Jeunesse collection, and sold well. Translations into many languages followed, with mixed results: though some were quite successful (e.g., Japanese, Farsi), quite a few others were not well-received (English, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Italian), and some likely markets either passed on translating the works (Sweden) or did so only much later on (the United States). This relative lack of success cannot be reduced to the simple idea of different national styles of humor. Rather, various translation agents silenced overtones of Manolito’s voice for many different reasons. We see among other things a translator’s failure to translate Manolito’s quasi-spoken voice, a publisher’s desire to standardize Manolito’s voice for a large market, the translator’s or the publisher’s desire to rewrite the authorial and narratorial ethical voices, and the translator’s or publisher’s fear that some readers will think that their children will not understand that Manolito’s voice pertains to a work of fiction.
The voice of the implied author in the first Norwegian translation of Simone de Beauvoir’s Le deuxième sexe
Authors: Solberg Ida Hove
Published: October 2017

This chapter presents the findings of a study of how the implied author’s voice in the first Norwegian translation of Simone de Beauvoir’s “Introduction” in Le deuxième sexe (1949) from 1970 differs from the implied author’s voice both in the source text and in the second Norwegian translation from 2000. The analysis shows that the way in which the reader may construct the implied author’s voice in the 1970 translation is affected by how the existentialist vocabulary is translated and by omissions and mitigation of critical comments, sarcasm, and cultural references. The textual analysis is supplemented with considerations of paratextual elements. The chapter argues that the 1970 translation portrays a “Beauvoir” that is more didactic and less severe than the one of the source text and the 2000 translation.
Using the Conversation Analytic Role-play Method in healthcare interpreter education
Authors: Niemants Natacha , Stokoe Elizabeth
Published: October 2017

This chapter focuses on the teaching of communication and interaction skills to learners who have already had the chance to acquire the basics of dialogue interpreting (DI) and to practice it through role-playing. It argues that traditional simulated scenarios should be complemented by alternative techniques using authentic data, and research findings about them, and suggests how this can be done with students at undergraduate and especially graduate level, as they learn to adapt their skills to particular interactional contingencies and to make judgments about particular situations. The technique developed by Stokoe (2011a) – the Conversation Analytic Role-play Method (CARM) – will be exemplified using authentic French-Italian interpreter-mediated healthcare data. However, CARM can readily be adapted to fit other languages and/or domains, provided that the teacher has a collection of audio-and/or video-recorded interpreter-mediated interactions available and a thorough understanding of conversation analysis.
A case for agreement
Authors: Gor Kira , Chrabaszcz Anna , Cook Svetlana
Published: October 2017

Previous research on Russian nominal inflection reports a processing advantage for the Nominative case, the citation form, in native and
highly proficient nonnative speakers (Gor, Chrabaszcz, & Cook, 2017). However, it remains
unclear whether this advantage is present only in single-word presentation, or it is a fundamental property of lexical storage and access.
Moreover, it is unknown whether the processing costs for different cases in native and nonnative word recognition reflect the hierarchical
structure of the nominal paradigm where cases have different functional load and type frequency. We report two lexical decision experiments
with cross-modal morphosyntactic priming, which compare the processing of case-inflected noun targets preceded by adjective primes with
ambiguous oblique-case inflections by native speakers, early (heritage) and late learners of Russian. While all groups showed a processing
advantage for the citation form, only native speakers and highly proficient late learners were sensitive to the oblique-case type frequency
hierarchy.
Social keywords in postcolonial Melanesian discourse
Authors: Levisen Carsten , Priestley Carol
Published: October 2017

In postcolonial Melanesia, cultural discourses are increasingly organised around creole words, i.e. keywords of Bislama (Vanuatu) and Tok Pisin (Papua New Guinea). These words constitute (or represent) important emerging ethnolinguistic worldviews, which are partly borne out of the colonial era, and partly out of postcolonial ethno-rhetoric. This chapter explores the word kastom ‘traditional culture’ in Bislama and pasin bilong tumbuna ‘the ways of the ancestors’ in Tok Pisin. Specific attention is paid to the shift from “negative “ to “positive” semantics, following from the re-evaluation of ancestral practices in postcolonial discourse. Social keywords in postcolonial discourse form a fertile ground for understanding how speakers in Melanesia conceptualise the past as a vital part of the present.
Talking about Livet ‘life’ in Golden Age Danish
Authors: Hamann Magnus , Levisen Carsten
Published: October 2017

This chapter explicates the word Livet, literally ‘the life’, a cultural keyword of the Danish Golden Age (1800–1850). With evidence from Golden Age Danish and its era-specific webs of words, we explore how “life and living” were construed discursively. We discuss how they relate to contemporary discourses of “the good life” in English and the related Danish calque det gode liv. We argue that era-specific cultural semantics should not be seen as being substantially different from other kinds of culture-specific discourses and that historical varieties such as Golden Age Danish can help us dismantle the hegemonic modern and Anglo take on “narratives of life” which dominate contemporary global discourse.
How French sheds new light on scalar particles
Authors: Charnavel Isabelle
Published: October 2017

This paper examines the behavior of the French scalar focus-sensitive particles même, quand même, ne serait-ce que, and seulement as compared to English even and only. I first show that French même displays a more restricted distribution than even; this behavior and that of its antonym quand même argue for the scope theory against the ambiguity theory of even. Secondly, I demonstrate that the behavior of ne serait-ce que and seulement reveal the existence of an intrinsic link between even-like particles and only-like particles. To capture this observation, and more generally the organic relation between scalar particles, I propose a new, parsimonious, theory that builds scalarity, additivity, and exclusivity of scalar particles into a conjunctive or disjunctive meaning.
Aktionsart and event modification in Spanish adjectival passives
Authors: García-Pardo Alfredo
Published: October 2017

I observe that the Aktionsart of the underlying VP within the participle plays a key role in the (un-)availability of event-related modification in Spanish adjectival passives: telic VPs disallow event-related modifiers, but stative causative VPs allow them. I adopt a temporal syntax framework (Demirdache & Uribe-Etxebarria 2000 et seq) for the structure of the VP, and propose that the temporal argument (EV-T) of telic verbs is external to the VP. Adjectivization happens before EV-T projects and thus the event is not spatio-temporally instantiated, effectively barring event-related modification. Stative causatives’ temporal argument is internal to the VP and thus adjectivization cannot prevent its projection.
Circumventing ɸ-minimality
Authors: Nunes Jairo
Published: October 2017

In this paper I argue that locative agreement and possessor raising in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) should be subsumed under Nunes’s (2008) analysis of hyper-raising in BP. More specifically, I propose that these unorthodox instances of A-movement in BP do not violate minimality, for the crossed potential interveners become inert for purposes of A-movement after receiving inherent Case. The proposed analysis extends to “extralong” cases of possessor raising and mixed patterns involving possessor raising out of locative configurations and provides an account for the role of the EPP in bleeding ɸ-minimality.
When a piece of phonology becomes a piece of syntax
Authors: Tortora Christina
Published: October 2017

This work argues against the view that phonological factors play a role in the distribution of vocalic auxiliary subject clitics (vocalic auxiliary scls), namely, those scls which occur with auxiliary verbs beginning in a vowel. Evidence is given to support the view that such scls are purely syntactic entities, whose distribution is governed only by syntactic factors. The analysis leads to a re-casting of vocalic auxiliary scls as “be-scls,” where the phonological structure of the auxiliary becomes irrelevant. Removing the phonological component from the explanation of the behavior of these syntactic elements further allows us to make fruitful connections with many other syntactic phenomena which would not otherwise have been seen.
Evaluation of the effects of spatial optimism and temporal pessimism in assessments of environmental conditions in Argentina
Authors: Jakovcevic Adriana , Ferreiro Julián , Páramo Pablo , Mustaca Alba
Published: October 2017

Previous evidence in many countries shows the presence of biases in the assessment of environmental risks. The goal pursued here was to extend the study to an Argentine sample and to compare its assessments with an objective indicator of national environmental state. A revised version of the Environmental Future Scale was administered, which evaluates perceptions of environmental problems at a local, national and global level, in the present and in the future. A spatial optimism effect was partially observed in the assessment of current environmental conditions and, for the first time, this effect was observed in the assessment of future conditions. In turn, participants showed temporal pessimism, judging that environmental issues will worsen in the future at the three spatial levels. Finally, citizens' assessments did not match the environmental index results. These results have important implications for environmental policy and local risk management strategies.
Book review The Oxford Handbook of Environmental and Conservation Psychology (S. Clayton, Ed., 2012)
Authors: Corral-Verdugo Victor
Published: October 2017

A brief introduction and commentary are provided to the recently published Oxford Handbook of Environmental and Conservation Psychology. Having first set out the different sections of the book (theories, specific environments, environment and wellbeing, environmental conservation, conclusions), the review identifies the major approaches covered by the handbook, including transactionalism, psychological positivity and sustainability. The review also highlights the fact that, for the first time, the terms “Environmental Psychology” and “Conservation Psychology” are presented separately in a handbook of this kind; it also points out that certain novel issues are included. The review underlines that the organization of the book is dominated by the idea of an international community of psycho-environmental authors, which prevails over national or regional differences. Finally, it concludes that the handbook demonstrates how the advances achieved within Environmental Psychology, more than the stagnation of some of its areas, allow for a certain feeling of optimism.
Personality predicts perceived potential for attention restoration of natural and urban scenes / La personalidad predice el potencial percibido de restauración atencional de los paisajes naturales y urbanos
Authors: Felsten Gary
Published: October 2017

This study evaluated domains of personality in the five-factor model as predictors of perceived potential for attention restoration (PPAR) for attractive and moderately attractive natural and urban scenes. Students rated the attractive natural and urban scenes equally high in PPAR, the moderately attractive natural scene intermediate, and the moderately attractive urban scene, lowest. However, across natural and urban scenes, the personality domains of openness, agreeableness, and extraversion predicted higher ratings for PPAR, whereas neuroticism predicted lower PPAR ratings.
Empirical evidence of the influence of environmental concern on the ecological behaviour of the consumer / Evidencia empírica de la influencia de la preocupación ambiental sobre el comportamiento ecológico del consumidor
Authors: López-Miguens M. Jesús , González-Vázquez Encarnación , García-Rodríguez M. José , Álvarez-González Paula
Published: October 2017

In recent years, environmental degradation has raised awareness in society about environmental protection and conservation. Consequently, the concept of ‘ecological consumers’ has appeared along with the need for a clear understanding of the antecedents for their responsible behaviour. The aim of this research is to develop specific measurement scales for environmental concern and ecological behaviour, and verify their psychometric properties; and to analyze the relationship between environmental concern, which reflects an individual’s values and beliefs about the environment, and ecologically responsible behaviour. The results obtained, based on a data factor analysis of 500 respondents in Spain, show how the constructs are explained and suggest that the beliefs and values of an individual about the environment are an important and meaningful predictor for ecologically responsible behaviour. This is particularly relevant for academics and professionals.
Urban thermal comfort: proposed questionnaire to evaluate its social perception (Q-CTUp) / Confort térmico urbano: propuesta de un cuestionario para medir su percepción social (Q-CTUp)
Authors: Herranz-Pascual Karmele
Published: October 2017

The aim of this paper is to design and validate a questionnaire to evaluate, from the perspective of the pedestrian, urban thermal comfort, as a specific case of environmental experience. The information gathered through the questionnaire could complement microclimate measurements, which in themselves are insufficient to predict the comfort of people in open urban spaces. The consideration of both perspectives will give better support to technicians and managers in urban planning to cope with twenty-first century challenges related to climate change and planet urbanization. The questionnaire was validated by means of a climate action campaign, in which it was applied to a large representative sample of users of an urban environment. The results indicate that the questionnaire has proved valid to evaluate the urban thermal comfort of pedestrians, which depends more on the variables pertaining to the person and the activity than on objective microclimatic parameters. However, the authors feel the need for further progress in this new field.
Environmental Activism: relationship with psycho-social and psycho-political variables among activists and non-activists from Argentina / Activismo ambiental: relación con variables psicosociales y psicopolíticas en activistas y no activistas de Argentina
Authors: Imhoff Débora , Gariglio Cecilia , Ponce Valeria , Díaz Bruno , Pilatti Angelina
Published: October 2017

This work is framed within the field of Political and Environmental Psychology. It aimed to analyse environmental activism as a pro-environmental behaviour and as a type of political participation within socio-environmental organizations. Specifically, it was interesting to analyse the differences between a group of activists and a group of non-activists in terms of certain psycho-social (environmental risk perception, environmental concern, social values and knowledge about environmental problems) and psycho-political variables (individual political participation and political ideology). 401 young and adult citizens from the city of Córdoba (Argentina) participated in the study (54.6% female), of which 86.3% were non-activists. In order to achieve the goals of our research, we carried out a correlational study. With a view to finding possible differences between the activist and non-activist groups we applied an ANOVA and a Chi Square analysis to the psycho-social and psycho-political variables. Results show differential psycho-social and psycho-political profiles between activists and non-activists.
Contact with nature in educational settings might help cognitive functioning and promote positive social behaviour / El contacto con la naturaleza en los contextos educativos podría mejorar el funcionamiento cognitivo y fomentar el comportamiento social positivo
Authors: Carrus Giuseppe , Passiatore Ylenia , Pirchio Sabine , Scopelliti Massimiliano
Published: October 2017

This research investigates the positive effects that contact with nature in educational settings has on pre-school children. Several studies have shown that contact with nature promotes many beneficial outcomes. In a study conducted in Italy, we tested the hypotheses that exposure to nature in educational settings promotes psychological restoration, strengthens children’s cognitive and affective resources and increases the quality of children’s social interaction. Children’s performance in structured activities and behaviour in free play were assessed through systematic observation, after time spent in outdoor green versus indoor space, respectively. The participants were 39 children from four different childcare centres in the Rome area. Findings confirm the hypothesized pattern, suggesting that contact with outdoor green spaces positively influences children’s cognitive performance, affective states and social behaviour.
Socio-physical environmental factors and sustainable behaviour as indicators of family positivity / Factores ambientales socio-físicos y conducta sostenible como indicadores de positividad familiar
Authors: Corral-Verdugo Víctor , Durón Fernanda , Frías Martha , Tapia César O. , Fraijo Blanca , Gaxiola José
Published: October 2017

Based on the theory that a positive environment meets human needs whilst at the same time it stimulates engagement in environmentally protective behaviours, this study empirically tested a model of family positivity, considering the responses given by 200 Mexican interviewees in a research survey. In the model, a series of positive characteristics pertaining to the home (privacy, pleasant temperature, lack of noise, cleanliness) constituted a positive physical environmental factor for the family, whereas positive social family atmosphere comprised indicators of affection and intimacy and a democratic style of relations between the members. The model also included a factor pertaining to sustainable behaviours, created through the reporting of pro-environmental, frugal, altruistic and equitable behaviours. The positive physical and social factors of the family environment produced a second-order factor, identified as ‘Positive family environment’. This second-order construct was saliently and significantly associated with the sustainable behaviour factor, providing empirical support to the theoretical model of environmental positivity in the family.
Preference for trees, optimism and physical, psychological and social wellbeing among high school students / Preferencia hacia el árbol, optimismo y bienestar físico, psicológico y social en estudiantes
Authors: García Cirilo H. , Corral-Verdugo Victor , Benavides Griselda
Published: October 2017

A study was performed examining the influence of preference for trees on self-reported levels of physical, psychological and social wellbeing, mediated by optimism, among 323 students in their final years of high school. Findings indicated that the greater the preference for trees, the greater the individual’s optimism, which in turn influenced physical, psychological and social wellbeing. These findings could be important because they pertain to teenagers in school education, residing in a metropolitan area with over four million inhabitants, with a very low ratio of trees to inhabitants. The results could be used in public policy to target this sector of the population in tree planting and environmental education campaigns in ecologically depressed urban areas.
Exploring nature experiences of people with visual impairments / Vivir la naturaleza con una discapacidad visual
Authors: Shaw Bryony , Coyle Adrian , Gatersleben Birgitta , Ungar Simon
Published: October 2017

The positive psychological and physical health effects associated with exposure to natural environments are well recognized. However, previous research in this field has focused almost exclusively upon the visual aspects of the environment, largely ignoring the role of the other senses. This paper reassesses these findings by examining the role senses other than sight play in blind people’s experiences of natural environments. Six people with visual impairments were interviewed regarding their experience of natural environments; interview transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. The analysis revealed that if the participants felt safe, they reported experiencing restorative effects in the majority of natural environments. Three main themes that contribute to an understanding of the processes involved in psychological restoration emerged: restoration, challenges, sources of experiences. Environmental restoration was reported by participants as being mostly experienced through sound and to a lesser extent through touch and smell.
Childhood, environment and subjective well-being / Infancia, ambiente y bienestar subjetivo
Authors: Galli Francielli , Castellá-Sarriera Jorge , Bedin Lívia
Published: October 2017

The purpose of this article is to investigate the relationship between the subjective well-being of children and their environmental attitudes, as well as their environmental satisfaction. A total of 1,746 Brazilian children (53.5% girls) took part in this study, aged between eight and 13 ( M = 10.17; SD = 1.49). Hierarchical regression analyses were carried out, using the Personal Well-being Index — School Children as the dependent variable, and socio-demographic data, items from the Environmental Attitudes Scale for Children (EAAN) and the Scale for Environmental Satisfaction among Children (EISA) as the independent variables. The results indicated that 12% of variance in well-being was explained by five items from the EAAN scale and by the city of residence. A further 14.9% was explained by five items on the EISA scale and by the variables city and age. The presence of environmental attitudes, talking to parents about environmental issues, cleanliness of their school and contact with animals and nature are some of the predictors of well-being, along with living in towns and cities inland. The study supports the consideration of environment as an indicator of well-being among children.
Dimensions that explain attachment to the home / Dimensiones que explican el apego a la vivienda
Authors: Pasca Laura , Aragonés Juan-Ignacio , Poggio Lucía
Published: October 2017

The home is the central place in a person’s life, in relation to which they develop strong bonds of attachment. The living room is the most public and representative space of the home. This article aims to ascertain the extent to which attachment to the home is related with control and place identity. It also studies the extent to which the representativeness of the living room is explained by the descriptive and connotative dimensions attributed to it by the resident. To achieve these aims, 50 participants, who lived alone, completed a self-administered questionnaire in their own home. Factor and multiple regression analyses show that control and identity both explain attachment to the home, which is in turn related to residential satisfaction. It is also observed that people who feel most represented by their living room find this space more pleasing and feel a greater degree of attachment.
Preference, restorativeness and perceived environmental quality of small urban spaces / Preferencia, restauración y calidad ambiental percibida en plazas urbanas
Authors: Lorenzo Esther , Corraliza José A. , Collado Silvia , Sevillano Verónica
Published: October 2017

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of small urban spaces (or pocket parks) in cities as an opportunity to access nature and restorativeness. The study was performed in nine squares located in the central zone of the city of Madrid. A total of 537 people were interviewed in situ about their preferences, as well as the perceived quality and environmental restorativeness of these places. The results show that preference is influenced by the amount of vegetation and perceived restorativeness, and that restorativeness in turn is determined by perceived vegetation and social interaction. The benefits of this restorative role should be considered when designing small urban squares, taking care to include plants and vegetation as well as appropriate equipment, and making these spaces a valuable element within the green infrastructure of major cities.
Positive (gratitude, eudaimonia) and negative (scarcity, costs) determinants of water conservation behaviour / Determinantes positivos (gratitud, eudaimonia) y negativos (escasez, costos) del ahorro de agua
Authors: Manríquez-Betanzos Juan-Carlos , Corral-Verdugo Víctor , Vanegas-Rico María-Cristina , Fraijo-Sing Blanca-Silvia , Tapia-Fonllem César-Octavio
Published: October 2017

The aim of this study was to test a self-reported structural model of water conservation, estimating its relationships with measures of gratitude, eudaimonia, costs as environmental conservation requirements and water scarcity/shortage. Responses were analysed from a purposive sample of 107 participants, mainly university students from Hermosillo, Mexico. Univariate statistics were obtained along with the internal consistency of the measures in order to test the model, which adequately fit the data and explained 11% of variance in water conservation. Eudaimonia had a positive and direct effect on this behaviour, with no other direct effects found. Furthermore, eudaimonia was significantly affected by gratitude and water scarcity/shortage. Costs as requirements of environmental conservation were not associated with the rest of the variables. These results suggest that eudaimonia operates as a promoter of water conservation.
When climate change information causes undesirable side effects: the influence of environmental self-identity and biospheric values on threat responses / Cuando la información sobre el cambio climático tiene efectos indeseados: la influencia de la identidad ambiental y de los valores biosféricos en la respuesta ante una amenaza
Authors: Uhl Isabella , Jonas Eva , Klackl Johannes
Published: October 2017

: Environmental campaigns often try to promote proenvironmental behaviour (PEB) by presenting threatening information. Evidence suggests that this strategy can be successful. However, threatening information may also have unintended consequences. People often cope with threat in symbolic ways that do not target the problem at hand. We presented threatening information on climate change (vs. nonthreatening information) and assessed direct (i.e., PEB intention, donation willingness) and symbolic (i.e., group evaluation) defensive responses. Besides a higher PEB intention and donation willingness, individuals with high environmental self-identity responded also in a symbolic defensive way to the threatening information. They evaluated groups that deviated from the collective social norm more negatively. People with low biospheric values also faced the threat in a symbolic way (i.e., more negative evaluation of liberal system-supporting groups). The results suggest that threatening environmental information can have side effects in the form of symbolic defense among individuals with low as well as high environmental self-identity and biospheric values.
How do people with weak and strong pro-environmental worldviews process visual climate change information? An EEG study / ¿Cómo procesan la información visual relacionada con el cambio climático las personas con una visión del mundo ambiental arraigada o sin ella? Un estudio con EEG
Authors: Van Geffen Lisanne (E.J.) , Hollup Stig-Arvid , Klöckner Christian A.
Published: October 2017

In a pioneering work, this study explores the potential that may be found in combining the environmental psychological concept environmental worldview with the neurocognitive study technique electroencephalography (EEG). With this research, we aim to bridge between the research traditions of environmental communication and neuro-cognition by investigating in an qEEG experiment ( N = 19) if different levels of environmental worldview, measured by the NEP, influence the processing of visual climate change imagery, reflected by the theta and gamma oscillations in the frontal and parietal areas. Our results confirm the assumptions that there is a relationship between the degree of environmental worldview and visual environmental communication processing. The pattern is interpreted as an indication that people with weak pro-environmental worldviews show cognitive signs of mismatch between what is in line with their environmental worldview and what they are confronted with in the visual stimulus.
Natural and urban environments determining environmental beliefs and behaviours, economic thought and happiness / Ambientes naturales y urbanos determinan creencias y comportamientos ambientales, el pensamiento económico y la felicidad
Authors: Moyano-Díaz Emilio , Palomo-Vélez Gonzalo , Olivos Pablo , Sepúlveda-Fuentes Jorge
Published: October 2017

This article compares attitudes and pro-environmental behaviour, liberal economic thinking, happiness and favourability to the construction of nuclear power plants in two physical and cultural contrasting Chilean territories — one of them insular, predominantly natural or rural (Easter Island) and the other continental, eminently urban (Talca). It examines 145 adult participants (57.2% continental) of both sexes (66.2% women), who answered the NEP-R on environmental attitudes, the Ecological Behaviour Scale (EBS), the Economic Liberalism Scale (ECOL), the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) and a question on the agreement of the construction of nuclear power plants. Insular participants report greener behaviour and happiness than their continental peers, while the latter ones tend to show more positive attitudes towards the environment and more liberal economic thought. In both territories, adults over 30 years old report more ecological behaviours than youth, and continental adults have a more pronounced liberal economic thinking than their insular peers, but this difference vanishes among young people. The results are discussed regarding the literature on the effect of culture on thinking, attitudes and behaviour.
Thrombospondin1 (TSP1) replacement prevents cerebral cavernous malformations
Authors: Lopez-Ramirez Miguel Alejandro , Fonseca Gregory , Zeineddine Hussein A. , Girard Romuald , Moore Thomas , Pham Angela , Cao Ying , Shenkar Robert , de Kreuk Bart-Jan , Lagarrigue Frederic , Lawler Jack , Glass Christopher K. , Awad Issam A. , Ginsberg Mark H.
Published: October 2017

KRIT1 mutations are the most common cause of cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM). Acute Krit1 gene inactivation in mouse brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs) changes expression of multiple genes involved in vascular development. These changes include suppression of Thbs1, which encodes thrombospondin1 (TSP1) and has been ascribed to KLF2- and KLF4-mediated repression of Thbs1. In vitro reconstitution of TSP1 with either full-length TSP1 or 3TSR, an anti-angiogenic TSP1 fragment, suppresses heightened vascular endothelial growth factor signaling and preserves BMEC tight junctions. Furthermore, administration of 3TSR prevents the development of lesions in a mouse model of CCM1 (Krit1ECKO) as judged by histology and quantitative micro-computed tomography. Conversely, reduced TSP1 expression contributes to the pathogenesis of CCM, because inactivation of one or two copies of Thbs1 exacerbated CCM formation. Thus, loss of Krit1 function disables an angiogenic checkpoint to enable CCM formation. These results suggest that 3TSR, or other angiogenesis inhibitors, can be repurposed for TSP1 replacement therapy for CCMs.
Emotional Intimacy in Literature
Authors: Holliday John
Published: October 2017

When reading literature, we might have an emotional connection with the author, or at least what appears to be such, even when that literature is a work of fiction. But it is unclear how a work of fictional literature could supply the resources for such an experience. It is, after all, a work of fiction, not a report of the author’s experience, as with memoir or autobiography. The task of this paper is twofold: first, to explain the nature and value of this emotional experience; second, to argue that a fictional literary work can supply the resources for such an experience.
How Do African Farm Households Respond to Changes in Current and Past Weather Patterns? A Structural Panel Data Analysis from Malawi
Authors: Sesmero Juan , Ricker‐Gilbert Jacob , Cook Aaron
Published: October 2017

We use three waves of nationally representative household‐level panel data from Malawi to estimate a structural model characterizing the response of smallholder farm households to current and past weather patterns, and the subsequent impacts on household net income. We also quantify heterogeneity among households along the wealth spectrum regarding their ability to adapt to evolving weather patterns. This approach yields two key findings. First, adverse weather history prompts households to devote more time to maize cultivation on their own farms, to the detriment of other, possibly more remunerative income sources. Households also reduce application of productivity‐enhancing inputs, such as fertilizer and improved maize varieties, in response to adverse weather history. Our results are robust to different clustering structures and falsification tests aimed at ruling out alternative explanations to observed trends. Second, we find that, by maintaining a more diversified income structure, wealthier households are better able to adapt to adverse weather history. Consequently, adverse changes in past weather may be regressive in nature, creating a “climate‐induced” poverty trap that locks poor smallholder households into low‐value maize cultivation from season to season. This finding suggests that developing more weather‐resilient maize varieties and promoting smallholder livelihood diversification strategies may help mitigate the effects of adverse weather on the most vulnerable households.
Distribution and fate of trawling-induced suspension of sediments in a marine protected area
Authors: Linders Torsten , Nilsson Per , Wikström Andreas , Sköld Mattias
Published: October 2017

Bottom trawls suspend sediments by physical contact and the drag created by the gear when towed over the seafloor. Increased turbidity and redistribution of sediments may be of concern as some organisms are vulnerable to increased levels of sediment particles in the water column. This study investigates the distribution and fate of trawling-induced suspension of sediments in a coastal marine protected area (MPA). Bottom trawling is allowed in a deep trench of the MPA and regulated to weekdays with weekend closures. We use the closed period as controls to experimentally investigate sediment resuspension generated by the trawling fleet. We find that the turbidity is elevated at trawled depths and originates from small particles of silt–mud seafloor origin that remain suspended for days preventing background levels to be reached during closures. Peaks in the plumes behind trawlers reach levels critical to organisms but decays within hours. Currents in the trench are too weak to resuspend sediments; however, wind-induced resuspension events of elevated turbidity likely originating from nearby shallower areas may occur. Short-term closures and small-scale MPAs are concluded to be of limited use as management tools to reduce effects of resuspension by bottom trawling.
An Approach to Higher Teichmüller Spaces for General Groups
Authors: Le Ian
Published: October 2017

Let $S$ be a surface, $G$ a simply-connected semi-simple group, and $G'$ the associated adjoint form of the group. In Fock and Goncharov [4], the authors show that the moduli spaces of framed local systems $\mathcal{X}_{G',S}$ and $\mathcal{A}_{G,S}$ have the structure of cluster varieties when $G$ had type $A$. This was extended to classical groups in Le [12]. In this article, we give a method for constructing the cluster structure for general reductive groups $G$. The method depends on being able to carry out some explicit computations, and depends on some mild hypotheses, which we state, and which we believe hold in general. These hypotheses hold when $G$ has type $G_2,$ and therefore we are able to construct the cluster structure in this case. We also illustrate our approach by rederiving the cluster structure for $G$ of type $A$. Our goals are to give some heuristics for the approach taken in Le [12], point out the difficulties that arise for more general groups, and to record some useful calculations. Forthcoming work by Goncharov and Shen gives a different approach to constructing the cluster structure on $\mathcal{X}_{G',S}$ and $\mathcal{A}_{G,S}$. We hope that some of the ideas here complement their more comprehensive work.
The Impacts of Tumorigenic and NontumorigenicAgrobacterium vitisStrains on Graft Strength and Growth of Grapevines
Authors: Hao Lingyun , Kemmenoe David J. , Orel Didem Canik , Burr Thomas
Published: October 2017

The effects of tumorigenic and nontumorigenic strains of Agrobacterium vitis on graft strength and growth of grapevines was studied. A procedure was developed for inoculating graft interface surfaces with A. vitis and for measuring the force required to break grafts at different time points. Cuttings were soaked in an aqueous suspension of bacteria, about 106CFU/ml, and bacteria were spread onto the graft interface during the grafting procedure. Tumorigenic strain CG49 caused reduced bud germination and increased callus (crown gall) at the graft union and at the base of cuttings at 30 days postinoculation (dpi) and significantly reduced shoot growth by 60 dpi whereas, at the same time points, nontumorigenic strain F2/5 inhibited callus formation but did not affect bud germination or shoot growth. Graft strength was enhanced at 30 dpi with CG49, presumably because the crown gall callus served to secure the union; graft strength was weakened by F2/5 over the same period. Between 30 and 60 dpi, the greatest increase in graft strength was observed in the water control. Following graft union inoculations, the A. vitis population increased more than 1,000-fold within 5 days.
Fusarium verticillioides: Advancements in Understanding the Toxicity, Virulence, and Niche Adaptations of a Model Mycotoxigenic Pathogen of Maize
Authors: Blacutt Alex A. , Gold Scott E. , Voss Kenneth A. , Gao Minglu , Glenn Anthony E.
Published: October 2017

The importance of understanding the biology of the mycotoxigenic fungus Fusarium verticillioides and its various microbial and plant host interactions is critical given its threat to maize, one of the world’s most valuable food crops. Disease outbreaks and mycotoxin contamination of grain threaten economic returns and have grave implications for human and animal health and food security. Furthermore, F. verticillioides is a member of a genus of significant phytopathogens and, thus, data regarding its host association, biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, and other metabolic (degradative) capabilities are consequential to both basic and applied research efforts across multiple pathosystems. Notorious among its secondary metabolites are the fumonisin mycotoxins, which cause severe animal diseases and are implicated in human disease. Additionally, studies of these mycotoxins have led to new understandings of F. verticillioides plant pathogenicity and provide tools for research into cellular processes and host–pathogen interaction strategies. This review presents current knowledge regarding several significant lines of F. verticillioides research, including facets of toxin production, virulence, and novel fitness strategies exhibited by this fungus across rhizosphere and plant environments.