bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
New Reference Values for Calcium
Authors: NIL  ,   German Nutrition Society, Bonn, Germany
Published: September 2013

The nutrition societies of Germany, Austria and Switzerland are the joint editors of the ‘reference values for nutrient intake'. They have revised the reference values for the intake of calcium and published them in June 2013. The reference values for the calcium intake for infants are derived from the calcium content of breast milk. For infants from 4 to <12 months of age, the calcium intake from solid foods is included in addition to the calcium intake from breast milk. Thus, the reference values for infants are estimated values; they are 220 mg/day for infants to <4 months and 330 mg/day for infants from 4 to <12 months of age. As a parameter for determining the calcium requirement in children and adolescents, calcium retention is taken into account. The average requirement is calculated by the factorial method. A balanced calcium metabolism is calculated based upon calcium balance studies and used as a parameter for the determination of the calcium requirement in adults. On the basis of the average requirement, recommended calcium intake levels for children, adolescents and adults are derived. Depending on age, the recommended calcium intake ranges between 600 mg/day for children aged 1 to <4 years and 1,200 mg/day for adolescents aged 13 to <19 years; for adults, it is 1,000 mg/day.
Clinical Characteristics and Surgical Management Options for Ovarian Fibroma/Fibrothecoma: A Study of 97 Cases
Authors: Cho Yeon Jean , Lee Hee Suk , Kim Joo Myung , Joo Kwan Young , Kim Mi-La
Published: September 2013

Aims: The aims of this study were to analyze the clinical characteristics, diagnostic features, and operative outcomes of patients with ovarian fibroma/fibrothecoma and to discuss appropriate management options. Methods: We performed a retrospective comparative analysis of 97 patients with ovarian fibroma/fibrothecoma who underwent laparoscopic and laparotomic procedures, including tumorectomy between January 2008 and December 2011. Results: The mean patient age was 42.5 ± 11.4 years. Seventy-three patients (75.3%) were premenopausal women. A preoperative diagnosis of benign ovarian tumor or fibroma was made in only 49 cases (50.5%). We found that 42.2% of cases were misdiagnosed as uterine myomas (n = 41) and 6.2% were misdiagnosed as malignant ovarian tumors (n = 6). The presence of ascites was associated with larger tumor size (p < 0.05) but not higher CA125 levels (p = 0.159). Twenty-nine patients (29.9%) underwent laparotomy, and 68 (70.1%), laparoscopic surgery. Laparoscopic surgery facilitated shorter operation times than laparotomy (p < 0.05). Tumorectomy was performed in 40 patients (43.5%), 36 (90%) of whom underwent laparoscopy with operative outcomes comparable to those of patients who underwent laparotomy. Conclusions: Ovarian fibromas/fibrothecomas are often misdiagnosed as uterine myomas and malignant ovarian tumors. Laparoscopic surgery including tumorectomy may be an effective surgical approach in patients with ovarian fibromas/fibrothecomas.
Renal Interstitial Fibrosis in 0-Hour Biopsy as a Predictor of Post-Transplant Anemia
Authors: Tsuchimoto Akihiro , Masutani Kosuke , Haruyama Naoki , Nagata Masaharu , Noguchi Hideko , Okabe Yasuhiro , Kitada Hidehisa , Tanaka Masao , Tsuruya Kazuhiko , Kitazono Takanari
Published: September 2013

Background/Aims: Anemia is common in kidney transplant patients and may cause adverse cardiovascular events. Several studies have reported some predictors of post-transplant anemia. However, associations between the pathological findings in the 0-hour biopsy and anemia have not been well described. Methods: 258 consecutive kidney transplant patients were enrolled in this retrospective study. The patients were divided into two groups, according to the presence or absence of interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy (IF/TA) in the 0-hour biopsy: the IF/TA group with fibrotic area ≥5% (n = 131) and the non-IF/TA group with fibrotic area <5% (n = 127). We examined the association between IF/TA and post-transplant anemia. Results: Serial changes in hemoglobin levels in the IF/TA group were lower than in the non-IF/TA group (p = 0.007). Anemia at 12 months was found in 53% of the IF/TA group, and 35% of the non-IF/TA group (p = 0.004). Even after adjustment for several confounders including graft function, the presence of IF/TA was independently associated with post-transplant anemia at 12 months (odds ratio 1.88, 95% confidence interval 1.06-3.36, p = 0.031). This association was still significant in a subgroup with normal graft function. Conclusions: IF/TA in the 0-hour biopsy specimen is one of the predictors for post-transplant anemia and can be used to identify patients who need the treatment with erythropoiesis-stimulating agents.
Sex-Related Genomic Sequences in Cartilaginous Fish: An Overview
Authors: Rocco L.
Published: September 2013

Sex determination and differentiation are key events in the development of either the testis or ovary in fish. Sex determination mechanisms include environmental and genetic regulation. Research on sex determination systems and their related genes have been implemented in the teleost species, but the amount of information about these genes in cartilaginous fish is very scarce. This paper summarizes the few available data on molecular studies and chromosome localization of specific sequences useful to discriminate between various chromosome pairs in the common torpedo, Torpedo torpedo, and in the scyliorhinid coral catshark, Atelomycterus marmoratus, species that do not have morphologically distinct sex chromosomes. In addition, recent results obtained by sequence analysis of foxl2, a female-specific gene expressed during early phases of gonadal development in interesting key-species, such as the holocephalian Callorhinchus milii, is discussed. Nevertheless, the mechanism of sex determination in cartilaginous fish remains largely unknown. Further research needs to be carried out regarding the importance of basic and applied sex determination studies in fish, including chromosomal distribution of sex-related sequences.
Two Unusual Cases of Haemoglobin Bart's Hydrops Fetalis due to Uniparental Disomy or Non-Paternity
Authors: Kou K.O. , Lee Helena , Lau Betty , Wong W.S. , Kan Anita , Tang Mary , Lau Elizabeth T. , Poon C.F. , Leung K.Y.
Published: September 2013

The authors present 2 unusual cases of haemoglobin (Hb) Bart's hydrops fetalis and highlight the problem of a screening system for α-thalassaemia which focuses on maternal and paternal mean corpuscular volume (MCV) alone. Normal paternal MCV may not preclude fetal Hb Bart's disease because of the rare occurrence of maternal uniparental disomy or non-paternity. During a mid-trimester anomaly scan, with fetal cardiomegaly or hydrops in a woman with low MCV but normal paternal MCV, obstetricians should remain alert for fetal Hb Bart's disease. This is very important and relevant for national screening systems in South-East Asia, where a routine mid-trimester scan may not be available. A routine mid-trimester anomaly scan should therefore be implemented and in high prevalence areas, sonographers should be sensitive to the cardio-thoracic ratio even if screening shows that pregnancy is unlikely to be at risk.
Molecular Cytogenetics in Artificial Hybrid and Highly Polyploid Sturgeons: An Evolutionary Story Narrated by Repetitive Sequences
Authors: Symonová R. , Flajšhans M. , Sember A. , Havelka M. , Gela D. , Kořínková T. , Rodina M. , Rábová M. , Ráb P.
Published: September 2013

We applied comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) and genomic in situ hybridization (GISH) to examine genomes of artificially produced sturgeon hybrids between sterlet, Acipenser ruthenus female (∼120 chromosomes) or Russian sturgeon, A. gueldenstaedtii female (∼240 chromosomes) and a spontaneous triploid Siberian sturgeon A. baerii male (∼360 chromosomes), respectively. The ploidy levels of progenies were analyzed by karyotyping and flow cytometry. We found that the species-specific regions were surprisingly identifiable only on some micro- and small(er) macrochromosomes in hybrid metaphases. We hypothesize that these distinguishable regions are represented by species-specific repetitive sequences driven by more dynamic molecular evolutionary mechanisms. On larger chromosomes, GISH faintly visualized only blocks of pericentromeric and telomeric repetitive sequences, remaining regions were equally shared by both parental species. We concluded that the interspecies hybridization producing viable and even fertile progeny is enabled by the fact that genomes of the species involved are likely divergent at the level of the repetitive sequences only and probably highly conserved in the coding sequences. These small differences of coding sequences are in concordance with previous estimations of relatedness of examined species producing artificial as well as natural hybrids. CGH and GISH represent a challenge in sturgeon cytogenetics as a valuable though technically not simple tool to discriminate chromosomes of parental species in hybrids. The potentials and drawbacks of CGH and GISH application in sturgeons are discussed and further experimental possibilities are proposed.
Therapy by Laser Equatorial Placental Dichorionization for Early-Onset Spontaneous Twin Anemia-Polycythemia Sequence
Authors: Ishii Keisuke , Hayashi Shusaku , Mabuchi Aki , Taguchi Takako , Yamamoto Ryo , Murata Masaharu , Mitsuda Nobuaki
Published: September 2013

We report a case of twin anemia-polycythemia sequence (TAPS) treated by fetoscopic laser equatorial placental dichorionization, also known as the ‘Solomon technique', at 24 weeks of gestation. TAPS was present despite the absence of fetoscopically visualized chorionic anastomoses from the donor to the recipient twin. The goal of this procedure was to prevent post-laser TAPS in cases of twin-twin transfusion syndrome. The surgery and subsequent intrauterine blood transfusion to the donor twin could result in the survival of both twins without hematologic or neurological complications. Following the surgery, a placental injection test revealed no residual anastomoses. At present, laser therapy is not always feasible for TAPS, primarily because of its difficulty. However, laser therapy using the Solomon technique could be a viable approach for early-onset TAPS, especially in difficult situations in which undetectable vascular anastomoses related to TAPS are present.
Proliferating Trichilemmal Tumor: A Case on the Nose of a 70-Year-Old Man
Authors: Ramos-e-Silva Marcia , Peryassu Marcius A. , Peryassu Bernardo C. , Peryassu Raphael C. , Piñeiro-Maceira Juan , Ramos-e-Silva Marcia
Published: September 2013

The authors report a case of proliferating trichilemmal tumor on the tip of the nose of a man. This tumor is usually seen in women and on the scalp, and it shows trichilemmal keratinization on histopathology.
Diffuse Abdominal Splenosis Mimicking Peritoneal Metastases in a 35-Year-Old Man with a Resectable Carcinoma of the Ampulla of Vater
Authors: Sorensen Steffen Filskov , Viborg Mortensen Frank , Hellberg Ylva , Ladekarl Morten
Published: September 2013

A 35-year-old man with a history of blunt abdominal trauma and splenic rupture was diagnosed with an ampullary adenocarcinoma. At workup, a CT scan showed multiple intra-abdominal lesions similar to peritoneal carcinosis, and the patient was referred for palliative chemotherapy. On clinical suspicion, however, a biopsy was performed on an intra-abdominal lesion, establishing the diagnosis of abdominal splenosis. A radical pancreaticoduodenectomy ad modum Whipple was performed, followed by adjuvant chemotherapy with gemcitabine. At the 18-month follow-up, the patient was free from recurrent disease. We conclude that splenosis should be considered as a differential diagnosis of peritoneal metastases in cancer patients with a history of abdominal trauma and/or splenectomy. Other reports on splenosis in cancer patients and diagnostic workup are discussed.
Displacement of Malignant Cells into the Portal Triad of the Liver Results in Reduced Liver Perfusion, Mimicking Segmental Fatty Liver
Authors: Gutzeit A. , Liang Thian Y. , Stuckmann G. , Flury R. , Wälti S. , Hergan K. , Kos S. , Reischauer C.
Published: September 2013

Liver steatosis is often observed in different clinical situations. Oncological patients undergoing systemic therapy often develop liver steatosis, which can be diagnosed with normal routine scans such as CT and ultrasound. In this case report, we show that an isolated infiltration of the portal triad with tumor cells could mimic a fatty-like infiltration of the liver. Radiologists and clinicians should be aware of this pitfall and should perform a biopsy in cases of doubt.
Two new species and records of Stenochironomus Kieffer from Brazilian Amazon region, with description of immature stages (Diptera: Chironomidae)
Authors: REIS EMILIANO DE ANGELIS , FILHO ARLINDO SERPA , FERREIRA-KEPPLER RUTH L.
Published: September 2013

Two new species of Stenochironomus Kieffer, 1919 are described in Brazil. New records of Stenochironomus nudipupa Borkent, 1984 and S. gladius Borkent, 1984 from Brazil, new data on geographical distribution of S. jubatus Borkent, 1984 and S. triannulatus Borkent, 1984 from the State of Roraima, and S. bacrionis Borkent, 1984 recorded from the State of Amazonas, as well as emended descriptions of immature stages of S. triannulatus Borkent, 1984 and S. reissi Borkent, 1984 are also presented.
Rediscovery and range extension of Ciliopagurus liui Forest, 1995 and description of a new species of Pagurus Fabricius, 1775 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Paguroidea) from the Kerala State, southwestern India
Authors: KOMAI TOMOYUKI , RESHMI REMA , KUMAR APPUKUTTAN NAIR BIJU
Published: September 2013

Two species of paguroid hermit crabs, Ciliopagurus liui Forest, 1995 (Diogenidae) and Pagurus spinossior n. sp. (Paguridae), are reported from the Kerala State, southwestern India. Ciliopagurus liui, is first recorded from the Indian Ocean. This species was originally described on the basis of a single male specimen from the Tonkin Gulf in the South China Sea, though its geographical range also included Japan, based on literature. Supplemental description and illustrations are provided for better understanding of the diagnostic features of this little known species. Pagurus spinossior n. sp., described on the basis of a single male specimen, appears closest to P. spinulentus (Henderson, 1888), known only by the holotype from the Philippines, but the lack of spinules on the dorsal margins of the dactyli of the second pereopods, the different shape of the anterior lobe of the thoracic sternite 6, and the more numerous spines on the terminal to posterior margins of the telson distinguish the new species from P. spinulentus.
Diurnal Wind Cycles Forcing Inertial Oscillations: A Latitude-Dependent Resonance Phenomenon
Authors: Shibuya Ryosuke , Sato Kaoru , Nakanishi Mikio
Published: September 2013

The latitudinal dependence of inertial oscillation (IO) in a diurnally evolving atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) is examined using a large-eddy simulation (LES). Previous studies that used LES were unable to simulate such an ABL on a time scale of several days because of high computational cost. By using an LES with a simple radiation scheme, the present study has succeeded in simulating the diurnal behavior of the ABL above the nocturnal stable layer as a function of the latitude. The reality of model simulations is confirmed by comparison with Wangara experiments.

It is shown that a resonance-like amplification of the IO appears only at two latitudes where the respective inertial periods are 24 and 12 h. A horizontal wind oscillation with strong dependence on latitude is observed during an entire day. The oscillation amplitude is maximized slightly above the nocturnal stable layer. It seems that this maximum corresponds to the nocturnal low-level jet, whose mechanism is explained in terms of IO. Thus, the IO shown in the present study includes the nocturnal jet as a structural component. It is also shown that a wavelike structure whose phases propagate downward with near-inertial frequency at each latitude is observed above the ABL at all latitudes. This feature is consistent with that of inertia–gravity waves propagating energy upward. Previous observational and model studies indicate the dominance of inertia–gravity waves with inertial frequencies in the middle and high latitudes in the lower stratosphere. Results of the present study suggest that the IO in the ABL is a possible source of such inertia–gravity waves.
Multiyear CloudSat and CALIPSO Observations of the Dependence of Cloud Vertical Distribution on Sea Surface Temperature and Tropospheric Dynamics
Authors: Nair Anish Kumar M. , Rajeev K.
Published: September 2013

Utilizing the synergy of the capabilities of CloudSat and Cloud–Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) and ~4.5 years of their observations, this paper investigates the dependence of the altitude distribution and thickness of tropical clouds on sea surface temperature (SST). Variations in the altitude distribution of clouds with SST show three distinct regimes: SST < 27.5°C, 27.5° < SST < 29°C, and SST > 29°C. At an SST < 27.5°C, the convection is rather weak, so that most of the clouds are limited to <2-km altitude with peak occurrence at 1–1.5 km. The frequency of occurrence of the low-altitude clouds as well as the prominence of the peak at ~1.5 km consistently decreases for SST > 24°C. Vertical development of clouds through the 3–12-km-altitude region increases for SST > 27.5°C to achieve maximum cloud occurrence and thickness in the SST range of 29°–30.5°C. Penetration of the deep convective clouds to altitudes >15 km and their frequency of occurrence increase with SST until ~30°C. These observations reveal two differences with the SST dependence of total cloudiness observed using passive imager data: (i) the increase in cloudiness at an SST > 26°–27°C observed using the imager data is found to be influenced by the increase in cirrus clouds generated by deep convective outflows and is not directly driven by the local SST, and (ii) the total cloudiness does not decrease for SST > 29.5°C as observed using imagers, but weakly increases until an SST of ~30.5°C. The role of the spatial gradient of SST and atmospheric dynamical parameters in modulating the observed SST dependence of cloudiness at different SST regimes is investigated.
The Atmospheric Energy Constraint on Global-Mean Precipitation Change
Authors: Pendergrass Angeline G. , Hartmann Dennis L.
Published: September 2013

Models from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) robustly predict that the rate of increase in global-mean precipitation with global-mean surface temperature increase is much less than the rate of increase of water vapor. The goal of this paper is to explain in detail the mechanisms by which precipitation increase is constrained by radiative cooling. Changes in clear-sky atmospheric radiative cooling resulting from changes in temperature and humidity in global warming simulations are in good agreement with the multimodel, global-mean precipitation increase projected by GCMs (~1.1 W m−2 K−1).

In an atmosphere with fixed specific humidity, radiative cooling from the top of the atmosphere (TOA) increases in response to a uniform temperature increase of the surface and atmosphere, while atmospheric cooling by exchange with the surface decreases because the upward emission of longwave radiation from the surface increases more than the downward longwave radiation from the atmosphere. When a fixed relative humidity (RH) assumption is made, however, uniform warming causes a much smaller increase of cooling at the TOA, and the surface contribution reverses to an increase in net cooling rate due to increased downward emission from water vapor. Sensitivity of precipitation changes to lapse rate changes is modest when RH is fixed. Carbon dioxide reduces TOA emission with only weak effects on surface fluxes, and thus suppresses precipitation. The net atmospheric cooling response and thereby the precipitation response to CO2-induced warming at fixed RH are mostly contributed by changes in surface fluxes. The role of clouds is discussed.

Intermodel spread in the rate of precipitation increase across the CMIP5 simulations is attributed to differences in the atmospheric cooling.
Impact of Urbanization on Heavy Convective Precipitation under Strong Large-Scale Forcing: A Case Study over the Milwaukee–Lake Michigan Region
Authors: Yang Long , Smith James A. , Baeck Mary Lynn , Bou-Zeid Elie , Jessup Stephen M. , Tian Fuqiang , Hu Heping
Published: September 2013

In this study, observational and numerical modeling analyses based on the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) are used to investigate the impact of urbanization on heavy rainfall over the Milwaukee–Lake Michigan region. The authors examine urban modification of rainfall for a storm system with continental-scale moisture transport, strong large-scale forcing, and extreme rainfall over a large area of the upper Midwest of the United States. WRF simulations were carried out to examine the sensitivity of the rainfall distribution in and around the urban area to different urban land surface model representations and urban land-use scenarios. Simulation results suggest that urbanization plays an important role in precipitation distribution, even in settings characterized by strong large-scale forcing. For the Milwaukee–Lake Michigan region, the thermodynamic perturbations produced by urbanization on the temperature and surface pressure fields enhance the intrusion of the lake breeze and facilitate the formation of a convergence zone, which create favorable conditions for deep convection over the city. Analyses of model and observed vertical profiles of reflectivity using contoured frequency by altitude displays (CFADs) suggest that cloud dynamics over the city do not change significantly with urbanization. Simulation results also suggest that the large-scale rainfall pattern is not sensitive to different urban representations in the model. Both urban representations, the Noah land surface model with urban land categories and the single-layer urban canopy model, adequately capture the dominant features of this storm over the urban region.
Determining the Optimal Spatial Distribution of Weather Station Networks for Hydrological Modeling Purposes Using RCM Datasets: An Experimental Approach
Authors: Arsenault Richard , Brissette François
Published: September 2013

In many hydrological studies, the main limiting factor in model performance is the low meteorological data quality. In some cases, no meteorological records even exist. Installing weather stations becomes a necessity in these areas when water resource management becomes an issue. The objective of this study is to propose a new experimental and exploratory method for determining the optimal density of a weather station network when being used for long-term hydrological modeling. Data from the Canadian Regional Climate Model at 15-km resolution (CRCM15) were used to create a virtual network of stations with long and complete series of meteorological data over the Toulnustouc River basin in central Québec, Canada. The weather stations to be fed to HSAMI, Hydro-Québec's lumped rainfall–runoff hydrological model, were selected in order to minimize the number of stations while maintaining the best hydrological performance possible using a multi-objective optimization algorithm. It was shown that the number of stations making up the network on the Toulnustouc River basin should be at least two but not higher than four. If the stations are positioned optimally, there is little to no gain to be made with a denser network. The optimization algorithm clearly identified that combinations of two or three stations can result in better hydrological performance than if a high-density network was fed to the model. Thus, the major conclusion of this study is that if weather stations are positioned at optimal locations, a very few number of them are required to model runoff with as good as or better performance than when a high-density network is used.
Examination of a Real-Time 3DVAR Analysis System in the Hazardous Weather Testbed
Authors: Smith Travis M. , Gao Jidong , Calhoun Kristin M. , Stensrud David J. , Manross Kevin L. , Ortega Kiel L. , Fu Chenghao , Kingfield Darrel M. , Elmore Kimberly L. , Lakshmanan Valliappa , Riedel Christopher
Published: September 2013

Forecasters and research meteorologists tested a real-time three-dimensional variational data assimilation (3DVAR) system in the Hazardous Weather Testbed during the springs of 2010–12 to determine its capabilities to assist in the warning process for severe storms. This storm-scale system updates a dynamically consistent three-dimensional wind field every 5 min, with horizontal and average vertical grid spacings of 1 km and 400 m, respectively. The system analyzed the life cycles of 218 supercell thunderstorms on 27 event days during these experiments, producing multiple products such as vertical velocity, vertical vorticity, and updraft helicity. These data are compared to multiradar–multisensor data from the Warning Decision Support System–Integrated Information to document the performance characteristics of the system, such as how vertical vorticity values compare to azimuthal shear fields calculated directly from Doppler radial velocity. Data are stratified by range from the nearest radar, as well as by the number of radars entering into the analysis of a particular storm. The 3DVAR system shows physically realistic trends of updraft speed and vertical vorticity for a majority of cases. Improvements are needed to better estimate the near-surface winds when no radar is nearby and to improve the timeliness of the input data. However, the 3DVAR wind field information provides an integrated look at storm structure that may be of more use to forecasters than traditional radar-based proxies used to infer severe weather potential.
Saturated and situated: expanding the meaning of media in the routines of everyday life
Authors: Pink Sarah , Leder Mackley Kerstin
Published: September 2013

Recently media scholars have made renewed calls for non-media-centric, non-representational and phenomenological approaches to media studies. This article responds to this context through an investigation of how media form part of the experiential, habitual and unspoken dimensions of everyday routines. Drawing on examples from ethnographic research into digital media and domestic energy consumption, we explore the role of media in the making and experiencing of environments, centring on their salience to daily routines of transition in the home. While media content forms part of how people make their homes, attention to these routines brings into focus a notion of the ‘media-saturated’ household that goes beyond attention to media content in significant ways. This, we argue, has both theoretical and practical implications for how we situate and interpret media as part of everyday life.
‘Feminine’ writing: the effect of gender on the work of women sports journalists in the Swiss daily press
Authors: Schoch Lucie
Published: September 2013

This study investigates the specificity of women sports journalists’ writing in the context of the French-speaking Swiss daily press. By analysing their working practices (observations and interviews) and their output (content analysis), it shows that women sports journalists do not adopt the customary professional norms of this journalistic speciality. Their ‘feminine’ writing is characterized by an interest in soft news and ‘human’ perspective which is different from the usual treatment of sports news, focused on facts and technical analysis, developed by the large majority of their male colleagues. It takes place within structural mechanisms – particularly modes of recruitment, gender division of labour, the acknowledgement of skills and the organizational mechanisms within sports newsrooms – as well as daily interactions in the workplace and the taste of women journalists. Women journalists employ a subversive strategy and play with the stereotypical images of their professional competences. However, the way they exercise their profession contributes to the definition of masculine and feminine journalistic values and practices and to the maintenance of the existing gender order in sports journalism.
Between formal and informal: the shakeout in China’s online video industry
Authors: Zhao Elaine Jing , Keane Michael
Published: September 2013

While a rich body of literature in television and film studies and media policy studies has tended to focus on the media activities in the formal sector, we know much less about informal media activities, their influence on state policies, as well as the dynamics between the formal and the informal sectors. This article examines these issues with reference to a particularly revealing period following a large-scale government crackdown on peer-to-peer video-sharing sites in China in 2008. By analysing the aim and consequences of the state action, we point to the counter-productive effects in terms of cultural loss and the resurgence of offline piracy; we show the positive impact on forcing the informal into the formal sector, and pressuring the latter to innovate. Meanwhile, increasing rapprochement between professional and user-created content is leading to a new relationship between formal and informal sectors. This case demonstrates the importance of considering the dynamic relationship between the two sectors. It also offers compelling evidence of the role of the informal sector in engendering state action, which in turn impacts on the co-evolution of formal and informal sectors.
Media/politics connections: beyond political parallelism
Authors: de Albuquerque Afonso
Published: September 2013

Used by Seymour-Ure and by Blumler and Gurevitch the concept of “political parallelism” gained further prominence after Hallin and Mancini took it as one of their key variables in the comparison of media systems. The concept seems to work well for analyzing western societies, but how useful is it for dealing with the rest of the world? This article suggests that the concept of political parallelism only can be productively used when two conditions are satisfied. There must be a competitive political system, with political cleavages clear enough to allow the media to reproduce them, and an institutionalized relationship between media and political agents that is sufficiently stable to allow the observer to identify recurrent patterns of interaction. However, these requirements are not met everywhere. By “provincializing” the concept of political parallelism – taking it as a product of specific circumstances, rather than as a universally applicable category – this article proposes a new and more globally applicable framework for studying political communication
Social media divide: characteristics of emerging adults who do not use social network websites
Authors: Bobkowski Piotr , Smith Jessica
Published: September 2013

Public opinion has embraced social media as a vital tool to reach U.S. emerging adults, but this generation has not universally adopted social media technologies. Using in-depth interviews, this study examined the characteristics of 20 emerging adults (18 to 23 years old) who were non-adopters of social media. Compared to social media users, non-adopters had less economic stability, more fractured educational trajectories, and weaker support from parents and friends. Non-adopters did not use social media because they lacked access or leisure time, were not socialized into their use, lacked skills, or did not want to maintain social contacts via social media technologies. If social media are increasingly used in attempts to to improve young people’s lives, practitioners must understand who is left behind in the wake of these technologies.
Gender and Emotion
Authors: Shields Stephanie A.
Published: September 2013

I draw on research on emotion and gender to illustrate how an essentialized view of gender as difference persists through the circulation of beliefs about gender from popular culture to scientific writing and back again. I begin by describing the paradoxical nature of beliefs about emotion and then show that emotion’s representations in beliefs and stereotypes have a powerful effect on how we interpret our own and others’ emotional behavior. I consider how the differences paradigm, the study of gender in terms of identification of difference(s) between girls/women and boys/men, aids the circulation of essentialized beliefs about gender from popular culture to psychological science. Specifically, essentializing discourses from popular culture are absorbed into scientific discourse and gain scientific authorization via research undertaken within a differences paradigm. These results circulate back again to popular culture and the cycle continues. I conclude with a discussion of how the differences paradigm can be disrupted by a research approach informed by contextual factors that moderate gender effects, the intersectionality of social identities, and attentiveness to gender fault lines, giving examples from our work on the “negotiability” of emotion’s meaning and emotion’s representation in language. My article has implications for counselors and therapists whose clients struggle with the expression of emotions, instructors who want to encourage their students to explore how they think about gender as essentialized, and researchers concerned with interpersonal interactions, especially workplace interactions where understanding of others’ emotions often has a gendered cast.
Life cycle management for railway bridge assets
Authors: Nielsen Dwayne , Raman Dhamodharan , Chattopadhyay Gopinath
Published: September 2013

Railway bridges are long-life assets that deteriorate with age, use and poor maintenance practices. The rail industry is suffering from ever-increasing maintenance costs which are exacerbated by increased rail traffic and reduced maintenance opportunities. In addition, bridge managers are expected to maintain their assets at specified performance levels while enduring budget cuts and resource constraints. There is an increasing demand for bulk material transport leading to increased axle loads pushing bridge structures to their design loading limit. Making informed decisions for cost-effective condition assessment, maintenance, repairs, upgrades and replacements, often with inadequate and sometimes inaccurate data is a major challenge in the management of railway bridges. Due to these challenges, infrastructure planners require additional time to plan and prepare maintenance budgets, analyse, interpret and make decisions for bridge asset life management. Many of the bridge management systems utilised in Australia are generic and analyse faults at the network level. In many cases, a detailed analysis of individual elements will provide a better understanding of root causes of faults and allow for more informed decision-making on bridge life enhancement. A practical framework for life cycle management of Australian concrete and steel railway bridges was developed in this research. This framework is based on life cycle cost analysis and consists of bridge assessment, maintenance optimisation and implementation. The outcome of this research is a faster, more accurate system that improves the informed decision-making capability for life cycle cost management of railway bridges.
Development of a unified railway track stability management tool to enhance track safety
Authors: Ahmad Shah Sanjar , Mandal Nirmal K , Chattopadhyay Gopinath , Powell John
Published: September 2013

Track buckling is a serious problem for railways. High longitudinal rail stresses contribute to problems such as track buckling, rail joint failure, rail breakage and failure of turnouts. The direct and indirect costs of track buckling problems are very high. The influences of rail temperature, stress-free temperature (SFT) and lateral misalignment of track on track buckling need comprehensive investigation. In this paper, an experimental design comprising strain gauges, thermocouples and rail stress sensors has been implemented on the Queensland Rail heavy haul 60 kg/m rail network. A new creep measurement technique using internal rail stress has been developed. The changes in rail neutral temperature due to the variation of actual rail temperature and the occurrence of rail creep in straight and curved track is quantified. Modes of differences of SFT in the two rails at a location, and of SFT in straight track and in curved track are discussed. The relationship of SFT to rail temperature is also presented. Daily variation in rail temperature due to ambient air temperature is presented. Field trials showed that SFT can vary by 2–3 ℃ during the day. Based on this finding and the derivation of an equation for change of SFT, an improvement in utilising rail creep measurements for assessing track condition has resulted. This finding suggests that it is possible to determine the SFT throughout a day rather than just a single SFT value. This paper also presents a simple track stability management tool that is based on two major parameters, namely rail stress and track resistance. Each parameter in the tool has been given three levels of value to determine the required preventive measures. Overall, the tool decides the need for speed restriction during hot weather based on the quantified parameters from the field trials and rail standards.
New control room technologies: human factors analytical tools for railway safety
Authors: Crawford Elise GC , Toft Yvonne , Kift Ryan L
Published: September 2013

Inadequate consideration of human factors has been found to be a leading cause of unwanted consequences associated with control room systems. To guard against these events, many safety regulators have mandated that human factors are to be addressed as part of safety management, with Australian railways receiving the national mandate in January 2013. At the moment, as is the case in many parts of the world, Australian railways do not have their own dedicated standard or guide on how to integrate human factors. Fortunately, understanding of human factors in work systems has advanced significantly since the 1980s and a growing professional body of specialists is emerging. Alongside systems engineers and project managers, many human factors specialists are involved in the design of new systems. By attending to the contextual details, designs become more compatible with their human counterparts and numerous analytical tools and techniques have been developed for this purpose. Therefore, it would be advantageous for railway operators and systems engineers to know the types of activities human factors specialists are involved in and how they might contribute to human factors integration. A literature review was conducted to identify the integration approaches used by technology designers and various safety-critical domains. Additionally, a study was conducted to identify the human factors analytical tools and techniques that are typically used in control room settings. Findings from the study provide a useful snapshot of the types of activities human factors professionals are involved in, the tools and techniques they use and the areas currently being addressed that benefit from closer human factors attention.
Improving level crossing safety through enhanced data recording and reporting: the CRC for rail innovation’s baseline rail level crossing video project
Authors: Wullems Christian , Toft Yvonne , Dell Geoff
Published: September 2013

This paper describes the work being conducted in the Baseline Rail Level Crossing Video project, supported by the Australian rail industry and the Cooperative Research Centre for Rail Innovation. The paper discusses the limitations of near-miss data for analysis obtained using current level crossing occurrence reporting practices. The project is addressing these limitations through the development of a data collection and analysis system with an underlying level crossing accident causation model. An overview of the methodology and improved data recording process are described. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of benefits this project is expected to provide the Australian rail industry.
Sustainability: Ethics and the Future
Authors: Sinha Anup
Published: September 2013

Sustainable development is essentially about taking a view of future generations of people inhabiting the world. It is also about defining actions in the present time of achieving the desired goal of bequeathing a livable world for the future. The view has to revolve around how much importance we assign to the well being of future inhabitants. It is an ethical position that we collectively, as the generation living now, have to take. Making moral judgments about the distant future is difficult for two reasons—there is a plurality of ethical positions and building a collective ethic may be impossible. Yet without a shared view we cannot have concerted action now.

This article looks at some of the alternative positions and their practical implications for policy actions. The possibility of having a wider, shared ethic is also discussed. The real challenge lies in knowing nature better and making that knowledge part of culture. Then only there could be a convergence in concerns for the future, for Nature and for the yet unborn generations of human beings.
The Genesis of Values in Genesis
Authors: Bishop William H.
Published: September 2013

The genesis of values occurred in the Garden of Eden when God created man. He instilled in man the value of knowledge, which Satan used as part of his deception. God created man with a core intellect capable of external influence. Our modern culture interprets the world through its values and beliefs, both of which are codified and forged into a worldview. The Christian worldview is predicated upon biblical teaching and interpretation. It is the foundation for family values. These values are prevalent in the Book of Genesis1 and are what comprise the family unit, the decline of which is eroding the values given by God.
The unique evolution of the programmed cell death 4 protein in plants
Authors: Cheng Shijun , Liu Renyi , Gallie Daniel R
Published: September 2013

Background

The programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4) protein is induced in animals during apoptosis and functions to inhibit translation and tumor promoter-induced neoplastic transformation. PDCD4 is composed of two MA3 domains that share similarity with the single MA3 domain present in the eukaryotic translation initiation factor (eIF) 4G, which serves as a scaffold protein to assemble several initiation factors needed for the recruitment of the 40S ribosomal subunit to an mRNA. Although eIF4A is an ATP-dependent RNA helicase that binds the MA3 domain of eIF4G to promote translation initiation, binding of eIF4A to the MA3 domains of PDCD4 inhibits protein synthesis. Genes encoding PDCD4 are present in many lower eukaryotes and in plants, but PDCD4 in higher plants is unique in that it contains four MA3 domains and has been implicated in ethylene signaling and abiotic stress responses. Here, we examine the evolution of PDCD4 in plants.

Results

In older algal lineages, PDCD4 contains two MA3 domains similar to the homolog in animals. By the appearance of early land plants, however, PDCD4 is composed of four MA3 domains which likely is the result of a duplication of the two MA3 domain form of the protein. Evidence from fresh water algae, from which land plants evolved, suggests that the duplication event occurred prior to the colonization of land. PDCD4 in more recently evolved chlorophytes also contains four MA3 domains but this may have resulted from an independent duplication event. Expansion and divergence of the PDCD4 gene family occurred during land plant evolution with the appearance of a distinct gene member following the evolution of basal angiosperms.

Conclusions

The appearance of a unique form of PDCD4 in plants correlates with the appearance of components of the ethylene signaling pathway, suggesting that it may represent the adaptation of an existing protein involved in programmed cell death to one that functions in abiotic stress responses through hormone signaling.
Peach genetic resources: diversity, population structure and linkage disequilibrium
Authors: Li Xiong-wei , Meng Xian-qiao , Jia Hui-juan , Yu Ming-liang , Ma Rui-juan , Wang Li-rong , Cao Ke , Shen Zhi-jun , Niu Liang , Tian Jian-bao , Chen Miao-jin , Xie Ming , Arus Pere , Gao Zhong-shan , Aranzana Maria Jose
Published: September 2013

Background

Peach (Prunus persica(L.) Batsch) is one of the most important model fruits in the Rosaceae family. Native to the west of China, where peach has been domesticated for more than 4,000 years, its cultivation spread from China to Persia, Mediterranean countries and to America. Chinese peach has had a major impact on international peach breeding programs due to its high genetic diversity. In this research, we used 48 highly polymorphic SSRs, distributed over the peach genome, to investigate the difference in genetic diversity, and linkage disequilibrium (LD) among Chinese cultivars, and North American and European cultivars, and the evolution of current peach cultivars.

Results

In total, 588 alleles were obtained with 48 SSRs on 653 peach accessions, giving an average of 12.25 alleles per locus. In general, the average value of observed heterozygosity (0.47) was lower than the expected heterozygosity (0.60). The separate analysis of groups of accessions according to their origin or reproductive strategies showed greater variability in Oriental cultivars, mainly due to the high level of heterozygosity in Chinese landraces. Genetic distance analysis clustered the cultivars into two main groups: one included four wild relatedPrunus, and the other included most of the Oriental and Occidental landraces and breeding cultivars. STRUCTURE analysis assigned 469 accessions to three subpopulations: Oriental (234), Occidental (174), and Landraces (61). Nested STRUCTURE analysis divided the Oriental subpopulation into two different subpopulations: ‘Yu Lu’ and ‘Hakuho’. The Occidental breeding subpopulation was also subdivided into nectarine and peach subpopulations. Linkage disequilibrium (LD) analysis in each of these subpopulations showed that the percentage of linked (r2 > 0.1) intra-chromosome comparisons ranged between 14% and 47%. LD decayed faster in Oriental (1,196 Kbp) than in Occidental (2,687 Kbp) samples. In the ‘Yu Lu’ subpopulation there was considerable LD extension while no variation of LD with physical distance was observed in the landraces. From the first STRUCTURE result, LG1 had the greatest proportion of alleles in LD within all three subpopulations.

Conclusions

Our study demonstrates a high level of genetic diversity and relatively fast decay of LD in the Oriental peach breeding program. Inclusion of Chinese landraces will have a greater effect on increasing genetic diversity in Occidental breeding programs. Fingerprinting with genotype data for all 658 cultivars will be used for accession management in different germplasms. A higher density of markers are needed for association mapping in Oriental germplasm due to the low extension of LD. Population structure and evaluation of LD provides valuable information for GWAS experiment design in peach.