bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Taxonomic note: the fossil clawed lobster, Metanephrops elongatus Hu & Tao, 2000 (Nephropidae), is a nomen dubium but definitely not a Metanephrops
Authors: TSHUDY DALE , CHAN TIN-YAM
Published: February 2014

Metanephrops is an extant, clawed lobster genus (Family Nephropidae) with a very distinctive, carinate and spiny cephalothorax. It is the most speciose extant genus of clawed lobster, with 18 Recent species known. It is a deepwater genus with very large eyes; most species are known from deeper than 150 meters. Some species, nonetheless, are of commercial importance and marketed as “scampi”.
Steinernema poinari sp. n. (Nematoda: Steinernematidae) a new entomopathogenic nematode from the Czech Republic
Authors: MRÁČEK ZDENĚK , NERMUŤ JIŘÍ
Published: February 2014

A new steinernematid nematode, herein described as Steinernema poinari sp. n., was recovered by baiting soil samples with the last instar wax moth larvae Galleria mellonella in three localities of southwest Bohemia, Czech Republic. Morphological and molecular data confirmed this nematode as a new species which belongs to the affine/intermedium group. S. poinari sp. n. was characterized by male, female and infective juvenile morphological observations. Male spicules are robust with a pointed tip, SW% = 109 (98–123) and GS% = 70 (58–87). The tail terminus of the first generation have a papillated mucron, whereas in the second generation a short filamentous mucron sometimes develops. Females of the first generation have a moderately protruding vulva, postanal swelling absent or slightly developed. Second generation females have a long filamentous mucron on the tail tip. Infective juvenile have a body length of 768 µm, lateral field formula 2, 5, 6, 5, 2, 1, ratio D% of 46 (40–55), E% of 84 (76–95) and H% of 50 (43–56). The new species was characterized by sequences of ITS and D2D3 regions of ribosomal DNA. S. poinari sp. n. can also be separated from S. affine and S. intermedium by cross-breeding tests.
Ancyronyx reticulatus and A. pulcherrimus, two new riffle beetle species from Borneo, and discussion about elmid plastron structures (Coleoptera: Elmidae)
Authors: KODADA JÁN , JÄCH MANFRED A. , JR FEDOR ČIAMPOR
Published: February 2014

Two new species of Ancyronyx Erichson, 1847 (Coleoptera: Elmidae) are described from Borneo: A. pulcherrimus (Brunei) and A. reticulatus (Sabah). Habitus views, illustrations of important characters as well as plastron structures of Ancyronyx reticulatus are presented and discussed.
A new stygobitic species of Stygocarididae (Crustacea: Anaspidacea) from South America
Authors: PERALTA MARCELA
Published: February 2014

The only South American Anaspidacean families are the Stygocarididae Noodt and the monotipic Patagonaspididae Grosso & Peralta. I describe a new Stygocarididae, Parastygocaris luisgrossoi n. sp. from the hyporheic zone of a stream in Sierra de San Luis, Argentina. The main characters of the new species include: antennula outer flagellum with 9–10 articles, sexual dimorphism in flagella; antenna with 4-segmented peduncle and 5-articulate flagellum; maxilla with row of 8 setae along inner margin of proximal endite; uropod: inner margin of protopod with 7–8 setae and distal segment of exopod lined by 7 setae; pereopod 6 female with 1 long plumose seta on basis. The morphology and chaetotaxy of the new taxon is compared with congeneric species. The long evolutionary history of the Gondwanan Anaspidacea and the accompanying fauna of the new species, suggest the probable existence of an ancient groundwater basin in western Argentina, south of 28ºS that would have harboured interstitial fauna of great and diverse antiquity.
Trimma helenae (Pisces; Gobioidei), a new species of gobiid fish from Indonesia
Authors: WINTERBOTTOM RICHARD , ERDMANN MARK V. , CAHYANI N. K. DITA
Published: February 2014

A new species of Trimma, T. helenae, is described from the southeastern lagoon at Penemu Island off the southwest coast of Waigeo, Raja Ampat, Indonesia. The new species has a unique colour pattern when alive, consisting of a yellow anterior half and red posterior half, with four small white spots along the midline of the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the caudal peduncle. It is also the only species of the genus to have a nasal sac that is flush with the snout surface (not raised above the level of the snout or only represented by a nasal pit), and which lacks a raised rim to the posterior nasal pore. Trimma helenae belongs to a group of 12 valid nominal species defined by having a broad bony interorbital region (width 80–100% of pupil diameter), but differs from all of but three of these in having only cycloid scales in the midline and on the sides of the nape. The other members of the group have mostly ctenoid scales in this region.
Explosive Baroclinic Instability
Authors: Fleming Rex J.
Published: February 2014

A low-order general circulation model contains all the elements of baroclinic instability, including differential heating to drive the mean zonal shear flow against dissipation. Simulations exhibit vacillation ending in fixed-point solutions and chaotic solutions with significant amplifications of the baroclinic cycles compared to those of vacillation. The chaos sensitivity to initial conditions, covering a broad landscape of initial values, demands analysis of why the chaos occurs and its impact on subsequent storm intensity.

Three attractors found in the dynamic system are important. One attractor is the stable fixed-point solution—the ultimate destination of a vacillation trajectory. A second attractor represents an unstable zonal solution. Though this dynamic system is bound, some trajectories get extremely close to the unstable, but strongly attracting, zonal solution. It is while traversing such a trajectory that the buildup of available potential energy is such to allow subsequent explosive baroclinic instability to develop.

The roots of the characteristic matrix of the dynamic system are examined at every time step. A single critical value of one of the roots is found to be the cause of the chaos for a given value of the differential heating H. The system becomes more stable with increased values of H; vacillation is stronger and more prominent, and the critical value for chaos increases with H. When chaos does occur, it is stronger and more explosive.
What Is the Source of the Stratospheric Gravity Wave Belt in Austral Winter?
Authors: Hendricks Eric A. , Doyle James D. , Eckermann Stephen D. , Jiang Qingfang , Reinecke P. Alex
Published: February 2014

During austral winter, and away from orographic maxima or “hot spots,” stratospheric gravity waves in both satellite observations and Interim European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim) data reveal enhanced amplitudes in a broad midlatitude belt extending across the Southern Ocean from east of the Andes to south of New Zealand. The peak latitude of this feature slowly migrates poleward from 50° to 60°S. Wave amplitudes are much weaker across the midlatitude Pacific Ocean. These features of the wave field are in striking agreement with diagnostics of baroclinic growth rates in the troposphere associated with midlatitude winter storm tracks and the climatology of the midlatitude jet. This correlation suggests that these features of the stratospheric gravity wave field are controlled by geographical variations of tropospheric nonorographic gravity wave sources in winter storm tracks: spontaneous adjustment emission from the midlatitude winter jet, frontogenesis, and convection.
Microstructure Measurements from an Underwater Glider in the Turbulent Faroe Bank Channel Overflow
Authors: Fer Ilker , Peterson Algot K. , Ullgren Jenny E.
Published: February 2014

Measurements of ocean microstructure are made in the turbulent Faroe Bank Channel overflow using a turbulence instrument attached to an underwater glider. Dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy ε is measured using airfoil shear probes. A comparison is made between 152 profiles from dive and climb cycles of the glider during a 1-week mission in June 2012 and 90 profiles collected from the ship using a vertical microstructure profiler (VMP). Approximately one-half of the profiles are collocated. For 96% of the dataset, measurements are of high quality with no systematic differences between dives and climbs. The noise level is less than 5 × 10−11 W kg−1, comparable to the best microstructure profilers. The shear probe data are contaminated and unreliable at the turning depth of the glider and for U/ut < 20, where U is the flow past the sensor, ut = (ε/N)1/2 is an estimate of the turbulent velocity scale, and N is the buoyancy frequency. Averaged profiles of ε from the VMP and the glider agree to better than a factor of 2 in the turbulent bottom layer of the overflow plume, and beneath the stratified and sheared plume–ambient interface. The glider average values are approximately a factor of 3 and 9 times larger than the VMP values in the layers defined by the isotherms 3°–6° and 6°–9°C, respectively, corresponding to the upper part of the interface and above. The discrepancy is attributed to a different sampling scheme and the intermittency of turbulence. The glider offers a noise-free platform suitable for ocean microstructure measurements.
On the Significance of Multiple Consecutive Days of Tornado Activity
Authors: Trapp Robert J.
Published: February 2014

Motivated by the temporal behavior of recent high-end tornado events, a 30-yr historical record of tornadoes in the United States is examined for multiple-day periods of tornado activity. Comprising the 3129 tornado days during 1983–2012 are 1406 unique, nonoverlapping periods. Only 24% of these periods have lengths of 3 or more days. However, the conditional probability of such a multiday period given an outbreak day (OB; one with 20 or more tornado reports) is 74%, and given a significant tornado day [SIGTOR; one rated Fujita/enhanced Fujita (F/EF) ≥ 3] is 60%. Alternative ways of expressing these conditional probabilities all lead to the conclusion that SIGTORs and/or OBs are more likely to be contained within multiday periods of tornadoes than within 1–2-day periods. Two additional conclusions are offered: 1) SIGTORs and OBs have a relatively higher likelihood of occurrence during the latter half of the multiday periods, and 2) multiday periods have a relatively higher likelihood of occurrence during the warm months of April–July. A hypothesized connection, illustrated using reanalysis data from 2013, is proposed between such behaviors and the characteristics of the larger-scale meteorological forcing. Some speculations are made about possible relationships between multiday periods of tornado activity and convective feedbacks, extended predictability, and modes of internal climate variability.
Economic Value of Meteorological Services to Switzerland’s Airlines: The Case of TAF at Zurich Airport
Authors: von Gruenigen Stefan , Willemse Saskia , Frei Thomas
Published: February 2014

Just as in other state-subsidized service areas, in the field of aviation weather there is political pressure as well as a growing economic need to substantiate or at least evaluate the economic benefits of meteorological information. The research presented in this paper has been conducted as part of a broad study concerning the economic benefits of the meteorological services in the Swiss transport sector. For the aviation sector, interviews revealed that meteorological information is a pivotal input factor in the decision-making process of airlines: In addition to security and safety purposes, airlines use meteorological information to optimize the economic efficiency of daily operations as well as for strategic decisions regarding flight routes and flight planning.

In this paper a decision-making model is used to evaluate at least part of the economic benefits of the meteorological services to Switzerland’s domestic airlines by analyzing the use of terminal aerodrome forecasts (TAF) at Zurich Airport (Switzerland). By lowering the probability of costly wrong decisions, meteorological information generates direct economic benefits for the airlines. The total benefits for all domestic airlines at Zurich Airport amount to between 11 and 17 million Swiss francs per year [12 to 18 million USD; 1 U.S. dollars (USD) = 0.934 Swiss francs (CHF), average exchange rate 2012]. By extrapolating the results based on the number of flights, the total economic benefits of TAF to Switzerland’s domestic airlines at both main Swiss airports (Zurich and Geneva) add up to somewhere between 13 and 21 million Swiss francs per year (14 to 22 million USD).
Predicting Future Criminal Offending in a Community-Based Sample of Males Using Self-Reported Psychopathy
Authors: Vitacco Michael J. , Neumann Craig S. , Pardini Dustin A.
Published: February 2014

This study evaluated the utility of the Self-Report of Psychopathy–III (SRP-III) for predicting three classes (i.e., violence, theft, and serious charges) of criminal charges in a sample of community-based males ( N = 417). This is the first study to examine the potential of the SRP-III to predict future criminal behavior in a community-based sample. Official criminal records were obtained on average 3.5 years after initial SRP-III assessment. Area under the curve analyses indicated fair predictive power for SRP-III total and factor scores, and after controlling for a host of risk factors, SRP-III measured psychopathy predicted charges for violent and serious offenses, but not theft. Notably, additional analyses revealed none of the individual SRP-III facets uniquely predicted future offending when entered into a regression model. The findings of this study indicate the SRP-III holds some promise as an assessment instrument in the prediction of violent and serious offenses.
Cognitive flexibility supports preschoolers’ detection of communicative ambiguity
Authors: Gillis Randall , Nilsen Elizabeth S.
Published: February 2014

To become successful communicators, children must be sensitive to the clarity/ambiguity of language. Significant gains in children’s ability to detect communicative ambiguity occur during the early school-age years. However, little is known about the cognitive abilities that support this development. Relations between cognitive flexibility and ambiguity detection were assessed in preschool- (4- to 5-years-old, n = 40) and school-age (6- to 7-years-old, n = 36) children. Children rated the quality of clues (unambiguous/ambiguous) to the location of hidden stimuli provided by a videotaped speaker. Cognitive flexibility was assessed through a task requiring children to sequentially sort toys. Both age groups rated ambiguous clues as less helpful than unambiguous clues; however, school-age children were better able to detect ambiguity. Cognitive flexibility was related to preschool (but not school-age) children’s communicative ambiguity detection, when controlling for age and receptive language. Results suggest that cognitive flexibility may be particularly important for the initial development of ambiguity detection.
Infants’ prelinguistic communicative acts and maternal responses: Relations to linguistic development
Authors: Wu Zhen , Gros-Louis Julie
Published: February 2014

Infant–parent interactions are bidirectional; therefore, it is important to understand how infants’ communicative behavior elicits variable responses from caregivers and, in turn, how infants’ behavior varies with caregivers’ responses; furthermore, how these moment-to-moment interactive behaviors relate to later language development. The current study addressed these concerns by observing 10- to 13-month-old infants’ interactions with their mothers and measuring their language outcomes when they were 15 months old. The main results were: (1) infants were more likely to combine vocalizations with pointing when mothers were not looking at the target of the point, and when mothers did not respond about the target of the point; (2) infants’ combination of vocalization and pointing behavior, especially those produced when mothers were not attending to the target object of the point, related to infants’ comprehension skills at 15 months as measured by the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (MCDI); (3) maternal follow-in responses were related to infants’ improvement in their comprehension and production scores on the MCDI. These results suggest that infants’ own prelinguistic communicative acts that are produced differentially as a function of maternal attention and responses, and the maternal responses that they elicit, contribute to infants’ subsequent language development.
Characterization of Facial Paresis in Hemifacial Microsomia
Authors: Cline Jay M. , Hicks Katherine E. , Patel Krishna G.
Published: February 2014

Objective

To provide an overview of the incidence, characteristics, and proposed etiologic mechanisms of facial paresis in patients with manifestations of hemifacial microsomia.

Data Sources

PubMed database for English‐language studies with no date restrictions.

Review Methods

A comprehensive literature review was performed identifying all studies that discussed incidence, characterization, or etiologic mechanisms for facial paresis in hemifacial microsomia/oculo‐auriculo‐vertebral spectrum.

Conclusions

This review supports that the prevalence of facial weakness in the spectrum of hemifacial microsomia/oculo‐auriculo‐vertebral spectrum ranges from 10% to 45%. Most of these patients have involvement of all facial nerve branches or lower branches only. The most commonly involved single nerve branch has yet to be described. The 2 most common associated anomalies involve the mandible and auricle. Dysmorphogeneisis of the temporal bone and its effects on the facial nerve are most likely implicated in the cause of facial weakness.

Implications for Practice

There is a wide variety of facial nerve presentations seen within oculo‐auriculo‐vertebral spectrum for which the exact etiologic mechanism is unclear. Through a better understanding of the presentation and etiology surrounding facial paresis in hemifacial microsomia, improved treatment options may be offered in the management of the facial weakness.
The Circatidal Rhythm Persists without the Optic Lobe in the Mangrove Cricket Apteronemobius asahinai
Authors: Takekata Hiroki , Numata Hideharu , Shiga Sakiko
Published: February 2014

Whether the circatidal rhythm is generated by a machinery common to the circadian clock is one of the important and interesting questions in chronobiology. The mangrove cricket Apteronemobius asahinai shows a circatidal rhythm generating active and inactive phases and a circadian rhythm modifying the circatidal rhythm by inhibiting activity during the subjective day simultaneously. In the previous study, RNA interference of the circadian clock gene period disrupted the circadian rhythm but not the circatidal rhythm, suggesting a difference in molecular mechanisms between the circatidal and circadian rhythms. In the present study, to compare the neural mechanisms of these 2 rhythms, we observed locomotor activity in the mangrove cricket after surgical removal of the optic lobe, which has been shown to be the locus of the circadian clock in other crickets. We also noted the pigment-dispersing factor immunoreactive neurons (PDF-IRNs) in the optic lobe, because PDF is a key output molecule in the circadian clock system in some insects. The results showed that the circadian modulation was disrupted after the removal of the optic lobes but that the circatidal rhythm was maintained with no remarkable changes in its free-running period. Even in crickets in which some PDF-immunoreactive somata remained after removal of the optic lobe, the circadian rhythm was completely disrupted. The remnants of PDF-IRNs were not correlated to the occurrence and free-running period of the circatidal rhythm. These results indicate that the principal circatidal clock is located in a region(s) different from the optic lobe, whereas the circadian clock is located in the optic lobe, as in other crickets, and PDF-IRNs are not important for circatidal rhythm. Therefore, it is suggested that the circatidal rhythm of A. asahinai is driven by a neural basis different from that driving the circadian rhythm.
Enhanced Phase Resetting in the Synchronized Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Network
Authors: Ramkisoensing Ashna , Gu Changgui , van Engeldorp Gastelaars Heleen M.D. , Michel Stephan , Deboer Tom , Rohling Jos H.T. , Meijer Johanna H.
Published: February 2014

The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) adapts to both the external light-dark (LD) cycle and seasonal changes in day length. In short photoperiods, single-cell activity patterns are tightly synchronized (i.e., in phase); in long photoperiods, these patterns are relatively dispersed, causing lower amplitude rhythms. The limit cycle oscillator has been used to describe the SCN’s circadian rhythmicity and predicts that following a given perturbation, high-amplitude SCN rhythms will shift less than low-amplitude rhythms. Some studies reported, however, that phase delays are larger when animals are entrained to a short photoperiod. Because phase advances and delays are mediated by partially distinct (i.e., nonoverlapping) biochemical pathways, we investigated the effect of a 4-h phase advance of the LD cycle in mice housed in either short (LD 8:16) or long (LD 16:8) photoperiods. In vitro recordings revealed a significantly larger phase advance in the SCN of mice entrained to short as compared to long photoperiods (4.2 ± 0.3 h v. 1.4 ± 0.9 h, respectively). Surprisingly, in mice with long photoperiods, the behavioral phase shift was larger than the phase shift of the SCN (3.7 ± 0.4 h v. 1.4 ± 0.9 h, respectively). To exclude a confounding influence of running-wheel activity on the magnitude of the shifts of the SCN, we repeated the experiments in the absence of running wheels and found similar shifts in the SCN in vitro in short and long days (3.0 ± 0.5 h v. 0.4 ± 0.9 h, respectively). Interestingly, removal of the running wheel reduced the phase-shifting capacity of mice in long days, leading to similar behavioral shifts in short and long photoperiods (1.0 ± 0.1 h v. 1.0 ± 0.4 h). As the behavioral shifts in the presence of wheels were larger than the shift of the SCN, it is suggested that additional, non-SCN neuronal networks in the brain are involved in regulating the timing of behavioral activity. On the basis of the phase shifts observed in vitro, we conclude that highly synchronized SCN networks with high-amplitude rhythms show a larger phase-shifting capacity than desynchronized networks of low amplitude.
Effects of Rotation Interval on Sleepiness and Circadian Dynamics on Forward Rotating 3-Shift Systems
Authors: Postnova Svetlana , Postnov Dmitry D. , Seneviratne Martin , Robinson Peter A.
Published: February 2014

A physiologically based mathematical model of sleep-wake cycles is used to examine the effects of shift rotation interval (RI) (i.e., the number of days spent on each shift) on sleepiness and circadian dynamics on forward rotating 3-shift schedules. The effects of the schedule start time on the mean shift sleepiness are also demonstrated but are weak compared to the effects of RI. The dynamics are studied for a parameter set adjusted to match a most common natural sleep pattern (i.e., sleep between 0000 and 0800) and for common light conditions (i.e., 350 lux of shift lighting, 200 lux of daylight, 100 lux of artificial lighting during nighttime, and 0 lux during sleep). Mean shift sleepiness on a rotating schedule is found to increase with RI, reach maximum at intermediate RI=6 d, and then decrease. Complete entrainment to shifts within the schedules is not achieved at RI≤10 d. However, circadian oscillations synchronize to the rotation cycles, with RI=1,2 d and RI≥6 d demonstrating regular periodic changes of the circadian rhythm. At rapid rotation, circadian phase stays within a small 4-h interval, whereas slow rotation leads to around-the-clock transitions of the circadian phase with constantly delayed sleep times. Schedules with RI=3-5 d are not able to entrain the circadian rhythms, even in the absence of external circadian disturbances like social commitments and days off. To understand the circadian dynamics on the rotating shift schedules, a shift response map is developed, showing the direction of circadian change (i.e., delay or advance) depending on the relation between the shift start time and actual circadian phase. The map predicts that the un-entrained dynamics come from multiple transitions between advance and delay behavior on the shifts in the schedules. These are primarily caused by the imbalance between the amount of delay and advance on the different shift types within the schedule. Finally, it is argued that shift response maps can aid in the development of shift schedules with desired circadian characteristics.
Conditions of Emergence: The Formation of Men’s Rights Groups in Contemporary India
Authors: Chowdhury Romit
Published: February 2014

Drawing on a one-year research project, this article attempts to make a feminist appraisal of the phenomenon of men’s rights groups in contemporary India. This effort is structured in two parts. The expository section of this article addresses the following questions: who are the members of men’s rights groups and what are their social locations? What are their goals? Who are their supporters? What methods of recruitment do they employ? The latter, and longer, part of the article maps the ambient environment in which the issue of men’s rights has been framed in an organised form since the early 1990s. It asks: in what ways are these collective markings of a historically privileged masculine identity related to broader processes of cultural, social and legal change? The article suggests that the demand for men’s rights in India is to be explained by the reconstitution of patriarchy—expressed particularly in altered gender roles within the family—that has been necessitated by the dual pressures of economic change and feminist legal intervention in the previous two decades. The anxious call for men’s rights is indicative of a crisis tendency in the contemporary gender order, which has, at specific moments, undermined the legitimacy of some patriarchal arrangements. The organised form in which this collective male concern has been voiced has been facilitated by the proliferation of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and Internet technologies in India from the 1990s onwards.
Fallen Through the Nationalist and Feminist Grids of Analysis: Political Campaigning of Indian Women against Indentured Labour Emigration
Authors: Nijhawan Shobna
Published: February 2014

This article examines the Indian nationalist campaign against indentured labour emigration from British India in the early 20th century from a micro perspective, by exploring the interventions of the Prayag Mahila Samiti (Allahabad Women’s Association). The proceedings of a conference organised by the women’s organisation in 1917 reveal that its elite Indian women participants displayed sisterhood, patriotism and concern for emigrant male and female plantation workers in a manner that crossed the boundaries of gender, caste, class and the rural–urban divide. Their campaign operated within colonial civilising discourses while making use of middle-class nationalist idioms, claiming that the honour of Indians was threatened by the morally unrestrained and sexually exploited female labourers employed in plantation colonies. The campaign ultimately led to a petition to the Viceroy of India, Lord Chelmsford, marking it as the first instance of Indian women lobbying as political subjects.
Book Review: Breaking Ground: Journey into the Media … And Out
Authors: Bhatty Zarina
Published: February 2014

Rami Chhabra, Breaking Ground: Journey into the Media … And Out. New Delhi: National Book Trust, 2012. 469 pages. ₹ 935 (Hardback)
Book Review: Those Who Did Not Die: Impact of the Agrarian Crisis on Women in Punjab
Authors: Vasavi A.R.
Published: February 2014

Ranjana Padhi, Those Who Did Not Die: Impact of the Agrarian Crisis on Women in Punjab. New Delhi: SAGE Publications, 2012. 228 pages. ₹ 650.
The Limits of Globalisation: Unveiling Resilience and the Primacy of the Nation State in World Politics
Authors: Harshe Rajen
Published: February 2014

Globalisation as a phenomenon has subsumed several multi-layered and complex social processes that have been simultaneously at work, especially, after the end of the Cold War in 1991. While analysing the bilateral as well as multilateral interactions among the contemporary nation states, in the context of globalisation, this article sheds light on the existential stresses and strains that contemporary nation states, developed as well as developing, have been constrained to encounter owing to the rise of transnational actors as well as sub-national/secessionist forces. In the process, it revisits concepts such as capitalism, the nation state, hegemony, in Gramscian sense and imperialism while recasting them under changing circumstances of world politics. It argues that, despite diverse existential challenges, the nation state has proved remarkably resilient. It continues to survive as the primary de jure anchor/actor that provides major communication channels to work out projects of cooperation/coalitions, including alliances and treaties. Hence, it is the most reliable entity towards management and even resolution of issues of global concerns as also intra- and inter-state conflicts in contemporary world politics.
Book Review: Democracy’s Reconstruction: Thinking Politically with W.E.B. Dubois
Authors: Kumar Arvind
Published: February 2014

Balfour, Lawrie, Democracy’s Reconstruction: Thinking Politically with W.E.B. Dubois (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011). Pp. xi+198, Price $36.21, hdbk.
Book Review: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Germany
Authors: Bernstorff Dagmar
Published: February 2014

Bawa, Anand Singh (Ed.), Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Germany (New Delhi: Mosaic Books, published by Federation of Indo-German Societies in India, 2013). Pp. 175, ₹600 ($45).
Experiences of Muslim and Non-Muslim Battered Immigrant Women With the Police in the United States
Authors: Ammar Nawal , Couture-Carron Amanda , Alvi Shahid , Antonio Jaclyn San
Published: February 2014

Little research has been conducted to distinguish the unique experiences of specific groups of interpersonal violence victims. This is especially true in the case of battered Muslim immigrant women in the United States. This article examines battered Muslim immigrant women’s experiences with intimate partner violence and their experiences with the police. Furthermore, to provide a more refined view related to battered Muslim immigrant women’s situation, the article compares the latter group’s experiences to battered non-Muslim immigrant women’s experiences. Finally, we seek to clarify the similarities and differences between battered immigrant women aiming to inform responsive police service delivery.
Modeling Relational Events
Authors: Quintane Eric , Conaldi Guido , Tonellato Marco , Lomi Alessandro
Published: February 2014

Sequences of relational events underlie much empirical research on organizational relations. Yet relational event data are typically aggregated and dichotomized to derive networks that can be analyzed with specialized statistical methods. Transforming sequences of relational events into binary network ties entails two main limitations: the loss of information about the order and number of events that compose each tie and the inability to account for compositional changes in the set of actors and/or recipients. In this article, we introduce a newly developed class of statistical models that enables researchers to exploit the full information contained in sequences of relational events. We propose an extension of the models to cater for sequences of relational events linking different sets of actors. We illustrate the empirical application of relational event models in the context of a free/open source software project with the aim to explain the level of effort produced by contributors to the project. We offer guidance in the interpretation of model parameters by characterizing the social processes underlying organizational problem solving. We discuss the applicability of relational events models in organizational research.
A Conceptual and Methodological Framework for Psychometric Isomorphism
Authors: Tay Louis , Woo Sang Eun , Vermunt Jeroen K.
Published: February 2014

The conceptual and methodological framework for measurement equivalence procedures has been well established and widely used. Although multilevel theories and methods have been widely used in organizational research, there is no comparable framework for measurement equivalence of multilevel constructs, or psychometric isomorphism. In this article, we present a conceptual and methodological framework for understanding and testing various forms of isomorphism. Within this framework, we explicate (a) the different types of psychometric isomorphism, (b) the conditions where psychometric isomorphism is appropriate and necessary, (c) how psychometric isomorphism corresponds with different composition models and estimation methods, and (d) the analytic procedures that can be used. Using simulated data, we also illustrate how the proposed procedures may be applied via two analytic methods—item response theory and factor analysis. We conclude with a discussion of theoretical and methodological implications provided by the proposed framework of psychometric isomorphism.
A flexible observed factor model with separate dynamics for the factor volatilities and their correlation matrix
Authors: Ku Yu-Cheng , Bloomfield Peter , Ghosh Sujit K.
Published: February 2014

In this article, we consider a novel regression model with observed factors. To allow for the prediction of future observations, we model the observed factors using a flexible multivariate stochastic volatility (MSV) structure with separate dynamics for the volatilities and the correlation matrix. The correlation matrix of the factors is time varying, and its evolution is described by an inverse Wishart process. We develop an estimation procedure based on Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, which has two major advantages compared to existing methods for similar models in the literature. First, the procedure is computationally more efficient. Second, it can be applied to calculate the predictive distributions for future observations. We compare the proposed model with other multivariate volatility models using Fama-French factors and portfolio weighted return data. The result shows that our model has better predictive performance.
Birnbaum–Saunders statistical modelling: a new approach
Authors: Leiva Víctor , Santos-Neto Manoel , Cysneiros Francisco José A , Barros Michelli
Published: February 2014

Modelling based on the Birnbaum–Saunders distribution has received considerable attention in recent years. In this article, we introduce a new approach for Birnbaum–Saunders regression models, which allows us to analyze data in their original scale and to model non-constant variance. In addition, we propose four types of residuals for these models and conduct a simulation study to establish which of them has a better performance. Moreover, we develop methods of local influence by calculating the normal curvatures under different perturbation schemes. Finally, we perform a statistical analysis with real data by using the approach proposed in the article. This analysis shows the potentiality of our proposal.
Modelling of overall survival by an association between progression-free and post-progression survival using a conditional distribution
Authors: Belkacemi Mohamed C , Castelli Christel , Remita Mohamed R , Fournel Pierre , Daurès Jean P
Published: February 2014

In oncology, overall survival (OS) is the optimal endpoint for measuring the clinical benefit. However, and contrary to progression-free survival (PFS) which represents a potential surrogate endpoint of OS in clinical trials, OS often requires a long follow-up where the effect of the studied treatment may be diluted by subsequent therapies. In the literature, the relationship between PFS and OS was investigated more analytically than theoretically. We propose a new statistical modelling for OS based on the two survival times: PFS and post-progression survival (PPS) which we assumed to be linked using a conditional exponential distribution. This model allows us to test the existence of an association between PFS and PPS to better understand the process of improvement or decrement of OS. We found a closed form of the correlation coefficient between PFS and both PPS and OS. We expressed them as simple formulas in function of model parameters. One of the model parameters proved to be a correlation indicator between these survival times. We also defined the likelihood of the model in order to use the maximum likelihood estimator to estimate the model parameters from Phase III randomized clinical trial data, involving patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer. The results showed a significant link between PFS and PPS and a strong association between improvements in PFS and OS.
Business sustainability: It is about time
Authors: Bansal Pratima , DesJardine Mark R.
Published: February 2014

Sustainability is fast becoming fashionable in strategic management, and yet its meaning is often elusive. Some people restrict sustainability to environmental issues, and others use it synonymously with corporate social responsibility. In this essay, we return to the roots of its original meaning and argue that sustainability requires the consideration of time. Sustainability obliges firms to make intertemporal trade-offs to safeguard intergenerational equity. In this essay, we clarify the meaning of sustainability by showing that the notion of ‘time’ discriminates sustainability from responsibility and other similar concepts. We then argue that the omission of time from most strategic management has contributed to short-termism, which is the bane sustainability. We conclude with directions for future research that will integrate sustainability into strategy and contribute to a world in which both business and society can thrive for generations to come.
Multiple major QTL lead to stable yield performance of rice cultivars across varying drought intensities
Authors: Dixit Shalabh , Singh Anshuman , Sta Cruz Ma Teresa , Maturan Paul T , Amante Modesto , Kumar Arvind
Published: February 2014

Background

Availability of irrigation water is becoming a major limiting factor in rice cultivation. Production in rainfed areas is affected in particular by drought events, as these areas are commonly planted to high-yielding drought-susceptible rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties. The use of bulk segregant analysis (BSA), taking grain yield (GY) as a selection criterion, has resulted in the identification of several large-effect QTL. A QTL mapping study was undertaken on a BC1F3:4 population developed from the cross IR55419-04/2*TDK1 with the aim of identifying large-effect QTL in the background of TDK1, a popular variety from Lao PDR.

Results

The study identified three QTL—qDTY

3.1
(RM168-RM468), qDTY

6.1
(RM586-RM217), and qDTY

6.2
(RM121-RM541)—for grain yield under drought. qDTY

3.1
and qDTY

6.1
, showed consistent effect across seasons under lowland drought-stress conditions while qDTY

6.1
and qDTY

6.2
showed effect under both upland and lowland drought conditions. The test of QTL effect, conducted through a QTL class analysis, showed the complimentary nature of qDTY

3.1
and qDTY

6.1
. Both QTL showed specific patterns of effect across different maturity groups within the mapping population and higher stability for grain yield was seen across stress levels for lines with both QTLs as compared to those with single or no QTL.

Conclusions

The study offers a clear understanding of large-effect QTL for grain yield under drought and their effect as individual QTL and in various combinations. The study also opens up an opportunity to develop a drought-tolerant version of TDK1 through marker-assisted backcross breeding and has led to a large-scale QTL pyramiding program aiming to combine these QTL with Sub1 in the background of TDK1 as recipient variety.
Characterization of the glutathione S-transferase gene family through ESTs and expression analyses within common and pigmented cultivars of Citrus sinensis(L.) Osbeck
Authors: Licciardello Concetta , D’Agostino Nunzio , Traini Alessandra , Recupero Giuseppe Reforgiato , Frusciante Luigi , Chiusano Maria Luisa
Published: February 2014

Background

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) represent a ubiquitous gene family encoding detoxification enzymes able to recognize reactive electrophilic xenobiotic molecules as well as compounds of endogenous origin. Anthocyanin pigments require GSTs for their transport into the vacuole since their cytoplasmic retention is toxic to the cell. Anthocyanin accumulation in Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck fruit flesh determines different phenotypes affecting the typical pigmentation of Sicilian blood oranges. In this paper we describe: i) the characterization of the GST gene family in C. sinensis through a systematic EST analysis; ii) the validation of the EST assembly by exploiting the genome sequences of C. sinensis and C. clementina and their genome annotations; iii) GST gene expression profiling in six tissues/organs and in two different sweet orange cultivars, Cadenera (common) and Moro (pigmented).

Results

We identified 61 GST transcripts, described the full- or partial-length nature of the sequences and assigned to each sequence the GST class membership exploiting a comparative approach and the classification scheme proposed for plant species. A total of 23 full-length sequences were defined. Fifty-four of the 61 transcripts were successfully aligned to the C. sinensis and C. clementina genomes. Tissue specific expression profiling demonstrated that the expression of some GST transcripts was 'tissue-affected' and cultivar specific. A comparative analysis of C. sinensis GSTs with those from other plant species was also considered. Data from the current analysis are accessible at http://biosrv.cab.unina.it/citrusGST/, with the aim to provide a reference resource for C. sinensis GSTs.

Conclusions

This study aimed at the characterization of the GST gene family in C. sinensis. Based on expression patterns from two different cultivars and on sequence-comparative analyses, we also highlighted that two sequences, a Phi class GST and a Mapeg class GST, could be involved in the conjugation of anthocyanin pigments and in their transport into the vacuole, specifically in fruit flesh of the pigmented cultivar.
Downregulation of Smurf2, a tumor-suppressive ubiquitin ligase, in triple-negative breast cancers: Involvement of the RB-microRNA axis
Authors: Liu Xianpeng , Gu Xin , Sun Limin , Flowers Ashley B , Rademaker Alfred W , Zhou Yiran , Kiyokawa Hiroaki
Published: February 2014

Background

The HECT family ubiquitin ligase Smurf2 regulates cell polarity, migration, division, differentiation and death, by targeting diverse substrates that are critical for receptor signaling, cytoskeleton, chromatin remodeling and transcription. Recent studies suggest that Smurf2 functions as a tumor suppressor in mice. However, no inactivating mutation of SMURF2 has been reported in human, and information about Smurf2 expression in human cancer remains limited or complicated. Here we demonstrate that Smurf2 expression is downregulated in human breast cancer tissues, especially of the triple-negative subtype, and address the mechanism of Smurf2 downregulation in triple-negative breast cancer cells.

Methods

Human breast cancer tissues (47 samples expressing estrogen receptor (ER) and 43 samples with triple-negative status) were examined by immunohistochemistry for the expression of Smurf2. Ten widely-studied human breast cancer cell lines were examined for the expression of Smurf2. Furthermore, microRNA-mediated regulation of Smurf2 was investigated in triple-negative cancer cell lines.

Results

Immunohistochemical analysis showed that benign mammary epithelial cells expressed high levels of Smurf2, so did cells in ductal carcinomas in situ. In contrast, invasive ductal carcinomas showed focal or diffuse decrease in Smurf2 expression, which was observed more frequently in triple-negative tumors than in ER-positive tumors. Consistently, human triple-negative breast cancer cell lines such as BT549, MDA-MB-436, DU-4475 and MDA-MB-468 cells showed significantly lower expression of Smurf2 protein, compared to ER + or HER2+ cell lines. Studies using quantitative PCR and specific microRNA inhibitors indicated that increased expression of miR-15a, miR-15b, miR-16 and miR-128 was involved in Smurf2 downregulation in those triple-negative cancer cell lines, which have mutations in the retinoblastoma (RB) gene. Forced expression of RB increased levels of Smurf2 protein with concomitant decreases in the expression of the microRNAs.

Conclusions

This study provides evidence of posttranscriptional downregulation of Smurf2 in triple-negative breast cancers, and demonstrates that the loss of RB function is involved in microRNA-mediated interference with Smurf2 translation. The new link from RB inactivation to Smurf2 downregulation is likely to play a role in malignant phenotypes of triple-negative breast cancer cells.
A retrospective comparative exploratory study on two Methylentetrahydrofolate Reductase (MTHFR) polymorphisms in esophagogastric cancer: the A1298C MTHFR polymorphism is an independent prognostic factor only in neoadjuvantly treated gastric cancer patients
Authors: Blank Susanne , Rachakonda Sivaramakrishna , Keller Gisela , Weichert Wilko , Lordick Florian , Langer Rupert , Springfeld Christoph , Bruckner Thomas , Becker Karen , Kumar Rajiv , Ott Katja
Published: February 2014

Background

Methylentetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) plays a major role in folate metabolism and consequently could be an important factor for the efficacy of a treatment with 5-fluorouracil. Our aim was to evaluate the prognostic and predictive value of two well characterized constitutional MTHFR gene polymorphisms for primarily resected and neoadjuvantly treated esophagogastric adenocarcinomas.

Methods

569 patients from two centers were analyzed (gastric cancer: 218, carcinoma of the esophagogastric junction (AEG II, III): 208 and esophagus (AEG I): 143). 369 patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery, 200 patients were resected without preoperative treatment. The MTHFR C677T and A1298C polymorphisms were determined in DNA from peripheral blood lymphozytes. Associations with prognosis, response and clinicopathological factors were analyzed retrospectively within a prospective database (chi-square, log-rank, cox regression).

Results

Only the MTHFR A1298C polymorphisms had prognostic relevance in neoadjuvantly treated patients but it was not a predictor for response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The AC genotype of the MTHFR A1298C polymorphisms was significantly associated with worse outcome (p = 0.02, HR 1.47 (1.06-2.04). If neoadjuvantly treated patients were analyzed based on their tumor localization, the AC genotype of the MTHFR A1298C polymorphisms was a significant negative prognostic factor in patients with gastric cancer according to UICC 6th edition (gastric cancer including AEG type II, III: HR 2.0, 95% CI 1.3-2.0, p = 0.001) and 7th edition (gastric cancer without AEG II, III: HR 2.8, 95% CI 1.5-5.7, p = 0.003), not for AEG I. For both definitions of gastric cancer the AC genotype was confirmed as an independent negative prognostic factor in cox regression analysis. In primarily resected patients neither the MTHFR A1298C nor the MTHFR C677T polymorphisms had prognostic impact.

Conclusions

The MTHFR A1298C polymorphisms was an independent prognostic factor in patients with neoadjuvantly treated gastric adenocarcinomas (according to both UICC 6th or 7th definitions for gastric cancer) but not in AEG I nor in primarily resected patients, which confirms the impact of this enzyme on chemotherapy associated outcome.