bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Authority Migration and Accountability in Canadian Public Governance
Authors: Waterman Robert
Published: May 2014

In the tradition of democratic theory, elections are recognized as important mechanisms of accountability. However, the migration of public decision-making responsibility away from elected representatives and the emergence of new governance actors necessitate a fuller conceptualization of accountability relationships. As governments pursue partnerships with societal actors and disperse authority across multiple levels, questions of public input and accountability within the democratic governance process arise. In this paper, cases of authority migration in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia between the years of 1946 and 2005 are used to examine the accountability relationships between new governance actors and both government and society. The existence and relative strength of accountability relationships are evaluated using the rules stipulated in the provincial legislation. Political ideology of governing parties, geographic scale of new jurisdictions and period in time are evaluated as predictors of the strength of the accountability relationship overall.
“Across the Ocean, Across the Tracks”: Imagining Global Poverty in Cold War America
Authors: JAHANBANI SHEYDA
Published: May 2014

This article argues that the imagery that American policymakers deployed to represent poverty as a social problem in the United States in the 1960s was rooted in the conceptual vocabulary that had emerged to describe “underdevelopment” in Third World in the years after 1945. Relying upon a close reading of still and moving images produced and distributed under the auspices of the American state in the mid-1960s – including the Academy Award®-winning documentary,A Year Towards Tomorrow– this article explores the ways influential American liberals represented poverty as an explicitly global social problem demanding the intervention of middle-class “agents of change.” This moment in the history of poverty fighting marks the origins of the concept of “global poverty.”
Description of Metchnikovella spiralis sp. n. (Microsporidia: Metchnikovellidae), with notes on the ultrastructure of metchnikovellids
Authors: SOKOLOVA Y. Y. , PASKEROVA G. G. , ROTARI Y. M. , NASSONOVA E. S. , SMIRNOV A. V.
Published: May 2014

The present paper reports results of a transmission electron microscopy study of a new metchikovellid microsporidium. It was isolated from gregarines Polyrhabdina sp. inhabiting guts of polychaetes Pygospio elegans sampled at the White Sea silt littoral zone. Free sporogony (FS) occurred in the life cycle of the microsporidium alongside sac-bound sporogony (BS). Free spores resided in a parasitophorous vacuole and were of typical metchnikovellidean structure, uninucleate and oblong. They measured on sections 2·0–3·2×1·3–1·9 μm. The life cycle included pre-sporogonial stages represented by dikaryotic cells and 4-nucleate cells with coupled nuclei. A multinucleate sporogonial plasmodium of FS split in numerous (>10) sporoblasts. In BS segregation of sporoblasts occurred within thick-walled cysts by internal budding. Spore sacs of this microsporidium, measuring on average 11·6×4·7 μm, were limited by a thick electron-dense wall, externally ornamented with spirally wound cords of dense material. These oval spore sacs contained eight barrel-shaped spores, comparable in size and ultrastructure to FS spores. Ultrastructure of both types of spores and intracellular development of the new microsporidium and Metchnikovella spp. were similar, suggesting they belong to the same genus. In this paper we describe a new species Metchnikovella spiralis and discuss morphology of metchnikovellids in the context of putative evolutionary history of Microsporidia.
Human - robot collision detection and identification based on fuzzy and time series modelling
Authors: Dimeas Fotios , Avendaño-Valencia L. D. , Aspragathos Nikos
Published: May 2014

In this paper, two methods are proposed and implemented for collision detection between the robot and a human based on fuzzy identification and time series modelling. Both methods include a collision detection system for each joint of the robot that is trained to approximate the external torque. In addition, the proposed methods are able to detect the occurrence of a collision, the link that collided and to some extent the magnitude of the collision without using the explicit model of the robot. Since the speed of the detection is of critical importance for mitigating the danger, attention is paid to recognise a collision as soon as possible. Experimental results conducted with a KUKALWR manipulator using two joints in planar motion, verify the validity on both methods.
Authoritarian Environmentalism Undermined? Local Leaders’ Time Horizons and Environmental Policy Implementation in China
Authors: Eaton Sarah , Kostka Genia
Published: May 2014

China's national leaders see restructuring and diversification away from resource-based, energy intensive industries as central goals in the coming years. On the basis of extensive fieldwork in China between 2010 and 2012, we suggest that the high turnover of leading cadres at the local level may hinder state-led greening growth initiatives. Frequent cadre turnover is intended primarily to keep local Party secretaries and mayors on the move in order to promote the implementation of central directives. While rotation does seem to aid implementation by reducing coordination problems, there are also significant downsides to local leaders changing office every three to four years. Officials with short time horizons are likely to choose the path of least resistance in selecting quick, low-quality approaches to the implementation of environmental policies. We conclude that the perverse effects of local officials’ short time horizons give reason to doubt the more optimistic claims about the advantages of China's model of environmental authoritarianism.
African Merchants, Notables and the Slave Trade at Old Calabar, 1720: Evidence from the National Archives of Scotland
Authors: Behrendt Stephen D. , Graham Eric J.
Published: May 2014

In late 1719 the brigantine Hannover sailed from Port Glasgow on a slaving voyage to the Guinea coast. Shipowner Robert Bogle jr. and partners hired surgeon Alexander Horsburgh as supercargo to supervise their trade for provisions and slaves along the Windward Coast, Gold Coast, and at Old Calabar. The Hannover arrived off the Windward Coast in early March 1720, and during three weeks Horsburgh purchased two tons of rice and 21 enslaved Africans on Bogle's behalf. From 5 April to 2 May he traded on the Gold Coast, loading 75 chests of corn and an additional 22 slaves. The Hannover then proceeded to Old Calabar, and from late May to early July Horsburgh purchased 75 more slaves and 11,400 yams—stowing 6,000 tubers in the week before departure to the Americas. Horsburgh also purchased sixteen slaves on his own account—eight along the Windward and Gold Coasts and eight at Calabar. Illness and death followed the Hannover on its “unaccountable long passage” to the Portuguese island Anno Bom (31 August-4 September) and British colonies Barbados (arriving 31 October) and St. Kitts (November-December).

Eighty-seven of 134 Africans survived the voyage, only to be sold as slaves in the West Indies.

The journey of the Hannover, noteworthy as one of the few Scottish-based voyages in the British slave trade, is important for Africanists because the surviving ship's accounts contain the first detailed list of African traders and notables in Old Calabar history.
Explorers' and Travelers' Narratives: A Peregrination Through Different Editions
Authors: MacLaren I.S.
Published: May 2014

Researchers keen to examine the representation of native people in European accounts of exploration and travel need bring under review the mechanism by which field notes became books, and, once they were books, the multiplicity and diffusion of editions, often themselves quite different from one another. An example that illustrates well this need is British Royal Naval Captain James Cook's posthumously published account of his third voyage to the Pacific Ocean in the years 1776-80. The standard scholarly source is J.C. Beaglehole's monumental edition,The Journals of Captain James Cook on His Voyages of Discovery(1955-74), a twenty-year editing project for the Hakluyt Society, which made available for the first time Cook's own writings until his death at Kealakekua Bay, Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), on 14 February 1779, during the third voyage. However, the need for Beaglehole's project arose, according to the president of the Hakluyt Society, because the original publications differed very widely from Cook's own writings. They were “official” accounts, published by order of George III, and they performed that always interesting exercise—they “improved” on Cook's own writings. It is well known that Cook did not prepare his journals for the press: in the case of the first two voyages to the Pacific, this was his choice. In the case of the third, the choice was not his to make, he being five years deceased. How wide are those differences?

In the case of Cook's description of a month-long mooring in Nootka Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, do substantive differences occur between Cook's logs and journal and Bishop John Douglas' edition? Answering that question necessarily involves consulting first editions of the various published accounts.
Using Archives in South Africa: Planning a Research Trip in the ‘Information Age’
Authors: Duffy Joanne L.
Published: May 2014

Much has changed since I first undertook research in South Africa six years ago. It is only having recently begun a a new research project that I have realized just how different things are now. Even more has changed since the ending of minority rule, as there has been a restructuring of both the State Archives Service and of the libraries of national deposit, as discussed later in this paper. The paper emerges from my reflections at this time and discusses both my experience of using archives in South Africa in the past and some of the resources which I have been able to make use of in planning my next research trip. My original research was on Afrikaner nationalist politics and identities in the 1930s and 1940s, and I now plan to work on Afrikaner moderates and English-speakers in the United Party during the same period, examining issues of identity and ideology, imperialism and nationalism. My work has taken me to several different archives in South Africa, which fall into two distinct types. The first of these are government archives, and the second are university archives. This paper will draw on my experiences of the archives I visited in 1997 and 1998, and on a brief trip I made to South Africa in 2002.

Government archives in South Africa are held by the National Archives of South Africa (NASA), established in 1996 by the National Archives of South Africa Act (No. 43 of 1996). The National Archives replaced the old State Archives Service, and was structured to take into account changes in the provincial structure and to “reflect the post apartheid political order.”
Papers of an African King Collected by Jacques Hymans
Authors: Vansina Jan
Published: May 2014

During a visit in the summer 1970, Jacques Hymans, professor of History at San Francisco State Univeisity, found discarded papers strewn over the floor of an abandoned European-style house at Mushenge (Nsheng), the capital of the Kuba kingdom, zone Mweka, West Kasai, Democratic Republic of Congo. He salvaged them and then kept them at home. After his death Ms Kelley Hymans gave the papers to the collections of Memorial Library of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. To this a notebook, which Wisconsin obtained through the good offices of Professor Mary Douglas, has been added. This contains a census of the capital for 1939-40 carried out by Jules Lene (Lyeen) as tribute collector for the Kuba king.

Since early colonial times the Kuba people were well-known in Europe for their sculpture and their artistic textiles, and because they formed a single kingdom headed by a “divine” king. This was also the only territory in the Belgian Congo where “indirect administration” was officially practiced after 1920. Under such circumstances it is not surprising that the Kuba capital Nsheng, known as Mushenge, eventually became a minor tourist attraction for amateurs of their arts. After independence, travel in Congo became difficult and the prestige of Mushenge declined, but some of its fascination remained, and Hymans was one of the persons still attracted to it. His last visit to Mushenge occurred in 1970, not long after the death of king Bop Mabinc maKyeen. It is on that occasion that he salvaged the papers now in Madison.
Haunting Griaule: Experiences from the Restudy of the Dogon
Authors: van Beek Walter E.A.
Published: May 2014

It really was a chance occasion, just before Christmas 2003. On my way to the Dogon area I had greeted my friends in Sangha, and was speaking with a Dutch friend, when a French tourist lady suddenly barged into the hall of the hotel and asked me: “There should be a cavern with a mural depicting Sirius and the position of all the planets. I saw it in a book. Where is it?”. My friend smiled wrily, amused by the irony of situation: by chance the lady had fallen upon the one who had spent decennia to disprove this kind of “information”. “In what book?” I asked, and named a few. It was none of these, and she could not tell me. Cautiously (maybe she had planned her whole trip around this Sirius “experience”) I explained to her that though there was a lot to see, this particular mural did not exist. She left immediately, probably convinced she stumbled on a real ignoramus.

In retrospect I never meant to criticize Marcel Griaule, it just happened as a consequence of other choices, which eventually led me to Dogon country. After completing my PhD thesis on the Kapsiki/Higi of northern Cameroun and northeastern Nigeria, I started scouting for a second area of field research. For two reasons, I wanted a comparable setting: to allow myself to feel at home easily because I seemed to have less time, and to use in general the approach of controlled comparison. In my first field research I had made a more or less classic ethnography of a group of comparable size (150,000) in a similar environment, living in the Mandara Mountains south of Lake Chad and straddling the border between northern Cameroun and North Eastern Nigeria.
Establishing the Facts: P. A. Talbot and the 1921 Census of Nigeria
Authors: van den Bersselaar Dmitri
Published: May 2014

Most historians writing about twentieth-century Africa have, at one time or other, used colonial statistical data. When we do this, we normally add a disclaimer, pointing out that these statistics are likely to be unreliable, and then proceed to use them anyway. But surely, we should be able to say something more definite about the reliability of these data? If we know more about the process by which these statistics were collected, for which aims, and with what preconceived ideas in mind, we should be able to establish, if not a margin of error, then at least some idea of which aspects of colonial statistics are more reliable than others. Furthermore, the process of colonial data-collecting was linked to establishing ethnic and other categories, which have since become generally accepted. This paper addresses these questions in an analysis of the context and contents of the published report of the 1921 Census of Southern Nigeria, and discusses its usefulness as a source for historians. The issues I discuss here with specific reference to this Nigerian census are characteristic for colonial censuses in general and should therefore be of relevance to all historians using colonial census data, and also—more generally—help us to understand how some of the most basic categories describing African societies have been constructed in the process of the acquisition of information by colonial governments.
Between the Ogiso and Oba Dynasties: An Interpretation of Interregnum in the Benin Kingdom
Authors: Bondarenko Dmitri M. , Roese Peter M.
Published: May 2014

The evidence for the period separating the times of the two Benin dynasties, that of the ogiso and that of the oba, is extremely scanty and does not look very trustworthy. There are not even any direct indications as to the time when the events under consideration took place. However, an analysis of the Second dynasty's history allows to arrive at the conclusion that the events preceding its advent to power could date from the late twelth and early thirteenth centuries (Bondarenko 2001:160n64; 2003). There are no possibilities for giving a more concrete date, nor for the exact calculation of the respective periods' length. However, the scant information about it still permits an interpretation of the very events of that time (though it looks like none of the professional Benin students has ever attempted it). In fact, we have either to operate with the sources which are in our disposal, or abandon trying to reconstruct an important episode of the Benin kingdom's history and concede that we must categorically deny the very possibility of giving any credit to information provided mainly by oral tradition and ethnography.
“If We are Still Here Next Year”: Zambian Historical Research in the Context of Decline, 2002–2003
Authors: Larmer Miles
Published: May 2014

This paper addresses the challenges facing researchers seeking to explore the post-colonial history of Zambia, a country whose social infrastructure in general, and academic and research facilities in particular, are in a state of apparently perpetual decline. It describes some of the major archival resources available and their (significant) limitations. It surveys recent and ongoing attempts to document the history of nationalist movements and leaders. Finally, it explores the potential for developing a history of post-colonial Zambia which escapes the assumptions of a still dominant nationalist historiography, and which thereby contributes to a deeper understanding of the lives actually lived by Zambians since Independence.

The tendency for colonial and post-colonial governments and their advisors to seek to depoliticize issues of power, inequality and control, by turning them into “technical” or developmental issues, has been noted by historians and anthropologists. The historiography of post-colonial Zambia is a prime example of the conflation of history with development, creating a discourse that assesses historical change by the achievement of supposedly neutral development goals, and conflates the ideologies and policies of nationalist politicians with those of the nation as a whole. The relatively benign judgments passed by prominent historians of the colonial era in their postscript surveys of the government of Kenneth Kaunda's United National Independence Party (UNIP) in Zambia's First Republic (1964-72) have retained an unwarranted influence. This is partly because of the dearth of post-colonial historical studies of equal importance conducted during the last 20 years. UNIP's leading historian, Henry Meebelo, while providing valuable insights into the African perspective on decolonization, played a leading role in establishing nationalism as the unquestioned norm of progressive understanding, axiomatically placing all social forces which came into conflict with it as reactionary and illegitimate.
Two Early Seventeenth-Century Sephardic Communities on Senegal's Petite Cote
Authors: Mark Peter , Horta José da Silva
Published: May 2014

Portuguese archives contain a wealth of documents that are insufficiently utilized by, and often unknown to, historians of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century west Africa. Lusophone sources are crucial for the period of earliest contact between Europeans and West Africans. While the publications of Avelino Teixeira da Mota are widely known, the work of contemporary Portuguese scholars such as Maria Emilia Madeira Santos, Maria Manuel Torrão, and Maria João Soares does not have the same visibility except among lusophone scholars. Relatively few Africanists have recognized the potential significance of the Portuguese archives for Senegambia, a region generally considered within the orbit of francophone or anglophone west Africa. The Portuguese archives remain a rich source of hitherto unknown documents, some of which will lead to fundamental transformations in our historical knowledge of the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Upper Guinea coast.

The two of us have worked extensively on the history of the Luso-Africans in Senegambia and the Guinea of Cape Verde. Mark has investigated the construction and evolution of their identity. Horta, in particular, has for many years focused on their representation in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Portuguese sources. Both writers have argued elsewhere—following Boulègue and Moraes—that among these Luso-Africans—or “Portuguese” as they were known in contemporary sources—there were New Christians, some of whom were probably practicing Jews. Evidence of the Jewish presence in west Africa remained scanty, however, and we argued that if some “Christian” Portuguese were in fact practicing Jews, they were Jews primarily in the privacy of their own communities.
A Rocky Road to Publication
Authors: Mouser Bruce L. , Mouser Nancy Fox
Published: May 2014

The path to the publication of our collaborative research concerning an aspect of earliest Church Missionary Society history has been an irregular, and often despairing, one. For a time it seemed unlikely that we would ever finish our research, and that was simply the research part of it. The prospect of collaboration by husband and wife, persons trained in disciplines—history and sociology—guided by approaches seemingly opposed to each other, was not a promising one from the start. Simply put, could we cooperate, work through the processes of writing, thinking, and rewriting/rethinking within a single household, and endure the stress associated with meeting demands placed upon us by a publisher and full-time jobs as instructors? Had we been aware that this project would last for nearly thirty years for Bruce and twenty for Nancy, and consume entirely too much of our lives, we are pretty certain—in retrospect—that we would never have embarked on it.

Bruce was the first to encounter the archive of the Church Missionary Society, during his dissertation research in London in 1966. At that time his principal objective was to scan records found in that archive for bits and pieces of data relating to political development and economic transformation of a part of coastal Guinea/Conakry from 1800 to 1850. That was a region where the Church Missionary Society had operated schools and mission stations between 1808 and 1816/17. Among the Society's earliest missionaries sent to West Africa was one named Peter Hartwig—a person who, according to other missionaries and early historians, had deserted the sacred cause to become a slave trader, and yet had returned to the Society's service at the eleventh hour, only to die in 1815 in a yellow fever epidemic then sweeping the African coast. Still, something seemed to be amiss in that narrative, for correspondence found in the archive suggested that it was a very complex affair. It was apparent that a careful review of Hartwig's experiences would be a worthwhile research project, but for a later time.
Peter Hartwig, 1804-1808: Sociological Perspectives in Marginality and Alienation
Authors: Mouser Nancy Fox
Published: May 2014

All social groups make rules and attempt, at some times and under some circumstances, to enforce them. Social rules define situations and the kinds of behavior appropriate to them, specifying some actions as “right” and forbidding others as “wrong.” When a rule is enforced, the person who is supposed to have broken it may be seen as a special kind of person, one who cannot be trusted to live by the rules agreed on by the group. He is regarded as an outsider.

But the person who is thus labeled an outsider may have a different view of the matter. He may not accept the rule by which he is being judged and may not regard those who judge him as either competent or legitimately entitled to do so. Hence, a second meaning of the term emerges: the rule-breaker may feel his judges are outsiders.

Peter Hartwig was a German seminarian recruited by the Church Missionary Society in 1803 to serve as one of its first two missionaries in Africa. He was sent to Freetown, a settlement established for Africans and people of African descent who had returned to Africa from Britain and the Americas. Hartwig was to reside at Freetown temporarily and to be supervised while there by a locally-based Corresponding Committee composed of Sierra Leone Company officials. The Society directed that, after a year's residence in Sierra Leone, Hartwig and his fellow recruit Melchior Renner would establish a mission among Susu peoples north of Freetown, where they were to convert indigenous Africans to Christianity. Hartwig, however, failed to meet the Society's expectations, violated the norms of the Corresponding Committee that the Society had established at Freetown to guide mission progress, and left the Society's service within three years of reaching the coast. He seemingly had become unable to adjust to changing realities, a wrongdoer and a moral example to other missionaries of what to avoid becoming.3 How are we to interpret his failure from a sociological perspective?
Trends in macrolide resistance of respiratory tract pathogens in the paediatric population in Serbia from 2004 to 2009
Authors: MIJAC V. , OPAVSKI N. , MARKOVIC M. , GAJIC I. , VASILJEVIC Z. , SIPETIC T. , BAJCETIC M.
Published: May 2014

We report the first study of macrolide resistance in respiratory tract pathogens in a Serbian paediatric population. It included 5293 Streptococcus pneumoniae, 4297 Streptococcus pyogenes, 2568 Moraxella catarrhalis and 1998 Haemophilus influenzae isolates derived from the respiratory tract and 110 invasive isolates from children aged up to 18 years during 2004–2009. Over the 6-year period, a significant increase (P < 0·01) in macrolide resistance was found in both S. pneumoniae and S. pyogenes that reached 45% and 19%, respectively, in 2009. In the same period, consumption of macrolides increased continually from 2·46 to 5·8 defined daily dose/1000 inhabitants per day. The increase in macrolide resistance in S. pyogenes correlated with consumption of total macrolide and long-acting macrolides (r = 0·879, P = 0·05 and r = 0·922, P = 0·026, respectively). A similar trend was observed in pneumoccoci, although it did not reach statistical significance. The growing problem of macrolide resistance in pneumococci and S. pyogenes in Serbia requires further vigilant surveillance.
Potter Cove, west Antarctic Peninsula, shallow water meiofauna: a seasonal snapshot
Authors: Pasotti F. , Convey P. , Vanreusel A.
Published: May 2014

The meiobenthic community of Potter Cove (King George Island, west Antarctic Peninsula) was investigated, focusing on responses to summer/winter conditions in two study sites contrasting in terms of organic matter inputs. Meiofaunal densities were found to be higher in summer and lower in winter, although this result was not significantly related to the in situ availability of organic matter in each season. The combination of food quality and competition for food amongst higher trophic levels may have played a role in determining the standing stocks at the two sites. Meiobenthic winter abundances were sufficiently high to infer that energy sources were not limiting during winter, supporting observations from other studies for both shallow water and continental shelf Antarctic ecosystems. Recruitment within meiofaunal communities was coupled to the seasonal input of fresh detritus for harpacticoid copepods but not for nematodes, suggesting that species-specific life history or trophic features form an important element of the responses observed.
The role of vitamins and minerals in modulating the expression of microRNA
Authors: Beckett Emma L. , Yates Zoe , Veysey Martin , Duesing Konsta , Lucock Mark
Published: May 2014

A growing number of studies in recent years have highlighted the importance of molecular nutrition as a potential determinant of health and disease. In particular, the ability of micronutrients to regulate the final expression of gene products via modulation of transcription and translation is now being recognised. Modulation of microRNA (miRNA) by nutrients is one pathway by which nutrition may mediate gene expression. miRNA, a class of non-coding RNA, can directly regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally. In addition, miRNA are able to indirectly influence gene expression potential at the transcriptional level via modulation of the function of components of the epigenetic machinery (DNA methylation and histone modifications). These mechanisms interact to form a complex, bi-directional regulatory circuit modulating gene expression. Disease-specific miRNA profiles have been identified in multiple disease states, including those with known dietary risk factors. Therefore, the role that nutritional components, in particular, vitamins and minerals, play in the modulation of miRNA profiles, and consequently health and disease, is increasingly being investigated, and as such is a timely subject for review. The recently posited potential for viable exogenous miRNA to enter human blood circulation from food sources adds another interesting dimension to the potential for dietary miRNA to contribute to gene modulation.
Identification of physical dormancy and dormancy release patterns in several species (Fabaceae) of the cold desert, north-west China
Authors: Abudureheman Buhailiqiemu , Liu Huiliang , Zhang Daoyuan , Guan Kaiyun
Published: May 2014

A clear understanding of the mechanisms involved in releasing seed dormancy is important for effective plant conservation and regeneration of desert species. The dormancy types and dormancy release mechanisms of 19 Fabaceae species from four cold deserts in Xinjiang province, China, were studied. An imbibition experiment was performed to determine the presence or absence of physical dormancy. Other treatments included mechanical scarification, sulphuric acid scarification and simulation of summer temperatures typically encountered in the field. High summer temperature treatments included a maximum soil temperature of 80°C, 65°C and 40°C, conducted under dry and wet conditions. The results showed that all the species had orthodox seeds.Caragana korshinskii,Caragana intermedia,Caragana microphyllaandOnobrychis taneiticaseeds were not dormant.Glycyrrhiza uralensis,Ammodendron bifolium,Vicia costataandEremosparton songoricumseeds had combinational dormancy (PY+PD) whereas the other 11 species had physical dormancy. The mechanical scarification and sulphuric acid scarification treatments were significant to break dormancy (>80%).Melilotus suaveolensandOxytropissp. seeds were temperature-insensitive.Sophora alopecuroides,S. salsula,E. songoricum,A. bifoliumandCassia toraseeds were wet-heat sensitive.Glycyrrhiza glabraseeds were dry-heat sensitive, while those ofHalimodendron halodendronandAstragalus lehmannianuswere sensitive to both dry and wet heat. Although high temperatures, typical of summer, promoted the breaking of physical dormancy, the proportion of seeds of which dormancy was broken differed among species. These differences were indicative of the conditions in which the species are found naturally. Species may have different adaptations that promote favourable regeneration. Given suitable temperature and moisture conditions similar to those in their natural environment, most species were capable of regeneration.
Incentivizing fruit and vegetable purchases among participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children
Authors: Andreyeva Tatiana , Luedicke Joerg
Published: May 2014

Objective

In 2009, the US Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) began to provide participants with cash-value vouchers to purchase fruits and vegetables ($US 10 for women and $US 6 for children per month). The present paper assesses the potential effects of the new WIC incentives on fruit and vegetable purchases among WIC households in two New England states.

Design

A pre–post assessment of changes in fruit and vegetable purchases after the WIC revisions in generalized estimating equation models.

Setting

Scanner data on grocery purchases from a regional supermarket chain in New England, USA.

Subjects

WIC-participating households (n 2137) that regularly shopped at the chain during January–September 2009 and January–September 2010.

Results

After the WIC revisions, purchases of fresh and frozen vegetables increased in volume by 17·5 % and 27·8 %, respectively. The biggest improvements were observed for fresh fruit, an increase of 28·6 %, adding almost a kilogram of fresh fruits per household per month. WIC households spent three times more of their WIC vouchers on purchasing fresh fruits than fresh vegetables. The magnitudes of substitution effects were relatively small: between 4 % (fresh fruit) and 13 % (canned vegetables) of the amounts purchased in 2009 with non-WIC funds were replaced by purchases made using WIC vouchers in 2010.

Conclusions

The provision of fruit and vegetable benefits in the revised WIC food packages increased overall purchases of fruits and vegetables among WIC-participating households in New England. Efforts to encourage consumption of fruits and vegetables by people receiving federal food assistance are paying off.
Effect of Mycotoxin-Containing Diets on Epigenetic Modifications of Mouse Oocytes by Fluorescence Microscopy Analysis
Authors: Zhu Cheng-Cheng , Hou Yan-Jun , Han Jun , Liu Hong-Lin , Cui Xiang-Shun , Kim Nam-Hyung , Sun Shao-Chen
Published: May 2014

Mycotoxins, such as aflatoxin (AF), fumonisin B1, zearalenone (ZEA), and deoxynivalenol (DON), are commonly found in many food commodities. Mycotoxins have been shown to increase DNA methylation levels in a human intestinal cell line. We previously showed that the developmental competence of oocytes was affected in mice that had been fed a mycotoxin-containing diet. In this study, we explored possible mechanisms of low mouse oocyte developmental competence after mycotoxin treatment in an epigenetic modification perspective. Mycotoxin-contaminated maize (DON at 3,875μg/kg, ZEA at 1,897μg/kg, and AF at 806μg/kg) was included in diets at three different doses (mass percentage: 0, 15, and 30%) and fed to mice for 4 weeks. The fluorescence intensity analysis showed that the general DNA methylation levels increased in oocytes from high dose mycotoxin-fed mice. Mouse oocyte histone methylation was also altered. H3K9me3 and H4K20me3 level increased in oocytes from mycotoxin-fed mice, whereas H3K27me3 and H4K20me2 level decreased in oocytes from mycotoxin-fed mice. Thus, our results indicate that naturally occurring mycotoxins have effects on epigenetic modifications in mouse oocytes, which may be one of the reasons for reduced oocyte developmental competence.
Genetic and Environmental Stability of Intelligence in Childhood and Adolescence
Authors: Franić Sanja , Dolan Conor V. , van Beijsterveldt Catherina E.M. , Pol Hilleke E. Hulshoff , Bartels Meike , Boomsma Dorret I.
Published: May 2014

The present study examined the genetic and environmental contributions to the temporal stability of verbal, non-verbal and general intelligence across a developmental period spanning childhood and adolescence (5–18 years). Longitudinal twin data collected in four different studies on a total of 1,748 twins, comprising 4,641 measurement points in total, were analyzed using genetic adaptations of the simplex model. The heterogeneity in the type of instrument used to assess psychometric intelligence across the different subsamples and ages allowed us to address the auxiliary question of how to optimally utilize the existing longitudinal data in the context of gene-finding studies. The results were consistent across domains (verbal, non-verbal and general intelligence), and indicated that phenotypic stability was driven primarily by the high stability of additive genetic factors, that the stability of common environment was moderate, and that the unique environment contributed primarily to change. The cross-subscale stability was consistently low, indicating a small overlap between different domains of intelligence over time. The high stability of additive genetic factors justifies the use of a linear combination of scores across the different ages in the context of gene-finding studies.
Relative Importance of Leader Influences for Subordinates’ Proactive Behaviors, Prosocial Behaviors, and Task Performance
Authors: Chiaburu Dan S. , Smith Troy A. , Wang Jiexin , Zimmerman Ryan D.
Published: May 2014

We meta-analytically examine the relationships between three forms of leader influence, contingent reward (transactional), leader-member exchange (LMX; relational), and transformational (change-oriented) on subordinates’ proactive behaviors. Using non-self-reported data from a combined sample of more than 9,000 employees, we confirm positive relationships between leader influences and employee proactive outcomes. We examine the extent to which one leadership influence is stronger than the others in promoting subordinate proactivity. By combining our new meta-analytic data with existing meta-analytic correlations, we further investigate the extent to which various leadership predictors are differentially related to proactive and prosocial contextual performance, and to task performance. For all outcomes, there are only minimal differences between the contingent reward, LMX, and transformational leadership predictors. Using our results, we propose future research directions for the relationship between leader influences and subordinate work effectiveness.
The tetrapeptide core of the carrier peptide Xentry is cell-penetrating: novel activatable forms of Xentry
Authors: Montrose Kristopher , Yang Yi , Krissansen Geoffrey W.
Published: May 2014

Here we describe a structure-function analysis of the cell-penetrating peptide Xentry derived from the X-protein of the hepatitis B virus. Remarkably, the tetrapeptide core LCLR retains the cell-penetrating ability of the parental peptide LCLRPVG, as either an L- or D-enantiomer. Substitution of the cysteine with leucine revealed that the cysteine is essential for activity. In contrast, the C-terminal arginine could be substituted in the L-isomer with lysine, histidine, glutamic acid, glutamine and asparagine, though the resulting peptides displayed distinct cell-type-specific uptake. Substitution of the leucines in the D-isomer with other hydrophobic residues revealed that leucines are optimal for activity. Surprisingly, linear di- and tetra-peptide forms of Xentry are not cell-permeable. Protease-activatable forms of Xentry were created by fusing Xentry to itself via a protease-cleavable peptide, or by attaching a heparin mimic peptide to the N-terminus. These novel activatable forms of Xentry were only taken up by MCF-7 cells after cleavage by matrix metalloproteinase 9 and could be used to deliver drugs specifically to tumours.
Establishment and application of a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) system for detection of cry1Ac transgenic sugarcane
Authors: Zhou Dinggang , Guo Jinlong , Xu Liping , Gao Shiwu , Lin Qingliang , Wu Qibin , Wu Luguang , Que Youxiong
Published: May 2014

To meet the demand for detection of foreign genes in genetically modified (GM) sugarcane necessary for regulation of gene technology, an efficient method with high specificity and rapidity was developed for the cry1Ac gene, based on loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP). A set of four primers was designed using the sequence of cry1Ac along with optimized reaction conditions: 5.25 mM of Mg2+, 4:1 ratio of inner primer to outer primer, 2.0 U of Bst DNA polymerase in a reaction volume of 25.0 μL. Three post-LAMP detection methods (precipitation, calcein (0.60 mM) with Mn2+ (0.05 mM) complex and SYBR Green I visualization), were shown to be effective. The sensitivity of the LAMP method was tenfold higher than that of conventional PCR when using templates of the recombinant cry1Ac plasmid or genomic DNA from cry1Ac transgenic sugarcane plants. More importantly, this system allowed detection of the foreign gene on-site when screening GM sugarcane without complex and expensive instruments, using the naked eye. This method can not only provide technological support for detection of cry1Ac, but can also further facilitate the use of this detection technique for other transgenes in GM sugarcane.
Compounds from multilayer plastic bags cause reproductive failures in artificial insemination
Authors: Nerin C. , Ubeda J. L. , Alfaro P. , Dahmani Y. , Aznar M. , Canellas E. , Ausejo R.
Published: May 2014

High levels of reproductive failure were detected in some Spanish sow farms in the Spring of 2010. Regular returns to estrus and variable reductions in litter size were observed. The problem started suddenly and did not appear to be related to the quality of the ejaculates, disease, alterations of body condition or any other apparent reasons. Subsequent studies determined that the problem was the origin of the plastic bags used for semen storage. Chemical analysis of the suspicious bags identified unexpected compounds such as BADGE, a cyclic lactone and an unknown phthalate that leached into the semen at concentrations of 0.2 to 2.5 mg/L. Spermatozoa preserved in these bags passed all of the routine quality control tests and no differences were observed between storage in the control and suspicious bags (p > 0.05). In vitro fecundation tests and endocrine profiler panel analysis (EPP) did not show any alterations, whereas the in vivo tests confirmed the described failure. This is the first described relationship between reproductive failure and toxic compounds released from plastic bags.
Layer-by-layer assembly of L10-FePt nanoparticles with significant perpendicular magnetic anisotropy
Authors: Dong Yunhe , Liu Fei , Yang Wenlong , Zhu Jinghan , Yu Jing , Hou Yanglong
Published: May 2014

The L10-FePt film has been fabricated via layer-by-layer assembly under an external magnetic field and exhibits significant perpendicular magnetic anisotropy.
A general approach toward polymer-coated plasmonic nanostructures
Authors: Grzelczak Marek , Sánchez-Iglesias Ana , Liz-Marzán Luis M.
Published: May 2014

A generic method for the preparation of polymer-coated plasmonic nanostructures with tunable thickness of the hydrophobic polymer spacer.
Interplay between the ionic and electronic transport and its effects on the reaction pattern during the electrochemical conversion in an FeF2 nanoparticle
Authors: Ma Ying , Garofalini Stephen H.
Published: May 2014

The continuous Fe network provides an electronic transport pathway, which in turn enables ionic transport through the interface.
Supramolecular templating of hierarchically porous metal–organic frameworks
Authors: Bradshaw Darren , El-Hankari Samir , Lupica-Spagnolo Lucia
Published: May 2014

This tutorial review summarises recent advances in the soft templating of metal–organic frameworks with hierarchical porosity across the micro- and mesoporous regimes.
Eu@COK-16, a host sensitized, hybrid luminescent metal–organic framework
Authors: Mustafa D. , Silva I. G. N. , Bajpe S. R. , Martens J. A. , Kirschhock C. E. A. , Breynaert E. , Brito H. F.
Published: May 2014

Host sensitized Eu@COK-16 demonstrates a novel strategy for material design combining the advantages of luminescent MOFs with those of luminescent host–guest materials.
Evidence of low dimensional ion transport in mechanosynthesized nanocrystalline BaMgF4
Authors: Preishuber-Pflügl F. , Wilkening M.
Published: May 2014

The ternary fluoride BaMgF4 is mechanically synthesized and shows anisotropic F dynamics even in its nanocrystalline form.
Molecular catalysts for hydrogen production from alcohols
Authors: Trincado Monica , Banerjee Dipshikha , Grützmacher Hansjörg
Published: May 2014

The conversion of alcohols to carbonyl compounds and hydrogen: a survey of homogeneous enzymatic and anthropogenic catalytic dehydrogenation reactions.
A dual-targeting, apoptosis-inducing organometallic half-sandwich iridium anticancer complex
Authors: Novohradsky Vojtech , Zerzankova Lenka , Stepankova Jana , Kisova Anna , Kostrhunova Hana , Liu Zhe , Sadler Peter J. , Kasparkova Jana , Brabec Viktor
Published: May 2014

An iridium(iii) complex [(η5-C5Me4C6H4C6H5)Ir(phen)Cl]PF6(phen = phenanthroline) exhibits dual effects in killing cancer cells causing nuclear DNA damage and mitochondrial dysfunction simultaneously.
Functionalization of protein-based nanocages for drug delivery applications
Authors: Schoonen Lise , van Hest Jan C. M.
Published: May 2014

This reviews provides an overview of the recent strategies to modify protein-based nanocages for drug delivery applications.
Mesogen-jacketed liquid crystalline polymers with peripheral oligo(ethylene oxide) chains: phase structure and thermoresponsive behavior
Authors: Tan Qian , Liao Junqiu , Chen Sheng , Zhu Ya , Zhang Hailiang
Published: May 2014

The influence of the number and length of EO terminal groups for MJLCPs on the phase structure and thermoresponsive behavior.
Synthesis of carbohydrate polymer encrusted gold nanoparticles using bacterial exopolysaccharide: a novel and greener approach
Authors: Sathiyanarayanan Ganesan , Vignesh Venkatasamy , Saibaba Ganesan , Vinothkanna Annadurai , Dineshkumar Krishnamoorthy , Viswanathan Madepalli Byrappagowdu , Selvin Joseph
Published: May 2014

A novel report on synthesis of gold nanoparticles using bacterial exopolysaccharide and synthesized nanocrystals (5–20 nm) capped with polysaccharide layer.
Colorimetric anion sensor based on receptor having indole- and thiourea-binding sites
Authors: Murali M. G. , Vishnumurthy K. A. , Seethamraju Sindhu , Ramamurthy Praveen C.
Published: May 2014

A new colorimetric sensor having nitro-substituted indole and bisthiocarbonohydrazone units for selective fluoride and acetate ions has been designed and synthesized.
Anomalous effects of water flow through charged nanochannel membranes
Authors: Yang Meng , Yang Xiaohai , Wang Qing , Wang Kemin , Fan Xin , Liu Wei , Liu Xizhen , Liu Jianbo , Huang Jin
Published: May 2014

Anomalous osmosis may be observed in a suitable concentration range when the directions of concentration diffusion and induced electroosmosis are opposite.
Carbon nanofibers containing Si nanoparticles and graphene-covered Ni for high performance anodes in Li ion batteries
Authors: Xu Zheng-Long , Zhang Biao , Zhou Zi-Qi , Abouali Sara , Akbari Garakani Mohammad , Huang Jiaqiang , Huang Jian-Qiu , Kim Jang-Kyo
Published: May 2014

One-pot electrospinning developed carbon nanofibers containing high-capacity Si and ultrafine Ni particles surrounded by graphene layers as anode materials.
Phase separation and self-assembly of colloidal dimers with tunable attractive strength: from symmetrical square-wells to Janus dumbbells
Authors: Munaò Gianmarco , O’Toole Patrick , Hudson Toby S. , Costa Dino , Caccamo Carlo , Giacometti Achille , Sciortino Francesco
Published: May 2014

Progressive modification of the fluid phase diagram of colloidal dimers, from symmetrical square-well to Janus dumbbells.
Thermodynamic perturbation theory for self-assembling mixtures of divalent single patch colloids
Authors: Marshall Bennett D. , Chapman Walter G.
Published: May 2014

Simulation snapshots of patchy colloid mixtures.
Critical Casimir interactions around the consolute point of a binary solvent
Authors: Mohry T. F. , Kondrat S. , Maciołek A. , Dietrich S.
Published: May 2014

Critical Casimir forces between colloids depend sensitively on the thermodynamic state of the solvent which is reflected in the phase behavior of colloidal suspensions.
Enhancement of mineralization ability of C3N4via a lower valence position by a tetracyanoquinodimethane organic semiconductor
Authors: Zhang Mo , Yao Wenqing , Lv Yanhui , Bai Xiaojuan , Liu Yanfang , Jiang Wenjun , Zhu Yongfa
Published: May 2014

The phenol mineralization ability of TCNQ–g-C3N4 is enhanced by the lower valence position and the charge transfer.