bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Factors influencing the annual risk of bird–window collisions at residential structures in Alberta, Canada
Authors: Bayne Erin M. , Scobie Corey A. , Rawson-Clark Michael
Published: May 2013

Context
Increasingly, ornithologists are being asked to identify major sources of avian mortality so as to identify conservation priorities.

Aims
Considerable evidence suggests that windows of office towers are a lethal hazard for migrating birds. The factors influencing the risk of bird–window collisions in residential settings are not understood as well.

Methods
Citizen scientists were requested to participate in an online survey that asked about characteristics concerning their homes and yards, general demographic information about participants, and whether they had observed evidence of bird–window collisions at their home.

Key results
We found that 39.0% of 1458 participants observed a bird–window collision in the previous year. The mean number of reported collisions was 1.7 ± 4.6 per residence per year, with 38% of collisions resulting in a mortality.

Conclusions
Collisions were not random, with the highest collision and mortality rates at rural residences, with bird feeders > rural residences without feeders > urban residences with feeders > urban residences without feeders > apartments. At urban houses, the age of neighbourhood was a significant predictor of collision rates, with newer neighbourhoods reporting fewer collisions than older neighbourhoods. Most people remembered collisions occurring in the summer months.

Implications
Our results are consistent with past research, suggesting that window collisions with residential homes are an important source of mortality for birds. However, we found large variation in the frequency of collisions at different types of residences. Proper stratification of residence type is crucial to getting accurate estimates of bird–window collisions when scaling local data into larger-scale mortality estimates.
Influence of landscape structure on invasive predators: feral cats and red foxes in the brigalow landscapes, Queensland, Australia
Authors: Graham Cameron A. , Maron Martine , McAlpine Clive A.
Published: May 2013

Context
Invasive mammalian predators are often associated with fragmented landscapes, and can compound the impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation on native fauna. Knowledge of how invasive predators are influenced by different landscape structures can assist in the mitigation of their impacts.

Aims
The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of landscape structure and site-scale habitat attributes on the frequency of feral-cat and red-fox detections in fragmented agricultural landscapes.

Methods
Field surveys of the frequency of red-fox and feral-cat visitation at a site scale were stratified for six different habitat types in six study subregions. The habitat types were large remnant patch interior, large remnant patch edge, small remnant patch, roadside verge, regrowth patch and open agricultural land adjacent to a remnant patch. Sites were centred in a 1-km buffer area from which landscape composition and configuration were calculated. We applied a generalised linear model and an information-theoretic approach to determine the effect size and importance and rank of the explanatory variables on red-fox, feral-cat and pooled cat and fox detection rates.

Key results
The most important factors influencing detection rates had a positive effect and included: the dominance of cropping in the landscape (cat, fox, pooled cat and fox); and the density of vegetation at a site scale (fox, pooled cat and fox). The number of native habitat patches was also an important factor in the models of red foxes and pooled invasive predators.

Conclusion
Spatially heterogeneous cropping landscapes incur higher rates of invasive-predator detections than do intact native-woodland and pasture landscapes at the 1-km scale. At a site scale, elevated invasive-predator detections occurred at sites with dense vegetation, characteristic of narrow woodland and the edges of large woodland patches.

Implications
The research findings highlight that vertebrate pest management needs to target highly fragmented agricultural landscapes that are more likely to have elevated levels of invasive-predator activity. Landscape restoration efforts need to consider the redesign of landscapes to make them less suitable for predators and more hospitable for native wildlife.
Revealing a cryptic life-history stage: differences in habitat selection and survivorship between hatchlings of two turtle species at risk (Glyptemys insculpta and Emydoidea blandingii)
Authors: Paterson J. E. , Steinberg B. D. , Litzgus J. D.
Published: May 2013

Context
Turtles are one of the most imperilled taxonomic groups worldwide and information about population ecology is essential to species recovery. Although the spatial ecology and demography of adults of several turtle species have been well studied, little is known about early life stages. The small size, soft shell, and limited mobility of hatchling turtles may cause differences in survivorship and habitat selection compared with adults.

Aims
We tested the hypothesis that hatchling turtles select habitat as they move away from nests, so as to reduce the risk of predation and desiccation.

Methods
We examined survivorship, behaviour and habitat selection at two spatial scales in hatchling Blanding’s turtles (Emydoidea blandingii) and wood turtles (Glyptemys insculpta) in 2009 and 2010, using radio-telemetry in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. In addition, temperatures of sites used by hatchlings during winter were compared with those at haphazard stations in various habitats.

Key results
The mortality rate was high, with 42% of E. blandingii and 11% of G. insculpta hatchlings surviving to winter; most mortality was caused by predation. Most behavioural observations for both species were of individuals hiding under cover. Both species showed evidence of macrohabitat and microhabitat selection as they dispersed from nests towards overwintering sites, and important variables in the models differed between species. Likewise, the adult stages of these two species differ in their macrohabitat specialisation. There was also evidence that hatchlings chose overwintering sites on the basis of temperature.

Conclusions
Despite significant differences in survivorship between hatchlings and adults, resource selection was similar between these two demographic stages, and conservation plans based on adult habitat use should simultaneously protect hatchlings.

Implications
Understanding habitat selection by juveniles is important for testing hypotheses about ontogenetic shifts in resource selection and for protecting habitat for species at risk.
Designing a practical and rigorous framework for comprehensive evaluation and prioritisation of environmental projects
Authors: Pannell David J. , Roberts Anna M. , Park Geoff , Alexander Jennifer
Published: May 2013

Context
A framework was developed to help investors improve the delivery of environmental benefits from environmental programs. The framework, Investment Framework for Environmental Resources (INFFER), assists environmental managers to design projects, select delivery mechanisms and rank competing projects on the basis of benefits and costs.

Aims
To identify design requirements for an environmental investment framework on the basis of consideration of lessons from practical experience, and established theory from decision analysis and economics.

Methods
The design and delivery of the framework are based on extensive experience from working with environmental managers and policy makers. In addition, the developers have paid close attention to the need for processes that are theoretically rigorous, resulting in a tool that allows valid comparison of projects for different asset types, of different scales and durations.

Key results
From the practical experience outlined, several important lessons and implications are identified, including the need for simplicity, training and support of users, trusting relationships with users, transparency, flexibility, compatibility with the needs and contexts of users, and supportive institutional arrangements. Use of a theoretically correct metric to rank projects can deliver dramatically improved environmental values relative to a commonly used weighted additive metric.

Conclusions
Practical and theoretical considerations have strong implications for the design of a practical, effective and accurate tool to support decision making about environmental project priorities.
Endangered anurans in a novel forest in the highlands of Sri Lanka
Authors: Pethiyagoda Jr Rohan S. , Manamendra-Arachchi Kelum
Published: May 2013

Context
Lands without agricultural or urban use embedded within agricultural and urban regions now account for ~35% of Earth’s terrestrial extent. Although created by human disturbances, these ‘novel ecosystems’, usually poor in native flora and often dominated by alien species, do not require human intervention for their maintenance. Given their large and increasing area, however, their ability to support native – and especially threatened – faunas warrants investigation. With 20 species already extinct and 47 of its 91 extant species assessed as Endangered or Critically Endangered, Sri Lanka’s amphibian fauna is in trouble. The 18 anurans (12 of these Endangered) occurring above 1500 m in the island’s central mountains are at particular risk from drastic declines in the extent and quality of habitat. Habitat restoration, however, is retarded by successional vegetation being arrested at least in the decadal time-frame by alien invasive species, creating a ‘novel ecosystem’.

Aim
To investigate whether such an ecosystem is able to support native anurans with a species richness and abundance comparable to that of neighbouring tropical montane cloud forest.

Methods
We surveyed 110 transects (each 20 m × 2 m) across three neighbouring locations covering three microhabitat-types, and recorded 552 specimens. One-way analyses of variance and post hoc, pair-wise Tukey’s tests were performed to test for differences in species richness and abundance among the three microhabitat types.

Key result
Of the 15 anuran species occurring in the neighbouring primary forest, 12 (eight of them Endangered) had established populations in the novel ecosystem (a former tea plantation), with abundances comparable to (or in some cases exceeding) those in primary forest.

Conclusion
Even young secondary forest dominated by alien plant species, in which native vegetation is almost wholly absent, can provide adequate habitat for most threatened highland anurans in Sri Lanka.

Implications
(1) Even if florally poor and dominated by alien species, novel ecosystems may present potential conservation opportunities for previously threatened faunas. (2) Threatened anurans exclusively dependent on primary forest and unable to utilise secondary-growth forest should receive greater conservation attention and be prioritised for in situ conservation measures. (3) Given their large and increasing extent globally, novel ecosystems should be considered as part of the area of occupancy of species able to complete their life cycles in them when assessed for conservation purposes, rather than being arbitrarily discarded as ‘degraded’.
A Huygens principle for diffusion and anomalous diffusion in spatially extended systems
Authors: Gottwald Georg A. , Melbourne Ian
Published: May 2013

We present a universal view on diffusive behavior in chaotic spatially extended systems for anisotropic and isotropic media. For anisotropic systems, strong chaos leads to diffusive behavior (Brownian motion with drift) and weak chaos leads to superdiffusive behavior (Lévy processes with drift). For isotropic systems, the drift term vanishes and strong chaos again leads to Brownian motion. We establish the existence of a nonlinear Huygens principle for weakly chaotic systems in isotropic media whereby the dynamics behaves diffusively in even space dimension and exhibits superdiffusive behavior in odd space dimensions.
Engineering bone tissue substitutes from human induced pluripotent stem cells
Authors: de Peppo Giuseppe Maria , Marcos-Campos Iván , Kahler David John , Alsalman Dana , Shang Linshan , Vunjak-Novakovic Gordana , Marolt Darja
Published: May 2013

Congenital defects, trauma, and disease can compromise the integrity and functionality of the skeletal system to the extent requiring implantation of bone grafts. Engineering of viable bone substitutes that can be personalized to meet specific clinical needs represents a promising therapeutic alternative. The aim of our study was to evaluate the utility of human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) for bone tissue engineering. We first induced three hiPSC lines with different tissue and reprogramming backgrounds into the mesenchymal lineages and used a combination of differentiation assays, surface antigen profiling, and global gene expression analysis to identify the lines exhibiting strong osteogenic differentiation potential. We then engineered functional bone substitutes by culturing hiPSC-derived mesenchymal progenitors on osteoconductive scaffolds in perfusion bioreactors and confirmed their phenotype stability in a subcutaneous implantation model for 12 wk. Molecular analysis confirmed that the maturation of bone substitutes in perfusion bioreactors results in global repression of cell proliferation and an increased expression of lineage-specific genes. These results pave the way for growing patient-specific bone substitutes for reconstructive treatments of the skeletal system and for constructing qualified experimental models of development and disease.
Silence and Concealment in Political Discourse
Authors: Schröter Melani
Published: May 2013

This book constitutes a significant contribution to political discourse analysis and to the study of silence, both from the point of view of discourse analysis as well as pragmatics, and it is also relevant for those interested in politics and media studies. It promotes the empirical study of silence by analysing metadiscourse about politicians’ silence and by systematically conceptualising the communicativeness of silence in the interplay between intention (to be silent), expectation (of speech) and relevance (of the unsaid). Three cases of sustained metadiscourse about silent politicians from Germany are analysed to exemplify this approach, based on media texts and protocols of parliamentary inquiries. Ideals of political transparency and communicative openness are identified as a basis for (disappointed) expectations of speech which trigger and determine metadiscourse about politicians’ silences. Finally, the book deals critically with the role of those who act as advocates of ‘the public’s’ demand to speak out.
Reformulation ofShahnamehLegends in Bahram Beyzaie's Plays
Authors: Talajooy Saeed
Published: May 2013

This essay explores Bahram Beyzaie's inter-paradigmatic reformulations of Iranian dramatic forms andShahnamehlegends in plays which highlight the voice of the periphery against the center and imbue these narratives with motifs that relate them to the present. The essay first reviews Beyzaie's work with theShahnamehand then examines theShahnamehcycle of Jamshid and Zahhak to provide the context for in-depth analyses ofAzhdahak(1959),Karnameh-ye Bondar-e Bidakhsh(The Account of Bondar the Premier, 1996), and the first episode ofShab-e Hezar-o-Yekom(The One Thousand and First Night, 2003) in which Beyzaie reconstructs the cycle of Jamshid and Zahhak.
InterEvScore: a novel coarse-grained interface scoring function using a multi-body statistical potential coupled to evolution
Authors: Andreani Jessica , Faure Guilhem , Guerois Raphael
Published: May 2013

Motivation: Structural prediction of protein interactions currently remains a challenging but fundamental goal. In particular, progress in scoring functions is critical for the efficient discrimination of near-native interfaces among large sets of decoys. Many functions have been developed using knowledge-based potentials, but few make use of multi-body interactions or evolutionary information, although multi-residue interactions are crucial for protein–protein binding and protein interfaces undergo significant selection pressure to maintain their interactions.

Results: This article presents InterEvScore, a novel scoring function using a coarse-grained statistical potential including two- and three-body interactions, which provides each residue with the opportunity to contribute in its most favorable local structural environment. Combination of this potential with evolutionary information considerably improves scoring results on the 54 test cases from the widely used protein docking benchmark for which evolutionary information can be collected. We analyze how our way to include evolutionary information gradually increases the discriminative power of InterEvScore. Comparison with several previously published scoring functions (ZDOCK, ZRANK and SPIDER) shows the significant progress brought by InterEvScore.

Availability:  http://biodev.cea.fr/interevol/interevscore

Contact:  guerois@cea.fr

Supplementary information:  Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
pyGenClean: efficient tool for genetic data clean up before association testing
Authors: Lemieux Perreault Louis-Philippe , Provost Sylvie , Legault Marc-André , Barhdadi Amina , Dubé Marie-Pierre
Published: May 2013

Summary: Genetic association studies making use of high-throughput genotyping arrays need to process large amounts of data in the order of millions of markers per experiment. The first step of any analysis with genotyping arrays is typically the conduct of a thorough data clean up and quality control to remove poor quality genotypes and generate metrics to inform and select individuals for downstream statistical analysis. We have developed pyGenClean, a bioinformatics tool to facilitate and standardize the genetic data clean up pipeline with genotyping array data. In conjunction with a source batch-queuing system, the tool minimizes data manipulation errors, accelerates the completion of the data clean up process and provides informative plots and metrics to guide decision making for statistical analysis.

Availability and implementation: pyGenClean is an open source Python 2.7 software and is freely available, along with documentation and examples, from http://www.statgen.org.

Contact: louis-philippe.lemieux.perreault@umontreal.ca or marie-pierre.dube@statgen.org
Modeling Dynamic Preferences: A Bayesian Robust Dynamic Latent Ordered Probit Model
Authors: Stegmueller Daniel
Published: May 2013

Much politico-economic research on individuals' preferences is cross-sectional and does not model dynamic aspects of preference or attitude formation. I present a Bayesian dynamic panel model, which facilitates the analysis of repeated preferences using individual-level panel data. My model deals with three problems. First, I explicitly include feedback from previous preferences taking into account that available survey measures of preferences are categorical. Second, I model individuals' initial conditions when entering the panel as resulting from observed and unobserved individual attributes. Third, I capture unobserved individual preference heterogeneity both via standard parametric random effects and a robust alternative based on Bayesian nonparametric density estimation. I use this model to analyze the impact of income and wealth on preferences for government intervention using the British Household Panel Study from 1991 to 2007.
Subcellular Dynamics and Role of Arabidopsis β-1,3-Glucanases in Cell-to-Cell Movement of Tobamoviruses
Authors: Zavaliev Raul , Levy Amit , Gera Abed , Epel Bernard L.
Published: May 2013

β-1,3-Glucanases (BG) have been implicated in enhancing virus spread by degrading callose at plasmodesmata (Pd). Here, we investigate the role of Arabidopsis BG in tobamovirus spread. During Turnip vein clearing virus infection, the transcription of two pathogenesis-related (PR)-BG AtBG2 and AtBG3 increased but that of Pd-associated BG AtBG_pap did not change. In transgenic plants, AtBG2 was retained in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) network and was not secreted. As a stress response mediated by salicylic acid, AtBG2 was secreted and appeared as a free extracellular protein localized in the entire apoplast but did not accumulate at Pd sites. At the leading edge of Tobacco mosaic virus spread, AtBG2 co-localized with the viral movement protein in the ER-derived bodies, similarly to other ER proteins, but was not secreted to the cell wall. In atbg2 mutants, callose levels at Pd and virus spread were unaffected. Likewise, AtBG2 overexpression had no effect on virus spread. However, in atbg_pap mutants, callose at Pd was increased and virus spread was reduced. Our results demonstrate that the constitutive Pd-associated BG but not the stress-regulated extracellular PR-BG are directly involved in regulation of callose at Pd and cell-to-cell transport in Arabidopsis, including the spread of viruses.
First Report of Gulf Licaria, Licaria trianda, as a Suscept of Laurel Wilt
Authors: Ploetz R. C. , Konkol J.
Published: May 2013

Gulf licaria, Licaria trianda (Sw.) Kosterm., is a federally endangered member of the Lauraceae plant family in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was never common in the area, and urban development has extirpated it from most of its former range; as of 2001, fewer than 10 trees remained in a single, remnant habitat in the continental United States, Simpson Park (25°45′31″N, 80°11′46″W) (2). Laurel wilt, caused by the fungus Raffaelea lauricola T. C. Harr., Fraedrich & Aghayeva, has recently devastated members of the Lauraceae in the southeastern United States, most notably redbay, Persea borbonia (1). As R. lauricola and its vector, the redbay ambrosia beetle Xyleborus glabratus, have spread in the region, an increasing number of taxa in this plant family have been affected by this disease (1). In 2012, seedlings of gulf licaria and redbay were obtained from local nurseries; they were grown in 30 liter pots, 1.3 m tall, had stems 3 cm in diameter 20 cm above the soil line, and were maintained with standard watering and fertilization practices. In two pathogenicity experiments on July 6 and September 25, 2012, three plants each of gulf licaria and redbay were inoculated with an isolate of R. lauricola, RL4, as described in previous experiments (3), and two plants each were mock inoculated (water control). RL4 is deposited as CBS 127349 at the Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures (CBS Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands), and a SSU rDNA sequence for it is deposited in GenBank under Accession No. HM446155. Beginning 2 weeks after inoculation, plants were rated on a weekly basis for the development of external symptoms, on a subjective 1 (no symptoms) to 10 (dead) scale (3). After 5 weeks, inoculated plants of redbay in each experiment (positive control) had died after first developing symptoms of wilt and necrotic foliage that are typical for this disease (1). In contrast, inoculated plants of gulf licaria developed severe symptoms by the time experiments were terminated 6 and 11 weeks after inoculation; chlorosis developed on some of the leaves of all plants and these eventually abscised (mean external severities of 7.3 and 6.5, respectively), but plants did not die. Brown to greyish discoloration of sapwood developed in all inoculated plants, and the pathogen was recovered from symptomatic sapwood on CSMA (3). No symptoms developed on mock inoculated plants and the pathogen was not recovered from them. It is concluded that gulf licaria is susceptible to laurel wilt, but that it is apparently less susceptible than redbay. Whether X. glabratus is attracted to, or will bore into, gulf licaria is not known, but will play a significant role in the extent to which this rare tree is affected by laurel wilt.

References: (1) S. W. Fraedrich et al. Plant Dis. 92:215, 2008. (2) G. D. Gann et al. Rare Plants of South Florida: Their History, Conservation, and Restoration. Institute for Regional Conservation, Miami, 2002. (3) R. C. Ploetz et al. Plant Pathol. 61:801, 2012.
Destructive Tree Diseases Associated with Ambrosia and Bark Beetles: Black Swan Events in Tree Pathology?
Authors: Ploetz Randy C. , Hulcr Jiri , Wingfield Michael J. , de Beer Z. Wilhelm
Published: May 2013

Diseases associated with ambrosia and bark beetles comprise some of the most significant problems that have emerged on trees in the last century. They are caused by fungi in the Ophiostomatales, Microascales, and Hypocreales, and have vectors in the Scolytinae (ambrosia and bark beetles) and Platypodinae (ambrosia beetles) subfamilies of the Curculionidae (Coleoptera). Some of these problems, such as Dutch elm disease, have a long history, have been extensively researched, and are fairly well understood. In contrast, other similar diseases developed recently and are poorly or partially understood. The emergence and unexpected importance of these tree diseases are discussed in this article. An underlying factor in most of these interactions is the absence of a coevolved history between the so-called “naïve” or “new encounter” host trees and the pathogens and/or beetles. For the ambrosia beetles, these interactions are associated with susceptibility to what are typically benign fungi and atypical relationships with healthy trees (ambrosia beetles favor trees that are dead or stressed). Interestingly, the pathogens for both the ambrosia and bark beetle–associated diseases often have symbiotic relationships with the insects that are not based on phytopathogenicity. Some of the most alarming and damaging of these diseases are considered “black swan events”. Black swan developed as a metaphor for a supposed impossibility that is contradicted with new information. Today, Black Swan Theory focuses on unexpected events of large magnitude and consequence.
First Report of Vinca Blight Caused by Phytophthora nicotianae in Northwestern Mexico
Authors: Alvarez-Rodriguez B. , Ortiz-Meza J. A. , Rojo-Baez I. , Marquez-Zequera I. , Garcia-Estrada R. S. , Carrillo-Fasio J. A. , Allende-Molar R.
Published: May 2013

Vinca (Catharantus roseus (L.) G. Don) is a common ornamental landscape plant. From July to September 2012, blighted and wilted vinca plants were found in retail stores, commercial nurseries, and urban landscape areas of Culiacan, Sinaloa, in northwestern Mexico. In several commercial nurseries and a retail store, incidence of the unknown disease on vinca plants ranged from 20 to 50%, resulting in significant economic losses. Symptoms of the disease started with a foliar blight, and if warm and wet conditions were present, the disease progressed, causing plant wilting and death. Surface-sterilized (0.5% NaOCl 1 min) diseased plant tissue was plated on V8 agar medium, and after 72 h of incubation at 25°C, white colonies of coenocytic mycelium were developed from the plated tissues. Isolates produced cottony colonies on V8 agar medium, grew well between 7 and 30°C (optimum of 25°C), and produced spherical, intercalary, and terminal chlamydospores (17 to 30 μm) and non caducous, papillate, spherical to ovoid sporangia of 30 to 39 × 21 to 31 μm. Based on these morphological characteristics, Phytophthora isolates were identified as Phytophthora nicotianae Breda de Haan (1,3). The identity of two representative isolates OV4 and OV11 was confirmed by sequence analysis of the rDNA internal transcribed spacers (ITS; GenBank Accession Nos. KC248202 and KC248201), and of the β-tubulin (β-tub; KC248404 and KC248403) and translation elongation factor 1-α (EF1-α; KC248206 and KC248205) genes. Comparative sequence analysis against the NCBI nucleotide database showed a high degree of identity with reference sequences of P. nicotianae (ITS, 99%; β-tub, 99%; EF1-α, 100%) (2). A pathogenicity test with a representative isolate of P. nicotianae was performed on 10-week-old healthy vinca seedlings (n = 10). An aliquot of 10 ml of a zoosporic suspension (104 zoospores/ml) was sprayed onto the seedlings' leaves. An equal number of non-inoculated control seedlings were sprayed with sterile distilled water. Seedlings were maintained in a moist chamber at 25°C with 80 to 90% relative humidity and watered as needed with sterile water. Inoculated plants showed initial symptoms of foliar blight after 4 days, whereas control plants remained healthy. Ten days after inoculation, inoculated plants showed severe wilting. P. nicotianae was reisolated only from inoculated plants, thus fulfilling Koch's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report of P. nicotianae attacking annual vinca in northwestern Mexico.

References: (1) D. C. Erwin and O. K. Ribeiro. Phytophthora Diseases Worldwide. The American Phytopathological Society, St. Paul, MN, 1996. (2) L. P. Kroon et al. Fungal Genet Biol. 41:766, 2004. (3) F. N. Martin et al. Plant Dis. 96:1080, 2013.
Facial morphology predicts male fitness and rank but not survival in Second World War Finnish soldiers
Authors: Loehr John , O'Hara Robert B.
Published: May 2013

We investigated fitness, military rank and survival of facial phenotypes in large-scale warfare using 795 Finnish soldiers who fought in the Winter War (1939–1940). We measured facial width-to-height ratio—a trait known to predict aggressive behaviour in males—and assessed whether facial morphology could predict survival, lifetime reproductive success (LRS) and social status. We found no difference in survival along the phenotypic gradient, however, wider-faced individuals had greater LRS, but achieved a lower military rank.
Modelling HIV-1 2-LTR dynamics following raltegravir intensification
Authors: Luo Rutao , Cardozo E. Fabian , Piovoso Michael J. , Wu Hulin , Buzon Maria J. , Martinez-Picado Javier , Zurakowski Ryan
Published: May 2013

A model of reservoir activation and viral replication is introduced accounting for the production of 2-LTR HIV-1 DNA circles following antiviral intensification with the HIV integrase inhibitor raltegravir, considering contributions of de novo infection events and exogenous sources of infected cells, including quiescent infected cell activation. The model shows that a monotonic increase in measured 2-LTR concentration post intensification is consistent with limited de novo infection primarily maintained by sources of infected cells unaffected by raltegravir, such as quiescent cell activation, while a transient increase in measured 2-LTR concentration is consistent with significant levels of efficient (R0> 1) de novo infection. The model is validated against patient data from the INTEGRAL study and is shown to have a statistically significant fit relative to the null hypothesis of random measurement variation about a mean. We obtain estimates and confidence intervals for the model parameters, including 2-LTR half-life. Seven of the 13 patients with detectable 2-LTR concentrations from the INTEGRAL study have measured 2-LTR dynamics consistent with significant levels of efficient replication of the virus prior to treatment intensification.
Unravelling daily human mobility motifs
Authors: Schneider Christian M. , Belik Vitaly , Couronné Thomas , Smoreda Zbigniew , González Marta C.
Published: May 2013

Human mobility is differentiated by time scales. While the mechanism for long time scales has been studied, the underlying mechanism on the daily scale is still unrevealed. Here, we uncover the mechanism responsible for the daily mobility patterns by analysing the temporal and spatial trajectories of thousands of persons as individual networks. Using the concept of motifs from network theory, we find only 17 unique networks are present in daily mobility and they follow simple rules. These networks, called here motifs, are sufficient to capture up to 90 per cent of the population in surveys and mobile phone datasets for different countries. Each individual exhibits a characteristic motif, which seems to be stable over several months. Consequently, daily human mobility can be reproduced by an analytically tractable framework for Markov chains by modelling periods of high-frequency trips followed by periods of lower activity as the key ingredient.
Cultural phylogeography of the Bantu Languages of sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Currie Thomas E. , Meade Andrew , Guillon Myrtille , Mace Ruth
Published: May 2013

There is disagreement about the routes taken by populations speaking Bantu languages as they expanded to cover much of sub-Saharan Africa. Here, we build phylogenetic trees of Bantu languages and map them onto geographical space in order to assess the likely pathway of expansion and test between dispersal scenarios. The results clearly support a scenario in which groups first moved south through the rainforest from a homeland somewhere near the Nigeria–Cameroon border. Emerging on the south side of the rainforest, one branch moved south and west. Another branch moved towards the Great Lakes, eventually giving rise to the monophyletic clade of East Bantu languages that inhabit East and Southeastern Africa. These phylogenies also reveal information about more general processes involved in the diversification of human populations into distinct ethnolinguistic groups. Our study reveals that Bantu languages show a latitudinal gradient in covering greater areas with increasing distance from the equator. Analyses suggest that this pattern reflects a true ecological relationship rather than merely being an artefact of shared history. The study shows how a phylogeographic approach can address questions relating to the specific histories of certain groups, as well as general cultural evolutionary processes.
The changing face of international education in China
Authors: Robinson Jason , Guan Xuan
Published: May 2013

Purpose

This paper aims to describe the growing popularity of international schools in China. Two types of international schools are discussed: independent international schools that only foreign passport holders can attend (e.g. Shanghai American School), and international programs in the public system that both foreigners and Chinese nationals can attend (e.g. International Experimental Class, No. 1 Middle School, Wuhan).

Design/methodology/approach

A comparative analysis is carried out of the historical context, mission, curriculum, students, teachers, governance and tuition of two sample schools (one sample from each type of international school in China).

Findings

Analysis reveals similarities, differences, and challenges each school experiences. Examples of recent cross‐cultural collaborative efforts aiming to alleviate these challenges are then identified, including the discussion of a third sample school, the Nansha College Preparatory Academy in Shenzhen.

Originality/value

This paper provides insight into how international education is evolving in China, and how cross‐cultural collaboration can be employed to support growth and improvement of international education in China.
Big moves to improve the quality of teacher education in China
Authors: Han Xue
Published: May 2013

Purpose

This article aims to describe and discuss four major innovations to improve the quality of teacher education including preparation programs and professional development programs in recent years in China. The four major innovations include establishing the National Curriculum Standards for Teacher Education (NCSTE) and the National Teacher Certification Examination; implementing the “double development plan” to reform clinical practice; launching the “National Training Plan” to develop in‐service teachers; and consolidating the career ladder for teachers.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper takes the form of a review of the government documents and current literature.

Findings

The author argues that the four major innovations reflect the central trends to reform teacher education both in China and the USA – increased standards and accreditation, more clinical experiences in preparation, increased use of technology in teacher professional development, and more accountability and incentive for teachers.

Originality/value

When the world is faced with the globalized economy, cultural exchange and social equity issues, discussions about the recent innovations of China's teacher education will shed light on our understanding of better approaches to improve teacher quality that no doubt connect tradition and local practices with global convergence.
Between a rock and a hard place: higher education reform and innovation in China
Authors: Zhang Gaoming , Zhao Yong , Lei Jing
Published: May 2013

Purpose

Over the past few decades China's higher education has gone through dramatic growth and multiple rounds of reforms accompanied by a remarkable amount of financial investment, all aiming at developing world‐class universities to grow innovative talents. Yet the outcomes so far have been disappointing. This paper aims to investigate this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

By reviewing and analyzing selected educational reforms in higher education in China, this article discusses the reasons of the gap between the massive input for innovation in higher education in China and abysmal results. This paper also reports and analyzes a case that challenges central control and the gaokao system.

Findings

Central control and the gaokao, the infamous college entrance exam, are the bedrocks of China's higher education and also the culprit for China's failure to cultivate innovative talents. Unless they are fundamentally changed it is unlikely that China will have the higher education system it dreams of having.

Originality/value

This article provides an overview of China's efforts to cultivate innovative talents by strategically investing in building world‐class higher education institutions (HEIs) and analyzes the reasons behind the apparent gap between its massive input and the abysmal results achieved.
Resilience:Outcome,Process,Emergence,Narrative (OPEN) theory
Authors: Almedom Astier M.
Published: May 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to synthesize coherent theory that identifies and links the cognitive and structural elements in both the psychosocial and organizational dimensions of resilience.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach takes the form of the author's review of and reflections on the dynamics of resilience in living systems in general, and in humans in particular, drawing on seminal scholarly publications across trans‐disciplinary fields of scientific research.

Findings

Human resilience is recounted and documented in narrative form across spatial and temporal gradients: retrospectively – in historical perspective; introspectively – in the immediate aftermath of traumatic events and/or experiences; and prospectively – in anticipation of crisis. Measurements or assessments of human resilience vary according to the research questions being addressed. The variables may relate to resilience as an outcome or a process. Resilience is also assessed as an emergent attribute of individuals and communities who may have undergone post‐traumatic growth, and/or transformation associated with self‐organized and self‐governing systems. Complex systems where key functions and core identity and integrity are sustained may be examined under an integrated explanatory theoretical model that allows for systems' resilience to be measured as anOutcome; monitored as aProcess; identified as anEmergent property; andNarrated – hence,OPENtheory.

Practical implications

Decision makers faced with contemporary questions of how best to embark on the fast‐moving sort of “runaway train” concept of resilience may findOPENuseful as a tool for identifying, understanding and promoting human resilience – a basis for sustainable futures.

Originality/value

This conceptual paper offers original insights with a pragmatic analytical tool that coherently links the cognitive and structural elements of human resilience.
Towards an ontology of the present moment
Authors: Hodgson Anthony
Published: May 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose that conceptions of time and future that are currently in use restrict the possibilities for framing decision making. By privileging the notion of present moment over that of linear time, a more comprehensive framing of what it means to consider what influences our judgements. The ontology of the present moment provides a theoretical context for knowing what we can of the future in a more comprehensive way.

Design/methodology/approach

A review of ways of knowing the future that extends beyond linear assumptions of time leads to consideration of anticipatory systems and of the relationship between purpose and causality. It leads further into conjecture that the present moment is more ontologically fundamental than what we customarily refer to as past, present and future.

Findings

On this foundation, examination of experience of now reveals a multidimensionality which can include retrocausality, the possibility of the future influencing the present and the importance of latent patterning in determining events.

Research limitations/implications

The notion of the present moment has much in common with second order cybernetics and indicates a possible way of bringing systems thinking, especially boundary critique, to futures thinking and strategic decision making.

Practical implications

Although basically a theoretical paper, the framework does suggest possibilities for redesigning futures practice through using the present moment as a meta‐framing critique technique to reveal more clearly underlying assumptions in both futures studies and systems thinking.

Originality/value

In the context of a world where serious inability to see what is coming is pervasive in management and governance, a fresh look at fundamental assumptions may reveal flawed decision thinking and indicate ways of improvement.
A theoretical frame for future studies
Authors: Ehresmann Andrée C.
Published: May 2013

Purpose

Future studies can be given several interpretations. The purpose of this paper is to develop a methodology for anticipation in a well delimited frame, that of multi‐scale complex systems with a dynamic directed by the cooperation/competition between a net of agents, the “co‐regulators”, each operating with its own rhythm and logic, with the help of a central memory. These systems include social systems of different sizes from small social groups, to large societies, and also living or artificial cognitive systems.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is conducted in the frame of the Memory Evolutive Systems, a model for such systems, which the author has developed with Jean‐Paul Vanbremeersch in a series of publications since 1987; this model is based on a “dynamic” category theory.

Findings

It is found that the characteristics of these systems making them capable of developing complex scenarios are: a kind of “flexible redundancy” (possibility of switches between decompositions of complex components), called the Multiplicity Principle; development of a hierarchical, robust though flexible, memory containing an internal model of the system and its environment; modulation of the global dynamic by an interplay between the local dynamics of the co‐regulators, in which the non respect of the “synchronicity laws” may lead to cascades of dysfunctions backfiring between levels.

Originality/value

The model shows how to develop innovative scenarios through a sequence of retrospection and prospection processes.
REVIEW: Nutrient stripping: the global disparity between food security and soil nutrient stocks
Authors: Jones Davey L. , Cross Paul , Withers Paul J. A. , DeLuca Thomas H. , Robinson David A. , Quilliam Richard S. , Harris Ian M. , Chadwick David R. , Edwards‐Jones Gareth
Published: May 2013

The Green Revolution successfully increased food production but in doing so created a legacy of inherently leaky and unsustainable agricultural systems. Central to this are the problems of excessive nutrient mining. If agriculture is to balance the needs of food security with the delivery of other ecosystem services, then current rates of soil nutrient stripping must be reduced and the use of synthetic fertilisers made more efficient.

We explore the global extent of the problem, with specific emphasis on the failure of macronutrient management (e.g. nitrogen, phosphorus) to deliver continued improvements in yield and the failure of agriculture to recognise the seriousness of micronutrient depletion (e.g. copper, zinc, selenium).

Nutrient removals associated with the relatively immature, nutrient‐rich soils of the UK are contrasted with the mature, nutrient‐poor soils of India gaining insight into the emerging issue of nutrient stripping and the long‐term implications for human health and soil quality. Whilst nutrient deficiencies are rare in developed countries, micronutrient deficiencies are commonly increasing in less‐developed countries. Increasing rates of micronutrient depletion are being inadvertently accomplished through increasing crop yield potential and nitrogen fertiliser applications.

Amongst other factors, the spatial disconnects caused by the segregation and industrialisation of livestock systems, between rural areas (where food is produced) and urban areas (where food is consumed and human waste treated) are identified as a major constraint to sustainable nutrient recycling.

Synthesis and applications. This study advocates that agricultural sustainability can only be accomplished using a whole‐systems approach that thoroughly considers nutrient stocks, removals, exports and recycling. Society needs to socially and environmentally re‐engineer agricultural systems at all scales. It is suggested that this will be best realised by national‐scale initiatives. Failure to do so will lead to an inevitable and rapid decline in the delivery of provisioning services within agricultural systems.
Reduction of the use of antimicrobial drugs following the rapid detection ofStreptococcus agalactiaein the vagina at delivery by real‐timePCRassay
Authors: Poncelet‐Jasserand E , Forges F , Varlet M‐N , Chauleur C , Seffert P , Siani C , Pozzetto B , Ros A
Published: May 2013

Objective

To assess whether the determination of the presence of group B streptococci (GBS) in the vagina using a rapid polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay at delivery was able to spare useless antimicrobial treatments, as compared with conventional culture at 34–38 weeks of gestation.

Design

Practical evaluation and prospective cost‐effectiveness analysis.

Setting

A university hospital in France.

Population

A cohort of 225 women in labour at the University‐Hospital of Saint‐Etienne.

Methods

Each woman had a conventional culture performed at 34–38 weeks of gestation. At the beginning of labour, two vaginal swabs were sampled for rapidPCRtesting and culture. The decision to prescribe a prophylactic antimicrobial treatment or not was taken according to the result of thePCRtest. A comparative cost‐effectiveness analysis of the two diagnostic strategies was carried out.

Main outcome measures

Number of women receiving inadequate prophylactic antimicrobial drugs following each testing strategy, costs ofPCRtesting and culture, frequency of vaginalGBS, and diagnostic performance of thePCRtest at delivery.

Results

The percentage of unnecessarily treated women was significantly reduced using the rapid test versus conventional culture (4.5 and 13.6%, respectively;P < 0.001). The rate of vaginalGBSat delivery was 12.5%. The incremental cost‐effectiveness ratio (ICER) for each inadequate management avoided was €36 and €173 from the point of view of the healthcare system and hospital, respectively.

Conclusions

ThePCRassay reduced the number of inadequate antimicrobial treatments aimed to prevent the early onset ofGBSdisease. However, this strategy generates extra costs that must be put into balance with its clinical benefits.