bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
History of the race structure of Orobanche cumana and the breeding of sunflower for resistance to this parasitic weed: A review
Authors: Molinero-Ruiz Leire , Delavault Philippe , Pérez-Vich Begoña , Pacureanu-Joita Maria , Bulos Mariano , Altieri Emiliano , Domínguez Juan
Published: December 2015

Broomrape, caused by Orobanche cumana, has affected sunflowers since the early 20th century in Eastern Europe. Currently, it limits sunflower oil production in Southern and Eastern Europe and in some areas of Asia, causing around 50% seed losses when susceptible hybrids are grown. Covered in this review are aspects such as: biological processes that are common to Orobanche spp. and/or particular to O. cumana in sunflower, genetic resistance and its mechanisms, races of the parasite identified in different countries throughout the time and their increasing virulence, and breeding for resistance to some herbicides as a novel control option. The main purpose is to present an updated and, as far as possible, complete picture of the way both the parasitic weed and its host crop have evolved in time, and how they co-exist in the current agriculture. Additionally, we propose a system for determining the races of the parasite that can be internationally adopted from now. In the context of minimal harmful effects on the environment, changing patterns of land use in farming systems, and global environment changes, the final goal of this work is to provide all those interested in parasites from field crops and their integrated management compiled information on the sunflower – O. cumana system as a case study.
Short communication. Stallion sperm quality after combined ejaculate fractionation and colloidal centrifugation
Authors: Crespo Francisco , Gosálvez Jaime , Johnston Stephen D. , De la Torre Joaquina
Published: December 2015

This study investigated the possible additive benefit of ejaculate fractionation and colloidal centrifugation on stallion sperm quality. Using an open-end artificial vagina, the sperm-rich fraction (FRAC-1) was separated from the rest of the ejaculate (FRAC-2) and a third sperm sample representing the combined ejaculate was reconstituted post-ejaculation (RAW). Each semen sample was processed for colloidal centrifugation. The percentage of abnormal spermatozoa was 17.8 ± 7.0% in RAW and 14.6 ± 9.5% in FRAC-1 but decreased to 11.4 ± 4.7% and 9.6 ± 6.9% respectively, after colloidal centrifugation. A sperm DNA fragmentation index of 10.9 ± 5.1% was observed in RAW and 7.5 ± 2.4% in FRAC-1 semen collected with the AV but this decreased to 7.8 ± 2.8% and 5.2 ± 2.3% after colloidal centrifugation. The rate of increase in sperm DNA fragmentation during the first 6 h of incubation at 37 ºC was 1.8 ± 0.9% per hour in RAW semen and 2.0 ± 2.0% per hour in FRAC-1 but this significantly decreased to 1.3 ± 1.4% and 0.9 ± 0.8% respectively after colloidal centrifugation. While stallion seminal characteristics can be improved using colloidal centrifugation, further enhancement is possible if the ejaculate is initially fractionated.
Testing of leachability and persistence of sixteen pesticides in three agricultural soils of a semiarid Mediterranean region
Authors: Garrido Isabel , Vela Nuria , Fenoll José , Navarro Ginés , Pérez-Lucas Gabriel , Navarro Simón
Published: December 2015

Leaching, the movement of water and chemicals into deeper soil layers and groundwater is a subject of worldwide interest because a high percentage of drinking water is extracted from groundwater. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential leaching and persistence of sixteen pesticides (one fungicide, three nematicides/insecticides, and twelve herbicides) for three Mediterranean agricultural soils with similar texture (clay loam) but different organic matter content (1.2-3.1%). Adsorption was studied in batch experiments and leaching was tested using disturbed soil columns (40 cm length × 4 cm i.d.). Degradation studies were carried out during 120 days under laboratory conditions. Mobility experiments showed that pesticides can be grouped according to their potential leaching. Thus, pesticides showing medium leachability were included in group 1 (referred as G1) while those with high leachability were termed as G2. The differences observed in the leachability can be attributed to the different organic carbon (OC) content in the soils (0.7-1.8%). Values of log KOC were higher in the order: soil C > soil B > soil A, which agrees with the OC content in each soil. The calculated half-lives ranged from 4.2 days for carbofuran in soil A to 330 days for prometon in soil C. As a general rule, when higher OC content in the soil the greater persistence of the pesticide was observed as a consequence of the increased adsorption. The first order kinetics model satisfactorily explains the disappearance of the studied pesticides in the soil.
Gender Variations in Wellbeing Indicators between Urban and Mountain Landscape Environments
Authors: Ojobo Henry , Mohamad Sapura , Said Ismail
Published: November 2015

The issue of variations in physiological indicators of wellbeing based on gender serves as incentive for natural landscape environment interactions. This study examined gender variations in blood pressure, pulse rate and respiratory rate between contact with low-altitude urban (pretest) and mountain landscape environments (posttest). To attain the goal of this study, 38 respondents (16 males, 22 females) participated in the seven-day experimental study. Pretest and posttest measures of blood pressure, pulse rate and respiratory rate were elicited from both male and female respondents at the urban environment within the first three days and at the mountain landscape environment the following three days. Results show that both male and female systolic blood pressure increased at the mountain landscape environment while their diastolic blood pressure reduced marginally. There was no difference in gender response in terms of pulse rate. Conversely, male respondents experienced reduction of respiratory rate at the mountain landscape environment while female respondents experienced increase. Findings suggest that the only apparent difference in gender response is in their respiratory rate. The extent to which gender might be related to physiological wellbeing through contact with natural mountain landscape environment is revealed. Hence, a platform is set for policy makers and governments for the creative harnessing of mountain landscape environments.
Digitalizing the Municipality and Factors Affecting the Acceptance of E-municipality: An Empirical Analysis
Authors: Dastan Ikram
Published: December 2015

Over the years, rapid developments in information and communications technologies have brought about an increase in the amount of time users spend online. Users who consistently interact online also resort to receiving goods and services that are supplied via these networks. This type of user behavior has also expedited the supply of services delivered by municipalities. In this regard, the purpose of the current study is to determine the factors affecting the adaptation of e-municipality services and their extent, by exclusively observing the leading e-municipality service provider. In order to achieve the purpose of the study, field research was conducted among 302 participants in the city of Yalova using the convenience-sampling technique.

The findings indicate that competence in the use of technology, perceived ease of use, perceived awareness and information quality positively influence the acceptance of e-municipality services whereas factors such as perceived trust and usability of resources have no significant impact.
The Impact of Financing to Small Businesses and the Challenges Facing This Sector
Authors: AL Qaied Bader , Ennab Nesreen , Neamat Rasha
Published: December 2015

The purpose of this study was to identify the impact of the funds on small projects and the obstacles facing this section. The section of projects funded was selected by a non-profit Jordanian company Ajloun women branch (the first in Jordan to fund small and micro enterprises).
Reviewer Acknowledgements for Journal of Molecular Biology Research, Vol. 5, No. 1
Authors: Dong Bella
Published: November 2015

Reviewer Acknowledgements for Journal of Molecular Biology Research, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2015
China’s Assertiveness in the South China Sea: Have ASEAN’s Endeavors in Establishing Regional Order Truly Failed?
Authors: Putra Bama Andika
Published: November 2015

<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 宋体; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;" lang="EN-US">The territorial disputes in the South China Sea have become the major flashpoints of both potential and existing conflicts in Asia. With claimant states from both China and member states of ASEAN, the aggressive military gestures of the claimant states have led to a myriad number of confrontations throughout the years. The inevitability of ASEAN being in the center of the disputes, have led many critics towards the regional organization on its capacity to establish any significant changes towards the dynamics of the South China Sea disputes. This research argues the opposite of the existing academic literatures, which views ASEAN as not an ideal actor in facing the fast paced dynamics of the South China Sea conflicts. It argues of ASEAN’s ability and capacity to persuade China into some forms of compromises into its policy, reflected through its defined position of a conflict management institution throughout the South China Sea crisis. The research thus argues how there is an existing misperception of ASEAN’s conflict management endeavors with the occurrence of China’s recent assertive gestures, ASEAN’s ability in instilling cooperative values and confidence building measures among conflicted states, and relevance of ASEAN’s multilateralism measures despite of China’s historical stance of bilateral means of conflict resolution in regards to the South China Sea conflict.
Increasing Women’s Political Participation in Lebanon: Reflections on Hurdles, Opportunities and Hope
Authors: Henderson Tanya , Nelson Camille , Chemali Zeina
Published: November 2015

Lebanon stands out in the Middle East for its relative political openness, religious freedom, and the academic and professional achievements of Lebanese women. Yet, paradoxically, it has one of the lowest rates of women’s political participation in the region. This paper is the result of an initiative undertaken by the Lebanese government in July 2012 to increase women’s political participation. Through this initiative, sex-segregated workshops on women’s political empowerment were held for male and female representatives of Lebanon’s political parties. The goal was to start a productive conversation that would ultimately lead to progress from the 2012 status quo of women constituting only three percent of the National Parliament of Lebanon. In this paper, we will describe the process and content explored during the women’s political empowerment workshops. Opportunities to affect change of the current level of women’s participation will be highlighted and conclusions will be drawn to aid similar initiatives.
Legislature Size and Non-Elite Populations Theory and Corroborating Evidence
Authors: Schraufnagel Scot , Bingle Ben S.
Published: November 2015

This research tests the association between legislature size and the size of ‘non-elite’ populations in the American states. The theoretical assumption is that larger legislatures will be populated by a more diverse group of members, who will better represent and advocate for non-elites. Data are drawn from three time periods, which captures considerable variation in important variables, and provides a robust test of association between the size of state legislatures and certain sub-populations. The research demonstrates that larger Lower Chambers are marginally associated with a lower percentage of adults without a high school diploma, easily associated with a larger percentage of the states’ poor receiving Medicaid, and also related to smaller state prison populations. This is the case after controlling for demographic and economic factors that also predict the size of these sub-populations. The findings suggest legislature size plays a role in dominant contemporary policy arenas and that there may be societal benefits associated with larger—more diverse—assemblies.
Standardization and Development: Brief Discussion on Chinese Quick Transaction Mechanism of Minor Criminal Case
Authors: Zhao Jingchao
Published: November 2015

At present, establishment of diversified Chinese quick transaction mechanism of minor criminal case has become an important project that the judicial organ have to confront due to the reason that the simple procedure set up by Criminal Law of our country is not efficient for transacting the increasing minor criminal cases. Since 2014, Standing Committee of the National People's Congress has authorized the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate to launch reform of quick transaction mechanism of minor criminal case in 14 cities like Beijing according to the overall scheme of Central judicial system reform. Since the reform, Courts around have begun to focus on protecting the lawful rights and interests of the criminal suspect and the defendant when they are establishing quick verdict program of minor criminal cases so as to ensure the justice of the case, of which useful experience has been taken.
But from the perspective of judicial practice, judicial process of places is not unified because more principled rules of quick transaction mechanism of minor criminal case are launched only by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate. Many problems occur in practice: application and scope are not inconsistent; time is too long in handle procedures before trial, which will influence efficiency; cooperation of public security unit, the inspecting authorities, and courts are not efficient; evidence system of minor criminal cases is not perfect…… These problems have restricted the function of quick transaction mechanism. Therefore, quick transaction mechanism of minor criminal case is to be standardized.
The Separation of Church and State under Ghana’s Fourth Republic
Authors: Nyinevi Christopher Y. , Amasah Edmund N.
Published: November 2015

Ghana is religiously diverse. Data from the country’s Statistical Service indicates that as of 2010, 71.2% of the population was Christian, 17.6% was Muslim, and 5.2% were adherents of traditional religious beliefs. Non-believers accounted for only 5.3%. Believers other than believers of the three main religions were less than 1%. Despite the diversity, the country has enjoyed peaceful co-existence among all sects and denominations; sectarian violence is a rare phenomenon. Controversies about religious discrimination and stereotypes, and government over indulgence of religion are, however, not uncommon. This article examines the vexed question of separation of church and state in Ghana. It seeks to identify what the country’s religious identity is —whether secular or otherwise—and the implication of that identity for religious expression in public life.
Comparative Study of Selecting Tourist Destinations Abroad: A Case Study of Antalya and Dubai Cities
Authors: Izadi Razieh , Saberi Hamid
Published: November 2015

Planning for the development of tourism requires development and attention to needs, characteristics and demands of the market as the factors demanding tourism. In this regard, paying attention to tourists’ views, opinions, and motivations for travelling to a destination is of great importance as a necessity of marketing and tourism development planningas well as the basis for designing infrastructures related to tourism. Thus, many countries in a very close and intense competition are looking for increasing their benefits and revenues from this international activity. Several reasons are effective in the development and differentiation of tourist destinations or leaving former famous destinations by tourists and make one city more successful than others. This study aimed at identifying factors effective in selecting tourist destinations of Antalya and Dubai cities. The research method is descriptive-analytic. The statistical population was all the people who were traveling to tourist destination cities of Antalya and Dubai in the spring of 2014. The results show that there is no significant difference between Iranians’ motivation to travel to tourist destinations of Antalya and Dubai and the most important motivation and purpose of the passengers travelling to both destination of Antalya and Dubai were relaxation and recreation (using beautiful beaches and water recreation). In addition, the prominent role of costs and variety of attractions can be highlighted in selecting tourist destinations.
Implications of Adopting Public Private Partnership for Infrastructure Development in Nigeria
Authors: Kadiri Dele S. , Ojo Stephen O. , Jagboro Godwin O.
Published: November 2015

The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) ACT of 2005 provided the legal framework for the adoption of PPP for infrastructure development in Nigeria. This paper therefore examined the implications of the adoption of PPP for infrastructure development in Nigeria with a view to enhancing infrastructure projects delivery. The paper acknowledged the timeliness of the initiative in Nigeria owing to the wide infrastructure gap and progressive severe cut back in budgetary allocation and implementation. The paper recommended that political will, good governance and human capacity building will be required to maximise the benefits from the initiative by all stakeholders.
Corporate Social Responsibility and Its Relevance to Accounting
Authors: Homayoun Saeid , Rezaee Zabihollah , Ahmadi Zahra
Published: November 2015

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been extensively and inconclusively debated in the literature. In this essay, we examine the development of CSR by both reviewing the evolution of the conceptual framework and models of CSR and discussing social responsibility accounting and auditing. We conclude that both business and academic communities worldwide should pay closer attention to CSR and its components of economic, social, and environmental performance. Business organizations worldwide are just starting to recognize the importance of quality as it relates to CSR and the link between profitability and social behavior. Justifications for CSR are fulfilling moral obligations, maintaining a good reputation, ensuring sustainability and licensing to operate, and creating shared value for all corporate stakeholders.
Challenges to Sustainable Forest Management and Community Livelihoods Sustenance in Cameroon: Evidence from the Southern Bakundu Forest Reserve in Southwest Cameroon
Authors: Ewane Ewane Basil , Olome Ewane Bertrand , Lee Heon-Ho
Published: November 2015

Sustainable forest management in Cameroon is being plagued with many challenges directly related to key issues in the areas of forest law enforcement and governance. This study used questionnaires to examine the major community livelihood activities undertaken in the SBFR causing deforestation and forest degradation and to explore the localized trigger forces, and their implications for sustainable forest management in Cameroon. The authors found that the rated localized forces triggering indiscriminate human activities in the Southern Bakundu Forest Reserve (SBFR) are scarcity of farmland outside the forest reserve land, population growth, poverty and the more fertile nature of the forest reserve land than the limited, overused, and degraded community farming land. In addition, the authors found that forest monitoring activities in the field by forestry officials were plagued with complicity by some corrupt forestry officials, forces of law and order, administration, local management committee leaders, and disgruntled local population in the apprehension of illegal forest exploiters, besides inadequate resources. The strategies to address the above issues have not been prioritized. Based on the results, this paper argues that the governance failure to prioritize more and better investment in modern agriculture, non-wood domestic cooking energy and reliable rural transport systems, amongst others, including building institutional capacity and physical infrastructure compromises sustainable forest management in Cameroon at both the national and local community levels. In this light, a set of holistic and comprehensive strategic programmes are recommended as the way forward to guaranteeing sustainable development in forest management in Cameroon.
Common Economic Space as Progressive Legal Institute of Integration in World Economy
Authors: Aytzhanovna Alibayeva Gulnar , Imangalievich Zhumagulov Marat , Islyamovna Kussainova Larisa
Published: November 2015

One of the most important manifestations of world economic system’s globalization is its movement to the integration, which is showing, including, in creation of economic integration associations. This tendency is typical and for the Post-Soviet states. In this regard the period of the 1990th became especially active when in the territory of the former USSR there was the number of economic blocks – the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Union State of Belarus and Russia, the Common Economic Space (CES), the Organization of Central Asian cooperation (OTsAS), the Eurasian economic community (EurAsEC). The concept of the Common Economic Space (CES) was a consequence of searches most general and progressive legal institute in intensive integration processes in world economy. As a whole, formation of CES carries out in difficult economic and political situation. It demands the careful scientific analysis of all accompanying aspects.
Reviewer Acknowledgements for Mechanical Engineering Research, Vol. 5, No. 2
Authors: Green Lily
Published: November 2015

Reviewer Acknowledgements for Mechanical Engineering Research, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2015
Odd Shape Out
Authors: Cady Jo Ann , Wells Pamela J.
Published: December 2015

To elicit creative student thinking, this open-ended problem asks solvers to decide which of four quadrilaterials do not belong in a group.
Mirror, Mirror
Authors: Fuentes Sarah Quebec
Published: December 2015

Each month, elementary school teachers receive a problem along with suggested instructional notes and are asked to use the problem in their own classrooms and report solutions, strategies, reflections, and misconceptions to the journal audience. This month's problem integrates two areas: Students must consider the properties of rectangles, rhombuses, and squares in the context of reflecting shapes. A whole-class discussion during which students share their solutions and ideas is a crucial component of the task, allowing students to further develop and solidify their understanding of the underlying geometric concepts.
Interacting with Butterflies
Authors: Deaton Cynthia C. M. , Nicholson Hannah
Published: December 2015

This month, your students will learn scientific facts about one of the most fascinating and numerous insect species on Earth—butterflies! These integrated word problems encourage students to use critical thinking and problem-solving skills as they learn about butterfly life cycles, biology, and migration. For additional interesting information about butterflies, visit http://www.kidsdiscover.com/spotlight/metamorphosis-kids/.
Let's get movin'
Authors: Kurz Terri L. , Serrano Alejandra
Published: December 2015

A Calculator-Based Ranger™ (CBR) can be used to support the understanding of position or time graphs. Preservice teachers used CBRs to help make sense of graphs through movement. An experience with an elementary school student is also described. iSTEM (Integrating Science, Technology, and Engineering in Mathematics) authors share ideas and activities that stimulate student interest in integrated STEM fields in K–grade 6 classrooms.
Om behovet att skilja mellan empiriska och begreppligt konstitutiva frågor
Authors: Schaffar Birgit
Published: December 2015

This article clarifies the fundamental difference between empirical and conceptual questions in education. In the ongoing debate about the role of philosophy of education, many authors either unreflectively assume or actively demand that philosophy of education should try to adapt to (empircal) science. Through a discussion of the possibilities of a child to open up to educational processes (Herbart: Bildbarkeit) the article illustrates how philosophical reflection on education fundamentally differs in character from empirical approaches. It suggests that one important task for philosophy of education is to clarify what questions can be answered empirically from those that are constitutive of our understanding of education. Wittgenstein’s later philosophy is used as a central starting point in this article.
Leder
Authors: Sørensen Asger
Published: December 2015
Teoretisk erkendelse og læring
Authors: Klausen Søren Harnow
Published: December 2015

The value and function of theoretical knowledge is an important and disputed issue, which has received surprisingly little scholarly attention. I attempt to clarify the notion of theoretical knowledge and examine its general relationship to learning. Theoretical knowledge is not necessarily distinguished by any particular content; the adjective “theoretical” can just as well signify a particular methodological approach or a way of dealing with a topic, including the way it is conceptualized. I further argue that theoretical knowledge can be merely implicit and non-propositional. Though I reject a radical constructivist view, according to which knowledge acquisition consists in socialization, it must be admitted that socialization and the acquisition of theoretical knowledge do turn out to go closely hand in hand, inasmuch as theoretical knowledge is often a precondition of successful socialization. Concepts, principles, models and symbolic systems support the acquisition of both theoretical and other kinds of knowledge, but also help the learner to find her way about in an environment that is already formed by theories and conceptual understandings. Theoretical knowledge is both a learning instrument and a tool for navigation
Frihed og lykke i Rousseaus retfærdiggørelse af staten
Authors: Hasan Rafeeq
Published: December 2015

Political philosophers tend to think that Rousseau is significant because his contractarianism anticipates Kant. However, reading Rousseau in this way requires us to ignore his frequent and emphatic appeals to the role of happiness as collective flourishing (eudaimonia) in establishing the rational authority of justice. I offer a reading of Rousseau’s political theory which accounts for this eudaimonistic aspect of his thought. I argue that for Rousseau, as for Kant, obligations are structured by the autonomous willing of agents who bind themselves by the norms of reason alone. But unlike Kant, Rousseau thinks that such formal considerations of rational autonomy provide necessary but not sufficient reasons for fulfilling our duties to one another. This is because the ultimate reason for valuing individual autonomy is that it enables the flourishing of individuals insofar as they are members of a just political community.
“Feel That You Are Doing Something”: Participatory Culture Civics
Authors: Kligler-Vilenchik Neta , Shresthova Sangita
Published: December 2015

Young people’s civic engagement through online communities and peer networks has received increased attention in recent years. This paper examines groups rooted within participatory cultures, which mobilize their participants toward explicit civic goals. We draw on our research of Invisible Children and the Harry Potter Alliance—two media-centric, youth-oriented, participatory organizations—to identify their distinctive practices. Building on our analysis, we propose that both organizations engage in “Participatory Culture Civics” (PCC) as they support organized collective action towards civic goals, while building on the affordances of participatory culture. We describe three innovative PCC practices employed by these groups: Build Communities, Tell Stories, and Produce Media. The organizations’ ability to combine civic goals with the pleasures of participatory culture allows them to successfully engage young people. However, both organizations struggle to balance between the creative and community-based tenets of participatory culture, and the focused, product-driven goals of a civic engagement organization.
Participatory Citizenship in a War Zone – on Activist Strategies in a Documentary Film and on the Internet
Authors: Thomsen Bodil Marie Stavning
Published: December 2015

This article studies Nagieb Khaja’s documentary film My Afghanistan. Life in the Forbidden Zone (2012), produced from footage by locals. It is Khaja’s aim to create awareness of how daily life is maintained in a war zone in Afghanistan. In 2013 he launched a webpage to further the interest in the matter. News on the withdrawal of military forces and interviews with locals were posted on the site, which was used as an educational participatory platform. This article highlights the participatory engagement by including the Deleuzian concept of ‘the intercessor’ – i.e. the use of the film camera as a creative rather than a documenting device – and it contends that the intuitive use of the camera momentarily has a participatory impact on the users and an affective impact on spectators and users alike.
‘LEGO: Everything is NOT awesome!’
Authors: Reestorff Camilla Møhring
Published: December 2015

This article is a conversation between Birgitte Lesanner and Camilla Møhring Reestorff, who have a shared interest in mediatized activism, participation, and social change. The conversation focuses on the mediatized activist practices that Greenpeace engaged in in their Save the Arctic campaign and their efforts to end the collaboration between Lego and Shell through the campaign LEGO: Everything is NOT awesome (Greenpeace, 2014). Our discussion starts with the concept of mediatization and how Greenpeace accommodates media logics and fosters online spreadability. We focus on the importance of popular culture in creating recognizability as well as the utilization of humor and culture jamming. The conversation then explores the relation between these mediatized practices and mobilization and tackles questions of activist participation – from online clicktivism to offline campaign at oil drilling sites. Wrapping up, the conversation dives into the consequences of the campaign and asks what kind of sustainable future Greenpeace envisions.
Fundamental concerns of women living with HIV around the implementation of Option B+
Authors: Matheson Rebecca , Moses‐Burton Suzette , Hsieh Amy C , Dilmitis Sophie , Happy Margaret , Sinyemu Eunice , Brion Sophie O , Sharma Aditi
Published: December 2015

Introduction

In 2011, the Global Plan towards the Elimination of New HIV Infections among Children by 2015 and Keeping Their Mothers Alive was launched to scale up efforts to comprehensively end vertical HIV transmission and support mothers living with HIV in remaining healthy. Amidst excitement around using treatment as prevention, Malawi's Ministry of Health conceived Option B+, a strategy used to prevent vertical transmission by initiating all pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV on lifelong antiretroviral therapy, irrespective of CD4 count. In 2013, for programmatic and operational reasons, the WHO officially recommended Option B+ to countries with generalized epidemics, limited access to CD4 testing, limited partner testing, long breastfeeding duration or high fertility rates.

Discussion

While acknowledging the opportunity to increase treatment access globally and its potential, this commentary reviews the concerns of women living with HIV about human rights, community‐based support and other barriers to service uptake and retention in the Option B+ context. Option B+ intensifies many of the pre‐existing challenges of HIV prevention and treatment programmes. As women seek comprehensive services to prevent vertical transmission, they can experience various human rights violations, including lack of informed consent, involuntary or coercive HIV testing, limited treatment options, termination of pregnancy or coerced sterilization and pressure to start treatment. Yet, peer and community support strategies can promote treatment readiness, uptake, adherence and lifelong retention in care; reduce stigma and discrimination; and mitigate potential violence stemming from HIV disclosure. Ensuring available and accessible quality care, offering food support and improving linkages to care could increase service uptake and retention. With the heightened focus on interventions to reach pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV, a parallel increase in vigilance to secure their health and rights is critical.

Conclusion

The authors conclude that real progress towards reducing vertical transmission and achieving viral load suppression can only be made by upholding the human rights of women living with HIV, investing in community‐based responses, and ensuring universal access to quality healthcare. Only then will the opportunity of accessing lifelong treatment result in improving the health, dignity and lives of women living with HIV, their children and families.
Safer disclosure of HIV serostatus for women living with HIV who experience or fear violence: a systematic review
Authors: Kennedy Caitlin E , Haberlen Sabina , Amin Avni , Baggaley Rachel , Narasimhan Manjulaa
Published: December 2015

Introduction

Supporting individuals as they disclose their HIV serostatus may lead to a variety of individual and public health benefits. However, many women living with HIV are hesitant to disclose their HIV status due to fear of negative outcomes such as violence, abandonment, relationship dissolution and stigma.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review of studies evaluating interventions to facilitate safer disclosure of HIV status for women living with HIV who experience or fear violence. Articles, conference abstracts and programme reports were included if they reported post‐intervention evaluation results and were published before 1 April 2015. Searching was conducted through electronic databases for peer‐reviewed articles and conference abstracts, reviewing websites of relevant organizations for grey literature, hand searching reference lists of included studies and contacting experts. Systematic methods were used for screening and data abstraction, which was conducted in duplicate. Study quality (rigor) was assessed with the Cochrane risk of bias tool.

Results

Two interventions met the inclusion criteria: the Safe Homes and Respect for Everyone cluster‐randomized trial of combination HIV and intimate partner violence (IPV) services in Rakai, Uganda, and the South Africa HIV/AIDS Antenatal Post‐Test Support study individual randomized trial of an enhanced counselling intervention for pregnant women undergoing HIV testing and counselling. Both programmes integrated screening for IPV into HIV testing services and trained counsellors to facilitate discussions about disclosure based on a woman's risk of violence. However, both were implemented as part of multiple‐component interventions, making it impossible to isolate the impact of the safer disclosure components.

Conclusions

The existing evidence base for interventions to facilitate safe HIV serostatus disclosure for women who experience or fear violence is limited. Development and implementation of new approaches and rigorous evaluation of safe disclosure outcomes is needed to guide programme planners and policy makers.
Integration of HIV in child survival platforms: a novel programmatic pathway towards the 90–90–90 targets
Authors: Chamla Dick D , Essajee Shaffiq , Young Mark , Kellerman Scott , Lovich Ronnie , Sugandhi Nandita , Amzel Anouk , Luo Chewe
Published: December 2015

Introduction

Integration of HIV into child survival platforms is an evolving territory with multiple connotations. Most literature on integration of HIV into other health services focuses on adults; however promising practices for children are emerging. These include the Double Dividend (DD) framework, a new programming approach with dual goal of improving paediatric HIV care and child survival. In this commentary, the authors discuss why integrating HIV testing, treatment and care into child survival platforms is important, as well as its potential to advance progress towards global targets that call for, by 2020, 90% of children living with HIV to know their status, 90% of those diagnosed to be on treatment and 90% of those on treatment to be virally suppressed (90–90–90).

Discussion

Integration is critical in improving health outcomes and efficiency gains. In children, integration of HIV in programmes such as immunization and nutrition has been associated with an increased uptake of HIV infant testing. Integration is increasingly recognized as a case‐finding strategy for children missed from prevention of mother‐to‐child transmission programmes and as a platform for diffusing emerging technologies such as point‐of‐care diagnostics. These support progress towards the 90–90–90 targets by providing a pathway for early identification of HIV‐infected children with co‐morbidities, prompt initiation of treatment and improved survival. There are various promising practices that have demonstrated HIV outcomes; however, few have documented the benefits of integration on child survival interventions. The DD framework is well positioned to address the bidirectional impacts for both programmes.

Conclusions

Integration provides an important programmatic pathway for accelerated progress towards the 90–90–90 targets. Despite this encouraging information, there are still challenges to be addressed in order to maximize the benefits of integration.
Achieving 90–90–90 in paediatric HIV: adolescence as the touchstone for transition success
Authors: Lee Sonia , Hazra Rohan
Published: December 2015

Introduction

The number of children less than 15 years estimated to be living with HIV globally approximated 3.2 million in 2013. Young people aged 15 to 24 years living with HIV approximated 4 million. The survival of these children and adolescents into adulthood poses new and urgent challenges of transition from the paediatric to adolescent to adult healthcare settings due to emerging developmental, psychosocial and comorbid issues. In order to achieve treatment targets of 90–90–90 across the continuum of care for paediatric HIV by 2020, focused efforts on the implementation of appropriate healthcare transition plans across the lifespan, with a focus on adolescence, should be prioritized.

Discussion

Published data or empirical evidence examining implementation of transition models and association with clinical outcomes are limited. While some guidelines do exist that offer recommendations about how to promote seamless transitions, very few data are available to assess the adequacy of these guidelines and whether they are effectively adhered to in clinical care settings globally. Furthermore, paediatric and adolescent HIV infection, either acquired perinatally or behaviourally, is set apart from other chronic illnesses as a highly stigmatizing disease that disproportionately affects poor, minority and often marginalized populations. Focused efforts on adolescence as the touchstone for transition practices and policies need to be implemented.

Conclusions

Optimal healthcare for these vulnerable populations, particularly in resource‐limited settings, will require HIV‐specific transitional care services and programmes that are coordinated, collaborative, integrated and, importantly, evidence‐based.
The physical and psychological effects of HIV infection and its treatment on perinatally HIV‐infected children
Authors: Vreeman Rachel C , Scanlon Michael L , McHenry Megan S , Nyandiko Winstone M
Published: December 2015

Introduction

As highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) transforms human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) into a manageable chronic disease, new challenges are emerging in treating children born with HIV, including a number of risks to their physical and psychological health due to HIV infection and its lifelong treatment.

Methods

We conducted a literature review to evaluate the evidence on the physical and psychological effects of perinatal HIV (PHIV+) infection and its treatment in the era of HAART, including major chronic comorbidities.

Results and discussion

Perinatally infected children face concerning levels of treatment failure and drug resistance, which may hamper their long‐term treatment and result in more significant comorbidities. Physical complications from PHIV+ infection and treatment potentially affect all major organ systems. Although treatment with antiretroviral (ARV) therapy has reduced incidence of severe neurocognitive diseases like HIV encephalopathy, perinatally infected children may experience less severe neurocognitive complications related to HIV disease and ARV neurotoxicity. Major metabolic complications include dyslipidaemia and insulin resistance, complications that are associated with both HIV infection and several ARV agents and may significantly affect cardiovascular disease risk with age. Bone abnormalities, particularly amongst children treated with tenofovir, are a concern for perinatally infected children who may be at higher risk for bone fractures and osteoporosis. In many studies, rates of anaemia are significantly higher for HIV‐infected children. Renal failure is a significant complication and cause of death amongst perinatally infected children, while new data on sexual and reproductive health suggest that sexually transmitted infections and birth complications may be additional concerns for perinatally infected children in adolescence. Finally, perinatally infected children may face psychological challenges, including higher rates of mental health and behavioural disorders. Existing studies have significant methodological limitations, including small sample sizes, inappropriate control groups and heterogeneous definitions, to name a few.

Conclusions

Success in treating perinatally HIV‐infected children and better understanding of the physical and psychological implications of lifelong HIV infection require that we address a new set of challenges for children. A better understanding of these challenges will guide care providers, researchers and policymakers towards more effective HIV care management for perinatally infected children and their transition to adulthood.
Social protection: potential for improving HIV outcomes among adolescents
Authors: Cluver Lucie D , Hodes Rebecca J , Sherr Lorraine , Mark Orkin F , Meinck Franziska , Lim Ah Ken Patricia , Winder‐Rossi Natalia E , Wolfe Jason , Vicari Marissa
Published: December 2015

Introduction

Advances in biomedical technologies provide potential for adolescent HIV prevention and HIV‐positive survival. The UNAIDS 90–90–90 treatment targets provide a new roadmap for ending the HIV epidemic, principally through antiretroviral treatment, HIV testing and viral suppression among people with HIV. However, while imperative, HIV treatment and testing will not be sufficient to address the epidemic among adolescents in Southern and Eastern Africa. In particular, use of condoms and adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) remain haphazard, with evidence that social and structural deprivation is negatively impacting adolescents’ capacity to protect themselves and others. This paper examines the evidence for and potential of interventions addressing these structural deprivations.

Discussion

New evidence is emerging around social protection interventions, including cash transfers, parenting support and educational support (“cash, care and classroom”). These interventions have the potential to reduce the social and economic drivers of HIV risk, improve utilization of prevention technologies and improve adherence to ART for adolescent populations in the hyper‐endemic settings of Southern and Eastern Africa. Studies show that the integration of social and economic interventions has high acceptability and reach and that it holds powerful potential for improved HIV, health and development outcomes.

Conclusions

Social protection is a largely untapped means of reducing HIV‐risk behaviours and increasing uptake of and adherence to biomedical prevention and treatment technologies. There is now sufficient evidence to include social protection programming as a key strategy not only to mitigate the negative impacts of the HIV epidemic among families, but also to contribute to HIV prevention among adolescents and potentially to remove social and economic barriers to accessing treatment. We urge a further research and programming agenda: to actively combine programmes that increase availability of biomedical solutions with social protection policies that can boost their utilization.
Optimizing drugs to reach treatment targets for children and adolescents living with HIV
Authors: Penazzato Martina , Lee Janice , Capparelli Edmund , Essajee Shaffiq , Ford Nathan , Ojoo Atieno , Pascual Fernando , Sugandhi Nandita , Lallemant Marc
Published: December 2015

Introduction

As the global community makes progress towards the 90‐90‐90 targets by 2020, a key challenge is ensuring that antiretroviral drugs for children and adolescents are suitable to the context of resource‐limited settings. Drug optimization aims to support the expanded use of more simplified, less toxic drug regimens with high barriers to drug resistance that require minimal clinical monitoring while maintaining therapeutic efficacy. This manuscript summarizes the progress made and outlines further critical steps required to ensure that the right drugs are available to start children and adolescents on treatment and to keep them virologically suppressed.

Discussion

Building upon previous work in drug optimization, several important steps were taken in 2014 to ensure alignment between WHO dosing recommendations and the requirements of regulatory bodies, to accelerate drug development, to reduce intellectual property barriers to generic production of combined formulations and rationalize drug selection in countries. The priority for the future is to improve access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) at the two ends of the paediatric age spectrum – infants and adolescents – where the treatment gap is greatest, and optimize drug sequencing with better use of available medicines for second‐ and third‐line ART. Future efforts in this area will require continuous collaboration and coordination, and the promotion of innovative approaches to accelerate access to new drugs and formulations.

Conclusions

While significant progress has been made, additional efforts are needed to ensure that treatment targets are reached by 2020.
Ideal efficiency of photon-enhanced thermionic emission energy converter driven by blackbody radiation
Authors: Takao Haruki , Kobayashi Kazunobu , Ito Tsuyohito
Published: December 2015

This study calculated the ideal conversion efficiency of a photon-enhanced thermionic emission (PETE) energy converter driven by blackbody radiation. The results indicate that a PETE energy converter can provide high-efficiency conversion of 500–2000 K blackbody radiation using approximately 0.3–0.8 eV bandgap semiconductors as emitters. This optimal bandgap is much smaller than that for sunlight of approximately 1.4 eV. Because high-efficiency operation requires a high temperature in the emitter, the melting point of a material is the main factor limiting the maximum efficiency.