bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
How can our human world exist and best flourish embedded in the physical universe? An outline of a problem-based liberal-studies course
Authors: Maxwell Nicholas
Published: March 2014

Purpose

–In this paper the author aims to sketch a liberal-studies course designed to explore our fundamental problem of thought and life: How can our human world exist and best flourish embedded as it is in the physical universe? The fundamental character of this problem provides one with the opportunity to explore a wide range of issues.

Design/methodology/approach

–The paper addresses the following questions: what does physics tell us about the universe and ourselves? How do we account for everything physics leaves out? How can living brains be conscious? If everything occurs in accordance with physical law, what becomes of free will? How does Darwin's theory of evolution contribute to the solution to the fundamental problem? What is the history of thought about this problem? What is of most value associated with human life? What kind of civilized world should we seek to help create? Why is the fundamental problem not a part of standard education in schools and universities? What are the most serious global problems confronting humanity? Can humanity learn to make progress towards as good a world as possible?

Findings

–Taking the fundamental problem as central provides the course with a coherent structure. The course would be conducted as a seminar, and it would respond to queries and suggestions from students.

Research limitations/implications

–The paper provides only a sketch of the character of the course.

Practical implications

–The course would be conducted as a seminar, and it would respond to queries and suggestions from students.

Originality/value

–Taking the fundamental problem as central provides the course with a coherent structure.
Can outsourcing recruitment deliver satisfaction? A hiring manager perspective
Authors: Johnson Graeme , Wilding Philip , Robson Andrew
Published: March 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to determine whether an outsourced recruitment service can provide a satisfactory organisational solution from the perspective of its line-managers.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study is based on a single, large organisation involving dissemination of an on-line survey targeting line-managers with a recent record of hiring new employees. Using quantitative analysis including correlation, multiple regression and binary logistic regression, assessment is made regarding manager perception, including experience as customers, overall rating of the recruiter and a willingness to recommend the service.

Findings

– Aspects of standard service, assessed in terms of operations and recruiter provision, are perceived as being at appropriately high levels, while the arguably more demanding external aspects of the recruitment process are perceived to be less successful. Line-manager satisfaction as customers and satisfaction with the recruiter are explained by various experiences of both service and recruiter, while willingness to recommend is explained in terms of customer satisfaction, satisfaction with the recruiter and recognition that the service provides added value. Personal line-manager experiences, perceived realisation of organisational values or achieving preferred line-manager recruitment objectives play no significant part in these explanations.

Research limitations/implications

– The research considered an individual organisation, with participating managers being solely from within. Further research could see the assessment being extended to other organisations perhaps at different points of maturity in their relationships with an external recruitment partner, as well as revisiting the participating organisation at a later point in time to assess potential changes in the relationships assessed.

Practical implications

– To enhance line-manager satisfaction with service and with the recruiter, aspects of process and recruiter contribution both play a role, while these satisfaction indicators, in tandem with an appreciation of added value will prompt a line-manager to ultimately recommend such a service.

Originality/value

– This centres on the assessment of an outsourced recruitment service from the particular perspective of its hiring line-managers, through evaluation of service satisfaction and willingness to recommend.
Asymmetry of plant‐mediated interactions between specialist aphids and caterpillars on two milkweeds
Authors: Ali Jared G. , Agrawal Anurag A.
Published: March 2014

Plant‐mediated interactions between co‐occurring herbivores play an important role in insect herbivore communities. Although induced resistance pathways associated with jasmonic acid and salicylic acid are often implicated in such plant‐mediated interactions, there are few examples from non‐model systems involving specialized herbivores that regularly interact in nature.

Here, we tested reciprocal impacts between co‐occurring specialist herbivores from two feeding guilds, monarch caterpillars Danaus plexippus and oleander aphids Aphis nerii, on two co‐occurring and closely related, but defensively contrasting milkweeds, Asclepias syriaca and A. tuberosa.

Larvae grew 38% faster on aphid‐infested A. syriaca compared to controls. Reciprocally, aphid growth was >50% lower on caterpillar‐damaged A. syriaca compared to controls. While caterpillar feeding on A. syriaca induced a jasmonate burst and higher defensive end products (cardenolides and latex), this induction was substantially attenuated in the presence of aphids. We found a negative correlation between jasmonic acid and salicylic acid only on A. syriaca infested by both caterpillars an aphids.

Asclepias tuberosa displayed distinct hormonal dynamics and lacked induction of defensive end products. Accordingly, we found no evidence for plant‐mediated interactions between monarchs and aphids on A. tuberosa.

Thus, A. syriaca has specific responses to each herbivore, but if challenged simultaneously, the outcome is asymmetric: monarchs benefit from defence attenuation by aphids, while aphids are impaired by monarch feeding.

Our results suggest phytohormonal trade‐offs induced by two feeding guilds can differ between closely related plant species, and our notion of trade‐offs in defence based on phytohormonal pathways would improve with further comparative designs from both model and non‐model systems.
Percentage Rents with Agency
Authors: Williams Joseph
Published: March 2014

Retail leases often include a constant percentage rent above a breakpoint. Most breakpoints are restricted to a natural breakpoint, calculated as base rent divided by percentage rent. Frequently, breakpoints are much greater than sales when leases are signed. Both within and across categories of retail, percentage rents vary widely. On average percentage rents are lowest for large stores, like anchors, and highest for small stores with high operating margins. Retail leases with these and other common characteristics are shown to support second‐best investments by landlords in their stores both inside and outside shopping centers. The second‐best schedule of breakpoints and percentage rents is calculated explicitly.
New insights into male (in)fertility: the importance ofNO
Authors: Buzadzic B , Vucetic M , Jankovic A , Stancic A , Korac A , Korac B , Otasevic V
Published: March 2014

Infertility is a global problem that is on the rise, especially during the last decade. Currently, infertility affects approximately 10–15% of the population worldwide. The frequency and origin of different forms of infertility varies. It has been shown that reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROSandRNS) are involved in the aetiology of infertility, especially male infertility. Various strategies have been designed to remove or decrease the production ofROSandRNSin spermatozoa, in particular duringin vitrofertilization. However, in recent years it has been shown that spermatozoa naturally produce a variety ofROS/RNS, including superoxide anion radical (O2⋅−), hydrogen peroxide andNO. These reactive species, in particularNO, are essential in regulating sperm capacitation and the acrosome reaction, two processes that need to be acquired by sperm in order to achieve fertilization potential. In addition, it has recently been shown that mitochondrial function is positively correlated with human sperm fertilization potential and quality and thatNOandNOprecursors increase sperm motility by increasing energy production in mitochondria. We will review the new link between spermNO‐driven redox regulation and infertility herein. A special emphasis will be placed on the potential implementation of new redox‐active substances that modulate the content ofNOin spermatozoa to increase fertility and promote conception.

Linked Articles

This article is part of a themed section on Pharmacology of the Gasotransmitters. To view the other articles in this section visithttp://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bph.2015.172.issue-6
Local control and survival after extralevator abdominoperineal excision for locally advanced or low rectal cancer
Authors: Palmer G. , Anderin C. , Martling A. , Holm T.
Published: March 2014

Aim

Conventional, synchronous combined, abdominoperineal excision (APE) for low rectal cancer is associated with intra‐operative tumour perforation and tumour involvement of the circumferential resection margin (CRM+). Several studies have demonstrated worse rates of local recurrence and survival after APE than after low anterior resection (LAR). Extralevator APE (ELAPE) in the prone position may reduce the risk of perforation and involvement of resection margins and may therefore improve outcome. The aim of this study was to report the outcome after the introduction of ELAPE in a prospective study of consecutive patients from a single colorectal unit.

Method

Between January 2000 and March 2013, 193 patients with low rectal cancer were treated with ELAPE at the Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. All patients were recorded in the regional rectal cancer quality registry, where data on treatment and follow‐up are prospectively reported.

Results

Preoperative staging with MRI assessed the tumour to be locally advanced (mrT4) in 126 (65%) of the 193 patients. The median tumour level above the anal verge was 3 cm. Intra‐operative perforation occurred in 19 patients (10%) and histopathology revealed a positive CRM in 39 patients (20%). Until August 2013 [median follow‐up 31 (0–156) months] local recurrence was detected in 12 patients. Five‐year cancer specific survival was estimated to 68%.

Conclusion

Good local control and survival may be achieved with ELAPE in patients with low, advanced rectal cancer.
IS EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION BASED ON TOBACCO USE EFFICIENT?
Authors: IRVINE IAN , NGUYEN HAI V.
Published: March 2014

Numerous employers in over 20 U.S. states currently discriminate legally against smokers in their hiring policies. We analyze the cost of being a smoker, measured in annual hospital days, and compare this with the cost of being a former smoker, the cost of being obese, and the cost of a variety of other medical conditions, relative to the cost of being a never smoker, using three large recent surveys each having in excess of one hundred thousand observations. The paper also explores the cost of former smokers as determined by the number of years since quitting. Smokers as a whole are not found to be the most costly employees. Furthermore, health costs vary dramatically among smokers of different duration and intensity. As a consequence, our results question the efficiency of such discrimination. (JEL I10, I18, J71, J7)
Has industry funding biased studies of the protective effects of alcohol on cardiovascular disease? A preliminary investigation of prospective cohort studies
Authors: McCambridge Jim , Hartwell Greg
Published: March 2014

Introduction And Aims

There have been no previous quantitative analyses of the possible effects of industry funding on alcohol and health research. This study examines whether findings of alcohol's protective effects on cardiovascular disease may be biased by industry funding.

Design and Methods

Findings from a recent systematic review of prospective cohort studies were combined with public domain data on alcohol industry funding. The six outcomes evaluated were alcohol's effects on cardiovascular disease mortality, incident coronary heart disease, coronary heart disease mortality, incident stroke, stroke mortality and mortality from all causes.

Results

We find no evidence of possible funding effects for outcomes other than stroke. Whether studies find alcohol to be a risk factor or protective against incident stroke depends on whether or not there is possible industry funding [risk ratio (RR) 1.07 (0.97–1.17) for those without concern about industry funding compared with RR 0.88 (0.81–0.94)]. For stroke mortality, a similar difference is not statistically significant, most likely because there are too few studies.

Discussion and Conclusions

Dedicated high‐quality studies of possible alcohol industry funding effects should be undertaken, and these should be broad in scope. They also need to investigate specific areas of concern, such as stroke, in greater depth. [McCambridge J, Hartwell G. Has industry funding biased studies of the protective effects of alcohol on cardiovascular disease? A preliminary investigation of prospective cohort studies. Drug Alcohol Rev 2015;34:58–66]
Environmental filtering of foraging strategies mediates patterns of coexistence in the fire antsSolenopsis geminataandSolenopsis xyloni, and their interspecific hybrids
Authors: AXEN HEATHER J. , WILDERMUTH AMANDA , HELMS CAHAN SARA
Published: March 2014

Tradeoffs in functional traits facilitate species coexistence within communities and are important contributors to community assembly. Two aspects of a life‐history tradeoff known to structure ant communities include foraging efficiency (i.e. resource discovery and retrieval) and competitive dominance (territoriality and survivorship following competition).

This work examined these aspects in workers of two fire ant species (Solenopsis xyloniandSolenopsis geminata) and theirF1hybrids using laboratory experiments.

Parental foraging strategies were consistent with a tradeoff between discovery efficiency and competitive territorial dominance. Desert‐adaptedS. xyloniwas the most efficient forager but the least effective territory defender; mesic‐adaptedS. geminatawas a less efficient forager, but fared best in competition trials. Hybrid workers were generally intermediate, leading to increased survival by hybrids in competitive encounters withS. geminatacompared with the performance ofS. xyloni.

These findings suggest that traits associated with foraging and competitive ability in the parental species are subject to environmental filtering; across habitats, species with a similar dominance rank in their respective communities differ in their placement along the discovery–dominance axis.

Interspecific hybridisation may play a role in extending eastern range limits ofS. xylonivia shifting colony allocation towards the strategy of its competitor. In the overlap zone,S. xyloniwith hybrid workers may be sufficiently competitive to persist withS. geminata, while colonies withS. xyloniworkers cannot, providing a substantial selective advantage to hybridisation forS. xyloniqueens that may explain the unusual hybridogenetic social structure of this population.
Modulation of early cortical processing during divided attention to non‐contiguous locations
Authors: Frey Hans‐Peter , Schmid Anita M. , Murphy Jeremy W. , Molholm Sophie , Lalor Edmund C. , Foxe John J.
Published: March 2014

We often face the challenge of simultaneously attending to multiple non‐contiguous regions of space. There is ongoing debate as to how spatial attention is divided under these situations. Whereas, for several years, the predominant view was that humans could divide the attentional spotlight, several recent studies argue in favor of a unitary spotlight that rhythmically samples relevant locations. Here, this issue was addressed by the use of high‐density electrophysiology in concert with the multifocal m‐sequence technique to examine visual evoked responses to multiple simultaneous streams of stimulation. Concurrently, we assayed the topographic distribution of alpha‐band oscillatory mechanisms, a measure of attentional suppression. Participants performed a difficult detection task that required simultaneous attention to two stimuli in contiguous (undivided) or non‐contiguous parts of space. In the undivided condition, the classic pattern of attentional modulation was observed, with increased amplitude of the early visual evoked response and increased alpha amplitude ipsilateral to the attended hemifield. For the divided condition, early visual responses to attended stimuli were also enhanced, and the observed multifocal topographic distribution of alpha suppression was in line with the divided attention hypothesis. These results support the existence of divided attentional spotlights, providing evidence that the corresponding modulation occurs during initial sensory processing time‐frames in hierarchically early visual regions, and that suppressive mechanisms of visual attention selectively target distracter locations during divided spatial attention.
Do grasslands act as a perpetual sink for carbon?
Authors: Smith Pete
Published: March 2014

It is increasingly commonly suggested that grasslands are a perpetual sink for carbon, and that just maintaining grasslands will yield a net carbon sink. I examine the evidence for this from repeated soil surveys, long term grassland experiments and simple mass balance calculations. I conclude that it is untenable that grasslands act as a perpetual carbon sink, and the most likely explanation for observed grassland carbon sinks over short periods is legacy effects of land use and land management prior to the beginning of flux measurement periods. Simply having grassland does not result is a carbon sink, but judicious management or previously poorly managed grasslands can increase the sink capacity. Given that grasslands are a large store of carbon, and that it is easier and faster for soils to lose carbon that it is for them to gain carbon, it is an important management target to maintain these stocks.
Elevated carbon dioxide and ozone alter productivity and ecosystem carbon content in northern temperate forests
Authors: Talhelm Alan F. , Pregitzer Kurt S. , Kubiske Mark E. , Zak Donald R. , Campany Courtney E. , Burton Andrew J. , Dickson Richard E. , Hendrey George R. , Isebrands J. G. , Lewin Keith F. , Nagy John , Karnosky David F.
Published: March 2014

Three young northern temperate forest communities in the north‐central United States were exposed to factorial combinations of elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) and tropospheric ozone (O3) for 11 years. Here, we report results from an extensive sampling of plant biomass and soil conducted at the conclusion of the experiment that enabled us to estimate ecosystem carbon (C) content and cumulative net primary productivity (NPP). ElevatedCO2enhanced ecosystem C content by 11%, whereas elevated O3decreased ecosystem C content by 9%. There was little variation in treatment effects on C content across communities and no meaningful interactions betweenCO2and O3. Treatment effects on ecosystem C content resulted primarily from changes in the near‐surface mineral soil and tree C, particularly differences in woody tissues. Excluding the mineral soil, cumulativeNPPwas a strong predictor of ecosystem C content (r2 = 0.96). ElevatedCO2enhanced cumulativeNPPby 39%, a consequence of a 28% increase in canopy nitrogen (N) content (g N m−2) and a 28% increase in N productivity (NPP/canopy N). In contrast, elevated O3loweredNPPby 10% because of a 21% decrease in canopy N, but did not impact N productivity. Consequently, as the marginal impact of canopy N onNPP(∆NPP/∆N) decreased through time with further canopy development, the O3effect onNPPdissipated. Within the mineral soil, there was less C in the top 0.1 m of soil under elevated O3and less soil C from 0.1 to 0.2 m in depth under elevatedCO2. Overall, these results suggest that elevatedCO2may create a sustained increase inNPP, whereas the long‐term effect of elevated O3onNPPwill be smaller than expected. However, changes in soil C are not well‐understood and limit our ability to predict changes in ecosystem C content.
Do past climate states influence diversity dynamics and the present‐day latitudinal diversity gradient?
Authors: Huang Shan , Roy Kaustuv , Jablonski David
Published: March 2014

Aim

To identify the role of climate variations over geological time in shaping present‐day diversity patterns, particularly the latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG; the decrease of taxonomic diversity from low towards high latitudes), using marine bivalves as a model system.

Location

World‐wide.

Methods

We use the fossil record of extant and extinct bivalve taxa and information on global palaeoclimate states to evaluate how the climate state at the beginning of the evolutionary history of individual families influenced (a) their diversification dynamics through subsequent climate changes and (b) their present‐day LDG. For (a), we estimated per‐family genus origination and extinction rates during the last cool interval in the late Cenozoic and overall genus origination and extinction rates since the early Palaeozoic. For (b), we compared LDG slopes and oldest fossil occurrences of extant families with palaeoclimate data. We also tested whether such dynamics vary with life habits.

Results

Families that originated in warm intervals tend to have higher extinction rates in the (cool) late Cenozoic and occasionally in other cool intervals. However, in contrast to the results of Romdal et al. (Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2013, 22, 344–350), present‐day LDG slopes do not vary with the climate state at the time of family origination, regardless of the palaeoclimatic scheme used. Infaunal living families have marginally higher origination rates in the late Cenozoic, but their LDG slopes do not differ significantly from the epifaunal families. In contrast, feeding habit appears to affect family LDG slopes, but not late Cenozoic diversification rates.

Main conclusion

For marine bivalves, ancestral climate state appears to influence subsequent diversification dynamics with clades originating in warm intervals showing higher extinction rates during intervals of global cooling, but ancestral climate has no detectable influence on present‐day LDGs.
Seasonality drives global‐scale diversity patterns in waterfowl (Anseriformes) via temporal niche exploitation
Authors: Dalby Lars , McGill Brian J. , Fox Anthony David , Svenning Jens‐Christian
Published: March 2014

Aim

Birds (class Aves) overall follow the expected latitudinal gradient in species richness. However, there is a poorly understood secondary peak in bird richness at about 45° N latitude, at least in North America. Waterfowl (Anseriformes) species richness conforms to this secondary peak, yet this group is commonly excluded from bird species richness studies and consequently the drivers of waterfowl richness are poorly understood. Here, we explore the drivers of waterfowl richness on a global scale, emphasizing the secondary peak.

Location

Global.

Methods

We mapped total waterfowl species richness for the breeding and non‐breeding seasons. Considering a wide range of potential environmental drivers (climate, productivity and habitat), we initially ran univariate ordinary least squares models for the candidate set of predictors. We then used regression trees (RT) to multivariately assess their importance for the richness pattern while allowing for nonlinear and non‐stationary processes.

Results

We found seasonal variability in plant productivity (measured by the normalized difference vegetation index, NDVI) to be the most important predictor of breeding season richness in both univariate regressions and multivariate RT models. For the non‐breeding season, winter actual evapotranspiration (AET) was the best predictor. In the regions of highest richness, including the secondary mid‐latitude peak, an overwhelming portion of the species were migratory species.

Main conclusions

Predictors commonly used to explain the large‐scale richness patterns of birds, such as annual AET or annual NDVI explained little of the variation in richness in Anseriformes. Instead, measures reflecting intra‐annual variability and seasonal productivity in the relevant season were the best predictors. This finding, combined with the high proportion of migrants in the richness peaks, strongly suggests that the patterns of richness in Anseriformes reflect the group's exploitation of seasonal environmental variability via short‐ and long‐distance migration, i.e. temporal niche exploitation at an annual and global scale.
Ecological role and services of tropical mangrove ecosystems: a reassessment
Authors: Lee Shing Yip , Primavera Jurgene H. , Dahdouh‐Guebas Farid , McKee Karen , Bosire Jared O. , Cannicci Stefano , Diele Karen , Fromard Francois , Koedam Nico , Marchand Cyril , Mendelssohn Irving , Mukherjee Nibedita , Record Sydne
Published: March 2014

Aim

To reassess the capacity of mangroves for ecosystem services in the light of recent data.

Location

Global mangrove ecosystems.

Methods

We review four long‐standing roles of mangroves: (1) carbon dynamics – export or sink; (2) nursery role; (3) shoreline protection; (4) land‐building capacity. The origins of pertinent hypotheses, current understanding and gaps in our knowledge are highlighted with reference to biogeographic, geographic and socio‐economic influences.

Results

The role of mangroves as C sinks needs to be evaluated for a wide range of biogeographic regions and forest conditions. Mangrove C assimilation may be under‐estimated because of flawed methodology and scanty data on key components of C dynamics. Peri‐urban mangroves may be manipulated to provide local offsets for C emission. The nursery function of mangroves is not ubiquitous but varies with spatio‐temporal accessibility. Connectivity and complementarity of mangroves and adjacent habitats enhance their nursery function through trophic relay and ontogenetic migrations. The effectiveness of mangroves for coastal protection depends on factors at landscape/geomorphic to community scales and local/species scales. Shifts in species due to climate change, forest degradation and loss of habitat connectivity may reduce the protective capacity of mangroves. Early views of mangroves as land builders (especially lateral expansion) were questionable. Evidence now indicates that mangroves, once established, directly influence vertical land development by enhancing sedimentation and/or by direct organic contributions to soil volume (peat formation) in some settings.

Main conclusions

Knowledge of thresholds, spatio‐temporal scaling and variability due to geographic, biogeographic and socio‐economic settings will improve the management of mangrove ecosystem services. Many drivers respond to global trends in climate change and local changes such as urbanization. While mangroves have traditionally been managed for subsistence, future governance models must involve partnerships between local custodians of mangroves and offsite beneficiaries of the services.
Phenomenology and psychopathology of excessive indoor tanning
Authors: Petit Aymeric , Karila Laurent , Chalmin Florence , Lejoyeux Michel
Published: March 2014

Excessive indoor tanning, defined by the presence of an impulse towards and repetition of tanning that leads to personal distress, has only recently been recognized as a psychiatric disorder. This finding is based on the observations of many dermatologists who report the presence of addictive relationships with tanning salons among their patients despite being given diagnoses of malignant melanoma. This article synthesizes the existing literature on excessive indoor tanning and addiction to investigate possible associations. This review focuses on the prevalence, clinical features, etiology, and treatment of this disorder. A literature review was conducted, using PubMed, Google Scholar, EMBASE and PsycINFO, to identify articles published in English from 1974 to 2013. Excessive indoor tanning may be related to addiction, obsessive‐compulsive disorder, impulse control disorder, seasonal affective disorder, anorexia, body dysmorphic disorder, or depression. Excessive indoor tanning can be included in the spectrum of addictive behavior because it has clinical characteristics in common with those of classic addictive disorders. It is frequently associated with anxiety, eating disorders, and tobacco dependence. Further controlled studies are required, especially in clinical psychopathology and neurobiology, to improve our understanding of excessive indoor tanning.
Stable activity of diabetogenic cells with age in NOD mice: dynamics of reconstitution and adoptive diabetes transfer in immunocompromised mice
Authors: Kaminitz Ayelet , Mizrahi Keren , Ash Shifra , Ben‐Nun Avi , Askenasy Nadir
Published: March 2014

The non‐obese diabetic (NOD) mouse is a prevalent disease model of type 1 diabetes. Immune aberrations that cause and propagate autoimmune insulitis in these mice are being continually debated, with evidence supporting both dominance of effector cells and insufficiency of suppressor mechanisms. In this study we assessed the behaviour of NOD lymphocytes under extreme expansion conditions using adoptive transfer into immunocompromised NOD.SCID (severe combined immunodeficiency) mice. CD4+ CD25+ T cells do not cause islet inflammation, whereas splenocytes and CD4+ CD25− T cells induce pancreatic inflammation and hyperglycaemia in 80–100% of the NOD.SCID recipients. Adoptively transferred effector T cells migrate to the lymphoid organs and pancreas, proliferate, are activated in the target organ in situ and initiate inflammatory insulitis. Reconstitution of all components of the CD4+ subset emphasizes the plastic capacity of different cell types to adopt effector and suppressor phenotypes. Furthermore, similar immune profiles of diabetic and euglycaemic NOD.SCID recipients demonstrate dissociation between fractional expression of CD25 and FoxP3 and the severity of insulitis. There were no evident and consistent differences in diabetogenic activity and immune reconstituting activity of T cells from pre‐diabetic (11 weeks) and new onset diabetic NOD females. Similarities in immune phenotypes and variable distribution of effector and suppressor subsets in various stages of inflammation commend caution in interpretation of quantitative and qualitative aberrations as markers of disease severity in adoptive transfer experiments.
Effects of experimental tail shortening on the phenotypic condition of barn swallowsHirundo rustica: implications for tail‐length evolution
Authors: Cuervo José J. , de Ayala Rosa M.
Published: March 2014

Some studies have suggested that tail streamers in the barn swallowHirundo rusticamay have been elongated 10–12 mm by sexual selection, but according to other studies, the length of these feathers is at the aerodynamic optimum or very close to it. To shed light on this issue, outermost tail feathers were experimentally shortened in male and female barn swallows by 1, 11 or 21 mm. Changes in four physiological parameters commonly used to estimate phenotypic condition in birds (weight, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, blood leukocyte concentration and heterophil/lymphocyte ratio) were checked one month later. Health improved (blood leukocyte concentration decreased) in the group of birds with tails shortened by 11 mm (both males and females), but body condition deteriorated (weight decreased) compared to the other two experimental groups. There was no significant effect of tail‐length manipulation on the other two physiological parameters. These contradictory results suggest trade‐offs between components of phenotypic condition. Possible negative relationships between condition‐related traits imply that using one or very few physiological parameters to estimate phenotypic condition might not be appropriate. The most plausible explanation for the turning point in phenotypic condition when streamers were shortened by 11 mm is that these feathers are 7–15 mm longer than the aerodynamic optimum in both sexes. Therefore, our results are consistent with the hypothesis that tail streamers have been elongated 10–12 mm by sexual selection. This conclusion disagrees with a previous study on the effect of experimental tail shortening on haematocrit, but the complexity of interpreting changes in haematocrit might account for this discrepancy.
Linkage disequilibrium and genomic scan to detect selective loci in cattle populations adapted to different ecological conditions in Ethiopia
Authors: Edea Z. , Dadi H. , Kim S.‐W. , Park J.‐H. , Shin G.‐H. , Dessie T. , Kim K.‐S.
Published: March 2014

Despite the wide range of observed phenotypic diversities and adaptation to different ecological conditions, little has been studied regarding the genetics of adaptation in the genome of indigenous cattle breeds of developing countries. Here, we investigated the linkage disequilibrium (LD) and identified the subset of outlier loci that are highly differentiated among cattle populations adapted to different ecological conditions in Ethiopia. Specifically, we genotyped 47 unrelated animals sampled from high‐ versus low‐altitude environments using a Bovine 50K SNP BeadChip. Linkage disequilibrium was assessed using both D′ and r2 between adjacent SNPs. We calculated FST and heterozygosity at different significance levels as measures of genetic differentiation for each locus between high‐ and low‐altitude populations following the hierarchical island model approach. We identified 816 loci (p < 0.01) showing selection signals and are associated with genes that might have roles in local adaptation. Some of them are associated with candidate genes that are involved in metabolism (ATP2A3, CA2, MYO18B, SIK3, INPP4A, and IREB2), hypoxia response (BDNF, TFRC, and PML) and heat stress (PRKDC, CDK1, and TFDC). Average r2 and D′ values were 0.14 ± 0.21 and 0.57 ± 0.34, respectively, for a minor allele frequency (MAF) ≥ 0.05 and were found to increase with increasing MAF value. The outlier loci identified in the studied Ethiopian cattle populations indicate the presence of genetic variation produced/shaped by adaptation to different environmental conditions and provide a basis for further validation and functional analysis using a reasonable sample size and high‐density markers.
Ultrastructure of novel thrombocytes in the dog snapper Lutjanus jocu
Authors: Azevedo C. , Matos P. , Rocha S. , Matos E. , Oliveira E. , Al‐Quraishy S. , Casal G.
Published: March 2014

Myxosporean cysts containing spores of Henneguya sp. were observed in the gills of the dog snapper Lutjanus jocu. Adjacent to the cysts were capillaries, allowing observation of peripheral blood cells. Numerous white blood cells displaying uncommon cytoplasmic projections were observed amongst the erythrocytes. Their morphology allowed them to be identified as thrombocytes (TCs). Each TC displayed 18–26 cytoplasmic projections, most of which were in close proximity to erythrocytes. At their apical end, each cytoplasmic projection presented an ellipsoidal vacuole (c. 0·6 µm × 0·3 µm) from which a secretory tubule, 0·3–0·4 µm long and c. 120 nm in total diameter, extended towards the periphery of the TC plasmalemma and fused with the cellular membrane. From this opening, contents of vacuoles were apparently released into the lumen of the capillaries. Other vacuoles with similar features, and containing an electron‐lucent matrix, were observed in the cytoplasm of the TC. This is the first description of fish TC with these ultrastructural features and organization, which suggest that they perform a secretory function.
No Justification for Lottery Losers
Authors: Kelp Christoph
Published: March 2014

Igor Douven has recently developed a challenge for accounts of justification according to which beliefs about lottery losers are never justified. This article argues that champions of such accounts can rise to Douven's challenge and, what's more, that they can turn Douven's argument around in the sense that they can legitimately take it to provide a vindication of their preferred view.
Plant volatiles in extreme terrestrial and marine environments
Authors: RINNAN RIIKKA , STEINKE MICHAEL , MCGENITY TERRY , LORETO FRANCESCO
Published: March 2014

This review summarizes the current understanding on plant and algal volatile organic compound (VOC) production and emission in extreme environments, where temperature, water availability, salinity or other environmental factors pose stress on vegetation. Here, the extreme environments include terrestrial systems, such as arctic tundra, deserts, CO2 springs and wetlands, and marine systems such as sea ice, tidal rock pools and hypersaline environments, with mangroves and salt marshes at the land–sea interface. The emission potentials at fixed temperature and light level or actual emission rates for phototrophs in extreme environments are frequently higher than for organisms from less stressful environments. For example, plants from the arctic tundra appear to have higher emission potentials for isoprenoids than temperate species, and hypersaline marine habitats contribute to global dimethyl sulphide (DMS) emissions in significant amounts. DMS emissions are more widespread than previously considered, for example, in salt marshes and some desert plants. The reason for widespread VOC, especially isoprenoid, emissions from different extreme environments deserves further attention, as these compounds may have important roles in stress resistance and adaptation to extremes. Climate warming is likely to significantly increase VOC emissions from extreme environments both by direct effects on VOC production and volatility, and indirectly by altering the composition of the vegetation.
Robert Burton and the problems of polymathy
Authors: Murphy Kathryn
Published: March 2014

Robert Burton called his period ‘this scribling age’, in which the copiousness of printed matter and the multitude of authors caused problems both of discernment – how to distinguish true scholars from intellectual quacks? – and of quantity: how can the scholar hope to master the ‘vast Chaos and confusion of Bookes’? This article addresses Burton's engagement with these questions, and examines both his attempt to establish a polymathic persona, and the relationship of the Anatomy to other compendious genres of the period. Section II of this essay compares Burton's versions of polymathy with Johannes Wower's De polymathia tractatio (1603), showing how, in both the Anatomy and his academic play, Philosophaster, Burton contrasts the true polymath with the figure of the ‘polypragmatist’, representing a kind of miscellaneous learning which is shallow, deceptive, and mercenary. The third section examines Burton's relationship to another model of disciplinary multifariousness: the encyclopaedia, understood by Burton not as a genre, but as an ethos. In the fourth section, attention turns to polyantheas and other compendious literary genres. Burton's complaints about such shortcuts to learning are shown to participate in the controversy over the scholarly method which followed the publication of John Selden's Historie of Tithes (1618). The final section addresses polymathic style: Burton's ambiguous relationship to Erasmian copia, and the struggle to find a voice amid the clamour of citations demanded of the scholar.
How is Philosophy Supposed to Engage with Religion? Heidegger's Philosophical Atheism and Its Limits
Authors: Baiasu Roxana
Published: March 2014

The paper addresses two related questions: 1. the much debated issue concerning philosophy's proper way of engaging with religion, and 2. the extent to which religious concerns belong to our existence. If philosophy is understood as the hermeneutics of existence, that is, as the self‐interpretation of existence, as the early Heidegger proposes, then the way the second question is answered bears on the approach to the first issue. While endorsing Heidegger's claim in the 1920s that philosophy should be autonomous and neutral in relation to religious concerns, I reject his view that this can be achieved through a silencing attitude characteristic of a “fundamentally atheistic” philosophy. I link Heidegger's failure to offer a convincing response to the first question to the way in which he addresses the second question as to whether religious concerns essentially belong to our existence. In contrast with his views on the second question, which often seem to propose a negative answer to it (but which, I claim, are not as not as clear as it is sometimes assumed), I argue that spiritual comportment is an essential aspect of our life. How can then philosophy ‘transcend’ it and be religiously neutral without becoming silent about it? I argue that philosophy can be religiously neutral and, at the same time, speak about spirituality as an open question within a shared space.
Ozone-Assisted Combustion—Part I: Literature Review and Kinetic Study Using Detailed n-Heptane Kinetic Mechanism
Authors: Depcik Christopher , Mangus Michael , Ragone Colter
Published: March 2014

In this first paper, the authors undertake a review of the literature in the field of ozone-assisted combustion in order to summarize literature findings. The use of a detailed n-heptane combustion model including ozone kinetics helps analyze these earlier results and leads into experimentation within the authors' laboratory using a single-cylinder, direct-injection compression ignition engine, briefly discussed here and in more depth in a following paper. The literature and kinetic modeling outcomes indicate that the addition of ozone leads to a decrease in ignition delay, both in comparison to no added ozone and with a decreasing equivalence ratio. This ignition delay decrease as the mixture leans is counter to the traditional increase in ignition delay with decreasing equivalence ratio. Moreover, the inclusion of ozone results in slightly higher temperatures in the cylinder due to ozone decomposition, augmented production of nitrogen oxides, and reduction in particulate matter through radial atomic oxygen chemistry. Of additional importance, acetylene levels decrease but carbon monoxide emissions are found to both increase and decrease as a function of equivalence ratio. This work illustrates that, beyond a certain level of assistance (approximately 20 ppm for the compression ratio of the authors' engine), adding more ozone has a negligible influence on combustion and emissions. This occurs because the introduction of O3 into the intake causes a temperature-limited equilibrium set of reactions via the atomic oxygen radical produced.
Minimum Time Kinematic Motions of a Cartesian Mobile Manipulator for a Fruit Harvesting Robot
Authors: Mann Moshe P. , Zion Boaz , Rubinstein Dror , Linker Raphael , Shmulevich Itzhak
Published: March 2014

This paper describes an analytical procedure to calculate the time-optimal trajectory for a mobile Cartesian manipulator to traverse between any two fruits it picks up it. The goal is to minimize the time required from the retrieval of one fruit to that of the next while adhering to velocity, acceleration, location, and endpoint constraints. This is accomplished using a six stage procedure, based on Bellman's Principle of Optimality and nonsmooth optimization that is completely analytical and requires no numerical computations. The procedure sequentially calculates all relevant parameters, from which side of the mobile platform to place the fruit on to the velocity profile and drop-off point, that yield a minimum time trajectory. In addition, it provides a time window under which the mobile manipulator can traverse from any fruit to any other, which can be used for a globally optimal retrieving sequence algorithm.
Effects of Contact Ratio on Transmission Errors of Trochoidal Gears
Authors: Ohta Hiroyuki , Kurita Masahumi , Kishi Kengo
Published: March 2014

This article deals with the effects of the contact ratio ε on transmission errors of trochoidal gears (which consist of a roller gear anda cam gear). First, the experiments and multibody analysis (MBA) for the transmission errors of two types of single-row trochoidal gears (types A and B gears) were carried out. The type A gear is a commercial trochoidal gear with ε = 1.1 and the type B gear is a trochoidal gear with ε = 2.1 (by increasing the number of teeth). The experimental and MBA results showed that the peak-to-peak value TEP-P of the transmission errors of the type B gear (with ε = 2.1) was lower than the type A gear (with ε = 1.1). The TEP-P of types A and B gears increased as the rotational speed of the roller gear increased. However, the increasing rate of the measured TEP-P of the type B gear due to an increase of the rotational speed was less than that of the type A gear. Increasing the contact ratio due to an increase in the number of teeth in a single-row trochoidal gear (such as a type B gear) decreases the strength of the teeth and rollers. To overcome this problem, as a new transmission error reduction method, a double-row trochoidal gear (type C gear), having two times the contact ratio of the type A single-row trochoidal gear was presented and its transmission error was examined. The experimental and MBA results showed that the TEP-P of the transmission errors of the type C double-row trochoidal gear were lower than that of the type A single-row trochoidal gear. Therefore, it is clear that using a double-row trochoidal gear is effective for reducing the transmission errors of trochoidal gears.
Information-bearing acoustic change outperforms duration in predicting intelligibility of full-spectrum and noise-vocoded sentences
Authors: Stilp Christian E.
Published: March 2014

Recent research has demonstrated a strong relationship between information-bearing acoustic changes in the speech signal and speech intelligibility. The availability of information-bearing acoustic changes reliably predicts intelligibility of full-spectrum [Stilp and Kluender (2010). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 107(27), 12387–12392] and noise-vocoded sentences amid noise interruption [Stilp et al. (2013). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 133(2), EL136–EL141]. However, other research reports that proportion of signal duration preserved also predicts intelligibility of noise-interrupted speech. These factors have only ever been investigated independently, obscuring whether one better explains speech perception. The present experiments manipulated both factors to answer this question. A broad range of sentence durations (160–480 ms) containing high or low information-bearing acoustic changes were replaced by speech-shaped noise in noise-vocoded (Experiment 1) and full-spectrum sentences (Experiment 2). Sentence intelligibility worsened with increasing noise replacement, but in both experiments, information-bearing acoustic change was a statistically superior predictor of performance. Perception relied more heavily on information-bearing acoustic changes in poorer listening conditions (in spectrally degraded sentences and amid increasing noise replacement). Highly linear relationships between measures of information and performance suggest that exploiting information-bearing acoustic change is a shared principle underlying perception of acoustically rich and degraded speech. Results demonstrate the explanatory power of information-theoretic approaches for speech perception.