bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Hopeful Present
Authors: Nolan Yvette
Published: March 2013

In this essay Nolan proposes that “the modern Native play is, in fact, a simulacrum of the modern memory play, but without excuses.” Through an exploration of a range of Aboriginal drama – her own and that of others - Nolan demonstrates how the act of remembering in theatre can be a means of both reanimating the past and moving forward into the future.
Before we get into the event—I would like to hear from you in what way you think that my love affected you : (verbatim fragments on memory and loss—from a piece that I have been working on my whole adult life and may never write)
Authors: Youssef Marcus
Published: March 2013

Throughout his mother’s decade-long battle with early onset Alzheimer’s disease, Marcus Youssef has used multiple narrative forms to document his experience of his mother’s
illness. Using examples of his own writing about her Alzheimer’s, as well as the writing his mother did as the disease took hold, Youssef examines the ways in which his own attempts to construct performance narratives out of the disease’s impact seem remarkably similar to his mother’s own attempts to preserve a sense of narrative (or “self”) in the face of the steady erasure of her memory. Taken together, these fragments of essay, drama, journal and radio broadcast make a kind of patchwork and subjective memory document that catalogues one example of this emerging cultural rite of passage. It also poses fundamental questions
about the relationship of narrative to self, and memory’s complicated and elusive role in the formation of both.
Remembering Beckett
Authors: Hays Matthew
Published: March 2013

Michael Hays interviews director Jennifer Tarver about her interpretation of Krapp’s Last Tape , and the transition from Stratford to Chicago’s Goodman Theater.
Creating Without Pain!!!
Authors: Vachon Paul , Graham Catherine
Published: March 2013

Circus artist Paul Vachon challenges the stereotype of the anguished artist and argues for a healthier approach to the creative process—one that stems from pleasure.
After the Crash : A Play About Brain Injury
Authors: Gray Julia
Published: March 2013

Playwright Julia Gray considers the challenges of creating and communicating across disciplinary divides in the development of After the Crash , a play about brain injury.
Building the Activist Classroom: Learning to Collaborate, Learning through Performance in English 2470:Canadian Drama
Authors: Beck Paige-Tiffany , Moore Lauren , Solga Kim
Published: March 2013

KIM SOLGA talks with former undergraduate students PAIGE BECK and LAUREN MOORE about the ways in which regular group performance work both helped and hindered their and their peers' experience of "the activist classroom" in Canadian Drama: Performing An Intercultural Nation in winter 2010.
Speaking Out on Violence and Social Change: Transmedia Storytelling with Remotely Situated Women in Nepal and Canada
Authors: Alexander Emma , Regier Edith
Published: March 2013

When Edith Regier and Emma Alexander flew to Kathmandu, they discovered connections between youth and women in Nigeria and Canada. Their essay explores how video workshops expose stigmatization and imagine possibilities.
Is Anyone Political Anymore?
Authors: Howard Ruth
Published: March 2013

Do community arts projects fleetingly create the world we want or does bland self-congratulation render us "all the rage but not for long"? Veteran Jumblies Artistic Director RUTH HOWARD talks about urgent matters in 2011
Staging the Internet: Representation (Bodies, Memories) and Digital Audiences
Authors: Irwin Kathleen
Published: March 2013

Citing the interactive online space/performance The Wilderness Downtown , KATHLEEN IRWIN demonstrates the vital role that the application of scenographic methods might play in the design of such dynamic virtual environments.
The Extraction/Fusion Apparatus: Dayna McLeod's Engaged Mash-up Art Practice
Authors: Golden Anne
Published: March 2013

Anne Golden investigates the performance practice of Montreal-based performance and video artist Dayna McLeod whose unique and hilarious brand of performance art is informed by a savvy and complex use of the mash-up.
GLITTERfesto: An Open Call in Trinity Formation for a Revolutionary Movement of Activist Performance Based on the Premise That Social Justice is Fabulous
Authors: Cowan T.L.
Published: March 2013

Saskatoon-based spoken word artist T. L. COWAN gets GLITTER EVERYWHERE and reveals in turn how a philosophy of GLITTER offers an effective form of activism and intervention.
Bonus Insert
Authors: Pollard Aaron , Lawson Stephen
Published: March 2013

Let creation soar free of capitalist constraints: an interactive manifesto that reveals itself as you assemble it, by AARON POLLARD and STEPHEN LAWSON of Montreal’s 2boys.tv.
Performance as an Act of Survival
Authors: Bernal Claudia
Published: March 2013

Montreal performance artist CLAUDIA BERNAL examines how performance prevents complacency; in its “polysemy of gestures,” its metaphoricity, and its symbolic power, it allows the truth to emerge.
Highway to the Valley
Authors: La Flamme Michelle
Published: March 2013

A recent visit by author and playwright Tomson Highway to the University of the Fraser Valley was the occasion for a cast reunion of a 2000 production of The Rez Sisters . One of the event’s organizers, MICHELLE LA FLAMME , sees the play’s twenty-five year legacy as one that conveys the spirit of community performance and one that has helped indigenize the institution.
Can Research Become Ceremony?: Performance Ethnography and Indigenous Epistemologies
Authors: Magnat Virginie
Published: March 2013

Drawing from the work of Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Manulani Aluli Meyer, Shawn Wilson, and Floyd Favel, VIRGINIE MAGNAT asks how performance ethnography informed by Indigenous epistemologies might become a relational research practice vital to the survival of all living species and of the natural world we co-inhabit.
Negotiating Tensions betwixt Presence and Absence amidst a Big Sadness: Cultural Reclamation, Reinvention, and Costume Design
Authors: Carter Jill
Published: March 2013

Jill Carter chats with Erika A. Iserhoff about her design practice with a sense of responsibility to a Native Performance Culture.
Yiddish Theatre beyond Montreal: Die Folkshpieler in Ottawa
Authors: Margolis Rebecca
Published: March 2013

Rebecca Margolis examines community-based Yiddish theatre in Ottawa as an expression of Jewish identity in Canada.
The "Sexuation" of Sublimation: A Žižekian Approach to John Mighton's Possible Worlds
Authors: Wolfe Graham
Published: March 2013

"The 'Sexuation' of Sublimation" takes a new look [at] Possible Worlds , a highly successful work by Canadian playwright John Mighton. Drawing upon the recent writings of Slavoj Žižek, the article investigates the paradoxes of love, desire, and sublimity that arise amidst the play's shifting worlds. It argues that this highly fantastical play ultimately stages what Jacques Lacan calls a "traversal of the fantasy," modelling a radical reconfiguration of the subject's relation to Symbolic reality. Understood in this way, the play sheds new light on theatre's potential as a site of transformation and gestures toward new modes of configuring - and staging - the sublime.
Auden and Britten’s Paul Bunyan and the Frontiers of Opera
Authors: Carlson Matthew Paul
Published: March 2013

Although W.H. Auden abandoned playwriting when he left England in 1939, he did not, as some have claimed, stop seeking a theatrically viable role for his verse. Ultimately, he would find a satisfying outlet for his unique poetic talents as well as lasting solutions to his dramaturgical problems by writing opera librettos. But even before he began to espouse opera proper, his dramatic writings, which increasingly relied on the musical contributions of Benjamin Britten, inclined toward the operatic. Shortly after arriving in America, he began writing his first libretto for Britten’s operetta Paul Bunyan , a work that marks both the culmination of Auden’s earlier dramatic efforts and a pivotal transition in his career from verse drama to opera. The Paul Bunyan libretto, one of the few dramatic texts Auden wrote without a collaborator, characteristically combines popular forms with quasi-religious ritual in its attempt to fashion a distinctively American myth. The final scene, in particular, achieves Auden’s goal of representing a collective ritual action on the stage; however, the operetta’s eclectic mix of musical theatrical genres led to a poorly received premiere in 1941. The initial failure of Paul Bunyan was partly responsible for the dissolution of the Auden-Britten collaboration, but librettist and composer would soon separately find, in the paradoxically liberating constraints of the operatic tradition, an ideal medium for their respective dramatic projects.
Subversion, Refusal, and Contingency: The Transgression of Liberal-Humanist Subjectivity and Characterization in Sarah Kane’s Cleansed , Crave , and 4.48 Psychosis
Authors: Delgado-García Cristina
Published: March 2013

Drawing on Judith Butler’s writings on performativity, this article investigates the critique of the liberal-humanist understanding of selfhood offered in Sarah Kane’s last three plays. It argues that Cleansed subversively deploys conventional dramatic character to disfigure the subject as it is understood by liberal humanism. The motif of the wound activates this subversive characterization, with the supposed self-sameness or coherence of selfhood being dismembered on the page. Subjectivity emerges in this playtext as discursively produced, defined by the body, and processual. Conversely, Crave and 4.48 Psychosis reject the terms through which such liberal-humanist subjectivity is represented. Through uncountable and opaque characters, subjectivity is formulated as queer, foreclosing the equation of body morphology with the sense of the self and dismantling fixed and unified notions of identity. Finally, the article interrogates to what extent the staging of the plays inevitably reproduces stable characters and normative subjectivities. Desire and recognition are considered here as key to maintaining the plays’ critique of liberal humanism.
Voice from Rikers: Spirituality in Hip Hop Artist Lil’ Wayne’s Prison Blog
Authors: Lauricella Sharon , Alexander Matthew
Published: March 2013

While incarcerated on Rikers Island, Grammy award-winning rapper Lil’ Wayne posted letters to a blog to maintain contact with fans. The blog entries and comments from fans express gratitude, positivity, encouragement, and a pervasive sense of spirituality and religiousness. This paper considers the content of Lil’ Wayne’s letters from Rikers, together with posted comments to the blog, in the context of spiritual communication and participatory media.
The Apotheosis of Frida and Ché: Secular Saints and Fetishized Commodities
Authors: Sanchez Carleen D.
Published: March 2013

This article explores the contradictory positionings of two significant Latin Americans, Ché Guevara and Frida Kahlo, through reflection on their historical, ideological, and folk meanings. Frida and Ché have ceased to be historical figures as their images have become commodified as part of the rampant consumerism that typifies modern global capitalism. I argue that Ché and Frida have been transformed into secular icons, in particular by the Latin American left, owing largely to their tragic death/lives which reflect the martyrdom of Catholic saints. As pop cause célèbres , consumed by audiences that care little to understand the complexities of their ideologies, desires, and agendas, their images have been appropriated and marketed by the fashion, novelty, and cottage industries. Frida and Ché now function as fetishized commodities used as stylistic elements designed to sell a range of consumer goods, yet remain powerful icons that challenge the hegemony of globalization, patriarchy, and, in the case of Frida, heteronormativity.
Everywhere Is War: Peace and Violence in the Life and Songs of Bob Marley
Authors: Hagerman Brent
Published: March 2013

This paper examines two prevalent representations of Bob Marley in popular culture: Marley as a revolutionary and Marley as an icon of peace. It contends that although his legacy is often reduced to an essential meaning such as peace promoter or an advocate of violence, a closer look at his life and lyrics suggests that Marley's views of peace and violence were more complex. I problematize these binary readings by contextualizing Bob Marley using his religious faith in Rastafari, his sociopolitical background, and Caribbean liberation theology. I suggest that for Marley peace meant freedom and the presence of universal equal rights and justice. I argue that there is enough ambiguity in the songs, and relevant context, to suggest that a metaphorical reading of violence is only one possible way to understand these songs and propose that another possible reading is that he did not necessarily rule out violence as a viable option for attaining peace.
Freedom to Read vs. Obligation to Protect: New Technologies and Twenty-First-Century Policies
Authors: Horowitz Irving Louis
Published: March 2013

The explosion of new information technologies and their varied capacity to display and disseminate news, rumours, data, reports, confidential memoranda, and so on have raised anew the issue of freedom to read. This essay is an attempt to compare and contrast the period following World War II with a present-day environment of skirmishes, insurgencies, and small wars—and how a democratic society must cope with conflicting aims: protecting the social order and permitting the dangerous message. The essay reviews a variety of national interests, global constraints, and personal values in order to take account of a new situation that requires urgent attention. It concludes by noting that, on overview, the tensions between personal freedom and political order are of long standing. The capacity of the new information technologies to deliver messages in an accelerated time span is distinctive. The stress between freedom and order is greatest in the absence of a social consensus; it is sharply reduced when such a broad national consensus exists. Since the long span from 1950 to 2010 is marked by the breakdown of a cultural consensus, it is plain that the struggle of competing aims of freedom to read and retention of systemic cohesion is on the global agenda.
Democracy, Community, and Federalism in Electoral Apportionment Cases: The United States, Canada, and Australia in Comparative Perspective
Authors: Aroney Nicholas
Published: March 2013

We speak often of 'representative democracy' and we tend to regard it as the dominant form of government in the modern West. But who or what is represented by the electoral systems of the modern democratic state? Although we may be tempted to regard contemporary democracies as embodying essentially the same underlying conceptions of representation, a careful examination of constitutional texts, legislative frameworks, and judicial interpretations reveals important differences from one country to the next. In particular, the problem of electoral apportionment has produced a line of constitutional cases in the United States, Canada, and Australia that raise very similar sets of issues, but with strikingly different results. This article compares the case law in the United States, Canada, and Australia on the question of electoral apportionment. While the ideas appealed to in each country are complex and contain sometimes overlapping elements, it is argued that they can be classified into three general types, which the article calls 'individualist,' 'communitarian,' and 'federalist.' Each approach presupposes a distinct conception of the political identity of the human person and has distinct implications for design of a democratic electoral system. And, while each conception finds a place in each of the three countries under examination, there is an important sense in which individualist conceptions have dominated much of the American jurisprudence, communal approaches have influenced most of the Canadian case law, and federalist conceptions have shaped the Australian cases at several decisive points. The article concludes by arguing that, although factors such as modalities of interpretation and conceptions of the relationship between the courts and the political branches of government have been important, significantly different underlying conceptions of democracy and of the political identity of the human person have been ultimately determinative of the results.
Madness, Masculinity, and Magic in Robertson Davies’ Fifth Business : A Tale of Hysteria; or, ‘the Suffocation of the Mother’
Authors: Goldman Marlene
Published: March 2013

Fifth Business is obsessed with straying wits, wandering women, female and male tramps, and boys who run off to the war and to the circus. Tramps and tramping threaten to destabilize the gender roles that secure settled bourgeois life in the fictional Ontario town of Deptford. These crises of mobility are often aligned with madness and, more specifically, with the disease of hysteria, the latter having been identified since antiquity with aberrant sexuality, pathological wandering, and sex-role conflict. With its portrayals of hysterical wandering, sex-role conflict, role-playing, and hypnosis, the novel recalls nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century conceptions of hysteria. But, as well as presenting familiar images of female hysteria, Davies, in his portrayal of his protagonist, also sheds light on the lesser-known form of male hysteria. Showing Davies’ debt to Freud and to hysteria studies, and presenting homosexual and lesbian alternatives, the narrative ultimately conveys the message that male mental health and masculinity can be secured only by the performance of heterosexuality.
Impossible Alternatives to Tom Sawyer's Delusions in Twain and Adorno
Authors: Morris Christopher D.
Published: March 2013

Theodor Adorno's adaptation of Tom Sawyer depicts it as a precursor to his negative dialectic, which Derrida saw as resembling deconstruction in attempting to articulate the 'possibility of the impossible.' The lack of any authentic alternative to Tom, the epitome of America's delusion, is allegorized when Joe is first posited as 'wholly other,' then contained by the hegemonic, referential discourses of St Petersburg. Adorno similarly makes clear that Huck, like Joe, can't resist such assimilation. This reading of Tom Sawyer is consistent with Twain's tall tales and travel writings. Unsuccessful efforts to imagine an alternative to Tom's world also characterize the collusive voice of Twain the narrator of Tom Sawyer .
Pure Persuasion: Metarhetorical Motives in Kenneth Burke's Towards a Better Life
Authors: Butler Jonathan
Published: March 2013

Is Kenneth Burke's 1932 novel, Towards a Better Life , an example of protopostmodernism? A number of critics in recent years have resurrected from the corpus of Burke's theoretical work embryonic - in some cases, advanced - models of postmodern theory. What hasn't been analyzed in commensurate detail for its uncanny prescience is Burke's early novel, a work, I would argue, ahead of its time in many respects. While already applauded for its verbal energy and lyrical grace, 'the internal eventfulness of its sentences,' as Denis Donoghue puts it, the novel's theoretical implications remain to be fully adumbrated in respect to a profound concern with the manner in which language games, or 'terministic screens,' to use Burke's neologism, can foreclose prospects for communicative engagement. At the heart of Burke's novel is a complex and ultimately unresolvable tension between the pleasures of 'pure persuasion' (metarhetorical motives) and the imperatives of salutary communicative involvement.
Ionic liquid catalyzed one-pot synthesis of spiropyran derivatives via three-component reaction in water
Authors: Jin Shuai-Shuai , Ding Mao-Hua , Guo Hong-Yun
Published: March 2013

The ionic liquid [H3N+CH2CH2OH][CH3COO-] (HEAA) catalyzes a three-component, one-pot condensation of malononitrile/ethyl cyanoacetate, 1,3-dicarbonyl compound/enol, and quinone or ninhydrin in water to afford a spiropyran derivative. This method has advantages of mild reaction conditions, short reaction time, and environmental friendliness.
Establishment of adult mouse Sertoli cell lines by using the starvation method
Authors: Sato Yoko , Yoshida Kaoru , Nozawa Shiari , Yoshiike Miki , Arai Michiko , Otoi Takeshige , Iwamoto Teruaki
Published: March 2013

Sertoli cells were isolated from the testes of 6-week-old mice and stable Sertoli cell lines with higher proliferation rates were subcloned after starvation of primary cultured cells. After two rounds of this subcloning, 33 subcloned lines were selected on the basis of their proliferation rates. In addition, these subclones were screened according to their phagocytic activity and the characteristics of mature Sertoli cells, such as the expression of androgen receptors (ARs) and progesterone receptors, by using western blotting and immunocytochemical analysis, in addition to their morphology and proliferation rates. After the third round of subcloning, 12 subclones were selected for the final selection using RT-PCR for identification of genes specifically expressed by various testicular cells. Three clones were selected that expressed Sertoli-cell-specific genes, i.e. stem cell factor, clusterin, AR, α-inhibin, transferrin, Wilms' tumour-1, Müllerian inhibitory substance, sex-determining region Y-box 9, FSH receptor (Fshr) and occludin; however, these clones did not express globulin transcription factor 1, steroidogenic factor or androgen-binding protein. These clones also expressed growth and differentiation factors that act on germ cells, such as leukaemia inhibitory factor, transforming growth factor β1 and basic fibroblast growth factor 2, but did not express c-kit (specific for germ cells), LH receptor and 3β-hydroxyl-dehydrogenase (specific for Leydig cells). Immunocytochemical data confirmed the expression of clusterin in these clones. Furthermore, the Bromodeoxyuridine incorporation assay confirmed the proliferation activity of these clones throughFshrafter treatment with FSH. These clones are considered to be valuable tools for the study of Sertoli cell-specific gene expression and function.
Accurate Identification and Analysis of Human mRNA Isoforms Using Deep Long Read Sequencing
Authors: Tilgner Hagen , Raha Debasish , Habegger Lukas , Mohiuddin Mohammed , Gerstein Mark , Snyder Michael
Published: March 2013

Precise identification of RNA-coding regions and transcriptomes of eukaryotes is a significant problem in biology. Currently, eukaryote transcriptomes are analyzed using deep short-read sequencing experiments of complementary DNAs. The resulting short-reads are then aligned against a genome and annotated junctions to infer biological meaning. Here we use long-read complementary DNA datasets for the analysis of a eukaryotic transcriptome and generate two large datasets in the human K562 and HeLa S3 cell lines. Both data sets comprised at least 4 million reads and had median read lengths greater than 500 bp. We show that annotation-independent alignments of these reads provide partial gene structures that are very much in-line with annotated gene structures, 15% of which have not been obtained in a previous de novo analysis of short reads. For long-noncoding RNAs (i.e., lncRNA) genes, however, we find an increased fraction of novel gene structures among our alignments. Other important aspects of transcriptome analysis, such as the description of cell type-specific splicing, can be performed in an accurate, reliable and completely annotation-free manner, making it ideal for the analysis of transcriptomes of newly sequenced genomes. Furthermore, we demonstrate that long read sequence can be assembled into full-length transcripts with considerable success. Our method is applicable to all long read sequencing technologies.
Resource Allocation for Maximizing Prediction Accuracy and Genetic Gain of Genomic Selection in Plant Breeding: A Simulation Experiment
Authors: Lorenz Aaron J
Published: March 2013

Allocating resources between population size and replication affects both genetic gain through phenotypic selection and quantitative trait loci detection power and effect estimation accuracy for marker-assisted selection (MAS). It is well known that because alleles are replicated across individuals in quantitative trait loci mapping and MAS, more resources should be allocated to increasing population size compared with phenotypic selection. Genomic selection is a form of MAS using all marker information simultaneously to predict individual genetic values for complex traits and has widely been found superior to MAS. No studies have explicitly investigated how resource allocation decisions affect success of genomic selection. My objective was to study the effect of resource allocation on response to MAS and genomic selection in a single biparental population of doubled haploid lines by using computer simulation. Simulation results were compared with previously derived formulas for the calculation of prediction accuracy under different levels of heritability and population size. Response of prediction accuracy to resource allocation strategies differed between genomic selection models (ridge regression best linear unbiased prediction [RR-BLUP], BayesCπ) and multiple linear regression using ordinary least-squares estimation (OLS), leading to different optimal resource allocation choices between OLS and RR-BLUP. For OLS, it was always advantageous to maximize population size at the expense of replication, but a high degree of flexibility was observed for RR-BLUP. Prediction accuracy of doubled haploid lines included in the training set was much greater than of those excluded from the training set, so there was little benefit to phenotyping only a subset of the lines genotyped. Finally, observed prediction accuracies in the simulation compared well to calculated prediction accuracies, indicating these theoretical formulas are useful for making resource allocation decisions.
Cell-Cycle Perturbations Suppress the Slow-Growth Defect ofspt10ΔMutants inSaccharomyces cerevisiae
Authors: Chang Jennifer S , Winston Fred
Published: March 2013

Spt10 is a putative acetyltransferase of Saccharomyces cerevisiae that directly activates the transcription of histone genes. Deletion of SPT10 causes a severe slow growth phenotype, showing that Spt10 is critical for normal cell division. To gain insight into the function of Spt10, we identified mutations that impair or improve the growth of spt10 null (spt10Δ) mutants. Mutations that cause lethality in combination with spt10Δ include particular components of the SAGA complex as well as asf1Δ and hir1Δ. Partial suppressors of the spt10Δ growth defect include mutations that perturb cell-cycle progression through the G1/S transition, S phase, and G2/M. Consistent with these results, slowing of cell-cycle progression by treatment with hydroxyurea or growth on medium containing glycerol as the carbon source also partially suppresses the spt10Δ slow-growth defect. In addition, mutations that impair the Lsm1-7−Pat1 complex, which regulates decapping of polyadenylated mRNAs, also partially suppress the spt10Δ growth defect. Interestingly, suppression of the spt10Δ growth defect is not accompanied by a restoration of normal histone mRNA levels. These findings suggest that Spt10 has multiple roles during cell division.
Porosity and water vapor conductance of two Troodon formosus eggs: an assessment of incubation strategy in a maniraptoran dinosaur
Authors: Varricchio David J. , Jackson Frankie D. , Jackson Robert A. , Zelenitsky Darla K.
Published: March 2013

Using tangential thin sections, we examined variation in porosity and water vapor conductance across two eggs of Troodon formosus, a small (∼50 kg) theropod dinosaur from the North American Upper Cretaceous, testing two hypotheses of egg incubation: (1) full burial within sediments or vegetation and (2) partial burial with exposed upper egg portions. We divided and sampled the eggs in five zones, 1 through 5 from blunt top to more pointed bottom. A geometric model composed of a hemisphere, cone, and paraboloid was used to estimate total and zonal volumes and surface areas. The 138 × 67 mm idealized Troodon egg has a volume, surface area, and mass of 296.4 cm3, 239.23 cm2, and 314.2 g, respectively. Zonal surface areas and volumes highlight the strongly asymmetric and elongate form of the Troodon egg. Geometric modeling provides better estimates of volume and surface area where egg shape diverges markedly from that of a typical bird egg. Porosity varies significantly across both Troodon eggs, with zones 2 and 3 having the largest pores and a majority (70–78%) of total conductance, whereas zone 5 has very low conductance. Total water vapor conductance in the two eggs are 31.85 and 40.62 mg H2O day− Torr−, values 76% and 97% of those predicted for an avian egg of similar size. Low total conductance compares favorably to values in extant birds and non-avian reptiles that incubate in open nests, arguing against full burial incubation. Together with nesting site evidence, low conductance values favor partial burial and incubation by a Troodon adult. Asymmetric egg shape concentrates volume, surface area, and conductance near or at the point of subaerial exposure. Among non-avian dinosaurs, the eggs of Troodon and troodontids are most similar to those of modern birds in having an asymmetric shape, low porosity, no ornamentation, and three structural eggshell layers.
Nectocaridid ecology, diversity, and affinity: early origin of a cephalopod-like body plan
Authors: Smith Martin R.
Published: March 2013

Nectocaridids are soft-bodied early to middle Cambrian organisms known from Burgess Shale-type deposits in Canada, China, and Australia. Originally described as unrelated species, they have recently been interpreted as a clade; their flexible tentacles, camera-type eyes, lateral fins, internal gills, axial cavity, and funnel point to a relationship with the cephalopods. However, aspects of this reinterpretation, including the relevance of the group to cephalopod evolution, have been called into question.

Here, I examine new and existing nectocaridid material, including a large new form that may represent a sexual dimorph ofNectocaris pteryx. Differences between existing taxa largely represent taphonomic variation between sites and specimens—which provides further constraint on the organisms' anatomy. I revise the morphology of the tentacles and fins, and describe mouthparts and phosphatized gills for the first time. A mathematical analysis supports the presence of the earliest known camera-type eyes, and fluid mechanical considerations suggest that the funnel is optimized for efficient jet propulsion in a low Reynolds number flow regime.

Nectocaridids closely resemble coleoid cephalopods, but a position deeper within Cephalopoda raises fewer stratigraphic challenges. Whether its coleoid-like construction reflects common ancestry or profound convergence, theNectocarisbody plan adds substantially to Cambrian disparity, demonstrating the rapid colonization of nektobenthic niches after the Cambrian explosion.
Natural history of a plant trait: branch-system abscission in Paleozoic conifers and its environmental, autecological, and ecosystem implications in a fire-prone world
Authors: Looy Cindy V.
Published: March 2013

Within conifers, active abscission of complete penultimate branch systems is not common and has been described mainly from juveniles. Here I present evidence for the abscission of penultimate branch systems within early so-called walchian conifers—trees with a plagiotropic branching pattern. The specimens studied originate from a middle Early Permian gymnosperm-dominated flora within the middle Clear Fork Group of north-central Texas. Complete branch systems of three walchian conifer morphotypes are preserved; all have pronounced swellings and smooth separation faces at their bases. The source plants grew in a streamside habitat under seasonally dry climatic conditions. The evolution of active branch abscission appears to correspond to an increase in the size of conifers, and this combination potentially contributed to the restructuring of conifer-rich late Paleozoic landscapes. Moreover, trees shedding branch systems and producing abundant litter have the potential to affect the fire regime, which is a factor of evolutionary importance because wildfires must have been a source of frequent biotic disturbance throughout the hyperoxic Early Permian.
Lightweight unmanned aerial vehicles will revolutionize spatial ecology
Authors: Anderson Karen , Gaston Kevin J
Published: March 2013

Ecologists require spatially explicit data to relate structure to function. To date, heavy reliance has been placed on obtaining such data from remote‐sensing instruments mounted on spacecraft or manned aircraft, although the spatial and temporal resolutions of the data are often not suited to local‐scale ecological investigations. Recent technological innovations have led to an upsurge in the availability of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – aircraft remotely operated from the ground – and there are now many lightweight UAVs on offer at reasonable costs. Flying low and slow, UAVs offer ecologists new opportunities for scale‐appropriate measurements of ecological phenomena. Equipped with capable sensors, UAVs can deliver fine spatial resolution data at temporal resolutions defined by the end user. Recent innovations in UAV platform design have been accompanied by improvements in navigation and the miniaturization of measurement technologies, allowing the study of individual organisms and their spatiotemporal dynamics at close range.
Projecting global mangrove species and community distributions under climate change
Authors: Record S. , Charney N. D. , Zakaria R. M. , Ellison A. M.
Published: March 2013

Given the multitude of ecosystem services provided by mangroves, it is important to understand their potential responses to global climate change. Extensive reviews of the literature and manipulative experiments suggest that mangroves will be impacted by climate change, but few studies have tested these predictions over large scales using statistical models. We provide the first example of applying species and community distribution models (SDMs and CDMs, respectively) to coastal mangroves worldwide. Species distributions were modeled as ensemble forecasts using BIOMOD. Distributions of mangrove communities with high species richness were modeled in three ways: as the sum of the separate SDM outputs, as binary hotspots (with >3 species) using a generalized linear model, and continuously using a general boosted model. Individual SDMs were projected for 12 species with sufficient data and CDMs were projected for 30 species into 2080 using global climate model outputs and a range of sea‐level rise projections. Species projected to shift their ranges polewards by at least 2 degrees of latitude consistently experience a decrease in the amount of suitable coastal area available to them. Central America and the Caribbean are forecast to lose more mangrove species than other parts of the world. We found that the extent and grain size, at which continuous CDM outputs are examined, independent of the grain size at which the models operate, can dramatically influence the number of pseudo‐absences needed for optimal parameterization. The SDMs and CDMs presented here provide a first approximation of how mangroves will respond to climate change given simple correlative relationships between occurrence records and environmental data. Additional, precise georeferenced data on mangrove localities and concerted efforts to collect data on ecological processes across large‐scale climatic gradients will enable future research to improve upon these correlative models.
Tropical phenology: bi‐annual rhythms and interannual variation in an Afrotropical butterfly assemblage
Authors: Valtonen Anu , Molleman Freerk , Chapman Colin A. , Carey James R. , Ayres Matthew P. , Roininen Heikki
Published: March 2013

Temporal variation and phenology of tropical insect communities and the role of environmental factors controlling this variation is poorly understood. A better understanding is needed, for example, to predict the effects of climate change on tropical insect communities and to assess the long‐term persistence of tropical communities. We studied seasonal and inter‐annual variation in tropical fruit‐feeding butterflies by exploiting a unique 137‐month abundance time series of >100 species, sampled at 22 locations in the medium altitude montane rain forest of Kibale National Park, western Uganda. Precipitation peaked twice per year, about 20 d after each equinox. Vegetation greenness peaked approximately 33 d later. Species richness and abundance of butterflies peaked about 2 and 3 months, respectively, after the greenness peak. Furthermore, temporal shifts in peaks of butterfly abundances of each 6‐month cycle positively correlated with temporal shifts in peaks of vegetation greenness approximately three months before. The butterfly assemblages of ENSO warm phase years differed significantly from assemblages of the other years. To our knowledge this is the first elucidation of bi‐annual rhythms in butterfly assemblages. Host plant availability could explain the seasonal cycles in butterfly abundance and species richness, because the 3‐month lag observed matches with the egg‐to‐adult development time in the studied species.
Population origin and genome size do not impactPanicum virgatum(switchgrass) responses to variable precipitation
Authors: O'Keefe Kimberly , Tomeo Nicholas , Nippert Jesse B. , Springer Clint J.
Published: March 2013

Population‐level adaptation to broad‐scale regional climates or within‐population variation in genome size of the genetically and phenotypically diverse C4grass,Panicum virgatum(switchgrass), may influence the responses of this species to future precipitation variability associated with climate change. Therefore, we investigatedP. virgatumresponses to water variability between natural populations collected across a latitudinal gradient and among individuals spanning a range of genomes sizes within these populations.P. virgatumplants from natural populations originating from Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, U.S.A, received frequent, small precipitation events (“ambient”) or infrequent, large precipitation events (“altered”) to simulate contrasting rainfall variability expected for this region. We measured leaf‐level physiology, aboveground biomass and genome size for each individual. Gas exchange rates and aboveground biomass varied significantly by population origin but did not differ by genome size. Altered precipitation treatments reduced leaf‐level physiological rates; however this result did not vary by population or genome size. Our results suggest that trait variation inP. virgatumis primarily attributed to population‐level adaptation across a latitudinal gradient, not genome size, and that neither population‐level adaptation nor genome size may be important predictors ofP. virgatumresponses to future climatic conditions.
Human needs and environmental rights to water: a biocultural systems approach to hydrodevelopment and management
Authors: Johnston B. R.
Published: March 2013

Large‐scale hydrodevelopment involves synergistic processes and generates cumulative effects that include the degradation of rivers and the complex human environmental systems they support. To avert impending crises in water scarcity and food security many nations are reshaping the priorities, regimes, and praxis of fresh water resource management to explicitly recognize and address diverse human and ecological needs. A recent United Nations sponsored study documenting the linkages between water, cultural diversity, and global environmental change argues that a coupled bio/social systems approach to watershed management prioritizing biocultural health over other concerns is needed to achieve sustainability goals, address the complex and protracted conflicts that characterize river basin management, and halt biocultural degeneration. Praxis implications include (1) the need for greater respect for and recognition of the rights, values, and contributions of culturally diverse peoples in the management and use of river systems, (2) expansion of the integrated water resource management model to include prioritized allocation of water to meet environmentalandcultural flows.
Multicriteria Risk Assessment of Permian Basin Tank-Battery Facilities Using GIS
Authors: Pierce Timothy L. , Wills Grant K.
Published: March 2013

The development of a multicriteria, GIS-based model provides a systematic tool for assessing comprehensive risk for Permian Basin tank-battery facilities. Input variables include maximum saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, surface-water proximity, water-well proximity, depth to groundwater, public-road proximity, maximum HsS concentration, maximum reading of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM), total tank capacity, and average daily oil production. Raw values for these variables are derived from many different source datasets that undergo a wide range of formatting and geoprocessing.

Through a weighted linear combination (WLC) method coupled with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), raw variable scores are converted to a common, normalized scale and weighted according to relative importance. The weighted, normalized criteria scores are then summed to yield the overall risk score for each facility. The intention of the model is to identify facilities for which HSE incidents may have greater negative impact so that proactive measures can be taken in ensuring these higher-risk facilities receive additional inspections, maintenance, etc.

We apply the model to 122 facilities in a study area straddling Midland and Glasscock Counties in West Texas. Preliminary results yield a low overall risk range and suggest heavier weights on environmental criteria may produce a more useful score range while also recognizing spills as the most prevalent hazard associated with these facilities. Regardless of the overall score range, the model can be useful in defining relative risk among facilities for relative prioritization. Testing and expansion of the model into other areas and adding new criteria will continue to improve its applicability to current and future risk-based projects in the Permian Basin.
Seasonal nutrient uptake of plant biomass in a constructed wetland treating piggery wastewater effluent
Authors: Lee S. Y. , Maniquiz M. C. , Choi J. Y. , Jeong S. M. , Kim L. H.
Published: March 2013

The surface-flow constructed wetland (CW) located in Nonsan City, South Korea, and constructed as the final stage of a piggery wastewater treatment plant that aims to treat high nutrient content effluent during dry days and stormwater runoff during wet days was monitored from October 2008 to November 2011. This research investigated the seasonal nutrient uptake of plant biomass in the CW and nutrient concentration changes in each treatment region under monsoon and temperate climate conditions. Results showed that the mean total nitrogen removal during summer (June to August) was higher by 13% than in spring (March to May), while total phosphorus removal was higher by 22% in fall (September to November) than in winter (December to February). All plants in the CW reached their maximum biomass coverage and weight in summer and minimum growth in winter. The highest N and P content in plants occurred in September with 583.2 g/m2 and August with 62.0 g/m2, respectively. Based on the results, it is recommended that the harvesting of plants should be conducted during the time of the peak nutrient uptake and before the plants release the nutrient content back to the CW. The dependence of nutrient removal efficiency on plants is not so significant. In order to increase the nutrient removal rate by plant uptake, it is suggested that the treatment regions in the CW be covered by plants.
Removal of carbamazepine from aqueous solution by adsorption on fly ash-amended soil
Authors: Swarcewicz Maria K. , Sobczak Justyna , Paździoch Waldemar
Published: March 2013

Carbamazepine (CBZ), nonbiodegradable pharmaceutical residue, has become an emerging pollutant in several aquatic environments. The effectiveness of the mixture of soil and fly ash (FA) in adsorbing CBZ from aqueous solution has been studied as well as agitation time, FA content, initial CBZ concentration and desorption as a function of FA content. The adsorption kinetics fits a hyperbolic or pseudo-second-order model. The maximum adsorbed amounts for natural soil and a mixture of soil/FA ranged from 77 to 158 mg kg−1. Rate constants were considered relatively low (4.15–15.59 × 10−4 kg mg−1 min). The logarithmic form of the Freundlich equation gave a linearity and the Kf constants increased with the increase of FA content in adsorbent mixtures and with the affinity between the adsorbent surface and adsorbed solute. The mean removed amounts of CBZ by adsorption batch experiments in a soil mixture with 30% FA content were up to 92.8% for coal FA and 33% in natural soil. This work proved that the mixture of the coal FA and soil can be used as an efficient adsorbent material for removal of CBZ from water.
Quantitative microbial risk assessment applied to irrigation of salad crops with waste stabilization pond effluents
Authors: Pavione D. M. S. , Bastos R. K. X. , Bevilacqua P. D.
Published: March 2013

A quantitative microbial risk assessment model for estimating infection risks arising from consuming crops eaten raw that have been irrigated with effluents from stabilization ponds was constructed. A log-normal probability distribution function was fitted to a large database from a comprehensive monitoring of an experimental pond system to account for variability in Escherichia coli concentration in irrigation water. Crop contamination levels were estimated using predictive models derived from field experiments involving the irrigation of several crops with different effluent qualities. Data on daily intake of salad crops were obtained from a national survey in Brazil. Ten thousand-trial Monte Carlo simulations were used to estimate human health risks associated with the use of wastewater for irrigating low- and high-growing crops. The use of effluents containing 103–104E. coli per 100 ml resulted in median rotavirus infection risk of approximately 10−3 and 10−4 pppy when irrigating, respectively, low- and high-growing crops; the corresponding 95th percentile risk estimates were around 10−2 in both scenarios. Sensitivity analyses revealed that variations in effluent quality, in the assumed ratios of pathogens to E. coli, and in the reduction of pathogens between harvest and consumption had great impact upon risk estimates.