bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Declining population of the Vulnerable common hippopotamus Hippopotamus amphibius in Bénoué National Park, Cameroon (1976–2013): the importance of conservation presence
Authors: Scholte Paul , Iyah Emmanuel 
Published: February 2016

AbstractPopulations of the common hippopotamus Hippopotamus amphibius have undergone widespread decline as a result of habitat conversion and hunting for bushmeat and, increasingly, for ivory. North Cameroon holds important populations of large mammals, including the hippopotamus. The species' status and population trend are poorly known, and led CITES to suspend trade in hippopotamus trophies in 2013. Using the methodology of surveys conducted during 1976–1987, we conducted counts of the hippopotamus in Bénoué National Park during the wet season of 2011 and dry season of 2013, and drew on unpublished biannual density counts conducted by the Garoua Wildlife College, Cameroon, during 1989–2010. Counts along the 100 km stretch of the Bénoué River in the Park indicated a reduction from 400 individuals in 1987 to 188 in 2013. However, linear densities along a 15–32 km stretch in proximity to the Park headquarters and two tourist camps were constant during 1976–2013 (c. 3.7 individuals km−1). Hippopotamus distribution was negatively associated with the presence of the camps of gold diggers, which occupied the northern half of the Park. Observations of antelopes suggested they had a comparable distribution, unlike primates, which were distributed relatively evenly. Our results show the importance of year-round conservation presence in the Park, which could be achieved with adequate personnel, a functional road system, and reinforcement of operations in neighbouring sport-hunting areas.
Reassessing Trust in the Central Government: Evidence from Five National Surveys
Authors: Li Lianjiang 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThis paper argues that popular trust in the Chinese central government is significantly weaker than five national surveys suggest. The evidence comes from these surveys. First, the surveys show that between one- and two-thirds of respondents hold hierarchical trust, i.e. they have more trust in the central government than they do in local government. Second, all other things being equal, people who are less satisfied with political democracy in China tend to be less trusting of the central government. Finally, hierarchical trust holders tend to be less satisfied with political democracy in the country than those who express equal trust for central and local governments. Put together, the three findings show that hierarchical trust holders are less trusting of the central government than equal trust holders with regard to developing political democracy, although they sound equally confident. The fact that so many respondents hold hierarchical trust indicates that trust in the central government is significantly weaker than it looks.
Restrictivist Reasoning on theRatione PersonaeDimension of Armed Attacks in the Post 9/11 World
Authors: DE HOOGH ANDRÉ 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThis contribution investigates restrictivist reasoning on the origin of armed attacks, and concentrates on the interpretation of Article 51 of the UN Charter and the use of state practice. One particular aspect is examined: the linkage of the armed activities of non-state actors to a state required for an exercise of the right of self-defence to be justified in relation to that state. Many authors have moved away from a restrictive interpretation of Article 51 of the Charter and customary international law, and have proposed various legal constructs –complicity, aiding and abetting, harbour and support, unwillingness or inability to act– to allow for the invocation of self-defence even when armed activities of non-state actors cannot be attributed to a state and its substantial involvement is doubtful. Noticeable among authors generally, with certain exceptions, is a certain lack of concern to account for whatever method of interpretation or analysis they employ.
Show Me the Money: Enforcing Original Jurisdiction Judgments of the Caribbean Court of Justice
Authors: MOHAMMED-DAVIDSON RIA 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThis article examines the challenges surrounding the enforcement of decisions of international courts, using the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as the fulcrum of the analysis. When sitting in its original jurisdiction, the CCJ adjudicates claims arising from the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and the operation of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy. However, there is no clear route for the enforcement of original jurisdiction decisions. The Agreement Establishing the CCJ leaves the issue of enforcement to the states themselves, who in turn have either failed to enact enforcement legislation or have provided for enforcement to be carried out ‘in like manner’ as the decisions of domestic courts. This phraseology raises the spectre of the Crown Proceedings Act and its legislative progeny which bar the pursuit of enforcement proceedings against the state. Several solutions to this enforcement conundrum are discussed, ranging from a regional enforcement treaty, akin to the New York Convention, to enforcement at common law using the Fick case, with the merits and demerits of each examined in turn.
The Declaratory Judgment in Recent Jurisprudence of the ICJ: Conflicting Approaches to State Responsibility?
Authors: MCINTYRE JULIETTE 
Published: February 2016

AbstractAs the list of contentious cases concerning issues of state responsibility brought before the International Court of Justice (the Court) continues to grow, a closer consideration is demanded of the most common remedy granted by the Court – the declaratory judgment. In particular, while the Court continues to issue declarations intended to constitute ‘appropriate satisfaction’, it also appears that the Court is – or is attempting – to use declarations more creatively in certain circumstances. This immediately provokes a question as to not only the proper role of declaratory judgments, but also whether and to what extent variations in the nature of the obligations owed by states, or the nature of their internationally wrongful acts, gives rise to a coherent differentiation in the remedies granted by the Court.
The Anxieties of International Criminal Justice
Authors: MÉGRET FRÉDÉRIC 
Published: February 2016

AbstractInternational criminal justice is on one level a project of hubris and promise, but on another level a project arguably riddled by anxieties. These anxieties are linked to the dizziness of choices available to it, and the degree to which every move to compensate for anxieties produces its own form of anxiety. This article surveys ten distinct anxieties that are deemed to be constitutive of the movement. Ultimately, it argues that the neurotic nature of international criminal justice can be the source of its creativity and resilience.
Of Fallen Demons: Reflections on the International Criminal Court's Defendant
Authors: KOCHHAR STUTI , HIERAMENTE MAYEUL 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThe defendant in international trials is presumed innocent until proven guilty but is often judged by the ‘court of popular opinion’ even before the trial begins. This article provides reflections on how the image of a malevolent individual emerges with regard to those brought/to be brought before international courts. In such a situation, coming before the Court and subsequently being convicted or acquitted can mean little. It is coming before the Court that is, in itself, the end of the line. The manner in which the International Criminal Court has functioned has contributed, both advertently and inadvertently, to the maintenance of the image of the defendant as a malevolent being. Specifically, the purposes of historiography and the ever present discourse of deterrence, breed the suspicion that this ‘demonizing the defendant’ effect might be endorsed by the manner in which the Prosecutor has popularized the Court and it's functions and aims. This is a conflict that gets to the heart of international criminal law. It is the dilemma of how one must simultaneously fulfil two of the law's essential aims: to presume innocence (and thus abide by a fundamental tenet of international criminal law) and to deter, educate and pacify (and thus for the law to have a reason to exist).
Nearly Optimal Bernoulli Factories for Linear Functions
Authors: HUBER MARK 
Published: February 2016

AbstractSuppose that X1, X2, . . . are independent identically distributed Bernoulli random variables with mean p. A Bernoulli factory for a function f takes as input X1, X2, . . . and outputs a random variable that is Bernoulli with mean f(p). A fast algorithm is a function that only depends on the values of X1, . . ., XT, where T is a stopping time with small mean. When f(p) is a real analytic function the problem reduces to being able to draw from linear functions Cp for a constant C > 1. Also it is necessary that Cp ⩽ 1 − ε for known ε > 0. Previous methods for this problem required extensive modification of the algorithm for every value of C and ε. These methods did not have explicit bounds on $\mathbb{E}[T]$ as a function of C and ε. This paper presents the first Bernoulli factory for f(p) = Cp with bounds on $\mathbb{E}[T]$ as a function of the input parameters. In fact, supp∈[0,(1−ε)/C]$\mathbb{E}[T]$ ≤ 9.5ε−1C. In addition, this method is very simple to implement. Furthermore, a lower bound on the average running time of any Cp Bernoulli factory is shown. For ε ⩽ 1/2, supp∈[0,(1−ε)/C]$\mathbb{E}[T]$≥0.004Cε−1, so the new method is optimal up to a constant in the running time.
Verbal Fluency in Parkinson’s Patients with and without Bilateral Deep Brain Stimulation of the Subthalamic Nucleus: A Meta-analysis
Authors: Wyman-Chick Kathryn A. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractObjectives: Patients with Parkinson’s disease often experience significant decline in verbal fluency over time; however, deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) is also associated with post-surgical declines in verbal fluency. The purpose of this study was to determine if Parkinson’s patients who have undergone bilateral STN-DBS have greater impairment in verbal fluency compared to Parkinson’s patients treated by medication only. Methods: A literature search yielded over 140 articles and 10 articles met inclusion criteria. A total of 439 patients with Parkinson’s disease who underwent bilateral STN-DBS and 392 non-surgical patients were included. Cohen’s d, a measure of effect size, was calculated using a random effects model to compare post-treatment verbal fluency in patients with Parkinson’s disease who underwent STN-DBS versus those in the non-surgical comparison group. Results: The random effects model demonstrated a medium effect size for letter fluency (d=−0.47) and a small effect size for category fluency (d=−0.31), indicating individuals with bilateral STN-DBS had significantly worse verbal fluency performance than the non-surgical comparison group. Conclusions: Individuals with Parkinson’s disease who have undergone bilateral STN-DBS experience greater deficits in letter and category verbal fluency compared to a non-surgical group. (JINS, 2016, 22, 478–485)
Kant on Proving Aristotle’s Logic as Complete
Authors: Lu-Adler Huaping 
Published: February 2016

AbstractKant claims that Aristotle’s logic is complete. He defends this claim from the nature of a strictly scientific logic, and rejects as futile the attempts by some modern philosophers at extending it. I analyse what it means for Kant to regard Aristotle’s (formal) logic as complete, explain the historical and philosophical considerations that commit him to proving the completeness claim and sketch the proof based on materials from his logic corpus. The proof will turn out to be an integral part of Kant’s larger reform of formal logic in response to a foundational crisis facing it.
No King and No Torture: Kant on Suicide and Law
Authors: Uleman Jennifer 
Published: February 2016

AbstractKant’s most canonical argument against suicide, the universal law argument, is widely dismissed. This paper attempts to save it, showing that a suicide maxim, universalized, undermines all bases for practical law, resisting both the non-negotiable value of free rational willing and the ordinary array of sensuous commitments that inform prudential incentives. Suicide therefore undermines moral law-governed community as a whole, threatening ‘savage disorder’. In pursuing this argument, I propose a non-teleological and non-theoretical nature – a ‘practical nature’ or moral law governed whole – the realization of which morality demands.
Varieties of legal systems: towards a new global taxonomy
Authors: SIEMS MATHIAS M. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractLegal scholars, economists and other social scientist often refer to the idea that countries can be classified into a number of ‘legal families’ or ‘legal origins’. Yet, this research is unsatisfactory as regards the actual classifications of the legal systems of the world. It is the aim of this paper to fill this gap and to develop a more robust taxonomy of legal systems. This taxonomy is based on a new dataset of 156 countries that is subsequently analysed with tools of network analysis. Applying cluster optimisation, this paper finds that the world's legal systems can be divided into four clusters. It displays those clusters in a map, akin to the Inglehart–Welzel cultural map. It is suggested that those findings have important implications, not only for our understanding of the legal world, but also for the feasibility of legal transplants and harmonisation.
TRIAL AND ERROR MATHEMATICS I: DIALECTICAL AND QUASIDIALECTICAL SYSTEMS
Authors: AMIDEI JACOPO , PIANIGIANI DUCCIO , MAURO LUCA SAN , SIMI GIULIA , SORBI ANDREA 
Published: February 2016

AbstractWe define and study quasidialectical systems, which are an extension of Magari’s dialectical systems, designed to make Magari’s formalization of trial and error mathematics more adherent to the real mathematical practice of revision: our proposed extension follows, and in several regards makes more precise, varieties of empiricist positionsà laLakatos. We prove several properties of quasidialectical systems and of the sets that they represent, called quasidialectical sets. In particular, we prove that the quasidialectical sets are${\rm{\Delta }}_2^0$sets in the arithmetical hierarchy. We distinguish between “loopless” quasidialectal systems, and quasidialectical systems “with loops”. The latter ones represent exactly those coinfinite c.e. sets, that are not simple. In a subsequent paper we will show that whereas the dialectical sets areω-c.e., the quasidialectical sets spread out throughout all classes of the Ershov hierarchy of the${\rm{\Delta }}_2^0$sets.
Strain effects on the work function of an organic semiconductor
Authors: Wu Yanfei , Chew Annabel R. , Rojas Geoffrey A. , Sini Gjergji , Haugstad Greg , Belianinov Alex , Kalinin Sergei V. , Li Hong , Risko Chad , Brédas Jean-Luc , Salleo Alberto , Frisbie C. Daniel 
Published: February 2016

AbstractEstablishing fundamental relationships between strain and work function (WF) in organic semiconductors is important not only for understanding electrical properties of organic thin films, which are subject to both intrinsic and extrinsic strains, but also for developing flexible electronic devices. Here we investigate tensile and compressive strain effects on the WF of rubrene single crystals. Mechanical strain induced by thermal expansion mismatch between the substrate and rubrene is quantified by X-ray diffraction. The corresponding WF change is measured by scanning Kelvin probe microscopy. The WF of rubrene increases (decreases) significantly with in-plane tensile (compressive) strain, which agrees qualitatively with density functional theory calculations. An elastic-to-plastic transition, characterized by a steep rise of the WF, occurs at ∼0.05% tensile strain along the rubrene π-stacking direction. The results provide the first concrete link between mechanical strain and WF of an organic semiconductor and have important implications for understanding the connection between structural and electronic disorder in soft organic electronic materials.
Network-based in silico drug efficacy screening
Authors: Guney Emre , Menche Jörg , Vidal Marc , Barábasi Albert-László 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThe increasing cost of drug development together with a significant drop in the number of new drug approvals raises the need for innovative approaches for target identification and efficacy prediction. Here, we take advantage of our increasing understanding of the network-based origins of diseases to introduce a drug-disease proximity measure that quantifies the interplay between drugs targets and diseases. By correcting for the known biases of the interactome, proximity helps us uncover the therapeutic effect of drugs, as well as to distinguish palliative from effective treatments. Our analysis of 238 drugs used in 78 diseases indicates that the therapeutic effect of drugs is localized in a small network neighborhood of the disease genes and highlights efficacy issues for drugs used in Parkinson and several inflammatory disorders. Finally, network-based proximity allows us to predict novel drug-disease associations that offer unprecedented opportunities for drug repurposing and the detection of adverse effects.
C1q acts in the tumour microenvironment as a cancer-promoting factor independently of complement activation
Authors: Bulla Roberta , Tripodo Claudio , Rami Damiano , Ling Guang Sheng , Agostinis Chiara , Guarnotta Carla , Zorzet Sonia , Durigutto Paolo , Botto Marina , Tedesco Francesco 
Published: February 2016

AbstractComplement C1q is the activator of the classical pathway. However, it is now recognized that C1q can exert functions unrelated to complement activation. Here we show that C1q, but not C4, is expressed in the stroma and vascular endothelium of several human malignant tumours. Compared with wild-type (WT) or C3- or C5-deficient mice, C1q-deficient (C1qa−/−) mice bearing a syngeneic B16 melanoma exhibit a slower tumour growth and prolonged survival. This effect is not attributable to differences in the tumour-infiltrating immune cells. Tumours developing in WT mice display early deposition of C1q, higher vascular density and an increase in the number of lung metastases compared with C1qa−/− mice. Bone marrow (BM) chimeras between C1qa−/− and WT mice identify non-BM-derived cells as the main local source of C1q that can promote cancer cell adhesion, migration and proliferation. Together these findings support a role for locally synthesized C1q in promoting tumour growth.
Export of malaria proteins requires co-translational processing of the PEXEL motif independent of phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate binding
Authors: Boddey Justin A. , O’Neill Matthew T. , Lopaticki Sash , Carvalho Teresa G. , Hodder Anthony N. , Nebl Thomas , Wawra Stephan , van West Pieter , Ebrahimzadeh Zeinab , Richard Dave , Flemming Sven , Spielmann Tobias , Przyborski Jude , Babon Jeff J. , Cowman Alan F. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractPlasmodium falciparum exports proteins into erythrocytes using the Plasmodium export element (PEXEL) motif, which is cleaved in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) by plasmepsin V (PMV). A recent study reported that phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate (PI(3)P) concentrated in the ER binds to PEXEL motifs and is required for export independent of PMV, and that PEXEL motifs are functionally interchangeable with RxLR motifs of oomycete effectors. Here we show that the PEXEL does not bind PI(3)P, and that this lipid is not concentrated in the ER. We find that RxLR motifs cannot mediate export in P. falciparum. Parasites expressing a mutated version of KAHRP, with the PEXEL motif repositioned near the signal sequence, prevented PMV cleavage. This mutant possessed the putative PI(3)P-binding residues but is not exported. Reinstatement of PEXEL to its original location restores processing by PMV and export. These results challenge the PI(3)P hypothesis and provide evidence that PEXEL position is conserved for co-translational processing and export.
4Pi-RESOLFT nanoscopy
Authors: Böhm Ulrike , Hell Stefan W. , Schmidt Roman 
Published: February 2016

AbstractBy enlarging the aperture along the optic axis, the coherent utilization of opposing objective lenses (4Pi arrangement) has the potential to offer the sharpest and most light-efficient point-spread-functions in three-dimensional (3D) far-field fluorescence nanoscopy. However, to obtain unambiguous images, the signal has to be discriminated against contributions from lobes above and below the focal plane, which has tentatively limited 4Pi arrangements to imaging samples with controllable optical conditions. Here we apply the 4Pi scheme to RESOLFT nanoscopy using two-photon absorption for the on-switching of fluorescent proteins. We show that in this combination, the lobes are so low that low-light level, 3D nanoscale imaging of living cells becomes possible. Our method thus offers robust access to densely packed, axially extended cellular regions that have been notoriously difficult to super-resolve. Our approach also entails a fluorescence read-out scheme that translates molecular sensitivity to local off-switching rates into improved signal-to-noise ratio and resolution.
Stem cells of the suture mesenchyme in craniofacial bone development, repair and regeneration
Authors: Maruyama Takamitsu , Jeong Jaeim , Sheu Tzong-Jen , Hsu Wei 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThe suture mesenchyme serves as a growth centre for calvarial morphogenesis and has been postulated to act as the niche for skeletal stem cells. Aberrant gene regulation causes suture dysmorphogenesis resulting in craniosynostosis, one of the most common craniofacial deformities. Owing to various limitations, especially the lack of suture stem cell isolation, reconstruction of large craniofacial bone defects remains highly challenging. Here we provide the first evidence for an Axin2-expressing stem cell population with long-term self-renewing, clonal expanding and differentiating abilities during calvarial development and homeostastic maintenance. These cells, which reside in the suture midline, contribute directly to injury repair and skeletal regeneration in a cell autonomous fashion. Our findings demonstrate their true identity as skeletal stem cells with innate capacities to replace the damaged skeleton in cell-based therapy, and permit further elucidation of the stem cell-mediated craniofacial skeletogenesis, leading to revealing the complex nature of congenital disease and regenerative medicine.