bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Retrotransposon BARE displays strong tissue‐specific differences in expression
Authors: Jääskeläinen Marko , Chang Wei , Moisy Cédric , Schulman Alan H. 
Published: September 2013

Summary

The BARE retrotransposon comprises c. 10% of the barley (Hordeum vulgare) genome. It is actively transcribed, translated and forms virus‐like particles (VLPs). For retrotransposons, the inheritance of new copies depends critically on where in the plant replication occurs.

In order to shed light on the replication strategy of BARE in the plant, we have used immunolocalization and in situ hybridization to examine expression of the BARE capsid protein, Gag, at a tissue‐specific level.

Gag is expressed in provascular tissues and highly localized in companion cells surrounding the phloem sieve tubes in mature vascular tissues. BARE Gag and RNA was not seen in the shoot apical meristem of young seedlings, but appeared, following transition to flowering, in the developing floral spike. Moreover, Gag has a highly specific localization in pre‐fertilization ovaries.

The strong presence of Gag in the floral meristems suggests that newly replicated copies there will be passed to the next generation. BARE expression patterns are consistent with transcriptional regulation by predicted response elements in the BARE promoter, and in the ovary with release from epigenetic transcriptional silencing. To our knowledge, this is the first analysis of the expression of native retrotransposon proteins within a plant to be reported.
Trade policy and obesity prevention: challenges and innovation in the Pacific Islands
Authors: Snowdon W. , Thow A. M. 
Published: September 2013

SummaryThe Pacific Island countries experience some of the highest rates of obesity in the world in part due to substantial dietary changes that mirror changes in the food supply in the region. Economic and political ties, donor aid, and trade links are key drivers of the changing availability and accessibility of processed and imported foods. Pacific Island countries have been innovative in developing trade‐related policy approaches to create a less obesogenic food environment. Taxation‐based approaches that affect pricing in the region include increased import and excise tariffs on sugared beverages and other high‐sugar products, monosodium glutamate, and palm oil and lowered tariffs on fruits and vegetables. Other approaches highlight some higher‐fat products through labeling and controlling the supply of high‐fat meats. The bans on high‐fat turkey tails and mutton flaps highlight the politics, trade agreements and donor influences that can be significant barriers to the pursuit of policy options. Countries that are not signatories to trade agreements may have more policy space for innovative action. However, potential effectiveness and practicality require consideration. The health sector's active engagement in the negotiation of trade agreements is a key way to support healthier trade in the region.
Broadening the genetic base of lentil cultivars through inter‐sub‐specific and interspecific crosses of Lens taxa
Authors: Singh Mohar , Rana Mukesh K. , Kumar Krishna , Bisht Ishwari S. , Dutta Manoranjan , Gautam Narinder K. , Sarker Ashutosh , Bansal Kailash C. 
Published: September 2013

AbstractWild Lens taxa are invaluable sources of useful traits for broadening genetic base of cultivated lentil. Nine inter‐sub‐specific and interspecific crosses were made successfully between cultivated (Lens culinaris ssp. culinaris) and wild lentils (L. culinaris ssp. orientalis, odemensis, lamottei and ervoides). The effect of species groups, day length and temperature on crossability in lentils was evident under normal winter sowing in New Delhi and in summer Himalayan nursery at Sangla in Himachal Pradesh, India, although pollen fertility assessed in all the cross‐combinations showed no significant variation. True hybridity of nine inter‐sub‐specific and interspecific crosses was confirmed through morphological and molecular (ISSR) markers, in which three of 120 primers could confirm the hybridity of all the crosses. All cross‐combinations were also studied for important quantitative traits related to yield. The range, mean and coefficient of variation were estimated in parental lines, F1 and F2 generations to determine the extent of variability generated in cultivated lentils through the introgression of genes from wild L. taxa. A high level of heterosis was observed in F1 crosses for important traits studied. Substantially higher variations for seed yield and its attributing traits were exhibited in F2 generations indicating transgressive segregation. The results of the present investigation revealed that wild L. taxa can be successfully exploited for lentil improvement programmes, and the variations generated could be easily utilized for broadening the genetic base of cultivated lentil gene pool for improving the yield as well as wider adaptation.
Do Culture and Institutions Matter? Explaining the Sources of Cross‐National Regime Support
Authors: Peralta J. Salvador 
Published: September 2013

What determines the level of popular support for regimes? There are two approaches to answering this question: one that emphasizes the role of culture in conditioning individuals' evaluations of political objects and another that emphasizes the importance of institutional arrangements in constraining and channeling individual behavior. I hypothesize that cross‐national variation in regime support is, in part, a consequence of an interaction between cultural values and institutional arrangements. The results indicate that the impact of culture on regime support is mediated by the institutional context. It is this insight that can help us to better understand where regime support originates.Related ArticlesHiroi,Taeko, andSawaOmori.2013. “.”Politics & Policy41():39‐64.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/polp.12001/abstractLegler,Thomas.2012. “.”Politics & Policy40():848‐870.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2012.00382.x/abstractBoehmer,Charles.2007. “.”Politics & Policy35():774‐809.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2007.00084.x/abstractRelated Media.2013.http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/index_html.2013.http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/Applebaum,Binyamin, andRobertGebeloff.2012. “.”New York Times. February 11.http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/us/even‐critics‐of‐safety‐net‐increasingly‐depend‐on‐it.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Send in the Corps! The Peace Corps and the Popular Perception of the United States in Latin America
Authors: Nisley Thomas 
Published: September 2013

This article examines the role of the Peace Corps in U.S. foreign policy and specifically explores the role of the Peace Corps in improving the popular image of the United States. I empirically test the hypothesis that the presence of a Peace Corps program enhances a positive of view of the United States held by the people of that country. Using logistic regression analysis, I show that the presence of Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) in a country positively influences individuals' views toward the United States. I analyze survey research from the region of Latin America using datasets from the Latinobarometer public opinion survey. Furthermore, I present a theoretical explanation to understand how the presence of PCVs can lead to an improved perception of the United States. This explanation draws from the contact hypothesis originally proposed by Gordon Allport.Related Articles
Garner, Andrew. 2013. “.” Politics & Policy 41 (): 241‐266. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/polp.12010/abstract

Alejandro, San Francisco R., and Ángel, Soto G. 2004. “” Politics & Policy 32 (): 139‐156. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2004.tb00179.x/abstract

Sabia, Debra. 2003. “.” Politics & Policy 31 (): 347‐370. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2003.tb00152.x/abstract
Related MediaDocumentaries: . 2010. “.” July 16. Parts 1 and 2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67X9QQT0ir8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgco9rR9wic

. 2011. “.” Aired January 14. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/obama‐sign‐kate‐puzey‐peace‐corps‐volunteer‐protection/story?id=14998236#.UZUS8Up4Bbw
Follicular trachoma and trichiasis prevalence in an urban community in The Gambia, West Africa: is there a need to include urban areas in national trachoma surveillance?
Authors: Quicke E. , Sillah A. , Harding‐Esch E. M. , Last A. , Joof H. , Makalo P. , Bailey R. L. , Burr S. E. 
Published: September 2013

AbstractObjectivesUrban areas are traditionally excluded from trachoma surveillance activities, but due to rapid expansion and population growth, the urban area of Brikama in The Gambia may be developing social problems that are known risk factors for trachoma. It is also a destination for many migrants who may be introducing active trachoma into the area. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors for follicular trachoma and trichiasis in Brikama.MethodsA community‐based cross‐sectional prevalence survey including 27 randomly selected households in 12 randomly selected enumeration areas (EAs) of Brikama. Selected households were offered eye examinations, and the severity of trachoma was graded according to WHO's simplified grading system. Risk factor data were collected from each household via a questionnaire.ResultsThe overall prevalence of trachomatous inflammation–follicular (TF) in children aged 1–9 years was 3.8% (95% CI 2.5–5.6), and the overall prevalence of trichiasis in adults aged ≥15 years was 0.46% (95% CI 0.17–1.14). EA prevalence of TF varied from 0% to 8.4%. The major risk factors for TF were dirty faces (P < 0.01, OR = 9.23, 95% CI 1.97–43.23), nasal discharge (P = 0.039, OR = 5.11, 95% CI 1.08–24.10) and residency in Brikama for <1 year (P = 0.047, OR = 7.78, 95% CI 1.03–59.03).ConclusionsFollicular trachoma can be considered to have been eliminated as a public health problem in Brikama according to WHO criteria. However, as the prevalence in some EAs is >5%, it may be prudent to include Brikama in surveillance programmes. Trichiasis remains a public health problem (>0.1%), and active case finding needs to be undertaken.
Moduli of products of stable varieties
Authors: Bhatt Bhargav , Ho Wei , Patakfalvi Zsolt , Schnell Christian 
Published: September 2013

AbstractWe study the moduli space of a product of stable varieties over the field of complex numbers, as defined via the minimal model program. Our main results are: (a) taking products gives a well-defined morphism from the product of moduli spaces of stable varieties to the moduli space of a product of stable varieties; (b) this map is always finite étale; and (c) this map very often is an isomorphism. Our results generalize and complete the work of Van Opstall in dimension$1$. The local results rely on a study of the cotangent complex using some derived algebro-geometric methods, while the global ones use some differential-geometric input.
Parametric Modeling: A New Paradigm for Mechanisms Education?
Authors: Mirth John A. 
Published: September 2013

The evolution of engineering education is driven, in part, by the tools available. This paper examines how a relatively new tool, that of parametric modeling, can be implemented in the presentation of an introductory course in the design and analysis of mechanisms. The combined graphical and computational power of a parametric modeling system provides an ideal starting point to introduce a variety of common concepts. This paper examines how parametric modeling can be used to analyze mechanism mobility (including degrees-of-freedom, Grashof type, transmission angles, and limits of motion), and velocity (including mechanical advantage) in planar linkages. The use of parametric modeling as a tool for teaching linkage synthesis is also reviewed.
The primary purpose of the paper is to briefly demonstrate the power of parametric modeling and how this tool can form a foundation for mechanism education. The ability to rapidly create and change parametric sketches of mechanisms allows the student much more opportunity to study “what if” scenarios and recognize trends in mechanism analysis and design. The visual and interactive nature of the tool also has excellent compatibility with the highly computer literate background of the modern student. Parametric modeling has the necessary capability to become the paradigm for mechanisms instruction in the 21st century.
Measurement of the Scatter of Underplatform Damper Hysteresis Cycle: Experimental Approach
Authors: Gola Muzio M. , dos Santos Marcelo Braga , Liu Tong 
Published: September 2013

This work presents the design and the calibration of a test rig specially developed to measure the in-plane forces transferred between the blade platforms through the under-platform damper and their relative displacement. This device is composed of two distinct parts each one representing a platform. One is static and accommodates the load cells which measure the forces in two perpendicular directions; the other produces the in-plane motion, actuated by two piezoelectric stacks. The device reproduces any in-plane relative displacement between two adjacent platforms and measures both the relative motion between platforms and the forces they reciprocally transmit. The damper, placed between the two platform simulators, is loaded by thin wires pulled by dead weights, a way to apply the equivalent of the centrifugal force.
The mechanical features of the rig are described and discussed with their influence on the measurements.
An example application is given. Tests aim at assessing the role of “outer” measured parameters (such as frequency and amplitude of platform-to-platform relative displacement, damper external load (simulating the in-service centrifugal load), damper geometry) on the shape and area of the hysteresis cycle and therefore the damper real and imaginary stiffness components. It is found that equal values for the supposedly governing “outer” parameters may lead to a multiplicity of markedly different hysteresis cycles. The same happens if platform-to-platform force is considered rather than displacement. It is shown how the system evolves through the many possible equilibrium conditions.
It is also shown how the forces between damper and underplatforms are calculated. It is suggested that the measurement of platform-to-platform hysteresis cycles is an effective way to synthetically approach the problem of elastic coupling and energy dissipation between adjacent blades, while detailed knowledge of forces exchanged between the underplatform and damper contact surfaces will be a valuable tool toward the better knowledge of damper micromechanics, perhaps opening a better way to finding damper geometries capable of reducing the scatter of hysteresis cycle shape and area.
Two dampers are investigated, at this stage, in order to assess the dependence of the above said behavior on the damper geometry. Results show that dampers exhibit multiple behaviors under the same input conditions. They may be alarming because they show that the damper-platforms system always converges to the solution with the lowest hysteresis area, a fact which deserves of course deeper investigations.
Expectation Management in a Global Collaboration Project Using a Deterministic Design Approach
Authors: Ito Teruaki , Ichikawa Tetsuo , Hanumara Nevan C. , Slocum Alexander H. 
Published: September 2013

Expectation management in product engineering design aims at setting achievable goals for both customers and designers, while leaving room for creativity and passion. This is especially challenging in the global workplace. Using an example of a design project, the Dental Headrest project (DHR), this paper reviews how expectations were managed in a successful, collaborative project between the University of Tokushima (UT) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The goal of the project was to design an innovative mechanism for the positioning a dental chair headrest so satisfy both the needs of a patient for comfort and a clinician for flexibility and access. The design team was formed with six students from the MIT MechE’s Precision Machine Design class, while the challenge proposed by a UT team of dentists and design engineers.
The team followed a deterministic design procedure inducing understating the challenge and reviewing prior art, strategy and concept generation, detailed module design and fabrication and testing, culminating in presentation and documentation. Through the process was coordinated by online communication and collaborative working spaces which ensured real-time information transfer between the continents. The conclusion was a face-to-face meeting between the two institutions.
This DHR project resulted in an innovative design of headrest adjusting mechanism that was implemented in a prototype. Moreover, the students, faculty and clinicians benefitted from the experience of innovative design collaboration in a multidisciplinary, global team.
The Skewboid Method: A Simple and Effective Approach to Pareto Relaxation and Filtering
Authors: Campbell Matthew I. 
Published: September 2013

The concept of Pareto optimality is the default method for pruning a large set of candidate solutions in a multi-objective problem to a manageable, balanced, and rational set of solutions. While the Pareto optimality approach is simple and sound, it may select too many or too few solutions for the decision-maker’s needs or the needs of optimization process (e.g. the number of survivors selected in a population-based optimization). This inability to achieve a target number of solutions to keep has caused a number of researchers to devise methods to either remove some of the non-dominated solutions via Pareto filtering or to retain some dominated solutions via Pareto relaxation. Both filtering and relaxation methods tend to introduce many new adjustment parameters that a decision-maker (DM) must specify.
In the presented Skewboid method, only a single parameter is defined for both relaxing the Pareto optimality condition (values between −1 and 0) and filtering more solutions from the Pareto optimal set (values between 0 and 1). This parameter can be correlated with a desired number of solutions so that this number of solutions is input instead of an unintuitive adjustment parameter. A mathematically sound derivation of the Skewboid method is presented followed by illustrative examples of its use. The paper concludes with a discussion of the method in comparison to similar methods in the literature.
Genetic Algorithms Applied to Affordance Based Design
Authors: Nguyen Manh Tien , Fadel Georges M. , Guarneri Paolo , Mata Ivan 
Published: September 2013

Affordance based design (ABD) theory has been presented in several papers and has interested several researchers in the field of design. One criticism of ABD is that the number of affordances identified can be very large, and therefore, the approach may not be amenable for automation. This paper presents a computer based implementation of a process to improve design using affordances.
The Affordance Structure Matrix (ASM) design tool is used to identify relevant relationships between the design parameters of an artifact and the affordances (positive and negative) identified by the user. This initial work investigates multiple existing solutions. A user assigns values to critical affordances that are listed in an ASM by visualizing the possible solutions. The parameter values that describe the architecture of the artifact are encoded and fed to a computer code in addition to the multiple affordance values. A Genetic Algorithm is then used to find an optimal combination of design parameters based on the multiple criteria, the affordances, generating new and better concepts.
The approach is applied to the redesign of a steering wheel. Multiple variants of steering wheels available in the literature are presented to the user. After twenty generations of the genetic algorithm, using an additive weighting method, an optimal solution is found and presented.
Developing a Taxonomy of Risk-Mitigating Actions From a Legacy Database of a Large Design Organization
Authors: Hsiao Chuck , Ruffino Michael , Malak Richard , Tumer Irem Y. , Doolen Toni 
Published: September 2013

This paper presents a taxonomy for project-level risk-mitigating actions developed from a large design organization’s risk database. The taxonomy classifies actions according to their purpose and how they are embodied. The taxonomy along with the results of actions recorded in the database can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of different types of risk-mitigating actions. A methodology for refining the taxonomy based on analyzing mismatches between different coders using the taxonomy is also given. Because the taxonomy is based on an existing legacy database, this paper discusses related issues such as missing contextual information.
Developing this taxonomy will lead to further advances in empirically evaluating the usefulness of different risk-mitigating actions. This will allow for better understanding and improved prediction of how different types of risk-mitigating actions affect a project’s eventual outcomes such as cost and schedule, leading to future advances in decision-making approaches of risk-mitigating actions in complex environments.
State-of-the-Art in Geometric Modeling for Virtual Machining
Authors: Aras Eyyup , Yip-Hoi Derek 
Published: September 2013

Advances in computer technology have made possible the integration of complex geometric and process modeling capabilities for use in engineering design and process planning. This is evident in the area of machining where it is now possible to integrate the physics of the machining process with changes that are taking place to the geometry of a work piece during the execution of complex operations. This capability is referred to as Virtual Machining (VM). Geometric modeling capabilities include the ability to generate complex swept volumes created during execution of tool path moves, to subtract these from a dynamically changing in-process work piece model, and to extract the instantaneous cutter/workpiece engagement as the tool moves in the feed direction. Process modeling includes the use of this engagement geometry to calculate cutting forces, deflection of structures, vibrations and to use these in process optimization.
This paper reviews advances in the first part of this tandem, the geometric modeling methods and techniques that make Virtual Machining possible. It further highlights important directions that can be taken to further advances in this field.
Improvement, Optimization, and Prototyping of a Three Translational Degree of Freedom Parallel Robot
Authors: Hodgins Jonathan , Zhang Dan 
Published: September 2013

This paper presents an evolutionarily design change for the Delta parallel robot. The proposed design change increases the useful workspace of the robot and aids in permanently avoiding singularities on the workspace. This is accomplished by means of a new intermediate parallel link.
This also simultaneously increases the total workspace volume and the stiffness at the outer limits of the workspace.
The design is analyzed and the inverse kinematics, stiffness and dexterity relations are formulated. Subsequently, an optimization problem is formulated that aims at taking advantage of the new attributes and illustrate its benefits to the robotic design. The results are clearly illustrated by comparing the robot with the new link to an equivalent robot without it.
Lastly, the developed design is 3D modeled to test and verify functionality.