bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Change deafness for simultaneous voices
Authors: Kawashima Takayuki 
Published: June 2015

AbstractApparent changes in auditory scenes are often unnoticed. This change deafness phenomenon was examined in auditory scenes that comprise human voices. In two experiments, listeners were required to detect changes between two auditory scenes comprising two, three, and four talkers who voiced four‐syllable words. One of the voices in the first scene was randomly selected and was replaced with a new word in change trials. The rationale was that higher stimulus familiarity conferred by human voices compared to other everyday sounds, together with encoding and memory advantages for verbal stimuli and the modular processing of speech in auditory processing, should positively influence the change detection efficiency, and the change deafness phenomenon should not be observed when listeners are explicitly required to detect the obvious changes. Contrary to the prediction, change deafness was significantly observed in three‐ and four‐talker conditions. This indicates that change deafness occurs in listeners even for highly familiar stimuli. This suggests the limited ability for perceptual organization of auditory scenes comprising even a relatively small number of voices (three or four).
Communities of Interest–Interest of Communities: Social and Semantic Analysis of Communities in Infrastructure Discussion Networks
Authors: Nik‐Bakht* Mazdak , El‐diraby Tamer E. 
Published: June 2015

AbstractThe process of public consultation for planning and construction of sustainable urban infrastructure requires a bidirectional communication among as many stakeholders of the project as possible. In modern infrastructure projects, social web and online social media play an important role in involving citizens through what is referred to as “microparticipation.” However, the social network which is formed behind the scene of microparticipation is usually ignored by both researchers and practitioners. This article combines community detection in social networks with information retrieval methods, to detect and label communities of project followers and cores of interest in the network of urban infrastructure project stakeholders. We study dynamics of the network and its communities by monitoring them over time. This technique is used to analyze followers of a Light Rail Transit (LRT) project in microblogging website Twitter and profile them based on their interests and ideas they support. Although methods of this article can be readily applied to other cases where connectivity of project followers and their descriptions are retrievable, our work is mainly interested in how to analyze Twitter discussions without any assumption that they replace the other online or offline means of public involvement in infrastructure projects. This article is an extended version of a conference paper that appeared as Nik Bakht & El‐Diraby, 2013(2).
The joint evolution of traits and habitat: ontogenetic shifts in leaf morphology and wetland specialization in Lasthenia
Authors: Forrestel Elisabeth J. , Ackerly David D. , Emery Nancy C. 
Published: June 2015

Summary

The interplay between functional traits and habitat associations drives species' evolutionary responses to environmental heterogeneity, including processes such as adaptation, ecological speciation, and niche evolution. Seasonal variation is an aspect of the environment that varies across habitats, and could result in adaptive shifts in trait values across the life cycle of a plant.

Here, we use phylogenetic comparative methods to evaluate the joint evolution of plant traits and habitat associations in Lasthenia (Asteraceae), a small clade of predominantly annual plants that have differentiated into an ecologically diverse range of habitats, including seasonal ephemeral wetlands known as vernal pools.

Our results support the hypothesis that there is a link between the evolution of leaf morphology and the ecohydrological niche in Lasthenia, and, in the formation of aerenchyma (air space), differentiation between vernal pool and terrestrial taxa is fine‐tuned to specific stages of plant ontogeny that reflects the evolution of heterophylly.

Our findings demonstrate how the relationships between traits and habitat type can vary across the development of an organism, while highlighting a carefully considered comparative approach for examining correlated trait and niche evolution in a recently diversified and ecologically diverse plant clade.
ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTOR 96 positively regulates Arabidopsis resistance to necrotrophic pathogens by direct binding to GCC elements of jasmonate – and ethylene‐responsive defence genes
Authors: Catinot Jérémy , Huang Jing‐Bo , Huang Pin‐Yao , Tseng Min‐Yuan , Chen Ying‐Lan , Gu Shin‐Yuan , Lo Wan‐Sheng , Wang Long‐Chi , Chen Yet‐Ran , Zimmerli Laurent 
Published: June 2015

AbstractThe ERF (ethylene responsive factor) family is composed of transcription factors (TFs) that are critical for appropriate Arabidopsis thaliana responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. Here we identified and characterized a member of the ERF TF group IX, namely ERF96, that when overexpressed enhances Arabidopsis resistance to necrotrophic pathogens such as the fungus Botrytis cinerea and the bacterium Pectobacterium carotovorum. ERF96 is jasmonate (JA) and ethylene (ET) responsive and ERF96 transcripts accumulation was abolished in JA‐insensitive coi1‐16 and in ET‐insensitive ein2‐1 mutants. Protoplast transactivation and electrophoresis mobility shift analyses revealed that ERF96 is an activator of transcription that binds to GCC elements. In addition, ERF96 mainly localized to the nucleus. Microarray analysis coupled to chromatin immunoprecipitation‐PCR of Arabidopsis overexpressing ERF96 revealed that ERF96 enhances the expression of the JA/ET defence genes PDF1.2a, PR‐3 and PR‐4 as well as the TF ORA59 by direct binding to GCC elements present in their promoters. While ERF96‐RNAi plants demonstrated wild‐type resistance to necrotrophic pathogens, basal PDF1.2 expression levels were reduced in ERF96‐silenced plants. This work revealed ERF96 as a key player of the ERF network that positively regulates the Arabidopsis resistance response to necrotrophic pathogens.
Yellow tailflower mild mottle virus and Pelargonium zonate spot virus co‐infect a wild plant of red‐striped tailflower in Australia
Authors: Li H. , Zhang C. , Luo H. , Jones M. G. K. , Sivasithamparam K. , Koh S.‐H. , Ong J. W. L. , Wylie S. J. 
Published: June 2015

Isolates of an Australian indigenous virus, Yellow tailflower mild mottle virus (YTMMV‐Kalbarri), and an exotic virus, Pelargonium zonate spot virus (PZSV‐SW13), are described from Anthocercis ilicifolia subsp. ilicifolia (red‐striped tailflower, family Solanaceae), a species endemic to Western Australia. This is the first report of either virus from this plant species. The complete genome sequences of YTMMV‐Kalbarri and of PZSV‐SW13 were obtained. YTMMV‐Kalbarri shared 97% nucleotide pairwise identity with the sequence of the type isolate YTMMV‐Cervantes. The sequence PZSV‐SW13 shared greatest sequence identity with the partial sequence of an Australian isolate of PZSV, also from a wild plant, and with a sunflower‐derived isolate of PZSV from Argentina. An experimental host range study was done of YTMMV‐Kalbarri using cultivated and wild solanaceous and non‐solanaceous plants. Most solanaceous plants became systemically infected, with symptoms of systemic infection ranging from symptomless to whole plant necrosis. Based on these studies, it is suggested that YTMMV has the potential to become a pathogen of commercial species of Solanaceae. This study provides further evidence that PZSV is present in wild plants in Australia, in this case an indigenous host species, and possible routes by which it invaded Australia are discussed.
The Competent Judge Problem
Authors: Brownlee Kimberley 
Published: June 2015

AbstractWe face an epistemic problem in competently judging some types of experience. The problem arises when an experience either defies our efforts to assess its quality, such as a traumatic event, or compromises our abilities to assess quality in general, such as starvation. In the latter type of case, the competent judge problem is actually a paradox since the experience undermines our competence to judge at the same time that it gives us competence to judge it against other experiences. The problem is pressing because it arises for experiences at the more extreme ends of the spectrum, which are precisely the experiences we most want to judge competently. It also has implications for how we approach some practical ethical problems, such as solitary confinement. The paper explores a range of cases and explains why efforts to escape the competent judge problem may prove fruitless.
Personal resurrection: female childhood sexual abuse survivors’ experience of the Wellness‐Program
Authors: Sigurdardottir Sigrun , Halldorsdottir Sigridur , Bender Soley S. , Agnarsdottir Guðrun 
Published: June 2015

BackgroundChildhood sexual abuse (CSA) survivors deal with complex mental, physical and relationship problems in adulthood which negatively affects their well‐being and health. The aim of the present paper was to present a description of the Wellness‐Program for female CSA survivors, the participating women's evaluation of the different therapies in the program as well as a qualitative study on their experience of the program's effects on their life, health and well‐being.MethodThe Wellness‐Program lasted for 10 weeks with organised schedule 20 hours per week. A team of health professionals used a holistic approach and provided traditional and complementary individual and group therapy focusing on both mind and body. In‐depth phenomenological interviews with ten women, 22–53 years old, were conducted 1 week before and 1 week after the program as well as 15 months later. Data collection and data analysis were guided by the Vancouver School of doing phenomenology.ResultsPrior to participating in the program, the women were unable to work or attend school, were on disability allowance, were socially isolated and had complex health problems. After the Wellness‐Program, all the women, except one, were back to work, school or in further rehabilitation. Furthermore, the in‐depth interviews showed that their health and well‐being, personal life and relationship with partners, family and friends improved. They felt empowered, more in control and had developed increased trust towards others. Six themes were constructed from the in‐depth interviews. They were: feeling totally lost, releasing experiences, developing trusting relationships, gaining control, experiencing positive changes in physical and mental health and, finally, feeling of empowerment. The overriding theme of the study was personal resurrection.ConclusionsThe Wellness‐Program contributed considerably to improved health and well‐being of the women. However, further assessment of the program is recommended before making it available within the healthcare system.
Feasibility of a patient‐centred nutrition intervention to improve oral intakes of patients at risk of pressure ulcer: a pilot randomised control trial
Authors: Roberts Shelley , Desbrow Ben , Chaboyer Wendy 
Published: June 2015

AimNutrition is important for pressure ulcer prevention. This randomised control pilot study assessed the feasibility of conducting a larger trial to test the effectiveness of a patient‐centred intervention for improving the dietary intakes of patients at risk of pressure ulcer in hospital.MethodsA 3‐day intervention targeting patients at risk of pressure ulcer was developed, based on three main foundations: patient education, patient participation and guided goal setting. The intervention was piloted in three wards in a metropolitan hospital in Queensland, Australia. Participants were randomised into control or intervention groups and had their oral intakes monitored. A subset of intervention patients was interviewed on their perceptions of the intervention. Feasibility was tested against three criteria: ≥75% recruitment; ≥80% retention; and ≥80% intervention fidelity. Secondary outcomes related to effects on energy and protein intakes.ResultsEighty patients participated in the study and 66 were included in final analysis. The recruitment rate was 82%, retention rate was 88%, and 100% of intervention patients received the intervention. Patients viewed the intervention as motivating and met significantly more of their estimated energy and protein requirements over time.ConclusionThis pilot study indicates that the intervention is feasible and acceptable by patients at risk of pressure ulcer. A larger trial is needed to confirm the effectiveness of the intervention in the clinical setting.
Local Protest and Federal Policy: The Impact of the Civil Rights Movement on the 1964 Civil Rights Act
Authors: Andrews Kenneth T. , Gaby Sarah 
Published: June 2015

When and how do movements influence policy change? We examine the dynamics leading up to Kennedy's decision to pursue major civil rights legislation in 1963. This marked a key turning point in shifting the executive branch from a timid and gradualist approach. Although it is widely taken for granted that the civil rights movement propelled this shift, how the movement mattered is less clear. While most protest targeted local economic actors, movement influence was exerted at the national level on political actors. Thus, movement influence was indirect. We focus on the relationship between local movement efforts to desegregate public accommodations (restaurants, movie theaters, hotels, etc.) and federal responses to movement demands. Although exchanges between movement actors and the federal government took place throughout the period, the logic of federal response evolved as political actors sought strategies to minimize racial conflict. Specifically, the Kennedy administration shifted to a dual strategy. First, the Department of Justice attempted to promote “voluntary” desegregation by working with executives of national companies and civic groups. Second, administration officials worked with these same groups to build support for major legislation among key interest groups. This shift toward a more assertive and proactive intervention in civil rights stands in contrast to the pessimism regarding the prospects for federal policy only a few months earlier. We examine the logic of this response including the impact of civil rights protest on the administration's policy proposals.
Incorporating Native American History into the Curriculum: Descriptive Representation or Campaign Contributions?*
Authors: Foxworth Raymond , Liu Amy H. , Sokhey Anand Edward 
Published: June 2015

ObjectivesWhat explains (1) the adoption of these inclusive educational policies, and (2) the timing of the passage of these educational policies? The objective of this study is to examine two competing hypotheses: the first has to do with descriptive representation; the second has to do with Native American nations acting as interest groups.MethodsWe use a newly constructed data set to estimate logistic regression, difference in difference, and Cox proportional hazards survival models.ResultsWe find evidence that both descriptive representation and campaign contributions can explain whether there is adoption, but that only the latter can account for when there is adoption.ConclusionsThese findings demonstrate that Native American nations are becoming increasingly mobilized within U.S. state politics, and are finding ways to influence state policies—a pattern that is not just about policies that pertain to indigenous governance and sovereignty, but about policies with broader implications for non‐Native Americans.
Test anxiety and United States Medical Licensing Examination scores
Authors: Green Michael , Angoff Nancy , Encandela John 
Published: June 2015

SummaryBackgroundMany medical students experience test anxiety, which may impair their performance in examinations. We examined the relationship between test anxiety and United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) step‐1 scores and determined the effect of a test‐taking course on anxiety and USMLE scores.MethodsWe randomly chose second‐year students to take a test‐taking strategies course (cases) from among volunteers. The remainder of the class served as controls. We measured test anxiety with the Westside Test Anxiety Scale (with possible scores of 1–5). The cases completed the Westside Test Anxiety scale at baseline, after completing the course (4 weeks) and again after taking the USLME step 1 (10 weeks). The controls completed the instrument at baseline and after taking the USMLE step 1 (10 weeks).ResultsNinety‐three of 101 (92%) students participated in the study. The baseline test anxiety score for all students was 2.48 (SD 0.63). Test anxiety was inversely correlated with USMLE step 1 (β = –0.24, p = 0.01), adjusting for Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores. The test anxiety score of the participants decreased from 2.79 to 2.61 after the course (p = 0.09), and decreased further to 2.53 after the USMLE (p = 0.02), whereas the scores of the controls increased. The mean USMLE step‐1 score was 234 for the cases and 243 for the controls (p = 0.03).Many medical students experience test anxiety, which may impair their performance in examinationsDiscussionTest anxiety is modestly inversely correlated with USMLE step‐1 scores. A test‐taking strategy course modestly reduced anxiety, but did not improve USMLE scores. More robust interventions that achieve greater reductions in text anxiety may improve test scores.
Prototheca wickerhamii algaemia: an emerging infection in solid organ transplant recipients
Authors: Bandaranayake T.D. , Paniz Mondolfi A. , Peaper D.R. , Malinis M.F. 
Published: June 2015

AbstractPrototheca wickerhamii is an alga that rarely causes human disease but has been reported increasingly among immunocompromised individuals. We report a fatal case of P. wickerhamii in a renal transplant recipient who presented with a cutaneous lesion that led to disseminated disease despite treatment with voriconazole. We reviewed previous cases of protothecosis involving solid organ transplant recipients in the literature and discussed the value of newer microbiology platforms, i.e., matrix‐assisted laser desorption ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (MALDI‐TOF), to achieve early diagnosis and impact outcomes.
Comparison of the in vitro effects of saline, hypertonic hydroxyethyl starch, hypertonic saline, and two forms of hydroxyethyl starch on whole blood coagulation and platelet function in dogs
Authors: Wurlod Virginie A. , Howard Judith , Francey Thierry , Schweighauser Ariane , Adamik Katja N. 
Published: June 2015

AbstractObjectiveTo compare the in vitro effects of hypertonic solutions and colloids to saline on coagulation in dogs.DesignIn vitro experimental study.SettingVeterinary teaching hospital.AnimalsTwenty‐one adult dogs.InterventionsBlood samples were diluted with saline, 7.2% hypertonic saline solution with 6% hydroxyethylstarch with an average molecular weight of 200 kDa and a molar substitution of 0.4 (HH), 7.2% hypertonic saline (HTS), hydroxyethyl starch (HES) 130/0.4 or hydroxyethyl starch 600/0.75 at ratios of 1:22 and 1:9, and with saline and HES at a ratio of 1:3.Measurements and Main ResultsWhole blood coagulation was analyzed using rotational thromboelastometry (extrinsic thromboelastometry‐cloting time (ExTEM‐CT), maximal clot firmness (MCF) and clot formation time (CFT) and fibrinogen function TEM‐CT (FibTEM‐CT) and MCF) and platelet function was analyzed using a platelet function analyzer (closure time, CTPFA). All parameters measured were impaired by saline dilution. The CTPFAwas prolonged by 7.2% hypertonic saline solution with 6% hydroxyethylstarch with an average molecular weight of 200 kDa and a molar substitution of 0.4 (HH) and HTS but not by HES solutions. At clinical dilutions equivalent to those generally administered for shock (saline 1:3, HES 1:9, and hypertonic solutions 1:22), CTPFAwas more prolonged by HH and HTS than other solutions but more by saline than HES. No difference was found between the HES solutions or the hypertonic solutions. ExTEM‐CFT and MCF were impaired by HH and HTS but only mildly by HES solutions. At clinically relevant dilutions, no difference was found in ExTEM‐CFT between HTS and saline or in ExTEM‐MCF between HH and saline. No consistent difference was found between the 2 HES solutions but HH impaired ExTEM‐CFT and MCF more than HTS. At high dilutions, FibTEM‐CT and ‐MCF and ExTEM‐CT were impaired by HES.ConclusionsHypertonic solutions affect platelet function and whole blood coagulation to a greater extent than saline and HES. At clinically relevant dilutions, only CTPFAwas markedly more affected by hypertonic solutions than by saline. At high dilutions, HES significantly affects coagulation but to no greater extent than saline at clinically relevant dilutions.
Force and number of myosin motors during muscle shortening and the coupling with the release of the ATP hydrolysis products
Authors: Caremani Marco , Melli Luca , Dolfi Mario , Lombardi Vincenzo , Linari Marco 
Published: June 2015

Key points
Muscle contraction is due to cyclical ATP‐driven working strokes in the myosin motors while attached to the actin filament. Each working stroke is accompanied by the release of the hydrolysis products, orthophosphate and ADP. The rate of myosin–actin interactions increases with the increase in shortening velocity.
We used fast half‐sarcomere mechanics on skinned muscle fibres to determine the relation between shortening velocity and the number and strain of myosin motors and the effect of orthophosphate concentration.
A model simulation of the myosin–actin reaction explains the results assuming that orthophosphate and then ADP are released with rates that increase as the motor progresses through the working stroke. The ADP release rate further increases by one order of magnitude with the rise of negative strain in the final motor conformation.
These results provide the molecular explanation of the relation between the rate of energy liberation and shortening velocity during muscle contraction.
AbstractThe chemo‐mechanical cycle of the myosin II–actin reaction in situ has been investigated in Ca2+‐activated skinned fibres from rabbit psoas, by determining the number and strain (s) of myosin motors interacting during steady shortening at different velocities (V) and the effect of raising inorganic phosphate (Pi) concentration. It was found that in control conditions (no added Pi), shortening at V ≤ 350 nm s–1 per half‐sarcomere, corresponding to force (T) greater than half the isometric force (T0), decreases the number of myosin motors in proportion to the reduction of T, so that s remains practically constant and similar to the T0 value independent of V. At higher V the number of motors decreases less than in proportion to T, so that s progressively decreases. Raising Pi concentration by 10 mm, which reduces T0 and the number of motors by 40–50%, does not influence the dependence on V of number and strain. A model simulation of the myosin–actin reaction in which the structural transitions responsible for the myosin working stroke and the release of the hydrolysis products are orthogonal explains the results assuming that Pi and then ADP are released with rates that increase as the motor progresses through the working stroke. The rate of ADP release from the conformation at the end of the working stroke is also strain‐sensitive, further increasing by one order of magnitude within a few nanometres of negative strain. These results provide the molecular explanation of the relation between the rate of energy liberation and the load during muscle contraction.