bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Regulatory role of adrenergic neurotransmitters on the spontaneous muscular activity in the ruminant trematode Paramphistomum cervi (Paramphistomatidae)
Authors: Saikia B. , Barua C.C. , Hazarika S. , Lahon L.C. , Saikia D. , Borah R.S. , Verma P.K 
Published: May 2013

AbstractThe neuromuscular system of helminths is an important area for target identification and drug development. Many anthelmintics, namely ivermectin, levamisole, piperazine, pyrantel, praziquantel and organophosphates, produce paralysis of helminths by affecting their neuromuscular systems. The neuromuscular system of helminths is also an important area of research to identify some of the important differences between the neuromuscular physiology of helminths and mammals. The identification of differences would help in developing newer target-specific, safe and effective anthelmintics. The present study was carried out to investigate the effects of different adrenergic neurotransmitters (epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine, l-dopa) and their antagonists (propranolol and haloperidol) on the spontaneous muscular activity of isometrically mounted Paramphistomum cervi.
Species-specific PCR for the identification of Cooperia curticei (Nematoda: Trichostrongylidae) in sheep
Authors: Amarante M.R.V. , Bassetto C.C. , Neves J.H. , Amarante A.F.T. 
Published: May 2013

AbstractAgricultural ruminants usually harbour mixed infections of gastrointestinal nematodes. A specific diagnosis is important because distinct species can differ significantly in their fecundity and pathogenicity. Haemonchus spp. and Cooperia spp. are the most important gastrointestinal nematodes infecting ruminants in subtropical/tropical environments. In Brazil, C. punctata is more adapted to cattle than sheep. Additionally, C. spatulata appears to be more adapted to cattle, whereas C. curticei is more adapted to sheep. However, infection of sheep with C. punctata is common when cattle and sheep share the same pasture. Although morphological analyses have been widely used to identify nematodes, molecular methods can overcome technical limitations and help improve species-specific diagnoses. Genetic markers in the first and second internal transcribed spacers (ITS-1 and ITS-2, respectively) of nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) have been used successfully to detect helminths. In the present study, the ITS-1 region was analysed and used to design a species-specific oligonucleotide primer pair to identify C. curticei. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) product was sequenced and showed 97% similarity to C. oncophora partial ITS-1 clones and 99% similarity to the C. curticei sequence JF680982. The specificity of this primer pair was corroborated by the analysis of 17 species of helminths, including C. curticei, C. punctata and C. spatulata. Species-specific diagnosis, which has implications for rapid and reliable identification, can support studies on the biology, ecology and epidemiology of trichostrongylid nematodes in a particular geographical location.
Is nasal steroid spray bottle contamination a potential issue in chronic rhinosinusitis?
Authors: Tan N C-W , Drilling A J , Jardeleza C , Wormald P-J 
Published: May 2013

AbstractBackground:Intranasal steroids are the first line of treatment for chronic rhinosinusitis. Although contamination of adjunctive devices (e.g. irrigation bottles) has been much investigated, little is known about nasal contamination of the metered-dose spray bottles used to deliver intranasal steroids, and the potential influence on disease chronicity.Methods:Twenty-five prospectively recruited patients with stable chronic rhinosinusitis underwent microbiological analysis of their nasal vestibule and middle meatus and also of their steroid bottle tip and contents. Additionally, bottle tips were inoculated in vitro with Staphylococcus aureus and various sterilisation techniques tested.Results:For 18 of the 25 (72 per cent) patients, both nasal and bottle tip swabs grew either Staphylococcus aureus or coagulase-negative staphylococci. Staphylococcus aureus was cultured from 7 of the 25 (28 per cent) patients, and 5 of these 7 had concomitant bacterial growth from both nose and steroid bottle. Thus, the cross-contamination rate was 71 per cent for Staphylococcus aureus infected patients and 20 per cent overall. Sterilisation was effective with boiling water, ethanol wipes and microwaving, but not with cold water or dishwashing liquid.Conclusion:Nasal steroid spray bottle tips can become contaminated with sinonasal cavity bacteria. Simple sterilisation methods can eliminate this contamination. Patient education on this matter should be emphasised.
Provenance of Chalk Tesserae from a Roman Town-House in Vine Street, Leicester
Authors: Tasker A. , Wilkinson I.P. , Williams M. , Morris M. , Cooper N.J. , Fulford M.G. 
Published: May 2013

AbstractFourth-centurya.d.chalk tesserae from Roman Leicester (Ratae Corieltavorum) yield rich microfossil assemblages that identify a biostratigraphical age of Cretaceous Late Cenomanian to Early Turonian. The nearest chalk outcrops to Leicester lie in Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and north Norfolk, indicating that the material for the tesserae must have been sourced remotely and transported toRatae.Superimposing the Roman road network onto a map of the relevant Chalk Group distribution provides a guide to possible sources. A process of evaluation identifies Baldock in Hertfordshire and Bridlington in Yorkshire as the most likely sources for the Leicester tesserae.
Generation of hemispherical fast electron waves in the presence of preplasma in ultraintense laser-matter interaction
Authors: Yang X. H. , Ma Y. Y. , Xu H. , Shao F. Q. , Yu M.Y. , Yin Y. , Zhuo H. B. , Borghesi M. 
Published: May 2013

AbstractHemispherical electron plasma waves generated from ultraintense laser interacting with a solid target having a subcritical preplasma is studied using particle-in-cell simulation. As the laser pulse propagates inside the preplasma, it becomes self-focused due to the response of the plasma electrons to the ponderomotive force. The electrons are mainly heated via betatron resonance absorption and their thermal energy can become higher than the ponderomotive energy. The hot electrons easily penetrate through the thin solid target and appear behind it as periodic hemispherical shell-like layers separated by the laser wavelength.
Characteristics of Patients Described as Sub-acute in an Acute Care Hospital
Authors: Elbourne Heather Fillmore , Hominick Kathryn , Mallery Laurie , Rockwood Kenneth 
Published: May 2013

RÉSUMÉLes patients frêles et âgés souffrent de multiples besoins complexes qui souvent passent non-traitées dans un établissement de soins actifs. Ne pas reconnaître les géants gériatriques au sein de ces aînés frêles provoque des erreurs de classement de cette population. Cette étude a examiné des aînés malades “sub-aiguë” hospitalisés dans un hôpital de soins tertiaires. Bien qu’ils aient été identifiés comme n’étant plus gravement malades, tous les participants avaient besoin des soins medicaux actifs et/ou de soins infirmiers. Lorsque l’acuité de leur maladie est passée inaperçue, les patients âgés et fragiles ont été classés par erreur comme sub-aiguë. La majorité des participants ont souhaité être soignés chez eux ou à proximité. L’absence, dans notre système de soins de santé, des soins post-aigus, ainsi que l’aversion au risque de la part du personnel de l’hôpital, a abouti aux hospitalisations prolongées ou/et les patients étaient rélégués* dans les services existants (maisons de soins infirmiers) contre leur désir de rentrer chez eux.
Random and systematic set-up errors in three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy – impact on planning target volume margins: the experience of the Radiation Oncology Centre of Sassari
Authors: Tamponi Matteo , Poggiu Angela , Dedola Maria F. , Madeddu Rossella , Carnevale Antonella , Manca Gianfranca , Tola Rossana , Bona Rossana , Carai Alessandro , Fundoni Carla , Naitana Alessandra , Giordani Nella , Aresu Leonora , Soddu Serena , Squintu Sara , Marini Piergiorgio , Conti Maurizio , Meloni Giovanni Battista 
Published: May 2013

AbstractPurposeGeometric uncertainties limit the accuracy of three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy treatments. This study aims to evaluate typical random and systematic set-up errors and analyse the impact of no action level (NAL) correction protocol on systematic set-up errors and clinical target volume (CTV)–planning target volume (PTV) margins.Materials and methodsA total 668 pairs of orthogonal electronic portal images were compared with digitally reconstructed radiographs from computed tomography planning scans for 100 patients consecutively treated during 2011. Patients were divided into groups depending on the treated anatomical region. Patient-specific and population random and systematic set-up errors were calculated. Impact of application of NAL correction protocol on systematic set-up errors and CTV–PTV expansions were evaluated.ResultsPopulation set-up errors resulted from about 1 mm in head and neck to 2–3 mm in prostate, rectum, lung, breast and gynaecological districts. Patient-specific systematic set-up errors were higher for breast and gynaecological districts and application of NAL correction protocol gave significant reductions, even higher than 30%. Calculated CTV–PTV margins ranged from 10 mm on left–right direction for prostate to 20 mm on superior–inferior direction for lung.ConclusionsSet-up errors resulted reasonably controlled and application of NAL correction protocol could further improve the level of accuracy. However, the NAL application alone did not seem to add any substantial benefit on CTV–PTV total margins without the adoption of corrective strategies to reduce other important uncertainties limiting accuracy of three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy.
Organic agriculture in the United States: A 30-year retrospective
Authors: Youngberg Garth , DeMuth Suzanne P. 
Published: May 2013

AbstractSince the early 1980s organic agriculture has undergone enormous growth and innovation in the US and throughout the world. Some observers have pointed to the US Department of Agriculture's 1980Report and Recommendations on Organic Farmingas having provided the catalyst for many of these developments. It is important, however, to understand how the evolving character of organic ideology during the 1960s and 1970s helped lay the foundation for moving organic agriculture onto the US governmental agenda in the early 1980s. We explore these and other contextual factors surrounding the USDA Report's release, including its methods, findings and recommendations, and both positive and negative reactions, as well as those factors that led to the Report's declining influence by the decade's end. The need for agricultural sustainability has played an important role in shaping, not only the path of organic agriculture in the US but also the overall politics of American agriculture. Legislative efforts to support organic agriculture have evolved along with this altered policy environment and are considered here within the broader context of the politics of sustainable agriculture. Next, we consider the organic industry's transition from a privately managed enterprise to the pivotal role now played by the federal government in the administration of the National Organic Program. Calls to move ‘beyond organic’ are also examined. Finally, we explore the impact of sustainable agriculture, agricultural research and farm structure upon the future of organic agriculture in the US. The politics within these three interrelated domains of public agricultural policy will likely bear heavily upon the future of organic farming and the organic industry as a whole.
Asset Pricing Theories, Models, and Tests
Authors: Gospodinov Nikolay , Robotti Cesare 
Published: May 2013

AbstractAn important but still partially unanswered question in the investment field is why different assets earn substantially different returns on average. Financial economists have typically addressed this question in the context of theoretically or empirically motivated asset pricing models. Since many of the proposed “risk” theories are plausible, a common practice in the literature is to take the models to the data and perform “horse races” among competing asset pricing specifications. A “good” asset pricing model should produce small pricing (expected return) errors on a set of test assets and should deliver reasonable estimates of the underlying market and economic risk premia. This chapter provides an up-to-date review of the statistical methods that are typically used to estimate, evaluate, and compare competing asset pricing models. The analysis also highlights several pitfalls in the current econometric practice and offers suggestions for improving empirical tests. Examples of topics include stochastic discount factor, two-pass cross-sectional regressions, misspecified models, and useless factors.
Evaluating Portfolio Performance
Authors: CavÉ Arnaud , HÜbner Georges , Lejeune Thomas 
Published: May 2013

AbstractThis chapter presents the major approaches for assessing portfolio performance in the presence of asset selection and market timing skills. Given the difficulty of reconciling these two performance drivers, several ways to get a synthetic measure are proposed, but they do not fully reflect the joint qualities displayed by the portfolio manager. In a recently suggested option replication approach, linear and quadratic coefficients of the Treynor and Mazuy regression are combined to assess performance in the presence of market timing. This new correction has the potential to overcome the “artificial timing” bias and delivers encouraging results on a sample of 1,413 US mutual funds selected for an empirical analysis. Unlike alternative approaches proposed in the literature, most positive market timers seem to be rewarded for the convexity they add to their portfolio, while negative market timers are penalized, and a correlation between abnormal performance and the convexity parameter is found.
Venture Capital
Authors: Gantenbein Pascal , Forrer Reto , Herold Nils 
Published: May 2013

AbstractThe venture capital industry has seen tremendous growth over the past two decades. However, research provides mixed results for investment outcomes and reveals several methodological challenges and constraints arising from the lack of a comprehensive historical dataset. Strong evidence suggests that a small number of funds perform extremely well, while the majority of venture capital funds underperform public stock markets. Furthermore, academic research points out several distinct determinants of investment outcomes. Various studies, for instance, indicate that performance drivers such as the experience and skills of both the general partners and the limited partners have a strong affect on performance. Additionally, evidence of performance persistence exists as well as of a strong impact of macroeconomic conditions. The venture capital industry exhibits a cyclical pattern or cyclicality characterized by repeated periods of dramatic growth followed by slumps. Yet, whether booms are caused by fundamental factors or whether they constitute an overreaction to perceived investment opportunities is unclear.
Evolution and Peace
Authors: Barash David P. 
Published: May 2013

Abstract
This chapter begins with a discussion of the convergences and divergences between evolution and peace. It analyzes concept of Evolutionarily Stable Strategies, which can usefully be seen through the lens of natural selection, and the Prisoner's Dilemma. It addresses the question of whether we are doomed by our evolutionary past—more precisely, by its imprint upon the present—to a future of unending and eternal war. The answer, clearly, is no. When it comes to violence, whether organized or individual, Homo sapiens are subject to genetic influences, not determinism. But neither can we can take comfort in being innately peace-loving and pacifist. Insofar as we are subject to genetic influences, not determinism, it is equally certain that just as these influences do not mandate violence, neither do they mandate nonviolence. We have within us the biologically generated, Janus-like capacity to face in either direction (or, more confusingly, in both at the same time!), combined with a biologically mandated obligation to neither one.
From the Peaceful to the Warlike
Authors: Kelly Robert L. 
Published: May 2013

Abstract
Many foraging societies experience violence that is sometimes lethal. This should surprise no one since lethal violence in small, egalitarian communities can arise from the denial of anger that comes with the politics of nonconfrontation that typify egalitarian societies—one can only keep a lid on animosities for so long. Foraging societies have mechanisms to resolve disputes, and one of these is to vocalize an ethos of non-violence. Indeed, a few foraging societies known to ethnography experience very little violence. But for many others, the mechanisms to resolve disputes sometimes fail, and opponents may come to blows. This chapter does not to ask if foragers are violent or not, but rather what conditions variation in the levels of violence. It looks at this from both ethnographic and archaeological perspectives. It shows that war and homicide are linked to issues of resource imbalance, and that demonstrations of the frequency of war among foragers or of its antiquity should not lead to the assumption that humans have a stronger proclivity for violence than they do for peace.
Aggression and Conflict Resolution Among the Nomadic Hadza of Tanzania as Compared with Their Pastoralist Neighbors
Authors: Butovskaya Marina L. 
Published: May 2013

Abstract
This chapter examines cultural norms related to aggression and conflict management in the Hadza, who are nomadic hunter-gatherers, and recent transformations resulting from ethno-tourism and contacts with neighboring groups such as interethnic marriages and socialization in the multiethnic environment of boarding schools. Aggression and conflict management among the Hadza are compared to that observed in a neighboring society, the Datoga, who are semi-nomadic pastoralists. The data on the Hadza and the Datoga confirm the idea that aggression is a flexible adaptation, not an obligate behavior. Traditional Hadza may be classified as egalitarian, tolerant, and autonomous people. They tend to cope with conflicts by avoidance and tolerance, as members of most nomadic forager societies do. In conflict situations, the Hadza prefer to retire, and most men and women have never killed anybody. The Datoga are more aggressive than the Hadza. They view ridicule and joking as overt aggression. Individual violence among the Datoga has been restricted by the system of fines and ultimately by ostracizing the habitual aggressors. Violence among Datoga spouses is highly asymmetrical and is virtually always directed against women.
The Biocultural Evolution of Conflict Resolution Between Groups
Authors: Boehm Christopher 
Published: May 2013

Abstract
This chapter focuses on how conflicts are managed between different groups for a sample of forty-nine nomadic forager societies. It links conflict and conflict management within groups to the same pair of behaviors when they take place between groups. The analysis requires dealing with a large evolutionary picture, which at the level of phylogenetics involves behavioral preadaptations, and at the level of culture and psychology involves people making generalizations that allow predictable, highly routinized peacemaking within groups to serve as a generalizable model for the less predictable conflict management that takes place between groups. The chapter begins by focusing on human hunter-gatherers and on chimpanzees and bonobos—the two African great apes with whom we share the greatest amount of DNA—to see what these three species are capable of in matters related to intergroup conflict and its management, and social control. After isolating some relevant social-sanctioning behaviors that were likely in our shared ancestor, a larger question is asked: how could becoming moral have changed us, in our species' potential for both external conflict and external peacemaking?
The 99 Percent—Development and Socialization Within an Evolutionary Context
Authors: Narvaez Darcia 
Published: May 2013

Abstract
This chapter discusses the substantial mismatch between our contemporary society and the conditions under which the genus Homo has evolved. It argues that compared to our pre-agriculture foraging cousins we are far from virtuous and might even be considered to have lost our minds, if not our humanity. In fact, we are quite immoral, wicked, and stupid if we use anthropological reports of those who live like our presumed nomadic foraging, gatherer-hunter ancestors as a baseline. How did this come to be? The chapter compares the ancestral social environment, as known from extant small-band gatherer-hunter cultures from around the world, with the contemporary Western social environment (focused mostly on the United States, which continues to export its views and lifestyle to the rest of the world).
Progressive-Era Sexuality and the Nature of the Beast in Henry James
Authors: Lundblad Michael 
Published: May 2013

AbstractIn Epistemology of the Closet, Eve Sedgwick argues that the discourse of sexuality shifted at the end of the nineteenth century from an emphasis on sexual acts to sexual identities. Sedgwick builds upon Foucault's famous declaration that the “species” of the homosexual was born at that moment. But Sedgwick and others working on histories of sexuality in the United States have elided the discourse of the jungle: Darwinist-Freudian constructions of “the human” and “the animal” that redefine various behaviors in relation to animal instincts. This helps to explain why the discourse of sexuality shifted at the turn of the century, once heterosexuality was naturalized in the name of reproduction. Questions about human sexuality were soon framed within an evolutionary epistemology that was fundamentally new, but still in transition. After tracing the genealogy of the jungle through Darwin, Kipling, and Freud, this chapter focuses on alternative constructions of the relationship between animality and sexuality that are revealed in Progressive-Era texts.
Black Savage, White Animal
Authors: Lundblad Michael 
Published: May 2013

AbstractReadings of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan of the Apes (1914) tend to conflate Tarzan’s “others,” suggesting that there is little difference between the apes and the savages he encounters or that the primary distinction to make is between Tarzan and everyone else. We are often told that Tarzan evolves from ape to savage to the epitome of a racist, sexist, imperialist, American man, who is defined by the restraint of his animal/savage instincts. The implication would appear to be that “the savage” (and therefore the African American) is “higher” in evolutionary terms than the animal, and that white Americans should be seen as closer to savages than animals. The argument in this chapter is that this evolutionary logic is disrupted by the novel, suggesting that animality can first be distinguished from savagery and second elevated above savagery in a disavowal of the evolutionary link between (black) savagery and (white) humanity. Distinguishing between various forms of primate violence in the novel allows us to see a more complicated construction of U.S. race relations and to view the novel as more than a straightforward allegory of white masculinity defined against other, darker “races.”