bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
What about Passive Innovation Resistance? Investigating Adoption‐Related Behavior from a Resistance Perspective
Authors: Heidenreich Sven , Handrich Matthias 
Published: June 2014

Adoption literature has been dominated by a novelty‐seeking paradigm, whereas resistance to innovation has received considerably less attention as a means to explain and predict adoption‐related behavior. The lack of a good metric to assess consumers' predisposition to resist innovations has prevented the establishment of a common ground for empirical research and thus hampered progress to date. This paper develops and empirically validates a scale to measure individual differences in consumers' predisposition to resist innovations (hereafter, passive innovation resistance, orPIR). The proposed instrument entails a personality‐specific and situation‐specific measure that assesses individual differences in consumers' predisposition to resist innovations, emerging from their inclination to resist changes and exhibit status quo satisfaction. The scale represents a measure of the generic tendency to resist innovations and thus captures the notion of a general disposition to act in a consistent way in various situations.The results of multiple studies show that thePIRscale has good psychometric properties, and its relationships with other constructs conform to theoretical expectations. Furthermore, thePIRscale explains and predicts adoption‐related behaviors beyond the variance accounted for by traditionally investigated constructs such as innate innovativeness, big‐five personality dimensions, or demographic variables. These results clearly reveal the importance ofPIRfor determining adoption‐related behavior but contest a conceptualization of constructs that tap only novelty seeking at a high level as the direct antecedent of adoption. Research that attempts to explain and predict adoption‐related behavior can benefit from taking a resistance perspective as well.
Probing druggability and biological function of essential proteins in Leishmania combining facilitated null mutant and plasmid shuffle analyses
Authors: Dacher Mariko , Morales Miguel A. , Pescher Pascale , Leclercq Olivier , Rachidi Najma , Prina Eric , Cayla Mathieu , Descoteaux Albert , Späth Gerald F. 
Published: June 2014

SummaryLeishmania parasites cause important human morbidity and mortality. Essential Leishmania genes escape genetic assessment by loss‐of‐function analyses due to lethal null mutant phenotypes, even though these genes and their products are biologically most significant and represent validated drug targets. Here we overcome this limitation using a facilitated null mutant approach applied for the functional genetic analysis of the MAP kinase LmaMPK4. This system relies on the episomal expression of the target gene from vector pXNG that expresses the Herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene thus rendering transgenic parasites susceptible for negative selection using the antiviral drug ganciclovir. Using this system we establish the genetic proof of LmaMPK4 as essential kinase in promastigotes. LmaMPK4 structure/function analysis by plasmid shuffle allowed us to identify regulatory kinase sequence elements relevant for chemotherapeutic intervention. A partial null mutant, expressing an MPK4 derivative with altered ATP‐binding properties, showed defects in metacyclogenesis, establishing a first link of MPK4 function to parasite differentiation. The approaches presented here are broadly applicable to any essential gene in Leishmania thus overcoming major bottlenecks for their functional genetic analysis and their exploitation for structure‐informed drug development.
Oil price volatility, fiscal policy and economic growth: a panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) analysis of some selected oil‐exporting African countries
Authors: Omojolaibi Joseph Ayoola , Egwaikhide Festus O. 
Published: June 2014

AbstractFiscal policy in oil‐centred economies is facing specific challenges, both in the long run, as regards intergenerational equity and fiscal sustainability, and in the short run, as regards macroeconomic stabilisation and fiscal planning. Specifically, fiscal policy in most oil‐exporting countries in Africa has been expansionary over the past years in the wake of high oil prices. Fiscal expansion has added to inflationary pressure, and monetary policy has been constrained in tackling inflation as a result of prevailing exchange rate regimes. The sharp fall in oil prices since mid‐2008 has brought to the fore a different question—whether oil exporters in Africa can sustain spending levels reached in previous years. The study makes use of quarterly data that span between 1990:q1 and 2010:q4. A panel vector autoregressive technique was employed to examine the impact of oil price volatility on economic performance of five oil‐exporting countries in Africa. The countries are Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Libya and Nigeria. In order to study the responses of shocks, the study identifies oil price volatility, real gross domestic product (real GDP), fiscal deficit, gross investment and money supply shocks by ordering the variables in this way and using a standard Choleski factorisation. The impulse response function's result shows that of all the macroeconomic variables considered, gross investment respond more effectively to oil price volatility. However, the responses of fiscal deficit, real GDP and money supply are less effective. Overall, these findings suggest that gross investment is the main route through which volatility in oil price influenced the real sector of these economies.
Moving from gas flaring to gas conservation and utilisation in Nigeria: a review of the legal and policy regime
Authors: Orji Uchenna Jerome 
Published: June 2014

AbstractNigeria is often described as ‘a gas province with significant oil accumulations’, due to her immense natural gas reserves. A large volume of Nigeria's gas reserves is found as ‘associated natural gas’ along with crude oil. In most cases, such associated gas is burnt off during oil field operations through a process that is commonly referred to as ‘gas flaring’. Recent statistics indicate that Nigeria is the second highest gas‐flaring country in the world. Gas flaring has also been a major cause of environmental pollution and a waste of non‐renewable resources that has resulted to a huge loss of revenue for the country. This article analyses the legal and policy regime to tackle gas flaring and enhance gas utilisation and re‐injection or conservation in Nigeria. It reveals several obstacles that have hindered the success of such legal and policy regimes and suggests measures to reverse the trend. The article suggests inter alia that existing legal and policy regimes to tackle gas flaring and promote gas utilisation and re‐injection have not been successful due to the absence of attractive incentives that will encourage oil‐producing companies to invest in gas utilisation or re‐injection facilities. It also suggests that the enforcement of existing anti‐gas flaring regimes has not been successful due to the absence of deterrent sanctions and also as a result of Nigeria's heavy dependence on oil revenues. The article recommends the establishment of more punitive gas flare sanctions alongside attractive fiscal incentives that will encourage oil‐producing companies to invest in gas utilisation and re‐injection facilities.
Patient and procedural characteristics for successful and failed immediate tracheal extubation in the operating room following cardiac surgery in infancy
Authors: Miller Jeffrey W. , Vu Dien , Chai Paul J. , Kreutzer Janet , Hossain Md M. , Jacobs Jeffrey P. , Loepke Andreas W. 
Published: June 2014

SummaryBackgroundImmediate extubation in the operating room after congenital heart surgery is practiced with rising frequency at many cardiac institutions to decrease costs and complications. Infants less than one year of age are also increasingly selected for this ‘fast track’. However, factors for patient selection, success, or failure of this practice have not been well defined in this population, yet are critical for patient safety.ObjectiveTo identify selection criteria, patient and procedural characteristics for successful or failed very early endotracheal extubation in the operating room immediately following infant heart surgery.MethodsA retrospective analysis was performed for 326 consecutive patients undergoing neonatal and infant heart surgery from 2009 to 2012. Extubation and reintubation data were taken from the institutional Society of Thoracic Surgeons database and patients' charts. Patient characteristics were derived using multivariable logistic regression models.ResultsVery early extubation in the operating room was performed for 130 of 326 neonates and infants (40%). Weight >4 kg, lesser procedural complexity, and absence of trisomy 21 were identified as significant predictors for attempted very early extubation. Of these patients, 12% required reintubation within 48 h following surgery, predominantly due to respiratory failure or for mediastinal re‐exploration. Greater procedural complexity was associated with failed extubations. Reintubation was associated with prolonged hospitalization.ConclusionsExtubation immediately after infant heart surgery in the operating room can be safely achieved. However, our data suggest that patients undergoing more complex procedures should be selected more conservatively for immediate early extubation.
The Nature of Memory Traces
Authors: De Brigard Felipe 
Published: June 2014

AbstractMemory trace was originally a philosophical term used to explain the phenomenon of remembering. Once debated by Plato, Aristotle, and Zeno of Citium, the notion seems more recently to have become the exclusive province of cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists. Nonetheless, this modern appropriation should not deter philosophers from thinking carefully about the nature of memory traces. On the contrary, scientific research on the nature of memory traces can rekindle philosopher's interest on this notion. With that general aim in mind, the present paper has three specific goals. First, it attempts to chart the most relevant philosophical views on the nature of memory traces from both a thematic and historical perspective. Second, it reviews critical findings in the psychology and the neuroscience of memory traces. Finally, it explains how such results lend support to or discredit specific philosophical positions on the nature of memory traces. This paper also touches upon the issues raised by recent empirical research that theories of memory traces need to accommodate in order to succeed.
‘Walter Benjamin's Philosophy of Language’
Authors: Procyshyn Alexei 
Published: June 2014

AbstractIn this article, I reconstruct Walter Benjamin's philosophy of language and refine the non‐predicational view of meaning often attributed to him. By situating his 1916 essay ‘On Language as Such and on the Language of Man’ within the context of his struggle with Russell's paradox and its implications for phenomenology, I show how Benjamin arrives at his conception of non‐conceptual content as an environmentally embedded affordance that is directly apprehended by appropriately situated and capable agents. This affordance‐like character of meaning explains Benjamin's account of communication, Adamic naming, and his famous distinction between linguistic and spiritual essences (sprachliche‐ and geistige Wesen). I conclude by showing why translation is central to his views on expression and communication and how it reinforces his account of language‐use.
Karma, Morality, and Evil
Authors: Burley Mikel 
Published: June 2014

AbstractThe doctrine of karma has been praised as a rational and morally edifying explanatory response to the existence of evil and apparent injustice in the world. Critics have attacked it as a morally misguided dogma that distorts one's vision of reality. This essay, after outlining the traditional doctrine, examines three criticisms that have been central to recent debates: firstly, that the doctrine offers no practical guidance; second, that it faces a dilemma between free will and fatalism; and third, that it involves a morally repugnant form of blaming victims for their own misfortunes. Possible responses are considered, the depth of the disagreement is highlighted, and a morally significant difference between alternative ways of articulating the belief in karma is analyzed.
Mental States, Conscious and Nonconscious
Authors: Berger Jacob 
Published: June 2014

AbstractI discuss here the nature of nonconscious mental states and the ways in which they may differ from their conscious counterparts. I first survey reasons to think that mental states can and often do occur without being conscious. Then, insofar as the nature of nonconscious mentality depends on how we understand the nature of consciousness, I review some of the major theories of consciousness and explore what restrictions they may place on the kinds of states that can occur nonconsciously. I close with a discussion of what makes a state mental, if consciousness is not the mark of the mental.
Effect of Exposure to Heatwave During Blastocyst Formation on Reproductive Performance of Female Rabbits
Authors: Marco‐Jiménez F , Naturil‐Alfonso C , Peñaranda DS , Jiménez‐Trigos E , García‐Diego FJ , Vicente JS 
Published: June 2014

ContentsWe examined the effect of female exposure to heatwave during blastocyst formation on their reproductive performance and its effect on transcriptome in blastocyst and endometrial tissue. In this study, a total of 72 rabbit does were artificially inseminated and divided into two environmental groups 2 days later: does under conventional conditions (maintained between 14–22°C, n = 29) and does heat stressed in a climatic chamber (maintained between 32–37°C, n = 43). The heat‐stressed group were kept under these conditions for 3 days and returned to conventional conditions thereafter. Five days post‐insemination, 48 does were slaughtered to collect blastocyst and endometrium samples. mRNA transcripts from OCT‐4, VEGF, erbB3, Ifn‐ɣ, HSP70 and HSP90 were analysed by qRT‐PCR. At day 12 of gestation, 24 females were examined by laparoscopy to evaluate implanted embryos and at birth the total kits born and individual weights were recorded. Results revealed no gene expression changes in blastocyst and endometrial tissue under heatwave exposure. Moreover, our results demonstrated that rabbit embryos developed from 8–16 cells to blastocyst during a heatwave did not affect implantation rates, total number of kits born and foetal losses. In summary, these results demonstrate that heatwave period is not a critical point in the reproductive performance of rabbits during blastocyst formation.
The Case for Mixed Emotions
Authors: Larsen Jeff T. , McGraw A. Peter 
Published: June 2014

AbstractHow do people feel when they experience bittersweet events comprised of pleasant and unpleasant aspects (e.g., good news accompanied by bad)? Just as acids immediately neutralize bases, some have suggested that bittersweet events' pleasant aspects might neutralize their unpleasant aspects, thereby resulting in fairly neutral emotional reactions. Some contemporary theorists also contend that happiness and sadness are mutually exclusive. We review research on the alternative possibility that bittersweet events can elicit pairs of opposite‐valence, mixed emotions, with particularly close attention to the growing body of evidence that people can feel happy and sad at the same time while watching films, listening to music, and experiencing meaningful endings. We also review evidence that people sometimes experience other types of mixed emotions, including disgust accompanied by amusement and fear by enjoyment. Taken together, these data indicate that positive and negative affect are separable in experience.
Role of the penetration‐resistance genes PEN1, PEN2 and PEN3 in the hypersensitive response and race‐specific resistance in Arabidopsis thaliana
Authors: Johansson Oskar N. , Fantozzi Elena , Fahlberg Per , Nilsson Anders K. , Buhot Nathalie , Tör Mahmut , Andersson Mats X. 
Published: June 2014

SummaryPlants are highly capable of recognizing and defending themselves against invading microbes. Adapted plant pathogens secrete effector molecules to suppress the host's immune system. These molecules may be recognized by host‐encoded resistance proteins, which then trigger defense in the form of the hypersensitive response (HR) leading to programmed cell death of the host tissue at the infection site. The three proteins PEN1, PEN2 and PEN3 have been found to act as central components in cell wall‐based defense against the non‐adapted powdery mildew Blumeria graminis fsp. hordei (Bgh). We found that loss of function mutations in any of the three PEN genes cause decreased hypersensitive cell death triggered by recognition of effectors from oomycete and bacterial pathogens in Arabidopsis. There were considerable additive effects of the mutations. The HR induced by recognition of AvrRpm1 was almost completely abolished in the pen2 pen3 and pen1 pen3 double mutants and the loss of cell death could be linked to indole glucosinolate breakdown products. However, the loss of the HR in pen double mutants did not affect the plants' ability to restrict bacterial growth, whereas resistance to avirulent isolates of the oomycete Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis was strongly compromised. In contrast, the double and triple mutants demonstrated varying degrees of run‐away cell death in response to Bgh. Taken together, our results indicate that the three genes PEN1, PEN2 and PEN3 extend in functionality beyond their previously recognized functions in cell wall‐based defense against non‐host pathogens.
Functional domains of the PETAL LOSS protein, a trihelix transcription factor that represses regional growth in Arabidopsis thaliana
Authors: Kaplan‐Levy Ruth N. , Quon Tezz , O'Brien Martin , Sappl Pia G. , Smyth David R. 
Published: June 2014

SummaryPETAL LOSS (PTL) is a trihelix transcription factor that represses growth, especially between sepal primordia. As one of 30 trihelix proteins in Arabidopsis, it falls in the GT2 clade with duplicated trihelix DNA‐binding domains and a long α–helical central domain. PTL orthologs occur in all angiosperm genomes examined except grasses, and sequence comparisons reveal that there are two further short conserved domains at each end. GT2 itself carries two nuclear localization sequences, but PTL has an additional nuclear localization sequence (NLS). We show that PTL can act as a transcriptional activator in yeast and in planta, with the latter tested by two different functional assays. Specific deletions revealed that the activation region is C–terminal. Site‐directed mutagenesis of the DNA‐binding domains has shown that a conserved tryptophan and two downstream acidic amino acids in the second trihelix, predicted to promote folding, are each required for PTL function. Also, three basic residues in the third helix, near the DNA interaction sites, support its function. PTL was found to dimerize in yeast. This was confirmed and extended by jointly expressing differentially tagged forms of PTL in a transient expression system in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves. Cytoplasmic PTL (with mutant NLS sequences) was carried into the nucleus upon binding with nuclear‐localized PTL, providing each partner carried intact central domains. As this 90‐amino acid domain is conserved in most trihelix family members, it seems likely that they all function in dimeric form.
Relationship between urinary Tamm–Horsfall protein excretion and renal function in dogs with naturally occurring renal disease
Authors: Raila Jens , Schweigert Florian J. , Kohn Barbara 
Published: June 2014

BackgroundTamm–Horsfall protein (THP) is physiologically excreted in urine, but little is known about the role of THP in the diagnosis of renal disease in dogs.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate to which extent naturally occurring renal disease affects the urinary excretion of THP.MethodsDogs were divided into 5 groups according to plasma creatinine concentration, urinary protein‐to‐creatinine ratio (UP/UC), and exogenous plasma creatinine clearance (P‐ClCr) rates: Group A (healthy control dogs; n = 8), nonazotemic and nonproteinuric dogs, with P‐ClCr rates > 90 mL/min/m2; group B (n = 25), nonazotemic and nonproteinuric dogs with reduced P‐ClCr rates (51–89 mL/min/m2); group C (n = 7), nonazotemic but proteinuric dogs with P‐ClCr rates 53–98 mL/min/m2; group D (n = 8), azotemic and borderline proteinuric dogs (P‐ClCr rates: 22–45 mL/min/m2); and group E (n = 15), azotemic and proteinuric dogs (not tested for P‐ClCr). THP was measured by quantitative Western blot analysis, and the ratio of THP‐to‐urinary creatinine (THP/UC) was calculated.ResultsThe THP/UC concentrations were not different among dogs of groups A–D, but were reduced in dogs of group E (P < .001). THP/UC correlated negatively with serum creatinine (P < .01) and UP/UC (P < .01), but was not significantly associated with P‐ClCr.ConclusionsDecreased levels of THP/UC were present in moderately to severely azotemic and proteinuric dogs. This suggests tubular injury in these dogs and that THP might be useful as urinary marker to study the pathogenesis of renal disease.
Engineering Studies on Joint Bar Integrity: Part II — Finite Element Analyses
Authors: Carolan Michael E. , Jeong David Y. , Perlman A. Benjamin 
Published: June 2014

This paper is the second in a two-part series describing research sponsored by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to study the structural integrity of joint bars. In Part I, observations from field surveys of joint bar inspections conducted on revenue service track were presented [1]. In this paper, finite element analyses are described to examine the structural performance of rail joints under various loading and tie-ballast support conditions. The primary purpose of these analyses is to help interpret and understand the observations from the field surveys.
Moreover, the finite element analyses described in this paper are applied to conduct comparative studies and to assess the relative effect of various factors on the structural response of jointed rail to applied loads. Such factors include: discrete tie support (i.e. supported joint versus suspended joint with varying spans between effective ties), bolt pattern (four versus six bolts), initial bolt tension, and easement. In addition, results are shown for 90 lb rail joined with long-toe angle bars compared to 136 lb rail joined with standard short-toe joint bars.