bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Potential impacts of tourist developments in St Lucia on the Endangered White-breasted ThrasherRamphocinclus brachyurus
Authors: YOUNG RICHARD P. , JN BAPTISTE TIMOTHEUS , DORNELLY ALWIN , TEMPLE HELEN , WHITEHEAD HESTER , YOUNG H. GLYN , MORTON MATTHEW N. 
Published: April 2010

SummaryA rapidly developing tourism industry, concentrated in coastal regions, is suspected to seriously impact upon biodiversity in the global conservation priority of the insular Caribbean. In St Lucia, construction of tourism infrastructure in the coastal dry forest threatens the Endangered White-breasted ThrasherRamphocinclus brachyurus. Long-term protection of habitat is vital, but design of such conservation action is constrained by lack of data on the species' distribution and population responses to habitat change and fragmentation. Distance sampling surveys were conducted in 2006 and 2007 to estimate numbers and map the distribution of the two remaining sub-populations. White-breasted Thrashers in St Lucia were estimated to number around 1,200 individuals, with roughly 1,050 birds occupying just over 600 ha of dry forest in the Mandelé area. We demonstrate that tourist development companies will likely soon own land constituting around 40% of the species' extent of occurrence on St Lucia, and nearly 35% globally, and that ongoing and planned tourist developments threaten around one third of the St Lucian White-breasted Thrasher population. Given the size of these potential impacts, it is vital that patches of dry forest to the west and north of a development site in the Mandelé area are safeguarded. These sites support White-breasted Thrashers at high density and are contiguous with an existing forest reserve. Other important conservation measures include preserving stands of connected mature dry and riparian forest inside the tourist development sites, alongside invasive predator control.
Stump Speeches and Road Trips: The Impact of State Campaign Appearances in Presidential Elections
Authors: Hill Jeffrey S. , Rodriquez Elaine , Wooden Amanda E. 
Published: April 2010

AbstractTravel, stump speeches, and pressing-the-flesh make up a large part of any presidential electoral campaign. Obviously, candidates feel that their appearances are important, as they make hundreds of appearances between Labor Day and Election Day. But are they right? Well over 100 million people cast ballots in November, but only the tiniest fraction of voters meets or catches a glimpse of either of the candidates. Do candidate appearances and contact sway voters in some way? In this article, we use changes in weekly state tracking polls to determine the impact of candidate appearances in battleground and non-battleground states. Using polling data from the 2000, 2004, and 2008 elections, we find that campaign appearances can change a candidate's polling percentages, and that the impact varies by candidate and location (battleground state, safe Democratic state, or safe Republican state). We also find that the selection of a vice-presidential candidate is important, because of this candidate's ability to campaign effectively.
Gender Equality in the Academy: The Pipeline Problem
Authors: Monroe Kristen Renwick , Chiu William F. 
Published: April 2010

AbstractAs part of the ongoing work by the Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession (CSWP), we offer an empirical analysis of the pipeline problem in academia. The image of a pipeline is a commonly advanced explanation for persistent discrimination that suggests that gender inequality will decline once there are sufficient numbers of qualified women in the hiring pool. The CSWP believes that it is important to ask whether this phenomenon is actually occurring, because the implication is that we can explain inequality as a function of insufficient numbers of trained women in the pool, rather than as a result of ongoing discrimination that requires alternate remedies. Data from the American Association of University Professors suggests that merely increasing the pool of qualified women has not led to a commensurate number of women rising to the top in academia. Women are still ending up in lower paid jobs, and they continue to earn less than men in comparable positions. More aggressive policies to end discrimination are required.
Aquí Estamos? A Survey of Latino Portrayal in Introductory U.S. Government and Politics Textbooks
Authors: Monforti Jessica Lavariega , McGlynn Adam 
Published: April 2010

AbstractThe breadth of material covered in introductory U.S. government and politics survey courses creates a situation in which the textbooks used may serve as the primary source of information students receive about the country's political system. At the same time, their content represents a conscious choice by the authors, editors, and publishers of these textbooks regarding what topics and content are necessary and worthy of publication, which socializes students to accept particular viewpoints of the formation and operation of the U.S. government. Oftentimes, the information presented in textbooks across subdisciplines ignores the political experiences and influence of racial, ethnic, and other minority groups. We test this premise by engaging in a study of 29 introductory U.S. government and politics textbooks to assess the level of coverage and treatment of Latinos/as, the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the country. We find that the discussion of Latinos in these textbooks is incredibly brief and often limited to the civil rights chapters. Furthermore, Latinos are primarily mentioned in the discussion of immigration, while their overall contributions to the political development of the United States are largely ignored.
Standardizing Citizenship: The Potential Influence of State Curriculum Standards on the Civic Development of Adolescents
Authors: Journell Wayne 
Published: April 2010

AbstractThe rise of state-mandated standards in public education have allowed legislators to answer the question of what constitutes a proper civic education, a debate that has existed in the United States since the turn of the twentieth century. Through the content they employ in their standards, states may indirectly influence the type of citizenship education students receive in the classroom. The present study focuses on the Virginia Standards of Learning for two courses, civics and economics and U.S. and Virginia government, which are commonly taught to eighth graders and high school seniors, respectively. A content analysis of the essential knowledge found in the standards for these courses categorizes instructional content into seven forms of citizenship: civic republicanism, character education, deliberative, social justice, participatory, transnational, and cosmopolitan. Although the results are specific to the Virginia Standards of Learning, the nature of how citizenship is portrayed within the standards may transfer to other states with similar forms of standards-based education within their social studies curricula.
A Pilgrimage to the Disneyland of Faith
Authors: Crowe Justin , McWilliams Susan , Beienburg Sean 
Published: April 2010

AbstractAs part of a course considering “American Democracy in Theory and Practice,” we took 36 students to Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. During that visit, students observed a community that seeks self-sufficiency and yet proves to be simultaneously responsive to and reflective of American democracy more broadly. Specifically, in a few short hours, they were able to see the virtues of civic association, the difficulty of respecting individualism in large-scale polities, the influence of regional identity, and the two-way interaction between politics and culture—all themes that featured prominently in our course. We offer this reflection to suggest the pedagogical benefits of showing the tensions of American politics in action and to encourage colleagues to consider integrating similar ventures into their own courses.
Rock and Roll Will Never Die: Using Music to Engage Students in the Study of Political Science
Authors: Soper Christopher 
Published: April 2010

AbstractPopular music is ubiquitous in the lives of our students, music is used by politicians at virtually every one of their campaign events, and musicians are increasingly active in politics, but music has never been considered as a pedagogical tool in teaching political science classes. This article describes the use of music in an introduction to American politics class. I argue that playing music in class can increase student interest, reinforce important concepts, and actively engage the students in the learning process. Finally, using popular culture connects meaningfully with the way that many of our undergraduate students are experiencing politics.
Universal Methicillin-ResistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA) Surveillance for Adults at Hospital Admission: An Economic Model and Analysis
Authors: Lee Bruce Y. , Bailey Rachel R. , Smith Kenneth J. , Muder Robert R. , Strotmeyer Elsa S. , Lewis G. Jonathan , Ufberg Paul J. , Song Yeohan , Harrison Lee H. 
Published: April 2010

Background.Methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA) transmission and infections are a continuing problem in hospitals. Although some have recommended universal surveillance for MRSA at hospital admission to identify and to isolate MRSA-colonized patients, there is a need for formal economic studies to determine the cost-effectiveness of such a strategy.Methods.We developed a stochastic computer simulation model to determine the potential economic impact of performing MRSA surveillance (ie, single culture of an anterior nares specimen) for all hospital admissions at different MRSA prevalences and basic reproductive rate thresholds from the societal and third party-payor perspectives. Patients with positive surveillance culture results were placed under isolation precautions to prevent transmission by way of respiratory droplets. MRSA-colonized patients who were not isolated could transmit MRSA to other hospital patients.Results.The performance of universal MRSA surveillance was cost-effective (defined as an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of less than $50,000 per quality-adjusted life-year) when the basic reproductive rate was 0.25 or greater and the prevalence was 1% or greater. In fact, surveillance was the dominant strategy when the basic reproductive rate was 1.5 or greater and the prevalence was 15% or greater, the basic reproductive rate was 2.0 or greater and the prevalence was 10% or greater, and the basic reproductive rate was 2.5 or greater and the prevalence was 5% or greater.Conclusions.Universal MRSA surveillance of adults at hospital admission appears to be cost-effective at a wide range of prevalence and basic reproductive rate values. Individual hospitals and healthcare systems could compare their prevailing conditions (eg, the prevalence of MRSA colonization and MRSA transmission dynamics) with the benchmarks in our model to help determine their optimal local strategies.
Epigenetic control of plant immunity
Authors: ALVAREZ MARÍA E. , NOTA FLORENCIA , CAMBIAGNO DAMIÁN A. 
Published: April 2010

SUMMARYIn eukaryotic genomes, gene expression and DNA recombination are affected by structural chromatin traits. Chromatin structure is shaped by the activity of enzymes that either introduce covalent modifications in DNA and histone proteins or use energy from ATP to disrupt histone–DNA interactions. The genomic ‘marks’ that are generated by covalent modifications of histones and DNA, or by the deposition of histone variants, are susceptible to being altered in response to stress. Recent evidence has suggested that proteins generating these epigenetic marks play crucial roles in the defence against pathogens. Histone deacetylases are involved in the activation of jasmonic acid‐ and ethylene‐sensitive defence mechanisms. ATP‐dependent chromatin remodellers mediate the constitutive repression of the salicylic acid‐dependent pathway, whereas histone methylation at the WRKY70 gene promoter affects the activation of this pathway. Interestingly, bacterial‐infected tissues show a net reduction in DNA methylation, which may affect the disease resistance genes responsible for the surveillance against pathogens. As some epigenetic marks can be erased or maintained and transmitted to offspring, epigenetic mechanisms may provide plasticity for the dynamic control of emerging pathogens without the generation of genomic lesions.
Experimental global food reduction raises resource acquisition costs of brood care helpers and reduces their helping effort
Authors: Bruintjes Rick , Hekman Renske , Taborsky Michael 
Published: April 2010

Summary 1. Ecological conditions and constraints are considered to be important for the evolution of cooperative breeding. However, the importance of the costs of resource acquisition to the decision of subordinates to stay or leave and to help or not have been hardly studied experimentally. Here we reduced the overall food availability (zooplankton) for experimental populations of the cooperatively breeding cichlid fish Neolamprologus pulcher in the field and measured effects on subordinates’ spacing, dispersal, interactions, and helping behaviour. 2. When plankton availability was reduced, all helpers increased feeding rate and moved further away from shelter. Helping correlated negatively with feeding, which suggests a trade‐off between foraging effort and cooperation. All group members attacked experimentally presented egg predators later in the food reduction treatment and small helpers in particular decreased their defence effort against them. Furthermore, all subordinates tended to perform less work when food was reduced. 3. This is the first study where food availability was generally reduced in the environment of a cooperative breeder, without affecting the resource distribution between territories. Thereby, our experimental manipulation did not provide dispersal incentives to the test animals, which might have interfered with the decision of subordinates to cooperate. The experimental variation of the costs of resource acquisition for group members revealed significant effects on foraging, spacing, social interactions, and helping behaviour, which highlights the potential importance of ecological constraints on the behaviour, social structure and cooperation propensity in highly social vertebrates.
Population structure of the dusky pipefish (Syngnathus floridae) from the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, as revealed by mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite analyses
Authors: Mobley Kenyon B. , Small Clayton M. , Jue Nathaniel K. , Jones Adam G. 
Published: April 2010

AbstractAim  To elucidate the historical phylogeography of the dusky pipefish (Syngnathus floridae) in the North American Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico ocean basins.Location  Southern Atlantic Ocean and northern Gulf of Mexico within the continental United States.Methods  A 394‐bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene and a 235‐bp fragment of the mitochondrial control region were analysed from individuals from 10 locations. Phylogenetic reconstruction, haplotype network, mismatch distributions and analysis of molecular variance were used to infer population structure between ocean basins and time from population expansion within ocean basins. Six microsatellite loci were also analysed to estimate population structure and gene flow among five populations using genetic distance methods (FST, Nei’s genetic distance), isolation by distance (Mantel’s test), coalescent‐based estimates of genetic diversity and migration patterns, Bayesian cluster analysis and bottleneck simulations.Results  Mitochondrial analyses revealed significant structuring between ocean basins in both cytochrome b (ΦST = 0.361, P < 0.0001; ΦCT = 0.312, P < 0.02) and control region (ΦST = 0.166, P < 0.0001; ΦCT = 0.128, P < 0.03) sequences. However, phylogenetic reconstructions failed to show reciprocal monophyly in populations between ocean basins. Microsatellite analyses revealed significant population substructuring between all locations sampled except for the two locations that were in closest proximity to each other (global FST value = 0.026). Bayesian analysis of microsatellite data also revealed significant population structuring between ocean basins. Coalescent‐based analyses of microsatellite data revealed low migration rates among all sites. Mismatch distribution analysis of mitochondrial loci supports a sudden population expansion in both ocean basins in the late Pleistocene, with the expansion of Atlantic populations occurring more recently.Main conclusions  Present‐day populations of S. floridae do not bear the mitochondrial DNA signature of the strong phylogenetic discontinuity between the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of North America commonly observed in other species. Rather, our results suggest that Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico populations of S. floridae are closely related but nevertheless exhibit local and regional population structure. We conclude that the present‐day phylogeographic pattern is the result of a recent population expansion into the Atlantic in the late Pleistocene, and that life‐history traits and ecology may play a pivotal role in shaping the realized geographical distribution pattern of this species.
Oral bioavailability of P‐glycoprotein substrate drugs do not differ betweenABCB1‐1Δ andABCB1 wild type dogs
Authors: MEALEY K. L. , WAITING D. , RAUNIG D. L. , SCHMIDT K. R. , NELSON F. R. 
Published: April 2010

Mealey, K.L., Waiting, D., Raunig, D.L., Schmidt, K.R., Nelson, F.R. Oral bioavailability of P‐glycoprotein substrate drugs do not differ betweenABCB1‐1Δ andABCB1 wild type dogs.J. vet. Pharmacol. Therap.33, 453–460.Previous studies have indicated that intestinal P‐glycoprotein (P‐gp) limits the oral bioavailability of substrate drugs and alters systemic pharmacokinetics. In this study, dogs lacking functional P‐gp were used to determine the contribution of P‐gp to the oral bioavailability and systemic pharmacokinetics of several P‐gp substrate drugs. The P‐gp substrates quinidine, loperamide, nelfinavir, cyclosporin and the control (non P‐gp substrate) drug diazepam were individually administered intravenously and per os toABCB1‐1Δ dogs, which have a P‐gp null phenotype andABCB1 wildtype dogs.ABCB1‐1Δ dogs have been shown to have greater brain penetration of P‐gp substrates, but limited information is available regarding oral bioavailability of P‐gp substrate drugs in this animal model. Plasma drug concentration vs. time curves were generated and pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated for each drug. There were no differences in oral bioavailability betweenABCB1‐1Δ dogs andABCB1 wildtype dogs for any of the drugs studied, suggesting that intestinal P‐gp does not significantly affect intestinal absorption of these particular substrate drugs in ABCB1‐1Δ dogs. However, small sample sizes and individual variability in CYP enzyme activity may have affected the power of the study to detect the impact of P‐gp on oral bioavailability.
Fusicoccin affects cortical microtubule orientation in the isolated epidermis of sunflower hypocotyls
Authors: Burian A. , Hejnowicz Z. 
Published: April 2010

AbstractEpidermal peels isolated from sunflower hypocotyls provide a convenient model to study the relationship between cortical microtubule orientation and strain rate. Extension of peels can be modulated using chemical treatment and mechanical stress, i.e., by adding a chemical to the incubation medium and applying a load exceeding the yield threshold for irreversible (plastic) strain. In this study, peels were pre‐incubated for ca. 12 h (long‐term pre‐incubation) or for 1 h (short‐term pre‐incubation). In the long‐term pre‐incubated peels, fusicoccin applied to the medium neither enhanced the rate of longitudinal plastic strain of loaded peels, nor affected microtubule orientation. However, fusicoccin increased the strain rate of short‐term, pre‐incubated peels and affected microtubule orientation in both extending (loaded) and non‐extending (unloaded) peels. Without fusicoccin, microtubule orientation was generally longitudinal or steep, whereas in fusicoccin‐treated unloaded peels it was transverse and oblique microtubules in peel portions corresponding to the apical part of the hypocotyl. Although the frequency of transverse orientation was increased through loading, there was no strong correlation between the rate of fusicoccin‐induced strain and microtubule orientation. It is hypothesized that the insensitivity of long‐term pre‐incubated peels to fusicoccin with respect to strain rate is due to a lack of active plasma membrane H+‐ATPases. Thus, the sensitivity of short‐term, pre‐incubated, unloaded (non‐extending) peels to fusicoccin, with respect to microtubule orientation, indicates that orientation might be affected by electric currents resulting from fusicoccin stimulation of H+‐ATPases.
Multispecies interactions among a plant parasite, a pollinator and a seed predator affect the reproductive output of an invasive plant, Cytisus scoparius
Authors: PRIDER JANE N. , FACELLI JOSÉ M. , WATLING JENNIFER R. 
Published: April 2010

AbstractInteractions between species pairs are almost always mediated by interactions with other species. The outcomes of these multispecies interactions are often difficult to predict and are rarely studied. In addition to their theoretical importance, multispecies interactions are also important for management situations. Where multiple agents are used to control invasive species, interactions between agents may either enhance or reduce the impacts on the target species, or may simply have additive effects. In this study, conducted in a Mediterranean‐type woodland in Australia, we examined how the interaction between an invasive legume, Cytisus scoparius (Leguminosae), its pollinator, Apis mellifera and a seed predator, Bruchidius villosus (Bruchidae), are modified by a native hemiparasitic vine, Cassytha pubescens (Loranthaceae). The parasite had a direct negative effect on C. scoparius, reducing flowering by 50% and consequently fruit and seed production. Despite having fewer flowers, infected plants had the same proportion of ‘tripped’ flowers, an indirect measure of pollinator visitation, as uninfected plants; although fruit formed on infected plants it was more likely to abort prematurely. Seed predation by B. villosus was lower on parasite‐infected C. scoparius plants than in uninfected plants. Although Ca. pubescens had an antagonistic effect on B. villosus, in consort, the two agents reduced overall seed production by an average of 62%. The acquired parasite Ca. pubescens was more effective in reducing reproductive output than the introduced seed predator, B. villosus, and shows potential as a biocontrol agent for C. scoparius. We documented a subadditive effect of two biological enemies on the invasive species, where the acquired parasite had a stronger effect than the introduced seed predator.