bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Predation by introduced fish constrains the thermal distribution of aquatic Coleoptera in mountain lakes
Authors: DE MENDOZA GUILLERMO , RICO EUGENIO , CATALAN JORDI 
Published: March 2012

Summary1. Most high mountain lakes were free of fish until humans stocked them. This provides the opportunity to study the extent to which predation constrains the thermal distribution of large macroinvertebrates, among lakes of a suitable temperature for them.2. We analysed the distribution of aquatic beetles (Coleoptera, Dytisicidae, including the genera Agabus, Platambus, Hydroporus and Boreonectes) in a set of 82 lakes in the Pyrenees. Temperature was the most important variable explaining the overall distribution of dytiscids (out of 29 environmental variables considered). The presence of fish (i.e. salmonids) and macrophyte cover (plants provide refuge from predators) was also important. Indeed, either salmonids or macrophytes as single factors explained more of the variance in dytiscid distribution than temperature.3. Further analysis showed that the presence of salmonids was particularly important for the medium‐sized dytiscid Agabus bipustulatus. This species is generally eurythermic, although in the Pyrenees it is found mainly in cold lakes. This is attributed to predation pressure from fish, since the latter are more likely to be present in warm lakes. As a consequence, salmonids increase fragmentation of A. bipustulatus with respect to populations occupying lowland habitats.4. Predation can therefore constrain the distribution of species to a fraction of habitats that appear suitable based on simple thermal responses. As humans also facilitate the dispersal of non‐native fish, the consequent modification of distribution patterns in fresh waters could make it difficult to predict how distributions might change in relation to climate warming.
Niche models tell half the story: spatial context and life‐history traits influence species responses to global change
Authors: Swab Rebecca M. , Regan Helen M. , Keith David A. , Regan Tracey J. , Ooi Mark K. J. 
Published: March 2012

AbstractAim  While niche models are typically used to assess the vulnerability of species to climate change, they have been criticized for their limited assessment of threats other than climate change. We attempt to evaluate this limitation by combining niche models with life‐history models to investigate the relative influence of climate change and a range of fire regimes on the viability of a long‐lived plant population. Specifically, we investigate whether range shift due to climate change is a greater threat to an obligate seeding fire‐prone shrub than altered fire frequency and how these two threatening processes might interact.Location  Australian sclerophyll woodland and heathland.Methods  The study species is Leucopogon setiger, an obligate seeding fire‐prone shrub. A spatially explicit stochastic matrix model was constructed for this species and linked with a dynamic niche model and fire risk functions representing a suite of average fire return intervals. We compared scenarios with a variety of hypothetical patches, a patch framework based upon current habitat suitability and one with dynamic habitat suitability based on climate change scenarios A1FI and A2.Results  Leucopogon setiger was found to be sensitive to fire frequency, with shorter intervals reducing expected minimum abundances (EMAs). Spatial decoupling of fires across the landscape reduced the vulnerability of the species to shortened fire frequencies. Shifting habitat, while reducing EMAs, was less of a threat to the species than frequent fire.Main conclusions  Altered fire regime, in particular more frequent fires relative to the historical regime, was predicted to be a strong threat to this species, which may reflect a vulnerability of obligate seeders in general. Range shifts induced by climate change were a secondary threat when habitat reductions were predicted. Incorporating life‐history traits into habitat suitability models by linking species distribution models with population models allowed for the population‐level evaluation of multiple stressors that affect population dynamics and habitat, ultimately providing a greater understanding of the impacts of global change than would be gained by niche models alone. Further investigations of this type could elucidate how particular bioecological factors can affect certain types of species under global change.
Modification of fatigue strain‐life equation for sheet metals considering anisotropy due to crystallographic texture
Authors: HARIHARAN K. , PRAKASH R. V. 
Published: March 2012

ABSTRACTThe fatigue behaviour of cold rolled and annealed sheet metals are influenced by the anisotropy of mechanical properties due to crystallographic texture. However, the existing fatigue strain‐life models are primarily meant for isotropic material behaviour. In the present work, the Coffin‐Manson equation for strain‐life is modified to include the effect of anisotropy using phenomenological plasticity models. It is observed that the variation of strain hardening exponent is critical to model the strain‐life behaviour. Variation of strain hardening exponent with orientation is modelled using existing anisotropic yield criteria. The prediction of fatigue life using the proposed model correlates well with the experimental results of Al6061‐T6 along different orientations. The proposed model can be used to predict the fatigue properties along any orientation from the fatigue data along one orientation and monotonic mechanical properties along longitudinal, transverse and diagonal directions.
Recoverability of renal functions after relief of partial ureteric obstruction of solitary kidney: impact of ferulic acid
Authors: Shokeir Ahmed A. , Hussein Abdel‐Aziz M. , Soliman Shady A. , Kamal Mohamed M. , Abdel‐Aziz Azza , Awadalla Amira , Rahim Mona Abdel , Barakat Nashwa 
Published: March 2012

What's known on the subject? and What does the study add?It is known that the kidney damage continues even after release of ureteric obstruction. This study found that giving ferulic acid, antioxidant, after release of ureteric obstruction enhanced the recovery of kidney functions in solitary kidney.OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effect of ferulic acid (FA) on the recovery of renal function and renal damage after relief of partial ureteric obstruction (PUO) of a solitary kidney.
METHODS
Male mongrel dogs (n= 32) were classified into three groups: sham (eight), control (12) and study (12).
A right nephrectomy was carried out and dogs in the study and control groups were subjected to 4 weeks of PUO.
Serum creatinine, creatinine clearance (CrCl) and renographic clearance (RC) were measured at baseline, after 4 weeks of obstruction and 8 weeks after relief of obstruction.
Markers of lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde [MDA]), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and reduced glutathione (GSH), and immunostaining of markers of apoptosis (caspase 3 and Bcl2), cell proliferation (Ki67) and interstitial fibrosis in the kidney were evaluated at the end of experiment.
RESULTS
Ferulic acid enhanced the recovery of serum creatinine, CrCl and RC by an extra 22%, 26% and 33.7%, respectively, of the basal values at 8 weeks, after relief of 4 weeks' obstruction.
In addition, FA caused a significant decrease in MDA and a significant increase in GSH and SOD.
Ferulic acid also significantly reduced the interstitial fibrosis, and caspase 3 expression, and significantly increased the expression of Bcl2 and Ki67 in kidney tissues at 8 weeks after relief of the obstruction.
CONCLUSION
Ferulic acid enhances the recoverability of renal function and minimizes the renal damage through reduction of oxidative stress, tubular apoptosis and the interstitial fibrosis in the solitary kidney after relief of PUO.
Reduced looming sensitivity in primary school children with Developmental Co‐ordination Disorder
Authors: Purcell Catherine , Wann John P. , Wilmut Kate , Poulter Damian 
Published: March 2012

AbstractAlmost all locomotor animals are sensitive to optical expansion (visual looming) and for most animals this sensitivity is evident very early in their development. In humans there is evidence that responses to looming stimuli begin in the first 6 weeks of life, but here we demonstrate that as children become independent their perceptual acuity needs to be 50 to 100 times better than has been demonstrated in infants in order to be skilful at collision avoidance at a roadside. We have recently established that sensitivity to the detection of visual looming in 6‐ to 11‐year‐old children is significantly below that of adults (Wann, Poulter & Purcell, 2011). Here, using comparable methods, we explore looming detection sensitivity in children with Developmental Co‐ordination Disorder (DCD), who show broad patterns of impairment in visuo‐motor control. We presented visual simulations of approaching vehicles, scaled to represent different approach rates, to children with DCD aged between 6 and 11 years (n = 11) and typically developing age and gender matched controls (n = 11). Looming detection thresholds were measured under foveal and perifoveal viewing conditions, for isotropic expansion and isotropic expansion with simulated viewpoint motion. Our results show that there are situations in which children with DCD may fail to detect vehicles approaching at speeds in excess of 22 km/h, suggesting a developmental immaturity in looming sensitivity. This provides one of the first clear demonstrations of low‐level motion processing deficits in children with DCD. The decrement observed may give rise to potential errors in the road crossing behaviour of these children, whereby approaching vehicles could be perceived as stationary. These findings further contribute towards understanding the adverse statistic that children under 9 years of age are four times more likely than adults to be involved in a road accident as a pedestrian.
Building biases in infancy: the influence of race on face and voice emotion matching
Authors: Vogel Margaret , Monesson Alexandra , Scott Lisa S. 
Published: March 2012

AbstractEarly in the first year of life infants exhibit equivalent performance distinguishing among people within their own race and within other races. However, with development and experience, their face recognition skills become tuned to groups of people they interact with the most. This developmental tuning is hypothesized to be the origin of adult face processing biases including the other‐race bias. In adults the other‐race bias has also been associated with impairments in facial emotion processing for other‐race faces. The present investigation aimed to show perceptual narrowing for other‐race faces during infancy and to determine whether the race of a face influences infants’ ability to match emotional sounds with emotional facial expressions. Behavioral (visual‐paired comparison; VPC) and electrophysiological (event‐related potentials; ERPs) measures were recorded in 5‐month‐old and 9‐month‐old infants. Behaviorally, 5‐month‐olds distinguished faces within their own race and within another race, whereas 9‐month‐olds only distinguish faces within their own race. ERPs were recorded while an emotion sound (laughing or crying) was presented prior to viewing an image of a static African American or Caucasian face expressing either a happy or a sad emotion. Consistent with behavioral findings, ERPs revealed race‐specific perceptual processing of faces and emotion/sound face congruency at 9 months but not 5 months of age. In addition, from 5 to 9 months, the neural networks activated for sound/face congruency were found to shift from an anterior ERP component (Nc) related to attention to posterior ERP components (N290, P400) related to perception.
Enhancing the quality of peer review by reducing student “free riding”: Peer assessment with positive interdependence
Authors: Kao Gloria Yi‐Ming 
Published: March 2012

AbstractCollaborative learning tasks have been hampered by problems of unequal participation such as the presence of a free rider or dominance by a member of a group. Researchers in the collaborative learning domain respond to these problems with approaches designed to establish personal accountability for each student and relations of positive interdependence between students. These two notions have been borrowed and integrated with the present approach, which is designed for use in both traditional and online peer assessment. The key assumption is that introducing a greater degree of positive interdependence and personal accountability into the assessment process may reduce or eliminate free riding, while with students performing their ratings individually, dominance is unlikely to be an issue.Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic
A number of studies have found generally positive results for peer assessment.
When implementing peer assessment, teachers are faced with a number of threats, including favoritism, unfairness, distortion of marking, low‐quality comments and a lack of engagement.
Numerous peer assessment tools have been developed to make assessment more fair for students.
What this paper adds
The focus of this paper is on countering the threats of carelessness and favoritism.
The paper describes an innovative approach called “Peer Assessment with Positive Interdependence” (PAPI), which was designed to counter these threats and enhance the overall quality of peer review.
The PAPI approach encourages students to take a broader and more comprehensive perspective during peer assessment, enhancing their ability as “critical assessors.”
Implications for practice and/or policy
PAPI enables students to benefit from the known advantages of peer assessment while minimizing threats to its effectiveness.
PAPI makes it possible to target particular instructional goals, through the use of different weightings at different stages of the learning process.
In particular, if teaching a class in which most students are “quality achievers” with only a few “critical assessors” teachers might adjust the weightings to promote the development of critical thinking skills.
Conversely, if the class contains a high number of “critical assessors” but only a small number of “quality achievers,” the weightings could be adjusted to focus more on the individual assignments.
Peer tutoring with the aid of the Internet
Authors: Evans Michael J , Moore Jeffrey S 
Published: March 2012

AbstractWhile the positive effects of peer tutoring in a face‐to‐face classroom are well documented, studies of computer‐aided peer tutoring are less common. However, such exercises have the potential to introduce additional student–student interaction in distance, online and blended courses. Additionally, technology can provide both students and instructors with unprecedented amounts of information related to tutor competency and methods. With these ideas in mind, we have developed a web‐based peer‐tutoring system called Opal (Online Peer‐Assisted Learning) for use in problem‐based undergraduate courses. Tutoring interactions on Opal use problems as both contexts for discussion and enforcers of tutor competency—that is, each interaction is based on a single problem, and students must demonstrate competency by answering the problem correctly on a computer before they become eligible to teach it. Based on social network analysis methods and a student assessment of learning gains survey, the introduction of this method of peer tutoring has had a positive effect on student–student interaction and student learning in our course and may have broad implications for peer tutoring in courses that involve digital problem solving as a key component.Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic
Traditional peer tutoring improves student motivation, learning and persistence and has a positive effect on student–student interaction.
Reciprocal peer‐tutoring designs, in which students tutor one another without defined tutor and tutee roles, benefit from structured designs with concrete rewards.
Tutor competency is a significant issue for peer‐tutoring programs, as students respond negatively when their tutors are unqualified to teach.
What this paper adds
Tracking and facilitating peer‐tutoring interactions through the web is possible using a website we have developed.
Within our system, tutoring eligibility is tied to digital problem solving (we call this approach “gated”). The digitally gated approach maximizes tutor competency without significant instructor labor.
Use of the system improved student–student interaction in our course and helped facilitate student learning, as measured by the Student Assessment of Learning Gains survey.
Implications for practice and/or policy
Courses involving significant amounts of digital problem solving may benefit from peer‐tutoring exercises, particularly with respect to student–student interactions.
Web‐based interfaces for peer tutoring provide unprecedented tracking capabilities and allow instructors to structure peer tutoring exercises in new ways with minimal effort.
Instructors should look to technology not just as a means for conveying content, but also as a way to connect students to one another.
What do the numbers say? The influence of motivation and peer feedback on students’ behaviour in online discussions
Authors: Xie Kui 
Published: March 2012

AbstractStudents’ non‐posting behaviour in online discussions is often neglected in educational research. However, it can be a potential indicator of student learning. This study examined the relationships between motivation, peer feedback and students’ posting and non‐posting behaviours in online discussions in a distance learning class. Fifty‐seven college students participated in collaborative learning activities through online discussions. Their posting and non‐posting behavioural data were tracked automatically in the discussion system. Results show that students spent a significant amount of time participating in non‐posting activities. Motivation and peer feedback predicted both posting and non‐posting behaviours in online discussions.Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic
Content analysis has been widely accepted as a common approach for analysing student interaction in online discussions, but this analytical method has limitations.
Students’ behaviour in online discussions including both posting and non‐posting behaviour. However, non‐posting behaviour is often neglected in investigating student online learning.
Students’ motivation and peer feedback have been proven as critical factors that influence students’ behaviour in online discussions. However, most empirical studies documented the significant effects of motivation and peer feedback only on posting behaviour.
What this paper adds
This study provides empirical evidence that the numeric data collected from an online system can be used as an important data source for analysing students’ posting and non‐posting behaviour in online discussions.
This study provides empirical evidence that demonstrates the significance of non‐posting behaviour in online discussions.
This study provides empirical evidence that demonstrates the significant effects of motivation on both posting and non‐posting behaviour in online discussions.
Implications for practice and/or policy
System designers should consider adding system features to capture both posting and non‐posting behaviour and mirror them back to teachers and students.
Teachers should design interventions to promote students’ feeling of self‐competence and autonomy in online discussions.
Teachers should encourage peer feedback and peer evaluation in online learning activities.
System designers may incorporate peer evaluation mechanism (eg., peer rating) in online learning systems to enable an additional channel for peer feedback.
Should Firms Go “Beyond Profits”? Milton Friedman versus Broad CSR1
Authors: SCHWARTZ MARK S. , SAIIA DAVID 
Published: March 2012

ABSTRACTWhen attempting to articulate the nature and scope of corporate social responsibility (CSR), a variety of opinions emerge. The primary CSR issue appears to be: Should firms go “beyond profits”? In order to address this normative question, this article will explore the theoretical underpinnings of CSR and its practical application. Part one of the paper begins by discussing common CSR definitions. Part two outlines the CSR debate in terms of the “narrow view” of CSR (as represented by Milton Friedman) versus the “broad view” (i.e., beyond profits). Part three applies both the narrow and broad approaches to CSR in analyzing two classic business and society cases: (1) the Ford Pinto; and (2) Merck's river blindness pill. The article concludes with a proposed synthesis of the CSR approaches discussed.
Challenging established narratives on soil erosion and shifting cultivation in Laos
Authors: Lestrelin Guillaume , Vigiak Olga , Pelletreau Aurélie , Keohavong Bounmy , Valentin Christian 
Published: March 2012

AbstractThe official environmental discourse in Laos describes a “chain of degradation” stretching from upland shifting cultivation, increased runoff and soil erosion to the siltation of wetlands and reservoirs. This perspective has had wide‐ranging impacts on rural development policy which, in the uplands, has long favoured forest conservation over agriculture. Integrating soil erosion and water sediment data with local perceptions of land degradation in an upland village of northern Laos, this study tests the validity of the official environmental discourse. Biophysical measurements made in a small agricultural catchment indicate a significant correlation between the spatial extent of cultivation and soil erosion rates. However, sediment yields recorded at the outlet of the catchment highlight relatively low levels of off‐site sediment exportation. Furthermore, farmers' perceptions suggest that local land degradation issues and crop yield declines could be less related to soil erosion than to agricultural land shortage, increased weed competition, and fertility losses resulting from the intensification of shifting cultivation. The study concludes that a better understanding and management of land degradation issues can be achieved by developing more inclusive and scientifically‐informed approaches to environmental perceptions and narratives.
A disaggregated emissions inventory for Taiwan with uses in hybrid input‐output life cycle analysis (IO‐LCA)
Authors: Liu Chia‐Hao , Lenzen Manfred , Murray Joy 
Published: March 2012

AbstractThis paper reports on a life‐cycle analysis (LCA) of Taiwan's “agriculture and forestry”, “crude petroleum, coal and natural gas extraction” and “electricity generation” sectors, revealing for the first time Taiwan's CO2 and CH4 emissions inventories and matching Taiwan's input‐output sectors. Integrated hybrid input‐output life cycle analysis is used to disaggregate the electricity generation sector into nuclear, hydro, gas, oil and coal, and cogeneration. Results show that the fossil‐fuel‐related electricity sub‐sectors have higher CO2 emissions intensity than the remaining sectors in the economy and that the “paddy rice” sector is Taiwan's most CH4‐intensive sector, making rice cultivation an important source of CH4 emissions. This work is vital to sound policy decisions concerning power generation, coal, and agriculture and forestry at the national level.