bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Health effects of green tea catechins in overweight and obese men: a randomised controlled cross-over trial
Authors: Brown A. L. , Lane J. , Holyoak C. , Nicol B. , Mayes A. E. , Dadd T. 
Published: June 2011

Regular consumption of green tea may be cardioprotective. In the present study we investigated the health effects of dietary supplementation with green tea catechins and the potential modifying effect of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val/Met genotype. Subjects (sedentary males, aged 40–69 years, with BMI ≥ 28 and ≤ 38 kg/m2) were randomly assigned to consume decaffeinated green tea extract (DGT; 530 mg containing about 400 mg total catechins/capsule, twice daily) and placebo in a complete cross-over design. Ambulatory blood pressure and biomarkers of metabolic function (cholesterol, TAG, glucose and insulin) were measured at weeks 0 and 6. Although a marked increase in the concentration of plasma epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), urinary epigallocatechin (EGC) and urinary 4′-O-methyl EGC was found after DGT treatment, no effect on blood pressure or biomarkers of metabolic function was observed. However, a period × treatment interaction (P < 0·05) was detected for body-weight change. Despite a similar increase in estimated energy intake during intervention period 1, body weight decreased by 0·64 (sd2·2) kg and increased by 0·53 (sd1·9) kg in the DGT and placebo groups, respectively (P = 0·025), suggesting a protective effect of green tea catechins on weight gain. Additionally, the COMT Val/Met genotype influenced urinary accumulation of EGC and 4′-O-methyl EGC (P < 0·01). Mean concentrations were lower in individuals homozygous for the high-activity G-allele, possibly reflecting increased metabolic flux and a more rapid conversion to downstream metabolic species, compared with individuals carrying at least one copy of the low-activity A-allele. Additional studies are needed to confirm these findings and further explore the modifying effect of genotype.
A Theory of Merger-Driven IPOs
Authors: Hsieh Jim , Lyandres Evgeny , Zhdanov Alexei 
Published: June 2011

AbstractWe propose a model that links a firm’s decision to go public with its subsequent takeover strategy. A private bidder does not know a firm’s true valuation, which affects its gain from a potential takeover. Consequently, a private bidder pursues a suboptimal restructuring policy. An alternative route is to complete an initial public offering (IPO) first. An IPO reduces valuation uncertainty, leading to a more efficient acquisition strategy, therefore enhancing firm value. We calibrate the model using data on IPOs and mergers and acquisitions (M&As). The resulting comparative statics generate several novel qualitative and quantitative predictions, which complement the predictions of other theories linking IPOs and M&As. For example, the time it takes a newly public firm to attempt an acquisition of another firm is expected to increase in the degree of valuation uncertainty prior to the firm’s IPO and in the cost of going public, and it is expected to decrease in the valuation surprise realized at the time of the IPO. We find strong empirical support for the model’s predictions.
The establishment of large private nature reserves by conservation NGOs: key factors for successful implementation
Authors: Pasquini Lorena , Fitzsimons James A. , Cowell Stuart , Brandon Katrina , Wescott Geoff 
Published: June 2011

AbstractPrivate nature reserves created by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are increasing, and their growing number and extent means that they can potentially contribute to biodiversity goals at a global scale. However, the success of these reserves depends on the legal, economic and institutional conditions framing their creation and management. We explored these conditions, and the opportunities and challenges facing conservation organizations in managing private nature reserves, across several countries, with an emphasis on Australia. Results from 17 semi-structured interviews with representatives of private conservation organizations indicated that while private reserves may enhance the conservation estate, challenges remain. Legal frameworks, especially tenure and economic laws, vary across and within countries, presenting conservation organizations with significant opportunities or constraints to owning and/or managing private nature reserves. Many acquired land without strategic acquisition procedures and secured funding for property acquisition but not management, affecting the long-term maintenance of properties. Other typical problems were tied to the institutional capacity of the organizations. Greater planning within organizations, especially financial planning, is required and NGOs must understand opportunities and constraints present in legislative frameworks at the outset. Organizations must establish their expertise gaps and address them. To this end, partnerships between organizations and/or with government can prove critical.
Status and conservation of the only population of the Vulnerable owl-faced monkey Cercopithecus hamlyni in Rwanda
Authors: Easton Julian , Chao Nerissa , Mulindahabi Felix , Ntare Nicolas , Rugyerinyange Louis , Ndikubwimana Innocent 
Published: June 2011

AbstractThe elusive, Vulnerable owl-faced monkey Cercopithecus hamlyni is a rare and little studied species and one of the least known of the African Cercopithecidae. This study describes the distribution and relative abundance of the only known population in East Africa, in Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda. This species is restricted to a small (32 km2) area of bamboo and bamboo–forest mix in the southern sector of the Park, close to the international border with Burundi. We present the first empirical data of its abundance in the bamboo forests of Nyungwe. A total length of 185 km of transect were surveyed to estimate relative abundance of diurnal primates. Encounter rates with the owl-faced monkey were 0.081 groups km-1 (n = 15). Mean group size was 3.6 individuals. Eight independent photographs of C. hamlyni were obtained from five camera traps during 182 camera-days. Four other species of primates occur in the bamboo forest: eastern chimpanzee Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii, Angola colobus Colobus angolensis, L’Hoest’s monkey Cercopithecus l’hoesti and blue monkey Cercopithecus mitis. The main threats to the bamboo forest are from the illegal harvesting of bamboo, trapping and tree-cutting. These threats originate from both Rwanda and Burundi. There is an urgent need for conservation action to halt the destruction and degradation of the bamboo forest and to ensure the long-term survival of the owl-faced monkey in Rwanda.
Another inconvenient truth: the failure of enforcement systems to save charismatic species
Authors: Bennett Elizabeth L. 
Published: June 2011

AbstractIn spite of significant recent advances in understanding how to conserve species we are failing to conserve some of the most beloved and charismatic, with severe population losses, shrinking ranges and extinctions of subspecies. The primary reason is hunting for illegal trade of highly valuable body parts, increasingly operated by sophisticated organized criminal syndicates supplying wealthy East Asian markets. Current enforcement systems were not established to tackle such crime, and weak governance, low capacity and inadequate resources facilitate the trade. To save these species this trade must be treated as serious crime, with allocation of sufficient resources, highly trained personnel, and appropriate technologies to allow it to be tackled effectively. Success in tackling this trade will necessitate commitment from governments and non-governmental organizations and the support of civil society.
A multi-tiered time-series modelling approach to forecasting respiratory syncytial virus incidence at the local level
Authors: SPAEDER M. C. , FACKLER J. C. 
Published: June 2011

SUMMARYRespiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common cause of documented viral respiratory infections, and the leading cause of hospitalization, in young children. We performed a retrospective time-series analysis of all patients aged <18 years with laboratory-confirmed RSV within a network of multiple affiliated academic medical institutions. Forecasting models of weekly RSV incidence for the local community, inpatient paediatric hospital and paediatric intensive-care unit (PICU) were created. Ninety-five percent confidence intervals calculated around our models' 2-week forecasts were accurate to ±9·3, ±7·5 and ±1·5 cases/week for the local community, inpatient hospital and PICU, respectively. Our results suggest that time-series models may be useful tools in forecasting the burden of RSV infection at the local and institutional levels, helping communities and institutions to optimize distribution of resources based on the changing burden and severity of illness in their respective communities.
Local statistics in natural scenes predict the saliency of synthetic textures
Authors: Tkacik Gasper , Prentice Jason , Victor Jonathan , Balasubramanian Vijay 
Published: June 2011

AbstractTo represent behaviorally relevant information efficiently, neural circuits in sensory periphery are matched to the first and second-order statistical structure of natural inputs. The retina, for example, removes stimulus components that are predictable (and therefore uninformative), and transmits what is unpredictable (and therefore informative). Here we show that this efficient coding principle applies to complex aspects of natural scenes, and to central visual processing (Tkačik et al, PNAS 2010).The aspect of natural scenes that we examine in detail is texture in image patches. Texture is determined partly by the distribution of light intensities and partly by the spatial organization of light across pixels. To characterize these high-order natural image statistics we use two complementary dimensionality-reduction approaches. For intensity distributions, we analyze spatial variations in local intensity histograms. For local spatial organization of light, we analyze fourth-order correlations of nearby pixels. These approaches robustly classify image statistics according to their informativeness about the local structure of natural images.Remarkably, in both cases, we find that the distinction between informative vs. uninformative high-order statistics corresponds closely to the perceptual sensitivities of the human visual system documented in psychophysical measurements. For intensity distributions, the three most informative histogram statistics of natural images correspond to the three mechanisms that account for perception of spatially unstructured (“independent, identically-distributed”) artificial textures, namely, mean, variance, and a quantity known as “blackshot”. For spatial organization, we find that fourth-order spatial correlations that are informative correspond to those fourth-order correlations that are visually salient. Moreover, sensitivity to the latter high-order correlations is known to arise in visual cortex. Our results suggest that the principle of efficient coding also shapes later stages of sensory processing that are sensitive to high-order image statistics.
Taxometric Analyses of Specific Language Impairment in 6-Year-Old Children
Authors: Dollaghan Christine A. 
Published: June 2011

Purpose
To determine whether language scores at age 6 years suggest that specific language impairments (SLIs) distribute in a categorical or in a dimensional fashion.

Method
A taxometric analysis of language scores from 601 six-year-old children who were free of neonatal risk factors was performed. From among 4 candidate indicators of SLI, 2 were eligible for the mean above minus below a cut (MAMBAC) procedure (Meehl & Yonce, 1994): number of different words (NDW) produced in a language sample and average percentage phonemes repeated correctly in 3- and 4-syllable nonwords (3–4 PPC). Graphs of these MAMBAC variables were inspected to determine whether they patterned in a manner suggesting the presence of a discrete category, having either a central peak or a steep curve peaking near the final interval.

Results
MAMBAC curves for NDW and 3–4 PPC did not suggest the presence of a taxon, and results did not vary during consistency checks in which MAMBAC parameters and cutoff values for language deficits were manipulated.

Conclusions
Results suggest that for these measures, children with specific language deficits are those falling at the lower end of a continuous distribution of language skills rather than a qualitatively distinct group.
Propertius
Authors: Günther Hans-Christian 
Published: June 2011

The scarce information we possess of Propertius’s life must be deduced almost completely from what the poet himself tells us in his works. His praenomen Sextus is attested by Suetonius in his vita of Virgil (31.3 Brugnoli/Stok). The date of his birth (50 bce, or rather some years before) can be deduced mainly from the fact that the poet tells us (4.1.131) that he received the toga virilis soon (mox) after he lost part of his family’s property in the land distributions of 41 bce. He himself names Umbria as his birthplace (1.22.9 and 4.1.63, 121ff.) and Assisi as his hometown, though the latter in a verse of doubtful authenticity (4.1.125). Yet there is epigraphic evidence that his family ranked among the local aristocracy of the city. He lost his father at an early age (4.1.127ff.). Though obviously destined from his family background for a political career, he chose to become a poet, and although his family fortunes were seriously impaired by the redistribution of land, he appears to have been able to lead a comfortable life among the jeunesse dorée of Rome. His first collection of poems appears to have been published in 29 bce and is dedicated to a certain Tullus, the nephew of L. Voilcatius Tullus, consul in 33 bce and proconsul in Asia in 30/29 bce. He later joined the circle of Maecenas, to whom Books 2 and 3 are dedicated. What is transmitted as Book 2 is probably a conflation of fragments from what were originally two books, published in the years 27 and 26 bce. Whereas Books 1 and 2 are almost exclusively dominated by love poetry dedicated to a pseudonymous women Cynthia (referring to the epithet Cynthius of Apollo; according to Apuleius’s Apologia 10, her real name was Hostia). Book 3, published not before 23 bce, opens up to a wider spectrum of topics—in particular, reference to Hellenistic models such as Callimachus and Philetas becomes more explicit. A profound influence of Horace’s Odes is also apparent. Propertius’s last book (4) must have been published after a considerable lapse of time. It contains poems composed probably between 20 and 16 bce. The poet announces in the introductory elegy that he is entering new terrain by composing etiological poetry and, in fact, the book—at first sight, a curious but well-arranged mixture of love poems and poems on Roman mythology and national topics.
Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
Authors: deSilva David A. 
Published: June 2011

Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha are terms used to label a large body of early Jewish and early Christian literature written between the 3rd century bce and the first centuries of the common era. The Apocrypha, or Deuterocanonical Books (a term referring to the collection’s canonical status within certain Christian bodies), exists as a collection because of the reading practices of early Christians, who placed an especially high value on these texts and often included them in codices of their Scriptures (the Septuagint), and by ongoing canonical debates about the extent of the “Old Testament” within the Christian Church. Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches include these books as part of the Old Testament; Protestant Christians, following the Jewish canon of Scriptures, do not. The Pseudepigrapha is a much broader collection of extrabiblical literature. “Pseudepigrapha” refers technically to texts with a false attribution of authorship, though the collection has come to include several anonymous texts as well. The scope of texts included in the collection varies from edition to edition. Generally, the collection contains at a minimum pseudonymous Jewish extrabiblical writings from about 200 bce to 200 ce. The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha are of immense value as windows into the development of biblical interpretation, theology, ethics, and liturgy in Early Judaism and Christianity, as well as into the sociocultural and historical contexts within which these developments occurred.
Isaiah
Authors: Sweeney Marvin A. , Tolley Kevin 
Published: June 2011

The book of Isaiah is the first of the major prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible, although rabbinic tradition sometimes places it third, following Jeremiah and Ezekiel, because of its thematic content (b. Baba Batra 14b–15a). It presents the vision of the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz, who lived in Jerusalem during the late eighth century bce in the reigns of the Judean kings Uzziah (r. 783–742 bce), Jotham (r. 742–735 bce), Ahaz (r. 735–715 bce), and Hezekiah (r. 715–687/6 bce), a period of Assyrian aggression. Isaiah interpreted the theological significance of the contemporary Assyrian invasions of Israel and Judah as an act of YHWH to bring divine judgment upon the two biblical kingdoms, although he also anticipated the restoration of Judah and Israel once the punishment was complete. Modern scholarship identifies Isaiah 40–55 as the work of an anonymous prophet (or prophetic school), known simply as Second or Deutero-Isaiah, who spoke at the close of the Babylonian exile concerning the restoration of the exiles of Judah to Jerusalem when King Cyrus of Persia ascended to the throne of Babylon (c. 545–539 bce). (Expansions from Second Isaiah and the Isaiah school may also be present in Isaiah 1–39.) Isaiah 56–66 is generally identified as the work of anonymous prophets, known collectively as Third or Trito-Isaiah, from the early Persian period of Judean restoration (c. 520–400 bce). The book of Isaiah plays an important role in both Judaism and Christianity. In Judaism, Isaiah is the most widely read book among the Haftarot, the synagogue lectionary cycle of prophetic texts that are read following the Torah portions of the Jewish worship service. In Christianity, Isaiah is one of the most widely quoted books in the New Testament, where it plays an important role in defining Christian views of Jesus as the Messiah. The scholarship dictates that sources on this subject be separated into commentaries, textual studies, and critical/theological studies; certain sections of Isaiah are represented under two or three of these categories.
Martyrdom
Authors: van Henten Jan W. 
Published: June 2011

Martyrdom in the Greco-Roman period is a scholarly construct. Which writings are relevant sources depends on the definition of martyrdom. Broad definitions imply that various forms of noble death among Greeks and Romans can be considered martyrdom. More strict definitions suggest that martyrdom first occurred among Jews in the 2nd century bce during the oppression by the Seleucid king Antiochus IV (168–167 bce) or only in the context of imperial Rome. The occurrence of the witness vocabulary (martys and related phrases) in the documents is often considered a decisive factor in this discussion. Van Henten and Avemarie 2002 (cited under Anthologies) consider martyrdom a specific form of noble death and define a “martyr” as a person who in an extremely hostile situation prefers a violent death to compliance with a demand of the (usually pagan) authorities. Middleton 2006 (cited under General Treatments) defines a martyrdom as “a type of narrative which describes a death which reinforces a group’s (whether religious, political or national) view of the world.” Middleton 2014 (cited under General Treatments) considers a definition elusive because martyrdom is a contested phenomenon (cf. Rajak 2012, cited under General Treatments). Recla 2014 (cited under General Treatments) argues that martyrdom is an intentional and violent act of self-formation by self-death. The early Church considered Daniel and his three companions (see Daniel 3 and 6) as well as the so-called Maccabean martyrs models for Christian martyrs. The Maccabean martyrs were even included in the official calendar of martyrs of the Roman Catholic Church, with 1 August as their anniversary. Relevant primary sources include Daniel 3 and 6 (with the Greek additions); 2 Maccabees 6:18–31, 7:1–42, 14:37–46; 4 Maccabees; the acts and passions of Christian martyrs; and rabbinic passages about martyrdom. The New Testament has no elaborate sections devoted to martyrdom, but there are interconnections with this theme in several ways.
Art and Pilgrimage
Authors: Lee Jennifer 
Published: June 2011

Pilgrimage art is not a type of art but rather a context for the interactions between pilgrims, people involved in the devotional practice of pilgrimage, and the art and architecture they encountered. Many types of art contributed to the medieval pilgrimage experience, including the buildings in which saints’ relics were housed, the ornaments and furnishings of these churches, the reliquaries and shrines that held the relics, and the badges that pilgrims wore to identify themselves and to commemorate their journeys. Of course, pilgrims were not the only viewers of any of these works. The intersection of art and pilgrimage informs about both pilgrimage history and art history. It also provides a distinct category of viewer from whose perspective medieval art can be considered. The works listed in this article include studies of pilgrimage art, most of which were written since 1990, as well as studies of pilgrimage with strong implications for art and studies of art particularly relevant to pilgrimage. Further exploration of the topic beyond the works included here would include the vast literature on both medieval art and medieval pilgrimage, treated independently. Other directions include the many sources on individual sites and saints’ cults. The scope of this article is Christian pilgrimage in western Europe c. 1000–c. 1500. Pilgrimage of course has a longer history. Pilgrimage in the Byzantine Church, the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and the Crusades are consciously excluded from this listing as well. Of the many pilgrimage sites in western Europe, this survey deals with only the largest: Rome, Santiago de Compostela, and Canterbury, and the rather distinct practice of pilgrimage in medieval Ireland. Other sites are included here only when there are significant studies that focus on the artistic aspects of their pilgrimage cults.