bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The effect of long‐term repeated burning and fire exclusion on above‐ and below‐ground Blackbutt (Eucalyptus pilularis) forest vegetation assemblages
Authors: LEWIS TOM , REIF MICHAEL , PRENDERGAST ELLY , TRAN CUONG 
Published: January 2012

AbstractWe used a long‐term fire experiment in south‐east Queensland, Australia, to determine the effects of frequent prescribed burning and fire exclusion on understorey vegetation (<7.5 m) richness and density in Eucalyptus pilularis forest. Our study provided a point in time assessment of the standing vegetation and soil‐stored vegetation at two experimental sites with treatments of biennial burning, quadrennial burning since 1971–1972 and no burning since 1969. Vegetation composition, density and richness of certain plant groups in the standing and soil‐stored vegetation were influenced by fire treatments. The density of resprouting plants <3 m in height was higher in the biennially burnt treatment than in the unburnt treatment, but resprouters 3–7.5 m in height were absent from the biennial burning treatment. Obligate seeder richness and density in the standing vegetation was not significantly influenced by the fire treatments, but richness of this plant group in the seed bank was higher in the quadrennial treatment at one site and in the long unburnt treatment at the other site. Long unburnt treatments had an understorey of rainforest species, while biennial burning at one site and quadrennial burning at the other site were associated with greater standing grass density relative to the unburnt treatment. This difference in vegetation composition due to fire regime potentially influences the flammability of the standing understorey vegetation. Significant interactions between fire regime and site, apparent in the standing and soil‐stored vegetation, demonstrate the high degree of natural variability in vegetation community responses to fire regimes.
Is top‐down control by predators driving insect abundance and herbivory rates in fragmented forests?
Authors: DE LA VEGA XAVIERA , GREZ AUDREY A. , SIMONETTI JAVIER A. 
Published: January 2012

AbstractThe effects of forest fragmentation on ecological interactions and particularly on food webs have scarcely been analysed. There is usually less herbivory in forest fragments than in continuous forests. Here we hypothesize that forest fragmentation enhances top‐down control of herbivory through an increase in insectivorous birds and a decrease in herbivorous insects, with a consequent decrease in plant reproductive success in small forest fragments. In the Maulino forest in central Chile, we experimentally excluded birds from Aristotelia chilensis (Elaeocarpaceae) trees in both forest fragments and continuous forest, and analysed herbivore insect abundance, herbivory and plant reproductive success during two consecutive growing seasons. We expected that insect abundance and herbivory would increase, and reproductive success would decrease in A. chilensis from which birds have been excluded, particularly in forest fragments where bird abundance and predation pressure on insects is higher. The abundance of herbivorous insects was lower in the forest fragments than in the continuous forest only in the first season, and herbivory was lower in forest fragments than in the continuous forest throughout the study. Moreover, during the second growing season herbivory was greater in the excluded trees than in the control trees, and as expected, there was a greater difference in the fragments than in the continuous forest, but this was not statistically significant. Exclusion of birds did not affect the reproductive success of A. chilensis. Our results, after 2 years of study, demonstrate that birds affect the levels of herbivory on A. chilensis in the Maulino forest, but do not support our hypothesis of enhanced top‐down control in fragmented forests, as the strength of the effect of excluding birds did not vary with fragmentation.
Bimodal electric tissue ablation (BETA) compared with the Cool‐Tip RFA system
Authors: Tiong Leong Ung , Field John B. F. , Maddern Guy J. 
Published: January 2012

AbstractBackground:  Bimodal electric tissue ablation (BETA) incorporates the process of electrolysis into radiofrequency ablation (RFA) to increase the size of tissue ablation. This study investigated whether BETA could increase the efficacy of the Cool‐Tip RF system (Covidien, Boulder, CO, USA) to produce larger ablations. It also investigated whether applying electrolysis only during the pretreatment phase (called electrochemical treatment (ECT)/RFA group) is as effective as BETA (where electrolysis was used during both the pretreatment and RFA phases).Methods:  A Cool‐Tip RF system (Covidien) was used to test three types of ablations (RFA, BETA, and ECT/RFA) in a pig liver model. In BETA, 9 V of direct current was provided for 10 min, after which the RF generator was started and both electrical circuits were allowed to run concurrently. In ECT/RFA, however, the direct current circuit was switched off after 10 min of pretreatment and only RFA was performed as described above. Ablation sizes were measured in three dimensions.Results:  The size of ablations (transverse diameter A and B) produced by BETA and ECT/RFA was significantly larger compared with standard RFA (P < 0/001). BETA also created larger ablations compared with ECT/RFA (P < 0.001).Conclusion:  BETA could improve the efficacy of the Cool‐Tip RF system (Covidien) to achieve larger ablations. The increased tissue hydration improved delivery of electrical energy to the tissues and delayed the process of desiccation, thus allowing the ablation process to continue for longer periods of time to produce larger ablations. BETA could be used to treat larger liver tumours more effectively than standard RFA.
Use of trastuzumab in Australia and New Zealand: results from the National Breast Cancer Audit
Authors: Whitfield Robert , Kollias James , De Silva Primali , Zorbas Helen , Maddern Guy 
Published: January 2012

AbstractBackground:  Trastuzumab increases disease‐free and overall survival in HER‐2‐positive, early breast cancer. In 2007, the National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre recommended that patients with HER‐2 positive cancers (node positive or node negative tumours >1 cm) be offered adjuvant trastuzumab with chemotherapy. The aim of this study was to evaluate recent trends in trastuzumab therapy in Australia and New Zealand.Methods:  Following data were obtained from the National Breast Cancer Audit for patients treated between 2006 and 2008: tumour size, number of cases recorded per surgeon per year, location of hospital, HER‐2 receptor status, age, lymph node status, chemotherapy and trastuzumab treatment.Results:  Data were available from 23 290 patients. During the study period, the percentage of breast cancers tested for HER‐2 rose from 77% to 91%. Patients over 70 had fewer HER‐2 tests than their younger counterparts. Fourteen percent of tumours were HER‐2 positive; the proportion treated with trastuzumab in 2006, 2007 and 2008 was 50%, 66% and 74%, respectively. Significantly more node‐positive patients (77%) were given trastuzumab than node‐negative patients (52%). All the patients prescribed trastuzumab also received chemotherapy. Patients under 70 years, patients treated in Australia and patients treated by higher caseload surgeons were more likely to be prescribed trastuzumab than those over 70, patients in New Zealand and patients treated by lower caseload surgeons.Conclusions:  Trastuzumab‐prescribing trends conform to the published guidelines. However, older patients and those with HER‐2 positive, node‐negative tumours >1 cm may be undertreated in some cases.
The marketing of responsible drinking: Competing voices and interests
Authors: WETTLAUFER ASHLEY , CUKIER SAMANTHA , GIESBRECHT NORMAN , GREENFIELD THOMAS K. 
Published: January 2012

AbstractIntroduction and Aims. This paper contrasts health‐oriented low‐risk drinking guidelines (LRDGs) with social drinking marketing and popular advice on the amount of alcohol to be provided for social occasions. The questions addressed include: What is the underlying evidence base and rationale for health‐oriented versus socially oriented drinking guidelines? What are the recommended amounts of alcohol per person from the LRDGs and from popular advice?Design and Methods. This paper draws on existing research, archival data, websites, print media and key informant interviews. The focus is on recent information on LRDGs and social drinking indicators in Canada, the USA, Australia and the UK.Results. There is extensive epidemiological research indicating the associations between drinking pattern and risk for chronic disease and trauma as well as certain potential health benefits from drinking small amounts regularly. This body of evidence is one resource for government or medically sanctioned LRDGs in many jurisdictions. In contrast, for those planning social events where liquor is served, information is available from the hospitality industry, retailers and liquor control boards. While some overlap exists between these two sources of information, in some contexts normative recommendations support drinking at potentially dangerous levels.Discussion and Conclusions. The inconsistency among the different guidelines highlights one of the challenges of conveying health information on a drug that is integrated into social life and used extensively. It also reflects a siloed approach to alcohol policy—where retailing and harm reduction practices are managed by different sectors of government that seldom reflect a coordinated response.[Wettlaufer A, Cukier S, Giesbrecht N, Greenfield TK. The marketing of responsible drinking: Competing voices and interests. Drug Alcohol Rev 2012;31:231–239]
The HIV Epidemic, Skill Heterogeneity, and Output
Authors: de Araujo Pedro 
Published: January 2012

AbstractThis paper investigates the effect of HIV/AIDS on output using an overlapping generations model with heterogeneous agents calibrated to sub‐Saharan Africa. Output is found to be below a no‐AIDS output in a range between 3% (10%), when only unskilled workers are affected, and 10% (28%), when only skilled workers are affected, whenever the overall infection rate is 7% (20%). When investigating the hypothesis that AIDS affects skilled workers more severely than unskilled at the beginning of the epidemic, with the effect switching as the epidemic becomes more mature, the findings are that the economy can be 8% smaller along the transition path. In all scenarios where the epidemic is temporary, it would take four to five generations or about 90 years for sub‐Saharan Africa to recover.
Technological Progress with Segmented Labor Markets
Authors: Beladi Hamid , De la Vina Lynda , Marjit Sugata 
Published: January 2012

AbstractIt is argued here that with segmented labor markets, all types of technological progress in the fixed wage organized sector always hurts the unorganized or informal workers. However, such technical progress in the informal sector always helps the informal workers. This result is independent of the factor intensity ranking between the sectors.
Wage Inequality and Returns to Education in Turkey: A Quantile Regression Analysis
Authors: Tansel Aysit , Bodur Fatma Bircan 
Published: January 2012

AbstractThis paper investigates the male wage inequality and its evolution over the 1994–2002 period in Turkey by estimating Mincerian wage equations using ordinary least squares and quantile regression techniques. Male wage inequality is high in Turkey. While it declined at the lower end of the wage distribution it increased at the top end of wage distribution. Education contributed to higher wage inequality through both within and between dimensions. The within‐groups inequality increased and between‐groups inequality decreased over the study period. The latter factor may have dominated the former contributing to the observed decline in the male wage inequality over the 1994–2002. Further results are provided for the wage effects of experience, public sector employment, geographic location, firm size, industry of employment and their contribution to wage inequality. Recent increases in foreign direct investiment inflows, openness to trade and global technological developments are discussed as contributing factors to the recent rising within‐groups wage inequality.
Marshall's Scissors: The Gains and Losses from Trade
Authors: Ruffin Roy J. , Dogan Can 
Published: January 2012

AbstractIn a Ricardian two‐factor endowment model with Cobb–Douglas tastes and many goods, this paper describesthe interaction of the demand and supply sides to determine the gains and losses from trade. If the abundant factor has a sufficiently rich profile of comparative advantages, trade causesthe proportionate gain to the abundant factor to be smaller than the proportionate loss to the scarce factor. However, if the abundant factor has sufficiently skewed comparative advantages toward the best goods, then the opposite will hold. Some examples suggest that these patterns may have something to do with the selection of trade regimes. In the usual one‐factor Ricardian model the gains from trade to a country are enhanced by higher demand shares for imports, but such gains from trade from imports to a country is not the case in a factor endowment model.
International Capital Mobility and Free Trade Once Again*
Authors: Batra Ravi , Beladi Hamid 
Published: January 2012

AbstractUsing a Heckscher–Ohlin model, this paper re‐examines Robert Mundell's famous thesis that free trade and unimpeded capital mobility are perfect substitutes. Under very general conditions which, according to many economists, have caused international convergence of factor rewards, we show that in a polluted environment free trade is inferior to free international investment. This happens even though commodity prices and factor rewards are the same with both policies. The practical side of our thesis is that the world will be better off by reducing the volume of trade while removing all barriers to foreign direct investment that at present hamper the service industries.
The Impact of Differential Falls in Offshoring Costs on Welfare
Authors: Ngienthi Wanida , Dei Fumio 
Published: January 2012

AbstractWe highlight the fact that offshoring firms and local firms that do not offshore coexist in the North. Adopting the O‐ring production function approach to offshoring, we demonstrate that a fall in offshoring costs in any sector makes the South better off and that if offshoring costs in a high‐technology sector fall at a faster rate, the North is worse off, and vice versa.
Democracies, Politics, and Arms Supply
Authors: Comola Margherita 
Published: January 2012

AbstractThroughout the 20th century arms have not only been tradable goods, but also policy instruments. This paper focuses on countries supplying major conventional weapons (MCW), and investigates whether changes in political conditions impact the quantity of MCW supplied to third countries. In particular, it concentrates on democratic exporters and estimates a gravity‐type panel tobit for the years 1975–2004. Results suggest that the exporter's chief executive, being right‐wing, has a positive and significant impact on MCW exports. This may reflect a general right‐wing tendency to support national industry and deregulate heavy industry exports. It is also found that higher concentration of power is associated with lower MCW exports, and that executives which serve the last year of their term and can run for re‐election tend to decrease MCW exports.
Robert Musil und die Zahl:Anmerkungen zum Verhältnis von funktionaler Denkweise und stilistisch‐semantischen Disparitäten bei Robert Musil
Authors: Leśniak Sławomir 
Published: January 2012

ABSTRACTThe language of Robert Musil's prose is characterised by the two sharply drawn stylistic and semantic contradictions observable between two forms of identity or unity – that of number (conceptual) and that of ‘utopian moment’ (affective). The aim of the present paper is not to define Musil's attitude to mathematics and technique, but rather to explore the mechanism of ‘pure function’ reasoning which endows Musil's stylistic‐semantic contradictions with dynamism and structure, both in his essays and in his novel Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften. The analyses attempted here are founded on the logical‐mathematical concept that presupposes two types of mental operations as functions of number: limiting‐defining and restricting‐isolating. The main conclusion resulting from these analyses points to the restricting‐isolating operation as the basic stylistic‐semantic aspect of Musil's prose. That condition, as utopian experience of affective‐spiritual oneness or unity (Agathe and Ulrich in the novel Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften) is transformed into something general and fantastic and therefore acquires the function of number; in his essays, on the other hand, one detects that characteristic indefiniteness typical of Musil's prose, a hesitation or vacillation between that which is personal and that which is (non)‐supra personal, between the incalculable multiplicity of evaluative possibilities on the one hand and precise observation on the other.Die Prosa Robert Musils ist durch scharf ausgeprägte, stilistisch‐semantische Disparitäten zwischen zwei Einheiten gekennzeichnet – der Einheit der Zahl (begrifflich‐funktionale Identität) und der des ‘utopischen Augenblicks’ (affektiv‐seelische Identität). Ziel der Arbeit ist nicht die Erforschung von Musils Verhältnis zur Mathematik und Technik, sondern die Erhellung der Denkmethodik, der die reine Funktion zugrunde liegt und die den stilistisch‐semantischen Disparitäten in seinen Essays sowie dem Roman Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften Dynamik und Struktur verleiht. Den Ausgangspunkt der Analysen bildet ein logisch‐mathematisches Schema, das zwei Denkoperationen als Funktion der Zahl voraussetzt: die eingrenzend‐präzisierende und abgrenzend‐isolierende. Die Überlegungen münden in die These, dass in der Prosa Musils die abgrenzend‐isolierende Operationsweise als ihre stilistisch‐semantische Dominante vorherrscht. Dieser Zustand als eine negative Dialektik von Analogie und Differenz hat für das Verhältnis von Sprache und Denken bei Musil zweierlei Implikationen: Das utopische Erlebnis der affektiv‐seelischen Einheit (Agathe und Ulrich im Roman Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften) wird zu etwas Allgemein‐Fantastischem und geht damit in die Zahlfunktion mit ein. Im Essay dagegen lässt sich eine für Musil charakteristische Unbestimmtheit beobachten, ein Schwanken zwischen Persönlichem und (Nicht)‐Überpersönlichem, zwischen unzählbarer Mannigfaltigkeit von Wertungsmöglichkeiten und übersichtlichem Zusammenhang.
The German Drang nach Osten:Linguistic Perspectives on Historical stereotyping1
Authors: Leuschner Torsten 
Published: January 2012

ABSTRACTOne of the most enduring stereotypes concerning the history of Central and Eastern Europe is the notion of a German Drang nach Osten. While the German impact on the region is beyond doubt, its alleged motivation in terms of a ‘drive to the East’ has been dismissed almost universally by historians (especially in Germany and Poland) as a ‘myth’ that obscures the complexities of history more than it illuminates them. Starting from this observation, the present article approaches the phrase Drang nach Osten from a linguistic point of view for the first time. The historical content and background of Drang nach Osten are surveyed first, including its origin in the crisis of German‐Polish relations during the 1848 revolution. Three linguistic approaches to stereotyping are then presented with regard to their application to Drang nach Osten. Starting from general cognitive‐discursive strategies of stereotyping, Drang nach Osten is defined linguistically as a ‘Nominationsstereotyp’; its characteristic syntactic and semantic stabilisation is explicated in frame‐semantic terms, and its use as a German phrase in non‐German discourse is analysed from a semiotic point of view. The paper closes with thoughts concerning the interdisciplinary nature of ‘Stereotypenforschung’.Ein besonders hartnäckiges Stereotyp in Ost‐ und Ostmitteleuropa ist die Vorstellung, die Geschichte dieser Region sei in hohem Maße von einem deutschen Drang nach Osten geformt worden. Nachdem der Begriff Drang nach Osten als motivationale Kategorie von Historikern nahezu einhellig ins Reich der Mythen verwiesen worden ist, die die unzweifelhafte Komplexität und Ambivalenz der historischen Wirklichkeit eher verdunkeln als erhellen, versucht der vorliegende Beitrag, sich dem Ausdruck Drang nach Osten erstmals aus linguistischer Sicht zu nähern. Zuerst wird kurz der historische Gehalt und Hintergrund des Ausdrucks Drang nach Osten dargestellt, ausgehend von der Krise der deutsch‐polnischen Beziehungen in der Revolution von 1848. Danach werden drei verschiedene linguistische Annäherungen an sprachliche Stereotypisierung im Hinblick auf Drang nach Osten diskutiert. Ausgehend von allgemeinen kognitiv‐diskursiven Stereotypisierungsstrategien wird Drang nach Osten als Nominationsstereotyp definiert, dessen semantische und syntaktische Stabilisierung in frame‐semantischen Kategorien beschreibbar ist; zusätzlich wird die Verwendung des deutschen Ausdrucks Drang nach Osten in nicht‐deutschsprachigen Diskursen aus semiotischer Sicht interpretiert. Überlegungen zu den interdisziplinären Aspekten einer historisch‐linguistischen Stereotypenforschung runden den Beitrag ab.
Hans Christoph Buch's Sansibar Blues and the Fascination of Cross‐Cultural Experience in Contemporary German Historical Novels about Colonialism
Authors: Göttsche Dirk 
Published: January 2012

ABSTRACTThis article maps four different types of cross‐cultural experience in contemporary historical novels about colonial Africa (colonialist, exoticist, intercultural, and transcultural) before focusing on H. C. Buch's Sansibar Blues (2008) as a case study in German postcolonial memory and the literary use of transcultural voices. Together with Ilija Trojanow's Der Weltensammler (2006), Sansibar Blues marks a new departure in the history of writing cross‐cultural experience and representing the ‘Other’, but, unlike Trojanow, Buch uses partially authentic non‐European voices that draw on the autobiographies of two prominent nineteenth‐century figures in the linked histories of Zanzibar and Germany: Emily Ruete alias Princess Sayyida Salme of Oman and Zanzibar, and the ivory dealer Tippu Tip alias Hamed bin Mohammed. The article includes a detailed analysis of Buch's adaptation of these sources.Dieser Aufsatz arbeitet in den neuen historischen Afrika‐Romanen zur Kolonialzeit vier unterschiedliche Modi der Darstellung interkultureller Erfahrung heraus (kolonial, exotistisch, interkulturell im programmatischen Sinne und transkulturell), um sich dann in der Form einer Fallstudie zu H. C. Buchs Sansibar Blues (2008) der Frage postkolonialer Gedächtnisarbeit und der Verwendung transkultureller Stimmen zuzuwenden. Gemeinsam mit Ilija Trojanows Bestseller Der Weltensammler (2006) markiert Sansibar Blues durch die neuartige Berücksichtigung der ‘anderen’, afrikanischen bzw. arabischen Perspektiven einen Neuansatz in der Gestaltung von kolonialer Interkulturalität. Anders als Trojanow verwendet Buch teilweise authentische nicht‐europäische Stimmen auf der Grundlage der Autobiographien zweier prominenter Gestalten in der Beziehung zwischen Sansibar und Deutschland im 19. Jahrhundert: Emily Ruete alias Prinzessin Sayyida Salme von Oman und Sansibar, und den Elfenbeinhändler Tippu Tip alias Hamed bin Mohammed. Die Studie enthält u.a. eine kritische Analyse von Buchs literarischer Adaptierung dieser Quellen.