bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Interspecific interactions and premating reproductive isolation
Authors: Tynkkynen Katja , Kotiaho Janne S. , Svensson Erik I. 
Published: September 2008

AbstractTwo species can interact in several ways: there may occur interspecific competition or aggression, the two species may hybridize or they may interact indirectly through different predator-prey interactions. One consequence of these interactions is the evolution of premating reproductive isolation between the two species. For example, there may be divergent selection on male secondary sexual characters, which results in enhancement of premating reproductive isolation of two closely related species. This chapter focuses on two questions: firstly, how do interspecific hybridization, aggression and predation, affect premating reproductive isolation? Secondly, is reproductive isolation a direct target of selection or does it evolve as a correlated response to selection on other traits? This chapter uses Calopteryx damselflies as model organisms in this discussion, which have been under intensive study concerning these topics.
Lifetime reproductive success and sexual selection theory
Authors: Koenig Walter D. 
Published: September 2008

AbstractThis chapter summarizes studies of lifetime reproductive success (LRS) conducted on odonates. Such studies have focused on many characters, but have typically concluded that survivorship — the main component of natural selection, is more important than mating efficiency — a primary component of sexual selection, in determining LRS. They have also frequently found that environmental factors are important and that selection and the opportunity for selection vary considerably depending on density, sex ratio, and community composition. LRS studies have been most successful when focused on specific traits and when complemented by experimental manipulations. Progress in understanding the current actions of natural and sexual selection is thus most likely to involve long-term LRS work combined with experimental or comparative approaches. Particularly desirable are studies that incorporate the larval stage in fitness calculations, perform parentage analyses to determine realized fitness, and consider the role of non-breeding behaviours such as foraging efficiency.
Fitness landscapes, mortality schedules, and mating systems
Authors: Anholt Bradley R. 
Published: September 2008

AbstractAcquiring the resources for reproduction comes at the risk of death. After emergence, females of most odonate species gain more mass than males and concomitantly suffer higher mortality rates. Differences in adult mortality rates affect the operational sex ratio. The expected number of future matings for males affects whether males should defend territories or contact guard mates. Where females gain much more mass than males and suffer higher mortality as a result, a male with a mate has a very low expectation of additional matings and should contact guard a mate to maximize reproductive success. When the operational sex ratio is less male-biased, a male with a mate may have additional opportunities to mate and can maximize his reproductive success by territorial behaviour.
Testing hypotheses about parasite-mediated selection using odonate hosts
Authors: Forbes Mark R. , Robb Tonia 
Published: September 2008

AbstractParasites are thought to select for host traits, such as elaborate ornaments and intricate immune systems. Dragonflies have proven useful hosts for studying parasite-mediated selection. This chapter summarizes whether parasites exert fitness costs on their dragonfly hosts and affect signals and the mating success of males. It also reviews determinants of resistance against ectoparasitic mites, which is present in many dragonfly species and introduces recent work suggesting that host gender and age influence immunological responses to bacterial and artificial challenges. The chapter highlights that the likelihood of demonstrating parasite-mediated selection might depend on whether or not the species being considered is a generalist parasite. New ideas on elucidating how dragonfly prey species should deal with threats from multiple enemies, such as predators and parasites, are considered.
Cryptic female choice and sexual conflict
Authors: Córdoba-Aguilar Alex , Cordero-Rivera Adolfo 
Published: September 2008

AbstractFemales may choose their male mates. However, both sexes may engage in a kind of dispute not to be coerced into mating (for females) and to be chosen (for males). These two hypotheses (called female choice and sexual conflict, respectively) are currently in vogue in studies of sexual reproduction. This chapter highlights some instances where both can be tested in odonates. These instances are: during copula invitation by males, for the duration of copulation, and during the male post-copulatory displays preceding and during oviposition. There are four other aspects that may be investigated to see the prevalence of each hypothesis: the differences of genitalic diversity across populations, the genitalic complexity at the multiple species level, the female benefits when mating with ‘attractive’ males, and the costs to evade superfluous matings.
Territoriality in odonates
Authors: Suhonen Jukka , Rantala Markus J. , Honkavaara Johanna 
Published: September 2008

AbstractThis chapter discusses causes and consequences of territorial behaviour in odonates. In territorial species, males may use two mating tactics or strategies that may be environmentally or genetically determined: territoriality and non-territoriality. The tactic a male exhibits in each particular case is determined by the cost-benefit ratio of territorial and non-territorial behaviours. The main benefit of territoriality is increased access to females, and the costs may accumulate due to e.g., predation, injuries, and/or energy loss due to territorial contests. Moreover, density of both males and females as well as sex-ratio at breeding sites both contribute to the costs and benefits of each tactic. Interspecific aggression by heterospecific males may also influence the profitability of these tactics.
The evolution of sex-limited colour polymorphism
Authors: Gossum Hans Van , Sherratt Tom N. , Cordero-Rivera Adolfo 
Published: September 2008

AbstractSpecies that exhibit genetic colour polymorphism are ideal for studying the micro-evolutionary forces that maintain genetic variation in nature. One very intriguing polymorphism is the coexistence of several discrete morphs within only one sex, with one morph often resembling the opposite sex in colour and sometimes behaviour. In males, this resemblance often allows access to receptive females, while in females the polymorphism appears related to avoiding excessive male sexual harassment. One might wonder why natural selection does not simply give rise to a single best male and female type for each species. The phenomenon of sex-limited polymorphisms provides an important opportunity to test contemporary ideas relating to sexual selection and sexual conflict, and the diversity of polymorphisms that have arisen in odonates clearly offers one of the best natural systems for among species and population comparative research.
Dragonfly flight performance: a model system for biomechanics, physiological genetics, and animal competitive behaviour
Authors: Marden James H. 
Published: September 2008

AbstractAdult dragonflies are heavily dependent on their flight muscles and flight ability for nearly all of their adult activities. This chapter reviews research that presents dragonflies as model organisms for examining mechanisms that underlie variation in flight performance within and between species, molecular mechanisms by which muscle performance is adjusted within individuals, and how these physiological traits affect territorial and mating success. Results of these studies in dragonflies have provided fundamental new knowledge that informs the theoretical bases of a number of fields: biomechanics of animal locomotion, physiological genetics, and game theory approaches to animal contests. New insights that cross the boundaries of these disparate fields demonstrate the payoff for performing integrative research.
Evolution, diversification, and mechanics of dragonfly wings
Authors: Wootton Robin J. , Newman David J.S. 
Published: September 2008

AbstractThis chapter shows how the patterns of evolution and diversification of odonatoids, and by implication those of other flight-active taxa can be illuminated by studying their flight mechanics. The relationships between flight capabilities and wing and body design are discussed; and the functional significance of familiar wing characters and character states are investigated and compared in a range of extant and extinct odonates, using simple physical models. Convergence in wing shape and in some other characters is shown to be widespread, reflecting similarities in flight behaviour and performance in different taxa throughout the long history of the Superorder. Anagenesis — evolutionary ‘improvement’ — is also widely recognizable. Three important areas for future research are identified: detailed comparative investigations of flight performance; comparative morphometric analysis of functionally interpretable wing and body characters; and detailed Finite Element modelling of selected wing characters, rather than superficial analyses of complete wings.
Ballistic Phase of Self-Interacting Random Walks
Authors: Ioffe Dmitry , Velenik Yvan 
Published: September 2008

Abstract
The chapter presents a unified approach to a study of ballistic phase for a large family of self-interacting random walks with a drift and self-interacting polymers with an external stretching force. The approach is based on a recent version of the Ornstein–Zernike theory. It leads to local limit results for various observables (e.g. displacement of the end-point or number of hits of a fixed finite pattern) on paths of n-step walks (polymers) on all possible deviation scales from CLT to LD. The class of models, which display ballistic phase in the ‘universality class’ discussed in the chapter, includes self-avoiding walks, Domb–Joyce model, random walks in an annealed random potential, reinforced polymers, and weakly reinforced random walks.
Stochastic Homogenization and Energy of Infinite Sets of Points
Authors: Blanc Xavier 
Published: September 2008

AbstractThis chapter presents, in a synthetic way, a series of recent works by X. Blanc, C. Le Bris, and P-L. Lions on homogenization of an elliptic partial differential equation under certain periodic or random assumptions. The coefficients are non-constant but are a stationary random deformation of a periodic set of coefficients; a limit is taken where the period (in d-space) of the periodicity shrinks to zero. The chapter also describes related work on average energies of nonperiodic infinite sets of points.
Applications of the Lace Expansion to Statistical-Mechanical Models
Authors: Sakai Akira 
Published: September 2008

AbstractSynergetics is a common feature in interesting statistical-mechanical problems. One of the most important examples of synergetics is the emergence of a second-order phase transition and critical behaviour. It is rich and still far from fully understood. The reason why it is so difficult is due to the increase to infinity of the number of strongly correlated variables in the vicinity of the critical point. For example, the Ising model, which is a model for magnets, exhibits critical behaviour as the temperature comes closer to its critical value; the closer the temperature is to criticality, the more spin variables cooperate with each other to attain the global magnetization. In this regime, neither standard probability theory for independent random variables nor naive perturbation techniques work. The lace expansion, which is the topic of this article, is currently one of the few approaches to rigorous investigation of critical behaviour for various statistical-mechanical models. The chapter summarizes some of the most intriguing lace-expansion results for self-avoiding walk (SAW), percolation, and the Ising model.
Large Deviations for Empirical Cycle Counts of Integer Partitions and Their Relation to Systems of Bosons
Authors: Adams Stefan 
Published: September 2008

AbstractMotivated by the Bose gas, this chapter introduces certain combinatorial structures. It analyses the asymptotic behaviour of empirical shape measures and of empirical path measures of N Brownian motions with large deviations techniques. The rate functions are given as variational problems that are analysed. A symmetrized system of Brownian motions is highly correlated and has to be formulated such that standard techniques can be applied. The chapter reviews a novel spatial and a novel cycle structure approach for the symmetrized distributions of the empirical path measures. The cycle structure leads to a proof of a phase transition in the mean path measure.
Interacting Brownian Motions and the Gross-Pitaevskii Formula
Authors: Adams Stefan , König Wolfgang 
Published: September 2008

AbstractBose–Einstein condensation predicts that, under certain conditions (in particular extremely low temperature), all particles will condense into one state. Some of the physical background is surveyed in this chapter. The Gross–Pitaevskii approximation for dilute systems is also discussed. Variational problems appear here naturally, as the quantum mechanical ground state is of interest. In connection with positive temperature, related probabilistic models, based on interacting Brownian motions in a trapping potential, are introduced. Again, large deviation techniques are used to determine the mean occupation measure, both for vanishing temperature and large particle number.
Effective Theories for Ostwald Ripening
Authors: Niethammer Barbara 
Published: September 2008

AbstractThis chapter discusses the derivation and analysis of reduced models for a coarsening process known as Ostwald ripening, which is a paradigm for statistical self-similarity in coarsening systems. The underlying physical phenomenon appears in the late stage of phase transitions, when—due to a change in temperature or pressure for example — the energy of the underlying system becomes nonconvex and prefers two different phases of the material. Consequently a homogeneous mixture is unstable and, in order to minimze the energy, it separates into the two stable phases. Typical examples are the condensation of liquid droplets in a supersaturated vapur and phase separation in binary alloys after rapid cooling.
Switching Paths for Ising Models with Long-Range Interaction
Authors: Dirr Nicolas 
Published: September 2008

AbstractThe chapter discusses a multiscale model for a two-phases material. The model is a stochastic process on the finest scale. The effective behaviour on larger scales is governed by deterministic nonlinear evolution equations. Due to the stochasticity on the finest scale, deviations from these limit evolution laws can happen with small probability. The chapter describes the most likely among those deviations in two situations: (i) the switching from one stable equilibrium of the evolution equation to another one, (ii) enforced, fast motion on a manifold of stationary solutions. This chapter is based on joint work with Giovanni Bellettini, Anna DeMasi and Errico Presutti.
Nucleation and Droplet Growth as a Stochastic Process
Authors: Penrose Oliver 
Published: September 2008

AbstractThis chapter proposes a stochastic differential equation as the putative limit for a birth-and-death Markov chain model for the fluctuating size of a droplet, in a fluid, that is metastable with respect to nucleation of a new phase. This chapter uses the large deviations theory of Freidlin and Wentzell to give a variational analysis of the path properties of the solution to this stochastic differential equation, relating these results to the classical theory of Becker and Doring.
On the Stochastic Burgers Equation and Some Applications to Turbulence and Astrophysics
Authors: Neate A.D. , Truman A. 
Published: September 2008

AbstractThis chapter summarises a selection of results on the inviscid limit of the stochastic Burgers equation emphasising geometric properties of the caustic, Maxwell set and Hamilton-Jacobi level surfaces and relating these results to a discussion of stochastic turbulence. It shows that for small viscosities there exists a vortex filament structure near to the Maxwell set. It is discussed how this vorticity is directly related to the adhesion model for the evolution of the early universe, and new explicit formulas for the distribution of mass within the shock are included.
Liquid Crystals and Harmonic Maps in Polyhedral Domains
Authors: Majumdar Apala , Robbins Jonathan , Zyskin Maxim 
Published: September 2008

AbstractThis chapter is concerned with harmonic maps from a polyhedron to the unit two-sphere, which provide a model of nematic liquid crystals in bistable displays. This chapter looks at the Dirichlet energy of homo-topy classes of such harmonic maps, subject to tangent boundary conditions, and investigate lower and upper bounds for this Dirichlet energy on each homotopy class; local minimisers of this energy correspond to equilibrium and metastable configurations. A lower bound for the infimum Dirichlet energy for a given homotopy class is obtained as a sum of minimal connections between fractional defects at the vertices. In certain cases, this lower bound can be improved. For a rectangular prism, upper bounds are obtained from locally conformal solutions of the Euler-Lagrange equations, with the ratio of the upper and lower bounds bounded independently of homotopy type.
Biography and the Question of Literature in France
Authors: Jefferson Ann 
Published: September 2008

Abstract
This book explores the relations between literature and biography in France by tracing their history since the emergence of the two terms during the 18th century. This is when term ‘biographie’ first saw the light of day in the French language, and the word ‘littérature’ began to acquire its modern sense of writing marked by an aesthetic character. Arguing that the ‘idea of literature’ is inherently open to revision and contestation, the book examines the way in which biographically orientated texts have been engaged in turning literature into a question about its own definition. At the same time, it tracks the evolving forms of biographical writing in French culture, and proposes a reappraisal of biography that takes account not only of its forms, but also of its functions. The capacity of biography to intervene in debates about definitions of the literary argues for the need to consider this functional dimension of biographical writing. Although the study has important theoretical implications as regards both biography and the literary, it is intended first and foremost as a history, offering an account of the development of French literature through a dual focus on the question of literature and its relations with biography, and tracing the changing ideas about literature and chronicling the different forms taken by biography in the period. It includes readings of major authors and texts in the light of these concerns, from Rousseau to the ‘life-writing’ of contemporary authors such as Michon and Roubaud. Other authors discussed include Mme de Staël, Victor Hugo, Sainte-Beuve, Barbey d'Aurevilly, Baudelaire, Nerval, Mallarmé, Schwob, Proust, Gide, Leiris, Sartre, Genet, Barthes, and Laporte.
Comparative Analyses of Arabidopsis complex glycan1 Mutants and Genetic Interaction with staurosporin and temperature sensitive3a
Authors: Frank Julia , Kaulfürst-Soboll Heidi , Rips Stephan , Koiwa Hisashi , von Schaewen Antje 
Published: September 2008

Abstract
We compare three Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) complex glycan1 (cgl1) alleles and report on genetic interaction with staurosporin and temperature sensitive3a (stt3a). STT3a encodes a subunit of oligosaccharyltransferase that affects efficiency of N-glycan transfer to nascent secretory proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum; cgl1 mutants lack N-acetyl-glucosaminyltransferase I activity and are unable to form complex N-glycans in the Golgi apparatus. By studying CGL1-green fluorescent protein fusions in transient assays, we show that the extra N-glycosylation site created by a point mutation in cgl1 C5 is used in planta and interferes with folding of full-length membrane-anchored polypeptides in the endoplasmic reticulum. Tunicamycin treatment or expression in the stt3a-2 mutant relieved the folding block, and migration to Golgi stacks resumed. Complementation tests with C5-green fluorescent protein and other N-glycosylation variants of CGL1 demonstrated that suppression of aberrant N-glycosylation restores activity. Interestingly, CGL1 seems to be functional also as nonglycosylated enzyme. Two other cgl1 alleles showed splicing defects of their transcripts. In cgl1 C6, a point mutation affects the 3′ splice site of intron 14, resulting in frame shifts; in cgl1-T, intron 11 fails to splice due to insertion of a T-DNA copy. Introgression of stt3a-2 did not restore complex glycan formation in cgl1 C6 or cgl1-T but suppressed the N-acetyl-glucosaminyltransferase I defect in cgl1 C5. Root growth assays revealed synergistic effects in double mutants cgl1 C6 stt3a-2 and cgl1-T stt3a-2 only. Besides demonstrating the conditional nature of cgl1 C5 in planta, our observations with loss-of-function alleles cgl1 C6 and cgl1-T in the stt3a-2 underglycosylation background prove that correct N-glycosylation is important for normal root growth and morphology in Arabidopsis.
Duplicate breath testing to confirm eradication of Helicobacter pylori: incremental benefit and cost in 419 patients
Authors: VAKIL N. , ZULLO A. , RICCI C. , HASSAN C. , VAIRA D. 
Published: September 2008

SummaryBackground  Current standards for establishing a cure of H. pylori infection require two breath tests taken at least 4 weeks apart, to be negative.Aim  To determine the incremental cost and accuracy of repeating a urea breath test (UBT) in clinical practice.Methods  We identified 419 patients with documented Helicobacter pylori infection who received eradication therapy and then had two breath tests, one 4 weeks and the second at least 8 weeks after the completion of treatment. H. pylori infection was documented at baseline by a positive rapid urease test and histology.Results  In patients with successful eradication of H. pylori infection (n = 317), the mean ± standard deviation delta over baseline (DOB) value before treatment was 43 ± 29 ppm. Following treatment, the mean DOB in cured was 0.56 ± 2.1 ppm at 1 month and was similar to the value obtained at the second breath (0.68 ± 1; P = 0.39), which was performed 60 ± 71 days after the first UBT. In patients remaining infected (n = 102), the mean DOB at baseline was 47 ± 20 ppm. Four weeks after treatment, the DOB was 40 ± 32 ppm. The second UBT was performed 94 ± 72 days after the first and the DOB was significantly greater than the first (47 ± 28; P = 0.040). There was no discordant result between the first breath test and second breath test. At a cost of 30 euros/breath test, the incremental cost of a second breath test was 12 570 euros in this cohort with no incremental clinical benefit.Conclusions  A single UBT, 4 weeks after treatment is as effective as two serial breath tests in confirming H. pylori eradication. The incremental cost of the second breath test is very high with no incremental clinical benefit.