bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Characterization of two families of tandem repeated DNA sequences inPotamogeton pectinatusL.
Authors: Ceccarelli Marilena , Sarri Vania , Minelli Stefania , Gelati Maria Teresa 
Published: October 2008

DNA sequences belonging to two families of tandem repeats, PpeRsa1 (362–364 bp in length, 62% A+T residues) and PpeRsa2 (355–359 bp in length, 59% A+T residues), have been isolated from the Potamogeton pectinatus L. genome. The two sequence families do not share significant nucleotide sequence similarity, even if an evolutionary relationship between them could be assumed. The comparison of the cleaving activity of isoschizomeres that are either sensitive or insensitive to methylation of cytosine residues in the target sequence revealed high methylation in both sequence families. The copy number per 1C DNA of PpeRsa1- and PpeRsa2-related sequences is estimated to be 4.92 × 104and 7.96 × 104, respectively. Taken together, these sequences account for about 7.5% of the entire genome of P. pectinatus. The chromosomal organization of these sequences was investigated by fluorescent in situ hybridization. PpeRsa1 and PpeRsa2 repeats found related sequences in 52 chromosomes of the P. pectinatus complement (2n = 78). The related sequences were localized around the centromeres and at the chromosome ends in three pairs of chromosomes, while they were found only at the chromosome ends in the remaining pairs. Twenty-six chromosomes did not show any hybridization signal. The hypothesis that the species is a hybrid between a diploid parent and an allotetraploid parent is put forward.
SSR-based genetic linkage map ofCucurbita moschataand its synteny withCucurbita pepo
Authors: Gong L. , Pachner M. , Kalai K. , Lelley T. 
Published: October 2008

The first SSR-based genetic linkage map of Cucurbita moschata was created by integrating the maps of two F2populations with one common parent developed from the crosses Waltham Butternut (WB) × Nigerian Local (NL) and ZHOU (a hull-less type) × WB. The integrated C. moschata map comprises 205 SSR markers and two morphological traits (Gr and n). The map is composed of 27 linkage groups with a marker density of 7 cM. Comparing the C. moschata map with the published Cucurbita pepo map, we found a high level of macrosynteny. Seventy-two of 76 common SSR markers between C. moschata and C. pepo were located in homologous linkage groups. These markers in general have conserved orders and similar genetic distances; they represent orthologous loci. A reference map based on these SSRs was obtained. No major chromosomal rearrangement between the two species could be detected at present, although four SSR markers were mapped in nonhomologous linkage groups. The comparative alignment of SSR markers did not provide any indication of a possible ancient polyploid origin of the species. The comparative mapping of C. moschata and C. pepo reported here will be useful for further studies on Cucurbit evolution, gene isolation, and breeding work.
Development of an Adonis aestivalis expressed sequence tag population as a resource for genes of the carotenoid pathway
Authors: Li Rong , Links Matthew G. , Gjetvaj Branimir , Sharpe Andrew , Hannoufa Abdelali 
Published: October 2008

Expressed sequence tag (EST) libraries are a powerful tool for gene discovery in plants with genomes that are not fully sequenced. Adonis aestivalis (Ranunculaceae) is unusual among higher plants in that it accumulates large amounts of the valuable red ketocarotenoid astaxanthin in the flower petals, in addition to other carotenoids, and should therefore be a rich source of transcripts involved in carotenoid biosynthesis. To create a resource for gene discovery and increase our understanding of ketocarotenoid biosynthesis in plants, we sequenced 4189 cloned cDNAs from the floral tissues of A. aestivalis. The EST collection was annotated using sequence homology searches comparing the A. aestivalis ESTs with reference databases. ESTs involved in carotenoid biosynthesis were identified based on sequence homology to published sequences and by functional prediction using InterProScan. This study identified expressed transcripts for most of the known genes involved in the carotenoid pathway. Using an Escherichia coli functional expression system, two candidate transcripts from the A. aestivalis cDNA library were functionally characterized and identified as a novel β-carotene 3-hydroxylase (CrtH2) and a β-carotene monooxygenase. The expanded use of this EST collection combined with the E. coli expression system as presented here will greatly facilitate the cloning and characterization of candidate genes involved in carotenoid biosynthesis in plants.
Quantitative trait loci associated with lettuce seed germination under different temperature and light environments
Authors: Hayashi Eiji , Aoyama Natsuyo , Still David W. 
Published: October 2008

Temperature and light are primary environmental cues affecting seed germination. To elucidate the genetic architecture underlying lettuce ( Lactuca sativa L.) seed germination under different environmental conditions, an F8recombinant inbred line population consisting of 131 families was phenotyped for final germination and germination rate. Seeds were imbibed in water at 20 °C under continuous red light (20-Rc), 20 °C continuous dark (20-Dc), 31.5 °C continuous red light (31.5-Rc), 31.5 °C continuous dark (31.5-Dc), or 20 °C far-red light for 24 h followed by continuous dark (20-FRc-Dc). Thirty-eight quantitative trait loci (QTL) were identified from two seed maturation environments: 10 for final germination and 28 for germination rate. The amount of variation attributed to an individual QTL ranged from 9.3% to 17.2% and from 5.6% to 26.2% for final germination and germination rate, respectively. Path analysis indicated that factors affecting germination under 31.5-Rc or 31.5-Dc are largely the same, and these appear to differ from those employed under 20-FRc-Dc. QTL and path analysis support the notion of common and unique factors for germination under diverse temperature and light regimes. A highly significant effect of the seed maturation environment on subsequent germination capacity under environmental stress was observed.
Evolution of cassava (Manihot esculentaCrantz) after recent introduction into a South Pacific Island system: the contribution of sex to the diversification of a clonally propagated crop
Authors: Sardos J. , McKey D. , Duval M. F. , Malapa R. , Noyer J. L. , Lebot V. 
Published: October 2008

Cassava ( Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a clonally propagated crop that was introduced into the South Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu in the 1850s. Based on a survey conducted in 10 different villages throughout the archipelago, we present here a study of its diversity. Farmers’ knowledge about cultivation cycle and sexual reproduction of cassava was recorded during group interviews in each village. Using a set of 11 SSR markers, we genotyped the 104 landraces collected and 60 supplementary accessions from a within-landrace study (12 landraces × 5 plants). Out of the 104 landraces collected, we discovered 77 different multilocus genotypes and the within-landrace study identified several polyclonal landraces. Our data suggest a number of hypotheses about the dynamics of diversity of cassava in Vanuatu.
Extensions of Minimization Theorems and Fixed Point Theorems on a Quasimetric Space
Authors: Ume Jeong Sheok 
Published: October 2008

AbstractWe introduce the new concepts of "Equation missing"-distance, "Equation missing"-type mapping with respect to some "Equation missing"-distance and "Equation missing"-complete quasimetric space, and prove minimization theorems, fixed point theorems, and variational principles on an "Equation missing"-complete quasimetric space. We also give some examples of quasimetrics, "Equation missing"-distances, and "Equation missing"-type mapping with respect to some "Equation missing"-distance. Our results extend, improve, and unify many known results due to Caristi, Ekeland, Ćirić, Kada-Suzuki-Takahashi, Ume, and others.
Fixed Point Theorems for Middle Point Linear Operators in "Equation missing"
Authors: Chermisi Milena , Martellotti Anna 
Published: October 2008

AbstractWe introduce the notion of middle point linear operators. We prove a fixed point result for middle point linear operators in "Equation missing". We then present some examples and, as an application, we derive a Markov-Kakutani type fixed point result for commuting family of "Equation missing"-nonexpansive and middle point linear operators in "Equation missing".
The Comparisons of Heart Rate Variability and Perceived Exertion During Simulated Cycling with Various Viewing Devices
Authors: Huang Shih-Fong , Tsai Po-Yi , Sung Wen-Hsu , Lin Chih-Yung , Chuang Tien-Yow 
Published: October 2008

Sympathovagal modulation during immersion in a virtual environment is an important influence on human performance of a task. The aim of this study is to investigate sympathovagal modulation using heart rate variability and perceived exertion during exercise in a virtual reality (VR) environment. Sixteen young healthy volunteers were tested while using a stationary bicycle and maintained at an anaerobic threshold intensity for exercise sessions of approximately 10 min duration. Four randomized viewing alternatives were provided including desktop monitor, projector, head mounted device (HMD), and no simulation display. The “no simulation display” served as the control group. A quick ramp exercise test was conducted and maintained at an anaerobic threshold intensity for each session to evaluate power spectral density and rating of perceived exertion (RPE). The sampled heart rate data were rearranged by cubic spline interpolation into power spectrums spanning the ultra-low frequency (ULF) to high frequency (HF) range. A significant difference was found between the no-display and projector groups for total power (TP) and very low frequency (VLF) components. In particular, there was a significant difference when comparing HMD and no-display exercise RPE curves within 6 min of cycling and at the termination of the exercise. A significant difference was also achieved in projector vs. control group comparison at the termination of the exercise. Our results indicate that the use of HMD and the projected VR during cycling can reduce the TP and VLF power spectral density through a proposed decrease in the renin-angiotensin system, with the implication that this humoral effect may enable anaerobic exercise for longer durations through a reduction in sympathetic tone and subsequent increased blood flow to the muscles.
African Women Scientists and the Politics of Location: The Case of Four Sierra Leonean Women Scientists
Authors: Beoku-Betts Josephine 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThis paper examines the attempts of four Sierra Leonean women scientists to restructure their lives and professional careers in the wake of changing political and economic conditions in their nation state. I show how their emotional affinities to their country of origin are still strong and influence their scientific practices and commitments to their country of origin. I argue that as transnational migrants, their experiences are shaped by the intersection of inequalities of gender, race, and nation and changing economic, social, and political processes in their countries of origin and destination. These conditions may constrain but also enable them to compete, challenge, and negotiate new spheres of lived experience. The analysis is framed around discourses on the brain drain, the concept of transnationalism, and feminist research on gender and migration. The study is based on semi-structured interviews, using narratives to illustrate the lived experiences and perspectives of the study participants. Issues addressed include (1) factors leading to migration, (2) experiences of race, gender, and nationality, (3) ways of practicing science, (4) navigation of emotional commitments to country of origin.
African Women in the New Diaspora: Transnationalism and the (Re) Creation of Home
Authors: Osirim Mary Johnson 
Published: October 2008

AbstractDuring the past 25 years, African immigrants have been arriving in the US in increasing numbers due to the push factors of globalization, wars, civil unrest and natural disasters. Drawing on in-depth interviews with African women as immigrants in Greater Boston and Philadelphia, this paper will explore how the intersections of gender, race and class affect their contributions to civil society and business development. This work illustrates how transnational ties, specifically in the form of a new pan-Africanism, lead African immigrants to make significant contributions to community revitalization, particularly in historically African American communities. Although African women immigrants are clearly transnationals, in their civic lives, they differ from their male counterparts in their especially strong commitment to improving the lives of their families and communities on this side of the Atlantic.
Collective Activism: The Domestic Violence Bill becoming Law in Ghana
Authors: Adomako Ampofo Akosua 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThis article reflects on contemporary struggles for citizenship rights through an examination of civil society's advocacy for the passage of domestic violence legislation in Ghana. The National Coalition on Domestic Violence Legislation, established in 2003 specifically to push for the passage of the legislation, at various times worked closely with, and at other times independently of, or even in conflict with, the state. These processes and engagements point to the vibrancy of civil society and suggest the need for new analyses of social movements, political power and democracy that are rooted in Africa's contemporary realities.
Outras Vozes: Women's Writings in Lusophone Africa
Authors: Fêo Rodrigues Isabel , Sheldon Kathleen 
Published: October 2008

AbstractIn this paper we examine the development of women's studies in the Portuguese-speaking African countries of Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and São Tomé e Príncipe. There are notable variations between these nations, as Mozambique has had a strong Gender Studies unit at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane that has supported a range of research projects and publications on women and the law, women's history, and related topics. The other countries have also produced important studies, often focusing on women's experiences in the anti-colonial liberation struggle, and on more recent issues such as women's legal position. The paper draws out the commonalities and differences in approaches to women's studies by providing an overview of the relevant publications over the past thirty years.
Facing Challenges and Pioneering Feminist and Gender Studies: Women in Post-colonial and Today's Maghrib
Authors: Sadiqi Fatima 
Published: October 2008

AbstractStarting from the premise that the nature and impact of women's agency can be understood only within specific historical and socio-cultural environments (Sadiqi, 2003), the major aim of this paper is to highlight the multi-faceted agency of women in post-colonial and today's Maghrib. The Maghrib is a North African region that includes Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania, but I chose to focus on the first three countries given their common historical and socio-cultural background. Not only have women in this region faced challenges, but they have also pioneered feminist and gender studies and raised new issues for these disciplines in the global South as well as the North. Four major interrelated domains where these achievements are significant are considered: women's reproductive rights, women's movements, women's legal rights, and women's knowledge production. Issues related to these domains are analyzed from a broad comparative perspective which involves an overall political and economic contextualization. The paper reveals the positive role that Maghribi women have been playing in the overall development of their countries and the main outcomes show that the future of the Maghrib is significantly linked to the fate of these gains.
"Bottom Power:" Theorizing Feminism and the Women's Movement in Sierra Leone (1981-2007)
Authors: Day Lynda 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThis paper examines the theory and praxis of women's political activism in contemporary Sierra Leone. In spite of the steady upswing in the number of women elected or appointed to positions of political authority, the growing influence of women in politics runs into male resistance which privately and derisively refers to women's newly held positions of authority and public clout as "bottom power." This essay proposes that male pushback results from a neo-liberal women's movement that frames women's economic marginality and lack of access to political power as the result of patriarchy and male privilege, rather than using an African feminist framework which recognizes women's lack of resources as primarily the result of the appropriation of the country's wealth by multinational corporations, lending agencies and members of the elite. If viewed from this perspective, the women's movement would be framed as a socially transformative struggle for all sectors of society, and not as a contest between men and women for power.
Analysing Males in Africa: Certain Useful Elements in Considering Ruling Masculinities
Authors: Ratele Kopano 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThis article examines the questions why and how African males have been analysed, informed by the view that across several societies in Africa undeclared yet public gender wars of words and deeds go on daily, and may even be intensifying. It argues that though interventions with males from feminist perspectives have gained ground over the last few decades, more radical, to the gendered African worlds and masculinities have failed to materialise because analyses of boys and men's lives have tended to be blind to the imbrications of the experience of maleness with the experience of other significant social categorisations, such as being without gainful employment. Consequently, many interventions, such as those around violence against women and girls, have failed to grasp some of the critical factors underlying males' reluctance to support feminist action. The article therefore routes its examination of males through a number of categories of social-psychological experience and practice, namely (a) occupational and income attainment and, (b) age, categories theoretically tied to maleness and to practices geared towards the attainment of ruling masculinity. The article reveals the manner in which the psychosocial and the political inter-penetrate each other in the lives of African males. In conclusion, the recognition of the heterogeneous nature of masculinities also, ironically, affords mounting new feminist interventions into changing traditional ruling ideas of being a man or boy.
The Storm-Gods of the Ancient Near East: Summary, Synthesis, Recent Studies: Part II
Authors: Schwemer Daniel 
Published: October 2008

AbstractIn many regions of the ancient Near East, not least in Upper Mesopotamia, Syria and Anatolia where agriculture relied mainly on rainfall, storm-gods ranked among the most prominent gods in the local panthea or were even regarded as divine kings, ruling over the gods and bestowing kingship on the human ruler. While the Babylonian and Assyrian storm-god never held the highest position among the gods, he too belongs to the group of 'great gods' through most periods of Mesopotamian history. Given the many cultural contacts and the longevity of traditions in the ancient Near East only a study that takes into account all relevant periods, regions and text-groups can further our understanding of the different ancient Near Eastern storm-gods. The study Wettergottgestalten Mesopotamiens und Nordsyriens by the present author (2001) tried to tackle the problems involved, basing itself primarily on the textual record and excluding the genuinely Anatolian storm-gods from the study. Given the lack of handbooks, concordances and thesauri in our field, the book is necessarily heavily burdened with materials collected for the first time. Despite comprehensive indices, the long lists and footnotes as well as the lack of an overall synthesis make the study not easily accessible, especially outside the German-speaking community. In 2003 Alberto Green published a comprehensive monograph entitled The Storm-God in the Ancient Near East whose aims are more ambitious than those of Wettergottgestalten: All regions of the ancient Near East—including a chapter on Yahwe as a storm-god—are taken into account, and both textual and iconographic sources are given equal space. Unfortunately this book, which was apparently finished and submitted to the publisher before Wettergottgestalten came to its author's attention, suffers from some serious flaws with regard to methodology, philology and the interpretation of texts and images. In presenting the following succinct overview I take the opportunity to make up for the missing synthesis in Wettergottgestalten and to provide some additions and corrections where necessary. It is hoped that this synthesis can also serve as a response to the history of ancient Near Eastern storm-gods as outlined by A. Green.
Early Mesopotamian Astral Science and Divination in the Myth of Inana And Šukaletuda
Authors: Cooley Jeffrey 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThe Sumerian tale of Inana and Shukaletuda recounts how the goddess Inana is raped by a homely gardener upon whom she seeks and ultimately finds revenge. Though this general plot has long been understood, certain elements of the story have remained largely unexplored. Previous scholarship has often suggested that within Inana and Shukaletuda, the goddess Inana is often described in her astral manifestation (e.g. S. Kramer 1961, 117; K. Volk 1995, 177-179 and 182-183; B. Alster 1999, 687; J. Cooper 2001, 142-144). Nevertheless, to date there has been no systematic treatment of this assumption and this study seeks to fill this gap. It is my thesis that certain events of the story (i.e. Inana's movements) can be related to a series of observable celestial phenomena, specifically the synodic activity of the planet Venus. This also explains the heretofore enigmatic climax of the story, in which Inana crosses the entire sky in order to finally locate her attacker, as a celestial miracle required by the planet Venus' peculiar celestial limitations. Furthermore, since in ancient Iraq the observation of astronomical phenomena was often done for the purpose of celestial divination, I suggest that certain events within the story may be illuminated if situated within that undertaking.
Arthur in the Alhambra? Narrative and Nasrid Courtly Self-Fashioning in The Hall Of Justice Ceiling Paintings
Authors: Robinson Cynthia 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThis essay reconsiders the "Arthurian" identification of a number of the scenes that compose the ornamental program of the painted ceilings above the northern and southern alcobas of the Alhambra's Hall of Justice, proposing a reading that privileges Castilian versions of well-known courtly romances over French ones. The scenes are read as representations of the stories of Flores y Blancaflor, as well as Tristán de Leonís. Both tales, however, have been further altered and adapted in order to privilege the ideological concerns of the Nasrid court, both as an Islamic political entity with an agenda of jihād and—in a fashion that could easily be viewed as contradictory—as a participant in medieval Iberia's much-discussed frontier culture, which involved a "marriage of convenience" with Castilian allies.