bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Chasing ubuntu: using ICTs to promote reflective practice
Authors: Malone Todd , Wilder Hilary 
Published: June 2008

PurposeTo describe an exploratory study in which an online learning system was used to provide an intercultural experience for pre‐service education students from New Jersey and Namibia.Design/methodology/approachPre‐service education students from New Jersey and Namibia were enrolled in an online course in the fall of 2004. The following semester, spring 2005, only students from New Jersey were enrolled in the course. Online discussion postings were analyzed for both course cohorts and compared. A pre/post questionnaire of students' understanding of cross‐cultural differences in general, and in teaching in particular, was also administered to both course cohorts.FindingsThis paper focuses on the growth of New Jersey students' understanding of what teaching in Namibia is like and also looks to see if this led to a greater understanding of their own practice. While there was an indication that the former was achieved and a number of New Jersey students did show a deeper understanding of teaching in Namibia, this did not appear to then lead to a deeper understanding of their own teaching practice.Research limitations/implicationsThis was an exploratory pilot study, conducted principally to see if the technology supported this type of experience for students in both developed and developing nations. While this experience will never substitute for a real, in‐person, exchange program or study abroad, the technology did support a limited virtual “exchange” program.Practical implicationsThe study indicated that an online course is a very feasible option for providing an intercultural experience for students from developed and developing nations. In order to help students reach deeper levels of understanding of both their intercultural peers and of their own practice, students may need to be exposed to a more explicit model of inter‐ and intra‐ cultural reflection.Originality/valueThis paper gives teacher educators and others a way of providing a virtual intercultural exchange to their students. This is particularly important for students from both developing and developed nations who do not have the financial means to participate in an actual (in‐person) exchange program.
Geographical externalities of local real estate markets
Authors: Mouzakis Fotis , Henneberry John 
Published: June 2008

PurposeDespite the recent trend of off‐shoring branches of UK services industry to remote locations, urban theory has yet to enlist a theory of industrial rents that formally takes into account the properties of substitution between locations. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the Fujita, et al. model in order to develop theoretical foundations for a pricing theory of contemporary commercial real estate markets.Design/methodology/approachThe paper employs panel data methods for the simultaneous estimation of local market rent structures, which include a complex of spill‐over effects from all other parts of the national market. The estimations are based on time series of locally adjusted estimates of tenancy demand and supply proxies for 48 UK office centres. Influences from the entity of UK regions are considered by applying a variety of deterministic and stochastic structural variability tests. The estimated structures are subjected to multivariate co‐integration tests for an examination of the stability of structural differentials.FindingsThe paper appears to find considerable support to the hypothesis that rental spill‐overs exist across the network of office centres in the UK. It suggests that the structure of these markets is characterised by certain properties of substitution and complementarity that have generally been observed in a wide range of real consumer or producer markets. This finding is critical to the development of a policy theory for national planning, which takes into account the impacts of local planning policies on national aggregate economic welfare.Research limitations/implicationsThis analysis is limited by the unavailability of a coherent theoretical micro‐economic framework, which may be the focus of further research.Originality/valueThe focus of this paper is on offices and business services industry but the principles can be extended to include industrial space. The paper questions some of the central assumptions and methodological approaches used in existing industrial location theory. It proposes a model that considers location pricing and allocation in relation to strategies to improve the spatial organisation of multinational services firms.
Noncovalent Immobilization of Streptavidin on In Vitro- and In Vivo-Biotinylated Bacterial Magnetic Particles
Authors: Maeda Yoshiaki , Yoshino Tomoko , Takahashi Masaaki , Ginya Harumi , Asahina Junko , Tajima Hideji , Matsunaga Tadashi 
Published: June 2008

ABSTRACT

Biotinylated magnetic nanoparticles were constructed by displaying biotin acceptor peptide (BAP) or biotin carboxyl carrier protein (BCCP) on the surface of bacterial magnetic particles (BacMPs) synthesized by
Magnetospirillum magneticum
AMB-1. BAP-displaying BacMPs (BAP-BacMPs) were extracted from bacterial cells and incubated with biotin and
Escherichia coli
biotin ligase. Then the in vitro biotinylation of BAP-BacMPs was confirmed using alkaline phosphatase-labeled antibiotin antibody. In contrast, BacMPs displaying the intact 149 residues of AMB-1 BCCP (BCCP-BacMPs) and displaying the COOH-terminal 78 residues of BCCP (BCCP78-BacMPs) were biotinylated in AMB-1 cells. The in vivo biotinylation of BCCP-BacMPs and BCCP78-BacMPs was thought to be performed by endogenous AMB-1 biotin ligase. Streptavidin was introduced onto biotinylated BacMPs by simple mixing. In an analysis using tetramethyl rhodamine isocyanate-labeled streptavidin, approximately 15 streptavidin molecules were shown to be immobilized on a single BCCP-BacMP. Furthermore, gold nanoparticle-BacMP composites were constructed via the biotin-streptavidin interaction. The conjugation system developed in this work provides a simple, low-cost method for producing biotin- or streptavidin-labeled magnetic nanoparticles. Various functional materials can be site selectively immobilized on these specially designed BacMPs. By combining the site-selective biotinylation technology and the protein display technology, more innovative and attractive magnetic nanomaterials can be constructed.
Isolation and Characterization of the Gibberellin Biosynthetic Gene Cluster in
Sphaceloma manihoticola
Authors: Bömke Christiane , Rojas Maria Cecilia , Gong Fan , Hedden Peter , Tudzynski Bettina 
Published: June 2008

ABSTRACT

Gibberellins (GAs) are tetracyclic diterpenoid phytohormones that were first identified as secondary metabolites of the fungus
Fusarium fujikuroi
(teleomorph,
Gibberella fujikuroi
). GAs were also found in the cassava pathogen
Sphaceloma manihoticola
, but the spectrum of GAs differed from that in
F. fujikuroi
. In contrast to
F. fujikuroi
, the GA biosynthetic pathway has not been studied in detail in
S. manihoticola
, and none of the GA biosynthetic genes have been cloned from the species. Here, we present the identification of the GA biosynthetic gene cluster from
S. manihoticola
consisting of five genes encoding a bifunctional
ent
-copalyl/
ent
-kaurene synthase (CPS/KS), a pathway-specific geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase (GGS2), and three cytochrome P450 monooxygenases. The functions of all of the genes were analyzed either by a gene replacement approach or by complementing the corresponding
F. fujikuroi
mutants. The cluster organization and gene functions are similar to those in
F. fujikuroi
. However, the two border genes in the
Fusarium
cluster encoding the GA
4
desaturase (DES) and the 13-hydroxylase (P450-3) are absent in the
S. manihoticola
GA gene cluster, consistent with the spectrum of GAs produced by this fungus. The close similarity between the two GA gene clusters, the identical gene functions, and the conserved intron positions suggest a common evolutionary origin despite the distant relatedness of the two fungi.
Extracellular Loops of Lipid A 3-O-Deacylase PagL Are Involved in Recognition of Aminoarabinose-Based Membrane Modifications inSalmonella entericaSerovar Typhimurium
Authors: Manabe Takayuki , Kawasaki Kiyoshi 
Published: June 2008

ABSTRACTSalmonella entericaserovar Typhimurium modifies its lipopolysaccharide (LPS), including the lipid A portion, in response to changes in its environment including host tissues. The lipid A 3-O-deacylase PagL, the expression of which is promoted under a host-mimetic environment, exhibits latency inS. enterica; deacylation of lipid A is not usually observed in vivo, despite the expression of the outer membrane protein PagL. In contrast, PagL does not exhibit latency inS. enterica pmrAandpmrEmutants, both of which are deficient in the aminoarabinose-based modification of lipid A, indicating that aminoarabinose-modified LPS species were involved in the latency. In order to analyze the machinery for PagL's repression, we generated PagL mutants in which an amino acid residue located at four extracellular loops was replaced with alanine. Apparent lipid A 3-O deacylation was observed inS. entericaexpressing the recombinant mutants PagL(R43A), PagL(R44A), PagL(C85A), and PagL(R135A), but not inS. entericaexpressing wild-type PagL, suggesting that the point mutations released PagL from the latency. In addition, mutations at Arg-43, Arg-44, Cys-85, and Arg-135 did not affect lipid A 3-O-deacylase activity in anS. enterica pmrAmutant or inEscherichia coliBL21(DE3). These results, taken together, indicate that specific amino acid residues located at extracellular loops of PagL are involved in the recognition of aminoarabinose-modified LPS. Furthermore,S. entericaexpressing the recombinant PagL(R43A) or PagL(R135A) mutant showed apparent growth arrest at 43°C compared withS. entericaexpressing wild-type PagL, indicating that the latency of PagL is important for bacterial growth.
Seasonal occurrence and removal of polycyclic and nitro musks from wastewater treatment plants in Ontario, Canada
Authors: Smyth Shirley Anne , Lishman Lori A. , McBean Edward A. , Kleywegt Sonya , Yang Jian-Jun , Svoboda M. Lewina , Lee Hing-Biu , Seto Peter 
Published: June 2008

Polycyclic and nitro musk (PNM) fragrances in personal care products persist and bioaccumulate in the environment following wastewater discharges and land application of biosolids. Influent and effluent concentrations, seasonal variations, and process removal efficiencies of 11 PNMs were investigated at six wastewater treatment plants representing four typical Canadian treatment processes: lagoon, oxidation ditch, extended aeration, and conventional activated sludge. Influent concentrations were as high as 40 000 ng/L for polycyclic musks and 400 ng/L for nitro musks, and showed some seasonal fluctuation. Effluent concentrations were as high as 4000 ng/L and 150 ng/L for polycyclic and nitro musks, respectively. Lagoon treatment produced the highest percent removal (>95%) and the lowest effluent concentrations of PNMs, with process temperature exerting some influence on removal. Results indicate that simple hydraulic or solids retention time are not strong predictors of PNM removals from wastewater. Effluent PNM concentrations were extrapolated to all treatment plants in the watershed to estimate concentrations along the Grand River and its tributaries.
A New Set of Orthogonal Patterns in Weather and Climate: Optimally Interpolated Patterns
Authors: Hannachi A. 
Published: June 2008

Abstract
A new spectral-based approach is presented to find orthogonal patterns from gridded weather/climate data. The method is based on optimizing the interpolation error variance. The optimally interpolated patterns (OIP) are then given by the eigenvectors of the interpolation error covariance matrix, obtained using the cross-spectral matrix. The formulation of the approach is presented, and the application to low-dimension stochastic toy models and to various reanalyses datasets is performed. In particular, it is found that the lowest-frequency patterns correspond to largest eigenvalues, that is, variances, of the interpolation error matrix. The approach has been applied to the Northern Hemispheric (NH) and tropical sea level pressure (SLP) and to the Indian Ocean sea surface temperature (SST). Two main OIP patterns are found for the NH SLP representing respectively the North Atlantic Oscillation and the North Pacific pattern. The leading tropical SLP OIP represents the Southern Oscillation. For the Indian Ocean SST, the leading OIP pattern shows a tripole-like structure having one sign over the eastern and north- and southwestern parts and an opposite sign in the remaining parts of the basin. The pattern is also found to have a high lagged correlation with the Niño-3 index with 6-months lag.
Comparing ERA-40-Based L-Band Brightness Temperatures with Skylab Observations: A Calibration/Validation Study Using the Community Microwave Emission Model
Authors: Drusch Matthias , Holmes Thomas , de Rosnay Patricia , Balsamo Gianpaolo 
Published: June 2008

Abstract
The Community Microwave Emission Model (CMEM) has been used to compute global L-band brightness temperatures at the top of the atmosphere. The input data comprise surface fields from the 40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-40), vegetation data from the ECOCLIMAP dataset, and the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) soil database. Modeled brightness temperatures have been compared against (historic) observations from the S-194 passive microwave radiometer onboard the Skylab space station. Different parameterizations for surface roughness and the vegetation optical depth have been used to calibrate the model. The best results have been obtained for rather simple approaches proposed by Wigneron et al. and Kirdyashev et al. The rms errors after calibration are 10.7 and 9.8 K for North and South America, respectively. Comparing the ERA-40 soil moisture product against the corresponding in situ observations suggests that the uncertainty in the modeled soil moisture is the predominant contributor to these rms errors. Although the bias between model and observed brightness temperatures are reduced after the calibration, systematic differences in the dynamic range remain. For NWP analysis applications, bias correction schemes should be applied prior to data assimilation. The calibrated model has been used to compute a 10-yr brightness temperature climatology based on ERA-40 data.
Synoptic Variability of Rainfall and Cloudiness along the Coasts of Northern Peru and Ecuador during the 1997/98 El Niño Event
Authors: Douglas Michael W. , Mejia John , Ordinola Norma , Boustead Joshua 
Published: June 2008

Abstract
This paper describes the meteorological conditions associated with large fluctuations in rainfall over the coastal regions of northern Peru and Ecuador during the 1997/98 El Niño event. Using data from a network of routine rain gauges and special gauges established just prior to the onset of heavy rains, it is shown that large variations in the daily rainfall on quasi-weekly time scales occurred during the period January–April 1998. These rainfall fluctuations were approximately in phase along the coast from near the equator to ∼7°S. The daily rainfall data was averaged to develop a subset of wet and dry days, and then these dates were used as the basis for compositing. Special pilot balloon observations were composited with respect to the wet and dry days, showing that westerly and northerly wind anomalies are associated with wet spells. Composites of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction–National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP–NCAR) reanalysis and outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) data support a modest association of anomalous westerly wind events with enhanced rainfall.
The relationship observed between westerly zonal wind anomalies and rainfall west of the Andes during 1998 suggested using the NCEP reanalysis to develop composites based on westerly wind events observed during other years. Zonal wind anomalies at 700 hPa were used as the primary criterion for stratifying “wet” and “dry” days, despite reservations about the association between rainfall and zonal wind. Compositing Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) and OLR data for 220 west wind anomaly events from the months of January–April for the years 1990–2005 showed that they are associated with enhanced cloudiness that propagates eastward at ∼10 m s−1. The composites using NCEP reanalyses show the evolution of the wind field associated with the wet days and suggest a link between extratropical wave passages across North America and anomalous westerly wind events off the coast of Ecuador and northern Peru.
A Generic Forecast Verification Framework for Administrative Purposes
Authors: Mason Simon J. , Weigel Andreas P. 
Published: June 2008

Abstract
There are numerous reasons for calculating forecast verification scores, and considerable attention has been given to designing and analyzing the properties of scores that can be used for scientific purposes. Much less attention has been given to scores that may be useful for administrative reasons, such as communicating changes in forecast quality to bureaucrats and providing indications of forecast quality to the general public. The two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) test is proposed as a scoring procedure that is sufficiently generic to be usable on forecasts ranging from simple yes–no forecasts of dichotomous outcomes to forecasts of continuous variables, and can be used with deterministic or probabilistic forecasts without seriously reducing the more complex information when available. Although, as with any single verification score, the proposed test has limitations, it does have broad intuitive appeal in that the expected score of an unskilled set of forecasts (random guessing or perpetually identical forecasts) is 50%, and is interpretable as an indication of how often the forecasts are correct, even when the forecasts are expressed probabilistically and/or the observations are not discrete.
On the Computation of Pseudoadiabatic Entropy and Equivalent Potential Temperature
Authors: Bryan George H. 
Published: June 2008

AbstractA set of approximate equations for pseudoadiabatic thermodynamics is developed. The equations are derived by neglecting the entropy of water vapor and then compensating for this error by using a constant (but relatively large) value for the latent heat of vaporization. The subsequent formulations for entropy and equivalent potential temperature have errors that are comparable to those of previous formulations, but their simple form makes them attractive for use in theoretical studies. It is also shown that, if the latent heat of vaporization is replaced with a constant value, an optimal value should be chosen to minimize error; a value of 2.555 × 106 J kg−1 is found in tests herein.
End-of-Life Review
Authors: Aylor Arden L. , Grimes Gil C. 
Published: June 2008

Context: The term “End-of-Life Review” is often used by hospice workers in the context of spiritual apparitions or visitations prior to a patient's death. A review of the literature reveals no clear definition or categorization of this expression. Objective: The aim of this study is to define the term “End-of-Life Review”. Design: The study was performed using the Delphi method. Setting/participants: A panel of interested parties was recruited from October 2006 to January 2007. Intervention: Respondents were first asked to list their most common experiences associated with the term “End-of-Life Review,” and then to rate each item as to how well it represented their understanding of this term. This process continued until subsequent rounds produce little change in the ranking of each item, suggesting a consensus. Conclusions: The term “End-of-Life Review” is a constellation of behaviors ranging from visitations from the departed to spiritual apparitions prior to death.
ESTs from the microsporidian Edhazardia aedis
Authors: Gill Erin E , Becnel James J , Fast Naomi M 
Published: June 2008

Abstract

Background
Microsporidia are a group of parasites related to fungi that infect a wide variety of animals and have gained recognition from the medical community in the past 20 years due to their ability to infect immuno-compromised humans. Microsporidian genomes range in size from 2.3 to 19.5 Mbp, but almost all of our knowledge comes from species that have small genomes (primarily from the human parasite Encephalitozoon cuniculi and the locust parasite Antonospora locustae). We have conducted an EST survey of the mosquito parasite Edhazardia aedis, which has an estimated genome size several times that of more well-studied species. The only other microsporidian EST project is from A. locustae, and serves as a basis for comparison with E. aedis.

Results
The spore transcriptomes of A. locustae and E. aedis were compared and the numbers of unique transcripts that belong to each COG (Clusters of Orthologous Groups of proteins) category differ by at most 5%. The transcripts themselves have widely varying start sites and encode a number of proteins that have not been found in other microsporidia examined to date. However, E. aedis seems to lack the multi-gene transcripts present in A. locustae and E. cuniculi. We also present the first documented case of transcription of a transposable element in microsporidia.

Conclusion
Although E. aedis and A. locustae are distantly related, have very disparate life cycles and contain genomes estimated to be vastly different sizes, their patterns of transcription are similar. The architecture of the ancestral microsporidian genome is unknown, but the presence of genes in E. aedis that have not been found in other microsporidia suggests that extreme genome reduction and compaction is lineage specific and not typical of all microsporidia.