bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Interleukin-15 and NK1.1+Cells Provide Innate Protection against AcuteSalmonella entericaSerovar Typhimurium Infection in the Gut and in Systemic Tissues
Authors: Ashkar Ali A. , Reid Sarah , Verdu Elena F. , Zhang Kun , Coombes Brian K. 
Published: November 2008

ABSTRACTControl of bacterial colonization at mucosal surfaces depends on rapid activation of the innate immune system. Interleukin-15 (IL-15) directs the development, maturation, and function of a population of cells positive for NK1.1, such as natural killer (NK) cells, which are critical components of the innate immune defense against several viral and bacterial pathogens. Using IL-15-deficient mice, in vivo depletion of NK1.1+cells from wild-type mice, and in vivo overexpression of IL-15 from a recombinant adenovirus, we tested the role of IL-15 and NK1.1+cells in innate protection of the murine gut and reticuloendothelial system fromSalmonella entericaserovar Typhimurium infection. IL-15 and the NK1.1+cell population provided innate protection from serovar Typhimurium in mice at the enteric mucosae and in the reticuloendothelial system during murine typhoid. Interestingly, serovar Typhimurium extensively colonized the gut of IL-15−/−mice and wild-type C57BL/6 mice depleted of NK1.1+cells prior to infection, even though the animals were not pretreated with antibiotics to reduce colonization resistance and there was an absence of overt inflammation in the colon and cecum. Enhanced dissemination ofSalmonellafrom the gut of mice depleted of NK1.1+cells correlated with a localized disruption of IL-17 in the colon. These data suggest a relationship between the gut ecosystem and the innate mucosal immune system, which may be linked via IL-15 and NK1.1+cells.
Paleomagnetism of fluorite veins in the Devonian St. Lawrence granite, Newfoundland, Canada
Authors: Kawasaki K. , Symons D. T.A. 
Published: November 2008

Paleomagnetic results are reported from the Devonian St. Lawrence granite and the fluorite veins within the granite or its related porphyry dikes. Paleomagnetic analysis of 359 specimens from 29 sites shows that there is no statistically significant difference at 95% confidence between the site mean characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) directions carried by pyrrhotite and (or) magnetite of the granite and fluorite veins. No post-granite metamorphic event is known in the area. Thus, these concordant directions indicate that the granite and fluorite veins are coeval and retain a primary remanence. However, the mean ChRM direction of 25 vein and granite sites yields an Early Pennsylvanian paleopole of ∼316 Ma on the North American apparent polar wander path at 35.5°N, 129.2°E (A95 = 3.4°) that is younger than the 374 ± 2 Ma Devonian U–Pb zircon age for the granite. Two intersecting vertical vein sets indicate that the St. Lawrence granite has not been tilted since emplacement of the fluorite veins. Therefore, the difference between the measured and expected paleopoles is interpreted to result from a postemplacement counterclockwise rotation of ∼17° of the St. Lawrence granite region about a vertical axis. Analysis of Carboniferous paleopoles in the northern Appalachian orogen indicates the rotation at the St. Lawrence area is Late Devonian during the Acadian orogeny.
The Churchill kimberlite field, Nunavut, Canada: petrography, mineral chemistry, and geochronology
Authors: Zurevinski S. E. , Heaman L. M. , Creaser R. A. , Strand P. 
Published: November 2008

Seventy-nine kimberlite intrusions have been identified in the Churchill Province, Nunavut, the result of an aggressive diamond exploration program by Shear Minerals Ltd. and their partners. This is one of Canada’s newest and largest kimberlite districts, situated immediately west of Hudson Bay between the communities of Rankin Inlet and Chesterfield Inlet. This study documents the occurrence of bonafide kimberlite rocks, classified as mainly sparsely macrocrystic, oxide-rich calcite evolved hypabyssal kimberlite and macrocrystic oxide-rich monticellite phlogopite hypabyssal kimberlite. Electron microprobe analyses of olivine, phlogopite, spinel, and perovskite support this petrographical classification. Low 87Sr/86Sr isotopic compositions determined from perovskite indicate a group I affinity. In addition, 27 precise U–Pb perovskite and Rb–Sr phlogopite emplacement ages have been determined for the Churchill kimberlites, indicating that magmatism spans ∼45 million years (225–170 Ma). The Churchill kimberlites belong to the NW–SE-trending corridor of Jurassic–Triassic kimberlite magmatism in eastern North America, which includes the Kirkland Lake, Timiskaming, and Attawapiskat kimberlite fields. Churchill kimberlites extend this corridor ∼800 km northwest, suggesting that the corridor may continue northwest with older kimberlites. This corridor is interpreted as the continental expression of magmatism linked to either a single or multiple mantle-plume hotspot track(s), a pattern geographically coincident with independent estimates for the timing and location of the continental extension of both the Great Meteor and Verde hotspot tracks.
Composite Implicit General Iterative Process for a Nonexpansive Semigroup in Hilbert Space
Authors: Li Lihua , Li Suhong , Su Yongfu 
Published: November 2008

AbstractLet "Equation missing" be nonempty closed convex subset of real Hilbert space "Equation missing". Consider "Equation missing" a nonexpansive semigroup "Equation missing" with a common fixed point, a contraction "Equation missing" with coefficient "Equation missing", and a strongly positive linear bounded operator "Equation missing" with coefficient "Equation missing". Let "Equation missing". It is proved that the sequence "Equation missing" generated iteratively by "Equation missing" converges strongly to a common fixed point "Equation missing" which solves the variational inequality "Equation missing" for all "Equation missing".
Neural Substrates of Visuospatial Processing in Distinct Reference Frames: Evidence from Unilateral Spatial Neglect
Authors: Medina Jared , Kannan Vijay , Pawlak Mikolaj A. , Kleinman Jonathan T. , Newhart Melissa , Davis Cameron , Heidler-Gary Jennifer E. , Herskovits Edward H. , Hillis Argye E. 
Published: November 2008

AbstractThere is evidence for different levels of visuospatial processing with their own frames of reference: viewer-centered, stimulus-centered, and object-centered. The neural locus of these levels can be explored by examining lesion location in subjects with unilateral spatial neglect (USN) manifest in these reference frames. Most studies regarding the neural locus of USN have treated it as a homogenous syndrome, resulting in conflicting results. In order to further explore the neural locus of visuospatial processes differentiated by frame of reference, we presented a battery of tests to 171 subjects within 48 hr after right supratentorial ischemic stroke before possible structural and/or functional reorganization. The battery included MR perfusion weighted imaging (which shows hypoperfused regions that may be dysfunctional), diffusion weighted imaging (which reveals areas of infarct or dense ischemia shortly after stroke onset), and tests designed to disambiguate between various types of neglect. Results were consistent with a dorsal/ventral stream distinction in egocentric/allocentric processing. We provide evidence that portions of the dorsal stream of visual processing, including the right supramarginal gyrus, are involved in spatial encoding in egocentric coordinates, whereas parts of the ventral stream (including the posterior inferior temporal gyrus) are involved in allocentric encoding.
Unification of Speaker and Meaning in Language Comprehension: An fMRI Study
Authors: Tesink Cathelijne M. J. Y. , Petersson Karl Magnus , van Berkum Jos J. A. , van den Brink Daniëlle , Buitelaar Jan K. , Hagoort Peter 
Published: November 2008

AbstractWhen interpreting a message, a listener takes into account several sources of linguistic and extralinguistic information. Here we focused on one particular form of extralinguistic information, certain speaker characteristics as conveyed by the voice. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined the neural structures involved in the unification of sentence meaning and voice-based inferences about the speaker's age, sex, or social background. We found enhanced activation in the inferior frontal gyrus bilaterally (BA 45/47) during listening to sentences whose meaning was incongruent with inferred speaker characteristics. Furthermore, our results showed an overlap in brain regions involved in unification of speaker-related information and those used for the unification of semantic and world knowledge information [inferior frontal gyrus bilaterally (BA 45/47) and left middle temporal gyrus (BA 21)]. These findings provide evidence for a shared neural unification system for linguistic and extralinguistic sources of information and extend the existing knowledge about the role of inferior frontal cortex as a crucial component for unification during language comprehension.
Brain Networks Involved in Early versus Late Response Anticipation and Their Relation to Conflict Processing
Authors: Lütcke Henry , Gevensleben Holger , Albrecht Björn , Frahm Jens 
Published: November 2008

Abstract
Previous electrophysiological studies have clearly identified separable neural events underlying early and late components of response anticipation. Functional neuroimaging studies, however, have so far failed to account for this separation. Here, we performed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of an anticipation paradigm in 12 healthy adult subjects that reliably produced early and late expectancy waves in the electroencephalogram. We furthermore compared fMRI activations elicited during early and late anticipation to those associated with response conflict. Our results demonstrate the existence of distinct cortical and subcortical brain regions underlying early and late anticipation. Although late anticipatory behavior was associated with activations in dorsal ACC, frontal cortex, and thalamus, brain responses linked to the early expectancy wave were localized mainly in motor and premotor cortical areas as well as the caudate nucleus. Additionally, late anticipation was associated with increased activity in midbrain dopaminergic nuclei, very likely corresponding to the substantia nigra. Furthermore, whereas regions involved in late anticipation proved to be very similar to activations elicited by response conflict, this was not the case for early anticipation. The current study supports a distinction between early and late anticipatory processes, in line with a plethora of neurophysiological work, and for the first time describes the brain structures differentially involved in these processes.
Some Preliminary Observations on al-Šāfiī and Later Usūl al-Fiqh: The Case of the Term bayān
Authors: Lowry Joseph 
Published: November 2008

AbstractThis article follows the reception of Šāfiī's (d. 204/820) concept of bayān, beginning with Ğāhiz (d. 255/868) and continuing with discussions in selected later works of usūl al-fiqh. For Šāfiī, in his Risāla, the term covered categories of divine legislative pronouncements and hermeneutical categories for addressing apparent contradictions between them. Ğāhiz, in the course of elaborating his own, different concept of bayān, seems to have been polemically engaged with Šāfiī's. For Ğāhiz, as for the later usūl authors, the term connotes a successful act of communication, yet later authors continued to attempt to explain Šāfiī's use of the term, which fit badly into their own conceptual framework. The disjunction between Šāfiī's and later authors' use of the term is emblematic of what is tentatively termed the linguistic turn in mature usūl al-fiqh.
Finding the True Cross: The Social-Political Dimensions of the Ethiopian Mäsqäl Festival
Authors: Kaplan Steven 
Published: November 2008

AbstractIn this study of the Ethiopian Orthodox Mäsqäl festival, we have chosen to focus upon the multiple ways in which diverse and even contradictory social messages have been dramatized through this celebration throughout its more than five hundred years of recorded history. While portrayals of imperial power are perhaps the most obvious features of the festival, they were only one aspect of Mäsqäl celebrations. Other issues of rank and hierarchy were portrayed in various means including the construction, lighting and circling of the bonfire and the distribution and division of food. However, these images of a clearly organized and broadly acknowledged social and political order were challenged, not only by 'crises' which came to the surface at the time of the ritual, but also in clearly ritualized games and battles, which dramatized and expressed the tensions that were a constant feature of any social-political system.
The King, His Soul and the Pastor: Three Views of a Conflict in Akropong 1906-7
Authors: Jenkins Paul , Gilbert Michelle 
Published: November 2008

AbstractIn 1906-7, in Akwapim, a small kingdom in southern Ghana (then the Gold Coast), a bitter conflict occurred between the king, Nana Kwasi Akuffo, and Kwasi Fianko, a wealthy trader who had been appointed as the king's 'soul' (okra) but who later decided to resign his position and rejoin the Christian community. Two detailed accounts addressed to the Basel Mission were written by an indigenous pastor and his superior, a long-serving missionary. They recount the conflict, the negotiations that ensued, and the complex relations between the king and the Basel Mission community. These reports depict the ambitions and the everyday conduct of a poor king and a wealthy commoner, the one a non-Christian and the other a Christian, in the early years of the twentieth century. They also describe the position of the 'soul' in an Akan court, and the central importance of money in a kingdom lacking important natural resources.
Salvaging or Sinking the Investment? MHS v. Malaysia Revisited
Authors: Andreeva Yulia 
Published: November 2008

AbstractThe absence of a definition of "investment" in the ICSID Convention has led several arbitral tribunals to develop a narrow reading of this term. The most recent notable example of such conservative interpretation is a decision of the ICSID tribunal in Malaysian Historical Salvors (MHS) v. Malaysia. In that case, the tribunal concluded that MHS's contract with Malaysia to undertake complex salvage operations did not rise to the level of an investment because, among other things, the contract did not significantly contribute to Malaysia's economic development. MHS's four years of work also failed to reach the necessary level of risk and duration. This decision signifies a worrying trend in international jurisprudence to interpret the notion of investment restrictively. It remains to be seen whether an ad hoc annulment committee, which was constituted at the claimant's request on October 30, 2007, will support the tribunal's interpretation.
Diplomatic Assurances Against Torture – An Effective Strategy? A Review of Jurisprudence and Examination of the Arguments
Authors: Skoglund Lena 
Published: November 2008

AbstractHuman rights organisations have warned repeatedly that basic human rights are being challenged in the so-called 'War on Terror'. One particularly controversial area is the use of diplomatic assurances against torture. According to international human rights instruments, the state shall not return anyone to countries in which they face a substantial risk of being subjected to torture. In the 'War on Terror', an increasing number of non-citizens are being deemed 'security threats', rendering them exempt from protection in many Western states. To be able to deport such 'threats' without compromising their duties under international law, states are increasingly willing to accept a diplomatic assurance against torture – that is, a promise from the state of return that it will not subject the returnee to torture. There is wide disagreement as to whether and/or when diplomatic assurances can render sufficient protection to satisfy the obligations of non-refoulement to risk of torture. Whereas the human rights society label such assurances as 'empty promises', others view them as effective, allowing states to retain their right to remove non-citizens without violating international law. This article reviews international and selected national jurisprudence on the topic of diplomatic assurances against torture and examines if and/or when such assurances might render sufficient protection against torture to enable removals in accordance with international law. The courts and committees that have reviewed the use of diplomatic assurances against torture have identified essential problems of using them, thus rejecting reliance on simple promises not to torture. However, they have often implied that sufficient protection might be rendered by developing the assurances. I argue that this approach risks leading the governments into trying to perfect a system that is inherently flawed – whilst, incidentally, deportations to actual risk of torture continue. Even carefully modelled assurances render only unreliable protection against torture. For this, and reasons connected to undesirable side-effects of their use, I argue that the practice should be rejected.
Promotional Jus Cogens: A Critical Appraisal of Jus Cogens' Legal Effects
Authors: Focarelli Carlo 
Published: November 2008

AbstractTraditionally the problem of jus cogens has been conceptualised as a problem of identification of peremptory norms, taking as a starting point Articles 53 and 64 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. These provisions in fact, while defining jus cogens and contemplating invalidity and termination as special effects affecting incompatible treaties, fail to enumerate what norms are to be considered peremptory. In recent times, however, jus cogens has been invoked and applied – as a sort of “super-law” taking precedence over all other international norms – in legal contexts other than the law of treaties with a variety of “special” or “derogatory” effects. Such an expansion calls for a refocusing of the “identification” problem surrounding jus cogens in terms of effects rather than, or solely, in terms of norms. But it seems that the effects usually ascribed to jus cogens cannot be unlimited in number and scope. This implies that a criterion is needed to determine if and to what extent a certain jus cogens' effect is produced. It is submitted that a fully inductive approach should be taken. Jus cogens appears then in most cases to be relied upon ad abundantiam to “prove” a special effect which already flows either from an applicable treaty or from state practice and opinio iuris. In the remaining instances, reliance upon jus cogens seems to amount to invoking the need for the emergence of a corresponding new customary norm in the future, evidently on the assumption (whether right or wrong) that this norm does not exist yet or is not yet well-established. As a result, the key constructive meaning that can be attached to jus cogens is “promotional” – hence provisional and “educational” – insofar as the interpreter feels that a precedent, which is assumed as reflecting a fundamental value of the international community as a whole and capable of reasonably being accepted by the generality of states, should be set in order to bring about a change in existing law.
Official Language and Rule of Law: Official Language Legislation and Policy in Vojvodina Province, Serbia
Authors: Korhecz Tamás 
Published: November 2008

AbstractLanguage is much more than a simple tool of communication; it is an essential element of group identity. Nations, ethnic groups, cultures are hardly imaginable without a common language. In a multiethnic country by choosing one “official language” the state in many respects favours the users of that language and discriminates those citizens whose mother tongue is different from the official language. The real and demanding issue is how to obey the principles of the rule of law in the case of the official language in a multiethnic state. Serbia, and its uniquely multiethnic Vojvodina province, has a rich and developed legislation concerning official language use, including the official language use of minorities. Although, the Constitution and actual legislation render the Serb language as the primary official language of the country, minority languages could be officially used as well in areas inhabited by minority populations. Notwithstanding the existing shortcomings of the relevant legislation, the principle of the rule of law is violated much more by the actual practice and poor implementation of relevant legal provisions. Fact and figures prove that many language rights are not implemented because of a lack of human resources, executive activities and financial and organisational measures for implementation. In order to make substantial progress in the field of implementation of minority language rights it is necessary both to modify and harmonise the relevant legislation and also to put into effect organisational, executive and financial measures which can make the rules a living practice. It is also important to differentiate between various minority languages and various individual situations and to take into account the actual needs of minorities, the possibilities of the administration and so-called acquired language rights.
Indigenous Peoples' Land Rights: Developing a Sui Generis Approach to Ownership and Restitution
Authors: Duffy Aoife 
Published: November 2008

AbstractIndigenous peoples experience some of the highest levels of poverty and marginalisation in the world. Land dispossession, forcible relocation and assimilationist programmes contributed to the destruction of indigenous peoples' social and political structures, resulting in physical and spiritual dislocation. Indigenous peoples' contemporary situation is understood by examining their historico-political and legal location, for example, colonial conquests underpinned by dubious legal doctrines, such as terra nullius and uti possidetis which crystallised European borders at decolonisation. Initially facilitating the expropriation of indigenous peoples' lands, international law has evolved to a point where accommodation of restitution is possible. Considering land as central to indigenous peoples' cultures, the article traces the process of acknowledging indigenous peoples' land rights, from the original state-centric position of denial and non-recognition, to one of gradual acceptance, catalysed by progressions in international and human rights law. The author questions whether this new era of 'partnership' and 'mutual respect' can alleviate the extreme conditions experienced by indigenous peoples worldwide, and, moreover, whether these emerging standards will adequately protect indigenous peoples' autonomy and control over their traditional lands in a time of impinging material and economic interests of states and other non-state entities.