bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The legacy of past climate and landscape change on species’ current experienced climate and elevation ranges across latitude: a multispecies study utilizing mammals in western North America
Authors: Guralnick Robert 
Published: May 2006

ABSTRACTAim Elevation and climate ranges across latitude experienced by 21 wide‐ranging mammal species in western North America were summarized to examine two questions: (1) do populations in the northern and southern portions of a species’ range experience different climates or are environments selected to remain similar to climates at the core of ranges; and (2) how do species’ elevational ranges, experienced temperature seasonality and temperature ranges change across latitude? Given the larger effects of climate oscillations in the north vs. the south, a predicted outcome is for species to conserve climate niches across latitude and to show reduced climate and elevation ranges in the north. An alternative outcome is latitudinal niche diversification and increased climate variation in the north.Location Western North America.Methods The questions above were examined using a combination of species occurrence data bases, climate data bases, simple summaries of means and standard deviations and by testing summaries against random distributions across latitude for 21 mammal species from a variety of orders.Results The results showed that: (i) most species conserve their niche strongly or weakly given overall temperature gradients from north to south; (ii) seasonality experienced by species is relatively static until the highest latitudes despite directional trends across the region; and (iii) the elevation range and temperature variation that species experience decreases from south to north.Main conclusions Populations at range edges appear to partition environments to remain closer to temperature values similar to those at the core of the range. In addition, seasonality is not a likely explanatory factor of genetic diversity in latitudinal gradients. The data are instead more consistent with predictions that a combination of higher gene‐flow, increasing environmental instability and decreasing elevation gradients in the north compared to the south may lead to negative correlations between latitude and species’ climate variation. The results corroborate risks faced by northern mammal populations to global climate changes.
COLLABORATIVE CAPACITY AND STRATEGIES IN AREA‐BASED INITIATIVES
Authors: SULLIVAN HELEN , BARNES MARIAN , MATKA ELIZABETH 
Published: May 2006

Despite considerable evaluator investment in examining partnership activity in UK public policy initiatives, little attention has been paid to the role of strategy in supporting the generation and harnessing of the resources necessary to collaborate effectively. This paper focuses on one of the first New Labour initiatives – Health Action Zones (HAZ) – and draws on national evaluation findings to delineate local strategies, assess their application in practice and reflect on their contribution to collaborative action.The paper argues that even within nationally constrained policy initiatives there is sufficient flexibility for local actors to select strategies to steer collaborative effort, but these strategies are informed by their operating context and are liable to change in response to experience and changes in context. In addition, the evaluation findings suggest that effective strategies are those which harness collaborative capacity across a range of dimensions. The paper concludes by identifying implications for theory, policy and evaluation.
The Use of Derivatives by Investment Managers and Implications for Portfolio Performance and Risk*
Authors: FONG KINGSLEY , GALLAGHER DAVID R. , NG AARON 
Published: May 2006

ABSTRACTThis study provides an empirical examination of derivative instruments used by institutional investors. Our analysis provides a unique insight into the role and benefits of derivative securities in active equity portfolio management. We contribute to the literature by using a database that comprises the periodic portfolio holdings and daily trades of institutional fund managers. The consequence of derivative use is analyzed using a number of performance and risk measures. Overall, we find the use of derivatives have a negligible impact on fund returns, and is primarily attributed to low levels of derivative exposure relative to total fund size. We also evaluate how derivatives are used by considering the trading strategies executed by active investment managers. Specifically, option trading patterns are consistent with the execution of momentum trading strategies. This study also documents that active investment managers prefer not to use options markets to engage in informed trading.
Pre‐attentive representation of sound duration in the human brain
Authors: Sysoeva Olga , Takegata Rika , Näätänen Risto 
Published: May 2006

AbstractStudies using a brain index for pre‐attentive change detection, the mismatch negativity (MMN), suggested distinct neuronal populations for signaling changes in sound duration and frequency. However, these studies used only durations within the temporal window of loudness summation (ca. 200 ms) in which any duration change is accompanied by a loudness change. Hence, the present study employed stimulus durations both beyond and within this temporal window in order to examine the genuine duration representation in the brain. Magnetic mismatch responses (MMNm) for duration and frequency changes were compared with each other. The equivalent current dipole (ECD) of the duration MMNm was located in the auditory cortex slightly posterior to that for the frequency MMNm irrespective of stimulus duration. The results suggested separate memory representations for sound duration and frequency in the human brain.
The region‐specific activities of lipid rafts during axon growth and guidance
Authors: Kamiguchi Hiroyuki 
Published: May 2006

AbstractThe generation and control of cell polarity is a fundamental mechanism for directed migration of the cell. In developing neurons, the axonal growth cone recognizes environmental molecular cues and migrates toward its correct target, thereby forming neuronal networks. The spatial information provided by environmental cues directs axon growth and guidance through generating polarity of intracellular signals and cytoskeletal organization in the growth cone. This polarization process is dependent on lipid rafts, specialized microdomains in the cell membrane. Lipid rafts in specific regions of the growth cone are involved in axon growth and guidance. For example, forward migration of the growth cone requires raft membranes in its leading front. Recent experiments have suggested that lipid rafts function as a platform for localized signaling downstream of adhesion molecules and guidance receptors. The rafts assemble into an active membrane domain that captures and reorganizes the cytoskeletal machinery. In this way, the spatial control of signaling through raft membranes plays a critical role in translating extracellular information into polarized motility of the growth cone.
TETRASAT: a program for the population analysis of allotetraploid microsatellite data
Authors: MARKWITH S. H. , STEWART D. J. , DYER J. L. 
Published: May 2006

AbstractMicrosatellite markers are quite popular due to their degree of polymorphism and efficiency; however, the utility of such markers for analysing allotetraploid species is often hampered by an inability to determine allele copy number for partial heterozygotes. tetrasat is a program that uses an iterative substitution process to account for all probable combinations of allele copy numbers in populations with partial heterozygote samples. The program subsequently calculates allele frequencies, and mean Hardy–Weinberg expected heterozygosity (HE), Shannon–Weiner Diversity Index (H′) and Nei's measure of population differentiation (GST) are reported for each locus and population. Of equal importance is the calculation of statistical variability generated by the missing data and allele substitution process, which allows for assessment of the strength of conclusions drawn from the statistics.
A means of estimating the completeness of haplotype sampling using the Stirling probability distribution
Authors: DIXON CHRISTOPHER J. 
Published: May 2006

AbstractI present a tool for use in phylogeography that helps estimate the completeness of haplotype sampling, based on the number of individuals analysed and the number of different haplotypes they show. Applying the Stirling probability distribution and Bayes’ theorem, a posterior probability distribution of the total number of haplotypes, including those yet to be observed, may be obtained. This enables one to deduce if the data are complete enough for further analysis. A program for calculating the posterior probabilities is available at http://www.botanik.univie.ac.at/plantchorology/haplo.htm.
Isolation and characterization of microsatellite markers in the invasive shrub Mahonia aquifolium (Berberidaceae) and their applicability in related species
Authors: ROß C. , DURKA W. 
Published: May 2006

AbstractMicrosatellite loci were isolated from a Mahonia aquifolium cultivar. We describe the variability of 10 loci in invasive European and native North American M. aquifolium and their transspecies amplification in native Mahonia repens and Mahonia pinnata from North America and one species of the related genus Berberis (Berberis vulgaris), native to Europe. The markers should be useful to reveal the genetic origin of invasive Mahonia populations and differences in the genetic make up between invasive and native populations.
THE LACK OF CUMULATION IN FOREIGN POLICY STUDIES: THE CASE OF BRITAIN AND THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY *
Authors: FAURBY IB 
Published: May 2006

ABSTRACTIn this article the lack of cumulation in foreign policy studies is discussed by way of analyzing fourteen books on British policy on Western European integration. A surprising non‐use of prior studies within the same subject area is found, and the possible reasons for this is discussed. Particularly the lack of explicit hypotheses and conclusions and the tendency to compile instead of select variables is noted. It appears that there is a gap between theoretical and empirical studies in international relations which cannot easily be closed. However, the article concludes with a plea for more comparative studies on foreign policy.
ON THE ADEQUACY OF THE CONCEPT OF ALIENATION IN EMPIRICAL RESEARCH
Authors: ZWETKOFF CATHERINE 
Published: May 2006

ABSTRACTThe alienation concept has been severely criticized on the grounds of its unspecificity and its uselessness in empirical social research. This paper aims to call into question these arguments and to show through a brief overview of the alienation literature that, whatever epistemological position one takes about its normative content, the concept is useful to promote empirical research related to existant theories, to bring significant modifications to these theories and to elaborate and test new theoretical paradigms.
Conditions for Conventional and Unconventional Political Participation: An Empirical Test of Economic and Sociological Hypotheses
Authors: OPP KARL‐DIETER , BUROW‐AUFFARTH KÄTE , HEINRICHS UWE 
Published: May 2006

ABSTRACTFor almost any social phenomenon there exist a great many different theories seeking to explain the respective social facts. This holds also for the field of political participation which is the subject of this paper. In order to explain why people participate more or less in a conventional or unconventional way, not only hypotheses of sociology and political science might be applied. Economics, too, claims to offer valid explanations. In this situation there arises the problem of which theories are superior. In order to contribute to answering this question, some hypotheses on political participation are stated, based upon utility theory. This ‘economic model’ of (conventional and unconventional) political participation is empirically confronted with two sociological theories of political participation. A theoretical analysis indicates that the economic model implies conditions for the validity of the two sociological theories. Furthermore, a secondary analysis with data from Western Germany showed that the economic model was, in spite of measurement problems, superior to the sociological theories.
The Influence of the Socio‐Political Context on Political Socialization
Authors: PERCHERON ANNICK 
Published: May 2006

ABSTRACTThe influence of the context on the development of political attitudes among adolescents is frequently forgotten. This paper is an attempt to evaluate the influence of the place where adolescents live on their perception of politics, and the relation between ideological preferences and political attitudes towards nationalism expressed by adolescents and the political context of the commune where they live. The results show that adolescents do not form the same system of values in different social or political contexts. But the influence of context varies with the intensity of the ideological choices of adolescents. It is when adolescents have loose ideological preferences that the dependency relationships between the nature of the context and the attitudes developed are strongest.
Some Problems of Method and Operational Techniques in the Study of Corporatism*
Authors: POOLE MICHAEL 
Published: May 2006

ABSTRACTThis contribution is concerned with examining the appropriate methods for measuring corporatism in actual research designs. After a review of the main theoretical approaches to this question. a series of measures are derived from the paradigm of Winkler (1977) encompassing unity. order, nationalism and success and, more specifically the operating principles of co‐operation. discipline. collectivity and mobilization. Research data from a study of managers in the United Kingdom are then presented and, on the basis of factor analysis, the original categories are reformulated in terms of control over markets. labour. international economic relationships and capital. and the operating principles of prices and incomes control. discipline, neo‐mercantilism and control of investment strategy and economic resource location. More generally, too, in this area of study. a very close relationship between theoretical perspective and the selection of particular research methods is identified.
The Politics of the Public Service: Some Implications of Recent Theories of the State for the Analysis of Administrative Systems
Authors: TODD JENNIFER 
Published: May 2006

AbstractMany theorists agree that there has been a shift in the locus of power from the legislature to the executive in modern Western democracies. The political importance of the administrative system has therefore increased dramatically. In this review of the literature it is argued that this has not led to greater efficiency, nor can it promise greater stability. The neo‐Marxist analyses of the crisis tendencies of advanced capitalism offer more promising hypotheses. They claim that administrative and public sector institutions cannot meet the goals set for them in a capitalist society and that they tend to generate radical dissent among sections of their own workers. Yet these state institutions also lay the foundations for a socialist society in which institutions are guided by social values other than short‐term profitability. While this paper supports the neo‐Marxist arguments, it argues that they stand in need of empirical testing, both by comparative historical study and by research into the changes in popular political culture.
The Death of the Elector: Should Differential Mortality and Fertility Be Taken into Account in Electoral Study?*
Authors: FAVRE PIERRE 
Published: May 2006

ABSTRACTIs electoral sociology wrong to ignore, as it almost always does, the inequalities which find their way into the electorate from one election to another solely because of the differences in mortality and fertility between social classes? In order to answer this question, it is first necessary to clarify the phenomenon to be investigated. The construction of a theoretical diagram gives form, on the basis of fictitious data, to the way in which demographic factors affect electoral results, and makes it possible to determine what method of investigation to use (cohort analysis) and the nature of the demographic impact looked for. When an attempt is then made, using French data, to evaluate the effects of demographic inequalities on election results, it has to be concluded that neither differential mortality according to socio‐occupational category, nor differential mortality according to sex, nor differential fertility have had significant effects in France. While electoral sociology would thus appear at present to be right, the fact remains that any research concerned with a population investigation over time could likewise give some thought to demographic changes which alter its subject and, in so doing, make use of cohort analysis.
Institutional Obstacles to Partisan Mobilization? Another Look at the ‘Franchise Factor’ in British Party Development*
Authors: WALD KENNETH D. 
Published: May 2006

ABSTRACTIn attempting to account for the relatively late emergence of a powerful workers’ party, students of British political development have advanced two competing explanations. A cultural approach, based on a conversion model of electoral change, argues that Labour's emergence was hindered by the low level of political consciousness among the British working class prior to World War I. According to the contrasting structural approach, which follows a mobilization model of electoral transformation, Labour's slow progress before the war can be attributed to various restrictive features of the electoral system that excluded the party's natural constituency. Through ecological analysis of a set of 'surrogate’ constituencies in the pre‐war electoral system, this paper examines the social contours of political incorporation, and analyses the probable partisan impact of restricted participation. The results reveal deficiencies in the structural approach that can be remedied by reconciling the insights from conversion and mobilization theory.
The Ideological Mediation of Party‐political Responses to Social Change*
Authors: SILVERMAN LAWRENCE 
Published: May 2006

ABSTRACTThis article argues that the responses of political parties to social change are mediated by ideology, which offers only a limited range of options. What these are, how and why they are limited, and in what ways they may account for recent political developments are the main themes of the article. They are treated in the context of a general review of the relations between ideologies, parties and change, using a modified model of the traditional Left–Right spectrum based on the concept of a ‘relative and dynamic Centre’. The resulting mode of analysis, here called ‘idealectics’, is illustrated with reference to Western and especially British experience over the last two decades.
A Simultaneous Model of Politico‐economic Interaction in Sweden, 1970–82*
Authors: LYBECK JOHAN A. 
Published: May 2006

ABSTRACTThis paper contains a critique of much Of the work on politico‐economic models. These models are criticized on four grounds: that they should have a more explicit economic structure, that they should be estimated by systems estimators to prevent simultaneity bias, that they should be subjected more to full‐model simulations, and that the estimations should be carried out over each election period separately better to reveal parameter instability. The hypotheses are tested on a monthly model of Sweden for the period 1970–82. It turns out that the interaction between the economy and the polity in this period is so small that the first three points of criticism are irrelevant. Estimated parameters in the evaluation function and in the policy function(s) are, however, so unstable as to cast doubt on the relevance of politico‐economic models. This does not deny that there may be an interaction on specific instances, but there does not appear to be a systematic relationship.
On Voting Procedures for Decision‐making on Public Goods
Authors: DE BRUIN GERT P. 
Published: May 2006

ABSTRACTIf one accepts Samuelson's verdict that no decentralized pricing system can serve to determine optimally the levels of collective consumption, and that some other type of procedure or mechanism would have to be tried, two problems immediately arise. First, representation, i.e. the phenomenon that in all other existing mechanisms only a small fraction of the individuals involved can participate directly. The second problem is co‐ordination, due to the fact that parallel mechanisms have to be used for the allocation of private and public goods. Furthermore, if one would opt for some sort of voting procedure in order to determine the levels of public goods, the additional problem of incentive compatibility has to be coped with. The article aims to clarify the political relevance of these issues.
Election promises and government performance in Greece: PASOK's fulfilment of its 1981 election pledges
Authors: KALOGEROPOULOU EFTHALIA 
Published: May 2006

Abstract. The ‘mandate theory’ of democracy rests on the idea that electors choose political parties on the basis of the alternative government programmes they offer during an election campaign. Thus, the question of whether or not programmes are fulfilled in government is central in assessing the effectiveness of democratic processes. In its election manifesto for the 1981 general election the then opposition socialist party, PASOK, proposed a radical reform of Greek society. The degree to which its proposals were actually implemented in its first period of office (1981–85) points up the constraints facing any reformist party trying to fulfil its promises. Following recently published research on pledge fulfilment in Britain and Canada, this study identifies the definite pledges made by PASOK in its 1981 electoral manifesto and checks how far they actually found their way into government outputs up to 1985.The main findings are that PASOK clearly promised important reforms in 1981 and to a considerable extent implemented them.
Contradictions in market models of politics: the case of party strategies and voter linkages
Authors: WELLHOFER E. SPENCER 
Published: May 2006

Abstract:Market models of politics are derived from economic theory where they were advanced in an age of political corruption to achieve four objectives: discipline, universality, liberty and unity in society; only later were such models imported into political discourse. The most pure form of the market model of politics is found in the vote maximization model; yet as a model for political parties and elections, the realism of its assumptions often is held inadequate. While more realistic assumptions generate the vote production model of party strategy, this model rapidly degenerates into the lazy monopolist model which contradicts the role of parties in democracy. The origins of these problems lie in the contradictions within the market ordering principle. Despite these underlying contradictions, market models of politics and parties have gained increasing acceptance both among intellectuals and the general public with numerous implications for the politics of liberal democracies.