bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
An AFM Study of Poly(L‐lactic acid) and Poly(D‐lactic acid) Macromolecules and Their Stereocomplexes at the Solid‐Air Interface
Authors: Narladkar Ashok , Balnois Eric , Grohens Yves 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThe self assembly of PLA enantiomers have been studied at the nanometer scale using atomic force microscopy. At first, the conformation of D and L PLA macromolecules in dilute regime and the initial state of aggregation of both enantiomers were successively observed and compared with the aggregation of PLLA/PDLA blends. Our results points out differences in the aggregates structure between the homo‐aggregates of each enantiomers and the 3 Dimensional stereocomplexes formed with racemic mixture of D and L entities. On the one hand, D or L PLA chains, which adopt a rigid conformation in dilute regime, form gradually aggregates that tend to grow from a nucleation center. On the other hand, stereocomplexes have a non‐compact structure and are elongated with height variations within the fibrils that support the side by side aggregation of D and L helical structures to form thicker fibrils.
Self‐Assembled Nanotubes in Organic Solvents
Authors: Diáz Nancy , Simon François‐Xavier , Schmutz Marc , Mésini Philippe 
Published: July 2006

AbstractSelf‐assembled nanotubes are formed spontaneously in alkane solvents by a simple diamide compound: the 3,5‐Bis‐(5‐hexylcarbamoyl‐pentyloxy)‐benzoic acid decyl ester (BHPB‐10). The tubular shape was proved by freeze fracture TEM and by SANS techniques. The tubes have a mean radius of 121 Å and a length of the order of a micron. BHPB‐14, a homologue of this compound, bearing a longer ester chain (C14 instead of C10), self‐assemble into flat ribbons under the same conditions. FTIR and UV spectroscopy showed that H‐bonds between amide groups and π‐π interaction between aromatic groups are involved in both kinds of aggregates and in the solid state as well. The nanotubes feature specific interactions between the ester carbonyls. Hence we show that ester, by its length and by the interactions between carbonyls determines the formation of nanotubes.
Organogelators and Polymer Crystallisation
Authors: Thierry Annette , Straupé Christine , Wittmann Jean‐Claude , Lotz Bernard 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThe specific impact of low molecular weight organic gels on polymer crystallisation is examined. Conventional nucleating agents (NA) influence the polyolefins crystallisation and improve their mechanical properties, via an epitaxial mechanism. In the particular case where the pair NA/polymer form a gel at intermediate temperatures on cooling, optical properties (clarity) are significantly improved. This improvement is linked with the ability of organic gels to develop 3‐D fibrillar network. The fibres morphology offers a large specific area, thus produces a high density of nuclei, homogeneously dispersed. Gelling organic molecules are certainly a promising route towards the design of efficient additives in polymer processing.
Hierarchical reporting, aggregation, and information cascades
Authors: Arya Anil , Glover Jonathan , Mittendorf Brian 
Published: July 2006

AbstractAggregation is commonly associated with loss of information. In contrast, this paper shows that aggregation can actually enhance information down‐the‐road by deterring information cascades. In particular, when hierarchical tiers forward only aggregate recommendations rather than nitty‐gritty details, it increases the uncertainty faced by subsequent tiers. This makes individuals at higher levels more willing to rely on and convey their own views rather than simply rubber stamping suggestions from lower levels. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Attitudes towards sex selection for non‐medical reasons: a review
Authors: Hall Sue , Reid Erin , Marteau Theresa M. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractEarly non‐invasive fetal sexing is widely available over the Internet, leading to concerns about its possible use for sex selection. The aim of this review is to summarise the results of surveys describing lay attitudes towards sex selection for non‐medical reasons to help address or inform such concerns. A search of electronic databases and key journals was supplemented by an Internet search and citation‐tracking. Twenty‐one quantitative studies were identified. Most were conducted in the US, with five recent studies in the UK and Germany. Most studies found that, overall, people were not in favour of sex selection. However, this varied from 94 to 18%. People may hold more negative attitudes when the method of sex selection is specified, particularly if this involves termination of pregnancy (TOP). Attitudes towards the general availability of sex selection are less negative than those towards personal use. Attitudes were consistently negative in German surveys. Little is known of such attitudes outside the US, the UK and Germany, and how such attitudes may change as new sex selection technologies become available. Studies of use of early non‐invasive fetal sexing for sex selection for non‐medical reasons are needed to assess the extent to which concerns about usage are justified and to assist in debates on how these might be most appropriately addressed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Regulating post‐implantation fetal sex selection: a UK perspective
Authors: Newiss Hilary 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThis article reviews the current and potential laws relevant to post‐implantation fetal social sex selection and considers whether they could provide an effective deterrent and control of the practice, if the United Kingdom decided that such control were desirable. It concludes that enacting, drafting and enforcing of any legislation throws up many difficult practical and ethical issues. These issues need to be debated and further information collected before any legislation is rushed into. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Attitudes to and practices regarding sex selection in China
Authors: Cecilia Lai‐wan Chan , Eric Blyth , Celia Hoi‐yan Chan 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThis paper explores the problem of China's ‘missing’ girls—estimated to run into many millions. It considers the impact of the underpinning Confucian value system in China that has produced a culture of son preference and which, together with China's compulsory family planning program and ‘one child policy’, has effectively established a ‘one son policy’. Discussion of the various means by which the birth or survival of daughters have traditionally been prevented provides the context for identifying the contribution of new sex selection procedures to the maintenance of son preference in contemporary Chinese society. The paper concludes that China's son preference is not simply a personal problem for the millions of ‘missing girls’ who were destined to live a shorter life and for the surviving girls who continue to face considerable discrimination simply because they are of the ‘wrong’ sex; it heralds a social and demographic disaster of major proportions for which neither the government nor the people of China appear to have the will or the means to forestall. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
‘Reproductive autonomy’ versus public good?
Authors: O'Neill Onora 
Published: July 2006

AbstractHitherto sex selection could be achieved only by destroying any fetus or child of the unwanted sex. Sperm selection may change that. The technology could be used to ‘balance’ families. However its use in certain developing countries might ‘unbalance’ populations, with serious, if unintended, consequences. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Changes in emotion regulation and psychological adjustment following use of a group psychosocial support program for women recently diagnosed with breast cancer
Authors: Cameron Linda D. , Booth Roger J. , Schlatter Melanie , Ziginskas Danute , Harman John E. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThis study assesses the efficacy of a group intervention in altering emotion regulation processes and promoting adjustment in women with breast cancer. Using a design with 10 alternating phases of availability of the intervention versus standard care, we assessed women participating in one of three conditions: a 12‐week group intervention (N = 54); a decliner group who refused the intervention (N = 56), and a standard care group who were not offered the intervention (N = 44). The intervention included training in relaxation, guided imagery, meditation, emotional expression, and exercises promoting control beliefs and benefit‐finding. Emotion regulation processes and adjustment were assessed at baseline (following diagnosis), 4 months (corresponding with the end of the intervention), 6 months, and 12 months. At 4 months, intervention participants (compared to decliners and standard care participants) reported greater increases in use of relaxation‐oriented techniques, perceived control, emotional well‐being, and coping efficacy, and, greater decreases in perceived risk of recurrence, cancer worry, and anxiety. Intervention participants also reported relatively greater decreases in emotional suppression from baseline to 12 months, suggesting that the intervention had a delayed impact on these tendencies. The findings suggest an emotion regulation intervention can beneficially influence emotional experiences and regulation over the first year following diagnosis. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A bronchoscopic scoring system for airway secretions—airway cellularity and microbiological validation
Authors: Chang A.B. , Faoagali J. , Cox N.C. , Marchant J.M. , Dean B. , Petsky H.L. , Masters I.B. 
Published: July 2006

AbstractThere is currently no validated scoring system for quantification of airway secretions in children. A user friendly, valid scoring system of airway secretions during flexible bronchoscopy (FB) would be useful for comparative purposes in clinical medicine and research. The objective of this study was to validate our bronchoscopic secretion (BS) scoring system by examining the relationship between the amount of secretions seen at bronchoscopy with airway cellularity and microbiology. In 106 children undergoing FB, the relationship of BS grades with bronchocalveolar lavage (BAL) cellularity and infective state (bacterial and viral infections) were examined using receptor operator curves (ROC). BAL was obtained according to European Respiratory Society guidelines; first lavage for microbiology and second lavage for cellularity. Area under the ROC was significant for total cell count (TCC) and neutrophil % but not for lymphocyte %. BS grade significantly related to infection positive state (χ = 5.85, P = 0.016). The area under the ROC for infection positive state versus BS grade was 0.645, 95% CI 0.527–0.763. The BS scoring system is a valid method for quantifying airway secretions in children undergoing bronchoscopy. The system related well to airway cellularity and neutrophilia, as well as to an airway infective state. However, the system is only complementary to cell counts and cultures and cannot replace these laboratory quantification techniques. Pediatr Pulmonol. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Factors affecting culvert use by vertebrates along two stretches of road in southern Portugal
Authors: Ascensão Fernando , Mira António 
Published: July 2006

AbstractA major target for environmental managers when trying to minimise the road‐barrier effect on wildlife is to improve permeability to animal movements. Previous studies have demonstrated that drainage culverts are used by vertebrates, although knowledge of the main influencing factors remains limited. The use of 34 culverts from two roads in southern Portugal, differing in traffic volume, vehicle speeds and configuration, was evaluated by the analysis of terrestrial vertebrate footprint data (408 passage‐operative days). Culvert crossings were related to various explanatory variables by means of canonical ordination techniques. We recorded 901 complete crossings, corresponding to an average of 2.2 crossings/culvert/operative day. Thirteen taxa were detected, all in more than one passage. Animal species included reptiles, small mammals, lagomorphs, carnivores and domestic dogs and cats. Our results suggest that fencing might have a funnelling effect, directing larger animals toward culverts. Also, vegetation covering culvert entrances seems to have a positive effect, particularly on genets; longer passages with entrances far from the pavement were, apparently, avoided by smaller animals; a lower number of crossings was detected on passages with detritus pits; the closest passages to urban areas are more often used by domestic species; forest‐living species favour passages with low, open land cover nearby; and smaller species, like lagomorphs and small mammals, appear to use more culverts near the pavement, which probably reflects the importance of road verges as refuges for these species. Although not used by all species present in the study area, constructing numerous passages of different sizes without detritus pits and which are distributed along roads might be an important step in mitigating road fragmentation effects on animal populations.
Shoreline Changes Along the Southeastern Coast of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts for the Past 200 Years
Authors: Ogden J.Gordon 
Published: July 2006

Shoreline changes since 1776, including two 30-yr periods separated by nearly 100 yr are documented from surveys, topographic maps, harbor charts, and aerial photographs for the southeastern corner of the island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts (41°25′ N, 70°35′ W). From 1776 to 1969, a barrier beach has receded by more than 880 m, and average rate of 4.6 m/yr. A series of four detailed surveys from 1840 to 1886 document consistent shoreline retreat in this area of 3.1 m/yr.For the period 1938–1969, planimetry from aerial photographs and field observation indicate that more than 28 ha and nearly 3 × 106 m3 of foreland composed of till have washed away. A house, located 200 m from the cliff edge of the foreland in 1938 was only 56 m from the cliff edge in July 1972.Violent storms were associated with the opening of the bay behind the barrier beach in nearly the same location in 1856, 1886, 1938, and 1954. Easterly migration of the opening results in rapid erosion of the southeastern corner of the island (Wasque Point) and eventual closing of the opening.Field observation of the 1954 opening indicates that the mechanism of failure of the barrier beach is primarily by storm tide-induced subsidence. Subsequently, strong (up to 1.2 mps) easterly currents cause migration of the opening to the east and closure within 15 yr.A summary review of evidence for changes in sea level in the past is suggested in partial explanation for the consistent shoreline retreat described in this paper.
Pollen Distribution in the Northeast Pacific Ocean
Authors: Heusser Linda , Balsam William L. 
Published: July 2006

Distributional patterns of palynomorphs in core tops from the continental margin of the northeast Pacific Ocean (30°–60°N lat 118°–150°W long) reflect the effects of fluvial and marine sedimentation as well as the distribution of terrestrial vegetation. Maximum pollen concentration (grains/cm3 of marine sediment) occurs off the mouth of the Columbia River and off San Francisco Bay (the outlet of the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers) and appears to be coincident with areas of high terrigenous lutite deposition. The abundance of pollen and spores in shelf sediments is extremely variable with high concentrations typical only of the finest sediments. On the slope, rise and abyssal plain, pollen concentration shows a general decrease with distance from shore. This suggests that in the northeast Pacific pollen is transported into the marine environment primarily by rivers and that, in terms of sedimentation, pollen may be regarded as part of the organic component of fine-grained lutum.Pinus, the principal pollen component of marine sediment on the northeast Pacific margin, is concentrated adjacent to the major drainage systems of areas in which pine grows. Tsuga heterophylla, Picea, and Alnus, important components of the temperate conifer forest, are concentrated off the area of their optimal development, western Washington. Quercus, Sequoia, and Compositae concentrations are greater off the southern California coast where they are prominent in the vegetation. The relative (percent) abundance of most of these pollen taxa in marine sediments reflects a positive relationship to their distribution on land. Picea and Alnus are relatively more important north of 45°N, Tsuga heterophylla between 45°–50°N, and Quercus, Sequoia, and Compositae south of 40°N. Pine percentages increase seaward, from less than 10% of the pollen sum in shelf sediments to over 50% in sediments on the abyssal plain. This seems to indicate selective transport of pine pollen. Factor analysis of pollen data from the 61 core tops results in four pollen assemblages. Three of these assemblages (Quercus-Compositae-Sequoia, Tsuga heterophylla-Pinus, and Alnus-Picea) reflect the distribution of vegetation on the adjacent continent, one (Pinus) reflects primarily the effects of marine sedimentation.
An Equable Glaciopluvial in the West: Pleniglacial Evidence of Increased Precipitation on a Gradient from the Great Basin to the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts
Authors: Wells Philip V. 
Published: July 2006

Dated macrofossil evidence documents the widespread occurrence of woodland in what are now desert lowlands of southwestern North America from the last pleniglacial (ca. 20,000 yr B.P.) to late glacial/Holocene transition (12,000–8000 yr B.P.). The composition of the Pleistocene woodlands indicates that they had already differentiated geographically in modern form, though immensely more extensive than today. The pinyon-juniper woodland (Pinus monophylla, Juniperus osteosperma) of the Mohave Desert province had not yet penetrated the central Great Basin, but extended from southern Nevada south through the vast lowlands of the Mohave and westernmost Sonoran Deserts to southeastern California and Baja California. The strongly xerophytic Mohavean woodland was characterized by a very well-marked altitudinal and latitudinal zonation with juniper-Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) sorting out below pinyon-juniper woodland, and with live oaks restricted to the upper level along the lower Colorado River drainage. Southeastward, the Sonoran Desert province was similarly zoned, but with the more slender-leaved Pinus edulis var. fallax as pinyon and with more live oaks in the upper zone. However, the pleniglacial woodland of the Chihuahuan Desert province was almost unzoned, inasmuch as the less xerophytic species of pinyon and live oaks prevailed over the entire span of available elevation; the pinyon was the very slender-leaved P. cembroides var. remota.The overall paleozonation indicates a strong northwest-to-southeast gradient of increasing summer rain with decreasing distance from the monsoonal source area over the Gulf of Mexico, as at present, but augmented pluvially along the same gradient. A key piece of evidence is the counterintuitive latitudinal-zonational anomaly between about 30 and 40° N in southwestern North America; the lower limits of modern vegetational zones are depressed with decreasing latitude (e.g., ca. 500 m lower at 34° than at 36° N). The axis of the gradient actually extends from northwest to southeast, paralleling the monsoonal gradient of increasing summer rain, which no doubt causes the apparent anomaly. During the Wisconsinan glacial, the latitudinal anomaly was greatly steepened, a fact requiring a pluvial increase in precipitation over the Southwest. The monsoonalpluvial pattern is supported by the Neotoma record of a northwest-to-southeast gradient of increasing diversity of evergreen oaks requiring summer rain, and by a parallel segregation of pinyon species. Equability of seasons during the last glacial is also suggested by the Neotoma macrofossil data.
Late Glacial and Postglacial Pollen and Plant Macrofossils from Lake West Okoboji, Northwestern Iowa
Authors: Van Zant Kent 
Published: July 2006

Pollen and plant macrofossils preserved in lake sediment from Lake West Okoboji, Dickinson County, Iowa, indicate how the vegetation of that area changed during the late glacial and postglacial. A closed coniferous forest, dominated by spruce and larch trees, produced thePicea-Larixpollen assemblage zone. Fir trees were a minor constituent of this forest; pine trees were probably absent. Black ash trees increased in abundance at Lake West Okoboji and by 13,500 yr ago were an important constituent of the forest. The sediment accumulation rate and the pollen influx were low throughout this time. Birch and alder pollen peaked in abundance approximately 11,800 yr ago. Pollen influx increased rapidly as birch and alder replaced coniferous trees on the uplands. A deciduous forest, containing abundant oak and elm trees, replaced the birch-alder-coniferous forest. This forest inhabited northwestern Iowa from approximately 11,000 to 9000 yr B.P. Nonarboreal species became prevalent between approximately 9000 and 7700 yr B.P. as prairie began to replace deciduous forest on the uplands. Charred remains ofAmorpha canescensand other upland species attest to the presence of prairie fires as an aid in establishing prairie and destroying the forest. The pollen influx declined. The warmest, driest part of the postglacial occurred in northwestern Iowa from approximately 7700 to 3200 yr ago. Lake level fell 9 to 10 m, and prairie extended to the edge of the lake. Wet-ground weeds inhabited areas near lake level which were alternately flooded, then dry. Pollen influx was approximately 100 grains/cm2/yr during the driest time in this dry interval.Deciduous trees, particularly oaks, returned after approximately 3200 yr B.P. Prairie continued to occupy the uplands but trees were more common in the lowlying wet areas. Settlement by Europeans in northwestern Iowa about 1865 is marked by an increase in weed pollen. Macrofossil deposition changed in 1910 in response to the stabilization of lake level.