The reality of divorce. Reply to Gordon (2005).

R. M. Gordon (2005; see record 2005-08806-011) insists in his commentary on J. S. Wallerstein and J. M. Lewis's (2004; see record 2004-17367-002) work that the impact of divorce on children is fleeting, and he proposes, without supporting evidence, that the long-lasting psychological problems displayed by children of divorce in adolescence and adulthood reflect more the preexisting psychopathology of the parents and their traumatic parenting than any consequence of the disrupted marriage and the unhappy sequelae that so regularly constitute the postdivorce family. The authors' data, based on intensive periodic clinical study of these youngsters and their parents over several decades, indicate the contrary. No research has established that divorcing parents exhibit as a class more mental illness than parents in intact families. The authors' findings speak to the unmet needs of children of divorce for psychological help with their intimate relationships when they enter adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Science and technology in the region: The output of regional science and technology, its strengths and its leading institutions

Summary We operationalize scientific output in a region by means of the number of articles (as in the SciSearch database) per year and technology output by means of the number of patent applications (as in the database of the European Patent Office) per priority year. All informetric analyses were done using the DIALOG online-system. The main research questions are the following: Which scientific and technological fields or topics are most influent within a region and which institutions or companies are mainly publishing articles or holding patents? Do the distributions of regional science and technology fields and of publishing institutions follow the well-known informetric function? Are there - as it is expected - only few fields and few institutions which dominate the region? Is there a connection between the economic power of a region and the regional publication and patent output? Examples studied in detail are seven German regions: Aachen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Köln (Cologne), Leipzig - Halle - Dessau, München (Munich), and Stuttgart. Three different indicators were used, science and technology attraction of a region (number of scientific articles and patents), science and technology intensity (articles and patents per 1,000 inhabitants), and science and technology density (articles and patents per 1 billion EURO gross value added). Top region concerning both attraction and intensity is Munich, concerning density it is Aachen.     

Mapping of continuous floristic gradients in grasslands using hyperspectral imagery

Transitions between plant species assemblages are often continuous with the form of the transition dependent on the ‘slope’ of environmental gradients and on the style of self-organization in vegetation. Image segmentation can present misleading or even erroneous results if applied to continuous spatial changes in vegetation. Even methods that allow for multiple-class memberships of pixels presuppose the existence of ideal types of species assemblages that constitute mixtures—an assumption that does not fit the case of continua where any section of a gradient is as ‘pure’ as any other section like in modulations of grassland species composition.Thus, we attempted to spatially model floristic gradients in Bavarian meadows by extrapolating axes of an unconstrained ordination of species data. The models were based on high-resolution hyperspectral airborne imagery. We further modelled the distribution of plant functional response types (Ellenberg indicator values) and the cover values of selected species. The models were made with partial least squares (PLS) regression analyses. The realistic utility of the regression models was evaluated by full leave-one-out cross-validation.The modelled floristic gradients showed a considerable agreement with ground-based observations of floristic gradients (R²=0.71 and 0.66 for the first two axes of ordination). Apart from mapping the most important continuous floristic differences, we mapped gradients in the appearance of plant functional response groups as represented by averaged Ellenberg indicator values for soil pH (R²=0.76), water supply (R²=0.66) and nutrient supply (R²=0.75), while models for the cover of single species were weak.Compared to many other vegetation attributes, plant species composition is difficult to detect with remote sensing techniques. This is partly caused by a lack of compatibility between methods of vegetation ecology and remote sensing. We believe that the present study has the potential to increase compatibility as neither spectral nor vegetation information gets lost by a classifying step.     

Image segmentation for improved consistency in image-interpretation of opium poppy

The image-interpretation of opium poppy crops from very high resolution satellite imagery forms part of the annual Afghanistan opium surveys conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the United States Government. We tested the effect of generalization of field delineations on the final estimates of poppy cultivation using survey data from Helmand province in 2009 and an area frame sampling approach. The sample data was reinterpreted from pan-sharpened IKONOS scenes using two increasing levels of generalization consistent with observed practice. Samples were also generated from manual labelling of image segmentation and from a digital object classification. Generalization was found to bias the cultivation estimate between 6.6% and 13.9%, which is greater than the sample error for the highest level. Object classification of image-segmented samples increased the cultivation estimate by 30.2% because of systematic labelling error. Manual labelling of image-segmented samples gave a similar estimate to the original interpretation. The research demonstrates that small changes in poppy interpretation can result in systematic differences in final estimates that are not included within confidence intervals. Segmented parcels were similar to manually digitized fields and could provide increased consistency in field delineation at a reduced cost. The results are significant for Afghanistan’s opium monitoring programmes and other surveys where sample data are collected by remote sensing.     

Performing Aboriginality: Desiring Pre-contact Aboriginality in Victoria, 1886–1901

This paper re-investigates notions of performed Aboriginality in relation to photographs made at Lake Tyers Mission Station, Victoria, Australia, and argues that Nicholas Caire's photographs reveal complex Aboriginal subjectivities. The photographs, made originally in 1886 and distributed to tourists, were later reproduced and circulated in book format in 1897. The first presentation of the photographs, whilst focusing on historical Aboriginality, contains traces of cross-cultural hybridity. However, the later presentation of the work reinforces historical and traditional material culture over cross-cultural dialogue. This paper argues that the desire to find historical notions of Aboriginality on mission stations in Victoria was not just due to the establishment of hierarchical racial theories in the latter part of the nineteenth century (generating the idea that Aborigines could not change and adapt to notions of ‘civilisation’) and doubts about the success of mission stations, but also because there was an interest in Aborigines who had experienced little assimilation from more remote parts of the continent of Australia. This curiosity in pre-contact Aboriginality fuelled tourism in Victoria to accessible mission stations such as Lake Tyers.     

Vibrant Photography: Photographs,actants and political ecology

Jane Bennett’s thesis in Vibrant Matter argues that we need to find ways to acknowledge and engage with the agency of all factors that create ecologies and environments, including non-human actants. This essay argues that Richard Misrach and Kate Orff’s project Petrochemical America signals some important strategies that are useful for developing visual political ecologies and understanding non-human actants, including the non-living. Although some of the images are typical scenes of environmental devastation, human and social links are made to foster the understanding that we are looking at an image of ecology rather than nature ravaged. In addition to the titles of images, captions and overall contextualization of the project, Kate Orff’s team SCAPE produce a series of diagrams called Throughlines that situate the subject of petrochemical creation and its impact in the Mississippi River corridor. The cumulative impact of Misrach’s photographic approach, combined with the effective and systematic linking of his images to other forms of relevant information by Kate Orff, produces an understanding of environment as not only inextricably linked to human activity and habitation, but which also contains differing agencies constituting a broader ecology.     

Nearest neighbour analysis applied to synthetic aperture radar images for the description of urban land cover and land use

This article presents an analysis method for the creation of an image variable that represents built-up land cover and land use within the urban fabric. The method is inspired by the nearest neighbour analysis and the data are from the synthetic aperture radar systems COSMO-SkyMed (CSK) and Radarsat-2 (RS2). Point features were identified from the extreme high backscattering values for each image and the spatial pattern extracted to represent the proportion of built-up land cover as clustered, random, or dispersed. The coefficient of association between the continuous nearest neighbour ratio image and the land-cover percentage cover in four classes are ?0.9 and ?0.8 with the CSK and the RS2 images, respectively. Considering a two-class land-cover scheme, the coefficient of association between variables approaches ?0.9 for both images. Clustered features highlight individual buildings that are mixed in various neighbouring land-cover and land-use types. Residential land use is particularly well outlined using the CSK image, while large institutional, commercial, and light industry buildings are enhanced through the RS2 cross-polarization nearest neighbour ratio images.     

Integrative Analysis of Metabolomic,Proteomic and Genomic Data to Reveal Functional Pathways and Candidate Genes for Drip Loss in Pigs

The aim of this study was to integrate multi omics data to characterize underlying functional pathways and candidate genes for drip loss in pigs. The consideration of different omics levels allows elucidating the black box of phenotype expression. Metabolite and protein profiling was applied in Musculus longissimus dorsi samples of 97 Duroc × Pietrain pigs. In total, 126 and 35 annotated metabolites and proteins were quantified, respectively. In addition, all animals were genotyped with the porcine 60 k Illumina beadchip. An enrichment analysis resulted in 10 pathways, amongst others, sphingolipid metabolism and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, with significant influence on drip loss. Drip loss and 22 metabolic components were analyzed as intermediate phenotypes within a genome-wide association study (GWAS). We detected significantly associated genetic markers and candidate genes for drip loss and for most of the metabolic components. On chromosome 18, a region with promising candidate genes was identified based on SNPs associated with drip loss, the protein “phosphoglycerate mutase 2” and the metabolite glycine. We hypothesize that association studies based on intermediate phenotypes are able to provide comprehensive insights in the genetic variation of genes directly involved in the metabolism of performance traits. In this way, the analyses contribute to identify reliable candidate genes.