JOURNAL ARTICLES / 2007-08

BIOLOGY

HILARY CALLAHAN, Katrina Del Fierro, Angelica E Patterson, Hina Zafar, "Impacts of Elevated Nitrogen Inputs on Oak Reproductive and Seed Ecology," Global Change Biology, Vol. 14, No. 2 (02/2008): 285-293

As human activities are elevating atmospheric carbon dioxide and altering climate, equally drastic changes are occurring in the cycling of biologically active nitrogen compounds. While the potential relevance of atmospheric nitrogen deposition to soil function, primary production, and carbon sequestration are widely recognized, previous studies have not addressed its potential to influence reproduction or seed ecology in forest trees. Oaks produce acorns episodically, making it important to examine year-to-year variation in the impact of nitrogen on acorn output. Moreover, acorns are an important resource affecting other species, including insect pests and pathogens. In this study conducted at Harvard Forest in Massachusetts, tree abundance was the only significant factor affecting acorn production in one year. In another year, increases in nitrogen-related factors other than tree abundance further were linked to increased acorn abundance. The paper discusses how nitrogen-mediated shifts in overall acorn abundance could have a wide range of ecological consequences beyond the more frequently examined impacts of nitrogen deposition on the carbon cycle.

ALEXANDRA HOROWITZ and Marc Bekoff, "Naturalizing Anthropomorphism: Behavioral Prompts to Our Humanizing of Animals," Anthrozoös Vol. 20, No. 1 (2007): 23-35

Anthropomorphism is the use of human characteristics to describe or explain nonhuman animals. In the present paper, we propose a model for a unified study of such anthropomorphizing. We bring together previously disparate accounts of why and how we anthropomorphize and suggest a means to analyze anthropomorphizing behavior itself. We introduce an analysis of bouts of dyadic play between humans and a heavily anthropomorphized animal, the domestic dog. Four distinct patterns of social interaction recur in successful dog-human play: directed responses by one player to the other, indications of intent, mutual behaviors, and contingent activity. These findings serve as a preliminary answer to the question, "What behaviors prompt anthropomorphisms?" An analysis of anthropomorphizing is potentially useful in establishing a scientific basis for this behavior, in explaining its endurance, in the design of "lifelike" robots, and in the analysis of human interaction! . Finally, the relevance of this developing scientific area to contemporary debates about anthropomorphizing behavior is discussed.

CHEMISTRY

JACOB S. ALEXANDER, Damian G. Allis, Weijie Teng; Karin Ruhlandt-Senge, "Alkali Metal Diphenylmethanides: Synthetic, Computational and Structural Studies," Chemistry - A European Journal, Vol. 13, No. 35 (12/2007): 9899 - 9911

In search of new synthetic precursors for the preparation of alkaline earth organometallic compounds, we investigated the application of a powerful desilylation reaction to cleanly afford a variety of contact and charge-separated alkali metal derivatives without the difficulties commonly encountered in other methods. The resulting diphenylmethanides display both contact molecules and separated ion pairs. Analysis of the structural data demonstrates that simple electrostatic models are insufficient for predicting and explaining the solid-state structures of these complexes. Detailed computational investigations were performed to probe the nature of the metal–anion and metal–donor interactions and determine the contributions of each to the observed solid-state structures.

Michal Shavit, Dani Peri, Cesar M. Manna, JACOB S. ALEXANDER, Edit Y. Tshuva, "Active Cytotoxic Reagents Based on Non-metallocene Non-diketonato Well-Defined C₂-Symmetrical Titanium Complexes of Tetradentate Bis(phenolato) Ligands, " Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.129, No. 40 (12/2007): 12098 -12099

A new family of non-Cp-based non-diketonato-based C₂-symmetrical octahedral Ti(IV) complexes of dianionic diamine bis(phenolato) ligands, which are conveniently obtained as single isomers in quantitative yields, leads to appreciable cytotoxicity against colon and ovarian cells with a non-transferrin-dependent cell penetration mechanism. The ligand structural features including steric demands, symmetry, and aromaticity strongly influence activity, supporting its role in the biological mechanism of action.

DINA C. MERRER, Marina Khrapunovich, Ekaterina Zelenova, Lillian Seu, Alexis N. Sabo, and Aidan Flaherty, "Regioselectivity and Mechanism of Dihalocarbene Addition to Benzocyclopropene," The Journal of Organic Chemistry, Vol. 72 (2007): 7574-7580

Dihalocarbenes add regioselectively to aryl-substituted benzocyclopropenes to produce dihalobenzocyclobutenes. The regioselectivity of addition is not due to steric effects but depends on the electronic donor or acceptor ability of the substituent. B3LYP/6-31G* calculations show preferential :CCl2 addition to substituted benzocyclopropene through electrophilic attack on the benzocyclopropene -system (Ea = 1.1-2.4 kcal/mol) rather than C-C -bond insertion into the cyclopropenyl moiety (Ea = 5-24 kcal/mol). -Addition proceeds regioselectively through a single transition state to xylylene intermediates or directly to benzocyclobutene products.

POLITICAL SCIENCE

SÉVERINE AUTESSERRE, "Saving Congo," Foreign Affairs, May-June 2008.

Although the war in Congo officially ended in 2003, two million people have died since. One of the reasons is that the international community's peacekeeping efforts there have not focused on the local grievances in eastern Congo, especially those over land, that are fueling much of the broader tensions. Until they do, the nation's security and that of the wider Great Lakes region will remain uncertain.

PSYCHOLOGY

ROBERT REMEZ, Jennifer M. Fellowes & Dalia S. Nagel, "On the perception of similarity among talkers," Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Vol. 122, No. 6 (12/2007):3688–3696

A listener who recognizes a talker notices characteristic attributes of the talker's speech despite the novelty of each utterance. Accounts of talker perception have often presumed that consistent aspects of an individual's speech, termed indexical properties, are ascribable to a talker's unique anatomy or consistent vocal posture distinct from acoustic correlates of phonetic contrasts. Accordingly, the perception of a talker is acknowledged to occur independently of the perception of a linguistic message. Alternatively, some studies suggest that attention to attributes of a talker includes indexical linguistic attributes conveyed in the articulation of consonants and vowels. This investigation sought direct evidence of attention to phonetic attributes of speech in perceiving talkers. Natural samples and sine-wave replicas derived from them were used in three experiments assessing the perceptual properties of natural and sine-wave sentences; of temporally! veridical and reversed natural and sine-wave sentences; and of an acoustic correlate of vocal tract scale to judgments of sine-wave talker similarity. The results revealed that the subjective similarity of individual talkers is preserved in the absence of natural vocal quality; and that local phonetic segmental attributes as well as global characteristics of speech can be exploited when listeners notice characteristics of talkers.

Ilia N. Karatsoreos, Alice Wang, Jasmine Sasanian and RAE SILVER, "A Role for Androgens in Regulating Circadian Behavior and the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus," Endocrinology Vol. 148, No. 11 (11/2007):5487-5495

The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus is the locus of a master circadian clock controlling behavioral and physiological rhythms, including rhythmic secretion of gonadal hormones. Gonadectomy results in marked alteration of circadian behaviors, including lengthened free-running period, decreased precision of daily onset of running, and elimination of early-evening but not late-night activity bouts. Androgen replacement restores these responses. These aspects of rhythmicity are thought to be regulated by the brain clock, although the site of androgen action remains unknown. Anatomically, the rodent SCN is composed of a ventrolateral core and a dorsomedial shell, and the present studies show that androgen receptors (AR) are localized to the ventrolateral core SCN. Using a transgenic mouse bearing dual reporter molecules driven by the AR targeted to both membrane and nucleus, we find that projections of AR-containing cells form a dense plexus in the core, with their fibers appearing to exit the SCN dorsally. In a second transgenic strain, in which the retinorecipient gastrin-releasing peptide cells express a green fluorescent protein reporter, we show that gastrin-releasing peptide cells contain AR. Through immunocytochemistry, we also show that SCN AR cells express FOS after a light pulse. Importantly, gonadectomy reduces the FOS response after a phase-shifting light pulse, whereas androgen replacement restores levels to those in intact animals. Taken together, the results support previous findings of a hypothalamic neuroendocrine feedback loop. As such, the SCN regulates circadian rhythms in gonadal hormone secretion, and in turn, androgens act on their receptors within the SCN to alter circadian function.

Jill B. Becker, Lisa M. Monteggia, Tara S. Perrot-Sinal, RUSSELL D. ROMEO, Jane R. Taylor, Rachel Yehuda, and Tracy L. Bale, "Stress and Disease: Is Being Female a Predisposing Factor?" The Journal of Neuroscience Vol. 27 No. 44 (10/31/2007):11851-11855

Does heightened stress sensitivity predispose an individual toward disease? Our Society for Neuroscience mini-symposium examines the link between stress and disease onset, exploring sex differences and whether there is an increased female predisposition. This session specifically addresses the influence of stress sensitivity in the fields of drug addiction and affective disorders. As the incidence of stress-related diseases continues to rise, these talks will highlight the current basic and clinical research in defining a sex difference, neurobiological causes of such differences, and what benefit animal models can offer in determination of predisposing factors.

RELIGION

ELIZABETH BERNSTEIN, "The Sexual Politics of the 'New Abolitionism'" differences: A Journal of
Feminist Cultural Studies special issue on God and Country 18(3): 128-151 (2007)

Qualitative sociologist Bernstein examines the emergent activist coalition between feminists and evangelical Christians around the forced sexual labor of women and girls. Bernstein draws upon her ethnographic work with feminist and evangelical antitrafficking activists, situating the contemporary coalition-building in a historical trajectory that looks back to earlier alliances between Christians and feminists against commercial sexuality.

ELIZABETH CASTELLI, "Persecution Complexes: Identity Politics and the 'War on Christians'" differences: A Journal of
Feminist Cultural Studies special issue on God and Country 18(3): 152-180 (2007), Guest editor of issue

Progressive thinkers have increasingly raised the specter of “theocracy” in analyzing the current state of affairs in u.s. politics; offers readers a series of case studies for critically assessing such claims.

Castelli, as a feminist historian of Christianity, analyzes the emergence of Christian identity politics in contemporary u.s.
culture, especially the growing reliance by conservative and right-wing Christians on accusations of religious persecution in political debate. She argues that this rhetorical gesture braids together the Christian martyr story—a narrative as old as the religion itself—with the American jeremiad tradition and post-1960s-style identity politics, grounded in narratives of
innocent suffering and woundedness. The result is a highly effective rhetorical strategy for closing down political exchange by characterizing all opposing viewpoints as threats to Christian religious freedom.

SPANISH

ISABEL ESTRADA, “Catalan Television Documentaries and the Negotiation of Memory in Democratic Spain: The Works of Dolors Genovès” Catalan Review vol. 20.1&2 :117-130 (2008)

This paper analyzes the ways in which recent Catalan television documentaries, particularly those directed by Dolors Genovés and the team of Montse Armengou and Ricard Belis for TV3, depict Spain’s traumatic past and participate in public debates about memory. I argue that Armengou and Belis’ documentaries attempt to construct a totalizing and coherent historical narrative while manipulating the spectators’ emotions in order to further political agendas that depict the debate as only two-sided. Genovès’ documentaries, on the other hand, effectively eschew Manichean discourse and distinguish themselves by illustrating a process through which history is constructed by the reappearance and recurrence of the traumatic event and the difficulty of comprehending it.