Plant community data from a statewide survey of paired serpentine and non-serpentine soils in California, USA

Soils derived from ultramafic parent materials (hereafter serpentine) provide habitat for unique plant communities containing species with adaptations to the low nutrient levels, high magnesium: calcium ratios, and high metal content (Ni, Zn) that characterize serpentine. Plants on serpentine have long been studied in evolution and ecology, and plants adapted to serpentine contribute disproportionately to plant diversity in many parts of the world. In 2000-2003, serpentine plant communities were sampled at 107 locations representing the full range of occurrence of serpentine in California, USA, spanning large gradients in climate. In 2009-2010, plant communities were similarly sampled at 97 locations on nonserpentine soil, near to and paired with 97 of the serpentine sampling locations. (Some serpentine locations were revisited in 2009-2010 to assess the degree of change since 2000-2003, which was minimal.) At each serpentine or nonserpentine location, a north- and a south-facing 50 m x10 m plot were sampled. This design produced 97 “sites” each consisting of four “plots” (north-south exposure, serpentine-nonserpentine soil). All plots were initially visited >3 times over 2 years to record plant diversity and cover, and a subset were revisited in 2014 to examine community change after a drought. The original question guiding the study was how plant diversity is shaped by the spatially patchy nature of the serpentine habitat. Subsequently, we investigated how climate drives plant diversity at multiple scales (within locations, between locations on the same and different soil types, and across entire regions) and at different levels of organization (taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic).

The Rice miR396-GRF-GIF-SWI/SNF Module: A Player in GA Signaling

Rice Growth-Regulating Factors (GRFs) were originally identified to be gibberellin (GA)-induced, but the nature of GA induction has remained unknown because most reports thereafter focused on revealing their roles in growth-promoting activities. GRFs have the WRC (Trp, Arg, Cys) domain to target DNA and contain the QLQ (Gln, Leu, Gln) domain to interact with GRF-Interacting Factor (GIF), which recruits ATP-dependent DNA translocase Switch/Sucrose Non-fermenting (SWI/SNF) for chromatin remodeling. Both GRFs and GIFs exhibit transcriptional activities but GIFs lack a DNA-binding domain. So, GRFs act like a navigator in the GRF-GIF-SWI/SNF complex, determining when and where the complex should work on. The levels of most rice GRFs can be sensitively regulated by miR396, which responds to many developmental and environmental factors. Recent clues from several studies highlight the original question of how GRFs participate in GA signaling. DELLA (contain DELLA motif) protein plays dual roles in controlling the level of GRFs by regulating the level of miR396 and interacting with GRFs. Here we address the question of why this complex plays an essential role in controlling plant growth focusing on the action of GA signaling pivot, DELLA.

Serendipity reveals the function and physiological role of a large family of proteins.

Microbial metabolism involves a complex set of interactions between metabolic pathways that include proteins of both known and uncharacterized function. While investigating the physiological strategy used by actinomycetes with two RpoB paralogs, Damiano et al uncovered the endonuclease activity of a member of the Rid family. While this finding was peripheral to the original question posed by the authors, it has considerable significance. The study by Damiano et al highlights how unexpected, but fundamental, information can be gained by following phenotypic leads.

Testing for saturation in qualitative evidence syntheses: An update of HIV adherence in Africa

Background A systematic review of randomised trials may be conclusive signalling no further research is needed; or identify gaps requiring further research that may then be included in review updates. In qualitative evidence synthesis (QES), the rationale, triggers, and methods for updating are less clear cut. We updated a QES on adherence to anti-retroviral treatment to examine if thematic saturation renders additional research redundant. Methods We adopted the original review search strategy and eligibility criteria to identify studies in the subsequent three years. We assessed studies for conceptual detail, categorised as ‘rich’ or ‘sparse’, coding the rich studies. We sought new codes, and appraised whether findings confirmed, extended, enriched, or refuted existing themes. Finally, we examined if the analysis impacted on the original conceptual model. Results After screening 3895 articles, 301 studies met the inclusion criteria. Rich findings from Africa were available in 82 studies; 146 studies were sparse, contained no additional information on specific populations, and did not contribute to the analysis. New studies enriched our understanding on the relationship between external and internal factors influencing adherence, confirming, extending and enriching the existing themes. Despite careful evaluation of the new literature, we did not identify any new themes, and found no studies that refuted our theory. Conclusions Updating an existing QES using the original question confirmed and sometimes enriched evidence within themes but made little or no substantive difference to the theory and overall findings of the original review. We propose this illustrates thematic saturation. We propose a thoughtful approach before embarking on a QES update, and our work underlines the importance of QES priority areas where further primary research may help, and areas where further studies may be redundant.

Cooking Up Knowledge From Big Data Using Data Science

Data collected in very large quantities are called big data, and big data has changed the way we think about and answer questions in many different fields, like weather forecasting and biology. With all this information available, we need computers to help us store, process, analyze, and understand it. Data science combines tools from fields like statistics, mathematics, and computer science to find interesting patterns in big data. Data scientists write step-by-step instructions called algorithms to teach computers how to learn from data. To help computers understand these instructions, algorithms must be translated from the original question asked by a data scientist into a programming language—and the results must be translated back, so that humans can understand them. That means that data scientists are data detectives, programmers, and translators all in one!

Digital Literacy for Electronic Encyclopedias

The purpose of this research was to examine the information-seeking processes employed by junior high school students from Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada when using CD-ROM encyclopedias. The study revealed that participants needed both instruction and practice to develop the skills and strategies needed for fall-text searching of CD-ROM encyclopedias. The participants tended to use search terms only from the original question, had difficulty selecting topics and articles from the retrieved list, and did not read long articles as carefully as short articles. Instruction related to information-- seeking skills and strategies should focus on generating search terms, selecting topics from a retrieved list, and, skimming and scanning through text to find the answer.

Academician A.M. Pankratova’s Leningrad lectures through the question notes written by her audience (Leningrad, March 1956)

This publication introduces a part of the original question notes written by the audience of Pankratova’s lectures. These lectures were given in Leningrad in March 1956 one month after the XXth Party Congress. The question notes are kept in Pankratova’s per­sonal collection in the Academy of Sciences Archive. The previous 2006 publication of these notes in the journal Questions of History, unfortunately, was not based the originals. The issues in that publication were artificially brought together under different headings in a way that does not allow for a reconstruction of any “first reaction”. The question notes presented here are the ones that Pankratova saved for herself. She selected these notes in order to understand the main questions of historical scholarship that she would have to answer in the near future as part of her preparation for a major conference dedi­cated to the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution, where Pankratova was listed as the chair of the organizing committee. This event could be the highest point of her career. It is hard to overestimate the significance of these notes. They are a unique source that it provides information about the attitude of the Soviet intelligentsia immediately after the Congress, and in fact is the first sociological survey of the Thaw, which had already begun by that time.

Depth Interviewing as Science and Art

Chapter 1 outlines the key principles that guide interview-based research and highlights the unique contributions this can yield. Conducting depth interviews places each participant’s voice at the heart of the study, giving participants an opportunity to tell their stories in their own words and to think more deeply about their experiences than is usually possible with other methods. Through careful questioning, concentrated listening, and focused follow-up probing, interviewers invite further exploration that encourages people to share their life experiences, describe the social contexts surrounding these experiences, and consider their personal reactions to them, including the meaning they attribute to life events and the accounts, motivations, and actions these events engender. Then, through systematic analysis of how each piece of information stands in relationship to the other information offered by that participant and all the others, it becomes possible to chart the dynamic processes that shape life trajectories and link individual actions to larger social structures. This enables interviewers to address their original question(s) and any new ones that emerge to discover empirical patterns and develop theoretical insights.

Νεολαία, αριστερή ψήφος και ριζοσπαστισμός τη δεύτερη δεκαετία του 2000

Το άρθρο αυτό έχει ως στόχο να απαντήσει στο ερώτημα αν η σύγχρονη νεολαία στην Ελλάδα, μετά την ή/και λόγω της κρίσης, μπορεί να χαρακτηριστεί ως ριζοσπαστική, βάσει του είδους της πολιτικής κοσμοαντίληψης και συμπεριφοράς που εκδηλώθηκαν από σημαντικό κομμάτι της. Κι εάν, συνεπώς, θα μπορούσε να προσληφθεί ως δυνητική κινητήρια δύναμη κοινωνικών κατά το πρότυπο της νεολαίας της Μεταπολίτευσης. Από μια άποψη αποτελεί συνέχεια προηγούμενου άρθρου (Παντελίδου Μαλούτα, 2015), όπου έγινε προσπάθεια να καταδειχθεί τάση «επιστροφής» της νεολαίας στην πολιτική ήδη από το 2008, τάση η οποία εντάθηκε και διευρύνθηκε στην κρίση. Επεκτείνοντας την προβληματική εκείνη, και θεωρώντας ως δεδομένα τα στοιχεία που καταδεικνύουν τη στροφή των νέων προς την Αριστερά, και την «επιστροφή» τους στην πολιτική αρχικά μέσω δυναμικών μορφών συμμετοχής, θα επιδιωχθεί εδώ να προσεγγιστεί με τη βοήθεια δεδομένων ποιοτικής έρευνας, το αρχικό ερώτημα: Αποτελεί o ριζοσπαστισμός σήμερα καθοριστικό ιδεολογικό και συμπεριφορικό χαρακτηριστικό της νεολαίας; Λέξεις κλειδιά: Νεολαία, πολιτική δράση, ριζοσπαστισμός, Aριστερά, ψήφος των νέων AbstractThis article aims at answering whether today’s youth in Greece could be defined as radical, based on the kind of political behavior and worldview manifested by a significant part of young people. And, hence, whether it could be perceived as a potential driving force of social change, according to the example of the youth of “Metapolitefsi”. In a way, this article draws from and further continues a previous article (Παντελίδου-Μαλούτα, 2015), which sought to illustrate Greek youth’s tendency to “return” to politics; a development already evident since 2008 that intensified during the crisis. Delving deeper into this rationale and taking into account data which attest to the youth’s turn towards the Left and return to politics, initially through dynamic modes of participation, here, we will employ qualitative research data in an attempt to approach the original question: Does radicalism constitute a defining ideological and behavioral characteristic of today’s youth? Key wordsYouth politics, voting behavior, radicalism, political attitudes, the Left

Can Multinational Corporations be responsible for human rights violation of its outsourcee company? Response of national or international law?

SummaryNowadays, an important role in the world is played by Multinational Corporations (MNCs). They hire, produce, and influence the international economy, but also, they exploit, pollute. Their business activities might have a worldwide effect on human lives. The question of the responsibility of MNCs has drawn the attention of many scholars, mainly from the study field labelled “Business and Human Rights”. The present paper does not examine the topic under the same approach. The authors aim at presenting the issue in a broader perspective, exploring the concept of due diligence both in international and corporate law. In this paper, authors strategically use the uniformity of national legislations as a possible and alternative solution to the issue. They are aware of three fundamental factors: 1) the definition of MNCs needs to be as clear as possible, so to avoid any degree of uncertainty; 2) the outsourcing phenomenon interacts with that definition; 3) in case of no possibility to include outsourcing in the definition of MNC, the original question arises in a significant way.