Productive Area Of Research Research Articles

Hotspots, research productivity and collaboration networks in remote sensing and GIS in Australia from 1991 to 2010

Knowledge of the spatial distribution and clustering of productive areas of research can be used by prospective postgraduate students and early career researchers to target locations with high potential for professional development, as well as encourage strategic networking and sharing of knowledge. In the present study, the research output of the Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Science (RS/GIS) discipline in Australia was examined and hotspots of research activity were identified. Publication data from 10 peer-reviewed journals for the 1991 to 2010 period were used to look at research productivity and the levels of research collaboration between research institutions, based on authorship data. Results identified a number of hotspot areas, signifying a clustering of RS/GIS research. The productivity of these hotspot clusters changed over time, with some clusters that were very productive in the early 1990s giving way to other clusters that had developed significantly over time. Some clusters declined in productivity over time, while others were superseded by the development of more productive clusters. The study also found a substantial increase in cross-institutional collaboration in RS/GIS research in Australia over the last 20 years.

Hodgkin and Huxley and the basis for electrical signalling: a remarkable legacy still going strong

The initiation and propagation of electrical signals in nerves and other excitable tissues have fascinated physiologists for well over a century. For much of the first half of the twentieth century the prevailing explanation for the depolarization occurring during an action potential was that of ‘membrane-breakdown’ suggested by Bernstein in 1902. He proposed that at rest the cell membrane was selectively permeable to K+ ions, which would tend to diffuse out of the cells down their electrochemical gradient and maintain a negative resting membrane potential. According to this model an action potential was then triggered by a transient increase in permeability for all ions and hence the cell membrane potential would approach zero. In the late 1930s and early 1940s Curtis & Cole (1942) in the United States and Hodgkin & Huxley (1939) in the United Kingdom, provided definitive evidence that during an action potential the membrane potential greatly exceeded 0 mV. This was inconsistent with the ‘membrane-breakdown’ hypothesis but rather suggested that during depolarization the membrane was still selectively perme-able to some ions, but clearly not K+ ions. Between 1946 and 1952, Hodgkin and Huxley, initially in collaboration with Bernard Katz, set about using the newly developed voltage-clamp technique, to dissect the basis of the changes in selective permeability that occur during propagation of action potentials in the squid giant axon. This culminated in the publication of five seminal papers in The Journal of Physiology in 1952. The first four experimental papers, published back-to-back in April 1952, described (i) the measurement of current–voltage relationships in the membrane of the squid giant axon (Hodgkin et al. 1952), (ii) basic characteristics of the currents carried by sodium and potassium ions (Hodgkin & Huxley, 1952a), (iii) the effect of varying the time and duration of depolarization and repolarization steps on the different components of membrane current (Hodgkin & Huxley, 1952b), and (iv) the ‘inactivation’ process which gradually reduces sodium permeability after it has undergone the initial rise associated with depolarization (Hodgkin & Huxley, 1952c). In the final of the five papers, published in August 1952, Hodgkin and Huxley synthesized their results by providing a ‘quantitative description of membrane current and its application to conduction and excitation in nerve’ (Hodgkin & Huxley, 1952d). This final paper is still one of the most elegant examples of computer modelling in biological sciences. The frequency with which it is cited (over 9000 times in total and over 300 times in the last 12 months alone) is testament not just to the fact that it represents a genuine paradigm shift in the study of membrane physiology and electrical signalling but also to its incisive logic and clarity of presentation. It truly is a must read paper even more than half a century on. Although 60 years have passed since these pioneering papers were published, they still stimulate research in almost all branches of physiology and its modern descendent, ‘systems biology’. They have also stimulated research at the most fundamental level, ranging from atomic resolution structural analysis of ion channels, through to innovative clinical research that may soon deliver new therapies for disorders of excitability. To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the ‘1952 Hodgkin Huxley papers’, we have included in this special issue a series of reviews that reflect on both the historical significance and the modern legacy of their work. We start with a historical overview (Schwiening, 2012), followed by overviews of sodium channels (Catterall, 2012) and potassium channels (Jan & Jan, 2012) and how the pioneering work of Hodgkin and Huxley continues to inspire work on these channels. This is followed by a review that examines the clinical significance of the Hodgkin–Huxley legacy and sodium channelopathies (Waxman, 2012). Lastly we have an overview on computer modelling of the heart (Noble et al. 2012), a remarkably productive area of systems biology research, which can trace its origins directly to the work of Hodgkin and Huxley. In addition to this special focused issue, The Journal of Physiology has released a special online-only issue in which the original 1952 papers are available along with a selection of the many hundreds of papers inspired by the work of Hodgkin and Huxley and subsequently published in The Journal of Physiology (see http://jp.physoc.org/site/misc/virtualissues_archive.xhtml) Looking forward, we expect that the Hodgkin–Huxley contribution will continue to propel biomedical research, in areas as diverse as muscle physiology and pharmacology, autonomic physiology, neuroscience, disease pathophysiology and even clinical medicine.

NEXT-GENERATION STUDIES OF MATING SYSTEM EVOLUTION

The specificity of mate selection can vary from wantonly indiscriminate to extraordinarily choosy, and depends in large part on molecules expressed on the surfaces of sperm and eggs. Understanding the evolution of this specificity of gamete recognition leads to important insights into the evolution of reproductive isolation and speciation. One productive area of research has focused on genes that encode gamete recognition proteins in broadcast-spawning marine invertebrates. These gene products are relatively accessible to biochemical and cellular analyses of expression and function, and they mediate almost all of the elements of mate selection and specificity between males and females of such species. However, genetic analyses of their evolution are currently limited to a few combinations of molecules and taxa, and may miss the broader view of adaptive responses to selection on mating specificity across many genes and many types of mating systems. A transcriptomic study shows how next-generation sequencing methods and analyses could relatively easily broaden such studies to more clades, deepen those studies to include more of the interacting molecular parts that mediate gamete recognition, and eventually lead to a more complete understanding of the molecular basis for mating system variation and its evolutionary response to selection.

International Organizations – A Field of Research for a Global History

Having for a long time been an area of research mainly reserved for specialists in international relations and political scientists, the international organizations (IOs) that first emerged in the twentieth century’s pre-World War II decades have also attracted renewed interest of historians for the past several years. This development has its place in a movement of ‘globalization’ within the discipline, evident in both themes and practice. The nation, the region, and the village remain pertinent units for study, but the historian interested in global history approaches them in relation to other spaces, reflecting renewed attention to connections and forms of circulation traditionally neglected in specialized studies. As will be argued below, in their role as observation posts, the IOs and international associations here comprise an especially productive area of research, in effect opening access to work on complexly intermeshing ‘circulatory regimes’.

Looking to the Future of Epididymal Research: Why This, Why Now?

Epididymal biology is an area of science at risk. Never a large field to begin with (the number of papers produced by laboratories studying the epididymis is roughly only 20% of the number produced by laboratories studying the testis), it tends to shrink even further in times of funding crisis. This matters because the numbers of laboratories, investigators, and trainees in any area of science affects the number of new people coming into the field, the new ideas that new people can bring, and the number of interested scientists on important grant review panels. How can epididymal biologists face the current challenges? First, great ideas are the key. They prompt compelling hypotheses that can be challenged with interesting experiments. Second, it must be recognized that the past is past. The fact that studies on sperm maturation, epididymal histology, or tubule physiology are significant parts of the past does not mean that they are no longer interesting, but it does mean that truly original questions in those areas will likely be difficult to find. In the real world of competitive science, national granting agencies require applications that clearly answer the questions, why is this of interest and why is it important now? Productive areas of future research may include lumicrine regulation of the epithelium, immunobiology of the epididymis, and cell-cell communication between epididymal epithelial cells and cells in the peritubular/interstitial space.

Effects of substrate-blocks interactions on the phase behaviors of cylinder-forming block copolymers

Self-assembly of block copolymers greatly facilitates production of controlled periodic nanostructures for nanotechnological applications. Orientation control in such structures with defect-free ordering on larger length scales still remain a major research challenge in many cases. In addition to their pure block forms, blends of copolymers with other polymers offer productive research areas in relation to nanostructure self-assembly. We prepared well-aligned nanocylinders in block copolymers over an enhanced sample area and height scale without using any external field applications. Self-assembled 3-dimensional perpendicular cylinder orientation was achieved mainly by blending of minority homopolymer into the block copolymer. In this work, we illustrate that the mixed cylinder nanodomain orientation exits in block copolymer mixtures even with a relatively strong homologous polymer pair interaction and a decreased domain-domain excess free energy, when the interfacial interaction between the majority component and the substrate is high enough to restrict the perpendicular nanodomain orientation. In case of overall perpendicular cylinder-forming block copolymer mixtures, on the other hand, the strong homologous PS pair interaction overcomes the limitation from the relatively high domain-substrate interfacial interactions.

Paisanos en lucha: Exclusion politica y violencia en la Segunda Republica espanola

One of the most productive areas of research in relation to Spain's first democracy, the Second Republic of 1931–6, is local studies. This is largely because the provincial universities in Spain, whether for reasons of funding, regional nationalism or sheer parochialism, tend to focus on their own locality rather than embracing national or other approaches. Nearly all of these myriad publications—whether of particular regions, provinces, towns or pueblos—contain interesting information, but few of them constitute outstanding studies in their own right. The bulk are made up of either narrowly-based psephological surveys or else of crudely reductionist Marxist interpretations of the workers’ movements and the political parties. There is a raft of notable exceptions, such as Santos Juliá’s analysis of labour conflict in Madrid, Pamela Radcliff's research on anarchism in Gijón, Juan Manuel Macarro Vera's various tomes on Andalucía and Mary Vincent's dissection of Catholicism in Salamanca, but most of these appeared at least a decade ago. Fernando del Rey's study of the central province of Ciudad Real in the region of Castilla La Mancha is therefore to be welcomed for injecting new and much-needed life into the local history of the Republic. He furnishes a rounded and closely-textured reconstruction of political life at the provincial level that is viewed not in splendid isolation but related to the wider world of events and processes at both the regional and national levels. Accordingly, he is able to posit answers to many of the questions that simply cannot be tackled sufficiently on the basis of national sources alone. The outcome is not just an excellent local history of the Second Republic but also an exegesis that is of unquestionable value to all scholars of the regime.

Influence and Legacy of Raghavan Charudattan in Biological Control of Weeds

Dr. Raghavan Charudattan has worked in the area of biological control of weeds with plant pathogenic fungi for nearly four decades. He has maintained his research program in this line throughout his career. The scientific discoveries and contributions that he has made have been recognized by his peers and demonstrated through his election as fellow of both the Weed Science Society of America and the American Phytopathological Society. The basic knowledge that he has contributed to our understanding of the fundamental biology of weed/pathogen interactions and his contributions in the areas of mycology, etiology, and natural products will have long-lasting effects. Equally important to the basic and applied research that he has conducted is his role as a mentor and colleague. Dr. Charudattan has contributed to the scientific development of more than 60 students, postdocs, and scientists from more than 20 countries. Dr. Charudattan has contributed to the establishment of biological control of weeds with pathogens as a permanent and highly productive area of weed control research.

Infrastructure Location

The environment of infrastructure location decision-making is in a flux: new thinking, ideologies, social and environmental awareness coupled with political expediencies and economic imperatives are constantly changing the weights of factors considered in location decision making. As expected, existing models built on the pillars of profit maximisation and assumption of homo economicus—though still important—no longer capture the reality of the present situation in infrastructure location decisions. This article traces the trends in infrastructure (facility) location decision modelling and identifies productive areas of research that incorporate the oft-neglected factors of environment, politics and socio-cultural values into the location decision models.

ChemInform Abstract: From Parity to Chirality: Chemical Implications Revisited

Abstract Parity violation represents an essential property of particle and atomic handedness used to cope with the complex phenomenon of asymmetry in the universe. At the molecular level, however, numerous experiments suggest that parity-violating energy differences have not determined the amplification and propagation of homochirality. Asymmetric transformations conducted under far-from-equilibrium conditions reveal the existence of non-linear autocatalysis which is stochastic in nature. In any event and, globally considered, chirality appears as a unifying characteristic of our visible environment with evolutionary implications, thereby suggesting areas for productive research.

Continuous Hyperfractionated Accelerated Radiotherapy (CHART) and Non-conventionally Fractionated Radiotherapy in the Treatment of Non-small Cell Lung Cancer: a Review and Consideration of Future Directions

There is a well-established role for radiation treatment in the management of non-small cell lung cancer. As a single modality, it is indicated as a radical treatment option for patients deemed unsuitable for chemotherapy with inoperable locoregional disease or who decline surgery. In this patient group, the evidence shows advantages for accelerated treatment regimes, e.g. continuous hyperfractionated accelerated radiotherapy (CHART). Research efforts should be directed towards dose escalation with the application of the new technologies available. The multi-modality approach of chemoradiotherapy is established in the radical treatment of non-small cell lung cancer in those who are inoperable, radically treatable and fit enough to receive chemotherapy. How best these two modalities are combined remains unclear, and the combination of CHART and other non-conventionally fractionated radiotherapy schedules with chemotherapy and targeted agents is another potentially productive research area.

Cross-Conjugated Cruciform Fluorophores

In optoelectronic devices, chromophores can be designed at the molecular level to create materials with properties desired for advanced applications. Organic fluorophores in particular can be constructed with macroscopic properties that arise from two distinct contributions: (i) the collective impact of the molecular backbone and substituents and (ii) the connectivity within the molecule (that is, the spatial molecular architecture). Accordingly, the exploration of novel conjugated architectures is a productive area of current research. Different two-dimensional, "X-shaped" conjugated materials have been synthesized for a variety of applications. They include spiro compounds, paracyclophanes, swivel-type dimers, bisoxazole-derived cruciforms, tetraethynylethenes, and tetrasubstituted tolanes. A subset of these compounds are constructed from two "perpendicular" pi-conjugated linear arms connected through a central aromatic core; examples of these include tetrakis(arylethynyl)benzenes, tetrakis(styryl)benzenes, and tetrasubstituted thiophenes. In this Account, we evaluate 1,4-distyryl-2,5-bis(arylethynyl)benzenes or cruciforms (XFs). Electronic substitution of this "X-shaped" cross-conjugated scaffold tunes both the energy levels of the frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs) and their spatial distribution in XFs. The resulting fluorophores exhibit FMO separation, imbuing XFs with unusual yet desirable properties for sensory applications. Using model analytes, we examine how the underlying FMO arrangement and the nature of analyte interaction elicit observable responses. These studies provide a foundation for accessing functional responsive ratiometric cores, demonstrating the importance and unique potential of FMO-separated fluorophores. We also highlight the essential contribution of serendipity in materials development. Moving beyond one-dimensional molecular wire-type fluorophores to two-dimensional "X-shaped" materials provides access to materials with unexpected and exciting properties. XFs represent such novel conjugated architectures, and their successful development has frequently has hinged on inspiration from structural components and principles developed in diverse research areas.

Ecological feedbacks and the evolution of resistance

1. The idea that parasites can affect host diversity is pervasive, and the possibility that parasites can increase host diversity is of particular interest. In this review, we focus on diversity in the resistance of hosts to their parasites, and on the different ways in which parasites can increase or decrease this resistance diversity. 2. Theoretically, parasites can exert many different types of selection on host populations, which each have consequences for host diversity. Specifically, theory predicts that parasites can exert negative frequency-dependent selection (NFDS) and disruptive selection on resistance, both of which increase host diversity, as well as directional selection and stabilizing selection on resistance, both of which decrease host diversity. 3. Despite these theoretical predictions, most biologists think of only NFDS or directional selection for increased resistance in response to parasitism. Here, we present empirical support for all of these types of selection occurring in natural populations. Interestingly, several recent studies demonstrate that there is spatiotemporal variation in the type of selection that occurs (and, therefore, in the effects of parasitism on host diversity). 4. A key question that remains, then, is: What determines the type of parasite-mediated selection that occurs? Theory demonstrates that the answer to this question lies, at least in part, with trade-offs associated with resistance. Specifically, the type of evolution that occurs depends critically on the strength and shape of these trade-offs. This, combined with empirical evidence for a strong effect of environment on the shape and strength of trade-offs, may explain the observed spatiotemporal variation in parasite-mediated selection. 5. We conclude that spatiotemporal variation in parasite-driven evolution is likely to be common, and that this variation may be driven by ecological factors. We suggest that the feedback between ecological and evolutionary dynamics in host-parasite interactions is likely to be a productive area of research. In particular, studies addressing the role of ecological factors (e.g. productivity and predation regimes) in driving the outcome of parasite-mediated selection on host populations are warranted. Such studies are necessary if we are to understand the mechanisms underlying the observed variation in the effects of parasites on host diversity.

Hydrology: catchment vegetation and runoff

The interactions between catchment vegetation and runoff continue to be a staple area of hydrological research. Drawing mainly upon material published since 2002, this report briefly reviews progress in this area with specific reference to: (1) paired and single catchment studies; (2) top-down models; and (3) the likely impact of climate change. Results from a wider range of paired and single catchments studies are revealing the complex relationship between catchment vegetation and runoff and prompting a reassessment of the methodologies used to generalize this relationship. Vegetation appears to have a significant influence on runoff at small scales, which reduces to a second-order influence, relative to aridity, at larger scales. Top-down models of catchment behaviour generally reflect this second-order influence at the large scale. As vegetation responds to CO2 enrichment under climate change, the magnitude and direction of associated changes in runoff remains uncertain. A key element in quantifying the hydrological impact of climate change is the relationship between catchment vegetation and runoff, which continues to be a productive area of research within hydrology.

Networked research: European policy intervention in ICTs

We use social network analysis to evaluate ‘behavioural’ additionality aspects of public programmes supporting research and development (R&D). The paper appraises empirically the partnership and knowledge networks created around the R&D activities of the Information Society Priority of the Sixth Research Framework Programme of the European Community. These emergent, scale-free networks are found to play an important role in generating and, especially, in diffusing knowledge by attracting key industry actors and by strengthening overall network connectivity through public support. Public policy should try to facilitate the development of more European organisations that can be characterised as global network hubs, on the one hand, and to draw larger numbers of the most dynamic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) into these programmes, on the other, to avoid technological lock-ins and mitigate the resistance or network reorientation toward more productive research areas.

Investigations into the feasibility of multiple input multiple output techniques within the HF band: Preliminary results

The concept of multiple input multiple output (MIMO) has become a productive area of research in the field of wireless communications with the aim of delivering increased data throughput. However, to date, MIMO research has focused primarily on short‐range communications within the VHF, UHF, and SHF bands, and very little research has been conducted toward exploiting MIMO techniques for long‐range communications within the HF band. Between September 2007 and September 2008, several experimental campaigns were conducted to investigate the feasibility of applying MIMO techniques within the HF band. The results of measurements over a 255 km path from Durham to Leicester within the United Kingdom are presented in this paper with particular emphasis on the use of heterogeneous antenna arrays at the transmitter and receiver.

Understanding Inflation Dynamics: Where Do We Stand?

I summarize recent progress made in the literature on inflation dynamics. This has been a very productive area of research due to the development of the so-called New Keynesian model and the availability of new macroeconomic and microeconomic evidence. Nevertheless, a number of problems still subsist. In particular the importance of temporary price markdowns to inflation dynamics and the characteristics of the information set price-setters use for their price adjustment decision currently constitute unresolved issues.

Special issue on ant colony optimization

Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) is one of the most successful techniques in the wider field of swarm intelligence. ACO is inspired by the pheromone trail laying and following behavior of some ant species, a behavior that was shown to allow real ant colonies to find shortest paths between their colony and food sources. Taking many elements of the real ants behavior, foremostly their indirect communication through pheromone trails, the first ACO algorithms were proposed more than 15 years ago. Since then ACO has attracted a large number of researchers. In the first few years of ACO research, the focus was mainly on algorithmic advancements, trying to make ACO algorithms competitive with established metaheuristic techniques. Currently, the majority of the contributions concern successful applications of ACO algorithms to a variety of challenging problems; still, another active and productive research area in ACO is the theoretical study of the behavior of specific ACO algorithms. The significant research efforts on ACO have established it as a mature metaheuristic that can lead to very effective algorithms for many difficult optimization problems. This special issue has the goal to collect papers on current, relevant work on ACO. We received 19 submissions on topics covering algorithmic developments, applications to continuous and combinatorial optimization problems, and theoretical studies. After a rigorous review process, three papers were selected for inclusion into this special issue. Among these, two

The influence of cause marketing associations on product and cause brand value

Abstract The purpose of the study presented in this paper is to add to our understanding of the added value, both monetary and non‐monetary, to a brand when supporting a cause in a cause marketing ad. The findings show that consumers do not perceive the brand to be worth more if it was shown to be supporting a cause. The study also failed to show a significant improvement in consumer brand attitudes for brands featured in cause marketing ads. However, there was an attitude improvement for the cause. Product type and consumer dispositional variables were also examined. In summary, this study calls into question the value brands derive from being paired with a cause. This study discusses productive areas of future research and managerial implications. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Reconstituting a Human Brain in Animals: A Jewish Perspective on Human Sanctity

The potential use of stem cells in the treatment of a variety of human diseases has been a major driving force for embryonic stem cell research. Another productive area of research has been the use of human stem cells to reconstitute human organ systems in animals in an attempt to create new animal models for human diseases. However, the possibility of transplanting human embryonic brain cells or precursor brain cells into an animal fetus presents numerous ethical challenges. This paper examines, from a Jewish perspective on human dignity, several bioethical concerns related to the reconstitution of animal brains with human neurons.