Tool For Comparative Studies Research Articles

The trust-transparency matrix as a comparative tool: developing a research framework

ABSTRACT Though the link between trust and transparency is a central concern of social science, the relationship between the two concepts has remained a ‘black box’. Many empirical studies concentrate solely on verifying whether transparency impacts trust and do not elaborate on the mechanisms that facilitate this relationship. Trust and transparency need to be qualified to be understood and captured in a meaningful sense by empirical research. Hence, the article proposes an interpretative matrix for exploring relationships between types of trust and transparency. It presents a framework of analysis that is sufficiently precise to make sense of complex interactions in six European regions in three European states (the UK, Germany, and France) and sufficiently generic to have a heuristic value as a tool for comparative study. It also contributes to broader discussions of the role of trust and transparency as factors of public management. The framework might equally be applied to evaluating trust and transparency as modes of public action in fields such as health or the environment.

Review of Reliable and Valid Noninvasive Tools for the Diagnosis of Chronic Exertional Compartment Syndrome.

Currently, invasive dynamic intracompartmental pressure (ICP) measurements are considered the gold standard for diagnosis of chronic exertional compartment syndrome (CECS). During recent years, different noninvasive imaging modalities have been presented as a possible replacement for ICP measurement. To provide an overview of the current state of evidence and possibilities regarding noninvasive diagnostic methods for CECS. Scoping review; Level of evidence, 4. The PubMed (MEDLINE) and Embase databases were searched using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. Full-text articles were included if they reported on noninvasive diagnostic methods for CECS, included ≥5 patients with CECS, and were published between 1994 and 2022. Articles not written in English were excluded. Systematic reviews, letters to the editor, and case reports were not eligible for inclusion. Out of 961 articles identified in the initial search, 25 studies (N = 1257 participants) were included. Risk of bias was assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-Comparative (QUADAS-C) tool for comparative studies and the QUADAS-2 tool for noncomparative studies. Narrative synthesis was used to present results. The level of evidence for the 25 studies ranged from 2 to 4. Four studies were classified as having a low risk of bias, 21 studies were classified as being at risk of bias. The following noninvasive diagnostic tools for CECS were reported: magnetic resonance imaging/diffusion tensor imaging (n = 8), near-infrared spectroscopy (n = 6), electromyography (n = 4), single-photon emission computed tomography (n = 5), ultrasound (n = 2), myotonometry (n=1) and predictive clinical model (n = 1). There was insufficient evidence in the literature to support the use of any of these noninvasive diagnostic tools as a gold standard for CECS. Despite the need to replace the controversial use of ICP for the diagnosis of CECS, our review indicated a lack of validity on all discussed noninvasive diagnostic tools as a replacement.

Functional and semantic field of aspectuality in different-systemic languages

Comparative analysis of linguistic phenomena provides the development of the problem in two planes: semantic - how similar or different is the volume of concepts in the national language world pictures, and functional - the means offered by language to actualize the concept in speech. This study provides a detailed analysis of the functional and semantic field of aspectuality in the English and Ukrainian languages at all levels: from grammatical to syntactic. The article also considers the application of the functional-semantic field of aspectuality as a tool for comparative study of multisystemic as to identify their common and distinctive features. The goal of the article was to identify and compare ways of transferring Aspectuality and their main regularities in Ukrainian and English. For this purpose, the phenomenon of Aspectuality in Ukrainian and English was compared from the position of modern aspectological views.

A Computational Model of Similarity Analysis in Quality of Life Research: An Example of Studies in Poland.

Due to the multidimensional structure of the results of similarity studies, their analysis is often difficult. Therefore, a compact and transparent presentation of these results is essential. The purpose of the present study is to propose a graphical representation of the results of similarity analysis in studies on the quality of life. The results are visualized on specific diagrams (maps), where a large amount of information is presented in a compact form. New similarity maps obtained using a computational method, correspondence analysis, are shown as a convenient tool for comparative studies on the quality of life of different groups of individuals. The usefulness of this approach to the description of changes of the quality of life after the retirement threshold in different domains is demonstrated. The World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF questionnaire was used to evaluate individuals in Poland. By analyzing clusters on the similarity maps, two groups (employees and retirees) were classified according to their quality of life in different domains. By comparing the structures of the classification maps containing the information about the whole system considered, it is clearly seen which factors are important in the comparative studies. For the considered problems, the uncertainty coefficients describing the effect size and preserving the information on the symmetry of the variables that were used for the creation of the contingency tables were evaluated.

Weaning-associated feed deprivation stress causes microbiota disruptions in a novel mucin-containing in vitro model of the piglet colon (MPigut-IVM)

BackgroundRisk factors for the etiology of post-weaning diarrhea, a major problem in swine industry associated with enormous economic losses, remain to be fully elucidated. In concordance with the ethical concerns raised by animal experiments, we developed a new in vitro model of the weaning piglet colon (MPigut-IVM) including a mucin bead compartment to reproduce the mucus surface from the gut to which gut microbes can adhere.ResultsOur results indicated that the MPigut-IVM is able to establish a representative piglet archaeal and bacterial colon microbiota in terms of taxonomic composition and function. The MPigut-IVM was consequently used to investigate the potential effects of feed deprivation, a common consequence of weaning in piglets, on the microbiota. The lack of nutrients in the MPigut-IVM led to an increased abundance of Prevotellaceae and Escherichia-Shigella and a decrease in Bacteroidiaceae and confirms previous in vivo findings. On top of a strong increase in redox potential, the feed deprivation stress induced modifications of microbial metabolite production such as a decrease in acetate and an increase in proportional valerate, isovalerate and isobutyrate production.ConclusionsThe MPigut-IVM is able to simulate luminal and mucosal piglet microbiota and represent an innovative tool for comparative studies to investigate the impact of weaning stressors on piglet microbiota. Besides, weaning-associated feed deprivation in piglets provokes disruptions of MPigut-IVM microbiota composition and functionality and could be implicated in the onset of post-weaning dysbiosis in piglets.

Framework to select vital product design methodologies using a multi-criteria decision tool for an industry segment

ABSTRACT This paper presents a classification of product design methodologies for manufacturing refrigerator in Bangladesh and selection of the most vital methodologies. Design methodologies include design for production, design for manufacturability, design for aesthetics, design for environment and design for ergonomics. Each product design methodologies are distinguished with good explanation and pictorial illustration. The selection of the most vital methodology for a particular product (refrigerator) in a particular market/country may depend on following criteria or variables: sales quantity, product durability, cost saving, ease on production, etc. Multi-criteria decision method like analytic hierarchy process (AHP) could be a useful tool in comparative study of different product design methodologies based on different criteria for selection of the most vital methodologies. In this research, AHP is used in a specific way for selection of the most vital product design methodologies for manufacturing refrigerator in Bangladesh. This framework may also be used for other industries.

Study of cephalic index in medical students of West Bengal

Human beings are always very much interested in making comparison over other creatures to prove their superiority. Different types of measurements are important tool for comparative study, related to various characteristic features. Craniofacial measurement especially cephalic index is an important tool among those comparative studies, useful in determining different head and face shapes. Present study is going to be carried out with an objective to find out Cephalic Index of Medical Students of West Bengal. Total 325 young and healthy medical students were taken as subjects, whose head length, head breadth were measured. Cephalic indices of the subjects were calculated by Hrdlicka's method. Most of the subjects were found mesocephalic, 59% male & 51.7% female. Mean cephalic index in male 78.45% ± 2.44 and for female 77.65% ± 3.58. Mean cephalic index irrespective of gender was found 80.5% ± 3.67. This study showed the head type of students in West Bengal was mesocephalic predominant. This statistically significant data can be utilized by anthropologist or forensic expert.

Military Rule in South Korea Revisited: Different Survival Strategies and Different Pathways

This paper revisits the military rule in Korea by paying attention, like Korean specialists, to the disconnection in dictatorship but like comparativists, using the tools in comparative studies of modern authoritarian regimes. This paper argues that the differences in the military leaders’ orientations (personalist vs. party-based type) and survival strategies to deal with potential threat sources (key insiders, political opponents, and economic elites) entailed different regime pathways. Examining (a) how to form a ruling group in terms of unity (competing factions vs. a single dominant faction), (b) how to control the legislative branch (directly controlled organization vs. opposition parties indirectly supported by the government), and (c) how to manage capital owners (tight constraints vs. financial liberalization with occasional punishments), this paper provides an explanation as to why only the second military regime was able to open the door to democratization instead of giving way to authoritarian replacement in Korea.

The intervals method: a new approach to analyse finite element outputs using multivariate statistics.

BackgroundIn this paper, we propose a new method, named the intervals’ method, to analyse data from finite element models in a comparative multivariate framework. As a case study, several armadillo mandibles are analysed, showing that the proposed method is useful to distinguish and characterise biomechanical differences related to diet/ecomorphology.MethodsThe intervals’ method consists of generating a set of variables, each one defined by an interval of stress values. Each variable is expressed as a percentage of the area of the mandible occupied by those stress values. Afterwards these newly generated variables can be analysed using multivariate methods.ResultsApplying this novel method to the biological case study of whether armadillo mandibles differ according to dietary groups, we show that the intervals’ method is a powerful tool to characterize biomechanical performance and how this relates to different diets. This allows us to positively discriminate between specialist and generalist species.DiscussionWe show that the proposed approach is a useful methodology not affected by the characteristics of the finite element mesh. Additionally, the positive discriminating results obtained when analysing a difficult case study suggest that the proposed method could be a very useful tool for comparative studies in finite element analysis using multivariate statistical approaches.

Development of EST-SSR markers in the relict tree Davidia involucrata (Davidiaceae) using transcriptome sequencing.

Davidia involucrata, reputed to be a "living fossil" in the plant kingdom, is a relict tree endemic to China. Extant natural populations are diminishing due to anthropogenic disturbance. In order to understand its ability to survive in a range of climatic conditions and to design conservation strategies for this endangered species, we developed genic simple sequence repeats (SSRs) from mRNA transcripts. In total, 142,950 contigs were assembled. Of these, 30,411 genic SSR loci were discovered and 12,208 primer pairs were designed. Dinucleotides were the most common (77.31%) followed by trinucleotides (16.44%). Thirteen randomly selected primers were synthesized and validated using 24 individuals of D. involucrata. The markers displayed high polymorphism with the number of alleles per locus ranging from 3 to 12 and the observed and expected heterozygosities ranging from 0.083 to 1.0 and 0.102 to 0.69, respectively. This large expressed sequence tag dataset and the novel SSR markers will be key tools in comparative studies that may reveal the adaptive evolution, population structure, and resolve the genetic diversity in this endangered species.

THE MID-INFRARED EMISSION OF NARROW-LINE ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI: STAR FORMATION, NUCLEAR ACTIVITY, AND TWO POPULATIONS REVEALED BYWISE

We explore the nature of the long-wavelength mid-infrared (MIR) emission of a sample of 13000 local Type II (narrow-line) Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) using 12 and 22 micron photometry from the WISE all-sky survey. In combination with FIRST 1.4 GHz measurements, we show that AGNs divide into two relatively distinct populations or "branches" in the plane of MIR and radio luminosity. Seyfert galaxies lie almost exclusively on a MIR-bright branch (Branch A), while low-ionization nuclear emission line galaxies (LINERs) are split evenly into Branch A and the MIR-faint Branch B. We devise various tests to constrain the processes that define the branches, including a comparison to the properties of pure star-forming (SF) inactive galaxies on the MIR-Radio plane. We demonstrate that the total MIR emission of objects on Branch A, including most Seyfert galaxies, is governed primarily by host star-formation, with about 15% of the 22 micron luminosity coming from AGN-heated dust. This implies that on-going dusty star-formation is a general property of Seyfert host galaxies. We show that the 12 micron broad-band luminosity of AGNs on Branch A is suppressed with respect to star-forming galaxies, possibly due to the destruction of PAHs or deeper 10 microns Si absorption in AGNs. We uncover a correlation between the MIR luminosity and [O III] luminosity in AGNs. This suggests a relationship between the SFR and nuclear luminosity in the AGN population, but we caution on the importance of selection effects inherent to such AGN-dominated emission-line galaxies in driving such a correlation. We highlight the MIR-radio plane as a useful tool in comparative studies of SF and nuclear activity in AGN.

Variation in the spawning periods of Engraulis ringens and Strangomera bentincki off the coasts of Chile: A quantitative analysis

In Chile, anchovy (Engraulis ringens) and common sardine (Strangomera bentincki) are two commercially important small pelagic fish. In southern Chile (32–41°S), both species coexist and inhabit the coastal zone. In northern Chile (18–25°S), only anchovy is present in the coastal zone. The determine onset, peak, end, and duration of the spawning periods in these small pelagic fish are key factors in population studies and of great interest for fisheries management. The objective of this study is to determine the temporal trends of spawning in these two species. A quantitative method was developed to obtain objective indicators of the spawning periods and the method is a useful tool for comparative studies between populations as well as to study the relationship of spawning periods with other demographic variables affected by fishing or environmental variability. Peak spawning in the three populations was consistent through time but showed changes in the duration of the maximum reproductive period. Anchovy and common sardine of the southern zone show synchrony and a shortening of the duration of spawning periods, probably in response to environmental fluctuations. Anchovy in northern Chile have shown an increase in duration from 1986 that is coincidental with the regime shift reported for the Humboldt Current Ecosystem in the mid-1980s.

Conservation Physiology Tools: Their Role in Assessing Habitat Quality in Birds

In response to population declines in several bird species, knowledge of habitat quality provides essential information to optimise conservation and management plans. Traditionally, habitat quality has been estimated by using demographic parameters or direct measures of habitat features, but these approaches are often not appropriate to link population dynamics and habitat characteristics. Alternatively, the study of bird physiological responses to environmental alterations has an extraordinary potential to recognise and quantify the problems or stressors that threaten species and affect individual fitness. The physiological state of birds can be defined from different perspectives. Energetics, biochemistry, immunology and endocrinology each offer a range of valuable tools within the framework of conservation physiology. Here I review some of the most commonly used physiological tools in comparative studies: such as measures of metabolic rate, plasma metabolite profiles, immune status, stress responses and stable isotope analysis. In spite of the obvious limitations in any research project, combining different methods in our studies would be a sound approach to identifying the mechanisms underlying the patterns observed in bird population trends.

Legal Culture vs. Legal Tradition – Different Epistemologies?

Many comparatists are using the concepts of ’legal culture’ and ’legal tradition’ as synonyms. However, Patrick Glenn has claimed that ‘legal culture’ should be used as an epistemological tool in comparative study of law. According to him, the epistemological main function of ‘legal culture’ has been to exist as a means of differentiation and to provide a conceptual tool that can be used to describe differences between things that are labelled as ‘culture’. Glenn has claimed that when we speak of ‘culture’ we speak of a country as a homogenous legal fiction. According to this view the concept of ‘legal culture’ is a conflictual concept whereas the concept of ‘legal tradition’ is epistemologically more tolerant. Glenn’s criticism of ‘legal culture’ is analysed critically in this article. The author claims that there is, in fact, no important difference between these concepts in epistemological sense. This article doubts that mere conceptual usage of ‘legal culture’ would contain automatically an epistemology of conflict.

Problematic Worms and Priapulid-like Fossils from the Nagaur Group, the Marwar Supergroup, Western Rajasthan, India

Worm-like problematic megafossils, comparable with priapulids, are reported from the Lower Cambrian Nagaur Formation of the Marwar Supergroup, Western Rajasthan, India. These fossils occur as positive epireliefs on the top surface of siliciclastic sandstone beds in the Dulmera area of Bikaner district, western Rajasthan. Occurrence of these structures is significant, as the fossil bearing strata also exhibit the preservation of trilobite traces and Treptichnus pedum (three-dimensional subhorizontal burrows). The latter is a Precambrian-Cambrian boundary marker fossil, which has a worldwide distribution. Recently, it has been experimentally demonstrated that priapulids (ecdysozoa) or similar organisms are responsible for the construction of treptichnid burrows. Co-occurrence of these body fossils and treptichnid burrows in the same stratigraphic horizon indicate their close relationship and supports the inferences that these organisms are responsible for the formation of T. pedum. It also projects strong evidence demarcating the Precambrian/Cambrian boundary in the Nagaur Group. These faunal remains are considered to be a significant tool in comparative studies of the evolution from invertebrate to vertebrate animals. Detailed study may certainly shed light on different aspects of macroevolution and radiation among animal clades, and the palaeoecology prevailing at the time of the Nagaur Sandstone deposition.

The emergence of squamates as model systems for integrative biology

Most of the major vertebrate clades have representative model species with vast molecular and laboratory resources. Evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) has progressed on the backs of these model systems using their tools for comparative studies among relatively closely related species. Despite a rich history of ecological, behavioral, physiological, and evolutionary study of squamates (lizards and snakes; Sites et al. 2011), this group has yet to realize a well-developedmodel species. The details of squamate development and the unique qualities of squamate genomes have been largely unexplored. With the advent of more accessible molecular tools, the lower costs of sequencing, and the publication of the genomes of the green anole (Anolis carolinensis) and Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus), this is changing rapidly (Alfoldi et al. 2011; Castoe et al. 2011). One of the hallmark objectives of evo-devo is to understand the developmental and molecular bases of morphological diversity. The goal of this article is to introduce some of the key features of squamate diversity, highlight some of the recent advances in squamate development, and outline ongoing efforts to developAnolis lizards as amodel clade for integrative research.

General functions to transform associate data to host data, and their use in phylogenetic inference from sequences with intra-individual variability

BackgroundAmongst the most commonly used molecular markers for plant phylogenetic studies are the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacers (ITS). Intra-individual variability of these multicopy regions is a very common phenomenon in plants, the causes of which are debated in literature. Phylogenetic reconstruction under these conditions is inherently difficult. Our approach is to consider this problem as a special case of the general biological question of how to infer the characteristics of hosts (represented here by plant individuals) from features of their associates (represented by cloned sequences here).ResultsSix general transformation functions are introduced, covering the transformation of associate characters to discrete and continuous host characters, and the transformation of associate distances to host distances. A pure distance-based framework is established in which these transformation functions are applied to ITS sequences collected from the angiosperm genera Acer, Fagus and Zelkova. The formulae are also applied to allelic data of three different loci obtained from Rosa spp. The functions are validated by (1) phylogeny-independent measures of treelikeness; (2) correlation with independent host characters; (3) visualization using splits graphs and comparison with published data on the test organisms. The results agree well with these three measures and the datasets examined as well as with the theoretical predictions and previous results in the literature. High-quality distance matrices are obtained with four of the six transformation formulae. We demonstrate that one of them represents a generalization of the Sørensen coefficient, which is widely applied in ecology.ConclusionBecause of their generality, the transformation functions may be applied to a wide range of biological problems that are interpretable in terms of hosts and associates. Regarding cloned sequences, the formulae have a high potential to accurately reflect evolutionary relationships within angiosperm genera, and to identify hybrids and ancestral taxa. These results corroborate earlier ones which showed that treelikeness measures are a valuable tool in comparative studies of biological distance functions.

Multidrug Resistance-Associated Protein 3 (Mrp3/Abcc3/Moat-D) Is Expressed in the SAE Squalus acanthias Shark Embryo–Derived Cell Line

The multidrug resistance-associated protein 3 (MRP3/Mrp3) is a member of the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) protein family of membrane transporters and related proteins that act on a variety of xenobiotic and anionic molecules to transfer these substrates in an ATP-dependent manner. In recent years, useful comparative information regarding evolutionarily conserved structure and transport functions of these proteins has accrued through the use of primitive marine animals such as cartilaginous fish. Until recently, one missing tool in comparative studies with cartilaginous fish was cell culture. We have derived from the embryo of Squalus acanthias, the spiny dogfish shark, the S. acanthias embryo (SAE) mesenchymal stem cell line. This is the first continuously proliferating cell line from a cartilaginous fish. We identified expression of Mrp3 in this cell line, cloned the molecule, and examined molecular and cellular physiological aspects of the protein. Shark Mrp3 is characterized by three membrane-spanning domains and two nucleotide-binding domains. Multiple alignments with other species showed that the shark Mrp3 amino acid sequence was well conserved. The shark sequence was overall 64% identical to human MRP3, 72% identical to chicken Mrp3, and 71% identical to frog and stickleback Mrp3. Highest identity between shark and human amino acid sequence (82%) was seen in the carboxyl-terminal nucleotide-binding domain of the proteins. Cell culture experiments showed that mRNA for the protein was induced as much as 25-fold by peptide growth factors, fetal bovine serum, and lipid nutritional components, with the largest effect mediated by a combination of lipids including unsaturated and saturated fatty acids, cholesterol, and vitamin E.

Identification and classification of human cytomegalovirus capsids in textured electron micrographs using deformed template matching

BackgroundCharacterization of the structural morphology of virus particles in electron micrographs is a complex task, but desirable in connection with investigation of the maturation process and detection of changes in viral particle morphology in response to the effect of a mutation or antiviral drugs being applied. Therefore, we have here developed a procedure for describing and classifying virus particle forms in electron micrographs, based on determination of the invariant characteristics of the projection of a given virus structure. The template for the virus particle is created on the basis of information obtained from a small training set of electron micrographs and is then employed to classify and quantify similar structures of interest in an unlimited number of electron micrographs by a process of correlation.ResultsPractical application of the method is demonstrated by the ability to locate three diverse classes of virus particles in transmission electron micrographs of fibroblasts infected with human cytomegalovirus. These results show that fast screening of the total number of viral structures at different stages of maturation in a large set of electron micrographs, a task that is otherwise both time-consuming and tedious for the expert, can be accomplished rapidly and reliably with our automated procedure. Using linear deformation analysis, this novel algorithm described here can handle capsid variations such as ellipticity and furthermore allows evaluation of properties such as the size and orientation of a virus particle.ConclusionOur methodological procedure represents a promising objective tool for comparative studies of the intracellular assembly processes of virus particles using electron microscopy in combination with our digitized image analysis tool. An automated method for sorting and classifying virus particles at different stages of maturation will enable us to quantify virus production in all stages of the virus maturation process, not only count the number of infectious particles released from un infected cell.

COMBINING PHYLOGENETIC AND ECOLOGICAL INFORMATION INTO A NEW INDEX OF HOST SPECIFICITY

Host specificity has 2 independent facets: the extent to which different host species are used by a parasite, and the phylogenetic distances among these hosts. Although the number of host species exploited by a parasite commonly is used as a measure of host specificity, it fails to capture ecological and phylogenetic differences among hosts. Here, a new index of host specificity, S(TD)*, is developed and illustrated. This index measures the average taxonomic distinctness among the host species used by a parasite, weighted for the parasite's prevalence in the different hosts. For a given number of host species, the index approaches its minimum value when a parasite achieves high prevalence in a few closely related host species, and the index approaches its highest value when a parasite reaches its highest prevalence values in distantly related host species. Simple hypothetical examples are used to demonstrate the index's computation and some of its properties. The new index is influenced independently both by the taxonomic (or phylogenetic) affinities of a set of host species and by the distribution of prevalence values among these hosts. A single value cannot truly capture all the nuances of a phenomenon as complex as host specificity; nevertheless, the proposed index incorporates the features of specificity that are most relevant to parasitologists and will be a useful tool for comparative studies.