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Unequivocal Support (unequivocal + support)
Selected AbstractsDemocratic demand for a social Europe?INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 2 2005Preferences of the European citizenry Within the literature on European integration there is a widespread assumption that Europe is in need of intensified and more effective supranational social policy cooperation. However, on the political level it is doubtful whether such measures are welcomed by the national electorates. This article addresses this issue empirically by asking whether there is public demand for promoting greater European welfare policy cooperation and what are the determinants of such a demand. The data source used is the Eurobarometer survey 2000. A number of hypotheses dealing with socio-structural differences, the effects of welfare regime types, the subjective evaluation of the integration process and the role of identity will be scrutinised. Overall, the results indicate that at the attitudinal ,grass root' level there is no unequivocal support for a European welfare responsibility and that some fundamental cleavages are present. It is the regional and cultural aspects, especially, which turn out to be having an effect and to be influencing future political conflicts. A common European welfare arrangement, therefore, cannot be regarded as a solution to the problems the European Union is facing; rather it will raise new and severe problems of finding social and political support. [source] Cotylea (Polycladida): a cladistic analysis of morphologyINVERTEBRATE BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2008Kate A. Rawlinson Abstract. Polyclad flatworms are acoelomate bilaterians found in benthic communities worldwide, predominantly in marine environments. Current polyclad systematics is unstable, with two non-concordant classification schemes resulting in a poor understanding of within-group relationships. Here we present the first phylogenetic framework for the suborder Cotylea using a morphological matrix. Representatives of 34 genera distributed among all cotylean families (except four, excluded due to their dubious taxonomic status) were investigated. The number of families included ranges from a conservative eight to a revisionary 11. Outgroup analysis indicated that the suborder is monophyletic and defined by the presence of a ventral adhesive structure, a short posteriorly positioned vagina, and cement glands. Of the eight to 11 families included, we confirmed that three were monophyletic: Boniniidae, Prosthiostomidae, and Pseudocerotidae. Boniniidae was consistently recovered as the sister group to other Cotylea, based on the retention of the plesiomorphic Lang's vesicle. The clade consisting of Anonymus, Marcusia, and Pericelis is sister to the Boniniidae and the rest of the Cotylea. Above this clade there is little resolution at the base of the sister group. The Euryleptidae are found to be paraphyletic and give rise to the Pseudocerotidae. Neither classification scheme received unequivocal support. The intrafamilial relationships of the diverse Pseudocerotidae and Euryleptidae were examined. Color pattern characters (used for species identification) were highly homoplasious but increased cladogram resolution within genera. The monophyly of seven genera within the Pseudocerotidae and Euryleptidae was not supported and many genera showed no autapomorphies, highlighting the need for taxonomic revision of these families. [source] The colonization history of Olea europaea L. in Macaronesia based on internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS-1) sequences, randomly amplified polymorphic DNAs (RAPD), and intersimple sequence repeats (ISSR)MOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 7 2000J. Hess Abstract Phylogenetic relationships in the Olea europaea complex and the phylogeography of 24 populations of the Macaronesian olive (O. europaea ssp. cerasiformis) were assessed by using three molecular markers: nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS-1) sequences, randomly amplified polymorphic DNAs (RAPD), and intersimple sequence repeats (ISSR). Parsimony analysis of the ITS-1 sequences and Neighbour-joining (NJ) analyses of RAPD and ISSR banding variation revealed four major lineages in the O. europaea complex: (1) ssp. cuspidata; (2) ssp. cerasiformis from Madeira; (3) ssp. laperrinei; and (4) ssp. cerasiformis from the Canary Islands plus ssp. europaea. These results provide unequivocal support for two independent dispersal events of Olea to the Madeira and Canary Islands. Molecular and morphological evidence led to recognition of two separate olive taxa in Macaronesia, to date included in ssp. cerasiformis. NJ analyses of the combined RAPD and ISSR data suggest that the colonization of the Canaries by O. europaea may have followed an east to west stepping-stone model. An interisland dispersal sequence can be recognized, starting from the continent to Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Gomera, and finally La Palma. High dispersal activity of the lipid-rich Olea fruits by birds in the Mediterranean region is congruent with multiple dispersal of olives to Macaronesia and successive colonization of the archipelagos. The observation of strong genetic isolation between populations of different islands of the Canary Islands suggests, however, that subsequent interisland dispersal and establishment has been very rare or may not have occurred at all. [source] Bacterial vaginosis Transmission, role in genital tract infection and pregnancy outcome: an enigma,APMIS, Issue 4 2005Review article III Whether bacterial vaginosis (BV) is acquired from an endogenous or an exogenous source is subject to controversy. Despite findings of an association between sexual behaviour and BV, some data indicate that BV is not a sexually transmitted infection in the traditional sense, while other data indicate that BV is an exogenous infection. A third aspect of BV is its tendency to go unnoticed by affected women. All of this will have a strong impact on how physicians view the risks of asymptomatic BV. This review focuses on whether or not BV should be regarded as a sexually transmitted infection (STI), its role in postoperative infections and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), and on whether or not treatment of BV during pregnancy to reduce preterm delivery should be recommended. The reviewed studies do not lend unequivocal support to an endogenous or exogenous transmission of the bacteria present in BV. For women undergoing gynaecological surgery such as therapeutic abortion, the relative risk of postoperative infection is clearly elevated (approx. 2.3,2.8). A weaker association exists between BV and pelvic inflammatory disease. Data on treatment of BV as a way of reducing preterm delivery are inconclusive and do not support recommendations for general treatment of BV during pregnancy. The discrepant associations between BV and preterm birth found in recent studies may be explained by variations in immunological response to BV. Genetic polymorphism in the cytokine response , both regarding the TNF alleles and in interleukin production , could make women more or less susceptible to BV, causing different risks of preterm birth. Thus, studies on the vaginal inflammatory response to microbial colonization should be given priority. [source] Testing co-evolutionary hypotheses over geological timescales: interactions between Mesozoic non-avian dinosaurs and cycadsBIOLOGICAL REVIEWS, Issue 1 2009Richard J. Butler Abstract The significance of co-evolution over ecological timescales is well established, yet it remains unclear to what extent co-evolutionary processes contribute to driving large-scale evolutionary and ecological changes over geological timescales. Some of the most intriguing and pervasive long-term co-evolutionary hypotheses relate to proposed interactions between herbivorous non-avian dinosaurs and Mesozoic plants, including cycads. Dinosaurs have been proposed as key dispersers of cycad seeds during the Mesozoic, and temporal variation in cycad diversity and abundance has been linked to dinosaur faunal changes. Here we assess the evidence for proposed hypotheses of trophic and evolutionary interactions between these two groups using diversity analyses, a new database of Cretaceous dinosaur and plant co-occurrence data, and a geographical information system (GIS) as a visualisation tool. Phylogenetic evidence suggests that the origins of several key biological properties of cycads (e.g. toxins, bright-coloured seeds) likely predated the origin of dinosaurs. Direct evidence of dinosaur,cycad interactions is lacking, but evidence from extant ecosystems suggests that dinosaurs may plausibly have acted as seed dispersers for cycads, although it is likely that other vertebrate groups (e.g. birds, early mammals) also played a role. Although the Late Triassic radiations of dinosaurs and cycads appear to have been approximately contemporaneous, few significant changes in dinosaur faunas coincide with the late Early Cretaceous cycad decline. No significant spatiotemporal associations between particular dinosaur groups and cycads can be identified , GIS visualisation reveals disparities between the spatiotemporal distributions of some dinosaur groups (e.g. sauropodomorphs) and cycads that are inconsistent with co-evolutionary hypotheses. The available data provide no unequivocal support for any of the proposed co-evolutionary interactions between cycads and herbivorous dinosaurs , diffuse co-evolutionary scenarios that are proposed to operate over geological timescales are plausible, but such hypotheses need to be firmly grounded on direct evidence of interaction and may be difficult to support given the patchiness of the fossil record. [source] | ||||||||||