bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Studying 3D cell cultures in a microfluidic droplet array under multiple time-resolved conditions
Authors: Tomasi Raphaël F.-X. , Sart Sébastien , Champetier Tiphaine , Baroud Charles N.
Published: September 2018

The relevance of traditional cell cultures to cellular behavior in vivo is limited, since the two-dimensional (2D) format does not appropriately reproduce the microenvironment that regulates cell functions. In this context, spheroids are an appealing 3D cell culture format to complement standard techniques, by combining a high level of biological relevance with simple production protocols. However the methods for spheroid manipulation are still labor intensive, which severely limits the complexity of operations that can be performed on statistically relevant numbers of individual spheroids. Here we show how to apply hundreds of different conditions on spheroids in a single microfluidic chip, where each spheroid is produced and immobilized in an anchored droplet. By using asymmetric anchor shapes, a second drop can be merged with the spheroid-containing drop at a later time. This time-delayed merging uniquely enables two classes of applications that we demonstrate: (1) the initiation of cell-cell interactions on demand, either for building micro-tissues within the device or for observing antagonistic cell-cell interactions with applications in immuno-therapy or host-pathogen interactions, (2) a detailed dose-response curve obtained by exposing an array of hepatocyte-like spheroids to droplets containing a wide range of acetaminophen concentrations. The integrated microfluidic format allows time-resolved measurements of the response of hundreds of spheroids with a single-cell resolution. The data shows an internally regulated evolution of each spheroid, in addition to a heterogeneity of the responses to the drug that the single-cell analysis correlates with the initial presence and location of dead cells within each spheroid.
Chromatin rewiring mediates programmed evolvability via aneuploidy
Authors: Brimacombe Cedric A. , Burke Jordan E. , Parsa Jahan-Yar , Witchley Jessica N. , Burrack Laura S. , Madhani Hiten D. , Noble Suzanne M.
Published: September 2018

Eukaryotes have evolved elaborate mechanisms to ensure that chromosomes segregate with high fidelity during mitosis and meiosis1, and yet specific aneuploidies can be adaptive during environmental stress2,3. Here, we identify a chromatin-based system for inducible aneuploidy in a human pathogen. Candida albicans utilizes chromosome missegregation to acquire resistance to antifungal drugs4,5 and for ploidy reduction after mating6. We discovered that the ancestor of C. albicans and two related pathogens evolved a variant of histone H2A that lacks the conserved phosphorylation site for Bub1 kinase7, a key regulator of chromosome segregation1. Expression of this variant controls the rates of aneuploidy and antibiotic resistance in this species. Moreover, CENP-A/Cse4, the histone H3 that specifies centromeres, is depleted from tetraploid mating products and virtually eliminated from cells exposed to aneuploidy-promoting cues. Thus, changes in chromatin regulation can confer the capacity for rapid evolution in eukaryotes.
Draxin alters laminin expression during basement membrane reorganization to control cranial neural crest EMT
Authors: Hutchins Erica J. , Bronner Marianne E.
Published: September 2018

Premigratory neural crest cells arise within the dorsal neural tube and subsequently undergo an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) to leave the neuroepithelium and initiate migration. Draxin is a Wnt modulator that has been shown to control the timing of cranial neural crest EMT. Here we show that this process is accompanied by three stages of remodeling of the basement membrane protein laminin, from regression to expansion and channel formation. Loss of Draxin results in blocking laminin remodeling at the regression stage, whereas ectopic maintenance of Draxin blocks remodeling at the expansion stage. The latter effect is rescued by addition of Snail2, previously shown to be downstream of Draxin. Our results demonstrate an essential function for the Wnt modulator Draxin in regulating basement membrane remodeling during cranial neural crest EMT.

HIGHLIGHTS

Cranial neural crest migrate through a laminin-rich basement membrane channel

Perturbation of Draxin, a Wnt antagonist, alters laminin channel formation

Draxin’s effect on laminin channel formation is largely mediated by Snail2
ASICS: an R package for a whole analysis workflow of 1D 1H NMR spectra
Authors: Lefort Gaëlle , Liaubet Laurence , Canlet Cécile , Tardivel Patrick , Pére Marie-Christine , Quesnel Hélène , Paris Alain , Iannuccelli Nathalie , Vialaneix Nathalie , Servien Rémi
Published: September 2018

In metabolomics, the detection of new biomarkers from NMR spectra is a promising approach. However, this analysis remains difficult due to the lack of a whole workflow that handles spectra pre-processing, automatic identification and quantification of metabolites and statistical analyses.

We present ASICS, an R package that contains a complete workflow to analyse spectra from NMR experiments. It contains an automatic approach to identify and quantify metabolites in a complex mixture spectrum and uses the results of the quantification in untargeted and targeted statistical analyses. ASICS was shown to improve the precision of quantification in comparison to existing methods on two independant datasets. In addition, ASICS successfully recovered most metabolites that were found important to explain a two level condition describing the samples by a manual and expert analysis based on bucketting. It also found new relevant metabolites involved in metabolic pathways related to risk factors associated with the conditions.

This workflow is available through the R package ASICS, available on the Bioconductor platform.
Efficient estimation of evolutionary rates by covariance aware regression
Authors: Neher Richard A.
Published: September 2018

Shared ancestry among individuals results in correlated traits and these dependencies need to be accounted for in probabilistic inference. In strictly asexual populations, the covariances have a particularly simple block-like structure imposed by the phylogenetic tree. Ho and Ane showed how this block-like structure can be exploited to efficiently invert covariance matrices and fit linear models on trees in linear time. In this short note, I use these methods to estimate evolutionary rates and to find the root of the tree that optimizes the time-divergence relationship. The algorithm is implemented in TreeTime and can be used to estimate evolutionary rates and their confidence intervals with computational cost scaling linearly in the number of tips.
Genome-skimming provides accurate quantification for pollen mixtures Authors
Authors: Lang Dandan , Tang Min , Hu Jiahui , Zhou Xin
Published: September 2018

In the face of global pollinator declines, plant-pollinator interaction networks have been studied to guide ecological conservation and restoration. In order to obtain more comprehensive and unbiased knowledge of these networks, perspectives of both plants and pollinators need to be considered integratively. Metabarcoding has seen increasing applications in characterizing pollen transported by pollinators. However, amplification bias across taxa could lead to unpredictable artefacts in pollen compositions. We examined the efficacy of a PCR-free genome-skimming method in quantifying mixed pollen, using mock samples constructed with known pollen species (5 mocks of flower pollen and 14 mocks of bee pollen). The results demonstrated a high level of repeatability and accuracy in identifying pollen from mixtures of varied species ratios. All pollen species were detected in all mock samples, and pollen frequencies estimated from the number of sequence reads of each species were significantly correlated with pollen count proportions (linear model, R2=86.7%, P = 2.2e- 16). For >97% of the mixed taxa, pollen proportion could be quantified by sequencing to the correct order of magnitude, even for species which constituted only 0.2% of the total pollen. We also showed that DNA extracted from pollen grains equivalent to those collected from a single honeybee corbicula was sufficient for the genome-skimming pipeline. We conclude that genome-skimming is a feasible approach to identifying and quantifying pollen compositions for mixed pollen samples. By providing reliable and sensitive taxon identification and relative abundance, this method is expected to improve the understanding of pollen diversity transported by pollinators and their ecological roles in the plant-pollinator networks.
Skewed temperature dependence affects range and abundance in a warming world
Authors: Hurford Amy , Cobbold Christina A. , Molnár Péter K.
Published: September 2018

Population growth metrics such asR0are usually asymmetric functions of temperature, with cold-skewed curves arising when the positive effects of a temperature increase outweigh the negative effects, and warm-skewed curves arising in the opposite case. Classically, cold-skewed curves are interpreted as more beneficial to a species under climate warming, because cold-skewness implies increased population growth over a larger proportion of the species’ fundamental thermal niche than warm-skewness. However, inference based on the shape of the fitness curve alone, and without considering the synergistic effects of net reproduction, density, and dispersal may yield an incomplete understanding of climate change impacts. We formulate a moving-habitat integrodifference equation model to evaluate how fitness curve skewness affects species’ range size and abundance during climate warming. In contrast to classic interpretations, we find that climate warming adversely affects populations with cold-skewed fitness curves, positively affects populations with warm-skewed curves and has relatively little or mixed effects on populations with symmetric curves. Our results highlight the synergistic effects of fitness curve skewness, spatially heterogeneous densities, and dispersal in climate change impact analyses, and that the common approach of mapping changes only inR0may be misleading.
Modeling long lifespans in eusocial insect populations
Authors: RaviTeja Donepudi , Ramaswamy Ramakrishna
Published: September 2018

Along with division of labour, and life-history complexities, a characteristic of eusocial insect societies is the greatly extended lifespan for queens. The colony structure reduces the extrinsic mortality of the queen, and according to classical evolutionary theories of ageing, this greatly increases the lifespan. We explore the relationship between the evolution of longevity and the evolution of eusociality by introducing age-structure into a previously proposed evolutionary model and also define an associated agent-based model. A set of three population structures are defined: (i) solitary with all reproductive individuals, (ii) monogynous eusocial with a single queen, and (iii) polygynous eusocial, with multiple queens.

In order to compare the relative fitnesses we compete all possible pairs of these strategies as well as all three together, analysing the effects of parameters such as the probability of progeny migration, group benefits, and extrinsic mortality on the evolution of long lifespans. Simulations suggest that long lifespans appear to evolve only in eusocial populations, and further, that long lifespans enlarge the region of parameter space where eusociality evolves. When all three population strategies compete, the agent-based simulations indicate that solitary strategies are largely confined to shorter lifespans. For long lifespan strategies the solitary behaviour results only for extreme (very low or very high) migration probability. For median and small values of migration probability, the polygynous eusocial and monogynous eusocial strategies give advantage to the population respectively. For a given migration probability, with an increase in lifespan, the dominant strategy changes from solitary to polygynous to monogynous eusociality. The evolution of a long lifespan is thus closely linked to the evolution of eusociality, and our results are in accord with the observation that the breeding female in monogynous eusocial species has a longer lifespan than those in solitary or polygynous eusocial species.
Evolution of preferences in structured populations: genes, guns, and culture
Authors: Alger Ingela , Weibull Jörgen W. , Lehmann Laurent
Published: September 2018

During human evolution, individuals interacted mostly within small groups that were connected by limited migration and sometimes by conflicts. Which preferences, if any, will prevail in such scenarios? Building on population biology models of spatially structured populations, and assuming individuals’ preferences to be their private information, we characterize those preferences that, once established, cannot be displaced by alternative preferences. We represent such uninvadable preferences in terms of fitness and in terms of material payoffs. At the fitness level, individuals can be regarded to act as if driven by a mix of self-interest and a Kantian motive that evaluates own behavior in the light of the consequences for own fitness if others adopted this behavior. This Kantian motive is borne out from (genetic or cultural) kin selection. At the material-payoff level, individuals act as if driven in part by self-interest and a Kantian motive (in terms of material payoffs), but also in part by other-regarding preferences towards other group members. This latter motive is borne out of group resource constraints and the risk of conflict with other groups. We show how group size, the migration rate, the risk of group conflicts, and cultural loyalty shape the relative strengths of these motives.

JEL codes

A12, A13, B52, C73, D01, D63, D64, D91.
Real-world expectations and their affective value modulate object processing
Authors: Caplette Laurent , Gosselin Frédéric , Mermillod Martial , Wicker et Bruno
Published: September 2018

It is well known that expectations influence how we perceive the world. Yet the neural mechanisms underlying this process remain unclear. Studies about the effects of prior expectations have focused so far on artificial contingencies between simple neutral cues and events. Real-world expectations are however often generated from complex associations between contexts and objects learned over a lifetime. Additionally, these expectations may contain some affective value and recent proposals present conflicting hypotheses about the mechanisms underlying affect in predictions. In this study, we used fMRI to investigate how object processing is influenced by realistic context-based expectations, and how affect impacts these expectations. First, we show that the precuneus, the inferotemporal cortex and the frontal cortex are more active during object recognition when expectations have been elicited a priori, irrespectively of their validity or their affective intensity. This result supports previous hypotheses according to which these brain areas integrate contextual expectations with object sensory information. Notably, these brain areas are different from those responsible for simultaneous context-object interactions, dissociating the two processes. Then, we show that early visual areas, on the contrary, are more active during object recognition when no prior expectation has been elicited by a context. Lastly, BOLD activity was shown to be enhanced in early visual areas when objects are less expected, but only when contexts are neutral; the reverse effect is observed when contexts are affective. This result supports the proposal that affect modulates the weighting of sensory information during predictions. Together, our results help elucidate the neural mechanisms of real-world expectations.
PBRM1 regulates the stress response in epithelial cells
Authors: Porter Elizabeth G. , Dhiman Alisha , Chowdhury Basudev , Carter Benjamin C. , Lin Hang , Stewart Jane C. , Kazemian Majid , Wendt Michael K. , Dykhuizen Emily C.
Published: September 2018

Polybromo1 (PBRM1) is a chromatin remodeler subunit highly mutated in cancer, particularly renal clear cell carcinoma. PBRM1 is a member of the SWI/SNF subcomplex, PBAF (PBRM1-Brg1/Brm Associated Factors) and is characterized by six tandem bromodomains. Here we establish a role for PBRM1 in epithelial cell maintenance through the expression of genes involved in cell adhesion, metabolism, stress response, and apoptosis. In support of a general role for PBRM1 in stress response and apoptosis, we observe that loss of PBRM1 results in an increase in reactive oxygen species generation and a decrease in cellular viability under stress conditions. We find that loss of PBRM1 promotes cell growth under favorable conditions but is required for cell survival under conditions of cellular stress.
3C-Based Chromatin Interaction Analyses
Authors: Kim Tae Hoon , Dekker Job
Published: September 2018

This introduction presents a molecular approach that uses formaldehyde cross-linking to investigate genome structure and function—chromosome conformation capture (3C). This approach allows us to determine the spatial proximity of distant functional genomic sites (by looping). 3C-based techniques to interrogate chromosome folding and long-range interactions between genomic sequences in vivo are detailed.
General review of intelligent agriculture development in China
Authors: Shi Lin , Shi Guicheng , Qiu Huanguang
Published: September 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the development of intelligent agriculture (IA) in China, which is an important tendency in advancing the agricultural productivity in the coming era.

Design/methodology/approach

Considering publications as featured evidence of an emerging phenomenon, the authors review publications of IA. Specifically, the use of term, definition and examples of IA, both English and Chinese literature, and government policies of China are all reviewed. Additionally, the authors use basic statistical and thematic analysis to help synthesizing the literature and drawing conclusions. Findings from various sources of publications supplement with each other.

Findings

IA in China has shown three main characteristics: unbalanced geographic distribution, an early stage of the trend and attention mainly focused on a limited range of technologies. Compared with the development of IA in other countries, such as Japan, India and the USA, featured with diversified properties, similarities and differences of IA development in China and in other countries are also discussed.

Originality/value

This general review contributes by uncovering the emergence of IA, identifying its general definition with a comprehensive set of practical examples and pointing out the present characteristics and problems of IA development in China. The general review provides a necessary summary for the policy makers and researchers to have a systematic understanding of IA and better promote its future development. At last, the paper calls for a process-based strategy with different goals at different stages, a sustainable mechanism coordinated by multiple participants, and a localized consideration for relevant policy making.
Does computer usage change farmers’ production and consumption? Evidence from China
Authors: Hou Jianyun , Huo Xuexi , Yin Runsheng
Published: September 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of using computers to obtain information on the farm household’s production and consumption based on a field survey of farm households in the northern China.

Design/methodology/approach

The most important methods applied are instrumental variable (IV) method and propensity score matching (PSM) method. Estimators of IV, PSM and nearest neighborhood matching approaches are considered together to check the robustness of empirical results.

Findings

This paper careful impact evaluation results suggest that the use of computer not only improves the size of arable land rented in but also reduces family labor input intensity and the probability of selling agricultural outputs at farm-gate markets. Moreover, it also stimulates transportation, garment, housing and insurance expenditures per capita.

Research limitations/implications

The database of this research comprises cross-section data, which does not support a cross-time comparison.

Practical implications

These results imply that it is vital to expand the coverage of computer use in rural areas. This may suggest that the importance of improving computer access is crucial for stimulating rural consumption increase. Furthermore, the need for the expansion of internet network coverage in western areas is also of importance.

Originality/value

First, the authors directly estimate computer usage impacts on a broader range of production and consumption indicators by including land-relative investments, variable investments, labor input and household’s expenditure and provide rigorous impact evaluations on the impact of access to computer. Second, the authors use IV and PSM methods to correct self-selection bias, going beyond the single equation approach in other studies. This enables us to identify the causal relationship between computer usage and farmer’s production and consumption decisions.
Design and analysis of PMLSM with SIN + 3rd shaping mover
Authors: Zhang Lufeng , Wang Kai
Published: September 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the electromagnetic performances of the permanent magnet linear synchronous machines (PMLSM) with sine and third harmonic (SIN + 3rd) shaping mover in comparison with the PMLSM with sine (SIN) shaping mover and conventional shaping mover.

Design/methodology/approach

The optimal amplitude of the injected third harmonic to re-shape the SIN + 3rd shaping permanent magnet (PM) for maximizing the thrust force is analytically derived and confirmed by finite element method (FEM). Furthermore, the PM edge thickness, the pole arc to pole pitch ratio and the tooth to slot ratio are optimized. It is found that the optimal amplitude of the injected third harmonic is one-sixth of the fundamental one, the optimal PM edge thickness, the pole arc to pole pitch ratio and the tooth to slot ratio are 0, 0.85 and 0.5 mm, respectively. In addition, the electromagnetic performances are analyzed and quantitatively compared for the PMLSM with SIN + 3rd shaping mover, SIN shaping mover and conventional shaping mover.

Findings

The average thrust force and efficiency of the PMLSM with SIN + 3rd shaping mover are improved significantly, while the thrust ripple is not increased, comparing to those of the PMLSM with SIN shaping mover. Meanwhile, the thrust ripple is lower than that of the conventional shaping mover.

Research limitations/implications

The purely sinusoidal currents are applied in this analysis and the influences of harmonics in the current on electromagnetic performances are not considered.

Originality/value

This paper presents a PMLSM with SIN + 3rd shaping mover to improve the thrust force and efficiency without increasing the thrust ripple, considering the effects of the amplitude of the injected third harmonic to re-shape the SIN + 3rd shaping PM, the PM edge thickness, the pole arc to pole pitch ratio and the tooth to slot ratio.
Analysis of wind turbine modelling using TSMC techniques
Authors: T. Yuvaraja , Ramya K.
Published: September 2018

Purpose

According to bidirectional ability, wind application are having variable acceleration which connected large quantity of wind ability bearing system with doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) fed by the two-stage cast converter (TSMC) system, the accentuation action for TSMC and arithmetic standard for DFIG are all deduced. The purpose of this study is for, stator accelerated action in Doubly fed induction generator and controlled by the Two Stage Cast Converter for better control.

Design/methodology/approach

The purpose of this study is for, stator accelerated action in Doubly fed induction generator and controlled by the Two Stage Cast Converter for better control.

Findings

Then, the beginning ancestor was set up to verify this system; the allotment of the filigree beginning after-effects are offered beneath no-load and the three plan states.

Originality/value

These after-effects apparent by the fact that the arrangement fed by TSMC-DFIG could apprehend the safe ability bearing accumulated to the filigree in the sub-synchronous, synchronisation and super-synchronous state; meanwhile generated sinusoidal describes the displacement factor.
How to make an electronic library accessible
Authors: Kosztyánné Mátrai Rita
Published: September 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify important principles which should be applied to electronic library websites to make them usable for all people.

Design/methodology/approach

The goal of this paper was to make the simplified user interface of Hungarian Electronic Library (VMEK) more accessible and usable by leveraging the latest technologies, standards and recommendations. Vision-impaired and motor-disabled people were also involved in brainstorming and collecting ideas during the design phase and in testing the implemented website.

Findings

This paper showed that the perspicuity of the Web page is greatly improved by semantically correct HTML codes, clearly defined links and alt attributes, hotkeys and typographic principles.

Practical implications

The paper presents the design principles of electronic library Web pages which can be applied by Web developers and content managers. The paper identifies design principles, which improve the perspicuity of user interfaces to a great extent (especially in the case of blind users); draws attention to the typographic principles, which promote reading and understanding documents; and recommends guidelines for developing electronic library home pages and managing the content of these home pages.

Originality/value

This paper bridges the gap between the information and library science field and the Web accessibility and usability field. Based on brainstorming results where people with various kinds of disabilities were involved, the paper gives 11 recommendations which should be taken into account while designing and developing electronic library websites to ensure equal access to their services and documents.
Influence of rounded corners on flow interference between two tandem cylinders using FVM and IB-LBM
Authors: Adeeb Ehsan , Haider Basharat Ali , Sohn Chang Hyun
Published: September 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to numerically investigate the influence of corner radius on the flow around two square cylinders in tandem arrangements at a Reynolds number of 100.

Design/methodology/approach

Six models of square cylinders with corner radii R/D = 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 (where R denotes the corner radius and D denotes the characteristic dimension of the body) were studied using an immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann method, and the results were compared with those obtained using a two-dimensional unsteady finite volume method. The cylinders were mounted in a tandem configuration (1.5 ≤ L/D ≤ 10 where L denotes the in-line separation between the cylinder centers). The simulated models were quantitatively compared to the aerodynamic force coefficients and Strouhal number. Furthermore, qualitative analysis is presented in the form of flow streamlines and vorticity contours.

Findings

The R/D and L/D values were varied to observe the variation in the flow characteristics in the gap and wake regions. The numerical results revealed two different regimes over the spacing range. The drag force on the downstream cylinder was negative for all corner radii values when the cylinders were placed at L/D = 3.0 (a single-body system). Subsequently, a sudden increase was observed in the aerodynamic forces (drag and lift) when L/D increased. A different gap value was identified in the transformation from a single-body to a two-body system for different corner radii. To verify the single-body system, a simulation was carried out with a single cylinder having a longitudinal geometric dimension equal to the tandem arrangement (L/D + D). Furthermore, in a single-body regime, the total drag of a tandem cylinder was less than that of a single cylinder, thus demonstrating the benefits of using tandem structures. A significant reduction in the aerodynamic forces and drag force was achieved by rounding the sharp corners and placing the cylinders in close proximity. An appropriate configuration of the tandem cylinders with a rounded corner of R/D = 0.4 and 0.5 at L/D = 3.0 and the range is enhanced to L/D = 4.0 for 0.0 ≤ R/D < 0.4 to achieve adequate drag reduction.

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s knowledge, there is a paucity of studies examining the effect of corner radius on bluff bodies arranged in a tandem configuration.
An improved technique for face recognition applications
Authors: Zaqout Ihab , Al-Hanjori Mones
Published: September 2018

Purpose

The face recognition problem has a long history and a significant practical perspective and one of the practical applications of the theory of pattern recognition, to automatically localize the face in the image and, if necessary, identify the person in the face. Interests in the procedures underlying the process of localization and individual’s recognition are quite significant in connection with the variety of their practical application in such areas as security systems, verification, forensic expertise, teleconferences, computer games, etc. This paper aims to recognize facial images efficiently. An averaged-feature based technique is proposed to reduce the dimensions of the multi-expression facial features. The classifier model is generated using a supervised learning algorithm called a back-propagation neural network (BPNN), implemented on a MatLab R2017. The recognition rate and accuracy of the proposed methodology is comparable with other methods such as the principle component analysis and linear discriminant analysis with the same data set. In total, 150 faces subjects are selected from the Olivetti Research Laboratory (ORL) data set, resulting 95.6 and 85 per cent recognition rate and accuracy, respectively, and 165 faces subjects from the Yale data set, resulting 95.5 and 84.4 per cent recognition rate and accuracy, respectively.

Design/methodology/approach

Averaged-feature based approach (dimension reduction) and BPNN (generate supervised classifier).

Findings

The recognition rate is 95.6 per cent and recognition accuracy is 85 per cent for the ORL data set, whereas the recognition rate is 95.5 per cent and recognition accuracy is 84.4 per cent for the Yale data set.

Originality/value

Averaged-feature based method.
Do Listed Banks have Higher Operating Efficiency and Output Efficiency?
Authors: Li Zeguang , Hou Keqiang , Cottrell Simon
Published: September 2018

This paper investigates the efficiency and productivity of listed and non‐listed banks in China by using the meta‐frontier and GMMPI methods. We find that the improvement in productivity of listed and non‐listed banks is mainly due to changes in technological efficiency. The difference between them is that the improvement of productivity of listed banks presents a typical technology‐driven feature, and changes in scale efficiency negatively affect productivity. The productivity of non‐listed banks shows scale efficiency driving features. The meta‐frontier efficiency of listed banks is significantly higher than the others. After decomposing the technology gap ratio, we find that the current production technology of the listed banks is closer to the potential production technology frontiers, and there is space for the non‐listed banks to improve their efficiency. Besides, the gaps between the true extent and the potential technological frontiers of both listed banks and non‐listed banks have converged.
Effect of Taste Enhancement on Consumer Acceptance of Pureed Cucumber and Green Capsicum
Authors: van Stokkom Vera L. , de Graaf Cees , van Kooten Olaf , Stieger Markus
Published: September 2018

Vegetables have low taste intensities, which might contribute to low acceptance. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of taste (sweetness, sourness, bitterness, umami, and saltiness) and fattiness enhancement on consumer acceptance of cucumber and green capsicum purees. Three concentrations of sugar, citric acid, caffeine, mono‐sodium glutamate, NaCl, and sunflower oil were added to pureed cucumber and green capsicum. Subjects (n = 66, 35.6 ± 17.7 y) rated taste and fattiness intensity. Different subjects (n = 100, 33.2 ± 16.5 years) evaluated acceptance of all pureed vegetables. Taste intensities of vegetable purees were significantly different (P < 0.05) between the three tastant concentrations except for umami in both vegetable purees, sourness in green capsicum puree, and fattiness in cucumber puree. Only enhancement of sweetness significantly (P < 0.05) increased acceptance of both vegetable purees compared to unmodified purees. In cucumber purees, relatively small amounts of added sucrose (2%) increased acceptance already significantly, whereas in green capsicum acceptance increased significantly only with addition of 5% sucrose. Enhancement of other taste modalities did not significantly increase acceptance of both vegetable purees. Enhancing saltiness and bitterness significantly decreased acceptance of both vegetable purees. We conclude that the effect of taste enhancement on acceptance of vegetable purees differs between tastants and depends on tastant concentration and vegetable type. With the exception of sweetness, taste enhancement of taste modalities such as sourness, bitterness, umami, and saltiness was insufficient to increase acceptance of vegetable purees. We suggest that more complex taste, flavor, or texture modifications are required to enhance acceptance of vegetables.

Practical Application

Results can be used by cultivators to select and grow vegetable varieties with enhanced taste and flavor. Especially for cucumber, relatively small sweetness enhancement is sufficient to increase acceptance.
Distribution of rheumatological diseases in rural and urban areas: An adapted COPCORD Stage I Phase III survey of Lucknow district in north India
Authors: Kumar Puneet , Alok Ragini , Das Siddharth K. , Srivastava Ragini , Agarwal Girdhar G.
Published: September 2018

Objectives

To study the distribution of various rheumatological diseases in rural and urban areas of Lucknow, India.

Method

A study using adapted a Community Oriented Program for the Control of Rheumatic Diseases scheme was carried out in a cluster of rural (n = 5118) and urban (n = 5053) communities through a door‐to‐door survey. Trained community volunteers completed the questionnaires. Patients with musculoskeletal pain (MSK pain) were clinically evaluated by a physician. X‐ray examinations and blood investigations were also done. Diagnosis was made according to International Classification of Diseases‐9 classification system.

Results

Among persons reporting MSK pain in rural areas, high prevalence of osteoarthritis (OA) knee (35%) was observed followed by fibromyalgia (32.1%), backache (28.4%), non‐specific pain (NSP) (20.7%) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (1.2%). In urban area, OA knee (36.3%) and backache (36.6%) were found highly prevalent, followed by fibromyalgia (11.1%), NSP (10.9%) and neck pain (7.4%). In urban areas among MSK pain patients, prevalence of RA was only 1.6%. Age‐adjusted analysis among urban people showed backache complaints begin early (>20 years) than rural people. Significantly higher numbers of Knee OA complaints emerged among urban people than rural in the age group 21‐60 years. Projected population prevalence of knee OA was 44.9 and 106.07/1000 in rural and urban areas, respectively. Further projected population prevalences of fibromyalgia, backache, RA and NSP in rural and urban areas are 41.2 and 32.4, 36.5 and 106.6, 1.56 and 4.74, 26.0 and 32.0 per 1000, respectively.

Conclusion

OA knee, fibromyalgia, backache and NSP are predominant health problems of both areas. Female preponderance was observed in all rheumatological diseases in both the areas.
Global growing‐area elasticities of key agricultural crops estimated using dynamic heterogeneous panel methods
Authors: Iqbal Md Zabid , Babcock Bruce A.
Published: September 2018

We estimate the short‐ and long‐run global response of corn, soybeans, wheat, and rice growing areas to output price changes allowing responses to vary across countries using methods from the panel time‐series literature. Our estimates of growing‐area response are considerably lower than estimates obtained using more traditional models. Previous findings appear biased due to the assumption of homogeneous response across countries. Our aggregate estimates of short‐ and long‐run elasticities of four crop growing areas with respect to average price are 0.024 and 0.143, respectively. Crop‐specific results indicate that both corn and soybean growing areas are generally more responsive than wheat and rice. For corn and soybeans, the long‐run own‐price growing‐area elasticities are 0.274 and 0.793, respectively. The long‐run own‐price elasticities for wheat and rice are 0.279 and 0.045, respectively. The short‐run own‐price elasticities for corn and soybeans are 0.133 and 0.199, respectively, which are higher than wheat (0.037) and rice (0.00001).
Effect of C‐reactive protein/albumin ratio on prognosis in advanced non–small‐cell lung cancer
Authors: Ni Xue‐Feng , Wu Jun , Ji Mei , Shao Ying‐Jie , Xu Bin , Jiang Jing‐Ting , Wu Chang‐Ping
Published: September 2018

Aim

Systemic inflammatory response is closely related to tumor progression. We retrospectively investigated relationships between systemic inflammatory scores, C‐reactive protein/albumin (CRP/Alb) ratio (CAR) and clinical characteristics in advanced non–small‐cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in 436 patients to find better clinical predictors of NSCLC prognosis.

Methods

Blood specimens were collected 1 week before treatment to test for systemic inflammatory scores and albumin. Patients’ overall survival (OS) was calculated via Kaplan–Meier method. Single‐factor log‐rank and multivariate Cox regression analyses and receiver operating characteristic curves were used to evaluate the prognostic significance of CAR and other systemic inflammatory indexes in predicting OS.

Results

Kaplan–Meier method showed that Glasgow prognosis score (GPS), modified GPS (mGPS), neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and monocyte/lymphocyte ratio (MLR) were reliable prognostic factors for advanced NSCLC. CAR was positively correlated with GPS, mGPS, NLR, PLR and MLR in these patients. CAR was an independent risk factor for OS in advanced NSCLC, and was more closely associated with prognosis than were GPS, mGPS, NLR, PLR or MLR.

Conclusion

In advanced NSCLC patients, CAR may be a better predictor of prognosis compared with other inflammatory markers. A prospective multicenter study is needed to verify these findings.
Overdiagnosis of open‐angle glaucoma in the general population: the Thessaloniki Eye Study
Authors: Founti Panayiota , Coleman Anne L , Wilson M Roy , Yu Fei , Anastasopoulos Eleftherios , Harris Alon , Pappas Theofanis , Koskosas Archimidis , Kilintzis Vassilis , Salonikiou Angeliki , Raptou Anastasia , Topouzis Fotis
Published: September 2018

Purpose

To assess the overdiagnosis of open‐angle glaucoma (OAG) and to investigate associated factors.

Methods

This was a cross‐sectional, population‐based study of an urban Caucasian population in northern Greece. Randomly selected subjects ≥60 years (n = 2554) participated in the Thessaloniki Eye Study. The definition of OAG required the presence of structural and functional damage, irrespective of intraocular pressure (IOP). Non‐OAG subjects were classified as overdiagnosed with OAG if they had reported at least one of the following (self‐reported glaucoma): (i) prior diagnosis of glaucoma, (ii) prior laser for glaucoma, (iii) prior glaucoma surgery. Factors associated with the overdiagnosis of OAG were investigated using a logistic regression model.

Results

Of 57 (2.2%) subjects with self‐reported glaucoma, 34 (60%) were overdiagnosed with OAG, corresponding to a prevalence of 1.3% (34/2554). In a logistic regression model among non‐OAG subjects, worse visual acuity (VA) (20/200 or worse versus 20/25 or better; odds ratio (OR) = 4.30, 95% Confidence Intervals (CI), 1.13–16.35), family history of glaucoma (OR = 8.69, 95% CI, 2.83–26.67) and history of cataract surgery (OR = 11.50, 95% CI, 3.85–34.36) were statistically significantly associated with the overdiagnosis of OAG. Age, sex, higher IOP, higher vertical cup‐to‐disc ratio and pseudoexfoliation were not statistically significant.

Conclusion

The overdiagnosis of OAG was substantial in this elderly, Caucasian population. The overdiagnosis of glaucoma has not been previously addressed in population‐based studies and needs to be further explored.
Distribution of scleral thickness and associated factors in 810 Chinese children and adolescents: a swept‐source optical coherence tomography study
Authors: Deng Junjie , Jin Jiali , Lv Minzhi , Jiang Wenhan , Sun Sifei , Yao Chunxia , Zhu Jianfeng , Zou Haidong , Wang Ling , He Xiangui , Xu Xun
Published: September 2018

Purpose

To explore the subfoveal thickness of sclera (SST), choroid (SCT) and retina (SRT) as well as their relationship in healthy Chinese children with varying levels of refractive error.

Methods

A total of 810 healthy Chinese schoolchildren and adolescents underwent a series of comprehensive ocular examinations, as well as swept‐source optical coherence tomography (OCT) after induced cycloplegia. The thicknesses of the sclera, choroid and retina below the central fovea were measured manually, and each measurement was compared across different refractive statuses. Independent factors associated with the thickness of each layer were analysed.

Results

The meanSST,SCTandSRTwere 524 ± 57 μm, 195 ± 49 μm and 224 ± 19 μm, respectively. TheSSTs andSCTs of myopes were significantly thinner than those of emmetropes and hyperopes (all p < 0.001). Although the choroid seemed to be thicker in hyperopes (225 ± 46 μm) than in emmetropes (211 ± 45 μm), no statistically significant difference was observed between emmetropes and hyperopes in the sclera and choroid. ThinnerSSTs andSCTs were associated with greater levels of myopia, whereas theSRTwas similar in children with different myopic levels.SST(p < 0.001) andSCT(p = 0.003) as well as age (p < 0.001), sex (p < 0.001) and axial length (p < 0.001) were independently associated with spherical equivalent refraction (SER). Older age (p = 0.013), myopic‐shiftedSER(p < 0.001), thickerSCT(p < 0.001) and thinnerSRT(p = 0.012) were independently associated with a thinnerSST.

Conclusion

The subfoveal sclera and choroid were thinner in myopes than in emmetropes and hyperopes, while the retina remains constant. Age, refractive error and choroidal and retinal thicknesses are related to subfoveal scleral thickness.
Optical coherence tomography angiography analysis of macular flow density in glaucoma
Authors: Kromer Robert , Glusa Philipp , Framme Carsten , Pielen Amelie , Junker Bernd
Published: September 2018

Purpose

Modifications in ocular blood flow may play a significant role in glaucoma development. Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT‐A) is based on the detection and analysis of the reflection behaviour of motion in a static environment and therefore is able to quantify the retinal flow density. We used this new technology to examine the density of the active flow vasculature in the macular area in glaucoma patients compared to healthy patients.

Methods

Thirty patients with primary open‐angle glaucoma (mean age: 72.6 ± 7.1 years) and 21 healthy patients (mean age: 70.3 ± 8.6 years) were recruited. Patients received perimetry and OCT measurements of the peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thickness (RNFLT) and macular retinal thickness and OCT‐A of the macular area in the superficial and deep retinal (DR) plexus. Flow density of the OCT‐A scan was calculated by binarisation and quantification of the pixel density.

Results

Macular flow density was globally and nasally reduced in glaucoma patients in the superficial (globally: p = 0.0203; nasally: p = 0.0003) and DR plexus (globally: p = 0.0113, nasally: p < 0.0001). There was no significant difference between the superficial retina and the DR concerning the flow density. Flow density showed no significant correlation with perimetry results, RNFLT or retinal segment thickness.

Conclusion

Patients with glaucoma exhibit a reduced macular flow density measured by OCT‐A compared to controls. The independence of the macular flow density of the retinal segment thickness changes could indicate an altered vascular element in patients with glaucoma.
Regularized Latent Class Model for Joint Analysis of High-Dimensional Longitudinal Biomarkers and a Time-to-Event Outcome
Authors: Sun Jiehuan , Herazo-Maya Jose D. , Molyneaux Philip L. , Maher Toby M. , Kaminski Naftali , Zhao Hongyu
Published: September 2018

Although many modeling approaches have been developed to jointly analyze longitudinal biomarkers and a time-to-event outcome, most of these methods can only handle one or a few biomarkers. In this article, we propose a novel joint latent class model to deal with high dimensional longitudinal biomarkers. Our model has three components: a class membership model, a survival submodel, and a longitudinal submodel. In our model, we assume that covariates can potentially affect biomarkers and class membership. We adopt a penalized likelihood approach to infer which covariates have random effects and/or fixed effects on biomarkers, and which covariates are informative for the latent classes. Through extensive simulation studies, we show that our proposed method has improved performance in prediction and assigning subjects to the correct classes over other joint modeling methods and that bootstrap can be used to do inference for our model. We then apply our method to a dataset of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, for whom gene expression profiles were measured longitudinally. We are able to identify four interesting latent classes with one class being at much higher risk of death compared to the other classes. We also find that each of the latent classes has unique trajectories in some genes, yielding novel biological insights.
Evaluating (and Improving) the Correspondence Between Deep Neural Networks and Human Representations
Authors: Peterson Joshua C. , Abbott Joshua T. , Griffiths Thomas L.
Published: September 2018

Decades of psychological research have been aimed at modeling how people learn features and categories. The empirical validation of these theories is often based on artificial stimuli with simple representations. Recently, deep neural networks have reached or surpassed human accuracy on tasks such as identifying objects in natural images. These networks learn representations of real‐world stimuli that can potentially be leveraged to capture psychological representations. We find that state‐of‐the‐art object classification networks provide surprisingly accurate predictions of human similarity judgments for natural images, but they fail to capture some of the structure represented by people. We show that a simple transformation that corrects these discrepancies can be obtained through convex optimization. We use the resulting representations to predict the difficulty of learning novel categories of natural images. Our results extend the scope of psychological experiments and computational modeling by enabling tractable use of large natural stimulus sets.