bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Information value across cultures and communities
Authors: Burnett Gary , Lee Jisue , Hollister Jonathan M. , Skinner Julia
Published: April 2015

The value of information within and across communities varies; however, even slight variations in this value may define boundaries between different worlds. The Theory of Information Worlds offers a framework for understanding social information behaviors in these settings. This poster reports on the operationalization of the concept of Information Value and its implications for an ongoing project focusing on the development of codebooks intended to be effective across diverse research contexts and methodologies. Specifically, the concept of Information Value is operationalized and discussed through the lenses of three different dissertation projects focusing on South Korean political discourse on Twitter, Ernestine Rose and the Harlem Library, and the digital literacy practices of role‐players in a new Massively Multiplayer Online Role‐Playing Game. Implications of Information Value on research on communities and cultures are also briefly discussed before describing the project's next steps.
From siloed data to linked data: Developing a social metadata repository
Authors: Choi Yunseon
Published: April 2015

Although social data has been investigated and discussed regarding its impact on indexing and retrieval performance on the web, there has been little research conducted on storing or linking social data and identifying bibliographic relationships among social data for further use of social data. In this paper, we discuss our work in progress that aims to develop a social metadata repository which would be an important implication for making social data more valuable and reusable for searching and retrieval. We describe FRBR (Functional Requirements of Bibliographic Records) conceptual model's Entity‐Relationship (ER) view on bibliographic relationships and demonstrate how social metadata are encoded in RDA (Resource Description and Access) and how the implicit bibliographic relationships of social data are explicitly represented as RDF (Resource Description Framework) triples (Subject –Predicates – Objects) with links to external sources. We believe that the shareable and linked metadata repository of social data is remarkably significant, not only because it supports the accessibility to related documents, but also because it is clarifying the implicit semantic relationships among social data.
Uncertainty of author citation rankings: Lessons from in‐text citation weighing schemes
Authors: Strotmann Andreas , Zhao Dangzhi
Published: April 2015

In‐text frequency‐weighted citation counting has been seen as a particularly promising solution to the well‐known problem of citation analysis that treats all citations equally, be they crucial to the citing paper or perfunctory. But what is a good weighting scheme? Our preliminary results show that the ranks of authors in the field of Library and Information Science vary wildly with different in‐text citation frequency weighting schemes, suggesting that author citation ranks may inherently be uncertain.
Information sharing, connected learning, and a professional wrestling fan community
Authors: Martin Crystle
Published: April 2015

Research on information sharing practices of online fan communities is nascent. This paper seeks to describe information sharing in a professional wrestling fan community, focusing on the practice of youth. It also seeks to explore how information sharing effects this connected learning environment. This study finds that information sharing practices are tied to the social nature of the community fostering social ties. They also function as a means for people to stay current on new information, and help members of the community develop a more nuanced expertise in their interest.
Information integration: a case study of air quality in chicago and st. louis
Authors: Lee Jooho , Blake Catherine
Published: April 2015

Government agencies are increasingly making raw data available to citizens, but merely having access to data is not sufficient to realize the potential of “big data”. Answering questions in science, business, and public policy requires data integration which is challenging when data from different sources are used for different reasons. This project provides a detailed case study of how to integrate public data to understand the relationship between demographic factors and air quality. Demographic factors from US Census and American Community Survey were collected for two major cities (Chicago and St. Louis) and then integrated with air quality from the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). Results show that air quality has improved in both cities between 2000 and 2012. Determining correlations between ethnicity, education, level of income and air quality warrant further exploration.
Identifying valuable information from twitter during natural disasters
Authors: Truong Brandon , Caragea Cornelia , Squicciarini Anna , Tapia Andrea H.
Published: April 2015

Social media is a vital source of information during any major event, especially natural disasters. However, with the exponential increase in volume of social media data, so comes the increase in conversational data that does not provide valuable information, especially in the context of disaster events, thus, diminishing peoples’ ability to find the information that they need in order to organize relief efforts, find help, and potentially save lives. This project focuses on the development of a Bayesian approach to the classification of tweets (posts on Twitter) during Hurricane Sandy in order to distinguish “informational” from “conversational” tweets. We designed an effective set of features and used them as input to Naïve Bayes classifiers. In comparison to a “bag of words” approach, the new feature set provides similar results in the classification of tweets. However, the designed feature set contains only 9 features compared with more than 3000 features for “bag of words.” When the feature set is combined with “bag of words”, accuracy achieves 85.2914%. If integrated into disaster‐related systems, our approach can serve as a boon to any person or organization seeking to extract useful information in the midst of a natural disaster.
Information behaviors at the edge of reason: The role of uncertainty, science, and culture on environmental policy
Authors: Blake Catherine , Guo Jinlong
Published: April 2015

We all expect government agencies to use high quality evidence when creating public policy; however, in a democratic society, cultural values also play a role. For example Europe and America have different policies with respect to genetically modified foods and nuclear energy. Our goal is to explore information behaviors that surround the process of transforming scientific evidence into public policy in order to uncover where (and how) cultural values might be embedded. We analyzed more than a thousand citations from three scientific reviews that were conducted by scientists based in the EU and US on di(2‐ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), a plastic softener that is controversial because of potential impacts for industry and public health. Our analysis suggests that culture may influence public policy by establishing the initial scope of a review, by determining which evidence should be included, and by framing how evidence is presented.
Assessing Confidence in Predictions Using Veracity and Utility – A Case Study on the Prediction of Mammalian Metabolism by Meteor Nexus
Authors: Judson Philip N. , Long Anthony , Murray Ernest , Patel Mukesh
Published: April 2015

A previous paper1 described new metrics, veracity and utility, for assessing the performance of toxicity prediction systems that report confidence in their predictions. Assessing the performance of systems that predict mammalian metabolism is complicated by the absence of comprehensive sets of negative observations and predictions. This paper presents an approach to assessing the performance of such systems using veracity and utility.
Different number of intravesical onabotulinumtoxinA injections for patients with refractory detrusor overactivity do not affect treatment outcome: A prospective randomized comparative study
Authors: Liao Chun‐Hou , Chen Sheng‐Fu , Kuo Hann‐Chorng
Published: April 2015

Aims

To examine the therapeutic effects and safety of different numbers of intravesical onabotulinumtoxinA (BoNT‐A) injection for patients with detrusor overactivity (DO) refractory to antimuscarinics.

Methods

Patients with DO, at least one daily episode of urgency or urgency incontinence refractory to previous antimuscarinics were randomly assigned to receive 10, 20, or 40 intravesical BoNT‐A injections 100 U in 10 mL in the bladder body. Treatment results were assessed with global response assessment GRA, OAB symptom score OAB‐SS, urgency severity scale USS, patient perception of bladder condition PPBC, voiding diary, and urodynamic parameters. The primary endpoint was the comparison of the rates of successful treatment, which was defined as GRA ≥ 1 after treatment, between the groups. The secondary endpoints were the comparisons of the changes in the voiding diary, urodynamic parameters, individual AEs between the groups.

Results

Sixty‐seven patients were randomized into three groups. Patients with GRA ≥ 1 at 1, 3, and 6 months after treatment were comparable between the groups. The average OAB‐SS and USS and PPBC scores decreased whereas the average postvoid residual urine volume increased in all three groups. Changes in urodynamic and voiding diary parameters were also comparable between the groups. There were no significant differences in the rates of AEs and urinary tract infection after treatment.

Conclusions

Different numbers of intravesical BoNT‐A injections produced similar therapeutic and adverse effects. We therefore believe that 1 ml BoNT‐A injections (10 U) at 10 sites are adequate to achieve an optimal therapeutic effect in OAB patients. Neurourol. Urodynam. 35:717–723, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Predicting Creativity Based on the Facets of the Theoretical Intellect Framework
Authors: Mussel Patrick , McKay Alexander S. , Ziegler Matthias , Hewig Johannes , Kaufman James C.
Published: April 2015

The present study investigates how the construct intellect, according to the Theoretical Intellect Framework (TIF), predicts creativity. The TIF is a theoretical model describing the structure of the construct intellect, a sub–dimension of the Big Five domain openness to experience. People (N = 2709) from two sub–samples (undergraduate students and Amazon MTurkers) completed one of three creativity tasks (self–reported, remote associates, or rated photo caption) and the Intellect Scale. The results support hypotheses derived from the TIF, as the operation Create, rather than the operations Think or Learn, significantly and in some cases uniquely predicted the self–reported creativity indicators. Creativity indicators with a strong cognitive load (remote associates test and rated photo caption), however, were predicted by the operation Think. Results are discussed with regards to the nomological net of the operation Create and the construct validity of the creativity assessments. We provide implications for applied purposes and call for further examination of the TIF with additional creativity measures. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology
Kinetics of reversible addition–fragmentation transfer (RAFT) miniemulsion polymerization of styrene using dibenzyl trithiocarbonate asRAFTreagent and costabilizer
Authors: Kusuma Ricky Indra , Lin Chun‐Ta , Chern Chorng‐Shyan
Published: April 2015

The roles of dibenzyl trithiocarbonate (DBTTC) as both costabilizer and reversible addition–fragmentation transfer (RAFT) reagent inRAFTminiemulsion polymerizations of styrene were investigated. The effectiveness ofDBTTCcostabilizer in retarding Ostwald ripening involved in the storage stability of miniemulsion is comparable to that of conventional low‐molecular‐weight costabilizers such as cetyl alcohol, but inferior to that of hexadecane. The major variables chosen for studying kinetics ofRAFTminiemulsion polymerizations include the type of initiators and levels ofDBTTCand surfactant. At a constant level ofDBTTC, the rate of polymerization for benzoyl peroxide (BPO)‐initiated polymerization is slower than that for sodium persulfate (SPS)‐initiated polymerization. Furthermore, the polymerization rate decreases with increasing level ofDBTTCfor polymerizations initiated byBPO(orSPS). It is the monomer droplet nucleation that governsBPO‐initiated polymerizations. In contrast, forSPS‐initiated polymerizations, the probability for homogeneous nucleation to take place is greatly increased, especially for polymerizations with lower levels ofDBTTCand higher levels of surfactant. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry
Monolithically interconnected lamellar Cu(In,Ga)Se2 micro solar cells under full white light concentration
Authors: Reinhold Bernhard , Schmid Martina , Greiner Dieter , Schüle Manuel , Kieven David , Ennaoui Ahmed , Lux‐Steiner Martha Ch.
Published: April 2015

Thin film solar cells already benefit from significant material and energy savings. By using photon management, the conversion efficiency and the power density can be enhanced further, including a reduction of material costs. In this work, micrometer‐sized Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin film solar cells were investigated under concentrated white light illumination (1–50×). The cell design is based on industrially standardized, lamellar shaped solar cells with monolithic interconnects (P‐scribe). In order to characterize the shunt and serial resistance profiles and their impact on the device performance the cell width was reduced stepwise from 1900 to 200 µm and the P1‐scribe thickness was varied between 45 and 320 µm. The results are compared to macroscopic solar cells in standard geometry and dot‐shaped microcells with ring contacts. Under concentrated white light, the maximal conversion efficiency could be increased by more than 3.8% absolute for the lamellar microcells and more than 4.8% absolute in case of dot‐shaped microcells compared to their initial values at 1 sun illumination. The power density could be raised by a factor of 51 and 70, respectively. But apparently, the optimum concentration level and the improvement in performance strongly depend on the chosen cell geometry, the used contact method and the electrical material properties. It turns out, that the widely used industrial thin film solar cell design pattern cannot simply be adapted to prepare micro‐concentrator CIGS solar modules, without significant optimization. Based on the experimental and simulated results, modifications for the cell design are proposed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Microbial metaproteomics for characterizing the range of metabolic functions and activities of human gut microbiota
Authors: Xiong Weili , Abraham Paul E. , Li Zhou , Pan Chongle , Hettich Robert L.
Published: April 2015

The human gastrointestinal tract is a complex, dynamic ecosystem that consists of a carefully tuned balance of human host and microbiota membership. The microbiome is not merely a collection of opportunistic parasites, but rather provides important functions to the host that are absolutely critical to many aspects of health, including nutrient transformation and absorption, drug metabolism, pathogen defense, and immune system development. Microbial metaproteomics provides the ability to characterize the human gut microbiota functions and metabolic activities at a remarkably deep level, revealing information about microbiome development and stability as well as their interactions with their human host. Generally, microbial and human proteins can be extracted and then measured by high performance MS‐based proteomics technology. Here, we review the field of human gut microbiome metaproteomics, with a focus on the experimental and informatics considerations involved in characterizing systems ranging from low‐complexity model gut microbiota in gnotobiotic mice, to the emerging gut microbiome in the GI tract of newborn human infants, and finally to an established gut microbiota in human adults.
EBprot: Statistical analysis of labeling‐based quantitative proteomics data
Authors: Koh Hiromi W. L. , Swa Hannah L. F. , Fermin Damian , Ler Siok Ghee , Gunaratne Jayantha , Choi Hyungwon
Published: April 2015

Labeling‐based proteomics is a powerful method for detection of differentially expressed proteins (DEPs). The current data analysis platform typically relies on protein‐level ratios, which is obtained by summarizing peptide‐level ratios for each protein. In shotgun proteomics, however, some proteins are quantified with more peptides than others, and this reproducibility information is not incorporated into the differential expression (DE) analysis. Here, we propose a novel probabilistic framework EBprot that directly models the peptide‐protein hierarchy and rewards the proteins with reproducible evidence of DE over multiple peptides. To evaluate its performance with known DE states, we conducted a simulation study to show that the peptide‐level analysis of EBprot provides better receiver‐operating characteristic and more accurate estimation of the false discovery rates than the methods based on protein‐level ratios. We also demonstrate superior classification performance of peptide‐level EBprot analysis in a spike‐in dataset. To illustrate the wide applicability of EBprot in different experimental designs, we applied EBprot to a dataset for lung cancer subtype analysis with biological replicates and another dataset for time course phosphoproteome analysis of EGF‐stimulated HeLa cells with multiplexed labeling. Through these examples, we show that the peptide‐level analysis of EBprot is a robust alternative to the existing statistical methods for the DE analysis of labeling‐based quantitative datasets. The software suite is freely available on the Sourceforge websitehttp://ebprot.sourceforge.net/. All MS data have been deposited in the ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD001426 (http://proteomecentral.proteomexchange.org/dataset/PXD001426/).
Oligomeric aliphatic–aromatic ether containing phthalonitrile resins
Authors: Laskoski Matthew , Neal Arianna , Schear Mollie B. , Keller Teddy M. , Ricks‐Laskoski Holly L. , Saab Andrew P.
Published: April 2015

A versatile synthetic method has been developed for oligomeric aliphatic–aromatic ether containing phthalonitrile (PN) resins and applied to the preparation of three unique resin systems. The oligomeric PN monomers were prepared from the reaction of an excess amount of bisphenol A with a dihalo‐aliphatic containing compound in the presence of K2CO3 in dimethylsulfoxide, followed by end‐capping with 4‐nitrophthalonitrile in a two‐step, one‐pot reaction. These PN resin systems exhibited excellent viscosities for molding various shaped articles after thermal curing to yield crosslinked polymers. These polymers offered more mechanical flexibility, when compared with an all aromatic backbone, while still maintaining good thermal stability, dielectric properties, and low water absorption. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2015, 53, 2186–2191
Synthesis and characterization of chiral poly(alkyl isocyanates) by coordination polymerization using a chiral half‐titanocene complex
Authors: Choinopoulos Ioannis , Koinis Spyros , Pitsikalis Marinos
Published: April 2015

A new chiral half‐titanocene complex, [CpTiCl2(O‐(S)−2‐Bu)], is synthesized and characterized by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. This complex is employed for the coordination polymerization of n‐butyl and n‐hexyl‐ isocyanate leading to chiral polymers, as revealed by their CD spectra. Only the left‐handed helix is produced, due to the chiral (S)−2‐butoxy group, which is bound to the polymer chain end. The polymerization of 3‐(triethoxysilyl)propyl isocyanate produces less soluble polymers. On the other hand, phenyl isocyanate reacts slowly with the complex leading quantitatively and selectively to triphenyl isocyanurate. 2‐Ethylhexyl isocyanate is slowly and selectively cyclotrimerized in the presence of the half‐titanocene complex. However, a statistical copolymer of 2‐ethylhexyl isocyanate and hexyl isocyanate is produced. The reaction of benzyl isocyanate with the complex leads to a mixture of low molecular weight polymer and cyclotrimer. The polymers are characterized using SEC, NMR, and CD spectroscopy and their thermal properties are investigated by TGA/DSC analysis. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2015, 53, 2141–2151
Five years of experience with biochemical cystic fibrosis newborn screening based on IRT/PAP in Germany
Authors: Sommerburg Olaf , Hammermann Jutta , Lindner Martin , Stahl Mirjam , Muckenthaler Martina , Kohlmueller Dirk , Happich Margit , Kulozik Andreas E. , Stopsack Marina , Gahr Manfred , Hoffmann Georg F. , Mall Marcus A.
Published: April 2015

Background

Evidence from recent studies suggests that IRT/PAP protocols may be successfully used as a purely biochemical newborn screening (NBS) for cystic fibrosis (CF) that does not require genetic screening. However, the experience with the performance of different IRT/PAP protocols remains limited. In this study, we evaluated the performance of IRT/PAP‐based CF‐NBS used in two German regions between 2008 and 2013 in a large cohort.

Methods

In both regions slightly different IRT/PAP protocols were used to screen newborns for CF. In contrast to the original IRT/PAP protocol published by Sarles et al., both German protocols contained an IRT‐dependent safety net strategy (CF‐NBS positive, if IRT≥99.9th percentile). Positive rating of the screening result led to confirmatory diagnostics using sweat chloride testing and clinical assessment.

Findings

A total of 328,181 newborns were tested with IRT/PAP in Germany within 5 years. 639 of these newborns (0.19%) were tested positive, and 60 infants were diagnosed with CF leading to a sensitivity of 0.968 and a PPV (positive predictive value) of 0.097. Compared to IRT/DNA protocols, the PPV of IRT/PAP is lower, but PAP used as second tier test has the advantage of a lower detection rate of healthy carriers and CF patients with equivocal results.

Conclusions

Our results obtained in a large cohort of ∼330,000 newborns support the use of a purely biochemical IRT/PAP protocol as an acceptable alternative when genetic CF‐NBS has to be avoided. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2015; 50:655–664. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Changing the concepts of immune‐mediated glomerular diseases through proteomics
Authors: Caster Dawn J. , Hobeika Liliane , Klein Jon B. , Powell David W. , McLeish Kenneth R.
Published: April 2015

Standard classification of glomerular diseases is based on histopathologic abnormalities. The recent application of proteomic technologies has resulted in paradigm changes in the understanding and classification of idiopathic membranous nephropathy and membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis. Those examples provide evidence that proteomics will lead to advances in understanding of the molecular basis of other glomerular diseases, such as lupus nephritis. Proof of principle experiments show that proteomics can be applied to patient renal biopsy specimens. This viewpoint summarizes the advances in immune‐mediated glomerular diseases that have relied on proteomics, and potential future applications are discussed.
Comparative in vitro biological evaluation of daunorubicin containing GnRH‐I and GnRH‐II conjugates developed for tumor targeting
Authors: Szabó Ildikó , Bősze Szilvia , Orbán Erika , Sipos Éva , Halmos Gábor , Kovács Magdolna , Mező Gábor
Published: April 2015

Hormone based drug targeting is a promising tool for selective tumor therapy. In this study, synthesis and systematic comparative biological evaluation of novel drug containing analogs of gonadotropin‐releasing hormone GnRH‐I and GnRH‐II is reported demonstrating their suitability for tumor targeting. The cytotoxic conjugates were prepared by the attachment of the chemotherapeutical agent daunorubicin (Dau) to GnRH analogs directly or through an enzyme‐labile spacer with oxime linkage. All conjugates were found to be proteolytically stable under circumstances applied in biological assays. Both GnRH‐I and GnRH‐II were able to bind similarly to high‐affinity GnRH‐I receptors on human pituitary and human prostate cancer cells. The in vitro long‐term cytotoxic effect of the conjugates was comparable with that of the free drug in human breast and colon cancer cell lines. Furthermore, a concentration‐dependent cellular uptake profile was observed. The in vitro apoptotic effect of the compounds was evaluated by flow cytometry analysis using annexin‐V. Our results show that both the GnRH‐I and the GnRH‐II based analogs might be applied for targeted tumor therapy. Copyright © 2015 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Palladium thin films for hydrogen sensing in aqueous electrolytes
Authors: Walkner Sarah , Schimo Gabriela , Mardare Andrei Ionut , Hassel Achim Walter
Published: April 2015

In this work, differently prepared palladium films are tested toward their hydrogen sensing properties in aqueous electrolytes. The Pd thin films were either electroless deposited, electrochemically deposited, or prepared by physical vapor deposition. The outcome of each fabrication process and characteristics of the Pd films were determined by means of SEM and cyclic voltammetry. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was performed in order to calibrate the prepared hydrogen sensors. The Pd films react on different hydrogen concentrations in the electrolyte by changing their electrical resistivity. Elemental hydrogen can diffuse into the Pd film leading to a lattice expansion and a phase transition. A second hydrogen sensing mechanism due to a change in charge transfer resistance can be observed.
Effects of Poisson's ratio on the deformation of thin membrane structures under indentation
Authors: Aw Jensen , Zhao Hongyi , Norbury Andrew , Li Lisa , Rothwell Glynn , Ren James
Published: April 2015

Deformation/deflection of thin shells/membranes with clamped boundaries is a common material behaviour relevant to many engineering and medical conditions. A detailed understanding of the deformation mechanisms of different materials/structures with different Poisson's ratios under such a loading condition is of great significance to materials testing and product development. In this work, the deformation of circular elastic membranes with a clamped edge under point loading and finite contact conditions is systematically studied incorporating auxeticity behaviours. The effect of Poisson's ratio on the deformation of the material is investigated and the influence of parameters including sample thickness, indentation depth and indenter size is analysed. The feasibility and limitation of an analytical solution is evaluated. The work shows that the P/δ3 relationship is applicable to describe the force–displacement data over the membrane domain for both point loading and finite contact conditions. It is shown that negative Poisson's ratios have direct influence on the membrane deformation domain, including the force–displacement curve, the deflection profile and the contact area. Critical factors affecting the P–h curves and the deformation mechanisms are discussed with reference to potential use of the Poisson's ratio effects.
Mountain waves and wakes generated by South Georgia: implications for drag parametrization
Authors: Vosper S. B.
Published: April 2015

High‐resolution simulations of flows over South Georgia (South Atlantic) are used to increase understanding of the likely influence of small isolated mountainous islands on the large‐scale flow and to ascertain the extent to which parametrization schemes can account for the missing drag in models where such islands are only partially resolved. Long‐duration (1 month) austral winter forecasts with a horizontal grid spacing of 1.5 km are used to quantify the mountain‐wave momentum fluxes generated by the island and the low‐level drag associated with flow‐blocking dynamics. The characteristics of the drag, such as the occurrence of high and low drag states, its dependence on wind direction and the spectral contributions to the mountain‐wave momentum flux, are considered. Flow splitting and low‐level wave breaking are shown to be responsible for wake regions that extend for hundreds of kilometres from the island. Regions of deceleration are also evident in the stratosphere, due to mountain‐wave dissipation. The extent to which an orographic drag parametrization scheme can reproduce the drag is investigated by comparison with coarse‐resolution (15 km grid spacing) simulations in which the orography is poorly resolved and a large proportion of the drag is parametrized. It is demonstrated that the total of the resolved plus parametrized drag in these simulations closely resembles that at high resolution, although it is underpredicted during instances of high drag. Simple modifications to the scheme, which enhance the drag when the low‐level flow is approximately normal to the major axis of the subgrid orography, are shown to rectify this. The study demonstrates that, at least for relatively simple isolated mountain ranges, the drag and mountain‐wave momentum fluxes can be predicted in a deterministic sense by a well‐tuned parametrization scheme of suitable complexity, although inclusion of stochastic effects might lead to yet further improvements.
Increases in moist‐convective updraught velocities with warming in radiative‐convective equilibrium
Authors: Singh Martin S. , O'Gorman Paul A.
Published: April 2015

The scaling of updraught velocities over a wide range of surface temperatures is investigated in simulations of radiative‐convective equilibrium with a cloud‐system resolving model. The updraught velocities increase with warming, with the largest fractional increases occurring in the upper troposphere and for the highest percentile updraughts. A plume model approximately reproduces the increases in updraught velocities if the plume environment is prescribed as the mean profile in each simulation while holding the entrainment and microphysical assumptions fixed. Convective available potential energy (CAPE) also increases with warming in the simulations but at a much faster fractional rate when compared with the square of the updraught velocities. This discrepancy is investigated with a two‐plume model in which a weakly entraining plume represents the most intense updraughts, and the environment is assumed to adjust so that a more strongly entraining plume has negligible buoyancy. The two‐plume model suggests that updraught velocities increase with warming at a lower fractional rate than implied by the CAPE because of the influence of entrainment on both the mean stratification and the updraughts themselves.
A geo‐statistical observation operator for the assimilation of near‐surface wind data
Authors: Bédard Joël , Laroche Stéphane , Gauthier Pierre
Published: April 2015

Although many near‐surface wind observations are available, very few are assimilated over land mainly due to sub‐grid scale topographic interactions with the flow. The main objectives of this study are to understand the impact of near‐surface wind observations on the analysis and to point out aspects that need to be improved to make a better use of these observations. A geo‐statistical observation operator has been developed to correct for systematic and representativeness errors. Assimilation experiments were performed in a simplified context, assimilating only near‐surface wind observations over land in the ensemble‐variational data assimilation system developed at Environment Canada. Due to the background‐error covariances, the assimilation of near‐surface wind observations impacts the lower part of the atmosphere. The resulting correction has been evaluated by verifying the analyses against non‐assimilated collocated radiosonde data. This assessment also made it possible to estimate the observation error variance to strike a balance between having an important impact at the surface and maintaining a good vertical fit to upper air observations. Results from 1 month of assimilation experiments show that the geo‐statistical operator eliminates biases and significantly reduces representativeness errors as well as observation error correlations in the analysis, mainly over complex terrain. Results also show that flow‐dependent background error covariances from ensembles provide better vertical information propagation than static error statistics. Overall, the analysis fit to non‐assimilated collocated radiosonde observations is improved when assimilating wind observations from surface stations.
A Novel Lot Sentencing Method by Variables Inspection Considering Multiple Dependent State
Authors: Wu Chien‐Wei , Lee Amy H. I. , Chen Yen‐Wen
Published: April 2015

A good acceptance sampling plan is necessary for quality control, and different acceptance sampling plans have been developed to meet different purposes. Under a multiple dependent state (MDS) sampling plan, the lot disposition is not only based on the current sample from the lot but also on the sample results from preceding lots. This paper aims to develop a variables MDS sampling plan for normally distributed processes with two‐sided specification limits. In the proposed MDS sampling plan, the operating characteristic curve is derived based on the exact sampling distribution. The performance of the proposed plan is investigated and compared with the existing variables single sampling plan. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
System design and animal experiment study of a novel minimally invasive surgical robot
Authors: Wang Wei , Li Jianmin , Wang Shuxin , Su He , Jiang Xueming
Published: April 2015

Background

Robot‐assisted minimally invasive surgery has shown tremendous advances over the traditional technique. However, currently commercialized systems are large and complicated, which vastly raises the system cost and operation room requirements.

Methods

A MIS robot named ‘MicroHand’ was developed over the past few years. The basic principle and the key technologies are analyzed in this paper. Comparison between the proposed robot and the da Vinci system is also presented. Finally, animal experiments were carried out to test the performance of MicroHand.

Results

Fifteen animal experiments were carried out from July 2013 to December 2013. All animal experiments were finished successfully.

Conclusions

The proposed design method is an effective way to resolve the drawbacks of previous generations of the da Vinci surgical system. The animal experiment results confirmed the feasibility of the design. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Multi‐disease analysis of maternal antibody decay using non‐linear mixed models accounting for censoring
Authors: Goeyvaerts Nele , Leuridan Elke , Faes Christel , Van Damme Pierre , Hens Niel
Published: April 2015

Biomedical studies often generate repeated measures of multiple outcomes on a set of subjects. It may be of interest to develop a biologically intuitive model for the joint evolution of these outcomes while assessing inter‐subject heterogeneity. Even though it is common for biological processes to entail non‐linear relationships, examples of multivariate non‐linear mixed models (MNMMs) are still fairly rare. We contribute to this area by jointly analyzing the maternal antibody decay for measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella, allowing for a different non‐linear decay model for each infectious disease. We present a general modeling framework to analyze multivariate non‐linear longitudinal profiles subject to censoring, by combining multivariate random effects, non‐linear growth and Tobit regression. We explore the hypothesis of a common infant‐specific mechanism underlying maternal immunity using a pairwise correlated random‐effects approach and evaluating different correlation matrix structures. The implied marginal correlation between maternal antibody levels is estimated using simulations. The mean duration of passive immunity was less than 4months for all diseases with substantial heterogeneity between infants. The maternal antibody levels against rubella and varicella were found to be positively correlated, while little to no correlation could be inferred for the other disease pairs. For some pairs, computational issues occurred with increasing correlation matrix complexity, which underlines the importance of further developing estimation methods for MNMMs. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The effect of dopamine D4 receptor density on novelty seeking, activity, social interaction, and alcohol binge drinking in adult mice
Authors: Thanos Panayotis K. , Roushdy Kareema , Sarwar Zehan , Rice Onarae , Ashby Charles R. , Grandy David K.
Published: April 2015

The dopamine D4 receptor has been postulated to play a role in the pathophysiology of alcoholism. This study examined how varying levels of D4 expression and their associated behaviors in male and female mice correlate with future alcohol intake. We hypothesized that: (1) mice with low (Drd4+/−) or deficient (Drd4−/−) in D4 receptors would show enhanced ethanol consumption compared with control mice (Drd4+/+), and (2) a specific phenotype in these mice is associated with future vulnerability for alcohol consumption. Individually housed mice were allowed free access to ethanol (20% vv) in the dark (DID). The behaviors measured in male and female mice were: novel object recognition, open‐field locomotor activity, and social interaction. Correlation analyses showed that in male Drd4−/− mice (relative to Drd4+/+ controls), anxiolytic behavior was significantly correlated with increased alcohol consumption. Also, in male Drd4−/− mice, there was a significant positive correlation between increased exploratory behavior and increased alcohol consumption. These findings were not observed in females. In conclusion, our data suggest that the dopamine D4 receptor gene has an important role in increased exploratory and anxiolytic behavior only in males and these behaviors were positively correlated with increased alcohol consumption. This interaction between sex hormones and dopamine D4 receptor genotype/function predicting future alcohol abuse and correlation with anxiolytic and exploratory behavior in male mice could have important implications for better understanding of vulnerabilities associated with addiction. Synapse 69:356–364, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Re: Non‐invasive prenatal testing for trisomies 21, 18 and 13: clinical experience from 146 958 pregnancies. H. Zhang, Y. Gao, F. Jiang, M. Fu, Y. Yuan, Y. Guo, Z. Zhu, M. Lin, Q. Liu, Z. Tian, H. Zhang, F. Chen, T. K. Lau, L. Zhao, X. Yi, Y. Yin and W. Wang. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2015; 45: 530–538
Authors: Benn P.
Published: April 2015

Linked Comment: Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2015; 45: 530–538
Modulation of alternative splicing by anticancer drugs
Authors: Rehman Sayeed Ur , Husain Mohammed Amir , Sarwar Tarique , Ishqi Hassan Mubarak , Tabish Mohammad
Published: April 2015

Pre‐mRNA alternative splicing is a highly regulated process that generates multiple mRNAs coding different protein isoforms. These protein isoforms may have similar, different, or even opposing functions. Expression of genes involved in cell growth and apoptosis are often altered in cancer cells. Studying the alternative splicing patterns of these important genes can have a significant role in the treatment of cancer. Resistance to chemotherapy is often caused due to overexpression of anti‐apoptotic isoforms or suppression of pro‐apoptotic isoforms. Anticancer drugs are capable of modulating the expression of different transcript isoforms of genes. Some anticancer drugs induce pro‐apoptotic transcript isoforms leading to apoptosis or at least sensitizing cells to chemotherapy. However, in other cases, they shift the splicing toward isoforms having anti‐apoptotic functions thus conferring resistance to chemotherapy. This mini‐review summarizes the current knowledge about alternative splicing of some important genes involved in cancers. Furthermore, splicing patterns as well as generation of functionally distinct protein isoforms have also been mentioned. Role of various anticancer drugs in modulating alternative splicing of these genes has been reported along with a brief insight into their mechanism of action. Modulation of alternative splicing toward production of pro‐apoptotic isoforms of various genes by anticancer drugs offers great therapeutic potential in the treatment of cancer. WIREs RNA 2015, 6:369–379. doi: 10.1002/wrna.1283

This article is categorized under:

RNA Processing > Splicing Regulation/Alternative Splicing

RNA in Disease and Development > RNA in Disease
RXR: A new X‐ray facility at XLab Frascati
Authors: Hampai D. , Liedl A. , Polese C. , Cappuccio G. , Dabagov S.B.
Published: April 2015

X‐ray fluorescence analysis is a widely used technique in many applications. Recent advances in X‐ray optics, in particular, in polycapillary manufacturing, have allowed achieving microscale spatial resolution, even with conventional sources. Nowadays, many apparatus for X‐ray microfluorescence are available. But the majority of them are equipped with experimental chambers, which limit their applicability only to small‐sized samples. To overcome this limitation, a new instrument named Rainbow X‐Ray (RXR), optimized for large and heavy objects, has been developed at XLab Frascati. Here, we present this unit dedicated to 2D and 3D X‐ray microspectroscopy (both mapping and ‘colour‘ tomography), with a resolution between 25 and 75 μm, depending from the incident energy in the range 800eV–25keV. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cobaltocenium Carboxylate Transition Metal Complexes: Synthesis, Structure, Reactivity, and Cytotoxicity
Authors: Vanicek Stefan , Kopacka Holger , Wurst Klaus , Vergeiner Stefan , Oehninger Luciano , Ott Ingo , Bildstein Benno
Published: April 2015

Cobaltocenium carboxylate is an unusual betaine that functions as a formally neutral carboxylate ligand with late transition metal centers comprising Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, Ag+, Zn2+, Cd2+, Hg2+, and Rh+. Structurally, a rich coordination chemistry is observed – from simple monomeric homoleptic complexes to heteroleptic dimeric, trimeric, and polymeric compounds, as shown by X‐ray diffraction of 11 compounds. Chemically, thermal decarboxylation was investigated aiming at the formation of cobaltocenium‐carbene transition metal complexes, in analogy to such chemistry of imidazolium carboxylate betaines. Cytotoxicity studies of cobaltocenium carboxylate transition metal complexes were performed to evaluate the medicinal bioorganometallic potential of these compounds. While cobaltocenium carboxylate was inactive, its complexes with Ag+, Cd2+, and Hg2+ triggered significant cytotoxic effects.
Reactions of Polyarsenides with Acetylene: Synthesis and Characterization of [Cs([18]crown‐6)]2As7C14H11·6NH3 and As2C6H6
Authors: Grassl Tobias , Friedrich Ute , Kaas Marina , Korber Nikolaus
Published: April 2015

The reaction of Cs3As7 with diphenylacetylene in the presence of 18crown‐6 in liquid ammonia results in the formation of the new compound [Cs(18crown‐6)]2As7C14H11·6NH3, which crystallizes in black monoclinic crystals. It contains the first monosubstituated heptaarsenide anion with a hydrocarbon‐only substituent and theoretical calculations show a significant influence of the organic substituent on the electronic structure within the cage. The (Z)‐1, 2‐diphenylethenyl‐heptaarsenide di‐anion can be seen as the first step towards the formation of 1, 2,3‐triarsolides. Further experiments regarding the reaction of Rb3As11 and Cs3As11 with acetylene gas in liquid ammonia reveal the formation of the diarsabarrelene As2C6H6, which crystallizes as colorless orthorhombic crystals. Calculations based on the structural data obtained by X‐ray crystallography show the electronically inert character of the arsenic lone pair.
Emotions in context: examining pervasive affective sensing systems, applications, and analyses
Authors: Kanjo Eiman , Al-Husain Luluah , Chamberlain Alan
Published: April 2015

Pervasive sensing has opened up new opportunities for measuring our feelings and understanding our behavior by monitoring our affective states while mobile. This review paper surveys pervasive affect sensing by examining and considering three major elements of affective pervasive systems, namely “sensing,” “analysis,” and “application.” Sensing investigates the different sensing modalities that are used in existing real-time affective applications, analysis explores different approaches to emotion recognition and visualization based on different types of collected data, and application investigates different leading areas of affective applications. For each of the three aspects, the paper includes an extensive survey of the literature and finally outlines some of challenges and future research opportunities of affective sensing in the context of pervasive computing.
“Not Tied Up Neatly with a Bow”: Professionals’ Challenging Cases in Informed Consent for Genomic Sequencing
Authors: Tomlinson Ashley N. , Skinner Debra , Perry Denise L. , Scollon Sarah R. , Roche Myra I. , Bernhardt Barbara A.
Published: April 2015

As the use of genomic technology has expanded in research and clinical settings, issues surrounding informed consent for genome and exome sequencing have surfaced. Despite the importance of informed consent, little is known about the specific challenges that professionals encounter when consenting patients or research participants for genomic sequencing. We interviewed 29 genetic counselors and research coordinators with considerable experience obtaining informed consent for genomic sequencing to understand their experiences and perspectives. As part of this interview, 24 interviewees discussed an informed consent case they found particularly memorable or challenging. We analyzed these case examples to determine the primary issue or challenge represented by each case. Challenges fell into two domains: participant understanding, and facilitating decisions about testing or research participation. Challenges related to participant understanding included varying levels of general and genomic literacy, difficulty managing participant expectations, and contextual factors that impeded participant understanding. Challenges related to facilitating decision‐making included complicated family dynamics such as disagreement or coercion, situations in which it was unclear whether sequencing research would be a good use of participant time or resources, and situations in which the professional experienced disagreement or discomfort with participant decisions. The issues highlighted in these case examples are instructive in preparing genetics professionals to obtain informed consent for genomic sequencing.