bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Biodegradable and Petroleum-Based Microplastics Do Not Differ in Their Ingestion and Excretion but in Their Biological Effects in a Freshwater Invertebrate Gammarus fossarum
Authors: Straub Sandrine , Hirsch Philipp E. , Burkhardt-Holm Patricia
Published: July 2017

Research on the uptake and effects of bioplastics by aquatic organisms is still in its infancy. Here, we aim to advance the field by comparing uptake and effects of microplastic particles (MPP) of a biodegradable bioMPP (polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB)) and petroleum-based MPP (polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA)) in the freshwater amphipod Gammarus fossarum. Ingestion of both MPP in different particle sizes (32–250 µm) occurred after 24 h, with highest ingestion of particles in the range 32–63 µm and almost complete egestion after 64 h. A four-week effect-experiment showed a significant decrease of the assimilation efficiency in amphipods exposed to the petroleum-based MPP from week two onwards. The petroleum-based PMMA affected assimilation efficiency significantly in contrast to the biodegradable PHB, but overall differences in direct comparison of MPP types were small. Both MPP types led to a significantly lower wet weight gain relative to the control treatments. After four weeks, differences between both MPP types and silica, used as a natural particle control, were detected. In summary, these results suggest that both MPP types provoke digestive constraints on the amphipods, which go beyond those of natural non-palatable particles. This highlights the need for more detailed research comparing environmental effects of biodegradable and petroleum-based MPP and testing those against naturally occurring particle loads.
The SBP-Box Gene VpSBP11 from Chinese Wild Vitis Is Involved in Floral Transition and Affects Leaf Development
Authors: Hou Hongmin , Yan Xiaoxiao , Sha Ting , Yan Qin , Wang Xiping
Published: July 2017

Flowering occurs in angiosperms during a major developmental transition from vegetative growth to the reproductive phase. Squamosa promoter binding protein (SBP)-box genes have been found to play critical roles in regulating flower and fruit development, but their roles in grapevine have remained unclear. To better understand the functions of the grape SBP-box genes in both vegetative and reproductive growth phases, a full-length complementary DNA (cDNA) sequence of the putative SBP-box transcription factor gene, VpSBP11, was obtained from Chinese wild grapevine Vitis pseudoreticulata Wen Tsai Wang (W. T. Wang) clone ‘Baihe-35-1’. VpSBP11 encoded a putative polypeptide of 170 amino acids with a highly conserved SBP-domain with two zinc-binding sites of the Cx2C-x3-H-x11-C-x6-H (C2HCH) type and a nuclear localization signal. We confirmed that the VpSBP11 protein was targeted to the nucleus and possessed transcriptional activation activity by subcellular localization and trans-activation assay. Over-expression of VpSBP11 in Arabidopsis thaliana was shown to activate the FUL gene, and subsequently the AP1 and LFY genes, all of which were floral meristem identity genes, and to cause earlier flowering than in wild type (WT) plants. The pattern of vegetative growth was also different between the transgenic and WT plants. For example, in the VpSBP11 over-expressing transgenic plants, the number of rosette leaves was less than that of WT; the petiole was significantly elongated; and the rosette and cauline leaves curled upwards or downwards. These results were consistent with VpSBP11 acting as a transcription factor during the transition from the vegetative stage to the reproductive stage.
Cudraflavone C Induces Apoptosis of A375.S2 Melanoma Cells through Mitochondrial ROS Production and MAPK Activation
Authors: Lee Chiang-Wen , Yen Feng-Lin , Ko Horng-Huey , Li Shu-Yu , Chiang Yao-Chang , Lee Ming-Hsueh , Tsai Ming-Horng , Hsu Lee-Fen
Published: July 2017

Melanoma is the most malignant form of skin cancer and is associated with a very poor prognosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the apoptotic effects of cudraflavone C on A375.S2 melanoma cells and to determine the underlying mechanisms involved in apoptosis. Cell viability was determined using the MTT and real-time cytotoxicity assays. Flow cytometric evaluation of apoptosis was performed after staining the cells with Annexin V-FITC and propidium iodide. The mitochondrial membrane potential was evaluated using the JC-1 assay. Cellular ROS production was measured using the CellROX assay, while mitochondrial ROS production was evaluated using the MitoSOX assay. It was observed that cudraflavone C inhibited growth in A375.S2 melanoma cells, and promoted apoptosis via the mitochondrial pathway mediated by increased mitochondrial ROS production. In addition, cudraflavone C induced phosphorylation of MAPKs (p38, ERK, and JNK) and up-regulated the expression of apoptotic proteins (Puma, Bax, Bad, Bid, Apaf-1, cytochrome C, caspase-9, and caspase-3/7) in A375.S2 cells. Pretreatment of A375.S2 cells with MitoTEMPOL (a mitochondria-targeted antioxidant) attenuated the phosphorylation of MAPKs, expression of apoptotic proteins, and the overall progression of apoptosis. In summary, cudraflavone C induced apoptosis in A375.S2 melanoma cells by increasing mitochondrial ROS production; thus, activating p38, ERK, and JNK; and increasing the expression of apoptotic proteins. Therefore, cudraflavone C may be regarded as a potential form of treatment for malignant melanoma.
The Construction and Characterization of Mitochondrial Ferritin Overexpressing Mice
Authors: Li Xin , Wang Peina , Wu Qiong , Xie Lide , Cui Yanmei , Li Haiyan , Yu Peng , Chang Yan-Zhong
Published: July 2017

Mitochondrial ferritin (FtMt) is a H-ferritin-like protein which localizes to mitochondria. Previous studies have shown that this protein can protect mitochondria from iron-induced oxidative damage, while FtMt overexpression in cultured cells decreases cytosolic iron availability and protects against oxidative damage. To investigate the in vivo role of FtMt, we established FtMt overexpressing mice by pro-nucleus microinjection and examined the characteristics of the animals. We first confirmed that the protein levels of FtMt in the transgenic mice were increased compared to wild-type mice. Interestingly, we found no significant differences in the body weights or organ to body weight ratios between wild type and transgenic mice. To determine the effects of FtMt overexpression on baseline murine iron metabolism and hematological indices, we measured serum, heart, liver, spleen, kidney, testis, and brain iron concentrations, liver hepcidin expression and red blood cell parameters. There were no significant differences between wild type and transgenic mice. In conclusion, our results suggest that FtMt overexpressing mice have no significant defects and the overexpression of FtMt does not affect the regulation of iron metabolism significantly in transgenic mice.
Anti-Biofilm Effect of Biodegradable Coatings Based on Hemibastadin Derivative in Marine Environment
Authors: Norcy Tiffany Le , Niemann Hendrik , Proksch Peter , Linossier Isabelle , Vallée-Réhel Karine , Hellio Claire , Faÿ Fabienne
Published: July 2017

Dibromohemibastadin-1 (DBHB) is an already known potent inhibitor of blue mussel phenoloxidase (which is a key enzyme involved in bioadhesion). Within this study, the potentiality of DBHB against microfouling has been investigated. The activity of DBHB was evaluated on key strains of bacteria and microalgae involved in marine biofilm formation and bioassays assessing impact on growth, adhesion and biofilm formation were used. To assess the efficiency of DBHB when included in a matrix, DBHB varnish was prepared and the anti-microfouling activity of coatings was assessed. Both in vitro and in situ immersions were carried out. Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM) was principally used to determine the biovolume and average thickness of biofilms developed on the coatings. Results showed an evident efficiency of DBHB as compound and varnish to reduce the biofilm development. The mode of action seems to be based principally on a perturbation of biofilm formation rather than on a biocidal activity in the tested conditions.
Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene: Influence of the Chemical, Physical and Mechanical Properties on the Wear Behavior. A Review
Authors: Bracco Pierangiola , Bellare Anuj , Bistolfi Alessandro , Affatato Saverio
Published: July 2017

Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) is the most common bearing material in total joint arthroplasty due to its unique combination of superior mechanical properties and wear resistance over other polymers. A great deal of research in recent decades has focused on further improving its performances, in order to provide durable implants in young and active patients. From “historical”, gamma-air sterilized polyethylenes, to the so-called first and second generation of highly crosslinked materials, a variety of different formulations have progressively appeared in the market. This paper reviews the structure–properties relationship of these materials, with a particular emphasis on the in vitro and in vivo wear performances, through an analysis of the existing literature.
Nearly Aberration-Free Multiphoton Polymerization into Thick Photoresist Layers
Authors: Horváth Bence , Ormos Pál , Kelemen Lóránd
Published: July 2017

In the era of lab-on-chip (LOC) devices, two-photon polymerization (TPP) is gaining more and more interest due to its capability of producing micrometer-sized 3D structures. With TPP, one may integrate functional structures into microfluidic systems by polymerizing them directly inside microchannels. When the feature of sub-micrometer size is a requirement, it is necessary to use high numerical aperture (NA) oil-immersion objectives that are optimized to work close to the glass substrate-photoresist interface. Further away from the substrate, that is, a few tens of micrometers into the photoresist, the focused beam undergoes focal spot elongation and focal position shift. These effects may eventually reduce the quality of the polymerized structures; therefore, it is desirable to eliminate them. We introduce a method that can highly improve the quality of structures polymerized tens of micrometers away from the substrate-photoresist interface by an oil-immersion, high NA objective. A spatial light-modulator is used to pre-compensate the phase-front distortion introduced by the interfacial refractive index jump on the strongly converging beam.
Co-Transcriptional Folding and Regulation Mechanisms of Riboswitches
Authors: Gong Sha , Wang Yanli , Wang Zhen , Zhang Wenbing
Published: July 2017

Riboswitches are genetic control elements within non-coding regions of mRNA. These self-regulatory elements have been found to sense a range of small metabolites, ions, and other physical signals to exert regulatory control of transcription, translation, and splicing. To date, more than a dozen riboswitch classes have been characterized that vary widely in size and secondary structure. Extensive experiments and theoretical studies have made great strides in understanding the general structures, genetic mechanisms, and regulatory activities of individual riboswitches. As the ligand-dependent co-transcriptional folding and unfolding dynamics of riboswitches are the key determinant of gene expression, it is important to investigate the thermodynamics and kinetics of riboswitches both in the presence and absence of metabolites under the transcription. This review will provide a brief summary of the studies about the regulation mechanisms of the pbuE, SMK, yitJ, and metF riboswitches based on the ligand-dependent co-transcriptional folding of the riboswitches.
Development of Antimicrobial Packaging Film Made from Poly(Lactic Acid) Incorporating Titanium Dioxide and Silver Nanoparticles
Authors: Li Wenhui , Zhang Cheng , Chi Hai , Li Lin , Lan Tianqing , Han Peng , Chen Haiyan , Qin Yuyue
Published: July 2017

Polylactide (PLA)/nano-TiO2 and PLA/nano-TiO2/nano-Ag blends films were prepared by a solvent volatilization method. Compared to pure PLA film, the nano-blend films have low water vapor permeability (WVP) and a poor transparency. With the increase of the NPs in the PLA, the tensile strength (TS) and elastic modulus (EM) decreased, while the elongation at break (ε) increased. SEM analysis indicated a rougher cross-section of the nano-blend films. According to the FTIR analysis, no new chemical bonds were formed in the nano-blend films. By using DSC to examine the crystallization and melting behavior, the result shows that the NPs have no effect on the glass transition (Tg) and melting temperature (Tm), but they caused an increase on the cold crystallization (Tc) and crystallinity (Xc). TGA results show that the addition of nanoparticles significantly improved the thermal stability. The PLA nano-blend films show a good antimicrobial activity against. E. coli and Listeria monocytogenes. Most important, we carried out migration tests, and verified that the release of NPs from the nano-blend films was within the standard limits.
A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Flavanol-Containing Tea, Cocoa and Apple Products on Body Composition and Blood Lipids: Exploring the Factors Responsible for Variability in Their Efficacy
Authors: González-Sarrías Antonio , Combet Emilie , Pinto Paula , Mena Pedro , Dall’Asta Margherita , Garcia-Aloy Mar , Rodríguez-Mateos Ana , Gibney Eileen R. , Dumont Julie , Massaro Marika , Sánchez-Meca Julio , Morand Christine , García-Conesa María-Teresa
Published: July 2017

Several randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and meta-analyses support the benefits of flavanols on cardiometabolic health, but the factors affecting variability in the responses to these compounds have not been properly assessed. The objectives of this meta-analysis were to systematically collect the RCTs-based-evidence of the effects of flavanol-containing tea, cocoa and apple products on selected biomarkers of cardiometabolic risk and to explore the influence of various factors on the variability in the responses to the consumption of these products. A total of 120 RCTs were selected. Despite a high heterogeneity, the intake of the flavanol-containing products was associated using a random model with changes (reported as standardized difference in means (SDM)) in body mass index (−0.15, p < 0.001), waist circumference (−0.29, p < 0.001), total-cholesterol (−0.21, p < 0.001), LDL-cholesterol (−0.23, p < 0.001), and triacylglycerides (−0.11, p = 0.027), and with an increase of HDL-cholesterol (0.15, p = 0.005). Through subgroup analyses, we showed the influence of baseline-BMI, sex, source/form of administration, medication and country of investigation on some of the outcome measures and suggest that flavanols may be more effective in specific subgroups such as those with a BMI ≥ 25.0 kg/m2, non-medicated individuals or by specifically using tea products. This meta-analysis provides the first robust evidence of the effects induced by the consumption of flavanol-containing tea, cocoa and apple products on weight and lipid biomarkers and shows the influence of various factors that can affect their bioefficacy in humans. Of note, some of these effects are quantitatively comparable to those produced by drugs, life-style changes or other natural products. Further, RCTs in well-characterized populations are required to fully comprehend the factors affecting inter-individual responses to flavanol and thereby improve flavanols efficacy in the prevention of cardiometabolic disorders.
Papaya Tree Detection with UAV Images Using a GPU-Accelerated Scale-Space Filtering Method
Authors: Jiang Hao , Chen Shuisen , Li Dan , Wang Chongyang , Yang Ji
Published: July 2017

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) can allow individual tree detection for forest inventories in a cost-effective way. The scale-space filtering (SSF) algorithm is commonly used and has the capability of detecting trees of different crown sizes. In this study, we made two improvements with regard to the existing method and implementations. First, we incorporated SSF with a Lab color transformation to reduce over-detection problems associated with the original luminance image. Second, we ported four of the most time-consuming processes to the graphics processing unit (GPU) to improve computational efficiency. The proposed method was implemented using PyCUDA, which enabled access to NVIDIA’s compute unified device architecture (CUDA) through high-level scripting of the Python language. Our experiments were conducted using two images captured by the DJI Phantom 3 Professional and a most recent NVIDIA GPU GTX1080. The resulting accuracy was high, with an F-measure larger than 0.94. The speedup achieved by our parallel implementation was 44.77 and 28.54 for the first and second test image, respectively. For each 4000 × 3000 image, the total runtime was less than 1 s, which was sufficient for real-time performance and interactive application.
Evaluation of the Multi-Scale Ultra-High Resolution (MUR) Analysis of Lake Surface Temperature
Authors: Crosman Erik , Vazquez-Cuervo Jorge , Chin Toshio
Published: July 2017

Obtaining accurate and timely lake surface water temperature (LSWT) analyses from satellite remains difficult. Data gaps, cloud contamination, variations in atmospheric profiles of temperature and moisture, and a lack of in situ observations provide challenges for satellite-derived LSWT for climatological analysis or input into geophysical models. In this study, the Multi-scale Ultra-high Resolution (MUR) analysis of LSWT is evaluated between 2007 and 2015 over a small (Lake Oneida), medium (Lake Okeechobee), and large (Lake Michigan) lake. The advantages of the MUR LSWT analyses include daily consistency, high-resolution (~1 km), near-real time production, and multi-platform data synthesis. The MUR LSWT versus in situ measurements for Lake Michigan (Lake Okeechobee) have an overall bias (MUR LSWT-in situ) of −0.20 °C (0.31 °C) and a RMSE of 0.86 °C (0.91 °C). The MUR LSWT versus in situ measurements for Lake Oneida have overall large biases (−1.74 °C) and RMSE (3.42°C) due to a lack of available satellite imagery over the lake, but performs better during the less cloudy 15 July–30 September period. The results of this study highlight the importance of calculating validation statistics on a seasonal and annual basis for evaluating satellite-derived LSWT.
A Wi-Fi Union Mechanism for Internet Advertising Reciprocal Platform in Microenterprises
Authors: Nguyen Thi , Chang Che-Pin , Yuan Shyan-Ming
Published: July 2017

With the evolution of the Internet and smartphone devices, Internet advertising has become one of the most important methods for delivering promotional marketing messages to customers. However, the efficiency of Internet advertising for microenterprise is not very high, since Wi-Fi advertising—which is limited by a small router coverage area—is mainly used. Moreover, because of the lack of money, microenterprises have been using low-cost methods to promote their products. Thus, enhancing the effectiveness of Wi-Fi advertising, and solving the problem of cost and the range of the views are now an essential investigation in this study. In this paper, we propose a reciprocal model with Wi-Fi union mechanism for Internet advertising based on fog computing architecture to enhance the efficiency of advertisement, reduce the cost, and increase the range of the views for microenterprise by using the Internet. In particular, the system was built in advertisers’, publishers’, and consumers’ sides. In our system, we use contribution point (CP) as an exchange value among the participants. Advertisers and publishers can get CP by helping the others in the system to promote their advertisements, increasing their CP by one unit. Similarly, advertisers and publishers can use their CP to ask for assistance from the others, decreasing their CP by one unit. The result shows that the system in a Wi-Fi union is easy to use, and advertisements can be seen by all customers who are using free Wi-Fi from the stores of the union. This method can solve the problem of cost and fixed consumer groups.
The Regular Interaction Pattern among Odorants of the Same Type and Its Application in Odor Intensity Assessment
Authors: Yan Luchun , Liu Jiemin , Jiang Shen , Wu Chuandong , Gao Kewei
Published: July 2017

The olfactory evaluation function (e.g., odor intensity rating) of e-nose is always one of the most challenging issues in researches about odor pollution monitoring. But odor is normally produced by a set of stimuli, and odor interactions among constituents significantly influenced their mixture’s odor intensity. This study investigated the odor interaction principle in odor mixtures of aldehydes and esters, respectively. Then, a modified vector model (MVM) was proposed and it successfully demonstrated the similarity of the odor interaction pattern among odorants of the same type. Based on the regular interaction pattern, unlike a determined empirical model only fit for a specific odor mixture in conventional approaches, the MVM distinctly simplified the odor intensity prediction of odor mixtures. Furthermore, the MVM also provided a way of directly converting constituents’ chemical concentrations to their mixture’s odor intensity. By combining the MVM with usual data-processing algorithm of e-nose, a new e-nose system was established for an odor intensity rating. Compared with instrumental analysis and human assessor, it exhibited accuracy well in both quantitative analysis (Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.999 for individual aldehydes (n = 12), 0.996 for their binary mixtures (n = 36) and 0.990 for their ternary mixtures (n = 60)) and odor intensity assessment (Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.980 for individual aldehydes (n = 15), 0.973 for their binary mixtures (n = 24), and 0.888 for their ternary mixtures (n = 25)). Thus, the observed regular interaction pattern is considered an important foundation for accelerating extensive application of olfactory evaluation in odor pollution monitoring.
Fractal Feature Analysis and Information Extraction of Woodlands Based on MODIS NDVI Time Series
Authors: Dong Shiwei , Li Hong , Sun Danfeng
Published: July 2017

The quick and accurate extraction of information on woodland resources and distributions using remote sensing technology is a key step in the management, protection, and sustainable use of woodlands. This paper presents a low-cost and high-precision extraction method for large woodland areas based on the fractal features of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series data for Beijing, China. The blanket method was used for computing the upper and lower fractal signals of each pixel in the NDVI time series images. The fractal signals of woodlands and other land use/land cover types at corresponding scales were analyzed and compared, and the attributes of woodlands were enhanced at the fifth lower fractal signal. The spatial distributions of woodlands were extracted using the Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis technique (ISODATA), and an accuracy assessment of the extracted results was conducted using the China Land Use and Land Cover Data Set (CLUCDS) from the same period. The results showed that the overall accuracy, kappa coefficient, and error coefficient were 90.54%, 0.74, and 8.17%, respectively. Compared with the extracted results for woodlands using the MODIS NDVI time series only, the average error coefficient decreased from 30.2 to 7.38% because of these fractal features. The method developed in this study can rapidly and effectively extract information on woodlands from low spatial resolution remote sensing data and provide a robust operational tool for use in further research.
Probabilistic Linguistic VIKOR Method to Evaluate Green Supply Chain Initiatives
Authors: Zhang Xiaolu , Xing Xiaoming
Published: July 2017

To achieve the goals of sustainable economic and environmental protection, more and more firms intend to implement green supply chain (GSC) initiatives in their products. The adoption of GSC initiatives in turn influences the firms’ operations performance. Thus, the firms have to evaluate their performances carefully when implementing GSC initiatives. The performance evaluation of GSC initiatives is a laborious task, which needs to take into account many factors including the inventory level and assurance of supply purchasing-wise and the technical capability and the innovation capability manufacturing-wise, etc. This paper develops a new probabilistic linguistic VIKOR approach to support such an assessment. To do so, a new comparison method of probabilistic linguistic term sets (PLTSs) is first presented to effectively determine the probabilistic linguistic positive ideal solution and the probabilistic linguistic negative ideal solution. Next, a new defuzzification function of PLTSs is proposed to take into account the main-criteria weights and the sub-criteria weights which are represented by PLTSs. Furthermore, several probabilistic linguistic measures are introduced, such as the probabilistic linguistic group utility measure, the probabilistic linguistic individual regret measure and the probabilistic linguistic compromise measure. Finally, the compromise solution is obtained based on these three measures. The desirable advantages of the developed method are summarized as (1) it allows the evaluators to employ PLTSs to express the imprecise performances of the GSC initiatives with respect to various criteria, which greatly improves the elicitation of linguistic information; (2) it presents a probabilistic linguistic compromise solution, which is a maximum probabilistic linguistic group utility for the majority and a minimum probabilistic linguistic individual regret for the opponent. This proposed technique provides a simple and efficient decision making approach to assist the firms to make an appropriate decision in GSC management.
Content of the Saponin Protodioscin in Brachiaria spp. from the Eastern Plains of Colombia
Authors: Lozano Maria , Martinez Nhora , Diaz Gonzalo
Published: July 2017

Protodioscin is used as a marker of saponin content that could cause hepatotoxicity in ruminants. In Brachiaria spp. from two regions of the Colombian Eastern Plains (east mountain range of the Andean—“piedemonte” and Ariari River Valley) were determined this metabolite at 14 and 28 days post-cutting under different climatic conditions. No protodioscin was detected in B. dictyoneura or B. humidicola. In B. brizantha, B. decumbens and B. ruziziensis x B. decumbens x B. brizantha (hybrid), protodioscin content corresponded to an interaction between species, post-cutting time and season. Concentrations ≥1% (minimum toxic level) were recorded in B. decumbens and the hybrid, and to a lesser extent in B. brizantha. The concentration of protodioscin was higher at 28 days, when the pastures are suitable for consumption. B. brizantha accumulated the lowest saponin concentration, whereas the hybrid had the highest levels, particularly in the “piedemonte” and during drought (3.37%). Dry season favored the protodioscin concentration in B. decumbens (in river valley) and in the hybrid (in “piedemonte”). In the latter, there was a positive correlation with temperature and a negative with humidity, which are typical characteristics of dry periods. This is the first report of protodioscin content in the hybrid.
Vertebrate Reservoirs of Arboviruses: Myth, Synonym of Amplifier, or Reality?
Authors: Kuno Goro , Mackenzie John , Junglen Sandra , Hubálek Zdeněk , Plyusnin Alexander , Gubler Duane
Published: July 2017

The rapid succession of the pandemic of arbovirus diseases, such as dengue, West Nile fever, chikungunya, and Zika fever, has intensified research on these and other arbovirus diseases worldwide. Investigating the unique mode of vector-borne transmission requires a clear understanding of the roles of vertebrates. One major obstacle to this understanding is the ambiguity of the arbovirus definition originally established by the World Health Organization. The paucity of pertinent information on arbovirus transmission at the time contributed to the notion that vertebrates played the role of reservoir in the arbovirus transmission cycle. Because this notion is a salient feature of the arbovirus definition, it is important to reexamine its validity. This review addresses controversial issues concerning vertebrate reservoirs and their role in arbovirus persistence in nature, examines the genesis of the problem from a historical perspective, discusses various unresolved issues from multiple points of view, assesses the present status of the notion in light of current knowledge, and provides options for a solution to resolve the issue.
Targeting Pattern Recognition Receptors (PRR) for Vaccine Adjuvantation: From Synthetic PRR Agonists to the Potential of Defective Interfering Particles of Viruses
Authors: Vasou Andri , Sultanoglu Nazife , Goodbourn Stephen , Randall Richard E. , Kostrikis Leondios G.
Published: July 2017

Modern vaccinology has increasingly focused on non-living vaccines, which are more stable than live-attenuated vaccines but often show limited immunogenicity. Immunostimulatory substances, known as adjuvants, are traditionally used to increase the magnitude of protective adaptive immunity in response to a pathogen-associated antigen. Recently developed adjuvants often include substances that stimulate pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), essential components of innate immunity required for the activation of antigen-presenting cells (APCs), which serve as a bridge between innate and adaptive immunity. Nearly all PRRs are potential targets for adjuvants. Given the recent success of toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists in vaccine development, molecules with similar, but additional, immunostimulatory activity, such as defective interfering particles (DIPs) of viruses, represent attractive candidates for vaccine adjuvants. This review outlines some of the recent advances in vaccine development related to the use of TLR agonists, summarizes the current knowledge regarding DIP immunogenicity, and discusses the potential applications of DIPs in vaccine adjuvantation.
“Diminishing returns” in the scaling of leaf area vs. dry mass in Wuyi Mountain bamboos, Southeast China
Authors: Sun Jun , Fan Ruirui , Niklas Karl J. , Zhong Quanlin , Yang Fuchun , Li Man , Chen Xiaoping , Sun Mengke , Cheng Dongliang
Published: July 2017

PREMISE OF STUDY:

Leaf area and dry mass are crucial for plant metabolic performance. The “diminishing returns” hypothesis predicts that leaf area will scale less than one with respect to leaf dry mass, indicating that the cost of light interception increases with leaf area. However, it remains unclear whether and how this scaling relationship varies among species growing in different environments.

METHODS:

More than 2000 measurements from five bamboo species adapted to high and low light and growing at different elevations in Wuyi Mountains, Southeast China, were used to explore how the leaf area vs. dry mass scaling relationship was affected by light and elevation.

KEY RESULTS:

The data indicate that (1) the normalization constants for leaf area vs. dry mass were positively but not significantly correlated with increasing leaf size and that (2) the scaling exponents remained numerically invariant among all five bamboo species, with a common slope of 0.85. Standardized major axis (SMA) analyses and comparisons of 95% confidence intervals also showed that the numerical values of the scaling exponents did not differ regardless of elevation and were similar between shaded and unshaded adapted species, whereas the numerical values of the normalization constants increased with decreasing light.

CONCLUSIONS:

The data collected for all five bamboo species are consistent with the “diminishing returns” hypothesis, i.e., the scaling exponents governing the leaf area vs. dry mass scaling relationship are less than one within and across species and are insensitive to light conditions or elevation.
Phase-space Analysis in the Group and Cluster Environment: Time Since Infall and Tidal Mass Loss
Authors: Rhee Jinsu , Smith Rory , Choi Hoseung , Yi Sukyoung K. , Jaffé Yara , Candlish Graeme , Sánchez-Jánssen Ruben
Published: July 2017

Using the latest cosmological hydrodynamic N-body simulations of groups and clusters, we study how location in phase-space coordinates at z = 0 can provide information on environmental effects acting in clusters. We confirm the results of previous authors showing that galaxies tend to follow a typical path in phase-space as they settle into the cluster potential. As such, different regions of phase-space can be associated with different times since first infalling into the cluster. However, in addition, we see a clear trend between total mass loss due to cluster tides and time since infall. Thus, we find location in phase-space provides information on both infall time and tidal mass loss. We find the predictive power of phase-space diagrams remains even when projected quantities are used (i.e., line of sight velocities, and projected distances from the cluster). We provide figures that can be directly compared with observed samples of cluster galaxies and we also provide the data used to make them as supplementary data to encourage the use of phase-space diagrams as a tool to understand cluster environmental effects. We find that our results depend very weakly on galaxy mass or host mass, so the predictions in our phase-space diagrams can be applied to groups or clusters alike, or to galaxy populations from dwarfs up to giants.
Scaling Relations of Starburst-driven Galactic Winds
Authors: Tanner Ryan , Cecil Gerald , Heitsch Fabian
Published: July 2017

Using synthetic absorption lines generated from 3D hydrodynamical simulations, we explore how the velocity of a starburst-driven galactic wind correlates with the star formation rate (SFR) and SFR density. We find strong correlations for neutral and low ionized gas, but no correlation for highly ionized gas. The correlations for neutral and low ionized gas only hold for SFRs below a critical limit set by the mass loading of the starburst, above which point the scaling relations flatten abruptly. Below this point the scaling relations depend on the temperature regime being probed by the absorption line, not on the mass loading. The exact scaling relation depends on whether the maximum or mean velocity of the absorption line is used. We find that the outflow velocity of neutral gas can be up to five times lower than the average velocity of ionized gas, with the velocity difference increasing for higher ionization states. Furthermore, the velocity difference depends on both the SFR and mass loading of the starburst. Thus, absorption lines of neutral or low ionized gas cannot easily be used as a proxy for the outflow velocity of the hot gas.
Bovine mastitis prevention: humoral and cellular response of dairy cows inoculated with lactic acid bacteria at the dry-off period
Authors: Pellegrino M. , Berardo N. , Giraudo J. , Nader-Macías M.E.F. , Bogni C.
Published: July 2017

The use of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in animal feed, constitute an alternative tool for bovine mastitis prevention. Previously, two LAB strains were isolated from bovine milk and selected for their probiotics properties. So far, immune response of inoculating LAB in bovine udders at dry-off period has not been investigated. The immunoglobulin isotype levels and memory cell proliferation in blood and milk of animals inoculated with Lactobacillus lactis subsp. lactis CRL1655 and Lactobacillus perolens CRL1724 at dry-off period was studied. Ten animals were inoculated intramammarily with 106 cells of each LAB (IG) and 2 animals used as control (NIG). Milk and blood samples were taken before inoculation and 1, 2, 4, 6, 12 and 24 h and 7 and 14 days after inoculation. Somatic cell count (SCC) in milk, the presence of bovine mastitis pathogens, the levels of antibodies and lymphocyte proliferation were determined. In the IG, the SCC was <250,000 cells/ml up to 4 h after intramammary inoculation. Six and 12 h after inoculation, the SCC increased up to 600,000 and 2,000,000 cells/ml, respectively. In the NIG, the SCC reached the maximum value 7 days after inoculation. Microbiological analysis showed that all samples were negative for major bovine mastitis pathogens after 24-48 h of incubation. In general, LAB inoculation increased the amount of IgG isotypes in blood and milk, and these antibodies were able to recognise Staphylococcus aureus epitopes. Lymphocytes proliferation was significantly higher in the IG at all time points assayed, following LAB or S. aureus stimulation. The lymphocytes of animals inoculated with LAB do not react in vitro to the presence of S. aureus antigen.. The results showed that probiotic microorganisms could be a natural and effective alternative in the prevention of bovine mastitis at dry-off period and act as immunomodulatory stimulating local and systemic defence lines.
MSMEs and Access to Financing in a Developing Economy
Authors: Tambunan Tulus T. H.
Published: July 2017

Historically, micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have played an important role in economic development in Indonesia. MSMEs are very numerous, amounting to, on average, almost 99% of total enterprises and also more than 90% of total employment across sectors in the country. Although the lack of finance is not the only problem facing many MSMEs, this chapter discusses the Indonesian experience with MSME financing with the focus on a government-initiated credit guarantee scheme, namely KUR (people business credit), aiming to give the enterprises more access to finance and the development of microfinance institutions. It also provides a brief description of MSMEs' development, their main constraints, and their main finance sources. The chapter shows that, in spite of government efforts, the majority of MSMEs, especially micro and small enterprises (MSEs), still depend on informal sources for their capital.
“Current Affairs in Mandarin”
Authors: Xiang Catherine Hua , Moon Darren
Published: July 2017

The “Current Affairs in Mandarin” project takes an innovative approach to the use of audio-visual media for language learning, providing students with a uniquely authentic and immersive learning experience. At the same time, it has generated a growing collection of standalone resources that, over time, have developed into a compelling archive of student achievements as well as an invaluable repository for building specialist vocabulary for students and practitioners within the field of languages in the social sciences. As a collaboration between various departments across the institution, it also stands as an exemplar of connectedness and collaboration within large higher education institutions. Now, in its fifth year, the project continues to be developed and further improvements are pursued. Details of the project will be explored in this chapter. The results of evaluative research into students' perspectives on their project experiences will also be presented and discussed.
Comparative Analysis of Hofstede's Culture Dimensions for West African Regions (WAF) and Nigeria
Authors: Iguisi Osarumwense V.
Published: July 2017

This research looked at Hofstede's culture dimensions scores for a single country Nigeria against Hofstede's scores for the West African Regions (Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone). The theoretical base for this study drew largely from the theoretical discourse on Hofstede's Dimensions of culture. As a methodology, the study used questionnaire survey to collect data on manager and non-manager employees in Nigerian cement organisations. The survey confirms that the dimension of national cultures of Nigeria as measured by the work-values and desires of the employee population are different from those obtained by Hofstede's for West African Region. Nigeria is still more collectivistic and become relatively more individualist since Hofstede's study. Between Hofstede' IBM study and the present study, there has been no change in the difference in Power Distance. Power Distance is much higher in Nigeria, like elsewhere in Africa, and this is unlikely to change for the foreseeable future. The large Power Distance in Nigeria means that the ideal manager is benevolent paternalistic.
Trade Relations Within and Between the Various Emerging Markets of Asia, Latin America, and Africa
Authors: Vassileva Bistra
Published: July 2017

This chapter presents the main issues around globalization and its effect on trade relations of emerging markets. Based on extensive literature review the basic globalization trends with corresponding factors are revealed. The author's proposition states that globalization trends (including political, economic, and social globalization) affect trade relations between and within emerging markets. The analysis covers BRIC and CIVETS countries for the period from 1971 to 2013 (based on KOF Index of Globalization) and from 1960 to 2015 for the exports/imports flows. Several statements and propositions regarding trade relations between and within emerging markets are defined. The proposed implications for future research are focused on: exploring emerging markets as a system which variations can be modeled by stochastic processes, and applying network theory to explore the influences of trade liberalizations and gravitational effects of various regional trade agreements on the economic performance of major emerging markets.
New Food Industries Toward a New Level of Sustainable Supply
Authors: D'Aleo Vittorio , D'Aleo Francesco , Bonanno Roberta
Published: July 2017

“Novel foods” indicates all those foods that do not fall within the traditional western diet. The authors underline that there is an important economic potential linked to this new sector. After having introduced the topic by identifying what is meant by new food, food sustainability, and entrepreneurship in this sector, the analysis focuses on the qualitative aspects of novel foods. The authors emphasize the advantages of these sources, their qualities, and the impact on the environment. In this chapter, the authors demonstrate that novel food sources can be a substitute for other food that require production processes, and thus make a big impact on the environment. After figuring out the advantages of novel food sources, the authors analyze some success stories from the companies that already operate in this area. They also investigate existing business models on the novel food market and the way they operate and create wealth. Summarizing the results of their research, the authors underline the economic potential of the new foods exploitation in the Mediterranean area.
Entrepreneurship and the Halal Wave in Malaysia
Authors: Khalek Aiedah Abdul
Published: July 2017

The concept of halal was once perceived as solely a religious matter but now it has become a branding platform for entrepreneurs to expand their products worldwide. The role of halal in the development of entrepreneurship as a response to the demand of Muslim consumers in Malaysia is explored in this chapter. Furthermore, this chapter looks at exploring the role of the Malaysian government in institutionalizing halal, establishing halal certification and thus, analyzing the development of entrepreneurship towards halal certified business. In a nutshell, this chapter aims to provide an overview of the development, institutionalization, halal certification, the challenges of halal entrepreneurship and moving forwards traits for halal entrepreneurship. Keywords; Entrepreneurship, halal, certification, institutionalization.
Youths and Cyberbullying
Authors: Wright Michelle F.
Published: July 2017

Youths are immersed in a digitally connected world, where blogs, social networking sites, watching videos, and instant messaging tools are a normal part of their lives. Many of these youths cannot remember a time in which electronic technologies were not embedded within their lives. Electronic technologies afford a variety of opportunities for youths, but there are also risks associated with such use, such as cyberbullying. This chapter draws on research from around the world to explain the nature, extent, causes, and consequences of cyberbullying. This chapter concludes with a solutions and recommendation section, emphasizing the need for cyberbullying to be considered a global concern.
Cross-Domain Usage in Real-Time Video-Based Tracking
Authors: Singh Satbir , Kapoor Rajiv , Khosla Arun
Published: July 2017

This chapter emphasizes on the approach to include information from different type of sensors into the visible domain real time tracking. Since any individual sensor is not able to retrieve the complete information, so it is better to use information from distinct category of sensors. The chapter firstly enlightens the significance of introducing the cross-domain treatment into video based tracking. Following this, some previous work in the literature related to this idea is briefed. The chapter introduces the categorization of the cross-domain activity usage for real time object tracking and then each category is separately discussed in detail. The advantages as well as the limitations of each type of supplemented cross domain activity will be discussed. Finally, the recommendation and concluding remarks from the authors in lieu of future development of this cutting-edge field will be presented.
Medical Image Fusion in Spatial and Transform Domain
Authors: Srivastava Alka , Aggarwal Ashwani Kumar
Published: July 2017

Nowadays, there are a lot of medical images and their numbers are increasing day by day. These medical images are stored in the large database. To minimize the redundancy and optimize the storage capacity of images, medical image fusion is used. The main aim of medical image fusion is to combine complementary information from multiple imaging modalities (e.g. CT, MRI, PET, etc.) of the same scene. After performing medical image fusion, the resultant image is more informative and suitable for patient diagnosis. There are some fusion techniques which are described in this chapter to obtain fused image. This chapter presents two approaches to image fusion, namely spatial domain Fusion technique and transforms domain Fusion technique. This chapter describes Techniques such as Principal Component Analysis which is spatial domain technique and Discrete Wavelet Transform and Stationary Wavelet Transform which are Transform domain techniques. Performance metrics are implemented to evaluate the performance of image fusion algorithm.
Object Extraction Using Topological Models from Complex Scene Image
Authors: Singh Uday Pratap , Jain Sanjeev
Published: July 2017

Efficient and effective object recognition from a multimedia data are very complex. Automatic object segmentation is usually very hard for natural images; interactive schemes with a few simple markers provide feasible solutions. In this chapter, we propose topological model based region merging. In this work, we will focus on topological models like, Relative Neighbourhood Graph (RNG) and Gabriel graph (GG), etc. From the Initial segmented image, we constructed a neighbourhood graph represented different regions as the node of graph and weight of the edges are the value of dissimilarity measures function for their colour histogram vectors. A method of similarity based region merging mechanism (supervised and unsupervised) is proposed to guide the merging process with the help of markers. The region merging process is adaptive to the image content and it does not need to set the similarity threshold in advance. To the validation of proposed method extensive experiments are performed and the result shows that the proposed method extracts the object contour from the complex background.